Digestibility in selected rainbow trout families and modelling of growth from the specific intake of digestible protein

The experiments aimed to clarify variations in digestibility of dietary nutrients in rainbow trout. Furthermore, the objective was to study how differences in digestibility might be related to growth and feed utilisation at various growth rates. When comparing the results from the experiments it appeared that particularly protein digestibility was closely related to specific growth rate and feed conversion ratio at high growth rates. As a tool to visualise the relationship between protein digestibility and growth of rainbow trout a growth model was developed based on the specific intake of digestible protein, and general assumptions on protein content and protein retention efficiency in rainbow trout. The model indicated that increased protein digestibility only partly explained growth increase and that additional factors were important for growth increment

Disordered eating behaviours in Women with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

The aim of the article is to investigate the relationship between disordered eating, particularly binge eating, and Type 2 diabetes in women. Subjects included 215 women with Type 2 diabetes (mean age: 58.9 years, mean body mass index (BMI)=33.5 kg/m2). Measurements included a structured clinical interview for disordered eating (Eating Disorder Examination, EDE), self-report measures of psychological functioning, glycosylated haemoglobin A1c, BMI. A total of 20.9% of women was binge eating regularly. Binge eating was associated with poorer well being, earlier age of diagnosis, poorer self-efficacy for diet and exercise self-management, and higher BMI. Binge eating frequency predicted blood glucose control after controlling for BMI and exercise level. A history of binge eating independently predicted age of diagnosis of diabetes. Binge eating is relatively common in women with Type 2 diabetes. The relationship between binge eating severity and diabetic control is not explained by overweight. Binge eating may be an independent risk factor for Type 2 diabetes

Dietary vitamin C requirement of hybrid, female red sea bream, pagrus major x male black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegeli

In order to clarify the dietary vitamin C (AsA) requierment of the hybrid, we used L-ascorbyl-2-monophosphate Mg (APM) as an AsA source and examined on weight gain, growth performance, and hepatic and cephalic AsA contents. The hybrid weighing 15 g were fed with diets including 0, 50, 100 and 200 mg APM/kg up to apparent satiety, three times a day, six days a week for 6 weeks. The feeding trial was conducted on three replicates. Final mean body weight of hybrid fed the diets became 5 times of initial mean body weight without significant differences among the dietary treatments, together with feed efficiency, carcass proximate composition except crude ash and nutrient retentions. Hepatic AsA contents of hybrid fed 50-200 mg APM diets were slightly higher than that fed 0 mg APM diet. Cephalic AsA contents of the hybrid fed 50-200 mg AsA diets reached a plateau level, significantly higher than that fed 0 mg AsA diet. While, no difficiency sign of AsA was observed throughout the feeding trial. These results reveal that the hybrid require no more than 50 mg APM/kg diet, calculating18 mg AsA/kg diet, which may be scarce as compared with red sea bream as well as other cultured fishes

Dietary soybean meal utilization with phytase supplementation for hybrid F1, red sea bream (♀) × black sea bream (♂)

The efficacy of replacing dietary fish meal with soybean meal for juvenile F1, red sea bream, Pagrus major female×black sea bream, Acanthopagrus schlegeli male, was assayed by growth and digestive performances. The F1 in triplicate tanks were fed each of following four diets: 46% fish meal (F), 30% fish meal＋20% soybean meal (S₂₀), 15% fish meal＋40% soybean meal (S₄₀) and S₄₀＋2500 phytase units (PU) /kg diet (S₄₀P) for 12 weeks. In F1, the diets S₂₀ and S₄₀P showed similar growth performance to that of F and S₄₀, but S₄₀ had significantly lower specific growth rate, feed conversion efficiency and energy efficiency as compared with F diet. The diet S₄₀ also led lower nutrient and phosphorus retentions than other diets, while the dietary treatments did not alter carcass and liver proximate compositions. Moreover, diet S₄₀P produced higher apparent nutrient and phosphorus digestibility than diet S₄₀, resulting in lower phosphorus discharge into surrounding water mass. These results reveal that a suitable replacement level of dietary fish meal with soybean meal is recommended about 67% with the co-supplementation of phytase at/under 2500 PU/kg diet under the experimental conditions used here

