Rumination time as an early predictor of metritis and subclinical ketosis in dairy cows at the beginning of lactation: Systematic review-meta-analysis.

Daily rumination time (RT; min/d) is recognized as an important tool for assessing the health of dairy cows, which may depend on the disease, lactation stage and individual cows. Using a systematic review-meta-analysis, this study evaluated whether the variation in RT is effective for early detection of metritis and subclinical ketosis (SCK) in dairy cows in the pre and post-partum periods (from three weeks before to three weeks after calving). The research was carried out in four electronic databases - Scopus, Science Direct, Pubmed and Web of Science. The main inclusion criteria were original research; evaluation of RT in dairy cows; and use of RT for early identification of metritis and/or SCK in post-partum dairy cows. A random effect meta-analysis (MA) was conducted for each disease (metritis and SCK) separately, with the RT means of healthy and sick groups, measured in the pre and post-partum. The effect size used was the mean difference (MD).Twenty-two trials from six studies were included in the MA, involving 1494 dairy cows. For metritis, four trials from three studies in the pre-partum period were considered as well as five trials from four studies in the post-partum. For SCK, six trials from four studies pre-partum and seven trials from five studies in the post-partum period were taken into consideration. The heterogeneity between studies for metritis was null (I2 = 0%) and low (I2 = 5.7 %) in the pre-partum and in the post-partum, respectively. The MD of RT between healthy cows and those with metritis was different in the pre (MD =0.411 min/d; P < 0.001) and in the post-partum (MD =0.279 min/d; P < 0.001). In SCK, heterogeneity was high in the pre (I2 = 69 %) and in the post-partum (I2 = 58.1 %), and the MD of RT was similar between healthy and sick cows (P> 0.05). In a meta-regression, RT from primiparous cows showed a lower predicted value for MD (0.48 min. d; P < 0.05) compared to multiparous cows, and the increment in each unit of milk production decreased the predicted MD value by 0.08 min. d (P < 0.001). Our MA demonstrates that RT is a good predictor for early detection of metritis in pre and post-partum; however, it is not an adequate predictor for SCK. Further investigations using more frequent blood sampling and the same threshold values for BHB are required to assess the adequacy of rumination time to predict SCK.

Up-regulation of activating and inhibitory NKG2 receptors in allogeneic and autologous hematopoietic stem cell grafts.

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) is known to induce the inhibitory immune receptor NKG2A on NK cells of donor origin. This occurs in allogeneic recipients, in both the haploidentical and HLA-matched settings. METHODS: To gain further insight, not only NKG2A, but also the activating receptors NKG2C and NKG2D were assessed by flow cytometry. Immunophenotyping was carried out not only on CD56(+) but also on CD8(+) lymphocytes from leukemia and lymphoma patients, receiving both HLA-matched (n = 7) and autologous (n = 5) HSCT grafts. Moreover, cognate NKG2 ligands (HLA-E, MICA, ULBP-1, ULBP-2 and ULBP-3) were assessed by immunohistochemistry in diagnostic biopsies from three autotransplanted patients, and at relapse in one case. RESULTS: All the NKG2 receptors were simultaneously up-regulated in all the allotransplanted patients on CD8(+) and/or CD56(+) cells between 30 and 90 days post-transplant, coinciding with, or following, allogeneic engraftment. Up-regulation was of lesser entity and restricted to CD8(+) cells in the autotransplantation setting. The phenotypic expression ratio between activating and inhibitory NKG2 receptors was remarkably similar in all the patients, except two outliers (a long survivor and a short survivor) who surprisingly displayed a similar NKG2 activation immunophenotype. Tumor expression of 2 to 3 out of the 5 tested NKG2 ligands was observed in 3/3 diagnostic biopsies, and 3 ligands were up-regulated post-transplant in a patient. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, these results are consistent with a dual (activation-inhibition) NK cell re-education mode, an innate-like T cell re-tuning, and a ligand:receptor interplay between the tumor and the immune system following HSCT including, most interestingly, the up-regulation of several activating NKG2 ligands. Turning the immune receptor balance toward activation on both T and NK cells of donor origin may complement ex vivo NK cell expansion/activation strategies in unmanipulated patients.

