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The development of active and stable platinum (Pt)-based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts with good resistance to poisoning is a prerequisite for widespread practical application of fuel cells. An effective strategy for enhancing the electrocatalytic performance is to tune or control the physicochemical state of the Pt surface. Herein, we show a general surface-engineering approach to prepare a range of nanostructured Pt alloys by coating with alloy PtBi shells. FePt@PtBi core-shell nanoparticles showed the best ORR performance with a mass activity of 0.96 A mgPt-1 and a specific activity of 2.06 mA cm-2 , respectively 7 times and 11 times those of the corresponding values for benchmark Pt/C. Moreover, FePt@PtBi shows much better tolerance to methanol and carbon monoxide than conventional Pt-based electrocatalysts. The observed comprehensive enhancement in ORR performance of FePt@PtBi can be attributed to the increased compressive strain of the Pt surface due to in-plane shearing resulting from the presence of the large Bi atoms in the surface-structured PtBi overlayers, as well as charge displacement via Pt-Bi bonding which mitigates crossover issues.

In the present study, the effects and mechanism of action of U50,488H (a selective κ-opioid receptor agonist) on calcification of rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) induced by β-glycerophosphate (β-GP) were investigated. VSMCs were isolated and cultured in traditional FBS-based media. A calcification model was established in VSMCs under hyperphosphatemia and intracellular calcium contents. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and lactate were detected in cell culture supernatants before and after treatment. Alizarin red staining was used to detect the degree of calcification of VSMCs. Expression levels of key molecules of osteogenic markers, fructose-2,6-biphosphatase 3 (PFKFB3), and proline hydroxylase 2 (PHD2), were determined using western blotting. Further, vascular calcification was induced by vitamin D3 plus nicotine in rats and isolated thoracic aortas, calcium concentration was assessed in rat aortic rings in vitro. We demonstrated that U50,488H inhibited VSMC calcification in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, U50,488H significantly inhibited osteogenic differentiation and ALP activity in VSMCs pretreated with β-GP. Further studies confirmed that PFKFB3 expression, LDH level, and lactate content significantly increased during calcification of VSMCs; U50,488H reversed these changes. PHD2 expression showed the opposite trend compared to PFKFB3 expression. nor-BNI or 3-PO abolished U50,488H protective effects. Besides, U50,488H inhibited VSMC calcification in rat aortic rings ex vivo. Collectively, our experiments show that κ-opioid receptor activation inhibits VSMC calcification by reducing PFKFB3 expression and lactate content, providing a potential drug target and strategy for the clinical treatment of vascular calcification.

Non-enzymatic electrochemical sensors for the determination of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) have attracted more and more concerns. A series of nickel and cobalt double oxides (NixCoy-DO) with the different ratios of Ni/Co have been prepared by a polyol-mediated solvothermal method for H2O2 detection. The obtained products exhibit honeycomb-like open porous microtubes constituted with the low-dimensional nanostructured NixCoy-DO blocks after the calcination treatment. Compared with nickel oxides, the introduced Co ions in NixCoy-DO can induce the production of surficial oxygen vacancies, and further enhance the electrode surface activity. In particular, the NiCo-DO sample (with an atomic ratio of Ni/Co = 4:3) shows the richest surficial oxygen vacancies and presents the highest H2O2 detection activity among all the as-prepared samples, demonstrating an excellent sensitivity of 698.60 μA L mmol−1 cm-2 (0 ∼ 0.4 mmol/L), low detection limit (0.28 μmol/L, S/N = 3), as well as long stability, high selectivity and good reproducibility. This work lends a new impetus to the potential application of double metal oxides for the next generation of non-enzymatic sensors.

In this manuscript, three iso‐nitrogenous and iso‐lipidic diets containing 50, 150 and 250 g/kg of fishmeal (FM) were fed white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei for 8 weeks. At the end of feeding, survival and percentage weight gain of shrimp were examined. Hepatopancreas and haemolymph were sampled, activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), nitric oxide (NO), glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in hepatopancreas, activities of SOD, CAT, acid phosphatase (ACP) and alkaline phosphatase (AKP), and NO, GSH, MDA in haemolymph were examined. Haemolymph was further subjected to GC‐MS analysis. Results indicated that no significant differences in survival rate and percentage weight gain were observed among three treatments. SOD activity and GSH levels in hepatopancreas, and CAT activity, AKP activity, GSH and MDA levels in haemolymph were significantly lower in shrimp fed 50 g/kg FM diet. GC‐MS analysis of haemolymph indicated that 81 metabolites were significantly altered in the three groups. Furthermore, 8 metabolism pathways were significantly influenced by dietary FM levels. In conclusion, dietary administration of 50 g/kg FM resulted in inhibition of antioxidant ability, and disordered the energy metabolism, one‐carbon metabolism and unsaturated fatty acid metabolism in shrimp.

The dipeptide dl-methionyl-dl-methionine (Met-Met) has extremely low water solubility and better absorption than other methionine sources (such as dl-methionine and l-methionine) available in the market. Therefore, six diets (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5 and D6) containing 0, 0·07, 0·15, 0·21, 0·28 and 0·38 % Met-Met were formulated to investigate the effects of Met-Met in juvenile Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (17 g initial body weight). The results indicated that percentage weight gain and specific growth rate of fish fed with D2 and D3 diets were higher than those fed with D1, D4–D6 diets. The levels of total essential amino acid in whole body of fish fed with D3 and D4 diets were significantly higher than those fed the D1 diet. Superoxide dismutase activity and malondialdehyde content have no significant difference in fish fed the diet with or without Met-Met supplementation. Majority of reads derived from the fish intestine belonged to members of Fusobacteria, followed by Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria. Diversity of intestinal microbiota and total antioxidant capacity in fish fed with D3 diet was significantly higher than that of other groups. Based on the growth results, the authors conclude that the optimal level of Met is 0·61 % Met with the addition of 0·15 % Met-Met for grower-phase O. niloticus.

A 12-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of citric acid on the involvement of TLRs in the soybean meal induced inflammatory response and tight junction disruption in the distal intestine of juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.). Four isonitrogenous and isolipidic practical diets were formulated: fish meal-based diet (FM); 40% fish meal protein in FM replaced with soybean meal protein (SBM); SBM + 1.5% citric acid and SBM + 3% citric acid. Compared to the FM, diet SBM significantly increased the gene expression of TLRs (TLR2, TLR3, TLR5b, TLR9, TLR21, TLR22) and MyD88, as well as TLR related molecules (NF-κB, IRF-3, p38 and JNK), which were remarkably reduced by dietary citric acid. Similarly, citric acid supplementation in SBM markedly depressed gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IFN-γ) and pore-forming tight junction protein Claudin-7, and enhanced gene expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β1 and TJ proteins related to the decrease in paracellular permeability (Claudin-3, Claudin-4, Occludin, Tricellulin and ZO-1). Compared to the SBM, the concentration of IgM and C4 in serum was significantly reduced by dietary citric acid. In brief, dietary citric acid could synchronously inhibit TLRs-dependent inflammatory response regulated by NF-κB and IRF3, as well as cause TLRs-dependent tight junction disruption modulated by p38 and JNK. Therefore, citric acid could function on mitigating soybean meal induced enteropathy in the distal intestine of juvenile turbot.

