This exploratory, single-session, repeated-measures study characterized human and equine trunk muscle activity and human–horse EMG covariation during physical therapy utilizing equine movement in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Nine individuals with PD and three horses completed pre-session quiet sitting (QS Pre), figure-eight riding (F8), stop-and-go riding (SNG), and post-session quiet sitting (QS Post). Bilateral surface EMG was recorded from three human and four equine trunk muscles. All analyses were exploratory and examined four outcomes: normalized EMG amplitude, zero-lag human–horse correlation, lagged human–horse correlation, and human–horse EMG-EMG coherence. Human normalized EMG amplitude did not differ across QS Pre, F8, and SNG. Equine amplitude was greater during F8 than QS Pre (difference 9.43 percentage points, 95% CI [4.27, 14.59]). SNG also showed greater amplitude than QS Pre (5.30 percentage points, 95% CI [0.32, 10.27]), although this difference was not statistically significant in the participant-level sensitivity analysis. F8 exceeded SNG in the direct comparison (4.43 percentage points, 95% CI [1.44, 7.41]) but not in the adjusted three-condition comparison. Zero-lag correlations were generally close to zero; SNG exceeded F8 by only 0.0056 Fisher’s z units (95% CI [0.0004, 0.0107]) in the direct comparison, but this difference was not statistically significant in the adjusted three-condition comparison. When temporal offsets of ±300 ms were permitted, lagged correlation strength was greater during F8 than QS Pre (difference 0.013, 95% CI [0.003, 0.024]) and during SNG than QS Pre (0.011, 95% CI [0.001, 0.021]), with no difference between riding conditions. Median wavelet coherence was greater during QS Pre than F8 (difference 0.016, 95% CI [0.013, 0.018]) or SNG (0.013, 95% CI [0.011, 0.015]), while SNG exceeded F8 overall (0.003, 95% CI [0.002, 0.004]). Simultaneous human and equine EMG was feasible during the sequential mounted conditions, but the observed signal properties differed across outcomes. Because the conditions were administered in a fixed sequence, their individual effects could not be distinguished from order-related influences. These exploratory findings require confirmation in larger studies with counterbalanced task orders, controlled gait characteristics, and relevant clinical outcomes.
Colostrum is essential for neonatal piglet survival, but individual teat measurements may not represent sow-level mean Brix values. Brix refractometry provides an indirect on-farm estimate of colostrum IgG concentration. This exploratory study quantified Brix variation within and between sows and examined associations between initial body weight, sow Brix values, estimated colostrum intake, and survival from approximately 24 h to weaning. Colostrum was sampled from 28 sows in a Swedish high-health herd. A total of 410 teat samples were analysed and 373 piglets were weighed at colostrum sampling and followed until weaning. The mean sow Brix value was 27.6%. Approximately half the variation was attributable to differences between sows, with the remainder occurring between teats within sows. Empirical resampling analysis showed that sampling multiple teats improved the precision of sow-level mean Brix estimates; with five teats, 95.2% of estimates were within ±1.5 Brix percentage points of the observed sow mean. No clear association between sow-level Brix values and survival from 24 h to weaning was detected. Survival was associated with initial body weight, and the association with estimated colostrum intake depended on initial body weight, being strongest for piglets with lower body weight. Given limited sow numbers and single-herd design, these findings require multi-herd validation.
Histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2)-mediated epigenetic modifications play a crucial role in oogenesis, yet the regulatory mechanisms of HDAC2 throughout the entire process of folliculogenesis remain elusive. In the present study, the localization and expression of HDAC2 were detected in mouse ovaries at distinct postnatal ages and after gonadotropin treatment. The effects and molecular mechanisms of Santacruzamate A (SCA), a selective HDAC2 inhibitor, on folliculogenesis were investigated via an in vitro 3D culture model of mouse preantral follicles. The results showed that HDAC2 was localized in the nuclei of both ovarian granulosa cells and oocytes. Its expression was gradually increased with ovarian development in mice aged from postnatal day 7 to 21, and significantly decreased after 12 h hCG treatment. In follicles cultured in vitro, HDAC2 expression peaked on day 4 of culture. SCA exerted stage-specific and dose-dependent regulatory effects on folliculogenesis. SCA significantly suppressed follicular growth, blocked antrum formation, and triggered follicular atresia. Mechanistically, SCA promoted ovarian granulosa cell apoptosis via increases in pro-apoptotic genes BAX and Caspase-3 levels, and a decrease in anti-apoptotic gene BCL-2 level. Furthermore, SCA disrupted the structural integrity of the follicular microfilament cytoskeleton, interfered with the levels of genes related to oocyte–granulosa cell communication including CX37 and GDF9, caused abnormalities in oocyte spindle structure, chromosome alignment, mitochondrial distribution, and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). In conclusion, HDAC2 participates in the transcriptional regulation of mouse folliculogenesis through dynamically changing expression at distinct developmental stages. HDAC2 exerts stage-specific regulatory effects on follicular growth and oocyte maturation, and its mechanisms are associated with maintaining granulosa cell survival, ensuring cytoskeletal integrity, and preserving oocyte mitochondrial function. This study advances our understanding of epigenetic regulation of folliculogenesis and provides novel targets and an experimental basis for optimizing in vitro follicular culture systems and regulating female reproductive performance.
