Effects of Ambient Temperature on Growth Performance, Blood Metabolites, and Immune Cell Populations in Korean Cattle Steers.

Exposure to cold may affect growth performance in accordance with the metabolic and immunological activities of animals. We evaluated whether ambient temperature affects growth performance, blood metabolites, and immune cell populations in Korean cattle. Eighteen Korean cattle steers with a mean age of 10 months and a mean weight of 277 kg were used. All steers were fed a growing stage-concentrate diet at a rate of 1.5% of body weight and Timothy hay ad libitum for 8 weeks. Experimental period 1 (P1) was for four weeks from March 7 to April 3 and period 2 (P2) was four weeks from April 4 to May 1. Mean (8.7°C) and minimum (1.0°C) indoor ambient temperatures during P1 were lower (p<0.001) than those (13.0°C and 6.2°C, respectively) during P2. Daily dry matter feed intake in both the concentrate diet and forage groups was higher (p<0.001) during P2 than P1. Average daily weight gain was higher (p<0.001) during P2 (1.38 kg/d) than P1 (1.13 kg/d). Feed efficiency during P2 was higher (p = 0.015) than P1. Blood was collected three times; on March 7, April 4, and May 2. Nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) were higher on March 7 than April 4 and May 2. Blood cortisol, glucose, and triglyceride concentrations did not differ among months. Blood CD4+, CD8+, and CD4+CD25+ T cell percentages were higher, while CD8+CD25+ T cell percentage was lower, during the colder month of March than during May, suggesting that ambient temperature affects blood T cell populations. In conclusion, colder ambient temperature decreased growth and feed efficiency in Korean cattle steers. The higher circulating NEFA concentrations observed in March compared to April suggest that lipolysis may occur at colder ambient temperatures to generate heat and maintain body temperature, resulting in lower feed efficiency in March.

Effect of Total Mixed Ration with Fermented Feed on Ruminal In vitro Fermentation, Growth Performance and Blood Characteristics of Hanwoo Steers.

In this study, two experiments were conducted to evaluate the total mixed ration with fermented feed (TMRF) and total mixed ration (TMR) by rumen in vitro fermentation and their effects on the growth performance and blood characteristics of Hanwoo steers. In experiment 1, three Hanwoo steers (600±47 kg), each permanently fitted with a ruminal cannula were used. In this experiment, three diets designated as T1, TMRF (18.4% fermented feed, tall fescue, mammoth wild rye forage and whole crop barley); T2, TMRF (17.7% fermented feed, rice straw and whole crop barley); and T3, TMR (rice straw, whole crop barley and probiotics, but no fermented feed), which were subjected to rumen in vitro fermentation for 48 h. The results demonstrated that DM disappearance rate gradually increased with advancing fermentation time, but T1 and T2 were higher than the T3 (p<0.05) from 3 h to 12 h, but insignificant (p>0.05) at 24 and 48 h. None of the specific VFAs were affected except for acetic and non volatile lactic acids, which were produced more in T2 than in T1 and T3 at 24 h and 48 h of incubation. A/P was lower in T1 and T2 than inT3 at 24 h (p<0.05) and 48 h (p>0.05) of incubation. These results confirmed that TMRF-related treatment shows a superior performance to that of TMR during the ruminal fermentation period. In experiment 2, the three diets in experiment 1 plus 1 more control diet (concentrates, probiotics and 2% rice straw of body weight) were fed to the 48 Hanwoo steers (160±10 kg) for a period of 168 d. The results demonstrated that the daily and total live weight gain and feed efficiency were higher (p<0.05) in the TMRF and TMR groups than in the control group. SGOT, SGPT and BUN (p<0.05) were reduced in TMRF relative to the control and TMR groups by 168 d which confirmed that TMRF shows better blood profiles than the TMR and control groups. Overall, these results appear to show that TMRF has better in vitro ruminal characteristics than those of TMR; growth performance and blood profiles were also found to be superior in TMRF than in the TMR and control groups. Thus, our findings suggest that TMRF-based feed supplies are favorable for Hanwoo cattle.