The effect of acute ammonia challenge on survival, immune response and antioxidant status of Litopenaeus vannamei pretreated with diets containing different inositol levels was investigated. Shrimp (initial mean weight 0.40 ± 0.00 g) were randomly allocated in 18 tanks (30 shrimp per tank) and triplicate tanks were fed with a control diet without myo-inositol (MI) supplementation (242.6 mg inositol kg−1 diet) or diets containing diverse levels of inositol (368.8, 459.7, 673.1, 993.8 and 1674.4 mg kg−1 diet) as treatment groups for 8-week. Randomly selected 10 shrimp per tank (final mean weight approximately 11.1–13.8g) were exposed to ammonia stress (total ammonia-nitrogen, 60.21 mg L−1) for 24 h after feeding trial. The results showed that after exposed to ammonia stress, survival rates of MI-supplemented groups were enhanced by 31–77% when compared with the control group. MI supplementation increased activities of alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and acid phosphatase (ACP) in plasma, and reduced its activities in hepatopancreas. It also enhanced activities of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and content of reduced glutathione (GSH), and lowered malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl (PC) content in plasma or hepatopancreas. In addition, mRNA expression levels of ferritin (FT), arginine kinase (AK), thioredoxin (Trx), heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), catalase (CAT) and peroxiredoxin (Prx) were significantly differentially regulated in hepatopancreas owing to MI supplementation. Therefore, it suggested that L. vannamei pretreated with higher dietary inositol content may have better ammonia stress tolerance and antioxidant status after ammonia stress, and the optimum levels ranged from 459.7 to 993.8 mg inositol kg−1 when total ammonia-nitrogen concentration was 60.21 mg L−1.

A 58-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary myo-inositol (MI) supplementation on growth performance, haematological parameters, hepatopancreas histopathology and antioxidant status of Litopenaeus vannamei fed with oxidized fish oil (OFO). Control diet contained fresh fish oil (FFO) without MI supplementation. The other four diets contained two oxidation levels of OFO (peroxide value: 133.2 and 268.7 meq kg−1) with or without 200 mg MI kg−1 diets (MI0+L, MI0+H, MI200 + L and MI200 + H). Results showed that OFO-supplemented groups (without MI supplementation) showed better growth performance and lower whole-body inositol content when opposed to control group. MI supplementation significantly improved whole-body inositol content in high-oxidized fish oil (HOFO) groups, and also reduced whole-body lipid in low-oxidized fish oil (LOFO) groups. Moreover, Supplementation of OFO and MI markedly hit the fatty acid profile of muscle. HOFO caused severe histopathological changes in hepatopancreas of shrimp, which slightly alleviated by MI supplementation. MI supplementation also grew the total protein (TP) content and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity and decreased the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) of serum in OFO-supplemented groups. Ingestion of OFO increased levels of lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation in serum or hepatopancreas, which partly ameliorated by MI supplementation. Activities of antioxidant enzymes exhibited different expression patterns because of OFO and MI. In addition, HOFO markedly increased mRNA expression levels of antioxidant genes including ferritin (FT), thioredoxin (Trx), GPX, glutathione S-transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT) and decreased peroxiredoxin (Prx) expression, in which expression of GPX and Prx were increased owing to MI supplementation. Therefore, it suggested that dietary OFO stimulated growth performance, but also induced oxidative stress and caused impairment to hepatopancreas in L. vannamei. The negative impact brought about by OFO was partially mitigated by dietary MI supplementation.

Electrode materials with amorphous and subnano structures commonly exhibit excellent Na-ion storage performance. However, the high surface specific energy of such materials spontaneously causes thermodynamic agglomeration and recrystallization, limiting their underlying capability in energy storage applications. For the first time, we realize the synthesis of amorphous SnO2 (A-SnO2) subnanoclusters (with an average size of ∼0.93 nm) by a facile and controllable strategy using N, O-doped porous carbon nanosheets as the support material. The A-SnO2 subnanoclusters with stretched Sn–O and Sn–Sn bonds can stably exist because of the microporous confinement and strong interfacial bonding afforded by the support. The A-SnO2 subnanocluster anode shows a higher reversible capacity and better rate capability than the large-sized crystalline SnO2 nanoparticle anode fabricated using graphene oxide as the alternative support. Electrochemical characterization and first-principles calculations show that the synergistic effect of unique SnO2 and the superior carbon support enhance the storage capacity and diffusion coefficient of Na-ions. Moreover, particle pulverization and exfoliation of the SnO2 anode is obviously suppressed during desodiation/sodiation, leading to a superior cycling performance (without capacity decay after 1400 cycles). Consequently, a Na-ion capacitor assembled using the A-SnO2 subnanocluster anode exhibits a high energy (196.4 W h kg−1), high power (28.1 kW kg−1), and long lifetime.

The present study investigated the potential mechanisms of astaxanthin in the regulation of gastrointestinal immunity and retinal mitochondrial function of golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus). Triplicate groups of juvenile T. ovatus (mean initial weight: 6.03 ± 0.01 g) were fed one of six diets (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, and D6) for 8 weeks, with each diet containing various concentrations of astaxanthin (0, 0.0005, 0.001, 0.005, 0.01, or 0.1%, respectively). Growth performance of fish fed the D2–D5 diets was higher than that of fish fed the D1 diet; however, growth performance and survival of fish deteriorated sharply in fish fed the D6 diet. Gut villus in fish fed the D2–D5 diets were significantly longer and wider than that of fish fed the D6 diet. Feeding with D2–D5 diets led to increased abundance of Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Oceanobacillus, Lactococcus, Halomonas, Lactobacillus, and Psychrobacter while abundance of Vibrio and Bacterium decreased. Additionally, feeding with the D6 diet resulted in a sharp decline in Pseudomonas and Lactobacillus abundance and a sharp increase in Vibrio abundance. A low dissolved oxygen environment (DO, 1.08 mg/L) was conducted for 10 h after the rearing trial. No fish mortality was observed for any of the diet treatments. Lysozyme (LZY) activity in fish fed the D6 diet decreased sharply and was significantly lower than that in other groups. ROS production also decreased sharply in fish fed the D6 diet. Moreover, the conjunctiva and sclera in the fish fed the D6 diet were indistinguishable. Suitable dietary astaxanthin supplementation levels (0.005–0.1%) exerting a neuroprotective effect from low dissolved oxygen environments is due to up-regulated expression of anti-apoptotic factors, such as phosphorylated Bcl-2-associated death promoter (pBAD), phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase-3β (pGSK-3β), Bcl-2 extra large (Bcl-xL), and down-regulated expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) pro-apoptotic factor in retinas. Furthermore, suitable dietary astaxanthin levels (0.0005–0.01%) suppressed up-regulation of critical mitochondrial components, such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), while excessive astaxanthin supplementation produces the opposite effect. In brief, high-dose astaxanthin arouses and aggravates low dissolved oxygen-induced inflammation, oxidative stress, intestinal disorder, retinal apoptosis, and retinal mitochondrial dysfunction in T. ovatus. Second-degree polynomial regression of WG indicated that the optimum dietary astaxanthin for juvenile T. ovatus is 0.049%.

