Rapid and selective manipulation of milk fatty acid composition in mice through the maternal diet during lactation

Dietary fatty acid (FA) composition in early postnatal life can modulate growth and development and later metabolic health. Investigating programming effects of early dietary FA manipulations in rodents may be stressful and complicated due to the need of artificial feeding techniques. It is largely unknown to what extent breast milk (BM) FA composition can be directly manipulated by the diet. We exposed dams to different dietary FA compositions from postnatal day (PN) 2 until PN28. Dams with litters were randomly assigned to control (CTRL), high-medium-chain FA (MCFA), low-linoleic acid (LowLA), high-n-3 long-chain PUFA (n-3LCP) or high-n-3LCP and MCFA (n-3LCP/MCFA) diets, and diets were continued after weaning until PN28. FA compositions were determined in feeds, milk and in erythrocytes. BM MCFA content was independent from dietary MCFA intake. In contrast, the LowLA diet reduced BM LA content by about 50 % compared with the CTRL diet at PN7. BM of dams fed the n-3LCP or n-3LCP/MCFA diet contained about 6-fold more n-3 LCP than BM of the dams fed the CTRL diet at PN7. These changes in milk FA composition established after 5 d of dietary exposure did not further change over the lactation period. At PN28, the erythrocyte FA composition of the male pups correlated with analysed milk FA profiles. In conclusion, manipulation of the diet of lactating mice can strongly and rapidly affect BM FA composition, in particular of n-6 LA and n-3 LCP. Our present findings will facilitate mechanistic studies on the programming of adult metabolic health by dietary FA in the early postnatal period via direct and selective manipulation of the maternal diet

Prireja mleka na Nizozemskem – izzvana z zahtevami ekološke in socialne sonaravnosti

Agricultural land in the Netherlands is predominantly used for dairy farming. Starting centuries ago farmers specialised, intensified and strived for scale increase in order to make a high quality low cost production. The Dutch dairy sector was successful in this respect and became an important exporter of dairy products and cattle, and many if not all Dutchmen were proud of the achievements of the dairy sector. Things have changed, however. Present-day middle-aged and younger generations predominantly grew up in urban areas, and the threat of food shortages is far from everybody and the window on food stops at the supermarket for most consumers. Dutchmen are no longer proud of their agriculture; on the contrary: many blame agriculture to negatively affects nature, air and water quality, animal welfare and rural social coherence as a result of the rationalised, economy-oriented development strategies. At the same time, economics of dairy farming are under pressure and average age of dairy farmers is high with only 10 to 25 percent of them having a successor. Many farmers quit and farm land is becoming available for up-scaling by others; farm houses are being occupied by citizens bringing with them the relatively new phenomenon of hobby farms, where livestock is kept as a leisure activity. So, many conflicting claims are put on land use, which became apparent during a Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic in 2001. It is widely realised now that the big challenge is to develop a new sustainable form of land use. What can be seen at present is a diversity of initiatives in rural areas where farmers combine dairy farming with recreation activities, nature and landscape schemes and green care (day activities for care-needing people), and where farmers and citizens cooperate to improve their living environment. The present paper describes some examples of this diversified development.Večina kmetijskih površin na Nizozemskem se uporablja za prirejo mleka. Že pred stoletji so se kmetje začeli usmerjati in intenzivirati prirejo ter si prizadevati za povečanje njenega obsega v smeri visoko kakovostnih in poceni pridelkov. Nizozemski mlekarski sektor je bil uspešen in je postal pomemben izvoznik mlečnih proizvodov ter goveda. Mnogi Nizozemci, čeprav ne vsi, so bili ponosni na dosežke v mlekarstvu. Stvari pa so se spremenile. Srednja in mlajša generacija je v glavnem odraščala v urbanih območjih, kjer jim pomanjkanje hrane ne grozi, temveč je večini dostopna na trgovskih policah. Nizozemci na svoje kmetijstvo niso več ponosni. Nasprotno, za negativne vplive v naravi, na zrak in kakovost vode, dobro počutje živali in podeželsko socialno povezanost krivijo kmetijstvo. Vse to naj bi bilo rezultat racionalizacije in ekonomsko usmerjenih strategij razvoja v kmetijstvu. Hkrati je gospodarnost prireje mleka pod pritiskom. Povprečna starost kmetov je visoka, le 10–25 % pa jih ima naslednika. Veliko kmetov preneha s kmetovanjem. Na kmečkih gospodarstvih ljudje iz mest razvijajo tako imenovano prostočasno kmetovanje, kjer je reja domačih živali le prostočasna dejavnost. Veliko nasprotujočih si zahtev se pojavlja ob vprašanju rabe zemljišč, ki so postale še bolj očitne ob izbruhu slinavke in parkljevke leta 2001. Jasno je postalo, da je velik izziv razvijati nov, sonaraven način rabe kmetijskih zemljišč. Trenutno se pojavljajo številne raznovrstne pobude v podeželskih okoljih, kjer kmetje združujejo prirejo mleka z drugimi dejavnostmi, tako da skupaj z meščani sodelujejo pri izboljševanju njihovega življenjskega okolja. Takšne dejavnosti so na primer rekreativne in druge oblike preživljanja prostega časa v naravi in podeželskem okolju in »green care« – dnevna oskrba nege potrebnih ljudi. V prispevku je predstavljenih nekaj takšnih usmeritev

Guidelines on fibrinogen assays

No abstract available

Video games are exciting: a European study of videogame‐induced seizures and epilepsy.

