Evaluation of the inclusion of a mixture of organic acids or lactulose into the feed of pigs experimentally challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium

A mixture of organic acids and lactulose for preventing or reducing colonization of the gut by Salmonella Typhimurium was evaluated in pigs. A total of 63 4-week-old commercial piglets were randomly distributed into three different experimental dietary groups: a plain diet without additives (PD) and the same diet supplemented with either 0.4% (w/v) formic acid and 0.4% lactic acid (w/v) (AC) or 1% (w/v) lactulose (LC). After 7 days of adaptation, two-thirds of the pigs (14 from each diet) were challenged with a 2-mL oral dose of 10(8) CFU/mL of Salmonella Typhimurium, leaving the remaining animals unchallenged (UC). After 4 and 10 days post-challenge, pigs were euthanized and the ileum and caecum content were aseptically sampled to (a) quantify lactic, formic, and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), (b) quantify bacterial populations and Salmonella by fluorescence in situ hybridization and (c) qualitatively analyse bacterial populations through denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Modification of fermentation products and counts of some of the bacterial groups analysed in the challenged pigs receiving the treatments AC and LC were minimal. Treatments only influenced the bacterial diversity after 10 days post-challenge, with AC generating a lower number of DGGE bands than UC(P < 0.05). Neither the inclusion of a mixture of 0.4% (w/v) formic and 0.4% (w/v) lactic acids nor of 1% (w/v) lactulose in the feed influenced numbers of Salmonella in the ileum and caecum of experimentally challenged pigs. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of dietary supplementation with selenium-enriched yeast or sodium selenite on selenium tissue distribution and meat quality in commercial-line turkeys

The objective of this study was to determine the concentration of total selenium (Se) and proportions of total Se comprised as selenomethionine (SeMet) and selenocysteine (SeCys) in the tissues of female turkeys offered diets containing graded additions of selenized-enriched yeast (SY), or sodium selenite (SS). Oxidative stability and tissue glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity of breast and thigh muscle were assessed at 0 and 10 days post mortem. A total of 216 female turkey poults were enrolled in the study. A total of 24 birds were euthanized at the start of the study and samples of blood, breast, thigh, heart, liver, kidney and gizzard were collected for determination of total Se. Remaining birds were blocked by live weight and randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments(n548 birds/treatment) that differed either in Se source (SY v. SS) or dose (Con [0.2 mg/kg total Se], SY-L and SS-L [0.3mg/kg total Se as SY and SS, respectively] and SY-H [0.45mg total Se/kg]). Following 42 and 84 days of treatment 24 birds per treatment were euthanized and samples of blood, breast, thigh, heart, liver, kidney and gizzard were retained for determination of total Se and the proportion of total Se comprised as SeMet or SeCys. Whole blood GSH-Px activity was determined at each time point. Tissue GSH-Px activity and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were determined in breast and thigh tissue at the end of the study. There were responses (P,0.001) in all tissues to the graded addition of dietary Se, although rates of accumulation were highest in birds offered SY. There were notable differences between tissue types and treatments in the distribution of SeMet and SeCys, and the activity of tissue and erythrocyte GSH-Px (P,0.05). SeCys was the predominant form of Se in visceral tissue and SeMet the predominant form in breast tissue. SeCys contents were greater in thigh when compared with breast tissue. Muscle tissue GSH-Px activities mirrored SeCys contents. Despite treatment differences in tissue GSH-Px activity, there were no effects of treatment on any meat quality parameter.

Effects of dietary selenium supplementation on tissue selenium distribution and glutathione peroxidase activity in Chinese Ring Necked Pheasants

The objective of this study was to determine the concentration of total selenium (Se) and the proportions of total Se comprised as selenomethionine (SeMet) and selenocysteine (SeCys) in the post mortem tissues of female pheasants (Phasianus Colchicus Torquator) offered diets containing graded additions of selenized enriched yeast (SY) or sodium selenite (SS). Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and tissue glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity of breast (Pectoralis Major) were assessed at 0 and 5 d post-mortem. A total of 216 female pheasant chicks were enrolled onto the study. 24 birds were euthanased at the start of the study and samples of blood, breast muscle, leg muscle (Peroneus Longus and M. Gastrocnemius), heart, liver, kidney and gizzard collected for determination of total Se. Remaining birds were blocked by live weight and randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments (n=48 birds/treatment) that either differed in Se source (SY vs. SS) or dose (Con [0.2 mg total Se/kg], SY-L and SS-L [0.3 mg/kg total Se as SY and SS, respectively], and SY-H [0.45 mg total Se/kg]). Following 42 and 91 days of treatment 24 birds/treatment were euthanased and samples of blood, breast muscle, leg muscle, heart, liver, kidney and gizzard retained for determination of total Se and the proportion of total Se comprised as SeMet or SeCys. Whole blood GSH-Px activity was determined at each time point. Tissue GSH-Px activity and TBARS were determined in breast tissue at the end of the study. There were positive responses (P<0.001) in both blood and tissues to the graded addition of SY to the diet but the same responses were not apparent in the blood and tissues of selenite supplemented birds receiving comparable doses. Although there were differences between tissue types in the distribution of SeMet and SeCys there were few differences between treatments. There were effects of treatment on erythrocyte GSH-Px activity (P = 0.012) with values being higher in treatments SY-H and SS-L when compared to the negative control and treatment SY-L. There were no effects of treatment on tissue GSH-Px activity which is reflected in the overall lack of any treatment effects on TBARS.

