Inhibition of African swine fever virus replication by β-glucan.

Background: African swine fever (ASF) is one of the most important diseases in pigs because of its effects on all ages and breeds. To date, commercial vaccines and drugs for the prevention of ASF are lacking in the market and the survival of African swine fever virus (ASFV) in various environmental, farm, and or feed matrices has allowed the virus to remain, causing new outbreaks in the pig population. Besides biosecurity and animal husbandry management practices, the improvement of the host immune responses is critical to control, managing, and preventing ASF.

Maternal exercise before and during gestation modifies liver and muscle mitochondria in rat offspring.

It is now well established that the intrauterine environment is of major importance for offspring health during later life. Endurance training during pregnancy is associated with positive metabolic adjustments and beneficial effects on the balance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants (redox state) in the offspring. Our hypothesis was that these changes could rely on mitochondrial adaptations in the offspring due to modifications of the fetal environment induced by maternal endurance training.

Maternal exercise modifies body composition and energy substrates handling in male offspring fed a high-fat/high-sucrose diet.

Key Points: Maternal training during gestation enhances offspring body composition and energy substrates handling in early adulthood. Offspring nutrition also plays a role as some beneficial effects of maternal training during gestation disappear after consumption of a high-fat diet.

Abstract: Maternal exercise during gestation has been reported to modify offspring metabolism and health.

Short-term and long-term effects of submaximal maternal exercise on offspring glucose homeostasis and pancreatic function.

Only a few studies have explored the effects of maternal exercise during gestation on adult offspring metabolism. We set out to test whether maternal controlled submaximal exercise maintained troughout all gestational periods induces persistant metabolic changes in the offspring. We used a model of 15-wk-old nulliparous female Wistar rats that exercised (trained group) before and during gestation at a submaximal intensity or remained sedentary (control group).

Molecular detection of Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba dispar infection among wild rats in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Entamoeba histolytica infection is the third-greatest parasitic disease responsible for death in the world. Wild rats harbouring E. histolytica can be the possible reservoir hosts for human amoebiasis.