Eating in the city: Experimental effect of anthropogenic food resources on the body condition, nutritional status, and oxidative stress of an urban bioindicator passerine.

Urban areas provide a constant and predictable supply of anthropogenic processed food. The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus Linnaeus, 1758), a declining urban bioindicator species, has recently been reported to have a high level of oxidative stress, with urban diet or pollutants proposed as the potential cause. In this study, we aimed to experimentally determine the effects of two urban trophic resource types (bar snack food leftovers and pet food) on sparrows' physical condition, plasma biochemical nutritional parameters, and blood oxidative status in captivity.

Ultrastructural characteristics of distal duodenum mucosa in patients with cirrhosis.

Objectives: Morphological abnormalities observed by light microscopy, such as oedema or vasodilatation, have been described in intestinal mucosa of patients with cirrhosis, but no information is available regarding the ultrastructural characteristics of the intestinal epithelial layer. The aim of this observational study was to investigate the ultrastructural characteristics of the intestinal epithelial layer of duodenum mucosa in patients with cirrhosis.

Methods: Six patients with advanced cirrhosis and six control patients without liver disease were included in the study.