Surgical and postoperative events during permanent fistulation of sheep rumen by the Schalk and Amadon method

OBJECTIVE

To describe and report on the course of events during and after surgical fistulation of sheep rumen by the Schalk and Amadon method and on improvements to address current trends in animal health, care and welfare.

METHODS

A permanent re-entry fistula was created in 13 sheep using a method in which a fold of rumen is exteriorised and held by a metal clamp. Following surgery, sheep were monitored daily for any abnormalities for 4 weeks, then weekly for 6 months.

RESULTS

Permanent fistulation was achieved in all 13 sheep; 2 sheep had minor complications: one during the surgery (rumen perforation) and one on the day after surgery (slipping of the metal clamp), but both recovered within 48 h with treatment. Over the 4 weeks post-surgery, 7 sheep had mildly elevated rectal temperatures, which resolved with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, systemic antibiotics and/or topical antiseptic cream. There was an 8-day variation among sheep in the time from surgery to creation of the fistula.

CONCLUSION

Rumen fistulation of sheep by the Schalk and Amadon method, as described here, is a comparatively simple, safe and ethical procedure, with minimal effect on or complications for the animal.

Internet and smartphone application usage in eating disorders: A descriptive study in Singapore

Introduction

Eating disorders are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The Internet is a popular medium for individuals with eating disorders to discuss and reinforce their affliction. However, the available literature on Internet usage and eating disorders is scarce, especially in the area of social media and smartphone application (“app”) usage.

Objectives & aims

To look at the Internet and smartphone app usage patterns of participants who presented with an eating disorder in Singapore, and whether it corresponded to severity of illness.

Methods

Individuals who presented to the Eating Disorders clinic at the Singapore General Hospital from 13th June 2013 to 20th December 2013 completed a self-reported questionnaire on Internet and app usage. They also completed the EDE-Q, EAT-26 and CIA 3.0.

Results

Fifty-five participants completed the study. A total of 41.8% had anorexia nervosa, 34.5% had bulimia nervosa, and 9.1% were ED-NOS. 41.8% felt that apps helped to perpetuate their illness, while 32.7% felt that apps were helpful for recovery. Overall, any smartphone application usage was associated with younger age and greater eating disorder psychopathology and psychosocial impairment. While 30.9% had encountered eating disorder-related content on Facebook, only 12.75 visited Facebook groups related to eating disorders. For YouTube, “Cooking and Food” and “Beauty and Fashion” videos were among the top 3 types of videos that participants watched.

Conclusions

Internet and smartphone app usage is significant, and they are used to prolong or worsen eating disorder behavior in those with greater severity of illness. It is necessary to include interventions in this aspect as part of treatment.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Efficient l-lactic acid production from sweet sorghum bagasse by open simultaneous saccharification and fermentation

An open SSF process using B. coagulans LA1507 introduces an effective way to produce l-lactic acid from abundant SSB.

[The value of area strain imaging diastolic index for predicting left anterior descending severe stenosis]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the value of locating and defining severe stenosis of left anterior descending (LAD) with area strain imaging diastolic indexes (ASI-DI) derived from three dimensional speckle tracking imaging (3D-STI).

