Effects of increasing dietary zinc sulfate fed to gestating ewes: II. Milk somatic cell count, microbial populations, and fatty acid composition

Objective: The objective of the research was to evaluate the effects of increasing dietary Zn sulfate concentration for primiparous gestating ewes on subsequent milk SCC, intramammary microbial identifications, and fatty acid composition. Materials and Methods: Commercial white-face (WF; n = 27) and black-face (BF; n = 24) ewes (age ≈18 mo; BW = 87.48 ± 8.37 kg) were sorted into breed-type groups and within groups ranked by BW, and then, they were randomly divided into 3 dietary supplement treatment groups: CON (n = 13; 40 mg/kg Zn; ≈1 × NASEM recommendations), Zn500 (n = 21; 500 mg/kg Zn; ≈4 × NASEM recommendations), and Zn1000 (n = 17; 1,000 mg/kg Zn; ≈7 × NASEM recommendations). Treatments were administered in Zn-fortified pelleted alfalfa (0.45 kg/ewe per day) and fed from 87.5 ± 8.9 d of gestation until parturition. Milk traits collected at parturition (d 1 of lactation), ≈30 d of lactation, and lamb weaning (≈90 d of lactation) were assessed as repeated measures with fixed effects of treatment, breed type, and litter size. Results and Discussion: The treatment × breed type interaction affected ewe logSCC (P = 0.01), and within Zn500, BF had greater logSCC than WF ewes (5.90 ± 0.08 vs. 5.46 ± 0.08; P \u3c 0.01). However, breed types did not differ between CON and Zn1000 treatments (P ≥ 0.92). Ewe logSCC was greatest (P \u3c 0.01) at weaning (6.03 ± 0.06), intermediate at parturition (5.72 ± 0.06; d 1), and least at d 30 of lactation (5.21 ± 0.06). Intramammary infections were common in milk samples collected at parturition (77%) and weaning (47%) based on culture-based microbial identifications. The most frequently identified species included Bacillus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. Black-face ewes had greater concentrations of C16:1 (1.78 mg/100 vs. 1.39 mg/100 mg of fatty acid per 100 mg of total fatty acids), C17:1 (0.86 mg/100 vs. 0.76 mg/100 mg of fatty acid per 100 mg of total fatty acids), and C20:4 (0.28 mg/100 vs. 0.24 mg/100 mg of fatty acid per 100 mg of total fatty acids; P ≤ 0.04) than WF ewes. Implications and Applications: Including Zn in diets beyond NASEM recommendations from mid to late gestation had no effect on ewe milk SCC, microbial pathogens identified, or fatty acid composition. However, findings indicated there may be important breed differences in dietary Zn utilization and requirements affecting intramammary inflammation

Toxicity and teratogenicity evaluation of ethanolic extract from Momordica charantia fruit using zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo model

Zebra fish (Danio rerio), a freshwater fish, has become a favoured animal model to assess the teratogenicity effects of various compounds. Momordica charantia is a fruit traditionally used as a functional food to treat various ailments. In the present work, 80% ethanolic extract of M. charantia fruit was investigated for its teratogenicity effects on the zebrafish embryos. The embryos of 12 h post-fertilisation were immersed in the ethanolic extract at various concentrations of 250, 500, 750, 1,000, and 1,250 mg/L prepared in 2% DMSO. Microscopic observation was carried out every 24 h. Results showed an increased mortality rate, and a delayed hatching rate with increasing concentration. Some of the deformities observed included hyperactivity, crooked backbone, reduced pigmentation, awkward positioning, and coagulation at the highest concentration. Probit analysis resulted in 725.90 mg/L as the median lethal concentration (LC50). Chromatographic analysis revealed the presence of propanedioic acid, malic acid, contrunculin-A, glutamine, D-fructose, sorbopyranose, xylitol, galactonic acid, D-mannitol, and mannose. These compounds may contribute to the deformities observed in a concentration-dependent manner. Therefore, M. charantia fruit must be consumed with caution and within the recommended amount

Parental willingness to pay for child safety seats in Mashad, Iran

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Iran has one of the highest rates of road traffic crash death rates throughout the world and road traffic injuries are the leading cause of years of life lost in the country. Using child car safety seats is not mandatory by law in Iran. The purpose of this research was to determine the parental willingness to pay (WTP) for child restraints in Mashad, the second most populated city in Iran with one of the highest rates of road traffic-related deaths.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We surveyed 590 car-owner parents of kindergarten children who were willing to participate in the study in the year 2009. We asked them about the maximum amount of money they were willing to pay for car safety seats using contingent valuation method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean age of children was 33.5 months. The median parental WTP for CSS was about $15. Considering the real price of CSSs in Iran, only 12 percent of responders could be categorized as being willing to pay for it. Family income level was the main predictor of being willing to pay.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The median parental WTP was much lower than the actual price of the safety seats, and those who were of lower socio-economic class were less willing to pay. Interventions to increase low-income families' access to child safety seats such as providing free of charge or subsidized seats, renting or health insurance coverage should be considered.</p

