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Patients with tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) often suffer from irreversible height loss due to vertebral deformity. However, the prevalence of vertebral deformity in TIO patients varies among limited studies. In addition, the distribution and type of vertebral deformity, as well as its risk factors, remain unknown. This study aimed to identify the prevalence, distribution, type and risk factors for vertebral deformity in a large cohort of TIO patients.A total of 164 TIO patients were enrolled in this retrospective study. Deformity in vertebrae T4-L4 by lateral thoracolumbar spine radiographs was evaluated according to the semiquantitative method of Genant. Bone microstructure was evaluated by trabecular bone score (TBS) and high-resolution peripheral QCT (HR-pQCT).Ninety-nine (99/164, 60.4%) patients had 517 deformed vertebrae with a bimodal pattern of distribution (T7-9 and T11-L1), and biconcave deformity was the most common type (267/517, 51.6%). Compared with patients without vertebral deformity, those with vertebral deformity had a higher male/female ratio, longer disease duration, more height loss, lower serum phosphate, higher bone turnover markers, lower TBS, lower areal bone mineral density (aBMD), lower peripheral volumetric BMD (vBMD) and worse microstructure. Lower trabecular vBMD and worse trabecular microstructure in the peripheral bone and lower spine TBS were associated with an increased risk of vertebral deformity independently of aBMD. After adjusting for the number of deformed vertebrae, we found little difference in clinical indexes among the patients with different types of vertebral deformity. However, we found significant correlations of clinical indexes with the number of deformed vertebrae and the spinal deformity index.We reported a high prevalence of vertebral deformity in the largest cohort of TIO patients and described the vertebral deformity in detail for the first time. Risk factors for vertebral deformity included male sex, long disease duration, height loss, abnormal biochemical indexes and bone impairment. Clinical manifestation, biochemical indexes and bone impairment were correlated with the number of deformed vertebrae and degree of deformity, but not the type of deformity.

International audience; Planar Gunn diodes based on doped GaN active layers with different geometries have been fabricated and characterized. Gunn oscillations have not been observed due to the catastrophic breakdown of the diodes for applied voltages around 20–25 V, much below the bias theoretically needed for the onset of Gunn oscillations. The breakdown of the diodes has been analyzed by pulsed I – V measurements at low temperatures, and it has been observed to be almost independent of the geometry of the channels, thus allowing to discard self-heating effects as the origin of the device burning. The other possible mechanism for the device failure is an impact-ionization avalanche due to the high electric fields present at the anode corner of the isolating trenches. However, Monte Carlo simulations using the typical value of the intervalley energy separation of GaN, ε1−2 = 2.2 eV, show that impact ionization mechanisms are not significant for the voltages for which the experimental failure is observed. But recent experiments showed that ε1−2 is lower, around 0.9 eV. This lower intervalley separation leads to a much lower threshold voltage for the Gunn oscillations, not far from the experimental breakdown. Therefore, we attribute the device’s failure to an avalanche process just when Gunn domains start to form, since they increase the population of electrons at the high electric field region, thus strongly enhancing impact ionization mechanisms that lead to the diode failure.

代谢灵活性是指生物体能够根据供能底物的可获得性，适应性调节底物氧化的能力，是肥胖以及相关代谢疾病的预警指标之一，具有重要的实践价值。对代谢灵活性进行准确评价以及有针对性的干预是预防和治疗代谢疾病的重要方式。本综述对代谢灵活性概念的提出与发展进行介绍，并梳理代谢灵活性的评价方法及与代谢疾病的关系，并就运动对代谢灵活性的改善作用进行论述。.

Inbred pigs are promising animal models for biomedical research and xenotransplantation. Established in 1980, the Banna minipig inbred (BMI) line originated from a sow and its own male offspring. It was selected from a small backcountry minority Lahu village, where records show that no other pig breed has ever been introduced. During the inbreeding process, we perfomed extreme inbreeding over 23 consecutive generations using full-sibling or parent-offspring mating. In order to investigate the inbreeding effects in BMI pigs across generations over the past 40 years, in this study we conducted a genome-wide SNP genotyping of the last 10 generations, representing generations 14-23. In total, we genotyped 57,746 SNPs, corresponding to an average decrease in heterozygosity rate of 0.0078 per generation. Furthermore, we were only able to identify 18,216 polymorphic loci with a MAF larger than 0.05, which is substantially lower than the values in previous reports on other pig breeds. In addition, we sequenced the genome of the first pig in the twenty-third generation (inbreeding coefficient 99.28%) to an average coverage of 12.4× to evaluate at the genome level the impact of advanced inbreeding. ROH analysis indicates that BMI pigs have longer ROHs than Wuzhishan and Duroc pigs. Those long ROH regions in BMI pigs are enriched for distinct functions compared with the highly polymorphic regions. Our study reveals a genome-wide allele diversity loss during the progress of inbreeding in BMI pigs and characterizes ROH and polymorphic regions as a result of inbreeding. Overall, our results indicate the successful establishment of the BMI line, which paves the way for further in-depth studies.

