Variation in body weight, glucose/insulin tolerances, blood lipids and liver enzymes in mice in response to a high-fat-diet from lard.

It raises questions about the impact of lard on the health and the differences in individual responses. Therefore, we developed a model of mice fed with high fat (HF) from lard in 130 days. The weight of the mice was measured every two days. Glucose tolerance test and insulin tolerance tests were performed at 70 days and 130 days of experiment. At the end of the study, the fat tissue was collected to check the weight, and a blood sample was collected to check the blood lipids and liver enzymes. Surprisingly, mice responded variously to the HF by being classified into two groups, one group had significantly high gained weight (HG_HF) versus the mice fed a standard diet (STD) (p < 0.001), and another group (LG_HF) has not difference in body weight compared to the STD groups. This phenomenon in body weight is directly reflected by the white fat accumulation, but not by brown fat. Eating HF from lard for a long time can disrupt glucose tolerance and cause dyslipidemia in mice, even in the LG_HF group, but can not disrupt insulin tolerance and cause liver enzyme disorders. In summary, our findings are a wake-up call for many cases where eating HF from lard does not gain weight and not increase the white fat storage, but still has the potential to cause adverse health effects. Further studies are encouraged to understand the molecular mechanisms that causes the body to regulate its weight and responses when eating HF from lard, especially in the LG_HF group.

Bone Marrow-Derived Mononuclear Cells in the Treatment of Neurological Diseases: Knowns and Unknowns.

Bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) have been used for decades in preclinical and clinical studies to treat various neurological diseases. However, there is still a knowledge gap in the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of BMMNCs in the treatment of neurological diseases. In addition, prerequisite factors for the efficacy of BMMNC administration, such as the optimal route, dose, and number of administrations, remain unclear. In this review, we discuss known and unknown aspects of BMMNCs, including the cell harvesting, administration route and dose; mechanisms of action; and their applications in neurological diseases, including stroke, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, autism spectrum disorder, and epilepsy. Furthermore, recommendations on indications for BMMNC administration and the advantages and limitations of BMMNC applications for neurological diseases are discussed. BMMNCs in the treatment of neurological diseases. BMMNCs have been applied in several neurological diseases. Proposed mechanisms for the action of BMMNCs include homing, differentiation and paracrine effects (angiogenesis, neuroprotection, and anti-inflammation). Further studies should be performed to determine the optimal cell dose and administration route, the roles of BMMNC subtypes, and the indications for the use of BMMNCs in neurological conditions with and without genetic abnormalities.

Computational prediction of blend time in a large-scale viral inactivation process for monoclonal antibodies biomanufacturing.

Viral inactivation (VI) is a process widely used across the pharmaceutical industry to eliminate the cytotoxicity resulting from trace levels of viruses introduced by adventitious agents. This process requires adding Triton X-100, a non-ionic detergent solution, to the protein solution and allowing sufficient time for this agent to inactivate the viruses. Differences in process parameters associated with vessel designs, aeration rate, and many other physical attributes can introduce variability in the process, thus making predicting the required blending time to achieve the desired homogeneity of Triton X-100 more critical and complex. In this study we utilized a CFD model based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to predict the blend time to homogenize a Triton X-100 solution added during a typical full-scale commercial VI process in a vessel equipped with an HE-3-impeller for different modalities of the Triton X-100 addition (batch vs. continuous). Although direct experimental progress of the blending process was not possible because of GMP restrictions, the degree of homogeneity measured at the end of the process confirmed that Triton X-100 was appropriately dispersed, as required, and as computationally predicted here. The results obtained in this study were used to support actual production at the biomanufacturing site.

Addressing amino acid-derived inhibitory metabolites and enhancing CHO cell culture performance through DOE-guided media modifications.