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of xylooligosaccharde (XOS) on growth, immunity and disease resistance of juvenile grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Fish (3.05 ± 0.01 g) were fed with diets containing XOS at levels of 0, 0.05 %, 0.1 %, 0.2 %, 0.4 % and 0.6 %. Results showed that the plasma triglyceride content was significantly lower in fish fed dietary 0.05 % and 0.1 % XOS compared to the control group (P

Background For most patients, pancreatic adenocarcinoma responds poorly to treatment, and novel therapeutic approaches are needed. Standard-of-care paclitaxel (PTX), combined with birinapant (BRP), a bivalent mimetic of the apoptosis antagonist SMAC (second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases), exerts synergistic killing of PANC-1 human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells. Methods To investigate potential mechanisms underlying this synergistic pharmacodynamic interaction, data capturing PANC-1 cell growth, apoptosis kinetics, and cell cycle distribution were integrated with high-quality IonStar-generated proteomic data capturing changes in the relative abundance of more than 3300 proteins as the cells responded to the two drugs, alone and combined. Results PTX alone (15 nM) elicited dose-dependent G2/M-phase arrest and cellular polyploidy. Combined BRP/PTX (150/15 nM) reduced G2/M by 35% and polyploid cells by 45%, and increased apoptosis by 20%. Whereas BRP or PTX alone produced no change in the pro-apoptotic protein pJNK, and a slight increase in the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl2, the drug combination increased pJNK and decreased Bcl2 significantly compared to the vehicle control. A multi-scale, mechanism-based mathematical model was developed to investigate integrated birinapant/paclitaxel effects on temporal profiles of key proteins involved in kinetics of cell growth, death, and cell cycle distribution. Conclusions The model, consistent with the observed reduction in the Bcl2/BAX ratio, suggests that BRP-induced apoptosis of mitotically-arrested cells is a major contributor to the synergy between BRP and PTX. Coupling proteomic and cellular response profiles with multi-scale pharmacodynamic modeling provides a quantitative mechanistic framework for evaluating pharmacodynamically-based drug-drug interactions in combination chemotherapy, and could potentially guide the development of promising drug regimens.

This study mainly evaluated the low dietary fish-meal (FM) on growth performance, immune competence and metabolomics response of juvenile Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei reared at low salinity (7‰). Five experimental diets with graded levels (25, 20, 15, 10, and 5%) of FM were formulated. Weight gain, feed utilization and survival were decreased with the decreasing FM levels. When dietary FM decreased, glucose, cholesterol, total bile acids, and triglyceride in hemolymph decreased. Fatty acid synthesis was promoted and fatty acid lipolysis was reduced in hepatopancreas of shrimp fed low dietary FM. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress related genes expression in hepatopancreas were down-regulated and in intestine were upregulated by low dietary FM. Inhibitor kappa B kinaseβ expression in intestine increased with the dietary FM levels, while mRNA levels of dorsal in hepatopancreas showed the opposite tendency. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain and transmission electron microscope analysis of intestinal samples indicated that low FM diets induced intestinal morphological damage, ER swollen and chromatin condensation. UPLC-Q/TOF-MS analysis indicated that degree of unsaturation of the fatty acid chains of phospholipids in hemolymph decreased with the decreasing dietary FM levels. Lysophospholipids and bile acids metabolism were disturbed by high levels of FM sparing in diet. These results indicated when dietary FM contents decreased, ER stress of shrimp was induced. The decreased unsaturated degree of phospholipids, decreased contents of lysophospholipids, altered lipid metabolism and ER stress may responsible for the impaired growth performance and health of shrimp fed a low FM diet.

The present study investigated the effect of dietary astaxanthin (AX) on the growth performance, antioxidant parameters, and repair of hepatopancreas damage in Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). To evaluate the hepatopancreas protective function of AX in shrimps, we compared the effect of five isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets under oxidized fish oil conditions with varying AX levels during the 50-day experimental period. The formulated diets were as follows: (i) OFO (oxidized fish oil), (ii) OFO/AX150 (oxidized fish oil + AX150 mg/kg), (iii) OFO/AX250 (oxidized fish oil + AX250 mg/kg), (iv) OFO/AX450 (oxidized fish oil + AX450 mg/kg), and, (v) control group (fresh fish oil). Results showed that the oxidized fish oil with 275.2 meq/kg peroxide value (POV) resulted in a substantial decrease in the final body weight of L. vannamei (P &gt, 0.05) and induced some visible histopathological alterations in the hepatopancreas. Growth performance was significantly higher in shrimps fed with the OFO/AX450 diet than those fed with the OFO diet (p &lt, 0.05). However, no significant difference was observed when the OFO/AX450 diet was compared to the control diet containing fresh fish oil (p &gt, 0.05). Moreover, shrimps under the OFO/AX450 diet displayed a significant improvement in hepatopancreatic health and showed a reduction of malondialdehyde (MDA) compared to those under the OFO diet (p &lt, 0.05). Dietary AX improved the antioxidant capacity of L. vannamei by increasing the catalase (CAT) activity in the hemolymph. Acute salinity change test showed a higher shrimp survival rate under OFO/AX450 diet than the OFO diet (p &lt, 0.05), suggesting that AX can contribute to enhanced stress tolerance. In conclusion, our data suggest that AX confers dose-dependent protection against OFO-induced oxidative insults and hepatopancreatic damage in shrimp.

High-fat diet (HFD) usually induces oxidative stress and astaxanthin is regarded as an excellent anti-oxidant. An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary astaxanthin supplementation on growth performance, lipid metabolism, antioxidant ability, and immune response of juvenile largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) fed HFD. Four diets were formulated: the control diet (10.87% lipid, C), high-fat diet (18.08% lipid, HF), and HF diet supplemented with 75 and 150 mg kg&minus, 1 astaxanthin (HFA1 and HFA2, respectively). Dietary supplementation of astaxanthin improved the growth of fish fed HFD, also decreased hepatosomatic index and intraperitoneal fat ratio of fish fed HFD, while having no effect on body fat. Malondialdehyde content and superoxide dismutase activity were increased in fish fed HFD, astaxanthin supplementation in HFD decreased the oxidative stress of fish. The supplementation of astaxanthin in HFD also reduced the mRNA levels of Caspase 3, Caspase 9, BAD, and IL15. These results suggested that dietary astaxanthin supplementation in HFD improved the growth performance, antioxidant ability and immune response of largemouth bass.

