Effects of synbiotic on growth,digestibility, immune and antioxidant performance in broilers

The overuse of in-feed antibiotics has been associated with serious issues, including the developing of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and causing drug residues in poultry products. To date, many countries have restricted the use of growth-promoting antibiotics in food animals, resulting in the increased need for effective alternatives to in-feed antibiotic. Synbiotics, which are composed of probiotics and prebiotics, have been shown to act synergistically when applied simultaneously. Thus, this study investigated the effects of a synbiotic, composed of microencapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum (MLP) and fructooligosaccharide (FOS), on growth, immune and antioxidant parameters, and digestibility of calcium and phosphorus in broilers. A total of 168 newly hatched male broilers were randomly allotted to three dietary groups (n = 7): (1) a corn-soybean meal basal diet (CON); (2) basal diet + synbiotic (SYN); and (3) basal diet + aureomycin (ANT). Compared with the CON, chickens had greater average daily gain and digestibility of calcium and phosphorus in the SYN group (P < 0.05). In the SYN and ANT group, serum IgA, IgG, and IL-10 levels were higher, while the serum TNF-α, IL-2, and IL-6 levels were reduced (P < 0.05) compared to CON. Compared with CON, the level of serum malondialdehyde was lower (P < 0.05) and SOD level was higher (P < 0.05) in either SYN or ANT group. No significant differences in populations of Escherichia coli were seen in chickens among the three groups, whereas, the populations of Lactobacillus were higher (P < 0.05) in chickens in the SYN group compared with those in CON and ANT groups. Taken together, the addition of SYN, consisting of MLP and FOS, had benefits on growth, immune and antioxidant parameters, and digestibility of calcium and phosphorus, indicating its potential to serve as a substitute for antibiotics in broiler feeding.     

Genetic Polymorphism of <Emphasis Type="Italic">GABRR2</Emphasis> Modulates Individuals’ General Cognitive Ability in Healthy Chinese Han People

Previous studies have indicated that the cognitive impairment or deficit is associated with GABAergic signaling in central nervous system. Inspired by the finding that receptor GABRR2 modulates concentration of GABA and phasic inhibitory GABAergic transmission in brain. This study investigated to what extent a genetic variant (c.1423C>T, rs282129) of GABRR2 gene modulates individuals’ general cognitive ability in 987 Chinese Han people. Results showed a significant influence of GABRR2 gene polymorphism on individuals’ Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) performance (F = 3.58, P = .028 by ANOVA and χ ² = 9.35, P = .009 by K–W test, respectively), even if non-genetic factors were partialed out (gender, major, types of birthplace, and socioeconomic index) (B = ?.67, SE = .26, t = 2.63, P = .009). The finding provided a strong evidence, to our knowledge, for the view that genetic variant of GABRR2 gene may contribute to the difference of individuals’ general cognitive ability, independently.     

蛋白质组学技术在肉类鉴别及肉质分析中的应用进展

肉制品是人体中蛋白质和多种微量元素的重要来源,但对于肉制品中肉类的鉴别及品质分析的研究受到了传统方法的限制。近年来,蛋白质组学技术的应用极大地推动了肉类鉴别技术的发展,并对肉质形成的潜在分子机制的研究有着深远的影响。主要介绍了蛋白质组学的概念及其研究策略,全面综述了蛋白质组学技术在肉类鉴别和肉质分析中的应用进展,并展望了其研究前景,以期为肉制品的质量控制及肉质影响因素的研究提供理论依据。     

Computational drug repositioning using similarity constrained weight regularization matrix factorization: A case of COVID‐19

Amid the COVID‐19 crisis, we put sizeable efforts to collect a high number of experimentally validated drug–virus association entries from literature by text mining and built a human drug–virus association database. To the best of our knowledge, it is the largest publicly available drug–virus database so far. Next, we develop a novel weight regularization matrix factorization approach, termed WRMF, for in silico drug repurposing by integrating three networks: the known drug–virus association network, the drug–drug chemical structure similarity network, and the virus–virus genomic sequencing similarity network. Specifically, WRMF adds a weight to each training sample for reducing the influence of negative samples (i.e. the drug–virus association is unassociated). A comparison on the curated drug–virus database shows that WRMF performs better than a few state‐of‐the‐art methods. In addition, we selected the other two different public datasets (i.e. Cdataset and HMDD V2.0) to assess WRMF''s performance. The case study also demonstrated the accuracy and reliability of WRMF to infer potential drugs for the novel virus. In summary, we offer a useful tool including a novel drug–virus association database and a powerful method WRMF to repurpose potential drugs for new viruses.     

