Prune belly-like syndrome in two calves

This paper reports two cases of abdominal muscular hypoplasia in new born calves, induced by the presence of intra-abdominal space-occupying malformations, and associated to other congenital disorders. In the first case, the calf presented slack dilated and floating abdomen associated to a small intestine with remarkably dilated sections (up to 10 cm of diameter) alternated with normal tracts, arthrogryposis of the anterior limbs, coxofemoral joints laxity and cryptorchidism. In the second case, abdomen of the calf appeared severely outstretched, with slack and floating wall, associated to 2 cystic dilations on the liver surface. These cases strongly resemble a congenital disorder of new born children known as prune belly syndrome, characterized by various degrees of abdominal muscular hypoplasia, bilateral cryptorchidism in males and urinary tract anomalies, that can be associated to other non-genital-urinary malformations affecting the gastrointestinal, skeletal and cardiopulmonary systems

Gas structure inside dust cavities of transition disks: Ophiuchus IRS 48 observed by ALMA

List of DEGs between hypothalamus and ovary. Positive value in the LogFC column refers to genes over-expressed in the vary; negative values indicates genes over-expressed in hypothalamus. (XLSX 1257 kb

A network approach to expertise retrieval based on path similarity and credit allocation

With the increasing availability of online scholarly databases, publication records can be easily extracted and analysed. Researchers can promptly keep abreast of others' scientific production and, in principle, can select new collaborators and build new research teams. A critical factor one should consider when contemplating new potential collaborations is the possibility of unambiguously defining the expertise of other researchers. While some organisations have established database systems to enable their members to manually produce a profile, maintaining such systems is time-consuming and costly. Therefore, there has been a growing interest in retrieving expertise through automated approaches. Indeed, the identification of researchers' expertise is of great value in many applications, such as identifying qualified experts to supervise new researchers, assigning manuscripts to reviewers, and forming a qualified team. Here, we propose a network-based approach to the construction of authors' expertise profiles. Using the MEDLINE corpus as an example, we show that our method can be applied to a number of widely used data sets and outperforms other methods traditionally used for expertise identification.ISSN:1860-711XISSN:1860-712

A novel endovenous scaffold for the treatment of chronic venous obstruction in a porcine model: Histological and ultrastructural assessment

Objective To investigate the biological effects of a novel endovenous scaffold in a porcine model. Methods Petalo is a compliant venous scaffold implanted into the internal jugular veins of 12 healthy pigs. The pigs were sacrificed at one, two, three, and six months, respectively. Microscopic investigations were performed at two blinded laboratories. Results Neo-intima formation progressively covering up the stent metallic bars was observed. The inflammatory response of the venous wall showed a peak after three months by the implant, followed by marked reduction after six months. The device induced a significant ( p < 0.01) increase of the thickness respect to the control regions, but was comparable in sections obtained after three and six months. Conclusions The implant of Petalo compliant venous scaffold in the venous wall of this porcine model is characterized by neointima formation and by an inflammatory reaction which tends to decrease after six months. Our data point against the induction of smooth muscle cells proliferation and migration as confirmed by electronic transmission microscopy analyses

Protective effect of phytogenic plus short and medium-chain fatty acids-based additives in enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli challenged piglets

Post Weaning Diarrhea (PWD) is the most important multifactorial gastroenteric disease of the weaning in pig livestock. Phytogenic (PHY) natural extracts are largely studied as alternatives to antibiotic treatments in combating the global concern of the antimicrobial resistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of innovative phytogenic premix with or without short and medium chain fatty acids (SCFA and MCFA) in O138 Escherichia coli challenged piglets. Twenty-seven weaned piglets were allotted into four groups fed different diets according to the following dietary treatments: CTRL (n= 13) group fed basal diet, PHY1 (n= 7) fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.2% of phytogenic premix, PHY2 (n= 7) fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.2% of phytogenic premix added with 2000 ppm of SCFA and MCFA. After 6 days of experimental diet feeding, animals were challenged (day 0) with 2 x 10(9) CFU of E. coli and CTRL group was divided at day 0 into positive (challenged CTRL + ; n= 6) and negative control group (unchallenged CTRL-; n=7). Body weights were recorded at -14, -6, 0, 4 and 7 days and the feed intake was recorded daily. E. coli shedding was monitored for 4 days post-challenge by plate counting. Fecal consistency was registered daily by a four-point scale (0-3; diarrhea > 1) during the post-challenge period. Tissue samples were obtained for gene expression and histological evaluations at day 7 from four animals per group. Lower average feed intake was observed in CTRL + compared to PHY2 and CTRL during the post-challenge period. Infected groups showed higher E. coli shedding compared to CTRL- during the 4 days post-challenge (p < 0.01). PHY2 showed lower frequency of diarrhea compared to PHY1 and CTRL + from 5 to 7 days post-challenge. No significant alterations among groups were observed in histopathological evaluation. Duodenum expression of occludin tended to be lower in challenged groups compared to CTRL- at 7 days post-challenge (p= 0.066). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of PHY plus SCFA and MCFA revealed encouraging results for diarrhea prevention and growth performance in weaned piglets

Tobacco Seed-Based Oral Vaccination against Verocytotoxic O138 <i>Escherichia coli</i> as Alternative Approach to Antibiotics in Weaned Piglets

Post-weaning diarrhoea and enterotoxaemia caused by Escherichia coli are serious threats in the pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) livestock industry and are responsible for economic losses related to mortality, morbidity and stunted growth. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an engineered tobacco seeds-based edible vaccine in O138 Escherichia coli-challenged piglets throughout a multidisciplinary approach. Thirty-six weaned piglets were enrolled and randomly divided into two experimental groups, a control (C; n = 18) group and a tobacco edible vaccination group (T, n = 18), for 29 days of trial. At days 0, 1, 2, 5 and 14, piglets of the T group were fed with 10 g of the engineered tobacco seeds line expressing F18 and VT2eB antigens, while the C group received wild-type tobacco seeds. After 20 days, 6 piglets/group were orally challenged with the Escherichia coli O138 strain (creating four subgroups: UC = unchallenged control, CC = challenged control, UT = unchallenged tobacco, CT = challenged tobacco) and fed with a high protein diet for 3 consecutive days. Zootechnical, clinical, microbiological, histological and immunological parameters were assayed and registered during the 9 days of post-challenge follow up. At 29 days post-challenge, the CT group displayed a lower average of the sum of clinical scores compared to the CC group (p p p p < 0.01). In conclusion, edible vaccination with engineered tobacco seeds showed a protective effect on clinical symptoms and diarrhoea incidence during the post-challenge period, characterized by a limited time of pathogenic strain shedding in faeces