PVDF-based nanocomposite films are promising in fabrication flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators for self-powered portable devices. In this work, a double-layered heterostructure was designed and the PVDF nanocomposite films contained with barium titanate nanoparticles were prepared by solution spin coating. The nanofillers were concentrated distributed in one layer of half the film, and the remaining half was neat PVDF layer. The double-layered BT/PVDF films were characterized comparatively with their counterpart of single-layer films. Although containing with less content of BT nanoparticles and lower proportion of β-phase in polymer, the piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) devices fabricated by double-layered films represent higher piezoelectric outputs in mechanical-to-electric conversion measurement. The charges accumulated at the additional interlayer interface between BT/PVDF layer and PVDF layer contributes much to enhancing electric capacity of the film. Benefited from good interfacial adhesion and better flexibility, the mechanical property and cyclic endurance are also improved. The double-layer film contained with 20 vol fractions (vol%) BTNPs represent excellent comprehensive performance of 6.7 V in output voltage, 2.4 μA in output current, and good stability changed within 3% in more than one thousand circles. The double-layer constructure is promising in nanocomposite films to develop PENGs for self-powered devices.

Semimetallic-layered transition-metal dichalcogenides, such as TiS2, can serve as a platform material for exploring novel physics modulated by dimensionality, as well as for developing versatile applications in electronics and thermoelectrics. However, controlled synthesis of ultrathin TiS2 in a dry-chemistry way has yet to be realized because of the high oxophilicity of active Ti precursors. Here, we report the ambient pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to grow large-size, highly crystalline two-dimensional (2D) TiS2 nanosheets through in situ generating titanium chloride as the gaseous precursor. The addition of NH4Cl promoter can react with Ti powders and switch the solid-phase sulfurization reaction into a CVD process, thus enabling the controllability over the size, shape, and thickness of the TiS2 nanosheets via tuning the synthesis conditions. Interestingly, this semimetallic 2D material exhibits near-infrared surface plasmon resonance absorption and a memristor-like electrical behavior, both holding promise for further application developments. Our method hence opens a new avenue for the CVD growth of 2D metal dichalcogenides directly from metal powders and pave the way for exploring their intriguing properties and applications.

PVDF fibers were prepared via electrospinning with different electric field and rotating speed, respectively. The values of piezoelectric output of the devices assembled by PVDF fibrous membrane linearly fit with the product of the numerical values (CEP, content of effective piezo-phase) of crystallinity and β-phase proportion in electrospun fibers. With the optimized parameters of electric field (15 kV) and rotation speed (500 rpm) in electrospinning, the maximal output of 2.8 V and 1.32 μA were obtained. The controllable crystal structure of PVDF and definite relationship between preparation parameters and piezoelectric behavior is beneficial for modulating the mechanical-to-electrical conversion in device.

Despite decades of effort, pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains an intractable clinical challenge. An insufficient understanding of mechanisms underlying tumor cell responses to chemotherapy contributes significantly to the lack of effective treatment regimens. Here, paclitaxel, a first-line chemotherapeutic agent, was observed to interact synergistically with birinapant, a second mitochondrial-derived activator of caspases mimetic. Therefore, we investigated molecular-level drug interaction mechanisms using comprehensive, reproducible, and well-controlled ion-current-based MS1 quantification (IonStar). By analyzing 40 biological samples in a single batch, we compared temporal proteomic responses of PDAC cells treated with birinapant and paclitaxel, alone and combined. Using stringent criteria (e.g. strict false-discovery-rate (FDR) control, two peptides/protein), we quantified 4069 unique proteins confidently (99.8% without any missing data), and 541 proteins were significantly altered in the three treatment groups, with an FDR of

This trial was conducted to compare Novel Met-Met product (AQUAVI® Met-Met) and dl -methionine ( dl -Met) regarding their availability to juvenile white shrimp. Eleven experimental diets were formulated (Basal, dl -Met 0.06, dl -Met 0.12, dl -Met 0.18, dl -Met 0.24, dl -Met 0.3, AQUAVI 0.06, AQUAVI 0.12, AQUAVI 0.18, AQUAVI 0.24, AQUAVI 0.3), the basal diet was formulated without any additional methionine addition; the other ten diets ( dl -Met 0.06, dl -Met 0.12, dl -Met 0.18, dl -Met 0.24, dl -Met 0.3; AQUAVI 0.06, AQUAVI 0.12, AQUAVI 0.18, AQUAVI 0.24, AQUAVI 0.3) were formulated with five graded levels of methionine with two different methionine sources of dl -Met and AQUAVI® Met-Met, respectively. Each diet was fed at a restricted rate to four groups of 30 shrimp for 63 days. The highest value of survival was observed with shrimp fed AQUAVI 0.24 diet, which was significantly higher than that of shrimp fed the basal, dl -Met 0.06 and dl -Met 0.18 (P 0.05). The highest values of growth performance (WG and SGR) were observed with shrimp fed AQUAVI 0.12 diet, which were significantly higher than those of shrimp fed the basal, dl -Met 0.06 and dl -Met 0.18 (P 0.05). A non-linear exponential regression model indicated that AQUAVI® Met-Met was found to be more bioavailable than dl -Met with calculated relative bioavailability values of 285.8%, 276.4% and 300.4% based on weight gain, specific growth rate and feed efficiency, respectively. These findings lead to the conclusion that differences in bioavailability do exist between sources of synthetic methionine, and AQUAVI® Met-Met is more available than DL-Met for L. vannamei.

High-fat diets (HFD) is widely applied in aquaculture to achieve a protein-saving effect, whereas long-term intake of high-fat feed will negatively affect the health of fish. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is an effective antioxidant and anti-obesity substance. However, whether CGA can address a series of adverse effects caused by fish's high lipid diet is unclear. Four diets were formulated: a control diet (C) with approximate 11% lipid; HFD with 18% lipid (HF) and HFD supplemented with 300 and 600 mg/kg CGA (HFC1 and HFC2, respectively) and a nine-week feeding trial was conducted of largemouth bass. Here we show that dietary CGA improves health of largemouth bass by regulating expression of gene responsible for lipid metabolism, inflammation, and antioxidant enzymes. We found that dietary CGA decreases total triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) in plasma and nonestesterified fatty acid (NEFA) in liver of largemouth bass, and 600 mg/kg CGA increased mRNA expression levels of lipolysis such as hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) and adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), and apolipoprotein A1 (APOA1) in the liver. In addition, we found CGA downregulates mRNA expression levels of interleukin 8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Furthermore, we found that CGA decreases malondialdehyde (MDA) level of liver of largemouth bass, while increased mRNA expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT). Our results indicate that CGA plays a role in lipid metabolism, inflammation and antioxidant capacity of largemouth bass fed HFD.

Non-aqueous electrolytes (e.g., organic and ionic liquid electrolytes) can undergo high working voltage to improve the energy densities of supercapacitors. However, the large ion sizes, high viscosities, and low ionic conductivities of organic and ionic liquid electrolytes tend to cause the low specific capacitances, poor rate, and cycling performance of supercapacitors based on conventional micropore-dominant activated carbon electrodes, limiting their practical applications. Herein, we propose an effective strategy to simultaneously obtain high power and energy densities in non-aqueous electrolytes via using a cattle bone-derived porous carbon as an electrode material. Because of the unique co-activation of KOH and hydroxyapatite (HA) within the cattle bone, nitrogen-doped hierarchically porous carbon (referred to as NHPC–HA/KOH) is obtained and possesses a mesopore- and macropore-dominant porosity with an ultrahigh specific surface area (2203 m2 g–1) of meso- and macropores. The NHPC–HA/KOH electrodes ...

