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Synthetic Notch (synNotch) receptors have enabled mammalian cells to sense extracellular ligands and respond by activating user-prescribed transcriptional programs. Based on the synNotch system, we describe a cell-based in vivo sensor for cancerous cell detection. We attempted to engineer synNotch-programmed macrophages to sense cancer cells via urinary analysis of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCGB5). Principally, when the synNotch receptors of macrophages bind to the ligands of cancer cells, Notch is activated and undergoes intramembrane proteolysis to release the transcriptional activator into the nucleus. The transcriptional activator targets and activates downstream gene expression, such as human chorionic gonadotropin (HCGB5) in macrophages. When HCGB5 is secreted extracellularly into urine, it can be detected with commercial HCGB5 colloidal gold test strips. As a proof of principle, we demonstrated the feasibility of synNotch-programmed macrophages in detecting breast cancer cells engineered with artificial EGFP ligands. We demonstrated that HCGB5 expression was only induced when the cancer cell expressing EGFP ligands is present; thereby, extracellular HCGB5 expression is directly proportional to the number of cancer cells. Further optimizations of the synNotch system can realize the ultimate goal of establishing cell-based in vivo sensors as the paragon of cancer diagnostics for point-of-care testing and home self-test.

Microbial remediation can maintain the sustainability of farmlands contaminated with heavy metals (HMs). However, the effects of bacterial consortium on crop growth and potential risks under HM stress, as well as its mechanisms, are still unclear compared with a single microorganism. Here, we investigated the effect of a bacterial consortium consisting of some HMs-resistant bacteria, including Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis, and Herbaspirillum huttiense, on plant growth promotion and inhibition of Pb/Cd accumulation within different contaminated soil-wheat systems through pot experiments. The results showed that microbial inoculation alleviated HMs-induced growth inhibition by activating antioxidant enzymes and inhibiting lipid peroxidation, and enhanced plant growth in the bacterial consortium. Compared to a single strain (Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis, or Herbaspirillum huttiense), the bacterial consortium was more conducive to improving root development and reducing the content of available HMs in soil (4.5-10.3%) and its transfer to shoot (4.3-8.4%). Moreover, bacterial consortium significantly increased soil enzyme activities and available nutrients, resulting in nearly twice that of a single strain on the effect of soil quality and plant growth. Correlation analysis and least square path analysis showed that the bacterial consortium could significantly reduce the HMs-enrichment/transport from soil to shoot than a single strain by regulating soil available HMs and biochemical properties, as well as the parameters for plant growth. This study emphasizes that bacterial consortium promotes the growth of the crop wheat and reduces the risk of HMs entering human food chain, further providing an effective strategy for the safe production of food crops in contaminated soils., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Microbial degradation techniques are often considered an environmentally friendly and cost-effective strategy for reducing gossypol toxicity. However, the mechanism by which Candida tropicalis degrades gossypol remains unclear. In the current study, we aimed to establish the mechanisms of biodegradation and adaptation mechanisms by C. tropicalis ZD-3. The toxicological evaluation results revealed that ZD-3 adapts to gossypol primarily by activating the antioxidant defense system to alleviate the oxidative stress response induced by gossypol. Transcriptomic analyses further suggested that ZD-3 protects against gossypol toxicity via cell wall remodeling. The intracellular enzyme CTRG_04744 gene was significantly up-regulated under gossypol stress, and then expressed in Pichia pastoris. The purified AKR_Z1 degraded 92 % of gossypol within 48 h. In addition, the aldehyde group of gossypol was effectively eliminated to achieve the desired detoxification. Collectively, these results provide theoretical guidance for the continued development of bio-efficient strategies capable of degrading gossypol., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no financial interests or personal relationships that could influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) affects millions of women globally and carries a significant socioeconomic burden. Adequate apical support is essential for treating POP. Recent research has increasingly validated the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic pectopexy (LP) for addressing apical POP. However, the cost of synthetic mesh and associated complications restrict the widespread use of this technique. Our team previously published a study describing a novel, non-mesh procedure called laparoscopic non-mesh cerclage pectopexy (LNMCP), demonstrating successful outcomes with satisfactory objective and subjective success rates. Many patients express a preference for retaining their uterus during prolapse surgery due to considerations related to sexuality, partnership, and body image. The present research introduces a novel approach known as laparoscopic non-mesh cerclage pectopexy with uterine preservation (LNMCPUP) for POP, wherein the uterus is suspended to the iliopectineal ligament through the round ligament using permanent cerclage sutures. We successfully performed this procedure in 14 cases at our hospital, six of whom still had menstruation, and the remaining eight were postmenopausal, with a mean operation time of 54.43 min (± 10.18 min) and an average bleeding volume of 53.57 mL (± 48.77 mL). The mean follow-up duration was 19.71 ± 15.87 months. The objective success rate of LNMCPUP was 100%, with a subjective success rate of 92.86%. No significant complications were observed during or after surgery. LNMCPUP integrates cervical cerclage and shortening of the round ligament, as well as LP without using mesh, thereby eliminating the risk of mesh erosion and lowering healthcare costs. Moreover, this novel technique is relatively easy to master, making it accessible even in rural and underdeveloped areas where synthetic mesh is unavailable. Therefore, it is worthwhile to adopt LNMCPUP in POP patients who desire the preservation of their uterus.

Activities such as childbirth and breastfeeding can cause severe oxidative stress and inflammatory damage to the mother during early lactation, and can affect animal milk production, and the growth and development of offspring. Trehalose alleviates damage to the body by endowing it with stress resistance. In this study, we used trehalose combined with Lactobacillus plantarum , Bifidobacterium longum , Bacillus subtilis , and Saccharomyces cerevisiae to explore whether dietary intervention can alleviate oxidative stress and inflammatory damage in early lactation and to evaluate the growth ability, acid production ability, antioxidant ability, non-specific adhesion ability, antibacterial ability, and other parameters to determine the optimal combinations and proportions. The results showed that the synbiotics composed of 2.5% trehalose and 1 × 10 7 cfu/g of Bifidobacterium longum could regulate the gut microbiota, and promote mammary gland development in dams by reducing progesterone (PROG) content in the blood, increasing prolactin (PRL) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) content, enhancing their antioxidant and immune abilities, and effectively increasing the weight and lactation of early lactating dams. In addition, it can also affect the growth of offspring and the development of the intestinal barrier. These results indicate that trehalose synbiotics have great potential in alleviating oxidative stress and inflammatory damage in early lactation.

Active iron oxides, especially poorly crystalline forms, benefit soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation via directly bounding and indirectly promoting aggregation. However, it remains unclear on the impacts of active iron oxides on SOC accumulation in paddy and upland soils under long-term fertilization regimes. Here, we attempted to clarify the underlying mechanisms of amorphous (Fe O ) and organically complexed (Fe P ) iron oxides mediating SOC accumulation in paddy and upland soils based on two long-term fertilization experiments (both including no fertilization [CK]; chemical nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium [NPK] and NPK plus manure [NPKM] treatments). Results showed that compared to upland soil, Fe-bound organic carbon (Fe-bound OC) content in paddy soil, occupying 21-30% of SOC, was 77% higher on average, due to larger amounts of Fe O (+31%) and Fe P (+224%). The Fe O and Fe P were positively related to mean weight diameter (MWD) of soil aggregates across paddy and upland soils. Compared to NPK treatment, NPKM treatment strongly increased Fe O (+41%), Fe P (+60%) and associated Fe-bound OC (+19%) in paddy soil, and increased Fe O (+17%) and Fe P (+25%) while decreasing Fe-bound OC (-9%) in upland soil. These combined findings indicated the importance of poorly crystalline iron oxides facilitating Fe-bound OC formation and its contribution to SOC accumulation in paddy soil rather than upland soil. Moreover, long-term manure amendment could enhance SOC accumulation by increasing Fe-bound OC and aggregation stability in paddy soil and enhancing physical protection in upland soil, largely attributed to increased poorly crystalline iron oxides. Overall, these results highlight the potential mechanisms through which active iron oxides regulate SOC accumulation and guide fertilization management in paddy and upland soils., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite the widespread adoption of TMR or PMR and the formulas designed to sufficiently cover the cows' requirements, individual dairy cows' milk production varies significantly. The liver is one of the most important organs in cow lactation metabolism and plays an essential role in the initiation of lactation., Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the potential key genes in the liver contributing to the different milk production., Methods: We enrolled 64 cows and assigned them to high or low milk yield (MY) groups according to their first 3 weeks of milk production. We performed RNAseq for 35 liver samples with 18 from prepartum and 17 from postpartum cows., Results: The continuous milk yield observation showed a persistently higher milk yield in high MY cows than low MY cows in the first 3 weeks. High MY cows showed better feed conversion efficiency. We identified 795 differentially expressed genes (DGEs) in the liver of high MY cows compared with low MY cows, with up-regulated genes linked to morphogenesis and development pathways. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) revealed four gene modules positively correlating with milk yield, and protein and lactose yield ( p < 0.05). Using the intersected genes between the four gene modules and DEGs, we constructed the linear mixed-effects models and identified six hub genes positively associated and two hub genes negatively associated with milk yield (Coefficients > 0.25, p < 0.05). Random forest machine learning model training based on these eight hub genes could efficiently predict the milk yield ( p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.946). Interestingly, the expression patterns of these eight hub genes remained remarkably similar before and after parturition., Conclusions: The present study indicated the critical role of liver in milk production. Activated processes involved in morphogenesis and development in liver may contribute to the higher milk production. Eight hub genes identified in this study may provide genetic research materials for dairy cow breeding., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

