Evaluation of yeast-based additives on rumen fermentation in high- and low-concentrate diets using a dual-flow continuous culture system.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using 3 yeast-based additives as an alternative to sodium monensin on rumen fermentation parameters using a dual-flow continuous fermentation system. Ten fermenters (1,223 ± 21 mL) were used in 2 simultaneous 5 × 5 Latin squares arrangement with 3 periods of 10 d each, with 7 d for diet adaptation and 3 d for sample collections. Each Latin square assigning either a low or high level of concentrate to beef cattle diets, with 5 specified treatments: Control: no additives; Blend 1: yeast culture (), beta-glucans, fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, and mannanoligosaccharides [1,600 mg/kg dry matter (DM)]; Blend 2: Beta-glucan and mannanoligosaccharide fractions from (1,600 mg/kg DM); Yeast Cells: hydrolyzed, inactivated, and spray-dried yeast cells (; 2,133 mg/kg DM); monensin (25 mg/kg DM).

Intermittently Scanned Continuous Glucose Monitoring Performance in Patients With Liver Cirrhosis.

Aim: To evaluate the use of intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring (isCGM) in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC).

Methods: Observational study including 30 outpatients with LC (Child-Pugh B/C): 10 without diabetes (DM) (G1), 10 with newly diagnosed DM by oral glucose tolerance test (G2), and 10 with a previous DM diagnosis (G3). isCGM (FreeStyle Libre Pro) was used for 56 days (four sensors/patient).

Appropriateness of packed red blood cells transfusions in chronic anemic patients in the emergency department: the TRANSFUS-ED retrospective analysis.

Patients suffering from chronic anemia can benefit from scheduled transfusions of packed red blood cells (PRBCs), while urgent transfusions have specific indications. These patients frequently seek medical attention in the emergency department (ED), where they can be inappropriately transfused, but research in this field is limited. This study aimed to assess the appropriateness of PRBCs transfusions in chronic anemic patients in the ED.

Use of Heating Methods and Xylose to Increase Rumen Undegradable Protein of Alternative Protein Sources: 2) Cottonseed Meal.

The ruminal kinetics of protein sources may be changed by heat and sugar treatments. Thus, these processing methods may be used as alternatives to increase beef-cattle diets’ rumen undegradable protein (RUP). We aimed to evaluate the effects of processing cottonseed meals with autoclave, conventional, and microwave ovens, with and without using xylose, on the ruminal kinetics degradation parameters and intestinal digestibility (ID).

Use of Heating Methods and Xylose to Increase Rumen Undegradable Protein of Alternative Protein Sources: 1) Peanut Meal.

Peanut meal has an excellent total protein content but also has low rumen undegradable protein (RUP). High-performance ruminants have high RUP requirements. We aimed to evaluate the effects of processing peanut meal with an autoclave and conventional and microwave ovens, with and without using xylose on its ruminal kinetics degradation parameters and intestinal digestibility (ID).

Flash glucose monitoring system in special situations.

The management of diabetes mellitus (DM) requires maintaining glycemic control, and patients must keep their blood glucose levels close to the normal range to reduce the risk of microvascular complications and cardiovascular events. While glycated hemoglobin (A1C) is currently the primary measure for glucose management and a key marker for long-term complications, it does not provide information on acute glycemic excursions and overall glycemic variability. These limitations may even be higher in some special situations, thereby compromising A1C accuracy, especially when wider glycemic variability is expected and/or when the glycemic goal is more stringent.

Tissue sensitivity to thyroid hormones may change over time.

Introduction: Patients with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) may transiently show a certain degree of pituitary resistance to levothyroxine (LT4) which, however, normalizes subsequently. However, in some individuals, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) fails to normalize despite adequate LT4 treatment.

Methods: Nine patients with CH followed in three Academic Centre who developed over time resistance to thyroid hormones underwent extensive biochemical and genetic analyses.

The levelling-off of the secular trend of age at menarche among Italian girls.

Objective: The main aim of this study was to verify whether the secular trend stopped in Italy by comparing the results of a 1990-2000 birth cohort versus a 1980-1990 birth cohort of Italian young women. The results were used to speculate about age at menarche as adaptive response to non-genetic factors.

