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IntroductionTo establish a high myopia model in C57BL/6J mice with monocular form deprivation myopia (FDM) and investigate its ocular structure pathological trajectory.MethodsHealthy 3-week-old C57BL/6J mice were divided into an FDM group (n = 36) and a control group (n = 24). The left eyes of the FDM group were patched, while the right eyes served as controls. Biometric parameters and fundus morphology were assessed at baseline and after 4, 8, and 12 weeks of form deprivation.ResultsSignificant differences were observed in the deprived eyes, including longer axial length, higher refractive power, deeper vitreous chambers, thinner retina, choroid, and sclera, and smaller scleral fibers’ diameters under a transmission electron microscope. Retinal vascular area proportion in covered eyes decreased significantly (P < 0.05), with a decline rate of 11% from weeks 4 to 8 and a faster decline of 19% from weeks 8 to 12, while this proportion increased significantly in control eyes.DiscussionThis study successfully induced a high myopia model in mice with long-term form deprivation. The axial length grew dramatically in FDM in the first 8 weeks, while the pathological progress of the fundus accelerated from weeks 8 to 12.

We study L2-approximation problems in the weighted Hilbert spaces in the worst case setting. Three interesting weighted Hilbert spaces appear in this paper, whose weights are equipped with two positive parameters γj and αj for j∈N. We consider algorithms using the class of arbitrary linear functionals. We discuss the exponential convergence-(t,s)-weak tractability of these L2-approximation problems. In particular, we obtain the sufficient and necessary conditions on the weights for exponential convergence-weak tractability and exponential convergence-(t,1)-weak tractability with t<1.

Abstract Background To evaluate the effect of room air and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas in idiopathic macular hole(MH)surgery. Methods Retrospective, interventional, and comparative study. 238 eyes with the idiopathic macular hole that underwent pars plana vitrectomy, internal limiting membrane peeling, fluid-air exchange, and 20% SF6 (SF6 group:125 eyes) or room air tamponade (air group: 113 eyes) were reviewed. The primary outcome measure was the closure rate of primary surgery. Results The baseline characteristics of the SF6 group and air group were comparable except for the hole size (479.90 ± 204.48 vs. 429.38 ± 174.63 μm, P = 0.043). The anatomical closure rate was 92.8% (116 / 125) with the SF6 group and 76.1% (86 / 113) with the air group (P 520 μm. Conclusion SF6 exhibited more effectiveness than air to achieve a good anatomical outcome for its longer tamponade when MH > 520 μm.

Muscle regeneration, representing an essential homeostatic process, relies mainly on the myogenic progress of resident satellite cells, and it is modulated by multiple physical and nutritional factors. Here, we investigated how myogenic differentiation-related factors and pathways respond to the first limiting amino acid lysine (Lys) in the fast and slow muscles, and their satellite cells (SCs), of swine. Thirty 28-day-old weaned piglets with similar body weights were subjected to three diet regimens: control group (d 0–28: 1.31% Lys, n = 12), Lys-deficient group (d 0–28: 0.83% Lys, n = 12), and Lys rescue group (d 0–14: 0.83% Lys; d 15–28: 1.31% Lys, n = 6). Pigs on d 15 and 29 were selectively slaughtered for muscular parameters evaluation. Satellite cells isolated from fast (semimembranosus) and slow (semitendinosus) muscles were also selected to investigate differentiation ability variations. We found Lys deficiency significantly hindered muscle development in both fast and slow muscles via the distinct manipulation of myogenic regulatory factors and the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway. In the SC model, Lys deficiency suppressed the Wnt/Ca2+ pathways and myosin heavy chain, myogenin, and myogenic regulatory factor 4 in slow muscle SCs but stimulated them in fast muscle SCs. When sufficient Lys was attained, the fast muscle-derived SCs Wnt/Ca2+ pathway (protein kinase C, calcineurin, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, and nuclear factor of activated T cells 1) was repressed, while the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway of its counterpart was stimulated to further the myogenic differentiation. Lys potentially manipulates the differentiation of porcine slow and fast muscle myofibers via the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway in opposite trends.

