A comparative study of acute-phase protein concentrations in historical and modern broiler breeding lines.

Acute-phase proteins (APP) are secreted from the liver as a result of inflammation or infection and are measurable in serum and plasma. To determine whether the constitutive APP serum amyloid A (SAA), alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), ceruloplasmin (Cp), and ovotransferrin (Ovt) have changed as a result of selection for improved production and growth characteristics over the last 40 yr two historical broilers lines were compared to a modern line of the same lineage. Serum was harvested from blood samples taken from the 3 broiler lines on days 10, 17, and 20, and the APP concentrations were determined using immunoassay methods. Most of the significant changes observed were age related, with SAA and Cp having significantly lower concentrations at day 20 than days 10 and 17 in all lines. The only significant difference between lines was observed at day 20 on which both Cp (P = 0.01) and AGP (P = 0.03) were significantly higher in the modern line than the 90s line, though no significant differences were noted between the modern and 70s line. When evaluating the difference in APP concentrations between males (Cx) and females (Px) across all 3 lines, females had a higher SAA at day 17 and lower SAA at day 20, P = 0.0078 and 0.0327 respectively, and males had a significantly higher Ovt on days 17 and 20 (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.003 respectively). These results reveal that APP concentrations fluctuate over this early period of growth and that the changes in APP serum concentration appear uniform between 3 lines with very contrasting selection history, suggesting the improvements made in meat production efficiency since the 1970s have not affected the circulating concentrations of these constitutively expressed APP.

Acute phase proteins, interleukin 6, and heat shock protein 70 in broiler chickens administered with corticosterone.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of corticosterone (CORT) administration on serum ovotransferrin (OVT), α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), ceruloplasmin (CPN), and IL-6 concentrations, and brain heat shock protein (HSP) 70 expression in broiler chickens. From 14 to 20 d of age, equal numbers of birds were subjected to either (i) daily intramuscular injection with CORT in ethanol:saline (1:1, vol/vol) at 6 mg/kg of BW, or (ii) daily intramuscular injection with 0.5 mL ethanol:saline (1:1, vol/vol; control). Blood samples were collected before CORT treatment (14 d old), 3 and 7 d after CORT injections, and 4 d after cessation of CORT administration for determination of serum levels of CORT, OVT, AGP, CPN, and IL-6. Brain samples (whole cerebrum) were collected to measure HSP 70 density. Although CORT administration significantly increased feed intake, weight gain was significantly depressed. Administration of CORT also increased CORT, OVT, CPN, AGP, IL-6, and HSP 70 expression. Four days following cessation of CORT administration, OVT declined to the basal level but not CPN and AGP. In conclusion, an elevation in CORT can induce an acute-phase response and HSP 70 expression. Thus, APP and HSP 70 may be of value as indicators of stress in poultry.

Response to dietary supplementation of L-glutamine and L-glutamate in broiler chickens reared at different stocking densities under hot, humid tropical conditions.

A study was conducted to determine whether supplementing AminoGut (a commercial dietary supplement containing a mixture of l-glutamine and l-glutamic acid) to broiler chickens stocked at 2 different densities affected performance, physiological stress responses, foot pad dermatitis incidence, and intestinal morphology and microflora. A randomized design in a factorial arrangement with 4 diets [basal diet, basal diet + 0.5% AminoGut from d 1 to 21, basal diet + 0.5% AminoGut from d 1 to 42, and basal diet + virginiamycin (0.02%) for d 1 to 42] and 2 stocking densities [0.100 m(2)/bird (23 birds/pen; LD) or 0.067 m(2)/bird (35 birds/pen; HD)]. Results showed that villi length and crypt depth were not changed by different dietary treatments. However, birds in the HD group had smaller villi (P = 0.03) compared with those of the LD group. Regardless of diet, HD consistently increased the serum concentrations of ceruloplasmin, α-1 acid glycoprotein, ovotransferin, and corticosterone (P = 0.0007), and elevated heterophil to lymphocyte ratio (0.0005). Neither AminoGut supplementation nor stocking density affected cecal microflora counts. In conclusion, under the conditions of this study, dietary supplementation of AminoGut, irrespective of stocking density, had no beneficial effect on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and physiological adaptive responses of broiler chickens raised under hot and humid tropical conditions. However, AminoGut supplementation from d 1 to 42 was beneficial in reducing mortality rate. Also, the increased serum concentrations of a wide range of acute phase proteins together with elevated corticosterone and heterophil to lymphocyte ratio suggested that high stocking density induced an acute phase response either indirectly as a result of increased incidence of inflammatory diseases such as foot pad dermatitis or possibly as a direct physiological response to the stress of high stocking density.

General and specific locus of control in cocaine abusers.

