m. mottaghitalab

Strengthening and improving neuromuscular control in various ways, including technique modification, in order to prevent sports injuries, as a principle, is always of interest to researchers and athletes. Landing technique after jumping during sports such as volleyball is known as one of the most important non-contact mechanisms of knee joint ligament injury. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dynamic neuromuscular stability (DNS) exercises on knee functional tests in female athletes.

30 female volleyball players (age 22.06±3.39 years, height 1.67±0.04 m, weight 63.70±8.86 kg and body mass index 22.81±3.38 kg/m2) with at least three years of experience in volleyball training, they participated in this research and were randomly divided into two control groups (15 people) and an experimental group (15 people). Tuck Jump and Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) tests were recorded as subjects' performance scores. The kinematic variables of the subjects' lower limbs were measured by two cameras from the sagittal and frontal views during the Tuck Jump and LESS tests, before and after DNS exercises. The functional error of the subjects was recorded using the Kinovea software and recorded in the special table for scoring the tests. The subjects of the experimental group participated in the program of DNS exercises for 6 weeks and 3 sessions per week (each session lasting about 50 minutes). In order to analyze the data, independent and dependent parametric t-tests were used for data with normal distribution, and Mann Whitney U and Wilcoxon non-parametric tests were used for data with non-normal distribution in SPSS version 23 software.

The findings of the current research showed that DNS exercises was led to a significant decrease in the average Tuck Jump errors from 10.66 in the pre-test to 7.80 in the post-test (p=0.001), the score of the LESS from 8.13 in the pre-test to 4.53 in the post-test (p=-0.001) and the ligament dominance score decreased from 1.40 in the pre-test to 0.8 in the post-test (p=0.003) in the experimental group.

According to the results of the present study, it seems that performing DNS exercises in female volleyball players reduces the risk of injury and improves Motor-performance and is probably effective in the rehabilitation of athletes. Therefore, the use of DNS exercises in sports with frequent jumps and landings such as volleyball is recommended to prevent ACL injury.