Previously, we identified six inhibitory metabolites (IMs) accumulating in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cultures using AMBIC 1.0 community reference medium that negatively impacted culture performance. The goal of the current study was to modify the medium to control IM accumulation through design of experiments (DOE). Initial over-supplementation of precursor amino acids (AAs) by 100% to 200% in the culture medium revealed positive correlations between initial AA concentrations and IM levels. A screening design identified 5 AA targets, Lys, Ile, Trp, Leu, Arg, as key contributors to IMs. Response surface design analysis was used to reduce initial AA levels between 13% and 33%, and these were then evaluated in batch and fed-batch cultures. Lowering AAs in basal and feed medium and reducing feed rate from 10% to 5% reduced inhibitory metabolites HICA and NAP by up to 50%, MSA by 30%, and CMP by 15%. These reductions were accompanied by a 13% to 40% improvement in peak viable cell densities and 7% to 50% enhancement in IgG production in batch and fed-batch processes, respectively. This study demonstrates the value of tuning specific AA levels in reference basal and feed media using statistical design methodologies to lower problematic IMs.

N-terminal LysSN-His-tag improves the production of intracellular recombinant protein in Bacillus subtilis.

Choosing fusion tags to enhance the recombinant protein levels in the cytoplasm of Bacillus subtilis has been limited. Our previous study demonstrated that His-tag at the N-terminus could increase the expression levels of the low-expression gene egfp, while significantly reducing the high-expression genes gfp+ and bgaB in the cytoplasm of B. subtilis. In this study, we aimed to prove the potential of a fusion tag, the combination of the N-terminal domain of B. subtilis lysyl tRNA synthetase (LysSN) and His-tag with varying numbers of histidine (6xHis, 8xHis, 10xHis) by investigating their effects on the expression levels of egfp, gfp+ and bgaB in B. subtilis. For the low-expression gene, LysSN-xHis-tag could enhance the fluorescent intensity of EGFP 23.5 times higher than EGFP without a fusion tag, and 1.5 times higher than that fused with only His-tag. For high-expression genes, the expression level of BgaB and GFP+ was 2.9 and 12.5 times higher than that of His-tag, respectively. The number of histidines in LysSN-xHis-tag did not influence the expression levels of the high-expression genes but affected the expression levels of the low-expression gene.

Potent IPTG-inducible integrative expression vectors for production of recombinant proteins in Bacillus subtilis.

The IPTG-inducible promoter family, Pgrac, allows high protein expression levels in an inducible manner. In this study, we constructed IPTG-inducible expression vectors containing strong Pgrac promoters that allow integration of the transgene at either the amyE or lacA locus or both loci in Bacillus subtilis. Our novel integrative expression vectors based on Pgrac promoters could control the repression of protein production in the absence and the induction in the presence of an inducer, IPTG. The ß-galactosidase (BgaB) protein levels were 9.0%, 15% and 30% of the total cellular protein in the B. subtilis strains carrying single cassettes with the Pgrac01, Pgrac100 or Pgrac212 promoters, respectively. The maximal induction ratio of Pgrac01-bgaB was 35.5 while that of Pgrac100-bgaB was 7.5 and that of Pgrac212-bgaB was 9. The inducible expression of GFP and BgaB protein was stably maintained for 24 h, with the highest yield of GFP being 24% of cell total protein while the maximum amount of BgaB was found to be 38%. A dual integration of two copies of the gfp+ gene into the B. subtilis genome at the lacA and amyE loci resulted in a yield of about 40% of total cellular protein and a 1.74-fold increase in GFP compared with single-integrated strains containing the same Pgrac212 promoter. The capability of protein production from low to high levels of these inducible integrative systems is useful for fundamental and applied research in B. subtilis.

