Immune transcriptomic profile in adult female pigs: dominance status has more influence than environmental enrichment.

Background: Assessing farm animals' welfare is crucial, yet practical physiological tools are still lacking. In this study, we tested whether the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) transcriptome shows variations in association with sows' welfare. To do this, we compared animals whose welfare states were assumed to differ due to their lives in more or less enriched environments and to their different dominance statuses.

Effects of natural oral alternatives to parental iron supplementation on haematological and health-related blood parameters of organic piglets.

The most common and efficient iron supply to prevent neonatal anaemia in piglets is the injection of iron dextran or gleptoferron. This treatment is problematic in organic farms because organic specifications strictly limit the use of chemically synthesised allopathic drugs. Based on the observation that piglets raised outdoors rarely develop anaemia, we hypothesised that piglets satisfy their iron needs by ingesting soil from their environment.

Porcine ear necrosis is associated with social behaviours in weaned piglets.

Background: Porcine ear necrosis (PEN) is a worldwide health issue and its aetiology is still unclear. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and the severity of PEN in a commercial farm, associated with pig behaviour and health biomarkers measures. On two consecutive batches, PEN prevalence was determined at the pen level.

Genotyping of SNPs in bread wheat at reduced cost from pooled experiments and imputation.

Pooling and imputation are computational methods that can be combined for achieving cost-effective and accurate high-density genotyping of both common and rare variants, as demonstrated in a MAGIC wheat population. The plant breeding industry has shown growing interest in using the genotype data of relevant markers for performing selection of new competitive varieties. The selection usually benefits from large amounts of marker data, and it is therefore crucial to dispose of data collection methods that are both cost-effective and reliable.

A joint use of pooling and imputation for genotyping SNPs.

Background: Despite continuing technological advances, the cost for large-scale genotyping of a high number of samples can be prohibitive. The purpose of this study is to design a cost-saving strategy for SNP genotyping. We suggest making use of pooling, a group testing technique, to drop the amount of SNP arrays needed.

Exploration of early social behaviors and social styles in relation to individual characteristics in suckling piglets.

Social behavior is a key component of pig welfare on farms, but little is known on the development of social behaviors in piglets. This study aimed to explore social behaviors and identify early social styles in suckling piglets. Social behaviors of 68 piglets from 12 litters were scored continuously for 8 h per day at 21 and 42 days of age, and were included in a Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components analysis to identify clusters of pigs with similar social styles.

Dietary sialylated oligosaccharides in early-life may promote cognitive flexibility during development in context of obesogenic dietary intake.

Oligosaccharides found in mammalian milk have shown the potential to alter brain development across multiple species. The diversity and concentration of these oligosaccharides is species-specific and varies greatly between individuals, thus understanding their role in cognitive development is warranted. We investigated the impact of early life dietary fucosylated/neutral or sialylated human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) on behaviours in tasks assessing anxiety, motivation, appetite, learning, and memory.

Lactose and Digestible Maltodextrin in Milk Replacers Differently Affect Energy Metabolism and Substrate Oxidation: A Calorimetric Study in Piglets.

Background: In recent years, lactose-free infant formulas have been increasingly used. Digestible maltodextrins are commonly used as a substitute for lactose in these formulas, but the effects on energy metabolism are unknown.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the differences in energy metabolism and substrate oxidation in piglets fed milk replacers containing lactose compared with maltodextrin as the only source of carbohydrates.

Effects of maternal dietary nitrate supplementation on farrowing and placental characteristics, level of asphyxiation at birth and piglet vitality.

We investigated whether maternal dietary nitrate supplementation, leading to nitric oxide (NO) formation, would affect duration of farrowing, levels of asphyxiation, vitality of piglets at birth and/or loss of potential viable piglets in the form of stillbirth and pre-weaning mortality. Data were collected from 190 crossbred (Yorkshire x Dutch Landrace) sows, which were allocated, balanced for parity, to six dietary nitrate levels (0, 0.03, 0.

Effects of maternal dietary nitrate supplementation during the perinatal period on piglet survival, body weight, and litter uniformity.

The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of different dosages of dietary nitrate supplementation to sows from d 108 of gestation until d 5 of lactation on reproductive performance of sows and piglet performance from birth until weaning. Dietary nitrate supplementation leads to nitric oxide (NO) formation that can potentially increase blood flow to the fetuses (by the vasodilative effect of NO), leading to a decrease in the loss of potential viable piglets in the form of stillbirth and preweaning mortality. Three hundred and five gilts and sows were allocated to one of six diets from d 108 of gestation until d 5 of lactation, containing 0.

