• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.237-244
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• 2018

Objective: Piglet pre-weaning mortality is an important variable indicating the efficacy of farrowing management and animal well-being during lactation. The present study determined the association of newborn traits measured soon after birth with piglet pre-weaning mortality and growth. Methods: In total, 805 piglets born from 57 multiparous sows were investigated. Their blood oxygen saturation, blood glucose and rectal temperature at 24 h after birth (RT24h) were monitored. Birth order, sex, skin color, integrity of the umbilical cord, attempts to stand and birth intervention were monitored. Piglets were weighed at day 0, 7, and 21 to evaluate average daily gain (ADG). Results: Piglet pre-weaning mortality for lactation period was 12.6% and cumulative mortality during the first 7 days of age was 8.6%. A higher proportion of piglets with pale skin color died compared to piglets with normal skin color (26.7% vs 7.7%, p<0.001). A higher (p<0.001) proportion of piglets that attempted to stand after 5 min (38.5%) died compared to piglets that attempted to stand within 1 min (6.3%) after birth. Piglet body weight at birth ($BW_B$), blood glucose and the number of piglets born alive (BA) were correlated with ADG (p<0.05). Piglets with $BW_B$ <1.30 kg had higher (p<0.001) mortality rate than piglets with $BW_B{\geq}1.80 kg$ (19.0% vs 3.3%) and piglets with $BW_B$ 1.30 to 1.79 kg (4.0%). Piglet with RT24h <$37.0^{\circ}C$ had higher (p<0.001) mortality rate (86.2%) than piglets with RT24h >$38.5^{\circ}C$ (3.9%). Conclusion: Low $BW_B$ and low RT24h compromise piglet survival during the lactation period in the tropical conditions. Piglets in the litters with a high BA, low $BW_B$ and low blood glucose have reduced ADG.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.203-217
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Centella asiatica, also known as Gotu kola, is a tropical medicinal plant native to Madagascar, Southeast Asia, and South Africa. It is well known to have biological activities, including wound healing, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, cytotoxic, and antioxidant effects. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of extracts of C. asiatica against age-related eye degeneration and to examine their physiological activities. MATERIALS/METHODS: To determine the effects of CA-HE50 (C. asiatica 50% EtOH extract) on retinal pigment cells, we assessed the cytotoxicity of CoCl₂ and oxidized-A2E in ARPE-19 cells and observed the protective effects of CA-HE50 against N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced retinal damage in C57BL/6 mice. In particular, we measured factors related to apoptosis and anti-oxidation and the protein levels of rhodopsin/opsin. We also measured glucose uptake to characterize glucose metabolism, a major factor in cell protection. RESULTS: Induction of cytotoxicity with CoCl₂ and oxidized-A2E inhibited decreases in the viability of ARPE-19 cells when CA-HE50 was administered, and promoted glucose uptake under normal conditions (P < 0.05). In addition, CA-HE50 inhibited degeneration/apoptosis of the retina in the context of MNU-induced toxicity (P < 0.05). In particular, CA-HE50 at 200 mg/kg inhibited the cleavage of pro-caspase-3 and pro-poly (ADP-ribose)-polymerase and maintained the expressions of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 and heme oxygenase-1 similar to normal control levels. Rhodopsin/opsin expression was maintained at a higher level than in normal controls. CONCLUSION: A series of experiments confirmed that CA-HE50 was effective for inhibiting or preventing age-related eye damage/degeneration. Based on these results, we believe it is worthwhile to develop drugs or functional foods related to age-related eye degeneration using CA-HE50.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.223-227
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• 2014

The present study examined whether light emitted by long-afterglow phosphorescent pigments (LumiNova) would stimulate gonadal development in fish during the nonbreeding season. Pellets containing LumiNova powder (treatment group) were prepared and placed on the calvaria of specimens of the sapphire devil Chrysiptera cyanea, a reef-associated damselfish that requires long days for gonadal recrudescence. A pellet without LumiNova powder was placed on the calvaria of the control fish (control group). Fish were reared at $26^{\circ}C$ under a light-dark cycle (12 h photophase, 12 h scotophase; LD 12:12) for 4 weeks. No difference in the gonadosomatic index (GSI) or ovarian histology was observed among the control, sham-operation, and treatment groups 1 week after the start of the experiment. After 4 weeks, the GSI of the control and sham-operation groups remained at low levels, and ovaries contained immature oocytes at the perinucleolus stage. In contrast, the treatment group exhibited significantly higher values of GSI as well as developed ovaries with fully vitellogenic oocytes. These results demonstrated that long-day conditions were produced by light emitted from the LumiNova pellets, thus stimulating ovarian development in the damselfish. Therefore, long-afterglow phosphorescent pigments can be used as an alternative to standard light sources for purposes of artificial stimulation of gonadal development in fish.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 2010

