Urinary metabolomics fingerprinting around parturition identifies metabolites that differentiate lame dairy cows from healthy ones.

Lameness is a very important disorder of periparturient dairy cows with implications on milk production and composition as well as with consequences on reproductive performance. The aetiology of lameness is not clear although there have been various hypotheses suggested over the years. The objective of this study was to metabotype the urine of dairy cows prior to, during and after the onset of lameness by evaluating at weeks -8, -4 pre-calving, the week of lameness diagnosis, and +4 and +8 weeks post-calving. We used a metabolomics approach to analyse urine samples collected from dairy cows around calving (6 cows with lameness v. 20 healthy control cows). A total of 153 metabolites were identified and quantified using an in-house MS library and classified into 6 groups including: 11 amino acids (AAs), 39 acylcarnitines (ACs), 3 biogenic amines (BAs), 84 glycerophospholipids, 15 sphingolipids and hexose. A total of 23, 36, 40, 23 and 49 metabolites were observed to be significantly different between the lame and healthy cows at -8 and -4 weeks pre-calving, week of lameness diagnosis as well as at +4 and +8 weeks post-calving, respectively. It should be noted that most of the identified metabolites were elevated; however, a few of them were also lower in lame cows. Overall, ACs and glycerophospholipids, specifically phosphatidylcholines (PCs), were the metabolite groups displaying the strongest differences in the urine of pre-lame and lame cows. Lysophosphatidylcholines (LysoPCs), although to a lesser extent than PCs, were altered at all time points. Alterations in urinary AA concentrations were also observed during the current study for four time points. During the pre-calving period, there was an observed elevation of arginine (-8 week), tyrosine (-8 week) and aspartate (-4 week), as well as a depression of urinary glutamate (-4 weeks). In the current study, it was additionally observed that concentrations of several sphingomyelins and one BA were altered in pre-lame and lame cows. Symmetric dimethylarginine was elevated at both -8 weeks pre-calving and the week of lameness diagnosis. Data showed that urinary fingerprinting might be a reliable methodology to be used in the future to differentiate lame cows from healthy ones.

The effect of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) on selected parameters of humoral immunity in calves.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of HMB on selected parameters of the humoral immunity in calves. The experiment was performed on 14 calves aged 30 +/- 2 days, divided into two equal groups of control (group K) and experimental (group H) animals. The feed administered to the experimental calves was supplemented with HMB at 40 mg/kg BW, whereas the control calves were administered standard farm-made feed without supplementation. Blood was sampled from the jugular vein immediately before the experiment (day 0) and on experimental days 15, 30 and 60 to determine the following immunological parameters: total protein levels, gammaglobulin levels, lysozyme activity and ceruloplasmin activity. An analysis of the results obtained revealed a significant increase (p < 0.05; p < 0.01; p < 0.001 respectively) in gammaglobulin levels and lysozyme activity throughout the entire experimental period, an increase (p < 0.05; p < 0.01 respectively) in ceruloplasmin activity on experimental days 15 and 30, but no changes in serum total protein levels of calves administered HMB as compared to those found in the control group.

The effect of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) on the proliferative response of blood lymphocytes and the phagocytic activity of blood monocytes and granulocytes in calves.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of HMB on selected indicators of immunity in calves. The experiment was performed on 14 calves aged 30 +/- 2 days, divided into two equal groups of control (group I) and experimental (group II) animals. The feed administered to experimental group calves was supplemented with HMB at 40 mg/kg BW, whereas control calves were administered standard farm-made feed without supplementation. Blood was sampled from the jugular vein immediately before the experiment (day 0) and on experimental days 15, 30 and 60 to determine the following parameters of immunity: proliferative response of LPS- and ConA-stimulated lymphocytes (MTT), respiratory burst activity (RBA) and potential killing activity (PKA) of phagocytes. The results revealed a significant increase in RBA and MTT values in calves administered HMB in comparison with the control group throughout the experiment. In the group of animals receiving HMB, an increase in PKA values was noted only on day 30.

Optimization and it's influence on value of doses in HDR and PDR brachytherapy.

The aim of this work is to examine the influence of the dose optimization procedure on the value of radiation doses in organs of risk and to compare value of doses measured in healthy tissues according to chosen different PDR brachytherapy (PDRBT) and HDR brachytherapy (HDRBT) fractionation schedule. Fifty one patients treated with PDRBT were qualified for calculations. This group included patients with head and neck cancer, brain tumor, breast cancer, sarcoma, penile cancer and rectal cancer. The doses were calculated in chosen critical points in surrounded healthy tissues. For all treatment plans the doses were compared with the use of the BED (Biologically Equivalent Dose) formula and PDR along with HDR values were calculated. Differences among total doses in PDRBT and different schemas of HDRBT in critical points before and after dose point and volume optimization, were analyzed. The same dependences were examined also for BEDs. One ascertained that in biologic equivalent (to PDR) HDRBT the increase of fraction dose from 4 Gy to 10 Gy caused the necessity of decrease of total dose in treatment area (p<0,001). The use of HDR instead of PDR essentially lowered physical and biological doses in examined organs of risk. In many examined critical points in organs of risk where biological equivalence dose in the treatment area was the same, one ascertained the decrease of total physical HDR dose according to the growth of the fraction dose. Similar dependences appeared also for biologically equivalent doses. The optimization process in PDRBT improved the dose homogeneity in the treatment area, but simultaneously induced unprofitable (essential statistically) increase of dose in some healthy organs of risk, what makes an increase risk for radiation-induced complications. The use of biologically equivalent HDRBT instead of PDRBT makes for the decrease of physical doses in the treatment area and the decrease of physical and biologically equivalent doses in healthy organs of risk.