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Avian tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) is a skeletal disease affecting fast growing chickens, resulting in non-mineralized avascular cartilage. This metabolic disorder is characterized by lameness and reduced growth performance causing economic losses. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of baicalin against TD caused by thiram exposure. A total of two hundred and forty (n = 240) one day-old broiler chickens were uniformly and randomly allocated into three different groups (n = 80) viz. control, TD, and baicalin groups. All chickens received standard feed, however, to induce TD, the TD and baicalin groups received thiram (tetramethylthiuram disulfide) at a rate of 50 mg/kg feed from days 4–7. The thiram induction in TD and baicalin groups resulted in lameness, high mortality, and enlarged growth-plate, poor production performance, reduction in ALP, GSH-Px, SOD, and T-AOC levels, and increased AST and ALT, and MDA levels. Furthermore, histopathological results showed less vascularization, and mRNA and protein expression levels of Sox-9, Col-II, and Bcl-2 showed significant downward trend, while caspase-9 displayed significant up-regulation in TD-affected chickens. After the TD induction, the baicalin group was orally administered with baicalin at a rate of 200 mg/kg from days 8–18. Baicalin administration increased the vascularization, and chondrocytes with intact nuclei, alleviated lameness, decreased GP size, increased productive capacity, and restored the liver antioxidant enzymes and serum biochemical levels. Furthermore, baicalin significantly up-regulated the gene and protein expressions of Sox-9, Col-II, and Bcl-2, and significantly down-regulated the expression of caspase-9 (p

Gut microbiota (GM) contributes to the production of immune-regulatory molecules and cytokines. However, our understanding regarding intricate relationship between Lactobacillus plantarum and GM on regulation of immune function remained limited. To investigate the effect of Lactobacillus plantarum on an immunosuppressed mouse model, we employed cyclophosphamide treatment and conducted various analysis including H&E (hematoxylin-eosin staining), immunohistochemistry, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and RT-PCR. Our results demonstrated that the administration of Lactobacillus plantarum had significant immunoenhancing effects in the immune-suppressed mice, as evidenced by the restoration of functional expression of specific immune markers in the spleen and an increase in the number of goblet cells in intestine (P

Abstract Gut microbiota is established to be associated with the diversity of gastrointestinal conditions, but information on the variation associated with music and gut microbes is limited. Current study revealed the impacts of music intervention during feeding on the growth performance and gut microbes of mice by using clinical symptoms and 16S rRNA sequencing techniques. The results showed that feeding mice with music had a significant increase in body weight after the 25th day. The Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most dominant phylum in the gut microbiota. Also, the relative abundance of the dominant bacteria was variable after musical intervention. In contrast to the control group, a significant decrease in alpha diversity analysis of gut bacterial microorganisms and Metastats analysis showed a significant increase in the relative abundance of 5 genera and one phylum after the music intervention. Moreover, the musical intervention during feeding caused modifications in the gut microbial composition of mice, as evidenced by an increase in the level of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus, while decreases the richness of pathogenic bacteria, e.g. Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Muribaculaceae, etc. In summary, music intervention increased body weight and enhanced the abundance of beneficial bacteria by reducing the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria in gut microbiota of mice.

When backfilling narrow spaces, controlled low-strength materials (CLSM) can be used to achieve an effective backfilling effect. The pipeline engineering in Yahnghe Avenue of Suqian, China, provides a favorable on-site condition for the use of CLSM. However, no guidance exists for the determination of the material mixture ratio of CLSM for this geological condition. Laboratory tests were performed to investigate the basic physical parameters of excavated soil and the optimal mixture ratio of CLSM. Results indicate that the sand and silt account for 29.76% and 57.23% of the weight of excavated soil, respectively. As the water content increases (from 40% to 50%), the flowability of the CLSM approximately shows a linear increase (slumps values from 154.3 mm to 269.75 mm for 9% cement content), while its compressive strength shows a linear decreasing trend (from 875.3 KPa to 468.3 KPa after curing for 28 days); as the cement content increases (from 6% to 12%), the flowability approximately shows a linear decreasing trend (from 238.8 mm to 178.5 mm for 45% water content), while the compressive strength shows a linear increasing trend (from 391.6 KPa to 987.6 KPa after curing for 28 days). By establishing the relationship between compressive strength/flowability and the water–cement ratio, the optimal material ratio is determined to be 9% cement content and 40–43% water content. The engineering application results indicate that the use of CLSM can achieve efficient and high-quality backfilling effects for pipeline trenches. The findings of this research may provide a reference for the application of CLSM in fields with similar geological conditions.

