Animal Tissue Response To Mid-Term Electronic Modular Artificial Sphincter Implantation

Introduction and objectives: The AMS 800TM is considered the gold standard for sphincter replacement. However, the one-ring design can erode the urethra and lead to severe complications. A mechanism that could alternatively compress successive segments of the urethra would limit such deleterious outcome. We report 12 weeks animal urethral tissue analysis following implantation of a new modular artificial sphincter. METHODS: The device is composed by three parts: the contractile unit, two rings and an integrated microprocessor. The contractile unit is made of Nitinol fibers. The rings are placed around the urethra to control the flow of urine by squeezing the urethra. They work in a sequential alternative mode and are controlled by a microprocessor connected to an external computer. The computer can reveal specific failure of device components. The device was impkanted in eight male sheep. The rings were positioned around the urethra and the control unit was placed 5cm away. The device was working twenty hours per day; it was open 10min. per hour to allow urination. The animals were sacrificed after 12 weeks. The urethra and the tissues surrounding the control unit were macroscopically and microscopically examined. Two transversal sections crossing the sphincter and two transversal sections crossing the urethra alone were obtained and stained with modified Paragon after resin embedding. Urethra was also embedded in paraffin. The first section was stained with safranin-hematoxylin-eosin, the second section was stained with Masson's Trichrome and the remaining eight sections were available for immunolabelling of the macrophages.Results: The chronic study went uneventful. No clinical infection or pain was observed. The computer registered no specific failure in ring function, Nitinol wires and tube connectors. At explantation, except for a slight grade of lymphocytes in two out of eight specimens, no urethral stricture or atrophy could be observed. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the absence of macrophages. Tissue structure and organization of the urethra with and without artificial sphincter were similar. No migration of the device was observed.Conclusions: The study clearly showed no tissue damage or inflammation of the urethra. Electronic design, preservation of urethral vascularisation and adjustability after implantation are the key ideas to improve the actual AUS. Further studies will be carried out to evaluate this potential.

Native homing endonucleases can target conserved genes in humans and in animal models.

In recent years, both homing endonucleases (HEases) and zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) have been engineered and selected for the targeting of desired human loci for gene therapy. However, enzyme engineering is lengthy and expensive and the off-target effect of the manufactured endonucleases is difficult to predict. Moreover, enzymes selected to cleave a human DNA locus may not cleave the homologous locus in the genome of animal models because of sequence divergence, thus hampering attempts to assess the in vivo efficacy and safety of any engineered enzyme prior to its application in human trials. Here, we show that naturally occurring HEases can be found, that cleave desirable human targets. Some of these enzymes are also shown to cleave the homologous sequence in the genome of animal models. In addition, the distribution of off-target effects may be more predictable for native HEases. Based on our experimental observations, we present the HomeBase algorithm, database and web server that allow a high-throughput computational search and assignment of HEases for the targeting of specific loci in the human and other genomes. We validate experimentally the predicted target specificity of candidate fungal, bacterial and archaeal HEases using cell free, yeast and archaeal assays.

Relationships between soil class and nutritional status of coffee plantations

Farm planning requires an assessment of the soil class. Research suggest that the Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) has the capacity to evaluate the nutritional status of coffee plantations, regardless of environmental conditions. Additionally, the use of DRIS could reduce the costs for farm planning. This study evaluated the relationship between the soil class and nutritional status of coffee plants (Coffea canephora Pierre) using the Critical Level (CL) and DRIS methods, based on two multivariate statistical methods (discriminant and multidimensional scaling analyses). During three consecutive years, yield and foliar concentration of nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Zn, Mn, Fe and Cu) were obtained from coffee plantations cultivated in Espírito Santo state. Discriminant analysis showed that the soil class was an important factor determining the nutritional status of the coffee plants. The grouping separation by the CL method was not as effective as the DRIS one. The bidimensional analysis of Euclidean distances did not show the same relationship between plant nutritional status and soil class. Multidimensional scaling analysis by the CL method indicated that 93.3 % of the crops grouped into one cluster, whereas the DRIS method split the fields more evenly into three clusters. The DRIS method thus proved to be more consistent than the CL method for grouping coffee plantations by soil class.

Animal Industry News, 2010, Vol. 11, no. 1

Newsletter produced by Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship about the animal industry in Iowa.

Mothers' and fathers' views of the interdependence of their relationships with their infant: a systems perspective on early family relationships.

This study examined the interrelatedness of mother-infant and father-infant relationships as they develop over the first 4 months postpartum as well as the dynamics used by the couple to balance these relationships. First-time mother-father couples (n = 18) were interviewed separately at 1, 6, and 16 weeks postpartum using the Parent-Infant Relationship Interview. The data were analyzed using in-depth qualitative strategies. The parents' core themes of their early family relationships ranged from an undifferentiated unit at 1 week, to being a highly disorganized unit at 6 weeks, to a more integrated unit at 16 weeks. These results suggest that one should be thinking of early family relationships and parenting in terms of "messy processes" out of which new ways of being together are created. This disorganization plays a fundamental role in the establishment of early family relationships and warrants further empirical and clinical attention.

Sustainability - a challenge to animal production and breeding

Selostus: Kestävän kehityksen vaatimukset kotieläintuotannossa ja -jalostuksessa

OpenFluDB, a database for human and animal influenza virus.

