BACKGROUND Maternal polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) concentrations during pregnancy may have persistent effects on growth and adiposity in the offspring. A suboptimal maternal diet during pregnancy might lead to fetal cardiometabolic adaptations with persistent consequences in the offspring. OBJECTIVE We examined the associations of maternal PUFA concentrations during pregnancy with childho...

Some parasites can be transferred from fish to human via eating of contaminated meat and make serious problems in consumers. In the present study zoonotic parasites of abdominal cavity in pike-perch, Sander lucioperca, in south eastern part of the Caspian Sea have been surveyed. In this regard, 30 fish were caught by purse seine net and abdominal cavity, digestive tract and other organs (kidney...

Germfree and conventional rats were given a semi-synthetic diet containing either normal cornstarch or an amylomaize starch. The experimental groups thus formed were compared to assess the effects of these two types of starch and to determine if digestive tract microflora was involved in these effects. The presence of amylomaize starch decreased body growth in germfree and conventional rats, in...

Although previous studies have characterized some aspects of the immune response of the teleost gut in response to diverse pathogens or stimuli, most studies have focused on the posterior segments exclusively. However, there are still many details of how teleost intestinal immunity is regulated that remain unsolved, including the location of IgM(+) and IgT(+) B cells along the digestive tract a...

In a recent issue of Critical Care, Cheng and colleagues conducted a rabbit model study that demonstrated that intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) may damage both gut anatomy and function. With only 6 hours of IAH at 25 mmHg, these authors observed an 80% reduction in mucosal blood flow, an exponential increase in mucosal permeability, and erosion and necrosis of the jejunal villi. Such dramatic...

Inferring the development of the earliest echinoderms is critical to uncovering the evolutionary assembly of the phylum-level body plan but has long proven problematic because early ontogenetic stages are rarely preserved as fossils. Here, we use synchrotron tomography to describe a new early post-metamorphic blastoid echinoderm from the Carboniferous (approx. 323 Ma) of China. The resulting th...

How regulatory changes of digestive and immune functions of the gut influence each other has not been sufficiently studied. We tested for simultaneous changes in the digestive physiology and mucosal immune function of the guts of White Leghorn cockerel chicks undergoing food restriction and realimentation. Chicks were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: control = fed ad libitum 7 to 17 d of age; restric...

The female genital tract is rarely involved by coccidioidomycosis. We describe a woman with disseminated coccidioidomycosis involving the female pelvic organs associated with elevated tumor markers CA 125 and CA 19-9. She had no fevers and the initial clinical suspicion was a malignancy because of the elevated tumor markers. At exploratory laparotomy a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral...

The aim of this study was to assess the possibility of genetically modified DNA transfer from feed containing RR soybean or/and MON810 maize to animal tissues, gut bacterial flora, food of animal origin, and the fate of GM DNA in the animal digestive tract. The experiment was carried out on broilers, laying hens, pigs and calves. All animals were divided into four groups: I--control group (non-...