Effect of isolates of fibre degrading bacteria on body weight changes, milk production and its composition, nutrient intake and nutrient utilization in lactating Murrah buffaloes

Fibrolytic bacterial strains were isolated from the rumen liquor of permanently fistulated buffaloes kept on high fibre diet (roughage: concentrate: 60:40; w/w) on the basis of in vitro true dry matter digestibility study on pure neutral detergent fibre isolated from wheat straw and on high fibre based diet (wheat straw: concentrate: 80:20; w/w). Based on enzyme activity, the most potent fibre degrading bacterial isolate was selected which was further characterized on the basis of its morphology, biochemical properties and molecular properties and was found to be Ruminococcus flavefaciens strain FD-1 which was finally used as feed supplement for in vivo trial on lactating Murrah buffaloes. 12 lactating buffaloes divided into treatment and control groups of six animals each were fed with experimental diets and live and autoclaved culture of best selected fibrolytic bacterial isolate (NB-1) that is, R. flavefaciens strain FD-1; 300 ml orally alternate day continuously for one month period. No significant difference was observed in the mean body weight changes and daily milk yield between the treated and control groups although the live body weight and daily milk yield was increased in live culture supplemented treated group. There was no effect on milk composition of the animal. The difference in mean dry matter intake was significant (P <0.05) between control (11.11 kg/day) and treated groups (11.77 kg/day) during the experimental period. The digestibility of NDF and ADF was found to be higher in treated group by 9.66 and 19.20% over that of the control group although the effect was not significant. Thus, the bacterial culture of R. flavefaciens strain FD-1 showed the potential to be used as feed additive in the diet of ruminants for improving live body weight gain, daily milk yield as well as utilization of nutrients from lignocellulosic feeds.Keywords: Fibrolytic bacterial culture, lactating buffaloes, milk yield, nutrient utilizationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(21), pp. 3302-330

A retrospective analysis of clinical outcome of patients with chemo-refractory metastatic breast cancer treated in a single institution phase I unit

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: Novel approaches to treat chemo-refractory metastatic breast cancer (MBC) are currently under investigation. This retrospective series reviews the outcome of 70 MBC patients who have participated in 30 phase I trials at the Royal Marsden Hospital from 2002 to 2009. RESULTS: The median treatment lines before phase I trial entry for MBC was 5 (range: 1-12 lines). The overall response rate was 11.4% (95% CI: 4.0-18.9%) and the clinical benefit rate at 4 months was 20% (95% CI: 10.6-29.3). The median time to progression was 7.0 weeks (95% CI: 6.4-7.5) and median overall survival was 8.7 months (95% CI: 7.6-9.8) from start of first phase I treatment. No patients discontinued trial because of treatment-related toxicities. Abnormal lactate dehydrogenase, serum albumin <35 mg per 100 ml, >or=5 previous treatment lines, liver metastases and Eastern Cooperative Group performance status >or=2 at study entry were significantly associated with poor overall survival in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: This retrospective analysis provides evidence that patients with MBC tolerate phase I clinical trials and a significant proportion of patients with chemo-refractory disease, particularly those with triple-negative or Her2-positive breast cancer, may benefit from treatment

Nigella sativa (Black Cumin) Seed Extract Alleviates Symptoms of Allergic Diarrhea in Mice, Involving Opioid Receptors

