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The aim of this review is to present the potential of bovine colostrum as growth promoter in piglet-weaner diet. The consequences of weaning on the growth performance, on the gastro-intestinal tract and on the metabolic and endocrine systems of the piglet are described in the first part of this review. The second part is dedicated to bovine colostrum, with a description of the actions due to its main growth promoters and antimicrobial factors. Finally, the reported effects of colostrum specific components or colostrum fractions on the growth performance and on the structure and function of the gastro-intestinal tract of piglets in the early postweaning period are presented. They show clearly the potential of bovine colostrum to reduce the growth-check related to the weaning of the piglet.

Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of bovine colostrum supplementation on the immune system of weaned piglets in a context of a full ban of in-feed antibiotics. After weaning at 21 days, 24 outbred piglets were fed with a diet supplemented daily for three weeks with 0, 1 or 5g of colostrum. Feed intake, growth performance, haematological parameters, and serum and local anti-colostrum immunoglobulin levels were examined. Lymphocytes from the blood, spleen, and gut-associated lymphoid were analysed for phenotype as well as for their ability to produce cytokines. The stimulation index (SI) of mononuclear cells from different organs was obtained after colostral or mitogenic stimulation. Feed intake, growth, and haematological parameters were not significantly affected by colostrum. Total serum IgA levels were increased after colostrum supplementation, with a transient decrease in total IgG. Local anti-colostrum immunization was observed in colostrum-fed piglets. The CD21+/CD3+ cells populations of the ileal Peyer’s patch (iPP) were markedly affected. The SI of lymphocyte populations changed significantly whereas, naive blood lymphocytes were not stimulated in vitro in the presence of bovine colostrum, suggesting local anti-colostrum immunization and an absence of direct mitogenic effects of the colostrum. Both Th1 and Th2 cytokine production was present in the different organs of colostrum-fed piglets. Bovine colostrum especially stimulated iPP cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The retraction of publications is a crucial aspect of scientific integrity; it aims to correct the literature and alert scholars and the general public by identifying and labelling articles that contain erroneous data, unreliable findings, or flawed conclusions. Identifying and characterizing retracted articles within the scientific literature is thus very important. The aims of this article were to characterize retracted articles in the ophthalmological literature. One hundred and fifty-one retracted articles published between 1966 and 2023 were retrieved. The number of retracted articles showed an upward trend from 2020 onwards. Ocular oncology (n = 37, 24.5 %) was the most frequently represented subspeciality in the retracted articles, despite retina and uveitis being the most published. The most frequent reason for retraction was fake data (n = 62, 38 %). The labelling of retracted articles on some websites was unsatisfactory, especially on the free-access illegal platform Sci-Hub. On the other hand, platforms such as Dimensions, Scite and Retraction Watch exhibit promising accuracy. Improving the labelling of retractions is needed to reduce the citation of articles after they have been retracted. Solutions to reach this goal are discussed in this article., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Competing Interests: Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and have no interests to declare.