The key equipment to prevent precision machinery such as lithography from being influenced by air temperature fluctuation is a high-precision air temperature control (ATC) system. The ATC system developed for a lithography immersion testing platform suffers from the difficulties of multiple disturbances, large inertia and time delay. However, seldom have control methods can solve these problems systematically. A two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) controller is proposed in this paper for this system, where model predictive control (MPC) is developed to overcome large inertia and time delay in the main control loop, and the measurable disturbance from the inlet air is compensated; based on the loop shaping approach, the controller in the disturbance rejection control loop is designed to attenuate the load disturbance; a Kalman filter is designed to reduce the influence of noise having no stable frequency characteristic. The experimental results show that the MPC controller and Kalman filter can effectively avoid the system oscillation, and the disturbance rejection control loop can significantly attenuate the load disturbance in the frequency range from 0.01 to 0.02 rad/s. Therefore, the 1σ precision is increased by 3.3 mK to 8.7 mK by the 2DOF controller when the system is influenced by the load disturbance with different fluctuation amplitudes.

Soil microorganisms (SM) are primarily involved in organism degradation, plant nitrogen nutrient immobilization, host microorganisms and oxidation. However, research on the effect of soil-derived Lysinibacillus on the intestinal microbiota spatial disparity of mice is lacking. To test the probiotic properties of Lysinibacillus and the spatial disparity on mice intestinal microorganisms, hemolysis test, molecular phylogenetic analysis, antibiotic sensitivity testing, serum biochemical assays and 16S rRNA profiling were applied. The results showed that Lysinibacillus (LZS1 and LZS2) was resistant to two common antibiotics, Tetracyclines and Rifampin, and sensitive to other antibiotics among the 12 antibiotics tested and negative for hemolysis. In addition, the body weight of group L (treatment of Lysinibacillus, 1.0 × 108 CFU/d for 21days) mice was significantly greater than that of the control group; serum biochemical tests showed that the TG and UREA were significantly lower in group L. The spatial disparity of intestinal microorganisms in mice was significant, treatment of Lysinibacillus (1.0 × 108 CFU/d for 21days) reduced the intestinal microbial diversity and decreased the richness of Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Bacteroidetes in mice. Furthermore, Lysinibacillus treatment enhanced Lactobacillus and Lachnospiraceae richness and significantly reduced 6 bacterial genera in jejunum community, reduced 8 bacterial genera, but increased bacteria at the 4 genera level in cecum microorganisms. In conclusion, this study demonstrated spatial disparity of intestinal microorganisms in mice and probiotic potential of Lysinibacillus isolated from soil.

Antibiotics used as a common clinical treatment have saved many lives. Widespread use of antibiotic therapy has been known to disrupt the balance of pathogenic bacteria, host-associated microorganisms and environment. However, our understanding of Bacillus licheniformis for health benefits and ability to restore the ceftriaxone sodium-induced gut microbial dysbiosis is severely limited. We used Caco-2 cell, H&E (hematoxylin-eosin staining), RT-PCR and 16S rRNA sequencing techniques to investigate the influence of Bacillus licheniformis on gut microbial dysbiosis and inflammation following ceftriaxone sodium treatment. The results showed that treatment of ceftriaxone sodium in 7 days suppressed the expression of Nf-κB pathway mRNA levels, which caused cytoplasmic vacuolization in intestinal tissues, afterward, the administration of Bacillus licheniformis could effectively restore intestinal morphology and inflammation levels. Moreover, the ceftriaxone sodium treatment entirely affected the intestinal microbial ecology, leading to a decrease in microbial abundance. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Epsilonbacteraeota were the most predominant phyla in each of the four groups. Specifically, the MA group (ceftriaxone sodium treatment) resulted in a significant decrease in the relative abundance of 2 bacterial phyla and 20 bacterial genera compared to the administration of Bacillus licheniformis after ceftriaxone sodium treatment. The supplementation of Bacillus licheniformis could increase the growth of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus and encourage the construction of a more mature and stable microbiome. Furthermore, Bacillus licheniformis could restore the intestinal microbiome disorders and inflammation levels following ceftriaxone sodium treatment.

