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In intensive pig production, the fighting behavior of weaning piglets after merging pens is relatively common. Fighting behavior not only easily causes injury in pigs but also affects the production performance of pigs. To reduce fighting behavior in farms, this study aimed to explore the possible effect of odorous substances on piglet fighting behavior after merging into a large pen. Six different sprays were tested: original creamy, cheese flavor, orange flavor, truffle, vanilla and pigpen flavor. In each experiment, two groups were set (one odor‐sprayed and no sprayed control), and 12 pigs were used per group. After mixing, the frequency of occurrence of various piglet behaviors in different pens was recorded. During this period, salivary cortisol levels and skin lesion scores were evaluated. As a result, the piglets sprayed with the original creamy, cheese flavor and vanilla substances obtained significantly higher average daily gain and feed intake and showed a significantly lower incidence of fighting behavior, and the skin lesion score and salivary cortisol of piglets were also reduced significantly. All the other odorous substances had no significant effects on the fighting behavior and production performance of piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) plays a vital role in clinical diagnoses and biomedical research. It is important to develop some convenient but sensitive methods for ALP activity detection. In this study, a multicolor biosensor for ALP activity has been developed based on the peroxidase activity of copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) and etching of gold nanorods (AuNRs). The presence of CuNCs can catalyze the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to produce blue TMB+. In acid solution, TMB+ can cause the etching of AuNRs accompanied by a significant color change of the system. The presence of sodium pyrophosphate (PPi) can inhibit the peroxidase activity of CuNCs, which can be recovered after the addition of ALP. Different ALP added results in the recovery of the catalytic activity of CuNCs to different degrees and generates different amounts of TMB+. This consequently affected the morphology of the AuNRs in the system and results in the output of a vivid color change, which can be recognized with the naked eyes easily without any complicated instruments. The biosensor has a linear relationship with ALP activity in the range of 10.0–80.0 U L−1, and the detection limit is 4.6 U L−1. The proposed method has been applied to detect ALP activity in human serum samples with satisfactory results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We explored the effects of repeated plateletpheresis on the platelet P-selectin expression and soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin) concentrations in platelet donors. Methods Totally 289 platelet donors and 97 first-time whole blood (WB) donors were enrolled from the blood donor registry at the Fujian provincial blood center, China. The accumulative numbers of plateletpheresis in the last 2 y for participants were recorded, and the basal concentrations of platelet count, sP-selectin and total platelet P-selectin (pP-selectin) were determined. Results Platelet donors had significantly higher basal concentrations of sP-selectin compared to WB donors (24.12 ± 7.33 ng/mL vs. 20.74 ± 5.44 ng/mL, P < 0.0001), with no difference in platelet count and pP-selectin concentrations. Increased numbers of platelet donation were correlated with a steady increase of sP-selectin ( r = 0.18, P = 0.002). Multivariate regression analysis identified that the frequency of plateletpheresis is an independent factor for the rise of the sP-selectin concentration (t = 2.64, P = 0.009) while no association was found for pP-selectin and platelet count. Conclusions Repeated plateletpheresis could result in an increased basal concentration of sP-selectin in blood donors whereas not an alteration in the concentrations of total platelet P-selectin. It remains to be determined whether this might be a consequence of endothelial activation or platelet activation or some other phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous investigations demonstrated that Fusarium oxysporum (Fo), which is not pathogenic to cucumbers, could serve as a biological control agent for managing Fusarium wilt of cucumber caused by Fo f. sp. cucumerinum (Foc) in Taiwan. However, thus far it has not been possible to separate the populations of pathogenic Fo from the nonpathogenic isolates that have biological control potential through their morphological characteristics. Although these two populations can be distinguished from one another using a bioassay, the work is laborious and time-consuming. In this study, a fragment of the intergenic spacer (IGS) region of ribosomal DNA from an Fo biological control agent, Fo366, was PCR-amplified with published general primers, FIGS11/FIGS12 and sequenced. A new primer, NPIGS-R, which was designed based on the IGS sequence, was paired with the FIGS11 primer. These primers were then evaluated for their specificity to amplify DNA from nonpathogenic Fo isolates that have biological control potential. The results showed that the modified primer pair, FIGS11/NPIGS-R, amplified a 500-bp DNA fragment from five of seven nonpathogenic Fo isolates. These five Fo isolates delayed symptom development of cucumber Fusarium wilt in greenhouse bioassay tests. Seventy-seven Fo isolates were obtained from the soil and plant tissues and then subjected to amplification using the modified primer pair; six samples showed positive amplification. These six isolates did not cause symptoms on cucumber seedlings when grown in peat moss infested with the isolates and delayed disease development when the same plants were subsequently inoculated with a virulent isolate of Foc. Therefore, the modified primer pair may prove useful for the identification of Fo isolates that are nonpathogenic to cucumber which can potentially act as biocontrol agents for Fusarium wilt of cucumber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given their sessile nature, plants have evolved sophisticated regulatory networks to confer developmental plasticity for adaptation to fluctuating environments. Epigenetic codes, like tri-methylation of histone H3 on Lys27 (H3K27me3), are evidenced to account for this evolutionary benefit. Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) and PRC1 implement and maintain the H3K27me3-mediated gene repression in most eukaryotic cells. Plants take advantage of this epigenetic machinery to reprogram gene expression in development and environmental adaption. Recent studies have uncovered a number of new players involved in the establishment, erasure, and regulation of H3K27me3 mark in plants, particularly highlighting new roles in plants' responses to environmental cues. Here, we review current knowledge on PRC2-H3K27me3 dynamics occurring during plant growth and development, including its writers, erasers, and readers, as well as targeting mechanisms, and summarize the emerging roles of H3K27me3 mark in plant adaptation to environmental stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), as a hazardous gas, is often found around dump areas. Long term exposure can cause harm to health, it is highly necessary to develop some simple and sensitive methods for on-site H 2 S detection. Herein, a convenient photothermal assay has been designed for the quantitation of H 2 S using a handheld thermometer as readout. Au@Ag nanocubes (Au@Ag NCs), a core-shell nanocomposite with strong light absorption at ∼450 nm, was chosen as a novel photothermal agent in this study. Under the laser irradiation at 450 nm, the Au@Ag NCs show a strong photothermal effect, and a significant temperature enhancement can be measured by the thermometer easily. The presence of H 2 S can lead to the deposition of sulfur onto Au@Ag NCs, altering the localized surface plasmon resonance absorption, size, surface composition, and morphology of Au@Ag NCs and hence leading to the reduction of photothermal effect. The change of the temperature has a linear relationship with the H 2 S concentration in the range of 0.5–80.0 μM with a detection limit of 0.35 μM. By combining with simple sample purification procedures, the developed method has been applied to detect H 2 S in garbage odor gas with satisfactory results. Image 1 • A simple and sensitive photothermal assay is developed for quantitative detection of H 2 S. • The photothermal conversion properties of Au@Ag nanocube can be changed by the addition of H 2 S. • The molecular detection can be translated into a simple temperature test. • This method can be applied to detect H 2 S around dumps with a simple sample pretreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Directly coating an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) onto excipient granules has been a common approach to prepare solid dosage forms. The combination of supercritical anti-solvent (SAS) and fluidized bed (FB) coating technology (SAS-FB) has the advantages of preventing nanoparticles aggregation, oxidation and light exposure. However individual operating parameters and factors which contribute to the overall coating efficiency remain to be defined. Sirolimus is an immunosuppressive agent for preventing the rejection of organ transplants and this drug is sensitive to light exposure and high temperature. Our study used sirolimus as the model API to evaluate parameters including temperature, pressure, drug concentration, mass, material and diameter of carrier, CO 2 flow rate and solvent in the SAS-FB process. By optimizing these parameters, we achieved a 3.5-fold enhancement of the coating efficiency over the standard condition. A series of characterizations of the sirolimus coated particles were performed from which scanning electron microscopy and Raman mapping confirmed that the sirolimus particles were uniformly coated on carriers as cuboid particles; X-ray powder diffraction showed that processed sirolimus is crystalline but has lower crystallinity than the API, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimeter confirmed that there is no chemical interaction between sirolimus and carriers after SAS-FB processing. Finally compared to sirolimus alone, sirolimus coated particles displayed a faster dissolution and higher bioavailability. Collectively, our optimized operation parameters for SAS-FB coating technique provide a useful guidance for achieving higher efficiency of drug coating and faster release rate of sirolimus pellets, which has the potential to apply to other APIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of interventional endovascular treatment (EVT) and the risk factors for postoperative restenosis in patients with Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) II C/D femoropopliteal lesions., Methods: A total of 55 patients who received EVT for TASC II C/D femoropopliteal lesions (64 affected limbs) from October 2014 to September 2017 were examined. The mean lesion length was 19.6±5.3 (range, 15.5-26.4 cm). The femoropopliteal lesions were classified as TASC II C and TASC II D in 39 and 16 cases, respectively. The ankle-brachial index (ABI), primary patency rate, secondary patency rate, and limb salvage rate were monitored in follow-up evaluations for up to 24 months. A Cox regression model was used to evaluate the correlation between each of these factors and the restenosis rate after EVT., Results: Patent TASC II C/D femoropopliteal lesions were present in 59 of the 64 limbs. The mean ABI values for the dorsal pedal artery and posterior tibial artery increased 1 month after treatment from a baseline level of 0.35±0.12 to 0.89±0.10 and from 0.43±0.15 to 0.90±0.13, respectively (P<0.01). The mean follow-up time was 19.3 (range, 6-24) months. The cumulative primary patency rates at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months were 98.3%, 91.5%, 84.3%, 61.1%, 53.1%, and 31.1%, respectively. The secondary patency rates at 12 and 24 months were 70.4% and 60.0%, respectively. Factors with a high hazard ratio included male sex, TASC II D, smoking, and diabetes mellitus (DM)., Conclusions: EVT had a safe and satisfactory mid-term therapeutic effect on TASC II C/D femoropopliteal lesions. Male sex, TASC II D (compared to TASC II C), smoking, and DM were risk factors for restenosis. EVT has a secondary patency rate comparable to that of open surgery and can be considered a first-line treatment for TASC II C/D femoropopliteal lesions., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/qims-20-221). All authors report receiving grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2019A1515012118), and grants from the Foundation of Guangdong Science and Technology Department (No. 2015A020211024) during the conduct of the study., (2021 Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery. All rights reserved.)

