Effect of Hevea brasiliensis seed meal or Euphorbia heterophylla seed supplemented diets on performance, physicochemical and sensory properties of eggs, and egg yolk fatty acid profile in guinea fowl (Numida meleagris).

A total of 144 French selected breed (Galor) female guinea fowl (GF) of 42 wk of age were enrolled for a feeding trial of 15, 30, and 45 D duration. The birds were randomly assigned to 18 cages, each containing 8 birds. A total of 3 isonitrogenous and isocaloric dietary treatments were trialed, each diet comprising 6 replications (cages), which meant a total of 48 birds per diet. The GF were fed either a control diet C (commercial diet "FACI ponte 20", SIPRA, Ivory Coast, usually used for all poultry species) or the diet C supplemented with 5% Euphorbia heterophylla seeds (diet E) and the diet C supplemented with 5% Hevea seed meal (Hevea brasiliensis) (diet H). Animal performance were assessed for 3 periods (days 0 to 15, 0 to 30, and 0 to 45), and egg quality and composition were assessed at 15, 30, and 45 D of the trial. The results indicated no mortality during the trial. The laying rate was the highest (43.9%) with diet E and the lowest with diet C (32.5%), the laying rate with diet H being intermediate (38.5%). Diet E containing Euphorbia seeds led to a reduced cholesterol content of the eggs. Additionally, inclusion of Euphorbia seeds and, to a lesser extent, of the Hevea seed meal in the diet led to n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid enriched GF eggs, with thereby, improved nutritional value. A sensory test did not find any difference between the 3 diets on trial.

Performance of guinea fowl fed hevea seed meal or cashew nut meal as a partial substitute for soya bean meal.

Guinea fowl production is increasing in developing countries and has a crucial role in the fight against poverty. However, the feed cost is very high, especially the soya bean meal cost, and farmers cannot afford to buy commercial feed. Consequently, animals do not receive feed adapted to their nutritional needs and they exhibit poor performance. The aim of this paper is to partially substitute soya bean meal by local by-products, discarded, in abundant supply and not used in human nutrition. French Galor guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) and local African guinea fowl (150 birds per breed) were reared for 16 weeks and fed the same starter diet for the initial 4 weeks. From 4 weeks of age, experimental birds from each breed were randomly assigned to three grower isoproteic and isolipidic dietary treatments, each containing five replications (floor pens); each replication included 10 birds of the same breed. The guinea fowl of each breed were fed either control grower diet using soya bean meal as the protein supplement GS, or trial grower diet GN (soya bean meal supplement partially substituted by 15% cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale) meal) or trial grower diet GH (soya bean meal supplement partially substituted by 15% hevea seed (Hevea brasiliensis) meal). The results indicated that hevea seed meal contained a high content of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) (21.2% of total fatty acids (FAs)). The use of hevea seed meal in guinea fowl grower diet was found to exert no adverse effect on growth performance and carcass yield. However, the use of cashew nut meal led to negative effects on performance like daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Therefore, cashew nut meal cannot be considered as a suitable partial substitute for soya bean meal in diets. The use of hevea seed meal led to a very low abdominal fat proportion and low blood triglyceride and cholesterol content. Additionally, inclusion of dietary hevea seed meal resulted in guinea fowl meat enriched in PUFAs, especially n-3 FAs, thereby significantly improving the nutritional value.

Early-onset dysfunction of retrosplenial cortex precedes overt amyloid plaque formation in Tg2576 mice.

A mouse model of amyloid pathology was used to first examine using a cross sectional design changes in retrosplenial cortex activity in transgenic mice aged 5, 11, 17, and 23 months. Attention focused on: (1) overt amyloid labeled with ß-amyloid((1-42)) and Congo Red staining, (2) metabolic function assessed by the enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, and (3) neuronal activity as assessed indirectly by the immediate-early gene (IEG), c-Fos. Changes in cytochrome oxidase and c-Fos activity were observed in the retrosplenial cortex in Tg2576 mice as early as 5 months of age, long before evidence of plaque formation. Subsequent analyses concentrating on this early dysfunction revealed at 5 months pervasive, amyloid precursor protein (APP)-derived peptide accumulation in the retrosplenial cortex and selective afferents (anterior thalamus, hippocampus), which was associated with the observed c-Fos hyporeactivity. These findings indicate that retrosplenial cortex dysfunction occurs during early stages of amyloid production in Tg2576 mice and may contribute to cognitive dysfunction.

The role of the hippocampus in mnemonic integration and retrieval: complementary evidence from lesion and inactivation studies.