Biological Characterization and Genomic Analysis of Novel Phages DLDT_So2 and BHDT_So9 Against Pseudomonas solanacearum, an Infectious Agent in Tomato in Vietnam.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important grown vegetable in Vietnam. Bacterial wilt caused by Pseudomonas solanacearum has been considered to be an important disease resulting in a harvest loss up to 90% and significant economic loss to farmers. In this study, two bacteriophages DLDT_So2 and BHDT_So9 specific to P. solanacearum were isolated. Morphological analysis indicated that DLDT_So2 and BHDT_So9 had podovirus morphology and were classified into Autographiviridae family. The latent period and burst size of DLDT_So2 was found to be approximately 120 min and 20.0 ± 2.4 virions per infected cell. Meanwhile, the latent period of BHDT_So9 was 140 min with a burst size of 11.5 ± 2.8 virions per infected cell. Of the 23 bacterial strains tested, the phages infected 7/11 strains of P. solanacearum and none of the other bacteria tested were susceptible to the phages. Stability of the phages at different temperatures, pHs, solvents was also investigated. The genomes of DLDT_So2 and BHDT_So9 are 41,341 bp and 41,296 bp and long with a total GC content of 63%, contains 48 and 46 predicted protein-encoding CDSs. No virulence or antibiotic resistance genes were found in the genomes, suggesting they would be useful biocontrol agents against P. solanacearum. Classification of the phage using average nucleotide identity, phylogenetic analysis was also carried out. The two phages represented new species when they had overall average nucleotide identity of < 95%. This is first report of the isolation and characterization of P. solanacearum-specific phages from tomato farms in Vietnam. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12088-023-01090-9.

Extract antibody and antigen names from biomedical literature.

BACKGROUND: The roles of antibody and antigen are indispensable in targeted diagnosis, therapy, and biomedical discovery. On top of that, massive numbers of new scientific articles about antibodies and/or antigens are published each year, which is a precious knowledge resource but has yet been exploited to its full potential. We, therefore, aim to develop a biomedical natural language processing tool that can automatically identify antibody and antigen entities from articles. RESULTS: We first annotated an antibody-antigen corpus including 3210 relevant PubMed abstracts using a semi-automatic approach. The Inter-Annotator Agreement score of 3 annotators ranges from 91.46 to 94.31%, indicating that the annotations are consistent and the corpus is reliable. We then used the corpus to develop and optimize BiLSTM-CRF-based and BioBERT-based models. The models achieved overall F1 scores of 62.49% and 81.44%, respectively, which showed potential for newly studied entities. The two models served as foundation for development of a named entity recognition (NER) tool that automatically recognizes antibody and antigen names from biomedical literature. CONCLUSIONS: Our antibody-antigen NER models enable users to automatically extract antibody and antigen names from scientific articles without manually scanning through vast amounts of data and information in the literature. The output of NER can be used to automatically populate antibody-antigen databases, support antibody validation, and facilitate researchers with the most appropriate antibodies of interest. The packaged NER model is available at https://github.com/TrangDinh44/ABAG_BioBERT.git .

The use of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to monitor cell surface ß2-adrenoceptors at low expression levels in human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts.

The importance of cell phenotype in determining the molecular mechanisms underlying ß2 -adrenoceptor (ß2AR) function has been noted previously when comparing responses in primary cells and recombinant model cell lines. Here, we have generated haplotype-specific SNAP-tagged ß2AR human embryonic stem (ES) cell lines and applied fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) to study cell surface receptors in progenitor cells and in differentiated fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes. FCS was able to quantify SNAP-tagged ß2AR number and diffusion in both ES-derived cardiomyocytes and CRISPR/Cas9 genome-edited HEK293T cells, where the expression level was too low to detect using standard confocal microscopy. These studies demonstrate the power of FCS in investigating cell surface ß2ARs at the very low expression levels often seen in endogenously expressing cells. Furthermore, the use of ES cell technology in combination with FCS allowed us to demonstrate that cell surface ß2ARs internalize in response to formoterol-stimulation in ES progenitor cells but not following their differentiation into ES-derived fibroblasts. This indicates that the process of agonist-induced receptor internalization is strongly influenced by cell phenotype and this may have important implications for drug treatment with long-acting ß2AR agonists.

ELN missense variant in patient with mid-aortic syndrome case report.