[Complete mitochondrial genomes of Paragonimus westermani in China and phylogenetic analysis of various geographical isolates].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the complete mitochondrial genome sequences of two phenotypes of Paragonimus westermani isolated from Fujian Province with different sizes of metacercariae, and perform a phylogenetic analysis of various geographical isolates of P. westermani from Asia, so as to identify the possible genetic characteristics associated with the P. westermani phenotypes. METHODS: P. westermani metacercariae with different sizes (large metacercariae, 380-420 µm in diameter; small metacercariae, 320-340 µm) isolated from freshwater crabs were used to infect dogs, and the eggs and adult worms of P. westermani were collected from the dog stool samples and lung tissues. Then, the egg size and morphology were compared. In addition, genomic DNA was extracted from the adult worms of the two phenotypes of P. westermani and used for the PCR amplification to yield the complete mitochondrial genome sequence. Sequence structure and phylogenetic analyses were performed based on the complete mitochondrial genome of P. westermani. RESULTS: Following infection with large and small P. westermani metacercariae, the adult worms recovered from the dog lung had a thick body, and had oral and ventral suckers. The ventral sucker was located slightly in front of the midline of the body, and testes, ovary and vitelline gland were seen in the adult worms. Following fixation, the adults appeared oval, with an approximately 1.7∶1 of the length-width ratio. The length and width of the eggs isolated from the fecal samples of dogs infected with large and small P. westermani metacercariae varied significantly, and the large metacercariae produced bigger eggs than the smaller metacercariae. Based on the morphological features of adults and eggs and the ITS2 sequences, both phenotypes were identified as P. westermani. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence analysis of adults showed almost consistent sequences in the protein-coding region of the mitochondrial genome of adult worms derived from large and small metacercariae, with a major variation seen in the former non-coding region. Sliding window analysis revealed the most polymorphic region within the ND4 gene across the mitochondrial genome from various geographical isolates of P. westermani, and phylogenetic analysis showed that both phenotypes were clustered into the Chinese branch of P. westermani, which was close to the Japanese branch and distinct from the South/Southeast Asian branch. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic distance between the phenotypes of P. westermani isolated from Fujian Province is near at a mitochondrial genome level, with no remarkable genetic differentiation seen; however, the mutation and structural changes in the non-coding region may result in the phenotypic variations. In addition, there is a distinct variation of the evolutionary rate in the mitochondrial coding genes, suggesting the selection of appropriate molecular markers during the phylogenic researches.

Postural control in young and elderly adults when stance is perturbed: dynamics.

Responses in maintaining or restoring standing balance were measured in 24 healthy young and 15 healthy elderly adults (mean ages 26 and 72) under four task conditions: two involving self-generated motions and two involving imposed disturbances. The two primary objectives of the study were to quantify the whole-body dynamics of these responses and to identify any age related differences in those dynamics. Response dynamics were analyzed using a seven-link biomechanical model. In terms of approximate population-mean values, maximum whole-body center of mass (CM) excursions ranged to 3 cm, maximum center of support-surface reaction (CR) excursions ranged to 8 cm, vertical reaction force changes ranged to 50 N, anteroposterior support surface reactions ranged to 30 N, maximum joint torques used per side ranged to 20 Nm and peak angular momenta about a transverse axis through the ankles ranged to 6 kg m2 s-1. The elderly adults, compared to the young tended to exhibit higher-frequency oscillations in excursions and larger horizontal excursions of their CM and CR, tended to develop larger support surface reactions and use larger response joint torques, and tended to arrest less of their angular momentum in their first cycle of response during the two imposed-disturbance tasks. Only some of these tendencies proved statistically significant. The results suggest that healthy elderly subjects with no apparent musculoskeletal or neurological impairments differ from healthy young adult subjects in their responses to modest perturbations of upright stance. However, the differences are generally not large and their magnitudes are perturbation-specific.

Postural control in young and elderly adults when stance is challenged: clinical versus laboratory measurements.

The use of dynamic posturography (EquiTest) for the characterization of postural control biomechanics would be aided by specific knowledge of what the measured data imply about body segment movements. To investigate this issue, the biomechanics of a group of 15 healthy elderly subjects were compared to those of healthy young subjects by using both dynamic posturography and a laboratory movement and force measuring system. The results from EquiTest were analyzed by 1) routine clinical interpretation of data and 2) a clinical research interpretation by subjecting the EquiTest parameters to additional statistical comparison of mean performance of the young and elderly groups. The young-elderly differences from the 2 EquiTest analyses were then compared to the young-elderly differences derived from the laboratory protocol. The routine clinical interpretation of EquiTest data identified the same increases in sway shown by the laboratory study, but did not reveal the more subtle differences indicated by the laboratory study. When the EquiTest data were subjected to additional statistical analysis, the characterization of difference between young and elderly subjects was the same as that of the laboratory study, with the exception of issues of head versus trunk movement, a measure not made by EquiTest. This essential similarity in the characterization of elderly compared to young subjects by both systems suggests 1) that EquiTest is able to detect subtle differences in biomechanics of postural control between young and elderly healthy adult groups and 2) that implied movements of center of gravity, trunk versus lower limbs, and strength of reaction measures are consistently detected by both EquiTest and the laboratory kinematics and dynamics measurement systems.

