This study reports the effects of a high-fat (HF) diet on the iron (Fe) status of growing rats over 8 weeks. Tissue Fe levels were analysed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and whole-body adiposity was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Histopathology and morphometry of adipose tissue were performed. Liver homogenates were used for measuring ferroportin (Fpn)-1 protein levels by immunoblotting, and transcript levels were used for Fe genes measured by real-time PCR. Tissue Fe pools were fit to a compartmental biokinetic model in which Fe was assessed using 14 compartments and 27 transfer constants (kj,i from tissue “i” to tissue “j”) adapted from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) 69. Ten kj,i were calculated from the experimental data using nonlinear regression, and 17 were estimated by allometry according to the formula kj,i = a · Mb. Validation of the model was carried out by comparing predicted and analysed Fe pool sizes in red blood cells (RBCs), the liver and the spleen. Body adiposity was negatively associated with serum Fe levels and positively associated with liver Fe stores. An inferred increase in Fe transfer from bone marrow to the liver paralleled higher hepatic Fe concentrations and ferritin heavy-chain mRNA levels in the HF diet-fed animals, suggesting that liver Fe accumulation occurred at least in part due to a favoured liver RBC uptake. If this feeding condition were to be prolonged, impaired Fe decompartmentalization may occur, ultimately resulting in dysmetabolic Fe overload.

Historical strandings and sightings (1989–2016) of Tursiops truncatus at 25oS in the south-western Atlantic Ocean (Paraná, Brazil) were assessed to (1) investigate temporal fluctuations; and (2) quantify biological, ecological and health parameters of regional populations. In total, 57 T. truncatus carcasses in mostly advanced stages of decomposition (~80% of all specimens) were recorded. Standardized temporal strandings (per observational effort) varied considerably and with no clear annual relationship beyond a peak in 2007, but there were consistently more strandings in winter/spring (74%) than summer/autumn (26%). While there was uncertainty over age estimation (i.e. not available for the population), individuals classified as juveniles/subadults were more frequent (80%) than calves (14%) and adults (6%). Of 28 carcasses assessed, 27 showed a positive linear relationship between TL and condyle-basal length, while one specimen had a clear southern skull morphotype. Suggestive lesions of Crassicauda sp. were recorded in 77% of assessed skulls and four types of tooth pathologies were observed. Nine individuals were more closely investigated for gross and histopathological alterations and had clear evidence of fishery interactions and various health issues associated with disease and oedema accompanied by alveolar fibrosis. While the regional frequency of T. truncatus strandings was lower than other more vulnerable cetaceans, the absolute numbers (e.g. 15 individuals in 2016) and some uncertainty concerning regional taxonomy are noteworthy, and justify ongoing spatio-temporal monitoring. Further, given the evidence of disease in some specimens, future work should not only encompass rigorous taxonomic assessments, but also health to comprehensively evaluate regional stocks. Small cetacean species are sentinels and their condition could inform ongoing environmental assessments.

This study describes the effects of extracts and fractions of Persea willdenovii leaves against goat gastrointestinal nematodes and their cytotoxicity on Vero cells. The in vitro ovicidal and larvicidal activities of the crude ethanolic, hexane, ethyl acetate (EAE), butanolic and residual hydroethanolic extracts were assessed through the inhibition of egg hatching and larval motility assays. The most active extract (EAE) was then fractionated by chromatography in an open column containing silica gel, to furnish six fractions (Fr1–Fr6), which were also tested. The cytotoxicity of active extracts and fractions was determined using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and trypan blue exclusion assay. The EAE and two fractions (Fr1 and Fr2) showed inhibitory activity in the egg hatching of gastrointestinal nematodes of goats in a concentration-dependent manner. The effective concentrations for 50% inhibition (EC50) of egg hatching were 2.3, 0.12 and 2.94 mg/ml for EAE, Fr1 and Fr2, respectively. All extracts and fractions were not effective in inhibiting 50% of motility of infective larvae. EAE and Fr2 had IC50 values (50% inhibitory concentration) of 4.95 and 2.66 mg/ml, respectively. Fr1 showed a slight cytotoxic effect (cellular inviability <30%) only after 48 h of treatment (MTT test). Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis showed the presence of six fatty acid ethyl esters, a fatty acid methyl ester and a long-chain ketone in the most active fraction. These constituents identified in P. willdenovii can be related to the high ovicidal activity and relatively non-toxic effect of the extracts.