BACKGROUND: Mid-aortic syndrome (MAS) is characterized by the congenital coarctation of the abdominal aorta, abdominal and limb claudication, and hypertension. The etiology of this disorder is very diverse and often manifests in conjunction with Takayasu's arteritis, Williams-Beurens syndrome, and neurofibromatosis. The isolated mid-aortic syndrome is very rare with only a few cases reported in the literature. CASE PRESENTATION: A 45 years old man was admitted to the Emergency Department with sudden muscle weakness and facial paralysis on the left side. Imaging studies reveal right middle cerebral artery infarction at the M1 section. Incidental findings include multiple moderate to severe stenoses in the right internal carotid artery, and total abdominal aorta occlusion. A variant at the ELN gene (Elastin, OMIM*130,160): c.1768G > A/wt (p.Ala590Thr) was identified. CONCLUSION: This is the first reported case of ELN related mid-aortic syndrome in Vietnam which was diagnosed through careful clinical and genetic workup. The finding of mid-aortic syndrome, in this case, was incidental and the decision to reverse the occlusion was postponed as there was no immediate risk of renal failure or reduced blood flow to the lower limb.

Rationally engineered Staphylococcus aureus Cas9 nucleases with high genome-wide specificity.

RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas9 proteins have been widely used for genome editing, but their off-target activities limit broad application. The minimal Cas9 ortholog from Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9) is commonly used for in vivo genome editing; however, no variant conferring high genome-wide specificity is available. Here, we report rationally engineered SaCas9 variants with highly specific genome-wide activity in human cells without compromising on-target efficiency. One engineered variant, referred to as SaCas9-HF, dramatically improved genome-wide targeting accuracy based on the genome-wide unbiased identification of double-stranded breaks enabled by sequencing (GUIDE-seq) method and targeted deep sequencing analyses. Among 15 tested human endogenous sites with the canonical NNGRRT protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), SaCas9-HF rendered no detectable off-target activities at 9 sites, minimal off-target activities at 6 sites, and comparable on-target efficiencies to those of wild-type SaCas9. Furthermore, among 4 known promiscuous targeting sites, SaCas9-HF profoundly reduced off-target activities compared with wild type. When delivered by an adeno-associated virus vector, SaCas9-HF also showed reduced off-target effects when targeting VEGFA in a human retinal pigmented epithelium cell line compared with wild type. Then, we further altered a previously described variant named KKH-SaCas9 that has a wider PAM recognition range. Similarly, the resulting KKH-HF remarkably reduced off-target activities and increased on- to off-target editing ratios. Our finding provides an alternative to wild-type SaCas9 for genome editing applications requiring exceptional genome-wide precision.

Clinically relevant preservation conditions for mesenchymal stem/stromal cells derived from perinatal and adult tissue sources.

The interplay between mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) and preservation conditions is critical to maintain the viability and functionality of these cells before administration. We observed that Ringer lactate (RL) maintained high viability of bone marrow-derived MSCs for up to 72 h at room temperature (18°C-22°C), whereas adipose-derived and umbilical cord-derived MSCs showed the highest viability for 72 h at a cold temperature (4°C-8°C). These cells maintained their adherence ability with an improved recovery rate and metabolic profiles (glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration) similar to those of freshly harvested cells. Growth factor and cytokine analyses revealed that the preserved cells released substantial amounts of leukaemia inhibitory factors (LIFs), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), as well as multiple cytokines (eg IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, MPC-1 and TNF-α). Our data provide the simplest clinically relevant preservation conditions that maintain the viability, stemness and functionality of MSCs from perinatal and adult tissue sources.

Standardized xeno- and serum-free culture platform enables large-scale expansion of high-quality mesenchymal stem/stromal cells from perinatal and adult tissue sources.