PEPCK-Cmus转基因小鼠的表型鉴定

磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸羧激酶(phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase,PEPCK)是催化糖异生的限速酶,其在骨骼肌中表达量很低,作用尚不明确。本研究构建了在骨骼肌中特异表达PEPCK-C的转基因小鼠(PEPCK-Cmus小鼠),探讨PEPCK-C在小鼠骨骼肌中特异性表达后对运动和能量代谢的影响。结果显示,与同龄的野生型小鼠比较,PEPCK-Cmus转基因小鼠运动能力更强,胰岛素敏感性更高,血脂水平较低;骨骼肌中有明显脂肪堆积,但空腹血糖、体重、腹部脂肪体积没有差异。结果表明,PEPCK-C基因在小鼠骨骼肌中的特异性表达,提高了小鼠的运动耐力和糖平衡能力,并使血脂维持在较低水平,提示PEPCK-C基因在骨骼肌中的表达对机体的能量代谢有重要作用。     

漓江流域岩溶区檵木群落不同恢复阶段凋落物分解初期动态

为探究漓江流域岩溶区檵木群落不同恢复阶段凋落物的分解情况,运用凋落物袋法研究其凋落物分解初期动态。结果表明:经过1a的分解,檵木群落凋落物失重大小顺序为:灌木阶段乔灌阶段乔林阶段。檵木群落灌木阶段、乔灌阶段和乔林阶段凋落物分解50%所需的时间分别为1.28a、1.38a、1.41a,分解95%所需的时间分别为5.54a、5.97a和6.09a。经过1a的分解,凋落物养分动态变化为:灌木阶段和乔灌阶段C含量总体上升,乔林阶段C含量总体下降;3个恢复阶段N和纤维素含量总体上升;灌木阶段和乔林阶段P含量总体下降,乔灌阶段P含量总体上升;灌木阶段木质素含量总体上升,而乔灌阶段和乔林阶段木质素含量总体下降。相关分析表明,灌木阶段凋落物分解速率分别与C,N,P,C/P,N/P之间呈显著或极显著相关性,乔灌阶段凋落物分解速率与N和木质素/N之间呈显著或极显著相关性,乔林阶段凋落物分解速率分别与N,纤维素、C/N和木质素/N之间呈显著或极显著相关性。     

中国南方干旱灾害风险特征及其防控对策

应用中国南方区域14省区市252个国家基本气象站1961—2015年逐日地面气象观测资料及干旱灾害资料,研究中国南方干旱灾害影响的时空变化特征,分析中国南方干旱灾害风险变化特征,提出干旱灾害风险防控策略与防御对策。结果表明:近55年中国南方区域降水量呈现波动变化,降水量线性拟合趋势特征不明显。但进入21世纪后南方区域平均降水量明显偏少,且平均降水量年际振荡幅度增大。近55年研究区气温呈显著上升趋势,南方平均地表气温升高速率高于全球地表升温速率;研究区气温从1976年开始持续上升,气温升高的突变年在1997年。重旱风险高发区主要集中于西南,随着气候变暖,干旱灾害频率、强度和受旱面积均增加,干旱灾害风险增大。气温突变后次高干旱灾害风险区明显扩大。未来10年(2016—2025年)中国南方地区的干旱发生频率可能升高。因此,要加强干旱灾害风险管理,生态环境脆弱区域实施生态环境修复,农业主产区域以保障粮食安全为主,解决水资源时空分布不均和资源供需加剧矛盾,提高干旱灾害风险防控水平。     

Dose-Finding Based on Bivariate Efficacy-Toxicity Outcome Using Archimedean Copula

In dose-finding clinical study, it is common that multiple endpoints are of interest. For instance, efficacy and toxicity endpoints are both primary in clinical trials. In this article, we propose a joint model for correlated efficacy-toxicity outcome constructed with Archimedean Copula, and extend the continual reassessment method (CRM) to a bivariate trial design in which the optimal dose for phase III is based on both efficacy and toxicity. Specially, considering numerous cases that continuous and discrete outcomes are observed in drug study, we will extend our joint model to mixed correlated outcomes. We demonstrate through simulations that our algorithm based on Archimedean Copula model has excellent operating characteristics.