Ten numbers of plants, based on their medicinal value, were used to test their efficacy against virosis (caused by cytoplassmic polyhedrosis virus) in tasar silkworm, Antheraea mylitta Drury. in indoor rearing conditions. The aqueous extracts of leaf of Azadirichita indica (neem), Acharanthus aspera, Psoralea corylifolia, Asparagus racemosus, Adhatoda zelanica (Basak), Andrographis paniculata (Kalmegh), Moringa oilephera (sahjan), whole plant of Phyllanthus urinaria (Bhuiamla), Centella asiatica (Veng sag) and Curcuma longa (Haldi powder) in different concentrations were used for containment of virosis in silkworm larvae. The tasar silkworm larvae were orally inoculated with PIBs ($1\times10^6$) of AmCPV in $2^{nd}$ instar and treated with plant extracts in each instar ($2^{rd}$ instar onwards). The mortality due to virosis was recorded during larval period. The plant extracts, irrespective of their concentrations, were found effective in suppressing the virosis where P. urinaria reduced the virosis to 56.90% followed by A. paniculata (53.82%) and least in C. asiatica (5.15%). The lowest pooled larva mortality 36.99% was recorded in the treatment of P. urinaria. Comparatively higher larva mortality 39.91% was observed with the treatment of A. paniculata. The highest larva mortality in treatment was with C. asiatica (81.99%). In treated control larva mortality was 86.50%.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 1990

Zoonoses are those diseases and infections that are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and man. At present, approximately 175 diseases caused by virus, rickettsia, bacteria, protozoa and helminthes as well as some of arthropods and the number is continually increasing. Although zoonoses are generally recognized as significant health problems, the actual prevalence and incidence of zoonotic infections is difficult to determine. Medical services in a rural area are scarce and ill persons may have little chance to see a physician. Furthermore, a lack of physician awareness and of appropriate diagnostic support is made often misdiagnosis. In rural Korea, parasitic disease is still important subject in the field of zoonotic infections considering its number and morbidity. Recently there was conspicuous reduction of soil-transmitted parasitic diseases (i.e. ascariasis. hookworms, trichuriasis), but clonorchiasis. intestinal trematodiases and taeniasis are a considerable problem. This is often significantly related to human behavioral patterns based on socio-economic and cultural conditions and linked with the local biologic and physical environment. The most of all parasitic zoonoses to man and animals are the food-transmitted parasitic diseases, and domestic animals such as dog, cat, pig, as well as fat and some mammals, ruminants and birds are act as reservoir hosts. In the present topics, current problems of parasitic zoonoses caused by protozoan infections (i. e. toxoplasmosis, pneumocystosis and cryptosporidiosis) which are the most common opportunistic in AIDS or immunocompromised persons, trematode infections (i.e. clonorchiasis, paragonimiasis and some intestinal tremadodiases). cestode infections such as cysticercosis and sparganosis, and some nematode infections of anisakiasis, thelaziasis and strongyloidiasis, are discussed here those on the occurrence in man and animals and the source of transmission as well as prevention and control measures in Korea.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.401-414
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• 2004

Temperature, salinity, alkalinity, pH, nutrient, chlorophyll, and iron were measured within the upper 250m water column around the Antarctic Polar Front in the Scotia Sea from late November to early December 2001. Temperature and salinity showed a rapid change across the Polar Front, and the temperature minimum layer existed only in the southern area of the Polar Front. Total $CO_2$ and nutrient concentrations were relatively high and increased rapidly with water depth in the southern area of the Polar Front, which was resulted from upwelling of the Antarctic deep water containing high concentrations of total $CO_2$ and nutrient. ${\Delta}C:{\Delta}N:{\Delat}P$ ratios measured in the norhem and southern areas of the Polar Front were 75:11.4:1 and 84:12.5:1, respectively, which were lower than the Redfield ratio. ${\Delta}Si:{\Delta}N$ ratio (3.65) measured in the southern area of the Polar Front was two times higher than that (1.95) in the northern area. These two ratios were higher than the ratio (1.0) measured in the temperate and tropical oceans. Chlorophyll concentrations were extremely high in the area of $59^{\circ}{\sim}60^{\circ}S$, which was attributed to favorable environmental conditions for phytoplankton growth in this area, such as sufficient iron, high water column stability, and high silicate concentration.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.141-145
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• 2003

