Supplementation of Beltsville extender with quercetin improves the quality of frozen-thawed rooster semen

1. Excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production during the sperm freeze-thawing process leads to membrane lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, and motility loss.2. This study examined the effect of supplementation of Beltsville poultry semen extender with different concentrations of quercetin (and antioxidants) on the cryopreservation of rooster sperm.3. Semen samples were collected from six Ross broiler breeders via abdominal massage twice a week for 4 weeks (eight replicates), and were divided into five equal aliquots to be diluted in Beltsville extenders that contained different concentrations of quercetin: 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mM. Motility, membrane functionality, abnormal morphology, lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial activity, viability, apoptosis status, and fertility potential were assessed post thaw.4. The addition of 10 and 15 mM quercetin to the semen extender significantly increased the total motility, straight-line velocity (VSL), and sperm membrane functionality compared with the other groups (P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, 10 mM quercetin caused higher progressive motility (34.86 ± 3.80%), curvilinear velocity (VCL; 175.11 ± 3.20 µm/s), average path velocity (VAP; 44.35 ± 11.06 µm/s), viability (59.14 ± 1.36%), mitochondrial activity (80.14 ± 2.07%), lower abnormal morphology (19.21 ± 0.45%), and lower lipid peroxidation (2.7 ± 0.13 nmol/ml) compared with the other groups (P < 0.05). The rate of fertility and hatchability after artificial insemination was not affected by experimental groups.5. In conclusion, supplementation of Beltsville extender with 10 mM quercetin could be a suitable method to improve post-thawed rooster sperm quality resulting in better freeze/thaw characteristics.

Dietary and socio-economic factors associated with overweight and obesity in a southern French population

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the socio-economic and dietary factors associated with overweight and obesity, respectively, in southern France.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional analysis of socio-economic, lifestyle and nutritional characteristics of a representative population sample. A questionnaire elicited information on anthropometric measurements, socio-economic factors, physical activity, tobacco use, and alcohol and food intakes. Non-parametric tests, multiple linear regression models and correspondence factorial analysis (CFA) were used to estimate the association of the various factors with overweight and obesity.

SETTING

French Southwest and Mediterranean areas.

SUBJECTS

In total, 1169 subjects (578 women and 552 men), aged 30-77 years, were recruited at random.

RESULTS

Overweight and obesity were associated with age and education in both genders, reproductive factors in women and tobacco use in men. A few dietary factors were identified (high energy intake and low intake of carbohydrates), but all these variables explained little of the variation (18.5% in women and 14.6% in men). The CFA further investigated the association of lifestyle and nutritional factors, giving more weight to nutritional behaviour for overweight men and women. Factors for obesity differed from those for overweight by being different in men and women, possibly related to psychological behaviour, and there were fewer of them, suggesting an insufficient coverage by the usual questionnaires.

CONCLUSIONS

Overweight and obesity appear as two different entities. Energy imbalance induced by various lifestyle factors plays a major role in the development of overweight, whereas obesity represents a more complex entity where psychological and genetic factors that are difficult to assess may be more important. General nutritional guidelines appear more adapted to the prevention of overweight than to that of obesity, and individual counselling to the prevention of obesity.

[Alcohol consumption by young adults from three cities in Southern France]

AIM

To identify potential factors of change in alcohol consumption and regional differences which could explain why and how habits are evolving.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Four hundred and thirty three subjects aged 20 to 34 years, were recruited by random sampling in Marseilles, Montpellier and Toulouse. A quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to collect data on alcohol consumption. A stepwise logistic regression was applied to the total sample, to the sub-sample of drinkers, and to the sub-samples of drinkers of each type of alcoholic beverage. Factors associated with each type of alcoholic consumption were analyzed by city.

RESULTS

Montpellier and Toulouse samples were pooled because of the similarity in alcoholic consumption, which was different from that in Marseilles. There are significantly more drinkers in Montpellier/Toulouse than in Marseilles (74.4% versus 53.8%; p=0.001) and also more binge drinking subjects (31.1% versus 10.3%; p=0.001). Age, tobacco, leisure physical activity are independently associated with alcoholic consumption, female sex and Marseilles, being inversely associated. These two last factors are similarly associated with binge drinking, as well as age.

CONCLUSION

The study of the factors for alcoholic consumption by site suggests that differences in behavior could explain these results. These distinct characteristics should be considered when implementing anti-alcoholic prevention in youth.