Practicing Imperfect Forgiveness

Forgiveness is typically regarded as a good thing - even a virtue - but acts of forgiveness can vary widely in value, depending on their context and motivation. Faced with this variation, philosophers have tended to reinforce everyday concepts of forgiveness with strict sets of conditions, creating ideals or paradigms of forgiveness. These are meant to distinguish good or praiseworthy instances of forgiveness from problematic instances and, in particular, to protect the self-respect of would-be forgivers. But paradigmatic forgiveness is problematic for a number of reasons, including its inattention to forgiveness as a gendered trait. We can account for the values and the risks associated with forgiving far better if we treat it as a moral practice and not an ideal

A candidate ion-retaining state in the inward-facing conformation of sodium/galactose symporter: Clues from atomistic simulations

The recent Vibrio parahaemolyticus sodium/galactose (vSGLT) symporter crystal structure captures the protein in an inward-facing substrate-bound conformation, with the sodium ion placed, by structural alignment, in a site equivalent to the Na2 site of the leucine transporter (LeuT). A recent study, based on molecular dynamics simulations, showed that the sodium ion spontaneously leaves its initial position diffusing outside vSGLT, toward the intracellular space. This suggested that the crystal structure corresponds to an ion-releasing state of the transporter. Here, using metadynamics, we identified a more stable Na+ binding site corresponding to a putative ion-retaining state of the transporter. In addition, our simulations, consistently with mutagenesis studies, highlight the importance of D189 that, without being one of the NA(+)-coordinating residues, regulates its binding/release

Evaluation of fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) for the detection of fungi directly from blood cultures and cerebrospinal fluid from patients with suspected invasive mycoses

The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of in-house FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridisation) procedures for the direct identification of invasive fungal infections in blood cultures and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples and to compare these FISH results with those obtained using traditional microbiological techniques and PCR targeting of the ITS1 region of the rRNA gene. In total, 112 CSF samples and 30 positive blood cultures were investigated by microscopic examination, culture, PCR-RFLP and FISH. The sensitivity of FISH for fungal infections in CSF proved to be slightly better than that of conventional microscopy (India ink) under the experimental conditions, detecting 48 (instead of 46) infections in 112 samples. The discriminatory powers of traditional microbiology, PCR-RFLP and FISH for fungal bloodstream infections were equivalent, with the detection of 14 fungal infections in 30 samples. However, the mean times to diagnosis after the detection of microbial growth by automated blood culture systems were 5 hours, 20 hours and 6 days for FISH, PCR-RFLP and traditional microbiology, respectively. The results demonstrate that FISH is a valuable tool for the identification of invasive mycoses that can be implemented in the diagnostic routine of hospital laboratories. © 2015 Da Silva et al

Clinicopathological features of homologous recombination-deficient epithelial ovarian cancers: Sensitivity to PARP inhibitors, platinum, and survival

Up to 50% of epithelial ovarian cancers (EOC) display defects in the homologous recombination (HR) pathway. We sought to determine the ramifications of the homologous recombination deficient (HRD) status on the clinicopathological features, chemotherapy response and survival outcomes of EOC patients. HR status was determined in primary cultures from ascitic fluid in 50 chemotherapy naïve patients by a functional RAD51 immunofluorescence assay and correlated with in vitro sensitivity to the PARP inhibitor (PARPi), rucaparib. All patients went on to receive platinum based chemotherapy; platinum sensitivity, tumor progression and overall survival were compared prospectively in HR competent vs. HR deficient patients. Compared to HR competent patients, the HRD group was predominantly serous with a higher median CA125 at presentation. HRD was associated with higher ex vivo PARP inhibitor sensitivity and clinical platinum sensitivity. Median follow up duration was 14 months; patients in the HRD group had lower tumor progression rates at 6 months, lower overall /disease specific death rates at 12 months and higher median survival. We therefore suggest that HRD as predicted by a functional RAD51 assay correlates with in vitro PARPi sensitivity, clinical platinum sensitivity and improved survival outcome

A simple, portable, electrochemical biosensor to screen shellfish for vibrio parahaemolyticus

An earlier electrochemical mechanism of DNA detection was adapted and specified for the detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in real samples. The reader, based on a screen printed carbon electrode, was modified with polylactide-stabilized gold nanoparticles and methylene blue was employed as the redox indicator. Detection was assessed using a microprocessor to measure current response under controlled potential. The fabricated sensor was able to specifically distinguish complementary, non-complementary and mismatched oligonucleotides. DNA was measured in the range of 2.0 × 10−8–2.0 × 10−13 M with a detection limit of 2.16 pM. The relative standard deviation for 6 replications of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurement of 0.2 µM complementary DNA was 4.33%. Additionally, cross-reactivity studies against various other food-borne pathogens showed a reliably sensitive detection of the target pathogen. Successful identification of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (spiked and unspiked) in fresh cockles, combined with its simplicity and portability demonstrate the potential of the device as a practical screening tool