BACKGROUND AIMS: Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are of interest for the treatment of graft-versus-host disease, autoimmune diseases, osteoarthritis and neurological and cardiovascular diseases. Increasing numbers of clinical trials emphasize the need for standardized manufacturing of these cells. However, many challenges related to diverse isolation and expansion protocols and differences in cell tissue sources exist. As a result, the cell products used in numerous trials vary greatly in characteristics and potency. METHODS: The authors have established a standardized culture platform using xeno- and serum-free commercial media for expansion of MSCs derived from umbilical cord (UC), bone marrow and adipose-derived (AD) and examined their functional characteristics. RESULTS: MSCs from the tested sources stably expanded in vitro and retained their biomarker expression and normal karyotype at early and later passages and after cryopreservation. MSCs were capable of colony formation and successfully differentiated into osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic lineages. Pilot expansion of UC-MSCs and AD-MSCs to clinical scale revealed that the cells met the required quality standard for therapeutic applications. CONCLUSIONS: The authors' data suggest that xeno- and serum-free culture conditions are suitable for large-scale expansion and enable comparative study of MSCs of different origins. This is of importance for therapeutic purposes, especially because of the numerous variations in pre-clinical and clinical protocols for MSC-based products.

Creation and propagation of a single magnetic domain wall in 2D nanotraps with a square injection pad.

Polycrystalline permalloy 2D nanotraps with a thickness of 20 nm were studied using a Lorentz microscope associated with micro-magnetic simulations. Each trap was designed to create a single head-to-head domain wall. The traps consist of a few nanowires with an in-plane dimension of w nm × 1000 nm (w = 150, 200 and 250 nm). Some structures with an injection pad were also designed to create a single domain wall and propagate it through the structure with the said injection pad. A few of them were patterned to study the nucleation and propagation behavior of such nucleated domain walls using both horizontal magnetic field and injection pad approaches. The case of a domain wall created at the first corner of the trap with a wire width of 200 nm was systematically studied, while single and multiple domain walls can also be created and propagated with or without an injection structure. The characteristics of such movements were exploited with an emphasis on a single head-to-head domain wall.

Allogeneic administration of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells for bronchopulmonary dysplasia: preliminary outcomes in four Vietnamese infants.

BACKGROUND: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a severe condition in premature infants that compromises lung function and necessitates oxygen support. Despite major improvements in perinatal care minimizing the devastating effects, BPD remains the most frequent complication of extreme preterm birth. Our study reports the safety of the allogeneic administration of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (allo-UC-MSCs) and the progression of lung development in four infants with established BPD. METHODS: UC tissue was collected from a healthy donor, followed by propagation at the Stem Cell Core Facility at Vinmec Research Institute of Stem Cell and Gene Technology. UC-MSC culture was conducted under xeno- and serum-free conditions. Four patients with established BPD were enrolled in this study between May 25, 2018, and December 31, 2018. All four patients received two intravenous doses of allo-UC-MSCs (1 million cells/kg patient body weight (PBW) per dose) with an intervening interval of 7 days. Safety and patient conditions were evaluated during hospitalization and at 7 days and 1, 6 and 12 months postdischarge. RESULTS: No intervention-associated severe adverse events or prespecified adverse events were observed in the four patients throughout the study period. At the time of this report, all patients had recovered from BPD and were weaned off of oxygen support. Chest X-rays and CT scans confirmed the progressive reductions in fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS: Allo-UC-MSC administration is safe in preterm infants with established BPD. Trial registration This preliminary study was approved by the Vinmec International Hospital Ethics Board (approval number: 88/2019/QD-VMEC; retrospectively registered March 12, 2019).

Study of the Correlation between HRCT Semi-quantitative Scoring, Concentration of Alveolar Nitric Oxide, and Clinical-functional Parameters of Systemic Sclerosis-induced Interstitial Lung Disease.

