The dissection of the molecular interactions between nutrition and immunity to nematodes is of strategic importance to predict the risk of infection, define disease predisposition and develop ...sustainable measures for parasite control in ruminants. Despite the evidence on the effects of nutrition on the manifestations of immunity to gastrointestinal parasites at phenotypic level, the lack of progress on the characterisation of the molecular interactions is directly related to the current lack of appropriate tools for such advancements, including fully sequenced and annotated genomes and immunological tools for small ruminants. To overcome such constraints and achieve rapid progress in exploring the molecular interactions between nutrition and immunity to nematodes, it is proposed here that we capitalise more on the advancements in small mammal models. In this paper, first the literature deriving from growing animals is reviewed, where most evidence originates from primary infection models. The focus is then shifted on peri-parturient animals; the immunomodulatory effects of nutrition are investigated during re-infection. Finally, an approach is suggested on how advancements made in the rodent models, can be utilised in order to expand our understanding in sheep and provide specific examples on how this should work to address sustainable parasite control in ruminants.
•Placing broilers on reused litter may mimic litter-borne microbiome exposure.•Growth response to amino acids was tested in such birds fed ideal protein rations.•Reused litter exposure increased ...weight gain and reduced feed conversion ratio.•Threonine, arginine and glutamine supplementation reduced growth performance.•Reused litter usage may benefit the production efficiency of ideal protein-fed broilers.
Effects of amino acid supplementation to ideal protein (IP) formulated rations were investigated on growth performance, plasma metabolites and organ weights of broilers placed on 100% recycled (reused) litter. Day-old Ross308 male broilers were raised on either clean or reused litter and fed for three weeks on one of five isoenergetic diets, where an IP-based control diet (C) was compared with diets containing threonine (T) or arginine (A) at 25% above requirements, or with 1% supplemented glutamine (G), or with each amino acid added (TAG). Litter and diet treatments did not strongly interact on outcomes. Reused litter placement resulted in greater weight gain, smaller feed conversion ratio and heavier bursal weights (P < 0.05) compared to clean litter placement. Relative to C and T birds, TAG birds reduced weight gain and feed intake (P < 0.05). Plasma uric acid levels in G birds were greater than in C, T and A birds (P < 0.001). Collectively, since the outcomes of placement on reused litter increased performance and the control diet was IP formulated, the absence of increased growth performance in response to amino acid supplementation would be consistent with amino acids tested being excess to requirements.
Abstract
Background
Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are among the most severe complications for users of intermittent catheterisation (IC), with numerous risk factors contributing to their ...occurrence. The aim of this study was to develop a tool to assess UTI risk factors among IC users in a systematic way that considers the perspective of the individual user.
Methods
The Design Thinking Process was used to guide the development of the content and format of the tool. The UTI Risk Factors model by Kennelly et al. was used as a basis for developing the content. Insights on the appropriate content and format were collected via the Coloplast Nurse Advisory Boards and by conducting a qualitative evidence synthesis on user perspectives and practices in relation to UTIs.
Results
The literature search identified a total of 3544 articles, out of which 22 met the inclusion criteria. Additionally, three rounds of meetings were conducted with approximately 90 nurses from the Nurse Advisory Boards across Europe. The qualitative evidence synthesis showed that users describe their UTI symptoms in different terms and that personal needs and priorities impact their adherence and catheter selection. Furthermore, some users lack relevant and updated knowledge about IC and UTIs.
The nurses described that correct UTI diagnosis is essential. They pointed that they would assess the user’s general condition, adherence, technique, and catheter type as potential areas of risk factors and emphasised the importance of adequate support for users.
The study resulted in the development of the UTI assessment tool for intermittent catheter users, which comprises three elements: a guide for healthcare professionals, a dialogue board, and a notepad. The tool starts with a confirmation of the UTI incidence, and then assesses risk factors via questions on health, adherence, technique, and catheter, and concludes with a support section.
Conclusions
The UTI assessment tool for intermittent catheter users is designed to help healthcare professionals assess UTI risk factors in a systematic way, while engaging users and taking their perspective into account. By identifying the relevant risk factors, the use of this tool has the potential to reduce the occurrence of UTIs for the individual IC user.
Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections impact small ruminant health, welfare, and production across farming systems. Rising anthelmintic resistance and regulation of synthetic drug use in organic ...farming is driving research and development of sustainable alternatives for GIN control. One alternative is the feeding of plants that contain secondary metabolites (PSMs) e.g., proanthocyanidins (PA, syn. condensed tannins) that have shown anthelmintic potential. However, PSMs can potentially impair performance, arising from reduced palatability and thus intake, digestibility or even toxicity effects. In this study, we tested the trade-off between the antiparasitic and anti-nutritional effects of heather consumption by lambs. The impact of additional feeding of a nematophagous fungus (Duddingtonia flagrans) on larval development was also explored. Lambs infected with Teladorsagia circumcincta or uninfected controls, were offered ad libitum heather, or a control chopped hay for 22 days during the infection patent period. Eight days into the patent period, parasitised lambs were supplemented (or remained unsupplemented) with D. flagrans for a 5-day period. Performance and infection metrics were recorded, and polyphenol levels in the heather and control hay were measured to investigate their association with activity.
