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Bioresour Technol 2021 Jun 10;337:125392. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Animal Science and Technology College, Beijing University of Agriculture, Beijing 102206, China. Electronic address:

To improve the utilization efficiency of corn stover , steam explosion pretreatment and cellulase/lactic acid bacteria-assisted ensilage storage were conducted in sequence, mainly focusing on morphological structure, lignocellulose fraction, cellulose accessibility and degradation profile. The results showed that there was a synergistic effect of steam explosion and ensilage storage, where hemicellulose of corn stover was partly degraded during steam explosion processing (70%) or ensilage storage (20-40%). Meanwhile, its morphological structure was apparently broken, increasing cellulose accessibility (2. Read More

Prev Vet Med 2021 Jun 10;193:105408. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Department of Production Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.

We investigated connections between antimicrobial use (AMU), biosecurity, and the numbers of pigs and staff in ten Finnish farrow-to-finish herds. Data on AMU in each herd were collected for 12 months. AMU was quantified as treatment incidences per 1000 days at risk (TI) using the consensus defined daily dose calculation. Read More

Biomed Pharmacother 2021 Jun 12;140:111448. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Department of Pharmacy, State University of Centro-Oeste, Parana, Brazil; Program in Biotechnology in Human and Animal Health - (PPGBiotec), State University of Ceará, Ceará, Brazil. Electronic address:

Isoflavones are a group of secondary metabolites found in plants belonging to the class of phytoestrogens. These, because they have a chemical structure similar to the endogenous hormone 17β-estradiol, act as endocrine disruptors over the different development window periods. This study aimed to evaluate male and female reproductive systems' responses when exposed to isoflavones during the development window. Read More

Environ Int 2021 Jun 12;155:106694. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address:

Anaerobic digesters have been widely used to treat wastewaters in livestock farms. With the increasing risk of antibiotic resistance originated from livestock husbandry, removal of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) via anaerobic digesters deserved more attention. Here we investigated the removal of antibiotics and ARGs in swine wastewater by three on-farm full-scale anaerobic digesters, including buried biogas digester (BBD), up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and high density polyethylene covered biogas digester (HDPE-BD). Read More

J Hazard Mater 2021 Jun 7;418:126350. Epub 2021 Jun 7.

Institute of Science and Technology, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Av. Três de Março 511, 18087-180 Sorocaba, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:

Nanoparticles loaded with atrazine show weed control efficacy even with lower application doses of the active ingredient. Changes in the mode of action of the herbicide through the nanoformulation are key to understanding the efficiency of post-emergence activity of nanoatrazine. Here, we report the leaf absorption and translocation of nanoatrazine and atrazine employing radiometric techniques and compare their herbicidal effects in greenhouse and field conditions. Read More

Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2021 Jun 4;12(5):101767. Epub 2021 Jun 4.

Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical, Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA. Electronic address:

Recent progress in DNA sequencing technologies and advanced bioinformatic tools have enabled researchers to rapidly decipher the tick microbiome. To date, however, a number of microbiome studies performed on Dermacentor reticulatus ticks is still quite limited. Despite the importance of this ixodid tick for veterinary and human medicine, only two investigations have examined its microbiome. Read More

Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2021 Jun 4;12(5):101760. Epub 2021 Jun 4.

Department of Health Sciences, Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), Av. Dr. Sylvio, Menicucci, 1001 Lavras, MG, Brazil. Electronic address:

Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (s.l.), commonly known as brown dog tick, is a widely distributed tick species that is substantially important for human and veterinary medicine. Read More

Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2021 May 29;12(5):101751. Epub 2021 May 29.

Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo-USP, Av. Prof. Orlando Marques de Paiva, 87, São Paulo, SP 05508-270, Brazil. Electronic address:

Amblyomma patinoi ticks infected with Rickettsia rickettsii are present in Colombia, but its vector competence is unknown. Hence, we evaluated the vector competence of A. patinoi with R. Read More

Bioorg Chem 2021 May 31;114:105041. Epub 2021 May 31.

Biomolecules Discovery Group, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, Km 7 Via Muyuna, Tena, Napo, Ecuador. Electronic address:

Cationic peptides bio-inspired by natural toxins have been recognized as an efficient strategy for the treatment of different health problems. Due to the specific interaction with substrates from biological membranes, snake venom phospholipases (PLAs) represent valuable scaffolds for the research and development of short peptides targeting parasites, bacteria, and cancer cells. Considering this, we evaluated the in vitro therapeutic potential of three biomimetic peptides (pCergo, pBmTxJ and pBmje) based on three different amino acid sequences from Asp49 PLAs. Read More

Food Chem 2021 Jun 12;363:130300. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China. Electronic address:

The effect of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment times from 2 to 5 min at 40 kV on IgG/IgE binding capacity and functionality of soybean glycinin was examined. A substantial reduction in the binding capacity (91.64% for IgG and 81. Read More

Food Chem 2021 Jun 5;363:130302. Epub 2021 Jun 5.

