Ultrasound-assisted lipolysis of the omentum in dwarf pigs.

Successful surgical treatment of medium degree obesity by subcutaneous liposuction has been reported in the literature. In obesity, most adipose tissue is visceral, mainly omental, and the resection of omentum is a mutilating procedure for the intestinal tract. Because of this, we planned to reduce omental adipose tissue by an apparently conservative approach: ultrasound-assisted lipolysis. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and safety of this procedure in an animal experimental model, drawing clinical and autoptic patterns. We chose pigs because they are functionally analogous to humans, although they store less fat in the omentum, whose structure looks like a veil. Four male dwarf pigs were fed, since weaning, with hyperlipidic fodder. When they were eight months old, they were operated on under general anesthesia in our laboratory for experimental surgery. After laparotomy, the omentum was delivered and treated with ultrasound for 1 hour. Before and just after the sonication, biopsies were drawn from omentum and processed for histologic findings. After 50 days, the surviving animals were sacrificed and autopsied; specimens from omentum, liver, and spleen were histologically processed. Two animals died during the operation, while the two surviving animals were in good general condition. Macro and microscopic observations demonstrated that the ultrasound can liquefy omental fat, sparing its fibrous network in the immediate time; during the postoperative period, an intense inflammatory reaction developed; macroscopic observation evidenced fibrous adhesions of the omentum to the surrounding organs; the connective tissue network was thickened and the whole omentum was twisted on itself. The high mortality rate could be due either to the surgical learning curve or to casualty or to lethal effects of ultrasound on the cardiac conductive system; the inflammatory peritoneal reaction could be specifically due to ultrasound or to surgical handling

Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation of Pretreated Switchgrass Using Thermotolerant IMB Strains of Kluyveromyces marxianus

Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation of pretreated switchgrass were used to evaluate the ethanol production characteristics of five strains of thermotolerant K. marxianus at 45 ﾺC compared to S. cerevisiae D5A at 37 ﾺC. Further experiments were performed to investigate the effects of pH and enzyme loading on SSFs with K. marxianus IMB 3 and S. cerevisiae in terms of ethanol yields and fermentation times. SSFs with the five IMB strains of K. marxianus converted between 67% and 80% of glucan to ethanol. However, S. cerevisiae D5A at 37 ﾺC converted 92% of glucan to ethanol and only IMB 3 had comparable yields. Decreasing the initial pH of the SSF buffer from 5.5 to 4.8 resulted in decreased ethanol yields produced by S. cerevisiae D5A from 92% to 78%. Controlling the pH of SSF with IMB 3 at 45 ﾺC by addition of KOH in a stirred bioreactor resulted in an increase in ethanol yield from 80% to 83% by reducing inhibition caused by acetic acid. Reducing the enzyme loading from 15 FPU/g glucan in SSFs with IMB 3 and S. cerevisiae D5A resulted in significant decreases in ethanol yield.Biosystems and Agricultural Engineerin

Influence of chitosan on the mechanical and biological properties of HDPE for biomedical applications

High density polyethylene (HDPE) is widely used in biomedical field, except when strong cell-material interactions and high mechanical properties are required. To address this pitfall, two kinds of chitosan in different amounts were used as filler in the present research. Composites were prepared by melt extrusion process and their microstructural, thermal and mechanical properties were widely investigated. Also roughness and wettability were studied, as features of paramount importance in dictating cell response. Both types of chitosan endowed HDPE with higher Young modulus and lower elongation at break. Interestingly, fibroblast adhesion and viability were enhanced when a low amount of filler was used. The interaction of HDPE/chitosan composites with biological environment was investigated for the first time in order to assess the feasibility of these composites as materials for biomedical application

Pre-sorting and pen size effects on the stress responses at loading and unloading and transport losses in market weight pigs

Transport losses represent three challenges for the US swine industry and these are: 1) pig well-being, 2) increased rules and regulations, and 3) direct financial losses to producers and packers. Therefore; improving the well-being of pigs during transport and reducing the incidence of dead and non-ambulatory pigs is a priority for the US swine industry (NPB, 2007). Johnson et al. (2010) studied the effects of grow-finish pen size and manually pre-sorting pigs the day before loading on the stress responses at loading and unloading and transport losses in market weight pigs. The authors reported that pigs loaded from large pens (192 pigs/pen) that were pre-sorted from pen mates had 66% fewer dead and non-ambulatory pigs at the harvest facility compared to pigs loaded from small pens (32 pigs/pen) that were sorted from pen mates during loading. However, it is unclear if the reduction in transport losses was due to pen size and/or pre-sorting before marketing. Therefore, the objectives of the current two research trials were to 1) determine the effects of pre-sorting prior to loading on stress responses and transport losses at the harvest facility in the market weight pig; and 2) determine the effects of grow-finish pen size on stress responses and transport losses at the harvest facility in the market weight pig

Optic nerve crush induces spatial and temporal gene expression patterns in retina and optic nerve of BALB/cJ mice

BACKGROUND: Central nervous system (CNS) trauma and neurodegenerative disorders trigger a cascade of cellular and molecular events resulting in neuronal apoptosis and regenerative failure. The pathogenic mechanisms and gene expression changes associated with these detrimental events can be effectively studied using a rodent optic nerve crush (ONC) model. The purpose of this study was to use a mouse ONC model to: (a) evaluate changes in retina and optic nerve (ON) gene expression, (b) identify neurodegenerative pathogenic pathways and (c) discover potential new therapeutic targets. RESULTS: Only 54% of total neurons survived in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) 28 days post crush. Using Bayesian Estimation of Temporal Regulation (BETR) gene expression analysis, we identified significantly altered expression of 1,723 and 2,110 genes in the retina and ON, respectively. Meta-analysis of altered gene expression (≥1.5, ≤-1.5, p < 0.05) using Partek and DAVID demonstrated 28 up and 20 down-regulated retinal gene clusters and 57 up and 41 down-regulated optic nerve clusters. Regulated gene clusters included regenerative change, synaptic plasticity, axonogenesis, neuron projection, and neuron differentiation. Expression of selected genes (Vsnl1, Syt1, Synpr and Nrn1) from retinal and ON neuronal clusters were quantitatively and qualitatively examined for their relation to axonal neurodegeneration by immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR. CONCLUSION: A number of detrimental gene expression changes occur that contribute to trauma-induced neurodegeneration after injury to ON axons. Nrn1 (synaptic plasticity gene), Synpr and Syt1 (synaptic vesicle fusion genes), and Vsnl1 (neuron differentiation associated gene) were a few of the potentially unique genes identified that were down-regulated spatially and temporally in our rodent ONC model. Bioinformatic meta-analysis identified significant tissue-specific and time-dependent gene clusters associated with regenerative changes, synaptic plasticity, axonogenesis, neuron projection, and neuron differentiation. These ONC induced neuronal loss and regenerative failure associated clusters can be extrapolated to changes occurring in other forms of CNS trauma or in clinical neurodegenerative pathological settings. In conclusion, this study identified potential therapeutic targets to address two key mechanisms of CNS trauma and neurodegeneration: neuronal loss and regenerative failure

New Variant of Varicella-Zoster Virus

In 1998, a varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein E (gE) mutant virus (VZV-MSP) was isolated from a child with chickenpox. VZV-MSP, representing a second VZV serotype, was considered a rarity. We isolated another VZV-MSP-like virus from an elderly man with herpes zoster. These gE mutant viruses may have arisen through independent mutation or may represent a distinct VZV subpopulation that emerged more than 50 years ago