Modifying the Response of Male Broiler Chickens to Heat Stress Through Early Age Feed Restriction and Thermal Conditioning

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of early age feed restriction and heat conditioning on tolerance to acute and chronic heat stress in male broiler chickens. In both experiments, equal numbers of chickens were subjected to (i) 60% feed restriction on day 4, 5, and 6 (FR), (ii) exposure to 36±IoC and 50-60% relative humidity for 1 hour from day 1 to 21 (HT), (iii) 60% feed restriction on day 4, 5, and 6 and exposure to 36± l oC and 50-60% relative humidity for 1 hour from day 1 to 21 (FRHT). (iv) ad libitum feeding and no heat treatment (control). In experiment I, on day 35, all birds were exposed to 39± l oC for 6 hours and 50% relative humidity. Subjecting chicks to FR, HT and FRHT reduced HLR response to the heat challenge. Following heat exposure, the FR and FRHT chick had greater heat shock protein (hsp) 70 density than those of controls. The hsp 70 response of HT birds was not significantly different from the other three groups. The FRHT birds were more hyperthermic than controls during heat challenge. In experiment II, from day 36- 50, all birds were exposed to 38± l oC and 80 % relative humidity for 2 hours/day. One day following heat exposure (day 37), all birds were administrated intranasally with infectious bursal disease (IBD) vaccine virus. The dosage used was l Ox of the recommended level. Subjecting chicks to FRHT improved relative weight gain and resistance to IBD infection and reduced HLR in response to the heat treatment as compared with the control birds. Although there is evidence that FR and HT can improve heat tolerance, the FRHT combination may further enhance the ability of birds to withstand chronic heat stress. The acquired improved heat tolerance resulting from FRHT, FR, and HT could be attributed to enhanced hsp 70 response. The trend of hsp 70 response correlated well with IBD lesion scores, suggesting hsp 70 may play a role in resistance against viral infection. Based on experiment I and II, it can be concluded that the present findings confirmed earlier studies that FR is effective in alleviating the adverse effects of heat stress. Subjecting birds to FRHT can further improve tolerance to chronic but not acute heat stress

Narratives about risk and guilt among patients of a specialized HIV infection service: implications for care in sexual health

The objective of this study is to understand how perceptions about HIV and AIDS are articulated in narratives of male and female patients of the Public Health System, with qualitative elements that demonstrate the importance of sexual health counseling. Nine male and female patients of a specialized health service (CTA) were interviewed in Porto Alegre when they visited the CTA for the HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B and C Rapid Test. The narratives generated two understanding axes: Risk/Promiscuity and Guilt/Accountability. These axes synthesized some of the innumerable possibilities of meaning in relation to the need to perform the HIV test. The elements promiscuity, risk, guilt and accountability were composed of different social markers, involving social experiences that were articulated with the epidemiological biomedical discourse. In this context, counseling represents a powerful space to deconstruct essentialist meanings and stereotyped notions of risk. This study shows that the narratives reaffirm the understanding of sexuality as an individualized dimension, which indicates the need for health work proposals on singularity. Qualitative analyses focused on the patients’ experience are strategic measures in a project to promote sexual health as a collective process.O objetivo deste estudo é compreender como se articulam percepções sobre HIV e aids em narrativas de usuários e usuárias do Sistema de Saúde, trazendo elementos qualitativos que demonstram a importância do aconselhamento em saúde sexual. Foram entrevistados nove usuárias e usuários de um serviço de saúde especializado (CTA) em Porto Alegre, no momento da procura pelo Teste Rápido para HIV, sífilis e hepatites B e C. As narrativas geraram dois eixos de compreensão: Risco/Promiscuidade e Culpa/Responsabilização. Estes eixos sintetizaram algumas das inúmeras possibilidades de significação frente à necessidade de realização do teste de HIV. Os elementos promiscuidade, risco, culpa e responsabilização se compunham a partir de diferentes marcadores sociais, envolvendo experiências sociais que se articulavam com o discurso biomédico epidemiológico. Neste contexto, o aconselhamento se apresenta como um espaço potente para desconstruir significações essencialistas e noções estereotipadas de risco. Este estudo mostra que as narrativas reiteram entendimentos de sexualidade como dimensão individualizada, indicando a necessidade de propostas de trabalho em saúde pela via da singularidade. Considera-se que análises qualitativas centradas na experiência de usuários(as) são estratégicas num projeto de promoção de saúde sexual como processo coletivo