The incidence of food hypersensitivity and food allergies is on the rise and new treatment approaches are needed. We investigated whether N. sativa, one of its components, thymoquinone, or synthetic opioid receptor (OR)-agonists can alleviate food allergy. Hence, ovalbumin (OVA) -sensitized BALB/c-mice were pre-treated either with a hexanic N. sativa seed extract, thymoquinone, kappa- (U50'4889) or mu-OR-agonists (DAMGO) and subsequently challenged intra-gastrically with OVA. All 4 treatments significantly decreased clinical scores of OVA-induced diarrhea. N. sativa seed extract, thymoquinone, and U50'488 also decreased intestinal mast cell numbers and plasma mouse mast cell protease-1 (MMCP-1). DAMGO, in contrast, had no effect on mast cell parameters but decreased IFNγ, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10 concentration after ex vivo re-stimulation of mesenteric lymphocytes. The effects on allergy symptoms were reversible by OR-antagonist pre-treatment, whereas most of the effects on immunological parameter were not. We demonstrate that N. sativa seed extract significantly improves symptoms and immune parameters in murine OVA-induced allergic diarrhea; this effect is at least partially mediated by thymoquinone. ORs may also be involved and could be a new target for intestinal allergy symptom alleviation. N. sativa seed extract seems to be a promising candidate for nutritional interventions in humans with food allergy

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

An overview of the role of rumen methanogens in methane emission and its reduction strategies

Methane is the most effective global warming greenhouse gas and methanogens are the key microbiota in methane emission. Emerging research focuses on ruminant methanogens due to their emission of methane globally; of which around 20% is from livestock. Enhanced techniques revealed the methangens diversity, adaptation in rumen, methanogenesis and their reduction strategies. Based on diet, geographical location, type of ruminant species, methanogen population shows vast diversity. Many strategies also interfere to reduce the methane emission worldwide such as dietary composition, vaccines, plant secondary metabolites, analogs and fungal secondary metabolites. This review gives a concise knowledge of methanogens’ interference in methane emission and research and development techniques used for reducing methane emission.  Keywords: Methane, plant secondary metabolites, ruminants, ionophores, lovastatin.

Efficacy of different methanolic plant extracts on anti-methanogenesis, rumen fermentation and gas production kinetics in vitro

The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of methanolic extracts of three plants, mehandi  (Lawsonia inermis), jaiphal (Myristica fragrans) and green chili (Capsicum annuum) on methanogenesis,  rumen fermentation and fermentation kinetic parameters by in vitro gas production techniques. Single dose of each plant extract (1 ml / 30 ml buffered rumen fluid) and two sorghum fodder containing diets (high and low  fiber diets) were used for evaluating the effect on methanogenesis and rumen fermentation pattern, while  sequential incubations (0, 1, 2, 3, 6 9, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 and 96 h) were carried out for gas production  kinetics. Results showed that methane production was reduced, ammonia nitrogen was increased  significantly, while no significant effect was found on pH and protozoal population following addition of different plant extracts in both diets except mehandi. Green chili significantly reduced digestibility of dry matter, total fatty acid and acetate concentration at incubation with sorghum based high and low fiber diets. Among all  treatments, green chili increased potential gas production, while jaiphal decreased the gas production rate constant significantly. The present results demonstrate that methanolic extracts of different plants are  promising rumen modifying agents. They have the potential to modulate the methane production, potential gas production, gas production rate constant, dry matter digestibility and microbial biomass synthesis.Key words: Digestible dry matter, Gas production rate constant, Methane, Methanolic plant extracts, In vitro gas production technique

Application of molecular markers to find out classificatory determinants of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The present communication is aimed to find out determinants of molecular marker based classification of rice (Oryza sativa L) germplasm using the available data from an experiment conducted for development of molecular fingerprints of diverse varieties of Basmati and non Basmati rice adapted to irrigated and aerobic agro-eco systems. The distance-matrix based dendrogram was developed following UPGMA method that grouped all the 44 varieties agro-eco systems wise. We examined the clustering of Basmati and non- Basmati varieties in detail. The results suggest that the easily distinguishable simple characters viz. plant height, photosensitivity, leaf color, awn’s color, awns’ number etc., governed by major genes did not contribute significantly towards classification of rice genotypes used. The complex characters such as adaptation to agro-eco systems and rice quality may play vital role in determination of molecular marker based classification of rice genotypes. Key word: Basmati rice, molecular markers, genetic diversity, agro-eco systems, rice qualit