[Prognostic factors in epithelial ovarian cancers--clinical significance of morphologic indicators].

The main factors influencing prognosis (staging, histologic classification and grading, lymphocyte infiltration etc.) in 110 patients with epithelial ovarian cancers were analysed by life table technique to obtain 5 year cumulative survival rate. Multivariate statistical analysis (Cox Model) was used in 88 patients in order to find out the most important prognostic factor. The results showed that degree of lymphocyte infiltration in the tumor was the most important; the next was clinical factors; moreover, the amount of residual tumor was more significant than staging. Specimen from reoperation revealed less lymphocyte infiltration than that from the first operation. The degree of lymphocyte infiltration as an expression of the local host defence can be used as a good prognostic indicator.

[Effect of postoperative chemotherapy on the reproductive function and offspring health in patients with ovarian neoplasms].

The reproductive function and their offspring health in 30 patients with ovarian neoplasms following preservation of tubo-ovarian and uterine functions operation, and adjuvant or preventive chemotherapy were studied. All the patients were followed up for 2-18.5 years, 65.5% of the patients showed normal cycle of menstruation. The patients under 25 years old, they were demonstrated a significant higher frequency of abnormal menstruation than that over 25. In this series 15 patients wish to have child, 12 of them were pregnant (a gestational rate of 80%), totally there are 20 gestations, including 13 fullterm deliveries, 1 premature delivery, and 7 artificial abortions, however, no spontaneous abortion occurred. Fourteen healthy offsprings were followed up to date, 11 of them are normal in health, the Gesell tests of intelligence were also normal, as well as the G-band karyotype analysis. Only the SCE frequencies of 3 objects in one family comprised the mother and her two daughters were significant higher than that of the control. We recommend that women who preserving reproductive function desired to be pregnant at least 2 years later following chemotherapy, SCE determination must be studied before any attempt to become pregnancy.

[A controlled study of chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay for the measurement of estrogen receptor in tissue of gynecological neoplasms].

UNLABELLED: In this study, chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) has been developed for the measurement of estrogen receptor (ER) in 34 gynecological oncological tissues from 15 cases of endometrial carcinoma, 15 cases of ovarian tumors and 4 cases of other gynecological tumors. The accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of CLEIA for ER were compared with that of dextran-coated charcoal (DCC) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA). RESULTS: (1) the standard curve of ER-CLEIA showed a significant linear correlation between the luminosity and ER concentration (r = 0.9786, P < 0.001); (2) The results of CLEIA and that of the other two methods were compared; the correlation coefficients were > 0.8 and their corresponding rates were > 90%; (3) the positive rate of ER determined by these three methods showed no significant differences, however, the mean value of ER-CLEIA was the highest among them. It is concluded that the CLEIA has a higher sensitivity than that of the other two methods for the measurement of ER.

[Prevention of toxicity of cyclosporine A on rat pancreatic islet beta-cells by Ligustrazine].

The toxic effect of cyclosporine A (CsA) on pancreatic islet beta-cells and the preventive effect of ligustrazine (LIG) on CsA-associated beta-cell toxicity in SD rats were investigated. The oral administration of CsA 50 mg/kg/day for ten days caused hyperglycaemia and lowering of plasma and pancreatic insulin levels that were prevented and/or minimized by the combined intra-peritoneal administration of LIG 50 mg/kg/day. An increase of urinary thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and urinary TXB2/6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha (6-k-PGF1 alpha) ratio in CsA-treated rats could also be prevented and/or minimized by the administration of LIG. The results suggested that the preventive effect of LIG on CsA-associated islet beta-cell toxicity was relevant to the improvement of prostacyclin-thromboxane A2 imbalance.

Immune effect of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and its relation to the survival rate of patients with ovarian malignancies.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in histological sections from 94 patients with ovarian malignancies were quantitated for their relation to the prognosis of the patients. It was found that the degree of lymphocyte infiltration directly affected the patients' survival rate and also related to clinical staging of the patients, as well as grading and histologic typing of the tumor. T lymphocytes characterized by alpha-naphthyl acetate (ANAE) staining were the major cells in the stroma of ovarian malignancies. Ultrastructural study of TIL and cancer cells suggested that tumor cell degeneration is related to the effect of TIL.