We investigate L2-approximation problems in the worst case setting in the weighted Hilbert spaces H(KRd,α,γ) with weights Rd,α,γ under parameters 1≥γ1≥γ2≥⋯≥0 and 1<α1≤α2≤⋯. Several interesting weighted Hilbert spaces H(KRd,α,γ) appear in this paper. We consider the worst case error of algorithms that use finitely many arbitrary continuous linear functionals. We discuss tractability of L2-approximation problems for the involved Hilbert spaces, which describes how the information complexity depends on d and ε−1. As a consequence we study the strongly polynomial tractability (SPT), polynomial tractability (PT), weak tractability (WT), and (t1,t2)-weak tractability ((t1,t2)-WT) for all t1>1 and t2>0 in terms of the introduced weights under the absolute error criterion or the normalized error criterion.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with fermented soybean meal (FSM) or fermented miscellaneous meal (FMM, cottonseed meal: coconut meal = at a 1:1 ratio) on the intestinal health, laying performance, egg quality, and follicle development of laying hens. A total of 1,008 54-wk-old laying hens were randomly divided into 7 treatment groups and fed a corn-soybean base diet in addition to 2%, 4%, and 8% FSM or FMM. The results showed that fermentation increased the contents of crude protein, amino acids (Ser, Gly, Cys, Leu, Lys, His, and Arg), and organic acids (butyric acid, citric acid, succinic acid) and decreased the contents of neutral and acid detergent fiber in the soybean and miscellaneous meals (P < 0.05). Compared with the results found for the control group, feeding with 4% FSM increased the egg production, egg mass and average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feeding with 4% FMM increased the ADFI of laying hens (P < 0.05). Furthermore, feeding with 8% FMM reduced the productive performance and laying performance, supplementation with 4% FSM increased the eggshell strength and weight, and 2 to 4% FSM increased the egg albumen height and Haugh unit (P < 0.05). Moreover, 2 to 8% FSM or 2 to 4% FMM enhanced the apparent digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, and NDF for laying hens (P < 0.05). The relative weight, villus height, crypt depth, and villus:crypt ratio of the jejunum were higher in the 4% FSM- and FMM-fed groups (P < 0.05). Moreover, diamine oxidase (DAO) activity, transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), and the expression of tight junction proteins (ZO-1, Occluding, and Claudin1), the intestinal stem cell marker Lgr5, and the proliferation cell marker proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was upregulated in the jejunum of laying hens fed 4% FSM and FMM (P < 0.05). The relative weight of the ovaries, and the number of small yellow follicles and large white follicles were elevated after 4% FSM or FMM supplementation. Furthermore, the levels of serum follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone were increased in the 4% FSM and FMM groups (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the supplementation of laying hen feed with FSM and FMM improved the laying performance, egg quality, intestinal barrier function, and follicle development of aged laying hens, and 4% FSM supplementation was optimal.

Purpose: To report a case of eye structure changes in a patient with long-term overdose of sildenafil citrate. Observations: A 28-year-old male presented to our outpatient clinic with flare sensation in both eyes for 1 year after taking sildenafil citrate at a dose of 200 mg daily for two years. mERG and OCT examination revealed persistent damage of retinal photoreceptor cells. The symptoms did not disappear after 3 months off the medication. Conclusions and importance: Long term excessive use of overdose sildenafil citrate can cause serious damage to retinal photoreceptor cells. The retinal side effects of sildenafil citrate still need to be further investigated, and the administration of systemic overdose also needs to be considered by all physicians, not just ophthalmologists.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary pioglitazone hydrochloride (PGZ) and l-carnosine (LC) supplementation on the growth performance, meat quality, antioxidant status, and meat shelf life of yellow-feathered broiler chickens. Five hundred broiler chickens were randomly assigned into 4 experimental diets using a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with 2 PGZ supplemental levels (0 and 15 mg/kg) and 2 LC supplemental levels (0 and 400 mg/kg) in basal diets for 28 d. The feed-to-gain ratio decreased whereas the average daily gain increased with PGZ supplementation. Greater dressing percentages, contents of intramuscular fat (IMF) in breast and thigh muscles, C18:3n-6, C18:1n-9 and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) percentages of thigh muscle were observed with PGZ addition. Additionally, significant synergistic effects between PGZ and LC on the C18:1n-9 and MUFA contents were found. Supplementation with LC decreased drip loss, cooking loss and total volatile basic nitrogen, and increased the redness (a∗) value, the superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities in thigh muscles. Moreover, the malondialdehyde content decreased when diets were supplemented with LC, and there was a synergistic effect between PGZ and LC. Additionally, the mRNA abundance of lipogenesis-related genes, such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), PPARγ co-activator 1α and fatty acid-binding protein 3, increased with PGZ supplementation, and relevant antioxidation genes, such as nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 and superoxide dismutase 1, were enhanced with LC supplementation. In conclusion, the results indicated that the supplementation of PGZ and LC could improve the growth performance, antioxidant ability, IMF content, and meat shelf life of yellow-feathered broiler chickens.

