A study involving nine research stations from the NCR-42 Swine Nutrition Committee used a total of 1,978 crossbred pigs to evaluate the effects of dietary ZnO concentrations with or without an antibacterial agent on postweaning pig performance. In Exp. 1, seven stations (IA, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, and OH) evaluated the efficacy of ZnO when fed to nursery pigs at 0, 500, 1,000, 2,000, or 3,000 mg Zn/kg for a 28-d postweaning period. A randomized complete block experiment was conducted in 24 replicates using a total of 1,060 pigs. Pigs were bled at the 28-d period and plasma was analyzed for Zn and Cu. Because two stations weaned pigs at < 15 d (six replicates) and five stations at > 20 d (18 replicates) of age, the two sets of data were analyzed separately. The early-weaned pig group had greater (P < 0.05) gains, feed intakes, and gain:feed ratios for the 28-d postweaning period as dietary ZnO concentration increased. Later-weaned pigs also had increased (P < 0.01) gains and feed intakes as the dietary ZnO concentration increased. Responses for both weanling pig groups seemed to reach a plateau at 2,000 mg Zn/kg. Plasma Zn concentrations quadratically increased (P < 0.01) and plasma Cu concentrations quadratically decreased (P < 0.01) when ZnO concentrations were > 1,000 mg Zn/kg. Experiment 2 was conducted at seven stations (KY, MI, MO, NE, ND, OH, and OK) and evaluated the efficacy of an antibacterial agent (carbadox) in combination with added ZnO. The experiment was a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design conducted in a total of 20 replicates. Carbadox was added at 0 or 55 mg/kg diet, and ZnO was added at 0, 1,500, or 3,000 mg Zn/ kg. A total of 918 pigs were weaned at an average 19.7 d of age. For the 28-d postweaning period, gains (P < 0.01), feed intakes (P < 0.05), and gain:feed ratios (P < 0.05) increased when dietary ZnO concentrations increased and when carbadox was added. These responses occurred in an additive manner. The results of these studies suggest that supplemental ZnO at 1,500 to 2,000 mg Zn/kg Zn improved postweaning pig performance, and its combination with an antibacterial agent resulted in additional performance improvements.

Three oilseed protein concentrates (soybean, canola, and sunflower) were evaluated to determine their potential, when supplemented with deficient essential amino acids, to partially or completely replace fish meal in diets fed to rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. Triplicate aquaria of juvenile trout (average weight of 12 g) were fed the experimental diets for 10 wk, at which time the average weight of the fish was approximately sixfold higher than the initial weight. Average fish weight gains on diets in which the protein component was 100% fish meal; 75% fish meal, 25% soybean protein concentrate; 50% fish meal, 50% soybean protein concentrate; and 75% fish meal, 25% sunflowerseed protein concentrate were not significantly different (P < 0.05). The average weight of fish fed a commercial feed was significantly lower than that of fish fed the 100% fish meal diet, but not significantly different from fish fed the three other formulations mentioned above. Fish fed diets containing 50% fish meal, 50% canola protein concentrate; and 25% fish meal, 75% sunflowerseed protein concentrate had significantly lower average final weights than those of fish fed the other diets. Feed conversion ratio patterns among the dietary treatment groups reflected those of weight gain. Fish survival exceeded 95% on all diets. Apparent protein digestibility coefficients ranged from 79.5% (75% soybean protein concentrate, 25% canola protein concentrate) to 90.6% (100% soybean protein concentrate). The results of this study demonstrated that certain oilseed protein concentrates have good potential as protein sources in rainbow trout feeds when properly supplemented with essential amino acids.

We describe the development of a sub-millimetre skin punch biopsy device for painless and suture-free skin sampling for molecular diagnosis and research. Conventional skin punch biopsies range from 2-4 mm in diameter. Local anaesthesia is required and sutures are usually used to close the wound. Our microbiopsy is 0.50 mm wide and 0.20 mm thick. The microbiopsy device is fabricated from three stacked medical grade stainless steel plates tapered to a point and contains a chamber within the centre plate to collect the skin sample. We observed that the application of this device resulted in a 0.21 ± 0.04 mm wide puncture site in volunteer skin using reflectance confocal microscopy. Histological sections from microbiopsied skin revealed 0.22 ± 0.12 mm wide and 0.26 ± 0.09 mm deep puncture sites. Longitudinal observation in microbiopsied volunteers showed that the wound closed within 1 day and was not visible after 7 days. Reflectance confocal microscope images from these same sites showed the formation of a tiny crust that resolved by 3 weeks and was completely undetectable by the naked eye. The design parameters of the device were optimised for molecular analysis using sampled DNA mass as the primary end point in volunteer studies. Finally, total RNA was characterized. The optimised device extracted 5.9 ± 3.4 ng DNA and 9.0 ± 10.1 ng RNA. We foresee that minimally invasive molecular sampling will play an increasingly significant role in diagnostic dermatology and skin research.

This study investigates changes in lectin and trypsin inhibitor activity, SDS-PAGE peptide pattern, in vitro protein digestibility and amino acid composition during germination of two dry bean cultivars. Lectin activity in navy beans was reduced. Significant amounts of trypsin inhibitor activity in both navy and pinto beans remained after germination for 6 days. Glycopeptides, with molecular mass ranging from 25,000 to 27,000 daltons, from partial proteolysis of the major storage proteins were resistant to a multienzyme system. In vitro protein digestibility and amino acid composition were only slightly altered. Germination did not improve protein nutritional quality of dry beans.