Although the struggle for control has been widely recognized as a central feature of addiction, information about its role in the development and maintenance of addictive behavior is limited. This study compared general and specific locus of control in three groups of cocaine abusers: (a) hospitalized subjects with no prior treatment experience, (b) hospitalized subjects with prior treatment experience, and (c) recovering cocaine abusers. Results of initial analyses of variance revealed significant group differences on both general and specific scales. Scores of recovering cocaine abusers were more internal than those of hospitalized subjects. Differences on the general scale were not significant when age was controlled. No significant differences were noted between the two groups of hospitalized subjects, but scores of hospitalized cocaine abusers made an internal shift over the course of treatment. These findings support generalizability of models previously applied to alcoholics and suggest that internality is positively correlated with recovery.

Measurement of locus of control in cocaine abusers.

Although the course of recovery for cocaine abusers is particularly problematic, there has been little investigation of perceptions of control in this population. The purposes of this study were (1) to develop an instrument that would measure specific expectancies of control in cocaine abusers, and (2) to examine the relationship between specific and generalized expectancies of control in these subjects. Rotter's I-E scale and a modification of the Drinking-Related Locus of Control (DRIE) scale were administered to 40 cocaine abusers in their first week of treatment. The Modified DRIE scale demonstrated adequate internal consistency and satisfactory test-retest reliability in the sample. No significant correlation was found between the Modified DRIE scale and the I-E scale, probably because of the relatively small sample size. Further validation of the Modified DRIE scale is indicated.

Accelerated mental aging in alcoholic patients.

Discriminant function and polynomial regression methods were used to define a mental age function from scale score profile patterns found in the WAIS manual. Values on the mental age function then were calculated from WAIS scale score profiles for 164 alcoholics in the age range 35 to 74. Validity of the mental age function was evident in clear discrimination between chronological age groups in the alcoholic sample. As compared with WAIS normative values for the mental age function, the mean mental age for patients in the alcoholic sample was advanced approximately 7 years over age-matched normals. Unweighted means ANOVA revealed the accelerated mental aging of alcoholic patients to be statistically significant. This finding is discussed in the context of other research that supports a premature aging hypothesis.

Persistence of depression in detoxified alcoholics.

Although many alcoholics appear depressed upon entry into an alcoholism treatment program, the depressive features tend to disappear in most cases after only a few weeks of sobriety in an appropriate treatment setting. This report is concerned with understanding factors that mediate for persistence of depression in some detoxified alcoholics. Among four relatively independent aspects of alcohol-related behavior measured by the Drinking Behavior Interview, only one factor, that related to disruption in close personal relationships, was found to correlate significantly with level of self-reported depression at the end of a 4-week treatment program. These results and those from a previous study are discussed in terms of the loss of social support.

Varying rates of alcohol metabolism in relation to detoxification medication.

Fifteen patients admitted for alcohol dependency had serial blood alcohol levels drawn. The rate of metabolism was calculated a number of different ways and this was compared to the amount of Librium required for the initial period of withdrawal. It was found that the alcoholics' average metabolism was 26.6 mg%/hour. Although there was a tendency for those with high initial blood alcohol levels to have faster metabolisms, there was not a significant correlation between the two features. There was correlation between the amount of Librium used in the initial period of detoxification and the initial blood alcohol concentration.

Failure of Pavulon to consistently provide adequate EMG attenuation for recording electrocerebral inactivity.

It is important for the electroencephalographer to consult regularly and closely with the clinician ordering EEGs. This is particularly true in the relatively specialized area of recording for confirmation or support of the clinical impression of brain death. In the instances when a record is being run primarily to confirm the absence of electrocortical activity, it is clearly possible that artifact may be so high in the recording that such a determination is difficult or impossible. A particular artifact of concern is that of persisting muscle potential. As demonstrated in the cases above, this can be promptly eliminated with the use of the muscle relaxant succinylcholine chloride (Anectine). Often the use of pancuronium bromide (Pavulon) at a level that causes an equal clinical relaxation, leaves residual electrical muscle potentials that continue to make interpretation of the EEG difficult, if not actually impossible with any degree of certainty.

Reliability of rapid clinical staging of all night sleep EEG.

The recording of all night sleep EEGs on a portable cassette recorder, and the rapid visual staging of the sleep records at 20 times real time, represent innovations in sleep research methodology. The reliability of sleep stager percentages obtained in this way is examined in this article. In the first of two studies, all night sleep records for six individuals were each staged twice by each of two qualified electroencephalographers. Inter-rater and intra-rater reliability assessed by intraclass correlation methods was modest, requiring the averaging of results from two judges to reach acceptable levels. Following consistency training, the two electroencephalographers staged all night sleep records for six additional subjects. Acceptable reliability was achieved in measurement of stages 2, 3, 4 and REM, although difficulty in reliably distinguishing stage 1 from the awake stage persisted. On the basis of these results, rapidly paced visual interpretation of sleep records at 20 times real time is recommended as a feasible way of meeting demands imposed by innovations in the technology of recording sleep EEGs.

