Post-partum anoestrus in Anglo-Nubian and Saanen goats raised in semi-arid of North-eastern Brazil.

The aim of this study was to verify the length of post-partum anoestrus (PPA) in Anglo-Nubian and Saanen goats raised in North-eastern Brazi

Milk production in saanen goats treated with repeated low doses of intermediate-release insulin during early lactation

The effect of insulin administration on the productive responses of Saanen goats during early lactation was investigated. Ten of 20 adult females were subjected to subcutaneous administration of intermediate-acting insulin (0.14UI/kg body weight) at 2, 9, and 14 days postpartum. Milk yield was measured twice daily for 13 weeks and milk samples were collected to measure protein and fat contents. Plasma levels of progesterone, insulin, non-esterifies fatty acids, glucose and other metabolites were measured. Results showed a significantly increased effect of insulin treatment on the content of milk fat and protein; moreover, milk production in the first and second postpartum weeks were higher than control group. The peak of lactation in the insulin group was achieved one week earlier in comparison to the control group. In addition, the milk production rate showed lower persistency (milk yield 13 week/milk yield at peak) in the same group. During the first four weeks of postpartum, treated animals showed greater weight loss and higher non-esterified fatty acid concentration, whereas no effect was observed on the concentration of progesterone and other metabolites. The above results indicated that repeated administration of insulin in dairy goats during early lactation increase yield and qualitative components of milk, but has substantial consequences on animal productive rate and metabolic response

The peripheral blood transcriptome in septic cardiomyopathy: an observational, pilot study.

BACKGROUND:Septic cardiomyopathy (SCM) is common in sepsis and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV GLS), measured by speckle tracking echocardiography, allows improved identification of impaired cardiac contractility. The peripheral blood transcriptome may be an important window into SCM pathophysiology. We therefore studied the peripheral blood transcriptome and LV GLS in a prospective cohort of patients with sepsis. RESULTS:In this single-center observational pilot study, we enrolled adult patients (age > 18) with sepsis within 48 h of admission to the ICU. SCM was defined as LV GLS > - 17% based on echocardiograms performed within 72 h of admission. We enrolled 27 patients, 24 of whom had high-quality RNA results; 18 (75%) of 24 had SCM. The group was 50% female and had a median (IQR) age of 59.5 (48.5-67.0) years and admission APACHE II score of 21.0 (16.0-32.3). Forty-six percent had septic shock. After filtering for low-expression and non-coding genes, 15,418 protein coding genes were expressed and 73 had significantly different expression between patients with vs. without SCM. In patients with SCM, 43 genes were upregulated and 30 were downregulated. Pathway analysis identified enrichment in type 1 interferon signaling (adjusted p < 10-5). CONCLUSIONS:In this hypothesis-generating study, SCM was associated with upregulation of genes in the type 1 interferon signaling pathway. Interferons are cytokines that stimulate the innate and adaptive immune response and are implicated in the early proinflammatory and delayed immunosuppression phases of sepsis. While type 1 interferons have not been implicated previously in SCM, interferon therapy (for viral hepatitis and Kaposi sarcoma) has been associated with reversible cardiomyopathy, perhaps suggesting a role for interferon signaling in SCM

Argentine medicinal plants with potential antifungal activity

The Argentine flora is represented by more than 9000 higher plants, from which about 1600 are used as home remedies. The cited should be assayed for its supposed activity. In the present case, a total of 58 potentially useful antifungal plants has been identified by reviewing the data about their popular use in Argentina. The results were compiled in a table encompassing the mentioned species which are worth to be tested for its antifungal activity. The list contains (a) the binary name of each plant (genus and species), (b) botanical family, (c) indication(s) or use(s) according to the folklore medicine and its interpretation and/or (d) origin of the data

Cortical beta oscillations are associated with motor performance following visuomotor learning

