Effect of supplementing a fibre basal diet with different nitrogen forms on ruminal fermentation and microbial growth in an in vitro semi-continuous culture system (RUSITEC)

Incubation trials were carried out with the rumen simulation technique (RUSITEC) to study the effects of four forms of N on the growth of ruminal micro-organisms and the fermentation variables when an all-fibre basal diet was incubated. The basal diet consisted of 10 g neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) from grass hay plus 2 g NDF from sugarbeet pulp. N forms were isolated soyabean protein, soyabean peptides, amino acids blended to profile soyabean protein and NH3 as NH4Cl. Half of the daily N supply was infused as NH4Cl and the other half was infused as each of the four treatments described. Non-NH3 N (NAN) forms increased NDF (P = 0.006), acid-detergent fibre (P = 0.003) and cellulose (P = 0.015) disappearance after 48 h incubation, CO2 (P < 0.001), CH4 (P = 0.002) and total volatile fatty acids production (P < 0.001), as well as the molar percentages of isobutyrate, isovalerate and valerate, which reflected the fermentation of amino acid C skeletons. NAN treatments also increased microbial N flow (P < 0.001) compared with NH3, with peptides and protein supporting more (P = 0.036) than amino acids. The proportion of microbial N derived from NH3 decreased successively (P < 0.05) with NH3 > amino acids > peptides > protein treatments, indicating preferential uptake of peptides without passage through the NH3 pool. Microbial efficiency (g microbial N/kg organic matter apparent disappearance) was greater (P = 0.002) for the NAN forms than for the NH3 treatment, with peptides and protein treatments supporting higher (P = 0.009) values than amino acid treatment. These results indicate that N forms other than NH3 are required for optimal fibre digestion and microbial growth.     

Practice of yoga may cause damage of both sciatic nerves: a case report

Sciatic nerve traumatic damage very rarely occurs bilaterally. We describe the case of a 67-year-old woman who reported a bilateral traumatic lesion of the sciatic nerve during practice of yoga. Nerve conduction studies showed a bilateral sciatic nerve neuropathy, mostly affecting the peroneal component. Lumbar plexus MRI documented regular anatomical features of the main principal nerve roots with bilateral T2 signal alteration of roots L4, L5 and S1 that extended into the sciatic nerves showing both increase in size, probably related to chronic injury of nerves, and an alteration in diffusion signal that suggested a recent acute overlapped process.     

Análisis de la fluencia lectora en pacientes con la enfermedad de Alzheimer y controles asintomáticos

Introduction

Many studies highlight that an impaired ability to communicate is one of the key clinical features of Alzheimer disease (AD).

Objective

To study temporal organisation of speech in an oral reading task in patients with AD and in matched healthy controls using a semi-automatic method, and evaluate that method's ability to discriminate between the 2 groups.

Subjects and methods

A test with an oral reading task was administered to 70 subjects, comprising 35 AD patients and 35 controls. Before speech samples were recorded, participants completed a battery of neuropsychological tests. There were no differences between groups with regard to age, sex, or educational level.

Results

All of the study variables showed impairment in the AD group. According to the results, AD patients’ oral reading was marked by reduced speech and articulation rates, low effectiveness of phonation time, and increases in the number and proportion of pauses. Signal processing algorithms applied to reading fluency recordings were shown to be capable of differentiating between AD patients and controls with an accuracy of 80% (specificity 74.2%, sensitivity 77.1%) based on speech rate.

Conclusion

Analysis of oral reading fluency may be useful as a tool for the objective study and quantification of speech deficits in AD.