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Reusing agro-industrial co-products has been the research focus of sustainable development worldwide. To upcycle ethanol by-product and corncob into a balanced nutritional feed for pigs, Aspergillus niger , Trichoderma reesei , Bacillus subtilis , Bacillus coagulans , and Candida utilis were employed and investigated their nutrition and flavor improving abilities. The results showed that fermentation effectively improved the total protein content of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), and the highest increasing was 96.3%, by Aspergillus niger. The essential amino acids for pig growth, including lysine, isoleucine, threonine, arginine, and valine, were increased after Aspergillus niger fermentation, and it increased by 191%, 16.0%, 91.1%, 60.2% and 200%, respectively. The leucine content decreased by 44.5% after fermentation with Aspergillus niger. It provided an alternative solution for the problem of pig inhibiting digestion by high leucine content. The highest degradation rate of cellulose was 15.7% with Trichoderma reesei, while the highest degradation rate of hemicellulose was 19.4% with Aspergillus niger. Besides, the flavor of furanal in feed fermented by Aspergillus niger was increased, which would improve the feeding rate of pig since furanal is favorite for pigs. Consequently, co-fermentation of DDGS and corncob by Aspergillus niger or Trichoderma reesei have a better effect on nutrition and flavor. The results proved a viable way of producing nutritional-improved pig feed from agro-industrial co-products of corn. • The first limiting amino acid Lys was increased to 4%, 6.20 mg/g in fermented feed. • The soluble carbohydrate was increased by 207.3% via A. niger fermentation. • Furanal in feed improved to 14.2 ng/g, would be more favorable for pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the wide application of plastic products, microplastic pollution has become a major environmental issue of global concern. Microplastics in aquatic environments can interact with organic pollutants, causing a combined effect on submerged macrophytes. This study investigated the response mechanisms of the submerged plant Myriophyllum verticillatum and epiphytic biofilm to the antibiotic enrofloxacin, microplastics, and their combined exposure in a high nitrogen and phosphorus environment. The results indicated that Myriophyllum verticillatum was not sensitive to enrofloxacin of 1 mg L−1, while 10 and 50 mg L−1 enrofloxacin inhibited the uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus by the plants, as well as triggered oxidative stress in the plant leaves, causing irreversible damage to the plant cells. In addition, enrofloxacin altered the structure of the leaf epiphytic biofilm community. Interestingly, 1, 5, and 20 mg L−1 microplastics had no significant effect on the plant, while they facilitated the aggregation of microorganisms, increasing the abundance of the leaf epiphyte biofilm. The combination of enrofloxacin and microplastics induced a synergistic effect on Myriophyllum verticillatum. Specifically, the rate of nitrogen and phosphorus uptake by the plant was reduced, the content of photosynthetic pigments decreased, and antioxidant enzyme activity was further increased. In addition, the diversity of the leaf epiphytic biofilm community was similar to the single enrofloxacin exposure. These results demonstrated the differences between single and combined exposures and provided a new theoretical basis to evaluate the harmful effects of enrofloxacin and microplastics on submerged macrophytes. [Display omitted] • Microplastics have no ecotoxicological effects on M. verticillatum. • Microplastics contribute to the enrichment of leaf epiphytic biofilms. • Enrofloxacin has ecotoxicological effects on M. verticillatum. • Enrofloxacin alters leaf epiphytic biofilm structure. • Microplastics can exacerbate the toxicity of enrofloxacin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicle state estimation during anti-lock braking is considered. A novel nonlinear observer based on a vehicle dynamics model and a simplified Pacejka tire model is introduced in order to provide estimates of longitudinal and lateral vehicle velocities and the tire-road friction coefficient for vehicle safety control systems, specifically anti-lock braking control. The approach differs from previous work on vehicle state estimation in two main respects. The first is the introduction of a switched nonlinear observer in order to deal with the fact that in some driving situations the information provided by the sensor is not sufficient to carry out state estimation (i.e., not all states are observable). This is shown through an observability analysis. The second contribution is the introduction of tire-road friction estimation depending on vehicle longitudinal motion. Stability properties of the observer are analyzed using a Lyapunov function based method. Practical applicability