We evaluated the effects of cottonseed meal protein hydrolysate (CPH) on the intestinal microbiota of yellow-feather broilers. We randomly divided 240 chicks into four groups with six replicates: basal diet with 0% (CON), 1% (LCPH), 3% (MCPH), or 5% (HCPH) CPH. The test lasted 63 days and included days 1-21, 22-42, and 43-63 phases. The ACE, Chao1, and Shannon indices in the MCPH and HCPH groups of 42-day-old broilers were higher than those in the CON group ( p  < 0.05), indicating that the cecum microbial diversity and richness were higher in these groups. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla; however, the main genera varied during the different periods. The abundance of Lactobacillus in CPH treatment groups of 21-day-old broilers was high ( p < 0.05); in the 42-day-old broilers, the abundances of Barnesiella , Clostridia&#95;vadinBB60&#95;group , and Parasutterella in the LCPH group, Desulfovibrio , Lactobacillus , Clostridia&#95;vadinBB60&#95;group , and Butyricicoccus in the MCPH group, and Megamonas and Streptococcus in the HCPH group increased; in the 63-day-old broilers, the abundance of Clostridia&#95;UCG-014 and Synergistes in the LCPH and HCPH group, respectively, increased ( p  < 0.05), and that of Alistipes in the LCPH and MCPH groups decreased ( p  < 0.05). And changes in the abundance of probiotics were beneficial to improve the intestinal morphology and growth performance. In addition, the LCPH treatment increased the complexity of the microbial network, while the MCPH treatment had the same effect in 42-day-old broilers. Thus, CPH increased the relative abundance of beneficial intestinal microbiota and enhanced the richness and diversity of the bacterial microbiota in broilers aged <42 days; this effect was weakened after 42 days., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Wang, Niu, Chen and Zhang.)

Hippophae tibetana, one of the highest-altitude woody plants endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, primarily thrives on riverbanks formed by glacial meltwater. As a dioecious species, it demonstrates significant ecological and economic value in extreme alpine environments. However, the lack of sex identification techniques outside of the flowering period severely limits research on sex ratio, differentiation, and breeding. There is an urgent need to develop effective sex-linked molecular markers that are independent of developmental stages, but current research in this area remains limited. This study developed a set of accurate sex-linked molecular markers for the rapid identification of male and female individuals of H. tibetana. Through whole-genome resequencing of 32 sexually differentiated H. tibetana samples, this study offers strong evidence supporting chromosome 2 as the sex chromosome and successfully identified key loci related to sex determination on this chromosome. Utilizing these loci, we, for the first time, developed three reliable pairs of sex-specific molecular markers, which exhibited high accuracy during validation across various geographic populations, offering an effective tool for the sex identification of H. tibetana. Additionally, this study lays the groundwork for further research into the mechanisms of sex determination and the evolution of sex chromosomes in H. tibetana., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: To study the false memory among senile normal people with high neuroticism and low neuroticism using neuropsychological scales and event-related potentials (ERPs), and to explore the effects of high neuroticism on false memory and its neuroelectrophysiological mechanism., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, in which the general situation questionnaire, adult version of Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) scale were used to establish a multi-dimensional survey in senile normal people over 60 years old from communities in Zhengzhou, and the EPQ and general situation questionnaire were used to comprehensively screen and divide the study subjects into high neuroticism group and low neuroticism group from 206 senile people. The population was matched by 1:1 according to gender, age (±2 years), and years of education (±2 years), and 40 subjects were finally enrolled for detection of electroencephalograph (EEG) components using ERPs. The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm of false memory was designed using E-prime2.0 system, and the stimulus program was presented. The EEG signals of the study subjects were recorded in real time and acquired using 64-channel Neuroscan EEG signals acquisition system., Results: High neuroticism group was evidently lower in the mean accuracy than low neuroticism group, and the difference in the mean accuracy was statistically significant (P = 0.013), but the difference in reaction time was not statistically significant. 2. The mean amplitude of EEG component N400: The difference in the main effect of N400 in the brain region was significantly different (P<0.001), and the mean amplitude of N400 was the largest in frontal region, followed by central region and parietal region successively (all P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the neurotic main effect or the interaction effect of neuroticism and brain region. The latency of N400: There was no significant difference in the neurotic main effect, main effect of the brain region or the interaction effect of neuroticism and brain region. 3. The mean amplitude of EEG component LPC: The difference in the main effect of the brain region was significantly different (P<0.001), and the mean amplitude of LPC was the largest in frontal region, followed by central region and parietal region successively (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the neurotic main effect, neuroticism or the interaction effect of neuroticism and brain region. As to the latency of LPC, there was significant difference in the main effect of the brain region (P = 0.025), and the latency of LPC was shorter in frontal region than that in central region (P<0.05). The differences in the neurotic main effect, interaction effect of neuroticism and brain region were not statistically significant., Conclusions: High neuroticism can significantly increase the false memory of senile normal people. The EEG components N400 and LPC are potential early indicators of high neuroticism affecting false memory. High neuroticism may influence false memory by affecting the frontal cortex function., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Introduction: Evidence suggests that the dietary intake of Candida tropicalis ZD-3 (ZD-3) has various health benefits, but the treatment mechanisms and effects remain unclear. The aim of this study investigates the effect of ZD-3 on reducing fat deposition in broilers and the underlying mechanism., Methods: 180 one-day-old, yellow-feathered broilers were randomly divided into three groups: control (CON) group fed a basal diet, an active Candida tropicalis ZD-3 (ZD) group supplemented with ZD, and a heat-inactivated Candida tropicalis ZD-3 (HZD) group supplemented with HZD. The experiment lasted for 28 d., Results: The ZD and HZD treatments significantly reduced the abdominal fat index ( p < 0.05), decreased TG levels in serum and liver ( p < 0.05), altered the ileal microbial composition by reducing the Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio. Additionally, the ZD and HZD treatments reduced liver cholesterol by decreasing ileal FXR-FGF19 signaling and increasing liver FXR-SHP signaling ( p < 0.05). The ZD and HZD treatments also changed liver PC and TG classes lipid composition, regulating liver lipid metabolism by promoting TG degradation and modulating the signal transduction of the cell membrane., Discussion: Overall, ZD-3 was effective in improving lipid metabolism in broilers by regulating the ileal microbial composition and BAs enterohepatic circulation. This study provides a theoretical basis for the development and application of ZD-3 for the regulation of lipid metabolism in broilers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Feng, Wang, Nan, Dou, Pang, Niu, Zhang and Nie.)

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Clostridium butyricum ( C. butyricum ) on the prevention of the diarrhea rates and growth performances of weaned piglets induced by Escherichia coli K88 ( E. coli K88). Twenty-four weaned piglets (6.92 ± 0.11 kg) were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups for a period of 21 days. Each group consisted of eight pigs, with each pig being housed in an individual pen. Group I received the control diet along with normal saline, Group II received the control diet along with E. coli K88, and Group III received the control diet supplemented with 5 × 10 8 CFU/kg of C. butyricum and E. coli K88. We examined alterations in rectal microbiota and metabolites, analyzed the incidence of diarrhea, and investigated the interactions between microbiota and metabolites through the application of Illumina MiSeq sequencing and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that, from days 14 to 21, the diarrhea incidence in Group III decreased significantly by 83.29% compared to Group II ( p < 0.05). Over the entire experimental duration, the average daily feed intake of Group III decreased significantly by 11.13% compared to Group I ( p < 0.05), while the diarrhea incidence in Group III decreased by 71.46% compared to Group II ( p < 0.05). The predominant microbial flora in the rectum consisted of Firmicutes (57.32%), Bacteroidetes (41.03%), and Proteobacteria (0.66%). Administering E. coli K88 orally can elevate the relative abundance of Megasphaera ( p < 0.05). Conversely, the supplementation of C. butyricum in the diet reduced the relative abundance of Megasphaera ( p < 0.05), while increasing the relative abundance of unclassified&#95;f&#95; Lachnospiraceae ( p < 0.05). Rectal metabolomics analysis revealed that supplementing C. butyricum in the feed significantly altered the amino acids and fatty acids of the piglets infected with E. coli K88 ( p < 0.05). The correlation analysis showed that the occurrence of diarrhea was inversely related to adipic acid ( p < 0.05) and positively associated with (5-hydroxyindol-3-YL) acetic acid and L-aspartic acid ( p < 0.05). Prevotella &#95;1 exhibited a negative correlation with octadecanoic acid ( p < 0.05). Prevotellaceae &#95;UCG-005 showed a negative correlation with (5-hydroxyindol-3-YL) acetic acid ( p < 0.05). The findings from this research study aid in probiotic development and the enhancement of healthy growth in weaned piglets.

