The effects of Qi-training on anxiety, and plasma concentrations of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, and aldosterone in healthy young men was investigated. Thirty-two subjects were randomly assigned to a sham control group or a Qi-training group. Although the basal level of anxiety did not differ between the groups, there was a significant group by time interaction of the 1-hour intervention; anxiety decreased by 26 per cent in the Qi-training group and by 9 per cent in the control group. After Qi-training, the plasma concentrations of ACTH, cortisol, and aldosterone decreased, but these levels did not change in the control group. These findings suggest that Qi-training improves anxiety and has a significant effect on the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis.

No abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate whether dietary sanguinarine (Sangrovit ® , SGV) could affect growth performance, relative organ weigths, gut microbiota, serum cholesterol levels, and malondialdehyde contents of leg meat in broiler chickens. A total of 840 day-old male broiler chicks (Ross breed) was randomly placed on 28 floor pens with rice straw as a bedding and subjected to one of four experimental diets; corn-soybean meal based control diet, the control diet added with avilamycin at 10 ppm as growth promoter (AGP) and SGV at the level of 20 (SGV20) or 50 ppm (SGV50). The final body weight (BW), daily BW gain, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly improved (P＜0.05) in broiler chickens fed either AGP, SGV20 or SGV50 compared with the control diet-fed chickens. Compared with the control group, relative jejunal weight was significantly lowered (P＜0.05) in SGV20-fed chickens and relative jejunal or ileal length was significantly increased (P＜0.05) in all SGV-fed chickens. Dietary SGV20, but not AGP, altered gut microbiota (especially increase in cecal lactic acid bacteria) compared with the control diet-fed chickens. Total cholesterol of broiler chickens fed on a diet containing SGV20 or SGV50 vs. the control diet was significantly reduced. Finally, the content of malondialdehyde in thigh meats as an indicator of lipid peroxidation was significantly lowered (P＜0.05) by dietary SGV compared with that seen in the control chickens. In conclusion, our study clearly reveals that supplementation of SGV into the broilers' diet at 20 or 50 ppm improved growth performance and altered various biological and physiological parameters such as relative organ weights, serum cholesterol levels, gut microbiota, and meat qualities in broiler chickens.

Dietary exogenous proteases (ENZ) can be used in poultry production to improve the growth of chickens fed low-protein (LP) diets. We hypothesized that ENZ supplemented in an LP diet would improve growth performance and physiological response in broilers for 8–35 days. To investigate this, we used a 2 × 2 factorial design with crude protein (CP, normal diet (NP) and LP) and ENZ. The LP diet contained low in 1% CP and ca. 8–12% amino acids compared to the NP diet and both NP and LP diets were added without or with (1 g/kg of diet) ENZ. We randomly allocated 720 1-week-old Ross 308 male chicks to 48 pens and experimental diets. At 21 days, dietary ENZ, but not CP, increased (p = 0.007) live body weight. Body weight gain from 8–21 days was affected (p = 0.006) by dietary ENZ, but was not affected (p = 0.210) by CP. The feed conversion ratio was affected by both CP and ENZ during the starter period (p < 0.05), by ENZ (p = 0.034) during the finisher period, and by CP (p < 0.001) during the whole period. However, the interaction between CP and ENZ did not significantly affect growth performance (p > 0.05). Dietary ENZ increased (p = 0.013) the relative weight of liver at 21 days. CP and ENZ affected (p = 0.043) total short-chain fatty acids at 21 days. However, this effect was not seen (p = 0.888) at 35 days. Dietary CP increased (p < 0.05) the serum concentrations of both uric acid and creatinine in broilers. We concluded that dietary ENZ is more beneficial to younger broilers, independent of CP levels, and that its effect was restricted to body weight and the feed conversion ratio.