Two forms of account have been proposed for how animals form integrated memories for patterns of stimulation: the elemental account holds that the elements that make up the pattern become directly linked to one another, whereas the configural account holds that these elements become bound together through their capacity to activate a separate, shared configural memory. The hippocampus and perirhinal cortex have been linked to both elemental and configural processes. Here, we assessed the role of the rat hippocampus and perirhinal cortex in these distinct ways of processing patterns of sensory stimulation involving auditory, visual context and temporal information. Using selective lesions and inactivation techniques we identified a specific role for the hippocampus in the retrieval of configural memories but not of those that could be encoded elementally; we also identified a role for the rat perirhinal cortex in visual contextual learning. These results, using a novel combination of behavioural assays, provide clear support for the view that patterns of stimulation can be encoded either elementally or configurally, and that disruption of hippocampal function leaves rats reliant on elemental processes.

Relaxation and music to reduce postsurgical pain.

AIMS: We investigated the effects of relaxation, music, and the combination of relaxation and music on postoperative pain, across and between two days and two activities (ambulation and rest) and across ambulation each day. This secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial was conducted from 1995 to 1997. BACKGROUND: After surgery, patients do not always receive sufficient relief from opioids and may have undesired side-effects. More complete relief (10-30%) was found recently with adjuvant interventions of relaxation, music, and their combination. Comparison of effects between days and treatments have not been examined longitudinally. METHODS: With a repeated measures design, abdominal surgery patients (n = 468) in five US hospitals were assigned randomly to one of four groups; relaxation, music, their combination, and control. With institutional approval and written informed consent, subjects were interviewed and taught interventions preoperatively. Postoperative testing was at ambulation and rest on days 1 and 2 using visual analogue (VAS) sensation and distress of pain scales. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis indicated that although pain decreased by day 2, interventions were not different between days and activities. They were effective for pain across ambulation on each day, across ambulation and across rest over both days (all P < 0.001), and had similar effects by day and by activity. CONCLUSION: Nurses can safely recommend any of these interventions for pain on both postoperative days and at both ambulation and rest.

The lived experience of listening to music while recovering from surgery.

Music has been shown to have positive physiological and psychological effects on patients in previous studies. In this study, the authors looked at the lived experience of listening to music and evaluated findings from a phenomenological perspective. Specifically, the authors described the following three themes that emerged from interview data with 8 participants who listened to music during postoperative recovery: (a) comfort from a discomforting condition, (b) familiarity in a strange environment, and (c) distraction from fear, pain, and anxiety. In addition, implications for the use of music by nurses are discussed.

Cultural differences in music chosen for pain relief.

Nurses use music therapeutically but often assume that all patients will equally appreciate the same type of music. Cultural differences in music preferences are compared across five pain studies. Music preferences for pain relief are described as the most frequently chosen type of music for each culture. Findings indicate that in four studies, musical choices were related to cultural background (p = .002 to .049). Although the majority in each group chose among the other types of music, Caucasians most frequently chose orchestra music, African Americans chose jazz, and Taiwanese chose harp music. For culturally congruent care, nurses should become aware of cultural differences in music preference and provide culturally specific selections among other music expected to have a therapeutic effect.

Acute pain.

The review of acute pain describes the problem of unresolved pain and its effects on the neural, autonomic, and immune systems. Conceptualizations and mechanisms of pain are reviewed as well as theories of pain management. Descriptive studies of patient and nurse factors that inhibit effective pain management are discussed, followed by studies of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions. Critical analysis reveals that most studies were atheoretical, and therefore, this proliferation of information lacked conceptual coherence and organization. Furthermore, the nature and extent of barriers to pain management were described, but few intervention studies have been devised, as yet, to modify the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of nurses and patients that are barriers to pain management. Although some of the complementary therapies have sufficient research support to be used in clinical pain management, the physiological mechanisms and outcomes need to be studied. It is critical at this time to design studies of interventions to improve assessment, decision making, attentive care, and patient teaching.

Relief of postoperative pain with jaw relaxation, music and their combination.

