Green tea and pomegranate extract administered during critical moments of the production cycle improves blood antiradical activity and alters cecal microbial ecology of broiler chickens

Phytobiotics are usually tested in feed and throughout the production cycle. However, it could be beneficial to evaluate their effects when administered only during critical moments, such as changes in feeding phases. The aim of the trial was to investigate the effect of a commercial plant extract (PE; IQV-10-P01, InQpharm Animal Health, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) on growth performance, blood antiradical activity and cecal microbiome when administered in drinking water to broiler chickens during the post-hatching phase and at each change of diet. In the experiment, 480 1-day-old male broiler chicks were assigned to two groups in a 50-day trial. Broilers received drinking water (C) or drinking water plus PE (T) at a rate of 2 mL/L on days 0 to 4, 10\u201311 and 20\u2013 21. PE did not affect performance and water intake, while total antiradical activity was improved (p < 0.05). A greater abundance of lactic acid bacteria (false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05) was found in the T group and the result was confirmed at a lower taxonomic level with higher Lactobacillaceae abundance (FDR < 0.05). Our findings suggest that PE administration during critical moments of the production cycle of broiler chickens may exert beneficial effects at a systemic level and on gut microbial ecology

Epigenetic therapies for heart failure: Current insights and future potential

Despite the current reductionist approach providing an optimal indication for diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), there are no standard pharmacological therapies for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Although in its infancy in cardiovascular diseases, the epigenetic-based therapy (“epidrugs”) is capturing the interest of physician community. In fact, an increasing number of controlled clinical trials is evaluating the putative beneficial effects of: 1) direct epigenetic-oriented drugs, eg, apabetalone, and 2) repurposed drugs with a possible indirect epigenetic interference, eg, metformin, statins, sodium glucose transporter inhibitors 2 (SGLT2i), and omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in both HFrEF and HFpEF, separately. Apabetalone is the first and unique direct epidrug tested in cardiovascular patients to date, and the BETonMACE trial has reported a reduction in first HF hospitalization (any EF value) and cardiovascular death in patients with type 2 diabetes and recent acute coronary syndrome, suggesting a possible role in secondary prevention. Patients with HFpEF seem to benefit from supplementation to the standard therapy with statins, metformin, and SGLT2i owing to their ability in reducing mortality. In contrast, the vasodilator hydralazine, with or without isosorbide dinitrate, did not provide beneficial effects. In HFrEF, metformin and SGLT2i could reduce the risk of incident HF and mortality in affected patients whereas clinical trials based on statins provided mixed results. Furthermore, PUFAs diet supplementation was significantly associated with reduced cardiovascular risk in both HFpEF and HFrEF. Future large trials will reveal whether direct and indirect epitherapy will remain a work in progress or become a useful way to customize the therapy in the real-world management of HFpEF and HFrEF. Our goal is to discuss the recent advancement in the epitherapy as a possible way to improve personalized therapy of HF

Effects of nucleotides administration on growth performance and immune response of post-weaning piglets

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of nucleotides administration on growth perform- ance and immune response in post-weaning piglets. Twenty-eight male weaned piglets, homo- geneous for age and weight were randomly allocated to two experimental treatments. Treated group (T) was daily orally administered 0.8g/head of a mixture of nucleotides suspended in 2.1 mL water solution; while control group (C) received 2.1 mL saline solution. Body weight (BW) and average daily gain (ADG) were individually recorded weekly, while feed intake (FI), and gain:feed (G:F) were recorded and calculated on pen basis. Faecal score was evaluated every seven days. On day 0, 9, 18 and 27 blood samples were collected to determine IgA, IgG and haptoglobin concentration. At day 28 all piglets were sacrificed, and tissue samples of ileal Peyer\u2019s patches were collected for the evaluation of IL1a, IL1b, IL6, IL10, TNFa, TLR2, TLR4 and PPARc gene expression. Nucleotides supplementation significantly increased BW (17.37 vs. 19.00kg/pig; p 1\u20444 <.01), ADG (.351 vs. .400kg/d; p < .01), and FI (3.96 vs. 4.39kg/d; p < .01), but not G:F (.61 vs. .64; p 1\u20444 .29). Faecal consistency was not different between the experimental groups and no occurrence of diarrhoea was reported. IgA and IgG content in blood was not influenced by the treatment, as well as gene expression of inflammatory cytokines in Peyer\u2019s patches. The present trial shows that nucleotide administration is able to improve growth per- formance of post-weaning piglets, with no effects on inflammatory response and the expression of immune-related genes

