COPPER AND IRON SUPPLEMENTATION IN THE DIETS OF LAYING HENS IN THE TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT — EFFECTS ON PRODUCTION TRAITS

One hundred and thirty-five fifty-two-week-old hybrid layers (Hubbard Strain), were allocated to 9 dietary treatments of 15 birds each. The birds were fed, on one of 9 diets, consisting of three levels of supplemental copper: 0,200 and 400 ppm and three levels of supplemental iron: 0,100 and 200 ppm for 12 weeks. Per cent day egg production, egg grade, feed intake, efficiency of teed conversion, mortality and body weight change were measured. No significant effects of copper or iron or their interaction, were observed for any of the traits measured in the study. However, diets supplemented with 100ppm Fe/400ppm Fe/0 ppm Cu, showed slight improvements in egg production and efficiency of feed conversion over the control. The diet supplemented with 100ppm Fe/200ppm Cu also showed the most marked body weight gain. The results of this study seem to indicate that the effects of copper supplements, equivalent to those found to stimulate growth in pigs and chicks, are of little or no significance in old layers in a tropical environment. The results also showed that concurrent supplementation of copper containing diet with iron is not necessary for old layers.

A Novel Paclitaxel Conjugate with Higher Efficiency and Lower Toxicity: A New Drug Candidate for Cancer Treatment

Paclitaxel-lipoate (IDD-1040) is a conjugate formed by the chemical joining of the two compounds, by condensing a lipoic acid moiety to the C2′ of paclitaxel. IDD-1040 was evaluated for its anti-tumor activity and potential druggability, using an in vivo non-small-cell, lung cancer (NSCLC) xenograft mouse model. In the in vivo studies, IDD-1040 showed a maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of 250 mg/kg compared to paclitaxel (PTX), with an MTD of 20 mg/kg. Most interesting, IDD-1040 demonstrated higher anti-tumor activity, and its inhibitory activity on tumor volume (cell growth) was dose-dependent. That anti-tumor activity persisted for two weeks after cessation of IDD-1040 treatment, as opposed to PTX cessation, after which the tumor relapsed, confirming that IDD-1040 exhibits superior tumor inhibition. Similar to PTX treatment, no marked body weight decrease was observed during IDD-1040 treatment, indicating a low toxicity profile. The increase in animal body weight noted over time was due to the increasing weight of tumors, recorded in all the mouse test groups. The results also showed that mortality rate of mice was reduced by treatment with IDD-1040, more so than with PTX. Furthermore, in a preliminary study on the ex vivo distribution of IDD-1040, neutropenia was primarily concentrated in the liver 1 h after injection, and most of the drug was metabolized by the liver in 24 h. All of these results demonstrate IDD-1040’s great potential as a candidate drug for cancer treatment.

Effect of bariatric surgery on plasma GDF15 in humans

Bariatric surgery results in marked body weight loss and improves type 2 diabetes in most patients with obesity. The growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) has recently emerged as a novel satiety factor. To begin to understand whether GDF15 is involved in mediating the effects of bariatric surgery on body weight and glycemia in humans, we measured plasma GDF15 in patients with obesity ( n = 25) and in patients with obesity and diabetes ( n = 22) before and after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery. GDF15 was increased 1 wk after RYGB compared with before surgery (689 ± 45 vs. 487 ± 28 pg/ml, P < 0.001) and GDF15 remained elevated at 3 mo (554 ± 37 pg/ml, P < 0.05), at 1 yr (566 ± 37 pg/ml, P < 0.05), and at 2.5–4 yr (630 ± 50 pg/ml, P < 0.001) after RYGB surgery. Both age and insulin sensitivity correlated with GDF15 before the surgery ( r = 0.46, P < 0.0001 and r = 0.34, P < 0.001, respectively). These correlations disappeared at 2.5–4 yr following the surgery. Conversely, weight loss magnitude correlated with GDF15, measured 2.5–4 yr postsurgery ( r = 0.21, P < 0.0055). In summary, circulating GDF15 increases and correlates with body weight loss following RYGB surgery.

Embodied Representation in Staged Opera

The singing and acting performer in staged opera has and also performs a body that is both a biological entity and an ideological construct: its race, sex, physique, and age are all given meaning by directors—and audiences. Within the contexts of feminist, queer, and disability studies, this chapter reads the “marked” body of the protagonist of David Alden’s 2008 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s 1835 Lucia di Lammermoor as the literal embodiment of the excruciating vulnerability of Lucia as subject through the medium of her youthfulness and her mixed race: a Down syndrome child sexually abused by her brother on stage. Just as the opera’s use of coloratura is a marked musical gesture of madness in dramaturgical terms for the “voice in performance,” so the specifically marked corporeal body of Lucia was crucial to this production’s dramatic power, as well as the ethical and political issues it raised.

Dome-headed, small-brained island mammal from the Late Cretaceous of Romania

The island effect is a well-known evolutionary phenomenon, in which island-dwelling species isolated in a resource-limited environment often modify their size, anatomy, and behaviors compared with mainland relatives. This has been well documented in modern and Cenozoic mammals, but it remains unclear whether older, more primitive Mesozoic mammals responded in similar ways to island habitats. We describe a reasonably complete and well-preserved skeleton of a kogaionid, an enigmatic radiation of Cretaceous island-dwelling multituberculate mammals previously represented by fragmentary fossils. This skeleton, from the latest Cretaceous of Romania, belongs to a previously unreported genus and species that possesses several aberrant features, including an autapomorphically domed skull and one of the smallest brains relative to body size of any advanced mammaliaform, which nonetheless retains enlarged olfactory bulbs and paraflocculi for sensory processing. Drawing on parallels with more recent island mammals, we interpret these unusual neurosensory features as related to the island effect. This indicates that the ability to adapt to insular environments developed early in mammalian history, before the advent of therian mammals, and mammals with insular-related modifications were key components of well-known dwarfed dinosaur faunas. Furthermore, the specimen suggests that brain size reduction, in association with heightened sensory acuity but without marked body size change, is a novel expression of the island effect in mammals.