The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to determine the effect of jaw relaxation, music and the combination of relaxation and music on postoperative pain after major abdominal surgery during ambulation and rest on postoperative days 1 and 2. Opioid medication provided for pain, following abdominal surgery, does not always give sufficient relief and can cause undesired side effects. Thus, additional interventions such as music and relaxation may provide more complete relief. Previous studies have found mixed results due to small sample sizes and other methodological problems. In a rigorous experimental design, 500 subjects aged 18-70 in five Midwestern hospitals were randomly assigned by minimization to a relaxation, music, relaxation plus music, or control group. Interventions were taught preoperatively and tested postoperatively. The same amount of time was spent with subjects in the control group. Pain was measured with the visual analogue sensation and distress of pain scales. Demographic and surgical variables, and milligrams of parenteral or oral opioids in effect at the time of testing were not significantly different between the groups, nor did they correlate with pain scores. Controlling for pretest sensation and distress, orthogonal a priori contrasts and multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that the three treatment groups had significantly less pain than the controls, (P = 0.028-0.000) which was confirmed by the univariate analysis of covariance (P = 0.018-0.000). Post hoc multivariate analysis revealed that the combination group had significantly less sensation and distress of pain than the control group on all post-tests (P = 0.035-0.000), and the relaxation and music groups had significantly less on all tests (P = 0.022-0.000) except after ambulation. At post ambulation those using relaxation did not have significantly less pain than the controls on both days and those using music did not on day 1, although there were some univariate effects. A corresponding significant decrease in mastery of the interventions from pre to post ambulation suggests the need for reminders to focus on the intervention during this increased activity. Physicians and nurses preparing patients for surgery and caring for them afterward, should encourage patients to use relaxation and music as adjuvants to medication for postoperative pain.

Contingent versus incidental context processing during conditioning: dissociation after excitotoxic hippocampal plus dentate gyrus lesions.

This experiment explored whether excitotoxic hippocampus plus dentate gyrus (HPC/DG) lesions in rats would dissociate the differential processing of contextual cues during the performance of learned associations when (1) their processing during training is incidental to successful learning or (2) the solution of a discrimination problem is contingent on their processing. A series of training stages were conducted, beginning with appetitive conditioning to two stimuli (X and Y), each of which was trained in one of two different contexts (operant chambers A and B) (i.e., AX+, BY+). Conditioning was indexed as appetitive responding. The animals were then trained on a biconditional contextual discrimination with these same stimuli (AX+, AY-; BY+, BX-). The next stage involved conditioning trials to two new stimuli (W and Z), one in each context, while the animals were actively discriminating contexts A and B by continuing to perform the original biconditional discrimination (AX+, AY-, AW+; BY+, BX-, BZ+). Finally, they were trained on a second biconditional discrimination involving these new stimuli (AX+, AY-, AW+, AZ-; BY+, BX-, BZ+, BW-). The incidental use of context cues was examined by looking at the rate of conditioned responding to cues X, Y, W, and Z in their original training contexts or a different context; HPC/DG lesioned rats differed from controls in being unaffected by a change of context. The contingent use of context cues was examined by looking at performance of each of the two biconditional tasks; HPC/DG lesioned rats reached levels of conditional performance indistinguishable from those of controls. These findings point to two distinct ways in which contextual information is processed in the brain, revealing a dissociation between incidental and contingent processing of contextual cues after HPC/DG lesions.

The effects of Western music on postoperative pain in Taiwan.

Music is a method nurses can use to help relieve pain, however little is known about its effectiveness across cultures. In this study, Western music was tested for its effectiveness in reducing postoperative pain in 38 Taiwanese patients, and its acceptability was explored. A pretest and post-test experimental design was used with visual analogue scales to measure sensation and distress of pain. Before surgery, subjects were randomly assigned to receive tape recorded music or the usual care. Those who were assigned to the music group chose among 5 types of sedative music. On postoperative Day 1 and Day 2, the effectiveness of the tape-recorded music was investigated during 15 minutes of rest in bed. Patients were interviewed on Day 3 to determine their liking for the music, its calming effects, and the helpfulness of the music. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed a significant interaction between time and group in the distress of pain on Day 1, but not on Day 2, and in pain sensation on Day 2, but not Day 1. Subjects from Taiwan were similar to subjects in a previous study in the United States in their liking for the music, and in reports of the helpfulness of the music for pain sensation and distress, but fewer Taiwanese found the music calming, and they had different choices: more chose harp music and fewer chose jazz than subjects in the U.S. study, and some would prefer Buddhist hymns or popular songs heard in Taiwan. Findings support the use of culturally acceptable music in addition to analgesic medication for the sensation and distress of postoperative pain.

Effects of relaxation and music on postoperative pain: a review.

Postoperative patients differ in their response to pain and opioids. It is therefore important that nurses offer other options as adjuvants to medication. Relaxation and music may reduce pain by interrupting the postoperative cycle of pain, muscle tension and sympathetic activity. This review summarizes and critiques studies on the effectiveness of relaxation and music use during postoperative pain. Relaxation and music were effective in reducing affective and observed pain in the majority of studies, but they were less often effective in reducing sensory pain or opioid intake. However, the between-study differences in surgical procedures, experimental techniques, activities during testing, measurement of pain, and amount of practice make comparisons difficult. Furthermore, within studies, the problems of inadequate sample size, lack of random assignment, no assurance of pretest equivalence, delayed post-test administration and no control for opiates at the time of testing reduces the validity of the studies' conclusions. Randomized controlled studies of the types of relaxation and music that are most helpful to postoperative patients should be explored in various contexts.