of the proposed nonlinear observer is shown by means of experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impacts of weather shocks on athlete performance, focusing on soccer players in the Chinese Soccer Super League over three consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2016. Utilizing daily meteorological data, we construct the temperature and precipitation bin variables to explore the marginal effects on the physical and cognitive performance of soccer players. The empirical findings document a sizeable impact of high temperatures and heavy precipitation on players' performance indicators, including physical performance and cognitive performance. Specifically, relative to conditions with temperatures below 15 °C, the total running distances, the number of passes, and the number of fouls for soccer players significantly decrease by 7.6%, 6.0%, and 23.1%, respectively, when temperatures exceed 30 °C. The results for precipitation bins show that relative to conditions with precipitation below 0.1 mm, the total running distances, the number of passes, and the number of fouls for soccer players significantly decrease by 1.2%, 8.2%, and 4.7%, respectively, when precipitation exceeds 50 mm. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the negative effects of high temperatures and heavy precipitation are more pronounced and significant for older players, for matches performed away from home, and for matches performed in areas with higher temperatures or more precipitation. Evidence of player adaptations suggests that players from regions with higher temperatures or more precipitation perform better in terms of physical and cognitive abilities when playing in areas with lower temperatures or less precipitation compared to players from regions with lower temperatures or less precipitation when they compete in areas with higher temperatures or more precipitation. Finally, policy suggestions are proposed to mitigate the impact of weather shocks on soccer players and to promote the sustainability of the soccer industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable evidence implicates myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) promote tumor progression and drug resistance. Sorafenib is the standard first-line therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Clinical evidence indicates that sorafenib resistance is associated with increased MDSCs, by which MDSCs exerts these effects is obscure. This study aimed to investigate the mechanism of sorafenib resistance mediated by MDSCs. A syngeneic mouse-liver cancer cell line BNL was subcutaneously injected to build a tumor-bearing mouse model, and syngeneic MDSCs were adoptive transferred into the tumor-bearing mouse. Tumor tissue was obtained, and transcriptomic analysis of the tumor was carried out on RNAseq data. A coculture system was used to verify the crosstalk between MDSCs and BNL cells. Adoptive MDSCs transfer into tumor-bearing mice induced an increase of tumor-infiltrating MDSCs, which led to tumor growth and impaired antitumor activity of sorafenib in BNL HCC models. MDSCs transfer contributed to tumor fibrosis and tumor-associated fibroblast (CAF) activation, associated with fibroblast growth factor (FGF1) upregulation. In contrast, MDSC depletion by anti-Ly6G+ reduced fibrosis and increased sorafenib antitumor efficacy. Intriguingly, tumor-infiltrating MDSCs barely expressed FGF1. IL-6 derived from MDSCs increased FGF1 expression in BNL liver cancer cells, and anti-IL-6 attenuated this effect in vitro. MAPK pathway, one of the sorafenib targets, is the downstream signaling of FGF1 and is reactivated by MDSCs-mediated FGF1 upregulation. Our finding demonstrated that MDSCs led to tumor growth and sorafenib resistance via FGF1 upregulation and subsequent indirect CAF activation. We offered a novel mechanism of MDSCs-driven HCC progression and sorafenib resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Several unconventional myosins contain a highly charged single α helix (SAH) immediately following the calmodulin (CaM) binding IQ motifs, functioning to extend lever arms of these myosins. How such SAH is connected to the IQ motifs and whether the conformation of the IQ motifs-SAH segments are regulated by Ca 2+ fluctuations are not known. Here, we demonstrate by solving its crystal structure that the predicted SAH of myosin VIIa (Myo7a) forms a stable SAH. The structure of Myo7a IQ5-SAH segment in complex with apo-CaM reveals that the SAH sequence can extend the length of the Myo7a lever arm. Although Ca 2+ -CaM remains bound to IQ5-SAH, the Ca 2+ -induced CaM binding mode change softens the conformation of the IQ5-SAH junction, revealing a Ca 2+ -induced lever arm flexibility change for Myo7a. We further demonstrate that the last IQ motif of several other myosins also binds to both apo- and Ca 2+ -CaM, suggesting a common Ca 2+ -induced conformational regulation mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]