Effects of cashew nut testa levels as an alternative to wheat bran in gestating sow diets.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary cashew nut testa (CNT) as an alternative feed ingredient to wheat bran on reproductive performance, litter performance, milk composition, and blood profiles of gestating sows. METHODS: Forth multiparous sows (Yorkshire×Landrace) were fed experimental diets starting at 35 days of pregnancy and an initial average body weight (BW) of 211.53±8.86 kg. Each sow was assigned to a treatment based on BW, backfat thickness (BF) and parity with 10 sows per treatment. Treatments were as follows: i) corn-soybean meal based diet with 6% of wheat bran (C0); ii) basal diet with 2% of CNT and 4% of wheat bran (C2); iii) basal diet with 4% of CNT and 2% of wheat bran (C4); and iv) basal diet with 6% of CNT (C6). RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in BW and BF of gestating sows throughout the experimental period. However, changes in BF (p = 0.09) and the daily feed intake of sows (p = 0.09) tended to linearly increase during the lactation period. The weaning to estrus interval (WEI) showed a quadratic response to CNT treatment (p = 0.02), and the C2 diet showed the shortest WEI. Litter birth weight (p = 0.04) and piglet birth weight (p = 0.06) were linearly decreased with increase in CNT. Furthermore, there had no significant differences in piglet weight and litter weight in 21 day. Insulin concentration at day 70 of gestation was linearly reduced with increasing CNT level in diets (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: When 6% CNT replaced wheat bran in gestating sow diets, there were no negative effects on sow performance, but litter birth weight and piglet birth weight were decreased when CNT level increased in gestating sow diets.

Relationship between skin color and solar elastosis in aged Asian skin: A colorimetric-pathologic correlation.

Aged skin is reported to be associated with unattractive skin color changes and solar elastosis. However, comparative studies have not documented the possible correlation between the two factors. This study investigated the plausible relationship between the facial skin color of elderly Asians and solar elastosis. A total of 22 skin specimens were collected from 22 Korean patients who underwent cheek skin biopsies. Skin color was quantitatively measured using colorimetric photography techniques to produce CIE L*a*b* values; the degree of solar elastosis was quantifiably assessed using a histologic grading scale. These values were used to investigate a correlation between the CIE L*a*b* coordinates and solar elastosis grade. The solar elastosis grade increased according to patient age (r = 0.67, p = .0006). However, the extent of solar elastosis was not statistically correlated with the CIE L*a*b* values, including L*, a*, and b* (r = 0.02, p = .95; r = 0.15, p = 0.50; r = -0.07, p = 0.76, respectively). The results showed that the solar elastosis grade increased, according to patient age, because of cumulative actinic damage. However, colorimetric skin color data did not correlate with the degree of solar elastosis. Therefore, cutaneous color changes and solar elastosis are separate, age-related phenomena. Physicians should be aware of the possible histologic changes in actinically damaged facial skin, regardless of the skin color.

Rosacea Subtypes Visually and Optically Distinct When Viewed with Parallel-Polarized Imaging Technique.

BACKGROUND: Parallel-polarized light (PPL) photography evaluates skin characteristics by analyzing light reflections from the skin surface. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the significance of quantitative analysis of PPL images in rosacea patients, and to provide a new objective evaluation method for use in clinical research and practice. METHODS: A total of 49 rosacea patients were enrolled. PPL images using green and white light emitting diodes (LEDs) were taken of the lesion and an adjacent normal area. The values from the PPL images were converted to CIELAB coordinates: L* corresponding to the brightness, a* to the red and green intensities, and b* to the yellow and blue intensities. RESULTS: A standard grading system showed negative correlations with L* (r=-0.67862, p=0.0108) and b* (r=-0.67862, p=0.0108), and a positive correlation with a* (r=0.64194, p=0.0180) with the green LEDs for papulopustular rosacea (PPR) types. The xerosis severity scale showed a positive correlation with L* (r=0.36709, p=0.0276) and a negative correlation with b* (r=-0.33068, p=0.0489) with the white LEDs for erythematotelangiectatic rosacea (ETR) types. In the ETR types, there was brighter lesional and normal skin with white LEDs and a higher score on the xerosis severity scale than the PPR types. CONCLUSION: This technique using PPL images is applicable to the quantitative and objective assessment of rosacea in clinical settings. In addition, the two main subtypes of ETR and PPR are distinct entities visually and optically.

Multiple cellobiohydrolases and cellobiose phosphorylases cooperate in the ruminal bacterium Ruminococcus albus 8 to degrade cellooligosaccharides.

