Reproductive tract development and histomorphometric analysis of testes in neonatal Zaraibi kids raised on milk replacer supplemented with sodium butyrate.

This study aimed to determine the effect of sodium butyrate (SB) on reproductive tract development and histomorphometric analysis of testes in neonatal kids, as well as on their growth, antioxidant status and some blood metabolites. Thirty-six neonatal Zaraibi kids were divided immediately after 4-5 days from birth into three equal groups (12 kids/ each). The first group (G1) received milk replacer (MR) at a rate of 10% of the body weight until the weaning. The second group (G2) received 9.7% MR supplemented with 0.3% SB. The third group (G3) received whole milk and served as a control. The results revealed that there was significant (p < .001) increase in total and daily gain between the G2 and G1 groups, whereas there was no significant change between G2 and G3 groups. Body condition score was slightly increased (p > .05) in G2 compared with G1. Serum total protein and cholesterol levels were significantly decreased in treated groups compared with the G3 group, on reverse globulin and glucose levels had no significant changes. Also, T3 and testosterone concentrations were significantly (p < .0001 & p < .05) higher in G3 and G2 than G1. Antioxidant status was enhanced through decreasing the oxidative marker and increasing antioxidant enzymes activity in G2. Testis parameters in G3 and G2 kids had the highest values, compared with G1. G1 and G2 had thin basement membrane of seminiferous tubules with few Leydig cells and pyknotic germinal epithelium, while G3 showed thick basement membrane, mild wide interstitial spaces with many Leydig cells. The tubular diameter was also significantly larger in the G3 and G2. It could be concluded that MR supplemented with SB can be used as alternative whole milk in suckling goat kids for maintaining reproductive tract and kids' performance through improving the antioxidant status.

Design Procedure and Experimental Verification of a Broadband Quad-Stable 2-DOF Vibration Energy Harvester.

Vibration-based energy harvesters brought the idea of self-powered sensors to reality in the past few years. Many strategies to improve the performance of linear vibration energy harvesters that collect energy over a limited bandwidth have been proposed. In this paper, a bi-stable two degrees of freedom (2-DOF) cut-out vibration energy harvester employing a pair of permanent magnets is designed through a proposed design methodology. Based on this methodology, the nonlinear harvesters can be optimally designed such that the bandwidth can be widened for a targeted output voltage. The proper selection of the harvester parameters as well as the gap distances between the tip and the fixed magnets are the bases of this methodology. The mathematical modeling of the proposed harvester and the formula for the potential energy between the tip and the fixed magnets are presented. Additionally, to enhance the performance of the bi-stable energy harvester (BEH), a quad-stable energy harvester (QEH) was configured by adding more fixed magnets. Experiments were performed to validate the numerical simulations and the results showed that, the simulation and experimental results are consistent. The results indicate that, the QEH covers a wider bandwidth than the BEH and based on a figure of merit the QEH shows the best performance among many harvesters presented in the literature.

Susceptibility to periportal (Symmers) fibrosis in human schistosoma mansoni infections: evidence that intensity and duration of infection, gender, and inherited factors are critical in disease progression.

Lethal disease in Schistosoma mansoni infections is mostly due to portal hypertension caused by hepatic periportal fibrosis. To evaluate the factors that may determine severe disease, livers and spleens were examined by ultrasound in a Sudanese population living in a village where S. mansoni is endemic. Early (FI), moderate (FII), or advanced (FIII) fibrosis was observed in 58%, 9%, and 3% of the population, respectively. Although FI affected 50%-70% of the children and adolescents, FII prevalence was low in subjects

Severe hepatic fibrosis in Schistosoma mansoni infection is controlled by a major locus that is closely linked to the interferon-gamma receptor gene.

Lethal disease due to hepatic periportal fibrosis occurs in 2%-10% of subjects infected by Schistosoma mansoni in endemic regions such as Sudan. It is unknown why few infected individuals present with severe disease, and inherited factors may play a role in fibrosis development. Schistosoma mansoni infection levels have been shown to be controlled by a locus that maps to chromosome 5q31-q33. To investigate the genetic control of severe hepatic fibrosis (assessed by ultrasound examination) causing portal hypertension, a segregation analysis was performed in 65 Sudanese pedigrees from the same village. Results provide evidence for a codominant major gene, with.16 as the estimated allele A frequency predisposing to advanced periportal fibrosis. For AA males, AA females, and Aa males a 50% penetrance is reached after, respectively, 9, 14, and 19 years of residency in the area, whereas for other subjects the penetrance remains <.02 after 20 years of exposure. Linkage analysis performed in four candidate regions shows that this major locus maps to chromosome 6q22-q23 and that it is closely linked (multipoint LOD score 3.12) to the IFN-gammaR1 gene encoding the receptor of the strongly antifibrogenic cytokine interferon-gamma. These results show that infection levels and advanced hepatic fibrosis in human schistosomiasis are controlled by distinct loci; they suggest that polymorphisms within the IFN-gammaR1 gene could determine severe hepatic disease due to S. mansoni infection and that the IFN-gammaR1 gene is a strong candidate for the control of abnormal fibrosis observed in other diseases.