Although research on influenza lasted for more than 100 years, it is still one of the most prominent diseases causing half a million human deaths every year. With the recent observation of new highly pathogenic H5N1 and H7N7 strains, and the appearance of the influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 swine-like lineage, a collaborative effort to share observations on the evolution of this virus in both animals and humans has been established. The OpenFlu database (OpenFluDB) is a part of this collaborative effort. It contains genomic and protein sequences, as well as epidemiological data from more than 27,000 isolates. The isolate annotations include virus type, host, geographical location and experimentally tested antiviral resistance. Putative enhanced pathogenicity as well as human adaptation propensity are computed from protein sequences. Each virus isolate can be associated with the laboratories that collected, sequenced and submitted it. Several analysis tools including multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis and sequence similarity maps enable rapid and efficient mining. The contents of OpenFluDB are supplied by direct user submission, as well as by a daily automatic procedure importing data from public repositories. Additionally, a simple mechanism facilitates the export of OpenFluDB records to GenBank. This resource has been successfully used to rapidly and widely distribute the sequences collected during the recent human swine flu outbreak and also as an exchange platform during the vaccine selection procedure. Database URL: http://openflu.vital-it.ch.

Relationships between grain yield and accumulation of biomass, nitrogen and phosphorus in common bean cultivars

Shoot biomass is considered a relevant component for crop yield, but relationships between biological productivity and grain yield in legume crops are usually difficult to establish. Two field experiments were carried out to investigate the relationships between grain yield, biomass production and N and P accumulation at reproductive stages of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) cultivars. Nine and 18 cultivars were grown on 16 m² plots in 1998 and 1999, respectively, with four replications. Crop biomass was sampled at four growth stages (flowering R6, pod setting R7, beginning of pod filling R8, and mid-pod filling R8.5), grain yield was measured at maturity, and N and P concentrations were determined in plant tissues. In both years, bean cultivars differed in grain yield, in root mass at R6 and R7 stages, and in shoot mass at R6 and R8.5, whereas at R7 and R8 differences in shoot mass were significant in 1998 only. In both years, grain yield did not correlate with shoot mass at R6 and R7 and with root mass at R6. Grain yield correlated with shoot mass at R8 in 1999 but not in 1998, with shoot mass at R8.5 and with root mass at R7 in both years. Path coefficient analysis indicated that shoot mass at R8.5 had a direct effect on grain yield in both years, that root mass at R7 had a direct effect on grain yield in 1998, and that in 1999 the amounts of N and P in shoots at R8.5 had indirect effects on grain yield via shoot mass at R8.5. A combined analysis of both experiments revealed that biomass accumulation, N and P in shoots at R6 and R7 as well as root mass at R6 were similar in both years. In 1998 however bean accumulated more root mass at R7 and more biomass and N and P in shoots at R8 and R8.5, resulting in a 57 % higher grain yield in 1998. This indicates that grain yield of different common bean cultivars is not intrinsically associated with vegetative vigor at flowering and that mechanisms during pod filling can strongly influence the final crop yield. The establishment of a profuse root system during pod setting, associated with the continuous N and P acquisition during early pod filling, seems to be relevant for higher grain yields of common bean.

Effects of composite casein and [beta]-lactoglobulin genotypes on renneting properties and composition of bovine milk by assuming an animal model

Selostus: Kaseiinien yhdistelmägenotyyppien ja [beta]-laktoglobuliinin genotyyppien vaikutus maidon juoksettumisominaisuuksiin ja koostumukseen

Distribuição e caracterização de substâncias húmicas em vermicompostos de origem animal e vegetal

A utilização de resíduos orgânicos, como fertilizantes e condicionadores de solo, requer sua maturação e monitoramento da qualidade do material resultante. A vermicompostagem é uma técnica que, ao longo do processo, elimina os potenciais efeitos adversos dos resíduos à saúde humana e ao solo. A avaliação das substâncias húmicas (SH) nos produtos finais quanto à quantidade e à qualidade permite inferir sobre o grau de estabilidade e maturidade dos vermicompostos. Este trabalho objetivou avaliar a qualidade de seis vermicompostos das seguintes matérias-primas: esterco bovino (EB), esterco ovino (EO), esterco suíno (ES), esterco de codorna (EC), borra de café (BC) e de erva-mate (BE) com respeito ao teor de ácidos húmicos (AH) e de ácidos fúlvicos (AF) e às suas características químicas, após 70 dias de compostagem. O fracionamento químico da matéria orgânica foi realizado com base na solubilidade em meio básico e ácido e a distribuição de cada fração calculada como percentual do C total. Foram calculados os índices de humificação: percentual de AH e razão AH/AF. Nos AH e AF purificados, determinaram-se a composição elementar (CHNO), a composição química por espectroscopia de infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FTIR) e o índice de aromaticidade I1630/I2920. O teor de substâncias húmicas (AH+AF) decresceu na seqüência: BC > EO≈ BE≈ EB > ES > EC, tendo sua composição química também diferido entre os vermicompostos. O grau de maturidade foi superior nos vermicompostos de resíduos de origem vegetal (borra de café e de erva-mate). Os AH desses dois vermicompostos apresentaram menor proporção de grupos oxigenados e menor caráter aromático.