Effect of peripartal feeding strategy on colostrum yield and composition in sows.

Research showed a positive association between back fat (BF) change the week before farrowing and colostrum yield (CY). This study tested the causality of this association, hence to optimize CY by altering the sows' peripartal feeding strategy. Sows were randomly divided into 2 treatment groups at d 108 of gestation. The first group (L, n = 28) received 1.5 kg feed·d(-1), the second group (H, n = 22) received 3 times 1.5 kg feed·d(-1) until farrowing. Daily feed intake and CY were measured. Colostrum was analyzed for nutrient composition, AA and fatty acids, IgG and IgA. Sow serum was obtained at d 108 of gestation and d 1 of lactation after overnight fasting and analyzed for NEFA, (iso)butyrylcarnitine (C4), creatinine, urea, 3-OH-butyrylcarnitine (3-OH-C4), IgG, and IgA. Based on BF at d 108, sows were divided into body condition (BC) groups: skinny (<17 mm, n = 15), moderate (17 to 23 mm, n = 21), fat (>23 mm, n = 14). We performed ANOVA with treatment and BC as fixed factors and Scheffé post-hoc test. The week before farrowing, the L group had the lowest daily feed intake (DFI; 1.5 kg), and within the H group, fat sows (3.8 kg) had a lower DFI than skinny sows (4.3 kg; p = 0.006). The H group tended to have a greater total CY (P = 0.074) and had a greater CY/kg liveborn piglet (P = 0.018) than the L group. Compared with sows in moderate BC, fat sows had a lower total CY (P = 0.044) and a lower CY/kg liveborn piglet (P = 0.005). The H group had a greater concentration of lactose (p = 0.009) and n-3 PUFA (p < 0.001) but a lower concentration of protein (p = 0.040) in colostrum than the L group. The concentration of IgG and IgA did not differ between treatment and BC groups. Serum parameters at d 108 were similar between the treatment groups and BC groups. At d 1, the H group mobilized less body fat (NEFA: p = 0.002) and protein (creatinine: p < 0.001, C4: p = 0.016) reserves but had a greater ratio urea:NEFA (p < 0.001) and less ketone bodies (3-OH-C4: p < 0.001) compared with the L group. This indicates a more balanced entry of metabolites in the citric acid cycle and thus a better support of the maternal peripartal metabolism in the H group. Serum parameters did not differ between BC groups. Both CY and composition can be influenced by the peripartal feeding strategy and BC. The highest CY and most beneficial colostrum composition were obtained when sows entered the farrowing unit in a moderate BC and were provided a high peripartal feeding strategy.

P300 and treatment effect of modafinil on fatigue in multiple sclerosis.

To evaluate the value of visual and auditory P300 for predicting the response of multiple sclerosis-related fatigue to modafinil treatment, 33 patients were treated with 100 mg modafinil once daily for 4 weeks, following a 4-week baseline phase and an optional 8-week extension phase. The main clinical outcome parameter was a decrease in the fatigue visual analogue score (VAS) before and after 4 weeks of treatment. Patients with shorter auditory P300 latency at baseline were more likely to benefit from modafinil treatment. Auditory P300 latency predicted treatment response with a specificity of 76% and a sensitivity of 75% at a cut-off latency of 350 ms. Visual P300 latency could not be used to predict treatment response. Baseline auditory P300 latency predicted treatment response, whereas visual P300 latency did not. Clinical improvement did not correlate with changes in either visual or auditory P300.

Overexpression of arginase alters circulating and tissue amino acids and guanidino compounds and affects neuromotor behavior in mice.

