Selective decline of bacteria colonizing the calf hindgut during colostrum to milk transition, with persistence of taxa correlating with host passive immunity.

In neonate calves, the association between gut microbial colonization and passive immunity acquisition remains largely unknown. We evaluated the effect of transition from colostrum to milk on the hindgut microbiota, and the correlations between acquired passive immunity and this microbiome. In 14 Holstein calves, colostrum quality and host passive immunity were measured, feces were sampled when feeding colostrum and after transition to milk. Then, in eight calves displaying a wide range of passive immunity, the hindgut microbiota was evaluated with DNA sequencing; differential abundance was analyzed with Maaslin2. With transition from colostrum to milk, many initial bacterial colonizers did not survive; genus Ralstonia decreased, but Lactobacillus and Bacteroides increased. When feeding colostrum, the amount of immunoglobulins consumed positively correlated with abundance of Lactobacillaceae and Lachnospiraceae, but Escherichia-Shigella and Clostridium sensu stricto 1 correlated negatively with host passive immunity. After transition to milk, acquired passive immunity negatively correlated with Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Ralstonia, and Veillonella. Overall, many initial hindgut colonizers did not thrive during transition from colostrum to milk, homogenizing the bacterial profile with prevalence of milk digesters. Several bacterial taxa showed strong correlation with host passive immunity, suggesting an interplay between calf passive immunity acquisition and the colonizing microbiota.

Marginalization and health service coverage among indigenous, rural, and urban populations: a public health problem in Mexico.

INTRODUCTION:   Marginalization is a significant issue in Mexico, involving a lack of access to health services with differential impacts on Indigenous, rural and urban populations. The objective of this study was to understand Mexico’s public health problem across three population areas, Indigenous, rural and urban, in relation to degree of marginalization and health service coverage. METHODS:   The sampling universe of the study consisted of 107 458 geographic locations in the country. The study was retrospective, comparative and confirmatory. The study applied analysis of variance, parametric and non-parametric, correlation and correspondence analyses. RESULTS:   Significant differences were identified between the Indigenous, rural and urban populations with respect to their level of marginalization and access to health services. The most affected area was Indigenous, followed by rural areas. The sector that was least affected was urban. CONCLUSIONS:   Although health coverage is highly concentrated in urban areas in Mexico, shortages are mostly concentrated in rural areas where Indigenous groups represent the extreme end of marginalization and access to medical coverage. Inadequate access to health services in the Indigenous and rural populations throws the gravity of the public health problem into relief.

Antioxidant activity and protection against oxidative-induced damage of Acacia shaffneri and Acacia farnesiana pods extracts: in vitro and in vivo assays.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a worldwide public health issue, reaching epidemic condition in developing countries associated to chronic diseases. Oxidative damage is another side effect of obesity. Antioxidant activity from plant components regulates at some extent this imbalance. Main goal of the present study was to determine the antioxidant activity and protection against oxidative-induced damage of Acacia shaffneri (AS) and Acacia farnesiana (AF) pods extracts. METHODS: To evaluated antioxidant activity and radical scavenging capacity of AS and AF extracts, two experiments were performed: 1) pods extracts were challenged against H2O2 using kidney cells in an in vitro assay; and 2) (Meriones unguiculatus) was employed in an in vivo assay to observe the effect of pods extracts on scavenging properties in plasma. RESULTS: Both pods extracts presented an important protective effect on radical scavenging capacity against ABTS• + and DPPH(+), and also in TBARS formation in vitro. Vegetal pods extracts did not induce any pro-oxidative effect when added to kidney cells in DMEM. Cells damage in DMEM with addition of H2O2 was significantly higher than those when vegetal pods extracts were added at 50 (P < 0.05) or 200 ppm (P < 0.001). Plasma scavenging properties presented an important dose-dependent positive effect in those groups where pods extracts were administered. CONCLUSIONS: The antioxidant protection of the acacia pods extracts reported in this study suggests the possible transference of antioxidant components and protective effects to animal products (milk, meat, and by-products) from Acacia pods when this vegetation is included in the diet. In order to evaluate, the possible transference of theirs antioxidant components to animal products, the incorporation of these non-conventional resources to ruminant feeding is a good opportunity of study. Profiling of Acacia farnesiana pods extract is necessary to identify the responsible bioactive compounds of protective properties.