Background: Individuals suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) frequently face a heightened likelihood of experiencing cardiovascular complications, including heart failure and cardiac mortality. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT) is utilized to assess the micro-contraction function of the myocardium. The objective of this research is to explore the relationship between the left ventricular anatomy, myocardial strain, and the clinical outcomes in patients with CKD., Methods: A total of 77 patients with late-stage CKD were enrolled in this retrospective study. They underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and were followed up, with no history of significant cardiac diseases. The patients were divided into two groups: those with a left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LVGLS) ≥ -15.2% ( n  = 49) and those with LVGLS < -15.2% ( n  = 28). The clinical endpoints were defined as hospitalization for heart failure or all-cause mortality., Results: Over an average observation period of 22 ± 9 months, 11 (14%) patients passed away and 30 (39%) were admitted to the hospital for heart failure, with eight encountering both incidents. Those with LVGLS ≥ -15.2% had markedly lower rates of event-free survival concerning heart failure admissions and overall mortality than their counterparts (log-rank P  = 0.014). Cox multivariable analysis indicated that reduced LVGLS consistently predicted a higher likelihood of combined outcomes of heart failure admissions and total mortality (HR: 3.40, 95% CI [1.35-8.56], P  = 0.009), even when factoring in age, diabetes, left atrial diameter, and left ventricular mass index (LVMI). However, the LVMI showed no significant correlation with the risk of heart failure admissions or overall mortality., Conclusion: Compared to patients with LVGLS < -15.2%, CKD patients with LVGLS ≥ -15.2% have an increased risk of heart failure hospitalization and all-cause mortality. The prognostic role of LVMI in assessing CKD patients among the Asian population requires further investigation., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (©2024 Zhang et al.)

Microbial metabolism is closely related to soil carbon dioxide emissions, which in turn is related to environmental issues such as global warming. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) affects many fundamental biogeochemical processes such as microbial metabolism involved in soil carbon cycle, not only directly by its availability, but also indirectly by its chemodiversity. However, the association between the DOM chemodiversity and bioavailability remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, soils from two agro-ecological experimental sites subjected to various long-term fertilizations in subtropical area was collected. The chemodiversity of DOM was detected by multi-spectroscopic techniques including ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and excitation emission matrices fluorescence spectroscopy. Results showed that long-term manure amendments significantly decreased microbial metabolic quotient (qCO 2 ) by up to 57%. We also observed that long-term manure amendments significantly increased recalcitrant components of DOM (indicated by the aromaticity, humification index, the ratio of aromatic carbon to aliphatic carbon, and the relative abundances of humic-like components) and decreased labile components of DOM. Negatively correlation between the qCO 2 and the proportion of recalcitrant components of DOM supported that accumulation in recalcitrant components of DOM increased microbial carbon utilization efficiency. Random forest models also showed the highest contribution of the relative abundances of humic-like components and the aromaticity of DOM in affecting qCO 2 . Both of the redundancy analysis and structural equation modeling further indicated the decisive role of soil pH in influencing the DOM chemodiversity. Soil pH explained 56.7% of the variation in the chemodiversity of DOM. The accumulation of recalcitrant components in DOM with increasing soil pH might be attributed to the accelerated microbial consumption of bioavailability components and/or to the negative impact on the solubility of bioavailability components. Overall, this research highlights the significance of long-term manure amendments in regulating qCO 2 by altering the chemodiversity of soil DOM., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to explore the protective effects of raffinose (Raf) against inflammatory bowel disease in mice with colitis. Mice were administered 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg Raf for 21 d, followed by drinking-water containing 3% dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) for 3 d. Thereafter, the phenotype, pathological lesions in the colon, cytokines levels, and gut microbiota were evaluated. Treatment with Raf reduced the severity of the pathological changes in the colon, mitigating the reduction in colon length. Following Raf intervention, serum levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) tended to return to normal. These results suggest that the anti-inflammatory effects of Raf are associated with a reduction in TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB pathway expression in mouse colonic tissues. Analysis of gut microbiota abundance and its correlation with colitis parameters revealed that DSS-induced dysbiosis was partially mitigated by Raf. In conclusion, Raf exerts a protective effect in colitis by modulating the gut microbiota and TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB pathway.

This study investigated the effects of cottonseed meal protein hydrolysate (CPH) on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, serum biochemical indices, intestinal morphology, and enzyme activities of yellow-feather broilers. We randomly divided 240 chicks into four groups, each with six replicates: a basal diet with 0% (CON), 1% (LCPH), 3% (MCPH), or 5% (HCPH) CPH. The trail spanned 63 days and included three phases: Days 1-21, 22-42, and 43-63. Increased average daily gain (ADG) and decreased ratio of feed to gain (F/G) with LCPH were observed in 21-day-old broilers (P < 0.05). MCPH led to higher ADG and average daily feed intake (ADFI) in 42-day-old broilers (P < 0.05). Additionally, CPH supplementation resulted in increased dressing percentage, percentage of half-eviscerated yield, percentage of eviscerated yield, breast muscle rate, and leg muscle rate were observed (P < 0.05) with diet. The serum levels of total protein (TP), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), calcium (Ca), and phosphorus (P) were enhanced, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and triglyceride (TG) levels decreased with diet and CPH (P < 0.05). CPH increased the length of the jejunum and ileum and the weight of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum in 21-day-old broilers (P < 0.05). Alterations in the duodenal villus structure in broilers occurred on Days 21 and 42, and the CPH groups performed better; however, a similar change occurred in the jejunum on Days 42 and 63 (P < 0.05). MCPH and HCPH enhanced trypsin activity in the duodenum of 21-day-old and 63-day-old broilers (p < 0.05). Chymotrypsin activity increased (P > 0.05) in the duodenum of 63-day-old broilers fed MCPH. Lipase activity increased (P < 0.05) in the jejuna of 21-day-old broilers treated with HCPH. CPH increased trypsin activity in the ilea of 21-day-old broilers (P < 0.05). These results showed that CPH influenced the growth performance, carcass characteristics, serum biochemical indices, and intestinal morphology of yellow-feather broilers, which are related to growth stage. The recommended CPH level in broilers is 1% before 21 days of age and 3% after 21 days of age., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of exogenous non-starch polysaccharidases (a mixture of cellulase, xylanase, β-glucanase and mannanase) on the growth performance and nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation, and rumen microflora of sheep. The animal trial was conducted using 36 5-month-old female fattening hybrid sheep (Duolang♂ × Hu♀) who were randomly assigned into four groups comprising nine sheep per treatment: CON, T1, T2, and T3, with 0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5% NSPases/kg DM of TMR, respectively. This complex enzyme product was screened for optimal ratios based on previous in vitro tests and responded positively to the in vitro fermentation of the TMR. When treated with NSPases, there was a non-linear effect of average daily gain and feed conversion rate, with the greatest improvement observed in the T2 group. There were no significant differences ( p  > 0.05) in nutrient intake or apparent digestibility among the NSPase-supplemented groups. In addition, T2 group had a significantly higher acetate to propionate ratio and pH ( p  < 0.05) than the other groups, and NH 3 -N and microbial protein concentrations showed a quadratic curve. The results revealed that both immunoglobulins and serum hormones increased linearly with addition ( p  < 0.05). As the T2 group showed the best growth performance, the CON and T2 groups were subjected to rumen metagenomic analysis. The results showed higher abundance of bacteria and lower abundance of Viruses in the rumen microbiota of the T2 group compared to the CON group. In addition, Uroviricota and Proteobacteria abundance was significantly lower in the T2 group than in the CON group at the phylum level ( p  < 0.05). These results suggest that the supplementation of high-concentrate rations with NSPases enhance immunity, reduces virus abundance in the rumen, improves rumen health, and promotes rumen fermentation. Our findings provide novel insights for improving growth performance and alleviating inflammatory responses arising from high concentrate feeding patterns in ruminants. However, the biological mechanisms cannot be elucidated by exploring the composition of rumen microbe alone, and further studies are required., Competing Interests: HG was employed by Xinjiang Tianshan Junken Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Xue, Sun, Guo, Nie, Nan, Lu, Chen and Zhang.)

Standing and lying are the fundamental behaviours of quadrupedal animals, and the ratio of their durations is a significant indicator of calf health. In this study, we proposed a computer vision method for non-invasively monitoring of calves' behaviours. Cameras were deployed at four viewpoints to monitor six calves on six consecutive days. YOLOv8n was trained to detect standing and lying calves. Daily behavioural budget was then summarised and analysed based on automatic inference on untrained data. The results show a mean average precision of 0.995 and an average inference speed of 333 frames per second. The maximum error in the estimated daily standing and lying time for a total of 8 calf-days is less than 14 min. Calves with diarrhoea had about 2 h more daily lying time ( p < 0.002), 2.65 more daily lying bouts ( p < 0.049), and 4.3 min less daily lying bout duration ( p = 0.5) compared to healthy calves. The proposed method can help in understanding calves' health status based on automatically measured standing and lying time, thereby improving their welfare and management on the farm.

