Degradación ruminal de materia seca y proteína y composición química de canutillo (Panicum elephantipes) y camalote (Eichhornia crassipes)

The aim of this work was to identify native and naturalized forage species from the islands of the delta of the Paraná River and to study the fractions that are degraded in rumen. Samples of Eichhornia crassipes (Camalote, CA) and Panicum elephantipes (Canutillo, CN) were taken from the Parana islands. Their chemical composition was determined: Dry Matter (DM %), Ethereal Extract (EE), Ashes (A), Crude Fiber (CF), and Crude Protein (CP; N x 6,25) and the rumen degradation kinetics was determined in sacco for (DR) DM and CP. Data were analyzed with ANOVA Scheffe’s test (P > 0.05) and DR adjusted to the following model: DR%= a + b (1 - e-ct), where is a: soluble fraction, b: slow degradable fraction, c: degradation rate, and a+b: potentially degradable fraction. CA showed 58 % less DM, similar EE and 35.5; 14.1 and 30.9 % more A, CF, and CP respectively, than CN. Degradable fractions in rumen were: DM fraction a: 18 and 21.6 and CP: 17.5 and –4 %, DM fraction b: 50.9 and 41.5 and CP: 42.6 and 80.4 %, degradation DM rate: 0.019 and 0.0384 and CP: 0.033 and 0.048 %/h and a+b fraction of DM: 69 and 63.1 and CP: 60.0 and 76.4 in CA and CN, respectively. CA showed a higher solubility and lower fractions of b, c and a + b of protein than CN. Though CN and CA, appear to be an interesting dietary source for ruminants, showed a lower degradability than known cultivated forage species.El objetivo fue identificar especies vegetales forrajeras nativas y naturalizadas de las islas del delta del río Paraná y estudiar las fracciones que se degradan en el rumen. Las muestras fueron de Eichhornia crassipes (Camalote, CA) y Panicum elephantipes (Canutillo, CN), obtenidas en las islas del río Paraná a la altura del km 430. Se les determinó la composición química y la cinética de degradación ruminal in sacco (DR) de la materia seca (MS) y proteína cruda (PC). Los datos fueron analizados por ANOVA y test de Scheffe (P > 0,05) y DR ajustados al modelo: DR% = a + b (1 - e-ct), donde es a: fracción soluble, b: fracción lentamente degradable, c: tasa de degradación de b y a + b: fracción potencialmente degradable. CA presentó 58% menos MS, similar extracto etéreo (EE) y 35,5; 14,1 y 30,9 % más Ceniza, fibra cruda (FC), y PC que CN. La fracciones degradables en rumen fueron: fracción a de MS: 18 y 21,6 y PC: 17,5 y –4 %, fracción b de MS: 50,9 y 41,5 y PC: 42,6 y 80,4%, tasa de degradación de la MS: 0,019 y 0,0384 y PC: 0,033 y 0,048 %/h y fracción a + b de la MS: 69 y 63,1 y PC: 60,0 y 76,4 en CA y CN, respectivamente. CA presentó mayor solubilidad y menores fracciones b, c y a + b de la PC que CN. El camalote y el canutillo, si bien demostraron ser una interesante fuente dietaria para rumiantes, presentaron menor degradabilidad que especies forrajeras cultivadas estudiadas anteriormente

Giving the Green Light to Photochemical Uncaging of Large Biomolecules in High Vacuum

The isolation of biomolecules in a high vacuum enables experiments on fragile species in the absence of a perturbing environment. Since many molecular properties are influenced by local electric fields, here we seek to gain control over the number of charges on a biopolymer by photochemical uncaging. We present the design, modeling, and synthesis of photoactive molecular tags, their labeling to peptides and proteins as well as their photochemical validation in solution and in the gas phase. The tailored tags can be selectively cleaved off at a well-defined time and without the need for any external charge-transferring agents. The energy of a single or two green photons can already trigger the process, and it is soft enough to ensure the integrity of the released biomolecular cargo. We exploit differences in the cleavage pathways in solution and in vacuum and observe a surprising robustness in upscaling the approach from a model system to genuine proteins. The interaction wavelength of 532 nm is compatible with various biomolecular entities, such as oligonucleotides or oligosaccharides.</p

Patients in long-term maintenance therapy for drug use in Italy: analysis of some parameters of social integration and serological status for infectious diseases in a cohort of 1091 patients