The lambs consumed heather at approximately 20% of their dry matter intake, which was sufficient to exhibit significant anthelmintic effects via a reduction in total egg output (P = 0.007), compared to hay-fed lambs; the magnitude of the reduction over time in heather fed lambs was almost 10-fold compared to control lambs. Negative effects on production were shown, as heather-fed lambs weighed 6% less than hay-fed lambs (P < 0.001), even though dry matter intake (DMI) of heather increased over time. D. flagrans supplementation lowered larval recovery in the faeces of infected lambs by 31.8% (P = 0.003), although no interactions between feeding heather and D. flagrans were observed (P = 0.337). There was no significant correlation between PA, or other polyphenol subgroups in the diet and egg output, which suggests that any association between heather feeding and anthelmintic effect is not simply and directly attributable to the measured polyphenols. The level of heather intake in this study showed no antagonistic effects on D. flagrans, demonstrating the methods can be used in combination, but provide no additive effect on overall anthelmintic efficacies. In conclusion, heather feeding can assist to reduce egg outputs in infected sheep, but at 20% of DMI negative effects on lamb performance can be expected which may outweigh any antiparasitic benefits.
•Heather intake at 20% of DMI reduced gastrointestinal nematode daily egg output.•Adult worm counts were not affected by heather consumption in infected lambs.•Lambs on the heather diet suffered performance costs shown by lower bodyweight.•Supplementation with Duddingtonia flagrans reduced larval recovery in faeces.
An inverse scattering problem of time-harmonic chiral electromagnetic waves for a buried partially coated object was studied. The buried object was embedded in a piecewise isotropic homogeneous ...background chiral material. On the boundary of the scattering object, the total electromagnetic field satisfied perfect conductor and impedance boundary conditions. A modified linear sampling method, which originated from the chiral reciprocity gap functional, was employed for reconstruction of the shape of the buried object without requiring any a priori knowledge of the material properties of the scattering object. Furthermore, a characterization of the impedance of the object’s surface was determined.
In vitro and in vivo studies were conducted to determine possible direct anthelmintic effects of condensed tannins towards different ovine gastrointestinal nematodes. A larval development/viability ...assay was used to investigate the effect of a condensed tannin extract (Quebracho) towards larvae of
Haemonchus
contortus,
Teladorsagia
circumcincta and
Trichostrongylus
vitrinus. The development to infective larvae and their viability was assessed in all three species and LD 50 values were calculated. The presence of Quebracho extract in the cultures decreased the viability of L
3 in all species; the LD 50 were not significantly different for the different species. Forty-eight sheep were allocated to one of eight groups and were infected with a single dose of either 4000 L
3
H.
contortus (groups 1 and 2) or 5000 L
3
T.
colubriformis and 5000 L
3
Nematodirus
battus simultaneously (groups 3–6) or 10,000 L
3 of
T.
circumcincta (groups 7 and 8). From day 28 until day 31 of the experiment, sheep infected with the intestinal species were drenched with Quebracho extract at 4, 8 or 16% w/w of food intake, or remained as undrenched controls; sheep infected with the abomasal species were either drenched with Quebracho extract at 8% w/w of food intake or remained as undrenched controls. All sheep were slaughtered 4 days after the end of the drenching period. Sheep infected with the intestinal species and drenched with 16% w/w Quebracho had lower FEC compared to sheep drenched with 8% w/w (
P<0.05), which in turn were lower than in sheep either drenched with 4% Quebracho or which remained undrenched (
P<0.05). The lowest intestinal worm burden was recovered from sheep drenched with 8% w/w Quebracho extract (
P<0.05). The administration of Quebracho extract at 8% of food intake for 3 days did not affect FEC or worm burdens in sheep infected with the abomasal species compared to controls.
Effects of increased MP supply on the degree of periparturient relaxation of immunity (PPRI) in sheep may be dependent on quality of supplied MP. Here we tested the hypothesis that additional MP ...supply from rations based on xylose-treated soybean meal would be more effective than from rations based on faba beans in reducing the degree of PPRI, as indicated by nematode egg excretion. Twenty-four multiple-bearing ewes were trickle infected with Teladorsagia circumcincta larvae from d -56 to d 31 relative to start of lactation (d 0). From d -26 onwards, ewes were fed at either 0.8 (LP) or at 1.2 times their respective calculated MP requirements using either xylose-treated soybean (HPS) or faba beans (HPB). Litter size was adjusted to 2 lambs at parturition. Feeding treatments did not affect nematode egg excretion, ewe BW or BCS during late pregnancy (P > 0.10), but HPS and HPB ewes had reduced plasma pepsinogen concentrations (P = 0.003). During lactation, HPS and HPB feeding increased ewe BW gain (P < 0.001) and BCS (P = 0.017), and reduced plasma pepsinogen concentrations (P = 0.008) to the same extent, compared with LP feeding. However, only HPS feeding increased litter weight gain (P = 0.017) and reduced nematode egg excretion (P = 0.015), which were both similar between HPB and LP (P > 0.10). The results support the view that extra MP supply from xylose-treated soybean based rations is more effective in reducing parasitism than MP from faba bean-based rations, suggesting that protein source and/or quality are important factors to consider for the nutritional control of parasitism.
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