Dietary thyroid hormone improves growth and muscle protein accumulation of black-boned chickens.

1. The objective of the study was to examine the effect of dietary thyroid hormone on performance and muscle protein accumulation of black-boned chickens. 2. A total of 720 1-d-old birds was housed in 24 pens and assigned to 4 diets containing triiodothyronine (T3) at 0, 0.1, 0.3 or 0.5 mg/kg. 3. The trial was split into starter (0 to 4 weeks) and grower (5 to 8 weeks) phases. At the beginning of the grower phase, each pen was split into two; one subgroup was fed basal diet (T3-) and the other continued with T3-added diet (T3+). 4. Dietary T3 at 0.1 mg/kg improved average daily body weight gain until week 6 but retarded it thereafter. However, T3 at 0.5 mg/kg depressed growth throughout the whole period. During weeks 7 to 8, T3 retarded growth, whereas growth recovered when T3 was withdrawn from the diet. 5. Birds fed the diet containing 0.1 mg/kg during weeks 0 to 4 and those receiving basal diet during weeks 5 to 8 showed the greatest thigh muscle growth, but this growth was depressed when they were fed the 0.5 mg/kg diet during weeks 0 to 8. 6. Serum T3 concentration was increased, while thyroxine (T4) concentration was decreased by dietary T3 treatment at 2 weeks old. At 4 weeks old, T3 and T4 concentrations decreased. At 6 and 8 weeks old, among T3-treated groups the serum T3 concentration of the T3- group was higher than that of the T3+ group. 7. In conclusion, dietary T3 improved weight gain and muscle growth of black-boned chickens before week 6, whereas supplementation depressed growth after 6 weeks. Optimum dietary T3 concentrations showed a carry-over effect on both body weight gain and thigh muscle growth.

Dietary methionine requirement of the Chinese egg-laying duck.

1. The dietary methionine requirement of egg-laying ducks was assessed by feeding diets supplemented with graded levels of DL-methionine (0, 4, 8, 12, 16 g/kg dietary protein) for 8 weeks. The basal diet contained 175 g protein and 2.6 g methionine per kg feed (or 14.9 g/kg protein) and an estimated ME of 11.5 MJ/kg. 2. A total of 800 Shaoxin laying ducks (420 d old) were randomly divided into 5 groups of 160 each and fed in 4 separate pens. 3. Dietary supplementation of methionine significantly increased egg production and feed conversion efficiency. 4. Dietary methionine requirement for optimum egg production was estimated to be 25.7 g/kg of dietary protein or 4.5 g/kg of the diet or 380 mg/bird-d. 5. Methionine supplementation increased the methionine level in plasma, and the free glutamic acid and aspartic acid concentrations in plasma were quadratically related to dietary methionine levels. Increasing dietary methionine had little effect on egg quality characteristics.

[Osteosarcoma cell immunophenotype and heterogeneity].

48 cases of osteosarcoma, including 18 cases of osteoblastic type, 16 of fibroblastic type and 14 of chondroblastic type, were studied in accordance with Dahlin's classification. All specimens were stained with 11 specific markers using immunohistochemical ABC methods. Positive immunostaining for BMP was found in all of these cases. The results showed 48 vimentin positive cases, 46 actin positive cases, 5 keratin positive cases and 4 desmin positive cases. Neither cytokeratin nor EMA was identified in any of the cases. Positive reactions to S-100 protein, collagen type IV, UEA-1 and factor XIII were observed in 26, 20, 36 and 13 of the cases respectively. The results of this study confirm that osteosarcoma possesses the unique multidirectional differentiation potential toward osteoblastic, chondroblastic, myofibroblastic, fibrohistiocytic and epithelial cells, and also indicate that immunophenotypic analysis is useful for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis and classification of the tumor cells of osteosarcoma.

[Prognosis based on stereological study of neoplastic osteoid classification in osteosarcoma].

The diagnostic criteria of neoplastic osteoid were established by means of stereological study of 70 cases of osteosarcoma. According to the different histological features, the authors suggest that osteosarcomas are to be classified into three types: Type I (mature osteoid type), Type II (intermediate differentiated osteoid type) and Type III (immature osteoid type). 50 patients out of the 70 had been followed up for years. The five-year survival rate in 12 patients with Type I was 92%; in 18 patients with Type II and 20 patients with Type III, none of them survived more than five years after operation. Statistically significant difference was found between individuals with Type I and Type II, or with Type I and Type III. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the histological types according to Dahlin. The results showed that our classification given in this paper may be preferable to the Dahlin's for evaluation of prognosis.

Viral etiology of chronic cervicitis and its therapeutic response to a recombinant interferon.

Chronic cervicitis was shown to be related to papillomavirus type 16(HPV-16), herpes simplex virus type 2 and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections as demonstrated by DNA hybridization technique and virus isolation method from samples taken from erosive and normal cervices. After one course of treatment with recombinant interferon alpha 1 (rIFN-alpha 1), 93.8% of cases showed clinical improvement and 60% marked improvement. The HPV-16 and HSV detection rates dropped down significantly after rIFN-alpha 1 treatment as compared with those before treatment. Astragalus membranaceus, a Chinese herbal drug, was shown to be synergic to interferon therapy.

[Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma--report of 4 cases].

This paper reports 4 cases of mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, 1 case in the retroperitoneum, 1 the left mandible, 1 right thoracic wall and 1 right thigh. 2 males and 2 females. The age ranged from 18 to 42 with an average of 29 years. In this series, 3 patients are still alive after operation and one died one year postoperatively. Microscopic examination: the tumor was made up not only of undifferentiated mesenchymal cells, but also of well-differentiated cartilaginous islands and hemangiopericytomalike lesions. Transitions between the undifferentiated small cells and neighbouring chondrocytes or chondroid matrix and collagenous fibers can be found microscopically in all cases. The authors emphasize that collagenous fibers between the undifferentiated cells play an important role in the formation of cartilaginous islands. The differential diagnosis of this disease is discussed.