Contribution a l'etude chimique du Rissoella verruculosa (Bertolini) J. Agardh

Résumé Le matériel végétal marin n'a pas encore fait l'objet d'études approfondies en ce qui concerne ses possibilités d'apport à l'alimentation animale, particulièrement du point de vue protéique.L'algue étudiée:Rissoella verruculosa (Bertolini)J. Agardh, présente sous cet aspect une composition en acides aminés intéressante.Les taux de lysine et de méthionine, relativement élevés pour un végétal, permettent d'envirsager favoralement l'extension des recherches dans ce domaine pour l'utilisation de nouvelles ressources alimentaires.

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Summary Seaweeds have not yet been studied extensively with regard to their possibilities in the field of animal nutrition, especially to the proteic determination. Rissoella verruculosa (Bertolini)J. Agardh, the studied seaweed, has a very interesting amino acid composition.Lysin and methionin rates are quite high for a plant, and allow to foresee the extension of researches in that field for the use of new food sources.

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Zusammenfassung Meeresalgen sind bisher noch nicht Gegenstand eingehender Untersuchungen gewesen, um Möglichkeiten für die Tierernährung, insbesondere für die Eiweißversorgung, zu erschließen. Einen interessanten Aspekt in dieser Hinsicht gibt die untersuchte Alge,Risoella verruculosa (Bertolini)J. Agardh, durch ihre Aminosäuren-Zusammensetzung. Die Gehalte an Lysin und Methionin — für ein pflanzliches Erzeugnis relativ hoch — eröffnen Möglichkeiten der Ausnutzung neuer Nahrungsquellen.

     

Results of a large-scale necroscopic study of equine colonic ulcers

A necropsy was performed on over 500 horses from a Texas abattoir for the presence of gastric and colonic ulceration. A first group of 365 horses from a variety of sources was examined, and 55% were found to have gastric ulcers, while 44% exhibited colonic ulcers. A second group of 180 performance horses was also examined, and 87% were shown to have gastric ulcers, while 63% exhibited colonic ulcers. The second study included a correlated guaiac-based fecal occult blood test (gFOBT), which was shown to have high specificity but a fairly low sensitivity resulting in several false negatives.     

Antioxidant characterization of some Sicilian edible wild greens

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that many antioxidants and the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of the diet may protect against cancers and cardiovascular disease. Common fruits and vegetables are good sources of antioxidants, although in some Mediterranean areas traditional wild greens are responsible for a significant percentage of total dietary antioxidant intake. In the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort of Ragusa (Sicily), a high number of subjects were found to frequently eat wild greens, including Sinapis incana and Sinapis nigra, Diplotaxis erucoides, Cichorium intybus, Asparagus acutifolius, and Borrago officinalis. On the basis of these observations, detailed characterization of single antioxidant components (i.e., polyphenols, carotenoids, chlorophylls, and ascorbic acid) and the TAC of these edible wild traditional plants was performed. The wild plants examined were found to be very rich in antioxidants, such as flavonoids and carotenoids, with high TAC values, suggesting that the importance of these vegetables, not only in the traditional but even in the contemporary diet, needs to be emphasized.     

Equine acupuncture methods and applications: A review

This review discusses the applications of acupuncture (AP) and its eastern medical philosophy in equine health, and the main techniques used to stimulate acupoints in equine practice. These methods include dry needling, electroacupuncture (EA), moxibustion, laser therapy, haemopuncture, aquapuncture, pharmacopuncture, acupressure and gold implants.     

Juvenile hormone action mediated in male accessory glands of Drosophila by calcium and kinase C

In an in vitro system for the Drosophila melanogaster male accessory gland, it was found that 10(-9)M juvenile hormone III could accurately mimic the copulation-induced response of increased protein synthesis in glands from virgin flies. Stimulation by this hormone required calcium in the medium. Experiments with tumor-promoting phorbol esters indicated that activation of protein kinase C can also cause the glands to increase protein synthesis. Stimulation of protein synthesis by juvenile hormone did not occur in mutants deficient in kinase C activity. These results suggest a membrane-protein-mediated effect of juvenile hormone that involves calcium and kinase C.     

In Vitro Response to Fusarium Elicitor and Toxic Substances in Crosses between Resistant and Susceptible Carnation Cultivars

To assess the correlation between in vivo resistance to F. oxysporum f. sp. dianthi and in vitro behaviour, calli from several resistant and susceptible Mediterranean carnation cultivars and F₁ progenies of crosses were tested both for the ability to grow on a medium containing crude culture filtrate of F. oxysporum and to produce phytoalexins following treatment with cell wall components (elicitor) of the same fungus. The results show no significant correlation between in vivo resistance and in vitro tolerance to culture filtrate of the fungus, while there was a good correlation in die case of phytoalexin production. Moreover, the character phytoalexin production behaved as a dominant in the crosses between a resistant and a susceptible cultivar.     

