Inflammatory cell distribution within and along asthmatic airways

Asthmatic airways are infiltrated with inflammatory cells that release mediators and cytokines into the microenvironment. In this study, we evaluated the distribution of CD45-positive leukocytes and eosinophils in lung tissue from five patients who died with severe asthma compared with five patients with cystic fibrosis. For morphometric analysis, the airway wall was partitioned into an "inner" area (between basement membrane and smooth muscle) and an "outer" area (between smooth muscle and alveolar attachments). Large airways (with a perimeter greater than 3.0 mm) from patients with asthma or cystic fibrosis had a greater density of CD45-positive cells (p < 0.05) and eosinophils (p < 0.001) in the inner airway region compared with the same airway region in small airways. Furthermore, in small airways, asthmatic lungs showed a greater density of CD45-positive cells (p < 0.01) and eosinophils (p < 0.01) in the outer compared with the inner airway wall region. These observations indicate that there are regional variations in inflammatory cell distribution within the airway wall in patients with asthma that are not observed in airways from patients with cystic fibrosis. We speculate that this inflammatory cell density in peripheral airways in severe asthma may relate to the peripheral airway obstruction characteristic of this condition.     

Short-term toxicity studies of Ficus thonningii Blume (Moraceae) leaf extract in rats

The short‐term toxicity of Ficus thonningii Blume (FT) was studied in Wistar rats following daily oral administration of the leaf extract (250–500 mg kg^?1) for 15 days. Acute toxicity, body weight changes, organ weight, food intake, clinical signs, haematology, gross and tissue histology were monitored. The body weights of treated rats increased progressively, but the changes were not significantly different from control. The relative weights of the essential organs of treated rats were unaffected in both male and female rats. Of the sixteen haematological parameters studied, only the total leukocyte counts and plateletcrit values in male rats fed 500 mg kg^?1 of FT were significantly greater than similar parameters in controls. Histological findings indicated possible testicular, lung and hepatic toxicities. The LD₅₀ of FT was estimated to be >3000 mg kg^?1. The results suggest that short‐term oral application of F. thonningii may not exert severe toxic effects in rats at doses lower than 500 mg kg^?1.     

Comparative accuracies of genetic values predicted for economically important milk traits,genome-wide association,and linkage disequilibrium patterns of Canadian Holstein cows

Genomic selection methodologies and genome-wide association studies use powerful statistical procedures that correlate large amounts of high-density SNP genotypes and phenotypic data. Actual 305-d milk (MY), fat (FY), and protein (PY) yield data on 695 cows and 76,355 genotyping-by-sequencing-generated SNP marker genotypes from Canadian Holstein dairy cows were used to characterize linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure of Canadian Holstein cows. Also, the comparison of pedigree-based BLUP, genomic BLUP (GBLUP), and Bayesian (BayesB) statistical methods in the genomic selection methodologies and the comparison of Bayesian ridge regression and BayesB statistical methods in the genome-wide association studies were carried out for MY, FY, and PY. Results from LD analysis revealed that as marker distance decreases, LD increases through chromosomes. However, unexpected high peaks in LD were observed between marker pairs with larger marker distances on all chromosomes. The GBLUP and BayesB models resulted in similar heritability estimates through 10-fold cross-validation for MY and PY; however, the GBLUP model resulted in higher heritability estimates than BayesB model for FY. The predictive ability of GBLUP model was significantly lower than that of BayesB for MY, FY, and PY. Association analyses indicated that 28 high-effect markers and markers on Bos taurus autosome 14 located within 6 genes (DOP1B, TONSL, CPSF1, ADCK5, PARP10, and GRINA) associated significantly with FY.     

Antihypertensive Properties of a Pea Protein Hydrolysate during Short‐ and Long‐Term Oral Administration to Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

This study investigated short‐term (24 h) and long‐term (5 wk) systolic blood pressure (SBP)‐lowering effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) of a 5 kDa membrane pea protein hydrolysate permeate (PPH‐5) produced through thermoase hydrolysis of pea protein isolate (PPI). Amino acid analysis showed that the PPH‐5 had lower contents of sulfur‐containing amino acids than the PPI. Size‐exclusion chromatography indicated mainly low molecular weight (<10 kDa) peptides in PPH‐5 but not in the PPI. The PPH‐5 had renin and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition IC₅₀ values of 0.57 and 0.10 mg/mL (P < 0.05), respectively, and consisted mainly of peptides with 2 to 6 amino acids. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed mainly hydrophilic tetrapeptide sequences. After a single oral administration (100 mg/kg body weight) to SHR, the unheated PPI showed weakest (P < 0.05) SBP‐lowering effect with a –4 mm Hg maximum when compared to –25 mm Hg for heat‐treated PPI and –36 mm Hg for PPH‐5. Incorporation of the PPH‐5 as 0.5% or 1% (w/w) casein substitute in the SHR diet produced maximum SBP reductions of –22 or –26 mm Hg (P < 0.05), respectively after 3 wk. In comparison, the unhydrolyzed PPI produced a maximum SBP reduction of –17 mm Hg also after 3 wk. Potency of the pea products decreased in the 4th and 5th wk, though SBP values of the treated rats were still lower than the untreated control. We conclude that the antihypertensive potency of PPH‐5 may have been due to the presence of easily absorbed hydrophilic peptides.     

Contaminant Leaching from Stabilized/Solidified Acid Tars

This work investigates the leachability-related properties of acid tars treated with portland cement (CEM I), with the addition of high carbon fly ash (HCFA), as a novel binder for the immobilization of hydrocarbons. The leachate pH, acid neutralization capacity (ANC), and leaching of metals and sulfates from the treated acid tars were investigated. The effect of acid tar type, CEM I:HCFA ratio, and curing time on hydrocarbon leaching was also studied using factorial design experiment. ANC results show that acid tars had detrimental effect on the formation of cement hydration products. The overall results indicate that metal was not released in high concentration from the stabilized/solidified acid tars; hence their leaching is not of great environmental concern. The amount of leached sulfates was significantly lower than untreated acid tars and was attributed to ettringite formation. Factorial analyses show that all studied factors significantly affected hydrocarbon leaching. HCFA addition resulted in reduction in hydrocarbon leaching but led to an increase in sulfate leaching. This work shows that HCFA improved the immobilization of hydrocarbons and may represent an inexpensive binder for stabilization/solidification of wastes containing organic contaminants.