Late laying hens deposit dietary antioxidants preferentially in the egg and not in the body

The allocation of nutrients in the metabolism of laying hens favors the egg over the body. It is unclear whether this programming also includes micronutrients and antioxidants. This was tested with five by seven 76-wk-old Heisdorf & Nelson Brown Nick layers. They were fed a basal diet low in antioxidants either unchanged (control) or supplemented with 40 IU of α-tocopherylacetate/kg of diet (vitamin E) or 2.5% chokeberry pomace, rose hip, or sage in the last 4 wk before slaughter. The traits measured were subjected to ANOVA. The additives did not affect ADFI, performance, egg quality, carcass, or meat quality. Yolk tocopherol contents were higher with vitamin E and sage compared with control and rose hip treatments. Oxidative stability was more affected in egg yolk powder than in the meat. After 12 wk of storage, yolks from vitamin E-treated hens were lowest in TBA levels (5.0 mg of malondialdehyde/kg), followed by chokeberry (8.7) and sage (8.8). Rose hip (18.1) and control (18.9) treatments were similar. In meat, TBA was slightly decreased after 9 d of storage in meat from chokeberry- and sage-supplemented hens (contrast analysis). In conclusion, antioxidant deposition to the egg seems to be part of the genetic determination of the hen. Adding antioxidants is therefore interesting for layer nutrition in general, and herbal additives allow performing this in a natural way. The programming for partitioning, however, renders the strategic feeding of antioxidants before slaughter, with the goal to increase oxidative stability of spent hen meat rather inefficien

TYMSTR, a putative chemokine receptor selectively expressed in activated T cells, exhibits HIV-1 coreceptor function

AbstractBackground: Chemokines bind to specific receptors and mediate leukocyte migration to sites of inflammation. Recently, some chemokine receptors, notably CXCR4 and CCR5, have been shown to be essential fusion factors on target cells for infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); the chemokines bound by these receptors have also been shown to act as potent inhibitors of HIV infection. Here, we describe the isolation of a novel, putative chemokine receptor.Results: We have isolated the cDNA for a putative human chemokine receptor, which we have termed TYMSTR (T-lymphocyte-expressed seven-transmembrane domain receptor). The TYMSTR gene is localized to human chromosome 3 and encodes a protein that has a high level of identity with chemokine receptors. TYMSTR mRNA was selectively expressed in interleukin-2-stimulated T lymphocytes but not in freshly isolated lymphocytes and leukocytes or related cell lines. The natural ligand for TYMSTR was not identified among 32 human chemokines and other potential ligands. Cells co-expressing TYMSTR and human CD4 fused with cells expressing envelope glycoproteins of macrophage (M)-tropic HIV-1 as well as T-cell line (T)-tropic HIV-1 isolates. Addition of infectious, T-tropic HIV-1 particles to TYMSTR/CD4-expressing cells resulted in viral entry and proviral DNA formation.Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that TYMSTR, in combination with CD4, mediates HIV-1 fusion and entry. The high-level expression of TYMSTR in CD4+ T lymphocytes and the selectivity of this receptor for T-tropic and M-tropic HIV-1 strains indicates that TYMSTR might function as HIV coreceptor at both early and late stages of infection

Disentangling input and output-related components of spatial neglect

Spatial neglect is a heterogeneous disorder with a multitude of manifestations and subtypes. Common clinical paper and pencil neglect tests fail to differentiate between these subtypes. For example, neglect patients typically bisect lines to the right. This bias can be caused by an underestimation of the left half of the line (input-related deficit), by the failure to direct actions toward the left side of space (output-related deficit), or by a mixture of these impairments. To disentangle these impairments, we used a test consisting of a line bisection task on a touch screen monitor (manual motor task) and the subsequent judgment of one's own bisection performance (visual perceptual task). It was hypothesized that patients with mainly output-related neglect should be better able to recognize their misbisected lines than patients with purely input-related neglect. In a group of 16 patients suffering from spatial neglect after right brain damage, we found that patients were three times more likely to suffer from a predominantly input-related than from an output-related subtype. The results thus suggest that neglect is typically an input-related impairment. Additional analysis of the line bisection task revealed that temporal (slowness in initiation and execution of contralateral movements) and spatial (insufficient movement amplitude toward the contralesional side) aspects of output-related neglect were mutually unrelated. This independence raises the possibility that a fine-grained differentiation of output-related neglect is required. That is, impairments in lateralized temporal and spatial aspects of movements may underlie different neglect subtypes

Algorithmic Complexity for Short Binary Strings Applied to Psychology: A Primer

Since human randomness production has been studied and widely used to assess executive functions (especially inhibition), many measures have been suggested to assess the degree to which a sequence is random-like. However, each of them focuses on one feature of randomness, leading authors to have to use multiple measures. Here we describe and advocate for the use of the accepted universal measure for randomness based on algorithmic complexity, by means of a novel previously presented technique using the the definition of algorithmic probability. A re-analysis of the classical Radio Zenith data in the light of the proposed measure and methodology is provided as a study case of an application.Comment: To appear in Behavior Research Method

Neuroprotective properties of levosimendan in an in vitro model of traumatic brain injury

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We investigated the neuroprotective properties of levosimendan, a novel inodilator, in an in vitro model of traumatic brain injury.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Organotypic hippocampal brain slices from mouse pups were subjected to a focal mechanical trauma. Slices were treated after the injury with three different concentrations of levosimendan (0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 μM) and compared to vehicle-treated slices. After 72 hrs, the trauma was quantified using propidium iodide to mark the injured cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significant dose-dependent reduction of both total and secondary tissue injury was observed in cells treated with either 0.01 or 0.1 μM levosimendan compared to vehicle-treated slices.</p> <p><b>Conclusion</b></p> <p>Levosimendan represents a promising new pharmacological tool for neuroprotection after brain injury and warrants further investigation in an in vivo model.</p

