Effects of Knotweed-Enriched Feed on the Blood Characteristics and Fitness of Horses

The aboveground biomass of dry knotweed was administered daily to large groups of young (1- to 3-year-old) stallions of the Czech Warmblood, Czech-Moravian Coldblood and Silesian Norik breeds, fed individually for 4 and 6 months in two successive winter experiments. Their fitness was compared with control groups consisting of equally numerous subgroups comparable in age, breed, body mass and initial blood parameters. The effects of knotweed on the horses’ fitness were evaluated based on changes in blood characteristics. Even if administered in small amounts, 150 g per day, knotweed could (1) increase the thrombocyte numbers, (2) increase the globulin content (thus improving the horses’ immunity, which is desired in large groups of animals), (3) stimulate lipid metabolism in cold-blooded horses and (4) decrease the concentration of cholesterol. The long-lasting effect of knotweed on both the urea and triglyceride–cholesterol ratio presumably reflected, between the two experiments, the temporary protein starvation of horses on pastures with poor quality of grass in a dry summer.

THE USE OF DIFFERENT PERCENTAGES OF WILD THYME THYMUS SERPYLLUM IN THE DIETS OF AWASSI LAMBS AND ITS EFFECT ON GROWTH AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS: استخدام نسب مختلفة من الزعتر البري Thymus serpyllum في علائق الحملان العواسية وأثره في النمو وصفات الذبيحة

This study was conducted to find out the effect of using different percentages of wild thyme, Thymus serpyllum in the diets of Awassi lambs, and its effect on growth, carcass characteristics, blood traits and some properties of rumen fluid. This experiment was conducted in field of the Department of Animal Production of College of Agriculture and Forestry at University of Mosul. In this experiment, 24 twenty four male Awassi lambs were used, their ages ranged between 5-6 months, lambs were randomly distributed to 4 four treatments and each treatment included 6 six replicates of lambs. The lambs were raised and fed for a period of 90 days From date of (11/11/2020) the beginning of the experiment to date of slaughtering animals for sampling for research purposes on (9/2/2021). And lambs of first treatment (control) were fed on a standard diet only. Free from any additives consisting of barley, wheat bran, wheat straw, soybean meal, limestone and salt, a second treatment was added wild thyme 10 gm/kg feed/head daily, third treatment was 20 gm/kg feed/head daily and fourth treatment was 30 g/kg of feed/head per day. The results of experiment did not show significant differences in daily and total weight gain and carcass characteristics. The results of pH of rumen fluid before feeding or after feeding two hours, nor concentration of rumen liquid ammonia two hours after feeding did not show significant differences between the four treatments. As for the ammonia concentration of the rumen fluid before feeding, it indicated a significant superiority (P≤ 0.05) in treatment. Fourth compared to other transactions. Also, no significant differences were observed in blood characteristics.

Reproducibility of cerebrovascular reactivity measurements: A systematic review of neuroimaging techniques*

Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), the capacity of the brain to increase cerebral blood flow (CBF) to meet changes in physiological demand, is an important biomarker to evaluate brain health. Typically, this brain “stress test” is performed by using a medical imaging modality to measure the CBF change between two states: at baseline and after vasodilation. However, since there are many imaging modalities and many ways to augment CBF, a wide range of CVR values have been reported. An understanding of CVR reproducibility is critical to determine the most reliable methods to measure CVR as a clinical biomarker. This review focuses on CVR reproducibility studies using neuroimaging techniques in 32 articles comprising 427 total subjects. The literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, and Scopus. The review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). We identified 5 factors of the experimental subjects (such as sex, blood characteristics, and smoking) and 9 factors of the measuring technique (such as the imaging modality, the type of the vasodilator, and the quantification method) that have strong effects on CVR reproducibility. Based on this review, we recommend several best practices to improve the reproducibility of CVR quantification in neuroimaging studies.

The Effect of Feather Color and Sex on The Physiological Characteristics of Domestic Chickens

This study was conducted at the Animal Production Research Station - College of Agriculture - Al-Muthanna University, as 5 males and 5 females from three types of local chicken strains were used in this experiment according to the color black, brown and white, after the age of sexual maturity, and some blood characteristics were studied (Red blood cells, Packed cell volume(pcv)) and some biochemical characteristics such as concentration (glucose, cholesterol, and total protein) in blood serum. During the study period, birds were fed a diet containing 17.5% protein and 2814 kcal/kg feed. The results showed no significant differences in red blood cells between the strains (black, brown, and white), while males significantly outperformed females in the numbers of red blood cells (P≤0.05). While significant differences were found between the strains in the studied characteristics of (cholesterol, glucose, and total protein), as males outperformed females in the concentration of glucose and cholesterol, while the concentration of total protein decreased in males compared to females.

Acquisition of yersinia murine toxin enabled Yersinia pestis to expand the range of mammalian hosts that sustain flea-borne plague

Yersinia murine toxin (Ymt) is a phospholipase D encoded on a plasmid acquired by Yersinia pestis after its recent divergence from a Yersinia pseudotuberculosis progenitor. Despite its name, Ymt is not required for virulence but acts to enhance bacterial survival in the flea digestive tract. Certain Y. pestis strains circulating in the Bronze Age lacked Ymt, suggesting that they were not transmitted by fleas. However, we show that the importance of Ymt varies with host blood source. In accordance with the original description, Ymt greatly enhanced Y. pestis survival in fleas infected with bacteremic mouse, human, or black rat blood. In contrast, Ymt was much less important when fleas were infected using brown rat blood. A Y. pestis Ymt−mutant infected fleas nearly as well as the Ymt+ parent strain after feeding on bacteremic brown rat blood, and the mutant was transmitted efficiently by flea bite during the first weeks after infection. The protective function of Ymt correlated with red blood cell digestion kinetics in the flea gut. Thus, early Y. pestis strains that lacked Ymt could have been maintained in flea-brown rat transmission cycles, and perhaps in other hosts with similar blood characteristics. Acquisition of Ymt, however, served to greatly expand the range of hosts that could support flea-borne plague.

PSXI-13 Effects of pasture grazing on growth performance and blood composition of Hanwoo steer during the growing stage

This study investigated the effect of pasture grazing on growth performance and blood characteristics in nine-month-old Hanwoo (native Korean cattle) steers. Thirty one steers were randomly assigned to three groups: (CON) Italian ryegrass and concentrate (1.6% BW) until 14 month of age, (G1) pasture grazing 101 days without concentrate, (G2) pasture grazing 101 days and concentrate (1.6% BW). Initial BW of CON, G1 and G2 were 255 kg, 238 kg and 254kg respectively. Average daily gains were higher in CON (1.02 kg) and G2 (0.92 kg) than G1 (0.62 kg) (p >0.05). Final weight and total weight gain were higher in the feeding concentrate (1.6% BW) groups (Con and G2) compared to the G1. Blood characteristics, such as such as total cholesterol (T-CHO), triglycerides (TG) and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) were investigated to test the effects on health and energy metabolism. T-CHO, an index of fat metabolism and liver function, was lower in Con (119.75 md/dL) and G2 (107.13md/dL) than G1 (87.79 mg/dL). TG was higher in Con (21.63 IU/L) than G1(15.14 IU/L) (P< 0.08). NEFA was higher in G2 (384 uEq/L) than other groups (Con 138 uEq/L and G1 225 uEq/L). These results show that concentrates supplementation during grazing period is needed to increase BW of Hanwoo steer in the growing state.