Purpose: Artificial intelligence (AI) has entered the field of medicine, and ophthalmology is no exception. The objective of this study was to report on scientific production and publication trends, to identify journals, countries, international collaborations, and major MeSH terms involved in AI in ophthalmology research., Methods: Scientometric methods were used to evaluate global scientific production and development trends in AI in ophthalmology using PubMed and the Web of Science Core Collection., Results: A total of 1356 articles were retrieved over the period 1966-2019. The yearly growth of AI in ophthalmology publications has been 18.89% over the last ten years, indicating that AI in ophthalmology is a very attractive topic in science. Analysis of the most productive journals showed that most were specialized in computer and medical systems. No journal was found to specialize in AI in ophthalmology. The USA, China, and the UK were the three most productive countries. The study of international collaboration showed that, besides the USA, researchers tended to collaborate with peers from neighboring countries. Among the twenty most frequent MeSH terms retrieved, there were only four related to clinical topics, revealing the retina and glaucoma as the most frequently encountered subjects of interest in AI in ophthalmology. Analysis of the top ten Journal Citation Reports categories of journals and MeSH terms for articles confirmed that AI in ophthalmology research is mainly focused on engineering and computing and is mainly technical research related to computer methods., Conclusions: This study provides a broad view of the current status and trends in AI in ophthalmology research and shows that AI in ophthalmology research is an attractive topic focusing on retinal diseases and glaucoma. This study may be useful for researchers in AI in ophthalmology such as clinicians, but also for scientists to better understand this research topic, know the main actors in this field (including journals and countries), and have a general overview of this research theme., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The purpose of this paper was to assess the presence of researchers on two author identifier services (ORCID and ResearcherID) and to compare the results with two academic social networks (Academia.edu and ResearchGate) using the categories of discipline, career advancement, and gender in a medium sized multidisciplinary university in France (University of Caen Normandy). Metrics such as number of publications per researcher, h-indexes, and average number of citations were also assessed. Of the 1,047 researchers studied, 673 (64.3%) had at least one profile on the four sites, and the number of researchers having multiple profiles decreased as more sites were studied. Researchers with only one profile numbered 385 (36.8%), while 204 (19.5%) had two, 68 (6.5%) had three, and only 16 (1.5%) had four. ResearchGate had by far the highest number of researchers present, with 569 (54.3%), whereas presence on the other sites was about 15%. We found that, apart from Academia.edu, researchers in Sciences, Technology, and Medicine (STM) were over-represented. Overall, experienced male researchers were over-represented on the sites studied. Our results show that, because of the numerous profiles lacking publication references (particularly on ORCID) and a low presence of researchers on the four sites studied (except for ResearchGate), assessing the number of publications, h-indexes, or average number of citations per article of individuals or institutions remains challenging. Finally, our data showed that French researchers have not adopted the use of the two author identifier sites (i.e. ORCID and ResearcherID). As long as French researchers remain reticent, these sites will not be able to provide the services for which they were created: addressing the problem of author misidentification, consequently providing exhaustive access to scientific production and bibliometric indicators of individual researchers and their institutions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: The problem of access to medical information, particularly in low-income countries, has been under discussion for many years. Although a number of developments have occurred in the last decade (e.g., the open access (OA) movement and the website Sci-Hub), everyone agrees that these difficulties still persist very widely, mainly due to the fact that paywalls still limit access to approximately 75% of scholarly documents. In this study, we compare the accessibility of recent full text articles in the field of ophthalmology in 27 established institutions located worldwide., Methods: A total of 200 references from articles were retrieved using the PubMed database. Each article was individually checked for OA. Full texts of non-OA (i.e., "paywalled articles") were examined to determine whether they were available using institutional and Hinari access in each institution studied, using "alternative ways" (i.e., PubMed Central, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and Online Reprint Request), and using the website Sci-Hub., Results: The number of full texts of "paywalled articles" available using institutional and Hinari access showed strong heterogeneity, scattered between 0% full texts to 94.8% (mean = 46.8%; SD = 31.5; median = 51.3%). We found that complementary use of "alternative ways" and Sci-Hub leads to 95.5% of full text "paywalled articles," and also divides by 14 the average extra costs needed to obtain all full texts on publishers' websites using pay-per-view., Conclusions: The scant number of available full text "paywalled articles" in most institutions studied encourages researchers in the field of ophthalmology to use Sci-Hub to search for scientific information. The scientific community and decision-makers must unite and strengthen their efforts to find solutions to improve access to scientific literature worldwide and avoid an implosion of the scientific publishing model. This study is not an endorsement for using Sci-Hub. The authors, their institutions, and publishers accept no responsibility on behalf of readers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2019 Boudry et al.)

