Efficacy of β-mannanase supplementation to corn–soya bean meal-based diets on growth performance,nutrient digestibility,blood urea nitrogen,faecal coliform and lactic acid bacteria and faecal noxious gas emission in growing pigs

A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of β-mannanase supplementation to a diet based on corn and soya bean meal (SBM) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), faecal coliforms and lactic acid bacteria, and noxious gas emission in growing pigs. A total of 140 pigs [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc; average body weight 25 ± 3 kg] were randomly allotted to a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with dietary treatments consisting of hulled or dehulled SBM without or with supplementation of 400 U β-mannanase/kg. During the 6 weeks of experimental feeding, β-mannanase supplementation had no effect on body weight gain, feed intake and gain:feed (G:F) ratio. Compared with dehulled SBM, feeding hulled SBM caused an increased feed intake of pigs in the entire trial (p = 0.05). The G:F ratio was improved in pigs receiving dehulled SBM (p < 0.05). Dietary treatments did not influence the total tract digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen and gross energy. Enzyme supplementation reduced (p < 0.05) the population of faecal coliforms and tended to reduce the NH₃ concentration after 24 h of fermentation in a closed box containing faecal slurry. Feeding hulled SBM tended to reduce NH₃ emission on days 3 and 5 of fermentation. In conclusion, mannanase supplementation had no influence on growth performance and nutrient digestibility but showed a positive effect on reducing coliform population and tended to reduce NH₃ emission. Dehulled SBM increased G:F ratio and hulled SBM tended to reduce NH₃ emission.     

Long-Term Clinical Outcome of Internal Globus Pallidus Deep Brain Stimulation for Dystonia

Background

GPi (Internal globus pallidus) DBS (deep brain stimulation) is recognized as a safe, reliable, reversible and adjustable treatment in patients with medically refractory dystonia.

Objectives

This report describes the long-term clinical outcome of 36 patients implanted with GPi DBS at the Neurosurgery Department of Seoul National University Hospital.

Methods

Nine patients with a known genetic cause, 12 patients with acquired dystonia, and 15 patients with isolated dystonia without a known genetic cause were included. When categorized by phenomenology, 29 patients had generalized, 5 patients had segmental, and 2 patients had multifocal dystonia. Patients were assessed preoperatively and at defined follow-up examinations postoperatively, using the Burke-Fahn-Marsden dystonia rating scale (BFMDRS) for movement and functional disability assessment. The mean follow-up duration was 47 months (range, 12–84)

Results

The mean movement scores significantly decreased from 44.88 points preoperatively to 26.45 points at 60-month follow up (N = 19, P = 0.006). The mean disability score was also decreased over time, from 11.54 points preoperatively to 8.26 points at 60-month follow up, despite no statistical significance (N = 19, P = 0.073). When analyzed the movement and disability improvement rates at 12-month follow up point, no significant difference was noted according to etiology, disease duration, age at surgery, age of onset, and phenomenology. However, the patients with DYT-1 dystonia and isolated dystonia without a known genetic cause showed marked improvement.

Conclusions

GPi DBS is a safe and efficient therapeutic method for treatment of dystonia patients to improve both movement and disability. However, this study has some limitations caused by the retrospective design with small sample size in a single-center.     

Characterization and regulation of Schizosaccharomyces pombe gene encoding thioredoxin

A cDNA coding thioredoxin (TRX) was isolated from a cDNA library of Schizosaccharomyces pombe by colony hybridization. The 438 bp EcoRI fragment, which was detected by Southern hybridization, reveals an open reading frame which encodes a protein of 103 amino acids. The genomic DNA encoding TRX was also isolated from S. pombe chromosomal DNA using PCR. The cloned sequence contains 1795 bp and encodes a protein of 103 amino acids. However, the C-terminal region obtained from the cDNA clone is -Val-Arg-Leu-Asn-Arg-Ser-Leu, whereas the C-terminal region deduced from the genomic DNA appears to contain -Ala-Ser-Ile-Lys-Ala-Asn-Leu. This indicates that S. pombe cells contain two kinds of TRX genes which have dissimilar amino acid sequences only at the C-terminal regions. The heterologous TRX 1C produced from the cDNA clone could be used as a subunit of T7 DNA polymerase, while the TRX 1G from the genomic DNA could not. The upstream sequence and the region encoding the N-terminal 18 amino acids of the genomic DNA were fused into the promoterless beta-galactosidase gene of the shuttle vector YEp357 to generate the fusion plasmid pYKT24. Synthesis of beta-galactosidase from the fusion plasmid was found to be enhanced by hydrogen peroxide, menadione and aluminum chloride. It indicates that the expression of the cloned TRX gene is induced by oxidative stress.     

Complete mitochondrial genome of a forensically important muscid, Hydrotaea chalcogaster (Diptera: Muscidae), with notes on its phylogenetic position

Muscidae are a dipteran family which is important for forensic investigations. However, it has received limited attention in forensic entomological experiments as a reason of identification issues. It is hard to identify specimens by morphological methods, especially in developmental stages. Therefore, complete mitochondrial genome sequences can be important tool in forensic entomology for identifying species. In this study we sequenced and analyzed the first complete mitochondrial genome from a forensically important Muscidae species Hydrotaea (=Ophyra) chalcogaster by next-generation sequencing. The mitochondrial genome of the sequenced species is circular molecules of 17,076?bp which have the typical mitochondrial genome complement of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, two ribosomal RNA genes and a control region. Rearrangements of gene positions are identical with the ancestral insect genome. Furthermore, phylogenetic relationships of the family Muscidae were evaluated in regard to mitochondrial protein coding genes. The inferred trees indicate that the Muscidae is a paraphyletic family. These data provide additional information for molecular identification of muscid species.     