Department of Food Sciences, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. Electronic address:

This study used a novel extraction method (ETHEX) to extract the lipid content of King salmon head, skin and roe, and determined the lipid profiles using GC-FID, 13C NMR and 31P NMR spectroscopy. On a wet tissue basis, King salmon roe was found to contain the highest amount of phospholipid (26.53 µmol/g) and n-3 fatty acids (43. Read More

Vet Parasitol 2021 Jun 8;296:109493. Epub 2021 Jun 8.

Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular (IABIMO) INTA - CONICET, de Los Reseros y Dr. Nicolás Repetto s/n, P.O. Box 25 (B1712WAA), Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Bovine babesiosis caused by Babesia bigemina and B. bovis is an economically relevant tick-borne disease distributed over tropical and subtropical world regions. Animals that recover from the clinical disease can remain persistently infected, and those carriers are epidemiologically relevant since they can act as a source of infection to other animals through the tick bite. Read More

Clin Nutr 2021 Apr 27;40(6):3842-3851. Epub 2021 Apr 27.

Nutrition and Microbiome Laboratory, Institut du Cancer de Montréal, Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), 900 Rue Saint-Denis, Montréal, Québec, H2X 0A9, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, 2900 Boulevard Edouard-Montpetit, Montréal, Québec, H3T 1J4, Canada. Electronic address:

Background And Aims: Anastomotic leak (AL) is a major complication in colorectal surgery. Recent evidence suggests that the gut microbiota may affect healing and may cause or prevent AL. Butyrate is a beneficial short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) that is produced as a result of bacterial fermentation of dietary oligosaccharides and has been described as beneficial in the maintenance of colonic health. Read More

Mol Cell Proteomics 2021 Jun 12:100096. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Division of Neurosurgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Despite the emergence of promising therapeutic approaches in preclinical studies, the failure of large-scale clinical trials leaves clinicians without effective treatments for acute spinal cord injury (SCI). These trials are hindered by their reliance on detailed neurological examinations to establish outcomes, which inflate the time and resources required for completion. Moreover, therapeutic development takes place in animal models whose relevance to human injury remains unclear. Read More

Comp Biochem Physiol C Toxicol Pharmacol 2021 Jun 12:109103. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Institute of Animal Molecular Biotechnology and Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:

Excessively used pesticides in agricultural areas are spilled into aquatic environments, wherein they are suspended or sedimented. Owing to climate change, herbicides are the fastest growing sector of the pesticide industry and are detected in surface water, groundwater, and sediments near agricultural areas. In freshwater, organisms, including mussels, snails, frogs, and fish, are exposed to various types and concentrations of herbicides. Read More

Microb Pathog 2021 Jun 12:105022. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Comparative Pathology Shared Resources Laboratory, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA. Electronic address:

Seneca Valley virus (SVV) is the causative agent of an emerging infectious vesicular disease in swine that is clinically indistinguishable from other vesicular diseases of swine. This study utilized healthy suckling piglets (control) and SVV-naturally infected suckling piglets to determine the effects of SVV on lymphoid tissues and determined the SVV RNA load by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). Furthermore, immunohistochemistry (IHC) analyses were performed to quantify the expression of T and B cell lymphocytes, natural killer cells, cleaved caspase 3, and ki-67. Read More

Prog Biophys Mol Biol 2021 Jun 12. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, INSERM, Montpellier, France; LabEx Ion Channels Science and Therapeutics (ICST), France. Electronic address:

Since its first description in 1979, the hyperpolarization-activated funny current (I) has been the object of intensive research aimed at understanding its role in cardiac pacemaker activity and its modulation by the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system. I was described in isolated tissue strips of the rabbit sinoatrial node using the double-electrode voltage-clamp technique. Since then, the rabbit has been the principal animal model for studying pacemaker activity and I for more than 20 years. Read More

Dev Cell 2021 Jun 8. Epub 2021 Jun 8.

Laboratory for Lung Development and Regeneration, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Kobe 650-0047, Japan. Electronic address:

During development, quiescent airway basal stem cells are derived from proliferative primordial progenitors through the cell-cycle slowdown. In contrast, basal cells contribute to adult tissue regeneration by shifting from slow cycling to proliferating and subsequently back to slow cycling. Although sustained proliferation results in tumorigenesis, the molecular mechanisms regulating these transitions remain unknown. Read More

Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2021 Jun 15. Epub 2021 Jun 15.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1500, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States;

The extracellular matrix (ECM), a highly organized network of structural and non-structural proteins, plays a pivotal role in cellular and tissue homeostasis. Changes in the ECM are critical for normal tissue repair, while dysregulation contributes to aberrant tissue remodeling. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe disorder of the pulmonary vasculature characterized by pathologic remodeling of the pulmonary vasculature and right ventricle (RV), increased production and deposition of structural and non-structural proteins, and altered expression of ECM growth factors and proteases. Read More

Conserv Biol 2021 Jun 15. Epub 2021 Jun 15.