Purpose: To perform a bibliometric analysis in the field of dry eye disease (DED) research to characterize the current international status of DED research and to identify the most effective actors (journals, countries, authors) involved in this field., Methods: Scientometric methods were used to evaluate global scientific production and development trends in DED research, using the Web of Science Core Collection., Results: The growth of the literature related to DED averaged 12.18% over the last 10 years. A total of 5522 original and review articles, published in 821 different journals, were identified. The USA was the most productive country with 34.53% of the overall articles studied and 46.10% of the overall citations. The Ocular Surface published a very high percentage of articles related to DED relative to the total number of articles published (31.87%). The most productive institutions and the most frequently cited articles were from the USA and Japan. A network visualization map for country collaboration revealed that most European countries developed most of their collaborations with countries belonging to their own continent, which was not the case for the USA or Japan. A total of 41,956 KeyWords Plus were found with an average of 7.6 (SD = 3.15) KeyWords Plus per article., Conclusions: This study provides a broad view of the current status and trends in DED research and may help clinicians, researchers and policy makers better understand this research field and predict its dynamic directions., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Over time, academic social networks are more and more used by researchers, especially thanks to the possibilities of sharing articles they offer. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the proportion, the typology (pre-print, post-print author/publisher) and the legality of the full-text publications deposited by researchers on ResearchGate which is widely used by the medical and biological community, using a sample of 1,500 randomly selected articles in PubMed and published between 2013 and 2015. To compare, the access to the full-text of the 1500 articles via PubMed and PubMed Central has been assessed, putting into evidence the important role ResearchGate plays for providing full-texts of articles in biology/medicine. It also puts academic social networks into perspective in relation to open-access repositories and open access., (© 2017 médecine/sciences – Inserm.)

The effects of tropical forage legumes on feed intake, growth performance and carcass traits were investigated in 16 groups of two Large White × Duroc pigs. The diets consisted of a commercial corn-soybean meal diet as the basal diet and three forage-supplemented diets. Four groups of control pigs received daily 4 % of body weight of the basal diet, and 12 groups of experimental pigs were fed the basal diet at 3.2 % of body weight completed with fresh leaves of one of the three forage legumes (Psophocarpus scandens, Stylosanthes guianensis and Vigna unguiculata) ad libitum. The study lasted 90 days. The in vitro digestion and fermentation of the forage legumes were also determined. The in vitro digestible energy content of the legumes was between 0.72 and 0.77 that of the basal diet (14.4 MJ/kg dry matter (DM)). V . unguiculata was the most digestible forage legume expected for crude protein digestibility. Feeding forage legumes lowered the dry matter intake by 4.5 to 9.6 % (P < 0.05), final body weight (P = 0.013), slaughter weight, average daily gain and hot carcass weight (P < 0.05) without affecting the feed conversion ratio (FCR), dressing percentage and back fat thickness. In conclusion, using forage to feed pig could be interesting in pig smallholder production with limited access to concentrate, as FCR was not significantly affected.

Background: The purpose of this study is to provide a report on scientific production during the period 2010-2014 in order to identify the major topics as well as the predominant actors (journals, countries, continents) involved in the field of eye disease., Methods: A PubMed search was carried out to extract articles related to eye diseases during the period 2010-2014. Data were downloaded and processed through developed PHP scripts for further analysis., Results: A total of 62,123 articles were retrieved. A total of 3,368 different journals were found, and 19 journals were identified as "core journals" according to Braford's law. English was by far the predominant language. A total of 853,182 MeSH terms were found, representing an average of 13.73 (SD = 4.98) MeSH terms per article. Among these 853,182 MeSH terms, 14,689 different MeSH terms were identified. Vision Disorders, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration, and Cataract were the most frequent five MeSH terms related to eye diseases. The analysis of the total number of publications showed that Europe and Asia were the most productive continents, and the USA and China the most productive countries. Interestingly, using the mean Five-Year Impact Factor, the two most productive continents were North America and Oceania. After adjustment for population, the overall ranking positions changed in favor of smaller countries (i.e. Iceland, Switzerland, Denmark, and New Zealand), while after adjustment for Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the overall ranking positions changed in favor of some developing countries (Malawi, Guatemala, Singapore)., Conclusions: Due to the large number of articles included and the numerous parameters analyzed, this study provides a wide view of scientific productivity related to eye diseases during the period 2010-2014 and allows us to better understand this field.