Aiming at the problem that the signals received by MEMS vector hydrophones are mixed with a large amount of external environmental noise, and inevitably produce baseline drift and other distortion phenomenons which made it difficult for the further signal detection and recognition, a joint denoising method (VMD-NWT) based on variational mode decomposition (VMD) and nonlinear wavelet threshold (NWT) processing is proposed. The main frequency of the noisy signal is first obtained by Fourier transform. Then the noisy signal is decomposed by VMD to obtain the IMF components. The center frequency and correlation coefficient of each IMF component further determine that the IMF components belong to noise IMF components, noisy IMF components or pure IMF components. Then the pure IMF components are reserved, the noise IMF components are removed, and the noisy IMF components are denoised by NWT processing method with new threshold function as a whole. Finally, the denoised IMF components and the pure IMF components are reconstructed to obtain the denoised signal to realize the extraction of useful signals and baseline drift removal. Compared with complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise combined with wavelet threshold processing method (CEEMDAN-WT), ensemble empirical mode decomposition combined with wavelet threshold processing method (EEMD-WT), and single wavelet threshold processing method with compromised function between hard and soft threshold (ZWT), the VMD-NWT in this paper has the advantages of less calculation and simple implementation. The simulation comparison experiments verify that the VMD-NWT is superior to CEEMDAN-WT, EEMD-WT, and ZWT. Then VMD-NWT is applied to process the measured data obtained from the Fenji experiment conducted by the North University of China. Simulation and lake trial results show that VMD-NWT has better denoising effect and can realize baseline drift removal. So the proposed VMD-NWT has certain practical research value.

The engineered STb-Rosetta Escherichia coli (STb-R) was designed to investigate the effects of Iturin A on the skeletal muscle growth of weaned piglets. A total of 28 piglets were randomly divided into 4 groups (7 piglets per group): the control group (100 mL PBS), the Iturin A group (100 mL 320 mg/kg body weight (BW) Iturin A), the STb-R group (100 mL 1 × 1010 CFU/mL STb-R), and the Iturin A + STb-R group (100 mL 320 mg/kg BW Iturin A + 1 × 1010 CFU/mL STb-R). Compared with the control, STb-R-reduced body weight gain were rescued by Iturin A. The semimembranosus muscle weight recovered to normal level in the Iturin A + STb-R group. The level of relevant genes of the growth axis were elevated by Iturin A, including GHRH in the hypothalamus, GHRHR and GH in the pituitary, and GHR, IGF-1 and IGF-1R in the semimembranosus muscle. Moreover, Iturin A increased the mean fiber area and the number of proliferating cells in the semimembranosus muscle, which were decreased by STb-R. Additionally, the mTORC1 pathway was reactivated by Iturin A to relieve the suppression of STb-R. Collectively, the hypothalamic-pituitary growth axis-mediated Iturin A reactivated the mTORC1 pathway to rescue STb-R-restricted pork skeletal muscle growth.

Diseases caused by Flaviviridae have a wide global and economic impact due to high morbidity and mortality. Flaviviridae infection usually leads to severe, acute or chronic diseases, such as liver injury and liver cancer resulting from hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) or dengue shock syndrome (DSS) caused by dengue virus (DENV). Given the highly complex pathogenesis of Flaviviridae infections, they are still not fully understood at present. Accumulating evidence suggests that host autophagy is disrupted to regulate the life cycle of Flaviviridae. Organelle-specific autophagy is able to selectively target different organelles for quality control, which is essential for regulating cellular homeostasis. As an important sub process of autophagy, lipophagy regulates lipid metabolism by targeting lipid droplets (LDs) and is also closely related to the infection of a variety of pathogenic microorganisms. In this review, we briefly understand the LDs interaction relationship with Flaviviridae infection, outline the molecular events of how lipophagy occurs and the related research progress on the regulatory mechanisms of lipophagy in Flaviviridae infection. Exploring the crosstalk between viral infection and lipophagy induced molecular events may provide new avenues for antiviral therapy.

