Research Note: Comparison of two methods to measure broiler tibia morphology.

The skeletal integrity of chickens is an important area of research and detailed measures are needed to better understand the influence of experimental manipulation on bone health. The objective of this experiment was to compare 2 methods to measure the superficial tibiotarsus (tibia) morphology of broiler chickens collected in the wet laboratory (WL) or from digital images (DIG). The length, width at 90%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 10% of the length, proximal and distal head width, medial, lateral, and distal intercondylar groove depth (ID), and proximal head angle were measured on the right and left tibias collected from broilers in 2 experiments (E1, E2). In both experiments, tibias had a greater width at 90% of the length when measured with the WL method compared with the DIG method (P ≤ 0.04), while tibias measured with the DIG method had a greater length, distal ID, and widths at 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75%, of the length compared with the WL method (P < 0.0001). In E1, tibias measured with the DIG method had a greater medial, lateral, and distal ID compared with the WL method (P ≤ 0.04). In E2, compared with the DIG method, tibias measured with the WL method had a greater distal head width and lateral ID, yet a shallower distal ID (P ≤ 0.03). The use of the DIG method provided more precise measures but, due to the limitations of measures from digital images and the opportunity for more accurate measures to be collected with the WL method, the WL method is recommended to measure the superficial morphology of broiler chickens because it was more accessible and practical.

Antimicrobial resistance profile of Escherichia coli isolated from poultry litter.

Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to animal and human health. As a commensal and zoonotic bacterium, Escherichia coli has the potential to be a pathogenic source of antimicrobial resistance. The purpose of this study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profile of E. coli isolated from litter collected from pens in a broiler chicken experiment. E. coli was isolated from litter samples (n = 68 isolates) of 16 pens housing broilers to d 53 of age. Resistance to 10 antimicrobials was observed by disc diffusion. The presence of 23 antimicrobial and heavy metal resistance genes, O serogroups, and avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC-like) minimal predictor genes were identified through PCR. E. coli isolates presented the greatest resistance to cephalothin (54.4%), tetracycline (27.9%), streptomycin (29.4%), ampicillin (20.6%), colistin (13.2%), sulphonamides (8.8%), and imipenem (1.5%). Multidrug resistance to at least 3 antimicrobials was observed in 22.1% of isolates. The identified O-types of the E. coli isolates were O15, O75, O78, and O91. There was a greater likelihood that the genes groEL, aph(3)IA, silP, sull, aadA, qacEdelta1, iroN, ompTp, and hlyF were present in isolates that exhibited ampicillin resistance (P ≤ 0.05). There was a greater likelihood that the groEL gene was present in isolates resistant to ampicillin, colistin, tetracycline, sulphonamides, or cephalothin (P ≤ 0.05). Further characterizing E. coli antimicrobial resistance is essential and aids in developing effective solutions, thereby furthering the One Health objective.

Prevention and management of new-onset diabetes mellitus in kidney transplantation.

New-onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation (NODAT) is one of the complications that is increasingly occurring among kidney transplanted patients. It is associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease, graft failure and mortality. The risk of NODAT development increases with time from transplantation. Therefore, early detection and prompt action are essential in reducing the risk of NODAT and its complications. This paper aims to review the screening parameters, prevention and management strategies for NODAT in both pre- and post-transplantation conditions. The pre-transplant patient should be screened for diabetes and cardiometabolic risk factors. Blood glucose evaluation for the pre-transplantation period is important for early detection of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG), which are highly associated with the incidence of NODAT. Post-kidney transplant patients should have periodical blood glucose monitoring with more frequent assessment in the initial phase. As early hyperglycaemia development is a strong predictor for NODAT, prompt intervention is needed. When NODAT develops, monitoring and control of blood glucose profile, lipid profile, microalbuminuria, diabetic complications and comorbid conditions is recommended. Immunosuppressive regimen modification may be considered as suggested by the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guideline to reverse or to improve the diabetes after weighing the risk of rejection and other potential adverse effects. Strategies for modifying immunosuppressive agents include dose reduction, discontinuation, and selection of calcineurin inhibitor (CNI), anti-metabolite agents, mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors (mTORi), belatacept and corticosteroids. Lifestyle modification and a conventional anti-diabetic approach, as in the type 2 diabetes mellitus guidelines, are also recommended in NODAT management.

Effects of polarization state and scatterer concentration on optical imaging through scattering media.

The imaging resolution in turbid media is severely degraded by light scattering. Resolution can be improved if the unscattered or weakly scattered light is extracted. Here the state of polarization of the emerging light is used to discriminate photon path length, with the more weakly scattered photons maintaining their original polarization state. It is experimentally demonstrated that over a wide range of scatterer concentrations there exist three distinct imaging regimes. It is also shown that within the intermediate regime one of two distinct imaging techniques is appropriate, depending on the particle size.

Changes in urate metabolism after castration of patients suffering from carcinoma of the prostate.

13 patients with carcinoma of the prostate were investigated on a low purine diet before and after surgical castration, performed to slow progression of their disease. A control group of herniorrhaphy patients was similarly studied. The 2 groups were very similar pre-operatively except for urea which was higher pre-operatively in patients than controls (p0.004). Testosterone levels fell significantly in patients soon after surgery (W0.002). There was a significant fall in serum uric acid in the early post-operative phase in both patients (W0.004) and controls (W0.01) but the fall only remained significant one month after surgery in castrated patients (W0.007). Urinary uric acid levels in patients fell significantly soon after surgery (W0.04). This is a small study but results suggest that endogenous male hormones are at least partially responsible for serum uric acid levels since castration, with reduction in circulating testosterone, resulted in a fall in these levels.