Promotion of hepatocarcinogenesis by hexachlorobenzene in energy-restricted rats

The interaction between dietary energy restriction and low dose of the fungicide hexachlorobenzene (HCB) was evaluated in a rat liver medium-term bioassay for carcinogenesis. Male Wistar rats were fed a control or a 50% energy-restricted diet, both added or not with 50 ppm HCB, for 6 weeks. HCB exposure or energy restriction separately did not exert any influence on the development of glutathione S-transferase placental form (GST-P+) foci of hepatocytes. Simultaneous HCB exposure and energy restriction induced a significant increase in liver centrilobular hypertrophy and GST-P+ foci development. Our findings suggest that energy restriction increases liver response to low dose of HCB, unmasking the promoting potential of this fungicide. (C) 2000 Elsevier B.V. Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance, incidence of metabolic disturbances and endocrine variables of food-restricted male broiler chickens

1. This experiment was carried out to evaluate the productive and physiological consequences of a slight but long term food restriction of male broiler chickens from 2 commercial strains.2. Cobb-500 and Ross chickens were submitted to a 20% food restriction from 8 to 21 d of age. Strain, food programme and their interactive effects were analysed in terms of consequences upon performance, mortality, incidence of sudden death syndrome (SDS) and ascites syndrome (AS), index of right cardiac hypertrophy and plasma concentrations of hormones related to metabolism and growth (T-3, T-4, T-3:T-4 ratio, IGF-I and GH).3. Although some catch-up growth was observed by refeeding previously restricted birds after 22 d of rearing, food restriction decreased (P less than or equal to 0.05) body weight at market age (42 d) irrespective of the strain, but improved (P less than or equal to 0.05) food conversion.4. The incidence of mortality was not high in non-restricted birds but SDS and AS caused more than 50% of deaths. Hypertrophic cardiac index was observed in chickens of both strains after 4 weeks of age and was higher in ad libitum fed birds.5. During the period of food restriction, plasma T-3 and IGF-I concentrations decreased whereas plasma T-4 and GH concentrations increased compared to those of the age-matched ad libitum fed counterparts. During the subsequent ad libitum feeding period, few differences in circulating hormone concentrations were observed, except for the higher mean CH litres in previously food-restricted chickens at 35 d of age.6. These results indicate that even a non-severe food restriction negatively affects body weight of 42-d-old male broilers but these are benefits with improved food efficiency and diminished mortality from metabolic disturbances. The hormone results suggest that the degree of food restriction applied was not severe because there was a very fast adaptive response with small and transient alterations in T-3, T-4 and GH plasma concentrations during the period of compensatory growth.

Exercise training increases myocardial inotropic response in food restricted rats

This study evaluated the effects of exercise training on myocardial function and ultrastructure of rats submitted to different levels of food restriction (FR). Male Wistar-Kyoto rats, 60 days old, were submitted to free access to food, light FR (20%), severe FR (50%) and/or to swimming training (one hour per day with 5% of load, five days per week for 90 days). Myocardial function was evaluated by left ventricular papillary muscle under basal condition (calcium 1.25 mM), and after extracellular calcium elevation to 5.2 mM and isoproterenol (I PM) addition. The ultrastructure of the myocardium was examined in the papillary muscle. The training effectiveness was verified by improvement of myocardial metabolic enzyme activities. Both 20% and 50% food restriction protocols presented minor body and ventricular weights gain. The 20%-FR, in sedentary or trained rats, did not alter myocardial function or ultrastructure. The 50%-FR, in sedentary rats, caused myocardial dysfunction under basal condition, decreased response to inotropic stimulation, and promoted myocardial ultrastructural damage. The 50%-FR, in exercised rats, increased myocardial dysfunction under basal condition but increased response to inotropic stimulation although there was myocardial ultrastructural damage. In conclusion, the exercise training in severe restriction caused marked myocardial dysfunction at basal condition but increased myocardial response to inotropic stimulation. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.

Growth and photosynthetic down-regulation in Coffea arabica in response to restricted root volume

Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plants were grown in small (3-L), medium (10-L) and large (24-L) pots for 115 or 165 d after transplanting (DAT), which allowed different degrees of root restriction. Effects of altered source : sink ratio were evaluated in order to explore possible stomatal and non-stomatal mechanisms of photosynthetic down-regulation. Increasing root restriction brought about large and general reductions in plant growth associated with a rising root : shoot ratio. Treatments did not affect leaf water potential or leaf nutrient status, with the exception of N content, which dropped significantly with increasing root restriction even though an adequate N supply was available. Photosynthesis was severely reduced when plants were grown in small pots; this was largely associated with non-stomatal factors, such as decreased Rubisco activity. At 165DAT contents of hexose, sucrose, and amino acids decreased in plants grown in smaller pots, while those of starch and hexose-P increased in plants grown in smaller pots. Photosynthetic rates were negatively correlated with the ratio of hexose to free amino acids, but not with hexose content. Activities of acid invertase, sucrose synthase, sucrose-P synthase, fructose-1,6- bisphosphatase, ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, starch phosphorylase, glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase, PPi : fructose-6-P 1-phosphotransferase and NADP : glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase all decreased with severe root restriction. Glycerate-3-P : Pi and glucose-6-P : fructose-6-P ratios decreased accordingly. Photosynthetic down-regulation was unlikely to have been associated directly with an end-product limitation, but rather with decreases in Rubisco. Such a down-regulation was largely a result of N deficiency caused by growing coffee plants in small pots.