Arginine is an intermediate of the ornithine cycle and serves as a precursor for the synthesis of nitric oxide, creatine, agmatine and proteins. It is considered to be a conditionally essential amino acid because endogenous synthesis only barely meets daily requirements. In rapidly growing suckling neonates, endogenous arginine biosynthesis is crucial to compensate for the insufficient supply of arginine via the milk. Evidence is accumulating that the intestine rather than the kidney plays a major role in arginine synthesis in this period. Accordingly, ectopic expression of hepatic arginase in murine enterocytes by genetic modification induces a selective arginine deficiency. The ensuing phenotype, whose severity correlates with the level of transgene expression in the enterocytes, could be reversed with arginine supplementation. We analyzed the effect of arginine deficiency on guanidine metabolism and neuromotor behavior. Arginine-deficient transgenic mice continued to suffer from an arginine deficiency after the arginine biosynthetic enzymes had disappeared from the enterocytes. Postweaning catch-up growth in arginine-deficient mice was characterized by increased levels of all measured amino acids except arginine. Furthermore, plasma total amino acid concentration, including arginine, was significantly lower in adult male than in adult female transgenic mice. Decreases in the concentration of plasma and tissue arginine led to significant decreases in most metabolites of arginine. However, the accumulation of the toxic guanidino compounds, guanidinosuccinic acid and methylguanidine, corresponded inversely with circulating arginine concentration, possibly reflecting a higher oxidative stress under hypoargininemic conditions. In addition, hypoargininemia was associated with disturbed neuromotor behavior, although brain levels of toxic guanidino compounds and ammonia were normal.

Loss of psychic self-activation after paramedian bithalamic infarction.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Loss of psychic self-activation has been described after bilateral lesions to the globus pallidus, striatum, and white matter of the frontal lobes, but it is a very rare sign of bithalamic lesions. The exact functional-anatomic mechanism underlying loss of psychic self-activation following bithalamic lesions remains to be elucidated. CASE DESCRIPTION: We present clinical, neuropsychological, structural, and functional neuroimaging data of an 18-month follow-up period of a man with prominent loss of psychic self-activation after coronary arteriography. Except for memory decline, accompanying symptoms remained restricted to the acute phase. The neurobehavioral syndrome consisted mainly of apathy, indifference, poor motivation, and flattened affect, and this remained unchanged during the entire follow-up period. MRI showed a bithalamic infarction involving the nucleus medialis thalami bilaterally. Single-photon emission CT revealed a severe relative hypoperfusion of both thalami, a relative hypoperfusion of both nuclei caudati, and a relative hypoperfusion mesiofrontally. CONCLUSIONS: Single-photon emission CT data support the hypothesis that the neurobehavioral manifestations after bithalamic paramedian infarction are caused by disruption of the striatal-ventral pallidal-thalamic-frontomesial limbic loop. Probably, bilateral disruption at different levels of the striatal-ventral pallidal-thalamic-frontomesial loop may lead to a similar clinical picture consisting of loss of psychic self-activation.

Functional anatomy, vascularisation and pathology of the human thalamus.

The thalamus is a nuclear complex situated in the diencephalon. Besides a neuro-anatomical description of the thalamus, this article reviews the current knowledge on the functional anatomy of the three functional classes of thalamic nuclei: specific, non-specific and association nuclei. As the majority of the pathology affecting the thalamus is of cerebrovascular origin, the vascularisation of the human thalamus will be reviewed as well. Finally, the knowledge of the functional anatomy and the vascularisation of the human thalamus will be integrated in the review of the semeiology of thalamic syndromes. Besides its function as a relay centre in subserving sensory and motor mechanisms, the thalamus participates in various neurocognitive processes such as memory and language. The current knowledge on these topics will be reviewed as well.

Recent and future evolutions in NeuroSPECT with particular emphasis on the synergistic use and fusion of imaging modalities.

