Songbird species (order Passeriformes, suborder Oscines) are important models in various experimental fields spanning behavioural genomics to neurobiology. Although the genomes of some songbird ...species were sequenced recently, the chromosomal organization of these species is mostly unknown. Here we focused on the two most studied songbird species in neuroscience, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) and the canary (Serinus canaria). In order to clarify these issues and also to integrate chromosome data with their assembled genomes, we used classical and molecular cytogenetics in both zebra finch and canary to define their chromosomal homology, localization of heterochromatic blocks and distribution of rDNA clusters. We confirmed the same diploid number (2n = 80) in both species, as previously reported. FISH experiments confirmed the occurrence of multiple paracentric and pericentric inversions previously found in other species of Passeriformes, providing a cytogenetic signature for this order, and corroborating data from in silico analyses. Additionally, compared to other Passeriformes, we detected differences in the zebra finch karyotype concerning the morphology of some chromosomes, in the distribution of 5S rDNA clusters, and an inversion in chromosome 1.
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of dietary supplementation of a commercial algal product rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on boar fertility as assessed in vitro and in vivo. ...Boars were fed one of three experimental diets for 19 weeks: (i) Control (Ctl) diet (n = 31), (ii) Ctl diet plus 75g All-G-Rich per day (n = 31) or (iii) Ctl diet plus 150g All-G-Rich per day (n = 30). Parameters assessed were (i) raw semen quality; volume, sperm concentration, total motility and morphology (ii) liquid semen quality; progressive motility, viability, hypotonic resistance and acrosomal integrity (iii) frozen-thawed semen quality; motility, thermal stress, viability, membrane fluidity and mitochondrial activity (iv) sperm and seminal plasma (SP) fatty acid composition (FAC) (v) total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of SP and (vi) farrowing rates and litter sizes of sows (n = 1158) inseminated with liquid semen. Boars consuming 75g All-G-Rich had a larger semen volume (P < 0.05) and a higher total sperm number (P < 0.01) than the Ctl treatment, however, there was no effect of treatment on any other semen quality parameter (P > 0.05). There was no effect of dietary treatment on the FAC and TAC of SP or on farrowing rate and litter size (P > 0.05). There was an effect of dietary treatment on the FAC of sperm, represented by an 1.72 and 1.60 fold increase in the DHA content for 75 and 150g treatments, respectively, compared to the Ctl treatment. In conclusion, a significant increase in semen volume and total sperm number in boars supplemented 75g All-G-Rich daily, resulted in an increase in production of 3 to 4 more doses per ejaculate, thus, indicating that the feeding regime described within this study has the potential for increasing the output of boar studs.
•First published study to assess the effect of dietary supplementation of a dried algae product (All-G-Rich) on male fertility.•The fatty acid composition of sperm from boars fed All-G-Rich was successfully altered.•Boars consuming 75g of All-G-Rich had a larger semen volume and a higher total sperm number than the control treatment•There was no effect of dietary supplementation of All-G-Rich on sperm quality (raw, liquid or frozen-thawed) as assessed in vitro.•There was no effect of dietary supplementation of All-G-Rich on subsequent in vivo fertility (farrowing rate and litter size).
Background The 2011 BAPN Publication “Improving the standard of care of children with kidney disease through paediatric nephrology networks” focuses on making the patient a priority. Key ...recommendations include facilitating the majority of care close to the child’s home with adequate tertiary centre support. Larger centres should have a local consultant with a specialist interest in nephrology (SPIN) to support the local service. Aims To assess the calls a tertiary nephrology centre receives from the regional hospitals and whether SPIN consultants where utilised by the referring hospital. To request feedback from the referring teams regarding the advice that was provided by the nephrology centre. Methods Telephone calls to the tertiary nephrology team over an 8 week period were recorded using a proforma which was completed by the advising clinician. A separate questionnaire was then sent to the referring team requesting feedback on the advice given. Results The department received 58 calls concerning 43 patients in the 8 week period. The total call duration was 11hrs and 25 min. 84% of calls were nephrology relevant. 69% of calls were received during the working week and 45% of calls were made by a consultant. Designated SPIN consultants were consulted on 15% of calls prior to calling the tertiary centre. The advising person on all calls was either a consultant (43% in-hours, 81% out-of-hours) or senior registrar. The response rate on the feedback questionnaires was 51%. 95% reported they received adequate advice from the first phone call. 90% of responders felt access to regional guidelines would be helpful to manage similar cases in the future. Service provided by the tertiary centre was graded very good to excellent by 90% of responders. Conclusions Telephone advice offered by the department is well received. Awareness of SPIN consultants needs to improve. Recurring questions involved the diagnosis and management of acute kidney injury, nephrotic syndrome and electrolyte abnormalities. We propose a study day aimed at regional clinicians to address frequently asked questions.
