Nutritional Wasting Disorders in Sheep

The different ovine production and breeding systems share the cornerstone of keeping a good body condition to ensure adequate productivity. Several infectious and parasitic disorders have detrimental effects on weight gains and may lead to emaciation. Flock health management procedures are aimed to prevent such conditions. Nutritional management is equally important to guarantee adequate body condition. Persistent bouts of low ruminal pH due to excess concentrate in the diet may lead to subacute ruminal acidosis. Pre-stomach motility disorders may also lead to ill-thrift and emaciation. An adequate mineral supplementation is key to prevent the effects of copper, selenium, and other micronutrients deprivation, which may include, among others, loss of condition. This review elaborates on the clinico-pathologic, diagnostic, and therapeutic aspects of some of these conditions, and highlights the necessity of considering them as contributors to states of wasting in sheep flocks.

Spectral analysis of electrogastrogram

Gastroparesis is a condition that affects the normal motility of muscle in the stomach and is commonly called as paralysis of stomach. Electrogastrography is the technique for measuring electrical activity of the stomach. The Electrogastrography is also used to measure the gastric mobility and various stomach disorders like tachy-gastria, brady-gastria, dyspepsia, peptic ulcer, gastric tumor etc. Electrogastrogram is the graphical representation of the Electrogastrography. The Electrogastrography procedure is recommended by the physician to diagnose the dis orders in the stomach. Electrogastrography procedure is taken generally under two conditions: Fasting condition and post prandial condition. This procedure is followed strictly to measure the gastric activity and gastric emptying test. The food is propelled into the stomach and the pacemaker of the stomach fails to contract the muscles of stomach that leads to gastroparesis condition. The diabetic patients often get into the gastroparesis condition. This remains as a major factor; stomach motility is slowed down. In this paper, data acquisition system for acquiring multichannel electrogastrogram is developed and the gastric signal is acquired and analysed using MATLAB. Through the spectral analysis of gastric slow-wave, the gastroparesis condition is diagnosed. The MEGG-Multichannel Channel Electrogastrogram signal is acquired in two states: Fasting state and Postprandial state.

UDP-glucose modulates gastric function through P2Y14 receptor-dependent and -independent mechanisms

P2Y receptors have been reported to modulate gastrointestinal functions. The newest family member is the nucleotide-sugar receptor P2Y14. P2ry14 mRNA was detected throughout the rat gut, with the highest level being in the forestomach. We investigated the role of the receptor in stomach motility using cognate agonists and knockout (KO) mice. In rat isolated forestomach, 100 μM UDP-glucose and 100 μM UDP-galactose both increased the baseline muscle tension (BMT) by 6.2 ± 0.6 and 1.6 ± 0.6 mN ( P < 0.05, n = 3–4), respectively, and the amplitude of contractions during electrical field stimulation (EFS) by 3.7 ± 1.7 and 4.3 ± 2.5 mN ( P < 0.05, n = 3–4), respectively. In forestomach from wild-type (WT) mice, 100 μM UDP-glucose increased the BMT by 1.0 ± 0.1 mN ( P <0.05, n = 6) but this effect was lost in the KO mice (change of −0.1 ± 0.1 mN, n = 6). The 100 μM UDP-glucose also increased the contraction amplitude during EFS in this tissue from the WT animals (0.9 ± 0.4 mN, P < 0.05, n = 6) but not from the KO mice (0.0 ± 0.2 mN, n = 6). In vivo, UDP-glucose at 2,000 mg/kg ip reduced gastric emptying in rats by 49.7% ( P < 0.05, n = 4–6) and in WT and KO mice by 56.1 and 66.2%, respectively ( P < 0.05, n = 7–10) vs. saline-treated control animals. There was no significant difference in gastric emptying between WT and KO animals receiving either saline or d-glucose. These results demonstrate a novel function of the P2Y14 receptor associated with contractility in the rodent stomach that does not lead to altered gastric emptying after receptor deletion and an ability of UDP-glucose to delay gastric emptying without involving the P2Y14 receptor.

Neurophysiologic Basis of Back-Shu and Huatuo-Jiaji Points

Acupuncture, a method of traditional Chinese medicine that uses Back-Shu and Huatuo-Jiaji points, is especially effective for treating diseases of the visceral organs. Applying acupuncture on Back-Shu points affects visceral organs in many ways. For example, it dilates the bronchus, affects the heartbeat, stomach motility, urinary bladder contractions and so on. Acupuncture's effects can be explained as viscero-cutaneous, cutaneo-visceral, cutaneo-muscular, and viscero-muscular reflexes. Segmental dispersion of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems is related to the location of Back-Shu points. Changes in visceral organs caused by application of acupuncture can be explained as modulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.