Nebulae surrounding isolated Pop I WR stars provide observational constraints on as yet poorly determined chemical surface abundances and FUV energy distributions of their central stars. An integral of the mass loss history and the chemical evolution is stored in those parts of the nebulae that have suffered only very little mixing with the ISM (cf. Kwitter 1984). Effective temperatures in the Lyman continuum region are reflected in the ionization structure of oxygen and sulfur (cf. Mathis 1982). For intrinsic problems involved refer to the papers cited above.

An imaging and spectroscopic survey for WR stars in IC 4662 revealed the presence of a cluster consisting of a mix of about 10 WN 7-8 and WC 5 stars plus the equivalent of some 5 OV stars at a projected distance of about 100 pc from the cluster core of the bright central H ii complex.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prediction ability of models that cope with longevity phenotypic expression as uncensored and censored in Nellore cattle. Longevity was defined as the difference between the dates of last weaned calf and cow birth. There were information of 77 353 females, being 61 097 cows with uncensored phenotypic information and 16 256 cows with censored records. These data were analyzed considering three different models: (1) Gaussian linear model (LM), in which only uncensored records were considered; and two models that consider both uncensored and censored records: (2) Censored Gaussian linear model (CLM); and (3) Weibull frailty hazard model (WM). For the model prediction ability comparisons, the data set was randomly divided into training and validation sets, containing 80% and 20% of the records, respectively. There were considered 10 repetitions applying the following restrictions: (a) at least three animals per contemporary group in the training set; and (b) sires with more than 10 progenies with uncensored records (352 sires) should have daughters in the training and validation sets. The variance components estimated using the whole data set in each model were used as true values in the prediction of breeding values of the animals in the training set. The WM model showed the best prediction ability, providing the lowest χ 2 average and the highest number of sets in which a model had the smallest value of χ 2 statistics. The CLM and LM models showed prediction abilities 2.6% and 3.7% less efficient than WM, respectively. In addition, the accuracies of sire breeding values for LM and CLM were lower than those obtained for WM. The percentages of bulls in common, considering only 10% of sires with the highest breeding values, were around 75% and 54%, respectively, between LM–CLM and LM–WM models, considering all sires, and 75% between LM–CLM and LM–WM, when only sires with more than 10 progenies with uncensored records were taken into account. These results are indicative of reranking of animals in terms of genetic merit between LM, CLM and WM. The model in which censored records of longevity were excluded from the analysis showed the lowest prediction ability. The WM provides the best predictive performance, therefore this model would be recommended to perform genetic evaluation of longevity in this population.

In the near future, ruminants may be forced to consume low-quality water since potable drinking water will become increasingly scarce in some regions of the world. A completely randomized design trial was completed to evaluate the effect of increasing concentrations of total dissolved salts (TDS) (640, 3187, 5740 and 8326 mg TDS/l) in drinking water on the performance, diet digestibility, microbial protein synthesis, nitrogen (N) and water balance using 24 Red Sindhi heifers (200 ± 5 kg) that were fed Buffel (Cenchrus ciliaris) grass hay and concentrate in a ratio of 50 : 50. After a 15-day diet adaptation period, the digestion study was completed over a 5-day period and the performance trial was completed over a 56-day period. Dry matter intake, average daily gain, feed:gain, intake and digestibility of most feed components were unaffected by the concentration of salt in the water. However, intake and digestibility of neutral detergent fibre declined linearly as TDS inclusion rate increased. Further, the inclusion of TDS resulted in a linear increase in the intake of drinking water and total (food plus drinking) water intake. Similarly, TDS inclusion levels resulted in a linear increase in total water excretion, with urine being the major route of water excretion. In contrast, increasing concentrations of TDS caused a linear decrease in creatinine and allantoin excretions. Finally, increasing the inclusion rate of TDS resulted in a linear decrease in N retention and a linear increase in urinary N excretion, which may pose a considerable challenge for farmers with respect to the reduction and management of nutrient losses.

Economic losses due to an increase of leg disorders in broilers have become a major concern of the poultry industry. Despite the efforts to reduce skeletal abnormalities in chickens, insufficient progress has been made. Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) is one of the main disorders that affect bone integrity in broilers. However, the genetic pathways and genes involved in most bone problems, including BCO, remains unclear. In this study, femoral samples from male broilers with 45 days of age affected or not with BCO were used to compare the relative expression with a reverse transcription real time PCR approach of 13 candidate genes: SPP1 (osteopontin), TNFRSF11B (osteoprotegerin), SPARC (osteonectin), CALB1 (calbidin 1), CALM (Calmodulin 2), IBSP (sialoprotein), COL1A2 (collagen, type I, α 2), BMP2 (bone morphogenetic protein 2), BMP3 (bone morphogenetic protein 3), RANKL (κ-B nuclear factor ligand), SMAD1 (SMAD family member 1), LEPR (leptin receptor) and RUNX2 (related transcription factor Runt 2). Differential expression test between affected and non-affected groups was performed using the REST software. The RUNX2 and SPARC genes were downregulated (P<0.05) in the affected group, with reduced expression of fourfold when compared with the non-affected group. This result indicates that the downregulation of RUNX2 and SPARC can contribute to an increased incidence of BCO in broilers.