The propagation of electromagnetic waves in the plasma sheath is investigated theoretically and numerically using the variational method, which handles the inhomogeneity of the plasma sheath. We derive the variation of the action integral, which can be numerically represented by expanding the velocity and electromagnetic fields to the piecewise polynomial function space. We analyze the transmissivity of electromagnetic waves propagating through the plasma sheath with the barrier and the barrier-parabolic electron number density profile. We give the frequency-dependent transmissivity of electromagnetic wave propagation in different inhomogeneous plasma sheaths. The electromagnetic energy density derived from the Lagrangian density is also given, and the result shows that the collision between electrons and neutral particles can be used to enhance the transmission of electromagnetic waves in the plasma sheath.

Uncertainties in relative biological effectiveness (RBE) constitute a major pitfall of the use of protons in clinics. An RBE value of 1.1, which is based on cell culture and animal models, is currently used in clinical proton planning. The purpose of this study was to determine RBE for temporal lobe radiographic changes using long-term follow-up data from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Five hundred sixty-six patients with newly diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinoma received double-scattering proton therapy or intensity modulated radiation therapy at our institutions. The 2 treatment cohorts were well matched. Proton dose distributions were simulated using Monte Carlo and compared with those obtained from the proton clinical treatment planning system. Late treatment effect was defined as development of enhancement of temporal lobe on T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, with or without accompanying clinical symptoms. The tolerance dose was calculated with receiving operator characteristic analysis and the Youden index. Tolerance curves, expressed as a cumulative dose-volume histogram, were generated using the cutoff points.With a median follow-up period5 years for both cohorts, 10% of proton patients and 4% of patients undergoing intensity modulated radiation therapy developed temporal lobe enhancement in unilateral temporal lobe. There was no significant difference in dose distributions between the Monte Carlo method and treatment planning system. The tolerance dose-volume levels were V10 (26.1%), V20 (21.9%), V30 (14.0%), V40 (7.7%), V50 (4.8%), and V60 (3.3%) for proton therapy (P.03). Comparison of the two tolerance curves revealed that tolerance doses of proton treatments were lower than that of photon treatments at all dose levels. The dose tolerance at D1% was 58.56 Gy for protons and 69.07 Gy for photons. The RBE for temporal lobe enhancement from proton treatments were calculated to be 1.18.Using long-term clinical outcome of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, our data suggest that the RBE for temporal lobe enhancement is 1.18 at D1%. A prospective study in a large cohort would be necessary to confirm these findings.

Recently, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have got much attention for their role in tumor progression. LncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 7 (SNHG7) was studied in this research to identify how it affects the development of thyroid cancer (TC).SNHG7 expression was detected by quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in both TC cells and tissue samples. Pearson's Chi-square test was used to determine the association of SNHG7 expression with several clinicopathological factors. Moreover, colony formation assay, cell proliferation and cell apoptosis assay were conducted. In addition, by performing qRT-PCR and Western blot assay, the underlying mechanism was explored.SNHG7 expression level was higher in TC samples than that in corresponding ones. The SNHG7 expression was associated with tumor size and TNM stage. Moreover, TC cell proliferation was inhibited, and TC cell apoptosis was induced after SNHG7 was knocked down in vitro. Moreover, the mRNA and protein expressions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were downregulated after knockdown of SNHG7. Furthermore, the expression level of BDNF was positively related to the expression of SNHG7 in TC tissues.These results suggested that knockdown of SNHG7 could inhibit TC cell proliferation and induce cell apoptosis via downregulating BDNF, which might be a potential therapeutic target in TC.