Introduction: The correlation between alveolar nitric oxide (CANO) and the severity of interstitial lung disease (ILD) evaluated by high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) has not been well demonstrated. Methods: It was a perspective and observational study, including patients with diagnosed systemic sclerosis (SSc). They performed lung function testing (LFT), exhaled nitric oxide (NO) measurements, exercise testing, chest X-ray, and HRCT. Study patients were divided into SSc with ILD (SSc-ILD+) or without ILD (SSc-ILD-). SSC-ILD+ patients were revisited after 6 months and 12 months to complete the study. Results: Thirty-one control subjects and 74 patients with SSc (33 SSc-ILD- and 41 SSc-ILD+) were included. Forty-one SSc-ILD+ patients were followed-up at 6 months and 12 months. Lung functional parameters of patients with SSc-ILD+ were lower than that of SSc-ILD- patients. The level of CANO was significantly higher in SSc-ILD+ than SSc-ILD- patients (8.6 ± 2.5 vs 4.2 ± 1.3 ppb and P<0.01). Warrick and Goldin scores of patients with SSc-ILD+ were respectively 16.5 ± 5.2 and 12.7 ± 4.3. Warrick scores were reduced after 6 and 12 months of follow-up vs at inclusion (12.4 ± 4.3 and 9.1 ± 3.2 vs 16.5 ± 5.2; P<0.05, P<0.01, and P<0.05; respectively). ΔWarrick and ΔGoldin scores were significantly and inversely correlated with ΔFVC, ΔTLC, ΔTLCO, ΔVO2 max; that was also correlated with ΔCANO (R= 0.783, P<0.01 and R= 0.719 and P<0.05). Conclusion: CANO is a relevant biomarker for the diagnosis of ILD in patients with SSc, especially in combination with HRCT.

Using the IPTG-Inducible Pgrac212 Promoter for Overexpression of Human Rhinovirus 3C Protease Fusions in the Cytoplasm of Bacillus subtilis Cells.

Expression and secretion of recombinant proteins in the endotoxin-free bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, has been thoroughly studied, but overexpression in the cytoplasm has been limited to only a few proteins. Here, we used the robust IPTG-inducible promoter, Pgrac212, to overexpress human rhinovirus 3C protease (HRV3C) in the cytoplasm of B. subtilis cells. A novel solubility tag, the N-terminal domain of the lysS gene of B. subtilis coding for a lysyl-tRNA synthetase was placed at the N terminus with a cleavage site for the endoprotease HRV3C, followed by His-HRV3C or His-GST-HRV3C. The recombinant protease was purified by using a Ni-NTA column. In this study, the His-HRV3C and His-GST-HRV3C proteases were overexpressed in the cytoplasm of B. subtilis at 11% and 16% of the total cellular proteins, respectively. The specific protease activities were 8065 U/mg for His-HRV3C and 3623 U/mg for His-GST-HRV3C. The purified enzymes were used to cleave two different substrates followed by purification of the two different protein targets, the green fluorescent protein and the beta-galactosidase. In conclusion, the combination of an inducible promoter Pgrac212 and a solubility tag allowed the overexpression of the HRV3C protease in the cytoplasm of B. subtilis. The resulting fusion protein was purified using a nickel column and was active in cleaving target proteins to remove the fusion tags. This study offers an effective method for producing recombinant proteins in the cytoplasm of endotoxin-free bacteria.

Diet of the Indochinese silvered langur (Trachypithecus germaini) in Kien Luong Karst area, Kien Giang Province.