Fatty acid content, health and risk indices, physicochemical composition, and somatic cell counts of milk from organic and conventional farming systems in tropical south-eastern Mexico.

Organic agriculture and livestock farming is claimed to promote animal welfare and can offer animal products with better hygienic-sanitary quality, based on principles of health, ecology, fairness, and care. However, no clear advantages of organic milk (OM) versus conventional milk (CM) from tropical conditions are available. The aims of the study were to determine fatty acid profile, health-promoting (HPI) and thrombogenic (TI) indices, physicochemical composition, and somatic cell counts (SCC) of OM and CM in tropical south-eastern Mexico. Female cross-breed cows (400-600 kg) were employed. CM had larger values of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) (63.6 %; 4.57 %) than OM (61.48 %; 4.22 %), while OM resulted in a larger value of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) (34.3 %) than CM (31.7 %). HPI and TI showed that OM was more favorable than CM. Milk production and physicochemical composition (PC) as well as density had no significant difference, while SCC was significantly lower in OM than in CM on a monthly basis. These results showed that OM promotes a healthful and balanced diet, and is already produced by sustainable ecologic technologies employing traditional agrosilvopastoral management, which is more environmentally friendly and promotes ecological resilience.

Reviewing the Benefits of Grazing/Browsing Semiarid Rangeland Feed Resources and the Transference of Bioactivity and Pro-Healthy Properties to Goat Milk and Cheese: Obesity, Insulin Resistance, Inflammation and Hepatic Steatosis Prevention.

The rangeland is an ecological resource that provides multiple benefits for environment and agriculture. Grazing/browsing on rangelands is a useful and inexpensive means to produce food derived from animal products. The aim of this study was to review the benefits of producing milk and cheese under this system in terms of bioactivity and the health benefits of their consumption in model animals. To conduct this review, we particularly considered the experiments that our research group carried out along the last fifteen years at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán in Mexico. Firstly, we examined the forages consumed by goats on the rangelands in terms of plant bioactive compound occurrence and their concentration. Further, goat milk and cheese coming from (1) grazing animals, (2) animals managed indoors, and from (3) animals managed indoor supplemented with rich plant bioactive compounds, were analyzed. Milk was discussed to modulate the negative effects of high-fat diets in mice. Forages consumed by goats on the rangelands showed a close correlation between antioxidant activity assessed by the DPPH+ radical with total flavonoid and total polyphenol contents (TPC). Milk concentration of PUFA, MUFA, and n-3 fatty acids from grazing goats (4.7%, 25.2%, and 0.94% of FAME) was higher than milk from goats fed indoor diets (ID). Similar results were shown in cheese. TPC was higher in cheese manufactured with milk from grazing goats (300 mg of GAE/kg of cheese) when compared to cheese from milk goats fed ID (60 mg of GAE/of cheese). Acacia pods are a semiarid rangeland feed resource that transfers pro-healthy activity, inhibited in vitro lipid peroxidation (inhibition of TBARS formation) and diminished the damage induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Additionally, in vivo assessment revealed that Acacia species increased free radical scavenging (DPPH), oxygen radical absorbance capacity, and anti-inflammatory activity. The results highlight that grazing/browsing practices are superior to indoor feeding in order to promote the transference of bioactive compounds from vegetation to animal tissue, and finally to animal products. Grazing management represents a better option than indoor feeding to enhance bioactivity of milk and cheese. Supplementation with rich-bioactive compound forages increased total polyphenol, hydroxycinnamic acids, and flavonoid concentrations in milk and cheese. The consumption of goat milk prevents obesity, insulin resistance, inflammation, and hepatic steatosis while on a high-fat diet induced obesity in mice.

Goats' Feeding Supplementation with Acacia farnesiana Pods and Their Relationship with Milk Composition: Fatty Acids, Polyphenols, and Antioxidant Activity.

