Epidemiology and genetic diversity of Streptococcus suis in smallhold swine farms in the Philippines.

This study aimed to determine the presence and characteristics of locally circulating strains of Streptococcus suis, the most important streptococcal pathogen in swine. Oral swab samples were collected from pigs from 664 representative smallhold farms across nine provinces in the Philippines. Isolates were identified and characterized using PCR assays. The study revealed an isolation rate of 15.8% (105/664, 95% CI: 13.0-18.6) among the sampled farms. Two hundred sixty-nine (269) S. suis isolates were recovered from 119 unique samples. Serotype 31 was the most prevalent (50/269, 95% CI: 13.9-23.2) among the other serotypes identified: 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 21, 27, 28, and 29. The detection of the three 'classical' S. suis virulence-associated genes showed that 90.7% (244/269, 95% CI: 87.2-94.2) were mrp-/epf-/sly-. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis further revealed 70 novel sequence types (STs). Notably, several local isolates belonging to these novel STs formed clonal complexes (CC) with S. suis strains recovered from Spain and USA, which are major pork-exporting countries to the Philippines. This study functionally marks the national baseline knowledge of S. suis in Philippines.

'Saba' banana (Musa acuminata x balbisiana BBB Group) peel pectin supplementation improves biomarkers of obesity and associated blood lipid disorders in obese hypercholesterolemic mice.

'Saba' banana peel contains significant amounts of pectin but with very limited commercial use. To increase its value, the present study investigated the effect of 'saba' peel pectin (SPP) on biomarkers of obesity and associated blood lipid disorders in vivo and identified its potential mechanism via in vitro lipid lowering assays. ICR male mice were induced with obesity and hypercholesterolemia using 45% high fat diet (HFD) for three weeks. The mice were then randomly allocated to four groups fed various diets ad libitum for nine weeks as follows: (1) normal diet (ND), (2) high-fat diet (HFD), (3) HFD with 10% w/w commercial citrus pectin (HFD-CCP), and (4) HFD with 10% w/w SPP (HFD-SPP). For the in vitro study, lipid lowering assays were carried out using published protocols with some modifications. Results showed that the mean endline body weight of HFD-CCP and HFD-SPP were significantly lower than HFD group despite having comparable feed intake. The pectin-supplemented groups also had lower blood total cholesterol than HFD group. Necropsy results showed no significant treatment-related difference in the relative organ weights, except for the liver of HFD group being pale, enlarged, and heavier than the other mice groups. This is consistent with the microscopic observations of liver sections from HFD-CCP and HFD-SPP which had occasional fat deposits only whereas HFD group showed mild necrosis and fat infiltration. In terms of body fat, the adiposity index was significantly lower among HFD-SPP and HFD-CCP than the HFD group, with both pectin-supplemented groups showing lesser extent of increase in adipocyte diameter. Meanwhile, HFD-CCP and HFD-SPP groups were significantly comparable in terms of body weight, blood lipids, organ and adipose tissue weights, adiposity index, and liver morphology. In vitro assays revealed that SPP had significantly higher cholesterol and bile acid binding capacities at 60 µg/mL and 20 µg/mL, respectively than CCP and bile acid-binding drug, cholestyramine. These showed that SPP supplementation improves biomarkers of obesity and associated blood lipid disorders at par with commercially-available citrus pectin possibly via cholesterol and bile acid binding pathways, suggesting that SPP may be a potential functional ingredient with anti-obesity and anti-hypercholesterolemic properties.

Attenuation of carrageenan-induced hind paw edema and plasma TNF-α level by Philippine stingless bee (Tetragonula biroi Friese) propolis.