Heme oxygenase-1(HO-1) is a stress-inducible enzyme that mediates antioxidative and cytoprotective effects to maintain cellular redox homeostasis. In the present study, the full sequence of HO-1 was cloned from golden pompano(Trachinotus ovatus) by RT-PCR and RACE-PCR. The full cDNA sequence of HO-1 was 1349 bp in length which comprised of a 726 bp open reading frame (ORF) preceded by 262 bp 5′-untranslated region (UTR), and followed by a 360 bp 3′UTR, encoding 241 amino acid residues. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that HO-1 showed highest similarity to that of Takifugu rubripes. Tissue distribution analysis showed that the expression level of HO-1 was relatively high in heart, liver and spleen. A trial was conducted to investigate the response of Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway to oxidative stress induced by copper. The results showed that mRNA expression of NF-E2-related nuclear factor2 (Nrf2), Kelch-like-ECH-associated protein1 (keap1), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), HO-1, NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) all significantly increased in copper treated group than that in the control group. This work provides new insight into the molecular mechanism underlying the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway in oxidative response in T. ovatus.

The study was conducted to compare and evaluate effects of four different macro-algaes on growth, immune response, and intestinal microbiota of Litopenaeus vannamei. In the rearing trial 1, shrimp were fed five diets containing four sources of macro-algaes for 8 weeks, named D1 (without macro-algae), D2 (Porphyra haitanensis), D3 (Undaria pinnatifida), D4 (Saccharina japonica), and D5 (Gracilaria lemaneiformis), respectively. Growth performance of shrimp in D5 diet was significantly higher than that of shrimp fed the control and D4 diet (P < 0.05); however, there is no significant difference among D2, D3, and D5 diets (P > 0.05). Apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter from the D2, D3, and D5 diets were significantly higher than that from the control and D4 diets (P < 0.05). Supplementary macro-algaes enhanced hepatopancreas immunity through positively increasing total antioxidant status (TAS) and prophenoloxidase activity (ProPO), as well as up-regulating the hepatopancreas RNA expression of ProPO and IκBα and down-regulating the expression of transforming growth factor β. Furthermore, dietary macro-algaes modified intestinal microbiota of L. vannamei, boosting the relative abundance of beneficial bacterial such as Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Bacillaceae, and decreasing those detrimental bacterial such as Gammaproteobacteria and Vibrionaceae. In the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) challenge trial, shrimps were injected for 6-day after the rearing trial. On the fourth day, shrimp death started to occur, and the mortality in D2, D3, and D5 diets was significantly lower than that in control and SJ diets during 4–6 challenged days (P < 0.05). Dietary macro-algaes ameliorated hepatopancreas damage in L. vannamei by increasing TAS and ProPO activities and decreasing SOD activity, inhibiting the lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde), as well as regulating the immune-related genes expression. Taken together, dietary macro-algaes availably relieved enterohepatic oxidative damage by improving antioxidant ability and immunity and regulated intestinal microbiota in L. vannamei. These results indicated that G. lemaneiformis is the most suitable macro-algae and then followed by U. pinnatifida and P. haitanensis as the feed ingredient for L. vannamei.

Bile acid (BA) has been reported to improve growth performance and play an important role in lipid metabolism of fish. Five diets were formulated to investigate the effects of dietary bile acid (chenodeoxycholic acid) supplementation on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, lipid metabolism and intestinal health of juvenile largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Fish (18.35 ± 0.05 g) were randomly fed five diets: the positive control diet (10.87% lipid, C), high fat diet (18.08% lipid, HF), and HF diets supplemented with 300, 600 and 900 mg/kg chenodeoxycholic acid (HFC1, HFC2 and HFC3, respectively). After 9 weeks of feeding experiment, the weight gain (WG) and special growth rate (SGR) were significantly lower in the fish fed diet HF compared with those fed diet C (P 0.05). Viscerosomatic index (VSI) and intraperitoneal fat ratio (IPF) were significantly higher in fish fed high fat diets than those fed the control diet (P 0.05), while the crude lipid of muscle significantly decreased in HFC2 group (P

Antibiotics have been widely used (mainly mixed with feed) in aquaculture, while few studies have evaluated the interactions between feed composition and antibiotics. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is a fat-soluble antibiotic, an eight weeks feeding trial was conducted to investigate the interactions between dietary lipid levels and chronic exposure of legal aquaculture dose of sulfamethoxazole in juvenile largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, and evaluated the possible human health risk. Six practical diets were formulated to three levels of crude lipid (11, 14.5, 18 %) and two levels of SMX (0 and 0.3 %), namely low fat (LF), moderate fat (MF), high fat (HF), low fat and SMX (LFS), moderate fat and SMX (MFS), high fat and SMX (HFS), respectively. Each diet was assigned to three tanks (20 fish per tank, average weight 30.65 ± 0.02 g). Growth and organ indices were increased by SMX. Higher malformation rate and lower hypoxia stress resistance were found in fish exposed to SMX than those not exposed. Cholesterol and bile acid synthesis related gene expressions were down-regulated by SMX exposure. Oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis were increased in fish exposed to SMX. Significant interactions between dietary lipid levels and SMX on renal immune response of fish were observed. Remarkable damage of intestinal histology was observed in fish fed the diet HFS. In addition, dietary SMX exposure increased pathogen susceptibility of largemouth bass and induced dysbiosis of gut microbiota. The concentrations of SMX in muscle of fish fed diets containing SMX were higher than those fed other diets, and close to the maximum residue limit (MRL) in China and international organizations. Although chronic legal aquaculture dose of dietary SMX also increased the target hazard quotient (THQ) and estimated daily intake (EDI), there is no health risk in adults and children consuming fish filet.

Strengthening the interfacial interaction in heterogeneous catalysts can lead to a dramatic improvement in their performance and allow the use of smaller amounts of active noble metal, thus decreasing the cost without compromising their activity. In this work, a facile phase-segregation method is demonstrated for synthesizing platinum-tin oxide hybrids supported on carbon black (PtSnO2 /C) in situ by air annealing PtSn alloy nanoparticles on carbon black. Compared with a control sample formed by preloading SnO2 on carbon support followed by deposition of Pt nanoparticles, the phase-segregation-derived PtSnO2 /C exhibits a more strongly coupled PtSnO2 interface with lattice overlap of Pt (111) and SnO2 (200), along with enhanced electron transfer from SnO2 to Pt. Furthermore, the PtSnO2 active sites show a strong ability to degrade reactive oxygen species. As a result, the PtSnO2 /C nanohybrids exhibit both excellent activity and stability as a catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction, with an overall performance which is superior to both the control sample and commercial Pt/C catalyst. This phase-segregation method can be expected to be applicable in the preparation of other strongly coupled nanohybrids and offers a new route to high-performance heterogeneous catalysts for low-cost energy conversion devices.