Purpose: To calculate the growth rate of the biomedical literature on eye neoplasms and to assess which journals, countries, and continents are the most productive., Methods: PubMed was used to search for articles published from 1966 to 2012. Total number of articles per year was fitted to a linear equation as well as an exponential curve. To identify the core journals and predict the number of journals containing articles related to eye neoplasms, Bradford's law was applied. For each country and each continent, the gross domestic product (GDP) index (publications per $1 billion USD of GDP) and the population index (publications per million inhabitants) were calculated., Results: A total of 27,943 references were retrieved. The growth in the number of publications showed a linear increase with a yearly average growth rate of 2.08%, which was lower than for the whole PubMed database (3.59%). Using Bradford's law, 17 core journals were identified, among which 2 journals produced more than 1000 articles (JAMA Ophthalmology and American Journal of Ophthalmology). Europe was the most productive continent, followed by North America and Asia. The United States was by far the predominant country in number of publications, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. However, population and GDP indexes showed that absolute production did not reflect the production per capita or economic efficiency., Conclusions: This bibliometric study provides data contributing to a better understanding of the eye neoplasm research field.

Background: The World Wide Web has changed research habits, and these changes were further expanded when "Web 2.0" became popular in 2005. Bibliometrics is a helpful tool used for describing patterns of publication, for interpreting progression over time, and the geographical distribution of research in a given field. Few studies employing bibliometrics, however, have been carried out on the correlative nature of scientific literature and Web 2.0., Objective: The aim of this bibliometric analysis was to provide an overview of Web 2.0 implications in the biomedical literature. The objectives were to assess the growth rate of literature, key journals, authors, and country contributions, and to evaluate whether the various Web 2.0 applications were expressed within this biomedical literature, and if so, how., Methods: A specific query with keywords chosen to be representative of Web 2.0 applications was built for the PubMed database. Articles related to Web 2.0 were downloaded in Extensible Markup Language (XML) and were processed through developed hypertext preprocessor (PHP) scripts, then imported to Microsoft Excel 2010 for data processing., Results: A total of 1347 articles were included in this study. The number of articles related to Web 2.0 has been increasing from 2002 to 2012 (average annual growth rate was 106.3% with a maximum of 333% in 2005). The United States was by far the predominant country for authors, with 514 articles (54.0%; 514/952). The second and third most productive countries were the United Kingdom and Australia, with 87 (9.1%; 87/952) and 44 articles (4.6%; 44/952), respectively. Distribution of number of articles per author showed that the core population of researchers working on Web 2.0 in the medical field could be estimated at approximately 75. In total, 614 journals were identified during this analysis. Using Bradford's law, 27 core journals were identified, among which three (Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, Journal of Medical Internet Research, and Nucleic Acids Research) produced more than 35 articles related to Web 2.0 over the period studied. A total of 274 words in the field of Web 2.0 were found after manual sorting of the 15,878 words appearing in title and abstract fields for articles. Word frequency analysis reveals "blog" as the most recurrent, followed by "wiki", "Web 2.0", "social media", "Facebook", "social networks", "blogger", "cloud computing", "Twitter", and "blogging". All categories of Web 2.0 applications were found, indicating the successful integration of Web 2.0 into the biomedical field., Conclusions: This study shows that the biomedical community is engaged in the use of Web 2.0 and confirms its high level of interest in these tools. Therefore, changes in the ways researchers use information seem to be far from over.

