BACKGROUND Short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (scFOS) are increasingly used in human diet for their prebiotic properties. We aimed at investigating the effects of scFOS ingestion on the colonic microflora and oro-fecal transit time in elderly healthy humans. METHODS Stools composition, oro-fecal transit time, and clinical tolerance were evaluated in 12 healthy volunteers, aged 69 +/- 2 yrs, ...

PURPOSE To evaluate the visual and refractive outcomes in children 8 years of age or younger with corneal laceration and cataract following penetrating ocular injuries who underwent primary corneal tear repair followed within 1 to 8 weeks by early secondary cataract extraction. METHODS This retrospective, non-comparative case series reviewed the admission and operative charts of children 8 ye...

Promotional properties of a high-fat diet in intestinal cancer were studied by feeding a 30% beef fat diet to 8 groups of rats (25 rats/group) for time periods varying from 1 to 21 weeks after 8 weekly s.c. injections of azoxymethane (AOM) (8 mg/ kg). Two other groups were fed the high-fat diet, one for 8 weeks prior to and the other during AOM injections. A 5% fat diet was fed to rats when not...

To assess the possible relationship between an increase in progesterone concentration in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and enhancement of spread of spinal anaesthesia, we have measured CSF progesterone concentrations in 134 patients undergoing spinal anaesthesia with hyperbaric amethocaine 8 mg. Patients were allocated to one of five groups according to the gestational period: non-pregnant group (n...

The development of EEC sleep-spindles in prematurely-born and full-term infants was studied to test an hypothesized impact of experience (longer extrauterine existence) upon innate maturational factors (EEG development). The age of otiset of sleep spindles and achievement of mature spindle quality occurs approximately 4 weeks earlier in prematurely-born infants than in full-term infants. Sleep ...

This research project was conducted to evaluate bioavailability and chemical properties of different zinc sources in broiler chickens when fed by practical diets. For that, 312 day-old male Ross 308 broiler chicks were fed from 8-28 day to estimate the biological availability of four zinc sources. Chicks were allocated randomly to 13 experimental diets in a 3 × 4 factorial design. Diets include...

Factors responsible for maintaining blood pressure were studied in rats with one renal artery constricted and the contralateral kidney intact. Rats with short-term (< 3 weeks) and chronic (> 4 months) hypertension were infused with angiotensin II antiserum until the pressor effect of exogenous angiotensin II was blocked. The blood pressure response to an infusion of an angiotensin antagonist (l...

The aim of this study was to determine whether the age of broilers can influence their response to tannin-rich diets. A total of 340 one-day-old mixed sex Ross 308 broiler chicks were distributed among five experimental groups with four replicates and 17 birds each in a completely randomized design. A high-tannin feedstuff, Oak acorn, was included into diets (at a level of 25%) and fed to birds...

Caloric restriction (CR) is argued to positively affect general health, longevity and the normally occurring age-related reduction of cognition. This issue is well examined, but most studies investigated the effect of short-term periods of CR. Herein, 4 weeks old female mice were fed caloric restricted for 4, 20 and especially for 74 weeks. CR mice received 60% of food eaten by their ad libitum...