Filamentous microalga Tribonema sp. contains multiple bioactive compounds, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), palmitoleic acid and chrysolaminarin. Tribonema sp. is potentially a nature and safe ingredient in aquatic feed. Therefore, 6-week feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of Tribonema sp. on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immunity and hepatic health of Trachinotus ovatus. Three isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets (TS0, TS1 and TS5) containing 0% (control group), 1% and 5% Tribonema sp. were formulated, respectively. Results indicated that T. ovatus fed with TS5 diet significantly improved the growth performance by enhancing digestive enzyme activities and up-regulating the expression of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I). T. ovatus fed with TS5 diet also significantly facilitated the antioxidant capacity through activating the Nrf2-ARE signal pathway and increasing antioxidant enzyme activities. Meanwhile, TS5 diet significantly promoted liver health by upregulating the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines and downregulating the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, TS5 diet also upregulated the expression levels of non-specific immune related genes, including complement 4 (C4), c-type lysozyme (C-Lyz) and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). In conclusion, Tribonema sp. can be used as feed ingredients to increase growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immunity and improve hepatic health in T. ovatus.

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and glycine supplementation on growth performance, glutathione (GSH) synthesis, anti-oxidative and immune ability of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Four practical diets were formulated, control, control +0.2% NAC, control +0.5% glycine, control +0.2% NAC +0.5% glycine. Each diet was randomly assigned to quadruplicate groups of 30 fish (approximately 9.5 g). The weight gain and specific growth rate were significantly increased with the supplementation of NAC and glycine. While they had no effect on feed efficiency feed intake and survival. Glutathion peroxidase (GPx) was increased by NAC and γ-glutamine cysteine synthase (γ-GCS) in plasma were increased by glycine. After the feeding trail, fish were challenged by Streptococcus iniae, fish fed the diet supplemented with NAC obtained significantly higher survival rate after 72 h challenge test. NAC also decreased malonaldehyde (MDA) in liver, increased glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity in plasma, up-regulated mRNA expression of Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and GPx in liver and headkidney. Dietary supplementation of glycine increased the anti-oxidative ability of tilapia through increase anti-oxidative enzyme activity (SOD, glutathione reductase, myeloperoxidase) and up-regulate anti-oxidative gene expression (SOD). Immune ability only enhanced by the supplementation of NAC through increased interleukin-1β (IL-1β) mRNA expression. These results clearly indicated that the supplementation of NAC and glycine can significantly improve the growth performance of tilapia, and NAC also enhance the anti-oxidative and immune capacity of tilapia, glycine could only enhance the anti-oxidative ability.

An 8-week feeding trial followed by an acute combined stress of low-salinity and nitrite were designed to examine the effects of Rhodiola rosea on growth, body composition and antioxidant capacity of the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. Shrimp (3.60 ± 0.03 g) were randomly allocated to 4 groups, with 3 replicates per group and 30 shrimp per replicate. The dietary groups were given as follows: control and diets containing R. rosea (300, 1000 and 3000 mg kg−1). Antioxidant capacity including total antioxidant status (TAS), activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT) as well as gene expression of GSH-Px and CAT in hepatopancreas of shrimp was analysed at the end of feeding trial and again during the combined stress. The results showed that supplemental R. rosea had no significant impacts on growth and whole body composition of shrimp. There was significant effect of R. rosea supplementation dose and times on the antioxidant status parameters of L. vannamei. R. rosea (3000 mg kg−1) significantly improved the resistance of L. vannamei against the combined stress of low-salinity and nitrite, as indicated by the significant higher activities of TAS, GSH-Px and CAT (P

This study was to explore the impacts of water-soluble chitosan and mixed probiotics on growth performance, intestinal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and immunity and ammonia resistance in Litopenaeus vannamei. Shrimp were fed one of four experimental diets including basal diet (CON), 0.10% water-soluble chitosan diet (WSC), 0.30% mixed probiotics (MP) and 0.10% water-soluble chitosan +0.30% mixed probiotics (SYN) for 8 weeks. Results showed shrimp fed with dietary MP and SYN diets could significantly improve growth performance and feed utilization in comparison with those of shrimp fed with CON diet (P

Carbohydrates are the cheapest source of dietary energy for fish. Utilization of carbohydrates in feed is beneficial to sparing protein consumption as energy source and saving feed cost. Therefore, 8-week feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of starch level on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, serum biochemical parameters, intestinal morphology and intestinal microbiota of Trachinotus ovatus. Six isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5 and D6) containing 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% corn starch were formulated, respectively. Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicate groups of fish (initial body weight 11.84 g) fed twice daily to apparent satiation. Results showed that percent weight gain, specific growth ratio, hepatosomatic index, total antioxidation capacity and glutathione content of fish fed with D6 diet were the highest among all experimental treatments. Feed conversion rate was significantly lower in fish fed with D5 and D6 diets, than in fish fed with D1-D4 diets. No significant differences were found in the survival rate, viscerasomatic index, malondialdehyde and serum triglyceride contents among all diet treatments. The superoxide dismutase activity of T. ovatus fed with D3-D6 diets were relatively higher than those fed with D1 and D2 diets. Fish fed with D3 diet showed the highest value of serum total cholesterol. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol / low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio of fish fed with D1 and D6 diets were relatively higher than those fed with D2-D5 diets. No significant pathological changes in the foregut were observed among all diet treatments. Dietary starch level lead to alterations in the intestinal microbiota in T. ovatus. D2-D5 dietary treatments increased the abundance of harmful bacteria such as Vibrio, Photobacterium, Mycoplasma. D1 and D6 dietary treatments had similar intestinal microbiota composition. In conclusion, 25% starch level was beneficial to the growth and health of T. ovatus.

The present study was conducted to evaluate a multi-strain probiotic (MP) on growth performance, immune and antioxidant function, response to hypoxia stress and resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Based on the viable cell counts of aerobic Bacillus spp., six experimental diets with MP supplemented at 0, 0.34, 1.68, 3.36, 6.72, 10.1 g kg−1 were formulated and 900 juveniles (7.30 ± 0.01 g) were equally distributed into 30 aquaria with respective diet for 60 days. Results showed that fish with 0.34–1.68 g kg−1 MP had better growth and feed utilization. Further, plasma total protein, albumin and high-density lipoprotein were remarkably increased with dietary MP at >1.68 g kg−1. Dietary MP supplementation at 6.72–10.1 g kg−1 strikingly elevated plasma myeloperoxidase activity and complement C3 content. For fish with MP at 1.68 and 6.72–10.1 g kg−1, their liver malondialdehyde and glutathione peroxidase were remarkably declined and promoted. After hypoxia stress, fish with 3.36–6.72 g kg−1 MP showed significantly higher respiratory burst activity. Challenge test by A. hydrophila confirmed the protection effects of MP through the decreased cumulative mortality rates. For intestinal histomorphology and enzymatic analyses, fish with 1.68 g kg−1 MP displayed significantly higher intestinal villi height, goblet cells and alkaline phosphatase activity. In conclusion, dietary MP supplementation at 1.68 g kg−1 could promote growth, intestinal morphology and antioxidant capacity, while enhancing host immunity requires higher dosages of MP. Broken-line analysis of weight gain revealed that 1.34 g kg−1 is the optimum dosage for the growth of grass carp.

