Campylobacter and Salmonella are prevalent in broiler farms in Kyushu, Japan: results of a 2-year distribution and circulation dynamics audit.

AIM: To elucidate the distribution and circulation dynamics of Campylobacter and Salmonella in Japanese chicken broiler flocks. METHODS AND RESULTS: A 2-year investigation of the distribution of Campylobacter and Salmonella was conducted in 25 broiler flocks at nine farms in Japan from 2013 to 2014. Campylobacter and Salmonella tested positive in 11 (44·0%) and 24 (96·0%) broiler flocks respectively. One hundred and ninety-five Campylobacter and 184 Salmonella isolates were characterized into 12 Campylobacter (including two novel genotypes) and three Salmonella MLST genotypes. Only Salmonella isolation between caecal and environmental samples were significantly correlated. Further, one litter sample tested positive for Salmonella before new chicks were introduced. The Campylobacter strains rapidly lost culturability within 2-18 days; in contrast, the Salmonella strains survived from 64-211 days in artificially inoculated water samples. CONCLUSION: No persistent circulation-mediated Campylobacter contamination was observed. In contrast, circulation of Salmonella in broiler houses was seen, apparently due to the litter excreted from broiler flocks, as well as Salmonella-contaminated water and feed. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This paper provides the distribution, genotypic data and circulation dynamics of Campylobacter and Salmonella as recently observed in Japanese chicken broiler farms.

Preoperative plasma fibrinogen predicts cervical metastasis in patients with stage I/II carcinoma of the tongue.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels with clinico-pathological parameters and disease-free survival in patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC). We retrospectively studied 76 patients with OTSCC who underwent a partial glossectomy only, at a single centre, between 1996 and 2007. Among the 76 patients, 30 eventually developed cervical metastasis. Preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels were determined and correlated with clinico-pathological findings by t-test or analysis of variance methods. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the association of preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels and disease-free survival. Elevated levels of plasma fibrinogen were positively related with growth type (P<0.001), differentiation (P<0.001), thickness (P<0.001), and the infiltrative growth ratio (P=0.032). Univariate analysis showed that growth type (P<0.001), differentiation (P<0.001), thickness (P<0.001), and preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels (P<0.001) were significantly correlated with disease-free survival. Multivariate analysis showed that the plasma fibrinogen level remained an independent factor for disease-free survival after partial glossectomy for OTSCC (P=0.029). A high preoperative plasma fibrinogen level is an independent predictor of cervical metastasis after partial glossectomy for OTSCC. A conservative supraomohyoid neck dissection is appropriate in patients with stage I/II carcinoma of the tongue whose preoperative plasma fibrinogen is >300 mg/dl.

[Studies on the glycoconjugates and glycans from Lycium barbarum L in inhibiting low density lipoprotein (LDL) peroxidation].

AIM: To determine the effects of glycoconjugates and their glycans from Lycium barbarum L. on inhibiting low density lipoprotein (LDL) peroxidation. METHODS: Using Cu(2+)-induced oxidation as a model, the oxidative production of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and the LDL electrophoresis migration on agarose gel were measured. RESULTS: The effects of glycoconjugates and their glycans from Lycium barbarum L. on inhibiting LDL peroxidation were different, among them, glycoconjugate LbGp5 showed the best effect on inhibiting LDL peroxidation. CONCLUSION: The glycoconjugates can inhibit LDL peroxidatin while their glycans showed no effects on inhibiting LDL peroxidation.

Xenopus and chicken sperm contain a cytosolic soluble protein factor which can trigger calcium oscillations in mouse eggs.

There is evidence showing that at fertilization the sperm introduces into egg cytoplasm a protein-based cytosolic factor, which serves as the physiological trigger for inducing Ca(2+) oscillations in mammalian eggs. Here we show that sperm of nonmammalian vertebrates also contain a cytosolic protein factor that can induce Ca(2+) oscillations when introduced into mammalian eggs. We have observed that cytosolic extracts derived from Xenopus or chicken sperm could induce mouse eggs to undergo Ca(2+) oscillations similar to those induced by bovine sperm extracts. The factor responsible for inducing Ca(2+) oscillations was of high molecular weight and heat- or proteinase K-labile. We show that 0.5 chicken sperm-equivalents or 1-2 Xenopus sperm-equivalents of the extracts had enough activity to trigger Ca(2+) oscillations in mouse eggs. Our findings illustrate that although Xenopus, chicken, and mammals are evolutionarily divergent species, the function of the sperm protein factor in triggering Ca(2+) oscillations in mammalian eggs appears not to be species specific in vertebrates.

Ca(2+) oscillations induced by a cytosolic sperm protein factor are mediated by a maternal machinery that functions only once in mammalian eggs.

At fertilization in mammals, the sperm activates the egg by inducing a series of oscillations in the intracellular free Ca(2+) concentration. There is evidence showing that this oscillatory event is triggered by a sperm-derived protein factor which diffuses into egg cytoplasm after gamete membrane fusion. At present the identity of this factor and its precise mechanism of action is unknown. Here, we studied the specificity of action of the sperm factor in triggering Ca(2+) oscillations in mammalian eggs. In doing so, we examined the patterns of Ca(2+) signaling in mouse eggs, zygotes, parthenogenetic eggs and maturing oocytes following the stimulation of bovine sperm extracts which contain the sperm factor. It is observed that the sperm factor could induce Ca(2+) oscillations in metaphase eggs, maturing oocytes and parthenogenetically activated eggs but not in the zygotes. We present evidence that Ca(2+) oscillations induced by the sperm factor require a maternal machinery. This machinery functions only once in mammalian oocytes and eggs, and is inactivated by sperm-derived components but not by parthenogenetic activation. In addition, it is found that neither InsP(3) receptor sensitivity to InsP(3) nor Ca(2+) pool size are the determinants that cause the fertilized egg to lose its ability to generate sperm-factor-induced Ca(2+) oscillations at metaphase. In conclusion, our study suggests that the orderly sequence of Ca(2+) oscillations in mammalian eggs at fertilization is critically dependent upon the presence of a functional maternal machinery that determines whether the sperm-factor-induced Ca(2+) oscillations can persist.

[Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide ameliorates the damage and inhibits the increase of intracellular calcium concentration in cultured hippocampal neurons induced by glutamate].

Hippocampal neurons cultured from 7 to 9 d in vitro were used to observe the effect of glutamate. Treatment of glutamate for 24 h greatly decreased neuronal survival and pretreatment with pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) significantly attenuated hippocampal neuron death induced by glutamate. Moreover, glutamate dose-dependently increased the intracellular calcium concentration in cultured hippocampal neurons, while PACAP inhibited the increase of intracellular calcium concentration induced by glutamate. PACAP 6-38, a specific PACAP type I receptor antagonist, completely inhibited the amelioration of glutamate induced death and the decrease of intracellular calcium concentration induced by PACAP in cultured hippocampal neurons. The data suggest that PACAP has a neuroprotective effect on the hippocampal neuronal damage induced by glutamate, which is related to an inhibition of glutamate-induced increase of intracellular calcium concentration and mediated by PACAP type I receptor.