Osteosarcoma is a highly malignant tumor that occurs in the bone. Previous studies have shown that multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the development of osteosarcoma. This study aimed to explore the role of miR-629-5p and its target gene, caveolin 1 (CAV1), in osteosarcoma development. To analyze the expression of miR-629-5p and CAV1 mRNA in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines, qRT-PCR analysis was performed. Dual-luciferase reporter experiments were subsequently performed to validate the relationship between CAV1 and miR-629-5p. CCK8 assay was used to measure osteosarcoma cell proliferation, and wound-healing assay was performed to study their migratory phenotype. Our findings revealed that miR-629-5p was overexpressed in osteosarcoma tissues and cells, and thereby enhanced cell proliferation and migration. Further, we validated that miR-629-5p targets CAV1 mRNA directly. CAV1 expression, which was negatively correlated with miR-629-5p expression, was found to be downregulated in osteosarcoma tissue samples. Moreover, our data showed that an increase in CAV1 level led to a decline in osteosarcoma cell proliferation and migration, which could be rescued by miR-629-5p upregulation. Overall, our study confirmed that miR-629-5p promoted osteosarcoma proliferation and migration by directly inhibiting CAV1.

Since COVID-19 pneumonia broke out, the Chinese government has taken a series of measures to control the spread of the epidemic, which has made the air quality of Taiyuan in February 2020 significantly better than during the same period in previous years. In this paper, the Gray Relational Analysis (GRA) method was first applied to evaluate and analyze the influence of six major pollutants on air quality. Then, the improved seagull optimization algorithm (ISOA) was proposed and combined with Support Vector Regression (SVR) to establish a hybrid predicted model ISOA-SVR. Finally, the proposed ISOA-SVR was utilized to predict air quality index (AQI). The experimental results on two kinds of different data showed that the proposed ISOA-SVR had the better generalization ability and robustness compared with other predicted models. Further, the proposed ISOA-SVR is suitable for the prediction of AQI.

Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation has always been a hot topic for researchers. The complex and changeable environment makes it very challenging to estimate the DOA in a small snapshot and strong noise environment. The direction-of-arrival estimation method based on compressed sensing (CS) is a new method proposed in recent years. It has received widespread attention because it can realize the direction-of-arrival estimation under small snapshots. However, this method will cause serious distortion in a strong noise environment. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a DOA estimation algorithm based on the principle of CS and density-based spatial clustering (DBSCAN). First of all, in order to make the estimation accuracy higher, this paper selects a signal reconstruction strategy based on the basis pursuit de-noising (BPDN). In response to the challenge of the selection of regularization parameters in this strategy, the power spectrum entropy is proposed to characterize the noise intensity of the signal, so as to provide reasonable suggestions for the selection of regularization parameters; Then, this paper finds out that the DOA estimation based on the principle of CS will get a denser estimation near the real angle under the condition of small snapshots through analysis, so it is proposed to use a DBSCAN method to process the above data to obtain the final DOA estimate; Finally, calculate the cluster center value of each cluster, the number of clusters is the number of signal sources, and the cluster center value is the final DOA estimate. The proposed method is applied to the simulation experiment and the micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) vector hydrophone lake test experiment, and they are proved that the proposed method can obtain good results of DOA estimation under the conditions of small snapshots and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

The study aimed to investigate the effects of pioglitazone hydrochloride (PGZ) and resveratrol (RES) on yellow-feathered broiler chickens. A total of 500 broiler chickens were randomly divided into four groups and fed a basic diet (control group) or a basic diet supplemented with 15 mg/kg PGZ, 400 mg/kg RES, or 15 mg/kg PGZ plus 400 mg/kg RES for 28 days. Compared with the control group, the PGZ and PGZ plus RES groups presented a significantly higher average daily gain and a decreased feed-to-gain ratio. Increases in the dressing percentage, semi-eviscerated yield, muscle intramuscular fat content, and C18:1n-9c, C18:3n-6, C20:3n-3, and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) percentages were found in the PGZ plus RES group. Moreover, the diet supplemented with RES or PGZ plus RES increased the activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase, and decreased the levels of reactive oxygen species of thigh muscle. Additionally, the mRNA abundance of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α, fatty acid-binding protein 3, nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2, and superoxide dismutase 1 was increased in the PGZ plus RES group. In conclusion, this study suggested that dietary supplementation of PGZ combined with RES improved the growth performance, the muscle intramuscular fat content, and antioxidant ability of yellow-feathered broiler chickens.

