The horizontal ladder test (HLT) protocol: a novel, optimized, and reliable means of assessing motor coordination in Sus scrofa domesticus.

Pigs can be an important model for preclinical biological research, including neurological diseases such as Alcohol Use Disorder. Such research often involves longitudinal assessment of changes in motor coordination as the disease or disorder progresses. Current motor coordination tests in pigs are derived from behavioral assessments in rodents and lack critical aspects of face and construct validity. While such tests may permit for the comparison of experimental results to rodents, a lack of validation studies of such tests in the pig itself may preclude the drawing of meaningful conclusions. To address this knowledge gap, an apparatus modeled after a horizontally placed ladder and where the height of the rungs could be adjusted was developed. The protocol that was employed within the apparatus mimicked the walk and turn test of the human standardized field sobriety test. Here, five Sinclair miniature pigs were trained to cross the horizontally placed ladder, starting at a rung height of six inches and decreasing to three inches in one-inch increments. It was demonstrated that pigs can reliably learn to cross the ladder, with few errors, under baseline/unimpaired conditions. These animals were then involved in a voluntary consumption of ethanol study where animals were longitudinally evaluated for motor coordination changes at baseline, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10% ethanol concentrations subsequently to consuming ethanol. Consistent with our predictions, relative to baseline performance, motor incoordination increased as voluntary consumption of escalating concentrations of ethanol increased. Together these data highlight that the horizontal ladder test (HLT) test protocol is a novel, optimized and reliable test for evaluating motor coordination as well as changes in motor coordination in pigs.

The Horizontal Ladder Test (HLT) protocol: A novel, optimized, and reliable means of assessing motor coordination in Sus scrofa domesticus.

Pigs can be an important model for preclinical biological research, including neurological diseases such as Alcohol Use Disorder. Such research often involves longitudinal assessment of changes in motor coordination as the disease or disorder progresses. Current motor coordination tests in pigs are derived from behavioral assessments in rodents and lack critical aspects of face and construct validity. While such tests may permit for the comparison of experimental results to rodents, a lack of validation studies of such tests in the pig itself may preclude the drawing of meaningful conclusions. Here, we present a novel, optimized, and reliable horizontal ladder test (HLT) test protocol for evaluating motor coordination in pigs and an initial validation of its construct validity using voluntary alcohol consumption as an experimental manipulation.

Enfermedad de Devic. Reporte de caso y revisión de literatura / Devic's disease. A case report and literature review

Resumen La neuromielitis óptica (NMO) o enfermedad de Devic, es una enfermedad inflamatoria infrecuente del sistema nervioso central (SNC) que afecta predominantemente el nervio óptico y la médula espinal. El mecanismo de la enfermedad es dado por la producción de anticuerpos IgG cuyo principal blanco inmunitario es el canal acuaporina 4 (AQP4), los cuales desencadenan un proceso inflamatorio y desmielinizante en dichas estructuras. Presentamos el caso de una paciente, quien desarrolló episodios sensitivos crónicos fluctuantes con afección visual, sin mejoría con el tratamiento convencional; durante el abordaje diagnóstico se encontraron lesiones desmielinizantes y anticuerpos anti-AQP4 positivos, por lo que se concluyó el diagnóstico de NMO, y respondió de manera positiva al tratamiento con anticuerpos monoclonales.

Abstract Optic neuromyelitis or Devic's disease is a rare inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that predominantly affects the optic nerve and spinal cord. The mechanism of the disease is given by the production of IgG antibodies whose main target is the acuaporine channel 4 (AQP4) that trigger an inflammatory and demyelinating process in the aforementioned structures. We present the case of a patient who developed chronic and fluctuating sensitive episodes with visual impairment, without improvement after conventional treatment. During the diagnostic approach we found demyelinating lesions and positive AQP4-antibodies, this lead to a diagnosis of optic neuromyelitis. A positive response was obtained to the therapy with monoclonal antibodies.

High intrachain order promotes triplet formation from recombination of long-lived polarons in poly(3-hexylthiophene) J-aggregate nanofibers.

Photoluminescence (PL) of single poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) J-aggregate nanofibers (NFs) exhibits strong quenching under intensity-modulated pulsed excitation. Initial PL intensities (I(0)) decay to steady-state levels (ISS) typically within ∼ 1-10 µs, and large quenching depths (I(0)/I(SS) >2) are observed for ∼ 70% of these NFs. Similar studies of polymorphic, H-aggregate type P3HT NFs show much smaller PL quenching depths (I(0)/I(SS) ≤ 1.2). P3HT chains in J-type NF π-stacks possess high intrachain order, which has been shown previously to promote the formation of long-lived, delocalized polarons. We propose that these species recombine nongeminately to triplets on time scales of >1 ns. The identity of triplets as the dominant PL quenchers was confirmed by subjecting NFs to oxygen, resulting in an instantaneous loss of triplet PL quenching (I(0)/I(SS) ∼ 1). The lower intrachain order in H-type NFs, similar to P3HT thin-film aggregates, localizes excitons and polarons, leading to efficient geminate recombination that suppresses triplet formation at longer time scales. Our results demonstrate the promise of self-assembly strategies to control intrachain ordering within multichromophoric polymeric aggregate assemblies to tune exciton coupling and interconversion processes between different spin states.

Análisis de rentabilidad de monocultivo y policultivo de Tilapia (Oreochromis nilóticus) y tambaqui (Piaractus brachypomus)

El trabajo se llevó a cabo en el Valle de Sacta, provincia Carrasco del departamento de Cochabamba estación de Limnología y Acuicultura PIRAHIBA, se estudio la rentabilidad de monocultivo y policultivo de tilapia (Oreochromis nilóticus tambaqui Piaractus braquipomus. Se identificó una alternativa de cultivo de peces para los pobladores de esta provincia, que fuera de fácil manejo y buen ingreso, aprovechando la disponibilidad de agua de la zona. Se comenzó con la siembra de alevines, engorde, cosecha, faeneado, empacado y congelado. El trabajo de campo tuvo una duración de 6 meses. el trabajo de gabinete consistió en una evaluación financiera para estimar además de la rentabilidad de poli y monocultivo, la mejor eficiencia en distintos espejos de agua como 1 ha. 2 ha. 3ha, 4ha y 5ha, mostrando que la R B/C para la tilapia resulta más alta a partir de 2ha con valores de 1.3,2.0-2.1-2.1, mientras que el tambaqui es más rentable en 4ha con una R B/C de 1.5 y el policultivo tilapia-tambaqui, encuentra su más alto valor en 1 ha con 2.0. Se concluyó que, ambas especies son rentables, el monocultivo de tilapia Orechromis niloticus nos da mayor oportunidad en la oferta y mayor gananci, al darle valor agregado mediante el fileteado.