The efficacy of using exogenous enzymes cocktail on production, egg quality, egg nutrients and blood metabolites of laying hens fed distiller's dried grains with solubles.

An experiment was performed using 120 Hisex Brown laying hens for evaluating the effects of different inclusion levels of corn distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) as a replacement of soybean meal (SBM) with or without enzyme cocktail on performance, egg quality, egg nutrients and blood metabolites in laying hens through 22-42 weeks of age. A 4 × 2 factorial design experiment was performed including four substitution levels of DDGS (0, 250, 500 and 750 g/kg respectively) and two enzyme cocktail levels (0 and 250 mg/kg diet). The used enzyme in this study "Gallazyme" composed of xylanase, Trichoderma longibrachiatum (600 units/g), protease, Bacillus subtilis (8,000 units/g) and amylase and Bacillus amyloliquofaciens (800 units/g). The control diet showed the best feed efficiency followed by the intermediate levels of DDGS. The lowest value of feed efficiency was found in the group fed the highest level of DDGS. Enzyme addition improved feed efficiency and decreased laying rate. Increasing DDGS levels was associated with albumin and shell thickness increases. Dietary DDGS depressed all egg components except the organic matter which maximised in enzyme-treated groups. Increasing DDGS level was accompanied by increase in yolk cholesterol and total lipids. No significant impacts were detected with enzymes supplementation on yolk lipids profile. Excepting serum calcium and phosphorous, all serum constituents increased with increasing level of DDGS. Using enzyme markedly depressed serum ammonia by 15.02% and increased calcium by 6.44% compared with enzyme-free diets. Interaction between DDGS and enzyme was significant on most of studied parameters. It could be concluded that using enzyme cocktail in DDGS-based diets may improve feed efficiency and egg quality, in addition to lowering blood ammonia and increasing blood calcium. It is recommended to substitute SBM by DDGS up to 500 g/kg diet.

Efficacy of cycled hyperinflation for rapid tissue expansion.

Temporary hyperexpansion at each filling session has previously been confirmed to increase the inflation volume in a conventional expansion procedure. This study employed eight young pigs to evaluate the effect of hyperinflation of this type in rapid expansion performed on 10 consecutive days. Hyperinflation to 120 mmHg for 4 minutes and deflation to 40 mmHg for 2 minutes was repeated five times on the experimental side. This cycled hyperinflation was found to increase the filling volume by 49 percent when compared with the contralateral side, which was not cycled or hyperinflated (control) (p < 0.01). The increase in surface area of the entire skin over the balloon was 178.1 percent in the hyperinflation group and 132.8 percent in the controls (p < 0.01). The actual expansion in surface area was not significantly different: 44.4 percent in the hyperinflation group and 45.7 percent in the control group. The additional gain of skin by cycled hyperinflation was the result of recruitment. The control group required 5 more days to achieve the same amount of skin but resulted in more true expansion and less recruitment. It is concluded that the cycled hyperinflation technique may shorten the time period of the whole reconstruction procedure but may produce an aesthetic deformity and flap necrosis.

Role of perivenous areolar tissue in the viability of venous flaps: an experimental study on the inferior epigastric venous flap of the rat.

This study was performed to investigate how the perivenous areolar tissue affects survival of the rat inferior epigastric venous flap model designed by Yuen and Leung (1991). Five groups of flaps were studied; group A--flap based on an inferior epigastric vein and areolar tissue; group B--flap with a skeletonised vein; group C--control, nonvascularised flap; group D--flap based on perivascular areolar tissue alone; group E--flap with a skeletonised artery and vein. Each group included 40 flaps; 20 of them had a silicone sheet placed under the flap, the other 20 did not. All flaps of group E survived. The success rate of group A with and without a silicone sheet was 60% and 90% respectively. All flaps of the other groups (B, C, D) necrosed. Histological examination of the pedicle showed that many minute vascular channels (single-cell-layered capillaries) were present apart from the inferior epigastric vein. This result confirms the importance of the perivenous areolar tissue in perfusion of the skin island, at least, in the inferior epigastric venous flap in the rat.