Seasonal Migration of Sika Deer in the Oku-Chichibu Mountains, Central Japan

Movements and seasonal home ranges of 6 GPS collared sika deer were investigated at the Oku-Chichibu Mountains, central Honshu, from April 2009 to March 2010. All deer migrated between discrete summer and winter home ranges. The linear migration distance ranged from 2.5 to 31.9 km. Mean elevation during the summer and the winter ranged from 980 to 1,782 m, and from 1,204 to 1,723 m, respectively. Two deer were upward migrants and 4 deer were downward migrants. Taking into consideration of the relatively small snow accumulation in the summer home range, the possibility of autumn migration to avoid deep snow is low. The percentage of steep slope in the winter home range was higher than that in the summer. Bamboo grass was not found in the summer home range, but was predominant in the winter home range. Road density decreased in the winter home range compared to the summer. Only 2 out of 6 deer stayed mainly in the wildlife protection area during the winter. Our results indicate that the autumn migration was affected by winter forage and human disturbance, thereby assured the survival of the deer during winter.ArticleMAMMAL STUDY. 37(2):127-137 (2012)journal articl

Analysis of metallothionein and vimentin immunoreactivity in pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma and its microenvironment

Metallothionein (MT) has been shown to have pro-proliferative anti-apoptotic activity and to be involved in microenvironment remodeling. The aim of this study has been to determine whether the changes in MT and vimentin immunoreactivity observed in cancer and its microenvironment are related to the local spread of the disease. The immunoreactivity levels of both MT and vimentin were evaluated together with CD56 and CD57 antigens in 49 tissue samples taken from patients with squamous cell carcinoma originating from the palatine tonsils and in 20 tissue samples derived from patients with chronic tonsillitis (the reference group). MT immunoreactivity levels were statistically significantly higher in the tissue samples from squamous cell carcinoma than in those of the reference group and also higher in the squamous cell carcinoma samples compared with the stromal samples. Moreover, stromal fibroblasts exhibited high vimentin and MT immunoreactivity levels. Statistically significantly higher MT immunoreactivity levels within the tumor cells were identified in patients with the presence of lymph node metastases in contrast to those patients without such metastases. Vimentin was detected in both the tumor and the stromal tissue samples and presented an interesting pattern of staining strongly expressed within the stroma and the septal architecture of the tumor. The number of CD56- and CD57-positive lymphocytes identified in tissue samples both from squamous cell carcinoma and from the stroma was statistically significantly lower than that in the reference group. MT expression by tumor cells is thus associated with an aggressive phenotype of the tumor and the ability to create metastases

Tim3 binding to galectin-9 stimulates antimicrobial immunity

The interaction between Tim3 on Th1 cells and galectin-9 on Mycobacterium tuberculosis–infected macrophages restricts the bacterial growth by stimulating caspase-1–dependent IL-1β secretion

Psychological and weight-related characteristics of patients with anorexia nervosa-restricting type who later develop bulimia nervosa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with anorexia nervosa-restricting type (AN-R) sometimes develop accompanying bulimic symptoms or the full syndrome of bulimia nervosa (BN). If clinicians could predict who might change into the bulimic sub-type or BN, preventative steps could be taken. Therefore, we investigated anthropometric and psychological factors possibly associated with such changes.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>All participants were from a study by the Japanese Genetic Research Group for Eating Disorders. Of 80 patients initially diagnosed with AN-R, 22 changed to the AN-Binge Eating/Purging Type (AN-BP) and 14 to BN for some period of time. The remaining 44 patients remained AN-R only from the onset to the investigation period. Variables compared by ANOVA included anthropometric measures, personality traits such as Multiple Perfectionism Scale scores and Temperament and Character Inventory scores, and Beck Depression Inventory-II scores.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In comparison with AN-R only patients, those who developed BN had significantly higher current BMI (p < 0.05) and maximum BMI in the past (p < 0.05). They also scored significantly higher for the psychological characteristic of parental criticism (p < 0.05) and lower in self-directedness (p < 0.05), which confirms previous reports, but these differences disappeared when the depression score was used as a co-variant. No significant differences were obtained for personality traits or depression among the AN-R only patients irrespective of their duration of illness.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present findings suggest a tendency toward obesity among patients who cross over from AN-R to BN. Low self-directedness and high parental criticism may be associated with the development of BN by patients with AN-R, although the differences may also be associated with depression.</p