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A 120-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacement of dietary kelp Saccharina japonica by Ulva prolifera (previously known as Enteromorpha prolifera), Ulva lactuca, and Gracilaria lemaneiformis on the growth performance, immune responses, and anti-stress capacity of abalone Haliotis discus hannai Ino (initial body weight: 11.00 ± 0.07 g). The control diet was designed to contain 30% of kelp, and named as Diet-S. On the basis of the control diet, the kelp was 50% replaced by U. prolifera, U. lactuca, and G. lemaneiformis, and named as Diet-SE, Diet-SU, and Diet-SG, respectively. Results showed that the specific growth rate of abalone was not significantly influenced by the replacement of dietary kelp (P > 0.05). Dietary inclusion of U. lactuca and G. lemaneiformis significantly increased the feed efficiency but significantly decreased the feed intake of abalone (P

Background Aberrant glycosylation has been recognized as a hallmark of cancer and N-glycosylation is one of the main types of glycosylation in eukaryotes. Although N-glycoproteomics has made contributions to the discovery of biomarkers in a variety of cancers, less is known about the abnormal glycosylation signatures in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods In this study, we reported the proteomics and N-glycoproteomic site-mapping analysis of eight pairs of ESCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues. With zic-HILIC enrichment, TMT-based isobaric labeling, LC–MS/MS analysis, differentially expressed N-glycosylation was quantitatively characterized. Lectin affinity enrichment combined with western blot was used to validate the potential biomarkers in ESCC. Results A series of differentially expressed glycoproteins (e.g., LAMP2, PLOD2) and enriched signaling pathways (e.g., metabolism-related pathway, ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion) were identified. Besides that, seven significantly enriched motifs were found from the identified N-glycosylation sites. Three clusters were identified after conducting the dynamic profiling analysis of glycoprotein change during lymph node metastasis progression. Further validation found that the elevated fucosylation level of ITGB1, CD276 contributed to the occurrence and development of ESCC, which might be the potential biomarkers in ESCC. Conclusion In summary, we characterized the N-glycosylation and N-glycoprotein alterations associated with ESCC. The typical changes in glycoprotein expression and glycosylation occupancy identified in our study will not only be used as ESCC biomarkers but also improve the understanding of ESCC biology.

This study was aimed at evaluating whether dietary chromium yeast (CrYst) and astaxanthin (ASTA) could enhance the growth performance, anti-oxidative capacity, and resistance to heat stress of abalone Haliotis discus hannai (initial body weight: 1.14±0.10 g; initial shell length: 19.20±0.87 mm) after a 120-day feeding trial. Based on the basal diet, the other three experimental diets were designed with supplementation of 2 mg/kg of CrYst, 80 mg/kg of ASTA, and 2 mg/kg of CrYst + 80 mg/kg of ASTA, respectively. The results showed that supplementation of 2 mg/kg of dietary CrYst significantly increased weight gain rate and the daily increment in shell length of abalone (P 0.05). Meanwhile, there were no significant differences in feed intake and feed conversion ratio among all the groups (P > 0.05). Meanwhile, adding 2 mg/kg of CrYst and/or 80 mg/kg of ASTA into the diet improved the anti-oxidative capacity in serum and hepatopancreas, increased the gene expression of hsp70 and hsp90 in the hepatopancreas, and reduced the cumulative mortality and falling rate of abalone during the heat stress. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of CrYst and/or ASTA had positive effects on growth and anti-stress of abalone.

Polyaniline (PANI) encapsulated α-zirconium phosphate (α-ZrP) nanocomposites (PANI/α-ZrP) were prepared by in situ oxidative polymerization and used as anticorrosive filler in epoxy coatings. Water absorption test and electrochemical measurements in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution were conducted to assess the barrier properties and anticorrosion performances of different coating systems. PANI/α-ZrP composite epoxy coating showed remarkably enhanced corrosion resistance comparing to neat epoxy coating because of “maze effect” from α-ZrP and “passivation effect” from PANI. The α-ZrP nanosheets could be completely encapsulated by PANI with appropriate PANI/α-ZrP mass ratio, and the resulting nanocomposite exhibited optimal corrosion protection properties.

Vitamin D3 is believed to be a contributing factor to innate immunity. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) has a positive effect on inhibiting nuclear factor κB (NF-κB)-mediated inflammation. The underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear, particularly in mollusks. Consequently, this study will investigate the process of vitamin D3/VDR regulating NF-κB pathway and further explore their functions on inflammation, autophagy, and apoptosis in abalone Haliotis discus hannai. Results showed that knockdown of VDR by using siRNA and dsRNA of VDR in vitro and in vivo led to more intense response of NF-κB signaling to lipopolysaccharide and higher level of apoptosis and autophagy. In addition, 1,25(OH)2D3 stimulation after VDR silencing could partially alleviate apoptosis and induce autophagy. Overexpression of VDR restricted the K48-polyubiquitin chain-dependent inhibitor of κB (IκB) ubiquitination and apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing CARD (ASC) oligomerization. Besides, VDR silencing resulted in increase of ASC speck formation. In further mechanistic studies, we showed that VDR can directly bind to IκB and IKK1 in vitro and in vivo. In the feeding trial, H&E staining, TUNEL, and electron microscope results showed that vitamin D3 deficiency (0 IU/kg) could recruit more basophilic cells and increase more TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells and lipid droplets (LDs) than vitamin D3 supplement (1000 IU/kg and 5000 IU/kg). In summary, abalone VDR plays a negative regulator role in NF-κB-mediated inflammation via interacting with IκB and inhibiting ubiquitin-dependent degradation of IκB. Vitamin D3 in combination with VDR is essential to establish a delicate balance between autophagy and apoptosis in response to inflammation.

Based on a blind spot in the current design standard of steel structures, the large diameter thin-walled tube beam-columns are analyzed using nonlinear finite element method in this paper. The influence of several factors on stability capacity of the large diameter thin-walled tube beam-columns is taken into account. Thus, according to the correlative design standard of steel structures, and on the basis of the numerical analytical results by the finite element methods, the calculation formulas of the stability bearing capacity are presented for beam-column members of the large diameter thin-walled tubes. Three tests of thin-walled steel tube beam-columns were reported. Test results for deformations and ultimate strength are found to be in a good agreement with the corresponding values predicted by the calculation formulas, and the proposed methods can be used in design practice.

In this paper, we propose significant extensions to the “snake pedal” model, a powerful geometric shape modeling scheme introduced in (Vemuri and Guo, 1998). The extension allows the model to automatically cope with topological changes and for the first time, introduces the concept of a compact global shape into geometric active models. The ability to characterize global shape of an object using very few parameters facilitates shape learning and recognition. In this new modeling scheme, object shapes are represented using a parameterized function—called the generator—which accounts for the global shape of an object and the pedal curve (surface) of this global shape with respect to a geometric snake to represent any local detail. Traditionally, pedal curves (surfaces) are defined as the loci of the feet of perpendiculars to the tangents of the generator from a fixed point called the pedal point. Local shape control is achieved by introducing a set of pedal points—lying on a snake—for each point on the generator. The model dubbed as a “snake pedal” allows for interactive manipulation via forces applied to the snake. In this work, we replace the snake by a geometric snake and derive all the necessary mathematics for evolving the geometric snake when the snake pedal is assumed to evolve as a function of its curvature. Automatic topological changes of the model may be achieved by implementing the geometric snake in a level-set framework. We demonstrate the applicability of this modeling scheme via examples of shape recovery from a variety of 2D and 3D image data.