The horse evolved primarily as a grazing and browsing, hindgut fermenting herbivore, with a range of hydrolyzable and fermentable forage carbohydrates as its main source of energy. Pastures provide the primary habitat and nutrition for most horses, and the remaining stall-confined horses have approximately one-half of their nutrition supplied by conserved pasture, i.e., hay. Pasture composition...

It is possible that some of the systemic responses to sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA) may be caused by increased intestinal starch fermentation. The objective this experiment was evaluate effect abomasal infusion up 3 g/kg body weight corn (approximately 1.6 kg starch/d) on fecal measures fermentation, plasma acute phase proteins, and white blood cell populations. Six ruminally cannulated cow...

Complete duplication of the hindgut associated with duplication of the genitourinary tract and double termination is an extremely rare condition. The presence of complex duplications have fascinated most lay clinicians and parents. The present study describes a case of duplication of the hindgut associated with duplication of the genitourinary systems. A review of the literature revealed six re...

BACKGROUND The peptide hormone cholecystokinin (CCK), secreted by the midgut, plays a key role in digestive physiology of vertebrates including teleosts, by stimulating pancreatic secretion, gut motility, and gallbladder contraction, as well as by delaying gastric emptying. Moreover, CCK is involved in the regulation of food intake and satiation. Secretion of CCK by the hindgut is controversial...

The Brachyury (T) gene is required for notochord differentiation in vertebrates. We have identified a Drosophila gene, the T-related gene (Trg), with high similarity to T within a stretch of approximately 200 amino acids, the DNA-binding domain of T. Trg is expressed throughout embryogenesis, first at the blastoderm stage in the hindgut primordium under the control of the terminal gap genes tll...

BACKGROUND As the World Health Organization grading system for gastroenteropancreatic-neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) may not always correlate with tumor progression, it is imperative that other independent predictors of tumor progression be established. To identify such predictors, we conducted a retrospective histopathological study of hindgut NETs, obtained from endoscopic procedures, and u...

Animals often show left-right (LR) asymmetry in their body structures. In some vertebrates, the mechanisms underlying LR symmetry breaking and the subsequent signals responsible for LR asymmetric development are well understood. However, in invertebrates, the molecular bases of these processes are largely unknown. Therefore, we have been studying the genetic pathway of LR asymmetric development...

The gut of Drosophila consists of ectodermally derived foregut and hindgut and endodermally derived midgut. Here I show that the gene serpent plays a key role in the development of the endoderm. serpent embryos lack the entire midgut and do not show endodermal differentiation. They gastrulate normally and form proper amnioproctodeal and anterior midgut invaginations. However, the prospective an...

On the Antarctica continent the wingless midge, Belgica antarctica (Diptera, Chironomidae) occurs further south than any other insect. The digestive tract of the larval stage of Belgica that inhabits this extreme environment and feeds in detritus of penguin rookeries has been described for the first time. Ingested food passes through a foregut lumen and into a stomodeal valve representing an in...