Pathophysiological features in the brains of female Spontaneously Diabetic Torii (SDT) fatty rats

Diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity are associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and psychiatric disorders such as major depression. In this study, we investigated pathophysiological changes in the brains of female Spontaneously Diabetic Torii (SDT) fatty rats with diabetes and obesity. Brains of Sprague-Dawley (SD), SDT and SDT fatty rats were collected at 58 weeks of age. The parietal cortical thickness was measured and the number of pyramidal cells in the hippocampal cornu ammonis 1 and 3 (CA1 and CA3) and the number of granule cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) regions were counted. The area of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) positivity in CA1, CA3 and DG regions were measured. The parietal cortical thickness and the number of cells in CA3 and DG regions of SDT and SDT fatty rats did not show obvious changes. On the other hand, in the CA1 region, the number of cells in SDT rats and SDT fatty rats was significantly lower than that in SD rats, and that in SDT fatty rats was significantly lower than that in SDT rats. The GFAP-positive area in SDT fatty rats was significantly reduced compared to that in SD rats only in the DG region. Preliminarily result showed that the expression of S100a9, an inflammation-related gene, was increased in the brains of SDT fatty rats. These results suggest that female SDT fatty rat may exhibit central nervous system diseases due to obesity and DM.     

Estimation of genetic parameters of defective appearances in Japanese Black heifer calves in Kagoshima

Defective appearances, including white spotting (WS), tongue defect (TD), and nipple defect (ND), in Japanese Black cattle potentially lead to economic losses to farmers in Japan. We estimated genetic parameters of defective appearances using 553,433 records of Japanese Black heifer calves housed in the Kagoshima Prefecture. Variance and covariance were estimated using the Gibbs sampling algorithm. The estimated heritability ranged from 0.29 for TD to 0.76 for WS. Percent breeding value (%BV) estimates indicated high variation in WS and ND among sires, reflecting higher heritability. Furthermore, there was a positive linear relationship between the %BV estimate of a sire and the mean incidence rate of each defect in his female offsprings. TD was positively associated with other defects. Therefore, genetic factors strongly affect the incidence of defective appearances in Japanese Black cattle.     

Availability of black soldier fly meal as an alternative protein source to fish meal in red sea bream (Pagrus major,Temminck & Schlegel) fingerling diets

Black soldier fly meal (BM) is an outstanding candidate as a fish meal (FM) substitute because it contains relatively high protein and essential amino acids. In this study, we replaced FM in red sea bream diets (Pagrus major) with BM to investigate its effect on growth and feed utilization. Six isonitrogenous and isolipidic experimental diets were prepared by substituting 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% FM protein with BM (Control, BM20, BM40, BM60, BM80 and BM100, respectively). After the 8-week feeding trial, final body weight, weight gain, specific growth rate and feed efficiency decreased linearly with increasing dietary BM level (p < 0.05). Apparent digestibility of protein and fat and serum total cholesterol concentration decreased with increasing dietary BM levels (p < 0.05) Final body weight, WG, SGR and FE against dietary BM level had breaking points of 76.2%, 41.7%, 76.5% and 60.0%, respectively, in segmental regression analysis. In conclusion, the results suggest that BM can replace a maximum of 41.7% of FM in the diet of red sea bream without compromising growth performance or feed efficiency for 56 days.     

Trisomic analysis of new gene for late heading in rice, Oryza sativa L

A near isogenic line, T65-LH7 bred from a rice variety, Ketan Nangka by five times of successive backcrossing with Taichung 65 (T65) as recurrent parent was found to carry a recessive lateness gene tentatively designated as ef6(t). The present study was performed to investigate the allelic relationships between ef6(t) and other heading time genes, Ef1, Efx, ef2(t), ef3(t), ef4(t) and ef5 by allelism test and to locate the chromosomal location of ef6(t) by trisomic analysis. In allelism test, six testers carrying each of heading time genes, Ef1, Efx, ef2(t), ef3(t), ef4(t) and ef5 were used. Those testers were the near isogenic lines of T65. T65-LH7 was crossed with respective testers. Heading times in F₂ and/or B₁F₁ plants were examined. All F₂ and/or B₁F₁ populations derived from those crosses exhibited digenic segregations, respectively. These results suggested that ef6(t) was independent of Ef1, Efx, ef2(t), ef3(t), ef4(t) and ef5. Sub sequently, trisomic analysis of ef6(t) was performed using seven Triplo lines having extra chromosomes, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 12. These Triplo lines were the near isogenic lines of T65. They were used as maternal parent to cross with T65-LH7. Heading times in F₂ plants obtained from self-pollination of F₁ plants were observed. Among F₂ plants examined only those derived from a cross between Triplo-7 and T65-LH7 showed a typical trisomic segregation manner, suggesting that ef6(t) was located on chromosome 7. Consequently, the nomenclature of the present gene should be designated as ef6.     

The mode of operation of a regulating reservoir for effective use of river flow

In the absence of a reservoir on the downstream side, a river flow that increases temporarily by rainfall cannot be stored and discharged apart from requirements in a command area. This unused water (excess water) occurs to some extent even in a drought year and making effective use of this supply is considered as one of the countermeasures for water shortage. Setting up a regulating reservoir on the upstream side of head works is regarded as one of the methods for making effective use of excess water. The inflow to the river and water delivery loss occurred from rainfall are stored in the regulating reservoir and supplied to the command area on the downstream side as agricultural water. An operational method for the regulating reservoir to effectively utilize the excess water was examined for a canal system by simulation. In an investigated area, there was excess water even in drought years, and making use of it through the regulating reservoir whose capacity is smaller compared to that of a dam can become one of the countermeasures for the drought period. The simulation in this study could estimate quantitatively the effect of the regulating reservoir to make the excess water effective.     

Relationships between immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G or A in colostrum of Japanese black multiparous cows

This study was conducted to clarify the relationships among immunoglobulin (Ig)M, IgG, IgA, β‐carotene, vitamin A and α‐tocopherol contents in colostrum of 24 Japanese Black multiparous cows in order to evaluate the role of IgM on colostral IgG and IgA production. Compared with colostral IgG, colostral IgM and IgA were very low but varied widely. There was positive correlation between colostral IgM and IgG, but colostral IgM was not related with colostral IgA. There was no relationship between colostral IgM and age of cows, although colostral IgG was increased with aging. There were positive correlations among colostral β‐carotene, vitamin A and α‐tocopherol and these vitamins were positively correlated with colostral IgM and IgG. These results indicate that fat‐soluble vitamins may affect colostral IgG and IgM in cows and colostral IgG increases with the increase of colostral IgM.