The aim of this experiment is to explore the effects of salvia sclarea extract on the growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, antioxidant capacity, and immune function of lambs. Sixty female lambs (Chinese Merino sheep) aged 2 months and weighing 20 ± 2 kg were selected and randomly divided into five groups of twelve lambs in each. While the control group (CK) received only basal feed, the experimental group was supplemented with different concentrations of salvia sclarea extract in the basal feed at 0.04 mL/kg (group CL1), 0.08 mL/kg (group CL2), 0.12 mL/kg (group CL3), and 0.16 mL/kg (group CL4). The feeding period was 85 days, including 15 days of pre-feeding and 70 days of regular feeding. Body weight and feed intake were recorded during the test period, and blood was collected at the end of the test for the determination of immune and antioxidant indices. The results showed that the average daily gain and average daily feed intake of lambs were significantly increased in CL3 group compared to CK group ( p  < 0.05). Also, the apparent nutrient digestibility of crude protein and neutral detergent fiber was significantly increased ( p  < 0.05). The Dry matter, acid detergent fiber and Ether extract were not significantly different ( p  > 0.05). The serum levels of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and antioxidant capacity were significantly higher in the CL2, CL3, and CL4 groups compared to CK group, while malondialdehyde levels were significantly lower ( p  < 0.05). The serum levels of immune globulin A, immune globulin G, immune globulin M, interferon-γ, and interleukin-10 were significantly higher and the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β were significantly lower in the CL2, CL3, and CL4 groups ( p  < 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of salvia sclarea extract to the ration promotes growth performance and nutrient digestion in lambs. Improvement of immune response by increasing immunoglobulin and cytokine concentrations. And it enhances the antioxidant status by increasing the antioxidant enzyme activity in lambs., Introduction: This study aimed to explore the effects of Salvia sclarea extract on the growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, antioxidant capacity, and immune function of the lambs., Methods: Sixty female lambs (Chinese Merino sheep) aged 2 months and weighing 20 ± 2 kg were selected and randomly divided into five groups of 12 lambs each. The control group (CK) received only basal feed, whereas the experimental group was supplemented with different concentrations of salvia sclarea extract in the basal feed at 0.04, 0.08, 0.12, and 0.16 mL/kg (CL1, CL2, CL3, and CL4, respectively). The feeding period was 85 days, including 15 days of pre-feeding and 70 days of regular feeding. Body weight and feed intake were recorded during the test period, and blood was collected at the end of the test to determine immune and antioxidant indices., Results: The results showed that the average daily weight gain and feed intake of the lambs were significantly higher in the CL3 group than in the CK group ( p  < 0.05). In addition, the apparent nutrient digestibility of crude protein and neutral detergent fiber increased significantly ( p  < 0.05). The dry matter, acid detergent fiber, and ether extract were not significantly different ( p  > 0.05). Serum levels of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase and antioxidant capacity were significantly higher in the CL2, CL3, and CL4 groups than in the CK group, whereas malondialdehyde levels were significantly lower ( p  < 0.05). The serum levels of immune globulin immune globulin A, immune globulin G, immune globulin M, interferon-γ, and interleukin-10 were significantly higher and the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β were significantly lower in the CL2, CL3, and CL4 groups ( p  < 0.05)., Discussion: In conclusion, the addition of the S. sclarea extract to the diet promoted growth performance and nutrient digestion in lambs. Immune response was improved by increasing Ig and cytokine concentrations. It enhances antioxidant status by increasing antioxidant enzyme activity in lambs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Ma, Niu, Nan and Zhang.)

Mulberry has high crude protein and biologically active compounds but is difficult to be ensiled due to the lack of adequate epiphytic LAB. This study aimed to investigate the effects of inoculation with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Pediococcus pentosaceus isolated from mulberry with higher antioxidant capacity alone or in combination with Streptococcus bovis on chemical characteristics, antioxidant capacity, bacterial community, and metabolite composition of mulberry silage. The results showed that all inoculation groups had higher dry matter and lower pH than the control group, particularly in LP (dry matter, DM, 32.03% and pH = 4.44) and LP&#95;PP&#95;SB (DM, 31.68% and pH = 4.26) after 60 days of ensiling. Ammonia nitrogen (AN) content was the lowest in both LP&#95;SB and LP&#95;PP&#95;SB groups, which were 1.86 g/kg FM and 1.05 g/kg FM, respectively, ( P < 0.05). Only the LP&#95;PP&#95;SB group showed increased polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA, 1.2851 g/kg DM, P < 0.05) than the control group. Ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) values were increased in all inoculation-treated groups compared with the control group ( P < 0.05). 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DDPH), 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), and FRAP exhibited the highest levels in the LP&#95;PP- and LP&#95;PP&#95;SB-treated groups. Enterobacter was dominant in both the control and SB-treated groups, and the relative abundance was 41.18% and 32.35%, respectively ( P < 0.05). The relative abundance of Lactiplantibacillus was higher in the LP-, LP&#95;PP-, and LP&#95;SB-treated groups (81.84%-82.69%). Relative abundance of Pediococcus was higher in the PP-, PP&#95;SB-, and LP&#95;PP&#95;SB-treated groups (74.27%-85.27%). Untargeted metabolomics analysis results showed that five flavonoids (apigenin, eriodictyol, quercetin-3-glucoside, rutin, and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside)were upregulated in all inoculation groups (except for the SB-treated groups). Among them, eriodictyol was both positively correlated with ABTS and FRAP and also showed the highest relative abundance in the LP&#95;PP- and LP&#95;PP&#95;SB-treated groups. To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first to investigate the relationship between inoculants of epiphytic lactic acid bacteria and antioxidant capacity by 16s rRNA Illumina sequencing technology and untargeted metabolomics analysis, respectively. Consequently, inoculated L. plantarum, P. pentosaceus alone, respectively, or in combination with S. bovis increased the relative abundance of Lactiplantibacillus and Pediococcus and decreased the relative abundance of Enterobacter , particularly in the LP&#95;PP&#95;SB-treated group. In addition, inoculants could increase the relative abundance of five flavonoids (apigenin, eriodictyol, quercetin-3-glucoside, rutin, and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside), especially eriodictyol to improve the antioxidant capacity of mulberry silage., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Guo, Huang, Niu, Zhang, Li and Zhang.)

Murine adenosine deaminase (mADA) is a prototypic system for studying the thermal activation of active site chemistry within the TIM barrel family of enzyme reactions. Previous temperature-dependent hydrogen deuterium exchange studies under various conditions have identified interconnected thermal networks for heat transfer from opposing protein-solvent interfaces to active site residues in mADA. One of these interfaces contains a solvent exposed helix-loop-helix moiety that presents the hydrophobic face of its long α-helix to the backside of bound substrate. Herein we pursue the time and temperature dependence of solvation dynamics at the surface of mADA, for comparison to established kinetic parameters that represent active site chemistry. We first created a modified protein devoid of native tryptophans with close to native kinetic behavior. Single site-specific tryptophan mutants were back inserted into each of the four positions where native tryptophans reside. Measurements of nanosecond fluorescence relaxation lifetimes and Stokes shift decays, that reflect time dependent environmental reoroganization around the photo-excited state of Trp*, display minimal temperature dependences. These regions serve as controls for the behavior of a new single tryptophan inserted into a solvent exposed region near the helix-loop-helix moiety located behind the bound substrate, Lys54Trp. This installed Trp displays a significantly elevated value for Ea ( k Stokes shift ) ; further, when Phe61 within the long helix positioned behind bound substrate is replaced by a series of aliphatic hydrophobic side chains, the trends in Ea ( k Stokes shift ) mirror the earlier reported impact of the same series of function-altering hydrophobic side chains on the activation energy of catalysis, Ea ( k cat ) .The reported experimental findings implicate a solvent initiated and rapid (>ns) protein restructuring that contributes to the enthalpic activation barrier to catalysis in mADA.