Dihadron azimuthal correlations containing a high transverse momentum ( ) trigger particle are sensitive to the properties of the nuclear medium created at RHIC through the strong interactions occurring between the traversing parton and the medium, i.e. jet-quenching. Previous measurements revealed a strong modification to dihadron azimuthal correlations in Au+Au collisions with respect to p+p and d+Au collisions. The modification increases with the collision centrality, suggesting a path-length or energy density dependence to the jet-quenching effect. This paper reports STAR measurements of dihadron azimuthal correlations in mid-central (20%-60%) Au+Au collisions at GeV as a function of the trigger particle's azimuthal angle relative to the event plane, . The azimuthal correlation is studied as a function of both the trigger and associated particle . The subtractions of the combinatorial background and anisotropic flow, assuming Zero Yield At Minimum (ZYAM), are described. The correlation results are first discussed with subtraction of the even harmonic (elliptic and quadrangular) flow backgrounds. The away-side correlation is strongly modified, and the modification varies with , with a double-peak structure for out-of-plane trigger particles. The near-side ridge (long range pseudo-rapidity correlation) appears to drop with increasing while the jet-like component remains approximately constant. The correlation functions are further studied with the subtraction of odd harmonic triangular flow background arising from fluctuations. It is found that the triangular flow, while responsible for the majority of the amplitudes, is not sufficient to explain the -dependence of the ridge or the away-side double-peak structure. The dropping ridge with could be attributed to a -dependent elliptic anisotropy; however, the physics mechanism of the ridge remains an open question. Even with a -dependent elliptic flow, the away-side correlation structure is robust. These results, with extensive systematic studies of the dihadron correlations as a function of , trigger and associated particle , and the pseudo-rapidity range , should provide stringent inputs to help understand the underlying physics mechanisms of jet-medium interactions in high energy nuclear collisions.

OBJECTIVE To establish SD rat posterior capsular opacification (posterior capsular opacification- PCO) animal model, and to detect the expression of Akt/NF-kb signaling pathway in the PCO model. METHODS 30 healthy SD rats were randomly divided into control group (0d) and the experimental groups (7d and 14 d), there were 10 rats at all time points. All rats (right eye) were treated with the lens capsule, and the inflammatory reaction of the anterior segment of the eye and the occurrence of PCO at different time points were observed under the microscope. The TGF-β concentration of humor aquosus was measured at the different time points by ELISA method. Eyeballs were removed after the rats were killed. RT-PCR method was used to detect the gene expression levels of Akt and NF-κb and Westen Blot method to detect the protein expression of Akt, p-Akt, NF-κb and p-NF-κb. RESULTS TGF-β concentration, Akt and NF-κb gene expression, and Akt, p-Akt, NF-κb and p-NF-κb protein expression in humor aquosus, increased with the time and the time-dependence was significant. CONCLUSION Akt/NF-κb signaling pathway may be closely related to the occurrence and development of PCO, which may be related to the role of protein phosphorylation (Fig. 5, Ref. 20).

Recent studies have shown that ST6 beta-galactosamide alpha-2,6-sialyltransferase 1 (ST6GAL1), ST8 alpha-N-acetyl-neuraminide alpha-2,8-sialyltransferase 4 (ST8SIA4), and solute carrier family 35, member C1 (SLC35C1) play essential roles in the metabolism of milk glycoconjugates in mammals. However, studies on their coding genes in water buffalo have not been reported. In the present study, cloning and sequencing showed that the coding sequences (CDSs) of buffalo ST6GAL1, ST8SIA4, and SLC35C1 were 1218, 1080, and 1095 bp in length, which encoded a precursor protein composed of 405, 359, and 364 amino acids, respectively. The deduced sequences of these three proteins in turn showed 97.6–98.5, 98.6–99.7, and 97.8–99.2 % similarities with other bovine species. Both buffalo ST6GAL1 and ST8SIA4 were predicted to be a member of glycosyltransferase family 29 and were all hydrophilicity proteins functioning in the Golgi apparatus. Buffalo SLC35C1 was a hydrophobic membrane protein located in the Golgi membrane, containing a TPT domain that is found in a number of sugar phosphate transporters. In addition, semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis in 13 lactating buffalo tissues revealed that the ST6GAL1 and ST8SIA4 were expressed in 9 tissues, while SLC35C1 was expressed in 11 tissues. The expression levels of these three genes in the mammary gland were significantly higher in lactating than in non-lactating stage. Collectively, our data indicate that ST6GAL1, ST8SIA4, and SLC35C1 are potentially involved in the process of buffalo lactation.