BACKGROUND: Research efforts have focused on the evaluation of the bioactive quality of animal products (milk, cheese, meat, and other by-products) contrasting various feeding strategies coming from different ecological zones. The study aimed to describe the fatty acids (FA), polyphenols (P), bioactive compounds (BC), and antioxidant activity (AA) of goat's milk. METHODS: Dairy goats were fed with five systems: (1) Grazing; (2) conventional diet (CD); (3) CD + 10% of Acacia farnesiana (AF) pods; (4) CD + 20% AF; and (5) CD + 30% AF. The fatty acid profile, health promoting and thrombogenic indexes were calculated. Milk extracts were evaluated by HPLC to determent phenolic compounds (gallic, caffeic, chlorogenic, and ferulic acids, catechin, epicatechin, and quercetin). Antioxidant activity of goat's milk extract was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH•), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. RESULTS: Conventional diet showed the highest content of polyunsaturated fatty acids while grazing showed the best n-6:n-3 and the linoleic:alpha linolenic acid ratio. Similarly, grazing and AF boosted the polyphenol content. CONCLUSIONS: Acacia farnesiana inclusion in the goats' diets increased the presence of bioactive compounds and the antioxidant activity while diminishing the cholesterol content of goat's milk.

Neurodesarrollo y estimulación oportuna en niños de madres indígenas migrantes y no migrantes en Chihuahua, México / Neurodevelopment and timely early stimulationin children of indigenous migrant and non-migrant mothers in Chihuahua, Mexico

El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar características generales y de atención en salud entre menores y sus madres migrantes y no migrantes en indígenas Tarahumaras, en Chihuahua, México. Así mismo, se evaluó la asociación entre el riesgo de retraso en neurodesarrollo en niños y las prácticas de estimulación oportuna. Niños y niñas de entre 12 a 48 meses de edad fueron estudiados en dos grupos: 1) menores de madres migrantes ubicados en asentamientos urbanos en la ciudad de Chihuahua y 2) menores de madres no migrantes residentes en sus localidades de origen. La prevalencia de riesgo de retraso del neurodesarrollo moderado y grave (RNMG) fue mayor en menores de madres migrantes versus no migrantes (75.6%, IC95% [69.5, 80.8] vs 59.8%, [51.4, 67.7], p = .003). La proporción de niños(as) que recibieron una estimulación oportuna favorable (EOF) en casa fue mayor en los menores de madres no migrantes (p < .001). La migración de las madres indígenas hacia asentamientos urbanos estuvo asociada al RNMG en sus hijos(as) (p = .03), así como las prácticas insuficientes de estimulación oportuna (p = .03). La asistencia consistente a sesiones de estimulación temprana del programa de Educación Inicial fue mayor en niños(as) de madres no migrantes (p = .01); y la no asistencia fue predictor del RNMG (p = .02).(AU)

This study aimed to compare the general and health care charac-teristics of young children of migrant and non-migrant mothers from in-digenous Tarahumara communities in Chihuahua, Mexico, and to evaluate the association between child risk for neurodevelopment delay with paren-tal practices of early childhood stimulation. Male and female children aged 12 to 48 months were studied in two groups: 1) children of migrant moth-ers residing in urban settlements and 2) children of non-migrant mothers residing in their native rural localities. Prevalence of the risk of moderate to severe neurodevelopment delay (MSND) was greater in children of mi-grant mothers as compared to non-migrant mothers (75.6%, CI95% [69.5, 80.8] vs.59.8%, [51.4, 67.7], p = .003). The proportion of children who re-ceived adequate and favorable early stimulation (FTES) at home was great-er in children of non-migrant mothers (p < .001). The migration of indige-nous mothers to urban settlements was associated with child MSND (p = .03), as well as to insufficient early stimulation practices (p = .03). Con-sistent attendance at early childhood stimulation sessions through the Ini-tial Education program was greater in children of non-migrant mothers (p = .01), and non-attendance predicted child MSND (p = .02).(AU)