In recent years, consideration has been given to changing the sex of a female bird to male because it has the functional characteristics of the male phenotype, and the technique of in ovo injection is used to achieve this. For this purpose, the production process of some sex hormones in broiler chickens is changed by injecting a substance containing anti-aromatase. The aromatase enzyme (Arom P450) is considered a key enzyme in estrogen synthesis. The administration of aromatase inhibitors leads to the inhibition of estrogen synthesis (a hormone responsible for ovarian structure and secondary sexual characteristics) in females and the production of males with female genotypes. Therefore, if aromatase enzyme expression is inhibited in some way, it can be expected that the percentage of male chicken production will increase. Aromatase inhibitors can be divided into two main groups in terms of production source, including synthesized and herbal compounds. Among the herbal extracts containing anti-aromatase are nettle root, button mushroom, garlic, green tea, and tomato. On the other hand, the results of some studies have shown that the performance indicators of male and female poultry during the breeding period, such as daily feed intake (DFI), daily weight gain (DWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), as well as the activity of the digestive system, especially the small intestine, are different and the ability to use nutrients, growth rate and FCR are better in males than females. According to male poultry characteristics, if the number of males in the flock increases, more profitability can be achieved in the production process. Therefore, the objectives of the current study were to determine the effects of in ovo injection of nettle extract, mushroom extract, and their mixture on hatched chickens, performance, and intestinal indicators of Ross 308 broiler chickens. This study was conducted to investigate the in ovo injection effects of nettle and mushroom extracts, and their mixture on hatchability, the percentage of male chickens produced, and some intestinal parameters in broilers. 500 fertilized eggs were divided into five treatments and four replicates (25 eggs per replicate). Experimental treatments included: 1. Nettle hydroalcoholic extract (containing 300 micrograms of dry matter per 0.1 cc of injectable substance), 2. Mushroom hydroalcoholic extract (containing 500 micrograms of dry matter per 0.1 cc of injectable substance), 3. Mushroom and nettle extracts mixture (containing 400 micrograms of dry matter per 0.1 cc of injectable substance), 4. Positive control (distilled water), and 5. Negative control (eggs without any injection). The experimental design was a completely randomized block design. Samples were divided into five treatment groups, with each treatment group having four replications based on the gender segregation of the chicks into male and female. The experimental diet was used based on the requirements of the Ross strain during three periods, including starter, grower, and finisher. After the chickens were hatched, performance and intestinal indices were measured. The results showed that the number of hatched chicks was affected by experimental treatments. Therefore, the lowest hatch percentage was related to URE treatment chicks. The number of normally hatched male chickens, performance indices, and intestinal parameters were not affected by the experimental treatments (P>0.05). The lack of significant difference in the number of male chickens in the experimental treatments may be due to the incorrect selection of the concentration of the experimental extract. Furthermore, villi height, crypt width, and villi surface absorption area were not affected by experimental treatment (herbal extracts). In comparison, DWG and FCR significantly improved by the sex effect (P<0.05). Regarding the difference in the performance of male and female broiler chickens, it has been reported that these two sexes have a significant difference in DFI and FCR. It has also been reported that the increase in BWG and the weight of different parts of the carcass in males was higher than in females, which is consistent with the findings of the current research regarding all three indicators of DFI, DWG, and FCR. Although there was no significant increase in the number of hatched male chickens in this study, it is recommended to optimize the preparation and production conditions of plant extracts containing anti-aromatase by focusing on extracting the pure active ingredient to achieve a higher percentage of male chickens in the flock. This study was conducted to investigate the in-ovo injection effects of nettle and mushroom extracts and their mixture on hatchability, the percentage of male chickens produced and some intestinal parameters in broilers. 500 fertilized eggs were divided into 5 treatments and 4 replications (25 eggs per replication) in a completely randomized design. Experimental treatments consisted: 500 fertilized eggs were divided into 5 treatments and 4 replicates (25 eggs per replicate) in a completely randomized design. Experimental treatments consisted: 1- nettle hydroalcoholic extract (containing 300 micrograms of dry matter per 0.1 cc of Injectable substance), 2- mushroom hydroalcoholic extract (containing 500 micrograms of dry matter per 0.1 cc of Injectable substance), 3- mushroom and nettle extracts mixture (containing 400 micrograms of dry matter per 0.1 cc of Injectable substance), 4- positive control (distilled water) and 5- negative control (eggs without any injection). The experimental diet was used based on the requirements of the Ross strain during three periods, including starter, grower and finisher. After the chicken were hatched, performance and intestinal indices were measured. The results showed that the number of hatched chicks were affected by experimental treatment. So that, the lowest hatch percentage was related to URE treatment chicks. The number of normal hatched male chicken, periodic performance indices and intestinal parameters were not affected by the experimental treatments (P>0.05). The lack of significant difference in the number of male chicken in the experimental treatments may be due to the incorrect selection of the concentration of the experimental extract. Furthermore, villi heigh, crypt width and villi surface absorption area(VSA) were not affected by experimental treatment (herbal extracts). In comparison, DWG and FCR significantly improved by the sex effect (P<0.05). Regarding the difference in the performance of male and female broiler chicken, it has been reported that these two sexes have a significant difference in DFI and FCR. It has also been reported that the increase in BWG and the weight of different parts of the carcass in males was higher than females, which is consistent with the findings of the current research regarding all three indicators of DFI and DWG as well as the FCR. Although there was no significant increase in the number of hatched male chickens in this study, it is recommended to optimize the preparation and production conditions of plant extracts containing anti-aromatase by focusing on extracting the pure active ingredient to achieve a higher percentage of male chickens in the flock.Key words: nettle and mushroom extract, ant i-aromatase, broiler chicken, plant extract, in-ovo injection