Bifenilos policlorados em arroz e feijão do estado do Rio Grande do Sul / Polychlorinated biphenyls in rice and beans from Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil

Os bifenilos policlorados (PCBs) estão entre os poluentes mais tóxicos presentes no meio ambiente, apresentando os alimentos como principal fonte de exposição humana. Com base nisso, este trabalho teve como objetivo determinar os sete PCBs indicadores de contaminação ambiental em 22 amostras de arroz e 18 de feijão do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Além disso, objetivou-se calcular a ingestão diária estimada de resíduos, a partir da contaminação existente no arroz e feijão, assim como determinar o teor de gordura das amostras para correlacioná-lo com os níveis de PCBs. A extração e purificação dos compostos foram realizadas pelo método QuEChERS, seguido de identificação e quantificação por CG-EM. Os PCBs 153 e 101 apresentaram as maiores concentrações médias nas amostras de arroz e feijão, respectivamente. Considerando o somatório dos PCBs, este foi de 4,39ng g-1 para o arroz e de 4,17ng g-1 para o feijão. Quanto à ingestão diária estimada, esta foi de 7,82ng kg-1 e de 3,14ng kg-1 de peso corporal por dia, para o arroz e o feijão, respectivamente. Em relação ao percentual de gordura, o arroz e o feijão apresentaram teores de gordura de 0,32% e de 1,1%, respectivamente. No entanto, a correlação com os níveis de PCBs não foi significativa. Os resultados demonstram que o estado do RS apresenta fontes importantes de contaminação desses resíduos químicos persistentes.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are among the most toxic pollutants in the environment showing foods as the main source of human exposure. Based on this, this study aimed to determine 7 PCBs indicators of environmental contamination in 22 samples of rice and 18 samples of beans in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. Furthermore, this study aimed to calculate the waste estimated daily intake, starting from the existing contamination in rice and beans, as well as wanted to determine the samples fat content to correlate with levels of PCBs. The extraction and purification of the compounds were performed via QuEChERS method followed by identification and quantification by GC-MS. PCBs 153 and 101 showed the highest mean concentration in the samples of rice and bean, respectively. Considering the sum of PCBs in the samples, this was 4.39ng g-1 for the rice and 4.17ng g-1 for the beans. In estimated daily intake, this was 7.82ng kg-1 and 3.14ng kg-1 of body weight per day, for the rice and beans, respectively. Regarding the percentage of fat the rice and beans samples had fat contents of 0.32% and 1.1%, respectively. However, the correlation with the PCBs levels was not significant. The results demonstrate that the State of RS has important sources of these persistent chemical waste contaminations.

A novel glutathione transferase from Haemophilus influenzae which has high affinity towards antibiotics.

Cytosolic glutathione transferase (GSTs) are a family of multi-functional proteins which catalyse the conjugation of glutathione (GSH) to a large variety of endogenous and exogenous electrophilic compounds. Much is known about cytosolic mammalian GSTs, however, the presence of GSTs in several aerobic and anaerobic micro-organisms has also been demonstrated. Several findings seem to suggest that bacterial GSTs are involved in processes of biodegradation of xenobiotics, including antibiotics. However, the function played by these enzymes in the bacterial cell still remains to be clarified. At present, it is ill-defined whether bacterial GST can be classified, as in the case of mammalian enzymes, into several distinct classes. Here we report the purification of a GST isoform from Haemophilus influenzae using GSH-affinity chromatography. The purified protein was characterised by immunological and kinetic properties different from other known GSTs. The dissociation constants of chloramphenicol, ampicillin, rifampicin and tetracycline to the purified enzyme were 0.62, 9.06, 4.08 and 1.77 microM, respectively, as determined by following the quenching of the protein intrinsic fluorescence. These values were much lower than those previously determined for the same drugs with other mammalian or bacterial GSTs. The present results indicate that the enzyme purified from H. influenzae is a novel GST isoform well distinguished from other known mammalian or bacterial GSTs.