Reexamination of sectional classification in far easternEuphorbia subgenusEsula (Euphorbiaceae) using morphological and phenolic data

Reexamining the classification proposed by Hurusawa, the phylogeny of Far EasternEuphorbia subgenusEsula was analyzed using thirteen morphological and seventeen phenolic compound data. These data were analyzed independently and in combination using PAUP under the assumptions of Fitch parsimony. Ten species, comprised of three sections and five subsections within Far EasternEuphorbia subg.Esula and one outgroup from subg.Chamaesyce, were used as terminal taxa. The phylogenetic results did not support the sectional classifications within subg.Esula proposed by Hurusawa. SectionDecussatae was nested in the paraphyletic sectEsula in all of the analyses, and the relationship of sectHelioscopiae was equivocal among data sets. The disagreement of data sets over the placement ofEuphorbia ebracteolata is probably due to a hybrid origin of the species and missing phenolic data forE. pallasii. A sister-group relationship of the Korean endemicE. fauriei with the widespreadE. pekinensis was strongly supported by the morphological and phenolic data.     

RNA-binding protein Csx1 is phosphorylated by LAMMER kinase, Lkh1, in response to oxidative stress in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Recent studies have shown that global gene expression during oxidative stress in Schizosaccharomyces pombe is regulated by stress-induced activation and binding of Csx1 to atf1(+) mRNA. However, the kinase responsible for the activation of Csx1 has not been identified. Here, we describe, for the first time, that Csx1 is phosphorylated by S. pombe LAMMER kinase, Lkh1, under oxidative conditions and that the stress-activated binding of the Csx1 to the atf1(+) mRNA was also affected by Lkh1 and Spc1. These data indicate that concerted actions of Spc1 and Lkh1 are required for the activation of Csx1 during oxidative condition in the fission yeast S. pombe.     

Protective role of cytosolic NADP(+)-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase, IDH1, in ischemic pre-conditioned kidney in mice

Ischemic pre-conditioning protects the kidney against subsequent ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). This study investigated the role of cytosolic NADP(+)-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH1), a producer of NADPH, in the ischemic pre-conditioning. Mice were pre-conditioned by 30 min of renal ischemia and 8 days of reperfusion. In non-pre-conditioned mice 30 min of ischemia had significantly increased the levels of plasma creatinine, BUN, lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide in kidneys, whereas in pre-conditioned mice, the ischemia did not increase them. The reductions of reduced glutathione and NADPH after I/R were greater in non-pre-conditioned mice than in pre-conditioned mice. Ischemic pre-conditioning prevented the I/R-induced decreases in IDH1 activity and expression, but not in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity. In conclusion, protection of the kidney afforded by ischemic pre-conditioning may be associated with increased activity of IDH1 which relates to increased levels of NADPH, increased ratios of GSH/total glutathione, less oxidative stress and less kidney injury induced by subsequent I/R insult.     

A mutated PtsG, the glucose transporter, allows uptake of D-ribose.

Mutations arose from an Escherichia coli strain defective in the high (Rbs/ribose) and low (Als/allose and Xyl/xylose) affinity D-ribose transporters, which allow cells to grow on D-ribose. Genetic tagging and mapping of the mutations revealed that two loci in the E. coli linkage map are involved in creating a novel ribose transport mechanism. One mutation was found in ptsG, the glucose-specific transporter of phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system and the other in mlc, recently reported to be involved in the regulation of ptsG. Five different mutations in ptsG were characterized, whose growth on D-ribose medium was about 80% that of the high affinity system (Rbs+). Two of them were found in the predicted periplasmic loops, whereas three others are in the transmembrane region. Ribose uptakes in the mutants, competitively inhibited by D-glucose, D-xylose, or D-allose, were much lower than that of the high affinity transporter but higher than those of the Als and Xyl systems. Further analyses of the mutants revealed that the rbsK (ribokinase) and rbsD (function unknown) genes are involved in the ribose transport through PtsG, indicating that the phosphorylation of ribose is not mediated by PtsG and that some unknown metabolic function mediated by RbsD is required. It was also found that D-xylose, another sugar not involved in phosphorylation, was efficiently transported through the wild-type or mutant PtsG in mlc-negative background. The efficiencies of xylose and glucose transports are variable in the PtsG mutants, depending on their locations, either in the periplasm or in the membrane. In an extreme case of the transmembrane change (I283T), xylose transport is virtually abolished, indicating that the residue is directly involved in determining sugar specificity. We propose that there are at least two domains for substrate specificity in PtsG with slightly altered recognition properties.     

Development of species-specific quantitative real-time PCR primers for detecting anginosus group streptococci based on the rpoB

In this study, we introduced species-specific quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) primers designed based on a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase beta-subunit gene for detecting anginosus group streptococci (AGS), Streptococcus anginosus, S. constellatus, and S. intermedius. The specificity of the qPCR primers was confirmed by conventional PCR with the genomic DNAs of 76 strains regarding 44 bacterial species including the type strain for the target species. The standard curves revealed the lower detection limits of these species-specific qPCR primers was 40 fg at below a cycle threshold (C_T) value of 35. These results suggest that AGS species-specific qPCR primers are suitable for applications in epidemiological studies associated with infectious diseases related to AGS.