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) represent a major health issue for livestock production systems worldwide. Haemonchus contortus is one of the most pathogenic GIN in small ruminants and causes serious losses to farmers, both in impaired production and in control with anthelmintics. It has long been recognized that differences in host resistance and susceptibility to parasitic infection exist in various sheep breeds and that genetics may play an important role in regulating host resistance, which has spurred efforts to control parasitic infection through selective breeding for naturally resistant sheep. A detailed understanding of the genes and mechanisms involved in expressing a resistant phenotype and the factors that regulate this response would facilitate the identification of candidate genes for selection. Recent advances in high-throughput technology, such as microarrays and RNA sequencing, have made a large number of transcriptome data accessible. As a result, researchers are now able to obtain more reliable results by integrating information from multiple sources. Accordingly, meta-analysis can be used as a useful and powerful tool to identify differential gene expression. It can also find out genes that their products are key molecules in response to the infection and use in animal breeding programs. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on data collected from infected sheep with H. contortus and general analysis of changes in abomasal gene transcripts in response to infection using RNA-seq technology and bioinformatics tools. In this study, to identify infection-related genes, pathways, and molecular mechanisms underlying host resistance to this parasite, a meta-analysis was performed by combining two different datasets, including 70 samples of sheep H. contortus infection with Rankprod package of R software. After pre-processing, to remove heterogenicity across studies, batch effect correction was performed on gene expression data. The result of the principal component analysis showed that batch correction reduced the batch variation among the datasets. Meta-analysis was carried out and DEGs selected by meta-analysis were further analyzed and characterized. Enrichment analysis, as an efficient method for functional analysis of massive genetic data, was used to determine the biological process, molecular function, and cellular component of DEGs. Moreover, we searched upstream regions of DEGs for over-represented DNA motifs and functional analysis of discovered motifs. To explore the potential interaction network of the DEGs, the protein-protein interaction network among the DEGs was analyzed using the STRING database, which included direct and indirect associations of proteins. After analyzing the result derived from STRING analysis and expression change information for each DEG, the network figure was drawn for the selected DEGs (connected with one or more DEGs) by using the Cytoscape software and hub genes identified with the CytoHubba plugin of Cytoscape. Results derived from the meta-analysis showed a total of 1388 differentially expressed genes between resistant and susceptible sheep. Among them, 1137 were significantly upregulated, whereas 251 were downregulated across the datasets. In the identified DEGs, DEGs corresponding to ribosomal protein S3A, lysozyme C-1-like (LOC443320), and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K were the most strongly upregulated ones, while tenascin C and fibromodulin were the most strongly downregulated. Results from enrichment analysis showed these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were involved in different biological processes such as one-carbon metabolism, translation, cell surface receptor signaling pathway, immune response, metabolic pathways, PPAR signaling pathway, etc. Moreover, searching in upstream regions of DEGs to find DNA motifs, were able to identify eight conserved sequence motifs. The functional analysis of these motifs revealed that they were involved in the positive regulation of gene expression, defense response, positive regulation of immune response, cellular calcium ion homeostasis, etc. Using the protein-protein interaction analysis also identified multiple hub genes such as albumin and CD4 which may show that improved immune response, induced by up-regulation different genes affects the creation of resistance. The mechanisms of sheep resistance to GIN infections involve complex immune responses. Our results offered overall insight into changes in the transcriptomes of resistant and susceptible sheep and molecular mechanisms of host resistance induced by H. contortus infection. We propose these DEGs as a useful resource of molecular biomarkers and potential candidate genes for breeding programs which can provide a basis for further research on this topic.