Epileptic Disord. 2002 Jun;4(2):121-8. Video games are exciting: a European study of video game-induced seizures and epilepsy. Kasteleijn-Nolst Trenité DG, Martins da Silva A, Ricci S, Rubboli G, Tassinari CA, Lopes J, Bettencourt M, Oosting J, Segers JP. Department of Neurology, Medical Centre Alkmaar, PO Box 501, 1800 AM, The Netherlands. [email protected] Abstract BACKGROUND: Video game seizures have been reported in photosensitive and non-photosensitive patients with epilepsy. The game Super Mario World, has led to many cases of first seizures. We examined whether this game was indeed more provocative than other programs and whether playing the game added to this effect. METHODS: We prospectively investigated 352 patients in four European cities, using a standard protocol including testing of a variety of visual stimuli. We correlated historical data on provocative factors in daily life with electroencephalographic laboratory findings. RESULTS: The video game, Super Mario World proved more epileptogenic than standard TV programs and as provocative as programs with flashing lights and patterns. Most striking was the fact that video game-viewing and-playing on the 50 and 100 Hz TV was significantly more provocative than viewing the standard program (P < 0.001, P < 0.05 respectively). Playing the video game Mario World on a 50 Hz TV, appeared to be significantly more provocative than playing this game on the 100 Hz TV (P < 0.001). Of 163 patients with a history of TV-, VG- or CG-seizures, 85% of them showed epileptiform discharges in response to photic stimulation, 44% to patterns, 59% to 50 Hz TV and 29% to 100 Hz TV. CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents with a history of video game seizures are, in the vast majority, photosensitive and should be investigated with standardised photic stimulation. Games and programs with bright background or flashing images are specifically provocative. Playing a video game on a 100 Hz TV is less provocative [published with videosequences]. PMID: 12105074 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Dnmt3a regulates emotional behavior and spine plasticity in the nucleus accumbens.

Despite abundant expression of DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts) in brain, the regulation and behavioral role of DNA methylation remain poorly understood. We found that Dnmt3a expression was regulated in mouse nucleus accumbens (NAc) by chronic cocaine use and chronic social defeat stress. Moreover, NAc-specific manipulations that block DNA methylation potentiated cocaine reward and exerted antidepressant-like effects, whereas NAc-specific Dnmt3a overexpression attenuated cocaine reward and was pro-depressant. On a cellular level, we found that chronic cocaine use selectively increased thin dendritic spines on NAc neurons and that DNA methylation was both necessary and sufficient to mediate these effects. These data establish the importance of Dnmt3a in the NAc in regulating cellular and behavioral plasticity to emotional stimuli

Oral versus intravenous therapy in the treatment of systemic mycosis

AbstractThe great majority of systemic fungal infections require long-term therapy that often extends 6–12 months, particularly in immunosuppressed patients. It can be difficult to comply with this requirement when the drug to be used is only available for intravenous administration, because problems related to maintaining a permeable venous pathway for long periods arise. The availability of an intravenously (IV) and orally (PO) administered drug can solve this problem by making sequential therapy possible. Voriconazole is a new antifungal agent that, apart from satisfying this requirement because it has a high oral bioavailability, presents a broad spectrum of antifungal activity that makes its use possible, a priori, in the initial and/or sequential IV/PO treatment of any systemic mycotic infection. Based on current costs there is potential for savings compared with liposomal amphotericin B

MLPAinter for MLPA interpretation: An integrated approach for the analysis, visualisation and data management of Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification

Background: Multiplex Ligation-Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) is an application that can be used for the detection of multiple chromosomal aberrations in a single experiment. In one reaction, up to 50 different genomic sequences can be analysed. For a reliable work-flow, tools are needed for administrative support, data management, normalisation, visualisation, reporting and interpretation.Results: Here, we developed a data management system, MLPAInter for MLPA interpretation, that is windows executable and has a stand-alone database for monitoring and interpreting the MLPA data stream that is generated from the experimental setup to analysis, quality control and visualisation. A statistical approach is applied for the normalisation and analysis of large series of MLPA traces, making use of multiple control samples and internal controls.Conclusions: MLPAinter visualises MLPA data in plots with information about sample replicates, normalisation settings, and sample characteristics. This integrated approach helps in the automated handling of large series of MLPA data and guarantees a quick and streamlined dataflow from the beginning of an experiment to an authorised report

High fidelity copy number analysis of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues using affymetrix cytoscan HD chip

Detection of human genome copy number variation (CNV) is one of the most important analyses in diagnosing human malignancies. Genome CNV detection in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues remains challenging due to suboptimal DNA quality and failure to use appropriate baseline controls for such tissues. Here, we report a modified method in analyzing CNV in FFPE tissues using microarray with Affymetrix Cytoscan HD chips. Gel purification was applied to select DNA with good quality and data of fresh frozen and FFPE tissues from healthy individuals were included as baseline controls in our data analysis. Our analysis showed a 91% overlap between CNV detection by microarray with FFPE tissues and chromosomal abnormality detection by karyotyping with fresh tissues on 8 cases of lymphoma samples. The CNV overlap between matched frozen and FFPE tissues reached 93.8%. When the analyses were restricted to regions containing genes, 87.1% concordance between FFPE and fresh frozen tissues was found. The analysis was further validated by Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization on these samples using probes specific for BRAF and CITED2. The results suggested that the modified method using Affymetrix Cytoscan HD chip gave rise to a significant improvement over most of the previous methods in terms of accuracy in detecting CNV in FFPE tissues. This FFPE microarray methodology may hold promise for broad application of CNV analysis on clinical samples. © 2014 Yu et al