© 2019 The Authors People vary in their capacity to learn and retain new motor skills. Although the relationship between neuronal oscillations in the beta frequency range (15–30 Hz) and motor behaviour is well established, the electrophysiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in motor learning are incompletely understood. Here, we investigated the degree to which measures of resting and movement-related beta power from sensorimotor cortex account for inter-individual differences in motor learning behaviour in the young and elderly. Twenty young (18–30 years) and twenty elderly (62–77 years) healthy adults were trained on a novel wrist flexion/extension tracking task and subsequently retested at two different time points (45–60 min and 24 h after initial training). Scalp EEG was recorded during a separate simple motor task before each training and retest session. Although short-term motor learning was comparable between young and elderly individuals, there was considerable variability within groups with subsequent analysis aiming to find the predictors of this variability. As expected, performance during the training phase was the best predictor of performance at later time points. However, regression analysis revealed that movement-related beta activity significantly explained additional variance in individual performance levels 45–60 min, but not 24 h after initial training. In the context of disease, these findings suggest that measurements of beta-band activity may offer novel targets for therapeutic interventions designed to promote rehabilitative outcomes

Pushing the mass limit for intact launch and photoionization of large neutral biopolymers

Since their first discovery by Louis Dunoyer and Otto Stern, molecular beams have conquered research and technology. However, it has remained an outstanding challenge to isolate and photoionize beams of massive neutral polypeptides. Here we show that femtosecond desorption from a matrix-free sample in high vacuum can produce biomolecular beams at least 25 times more efficiently than nanosecond techniques. While it has also been difficult to photoionize large biomolecules, we find that tailored structures with an abundant exposure of tryptophan residues at their surface can be ionized by vacuum ultraviolet light. The combination of these desorption and ionization techniques allows us to observe molecular beams of neutral polypeptides with a mass exceeding 20,000 amu. They are composed of 50 amino acids – 25 tryptophan and 25 lysine residues – and 26 fluorinated alkyl chains. The tools presented here offer a basis for the preparation, control and detection of polypeptide beams

Oestrus behaviour and performance in vivo of Saanen goats raised in northeast of Brazil.

Abstract: In order to verify the oestrus activity and to observe the body weight of Saanen goats, when reared in intensive condition of Northeast Brazil during four different seasons, ten adult Saanen goats were used. In this experiment four climatic seasons were considered; early rainy (ER), late rainy (LR), early dry (ED) and late dry (LD). Oestrus behaviour was monitored twice a day (8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.) during all the experiment, using two vasectomised bucks. The oestrus cycles were quantified within each season and classified as short ( 25 days). The goats were weighed every seven days. During the late rainy season, a significant fall of the mean body weight of the animals was observed when compared to early rainy season. A larger percentage of goats in oestrus were observed during the late rainy season. Oestrus duration was longer in the late rainy and early dry season than in early rainy and late dry season. During the experiment, there were 12.0% of short cycles, 50.3% of normal cycles and 37.7% of long cycles. The percentages of abnormal cycles (short and long cycles), in relation to total cycles monitored in each season were 52, 58, 38 and 50% for early rainy, late rainy, early dry and late dry, respectively. From the results of this study it can be concluded that pen-fed Saanen goats do not show seasonality for oestrus behaviour. Rainfall appeared to be an extero-receptive factor influencing the quality of sexual activity and performance in these goats

Contribution of fibrinolysis to the physical component summary of the SF-36 after acute submassive pulmonary embolism

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) can diminish patient quality of life (QoL). The objective was to test whether treatment with tenecteplase has an independent effect on a measurement that reflects QoL in patients with submassive PE. This was a secondary analysis of an 8-center, prospective randomized controlled trial, utilizing multivariate regression to control for predefined predictors of worsened QoL including: age, active malignancy, history of PE or deep venous thrombosis (DVT), recurrent PE or DVT, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure. QoL was measured with the physical component summary (PCS) of the SF-36. Analysis included 76 patients (37 randomized to tenecteplase, 39 to placebo). Multivariate regression yielded an equation f(8, 67), P<0.001, with R2 = 0.303. Obesity had the largest effect on PCS (β = −8.6, P<0.001), with tenecteplase second (β = 4.73, P = 0.056). After controlling for all interactions, tenecteplase increased the PCS by +5.37 points (P = 0.027). In patients without any of the defined comorbidities, the coefficient on the tenecteplase variable was not significant (−0.835, P = 0.777). In patients with submassive PE, obesity had the greatest influence on QoL, followed by use of fibrinolysis. Fibrinolysis had a marginal independent effect on patient QoL after controlling for comorbidities, but was not significant in patients without comorbid conditions