Despite decades-long existence of the Philippine stingless bee industry, the biological activity of propolis from this native bee species (Tetragonula biroi Friese) remains poorly understood and sparingly investigated. Herein, we examined the potential anti-inflammatory efficacy of Philippine stingless bee propolis using the lambda (λ)-carrageenan-induced mice model of hind paw edema. Thirty (30), six-week-old, male ICR mice were randomly assigned into three treatment groups (n=10/group) as follows: distilled water group, diclofenac sodium group (10 mg/kg), and propolis group (100 mg/kg). All treatment were administered an hour prior to the injection of the phlogistic agent. As observed at 3 h post-injection, λ-carrageenan remarkably evoked the classical signs of hind paw edema exemplified grossly by swelling and hyperemia. The ameliorative effect of propolis became apparent at the onset of 6 h post-injection with a statistically significant finding evident at the 24-h period. This gross attenuation histologically correlated to a considerable and specific reduction of the dermal edema, which mirrored those of the diclofenac sodium group. Furthermore, both propolis and diclofenac sodium significantly attenuated the λ-carrageenan-induced increase in the protein expression levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) depicting more than two-fold decrement relative to the distilled water group. Altogether, these suggest that Philippine stingless bee propolis also exhibited a promising in vivo anti-inflammatory property, which can be partly mediated through the inhibition of TNF-α.

Temporal expression of estrogen receptor alpha in the hypothalamus and medulla oblongata during fasting: a role of noradrenergic neurons.

Fasting-induced LH suppression is augmented by estrogen in female rats. We investigated the temporal changes in the number of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha)-immunoreactive (ir) cells in various brain regions in ovariectomized rats fasted for 6, 24, 30, and 48 h, commencing at 1300 h. We also determined the anatomical relationship of ERalpha immunoreactivity and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) neurons in the A2 region of the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). The number of ERalpha-ir cells significantly increased after 30 h from the onset of fasting in the PVN and NTS compared with the unfasted controls and was sustained until 48 h. In the A2 region of 48-h fasted rats, 46.75% DBH-ir cells expressed ERalpha, and this was significantly higher than in unfasted controls (8.16% DBH-ir cells expressed ERalpha). In the PVN, most ERalpha-ir neurons were juxtaposed with DBH-ir varicosities. These results suggest that ERalpha is expressed in specific brain regions at a defined time from the onset of fasting. In addition, the anatomical relationship of noradrenergic and ERalpha-ir neurons in the A2 region and PVN may suggest a role for estrogen in increasing the activity of noradrenergic neurons in the A2 region and enhancing sensitivity of the PVN to noradrenergic input arising from the lower brainstem and thereby augmenting the suppression of LH secretion during fasting.

Involvement of brainstem catecholaminergic inputs to the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus in estrogen receptor alpha expression in this nucleus during different stress conditions in female rats.

In the present study, we determined the involvement of brainstem catecholaminergic inputs to the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) on estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) expression in this nucleus during conditions of 48-h fasting, 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2DG)-induced acute glucoprivation and 1-h immobilization, in ovariectomized rats. Our approach was to examine the effect of lesioning catecholaminergic inputs to the PVN using DSAP [saporin-conjugated anti-DBH (dopamine-beta-hydroxylase)]. Bilateral injection of DSAP into the PVN, 2 wk before stress, prevented fasting-, glucoprivation-, and immobilization-induced increase in ERalpha-immunopositive cells in the PVN. The DBH-immunoreactive (ir) terminals in the PVN were severely depleted by DSAP injection in all experimental groups. Among the brainstem noradreneregic cell groups examined, DBH-ir cell bodies were significantly reduced in the A2 region of all experimental groups treated with DSAP compared with the saporin- and vehicle-injected controls. PVN DSAP injection caused a small, but not significant, decrease in A1 DBH-ir cell bodies in fasted and immobilized rats, and a significant, but slight, reduction in A1 DBH-ir cell bodies of iv 2DG- injected rats compared with PVN vehicle-injected or PVN saporin-injected controls. The A6 DBH-ir cell bodies in all experimental groups treated with DSAP, saporin, or vehicle did not show any significant difference. These results suggest that the brainstem catecholaminergic inputs to the PVN, especially from the A2 cell group, may play a major role in mediating the induction of ERalpha expression in the PVN by metabolic stressors such as fasting, acute glucoprivation, and less specific stressors, such as immobilization, in female rats.