In recent decades conducting polymers have attracted attention due to their promising and versatile applications in different fields. There is a considerable interest in the application of nanotubes multilayer carbon (MWCNT) because of their unique structure, high electrical conductivity, high chemical stability, and high surface-to-volume ratio. These properties make MWCNT extremely attractive for fabricating sensors. Composites based on a matrix of a biopolymer such as the chitosan (CS) with a lot of conductive polymers or (MWCNT), have received increasing attention due to their attractive structural, mechanical and electrical properties that could have applications in different fields such as tissue engineering, biomedicine, and manufacture of sensors and biosensors. Have been reported conducting polymer composites with an extensive range of interesting mechanical and electrical properties, which is reported in this paper to obtain films by ultrasonic bath mixing of Chitosan 3% w/v using polypyrrole (PPy) and multilayer carbon nanotubes. Surface characterization was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrical properties were analyzed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in a frequency range 0.01 - 10E+5 Hz to 10 mV AC. The results show that the films of CS/PPy/MWCNT have a homogeneous distribution where the chitosan envelops the loads, while for EIS retention load was observed within the matrix observing these materials in accordance with the equivalent circuit of Warburg showing diffusional process.

The synthesis of Fe3O4-Ag bimetallic nanoparticles by chemical reduction was carried out. Fe nanoparticles were obtained using Fe (III) Chloride hexahydrate (FeCl3•6H2O) as precursor and sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as reducing agent, subsequently, a solution of silver nitrate (AgNO3) was added to the reaction. The synthesis methodology employed in this case, is a modification of chemical reduction method. Through this procedure has been possible simplify the synthesis route used to obtain bimetallic systems such as Fe3O4-Ag. Particles with semi-spherical morphology were observed. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM), ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-is) and quasi-elastic light scattering (QELS) techniques were employed for the structural characterization of Fe3O4-Ag nanostructures. Some models presented describe and prove the formation of the Fe3O4-Ag alloy type structures.

We present our results on high resolution imaging and spectroscopy using the HST of six high-excitation ‘blobs’ (HEB). HEBs constitute a rare class of compact H ii regions in the Magellanic Clouds. Contrary to the typical H ii regions of these galaxies, which are extended structures with sizes greater than 50 pc, the compact H ii regions are an order of magnitude smaller having diameters of less than about 3 pc. HEBs are believed to be the final stages in the evolution of the ultra-compact H ii regions, whose Galactic counterparts are detected only at infrared and radio wavelengths. We find that despite their small size, HEBs are in general excited by more than one newborn massive star. Color-magnitude diagrams of the exciting stellar population indicate that it is consistent with an O6-O8 type, and far-UV spectroscopy with HST-stis of several of these stars further confirms their youth. Surprisingly though, it also shows an astonishing weakness of their wind profiles and their sub-luminosity, up to ~ 2 mag fainter in M V than the corresponding dwarfs. Our analysis suggests that these stars are probably in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram locus of a particularly young class of massive stars, the so-called Vz luminosity class, as they are arriving on the zero age main sequence.

The Joint European X-ray Telescope (JET-X) is one of the core scientific instruments of the SPECTRUM RONTGEN-γ astrophysics mission. The project is a collaboration of British, Italian and Russian consortia, with the participation of the Max Planck Institut (Germany). JET-X was designed to study the emission from X-ray sources in the band of 0.3-10 keV. Citterio et al. (1996 and references therein) describe its structure, composed by two identical and coaligned Wolter I telescopes. Focal plane imaging is provided by cooled X-ray sensitive CCD detectors which combine high spatial resolution with good spectral resolution, including coverage of the iron line complex around 7 keV at a resolution of ΔE/E ~ 2%.

We analyze optical, radio and X-ray data from supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in order to make a systematic study of a full sample at a known distance. By this multiwavelength examination of SNRs from various progenitors and environments, we will build a comprehensive picture of the evolution of SNR structure and energetics.