The temperature control unit (TCU) is widely used in lithography tools or other precision equipment to achieve a high level of temperature stability. Still, there is no systematic analysis of the thermal model in the present study about how to build a precise TCU. In this paper, we provide a new perspective for analyzing the outlet temperature performance of TCU. We analyzed the thermal model of TCU’s sub-devices and thermal model of environmental disturbance over the frequency domain, then obtained the influence of different processes on the TCU output temperature at different frequencies. The above thermal models are brought into two commonly used process control frameworks to comprehensively consider the temperature control effect under the combination of control and hardware. The relationship expressions from the temperature spectrum performance to the fluctuation index are derived to obtain the quantitative TCU temperature performance. We built a TCU experimental platform with the water medium and verified the accuracy of TCU thermal models, thermal disturbance models, and the accuracy of temperature fluctuation index derivation, all within a 5% error. The TCU temperature accuracy reaches ± 1mk under one sigma statistics as a thermal engineering application case.

The environment with high-stability temperature is crucial for precision machinery such as lithography and laser interferometer. Some studies have investigated temperature control algorithms and temperature fluctuation attenuators to provide precision temperature control systems for them. In this paper, considering the characteristics of hardware elements and the closed control loop overall, a general control loop connected by multiple cascade loops is proposed for high-precision air temperature control to reject the disturbance from the inlet air. It is found that this disturbance and the noise generated by the non-uniform air temperature of the chamber are the two main sources affecting the control precision. Based on loop shaping, a controller with compensators is designed for the cascade control loop to make a tradeoff between the disturbance rejection and noise attenuation. The lumped parameter theoretical models of three kinds of attenuators for air temperature fluctuation are analysed for the design of precision air temperature control. An air temperature control system is used to verify the performance of the proposed controller. The results demonstrate that the controller can improve the disturbance rejection performance while reducing the sensitivity to the noise. The 1σ derivation of the chamber air temperature is decreased from 15.6 mK to 10.5 mK.

Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) is capable of causing transboundary diseases characterized by fever, nodules on the skin, mucous membranes, and inner organs. The disease may cause emaciation with the enlargement of lymph nodes and sometimes death. It has had endemic importance in various parts of Asia in recent years, causing substantial economic losses to the cattle industry. The current study reported a suspected LSDV infection (based on signs and symptoms) from a mixed farm of yak and cattle in Sichuan Province, China. The clinical samples were found positive for LSDV using qPCR and ELISA, while LSDV DNA was detected in Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles. The complete genome sequence of China/LSDV/SiC/2021 was determined by Next-generation sequencing. It was found that China/LSDV/SiC/2021 is highly homologous to the novel vaccine-related recombinant LSDV currently emerging in China and countries surrounding China. Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that the novel vaccine-associated recombinant LSDV formed a unique dendrograms topology between field and vaccine-associated strains. China/LSDV/SiC/2021 was found to be a novel recombinant strain, with at least 18 recombination events via field viruses identified in the genome sequence. These results suggest that recombinant LSDV can cause high mortality in yaks, and its transmission might be due to the Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles, which acts as a mechanical vector.

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are principal nutrient substrates of intestinal epithelial cells that regulate the epithelial barrier in yaks. Until now, metagenomics sequencing has not been reported in diarrheal yaks. Scarce information is available regarding the levels of fecal SCFA and diarrhea in yaks. So, our study aims to identify the potential pathogens that cause the emerging diarrhea and explore the potential relationship of short-chain fatty acids in this issue. We estimated diarrhea rate in yaks after collecting an equal number of fecal samples from affected animals. Metagenomics sequencing and quantitative analysis of SCFA were performed, which revealed 15%–25% and 5%–10% prevalence of diarrhea in yak’s calves and adults, respectively. Violin box plot also showed a higher degree of dispersion in gene abundance distribution of diarrheal yaks, as compared to normal yaks. We found 366,163 significant differential abundance genes in diarrheal yaks, with 141,305 upregulated and 224,858 downregulated genes compared with normal yaks via DESeq analysis. Metagenomics binning analysis indicated the higher significance of bin 33 (Bacteroidales) (p