METHODS

A total of 92 suspected coronary heart disease patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≥ 50% and without regional wall motion abnormality, who underwent echocardiography before coronary angiography in our department from July 2012 to April 2014, were included in this retrospective study. Patients were divided into three groups by the level of LAD stenosis: severe stenosis group (≥ 75%, n = 36), mild to moderate stenosis group (1%-74%, n = 22) and control group (without coronary artery stenosis, n = 34). Global peak systolic area strain (GPSAS), global ASI-DI (GASI-DI), and ASI-DI of the regional myocardial segments with blood supplied by LAD were measured. Receiver operating curves (ROC) were obtained between ASI-DI and stenosis level of LAD to locate and to find out the optimal segment and cutoff values.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference of GPSAS among serious stenosis group, mild and moderate stenosis group and control group ((-25.2 ± 6.2) % vs. (-20.3 ± 6.6) % vs. (-21.3 ± 8.6) %, P = 0.159). GASI-DI was significantly lower in severe stenosis group than in mild to moderate stenosis group and control group ((-34.3 ± 14.7) vs. (-48.1 ± 13.3) % vs. (-59.4 ± 12.2) %, both P < 0.01). GASI-DI was similar between mild to moderate stenosis group and control group (P = 0.217). The optimal cutoff values of ASI-DI were 40.3% and area under the curve (AUC) were 0.829 in the base anterior segment for detecting proximal severe stenosis of LAD (sensitivity 0.967, specificity 0.651), 38.3% and 0.843 in the middle anteroseptum for detecting mid-distal sever stenosis of LAD (sensitivity 0.967, specificity 0.651).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with severe LAD stenosis can be screened by ASI-DI among patients with LVEF ≥ 50% and without regional wall motion abnormality. The ASI-DI of base anterior segment and middle anteroseptum can be used to locate the proximal and mid-distal sever stenosis of LAD.

Cardiospecific CD36 suppression by lentivirus-mediated RNA interference prevents cardiac hypertrophy and systolic dysfunction in high-fat-diet induced obese mice

Background

Fatty acid (FA) catabolism abnormality has been proved to play an important role in obesity-related cardiomyopathy. We hypothesized that cardiospecific suppression of CD36, the predominant membrane FA transporter, would protect against obesity-related cardiomyopathy.

Methods

Four-wk-old male C57BL/6 J mice were fed with either high-fat-diet (HFD) or control-normal-diet for 2 wk. Then they were subjected to intramyocardial injection with recombinant lentiviral vectors containing short hairpin RNAs to selectively downregulate the expression of either cardiac CD36 or irrelevant gene by RNA interference. After a 10-wk continuation of the diet, biochemical, functional, morphological, histological, metabolic and molecular profiles were assessed.

Results

HFD administration elicited obesity, cardiac hypertrophy and systolic dysfunction accompanied with elevated serum levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, fasting serum glucose (FSG), total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride. Additionally, HFD consumption promoted lipid accumulation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in the cardiomyocytes. Cardiospecific CD36 inhibition protected against HFD induced cardiac remodeling by decreasing heart/body weight ratio, increasing left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction and fractional shortening as well as normalizing LV diameter, without influencing body weight gain. Inhibition of cardiac CD36 also mitigated obesity induced alteration in BUN, creatinine and triglyceride, but had no effect on FSG or TC. Moreover, cardiospecific CD36 deficiency corrected myocardial lipid overaccumulation and intracellular ROS overproduction that were induced by HFD feeding.

Conclusions

Cardiospecific CD36 inhibition protects against the aggravation of cardiac functional and morphological changes associated with HFD induced obesity. CD36 represents a potential therapeutic target for obesity cardiomyopathy.

Transformation of truncated gold octahedrons into triangular nanoprisms through the heterogeneous nucleation of silver

Described is a straightforward procedure for forming organized substrate-immobilized nanoprisms which are single crystalline, surfactant-free and which form a heteroepitaxial relationship with the underlying substrate. The devised route utilizes truncated Au octahedrons formed through solid state dewetting techniques as high temperature heterogeneous nucleation sites for Ag adatoms which are arriving to the substrate surface in the vapour phase. Observed is a morphological and compositional transformation of the Au structures to triangular nanoprisms comprised of a homogeneous AuAg alloy. During this transformation, the localized surface plasmon resonance red-shifts, broadens and increases in strength. The shape transformation, which cannot be rationalized using thermodynamic arguments dependent on the surface energy minimization, is described in terms of a kinetically driven growth mode, previously predicted by molecular dynamic simulations. The so-formed structures, when coated with a thin layer of Pd, are demonstrated as plasmonic sensing elements for hydrogen detection.