Differentially expressed microRNAs were detected to explore the molecular mechanisms of diapause termination. The total small RNA of diapause-destined silkworm eggs and HCl-treated eggs was extracted and then sequenced using HiSeq high-throughput method. 44 novel miRNAs were discovered. Compared to those in the diapause-destined eggs, 61 miRNAs showed significant changes in the acid-treated eggs, with 23 being up-regulated and 38 being down-regulated. The potential target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted by miRanda. Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of these potential target genes revealed that they were mainly located within cells and organelles, involved in cellular and metabolic processes, and participated in protein production, processing and transportation. Two differentially expressed genes, Bombyx mori SDH and Bmo-miR-2761-3p, were further analyzed with qRT-PCR. BmSDH was significantly up-regulated in the HCl-treated eggs, while Bmo-miR-2761-3p was down-regulated. These results suggested that these two genes were well coordinated in silkworm eggs. Dual luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that Bmo-miR-2761-3p inhibited the expression of BmSDH.

Underwater acoustic technology is an important means of detecting the ocean. Due to the complex influence of the marine environment, there is a lot of noise and baseline drift in the signals collected by hydrophones. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a denoising and baseline drift removal algorithm for MEMS vector hydrophone based on whale-optimized variational mode decomposition (VMD) and correlation coefficient (CC). Firstly, the power spectrum entropy (PSE), which reflects the variation characteristics of the signal frequency is selected as the fitness function of the whale-optimization algorithm to find the parameters (K,α) of the VMD. It is easier to find the global optimal solution of the parameters by combining the whale-optimization algorithm. Then, using the VMD algorithm after obtaining the parameters, the original signal is decomposed to obtain the intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), and calculating the correlation coefficients (CCs) between the IMFs and the original signal. Finally, the CC threshold is used to remove the noise IMFs, and the rest of the useful IMFs are reconstructed to complete the denoising and baseline drift removal process of the original signals. In the simulation experiments, the algorithm proposed in this paper shows better performance by comparing conventional digital signal-processing methods and the related algorithms proposed recently. Applied in the experiments of a MEMS hydrophone, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is also verified. This algorithm can provide new ideas for signal denoising and baseline drift removal.

Underwater acoustic technology is a major method in current ocean research and exploration, which support the detection of seabed environment and marine life. However, the detection accuracy is directly affected by the quality of underwater acoustic signals collected by hydrophones. Hydrophones are efficient and important tools for collecting underwater acoustic signals. The collected signals of hydrophone often contain lots kinds of noise as the work environment is unknown and complex. Traditional signal denoising methods, such as wavelet analysis and empirical mode decomposition, product unsatisfied results of denoising. In this paper, a denoising method combining wavelet threshold processing and empirical mode decomposition is proposed, and correlation analysis is added in the signal reconstruction process. Finally, the experiment proves that the proposed denoising method has a better denoising performance. With the employment of the proposed method, the underwater acoustic signals turn smoothly and the signal drift of the collected hydroacoustic signal is improved. Comparing the signal spectrums of other methods, the spectral energy of the proposed denoising method is more concentrated, and almost no energy attenuation occurred.

Interleukin-17F (IL-17F), produced by Th17 cells and other immune cells, is a member of IL-17 cytokine family with highest homology to IL-17A. IL-17F has been shown to have multiple functions in inflammatory responses. While IL-17A plays important roles in cancer development, the function of IL-17F in tumorigenesis has not yet been elucidated. In the current study, we found that IL-17F is expressed in normal human colonic epithelial cells, but this expression is greatly decreased in colon cancer tissues. To examine the roles of IL-17F in colon cancer, we have used IL-17F over-expressing colon cancer cell lines and IL-17F-deficient mice. Our data showed decreased tumor growth of IL-17F-transfected HCT116 cells comparing to mock transfectants when transplanted in nude mice. Conversely, there were increased colonic tumor numbers and tumor areas in Il-17f(-/-) mice than those from wild-type controls after colon cancer induction. These results indicate that IL-17F plays an inhibitory role in colon tumorigenesis in vivo. In IL-17F over-expressing tumors, there was no significant change in leukocyte infiltration; instead, we found decreased VEGF levels and CD31(+) cells. While the VEGF levels were increased in the colon tissues of Il-17f(-/-) mice with colon cancer. Together, our findings demonstrate a protective role for IL-17F in colon cancer development, possibly via inhibiting tumor angiogenesis.