Aflatoxins, which was produced by Aspergillus flavus or Aspergillus parasiticus fungi during grain and feed processing or storage, could cause severe health problems and reduction of yield during shrimp cultures. To evaluate toxic effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in juvenile Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and potential protective effect of Zn(II)-curcumin (Zn-CM), four experimental diets (control, 500 μg/kg AFB1, 500 μg/kg AFB1+100 mg/kg Zn-CM, 500 μg/kg AFB1+200 mg/kg Zn-CM) were formulated in quadruplicate to feed the shrimp for 8 weeks. The results revealed that AFB1 could induce significant decrease in final body weight (FBW), weight gain (WG, %) and visible variations of the hepatopancreas structures in L.vannamei. Compared with AFB1 group, AFB1+100 mg/kg Zn-CM group significantly ameliorated the toxic effects of AFB1 on growth performance, while AFB1+100 mg/kg Zn-CM group had no effect on growth performance. Dietary AFB1+100 mg/kg Zn-CM enhanced phenoloxidase (PO) (P 0.05) activity. Both dietary AFB1+100 mg/kg Zn-CM and AFB1+200 mg/kg Zn-CM reduced inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity and glutathione (GSH) level, decreased the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) (P 0.05) in hepatopancreas compared with AFB1 group. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis demonstrated that Zn-CM could relieve the microvilli transformation and mitochondria accumulation reduction caused by AFB1. Consequently, the results demonstrated that suitable Zn-CM could mitigate the AFB1-induced hepatotoxicity and immunotoxicity effects on L.vannamei.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary soybean isoflavones (SI) supplementation on growth performance, innate immune responses, hepatic antioxidant abilities, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene expression and resistance to the pathogen Vibrio harveyi in Trachinotus ovatus. A basal diet was supplemented with SI at 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 mg kg(-1) feed for 8 weeks. Significantly maximum weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR) were observed in treatment with 40 mg kg(-1) SI supplement (P < 0.05). Feed conversion ratio (FCR), feeding rate (FR) and survival rate were not significantly different among treatments. Fish fed a diet with 40 mg kg(-1) SI showed significant increase in plasma total protein content, complement 3 content, lysozyme activity as well as respiratory burst activity, but decrease in alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities (P < 0.05). Increased plasma alkaline phosphatase activity, hepatic total antioxidative capacity, catalase activity and superoxide dismutase activity were also noticed in fish fed SI at 40 or 60 mg kg(-1) (P < 0.05). On the contrary, the lowest hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) content was observed in fish fed SI at 40 mg kg(-1) (P < 0.05). Compared with the control, the relative level of HSP70 mRNA in fish fed SI at 40-80 mg kg(-1) were significantly increased, respectively (P < 0.05). After challenge with V. harveyi, significant higher post-challenge survival was observed in fish fed diets with 40-80 mg kg(-1) SI supplement than that in control group (P < 0.05). These results indicated that dietary intake containing SI could enhance the immune ability of fish and improve its resistance to infection by V. harveyi. Especially supplementation with 40 mg kg(-1) SI to the fish for 8 weeks showed remarkable improvement in the growth, non-specific immune responses, hepatic antioxidant abilities and HSP70 gene expression.

The experiment was conducted to determine the effect of dietary DL-methionine addition in fish meal reduction diet for juvenile golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus). The trial comprises the following of 11 diet treatments. (i) D1 diet as the standard was formulated with fish meal as the main protein source. (ii) D2–D5 diets were formulated to replace fish meal with soybean meal at 60, 120, 180 and 300 g kg−1, respectively, and the amino acid profiles (including methionine and lysine) of D2–D5 were referred to the amino acid profile of D1. (iii) D6-D9 diets were the same as D2–D5, respectively, but without methionine supplementation. (iv) D10 and D11 diets were the same as D3 and D5 diets, respectively, but without lysine supplementation. Each diet was randomly fed to groups of 20 fish (initial average weight about 18 g) per net cage (1.0 × 1.0 × 1.5 m) in triplicate and the feeding experiment lasted for 56 days. Weight gain (WG, %) and final body weight (FBW, g) of fish fed D3 diet were significantly higher than those of fish fed D8 and D9 diets (P 0.05). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) of D3, D4 and D5 diet treatments were significantly lower than that of D11 diet treatment (P 0.05). Whole-body protein contents of fish fed D3–D5 were significantly higher than those of fish fed D7–D9 (P 0.05). In conclusion, the replacement of fish meal by soybean meal could reach 300 g kg−1 without detrimental but profitable effect on growth and survival when enough methionine and lysine were supplemented in the diet; moreover, lysine is not the first-limiting amino acid relative to methionine for juvenile T. ovatus from the present growth and proximate composition results.

In order to assess dietary arginine requirement for juvenile golden pompano, an experiment of six different diets with six dietary arginine levels (2.05%, 2.38%, 2.65%, 2.98%, 3.25% and 3.58%) was conducted. The results showed that the content of dietary arginine had a significant effect on weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion rate (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) of golden pompano (P 0.05). Dietary arginine content had a significant effect on serum and hepatic total nitric oxide synthase and lysozyme activities as well as survival rate in a Vibrio harveyi challenge experiment (P < 0.05). Quadratic regression analysis on WG, SGR, FCR and PER indicated that the recommended optimum dietary arginine level for optimal growth of juvenile pompano was 2.73–2.74% of the dry diet, corresponding to 6.32–6.35% of dietary protein.

A growth trial was conducted to determine the optimum dietary carbohydrate level of juvenile golden pompano ( Trachinotus ovatus ). Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic experimental diets (43% crude protein and 16.8 MJ kg − 1 diet) using corn starch as the carbohydrate source were formulated to contain six carbohydrate levels. Each diet was tested in triplicate for 8 weeks. Weight gain, specific growth rate, feed intake, protein efficiency ratio, hepatosomatic index, and viserosomatic index increased significantly as dietary starch levels increased from 0% to 16.8% ( P P P > 0.05) among all treatments. Carcass lipid content decreased but carcass protein content increased significantly as dietary carbohydrate levels increased ( P P > 0.05) among all treatments. Glycogen content in muscle and liver increased significantly as dietary carbohydrate levels increased ( P P + , K + -ATPase activities all increased with dietary carbohydrate levels up to 11.2% ( P P > 0.05). Hepatic hexokinase activity increased and hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase activity decreased significantly as dietary carbohydrate levels increased ( P P > 0.05). Expression of hepatic growth hormone (GH) gene was positively related to growth performance. In conclusion, results suggested that the optimum carbohydrate level for juvenile golden pompano could be 11.2–16.8% of the diet.

