Evaluation of fish meals and their effect on fatty acid deposition in broilers fat

For a long time, fish meal has been recognized as a feed of high nutritive value because of its content of high quality protein, essential amino acids, unidentified growth factors, vitamins, minerals, and energy. The fish meal is obtained through the fish reduction process, which con-sists essentially of grinding, cooking, pressing, and drying of either whole fish or fish scrap. The most common species of fish used in the commercial manufacturing of fish meal are the herring, menhaden, anch-ovie, and pilchards. But by far the most important American source of fish for meal is the menhaden. It supplies approx-imately 75 percent of all fish meal, 80 percent of the marine oils, and nearly 80 percent of all fish solubles produced in the United States (1)*. A fresh-water species that belong to the herring family Clupeidae and have similar characteristics to the menhaden are the gizzard shad. However, they have little food and commercial value (19). Another fresh-water species having food value for man, especially in Japan, China, and parts of Europe are those belonging to the carp family Cyprinidae. Although these fish exist abundantly in American waters they have no commercial value in the United States (39) . Both species, the shad and carp, are abundant in Tennessee lakes. The objectives of this study were: 1. To evaluate by chemical methods certain nutrients of fish meals, produced from gizzard shad and carp taken from the Kentucky Lake in Tennessee as a feed ingredient in broilers\u27 diets. 2. To determine by gas liquid chromatography the fatty acid composition of the fish meals and the adipose tissues of broilers fed these fish meals. 3. To compare the fatty acid composition of the diet with that of the abdominal fats of the broilers\u27 carcass

Dynamics of receptor-mediated nanoparticle internalization into endothelial cells.

International audienceNanoparticles offer a promising medical tool for targeted drug delivery, for example to treat inflamed endothelial cells during the development of atherosclerosis. To inform the design of such therapeutic strategies, we develop a computational model of nanoparticle internalization into endothelial cells, where internalization is driven by receptor-ligand binding and limited by the deformation of the cell membrane and cytoplasm. We specifically consider the case of nanoparticles targeted against ICAM-1 receptors, of relevance for treating atherosclerosis. The model computes the kinetics of the internalization process, the dynamics of binding, and the distribution of stresses exerted between the nanoparticle and the cell membrane. The model predicts the existence of an optimal nanoparticle size for fastest internalization, consistent with experimental observations, as well as the role of bond characteristics, local cell mechanical properties, and external forces in the nanoparticle internalization process

Optimization of Drug Delivery by Drug-Eluting Stents

International audienceDrug-eluting stents (DES), which release anti-proliferative drugs into the arterial wall in a controlled manner, have drastically reduced the rate of in-stent restenosis and revolutionized the treatment of atherosclerosis. However, late stent thrombosis remains a safety concern in DES, mainly due to delayed healing of the endothelial wound inflicted during DES implantation. We present a framework to optimize DES design such that restenosis is inhibited without affecting the endothelial healing process. To this end, we have developed a computational model of fluid flow and drug transport in stented arteries and have used this model to establish a metric for quantifying DES performance. The model takes into account the multi-layered structure of the arterial wall and incorporates a reversible binding model to describe drug interaction with the cells of the arterial wall. The model is coupled to a novel optimization algorithm that allows identification of optimal DES designs. We show that optimizing the period of drug release from DES and the initial drug concentration within the coating has a drastic effect on DES performance. Paclitaxel-eluting stents perform optimally by releasing their drug either very rapidly (within a few hours) or very slowly (over periods of several months up to one year) at concentrations considerably lower than current DES. In contrast, sirolimus-eluting stents perform optimally only when drug release is slow. The results offer explanations for recent trends in the development of DES and demonstrate the potential for large improvements in DES design relative to the current state of commercial devices

Induction of Inflammation in Vascular Endothelial Cells by Metal Oxide Nanoparticles: Effect of Particle Composition

BACKGROUND: The mechanisms governing the correlation between exposure to ultrafine particles and the increased incidence of cardiovascular disease remain unknown. Ultrafine particles appear to cross the pulmonary epithelial barrier into the bloodstream, raising the possibility of direct contact with the vascular endothelium. OBJECTIVES: Because endothelial inflammation is critical for the development of cardiovascular pathology, we hypothesized that direct exposure of human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) to ultrafine particles induces an inflammatory response and that this response depends on particle composition. METHODS: To test the hypothesis, we incubated HAECs for 1–8 hr with different concentrations (0.001–50 μg/mL) of iron oxide (Fe(2)O(3)), yttrium oxide (Y(2)O(3)), and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and subsequently measured mRNA and protein levels of the three inflammatory markers intra-cellular cell adhesion molecule-1, interleukin-8, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1. We also determined nanoparticle interactions with HAECs using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and transmission electron microscopy. RESULTS: Our data indicate that nanoparticle delivery to the HAEC surface and uptake within the cells correlate directly with particle concentration in the cell culture medium. All three types of nanoparticles are internalized into HAECs and are often found within intracellular vesicles. Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles fail to provoke an inflammatory response in HAECs at any of the concentrations tested; however, Y(2)O(3) and ZnO nanoparticles elicit a pronounced inflammatory response above a threshold concentration of 10 μg/mL. At the highest concentration, ZnO nanoparticles are cytotoxic and lead to considerable cell death. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that inflammation in HAECs following acute exposure to metal oxide nanoparticles depends on particle composition