China accounts for around 50 % of the global vegetable harvested area which is expected to increase continuously. Large cropland areas, including rice paddy, have been converted into vegetable cultivation to feed an increasingly affluent population and increase farmers' incomes. However, little information is available on the balance between economic benefits and environmental impacts upon rice paddy conversion into vegetable fields, especially during the initial conversion period. Herein, the life cycle assessment approach was applied to compare the differences in agricultural input costs, yield incomes, net economic benefits (NEB), carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) footprints and net ecosystem economic benefits (NEEB) between the double rice paddy (Rice) and newly vegetable field (Veg) converted from Rice based on a four-year field experiment. Results showed that yield incomes from Veg increased by 96-135 %, outweighing the increased agricultural input costs due to higher inputs of labor and pesticide, thus significantly increasing NEB by 80-137 %, as compared to Rice. Rice conversion into Veg largely increased C footprints by 2.3-10 folds and N footprints by 1.1-2.6 folds, consequently increasing the environmental damage costs (EDC) by 2.2 folds on average. The magnitudes of increases in C and N footprints and EDC due to conversion strongly declined over time. The NEEB, the trade-offs between NEB and EDC, decreased by 18 % in the first year, while increasing by 63 % in the second year and further to 135 % in the fourth year upon conversion. These results suggested that rice paddy conversion into vegetable cultivation could increase the NEB at the expense of enhanced EDC, particular during the initial conversion years. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of introducing interventions to mitigate C and N footprints from newly converted vegetable field, so as to maximize NEEB and realize the green and sustainable vegetable production., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cationic polyacrylates exhibit both reverse demulsification and flotation performance, which can avoid incompatibility between the reverse demulsifier and flotation agent during treatment of produced water from offshore oilfields. In our previous work, the effect of the structure of the cationic unit on the reverse demulsification and flotation performance of cationic polyacrylates was studied. However, the structure-activity relationship of cationic polyacrylates has not been systematically studied. In this study, the relationships between the structure (acrylate type, tertiary amine type, mass ratio of acrylate to tertiary amine, and degree of cationicity), interfacial properties (surface tension, interfacial tension, zeta potential, interfacial elastic modulus, interaction force between oil droplets, and film drainage time of an oil-covered bubble), and reverse demulsification and flotation performance of cationic polyacrylates were investigated. A reduction in the elastic modulus of the oil-water interface was the key factor for good reverse demulsification performance, whereas a decrease in the film drainage time of an oil-covered bubble was the key factor for good flotation performance. Ethyl acrylate (EA) was superior to methyl acrylate (MA), and dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide (DPM) was superior to dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DEM). Increases in the mass ratio of ethyl acrylate to dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide and the degree of cationicity were beneficial for reducing the elastic modulus of the oil-water interface and the film drainage time of an oil-covered bubble. This is the first time that the structure-property-performance relationship of cationic polyacrylates has been systematically studied. A cationic polyacrylate that exhibited both good reverse demulsification performance and good flotation performance is recommended., 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., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Liming, as a common amelioration practice worldwide, has the potential to alleviate soil acidification and ensure crop production. However, the impacts of long-term liming on the temperature sensitivity (Q 10 ) of soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization and its response to labile C input remain unclear. To fill the knowledge gap, soil samples were collected from a long-term (∼10 years) field trial with unlimed and limed (CaO) plots. These soil samples were incubated at 15 °C and 25 °C for 42 days, amended without and with 13 C-labeled glucose. Results showed that compared to the unlimed soil (3.6-8.6 mg C g -1 SOC), liming increased SOC mineralization (6.1-11.2 mg C g -1 SOC). However, liming significantly mitigated the positive response of SOC mineralization to warming, resulting in a lower Q 10 . Long-term liming increased bacterial richness and Shannon diversity as well as their response to warming which were associated with the decreased Q 10 . Furthermore, the decreased Q 10 due to liming was attributed to the decreased response of bacterial oligotrophs/copiotrophs ratio, β-glucosidase and xylosidase activities to warming. Labile C addition had a strong impact on Q 10 in the unlimed soil, but only a marginal influence in the limed soil. Overall, our research highlights that acidification amelioration by long-term liming has the potential to alleviate the positive response of SOC mineralization to warming and labile C input, thereby facilitating SOC stability in agroecosystems, especially for acidic soils in subtropical regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work submitted., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Calf intestines are colonized by rich and complex microbial communities, playing a crucial role in animal physiology, metabolism, nutrition, and immune function. In this study, we provide insight into the composition of fecal microbial bacteria and fungi, respectively, as well as the cross-kingdom interactions. We investigated the intestinal microbiota of different breeds of calves by characterizing the bacterial and fungal communities in the rectal feces of Holstein calves and German Simmental × Holstein cross F1 generation (GXH) using 16S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing techniques. PICRUSt2 (version 2.2.0) were used to determine microbial diversity and function and explore the reasons why Holstein calves are more susceptible to diarrhea. The results revealed no significant difference in the diversity of fecal microbiota among the groups ( p > 0.05). We identified Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria as the dominant bacterial phyla in the fecal bacterial communities of the two breeds of calves. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota play important roles in the fungal community but differ in relative abundance. Bacteroides was the dominant genus at the group level for calf fecal microbiota in both breeds. The relative abundance of Prevotella , Escherichia - Shigella , Peptostreptococcus , and Butyricicoccus was higher in Holstein calves, and the relative abundance of Faecalibacterium , Megamonas , Butyricicoccus , and Alloprevotella was lower than GXH group. Aspergillus and Cladosporium were the dominating genera of fecal fungi in both groups of calves. LEfSe analysis revealed 33 different bacteria and 23 different fungi between the two groups, with more differential strains found in GXH. In addition, the feces fungi-bacteria interkingdom interactions varied among breeds. Thus, the composition and structure of bacterial and fungal communities in calf feces varied by breed, indicating a potential association between breed and microbial communities. We also found differences in the network between bacterial-fungal kingdoms. We explain the reasons for Holstein calves being more prone to diarrhea. This indicated that breed makes differences in calf diarrhea rates by influencing gut microbial composition and interactions.

Appropriate nitrogen (N) management system is essential for effective crop productivity and minimizing agricultural pollution. However, the underlying mechanistic understanding of how N fertilizer regulates crop yield via soil properties in soils with different fertilities remains unresolved. Here, we used a field experiment that spanned 3 cropping seasons to evaluate the grain yield (GY), aboveground biomass and N recovery efficiency (NRE) after treatment with five N fertilizer application rates (N0, N75, N112, N150, and N187) in soils with three levels of fertility. Our results indicated that the highest GY across low, moderate, and high fertility soils were 1.5 t hm -2 (N150), 4.9 t hm -2 (N187), and 5.4 t hm -2 (N112), respectively. The highest aboveground biomass and NRE were observed at N150 for all three levels of soil fertility, while only the N uptake by aboveground biomass of low and high fertility soils decreased at N187, confirming that excessive N fertilization results in a further decline in crop N uptake. The relationship between GY, NRE and N fertilizer application rates fit the unary quadratic polynomial model. To achieve a balance between grain production and environmental benefits in N fertilizer, appropriate N fertilizer rates were determined to be 97.5 kg hm -2 , 140 kg hm -2 and 131 kg hm -2 for low, moderate and high fertility soils, respectively. Structural equation modeling suggested that GY was significant correlated with soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) and N directly in low fertility field, with SMBC directly in moderate fertility field, and via SOC and NO 3 - N in high fertility field. Therefore, a soil-based management strategy for N fertilizers could enhance food security while reducing agricultural N fertilizer inputs to mitigate environmental impacts., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zou, Li, Ren, Liu, Zhang, Duan and Lu.)

Objective: To investigate whether letrozole pre-treatment is non-inferior to mifepristone pre-treatment, followed by misoprostol, for complete evacuation in the medical treatment of first-trimester missed miscarriage., Design: Prospective open-label non-inferiority randomised controlled trial., Setting: A university-affiliated hospital., Population: We recruited 294 women diagnosed with first-trimester missed miscarriage who opted for medical treatment., Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to: (i) the mifepristone group, who received 200 mg mifepristone orally followed 24-48 h later by 800 μg misoprostol vaginally; or (ii) the letrozole group, who received 10 mg letrozole orally once-a-day for 3 days, followed by 800 μg misoprostol vaginally on the third (i.e. last) day of letrozole administration., Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was the rate of complete evacuation without surgical intervention at 42 days post-treatment. Secondary outcomes included induction-to-expulsion interval, adverse effects, women's satisfaction, number of doses of misoprostol required, duration of vaginal bleeding, pain score on the day of misoprostol administration and other adverse events., Results: The complete evacuation rates were 97.8% (95% CI 95.1%-100%) and 97.2% (95% CI 94.4%-99.9%) in the letrozole and mifepristone groups, respectively (p ≤ 0.001 for non-inferiority). The mean induction-to-tissue expulsion interval in the letrozole group was longer compared with the mifepristone group (15.4 vs 9.0 h) (p = 0.03). The letrozole group had less heavy post-treatment bleeding and an earlier return of menses. There were no statistically significant differences in the number of doses of misoprostol required, the duration of vaginal bleeding, the pain score on the day of misoprostol administration and the rate of other adverse events between the two groups. The majority of the women (91.2% and 93.9% in the letrozole and mifepristone groups, respectively) were satisfied with their treatment option., Conclusions: Letrozole is non-inferior to mifepristone as a pre-treatment, followed by misoprostol, for the medical treatment of first-trimester missed miscarriage., (© 2023 The Authors. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Currently, there is a lack of intuitive analysis regarding the development trend, main authors, and research hotspots in the field of cerebral arteriovenous malformation treatment, as well as a detailed elaboration of possible research hotspots., Methods: A bibliometric analysis was conducted on data retrieved from the Web of Science core collection database between 2000 and 2022. The analysis was performed using R, VOSviewer, CiteSpace software, and an online bibliometric platform., Results: A total of 1,356 articles were collected, and the number of publications has increased over time. The United States and the University of Pittsburgh are the most prolific countries and institutions in the field. The top three cited authors are Kondziolka D, Sheehan JP, and Lunsford LD. The Journal of Neurosurgery and Neurosurgery are two of the most influential journals in the field of brain arteriovenous malformation treatment research, with higher H-index, total citations, and number of publications. Furthermore, the analysis of keywords indicates that "aruba trial," "randomised trial," "microsurgery," "onyx embolization," and "Spetzler-Martin grade" may become research focal points. Additionally, this paper discusses the current research status, existing issues, and potential future research directions for the treatment of brain arteriovenous malformations., Conclusion: This bibliometric study comprehensively analyses the publication trend of cerebral arteriovenous malformation treatment in the past 20 years. It covers the trend of international cooperation, publications, and research hotspots. This information provides an important reference for scholars to further study cerebral arteriovenous malformation., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Tang, Chen, Ma, Chen, Yang, Li, Li, Wu, Wang, Guo, Zhang, Chen, Lv, Zhao and Guo.)

