Effect of different concentrations of aqueous extract of ginger (Zingiber officinale) on performance and carcass characteristics of male broiler chickens in wheat-soybean meal based diets

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of using different concentrations of ginger extract (Zingiber officinale) on performance and carcass characteristics of male broiler chickens. Three hundred one-day-old commercial male broilers (Cobb-500) were randomly allocated in 20 floor pens (15 chicks each). Animals of each pen were supplemented with five different concentrations of ginger and the experiment was performed in quadruplicate. The broilers were fed a wheat-soybean meal based diet containing different concentrations of ginger extract (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1%) supplemented to drinking water. Feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were measured during 1 to 10, 11 to 21, 22 to 42 and 1 to 42 days of age. At 42 days of age, two birds from each pen were selected and after weighing and slaughtered were dissected manually. Carcass yield, liver, abdominal fat and gut weight is expressed as percentage of live body weight. The results showed that there is no significant difference in the feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio between the different treatments except the feed conversion ratio of the period 1 to 10 days of age (p<0.05). Also, different supplemented concentrations of ginger extract to drinking water of broilers influenced the carcass yield (p<0.05)

Genetic Characterization and Bottleneck Demographic Assessment of Caspian Horse Population (KARAKTERISASI GENETIK DAN HAMBATAN DEMOGRAFI PADA PENILAIAN POPULASI KUDA KASPIA)

The aim of this study was to evaluate genetic characterization of the Caspian horse population using microsatellite markers. This study was determined the efficiency of microsatellite markers for conservation plans and breeding strategies in Caspian horse population. A total of 120 Caspian horse samples including 95 adults and 25 foals were genotyped by using seventeen microsatellite markers recommended by ISAG. The number of allele per locus varied from 5 (HMS01 and HTG07) to 9 (HTG10) with an average of 7.41. The observed heterozygosity and the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.505-0.831 (mean 0.684), from 0.615-0.835 (mean 0.748) respectively. PIC value ranged from 0.716 (HMS01) to 0.834 (AHT04) with an average of 0.787. The total exclusion probability of 17 microsatellite loci was 0.9999. The low values of Wright’s fixation index/ Fis (0.084) indicated the low levels of inbreeding. A significant heterozygote excesses based on different models, suggested that Caspian horse population has decreased to low numbers in the past, but a bottleneck event is still  very striking, and its number has recently increased is not in mutation drift equilibrium. The present study contributes to our knowledge of the genetic diversity of the Caspian caspian horse population and helps to deûne its genetic conservation strategies

Brain Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography With Tc-99m MIBI or Tc-99m ECD in Comparison to MRI in Multiple Sclerosis

Purpose: To evaluate whether or not brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with Tc-99m MIBI or Tc-99m ECD (ethyl cysteinate dimer) can detect any abnormality in patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS). We then compared these values with the results of T1, T2, and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods: A total of 16 patients with proved MS were enrolled in the study, and the MRI with and without gadolinium contrast and also brain SPECT with Tc-99m MIBI (8 cases) or Tc-99m ECD (8 other cases) were performed. Results: MRI studies was performed in 16 patients (13 women and 3 men, aged 16-38 years) and an average of 10.47, 3.7, 5.3, 1.7, and 0.9 lesions was found in respect in periventricular white matter, juxtacortical white matter, corpus callosum, cerebellar peduncles, and brainstem, whereas brain SPECT with Tc-99m MIBI or Tc-99m ECD detected no abnormality. In addition, 6 cases had some degree of contrast enhancement. Conclusions: It seems that brain SPECT with Tc-99m MIBI or Tc-99m ECD would not improve this insufficiency. The small sizes of some plaques, particularly in chronic atrophic form of lesions, and the possibility of deeper anatomic positions of plaques can explain to some extent why the MS lesions were impossible to delineate on brain scan, although additional studies are needed. Copyright © 2010 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Bone mineral density is not related to angiographically diagnosed coronary artery disease

Based on data, there may exist an association between low bone mineral density (BMD) and atherosclerosis. Thisstudy aimed to investigate the association between BMD and coronary artery disease (CAD). In this study the possible association of BMD with CAD in 65 men with CAD and in 49 men with normal angiography as well as in 51 women with CAD and in 51 normal women was investigated. Both spinal and femoral BMD values for men were higher than those of women (P<0.05). Neither femoral nor spinal BMD values were different in patients with or without CAD. In addition, BMD values were not associated with the severity of CAD. Body massindex (BMI) was positively correlated with BMD both in men and women, whereas age and anti-diabetic treatment were linked with lower BMD in women. In conclusion, in this study CAD was not related to low BMD. However, BMI was an independent predictor of diminished BMD

Genetic Diversity and Molecular Phylogeny of Iranian Goats Based on Cytochrome Oxidase I (COXI) Gene Sequences (KERAGAMAN GENETIK DAN FILOGENI MOLEKULER KAMBING-KAMBING IRAN BERDASARKAN SEKUENS GEN CYTOCHROME OXIDASE I (COXI))

Mitochondrial DNA has been one of the most widely used molecular markers for phylogenetic studies in animals because of its simple genomic structure. This study examines the genetic characteristic of domestic goat using sequence analysis of mitochondrial DNA Cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COXI) to identify and differentiate among three common breeds (Adani, Najdi and Markhoz) of Iran. The genomic DNA was isolated by salting out method and amplified cytochrome oxidase I gene using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method with a pair of primer. Phylogenetic trees and pairwise calculations were obtained by using Mega 6 software. A partial sequence of cytochrome oxidase I gene of Iranian goats is 1286 bp and contained four variable sites and three haplotypes. Phylogenetic analysis of haplotype in the combination with the goat from GenBank showed that Iranian goatclustered in a separate lineage. This study was found informative for establishing relationships between breeds from different parts of the world. This study may facilitate the future researchers and breeders for better understanding the genetic interactions and breed differentiation for devising future breeding and conservation strategies to preserve the rich animal genetic reservoir of the country

Genetic diversity and signatures of selection in four indigenous horse breeds of Iran

Indigenous Iranian horse breeds were evolutionarily affected by natural and artificial selection in distinct phylogeographic clades, which shaped their genomes in several unique ways. The aims of this study were to evaluate the genetic diversity and genomewide selection signatures in four indigenous Iranian horse breeds. We evaluated 169 horses from Caspian (n = 21), Turkmen (n = 29), Kurdish (n = 67), and Persian Arabian (n = 52) populations, using genomewide genotyping data. The contemporary effective population sizes were 59, 98, 102, and 113 for Turkmen, Caspian, Persian Arabian, and Kurdish breeds, respectively. By analysis of the population genetic structure, we classified the north breeds (Caspian and Turkmen) and west/southwest breeds (Persian Arabian and Kurdish) into two phylogeographic clades reflecting their geographic origin. Using the de-correlated composite of multiple selection signal statistics based on pairwise comparisons, we detected a different number of significant SNPs under putative selection from 13 to 28 for the six pairwise comparisons (FDR < 0.05). The identified SNPs under putative selection coincided with genes previously associated with known QTLs for morphological, adaptation, and fitness traits. Our results showed HMGA2 and LLPH as strong candidate genes for height variation between Caspian horses with a small size and the other studied breeds with a medium size. Using the results of studies on human height retrieved from the GWAS catalog, we suggested 38 new putative candidate genes under selection. These results provide a genomewide map of selection signatures in the studied breeds, which represent valuable information for formulating genetic conservation and improved breeding strategies for the breeds