China is the largest producer of Neopyropia yezoensis, ranking first in the world for cultivation area and yield production. In N. yezoensis production, diseases occur frequently every year due to increased farming density, environmental deterioration, and germplasm degeneration, resulting in serious economic losses to farmers. Red rot disease is caused by Pythium sp. and is one of the most common diseases during N. yezoensis farming, leading to empty nets and harvest loss. Air-dry, cold storage, and acid wash are common methods to counteract red rot disease in N. yezoensis farming. These physical or chemical disinfection methods, however, are not completely effective, and some have serious consequences. For example, refrigeration equipment and space will greatly increase costs, and acid wash treatments can cause environmental pollution. Although research has attempted to select or cultivate disease-resistant strains of laver, there remains no laver strain completely immune to red rot disease. Biocontrol is an effective method that is widely used in disease control of land crops. Biocontrol is potentially an environment-friendly and effective control method for macroalgal diseases. However, limited information exists on biocontrol in macroalgal diseases. During the growth and development of macroalgae, a variety of metabolites are produced on their surfaces, which provide suitable substrates for microbial colonization. The microbial community attached to the surface of algae is highly diverse and can produce many kinds of biologically active compounds. These compounds not only play a major role in normal morphology, growth, and development of algae, but also have antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic, and other activities to protect the host from harmful organisms. Therefore, the epiphytic microorganisms of algae provide good sources of microorganisms for biological screening. This study aimed to screen and identify bacteria with antagonistic ability towards Pythium sp.. A total of 385 bacterial strains, isolated from farming algae and their culturing environments, were screened. In the first round of screening, the plate confrontation method was used and repeated twice and confirmed that nine strains had antagonistic effects on the growth of Pythium sp.. The diameter of the bacteriostatic zone was approximately 1.65–16.54 mm. In the second round of screening, three strains (assigned as P3, P6, and P19) were further investigated using the toxic medium method for inhibitory activities in their extracellular products. Repeated experiments showed that the bacteriostatic rate was approximately 20.04%–30.09%. The antibacterial spectrum was determined by the plate confrontation method. Strains P3, P6, and P19 all had antagonistic effects on the eight tested strains of Pythium preserved in our laboratory. The inhibition rates reached 52.09%–97.95% for P3, 26.81%–78.04% for P6, 10.47%–41.91% for P19, respectively. The Pythium hyphae on the confrontation edge were further investigated by lactic acid phenol cotton blue staining. When compared with Pythium hyphae in a control group, the density and color of Pythium hyphae against strains P3 and P19 became sparse and lighter. There were no significant changes in Pythium hyphae against strain P6. Strains P3 and P6 were identified as Pseudoalteromonas piscicida, and P19 as P. peptidolytica, based on 16S rRNA gene identification and multilocus sequences analysis of 16S rRNA-dnaA-dnaN-recA. The bacterial strains of P3, P6, and P19 had significant antagonistic capabilities against the pathogenic Pythium strains. This indicates they are potential biocontrol probiotics for the control of red rot disease in N. yezoensis. The present study provides the foundation for research on the evaluation and application of antagonistic bacterial strains in the biocontrol of red rot disease of N. yezoensis.