Digestion of plant cell wall polysaccharides is important in energy capture in the gastrointestinal tract of many herbivorous and omnivorous mammals, including humans and ruminants. The members of the genus Ruminococcus are found in both the ruminant and human gastrointestinal tract, where they show versatility in degrading both hemicellulose and cellulose. The available genome sequence of Ruminococcus albus 8, a common inhabitant of the cow rumen, alludes to a bacterium well-endowed with genes that target degradation of various plant cell wall components. The mechanisms by which R. albus 8 employs to degrade these recalcitrant materials are, however, not clearly understood. In this report, we demonstrate that R. albus 8 elaborates multiple cellobiohydrolases with multi-modular architectures that overall enhance the catalytic activity and versatility of the enzymes. Furthermore, our analyses show that two cellobiose phosphorylases encoded by R. albus 8 can function synergistically with a cognate cellobiohydrolase and endoglucanase to completely release, from a cellulosic substrate, glucose which can then be fermented by the bacterium for production of energy and cellular building blocks. We further use transcriptomic analysis to confirm the over-expression of the biochemically characterized enzymes during growth of the bacterium on cellulosic substrates compared to cellobiose.

Structural and biochemical basis for mannan utilization by Caldanaerobius polysaccharolyticus strain ATCC BAA-17.

Hemicelluloses, the polysaccharide component of plant cell walls, represent one of the most abundant biopolymers in nature. The most common hemicellulosic constituents of softwoods, such as conifers and cycads, are mannans consisting of a 1,4-linked ß-mannopyranosyl main chain with branch decorations. Efforts toward the utilization of hemicellulose for bioconversion into cellulosic biofuels have resulted in the identification of several families of glycoside hydrolases that can degrade mannan. However, effective biofermentation of manno-oligosaccharides is limited by a lack of appropriate uptake route in ethanologenic organisms. Here, we used transcriptome sequencing to gain insights into mannan degradation by the thermophilic anaerobic bacterium Caldanaerobius polysaccharolyticus. The most highly up-regulated genes during mannan fermentation occur in a cluster containing several genes encoding enzymes for efficient mannan hydrolysis as well as a solute-binding protein (CpMnBP1) that exhibits specificity for short mannose polymers but exhibited the flexibility to accommodate branched polysaccharide decorations. Co-crystal structures of CpMnBP1 in complex with mannobiose (1.4-Å resolution) and mannotriose (2.2-Å resolution) revealed the molecular rationale for chain length and oligosaccharide specificity. Calorimetric analysis of several active site variants confirmed the roles of residues critical to the function of CpMnBP1. This work represents the first biochemical characterization of a mannose-specific solute-binding protein and provides a framework for engineering mannan utilization capabilities for microbial fermentation.

Hydrogen formation and its regulation in Ruminococcus albus: involvement of an electron-bifurcating [FeFe]-hydrogenase, of a non-electron-bifurcating [FeFe]-hydrogenase, and of a putative hydrogen-sensing [FeFe]-hydrogenase.

Ruminococcus albus 7 has played a key role in the development of the concept of interspecies hydrogen transfer. The rumen bacterium ferments glucose to 1.3 acetate, 0.7 ethanol, 2 CO2, and 2.6 H2 when growing in batch culture and to 2 acetate, 2 CO2, and 4 H2 when growing in continuous culture in syntrophic association with H2-consuming microorganisms that keep the H2 partial pressure low. The organism uses NAD(+) and ferredoxin for glucose oxidation to acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) and CO2, NADH for the reduction of acetyl-CoA to ethanol, and NADH and reduced ferredoxin for the reduction of protons to H2. Of all the enzymes involved, only the enzyme catalyzing the formation of H2 from NADH remained unknown. Here, we report that R. albus 7 grown in batch culture on glucose contained, besides a ferredoxin-dependent [FeFe]-hydrogenase (HydA2), a ferredoxin- and NAD-dependent electron-bifurcating [FeFe]-hydrogenase (HydABC) that couples the endergonic formation of H2 from NADH to the exergonic formation of H2 from reduced ferredoxin. Interestingly, hydA2 is adjacent to the hydS gene, which is predicted to encode an [FeFe]-hydrogenase with a C-terminal PAS domain. We showed that hydS and hydA2 are part of a larger transcriptional unit also harboring putative genes for a bifunctional acetaldehyde/ethanol dehydrogenase (Aad), serine/threonine protein kinase, serine/threonine protein phosphatase, and a redox-sensing transcriptional repressor. Since HydA2 and Aad are required only when R. albus grows at high H2 partial pressures, HydS could be a H2-sensing [FeFe]-hydrogenase involved in the regulation of their biosynthesis.