A milk formula containing maltodextrin, vs. lactose, as main carbohydrate source, improves cognitive performance of piglets in a spatial task.

In recent years, lactose-free and low-lactose infant formulas have been increasingly used. The impact of using different carbohydrates than lactose on later cognition of formula-fed infants remains, however, unknown. We examined the effects of providing formulas containing either digestible maltodextrin or lactose as main carbohydrate source (28% of total nutrient composition) on cognitive performance of piglets.

Maternal Western diet during gestation and lactation modifies adult offspring's cognitive and hedonic brain processes, behavior, and metabolism in Yucatan minipigs.

This study explores the long-term effects of exposure to a maternal Western diet (WD) vs. standard diet (SD) in the Yucatan minipig, on the adult progeny at lean status ( n = 32), and then overweight status. We investigated eating behavior, cognitive abilities, brain basal glucose metabolism, dopamine transporter availability, microbiota activity, blood lipids, and glucose tolerance.

Effects of early nutrition and transport of 1-day-old chickens on production performance and fear response.

The importance of optimal early life conditions of broilers to sustain efficient and healthy production of broiler meat is increasingly recognized. Therefore, novel husbandry systems are developed, in which immediate provision of nutrition post hatch is combined with on-farm hatching. In these novel systems, 1-day-old-chick handling and transport are minimized.

Short communication: insoluble fibres in supplemental pre-weaning diets affect behaviour of suckling piglets.

We investigated the effect of offering supplementary dietary fibres to suckling piglets on their behaviour and performance before weaning. From 5 to 22 days of age, suckling piglets were offered a high-fibre diet (HF; 5% cellulose; n=5 litters), or a control low-fibre diet (n=5 litters). Piglets were housed with the sows in individual farrowing pens, and had access to maternal milk until weaning, at 23 days of age.

A maternal Western diet during gestation and lactation modifies offspring's microbiota activity, blood lipid levels, cognitive responses, and hippocampal neurogenesis in Yucatan pigs.

A suboptimal early nutritional environment ( excess of energy, sugar, and fat intake) can increase susceptibility to diseases and neurocognitive disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate in nonobese Yucatan minipigs () the impact of maternal diet [standard diet (SD) Western diet (WD)] during gestation and 25 d of lactation on milk composition, blood metabolism, and microbiota activity of sows ( 17) and their piglets ( 65), and on spatial cognition ( 51), hippocampal plasticity ( 17), and food preferences/motivation ( 51) in the progeny. Milk dry matter and lipid content, as well as plasma total cholesterol and free fatty acid (FFA) concentrations ( < 0.

[Left temporal arachnoid cyst and specific learning disorders associated with Pervasive Developmental Disorders - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS): contributions of an integrative neuropsychomotor, neuropsychological, psychopathological and neurosurgical approach about a case report in a child (François)].

Unlabelled: Left temporal arachnoid cyst and specific learning disorders associated with pervasive developmental disorders - not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS): contributions of an integrative neuro-psychomotor, neuropsychological, psychopathological and neurosurgical approach about a case report in a child (François). With DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR, the terminology of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) covers two main categories of infantile disorders: disorders of "strictly" autistic nature and pervasive developmental disorders - not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Under the terminology of multiple complex developmental disorder (MCDD), it is proposed to classify children presenting symptoms approaching the psychotic disharmonies and usually diagnosed as PDD-NOS.

Familiarity to a Feed Additive Modulates Its Effects on Brain Responses in Reward and Memory Regions in the Pig Model.

Brain responses to feed flavors with or without a feed additive (FA) were investigated in piglets familiarized or not with this FA. Sixteen piglets were allocated to 2 dietary treatments from weaning until d 37: the naive group (NAI) received a standard control feed and the familiarized group (FAM) received the same feed added with a FA mainly made of orange extracts. Animals were subjected to a feed transition at d 16 post-weaning, and to 2-choice feeding tests at d 16 and d 23.

Perinatal Exposure to a Diet High in Saturated Fat, Refined Sugar and Cholesterol Affects Behaviour, Growth, and Feed Intake in Weaned Piglets.