Effects of age and alcohol abuse on pattern reversal visual evoked potentials.

The Pattern Reversal Visual Evoked Potential (PRVEP) was recorded in normal subjects and alcoholics. The recordings were made from the patients during withdrawal and repeated after three weeks of detoxification. It was found that the N76 latency was longer in the alcoholic patient in the withdrawal phase than in the normal subjects. The latency returned to normal range after detoxification in younger alcoholic patients but did not in the older alcoholics. The age-related increase in the N76 latency in the alcoholic patients was similar to that in normal subjects but more exaggerated. For alcoholics, the age-related change in the N76 latency reached significance, but was only a trend in normal subjects. The P100 latency demonstrated significant age-related change, but far less modification related to the alcoholism than the N76 latency. It is unclear at present whether the failure of the latency to return to normal in older patients after detoxification is related to longer periods of excessive drinking, or to a particular vulnerability of the older patients to continued use of alcohol.

The relationship between flash evoked potentials and evoked amplitude modulation patterns of an applied UHF electromagnetic field in the rat.

Pilot studies demonstrate evidence that the electrophysiological processes associated with flash stimulation of the central nervous system (CNS) of rats, as seen in the recordings of visual-evoked potentials, may also be detectable using an ultrahigh frequency electromagnetic field (UHFEMF). Patterns of amplitude modulation of an applied UHFEMF, when recorded and averaged, show strong correlations with simultaneously recorded evoked potentials. The data support the hypothesis that the UHFEMF amplitude is altered in a dynamic fashion by the tissue's electrophysiological processes that are involved with the generation of CNS electric fields.

Development of EEG activity after ten days of electrocerebral inactivity: ten days of electrocerebral inactivity: a case report in a premature neonate-hydranencephaly or massive ventricular enlargement.

This premature girl demonstrated electrocerebral inactivity in four records over a ten day period. After another eight days with no records, low voltage activity was present at a time when clinical responsiveness increased although the child never developed a prognostically favorable clinical state. The clinical responses never became well developed and the outlook never appeared favorable. If electrocerebral inactivity can be followed by active cortical function in a child who at best had islands of neurons on a deafferented cortex, then some recovery may potentially be possible in the premature child with post bleeding distress and electrocerebral inactivity with apparently present hemisphere tissue. It must be emphasized that "cerebral death" is a syndrome requiring more than electrocerebral inactivity alone. The presently accepted criteria of a single inactive EEG record is not sufficient evidence in itself to predict lack of potential survival in neonates. On the other hand, the return of EEG activity does not predict potential for recovery but only demonstrates a change in CNS function which has to be considered in conjunction with, but not in isolation of, other clinical data to assist the clinician.

Electrocerebral inactivity as a temperature effect: unlikely as an isolated etiology.

Although hypothermia is a cause of occasional cerebral inactivity, it appears that this change occurs only at temperatures well below those seen in most clinical conditions, even in intensive care units. Loss of EEG activity occurs at temperatures below the room temperature in the typical hospital. With elevated temperature, decline in voltage can occur, but it would appear that total cerebral inactivity does not occur solely from hyperthermia, and that the development of such records should strongly suggest to the clinician that there is some additional problem most likely involving anoxia or inadequate vascular supply, if it is clear that drugs are not the responsible factor. Extreme temperature change is usually medically provoked if well monitored. In the very special circumstances where temperature is deliberately varied, it appears that EEG activity can be expected to persist from 66 degrees to 106 degrees F. "Electrocerebral inactivity" should raise the possibility that etiologies other than temperature effect alone are involved.

Computer-aided quantification of EEG spike and sharp wave characteristics.

This work presents data from detailed, computer-aided analysis of pertinent electrographic characteristics of well-defined EEG spikes and sharp waves. The data show morphological differences between spikes obtained from different subjects, spikes from different electrode montages, as well as between monophasic and biphasic spikes, and between spikes and sharp waves.

Electrocerebral activity only in response to stimulation and only at the vertex electrode.

This patient sustained a severe infarction, and an EEG carried out with accepted criteria by the American EEG Society ws consistent with electrocerebral inactivity. A repeat record demonstrated that activity was apparent mainly in a single electrode after stimulation. In this case, it was the vertex electrode that was active. The rest of the electrodes were inactive with the patient at rest and reflected little or no activity in response to stimulation. In this case at least, the persistence of EEG activity after stimulation had no prognostically favorable value in that the patient died.