Malformation disease (MD) is one of the major constraints in the mariculture of the commercially important seaweed Saccharina japonica, which can cause severe losses of the kelp seedlings in the production process. However, the pathogenesis of MD remains largely undetermined. In this study, using cultivation experiments under laboratory conditions, MD severity was estimated for the young sporophytes of S. japonica, which were separately cultivated under different treatment conditions, including light intensity, duration of light exposure, and maturity level of the parent kelp. The associations between MD severity and epibacterial community divergence and assembly patterns were characterized. Higher MD severity significantly correlated with longer light exposure, and with both unmatured and overmatured parent kelp. The bacterial classes γ-Proteobacteria and α-Proteobacteria dominated all samples, but different MD severities were associated with different epibacterial communities. Comparisons of predicted functions for epibacterial communities revealed that longer light exposure led to a depletion in development and regeneration, while overmatured parent kelp resulted in a depletion in glycan biosynthesis and metabolism. Functional comparisons of the epibacterial communities between normal and unmatured parent kelp-generated seedlings revealed significantly different categories related to metabolism, environmental information processing, cellular processes, drug resistance, and bacterial infection. The significantly different pathways between groups, notably those related to bacterial infection and cellular processes, were partly consistent with the differences in bacterial compositions. The assembly of epiphytic bacterial communities was predominately governed by deterministic processes, and less impact was determined when there was significantly higher MD severity except when using overmatured parent kelp. Co-occurrence networks of the epibacterial communities associated with higher MD severity contained fewer nodes and exhibited lower modularity, but had higher graph density and degrees compared with those of seedlings with lower MD severity, indicating more complicated interactions. Nesterenkonia, Glycocaulis, Halomonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Pseudomonas, Loktanella, and Cobetia were frequently determined keystone taxa in communities associated with higher MD severity. The present study enhances our understanding of the factors significantly associated with MD severity and the potential roles of epimicrobiome in determining the disease severity, which will be useful for disease management in the future.

Accurately and efficiently determining a system’s physical variables is crucial for precise product-quality control. This study proposes a novel method for optimal sensor deployment to increase the accuracy of sensing data for physical variables and ensure the timely detection of the product’s particle size in a wet-grinding system. This approach involves three steps. First, a Bayesian network (BN) is designed to model the cause–effect relationship between the physical variables by applying the path model. The detectability is determined to confirm that the mean shifts of all the physical variables are identifiable using sensor sets in the wet-grinding system. Second, the sensing location of accelerometers mounted on the chamber shell is determined according to the coupled computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method simulations. Third, the shuffled frog leaping algorithm is developed by combining the BN to minimize the maximum data output deviation index among all sensor sets and sensory costs; this is achieved under the constraints of the mean shift detectability, achieving optimum sensor allocation. Subsequently, a case study is performed on a zirconia powder production process to demonstrate that the proposed approach minimizes the requirements of the data output deviation index, sensory costs, and detectability. The proposed approach is systematic and universal; it can be integrated into monitor architecture for parameter estimation in other complex production systems.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical step in order for epithelial-derived malignancies to metastasize, however, its role in mesenchymal-derived tumors, i.e., osteosarcoma, remains unclear. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are enriched with cells that undergo EMT. The activity of telomerase is maintained in normal stem cells and a number of malignant tumors. The current study observed the heterogeneity of telomerase activity among individual osteosarcoma cells. We hypothesized that telomerase-positive (TELpos) cells are enriched for stem cell-like and EMT properties. A human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter-reporter was applied to assess the telomerase activity of individual MG63 osteosarcoma cells and sort them into TELpos and telomerase-negative (TELneg) subpopulations. It was found that the TELpos cells exhibited an enhanced ability to form sarcospheres in vitro. In addition, TELpos cells exhibited a higher expression of vimentin, accompanied by an increased long/short axis ratio. A panel of EMT-related genes was evaluated by quantitative PCR and western blot analysis, and were found to be significantly upregu-lated in TELpos cells. Next, the in vitro migration capacity was examined by Transwell assay, which confirmed that TELpos cells are more prone to migration (2.6 fold). The results of the present study support the concept that EMT also applies to mesenchymal-derived osteosarcoma and draws a connection between telomerase and EMT characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterotoxigenic E. coli causes severe infectious diarrhea with high morbidity and mortality in weanling pigs mainly through the production of heat-stable enterotoxins. Iturin A, originally isolated from the insect Hyalophora cecropia, exerts strong antibiotic activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Thus, our study investigated whether iturin A could protect the intestinal epithelium from the insults of E. coli Rosetta containing the gene coding for heat-stable enterotoxin b (STb-Rosetta). Twenty-eight