DSM (Austria)

The present study investigated the impact of administering compound probiotics through distinct routes on the growth performance and intestinal health of broiler chickens. A cohort of 400 1-d-old male Arbor Acres (AA) broilers were distributed randomly into five treatment groups, each comprising eight replicate pens with ten broilers per pen. The treatments consisted of: 1) control (CON), a basal diet; 2) chlorotetracycline (CTC), the basal diet supplemented with 80 mg/kg of chlorotetracycline; 3) nosiheptide (NOS), the basal diet enriched with 5 mg/kg of nosiheptide; 4) compound probiotics in feed (CP-FE), the basal diet fortified with 1 g/kg of compound probiotics; 5) compound probiotics in solution (CP-SOL), the basal diet, with 20 g of probiotics per 1000 broilers daily added to the water from d 1 to 21. During the initial phase (d 1 to 21), the CP-FE regimen notably enhanced average daily gain (ADG) and diminished the feed conversion ratio (FCR), whereas the CP-SOL protocol significantly augmented body weight, ADG, and average daily feed intake (ADFI) (P < 0.05). Over the entire experimental period (d 1 to 42), the CTC treatment significantly improved FCR (P = 0.006). Broilers under the CP-FE and CP-SOL regimen exhibited a higher relative abundance of Lactobacillus in the cecal contents during the first phase (P < 0.001). In the subsequent phase (d 22 to 42), the CP-FE diet was associated with elevated levels of Faecalibacterium, Alistipes, and Lactobacillus (P < 0.05). Additionally, the CP-FE group experienced an increase in serum immunoglobulin (Ig) A concentration during the early phase (P = 0.009). In contrast, the CP-SOL group demonstrated no significant alterations in serum immune globulin levels on d 21 (P > 0.05), but displayed an increase in IgM on d 42 (P = 0.003). Irrespective of the administration route-feed or water-compound probiotics stimulated the expression of IL-10 in the cecum (P = 0.006) and curbed the mRNA expression of TNF-α in the ileum (P = 0.011) in early phase. The supplementation also led to higher levels of acetic (P = 0.006) and total short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs; P = 0.005) level in the cecal contents in early phase. Furthermore, it upregulated the mRNA expression of claudin-1, MUC-2, occludin, and ZO-1, increased villus height, and the number of goblet cells, while reducing crypt depth (P < 0.05). The findings suggest that administering compound probiotics via water has a more pronounced effect on the growth performance and intestinal health of broilers.

Dairy production is a pivotal economic sector of Austrian and European agriculture. Dietary toxins and endocrine disruptors of natural origin such as mycotoxins and phytoestrogens can affect animal health, reproduction, and productivity. This study characterized the profile of a wide spectrum of fungal, plant, and unspecific secondary metabolites, including regulated, emerging, and modified mycotoxins, phytoestrogens, and cyanogenic glucosides, in complete diets of lactating cows from 100 Austrian dairy farms. To achieve this, a validated multi-metabolite liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometric (LC/ESI–MS/MS) method was employed, detecting 155 of >800 tested metabolites. Additionally, the most influential dietary and geo-climatic factors related to the dietary mycotoxin contamination of Austrian dairy cattle were recognized. We evidenced that the diets of Austrian dairy cows presented ubiquitous contamination with mixtures of mycotoxins and phytoestrogens. Metabolites derived from Fusarium spp. presented the highest concentrations, were the most recurrent, and had the highest diversity among the detected fungal compounds. Zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, and fumonisin B1 were the most frequently occurring mycotoxins considered in the EU legislation, with detection frequencies >70%. Among the investigated dietary factors, inclusion of maize silage (MS) and straw in the diets was the most influential factor in contamination with Fusarium-derived and other fungal toxins and metabolites, and temperature was the most influential among the geo-climatic factors.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficient individuals are at increased risk of developing haemolysis following treatment with various antimalarial drugs. Reliable field tests for G6PD deficiency are thus needed in chemotherapy studies and their validity has to be assessed. In two phase II clinical trials on methylene blue (MB) antimalarial therapy in rural Burkina Faso, paediatric and adult participants were tested for G6PD deficiency. The results of a haemoglobin-adjusted nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) fluorescence test on paper (NFP test) were compared with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based G6PD genotyping also using blood samples on filter papers. This is the first study comparing sensitivity and specificity of the two methods. There was good agreement between the NFP test results and the PCR findings. The estimate of the sensitivity of the NFP test was 98.2% (95.8-99.6%) and the specificity was 97.1% (94.2-99.2%). In conclusion, the NFP assay is a reliable and inexpensive method for large-scale G6PD deficiency screening in rural West Africa.

Structure-guided redesign of the active site of almond (R)-PaHNL5 for increased enantioselectivity resulted in four improved muteins. In particular, mutation V360I gave enhanced conversion rates and enantioselectivities higher than 96 % ee for two structurally related substrates 1 and 2. Chiral building blocks for the synthesis of pharmaceutically active “prils” (example shown) can thus be produced on a large scale.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Chiral Cyanohydrins as Building Blocks in the Synthesis of Fine Chemicals Synthesis of Enantiopure Cyanohydrins General Methods Sources of HCN The Sources of Chirality of Cyanohydrins Syntheses via Chiral Metal Catalysts Cyanohydrin Synthesis via Cyclic Dipeptides The Cyanohydrin Synthesis via Lipases Synthesis of Chiral Cyanohydrins Using Hydroxy Nitrile Lyases (HNLs) Large-Scale Cyanohydrin Production General Considerations Scale-up of HNL-Catalyzed Cyanohydrin Formation Examples of Large-Scale Production of Cyanohydrins Production of (S)-3-Phenoxybenzaldehyde Cyanohydrin (SCMB) Production of (R)- and (S)-Mandelic Acid Derivatives Summary

&lt;div class="section abstract"&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;During recent years the accident simulation program PCCRASH was developed, which allows to simulate the vehicles movement before, during and after the impact. As shown in several publications, the software allows to calculate the 3D movement of all involved vehicles. Within SAE 1999-01-0444 a new coupling interface of PC-CRASH and the software MADYMO, developed by TNO in the Netherlands was published.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;During last year's publication only few validation cases, mainly related to rear end impacts could be demonstrated.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;In the mean while several well documented tests have been performed to validate the performance of this model also in frontal and lateral collisions as well as rollovers.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;A special series of sled tests has been performed to study the movement of the passenger during and after the collision for various impact angles. These tests were performed on an active sled at various test speeds.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;Regarding rollover a set of full scale tests was performed where a volunteer stunt driver was overturning the vehicles under various conditions. Mainly low speed rolls (app. 20 mph) were investigated. In parallel a standard Hybrid III dummy was sitting beside the stunt driver. The movements of the vehicle, dummy and driver were documented through a high speed video and onboard camera as well as acceleration measurements. This test also demonstrated the big difference in the movement between Human and Hybrid III dummy due to the active movement of the human driver and the long duration of the roll over.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;The paper discusses the numerical results compared to the test results. For the sled tests Dummy kinematics as well as accelerations were compared. One major emphasis was set on the influence of the crash pulse, which cannot be derived in PC-CRASH. In this way the paper demonstrates the possibilities as well as the limitations of the numerical model.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;