Changes in lipid and fatty acid contents of gonad during the reproductive cycle of the Mediterranean swordfish Xiphias gladius.

Swordfish Xiphias gladius is a large pelagic fish distributed worldwide and exploited for human consumption, however there is limited knowledge about its reproductive biology, especially regarding lipid dynamic in gonads. In teleost fish, reproductive success and offspring survival are associated to lipid availability for gamete synthesis. This study investigated the lipid composition, including lipid classes and fatty acids (FA) of cell membrane and reserve lipids (i.e., polar and neutral lipids, respectively; PL and NL), along female and male gonad development of a swordfish population from waters surrounding Corsica Island in the Mediterranean Sea. Overall, swordfish gonads contained <2% wet weight of total lipids, with testes and ovaries having similar fat content. Lipid classes and FA concentrations remained unchanged during testes maturation. However, concentrations of phosphatidyl choline (PL), triacylglycerol (NL), and some FA (16:0, 18:1n-9, and 22:6n-3) followed an "inverted U-shaped" relationship with the ovarian maturation. In both PL and NL, 22:6n-3 was the main polyunsaturated FA (>20% of total FA), while 20:5n-3 and 20:4n-6 were minor (3-6% of total FA) and varied little with maturation. 22:6n-3 and 18:1n-9 were selectively allocated to the ovarian maturation (increased in concentration and in proportion with maturation) until spawning. Finally, swordfish gonads might represent a good food source for humans given that 150 g of swordfish ovaries can cover the daily requirements in omega-3 for humans, but research on pollutants should also be conducted to evaluate their implications on the reproduction output of this species, and on the safety of swordfish gonads for human consumption.

Validation of robust tools to measure sialorrhea in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a study in a large French cohort.

There is an unmet need for validated tools to measure sialorrhea in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, especially to evaluate treatments. We assessed the inter-/intra-rate reviewer reliability of two scales: the Oral Secretion Scale (OSS), specifically developed for ALS patients, and the Sialorrhea Scoring Scale (SSS), initially developed for Parkinson's disease patients. Sialorrhea was rated in 69 ALS consecutive patients by four evaluators: two neurologists, one nurse and one speech therapist. Inter-rater reliability was evaluated by the light kappa coefficient and intra-rater reliability by the weighted kappa coefficient. We also compared patients' and caregivers' answers. Results demonstrated that the two scales present a high inter-/intra-rater reliability: weighted kappas were 0.85 for both scales and light kappas 0.89 for the OSS and 0.88 for the SSS. Both scales also showed a good intra-profession reliability (OSS kappa = 0.84; SSS kappa = 0.79) and agreement between patients' and caregivers' answers. The SSS showed a higher responsiveness compared to OSS. In conclusion, both Oral Secretion Scale and Sialorrhea Scoring Scale are reliable tools to measure sialorrhea in ALS patients. Because of the wide range of salivation degrees, SSS may be more sensitive as a tool to evaluate treatments in patients with severe hypersialorrhea.

The airways, a novel route for delivering monoclonal antibodies to treat lung tumors.

PURPOSE: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The efficacy of current systemic treatments is limited, with major side effects and only modest survival improvements. Aerosols routinely used to deliver drugs into the lung for treating infectious and inflammatory lung diseases have never been used to deliver monoclonal antibodies to treat lung cancer. We have shown that cetuximab, a chimeric anticancer anti-EGFR mAb, is suitable for airway delivery as it resists the physical constraints of aerosolization, and have evaluated the aerosol delivery of cetuximab in vivo. METHODS: We developed an animal model of lung tumor sensitive to cetuximab by injecting Balb/c Nude mice intratracheally with A431 cells plus 10 mM EDTA and analyzed the distribution, pharmacokinetics and antitumor efficacy of cetuximab aerosolized into the respiratory tract. RESULTS: Aerosolized IgG accumulated durably in the lungs and the tumor, but passed poorly and slowly into the systemic circulation. Aerosolized cetuximab also limited the growth of the mouse tumor. Thus, administering anticancer mAbs via the airways is effective and may limit systemic side effects. CONCLUSION: Delivery of aerosolized-mAbs via the airways deserves further evaluation for treating lung cancers.

Spatial variability in digenean metacercariae infection of 0-group common sole Solea solea among nurseries along the French Atlantic coast.

We sampled 0-group sole juveniles (N = 174) in September and October 2003 in 9 major nurseries located along the French Atlantic coast (English Channel and Bay of Biscay). 0-group sole were infected with 3 genera of digenean metacercariae, Timoniella spp. (Acanthostomidae), Prosorhynchus crucibulum and Prosorhynchus sp. A (Bucephalidae), Podocotyle sp. (Opecoelidae), and an unidentified species of Digenea. Parasite infection levels in the English Channel nurseries were lower, and the community composition was different from Bay of Biscay nurseries. We hypothesize that the difference between geographic areas was due to differences in first intermediate host communities and, to a lesser extent, because of lower temperatures in the English Channel compared to the Bay of Biscay. For the Bay of Biscay nurseries, mean total parasite abundance was strongly negatively correlated with mean annual river flow. This relationship may be the result of the more upstream location of 0-group sole nurseries in estuaries so that fish were further from local points of parasite transmission than those in embayed nurseries. Digenean metacercariae load may be influenced by 3 major local factors, i.e. abundance and proximity of the first intermediate hosts and cercariae dispersal capacities.