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The hard‐shelled mussel (Mytilus coruscus) has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine and health food in China for centuries. Polysaccharides from mussel has been reported to have multiple biological functions, however, it remains unclear whether mussel polysaccharide (MP) exerts protective effects in intestinal functions, and the underlying mechanisms of action remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects and mechanism of MP on intestinal oxidative injury in mice. In this study, 40 male BALB/C mice were used, with 30 utilized to produce an animal model of intestinal oxidative injury with intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide (Cy) for four consecutive days. The protective effects of two different doses of MP (300 and 600 mg/kg) were assessed by investigating the change in body weight, visceral index, and observing colon histomorphology. Moreover, the underlying molecular mechanisms were investigated by measuring the antioxidant enzymes and related signaling molecules through ELISA, real‐time PCR, and western blot methods. The results showed that MP pretreatment effectively protected the intestinal from Cy‐induced injury: improved the colon tissue morphology and villus structure, increased superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) activities, and reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) content in serum and colon tissues. Meanwhile, MP also significantly increased the expression levels of SOD, GSH‐Px, heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1), and nuclear factor E2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2) mRNA in colon tissues. Further, western blot results showed that the expression of Nrf2 protein was significantly upregulated while kelch‐like ECH‐associated protein 1 (Keap1) was significantly downregulated by MP in the colonic tissues. This study indicates that MP can ameliorate Cy‐induced oxidative stress injury in mice, and Nrf2‐Keap1 signaling pathway may mediate these protective effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) can be widely utilized in civil engineering because of their helpful features like high corrosion resistance for aggressive surroundings and high strength to weight ratio. By providing a lateral confining pressure, the concrete compressive strength is increased. Giving an analytic model that can forecast the FRP strength is the purpose of this study. This model is according to the normalized AlexNet Extreme Learning Machine and the Advanced Red Fox Optimization Algorithm (AlexNet‐ELM‐ARFO). The AlexNet‐ELM‐ARFO algorithm's innovation includes a formulation of an analytic relation, which doesn't attend to the established effectiveness parameter that is in the models introduced in the literature. An extended empirical dataset is utilized for defining the suggested formulation's variables. The suggested model is applied to circular columns including continuous FRP. The predictions' validation is shown by parametric research and the precision is examined by an empirical against theoretic comparison. A supplementary comparison is demonstrated with consideration of the theoretic prediction gained from the given method and the formulations' results using significant design codes. Outcomes prove that the used method is adapted to the FRP‐confined concrete design and ensures an improved precision in comparison with respect to the available competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Apple snails from the genus Pomacea have spread widely in paddy fields and other wetlands of southern China since their introduction in the 1980s. Pomacea spp. are commonly identified using mitochondrial COI sequences. However, sequencing the nuclear elongation factor 1‐alpha (EF1α) gene revealed genetic introgression between field populations of P. canaliculata and P. maculata, which produce surviving hybrids in laboratory crossbreeding experiments. RESULTS: In this study, we sequenced 1054 EF1α clones to design specific primers and established a fast and accurate multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for genotyping EF1α. Combined with genotyping P. canaliculata and P. maculata based on mitochondrial COI and nuclear EF1α, we revealed the genetic introgression patterns of 30 apple snail populations in China. Purebred and hybrid individuals of P. canaliculata were widely distributed, while pure maculata‐EF1α type was detected only in a few individuals identified as P. canaliculata based on COI sequences. Each egg clutch had one to three genetic patterns, indicating multiple paternity or segregation in the progeny of hybrids. The higher percentages of hybrids in both wild populations and progeny than the homozygotes indicated a potential heterosis in the apple snail populations. Additionally, egg size and clutch size of the apple snails became homogeneous among the non‐native populations exhibiting introgression hybridization. CONCLUSION: Our findings emphasize the value of apple snails as a model to study the mechanisms and impacts of introgressive hybridization on fitness traits. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]