Variable and strain dependent colonisation of chickens by Escherichia coli O157

The prevalence of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157 in poultry is considered minimal compared with other species, especially ruminants. However, deliberate inoculation studies have shown that poultry are readily and persistently infected by this organism but that the mechanism of colonisation is independent of intimin, a recognised factor in host-EHEC interactions in mammalian species, and may be dependent upon flagella. Few strains of EHEC O157 have been tested in poultry and here 1-day-old and 6-week-old chicks were inoculated with seven non-toxigenic E. coli O157 strains in separate experiments. Persistence was measured semi-quantitatively by bacteriological assessment of E. coli O157 cultured from cloacal swabs (shedding score). In the 1-day-old chick model that was monitored for 43 days, all seven strains established well after inoculation. In the 6-week-old chicken model, one strain established and gave consistently high shedding for the duration of the experiment (156 days). Whereas of the remaining six strains, two persisted for 113 days, two persisted for 43 days, one persisted for 22 days and one strain was never detected.

Impact of serving method on the consumption of nutritional supplement drinks: randomised trial in older adults with cognitive impairment

Aim: To analyse the influence of serving method on compliance and consumption of nutritional supplement drinks in older adults with cognitive impairment. Background: Oral nutritional supplement drinks have positive benefits on increasing nutritional status within undernourished elderly people leading to weight gain. However, consumption of these drinks is low and therefore limits their effectiveness. Design: This study was a non blind randomised control trial where participants either consumed nutritional supplement drinks in a glass/beaker or consumed them through a straw inserted directly into the container. Method: Participants with longstanding cognitive impairment were recruited from nursing homes (n=31) and hospitals (n=14). Participants were randomised to serving method. Nursing and care staff were instructed to give the supplement drinks three times per day on alternate days over a week by the allocated serving method. The researcher weighed the amount of supplement drink remaining after consumption. Data were collected over 12 months in 2011-2012. Results: 45 people participated in this study mean age 86.7 (SD 7.5 ) years. After randomisation there was no significant difference between the baseline characteristics of the two groups. Participants randomised to consume nutritional drinks from a glass / beaker drank significantly more than those who consumed them via a straw inserted directly into the container. However, supplements allocated to be given in a glass/beaker were more frequently omitted. Conclusion: Nutritional supplement drinks should be given to people with dementia who are able to feed themselves in a glass or a beaker if staffing resources allow (NIHR CSP ref 31101).

Reduced neural response to reward following 7 days treatment with the cannabinoid CB1 antagonist rimonabant in healthy volunteers

Reduced subjective experience of reward (anhedonia) is a key symptom of major depression. The anti-obesity drug and cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB(1)) antagonist, rimonabant, is associated with significant rates of depression and anxiety in clinical use and was recently withdrawn from the market because of these adverse effects. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) model of reward we hypothesized that rimonabant would impair reward processing. Twenty-two healthy participants were randomly allocated to receive rimonabant (20 mg), or placebo, for 7 d in a double-blind, parallel group design. We used fMRI to measure the neural response to rewarding (sight and/or flavour of chocolate) and aversive (sight of mouldy strawberries and/or an unpleasant strawberry taste) stimuli on the final day of drug treatment. Rimonabant reduced the neural response to chocolate stimuli in key reward areas such as the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex. Rimonabant also decreased neural responses to the aversive stimulus condition in the caudate nucleus and ventral striatum, but increased lateral orbitofrontal activations to the aversive sight and taste of strawberry condition. Our findings are the first to show that the anti-obesity drug rimonabant inhibits the neural processing of rewarding food stimuli in humans. This plausibly underlies its ability to promote weight loss, but may also indicate a mechanism for inducing anhedonia which could lead to the increased risk of depressive symptomatology seen in clinical use. fMRI may be a useful method of screening novel agents for unwanted effects on reward and associated clinical adverse reactions.

Activities related with electricity consumption in the Spanish residential sector: variations between days of the week, Autonomous Communities and size of towns

Nowadays the electricity consumption in the residential sector attracts policy and research efforts, in order to propose saving strategies and to attain a better balance between production and consumption, by integrating renewable energy production and proposing suitable demand side management methods. To achieve these objectives it is essential to have real information about household electricity demand profiles in dwellings, highly correlated, among other aspects, with the active occupancy of the homes and to the personal activities carried out in homes by their occupants. Due to the limited information related to these aspects, in this paper, behavioral factors of the Spanish household residents, related to the electricity consumption, have been determined and analyzed, based on data from the Spanish Time Use Surveys, differentiating among the Autonomous Communities and the size of municipalities, or the type of days, weekdays or weekends. Activities involving a larger number of houses are those related to Personal Care, Food Preparation and Washing Dishes. The activity of greater realization at homes is Watching TV, which together with Using PC, results in a high energy demand in an aggregate level. Results obtained enable identify prospective targets for load control and for efficiency energy reduction recommendations to residential consumers.