Yaks (Bos grunniens) live primarily in high-altitude hypoxic conditions and have a unique intestinal micro-ecosystem, remarkable adaptability, and strong climatic resistance. Accumulating evidence revealed the importance of probiotics in host metabolism, gut microbiota, growth performance, and health. The goal of this study was to screen out probiotics with excellent probiotic potential for clinical application. In this study, four strains of Bacillus, i.e., Bacillus proteolyticus (named Z1 and Z2), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (named J), and Bacillus subtilis (named K), were isolated and identified. Afterward, their probiotic potential was evaluated. Antioxidant activity tests revealed that Z1 had the highest DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, whereas Z2 had higher reducing power and inhibited lipid peroxidation. Additionally, the antibacterial testing revealed that all strains were antagonistic to three indicator pathogens, Escherichia coli C83902, Staphylococcus aureus BNCC186335, and Salmonella enteritidis NTNC13349. These isolates also had a higher hydrophobicity, autoaggregation, and acid and bile tolerance, all of which helped to survive and keep dangerous bacteria out of the host intestine. Importantly, all strains could be considered safe in terms of antibiotic susceptibility and lack of hemolysis. In conclusion, this is the first study to show that B. proteolyticus and B. amyloliquefaciens isolated from yaks have probiotic potential, providing a better foundation for future clinical use.

Probiotic bacteria are receiving increased attention due to the potential benefits to their hosts. Plateau yaks have resistance against diseases and stress, which is potentially related to their inner probiotics. To uncover the potential functional genes of yak probiotics, we sequenced the whole genome of Lactobacillus sakei (L. sakei). The results showed that the genome length of L. sakei was 1.99 Mbp, with 1943 protein coding genes (21 rRNA, 65 tRNA, and 1 tmRNA). There were three plasmids found in this bacteria, with 88 protein coding genes. EggNOG annotation uncovered that the L. sakei genes were found to belong to J (translation, ribosomal structure, and biogenesis), L (replication, recombination, and repair), G (carbohydrate transport and metabolism), and K (transcription). GO annotation showed that most of the L. sakei genes were related to cellular processes, metabolic processes, biological regulation, localization, response to stimulus, and organization or biogenesis of cellular components. CAZy annotation found that there were 123 CAZys in the L. sakei genome, with glycosyl transferases and glycoside hydrolases. Our results revealed the genome characteristics of L. sakei, which may give insight into the future employment of this probiotic bacterium for its functional benefits.

The paper presents a simplified prediction method to estimate cavitation-induced pressure fluctuations by marine propellers in a nonuniform wake field. It is realized by a very fast calculation of the cavitation volume variation. The sheet cavitation volume is represented by the cavitation area in a two-dimensional section, which is the vapor area inside the cavity contour. The variation of the cavitation area on a two-dimensional blade section has been simplified to a relation in quasi-steady condition with only a limited number of nondimensional parameters. This results in a fast method to predict the cavitation area of a blade section passing a wake peak, using a precalculated database. Application of this method to the prediction of cavitation-induced pressure fluctuations shows to be effective. This makes optimization of propeller sections for minimum cavitation-induced pressure fluctuations feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among avian metabolic disorders, Tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) has a wide prevalence worldwide in chickens that are identified by non-mineralization and avascularization of the growth plate (GP). Grape seed extract (GSE) reduces the inflammation and oxidative stress by scavenging free oxygen specie and has some anti-cancer and angiogenic activity. This study was carried out to evaluate the role of GSE for the therapy of the chickens affected with TD. Arbor Acres broiler chicks (n=240) weighing 47±6g were fed starter feed till first 3 days and then portioned equally into three groups (Control, TD and GSE group; n=80 each). Thiram was incorporated in the feed of TD and GSE chicks until day 6 for inducing TD (50 mg/kg of feed), whereas usual feed was offered to control group. All the birds in TD and GSE group showed the symptoms of TD on day 7 and GSE group was given GSE (50 mg/kg/day) intraperitoneally till the termination of the experiment. Chickens fed with thiram-feed exhibited high TD score and GP measurement. After the GSE treatment, the TD score dropped remarkably and, inflammation and TD lesions reduced. Moreover, body weight gain and liver weight were increased in comparison with TD chicks after application of GSE. GSE supplementation alleviated the adverse effects of thiram and increase in angiogenesis was observed. In conclusion, GSE recovered the TD affected broilers through downregulating the HIF-1α, Hsp90 and CA2 expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]