This study evaluated the growth performance, blood metabolites, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and economic responses of finishing lambs fed diets in which condensed tannin-containing woody biomass (CTWB) from Quercus rugosa partially or completely replaced corn stover (CS) in the fibrous fraction. Forty-eight intact male Dorper × Katahdin lambs (initial body weight: 33.01 ± 1.23 kg), housed in 24 pens with two lambs per pen, received diets containing 0, 8, 16, or 24% CTWB (CTWB-0, CTWB-8, CTWB-16, and CTWB-24, respectively) for 42 d during 2013–2014. The 24% inclusion level replaced all the CS and supplied a calculated contribution of 6.29 g of condensed tannins/kg dry matter (DM) from CTWB. Dry-matter intake (DMI) was greater with CTWB-24 than with CTWB-0 and CTWB-16 (1.34 vs. 1.17 and 1.18 kg DM/d, respectively; p = 0.021). Growth and gain-to-feed ratio did not differ among treatments (p ≥ 0.240). Blood urea nitrogen concentrations were lower with CTWB-24 than with CTWB-8 (p = 0.014). Carcass weights did not differ (p ≥ 0.779), nor did cooling loss or dressing percentage (p = 0.459 and 0.060, respectively). An overall treatment effect was observed for muscle a* (p = 0.049), without differences between individual treatments; dorsal fat b* did not differ (p = 0.051), nor did water loss, pH, or shear-force measurements (p ≥ 0.103). Calculated diet cost decreased from 0.301 to 0.282 USD/kg DM between CTWB-0 and CTWB-24, but this reduction did not translate into lower total feed cost per lamb (p = 0.150). Carcass income and income over feed cost (IOFC) also did not differ (p ≥ 0.895); IOFC was 205.56 and 202.21 USD/lamb, respectively. Complete replacement of CS with 24% CTWB was accompanied by greater DMI, while no significant differences were detected in growth, carcass weight, or IOFC in this trial with six pens assigned per treatment. These findings do not establish equivalence among diets, and the limited replication means that biologically relevant differences cannot be ruled out.
This study aimed to evaluate suitable dietary curcumin supplementation levels for improving intestinal morphology and antioxidant status in medium-growing broiler chickens fed a practical corn–soybean meal diet from 57 to 84 d of age. A total of 252 male broilers (57 d of age; 1092.86 ± 8.91 g) were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments with seven replicate cages of six birds each. Broilers were fed diets supplemented with 0, 80, 160, 240, 320, or 400 mg/kg curcumin for 28 d. Asymptotic, broken-line, and quadratic models were fitted to dose–response data to estimate suitable dietary curcumin supplementation levels. Curcumin supplementation improved ileal morphology and antioxidant status, as evidenced by increased villus height (VH), VH/crypt depth (CD), villus surface area, total antioxidant capacity, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, together with decreased CD and malondialdehyde (MDA) content. Curcumin also upregulated the mRNA expression of catalase (CAT), SOD, glutathione peroxidase (GPX)1, GPX3, GPX4, and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and increased Nrf2 protein abundance. Among the candidate models, broken-line regression provided the best fit for key ileal antioxidant indices, indicating that approximately 188 mg/kg of dietary curcumin may be sufficient to maximize ileal total antioxidant capacity under the present experimental conditions. Furthermore, Nrf2 expression exhibited trends similar to those of antioxidant-related gene expression and antioxidant enzyme activities, but showed an opposite trend to MDA content. These findings suggest a potential association between Nrf2 expression and intestinal antioxidant status.
