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Abstract Bodyweight loss and rumen microbial dysfunction of grazing sheep was a challenge for the sheep production industry during cold season, which were considered to correlated with under-roughage-feeding. Alfalfa is a good roughage supplementary for ruminants, which can improve grazing sheep bodyweight-loss and rumen microbial dysfunction during grass-withering period. This study evaluated the effects of alfalfa hay supplementary change dietary non-fibrous carbohydrate/neutral detergent fiber (NFC/NDF) ratios on rumen fermentation and microbial function of Gansu alpine fine wool sheep during extreme cold season. 120 ewes (3–4 yrs) with an average body weight of 28.71 ± 1.22 kg were allocated randomly into three treatments, and fed NFC/NDF of 1.92 (H group), 1.11 (M group), and 0.68 (L group), respectively. This study was conducted for 107 d, including 7 d of adaption to the diets. The rumen fermentation parameters and microbial characteristics were measured after the end of feeding trials. The results showed that the concentrations of sheep body weight, nitrogen components (Total-N, Soluble protein-N and Ammonia-N), blood biochemical indices (LDH, BUN and CHO) and ruminal volatile fatty acids (TVFA and propionate) significantly increased with an increase in the proportion of NFC/NDF ratios (p < .05), and the acetate and acetate/propionat ratio presented a contrary decreasing trend (p < .05). A total of 1018 OTUs were obtained with 97% consistency. Ruminococcus, Ruminococcaceae and Prevotella were observed as the predominant phyla in ruminal fluid microbiota. Higher NFC/NDF ratios with Alfalfa supplementary increased the richness and diversity of ruminal fluid microbiota, and decreased ruminal fluid microbiota beta-diversity. Using clusters of orthologous groups (COG), the ruminal fluid microbiota of alfalfa supplementary feeding showed low immune pathway and high carbohydrate metabolism pathway. In summary, the study suggested that there was an increasing tendency in dietary NFC/NDF ratio of 1.92 in body weight, ruminal fermentation, microbial community composition and fermentation characteristics through developing alfalfa supplementary system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemically synthesised silver nanoparticles in colloidal solution were assembled on the methyl silicone oil membrane supported on the graphite-epoxy composite electrode, and monitored by cyclic voltammetry. The assembling kinetics follows a diffusion-controlled Brownian movements of the nanoparticles with a Weibull function and a rate constant of 0.02548/min. The assembled silver nanoparticles undergo a self reorganisation process in the methyl silicone oil membrane in contact with 0.1 M KCl electrolyte solution due to the interaction of silver atoms with chloride ions, and follows another Weibull function with a rate constant of 0.0467/min. The reorganised silver nanoparticles in methyl silicone oil membrane show a surface-controlled electrochemical behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The benefit of adjuvant therapy (AT) remains controversial in stage IB gastric cancer (GC). This study aimed to offer a reference for the rational indications of AT. Methods: We retrospectively included 1216 stage IB GC who experienced curative surgery from the SEER database between 2004 and 2015. These patients were allocated into two groups: Group AT and Group surgery alone (Group SA). We established a nomogram to predict OS and then divided whole cohort into low-risk and high-risk groups based on the OS predicted by the nomogram. Results: Six variables, which were significantly related with OS of entire patients after matched, were incorporated in the nomogram. These variables were age, examined lymph nodes, tumor site, marital, family income and stage IB. The C-index of the model was 0.637 and the calibration curve showed that the anticipated values were in accordance with the actual values. The decision curve demonstrated that the optimal clinical impact was achieved when the threshold possibility was 0–56%. Then, the entire cohort was separated into low-risk (≤159 points) as well as high-risk (>159 points) groups based on the projected 5-year OS of recursive partitioning analysis. Group SA revealed a significantly poorer OS than Group AT for high-risk patients (p <.001); on the other hand, there was a comparable OS for low-risk patients (p =.361). Conclusions: We have developed an effective, intuitional and applied prognostic tool to clinical decision-making. For stage IB GC after surgical resection, AT was only recommended for high-risk patients. However, AT may be dispensable for low-risk patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]