Rapid electrochemical method for the evaluation of the antioxidant power of some lipophilic food extracts.

In this paper, a novel electrochemical method to evaluate the antioxidant power of lipophilic compounds present in vegetables, such as carotenoids, chlorophylls, tocopherols, and capsaicin, is reported. The method is based on a flow injection system with an electrochemical detector equipped with a glassy carbon working electrode operating amperometrically at a potential of + 0.5 V (vs Ag/AgCl). The proposed method is selective for lipophilic compounds having antioxidant power. When applied to pure compounds, the order of antioxidant power resulted as follows: lycopene > beta-carotene > zeaxanthin > alpha-carotene > beta-cryptoxanthin > lutein > alpha-tocopherol > capsaicin > chlorophyll a > chlorophyll b > astaxanthin > canthaxanthin. Results obtained on five vegetable and two fruit extracts were compared to those obtained by the 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenz-thiazoline-6-sulfonic) acid (ABTS) radical cation decolorization assay, one of the most used methods to evaluate the total antioxidant capacity of foods. A good correlation between the two methods was found, except for spinach, because of the different antioxidant powers assigned by the two methods to chlorophylls. In conclusion, results suggest that the proposed electrochemical method can be successfully employed for the direct, rapid, and reliable monitoring of the antioxidant power of lipophilic food extracts.     

Application of the 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation assay to a flow injection system for the evaluation of antioxidant activity of some pure compounds and beverages

The 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation (ABTS(*)(+)) assay was adapted to a flow injection (FI) system to obtain a sensitive and rapid technique for the monitoring of antioxidant activity of pure compounds and complex matrixes, such as beverages and food extracts. The FI system includes a HPLC pump that flows the mobile phase (a solution of ABTS(*)(+) in ethanol) through a 20 microL loop injector, a single bead string reactor filled with acid-washed silanized beads, a delay coil and a photodiode array UV-visible detector. The technique was very sensitive, with limits of detection and of quantification of 4.14 and 9.29 micromol of Trolox/L, respectively, and demonstrated high repeatability and reproducibility. The proposed technique was then applied to the evaluation of the antioxidant activity of some pure compounds, demonstrating good agreement with published data obtained by the original spectrophotometric ABTS(*)(+) assay. Finally, the total antioxidant activity of 10 beverages was determined by both the proposed and the original method. The values ranged from 0.09 mmol L(-)(1) for cola to 49.24 mmol L(-)(1) for espresso coffee and did not result significantly different from those obtained by the original spectrophotometric ABTS(*)(+) assay (Student's paired t-test: t = 1.4074, p = 0.1929). In conclusion, the proposed FI technique seems suitable for the direct, rapid and reliable monitoring of total antioxidant activity of pure compounds and beverages and, due to the ability to operate in continuous, it allows the analysis of about 30 samples h(-)(1) making the assay particularly suitable for large screening of total antioxidant activity in food samples.     

Evidence of soft-mode quantum phase transitions in electron double layers

Inelastic light scattering by low-energy spin-excitations reveals three distinct configurations of spin of electron double layers in gallium arsenide quantum wells at even-integer quantum Hall states. The transformations among these spin states appear as quantum phase transitions driven by the interplay between Coulomb interactions and Zeeman splittings. One of the transformations correlates with the emergence of a spin-flip intersubband excitation at vanishingly low energy and provides direct evidence of a link between quantum phase transitions and soft collective excitations in a two-dimensional electron system.     

Antioxidant status of faeces of captive black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) in relation to dietary tannin supplementation

In context with the frequent observations of excessive iron (Fe) storage in captive black rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis), it has been suggested that both an excessive dietary Fe content and a lack of dietary Fe-chelating substances, such as tannins, is the underlying cause. Therefore, studies on the effects of tannin supplementation to captive diet are warranted. Six captive rhinoceroses were fed their normal zoo diet (N), and a similar diet supplemented with either tannic acid (T, hydrolysable tannin) or quebracho (Q, condensed tannins), and the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was measured as mmol Trolox equivalents per kg fresh faeces. The TAC values on diets N (1.24 +/- 0.39 mmol/kg fresh faeces) and T (1.34 +/- 0.33 mmol/kg fresh faeces) were similar, but significantly higher on diet Q (2.32 +/- 0.61 mmol/kg fresh faeces). In contrast to expectations, faecal TAC increased with increasing faecal Fe, possibly as a result of the fact that the faecal Fe content was positively correlated to the proportion of concentrate feeds in the diet, which also contain antioxidants, such as vitamin E, in addition to Fe. Increased antioxidant status caused by the use of tannin substances could have a beneficial effect on animal health, but if tannins should be incorporated in designed diets, other tannin sources, such as grape pomace should be tested.