A preliminary study on natural killer activity in patients with gynecologic malignancies.

A release assay of 125IUdR-labelled K562 cells as target cells was performed for measuring natural killer (NK) activity of mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood of 92 cases, including 42 healthy women, 22 patients with gynecological benign tumors, and 28 patients with gynecological malignancies. The NK activity of malignant tumor group was obviously lower than that of healthy women and of benign tumor group, suggesting that a defective NK activity was present in the patients with gynecological malignancies. The NK activity in patients with ovarian malignant tumors was much lower than in those with cervical cancer, the difference being of statistical significance. In this study the leukocyte interferon was investigated for its effects on the NK activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 4 cases of gynecological malignancies. The level of NK activity ascended significantly in every case nearly to normal. The augmentation of NK activity by interferon may be used as a new immunotherapy for gynecological malignancies.

Postural control in young and elderly adults when stance is perturbed: kinematics.

Increased postural sway and falling are associated with aging and are likely related to problems with postural control in the elderly. We investigated the motions of individual body segments in 24 healthy young adults and 15 healthy elderly adults (mean ages 26 and 72) in response to four tasks: (a) standing with feet flat on an anteriorly accelerating platform (Flat Translation); standing on a narrow beam support that was (b) stationary (Beam Standing) and (c) accelerating anteriorly (Beam Translation); and (d) standing on a rotatable but otherwise stationary springboard (Springboard Standing). An optoelectronic camera system was used to measure rotations of body segments, particularly regarding their maximum excursions, time to first rotation response, direction of initial rotation, and time to first rotation reversal. In general, larger rotation excursions were noted in the elderly compared to the young group, particularly in the Beam Standing and Beam Translation tasks, but the magnitude of rotation difference was small. All rotation magnitudes were well within the available ranges of motion of the body joints. In both excursion magnitudes and directions of initial rotation, the elderly showed greater variability than the young. In the Beam Translation task, the elderly group, compared to the young, tended to rotate their upper body segments more than in the Flat Translation task. These data suggest that healthy elderly adults with no apparent musculoskeletal or neurological impairments have small but consistent differences in postural control kinematics, particularly when more challenging conditions are presented. Moreover, these data provide the basis for biomechanical analyses of joint torques and other dynamic requirements of these responses.

The effect of age on the synthesis of two heat shock proteins in the hsp70 family.

Hepatocytes isolated from male F344 rats were exposed to elevated temperatures (40 degrees C to 45 degrees C), and the incorporation of [35S]-L-methionine into proteins was measured from fluorograms of two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels. The synthesis of two proteins was induced by temperatures of 40 degrees C to 42.5 degrees C; however, 45 degrees C inhibited the synthesis of all proteins. Based on their apparent molecular weights and pI values and their recognition by a monoclonal antibody to the HSP70 gene family, the two proteins induced by hyperthermia were found to be the highly heat-inducible hsp70 and the constitutive hsc70. Because a heat shock of 42.5 degrees C for 30 minutes had very little effect on cell viability and induced the synthesis of hsp70 and hsc70, this heat shock was used to study the effect of age on the ability of hepatocytes to respond to the stress of hyperthermia. Neither hepatocytes isolated from young adult (5-7 months) nor old (25-27 months) rats synthesized detectable amounts of hsp70 when incubated at 37 degrees C. However, heat shock induced the synthesis of both hsp70 and hsc70 in hepatocytes isolated from young adult and old rats. The induction of hsp70 synthesis was significantly lower (37%) for hepatocytes isolated from old rats compared to hepatocytes isolated from young adult rats. However, neither the basal level nor the induced level of hsc70 synthesis changed significantly with age. Thus, aging resulted in a decrease in the ability of hepatocytes to synthesize hsp70 in response to hyperthermia; this effect, however, was specific for hsp70.

Fibrosarcoma in bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation.

Bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation (BPOP) is a rare benign lesion predominantly involving the small bones of the hands and feet. Malignant transformation in BPOP has not been documented in the English literature. This report presents the coexistence of fibrosarcoma with BPOP in the right distal fibula of an 18-year-old woman.

Primary clear cell sarcoma of bone.

Clear cell sarcoma is a rare soft tissue sarcoma of young adults with melanocytic differentiation. It occurs predominantly in the soft tissue of extremities, typically involving tendons and aponeuroses. Primary clear cell sarcoma of bone is extremely rare. We report a case of primary clear cell sarcoma of the right first metatarsal in a 48-year-old woman and provide a literature review of the entity.