Essential oils are volatile and concentrated liquids extracted from various parts of medicinal plants. In recent years, the use of essential oils in animal nutrition has gained interest as an alternative for antibiotic growth promoters. The main issue with using essential oils in poultry diets is the high volatility, which must be addressed by developing encapsulation techniques to preserve their efficacy. The purpose of the current experiment was to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of microencapsulated essential oil of Satureja khuzistanica on growth performance, oxidative stability of meat, and intestinal microflora of broilers.
A total of 320 1-d-old Ross 308 chicks were studied in a completely randomized design with a 2×4 factorial arrangement of treatments. The factors were two administration forms of essential oils (free and microencapsulated) and four levels of dietary supplementation (0, 50, 100, and 150 mg/kg). The experiment consisted of eight treatments, four replicates, and 10 broilers per replicate. The essential oil of Satureja khuzistanica was microencapsulated using a 2% sodium alginate solution, which was mixed and homogenized before being transferred into a funnel and dropped into a beaker containing a 5% calcium chloride solution using a needle from a syringe. The beads were gently stirred for an hour to solidify. After one hour, the beads were filtered through a sieve and washed with distilled water. The beads were thoroughly rinsed before being air dried at 23 °C for 12 hours and kept in airtight containers. Body weight and feed consumption were monitored in pens weekly. From these data, average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated weekly and throughout the entire rearing period. The European production efficiency factor (EEF) was also calculated for the whole rearing period. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Satureja khuzistanica essential oil was determined by broth microdilution method for each of Escherichia coli, coliforms and lactobacillus bacteria. On day 42, two birds from each replicate were slaughtered and ileal samples were taken for microflora analysis. Total Escherichia coli, coliforms, and lactobacilli were enumerated in ileal digesta by the plate method using specific mediums. The thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS) assay was used to determine the oxidative lipid changes of the meat.
The in vitro results demonstrated that the MIC of savory essential oil against gram-negative Escherichia coli and coliforms was higher (0.276) than its MIC for gram-positive lactobacillus bacteria (0.069). Throughout the in vivo study, the ADFI of broilers fed the diet with 150 mg/kg of essential oil was lower than the control (103.3 vs. 108.8; P<0.05). The ADG of broilers fed 100 mg essential oil/kg of diet was more than those fed 150 mg/kg (60.1 vs. 54.2; P<0.05). Broilers fed microencapsulated essential oil in their diet had a higher (P<0.05) EEF than those fed free essential oil. The addition of savory essential oil at 100 and 150 mg/kg of diet reduced (P<0.05) the lipid peroxidation in broilers meat stored for 60 and 90 days compared to the control. Lipid peroxidation of meat was lower (P<0.05) in broilers fed microencapsulated essential oil in the diet than those fed free essential oils. The addition of savory essential oil at different levels of 50, 100, and 150 mg/kg diet reduced the count of coliforms in the ileum compared to the control (P<0.05). Moreover, the data indicated that the addition of the essential oil at 100 and 150 mg/kg diet reduced the number of Escherichia coli (P<0.05). The bacterial count of coliforms and E. coli was lower in broilers fed microencapsulated essential oil than those fed free essential oil.
The results of this study showed that supplementation of Satureja khuzistanica essential oil in the diet improved broilers' performance and intestinal microflora. Microencapsulation of savory essential oil with alginate improved broiler growth performance, EEF, and increased the antibacterial activity of the essential oil which resulted in a further decrease of pathogenic bacteria. According to the findings of this study, 100 mg of microencapsulated savory essential oil per kg of broilers’ diet can be recommended due to its beneficial effects on performance, oxidative stability of meat, and intestinal microflora.

To investigate the effect of adding garlic and tomato pomace powder to the diet of Ross 308 broiler breeders on production performance, body weight, egg quality traits, and hatchability characteristics, a total of 375 chickens were randomly assigned to five iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous diets, including four diets containing 0.2 and 0.4% of garlic and tomato pomace dried powder and a control diet with five replicates (15 hens and one rooster per pen). Chicken’s body weight through the trial period (47 to 56 weeks of age), daily egg production (%), average egg weight, and hatching traits were recorded daily. The chickens’ body weight was significantly affected in the first five weeks of the experiment (46 to 51 weeks of age) and during the second five-week period (52 to 56 weeks of age). Adding 0.4% tomato pomace to the diet significantly increased the chickens’ weight (P<0.05). For hatching traits, there were no significant differences between treatments (P>0.05). During the first five weeks of the experiment, the feed conversion ratio decreased in the control and the 0.4% garlic powder treatments compared with the other dietary groups. Also, in the second five weeks of the experiment, control, and garlic powder treatments had a lower feed conversion ratio compared with diets containing tomato powder (P<0.05). Based on the results of the present experiment, it can be concluded that adding garlic powder compared to tomato powder caused better results.