Methods: In 2016, a study was set on 413, 18-to-26 year-old women (1990-2000 birth cohort) attending two Italian Universities by web-based, self-reported questionnaires.

Effects of Bariatric Surgery in Male Obesity-Associated Hypogonadism.

Introduction: The prevalence of obesity has grown exponentially over the last several decades. Research has linked male obesity to changes in the gonadal axis, which can induce functional hypogonadism. Bariatric surgery provides sustained weight loss and metabolic improvement.

Menstrual Cycle and Headache in Teenagers.

Objective: This population-based study on school-aged girls aimed to estimate the rate of peri-menstrual headache, evaluate headache pain pattern during the menstrual cycle, and verify its relationships with physical, psychosocial and life-style factors.

Methods: The students (n = 4973) fulfilled a self-administered questionnaire on demographic and behavioral characteristics, menarche, menstrual pattern and features including headache and dysmenorrhea. The prevalence of headache and the mean pain intensity score at the three menstrual cycle phases (premenstrual, menstrual, in-between period) were estimated, both overall and by gynecological year.

Age at Menarche and Menstrual Abnormalities in Adolescence: Does it Matter? The Evidence from a Large Survey among Italian Secondary Schoolgirls.

Objective: To explore the independent role of age at menarche on menstrual abnormalities among adolescents.

Methods: The present study was a multicenter cross-sectional study on a large sample (n = 3782) of Italian girls aged 13-21 y attending secondary school who already had menarche. Girls were asked to fill in a questionnaire on menarcheal age and menstrual features during the latest three menses.

Developmental signature, synaptic connectivity and neurotransmission are conserved between vertebrate hair cells and tunicate coronal cells.

In tunicates, the coronal organ represents a sentinel checking particle entrance into the pharynx. The organ differentiates from an anterior embryonic area considered a proto-placode. For their embryonic origin, morphological features and function, coronal sensory cells have been hypothesized to be homologues to vertebrate hair cells.

Primary Dysmenorrhea in Adolescents: Prevalence, Impact and Recent Knowledge.

Background And Objectives: Dysmenorrhea is commonly categorized into two types; primary and secondary. Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is the focus of this review. PD is defined as painful menses with cramping sensation in the lower abdomen that is often accompanied by other symptoms, such as sweating, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and tremulousness.

Effects of sciatic nerve transection on glucose uptake in the presence and absence of lactate in the frog dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord.

Frogs have been used as an alternative model to study pain mechanisms because the simplicity of their nervous tissue and the phylogenetic aspect of this question. One of these models is the sciatic nerve transection (SNT), which mimics the clinical symptoms of "phantom limb", a condition that arises in humans after amputation or transverse spinal lesions. In mammals, the SNT increases glucose metabolism in the central nervous system, and the lactate generated appears to serve as an energy source for nerve cells.

Onset of menstrual cycle and menses features among secondary school girls in Italy: A questionnaire study on 3,783 students.

Premise: Healthcare professionals need updated information about what is the range of "normal" variation of menstrual cycle features to support young girls and their parents in managing reproductive health, and to detect diseases early.

Materials And Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed to provide an updated picture of age at menarche and main menstrual cycle characteristics and complaints in an Italian population-based sample of 3,783 adolescents attending secondary school. Girls filled in a self-administered anonymous questionnaire including questions about demography, anthropometry, smoking and drinking habits, use of contraceptive, socioeconomic status, age at menarche, menstrual pattern, and physical/psychological menstrual complaints.

Testing an unusual in vivo vessel network model: a method to study angiogenesis in the colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri.

Tunicates are the closest relatives to vertebrates and include the only chordate species able to reproduce both sexually and asexually. The colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri is embedded in a transparent extracellular matrix (the tunic) containing the colonial circulatory system (CCS). The latter is a network of vessels external to zooids, limited by a simple, flat epithelium that originated from the epidermis.

Sexual and asexual reproduction in the colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri.

The colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri is a widespread filter-feeding ascidian that lives in shallow waters and is easily reared in aquaria. Its peculiar blastogenetic cycle, characterized by the presence of three blastogenetic generations (filtering adults, buds, and budlets) and by recurrent generation changes, has resulted in over 60 years of studies aimed at understanding how sexual and asexual reproduction are coordinated and regulated in the colony. The possibility of using different methodological approaches, from classical genetics to cell transplantation, contributed to the development of this species as a valuable model organism for the study of a variety of biological processes.

Cytodifferentiation of hair cells during the development of a basal chordate.

Tunicates are unique animals for studying the origin and evolution of vertebrates because they are considered vertebrates' closest living relatives and share the vertebrate body plan and many specific features. Both possess neural placodes, transient thickenings of the cranial ectoderm that give rise to various types of sensory cells, including axonless secondary mechanoreceptors. In vertebrates, these are represented by the hair cells of the inner ear and the lateral line, which have an apical apparatus typically bearing cilia and stereovilli.

Effects of sciatic nerve transection on ultrastructure, NADPH-diaphorase reaction and serotonin-, tyrosine hydroxylase-, c-Fos-, glucose transporter 1- and 3-like immunoreactivities in frog dorsal root ganglion.

Frogs have been used as an alternative model to study pain mechanisms. Since we did not find any reports on the effects of sciatic nerve transection (SNT) on the ultrastructure and pattern of metabolic substances in frog dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells, in the present study, 18 adult male frogs (Rana catesbeiana) were divided into three experimental groups: naive (frogs not subjected to surgical manipulation), sham (frogs in which all surgical procedures to expose the sciatic nerve were used except transection of the nerve), and SNT (frogs in which the sciatic nerve was exposed and transected). After 3 days, the bilateral DRG of the sciatic nerve was collected and used for transmission electron microscopy.

Evolutionary diversification of secondary mechanoreceptor cells in tunicata.

Background: Hair cells are vertebrate secondary sensory cells located in the ear and in the lateral line organ. Until recently, these cells were considered to be mechanoreceptors exclusively found in vertebrates that evolved within this group. Evidence of secondary mechanoreceptors in some tunicates, the proposed sister group of vertebrates, has recently led to the hypothesis that vertebrate and tunicate secondary sensory cells share a common origin.

The oral sensory structures of Thaliacea (Tunicata) and consideration of the evolution of hair cells in Chordata.

We analyzed the mouth of three species, representative of the three orders of the class Thaliacea (Tunicata)--Pyrosoma atlanticum (Pyrosomatida), Doliolum nationalis (Doliolida), and Thalia democratica (Salpida)--to verify the presence of mechanoreceptors, particularly hair cells. In vertebrates, hair cells are well-known mechanoreceptors of the inner ear and lateral line, typically exhibiting an apical hair bundle composed of a cilium and stereovilli but lacking an axon. For a long time, hair cells were thought to be exclusive to vertebrates.

Menstrual pattern and menstrual disorders among adolescents: an update of the Italian data.

Background: The most striking event in the whole process of female puberty is the onset of menstruation. To our knowledge, no large population-based studies have been performed on the topic of menstrual health among Italian adolescents in recent years. The aims of this study were to produce up-to-date information on the menstrual pattern of Italian girls attending secondary school, and to estimate the prevalence of menstrual cycle abnormalities in this population.

Update on age at menarche in Italy: toward the leveling off of the secular trend.

Purpose: To update the information on age at menarche in the Italian population and to verify the influence of genetic, nutritional, and socioeconomic factors on menarcheal age. Recent studies suggest that the magnitude of the secular trend toward an earlier age at menarche is slackening in industrialized countries.

Methods: This multicenter study was conducted on a large, population-based sample of Italian high school girls (n = 3,783), using a self-administered questionnaire.

Ultrastructural features of the columellar muscle and contractile protein analyses in different muscle groups of Megalobulimus abbreviatus (Gastropoda, Pulmonata).

In Megalobulimus abbreviatus, the ultrastructural features and the contractile proteins of columellar, pharyngeal and foot retractor muscles were studied. These muscles are formed from muscular fascicles distributed in different planes that are separated by connective tissue rich in collagen fibrils. These cells contain thick and thin filaments, the latter being attached to dense bodies, lysosomes, sarcoplasmic reticulum, caveolae, mitochondria and glycogen granules.