The increased consumption of diets high in saturated fats and refined sugars is a major public health concern in Western human societies. Recent studies suggest that perinatal exposure to dietary fat and/or sugar may affect behavioural development. We thus investigated the effects of perinatal exposure to a high-fat high-sugar diet (HFS) on behavioural development and production performance of piglets.

Prenatal, but not early postnatal, exposure to a Western diet improves spatial memory of pigs later in life and is paired with changes in maternal prepartum blood lipid levels.

Maternal obesity and perinatal high-fat diets are known to affect cognitive development. We examined the effects of late prenatal and/or early postnatal exposure to a Western-type diet, high in both fat and refined sugar, on the cognition of pigs (Sus scrofa) in the absence of obesity. Thirty-six sows and their offspring were assigned to 1 of 4 treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with 8 wk prenatal and 8 wk postnatal exposure to a Western diet (enriched in fat, sucrose, and cholesterol) or control diets as factors.

Maternal Fish Oil Supplementation Affects the Social Behavior, Brain Fatty Acid Profile, and Sickness Response of Piglets.

Background: Maternal dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intake is thought to affect development in the offspring.

Objective: We assessed the impact of maternal dietary DHA on behavior, brain fatty acid (FA) profile, and sickness response of offspring in pigs, a pertinent model for human nutrition.

Methods: Sows (n = 24) were fed a diet with DHA-rich fish oil (FO) (20 g/kg) or high-oleic acid sunflower oil (HOSF) (20 g/kg) from day 61 of gestation through lactation.

Dietary linoleic and α-linolenic acids affect anxiety-related responses and exploratory activity in growing pigs.

Background: Growing evidence suggests that the dietary ratio of linoleic acid (LA) to α-linolenic acid (ALA), the precursors of arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), respectively, may affect behavior in mammals.

Objective: This study aimed at evaluating the impact of dietary LA and ALA intake on behaviors of growing pigs, a pertinent model for human nutrition.

Methods: At 7 wk of age, 32 pigs were allocated to 4 dietary treatments varying in daily intake of LA (1.

Combined compared to dissociated oral and intestinal sucrose stimuli induce different brain hedonic processes.

The characterization of brain networks contributing to the processing of oral and/or intestinal sugar signals in a relevant animal model might help to understand the neural mechanisms related to the control of food intake in humans and suggest potential causes for impaired eating behaviors. This study aimed at comparing the brain responses triggered by oral and/or intestinal sucrose sensing in pigs. Seven animals underwent brain single photon emission computed tomography ((99m)Tc-HMPAO) further to oral stimulation with neutral or sucrose artificial saliva paired with saline or sucrose infusion in the duodenum, the proximal part of the intestine.

Impact of sensory feed additives on feed intake, feed preferences, and growth of female piglets during the early postweaning period.

Our study aimed at investigating the effect of feed supplementation, from weaning, with 3 sensory feed additives (FA1, FA2, and FA3) on feed preferences, feed intake, and growth of piglets. The FA1 contained extract of Stevia rebaudiana (10 to 20%), extract of high-saponin plants (5 to 10%), and excipients (70 to 85%), the FA2 was mainly composed of a natural extract of Citrus sinensis (60 to 80%), and the FA3 was made of a blend of extracts of hot-flavored spices (5 to 15%) and excipients (85 to 95%). At weaning (d 1), a total of 32 female piglets housed in individual pens were allocated to 4 treatments (FA1, FA2, FA3, and control [CON]) of equivalent mean weight.

An attempt to condition flavour preference induced by oral and/or postoral administration of 16% sucrose in pigs.

The present study investigated the acquisition of conditioned flavour preferences in pigs using the caloric value and/or sweet taste of sucrose. Nine water-deprived juvenile pigs were given four three-day conditioning sessions during which they received flavoured solutions as conditioned stimuli (CS). The CS solutions were paired with three treatments that generated a gustatory and/or a caloric reinforcement (US).

[Abnormal electroencephalography results and specific language impairment: towards a theoretical neurodevelopmental model?].

Background: Specific language impairment (SLI) is a primary developmental disorder in which language is significantly more impaired than other developmental domains. Abnormal electroencephalographic recordings without clinical seizures are often observed. The aim of this retrospective study was to characterize the frequency of these abnormalities, to describe them and to analyze their association with anamnestic, clinical, paraclinical and evolution characteristics.