The influence of dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on serum leptin concentration in lactating sows

CLA may be useful in sow nutrition to increase CLA content in colostrum and milk (Bee, 2000). However CLA fed animals displayed also significantly reduced body fat (Pariza et al., 2001) and this effect may be detrimental to reproductive efficiency in sows per se and for the effects on metabolic hormones as well. Moreover some CLA isomers has been reported to influence leptin gene expression (Houseknacht et al., 1998). The present study examined the effects of dietary supplement of CLA on serum leptin in lactating sows. Conclusions: These results indicate that dietary CLA does not influence feed intake and body condition in lactating sows. By these results it does not seem that circulating leptin in lactating sows may be related to body weight and body condition as established in humans and rodents. Further research could explain if the higher leptin level in CLA fed sows is due to changes in leptin gene expression or in leptin clearance as well

A monitoring system for laying hens that uses a detection sensor based on infrared technology and image pattern recognition

In Italy, organic egg production farms use free-range housing systems with a big outdoor area and a flock of no more than 500 hens. With additional devices and/or farming procedures, the whole flock could be forced to stay in the outdoor area for a limited time of the day. As a consequence, ozone treatments of housing areas could be performed in order to reduce the levels of atmospheric ammonia and bacterial load without risks, due by its toxicity, both for hens and workers. However, an automatic monitoring system, and a sensor able to detect the presence of animals, would be necessary. For this purpose, a first sensor was developed but some limits, related to the time necessary to detect a hen, were observed. In this study, significant improvements, for this sensor, are proposed. They were reached by an image pattern recognition technique that was applied to thermografic images acquired from the housing system. An experimental group of seven laying hens was selected for the tests, carried out for three weeks. The first week was used to set-up the sensor. Different templates, to use for the pattern recognition, were studied and different floor temperature shifts were investigated. At the end of these evaluations, a template of elliptical shape, and sizes of 135 \uc3\u97 63 pixels, was chosen. Furthermore, a temperature shift of one degree was selected to calculate, for each image, a color background threshold to apply in the following field tests. Obtained results showed an improvement of the sensor detection accuracy that reached values of sensitivity and specificity of 95.1% and 98.7%. In addition, the range of time necessary to detect a hen, or classify a case, was reduced at two seconds. This result could allow the sensor to control a bigger area of the housing system. Thus, the resulting monitoring system could allow to perform the sanitary treatments without risks both for animals and humans

EFFICACIA DELLA SOMMINISTRAZIONE DI BENZOATO DI SODIO NELLE DIETE PER SUINETTI IN SVEZZAMENTO EFFICACY OF SODIUM BENZOATE SUPPLEMENTATION IN WEANING PIGLETS DIET

Gli acidi organici e i loro sali vengono da molti anni utilizzati nell\u2019alimentazione del suinetto al fine di ridurre la capacit\ue0 tampone delle diete starter. L\u2019acidificazione della dieta pu\uf2 essere considerata una misura profilattica simile a quella effettuata con gli antibiotici: mentre gli antibiotici sono prodotti per inibire la crescita batterica in generale, il processo di acidificazione indotto dall\u2019utilizzo dell\u2019acido organico permette la sopravvivenza dei microrganismi pi\uf9 adatti a colonizzare il tratto gastrointestinale (1). In relazione alla sua attivit\ue0 antibatterica e antifungina, il Na benzoato viene attualmente utilizzato come conservante di vari alimenti (2), mentre non esistono riferimenti relativi ad un suo impiego come regolatore di acidit\ue0 nelle diete per suinetti. E\u2019 stato dimostrato che l\u2019acido benzoico riduce la crescita di microrganismi potenzialmente dannosi dell\u2019intestino del suinetto (3) e riduce il pH urinario con una riduzione dell\u2019escrezione di ammoniaca (4). Sulla base di tali considerazioni \ue8 stata condotta una ricerca allo scopo di verificare gli effetti dell\u2019integrazione della dieta con sodio benzoato sulle prestazioni produttive, sulle popolazioni batteriche intestinali e sull\u2019urea plasmatica dei suinetti in post-svezzamento

