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Background.An abnormally high mortality from atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) accidents has long been reported in patients on maintenance haemodialysis (HD). However, incidence of atherosclerotic CV accidents had not been so far assessed in predialysis patients. In order to evaluate the respective influence of uraemia and the dialysis procedure, we compared incidence of atherosclerotic accidents before and after initiation of HD in a large population of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A 56-day feeding trial to evaluate the responses of red seabream (initial weight: 1.8 ± 0.02 g) to the substitution of fish oil (FO) with camelina oil (CO) at different ratios was conducted. The control diet formulated at 46% CP (6F0C) contained only FO without CO; from the second to the fifth diet, the FO was substituted with CO at rates of 5:1 (5F1C), 4:2 (4F2C), 3:3 (3F3C), 2:4 (2F4C), and 0:6 (0F6C). The results of the present study showed that up to full substitution of FO with CO showed no significant effect on growth variables BW = 26.2 g-28.3 g), body weight gain (BWG = 1275.5-1365.3%), specific growth rate (SGR = 4.6-4.7), feed intake (FI = 25.6-27.8), feed conversion ratio (FCR = 1.0-1.1), biometric indices condition factor (CF = 2.2-2.4), hepatosomatic index (HSI = 0.9-1.1), viscerasomatic index (VSI = 7.5-9.5), and survival rates (SR = 82.2-100) with different FO substitution levels with CO. Similarly, there were no significant differences ( p < 0.05) found in the whole-body composition except for the crude lipid content, and the highest value was observed in the control group (291 g/kg) compared to the other groups FO5CO1 (232 k/kg), FO4CO2 (212 g/kg), FO2CO4 (232 g/kg) and FO0CO6 (244 g/kg). Blood chemistry levels were not influenced in response to test diets: hematocrit (36-33%), glucose (Glu = 78.3-71.3 mg/dL), total protein (T-pro = 3.1-3.8 g/dL), total cholesterol (T-Chol = 196.0-241 mg/dL), blood urea nitrogen (BUN = 9.0-14.6 mg/dL), total bilirubin (T-Bil = 0.4-0.5 mg/dL), triglyceride (TG = 393.3-497.6 mg/dL), alanine aminotransferase test (ALT = 50-65.5 UL/L), aspartate aminotransferase test (AST = 38-69.3 UL/L). A remarkable modulation was observed in catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in the liver, as CAT and SOD values were lower with the complete FO substitution with CO (0F6C), and the highest values were observed in the control and (4F2C). This study indicates that red seabream may have the ability to maintain LC-PUFAs between tissues and diets, and CO substitution of FO could improve both lipid metabolism and oxidation resistance as well as maintain digestibility. In conclusion, dietary FO can be replaced up to 100% or 95% by CO in the diets of red seabream as long as n-3 HUFA, EPA, and DHA are incorporated at the recommended level.

Temperature is an abiotic factor that affects various biological and physiological processes in fish. Temperature stress is known to increase the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that subsequently cause oxidative stress. Fish is known to evolve a system of antioxidant enzymes to reduce ROS toxicology. Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) family consists of key enzymes that protect fish from oxidative stress. In this study, full-length GPx1 cDNA (GenBank accession no. KY984468) of Tor tambroides was cloned and characterized by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The 899-base-pair (bp) GPx1 cDNA includes a 576-bp open reading frame encoding for 191 amino acids, plus 28 bp of 5'-untranslated region (UTR) and 295 bp of 3'-UTR. Homology analysis revealed that GPx1 of T tambroides (Tor-GPx1) shared high similarity with GPx1 sequences of other fish species. The phylogenetic construction based on the amino acid sequence showed that Tor-GPx1 formed a clade with GPx1 sequences of various fish species. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to assess the levels of GPx1 gene expression in the liver and muscle of T tambroides under thermal stress. The results indicated that GPx1 gene expression was down-regulated under decreased temperature. However, there was no significant difference between GPx1 gene expression in fish exposed to high temperature and control. Our study provides the first data regarding GPx gene expression in T tambroides under thermal stress., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests:The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Atherosclerosis and vascular calcifications are common causes of morbidity and mortality in maintenance haemodialysis patients. In addition to the well-known traditional risk factors, uraemia-specific factors appear to enhance dramatically the progression of the pathological processes involved. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the degree of atherosclerosis and vascular calcifications in chronic haemodialysis patients using non-invasive imaging methods, and to identify potentially involved factors., Methods: The study included 73 patients (36 females, 37 males), aged 25-75 years, who were on haemodialysis treatment for 12-275 months (mean dialysis vintage 73.8 months). We assessed the following circulating parameters: calcium (Ca), phosphorus, 'intact' parathyroid hormone (iPTH), 25OH vitamin D, lipids, oxidized LDL (ox-LDL), Lp(a), homocysteine, leptin, IL-1-beta, IL-6, CRP, TGF-beta, TNF-alpha, (PDGF), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) and myeloperoxidase activity (MPO). Coronary artery calcification score (CACS) was assessed using multi-row spiral CT (MSCT). Intima-media thickness index of the common carotid artery (CCA-IMT) and presence of cervical artery atherosclerotic plaques were evaluated by ultrasonography., Results: Coronary artery calcifications were observed in 79.5% of the patients, with CACS ranging from 0 to 4987. In univariate analysis, a positive correlation was observed between CACS and age, BMI, iPTH, CRP, IL-6 and CCA-IMT, whereas an inverse correlation existed with 25OH vitamin D, TGF-beta and PDGF. CCA-IMT ranged from 0.4 to 1.1 mm. It was positively correlated, in univariate analysis, with age, CACS, CRP and Il-6, and negatively with 25OH vitamin D, TGF-beta and PDGF. Only CACS remained as independent predictive factor of CCA-IMT in multivariate analysis. Atherosclerotic plaques were found in the carotid arteries of 53 patients (72%). The number of plaques was positively correlated with age, CACS, phosphorus, MPO, CRP and IL-6, and inversely with 25OH vitamin D in univariate analysis. In multivariate regression analysis, only age and CACS remained as independent variables., Conclusion: In addition to classic risk factors, the degree of atherosclerosis and vascular calcification in our dialysis patient population were associated with several factors that are frequently abnormal in advanced chronic renal failure, but except age, all of them were interdependent. Notably, as in the general population, CACS was an independent predictor of the degree of atherosclerosis in haemodialysis patients.