This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of theileriosis and to compare the prevalence of this disease in Korean native cattle reared under different environmental conditions, namely, in a grazing area and a non-grazing area by polymerase chain reaction. Three hundred and one Korean native cattle (276 cows and 25 bulls) that had not received prior treatment or been vaccinated to prevent theileriosis were examined by PCR for Theileria sergenti infection from 2001 to 2002. In our study, the parasitemia range in T. sergenti-positive cattle by microscopy were from 0.1 to 3％ (mean 0.8％). In terms of mean prevalence, 204 of the 301 Korean native cattle (67.8％) were positive reaction by PCR. Our results also revealed that the infection rate among cows (70.3％) was significantly higher than that among bulls (40.0％) (p < 0.01). T. sergenti infection among the over 3 year-old-group (75％) had a significant higher prevalence than that among the less than 3 year-old-group (61.8％) (p < 0.05). Our data also showed that grazing areas (76.1％) had the significant higher prevalence than non-grazing areas (51％) (p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the prevalence of T. sergenti infection is high and that its prevalence in grazing cattle is higher than that in non-grazing cattle, Therefore, life-long treatment and the development of an optimal vaccine are needed to reduce the numbers of bovine theileriosis in both grazing and non-grazing areas.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.243-246
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• 2013

It is known that physicochemical conditions (e.g., pH, temperature, and ionic strength) affect the size of trichomonads. In this study, the sizes of 4 isolates of Trichomonas vaginalis cultured for more than a year (called "old T") and 3 isolates freshly isolated from vaginitis cases (called "fresh T") were compared by scanning electron microscopy. Although the fresh T had shorter body length, body width, and flagellar length than old T, total length (about $26{\mu}m$), including body length, flagella length, and axostyle length was almost the same in the 2 groups. A striking difference was observed between the axostyles of the 2 groups; the axostyle length of the fresh T ($8.2{\mu}m$) was more than twice as long as that of the old T ($4.0{\mu}m$). However, in several parasitology textbooks, the length of T. vaginalis is said to vary widely from 7 to $32{\mu}m$, and its undulating membrane is said to extend about half way (53.5%) to the posterior end of the body. On the other hand, in our study, the undulating membrane was observed to extend more than 3/4 of the body length (72.1%) in old T, whereas in fresh T it could not be measured. Taken together, we suggest that T. vaginalis averages 26 (21-32) ${\mu}m$ in total length, with 9.5 (7.4-11.4) ${\mu}m$ of body length and 6.8 (5.3-7.7) ${\mu}m$ of width, and its undulating membrane extending 3/4 of its body length. Therefore, these findings may provide useful information for morphological characteristics of T. vaginalis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.237-241
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• 2013

Giardia lamblia is recognized as one of the most prevalent parasites in dogs. The present study aimed to establish a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for rapid and specific detection of G. lamblia from dogs. The fecal samples were collected and prepared for microscopic analysis, and then the genomic DNA was extracted directly from purified cysts. The concentration of DNA samples of G. lamblia were diluted by 10-fold serially ranging from $10^{-1}$ to $10^{-5}ng/{\mu}l$ for LAMP and PCR assays. The LAMP assay allows the amplification to be finished within 60 min under isothermal conditions of $63^{\circ}C$ by employing 6 oligonucleotide primers designed based on G. lamblia elongation factor 1 alpha ($EF1{\alpha}$) gene sequence. Our tests showed that the specific amplification products were obtained only with G. lamblia, while no amplification products were detected with DNA of other related protozoans. Sensitivity evaluation indicated that the LAMP assay was sensitive 10 times more than PCR. It is concluded that LAMP is a rapid, highly sensitive and specific DNA amplification technique for detection of G. lamblia, which has implications for effective control and prevention of giardiasis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.351-355
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• 2017

Hymenolepis nana and Hymenolepis diminuta are globally widespread zoonotic cestodes. Rodents are the main reservoir host of these cestodes. Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) are the best known and most common rats, and usually live wherever humans live, especially in less than desirable hygiene conditions. Due to the little information of the 2 hymenolepidid species in brown rats in China, the aim of this study was to understand the prevalence and genetic characterization of H. nana and H. diminuta in brown rats in Heilongjiang Province, China. Total 114 fecal samples were collected from brown rats in Heilongjiang Province. All the samples were subjected to morphological examinations by microscopy and genetic analysis by PCR amplification of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COX1) gene and the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene. In total, 6.1% (7/114) and 14.9% (17/114) of samples were positive for H. nana and H. diminuta, respectively. Among them, 7 and 3 H. nana isolates were successfully amplified and sequenced at the COX1 and ITS2 loci, respectively. No nucleotide variations were found among H. nana isolates at either of the 2 loci. Seventeen H. diminuta isolates produced 2 different COX1 sequences while 7 ITS2 sequences obtained were identical to each other. The present results of H. nana and H. diminuta infections in brown rats implied the risk of zoonotic transmission of hymenolepiasis in China. These molecular data will be helpful to deeply study intra-specific variations within Hymenolepis cestodes in the future.