BACKGROUND: Heroin addiction often severely disrupts normal social functioning. The aims of this multi-centre study of heroin users in long-term replacement treatment were: i) to provide information on aspects of social condition such as employment, educational background, living status, partner status and any history of drug addiction for partners, comparing these data with that of the general population; ii) to assess the prevalence of hepatitis, syphilis and HIV, because serological status could be a reflection of the social conditions of patients undergoing replacement treatment for drug addiction; iii) to analyse possible relationships between social conditions and serological status. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in sixteen National Health Service Drug Addiction Units in northern Italy. The data were collected from February 1, 2002 to August 31, 2002. Recruitment eligibility was: maintenance treatment with methadone or buprenorphine, treatment for the previous six months, and at least 18 years of age. In the centres involved in the study no specific criteria or regulations were established concerning the duration of replacement therapy. Participants underwent a face-to-face interview. RESULTS: The conditions of 1091 drug treatment patients were evaluated. The mean duration of drug use was 14.5 years. Duration was shorter in females, in subjects with a higher educational background, and in stable relationships. Most (68%) had completed middle school (11–14 years of age). Seventy-nine percent were employed and 16% were unemployed. Fifty percent lived with their parents, 34% with a partner and 14% alone. Males lived more frequently with their parents (55%), and females more frequently with a partner (60%). Sixty-seven percent of male patients with a stable relationship had a partner who had never used heroin. HCV prevalence was 72%, HBV antibodies were detected in 42% of patients, while 30% had been vaccinated; 12.5% of subjects were HIV positive and 1.5% were positive for TPHA. CONCLUSION: A significant percentage of heroin users in treatment for opiate addiction in the cohort study have characteristics which indicate reasonable integration within broader society. We posit that the combination of effective treatment and a setting of economic prosperity may enhance the social integration of patients with a history of heroin use

Sexual Functioning and Opioid Maintenance Treatment in Women. Results From a Large Multicentre Study

Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is the most widespread therapy for both females and males opioid addicts. While many studies have evaluated the OMT impact on men’s sexuality, the data collected about the change in women’s sexual functioning is still limited despite the fact that it is now well-known that opioids - both endogenous and exogenous - affect the endocrine system and play an important role in sexual functioning. The present study aims to determine how OMT with buprenorphine (BUP) or methadone (MTD) affects sexual health in women; examining also any possible emerging correlation between sexual dysfunction (SD), type of opioid and patients’ mental health. This multi-center study case recruited 258 female volunteers attending Italian public Addiction Outpatients Centers that were stabilized with OMT for at least 3 months. SD was assessed with the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. The twelve-item General Health Questionnaire was used to assess participants’ mental health conditions. The results show that 56.6% of women receiving OMT for at least 3 months presented SD without significant differences between MTD e BUP groups. The majority of the subjects with SD have a poorer quality of intimate relationships and worse mental health than the average. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the largest report on the presence of SDs in women as a side effects of MTD and BUP used in OMT. Since SDs cause difficulties in intimate relationships, lower patients’ quality of life and interfere with OMT beneficial outcomes, we recommend that women undertaking an opioid therapy have routine screening for SD and we highlight the importance to better examine opioid-endocrine interactions in future studies in order to provide alternative potential treatments such as the choice of opioid, opioid dose reduction and hormone supplementation

Exploring dynamical phase transitions and prethermalization with quantum noise of excitations

Dynamical phase transitions can occur in isolated quantum systems that are brought out of equilibrium by sudden parameter changes. We discuss the characterization of such dynamical phase transitions based on the statistics of produced excitations. We consider both the O(N) model in the large-N limit and a spin model with long-range interactions and show that the dynamical criticality of their prethermal steady states manifests most dramatically not in the average number of excitations but in their higher moments. We argue that the growth of defect fluctuations carries unique signatures of the dynamical criticality, irrespective of the precise details of the model. Our theoretical results should be relevant to quantum quench experiments with ultracold bosonic atoms in optical lattices

Linear ramps of the mass in the O(N) model: Dynamical transition and quantum noise of excitations

Nonthermal dynamical critical behavior can arise in isolated quantum systems brought out of equilibrium by a change in time of their parameters. While this phenomenon has been studied in a variety of systems in the case of a sudden quench, we consider here its sensitivity to a change of protocol by considering the experimentally relevant case of a linear ramp in time. Focusing on the O(N) model in the large-N limit, we will show that a dynamical phase transition is always present for all durations of the ramp, and we discuss the crossover between the sudden quench transition and one dominated by the equilibrium quantum critical point. We show that the critical behavior of the statistics of the excitations, signaling the nonthermal nature of the transition, is also robust. An intriguing crossover in the equal-time correlation function, related to an anomalous coarsening, is also discussed. \ua9 2016 American Physical Society