Abstract:The values of the erythrocytes osmotic fragility (EOF)

The association of HLA-B27 with ankylosing spondylitis accounts for 20 to 50% of the total disease risk. It varies markedly among racial and ethnic populations. The main purpose of the present study is to perform an investigation regarding the distribution of the human leukocyte antigen HLA-B27 and its subtypes in Moroccan healthy controls and in patients with AS and to compare this with other reports from other populations. One hundred twenty-five controls and 116 patients with AS were evaluated in this study. Among patients, three cases were associated to acute anterior uveitis. Typing of the HLA-B27 alleles was performed by microlymphocytotoxicity and polymerase chain reaction amplification with sequence-specific primers. A significant association between ankylosing spondylitis and B27 was identified; HLA-B*27 allele was carried by 46.5% of patients and only one subject from healthy controls was found to be positive (p<0.001, RR= 2.95). Among all positive patients, 64.8% were males and 53.7% belonged to 20-29 and 30-39 age groups. Being male aged 30-39 was significantly associated with B27 positivity. Four HLA-B*27 alleles were observed in this study: B*2705 (44.4%), B*2702 (29.6%), B*2703 (9.2%) and B*2708 (16.7%). The only positive subject from healthy controls carried B*2705 allele. B*2708 subtype was identified in all cases with uveitis. This allele showed a significant association with patients being female. Concluding, HLA-B27 is strongly associated with ankylosing spondylitis in Moroccan population. Our results showed a restricted number of HLA-B27 subtypes with predominance of HLA-B*2705, 02 alleles. The B*2708 allele detected for the first time in North Africa, seems to be associated with ankylosing spondylitis in the studied population.

Relationship between serum levels of cortisol at slaughter and changes of some parameters of meat was investigated in 50 male camels, during ageing for 10 days at 4±1°C. Blood was sampled at slaughter to determine serum levels of cortisol and oblique abdominal external muscle was collected after slaughter to analyze pH, electrical conductivity (EC), drip loss (DL), cooked loss (CL), moisture, solids, ashes, protein total, calcium (Ca), phosphorus (Pi), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), potassium (K), catalase activiry (CATa), malondialdehyde (MDA), shrinkage, R-value and total haem pigment (THP) at days 0 (four hours postmortem), 5 and 10 of refrigerated storage. The camels were divided into 3 groups (Gr) with different serum levels of cortisol at slaughter (low, high and very high levels): Gr1 (13.07-67.9 ng/mL, n= 24), Gr2 (80.29-107.21 ng/mL, n= 7) and Gr3 (133.7-198.04 ng/mL, n= 19). Compared to Gr1, Gr2 and Gr3 had a significant (P<0.05) increase of pH, EC, DL, CL, THP, dimensional shrinkage and MDA, and a significant (P<0.05) decrease of CATa at the 5th and 10th postmortem days. However, the bleeding efficiency, moisture, ashes, R-value and levels of Ca, Pi, Na, K and total protein showed no significant differences between twoo cortisol groups. The antemortem circulating levels of cortisol were positively correlated with postmortem pH, EC, DL, CL, THP, dimensional shrinkage and MDA, and negatively correlated with CATa. The analysis of circulating cortisol at slaughtering may predict the quality and oxidant stress status of camel meat during postmortem cold storage.

The welfare conditions of domestic animals during transport to the slaughterhouse are largely known able to influence the level of their stress, physiology and meat quality. Furthermore, the reaction of animals to stressors depends on the duration and intensity of these stressors. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of transport distance on some blood physiological indicators of stress and biomarkers of oxidant stress in camels. Transport distances were categorized as short (72-80km), medium (160-170km) and long (350-360km) distance. Haematocrit, haemolysis, cortisol, glucose, lactate, malondialdehyde and catalase increased gradually and significantly (P<0.05) with transport distance, and that over longer distance these parameters were more significant (P<0.005) compared with short-distance. A positive correlation (P<0.001) was obtained between cortisol, glucose, lactate, malondialdéhyde and catalase.As conclusion, road transport is very stressful in camel, and the effects of this stress on the relevant indicators rising much with distance. Future work should focus on the effect of transport distance on some quality indicators of camel meat.

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