Effects of chromium supplementation on growth, nutrient digestibility and meat quality of growing pigs

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of chromium picolinate (CrPic) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and protein and lipid quality of five anatomical parts in growing pigs. The 30-day study was conducted on eight castrated Topigs growing male pigs, with an initial bodyweight of 17.16 ± 0.62 kg. The pigs were assigned to two groups (C, E), housed in individual metabolic cages, and fed on conventional diets with 17.80% crude protein (CP) and 3078 kcal/kg metabolizable energy (ME). The diet of E was supplemented with 200 ppm CrPic. Samples of ingesta and faeces were collected in three balance periods of five days each. At the end of the experiment, blood samples were collected, all pigs were slaughtered, and meat (tenderloin, loin, ham, shoulder, and belly) samples were collected. No significant differences of productive or plasma parameters were noticed. The results of the balance study showed that CrPic did not influence the digestibility of nitrogen, but the digestibility of fat was significantly decreased for group E. The nutritional quality of the collected samples was evaluated for proximate analysis. The tenderloin and ham samples had increased protein concentrations compared with C group. For belly and ham, the fat concentrations decreased significantly. As a result of this observation, amino acids and fatty acid profiles were analysed and a significant improvement were determined for E regarding essential amino acids. The conclusion of the study was that CrPic had positive effects on protein and fat metabolism and the meat had functional food attributes.Keywords: Amino acids, biochemical profile, chromium picolinate, digestibility, fatty acids, por

The photocatalytic effects of textile materials treated with TiO2 and Fe/TiO2

The research has been focused on the photocatalytic activity of the textile materials treated with TiO2 and TiO2 iron doped by pad-dry-cure and cationization - pad-dry-cure. The fabrics have been exposed to UV and visible light. The photocatalytic efficiency was evaluated by measuring the color differences (dL∗da∗db, dE∗, dC∗, dH∗) of the exposed and un-exposed samples on a Hunterlab spectrophotometer. The anti-fungal activity was assessed according modified ISO 20743:2007 standard. The results show that under visible light, independent of treatment used (padding or] cationization - padding), the highest discoloration is produced by TiO2-Fe on polyester. Under UV light, the highest discoloration is produced by TiO2-Fe only for the cationized materials. The cationization pre-treatment has no positive effect on MB photodegradation, the colour and lightness difference being similar or smaller than those obtained in the case of padding treatment without cationization. The degree of discoloration of PET and PET/co fabrics stained with MB is higher under visible light then under UV light. In the case of cotton, a slightly higher discoloration under UV light is noticed. All samples yielded very good reduction rates of Candida a., with 100% reduction for samples treated by padding. The reduction rates of Epidermophyton f. varies between 46.87% (D-V1-Fe) and to 99.18 % for A-V2-Fe.UEFISCD

Inter & Intra-Observer Reliability Of Grading Ultrasound Videoclips With Hand Pathology In Rheumatoid Arthritis By Using Non- Sophisticated Internet Tools (LUMINA Study)

Aim: To evaluate the inter- and intraobserver agreement of a group of European rheumatologist ultrasonographers in grading musculoskeletal ultrasound videoclips posted on the Internet by using a non-sophisticated electronic environment. Methods: Forty short movie clips (less than 30 secs) were made available over the Internet to all participants. Normal and pathological RA hand joints and tendons were included in the movie clips. In the first phase 30 investigators from European countries were invited to evaluate the clips and to interpret/grade them. No instruction session was held prior to the initiation of the study. For synovitis the requested scoring system included 0 to3 grades and for tenosynovitis a binary variable 0/1; separate evaluations were performed for gray scale (GS) and Power Doppler (PD) examinations. In the second phase the responders were asked to grade the same clips in a different order without having access to their first grading scale. Light's k and Cohen's k were used to analyse inter- and intraobserver reliability. Results: Twenty two European rheumatologists agreed to finalise both study phases. Mean Cohen's. for intraobserver reliability was 0.614/0.689 for tenosynovitis GS/PD and 0.523/0.621 for synovitis GS/PD. Light's k for interobserver reliability was 0.503 for tenosynovitis evaluation and 0.455 for global (synovitis and tenosynovitis) evaluation. Mean global overall agreement was 84.95% (90.2% for global synovitis). Conclusions: An over-the-net US evaluation and grading has shown moderate to good reliability. The results could be improved if a training session is added at the beginning of the study