Suggestion and veridicality in the reconstruction of sexual trauma, or can a bait of suggestion catch a carp of falsehood?

Freud used the term suggestion in psychoanalysis in different ways, including suggestion as an integral part of the transference and suggestion in the sense of undue influence or technical error. This distinction can be expressed in terms of the patient's suggestibility (capacity for transference) and the analyst's unwarranted suggestion or persuasion representing countertransference, theoretical bias, or a departure from technical neutrality. Whether suggestion is explicit or implicit, the effects of suggestion and suggestibility may be mutual and reciprocal. To the extent that a psychoanalyst maintains the goal of technical neutrality, undue suggestion is likely to be minimal. To the extent that it occurs for transferential or countertransferential reasons, suggestion may itself be analyzed. Problems of suggestion are more likely to occur and persist when they are part of the analyst's theoretical orientation, influencing the course of the analysis and expressing compromise formations for both patient and analyst. At times, even tentatively stated words or unintended behaviors of the analyst can have a dynamic impact that may not be readily analyzed. The analytic situation itself may have retrospective (nachträglich) action. A previously published case is described in which an apparent enactment led the analyst to urge a reconstruction of sexual abuse even though the patient never actually recalled what was presumed to have been fellatio. The need for technical neutrality and alternative reconstructions in such cases is considered. The degree to which the personality and goals of the analyst influence the course of reconstruction remains a vexing issue for psychoanalysis as a scientific endeavor. There is a need for detailed analytic case studies in which alternative reconstructions can be compared by investigating opportunities for external confirmation or falsification.

A comparison of the effects of jaw relaxation and music on postoperative pain.

This experimental study compared the effects of jaw relaxation and music, individually and combined, on sensory and affective pain following surgery. Abdominal surgical patients (N = 84) were randomly assigned to four groups: relaxation, music, a combination of relaxation and music, and control. Interventions were taught preoperatively and used by subjects during the first ambulation after surgery. Indicators of the sensory component of pain were sensation and 24-hour narcotic intake. Indicators of the affective component of pain were distress and anxiety of pain. With preambulatory sensation, distress, narcotic intake, and preoperative anxiety as covariates, the four groups were compared using orthogonal a priori contrasts and analysis of covariance. The interventions were neither effective nor significantly different from one another during ambulation. However, after keeping the taped interventions for 2 postoperative days, 89% of experimental subjects reported them helpful for sensation and distress of pain.

Controlled study of biofeedback-assisted relaxation in type I diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: The effect of biofeedback-assisted relaxation was tested in a randomized trial in 18 adults with insulin-dependent (type I) diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Pretreatment and posttreatment blood glucose values and insulin dosages in the group trained for 10 wk in biofeedback-assisted relaxation were compared with those in the untrained group. RESULTS: Significantly lower average blood glucose levels, percentage of fasting blood glucose levels at target, and percentage of glucose values greater than 11.2 mM were observed in the trained group at posttest compared with the untrained group. CONCLUSIONS: These differences could not be explained by increases in insulin. It is suggested that stress management be considered as an adjunct to the medical management of people with type I diabetes.

Management of a patient with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus learning biofeedback-assisted relaxation.

Psychological stress can have profound disruptive effects upon glycemic control in individuals with diabetes. Presented here is a case study in which biofeedback-assisted relaxation techniques were used to help a young woman with a 10-year history of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus to more effectively manage stress, thereby improving glycemic control. Hypoglycemia is a frequently encountered problem with this technique, so the patient was taught to identify causes of hypoglycemic episodes and to take action to prevent their occurrence. The team approach of a diabetes nurse educator working in conjunction with a biofeedback therapist was vital to the success of this program.

Clinical observations on behavioral treatment of a patient with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

This report uses a single case format to describe clinical observations on the use of biofeedback-assisted relaxation in Type I insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. It is suggested that treatment based on relaxation training may be utilized in diabetics provided that certain conditions are met and that the relaxation procedure is modified to conform to the special requirements of persons taking insulin. Since both client characteristics and type of training protocol can markedly affect outcome, it may be especially important to tailor the training protocol for each insulin-dependent diabetic patient, based on careful and continuous monitoring of treatment effects.