Essential Oils as an Alternative to Antibiotics to Reduce the Incidence and Severity of Necrotic Enteritis in Broiler Chickens: A Short Review

Due to the removal of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) and consumer pressure for antibiotic-free (ABF) or no antibiotics ever (NAE) poultry production, there is a need for sustainable alternatives to prevent disease in commercial poultry operations. Without AGPs, there has been a rise in diseases that were traditionally controlled by subtherapeutic levels of antibiotics in the diet. This has impacted the health of commercial poultry and has been a significant cost to poultry producers. To mitigate this, the industry has started to investigate alternatives to antibiotics to treat these forthcoming health issues, such as necrotic enteritis (NE). NE is an enteric disease caused by an over proliferation of toxigenic Clostridium perfringens (CP) in the gastrointestinal tract. Although CP is a commensal in the avian intestinal tract, dysbiosis caused by inflammation and impaired intestinal integrity facilitates uncontrolled replication of CP. Infectious agents, such as Eimeria maxima, appear to be a predominant predisposing factor that promotes NE. However, non-infectious stressors, including dietary changes, have also been associated with NE to some degree. As a result of increased pressure to restrict the use of antibiotics, there is a need for research evaluating the efficacy of alternatives, such as plant-derived essential oils, as potential tools to mitigate NE in commercial poultry flocks. The aim of this study is to review the effects of essential oils as an alternative to antibiotics to reduce the incidence and severity of necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens.

Clinicopathological alterations in wild mammals from the reservoir system of Trypanosoma cruzi:a scoping review

Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiologic agent of Chagas disease.This flagellated protozoan is transmitted to humans as well as different species of domestic and wild animals via vectors from the Reduviidae family(known as"kissing bugs").Despite the fact that hundreds of species of wild mammals are part of the reservoir system,the morphologi-cal changes and clinical manifestations resulting from the pathogenesis of the infection have been largely neglected.The aim of this review is to systematically compile the available information regarding clinicopathological altera-tions in wild mammals due to natural infection by T.cruzi.Information was obtained from six online bibliographic data search platforms,resulting in the identification of 29 publications that met the inclusion criteria.Mortality was the most common clinical manifestation,cardiac damage was the main finding at necropsy,and lymphoplas-macytic inflammation was the most frequent microscopic injury.Thus,regardless of its role as a reservoir,T.cruzi has the potential to affect the health status of wild mammals,a situation that highlights the need for further research to analyze,measure,and compare its effects at both the individual and population levels.

Use of Propolis for Topical Treatment of Dermatophytosis in Dog

Here we present three clinical cases of canine dermatophytosis resolved with topical propolis treatment that involved alopecia and well-demarcated erythematous lesions. These cases were positively identified by direct observation of samples from the affected zones with 10% KOH. Each sample was cultured, leading to the isolation of Microsporum gypseum in one case and Microsporum canis in the other two cases. The animals’ subsequent treatment included bathing using a commercial soap with propolis every seven days for 3 to 8 weeks, as well as the use of a propolis-containing ointment elaborated in our laboratory, which was applied to the lesions once a day for three weeks. From the second week of treatment, all cultures were negative. At the end of treatment, all cases displayed full recovery of the injuries and hair growth in these areas. In these clin-ical cases, treatment with propolis was effective, supporting the use of propolis as a promising natural alternative with no known collateral effects.

Synthesis and Characterization of TiO₂Porous Films for Heterogeneous Photocatalysis

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is one of the advanced oxidation processes (AOP’s). These are very used nowadays for their implementation in tertiary water treatment with solar activation, with very good results. In this study, TiO2 porous films were synthesized by sol-gel method. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000 was used as a templating reagent, which is oxidized at a lower temperature than TiO2. This allows the formation of a “skeleton” of porous TiO2 with increased surface area, resulting in higher photocatalytic activity. The film characterization was made with help of FE-SEM microscope, XRD diffractometer and scotch tape test. Finally, the oxidation experiments were performed using methylene blue as a model pollutant and they revealed an increase in the photocatalytic activity of porous films in comparison with the non-porous films.

Immobility Responses Affected by Potassium in Old Rats

Four immobility responses (IR): elicited by clamping, bandaging, grasping and inversion, and their modification by potassium and spironolactone was studied in old Wistar rats (body weight, 500 g). When undrugged, only clamping and grasping, but not bandaging and inversion induced an IR in rats. Potassium and spironolactone significantly enhanced the duration of IR induced by clamping but not by grasping. They also induced an immobility response by bandaging, but not by inversion. The data suggest that IR induced by clamping and bandaging are somehow related to changes in the potassium serum levels. Consequently, such a relationship may be a suitable model to study some forms of paralysis in human beings which are related to changes in the potassium serum levels.

Molecular Docking of 4-Tert-buthyl-bis-(2,6-thiomorpholin-4-ylmethyl)-1-phenol (LQM319) on Fas Receptor (CD95)

The balance between cell proliferation and cell growth characterizes tissue homeostasis on one side and cell death on the other side. Fas receptor-mediated apoptosis is a control mechanism for tissue homeostasis, and avoiding this death pathway predisposes to many human diseases, including cancer. Current therapies for this disease are invasive and do not have the desired effect in the control of the disease. In this context, the search for new drugs that contribute to a better treatment is gaining more relevance. 4-tert-butyl-bis-(2,6-thiomorpholin-4-ylmethyl)-1-phenol (LQM319) [1,2] is a drug currently in preclinical stage, and we have shown that it has a hypertensive effect, similar to captopril, in a hypertensive rat model. Different studies have shown that some chemicals that are used as antihypertensive agents have an antineoplastic effect against certain types of cancer, as is the case of hydralazine [3], and captopril [4], among others [5]. On the other hand, it has been reported that morpholine derivatives may activate Fas (CD95)-mediated apoptosis. The aim of the present study was to show the interaction between CD95 (receptor) and thiomorpholine derivatives (ligand) using molecular modeling and docking studies, and to elucidate the possible action mechanism of 4-tert-butyl-bis-(2,6-thiomorpholin-4-ylmethyl)-1-phenol.

A private SUSY 4HDM with FCNC in the up-sector

We present a SUSY model with four Higgs doublets of the"private type,"in which all fermion types(up,down,and charged leptons)obtain their masses from a different Higgs doublet H_f(f=u_1,d,e) .The conditions for anomaly cancellation imply that the remaining Higgs doublet of the model( H_(u_2) )must have the same hypercharge as H_(u_1) ,and thus,can only couple to up-type quarks,which opens the possibility to have FCNCs only in this sector.We study the Lagrangian of the model,and in particular,the Higgs potential,to identify the Higgs mass-eigenstates and their interactions;for the Yukawa matrices,we consider the four-texture case.We obtain constraints on the model parameters by using LHC measurements on the properties of the 125 GeV Higgs boson(h),and identify viable regions of the parameter space.Subsequently,these constraints are used to evaluate the prospects for detecting the FCNC decay mode t→ch at the future high-luminosity(HL)option for the LHC,which are compared with current limits from LHC-run2.Moreover,we evaluate the FCNC decay of the next heavier Higgs boson H_(2)→tc ,which can typically reach BR(H_2→tc)≈(10^(-4)-10^(-5)) .The search for the signal at HL-LHC is also studied,and it is found that it may be detectable for specific regions of the model parameter space.