The Indochinese silvered langur (Trachypithecus germaini) is distributed to the west of Mekong River in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. During a two-year study, from May 2014 to May 2016, we collected 320.44 hr of behavior, with 17,040 feeding bouts recorded (142 hr) for T. germaini on Chua Hang Karst Mountain, Kien Luong District, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. Feeding accounted for 45% of the Indochinese silvered langurs' activity budget. The plant diet of the Indochinese silvered langurs was principally composed of young leaves (58%), followed by mature leaves (9.5%), fruits (22.7%), flowers (4.7%), buds (3.3%), petioles (1.2%), and other (0.5%). A total of 58 plant species were fed on by the silvered langurs, and leaves of eight species (Phyllathus reticulatus, Ficus rumphii, Ficus tinctoria, Ficus microcarpa, Cayratia trifolia, Streblus ilicifolia, Combretum latifolium, and Streblus asper) were fed on throughout the year. P. reticulatus was most frequently eaten (13.9% feeding time, n = 1,733). Food selection differed significantly between months and seasons. The Indochinese silvered langurs ate 27 plant species in the wet season compared with 23 plant species in the dry season. Leaf chemical composition of two food categories, 16 eaten species (with 10 most frequently consumed species and six least consumed species), and four noneaten species, were analyzed. Feeding samples from eaten species in the Indochinese silvered langurs's diet contained lower amounts of condensed tannin, lignin, protein, ash, and lipids, but a higher amount of total sugar compared with samples from noneaten species. Furthermore, the most frequently consumed species contained lower amounts of lignin compared with the less frequently consumed species. Using a generalized linear model with five variables, including neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total sugar, lignin, lipid, and calcium (Ca) indicated that NDF positively correlated and lignin content negatively correlated with feeding records in the diet of these langur.

Anatomo-functional study of the cerebellum in working memory in children treated for medulloblastoma.

INTRODUCTION: Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant cerebral tumor during childhood, arising in the posterior fossa. Children treated for medulloblastoma often experience working memory (WM) deficits, affecting their quality of life and school performance. The aim of the present study undertaken to describe the cerebellar involvement in WM deficits observed in these children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 23 healthy children and 11 children treated for medulloblastoma were included into study. All subjects performed a detailed neuropsychological examination, an anatomical and functional MRI. Stimuli were presented to the participants with alternating sensory modality and nature of communication in a block design during functional magnetic resonance imaging acquisitions. Non-parametric tests were used for analyzing neuropsychological and behavioral data. SPM8 and SUIT (Spatially Unbiased Atlas Template) were used for anatomical and functional MRI data analyses. RESULTS: Patients had cerebellar resections mainly located in the left posterior lobe. Patients had significantly reduced intelligence quotient, central executive and visuospatial WM. In healthy children group, fMRI showed activations for non-verbal and visuospatial WM in the left posterior cerebellar lobe. CONCLUSION: This study provides further evidence that left posterior cerebellar lobe plays a critical role in WM. Indeed, lesions of left posterior cerebellar lobe were associated with WM impairment in children treated for cerebellar medulloblastoma. Additionally, fMRI using WM tasks showed activation in the left posterior cerebellar lobe in healthy children. Taken together, these findings may help for improving treatment and rehabilitation of children referred for cerebellar tumor.

Influence of Grape Berry Maturity on Juice and Base Wine Composition and Foaming Properties of Sparkling Wines from the Champagne Region.

In sparkling wine cool-climate regions like Champagne, it is sometimes necessary to pick the healthy grape clusters that have a relatively low maturity level to avoid the deleterious effects of Botrytis cinerea. In such conditions, we know that classical oenological parameters (sugars, pH, total acidity) may change but there is little information concerning the impact of grape berry maturity on wine proteins and foaming properties. Therefore, healthy grapes (Chardonnay and Pinot meunier) in 2015 and 2016 were picked at different maturity levels within the range of common industrial maturity for potential alcohol content 8⁻11% v/v in the Champagne region. Base wine protein content and foamability, and oenological parameters in grape juice and their corresponding base wines, were investigated. The results showed that base wine protein contents (analyzed by the Bradford method and by electrophoresis) and foamability were higher when the grapes were riper. The Pearson's correlation test found significant positive correlations (r = 0.890⁻0.997, p < 0.05) between Chardonnay grape berry maturity degree (MD) and base wine foamability in both vintages. Strong correlations between MD and most of the oenological parameters in grape juice and base wine were also found for the two cultivars. Under the premise of guaranteed grape health, delaying harvest date is an oenological decision capable of improving base wine protein content and foamability.