The present study investigated the influence of bacterial metabolites on monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) expression in pigs using in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro approaches. Piglets (n 24) were fed high-protein (26 %) or low-protein (18 %) diets with or without fermentable carbohydrates. Colonic digesta samples were analysed for a broad range of bacterial metabolites. The expression of MCT1, TNF-α, interferon γ (IFN-γ) and IL-8 was determined in colonic tissue. The expression of MCT1 was lower and of TNF-α and IL-8 was higher with high-protein diets (P< 0·05). MCT1 expression was positively correlated with l-lactate, whereas negatively correlated with NH₃ and putrescine (P< 0·05). The expression of IL-8 and TNF-α was negatively correlated with l-lactate and positively correlated with NH₃ and putrescine, whereas the expression of IFN-γ was positively correlated with histamine and 4-ethylphenol (P< 0·05). Subsequently, porcine colonic tissue and Caco-2 cells were incubated with Na-butyrate, NH₄Cl or TNF-α as selected bacterial metabolites or mediators of inflammation. Colonic MCT1 expression was higher after incubation with Na-butyrate (P< 0·05) and lower after incubation with NH₄Cl or TNF-α (P< 0·05). Incubation of Caco-2 cells with increasing concentrations of these metabolites confirmed the up-regulation of MCT1 expression by Na-butyrate (linear, P< 0·05) and down-regulation by TNF-α and NH₄Cl (linear, P< 0·05). The high-protein diet decreased the expression of MCT1 in the colon of pigs, which appears to be linked to NH₃- and TNF-α-mediated signalling.

The chemical characteristics of co-products recovered during a laboratory-scale wet milling procedure as well as that of whole corn flour were characterised and their digestibility and fermentability value determined using a 2 steps in vitro digestibility and fermentation model of the pig digestive tract. Five co-products differing in their chemical composition were collected and analysed. These co-products differed in their in vitro dry matter Digestibility and in their kinetic of fermentation. High coefficients of digestibility were observed for starchy samples, while low coefficients of digestibility were observed for samples rich in lignocellulosic components. Fermentation patterns of samples analysed were different as well as the profile of volatile fatty acids produced during the fermentation. The production of straight-chain fatty acids produced was significantly correlated with the proportion of starch in the sample, while branched-chain fatty acids were correlated to proteins concentration of samples., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The effects of four tropical forage legume hays (Vigna unguiculata, Psophocarpus scandens, Pueraria phaseoloides and Stylosanthes guianensis) on voluntary feed intake (VFI) and their nutritive value were studied in growing pigs using a corn-soybean meal-based diet containing varying proportions of forage legume hays (0, 10, 20 and 40 % or 0, 12.5 and 25 % for VFI and nutritive value determination, respectively). There was no difference in VFI between species (P > 0.20), but a linear response to forage inclusion level (P < 0.05) was observed decreasing from 126 for 0 % to approximately 84 g/kg of body weight for the 40 % forage diets, except for V. unguiculata, where the response was quadratic (P = 0.01). All four forage species linearly decreased the total tract apparent digestibility (TTAD) from 0.76 to 0.61, 0.80 to 0.68, 0.54 to 0.40 and 0.58 to 0.31 except for S. guianensis (0.44) for DM, N, NDF and N retention, respectively. Differences in digestibility (P < 0.05) between species were also observed. Due to their negative influence on the overall digestibility, the contribution of hays should not exceed 12.5 %, except for S. guianensis, in which N retention remained quite high (0.44) at the highest inclusion level (25 %). P. phaseoloides hay should be avoided in pigs as it combines the lowest VFI with the lowest nutrient digestibility.