Myeloid leukemia factor (MLF) plays an important role in the development of Drosophila. It is reported that MLF could inhibit white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) replication in shrimp. However, the function and mechanism of MLF in shrimp antibacterial immunity are still elusive. In this study, we found MjMLF could be upregulated by Vibro anguillarum challenge in hemocytes, gills, and intestine of kuruma shrimp. RNAi assay showed that MjMLF could facilitate bacterial clearance in shrimp, and it was beneficial for shrimp survival post V. anguillarum infection. Pull down assay showed that rMjMLF could bind to rMj14-3-3 in vitro. Some antimicrobial peptide genes could be regulated by MjMLF. The results indicated that MjMLF might participate in the anti-bacterial immune reaction of shrimp., Invertebrate Survival Journal, Vol 15 No 1 (2018)

Television viewing is a risk factor for obesity and poor physical health. By contrast, close ties to family and friends in late life are often beneficial. This study examined associations between social engagement and television viewing. Participants (N = 313) from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study completed an initial interview about their social partners and participated in a 5 to 6 day intensive data collection including Ecological Momentary Assessments about their social contact and activities every 3 hours. Participants also wore Electronically Activated Recorders (EAR) which captured snippets of sound in the environment. Multilevel models using self report and EAR data revealed that participants were more likely to watch TV when they were with close family members (e.g., spouse, grown children) than with friends or acquaintances. Findings from these multiple methods suggest that close family may encourage risks (e.g., sedentary behaviors) as well as benefits in late life.

Leaf explants of the HBsAg-transgenic cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) mutant were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium, supplemented with 1.0 mg/L 6-BA and 0.05 mg/L IAA for callus induction, to clarify the physiological and biochemical characteristics of morphogenesis development. Therefore, the physiological and biochemical changes during the development of organogenic shoots and somatic embryos in the mutant were studied. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities of the mutant had only one peak value on the 21st day. Peroxidase (POD) activities of the mutant declined less sharply since the explants were cultured. IAA oxidase activity of the mutant increased steadily until 42 days from culturing and then decreased sharply. Malondialdehyde (MDA) of the mutant showed a significant decreasing trend after 21 days from culturing. Growth rate of the mutant was at times lower than that of the control during its callus differentiation, and the soluble protein content of the mutant callus decreased from explant cultivation until the 28th day of culture. The mutant had greater values of chlorophyll a, carotenoid and Chlorophyll contents than the control after 14 days of culturing, and Chlorophyll b content of the mutant showed a declining trend. The electrical conductivity trend of the mutant was consistent with that in the control. It indicated that in terms of the organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis pattern, protein synthesis and catabolism were very active, and a number of antioxidant enzyme activities were consistent in the early development stages of the two regeneration systems. These findings were useful for the regeneration of the mutant.

Cognitive, physical and social activities are cognitively beneficial for older adults, but intervention has rarely been conducted in combination of these three components. This four-armed controlled non-randomized trial investigated the synergistic effects of a multimodal intervention on cognition, well-being and brain plasticity in a sample of healthy older adults. Four groups older adults respectively received multimodal intervention (cognitive training, Taichi exercise and group counseling), or cognitive plus Taichi training, or cognitive training, or lectures (active control group) during six weeks. Seventeen participants in the multimodal intervention group and 17 controls completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning before and after intervention. Cognitive performance and well-being were assessed at baseline, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. A total of 156 participants completed intervention and 134 were available at follow-up. Compare to the control group, three intervention groups showed improvements to varying degrees on cognitive function. The cognitive plus Taichi group had largest increase with the multimodal group as the second best at post-intervention, while both group showed parallel maintenance effects on cognition at follow-up. Enhancement and maintenance in social support were only found in multimodal group. Moreover, multimodal intervention induced strengthened functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe, as well as regional alterations of intrinsic activity in frontal, temporal and cerebellum regions. The results suggest that cognitive-physical-psychological intervention is helpful for preserving brain and cognitive function during old age, and has advantages in comprehensive promotion of both cognitive and emotional well-being.