Acido laurico saponificato con il calcio nella dieta di suinetti in post svezzamento: effetti sulle performance di crescita e sulla salute intestinale

\uc8 noto che gli acidi grassi a media catena (MCFA) hanno un\u2019azione antibatterica, in particolare nei confronti dei batteri Gram+. Lo scopo del lavoro \ue8 stato valutare gli effetti dell\u2019acido laurico (C12) saponificato con il calcio sulle performance produttive e la salute intestinale dei suinetti in svezzamento. Per la prova sono stati impiegati 192 suinetti, ripartiti in 3 gruppi, alimentati rispettivamente con una dieta basale (Db= Ctr), Db+Amoxicillina, 400mg/kg (T1) e Db+C12-Ca, 1kg/ton (T2). L\u2019integrazione della dieta con C12-Ca ha comportato una riduzione della mortalit\ue0 e dei trattamenti medicamentosi rispetto ai soggetti Ctr. L\u2019efficienza alimentare \ue8 risultata analoga nei soggetti alimentati con la dieta integrata con laurato di calcio e in quelli trattati con antibiotico, con una differenza significativa rispetto ai controlli (P<0,05). La somministrazione del laurato ha infine determinato un miglioramento dello stato antiossidante della mucosa intestinale rispetto ai soggetti degli altri due gruppi con un aumento della capacit\ue0 antiossidante totale TAOC (P <0,01) e una riduzione dei livelli di Malondialdeide (P<0,01). I risultati suggeriscono che l\u2019inclusione nella dieta dei suinetti di C12-Ca pu\uf2 migliorare la salute intestinale e pu\uf2 rappresentare una possibile alternativa all\u2019antibiotico, impiegato per scopi di profilassi

Reduction of food phatogens prevalence in dietary S.cerevisiae-fed poultry orally challenged with S.enteritidis and C. jejuni.

The effect of yeast supplementation in broiler chickens on Salmonella enteritidis and Campylobacter jejuni contamination in faeces, cecum, breast, and neck skin was evaluated. Two groups (12 replicates/group, 20 Hubbard female chickens 1d old/replicate) were fed pre-starter (0-10d), starter (11-20d) and growing (21-38d) diets, and administered (Y) or not (C) Levucell\uae SB20 (Saccharomyces cerevisiae type boulardii I-1079; 106 CFU/g feed through a 0.05% premix). Birds were orally challenged at 10 days of life (S. enteritidis, 1x105 CFU/bird, and C. jejuni, 3x105 CFU/bird). On day 10 and 28 post-infection (PI), 10 animals/replicate were slaughtered and pooled ceca content of 5 birds/replicate was analysed for Salmonella and Campylobacter detection and enumeration together with total yeast count. Neck and breast skin were tested for Salmonella and Campylobacter presence on 1 subject/replicate. Data were analysed by a GLM procedure of SAS considering two experimental periods, from 0 to 20 days and from 20 to 38 days. Growth performance and faecal coliforms content were not affected by treatment. Higher yeast and lactobacilli (P=0.01) faecal count, and a significant decreased Salmonella enumeration and frequency in neck (-41%, P=0.03) and tendency in faeces (-25%; P=0.06), cecum (-25%; P=0.06), and breast skin (-33%; P=0.08) were found in Y group on day 38. No fecal Campylobacter was detected at 10d (P<0.01) or 28d (P=0.06) PI in Y birds, while in neck skin absence of Campylobacter was only recorded on day 10 PI (P=0.01). Campylobacter was significantly lower in Y birds in cecum (-42%; P=0.01), and breast skin (-58%; P=0.04) on 10d PI, while on day 38 it was reduced in breast skin (-42%; P=0.02), and tended to decrease in faeces (-25%; P=0.06). Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CNCM I-1079) significantly controlled Campylobacter carriage in chickens with some positive results also on Salmonella contamination, thus reducing the contamination of carcasses with both food borne pathogens