Although fermentable carbohydrates (CHO) can reduce metabolites derived from dietary protein fermentation in the intestine of pigs, the interaction between site of fermentation and substrate availability along the gut is still unclear. The current study aimed at determining the impact of two different sources of carbohydrates in diets with low or very high protein content on microbial metabolite profiles along the gastrointestinal tract of piglets. Thirty-six piglets (n = 6 per group) were fed diets high (26%, HP) or low (18%, LP) in dietary protein and with or without two different sources of carbohydrates (12% sugar beet pulp, SBP, or 8% lignocellulose, LNC) in a 2 × 3 factorial design. After 3 weeks, contents from stomach, jejunum, ileum, caecum, proximal and distal colon were taken and analysed for major bacterial metabolites (D-lactate, L-lactate, short chain fatty acids, ammonia, amines, phenols and indols). Results indicate considerable fermentation of CHO and protein already in the stomach. HP diets increased the formation of ammonia, amines, phenolic and indolic compounds throughout the different parts of the intestine with most pronounced effects in the distal colon. Dietary SBP inclusion in LP diets favoured the formation of cadaverine in the proximal parts of the intestine. SBP mainly increased CHO-derived metabolites such as SCFA and lactate and decreased protein-derived metabolites in the large intestine. Based on metabolite profiles, LNC was partly fermented in the distal large intestine and reduced mainly phenols, indols and cadaverine, but not ammonia. Multivariate analysis confirmed more diet-specific metabolite patterns in the stomach, whereas the CHO addition was the main determinant in the caecum and proximal colon. The protein level mainly influenced the metabolite patterns in the distal colon. The results confirm the importance of CHO source to influence the formation of metabolites derived from protein fermentation along the intestinal tract of the pig.

The objective of this study was to discriminate by a NIR line scan hyperspectral imaging, taxonomic plant families comprised of different grassland species. Plants were collected from semi-natural meadows of the National Apuseni Park, Apuseni Mountains, Gârda area (Romania) according to botanical families. Chemometric tools such as PLS-DA were used to discriminate distinct grassland species, and assign the different species to botanical families. Species within the Poacea family and other Botanical families could be distinguished (R(2)=0.91 and 0.90, respectively) with greater accuracy than those species in the Fabacea family (R(2)=0.60). A correct classification rate of 99% was obtained in the assignment of the various species to the proper family. Moreover a complete study based on wavelength selection has been performed in order to identify the chemical compound related to each botanical family and therefore to the possible toxicity of the plant. This work could be considered as a first step for the development of a complete procedure for the detection and quantification of possible toxic species in semi-natural meadows used by grazing animals., (© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Wildebeests carry asymptomatically alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1), a γ-herpesvirus inducing malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) to several ruminant species (including cattle). This acute and lethal lymphoproliferative disease occurs after a prolonged asymptomatic incubation period after transmission. Our recent findings with the rabbit model indicated that AlHV-1 infection is not productive during MCF. Here, we investigated whether latency establishment could explain this apparent absence of productive infection and sought to determine its role in MCF pathogenesis. First, whole-genome cellular and viral gene expression analyses were performed in lymph nodes of MCF-developing calves. Whereas a severe disruption in cellular genes was observed, only 10% of the entire AlHV-1 genome was expressed, contrasting with the 45% observed during productive infection in vitro. In vivo, the expressed viral genes included the latency-associated nuclear antigen homolog ORF73 but none of the regions known to be essential for productive infection. Next, genomic conformation analyses revealed that AlHV-1 was essentially episomal, further suggesting that MCF might be the consequence of a latent infection rather than abortive lytic infection. This hypothesis was further supported by the high frequencies of infected CD8(+) T cells during MCF using immunodetection of ORF73 protein and single-cell RT-PCR approaches. Finally, the role of latency-associated ORF73 was addressed. A lack of ORF73 did not impair initial virus replication in vivo, but it rendered AlHV-1 unable to induce MCF and persist in vivo and conferred protection against a lethal challenge with a WT virus. Together, these findings suggest that a latent infection is essential for MCF induction.

In the last decade, the applications known as "web 2.0" (Facebook, Youtube, Twitter…) have changed our daily life and gradually influence the field of research. This article aims at proposing a critical overview of these new services, and emphasizes the changes induced for researchers (practice of scientific publication, sharing and mutualization of research data and discussion between researchers…) especially in the field of biology/medicine. A focus is done on the limitations that prevent most of scientists from using these services in their common practice (lack of knowledge about these tools, time-consuming, fear of sharing data and ideas). Despite these restrictions, some mutations affecting researcher's information uses are unavoidable, and these new tools may rapidly contribute to scientific advances., (© 2012 médecine/sciences – Inserm / SRMS.)

Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1), carried by wildebeest asymptomatically, causes malignant catarrhal fever (WD-MCF) when cross-species transmitted to a variety of susceptible species of the Artiodactyla order. Experimentally, WD-MCF can be induced in rabbits. The lesions observed are very similar to those described in natural host species. Here, we used the rabbit model and in vivo 5-Bromo-2'-Deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation to study WD-MCF pathogenesis. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. (i) AlHV-1 infection induces CD8(+) T cell proliferation detectable as early as 15 days post-inoculation. (ii) While the viral load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells remains below the detection level during most of the incubation period, it increases drastically few days before death. At that time, at least 10% of CD8(+ )cells carry the viral genome; while CD11b(+), IgM(+) and CD4(+) cells do not. (iii) RT-PCR analyses of mononuclear cells isolated from the spleen and the popliteal lymph node of infected rabbits revealed no expression of ORF25 and ORF9, low or no expression of ORF50, and high or no expression of ORF73. Based on these data, we propose a new model for the pathogenesis of WD-MCF. This model relies on proliferation of infected CD8(+) cells supporting a predominantly latent infection.

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are seven transmembrane proteins that convert extracellular stimuli to cell signaling.Viral genes homologous to cellular GPCR have been described in the genome of Betaherpesvirinae, Gammaherpesvirinae and Poxviridae. The goal of this review is to summarize the knowledge available on viral GPCR (vGPCR) with a special interest for their roles in the biology and the pathogenesis of the infection. This review highlights some properties of vGPCR that are not shared by their cellular homologues and stresses the diversity of their functions in the biology of the infection.

To be informed about the last publications recently published or to produce a bibliography in a given thematic field is essential for researchers in the biomedical field. If the use of Internet information searching tools such as "Google" or "Alltheweb" makes possible to discover a great part of the grey literature, bibliographic databases like Embase, Current Contents, Biosis or Medline via PubMed are essential tools to locate scientific articles. Among these bibliographic databases, Medline PubMed, thanks to its free access, is the most used. However, a correct utilization of the various functionalities proposed (thesaurus MeSH, systematization of bibliographic searches...), and consequently the quality of bibliographic researches carried out in this database, requires to master elementary knowledge which are exposed in this article.

Objective: To assess the number of nuclei required for significant image cytometry DNA ploidy measurements on one archival case of breast cancer., Study Design: From one case of aneuploid DNA breast cancer, 18 subsets made up of 152-1,524 for the whole population of undamaged nuclei and made up of 74-735 epithelial nuclei had DNA measured. DNA ploidy type and five DNA ploidy indices, allowing DNA ploidy histogram interpretation were evaluated on each population., Results: Three hundred nuclei were always sufficient for DNA typing, whereas reliable results for DNA ploidy indices required at least 750 nuclei., Conclusion: To DNA measure the above number of nuclei, fully automated image cytometry DNA ploidy measurements are required.

The aim of the present study is to propose alternative automatic methods to time consuming interactive sorting of elements for DNA ploidy measurements. One archival brain tumour and two archival breast carcinoma were studied, corresponding to 7120 elements (3764 nuclei, 3356 debris and aggregates). Three automatic classification methods were tested to eliminate debris and aggregates from DNA ploidy measurements (mathematical morphology (MM), multiparametric analysis (MA) and neural network (NN)). Performances were evaluated by reference to interactive sorting. The results obtained for the three methods concerning the percentage of debris and aggregates automatically removed reach 63, 75 and 85% for MM, MA and NN methods, respectively, with false positive rates of 6, 21 and 25%. Information about DNA ploidy abnormalities were globally preserved after automatic elimination of debris and aggregates by MM and MA methods as opposed to NN method, showing that automatic classification methods can offer alternatives to tedious interactive elimination of debris and aggregates, for DNA ploidy measurements of archival tumours.