Quantitative visualization of ChIP-chip data by using linked views

Most analyses of ChIP-chip in vivo DNA binding have focused on qualitative descriptions of whether genomic regions are bound or not. There is increasing evidence, however, that factors bind in a highly overlapping manner to the same genomic regions and that it is quantitative differences in occupancy on these commonly bound regions that are the critical determinants of the different biological specificity of factors. As a result, it is critical to have a tool to facilitate the quantitative visualization of differences between transcription factors and the genomic regions they bind to understand each factor's unique roles in the network. We have developed a framework which combines several visualizations via brushing-and-linking to allow the user to interactively analyze and explore in vivo DNA binding data of multiple transcription factors. We describe these visualization types and also provide a discussion of biological examples in this paper

Visualization and Analysis of 3D Gene Expression Data

Recent methods for extracting precise measurements ofspatial gene expression patterns from three-dimensional (3D) image dataopens the way for new analysis of the complex gene regulatory networkscontrolling animal development. To support analysis of this novel andhighly complex data we developed PointCloudXplore (PCX), an integratedvisualization framework that supports dedicated multi-modal, physical andinformation visualization views along with algorithms to aid in analyzingthe relationships between gene expression levels. Using PCX, we helpedour science stakeholders to address many questions in 3D gene expressionresearch, e.g., to objectively define spatial pattern boundaries andtemporal profiles of genes and to analyze how mRNA patterns arecontrolled by their regulatory transcription factors

Band structure and optical properties of germanium sheet polymers

The band structure of H-terminated Ge sheet polymers is calculated using density-functional theory in the local density approximation and compared to the optical properties of epitaxial polygermyne layers as determined from reflection, photoluminescence, and photoluminescence excitation measurements. A direct band gap of 1.7 eV is predicted and a near resonant excitation of the photoluminescence is observed experimentally close to this energy

Depression and Insulin Resistance: Cross-sectional associations in young adults

OBJECTIVE - To examine the association between depressive disorder and insulin resistance in a sample of young adults using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview to ascertain depression status. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - Cross-sectional data were collected on 1,732 participants aged between 26 and 36 years. Insulin resistance was derived from blood chemistry measures of fasting insulin and glucose using the homeostatis model assessment method. Those identified with mild, moderate or severe depression were classified as having depressive disorder. RESULTS - The 12 month prevalence of depressive disorder was 5.4% among men and 11.7% among women. In unadjusted models mean insulin resistance was 17.2% (95% CI 0.7-36.0%, P = 0.04) higher in men and 11.4%(1.5-22.0%, P=0.02) higher in women with depressive disorder. After adjustment for behavioral and dietary factors, the increased level of insulin resistance associated with depressive disorder was 13.2% (-3.1 to 32.3%, P = 0.12) in men and 6.1% (-4.1 to 17.4%, P - 0.25) in women. Waist circumference was identified as a mediator in the relationship between depression and insulin resistance, reducing the β coefficient in the fully adjusted models in men by 38% and in women by 42%. CONCLUSIONS - A positive association was found between depressive disorder and insulin resistance in this population-based sample of young adult men and women. The association seemed to be mediated partially by waist circumference

Three-dimensional morphology and gene expression in the Drosophila blastoderm at cellular resolution I: data acquisition pipeline

BACKGROUND: To model and thoroughly understand animal transcription networks, it is essential to derive accurate spatial and temporal descriptions of developing gene expression patterns with cellular resolution. RESULTS: Here we describe a suite of methods that provide the first quantitative three-dimensional description of gene expression and morphology at cellular resolution in whole embryos. A database containing information derived from 1,282 embryos is released that describes the mRNA expression of 22 genes at multiple time points in the Drosophila blastoderm. We demonstrate that our methods are sufficiently accurate to detect previously undescribed features of morphology and gene expression. The cellular blastoderm is shown to have an intricate morphology of nuclear density patterns and apical/basal displacements that correlate with later well-known morphological features. Pair rule gene expression stripes, generally considered to specify patterning only along the anterior/posterior body axis, are shown to have complex changes in stripe location, stripe curvature, and expression level along the dorsal/ventral axis. Pair rule genes are also found to not always maintain the same register to each other. CONCLUSION: The application of these quantitative methods to other developmental systems will likely reveal many other previously unknown features and provide a more rigorous understanding of developmental regulatory networks