Biochar application is widely studied to mitigate the threats of soil degradation to food security and climate change. However, there are big variations in the effects of biochar application on crops, soils, and the atmosphere during crop production. This study provides a global dataset of biochar application effects on crop yield, soil properties, and greenhouse emissions. The dataset is extracted and integrated from 367 peer-reviewed studies with 891 independent field, laboratory, and incubation experiments across 37 countries. This dataset includes 21 variables before and after biochar application (including soil properties, crop yield, greenhouse gas emissions, etc.) of 2438 items, focusing on two main biochar application types: biochar application alone and combined with fertilizers. Background information on climate conditions, initial soil properties, management practices, and characteristics of biochar sources and production is also contained in the dataset. This dataset facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the impact of biochar application, supports the utilization of agricultural wastes for biochar production, and assists researchers in refining experimental protocols for further studies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The cell division cycle associated (CDCA) genes regulate the cell cycle; however, their relationship with prognosis in glioma has been poorly reported in the literature. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was utilized to probe the CDCA family in relation to the adverse clinical features of glioma. Glioma single-cell atlas reveals specific expression of CDCA3, 4, 5, 8 in malignant cells and CDCA7 in neural progenitor cells (NPC)-like malignant cells. Glioma data from TCGA, the China Glioma Genome Atlas Project (CGGA) and the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database all demonstrated that CDCA2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 are prognostic markers for glioma. Further analysis identified CDCA2, 5 and 8 as independent prognostic factors for glioma. Lasso regression-based risk models for CDCA families demonstrated that high-risk patients were characterized by high tumor mutational burden (TMB), low levels of microsatellite instability (MSI), and low tumor immune dysfunction and rejection (TIDE) scores. These pointed to immunotherapy for glioma as a potentially viable treatment option Further CDCA clustering suggested that the high CDCA subtype exhibited a high macrophage phenotype and was associated with a higher antigen presentation capacity and high levels of immune escape. In addition, hsa-mir-15b-5p was predicted to be common regulator of CDCA3 and CDCA4, which was validated in U87 and U251 cells. Importantly, we found that CDCAs may indicate response to drug treatment, especially rapamycin, in glioma. In summary, our results suggest that CDCAs have potential applications in clinical diagnosis and as drug sensitivity markers in glioma., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Human Deltex 2 (DTX2) is a ubiquitin E3 ligase that functions as an oncogene and has been shown to participate in many human cancers. However, the role of DTX2 in glioma progression has remained obscure. In this study, we explore the mechanism underlying the function of DTX2 in glioma progression., Methods: The associations between DTX2 expression and clinical characteristics of glioma were determined by bioinformatic analysis of data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Human Protein Atlas. The expression of DTX2 in glioma tissues was detected using immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Lentivirus-mediated gene knockdown and overexpression were used to determine the effects of DTX2 and helicase-like transcription element (HLTF) on glioma cell proliferation and migration with CCK-8, cell colony formation, transwell, and wound healing assays; flow cytometry in vitro; and animal models in vivo. The interaction of the DTX2 and HLTF proteins was verified by immunoprecipitation assay and confocal microscopy., Results: DTX2 was highly expressed in glioma samples, and this was correlated with worse overall survival. Silencing of DTX2 suppressed glioma cell viability, colony formation, and migration and induced cell apoptosis. In vitro ubiquitination assays confirmed that DTX2 could downregulate HLTF protein levels by increasing ubiquitination of the HLTF protein. We also observed that HLTF inhibited proliferation and migration of glioma cells. Subcutaneous xenografts with DTX2-overexpressing U87 cells showed significantly increased tumor volumes and weights., Conclusions: We have identified DTX2/HLTF as a new axis in the development of glioma that could serve as a prognostic or therapeutic marker., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

To improve the potassium availability of feldspar at ordinary temperatures, the mechanical grinding and addition of sodium hydroxide/salts were employed to study the effects of mechanical activation and strong alkali addition on particle characteristics, water-soluble potassium, and the available potassium of feldspar. A laser particle size analyzer was utilized for the direct determination of particle size distribution (PSD) using ground samples. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method was employed for specific surface areas. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was employed for structural characterization, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for morphology exploration, and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to determine the chemical composition of potassium feldspar powder. The results revealed that the mechanical activation of potassium feldspar could reduce the particle size and produce agglomerated nanoparticles in the later period. The addition of NaOH and sodium salt did not cause agglomeration, and NaOH dissolved the nanoparticles. The water-soluble potassium content of feldspar in each treatment increased during mechanical grinding, from 21.64 mg kg -1 to 1495.81 mg·kg -1 , by adding NaOH 5% weight of potassium feldspar powder and to 3044.08 mg·kg -1 by adding NaOH 10% weight with effects different from those of mechanical shaking. By comparison, only 162.93 mg·kg -1 water-soluble potassium was obtained by adding NaOH 5% weight. The dissolved potassium in the former case was significantly higher than in the latter, and the addition of NaOH and sodium salts significantly enhanced the water-soluble potassium contents due to ion exchange. Furthermore, the addition of sodium hydroxide improved the water-soluble potassium due to its mechanochemical action on potassium feldspar. The mechanical energy changed the crystal structure of potassium feldspar, explaining the increase in available potassium. The addition of sodium salts did not promote change in the feldspar's structure, thereby did not raise the available potassium content. The reason for this was related to the mechanochemical action on sodium hydroxide and feldspar, which could promote the dissolution of fine particles, thereby incrementing the available potassium.

Labile carbon (C) input and fertilization have important consequences for soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition via the priming effect (PE), thereby impacting soil fertility and C sequestration. However, it remains largely uncertain on how the labile C input levels interact with long-term fertilization history to control PE intensity. To clarify this question, soil samples were collected from a 38-year fertilization field experiment (including five treatments: chemical nitrogen fertilizer, N; chemical fertilizer, NPK; manure, M 1 ; 200 % manure, M 2 ; NPK plus M 2 , NPKM 2 ), with strongly altered soil physiochemical properties (i.e., soil aggregation, organic C and nutrient availability). These soil samples were incubated with three input levels of 13 C-glucose (without glucose, control; low, 0.4 % SOC; high, 2.0 % SOC) to clarify the underlying mechanisms of PE. Results showed that the PE significantly increased with glucose input levels, with values increasing from negative or weak (-2.21 to 3.55 mg C g -1 SOC) at low input level to strongly positive (5.62 to 8.57 mg C g -1 SOC) at high input level across fertilization treatments. The increased PE intensity occurred along with decreased dissolved total nitrogen (DTN) contents and increased ratios of dissolved organic C to DTN, implying that the decline in N availability largely increased PE via enhanced microbial N mining from SOM. Compared to N and NPK treatments, the PE was significantly lower in the manure-amendment treatments, especially for low input level, due to more stable SOM by aggregate protection and higher N and phosphorus availability. These results suggested that manure application could alleviate SOM priming via increased soil C stability and nutrient availability. Collectively, our findings emphasize the importance of long-term fertilization-driven changes in labile C inputs, SOM stability, and nutrient availability in regulating PE and soil C dynamics. This knowledge advances our understanding of the long-term fertilization management for soil C sequestration., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work submitted., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The continental-shelf islands of the Aegean Sea provide an ideal geographical setting for evolutionary-biogeographical studies but disentangling the relationships between palaeogeographical history and the times, orders of modes of taxon divergence is not straightforward. Here, we used phylogenomic and population genomic approaches, based on orthologous gene sequences and transcriptome-derived SNP data, to reconstruct the spatial-temporal evolution of the Aegean Nigella arvensis complex (Ranunculaceae; 11 out of 12 taxa). The group's early diversification in the Early/Mid-Pliocene (c. 3.77 Mya) resulted in three main lineages (Greek mainland vs. central Aegean + Turkish mainland/eastern Aegean islands), while all extant taxa are of Late Plio-/Early Pleistocene origin (c. 3.30-1.59 Mya). Demographic modelling of the outcrossing taxa uncovered disparate modes of (sub)speciation, including divergence with gene flow on the Greek mainland, para- or peripatric diversification across eastern Aegean islands, and a 'mixing-isolation-mixing (MIM)' mode of subspeciation in the Cyclades. The two selfing species (N. stricta, N. doerfleri) evolved independently from the outcrossers. Present-day island configurations are clearly insufficient to explain the spatial-temporal history of lineage diversification and modes of (sub)speciation in Aegean Nigella. Moreover, our identification of positively selected genes in almost all taxa calls into question that this plant group represents a case of 'non-adaptive' radiation. Our study revealed an episodic diversification history of the N. arvensis complex, giving new insight into the modes and drivers of island speciation and adaption across multiple spatiotemporal scales., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest 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., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Distinct hosts have been hypothesized to possess the potential for affecting species differentiation and genome evolution of parasitic organisms. However, what host shift history is experienced by the closely related parasites and whether disparate evolution of their genomes occur remain largely unknown. Here, we screened horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events in a pair of sister species of holoparasitic Boschniakia (Orobanchaceae) having obligate hosts from distinct families to recall the former host-parasite associations and performed a comparative analysis to investigate the difference of their organelle genomes. Except those from the current hosts (Ericaceae and Betulaceae), we identified a number of HGTs from Rosaceae supporting the occurrence of unexpected ancient host shifts. Different hosts transfer functional genes which changed nuclear genomes of this sister species. Likewise, different donors transferred sequences to their mitogenomes, which vary in size due to foreign and repetitive elements rather than other factors found in other parasites. The plastomes are both severely reduced, and the degree of difference in reduction syndrome reaches the intergeneric level. Our findings provide new insights into the genome evolution of parasites adapting to different hosts and extend the mechanism of host shift promoting species differentiation to parasitic plant lineages., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest 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., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Weaning stress seriously affects the welfare of calves and causes huge economic losses to the cattle breeding industry. Probiotics play an important role in improving animal growth performance, enhancing immune function, and improving gut microbiota. The newly isolated strains of Lactobacillus reuteri L81 and Lactobacillus johnsonii L29 have shown potential as probiotics. Here, we studied the probiotic properties of these two strains on weaned calves., Methods: Forty calves were randomly assigned to four groups before weaning, with 10 calves in each group, control group (Ctrl group), L. reuteri L81 supplementation group (2 g per day per calf), L. johnsonii L29 supplementation group (2 g per day per calf), L. reuteri L81 and L. johnsonii L29 composite group (2 g per day per calf), and the effects of Lactobacillus reuteri L81 and Lactobacillus johnsonii L29 supplementation on growth performance, immune status, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal barrier function of weaned calves were evaluated., Results: The results showed that probiotics supplementation increased the average daily weight gain of calves after weaning, reduced weaning diarrhea index ( p  < 0.05), and increased serum IgA, IgM, and IgG levels ( p  < 0.05). L. reuteri L81 supplementation significantly decreased IL-6, increased IL-10 and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels at 21 d after weaning ( p  < 0.05). Moreover, probiotics supplementation significantly decreased serum endotoxin (ET), diamine oxidase (DAO), and D-lactic acid (D-LA) levels at different time points ( p  < 0.05). In addition, supplementation with L. reuteri L81 significantly reduced the crypt depth and increased the ratio of villus height to crypt depth ( p  < 0.05) in the ileum, increased gene expression of tight junction protein ZO-1 , Claudin-1 and Occludin in jejunum and ileum mucosa, reduced the gene expression of INF- γ in ileum mucosa and IL-8 in jejunum mucosa, and increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria, including Bifidobacterium , Lactobacillus , Oscillospira , etc., Discussion: verall, these results showed that the two strains isolated from cattle feces after low concentration fecal microbiota transplantation improved the growth performance, immune performance, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal barrier function of weaned calves, indicating their potential as supplements to alleviate weaning diarrhea in calves., Competing Interests: RL was employed by Xinjiang Tianshan Junken Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Li, Li, Nie, Wu, Luo, Chen, Niu and Zhang.)