Recent and future evolutions in neuroSPECT apply to radiopharmaceuticals techniques and the synergistic use of different imaging modalities in the work-up of neurological disorders. The introduction of Technetium labelled perfusion tracers, which could pass the intact blood-brain barrier, together with the implementation of the tomographic principle, by making the conventional gamma camera rotating, enabled estimation of regional cerebral blood flow and indirectly of local brain metabolism. In addition at present Thallium-201 and Tc-99m sestaMIBI allow functional detection of viable tumor tissue, without interference from previous surgery or radiotherapy as seen using CT-scan or MRI. In neurology this has led to the recognition of SPECT by the American Academy of Neurology (Therapeutics and technology subcommittee) as an established or promising tool in major neurological disorders such as dementia, stroke and epilepsy, while other domains such as brain oncology are considered investigational. With regard to radiopharmaceuticals, recent evolutions mainly include the development of mostly Iodine-123 labelled receptor ligands, some of which are already commercially available. For instrumentation advances consist e.g. of multidetector systems equipped with fanbeam collimators, attenuation and scatter correction or coincidence detection. Given the present role for nuclear neurology it may be expected that these additional radiopharmaceutical and technical innovations will continue to stimulate the development of SPECT of the brain. The synergistic use of several imaging techniques such as CT, (functional) MRI, source imaging, SPECT and PET represents a multimodal holistic approach to probe cerebral functions for research and clinical purposes. Clinical indications, in which this synergistic use is illustrated include e.g. support of the clinical diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer type, presurgical ictal detection of seizure focus, detection of acute ischemia and differential diagnosis between radiation necrosis and brain tumor recurrence. The synergistic use of imaging modalities, optimally applied using image fusion, allows to overcome the intrinsic limitations and to enhance the specific advantages of the different approaches as it leads to increased precision and accuracy, as well for spatial anatomofunctional correlation as for quantification.

Anticonvulsant activity of piperine on seizures induced by excitatory amino acid receptor agonists.

In traditional Chinese medicine, a mixture of radish and pepper is used to treat epilepsy. The presumptive effectiveness of this prescription might be due to the anticonvulsant actions of the principal component of pepper, the alkaloid piperine (CAS 94-62-2). The effects of piperine on convulsions induced in mice by agonists at different excitatory amino acid receptor subtypes were studied. Piperine was shown to significantly block convulsions induced by intracerebroventricular injection of threshold doses of kainate, but to have no or only slight effects on convulsions induced by L-glutamate, N-methyl-D-aspartate or guanidinosuccinate. Piperine suspensions, injected intraperitoneally, 1 h before injection of the threshold intracerebroventricular dose of kainate for the induction of clonic convulsions (1 nmol), blocked these convulsions with an ED50 (and 95% confidence interval) of 46 (25-86) mg/kg. Although piperine did block convulsions, induced by kainate, the compound does not appear to act as a kainate receptor antagonist. Whole-cell currents induced by the application of kainate to spinal cord cells in primary dissociated cultures were not affected by co-application of piperine.

Guanidino compound analysis as a complementary diagnostic parameter for hyperargininemia: follow-up of guanidino compound levels during therapy.

The aim of this collaborative study was to investigate whether guanidino compound analyses in the biologic fluids can be used as a complementary diagnostic parameter for hyperargininemia. Guanidino compounds were determined in the biologic fluids of all known living hyperargininemic patients using a cation exchange chromatographic system with a fluorescence detection method. The serum arginine, homoarginine, alpha-keto-delta-guanidino-valeric acid, argininic acid, and N-alpha-acetylarginine levels of all the hyperargininemic patients are higher than the normal range. Similar increases were seen for the urinary excretion of alpha-keto-delta-guanidinovaleric acid and argininic acid. Untreated hyperargininemic patients have the highest guanidino compound levels in cerebrospinal fluid. However, even under therapy, the arginine, homoarginine, alpha-keto-delta-guanidinovaleric acid, and argininic acid levels in cerebrospinal fluid are still increased. Protein restriction alone is not sufficient to normalize the hyperargininemia, but protein restriction together with supplementation of essential amino acids with or without sodium benzoate decreases further the arginine levels. However, whereas the argininemia can be normalized, the catabolites of arginine are still increased. We conclude that the urinary amino acid levels may remain normal in hyperargininemia, whereas consistent increases of the guanidino compounds are observed. Thus, guanidino compound analyses can be used as a complementary biochemical diagnostic parameter for hyperargininemia. Although the argininemia can be normalized by therapy, the levels of the catabolites of arginine are still elevated.