Excessive inflammation-associated coagulation is a feature of infectious diseases, occurring in such conditions as bacterial sepsis and COVID-19. It can lead to disseminated intravascular ...coagulation, one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Recently, type I interferon (IFN) signaling has been shown to be required for tissue factor (TF; gene name F3) release from macrophages, a critical initiator of coagulation, providing an important mechanistic link between innate immunity and coagulation. The mechanism of release involves type I IFN-induced caspase-11 which promotes macrophage pyroptosis. Here we find that F3 is a type I IFN-stimulated gene. Furthermore, F3 induction by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is inhibited by the anti-inflammatory agents dimethyl fumarate (DMF) and 4-octyl itaconate (4-OI). Mechanistically, inhibition of F3 by DMF and 4-OI involves suppression of Ifnb1 expression. Additionally, they block type I IFN- and caspase-11-mediated macrophage pyroptosis, and subsequent TF release. Thereby, DMF and 4-OI inhibit TF-dependent thrombin generation. In vivo, DMF and 4-OI suppress TF-dependent thrombin generation, pulmonary thromboinflammation, and lethality induced by LPS, E. coli, and S. aureus, with 4-OI additionally attenuating inflammation-associated coagulation in a model of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our results identify the clinically approved drug DMF and the pre-clinical tool compound 4-OI as anticoagulants that inhibit TF-mediated coagulopathy via inhibition of the macrophage type I IFN-TF axis.
Our ability to control and inhibit automatic behaviors is crucial for negotiating complex environments, all of which require rapid communication between sensory, motor, and cognitive networks. Here, ...we measured neuromagnetic brain activity to investigate the neural timing of cortical areas needed for inhibitory control, while 14 healthy young adults performed an interleaved prosaccade (look at a peripheral visual stimulus) and antisaccade (look away from stimulus) task. Analysis of how neural activity relates to saccade reaction time (SRT) and occurrence of direction errors (look at stimulus on antisaccade trials) provides insight into inhibitory control. Neuromagnetic source activity was used to extract stimulus‐aligned and saccade‐aligned activity to examine temporal differences between prosaccade and antisaccade trials in brain regions associated with saccade control. For stimulus‐aligned antisaccade trials, a longer SRT was associated with delayed onset of neural activity within the ipsilateral parietal eye field (PEF) and bilateral frontal eye field (FEF). Saccade‐aligned activity demonstrated peak activation 10ms before saccade‐onset within the contralateral PEF for prosaccade trials and within the bilateral FEF for antisaccade trials. In addition, failure to inhibit prosaccades on anti‐saccade trials was associated with increased activity prior to saccade onset within the FEF contralateral to the peripheral stimulus. This work on dynamic activity adds to our knowledge that direction errors were due, at least in part, to a failure to inhibit automatic prosaccades. These findings provide novel evidence in humans regarding the temporal dynamics within oculomotor areas needed for saccade programming and the role frontal brain regions have on top‐down inhibitory control.
Surgical management of inferior turbinate hypertrophy O′Brien, Daniel C.; Utainrat, Withita; Setabutr, Dhave
Operative techniques in otolaryngology--head and neck surgery,
June 2018, 2018-06-00, Volume:
29, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Nasal obstruction remains a common complaint and is a frequent reason for children to see otolaryngologists. Due to its location, proximal to the internal nasal valve, enlargement of the inferior ...turbinate can cause significant nasal obstruction. Symptoms vary widely and treatment may include both medical and surgical options. Surgeons may use monopolar cautery, microdebriders, or coblation technology. This article describes techniques with specific reference to children with nasal symptoms.
Supplier selection is one of the most important activities of purchasing departments. This importance is increased even more by new strategies in a supply chain. Supplier selection is a ...multi-criteria decision making problem in which criteria have different relative importance. In practice, for supplier selection problems, many input information are not known precisely. The fuzzy set theories can be employed due to the presence of vagueness and imprecision of information. A weighted max–min fuzzy model is developed to handle effectively the vagueness of input data and different weights of criteria in this problem. Due to this model, the achievement level of objective functions matches the relative importance of the objective functions. In this paper, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to determine the weights of criteria. The proposed model can help the decision maker (DM) to find out the appropriate order to each supplier, and allows the purchasing manager(s) to manage supply chain performance on cost, quality and service. The model is explained by an illustrative example.
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