Wheat breeding has progressively increased yield potential through decades of selection, markedly increased the capacity for food production. Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is essential for wheat production and N agronomic efficiency (NAE) is commonly index used for evaluate the effects of N fertilizer on crop yield, calculated as the difference of wheat yield between N fertilizer treatment and non-N fertilizer treatment divided by the total N application rate. However, the impact of variety on NAE and its interaction with soil fertility remain unknown. Here, to clarify whether and how wheat variety contributes to NAE, and to determine if soil conditions should be considered in variety selection, we conduct a large-scale analysis of data from 12,925 field trials spanning ten years and including 229 wheat varieties, 5 N fertilizer treatments, and a range of soil fertility across China's major wheat production zones. The national average NAE was 9.57 kg kg -1 , but significantly differed across regions. At both the national and regional scales, variety significantly affected NAE, and different varieties showed high variability in their performance among low, moderate, and high fertility soils. Here, superior varieties with both high yield and high NAE were identified at each soil fertility fields. The comprehensive effect of selecting regionally superior varieties, optimizing N management, and improving soil fertility could potentially decrease the yield gap by 67 %. Therefore, variety selection based on soil conditions could facilitate improved food security while reducing fertilizer inputs to alleviate environmental impacts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Gliomas have a high incidence rate in central nervous tumors. Although many breakthroughs have been made in the pathogenesis and treatment of glioma, the recurrence and metastasis rates of patients have not been improved based on the uniqueness of glioma. Glioma destroys the surrounding basement membrane (BM), leading to local infiltration, resulting in the corresponding clinical and neurological symptoms. Therefore, exploring the biological roles played by BM associated genes in glioma is particularly necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the biological processes of glioma and its treatment. Differential expression and univariate COX regression analyses were used to identify the basement membrane genes (BMGs) to be included in the model. LASSO regression was used to construct the BMG model. The Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival analysis model was used to assess the prognosis discrimination between training sets, validation sets, and clinical subgroups. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to test the prognostic efficacy of the model. Use calibration curves to verify the accuracy of nomograms. Gene ontology (GO), Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG), and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were used to analyze the function and pathway enrichment among the model groups. ESTIMATE and other 7 algorithms including CIBERSORT were used to evaluate the immune microenvironment. "pRRophetic" was used to evaluate drug sensitivity. This study demonstrated that high-risk genes (LAMB4, MMP1, MMP7) promote glioma progression and negatively correlate with patient prognosis. In the tumor microenvironment (TME), high-risk genes have increased scores of macrophages, neutrophils, immune checkpoints, chemokines, and chemokine receptors. This study suggests that BMGs, especially high-risk-related genes, are potential sites for glioma therapy, a new prospect for comprehensively understanding the molecular mechanism of glioma., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

The interaction of recent orographic uplift and climate heterogeneity acted as a key role in the East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains (EHHM) has been reported in many studies. However, how exactly the interaction promotes clade diversification remains poorly understood. In this study, we both used the chloroplast trn T- trn F region and 11 nuclear microsatellite loci to investigate the phylogeographic structure and population dynamics of Hippophae gyantsensis and estimate what role geological barriers or ecological factors play in the spatial genetic structure. The results showed that this species had a strong east-west phylogeographic structure, with several mixed populations identified from microsatellite data in central location. The intraspecies divergence time was estimated to be about 3.59 Ma, corresponding well with the recent uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. Between the two lineages, there was significant climatic differentiation without geographic barriers. High consistency between lineage divergence, climatic heterogeneity, and Qingzang Movement demonstrated that climatic heterogeneity but not geographic isolation drives the divergence of H. gyantsensis , and the recent regional uplift of the QTP, as the Himalayas, creates heterogeneous climates by affecting the flow of the Indian monsoon. The east group of H. gyantsensis experienced population expansion c . 0.12 Ma, closely associated with the last interglacial interval. Subsequently, a genetic admixture event between east and west groups happened at 26.90 ka, a period corresponding to the warm inter-glaciation again. These findings highlight the importance of the Quaternary climatic fluctuations in the recent evolutionary history of H. gyantsensis . Our study will improve the understanding of the history and mechanisms of biodiversity accumulation in the EHHM region., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

To reduce reliance on synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer and sustain food production, replacing synthetic N fertilizer with animal manure as an effective method is widely used. However, the effects of replacing synthetic N fertilizer with animal manure on crop yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) remain uncertain under varying fertilization management practices, climate conditions, and soil properties. Here, we performed a meta-analysis of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.), maize ( Zea mays L.), and rice ( Oryza sativa L.) based on 118 published studies conducted in China. Overall, the results indicated that substituting synthetic N fertilizer with manure increased yield by 3.3%-3.9% for the three grain crops and increased NUE by 6.3%-10.0%. Crop yields and NUE did not significantly increase at a low N application rate (≤120 kg ha -1 ) or high substitution rate (>60%). Yields and NUE values had higher increases for upland crops (wheat and maize) in temperate monsoon climate/temperate continental climate regions with less average annual rainfall (AAR) and lower mean annual temperature (MAT), while rice had higher increases in subtropical monsoon climate regions with more AAR and higher MAT. The effect of manure substitution was better in soil with low organic matter and available phosphorus. Our study shows that the optimal substitution rate was 44% and the total N fertilizer input cannot be less than 161 kg ha -1 when substituting synthetic N fertilizer with manure. Moreover, site-specific conditions should also be considered., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Ren, Sun, Zou, Li, Lu, Duan and Zhang.)

Introduction: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common malignancy in men. Despite multidisciplinary treatments, patients with PCa continue to experience poor prognoses and high rates of tumor recurrence. Recent studies have shown that tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) are associated with PCa tumorigenesis. Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets were used to derive multi-omics data for prostate adenocarcinoma (PRAD) samples. The CIBERSORT algorithm was used to calculate the landscape of TIICs. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to determine the candidate module most significantly associated with TIICs. LASSO Cox regression was applied to screen a minimal set of genes and construct a TIIC-related prognostic gene signature for PCa. Then, 78 PCa samples with CIBERSORT output p -values of less than 0.05 were selected for analysis. WGCNA identified 13 modules, and the MEblue module with the most significant enrichment result was selected. A total of 1143 candidate genes were cross-examined between the MEblue module and active dendritic cell-related genes. Results: According to LASSO Cox regression analysis, a risk model was constructed with six genes (STX4, UBE2S, EMC6, EMD, NUCB1 and GCAT), which exhibited strong correlations with clinicopathological variables, tumor microenvironment context, antitumor therapies, and tumor mutation burden (TMB) in TCGA-PRAD. Further validation showed that the UBE2S had the highest expression level among the six genes in five different PCa cell lines. Discussion: In conclusion, our risk-score model contributes to better predicting PCa patient prognosis and understanding the underlying mechanisms of immune responses and antitumor therapies in PCa., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Xie, Huang, Hao, Yu, Zhang, Wei, Gao, Wang and Zeng.)

The origin of seeds is one of the key innovations in land plant evolution. Ovules are the developmental precursors of seeds. The integument is the envelope structure surrounding the nucellus within the ovule and developing into the seed coat when ovules mature upon fertilization. The question of whether the integument arise de novo or evolve from elaboration of pre-existing structures has caused much debate. By exploring the origin and evolution of the key regulatory genes controlling integument development and their functions during both individual and historical developmental processes, we showed the widespread presence of the homologs of ANT , CUC , BEL1 , SPL , C3HDZ , INO , ATS , and ETT in seedless plant genomes. All of these genes have undergone duplication-divergence events in their evolutionary history, with most of the descendant paralogous suffering motif gain and/or loss in the coding regions. Expression and functional characterization have shown that these genes are key components of the genetic program that patterns leaf-like lateral organs. Serial homology can thus be postulated between integuments and other lateral organs in terms of the shared master regulatory genes. Given that the genetic program patterning leaf-like lateral organs formed in seedless plants, and was reused during seed origin, the integument is unlikely to arise de novo but evolved from the stem segment-specific modification of pre-existing serially homologous structures. The master 'switches' trigging the modification to specify the integument identity remain unclear. We propose a successive transformation model of integument origin., 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., (Copyright © 2023 Jiang, Jian, Zhou, Li, Wang, Zhang, Song and Yang.)