This study was conducted to compare growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of 4 breeds of local chicken. A total of 480 1-d-old chicks were distributed to 16 pens, with 4 treatments of breed, 4 replicates and 30 chicks per pen. Three Korean local breeds of white-mini broiler, Hanhyup-3-ho, and Woorimatdag, and a breed of silky fowl were raised under identical rearing and feeding conditions for 31-d, 37-d, 36-d, and 59-d, respectively. The BW and feed consumption on a pen basis were weekly measured for all pens, and ADFI, ADG and gain:feed were calculated for each pen. The ADFI and ADG of 3 breeds of Korean local chicken were greater than those of silky fowl (p<0.05). Within the Korean local breeds, ADFI of white-mini broiler was the highest (p<0.05), and ADG of Hanhyup-3-ho and white-mini broiler was the highest (p<0.05). Gain:feed of silky fowl was less than that of the 3 breeds of Korean local chicken. The carcass and breast yield of white-mini broiler were the greater than those of other breeds (p<0.05). The breast meat color (CIE L*, a*, and b*) of 3 breeds of Korean local chicken were higher than that of silky fowl (p<0.05). The breast meat of Hanhyup-3-ho had greater cooking loss (p<0.05), whereas water holding capacity and pH were less than those of other breeds (p<0.05). The color score of 3 breeds of Korean local chicken was higher than that of silky fowl (p<0.05). Woorimatdag had a higher score on tenderness (p<0.05), whereas flavor score was less than that of other breeds (p<0.05). In conclusion, 4 local breeds of chicken have some unique features and seem to have more advantages, and this information can help consumers who prefer healthy and premium chicken meat.

No abstract

The present study was undertaken to explore gastroprotective effects of trigonelline (TRG) and to determine the potential mechanisms involved in this action. In order to evaluate the gastroprotective efficiency of TRG, an indomethacin-induced ulcer model has been applied. Antioxidants, cytokines, adhesion markers and apoptosis levels have been analyzed for the biochemical mechanism involved in TRG activity. TRG (45 mg kg(-1)) pretreated rats significantly inhibited gastric lesions by 81.71%. Indomethacin administration raises the levels of leukotriene B4 (LTB4), lipid peroxidation and myeloperoxidase (MPO) with the significant declines of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) levels. Conversely, TRG (45 mg kg(-1)) pretreated animals showed significant rises in PGE2 and antioxidant levels along with substantial reductions in LTB4, lipid peroxidation and MPO levels. Indomethacin-induced rats also exhibited considerable increases of pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) levels and decreases of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-10 (IL-10) and interleukin-4 (IL-4), but these imbalances were normalized through treatment of TRG. The protective activity of TRG against indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer has been ascribed to three important mechanisms: (1) anti-inflammatory; (2) antioxidant; (3) anti-apoptotic pathways.

This experiment was conducted with male chicks to investigate the influence of hormones and nutrients on the development of fatty liver syndrome (FLS) as well as the effects of dietary lipotropic factors on hepatic fat accumulation and lipogenic enzyme gene expression. A total of two-hundred sixteen 4-wk-old Hy-Line male chicks were divided into six groups and fed an experimental diet (T1, low-energy diet with low levels of lipotropic factors; T2, high-energy diet with low levels of lipotropic factors; T3 and T5, low-energy diet with high levels of lipotropic factors; T4 and T6, high-energy diet with high levels of lipotropic factors) for six weeks. The chicks in T5 and T6 groups were treated with intramuscular injections of estradiol benzoate for three days prior to biopsy and clinical analysis of FLS. Chicks treated with estrogen had significantly greater liver weights than untreated chicks. The abdominal fat contents were increased in chicks consuming high-energy diets as compared to those consuming low-energy diets. Treatment with estrogen significantly increased the concentrations of serum cholesterol, triacylglycerol and phospholipid (p<0.05). The hepatic triacylglycerol levels were tenfold higher in the estrogen treated chicks than in the untreated chicks. There were no significant differences in malondialdehyde levels between the treatment groups. Estrogen treatment dramatically increased the levels of fatty acid synthetase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase and ApoB mRNA. The results indicated that treatment with exogenous estrogen in growing male chicks induced hepatic fat accumulation, which might be partially due to increased lipogenic enzyme gene expression.