Replacement value of cottonseed meal for soybean meal in broiler chicken diets with or without microbial enzymes.

A 4×2 factorial feeding trial was designed to investigate the effect of replacing soybean meal (SBM) with cottonseed meal (CSM) in wheat/sorghum/SBM-based diets fed with or without microbial enzymes in diets on the performance, visceral organ development and digestibility of nutrients of broiler chickens. Four graded levels of CSM - none (0%), low (4%, 8%, and 12%), medium (5%, 10%, and 15%), and high (6%, 12%, and 18%) of complete diets in starter, grower and finisher, respectively were fed with or without 100 mg/kg of xylanase and ß-glucanase blend. Eight isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets were formulated using least-cost method to meet the nutrient specifications of Ross 308 male broilers. Each treatment was randomly assigned to 6 replicates (10 birds per replicate). There were CSM-enzyme interactions (p < 0.05) on feed intake (FI) and weight gain (WG) in the starter phase. Enzyme supplementation improved (p < 0.05) feed conversion ratio (FCR) in the grower and finisher phases, and increased WG in growing and finishing birds. CSM inclusion reduced (p < 0.05) the weight of gizzard and proventriculus in starter chicks, while these organs were bigger (p < 0.05) in the grower phase. The test ingredient decreased (p < 0.05) small intestinal weight in starter and grower birds. The CSM increased the absolute weight of thighs (p < 0.05) while breast meat was increased (p < 0.01) by enzyme addition. Starch digestibility was improved (p < 0.01) by enzyme inclusion and decreased (p < 0.01) by CSM. Enzyme supplementation improved (p < 0.05) the ileal digestibility of gross energy and protein. The results demonstrate that CSM can substitute up to 90% SBM in broiler chicken diets without compromising performance, and the nutritive value of CSM-containing diets can effectively be improved by enzyme supplementation.

Underlying Data for Sequencing the Mitochondrial Genome with the Massively Parallel Sequencing Platform Ion Torrent™ PGM™.

BACKGROUND: Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technologies have the capacity to sequence targeted regions or whole genomes of multiple nucleic acid samples with high coverage by sequencing millions of DNA fragments simultaneously. Compared with Sanger sequencing, MPS also can reduce labor and cost on a per nucleotide basis and indeed on a per sample basis. In this study, whole genomes of human mitochondria (mtGenome) were sequenced on the Personal Genome Machine (PGMTM) (Life Technologies, San Francisco, CA), the out data were assessed, and the results were compared with data previously generated on the MiSeqTM (Illumina, San Diego, CA). The objectives of this paper were to determine the feasibility, accuracy, and reliability of sequence data obtained from the PGM. RESULTS: 24 samples were multiplexed (in groups of six) and sequenced on the at least 10 megabase throughput 314 chip. The depth of coverage pattern was similar among all 24 samples; however the coverage across the genome varied. For strand bias, the average ratio of coverage between the forward and reverse strands at each nucleotide position indicated that two-thirds of the positions of the genome had ratios that were greater than 0.5. A few sites had more extreme strand bias. Another observation was that 156 positions had a false deletion rate greater than 0.15 in one or more individuals. There were 31-98 (SNP) mtGenome variants observed per sample for the 24 samples analyzed. The total 1237 (SNP) variants were concordant between the results from the PGM and MiSeq. The quality scores for haplogroup assignment for all 24 samples ranged between 88.8%-100%. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, mtDNA sequence data generated from the PGM were analyzed and the output evaluated. Depth of coverage variation and strand bias were identified but generally were infrequent and did not impact reliability of variant calls. Multiplexing of samples was demonstrated which can improve throughput and reduce cost per sample analyzed. Overall, the results of this study, based on orthogonal concordance testing and phylogenetic scrutiny, supported that whole mtGenome sequence data with high accuracy can be obtained using the PGM platform.

Neutropenia among psychiatric in-patients.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the frequency of neutropenia in psychiatric patients. METHODS: We conducted this study by retrospectively taking a convenient sample from patients who were admitted to Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health (ACMH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from January to December 2004. Fifty-one patients (48 men and 3 women), with a mean age of 34 years (18-52 years) were included. RESULTS: We found that there is a large difference between the rates of neutropenia in the general population (12.8 cases/million persons/year), obtained from international studies, and in psychiatric inpatients included in our study (26400 cases/million psychiatric patients/year). CONCLUSION: Psychiatric patients are more vulnerable to develop neutropenia.

Testicular mixed germ cell tumor in an adolescent with cowden disease.

Cowden disease (also known as Cowden syndrome) is characterized by multiple organ hamartomatous tumors and an increased risk of malignancy, in particular of the breast, thyroid and endometrium. Testicular tumors including seminoma have previously been reported in adult patients. We are reporting, for the first time, a case of testicular mixed germ cell tumor in an adolescent with Cowden disease. An association of testicular malignancy in Cowden disease could be explained by the previous observation of strong PTEN gene expression in the basal cell layer around seminiferous tubules and increased frequency of PTEN mutations in cultured testicular cancer cell lines. Surveillance for breast, thyroid, endometrial and renal cancer has been recommended for individuals with Cowden disease. The association of Cowden disease and testicular malignancy in our case suggests the need for additional screening of testes.