A method combining ultrasonic impact treatment with electrospark was developed to fabricate ceramic coatings on Ti–6Al–4V alloy. In this paper, the mechanism of the combined process is described in detail. The microstructure, chemical states, phase composition and surface residual stress of the ceramic coated titanium alloy were presented. The coatings mainly consist of carbides of titanium. The hardness of the coating increased significantly owing to the existence of the ceramic phase. Further, the impact process and the narrow space that the shock ball traverses decrease the surface roughness of the sample after the combined process. Finally, the surface residual stress of the sample treated by the combined process is compressive stress.

Wollastonite glass–ceramic was prepared by using a sintering method. The chemical compositions were in the wollastonite crystallisation primary field of the Na2O–CaO–SiO2 system. Effects of heat treatment conditions on phase transformation and microstructure evolution of wollastonite glass–ceramic in Na2O–CaO–SiO2 system were investigated using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the plate-like devitrite (Na2Ca3Si6O16) crystals were firstly precipitated from the parent glass after heat treatment at 950°C and long strip shape wollastonite (α-CaSiO3) crystals appeared in the clearance of Na2Ca3Si6O16 at 1000°C. When the heat treatment temperature increased to 1050°C, the Na2Ca3Si6O16 peak disappeared and α-CaSiO3 became the single phase. Furthermore, the complete phase transformation from α-CaSiO3 to pseudowollastonite (β-CaSiO3) occurred at 1200°C. As the heat treatment temperature increased, the sample surface changed from ‘convex’ into ‘concave’.

Television viewing is a risk factor for poor physical and cognitive health. Yet, we know little about associations between current health and frequency of television viewing throughout the day. This study examined associations between multiple assessments of physical and cognitive well-being and television viewing. Participants (N = 313) from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study completed an initial interview assessing their health and well-being. They also wore an Electronically Activated Recorders (EAR) to capture sound in the environment and an Actical to measure physical activity for 5 days. Coders rated the audiofiles for television viewing. Multilevel models revealed that participants who spent a greater proportion of time tuned into television had: higher BMI, poorer health, expended less energy, were more sedentary, and reported drinking more alcohol and eating more junk food. We discuss findings with regard to potential reciprocal influences between television viewing and poor health.

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) in Internet of Thing (IoT) is used in different areas of research for monitoring, collecting and analysing data from remote sites. This paper presents a WSN based reconfigurable interface device for water quality monitoring (WQM) in an IoT environment. The proposed WQM system consists of sensors, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Zigbee wireless communication protocol and personal computer. The system is designed for monitoring water quality such as water temperature, water level, water pH, turbidity of water and Carbon dioxide on the surface of water. The FPGA board is the heart of the system and a Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language and C++ are used for software system of the proposed designed device. The proposed system collected the data in parallel and in real time basis with high speed from multiple different sensor nodes. The results of the proposed system were validated with the laboratory experiments. Based on the results, it can be concluded that there was no significant difference of water data measurement between the proposed system and the laboratory measurement. The proposed WQM system was able to minimise the operating time, cost and power consumption.

Testis-specific serine kinases (TSSKs) are a family of serine/threonine kinases highly expressed in the testes that are responsible for regulating many spermatogenesis-related protein activities. Mutations in this family have a positive relationship with oligospermia and azoospermia in human and mouse. Here, five members of the TSSK family from a Banna mini-pig inbred line (BMI) were cloned, sequenced, and characterized. The full-length coding sequences of BMI TSSKs varied from 807 (TSSK3) to 1095 bp (TSSK1) and encoded 268 to 364 amino acids with molecular weights in the range 30.11 to 41.34 kDa. Following comparison with TSSK4 genes in other species, BMI TSSK4 was found to contain three alternatively spliced variants, inform1, inform 3, and inform 4. BMI TSSK1 and TSSK2 are co-localized on the Sus scrofa chromosome (SSC) 14, and consist of a single exon; TSSK3, TSSK4, and TSSK6 are on SSC6, SSC7, and SSC2, and consist of two, four, and one exon, respectively. Multiple protein sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed that the regions spanning the S_TKc domains were more conserved between pig and other animals: with TSSK1 and TSSK2 and TSSK3 and TSSK6 displaying the greatest degree of homology across species, and the TSSK4 protein clearly distinct from other members. Multi-tissue RT-PCR showed BMI TSSK1, TSSK3, and TSSK4 were only expressed in the testes and seminal vesicle, TSSK2 was confined to testes only, while TSSK6 was expressed widely in adult tissues but was highest in the testes.

