Bird breeder's hypersensitivity pneumonitis: progress studies of lung function after cessation of exposure to the provoking antigen

Lung function and immunologic studies have been performed in 9 patients with bird breeder's hypersensitivity pneumonitis at the time of diagnosis and at intervals from 8 to 30 months after they ceased exposure to the provoking antigen. All 9 patients had evidence of small airway obstruction at the time of diagnosis. Complete recovery of lung function occurred in 4 patients. The other 5 all had evidence of interstitial damage; 3 of them had progressive increase in the degree of airway obstruction, and one had progressive loss of elastic recoil. The patients were nonsmokers, and these progressive changes could not be explained by occult exposure to antigen because the tests of immunologic sensitivity to relevant avian antigens became negative. Neither the nature or degree of lung function abnormality nor the form of clinical presentation was related to the development of residual damage. The period of exposure to antigen after symptoms developed and the age of the patient appeared to be the most important factors determining recovery of lung function.     

Incidence of photophobia in peripheral and sector iridectomy

Fifth patients had bilateral intracapsular cataract extractions with a peripheral iridectomy in one eye and a sector iridectomy in the opposite eye. There was no difference in photophobia between the two eyes in 78% of patients. Twelve percent of the patients had greater photophobia in the eye with the peripheral iridectomy, and 10% had greater photophobia in the eye with the sector iridectomy.     

Ultrastructural site variations in mouse epidermal organization

Mouse dorsal, ear, tail and foot epidermis are compared according to their tissue architecture and cell kinetics. Cell proliferation is expected in terms of the daily volume of keratin replaced. The stratum corneum may be organized into vertical columns of squames, which may have minimal overlap as in dorsum and ear, or maximal overlap as in tail. Individual areas are adapted to their function both in squame fine structure and rate of cell replacement. The surface keratin loss/replacement rate is at its highest in foot and tail, and lowest in ear and dorsum. Observations on hairless mouse dorsum are also included.     

Media therapy: Educational change planning for psychiatric patients.

Describes a systematic video program in behavior change for psychiatric patients. Patients engage in short videotaped interactions with a consultant-facilitator. These interactions then are viewed, and the patient, with consultant help, identifies specific behavior that he would like to change. Further practice in these behaviors helps them to become part of the the patient's behavioral repertoire. Case illustrations are presented and implications for an educational treatment program for psychiatric patients are discussed. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of fermented Hericium erinaceus juice with high content of L‐glutamine and L‐glutamic acid

Fermented plant beverages (FPB) with a high content of desirable principle components are served as functional foods from several years. Hericium erinaceus is famous for its antimicrobial, antioxidant, antihypertensive and antidiabetic nature. Accordingly, the current study was aimed to produce fermented H. erinaceus juice with a high content of L‐glutamine (Gln) and L‐glutamic acid (GA) through lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from fermented Thai foods. LAB isolates were screened and identified the potent protease‐producing bacteria Enterococcus faecalis (G414/1) that facilitate the production of Gln and GA through protein hydrolysis. Box–Behnken design (BBD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were adapted for the optimisation of conditions for the increased production of Gln and GA during fermentation of H. erinaceus. We succeeded with an optimum concentration of cofactor (CaCl₂), pH and temperature for improved protease activity and subsequent Gln and GA production. The ability of isolated E. faecalis strain to produce Gln and GA was demonstrated in this study. Further, upstream processes like strain improvement and media optimisation will direct the way to produce enriched H. erinaceus based FPB.     

Effects of corn grain endosperm type and conservation method on feed intake,feeding behavior,and productive performance of lactating dairy cows

Our objective was to evaluate the effects of corn grain varying in endosperm type and conserved as high-moisture or dry ground corn on dry matter intake (DMI), feeding behavior, ruminal fermentation, and yields of milk and milk components of cows in early to mid-lactation. Seven ruminally and duodenally cannulated Holstein cows (73 ± 39 d in milk; mean ± SD) were used in a duplicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with 21-d periods. A 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments was used with main effects of corn grain endosperm type (floury or vitreous) conserved as high-moisture corn (HMC) or dry ground corn (DGC). Rations were formulated to contain 27.0% starch, 26.6% neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 19.1% forage NDF, and 16.5% crude protein. Corn grain treatments supplied 86.6% of dietary starch and contained alfalfa silage as the sole forage. Dry matter intake was increased 1.3 kg/d by DGC compared with HMC. The increase in DMI by DGC was related to a shorter intermeal interval (104.4 vs. 118.2 min/d), and meal size was not affected by treatment. Dry ground corn decreased rumination bout length and number of chews per bout compared with HMC. No differences were detected between endosperm treatments for DMI, yields of milk, 3.5% fat-corrected milk (FCM), milk fat, protein, lactose, or solids-not-fat (SNF). Mean yield of 3.5% FCM across treatments was 47.5 kg/d. However, a tendency for an interaction was observed for feed efficiency; floury endosperm increased efficiency 0.05 kg 3.5% FCM per kg of DMI for DGC but decreased it by 0.14 kg 3.5% FCM per kg of DMI for HMC relative to vitreous endosperm. Vitreous compared with floury corn tended to increase true protein concentration in milk when conserved as DGC (2.68% vs. 2.62%) but not as HMC. Concentration of SNF was increased by DGC compared with HMC (8.45 vs. 8.37%) due, in part, to the effect of treatment on milk protein concentration. Body weight was not affected by treatment, but vitreous endosperm tended to increase loss of body condition compared with floury endosperm. Corn endosperm type and conservation method had little effect on productive performance of high-producing cows.     