Time-place learning in food-restricted Nile tilapia

Time-place learning based on food association was investigated in eight food-restricted Nile tilapias. Each fish was individually housed for 10 days in an experimental tank for adjustments to laboratory conditions, and fed daily in excess. Feeding was then interrupted for 17 days. Training was then started, based on a food-restricted regime in a tank divided into three interconnected compartments. Daily food was offered in one compartment (left or right side) of the tank in the morning and on the opposite side in the afternoon, for a continuous 30-day period. Frequency of choices on the right side was measured on days 10, 20 and 30 (during these test days, fish were not fed). Following this 30-day conditioning period, the Nile tilapias were able to switch sides at the correct period of the day to get food, suggesting that food restriction facilitates time-place learning discrimination. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Messenger ribonucleic acid abundance of intestinal enzymes and transporters in feed-restricted and refed chickens at different ages

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Expression of renin-angiotensin system signalling compounds in maternal protein-restricted rats: effect on renal sodium excretion and blood pressure

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The moving gardens: Reef fishes grazing, cleaning, and following green turtles in SW Atlantic

Reef fishes may associate with marine turtles and graze on their shells, or clean their head, neck and flippers. on a reef flat at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, SW Atlantic, we recorded green turtles (Chelonia mydas) grazed, cleaned and followed by reef fishes. The green turtle seeks specific sites on the reef and pose there for the grazers and/or cleaners. Fishes recorded associated to green turtles included omnivorous and herbivorous reef species such as the dam-selfish Abudefduf saxatilis and the surgeonfishes Acanthurus chirurgus and A. coeruleus. The turtle is followed by the wrasse Thalassoma noronhanum only while engaged in foraging bouts on benthic algae. Following behaviour is a previously unrecorded feeding association between turtles and fishes.

Modeling a spatially restricted distribution in the Neotropics: How the size of calibration area affects the performance of five presence-only methods

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The Hierarchy of Hamiltonians for a Restricted Class of Natanzon Potentials

The restricted class of Natanzon potentials with two free parameters is studied within the context of Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics. The hierarchy of Hamiltonians and a general form for the superpotential is presented. The first members of the superfamily are explicitly evaluated.

Isomery of SU3 states in the strictly restricted dynamics model

Employing the general principles of classification of SU3 states, we have found 285 quantum number isomers (QNI), i.e. nuclei for which there are two possible SU3 quantum number sets, characterized by the maximal eigenvalue of the SU3 group Casimir operator, at the minimal value N-0(min) for the quantum number N-0 of the group U3(A-1) symmetric representation, allowed by the Pauli principle. 41 of these QNI can be attributed to the nun-excited, ground SU3 configurations of realistic nuclei. Two examples of QNI: Si-28 and Zn-60, have been studied in detail in the framework of the strictly restricted dynamics model (SRDM).

Suppressing grazing chaos in impacting system by structural nonlinearity

In this note we investigate the influence of structural nonlinearity of a simple cantilever beam impacting system on its dynamic responses close to grazing incidence by a means of numerical simulation. To obtain a clear picture of this effect we considered two systems exhibiting impacting motion, where the primary stiffness is either linear (piecewise linear system) or nonlinear (piecewise nonlinear system). Two systems were studied by constructing bifurcation diagrams, basins of attractions, Lyapunov exponents and parameter plots. In our analysis we focused on the grazing transitions from no impact to impact motion. We observed that the dynamic responses of these two similar systems are qualitatively different around the grazing transitions. For the piecewise linear system, we identified on the parameter space a considerable region with chaotic behaviour, while for the piecewise nonlinear system we found just periodic attractors. We postulate that the structural nonlinearity of the cantilever impacting beam suppresses chaos near grazing. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The interaction between atoms of Au and Cu with clean Si(111) surface: A study combining synchrotron radiation grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence analysis and theoretical calculations

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Daily intake of lactating crossbred cows grazing elephant grass rotationally

O objetivo deste trabalho foi o de estimar o consumo total e o diário de matéria seca do pasto, de vacas mestiças Holandês - Zebu, em piquetes de capim-elefante (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.). Três grupos de 24 vacas foram usados em piquetes (4,5 vacas/ha), pastejados por três dias e submetidos a diferentes períodos de descanso durante dois anos. Os tratamentos consistiram de descansos de 30 dias sem concentrado e 30, 37,5 e 45 dias com a suplementação de 2 kg de concentrado (20,6% de proteína bruta). de julho a outubro, as vacas receberam, como suplementação, cana-de-açúcar mais 1% de uréia. O consumo total de matéria seca foi estimado a partir da digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca da extrusa e da produção fecal obtida com óxido crômico. Independentemente do tratamento, o consumo total foi 2,7; 2,9 e 2.9±0,03%, e o consumo de matéria seca do pasto foi de 1,9; 2,1 e 2,1±0,03% do peso vivo (p<0,05), respectivamente, no primeiro, segundo e terceiro dia de ocupação do piquete. Somente no verão, o consumo do pasto foi semelhante nos três dias de pastejo. A mistura cana-de-açúcar e uréia substituiu o pasto, principalmente no primeiro dia de pastejo, ocasião em que o consumo do pasto era mais baixo.

Impact of different grazing systems for bovine cattle on the soil microbiological and chemical characteristics

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)