Objective: Butyrate is thought to enhance intestinal mucosal homeostasis, but the detailed mechanism remains unclear. Therefore, further investigation on the mechanism of butyrate regulation of intestinal mucosal homeostasis was performed., Materials and Methods: This study used weaned piglets with similar intestinal metabolic function to humans as a research model. The dietary supplemented 0.2% sodium butyrate group (0.2% S) and negative control group (CON) were established to detect the effects of butyrate on growth performance, intestinal tissue morphology, mucosal barrier function, and intestinal microbial community structure in weaned piglets., Results: There was an increase in average daily gain (ADG) during three different experimental periods and a reduction in average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed-to-gain ratio (F:G) during days 1-35 and days 15-35 in 0.2% S compared with CON ( P > 0.05). Furthermore, villus height in the ileum and duodenum was increased, and crypt depths in the colon and jejunum were reduced in both groups ( P < 0.05). Moreover, the ratio of villus height and crypt depth (V/C) in 0.2% S both in the ileum and jejunum was significantly increased ( P < 0.05) compared with CON. The relative mRNA expression of PKC , MUC1 , CLDN1 , and ITGB1 was upregulated in the ileum of 0.2% S compared with CON ( P < 0.05). The digesta samples of 0.2% S, both in the ileum ( P < 0.05) and colon, contained greater intestinal bacterial abundance and diversity of probiotics, including Lactobacillus , Streptococcus , Megasphaera , and Blautia , which promoted amino acid metabolism and energy production and conversion in the colon and the synthesis of carbon-containing biomolecules in the ileum., Conclusion: In summary, dietary supplementation with 0.2% sodium butyrate was shown to have a tendency to improve the growth performance of weaned piglets and enhance intestinal mucosal barrier function via altering the gut microbiota., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Liu, Zhao, Zhang and Nie.)

Hippophae tibetana (Tibetan sea-buckthorn) is one of the highest distributed woody plants in the world (3,000-5,200 meters a.s.l.). It is characterized by adaptation to extreme environment and important economic values. Here, we combined PacBio Hifi platform and Hi-C technology to assemble a 1,452.75 Mb genome encoding 33,367 genes with a Contig N50 of 74.31 Mb, and inferred its sexual chromosome. Two Hippophae -specific whole-genome duplication events (18.7-21.2 million years ago, Ma; 28.6-32.4 Ma) and long terminal repeats retroelements (LTR-RTs) amplifications were detected. Comparing with related species at lower altitude, Ziziphus jujuba (<1, 700 meters a.s.l.), H. tibetana had some significantly rapid evolving genes involved in adaptation to high altitude habitats. However, comparing with Hippophae rhamnoides (<3, 700 meters a.s.l.), no rapid evolving genes were found except microtubule and microtubule-based process genes, H. tibetana has a larger genome, with extra 2, 503 genes (7.5%) and extra 680.46 Mb transposable elements (TEs) (46.84%). These results suggest that the changes in the copy number and regulatory pattern of genes play a more important role for H. tibetana adapting to more extreme and variable environments at higher altitude by more TEs and more genes increasing genome variability and expression plasticity. This suggestion was supported by two findings: nitrogen-fixing genes of H. tibetana having more copies, and intact TEs being significantly closer genes than fragmentary TEs. This study provided new insights into the evolution of alpine plants., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wang, Wu, Jian, Tang, Zhang, Song, Zhang and Qiong.)

Gossypol is a polyphenolic toxic secondary metabolite derived from cotton. Free gossypol in cotton meal is remarkably harmful to animals. Furthermore, microbial degradation of gossypol produces metabolites that reduce feed quality. We adopted an enzymatic method to degrade free gossypol safely and effectively. We cloned the gene cce001a encoding carboxylesterase (CarE) into pPICZαA and transformed it into Pichia pastoris GS115. The target protein was successfully obtained, and CarE CCE001a could effectively degrade free gossypol with a degradation rate of 89%. When esterase was added, the exposed toxic groups of gossypol reacted with different amino acids and amines to form bound gossypol, generating substances with (M + H) m / z ratios of 560.15, 600.25, and 713.46. The molecular formula was C 27 H 28 O 13 , C 34 H 36 N 2 O 6 , and C 47 H 59 N 3 O 3 . The observed instability of the hydroxyl groups caused the substitution and shedding of the group, forming a substance with m / z of 488.26 and molecular formula C 31 H 36 O 5 . These properties render the CarE CCE001a a valid candidate for the detoxification of cotton meal. Furthermore, the findings help elucidate the degradation process of gossypol in vitro.

The fermentation of grape seed meal, a non-conventional feed resource, improves its conventional nutritional composition, promotes the growth and development of livestock and fat metabolism by influencing the structure and diversity of intestinal bacteria. In this study, the nutritional components of Fermented grape seed meal (FGSM) and their effects on the growth performance, carcass quality, serum biochemistry, and intestinal bacteria of yellow feather broilers were investigated. A total of 240 male 14-day-old yellow-feathered broilers were randomly selected and divided into four groups, with three replicates of 20 chickens each. Animals were fed diets containing 0% (Group I), 2% (Group II), 4% (Group III), or 6% (Group IV) FGSM until they were 56 days old. The results showed that Acid soluble protein (ASP) and Crude protein (CP) contents increased, Acid detergent fiber (ADF) and Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contents decreased, and free amino acid content increased in the FGSM group. The non-targeted metabolome identified 29 differential metabolites in FGSM, including organic acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and monosaccharides. During the entire trial period, Average daily gain (ADG) increased and Feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreased in response to dietary FGSM supplementation ( p < 0.05). TP content in the serum increased and BUN content decreased in groups III and IV ( p < 0.05). Simultaneously, the serum TG content in group III and the abdominal fat rate in group IV were significantly reduced ( p < 0.05). The results of gut microbiota analysis showed that FGSM could significantly increase the Shannon and Simpson indices of broilers (35 days). Reducing the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes significantly altered cecal microbiota composition by increasing the relative abundance of Firmicutes ( p < 0.05). By day 56, butyric acid content increased in the cecal samples from Group III ( p < 0.05). In addition, Spearman's correlation analysis revealed a strong correlation between broiler growth performance, abdominal fat percentage, SCFAs, and gut microbes. In summary, the addition of appropriate levels of FGSM to rations improved broiler growth performance and reduced fat deposition by regulating gut microbes through differential metabolites and affecting the microbiota structure and SCFA content of the gut., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Nan, Yao, Zhang, Wang, Li, Niu, Chen, Zhang and Nie.)

Population genetic structure can provide valuable insights for conserving genetic resources and understanding population evolution, but it is often underestimated when using the most popular method and software, STRUCTURE and delta K, to assess. Although the hierarchical STRUCTURE analysis has been proposed early to overcome the above potential problems, this method was just utilized in a few studies and its reliability needs to be further tested. In this study, the genetic structure of populations of Wikstroemia monnula was evaluated by sequencing 12 nuclear microsatellite loci of 905 individuals from 38 populations. The STRUCTURE analysis suggested the most likely number of clusters was two, but using multi-hierarchical structure analysis, almost every population was determined with an endemic genetic component. The latter result is consistent with the extremely low gene flow among populations and a large number of unique cpDNA haplotypes in this species, indicating one level of structure analysis would extremely underestimate its genetic component. The simulation analysis shows the number of populations and the genetic dispersion among populations are two key factors to affect the estimation of K value using the above tools. When the number of populations is more than a certain amount, K always is equal to 2, and when a simulation only includes few populations, the underestimation of K value also may occur only if these populations consist of two main types of significantly differentiated genetic components. Our results strongly support that the hierarchical STRUCTURE analysis is necessary and practicable for the species with lots of subdivisions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Tang, Tian, Huang, Yang, Nan, Wang, Li, Song, Yang, Zhong and Zhang.)

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from yaks on weaning diarrhea, fecal microbiota composition, microbial network structure and functional pathways in Chinese Holstein Calves. In this study, 50 calves were randomly divided into five groups of 10 each: NC group (no supplementation), Control group (normal saline), low concentration FMT group (LFMT, 1 × 10 8 CFU/ml), high concentration FMT group (HMFT, 1 × 10 9 CFU/ml), and sterilized FMT group (SMFT, sterilized bacterial solution). The test lasted for 30 days. We found that FMT reduced the incidence of diarrhea in weaned calves, and the anti-diarrhea effect of LFMT was stronger than those of HFMT and SFMT. Calf feces were collected by rectal palpation on days 5, 10, 15, and 20 post-weaning, and high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal internal transcribed spacer region of fecal microbiota was performed. We observed that the richness and diversity of bacterial microbiota in the LFMT, HFMT, and SFMT groups were higher than those in the NC and Control groups at day 20 after weaning. The treatment had a significant effect on bacterial richness ( p < 0.05), but not on fungal diversity or richness. The analysis of gut microbiome showed that Firmicutes and Bacteroides were the main bacterial phyla in the feces of weaned calves, and norank &#95; f Muribaculaceae , UCG-005 , Rikenellaceae &#95; RC9&#95;gut&#95;group , Bacteroides , and Blautia were the main genera. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the main fungal phyla. Compared to abundance parameters in the Control and NC groups, relative abundances of Firmicutes in the FMT groups increased at different time points after weaning. The relative abundance of Blautia and Lactobacillus in the LFMT group increased significantly after weaning. In addition, abundances of Ruminococcus and Romboutsia , which produce short-chain fatty acids, were also increased in different FMT groups. FMT significantly increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria, enhanced the complexity of the fecal microbial network, and promoted important metabolic and cellular processes in weaned calves. In conclusion, our study provides a reference and theoretical basis for FMT to prevent calf weaning diarrhea and other intestinal diseases in ruminants., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Li, Li, Wu and Zhang.)