Global Challenges, Department of Social and Political Sciences, College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK.

ILAR J 2021 Jun 15. Epub 2021 Jun 15.

Covance Preclinical Services GmbH, Münster 48163, Germany.

Biomedical research involving animal models continues to provide important insights into disease pathogenesis and treatment of diseases that impact human health. In particular, nonhuman primates (NHPs) have been used extensively in translational research due to their phylogenetic proximity to humans and similarities to disease pathogenesis and treatment responses as assessed in clinical trials. Microscopic changes in tissues remain a significant endpoint in studies involving these models. Read More

PLoS One 2021 15;16(6):e0253344. Epub 2021 Jun 15.

Institute for Finance, Banking and Insurance and Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria.

Deterrence, a defender's avoidance of a challenger's attack based on the threat of retaliation, is a basic ingredient of social cooperation in several animal species and is ubiquitous in human societies. Deterrence theory has recognized that deterrence can only be based on credible threats, but retaliating being costly for the defender rules this out in one-shot interactions. If interactions are repeated and observable, reputation building has been suggested as a way to sustain credibility and enable the evolution of deterrence. Read More

PLoS Biol 2021 Jun 15;19(6):e3001260. Epub 2021 Jun 15.

Casa de Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

There is increasing scrutiny around how science is communicated to the public. For instance, a Twitter account @justsaysinmice (with 70.4K followers in January 2021) was created to call attention to news headlines that omit that mice, not humans, are the ones for whom the study findings apply. Read More

PLoS One 2021 15;16(6):e0253069. Epub 2021 Jun 15.

Wadham College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Humanity faces the challenge of conserving the attributes of biodiversity that may be essential to secure human wellbeing. Among all the organisms that are beneficial to humans, plants stand out as the most important providers of natural resources. Therefore, identifying plant uses is critical to preserve the beneficial potential of biodiversity and to promote basic and applied research on the relationship between plants and humans. Read More

PLoS One 2021 15;16(6):e0250290. Epub 2021 Jun 15.

Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, United States of America.

Aims: The principal chaparral species in California, Adenostoma fasciculatum, an evergreen, sclerophyllous shrub, is broadly distributed and provides habitat and food resources for a large and diverse animal community. The effects of climate change, including elevated temperatures, fire frequency and severity, along with increased urban encroachment, have placed pressure on chaparral habitats in California. Our goal is to investigate aspects of reproductive ecology as a measure of the potential resiliency of A. Read More

J Clin Ethics 2021 ;32(2):149-154

John J. Lynch Center for Ethics, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, District of Columbia 20020 USA.

As the field of clinical bioethics has moved from its pioneers, who turned their attention to ethics problems in clinical medicine and clinical and animal research, to today's ubiquity of university degrees and fellowships in bioethics, there has been a steady drumbeat to professionalize the field. The problem has been that the necessary next steps-to specify the skills, knowledge, and personal and professional attributes of a clinical bioethicist, and to have a method to train and evaluate mastery of these standards-are lacking. Ordinarily, the path to professionalism in medicine starts with the intellectual pioneers. Read More

Biol Bull 2021 Jun 26;240(3):145-156. Epub 2021 Apr 26.

AbstractFor animal embryos that develop externally, the physio-chemical environment can substantially affect offspring viability. In the case of the American horseshoe crab (), sediment conditions along estuarine shorelines influence development rates and embryonic viability. Sandy beach habitats are considered to have optimal conditions for horseshoe crab embryonic development; however, spawning is often observed outside of these optimal habitats, in areas such as salt marshes, where reduced oxygen availability is thought to decrease the viability of eggs laid in these sediments. Read More

Int J Radiat Biol 2021 Jun 15:1-24. Epub 2021 Jun 15.

Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Purpose: This extraordinary woman worked her professional way from a radiation protection engineer to become the successful principal investigator of a prestigious international European project for a new radiation therapy (ERC Synergy grant, HORIZON 2020). The evaluation of the submitted proposal was very positive. The panel proposed that it be funded. Read More

Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2021 Jun 14. Epub 2021 Jun 14.

Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA.

Fascioliasis is a zoonotic infection linked to significant economic losses in the livestock industry. Infection prevalence and estimated financial burden vary across locations owing to different diagnostic tests used. The accuracy of liver condemnation to estimate the prevalence and costs of fascioliasis has seldom been evaluated. Read More

Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2021 Jun 14. Epub 2021 Jun 14.

Department of Infectious Diseases and College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.

As one of the causative agents of lymphatic filariasis in humans, has been established as the laboratory model of choice for studying this infection owing to its viability in small animal hosts, with the domestic cat being significant among these. The usefulness of individual feline infections is highly dependent on the levels of circulating microfilariae in the blood; thus, characterizing the course of microfilaremia benefits our understanding of this model. In -endemic regions, cats are also known reservoirs of infection, and describing microfilaremia in a controlled setting may improve transmission modeling. Read More