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) was developed here for the non-invasive detection of the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a primary health problem in the world and may further develop into cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). SERS measurement was applied to two groups of serum samples. One group included 93 HBV patients and the other group included 94 healthy volunteers as control subjects. Tentative assignments of the Raman bands in the measured SERS spectra have shown the difference of the serum SERS spectra between HBV patients and healthy volunteers. The differences indicated an increase in the relative amounts of L-arginine, Saccharide band (overlaps with acyl band), phenylalanine and tyrosine, together with a decrease in the percentage of nucleic acid, valine and hypoxanthine in the serum of HBV patients compared with those of healthy volunteers. For better analysis of the spectral data, the first-order derivation was applied to the SERS data. Furthermore, principal components analysis (PCA), combined with linear discriminant analysis (LDA), were employed to distinguish HBV patients from healthy volunteers and to realize the diagnostic sensitivity of 78.5% and 91.4%, and specificity of 75% and 83% for SERS and the first order derivative SERS spectrum, respectively. These results suggest that derivative analysis could be an effective method to improve the classification of SERS spectra belonging to different groups. This exploratory work demonstrated that first-order derivative serum SERS spectrum combined with PCA-LDA has great potential for improving the detection of HBV., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to this article.

Objective To explore the associations between breast cancer and three single nucleotide polymorphisms (-597 G/A, -572 C/G and -174 G/C) of interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene promoter. Methods The study enrolled 136 breast cancer cases and 150 healthy female controls. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-6 were identified by Sanger method of DNA sequencing, and serum IL-6 levels were measured with electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Chi-squared test was utilized to compare frequency of a given SNP between the two groups, and t-test was employed to compare serum IL-6 levels in different groups. Results Compared with healthy controls, the serum IL-6 levels were significantly elevated in the patients with breast cancer. The genotype frequency of -572 C/G was significantly higher in breast cancer group than in the control group (OR=1.841, 95%CI: 1.115-3.040, P=0.017). There was no significant difference of serum IL-6 level in the three genotypes of -572 C/G, in both the breast cancer cases and the healthy controls. Conclusion The serum level of IL-6 significantly increases in the patients with breast cancer. The -572 C/G polymorphism and the serum level of IL-6 may play a role in the development of breast cancer.

Previous investigations demonstrated that Fusarium oxysporum (Fo), which is not pathogenic to cucumbers, could serve as a biological control agent for managing Fusarium wilt of cucumber caused by Fo f. sp. cucumerinum (Foc) in Taiwan. However, thus far it has not been possible to separate the populations of pathogenic Fo from the nonpathogenic isolates that have biological control potential through their morphological characteristics. Although these two populations can be distinguished from one another using a bioassay, the work is laborious and time-consuming. In this study, a fragment of the intergenic spacer (IGS) region of ribosomal DNA from an Fo biological control agent, Fo366, was PCR-amplified with published general primers, FIGS11/FIGS12 and sequenced. A new primer, NPIGS-R, which was designed based on the IGS sequence, was paired with the FIGS11 primer. These primers were then evaluated for their specificity to amplify DNA from nonpathogenic Fo isolates that have biological control potential. The results showed that the modified primer pair, FIGS11/NPIGS-R, amplified a 500-bp DNA fragment from five of seven nonpathogenic Fo isolates. These five Fo isolates delayed symptom development of cucumber Fusarium wilt in greenhouse bioassay tests. Seventy-seven Fo isolates were obtained from the soil and plant tissues and then subjected to amplification using the modified primer pair; six samples showed positive amplification. These six isolates did not cause symptoms on cucumber seedlings when grown in peat moss infested with the isolates and delayed disease development when the same plants were subsequently inoculated with a virulent isolate of Foc. Therefore, the modified primer pair may prove useful for the identification of Fo isolates that are nonpathogenic to cucumber which can potentially act as biocontrol agents for Fusarium wilt of cucumber.

A total of 145,293 serum samples were collected from volunteer blood donors in 13 provinces of China and tested for anti-HTLV antibody using an ELISA licensed in China. Thirty were positive for anti-HTLV by ELISA and 19 of those 30 samples were confirmed positive using a supplemental immunoblot assay. Anti-HTLV-I was detected only in samples from Fujian province (a Southern province) where the positivity rate was approximately 0.05%. The region encoding gp46 from 5 of the 19 antibody positive samples was amplified and sequenced. Sequence analysis indicated that these isolates belong to HTLV-I genotype A. These data suggest that HTLV-I is not endemic throughout China and the virus may be restricted to a particular region., ((c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)