The objective of this research was to study the effect of astaxanthin (AST) on growth performance and antioxidant capacity in golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) both in vivo and in vitro. In the in vivo study, two diets were formulated with or without astaxanthin supplementation (D1 and D2; 0 and 200 mg/kg) to feed fish for 6 weeks. In the in vitro study, cells from hepatopancreas of golden pompano were isolated and four treatments with or without astaxanthin and H2O2 supplementation were applied (control group: without both astaxanthin and H2O2 treated; H2O2 group: just with H2O2 treated; H2O2 + AST group: with both astaxanthin and H2O2 treated; AST group: just with AST treated). Results of the in vivo study showed that weight gain (WG) and special growth rate (SGR) significantly increased with astaxanthin supplemented (P

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of different astaxanthin (AST) levels on growth performance, hepatic antioxidative activity, heat shock protein 70 (hsp70), and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) gene expression of juvenile golden pompano. Fish (mean initial body weight 5.8±0.05g) were fed six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets (AST-0, AST-0.005, AST-0.01, AST-0.05, AST-0.1, AST-0.2) containing various supplemented levels of astaxanthin (0%, 0.005%, 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, respectively) in triplicate for 8 weeks. Growth performance (final body weight, FBW; weight gain, WG), and survival of fish fed diets containing astaxanthin above 0.01% were significantly higher (P

Two trials were conducted to determine the effects of two different carotenoid sources on shrimp, Penaeus monodon , first on growth performance, secondly on the immune response of shrimp was investigated with an air emersion challenge. In trial 1, P. monodon (mean initial wet weight about 2.07 g) were fed five diets in triplicate; a basal diet (D1) without carotenoids; two diets formulated to supply 0.1% astaxanthin alone (D2), combination of 0.1% astaxanthin and 1% cholesterol (D3); two diets with 0.25% β-carotene alone (D4), combination of 0.25% β-carotene and 1% cholesterol (D5). Growth performance (final body weight, FBW; weight gain, WG; biomass gain, BG) and survival of shrimp fed D3 showed the highest values. The apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of carotenoids in carotenoid-supplemented diets (D2–D5) were quietly high (> 90%), and cholesterol supplementation did not significantly improve the carotenoid ADCs any more. However, cholesterol addition significantly enhanced the tissue carotenoid retention efficiencies in astaxanthin-supplemented diet treatments (D3 vs D2) but not in β-carotene-supplemented diet treatments (D5 vs D4). Hepatopancreas malondialdehyde (MDA) and hemolymph clotting time of shrimp fed carotenoid-supplemented diets (D2–D5) were lower ( P P P > 0.05) were found in expression profiles of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp 70) mRNA and hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) mRNA in hepatopancreas of shrimp among all diet treatments. In trial 2, the shrimp were exposed to air during a simulated live transportation for 36 h after the rearing trial 1. No mortalities were observed in all diet treatments after 36 h of simulated live transportation. Total hemocyte counts of shrimp fed the basal and β-carotene-supplemented diets (D1, D4 and D5) significantly declined ( P P P P P. monodon , and the supplement of cholesterol could positively enhance the efficiency of astaxanthin but not β-carotene.

Two novel binuclear metal-organic coordination complexes [M2(Zaltoprofen)2(Bipy)2] [M = Cd (I), Zn (II); Zaltoprofen = 5-(1-carboxyethyl)-2-(phenylthio)phenylacetic acid, Bipy = 2,2′-bipyridine) have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR and electronic spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and fluorescent properties. Complexes I, II crystallize isomorphously in the monoclinic space group P21/c. Structural analysis shows that the M(II) atom of I and II is coordinated with four oxygen atoms from the carboxyl group of the Zaltoprofen together with two nitrogen atoms from the Bipy. The 3D structures of the complexes are stabilized by π-π stacking interactions.

Gemcitabine (GEM) combined with albumin-bound paclitaxel nanoparticles (nab-PTX) is the first-line therapy for patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the in vivo mechanisms of drug action and interaction have not been investigated quantitatively for this combination. We evaluated the effects of GEM (100 mg/kg iv weekly) and nab-PTX (equivalent to 30 mg/kg PTX iv weekly), alone or combined, on tumor volume progression in 3 patient-derived xenograft (PDX) PDAC models in SCID mice. The MS1-based quantitative proteomic analysis (IonStar), which offers highly reproducible and accurate quantification with extremely low missing data ( Citation Format: Jin Niu, Xue Wang, Shichen Shen, Ju Qu, Donald Mager, Robert M. Straubinger. Pharmacodynamic and proteomic analysis of combined gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in patient-derived pancreatic cancer xenograft models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3890.

Different levels of dietary chitosan on growth performance, survival and stress tolerance to air exposure was studied in tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon. Shrimp (mean initial wet weight about 1.16 g) were fed with six different diets (C0, C0.05, C0.1, C0.2, C0.3 and C0.4) containing six level of chitosan (0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.4% respectively) in triplicate for 60 days. Growth performance [final body wet weight (FBW); weight gain (WG); biomass gain (BG)] of shrimp fed chitosan-containing diets were higher (P 0.05) in shrimp fed C0.3 diet group. Whole body and muscle lipid contents decreased with increasing dietary chitosan levels. Plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride contents of shrimp fed C0 diet was significantly higher (P

Two metal-organic frameworks based on the connectivity co-effect between rigid benzenedicarboxylic acid and bridging ligand have been synthesized (1), (2) (where = 3-nitro-1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, 4,4'-bpy = 4,4'-bipyridine). The two novel complexes were characterized by IR spectrum, elemental analysis, fluorescent properties, thermogravimetric analysis, single-crystal X-ray diffraction and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). X-ray structure analysis reveals that 1 and 2 are two-dimensional (2D) network structures. Complex 1 and complex 2 belong to triclinic crystal with P-1 space group. The luminescence measurements reveal that two complexes exhibit good fluorescent emissions in the solid state at room temperature. Also, thermal decomposition process and powder X-ray diffraction of complexes were investigated.

Three novel complexes {[Mn3(pimdc)2(H2O)5]·H2O}n (1), [Mn(H2pimdc)2(2,2′-bpy)] (2), and [Mn3(Hpimdc)2(H2pimdc)2 (4,4′-bpy)2(H2O)2]n (3) (where H3pimdc = 2-propyl-4,5-imida- zoledicarboxylate; bpy = 2,2/4,4-bipyridine) have been prepared and characterized by infrared spectrum, thermal analysis, and X-ray crystal diffraction. H3pimdc forms three kinds of coordination modes due to the different pH of solution. In 1, two Mn(II) centers connected through the coordinated ligands of H3pimdc to form a 3D framework. Complex 2 forms a 3D framework through hydrogen bonds and C–H···π interactions. In 3, 1D chains are engaged in hydrogen-bonding interactions with coordinated water O9 and carboxylate oxygens O4 and O6 forming a higher dimensional structure. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthesis and Reactivity in Inorganic, Metal-Organic, and Nano-Metal Chemistry to view the supplemental file.