piglets were divided into four groups and were orally administered PBS (control), 0.16 g/kg BW iturin A, 2 × 109 CFU STb-Rosetta, and 0.16 g/kg BW iturin A + 2 × 109 CFU STb-Rosetta respectively for 8 days. The intestinal epithelial morphology and barrier function were assessed by H&E staining and Ussing chamber, and the growth advantage in enteroids derived from jejunal crypts of piglets in each group was used to evaluate the intestinal stem cell (ISC) activity. The results showed that iturin A increased the average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) of piglets exposed to STb- Rosetta (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, STb-Rosetta-induced decrease in jejunum weight and damage to jejunal morphology and barrier function were significantly improved after iturin A supplementation (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the jejunal crypt cells from piglets in the iturin A + STb-Rosetta group had greater growth advantages of ISCs compared with the STb-Rosetta group, including enteroid forming efficiency, surface area, budding efficiency, and branching coefficient (P < 0.05). Our results indicate that iturin A protects against STb-Rosetta-induced intestinal mucosal injury, which provides an intervention strategy that regulates the function of ISCs in the high turnover-rate cryptvillous axis under ETEC infection. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31872389, 32072777) and Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province (2019B1515210021). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The type of myofiber is important for porcine meat quality. Meanwhile, the nt/Ca2+ pathway has been showed multiple roles in skeletal muscle formation; however, the distinct mechanism is still unclear. In this study, the weaned piglets and satellite cells were designed into the control group, lysine deficiency group and lysine rescue group to investigate the function of Wnt/Ca2+ pathway in governing skeletal muscle typing. After we confirm the growth of weaned piglets was controlled by lysine, the isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) analysis of skeletal muscle detected that Wnt/Ca2+ pathway was involved in the transition of fast and slow fiber. Then, we found the ratio of type I myofiber in Semimembranous (fast muscle) was significantly increased after lysine deficiency (P < 0.05), and decreased by lysine rescue (P < 0.05). In contrast, the ratio of type I myofiber in Semitendinous muscle (slow muscle) was significantly decreased in the lysine deficiency group, and increased in the lysine rescue group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway was significantly increased in Semimembranous muscle, while decreased in Semitendinous muscle with lysine deficiency, and this phenomenon was inversed after lysine rescue (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway was stronger in satellite cells isolated from Semitendinous muscle (StSCs) than that of Semimembranous satellite cell (SmSCs) (P < 0.05). And we also found the StSCs enter in differentiation is more easily than SmSCs (P < 0.05). Besides, the ratio of type I myofiber originated from StSCs showed greater than StSCs (P < 0.05). In summary, we conclude that satellite cells participate in the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway controlled porcine myofiber determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using antibiotics as feed additives have been successively banned worldwide from 1986; therefore, it is an urgent task to finding safe and effective alternatives. As natural products of plant origin, essential oils (EOs) are an outstanding option due to their reported bioactivity. In this research, ten EOs of Labiatae species were extracted by steam distillation and its chemical constituents were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 123 chemical compounds, including alkenes, phenols, aldehydes and ketones, were identified. The results of antioxidant activity carried out through DPPH free radical scavenging (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), showing that EOs of Ocimum basilicum Linn. (ObEO), Thymus mongolicus Ronn. (TmEO), Origanum vulgare Linn. (OvEO) and Mosla chinensis Maxim. (McEO) have strong antioxidant activities. Their 50%-inhibitory concentration (IC50) value was Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and their minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) value was 1 μL/mL, 2 μL/mL, and 2 μL/mL, respectively. In conclusion, the results in this work demonstrate the possibility for development and application of EOs as potential feed additives.

Cognitive impairment, functional decline and behavioral symptoms that characterize Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are associated with perturbations of the neuronal network. The typical electroencephalographic (EEG) features in AD patients are increased delta or theta rhythm and decreased alpha or beta rhythm activities. However, considering the role of cross-frequency couplings in cognition, the alternation of cross-frequency couplings in AD patients is still obscure. This study aims to explore the interaction dynamics between different EEG oscillations in AD patients. We recorded the resting eye-closed EEG signals in 8 AD patients and 12 healthy volunteers. By analyzing the wavelet power spectrum and bicoherence of EEG, we found enhanced gamma rhythm power in AD patients in addition to the increased delta and decreased alpha power. Furthermore, an enhancement of the cross-frequency coupling strength between the beta/gamma and low-frequency bands was observed in AD patients compared to healthy controls (HCs). We propose that the pathological increase of ongoing gamma-band power might result from the disruption of the GABAergic interneuron network in AD patients. Furthermore, the cross-frequency overcouplings, which reflect the enhanced synchronization, might indicate the attenuated complexity of the neuronal network, and AD patients have to use more neural resources to maintain the resting brain state. Overall, our findings provide new evidence of the disturbance of the brain oscillation network in AD and further deepen our understanding of the central mechanisms of AD.