Effects of dilution on fine particle mass and partitioning of semivolatile organics in diesel exhaust and wood smoke

Experiments were conducted to examine the effects of dilution on fine particle mass emissions from a diesel engine and wood stove. Filter measurements were made simultaneously using three dilution sampling systems operating at dilution ratios ranging from 20:1 to 510:1. Denuders and backup filters were used to quantify organic sampling artifacts. For the diesel engine operating at low load and wood combustion, large decreases in fine particle mass emissions were observed with increases in dilution. For example, the PM2.5 mass emission rate from a diesel engine operating at low load decreased by 50% when the dilution ratio was increased from 20:1 to 350:1. Measurements of organic and elemental carbon indicate that the changes in fine particle mass with dilution are caused by changes in partitioning of semivolatile organic compounds. At low levels of dilution semivolatile species largely occur in the particle phase, but increasing dilution reduces the concentration of semivolatile species, shifting this material to the gas phase in order to maintain phase equilibrium. Emissions of elemental carbon do not vary with dilution. Organic sampling artifacts are shown to vary with dilution because of the combination of changes in partitioning coupled with adsorption of gas-phase organics by quartz filters. The fine particle mass emissions from the diesel engine operating at medium load did not vary with dilution because of the lower emissions of semivolatile material and higher emissions of elemental carbon. To measure partitioning of semivolatile materials under atmospheric conditions, partitioning theory indicates that dilution samplers need to be operated such that the diluted exhaust achieves atmospheric levels of dilution. Too little dilution can potentially overestimate the fine particle mass emissions, and too much dilution (with clean air) can underestimate them.     

Non-destructive assessment of instrumental and sensory tenderness of lamb meat using NIR hyperspectral imaging

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a hyperspectral imaging system (900–1700 nm) to predict instrumental and sensory tenderness of lamb meat. Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF) values and sensory scores by trained panellists were collected as the indicator of instrumental and sensory tenderness, respectively. Partial least squares regression models were developed for predicting instrumental and sensory tenderness with reasonable accuracy (R_cv = 0.84 for WBSF and 0.69 for sensory tenderness). Overall, the results confirmed that the spectral data could become an interesting screening tool to quickly categorise lamb steaks in good (i.e. tender) and bad (i.e. tough) based on WBSF values and sensory scores with overall accuracy of about 94.51% and 91%, respectively. Successive projections algorithm (SPA) was used to select the most important wavelengths for WBSF prediction. Additionally, textural features from Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) were extracted to determine the correlation between textural features and WBSF values.     

Effects of intrajugular glucose infusion on feed intake,milk yield,and metabolic responses of early postpartum cows fed diets varying in protein and starch concentration

Effects of glucose infusion on feed intake, milk production, and metabolic responses of early postpartum cows fed diets varying in starch and protein concentration were evaluated by utilizing a randomized complete block design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Twenty-four multiparous Holstein cows were blocked by body condition score and 305-d mature-equivalent milk yield and randomly assigned at calving to 1 of 4 treatments. Treatments were continuous intrajugular infusion of glucose (GI) or isotonic saline (SI), and diets containing high starch, low crude protein (HSLP) or high crude protein, low starch (HPLS) concentrations. Treatments were initiated at the first scheduled feeding following parturition and lasted 12 d. The GI reduced cumulative dry matter intake and tended to reduce daily dry matter intake and meal size for HPLS but not HSLP compared with SI. The GI increased cumulative milk yield by 39 kg/12 d compared with SI by increasing it for HSLP but not HPLS. The HPLS treatment tended to increase loss of body condition from 0.65 to 0.82 body condition score units/12 d compared with HSLP. Consistent with this, HPLS increased plasma concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids, β-hydroxybutyrate, liver triglyceride, milk fat concentration and yield, 3.5% fat-corrected milk, and milk urea nitrogen compared with HSLP. Overall, the GI-HPLS treatment reduced feed intake by reducing meal size. The GI-HPLS may have reduced meal size by the independent or additive effects of (1) decreasing hepatic gluconeogenesis and promoting oxidation of acetyl coenzyme A (CoA), (2) elevated plasma nonesterified fatty acids from HPLS increasing the pool of acetyl CoA available to be oxidized, and (3) the HPLS diet increasing urea synthesis, which also provides the tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate fumarate to promote oxidation of acetyl CoA.