High temperature wear properties of titanium carbide (TiC) composite coatings fabricated by laser cladding with titanium powder and varied percentages of carbon nano-tube (CNT) powders on titanium substrates have been tested by pin-on-disk wear under dry sliding conditions. The results reveal that TiC composite coatings fabricated with proper addition of CNT give promising high temperature wear resistance which is ten times higher than that of the titanium substrate. The high temperature wear behavior and friction coefficient of the titanium substrate and the composite coatings were investigated. It was found that the wear behavior of the dominant wear mechanism of the TiC composite coatings is adhesive wear and oxidation, whereas the Ti substrate exhibits abrasive wear, adhesive wear, serious plastic deformation, and oxidation at high temperature. The improvement of the wear resistance is believed to be attributed to the reinforcement phase of TiC which can also provide high hardness according to the microstructure observation of the composite coatings by SEM, EDX and microhardness measurements.

The complete coding sequences (CDSs) of "Yunnan Purple Pepper No.1" (Capsicum annuum L.) AN2 and UPA20 genes were amplified using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction on the basis of the conserved sequence information of some Solanaceae plants and known highly homologous pepper expressed sequence tags. The nucleotide sequence analysis of these 2 genes revealed that pepper AN2 gene encoded a protein of 263 amino acids that has high homology with the AN2-like protein of 4 species: tobacco, tomato, potato, and petunia. The UPA20 gene encoded a protein of 341 amino acids that has high homology with the proteins of 3 species: tobacco, petunia, and tomato. The tissue expression analysis indicated that the pepper AN2 gene was overexpressed in the pericarp and placenta; moderately in stems, flowers, and seeds; and weakly in the roots, leaves, and pericarp. The pepper UPA20 gene was overexpressed in the flowers and seeds; moderately expressed in the roots and stems; and weakly expressed in the leaves and placenta. Our findings might form the basis for further research on these 2 pepper genes.

Yunnan is situated in the Southwest China and encompasses regions having high biodiversity, including habitats for several ancestral species of domestic animals such as chicken. Domestic chickens in Yunnan were kept by peoples of varied ethnic and economic backgrounds living in highly varied geographic environments. To identify the genetic background of Yunnan domestic chickens and their relationships with Red Junglefowl, we applied 28 widely used microsatellite DNA markers to genotype 340 birds from 7 chicken breeds and Red Junglefowl indigenous to Yunnan. Among a total of 342 alleles identified, 121 (35.4%) were breed specific, with Red Junglefowl harboring most microsatellite alleles (23). High levels of heterozygosity were observed within populations indicated by a mean unbiased HE value of 0.663, which was higher than the reported for most populations elsewhere. The FIS value of domestic populations ranged from -0.098-0.005, indicating a lack of inbreeding among these populations. A high proportion of significant departures (89) from the 224 HWE tests for each locus in each population reflected an excess of heterozygosity and population substructure. Individual assignment tests, high FST values (0.1757-0.3015), and Nei's DA genetic distances (0.4232-0.6950) indicated clear differentiation among these populations. These observations, along with the close genetic distance between indigenous domestic populations and Red Junglefowl, were consistent with the primitive and ancestral state of Yunnan indigenous chickens. Protecting the unique variants of these indigenous poultry varieties from contamination with commercial breeds might provide values for improving modern agricultural livestock and breeding programs. Thus, the current study may benefit breeding management and conservation efforts.

The objective of this study was to obtain the complete coding sequences (CDSs) of 3 buffalo genes (AKT1, AKT2, and AKT3) using reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and to depict their molecular characterizations and tissue expression patterns in buffalo. The buffalo AKT1, AKT2, and AKT3 CDSs were 1443 bp, 1446 bp, and 1440 bp in length and encoded 480, 481, and 479 amino acids, respectively. Nine, 13, and 3 nucleotide differences were found in the CDSs between buffalo and other bovine species. Phylogenetic analyses showed that buffalo AKT1 and AKT2 have close genetic relationships with other species in the family Bovidae, while AKT3 is highly conserved in mammals. Buffalo AKT1, AKT2, and AKT3 all have a pleckstrin homology domain, a Ser/Thr-specific kinase domain, and a C-terminal hydrophobic regulatory domain. The tissue expression profiles were tested by real-time quantitative PCR and revealed that the buffalo AKTs were expressed in 10 tissues. Among these tissues, mammary glands showed high expression levels, which indicated that AKT genes might be important in the regulation of mammary gland functions in buffalo.