Meta-analysis of Prevalence and Risk Factors for Delirium After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation

Delirium is a severe and common complication following transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). We sought to identify the prevalence and risk factors associated with the development of postprocedural delirium in patients aged over 60 years who underwent elective TAVI for aortic stenosis. Overall, 1,051 articles were searched, from which 9 studies were included. The prevalence of delirium following TAVI was higher in studies that assessed delirium for a minimum of 3 consecutive days (24.9%) compared with the studies that did not (2%). There were large effect sizes (d > 0.8) for 3 risk factors: acute kidney injury (odds ratio [OR] 5, p < 0.001), transapical approach (OR 4, p < 0.001) and carotid artery disease (OR 4, p < 0.001), whilst small effect sizes were found for a history of atrial fibrillation, prior stroke/transient ischemic attack, peripheral artery disease, hypertension, and prior cognitive impairment. In conclusion, 23% of patients 60 years and over who underwent TAVI experience delirium, a preventative cause of cognitive impairment and dementia. Recognition of risk factors for delirium after TAVI, such as a history of carotid artery disease, development of acute kidney injury, or use of a transapical approach, provides an opportunity to implement proven delirium preventative measures

Number magnitude to finger mapping is disembodied and topological

It has been shown that humans associate fingers with numbers because finger counting strategies interact with numerical judgements. At the same time, there is evidence that there is a relation between number magnitude and space as small to large numbers seem to be represented from left to right. In the present study, we investigated whether number magnitude to finger mapping is embodied (related to the order of fingers on the hand) or disembodied (spatial). We let healthy human volunteers name random numbers between 1 and 30, while simultaneously tapping a random finger. Either the hands were placed directly next to each other, 30 cm apart, or the hands were crossed such that the left hand was on the right side of the body mid-line. The results show that naming a smaller number than the previous one was associated with tapping a finger to the left of the previously tapped finger. This shows that there is a spatial (disembodied) mapping between number magnitude and fingers. Furthermore, we show that this mapping is topological rather than metrically scaled

An Immune Basis for Lung Parenchymal Destruction in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Emphysema

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema are a frequent result of long-term smoking, but the exact mechanisms, specifically which types of cells are associated with the lung destruction, are unclear. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We studied different subsets of lymphocytes taken from portions of human lungs removed surgically to find out which lymphocytes were the most frequent, which cell-surface markers these lymphocytes expressed, and whether the lymphocytes secreted any specific factors that could be associated with disease. We found that loss of lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema was associated with a high percentage of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes that expressed chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR3 (both markers of T helper 1 cells), but not CCR3 or CCR4 (markers of T helper 2 cells). Lung lymphocytes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema secrete more interferon gamma—often associated with T helper 1 cells—and interferon-inducible protein 10 and monokine induced by interferon, both of which bind to CXCR3 and are involved in attracting T helper 1 cells. In response to interferon-inducible protein 10 and monokine induced by interferon, but not interferon gamma, lung macrophages secreted macrophage metalloelastase (matrix metalloproteinase-12), a potent elastin-degrading enzyme that causes tissue destruction and which has been linked to emphysema. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that Th1 lymphoctytes in the lungs of people with smoking-related damage drive progression of emphysema through CXCR3 ligands, interferon-inducible protein 10, and monokine induced by interferon

Is IP-10 a Better Biomarker for Active and Latent Tuberculosis in Children than IFNγ?

Background: The blood based interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) for the diagnosis of tuberculosis do not discriminate between active TB disease and latent TB infection (LTBI). The search for distinguishing biomarkers therefore continues, as the accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis is particularly challenging in children. IFN-c-inducible protein 10 (IP-10/CXCL10) has recently been evaluated as a marker for active TB in adults with promising results. Aim: To investigate this new biomarker for active TB and LTBI in paediatrics. Method: We measured IP-10 levels using ELISA in supernatants of whole blood samples stimulated with TB-specificantigens and negative control antigen. Results: IP-10 is produced in high levels following mycobacterial antigen stimulation in active TB (n = 17) and LTBI (n = 16) compared to controls (n = 16) and to IFN-c. The baseline levels of IP-10 are increased in active TB and in LTBI, but there is no significant difference of stimulated levels of IP-10 between active TB and LTBI. Conclusions: IP-10 is a biomarker for tuberculosis in children. However like IFNc, IP-10 also does not distinguish between active TB and LTBI

A molecular assay for sensitive detection of pathogen-specific T-cells.

Here we describe the development and validation of a highly sensitive assay of antigen-specific IFN-γ production using real time quantitative PCR (qPCR) for two reporters--monokine-induced by IFN-γ (MIG) and the IFN-γ inducible protein-10 (IP10). We developed and validated the assay and applied it to the detection of CMV, HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) specific responses, in a cohort of HIV co-infected patients. We compared the sensitivity of this assay to that of the ex vivo RD1 (ESAT-6 and CFP-10)-specific IFN-γ Elispot assay. We observed a clear quantitative correlation between the two assays (P<0.001). Our assay proved to be a sensitive assay for the detection of MTB-specific T cells, could be performed on whole blood samples of fingerprick (50 uL) volumes, and was not affected by HIV-mediated immunosuppression. This assay platform is potentially of utility in diagnosis of infection in this and other clinical settings