Regulation of trophoblast beta1-integrin expression by contact with endothelial cells

BACKGROUND: In human and non-human primates, migratory trophoblasts penetrate the uterine epithelium, invade uterine matrix, and enter the uterine vasculature. Invasive trophoblasts show increased expression of β1 integrin. Since trophoblast migration within the uterine vasculature involves trophoblast attachment to endothelial cells lining the vessel walls, this raises the possibility that cell-cell contact and/or factors released by endothelial cells could regulate trophoblast integrin expression. To test this, we used an in vitro system consisting of early gestation macaque trophoblasts co-cultured on top of uterine microvascular endothelial cells. RESULTS: When cultured alone, trophoblasts expressed low levels of β1 integrin as determined by quantitative immunofluorescence microscopy. When trophoblasts were cultured on top of endothelial cells for 24 h, the expression of trophoblast β1 integrin was significantly increased as determined by image analysis. β1 Integrin expression was not increased when trophoblasts were cultured with endothelial cell-conditioned medium, suggesting that upregulation requires direct contact between trophoblasts and endothelial cells. To identify endothelial cell surface molecules responsible for induction of trophoblast integrin expression, trophoblasts were cultured in dishes coated with recombinant platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), or αVβ3 integrin. Trophoblast β1 integrin expression (assessed by immunofluorescence microscopy and Western blotting) was increased when PECAM-1 or αVβ3 integrin, but not ICAM-1, was used as substrate. CONCLUSIONS: Direct contact between trophoblasts and endothelial cells increases the expression of trophoblast β1 integrin

Synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial activity and molecular docking studies of combined pyrazol-barbituric acid pharmacophores

Purpose: To synthesize, and determine the antibacterial activity and binding mode of new pyrazolbarbituric acid derivatives in a search for new antimicrobial agents.Methods: One-pot multi-component reaction of aldehyde derivatives, barbituric acid and 3-methyl-1- phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one in the presence of NHEt2 to afford Michael adduct was carried out. The reaction was carried out in water and afforded new heterocycles in a one-step fashion, with expedient work-up and high yield without extraction and purification steps. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for antimicrobial activity using agar disc diffusion. Molecular docking approach via MOE-Dock program was applied to predict the binding interactions of some of the new pyrazol-barbituric acid derivatives against six different target proteins downloaded from Protein Data Bank.Results: A series of pyrazole-barbituric acid derivatives were successfully synthesized and characterized. The synthesized compounds showed moderate to very good antibacterial activity against S. aureus ATCC 29213 and E. faecalis ATCC29212, as well as also antifungal activity against Candida albicans ATCC 10400Conclusion: A series of pyrazole-barbituric acid derivatives has been synthesized and some of them display antimicrobial activities.Keywords: Pyrazole, Barbituric acid, Pyrazole-barbituric acid derivatives, Antimicrobial activity, Molecular dockin

Malware analysis performance enhancement using cloud computing

Nowadays, computer based technology has taken a central role in every person life. Hence, damage caused by malicious software (malware) can reach and effect many people globally as what could be in the early days of computer. A close look at the current approaches of malware analysis shows that the respond time of reported malware to public users is slow. Hence, the users are unable to get prompt feedback when reporting suspicious files. Therefore, this paper aims at introducing a new approach to enhance malware analyzer performance. This approach utilizes cloud computing features and integrates it with malware analyzer. To evaluate the proposed approach, two systems had been prepared carefully with the same malware analyzer, one of them utilizes cloud computing and the other left without change. The evaluation results showed that the proposed approach is faster by 23 % after processing 3,000 samples. Furthermore, utilizing cloud computing can open door to crowd-source this service hence encouraging malware reporting and accelerate malware detection by engaging the public users at large. Ultimately this proposed system hopefully can reduce the time taken to detect new malware in the wild

Construcción de sistemas basados en redes de conocimiento para la gestión

Las Tecnologías de la Información no constituyen un fin en sí mismo, son un medio, sin duda un medio particular que afecta nuestra manera de pensar y constituye uno de los caminos para mejorar la calidad de la Investigación. Dentro de este contexto, nos corresponde como investigadores la generación de las ideas, el diseño de las experiencias, la aplicación y la reflexión evaluativa que aporte conocimiento para el mejoramiento de la acción. En este sentido, el Análisis de Redes de Conocimiento ha pasado de ser una metáfora sugerente para constituirse en un enfoque analítico y un paradigma, con sus principios teóricos, métodos de software para el análisis y líneas de investigación. Los Modelos propios surgidos de nuestras investigaciones anteriores y aplicados luego en cada Relevamiento, Análisis, Diseño e Implementación de las Organizaciones abordadas, nos develaron una hipótesis superadora: no solo podíamos construir la Red de Conocimiento para la Gestión, sino que se daban las condiciones para incorporar las propiedades específicas del tema abordado. Esto nos permitirá configurar los escenarios para implementar Sistemas que dan el sustento necesario para el control de las Operaciones, la gestión de trazabilidad, el acompañamiento Táctico y apoyo Estratégico a partir de los cambios de Estados y las relaciones entre las Tareas Estándares de una Red de Conocimiento para la Gestión.Eje: Innovación en Sistemas de Software.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI