Maternal zinc alleviates tert-butyl hydroperoxide-induced mitochondrial oxidative stress on embryonic development involving the activation of Nrf2/PGC-1αpathway

Background Mitochondrial dysfunction induced by excessive mitochondrial reactive oxygen species(ROS)damages embryonic development and leads to growth arrest.Objective The purpose of this study is to elucidate whether maternal zinc(Zn)exert protective effect on oxidative stress targeting mitochondrial function using an avian model.Result In ovo injected tert-butyl hydroperoxide(BHP)increases(P<0.05)hepatic mitochondrial ROS,malondialdehyde(MDA)and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine(8-OHdG),and decreases(P<0.05)mitochondrial membrane potential(MMP),mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA)copy number and adenosine triphosphate(ATP)content,contributing to mitochondrial dysfunction.In vivo and in vitro studies revealed that Zn addition enhances(P<0.05)ATP synthesis and metallothionein 4(MT4)content and expression as well as alleviates(P<0.05)the BHP-induced mitochondrial ROS generation,oxidative damage and dysfunction,exerting a protective effect on mitochondrial function by enhancing antioxidant capacity and upregulating the mRNA and protein expressions of Nrf2 and PGC-1α.Conclusions The present study provides a new way to protect offspring against oxidative damage by maternal Zn supplementation through the process of targeting mitochondria involving the activation of Nrf2/PGC-1αsignaling.

Ochratoxin A induces abnormal tryptophan metabolism in the intestine and liver to activate AMPK signaling pathway

Background Ochratoxin A(OTA)is a mycotoxin widely present in raw food and feed materials and is mainly pro-duced by Aspergillus ochraceus and Penicillium verrucosum.Our previous study showed that OTA principally induces liver inflammation by causing intestinal flora disorder,especially Bacteroides plebeius(B.plebeius)overgrowth.However,whether OTA or B.plebeius alteration leads to abnormal tryptophan-related metabolism in the intestine and liver is largely unknown.This study aimed to elucidate the metabolic changes in the intestine and liver induced by OTA and the tryptophan-related metabolic pathway in the liver.Materials and methods A total of 30 healthy 1-day-old male Cherry Valley ducks were randomly divided into 2 groups.The control group was given 0.1 mol/L NaHCO3 solution,and the OTA group was given 235μg/kg body weight OTA for 14 consecutive days.Tryptophan metabolites were determined by intestinal chyme metabolomics and liver tryptophan-targeted metabolomics.AMPK-related signaling pathway factors were analyzed by Western blot-ting and mRNA expression.Results Metabolomic analysis of the intestinal chyme showed that OTA treatment resulted in a decrease in intesti-nal nicotinuric acid levels,the downstream product of tryptophan metabolism,which were significantly negatively correlated with B.plebeius abundance.In contrast,OTA induced a significant increase in indole-3-acetamide levels,which were positively correlated with B.plebeius abundance.Simultaneously,OTA decreased the levels of ATP,NAD+and dipeptidase in the liver.Liver tryptophan metabolomics analysis showed that OTA inhibited the kynurenine metabolic pathway and reduced the levels of kynurenine,anthranilic acid and nicotinic acid.Moreover,OTA increased the phosphorylation of AMPK protein and decreased the phosphorylation of mTOR protein.Conclusion OTA decreased the level of nicotinuric acid in the intestinal tract,which was negatively correlated with B.plebeius abundance.The abnormal metabolism of tryptophan led to a deficiency of NAD+and ATP in the liver,which in turn activated the AMPK signaling pathway.Our results provide new insights into the toxic mechanism of OTA,and tryptophan metabolism might be a target for prevention and treatment.

Solving algorithm for TA optimization model based on ACO-SA

An ant colony optimization （ACO）-simulated annealing （SA）-based algorithm is developed for the target assignment problem （TAP） in the air defense （AD） command and control （C2） system of surface to air missile （SAM） tactical unit. The accomplishment process of target assignment （TA） task is analyzed. A firing advantage degree （FAD） concept of fire unit （FU） intercepting targets is put forward and its evaluation model is established by using a linear weighted synthetic method. A TA optimization model is presented and its solving algorithms are designed respectively based on ACO and SA. A hybrid optimization strategy is presented and developed synthesizing the merits of ACO and SA. The simulation examples show that the model and algorithms can meet the solving requirement of TAP in AD combat.

A study on basic research priorities and development suggestions for the digital transformation of air traffic management

Air traffic is exhibiting the characteristics of high density,high volume,and unmanned operations.To ensure smooth,efficient,safe,and reliable operations,it is necessary to promote the digital transformation of Air Traffic Management(ATM)with digitalization,autonomy,and collaboration as its typical features.This article,based on the background of current and foreseeable future ATM needs,deeply analyzes the challenges and opportunities faced by traditional ATM.It explores and proposes to further investigate the commonalities,characteristics,and evolution of air traffic,the interaction mechanism of"human-machine-environment"in air traffic,the integrated design of airborne avionics and ATM systems,the comprehensive integration of ATM based on vulnerability analysis,airspace classification management,air traffic flow management,key technologies of"perception-collision avoidance",wake vortex monitoring and interval reduction,unmanned aerial vehicle management,and the expansion of ATM capabilities in the"high frontier".The research suggests strengthening top-level planning,building an open,mutually beneficial,and win-win digital ATM ecological framework based on multi-party collaboration,coordinating the research and application of new digital ATM technologies,accelerating the occupation of the new track of low-altitude economy,and enhancing ATM capabilities driven by the digital transformation of ATM.

A geographical and operational deep graph convolutional approach for flight delay prediction

Flight delay prediction has attracted great interest in civil aviation community due to its significant role in airline planning,flight scheduling,airport operation,and passenger service.Flight delay is affected by numerous factors and irregularly propagates in air transportation networks owing to flight connectivity,which brings critical challenges to accurate flight delay prediction.In recent years,Graph Convolutional Networks(GCNs)have become popular in flight delay prediction due to the advantage in extracting complicated relationships.However,most of the existing GCN-based methods have failed to effectively capture the spatial-temporal information in flight delay prediction.In this paper,a Geographical and Operational Graph Convolutional Network(GOGCN)is proposed for multi-airport flight delay prediction.The GOGCN is a GCN-based spatial-temporal model that improves node feature representation ability with geographical and operational spatial-temporal interactions in a graph.Specifically,an operational aggregator is designed to extract global operational information based on the graph structure,while a geographical aggregator is developed to capture the similar nature among spatially close airports.Extensive experiments on a real-world dataset demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art methods with a satisfying accuracy improvement.

Developmental changes in lipid and fatty acid metabolism and the inhibition by in ovo feeding oleic acid in Muscovy duck embryogenesis

Hepatic lipid and fatty acid(FA)metabolism are critical for regulating energetic homeostasis during embryogenesis.At present,it remains unclear how an exogenous FA intervention affects embryonic development in an avian embryo model.In Exp.1,30 fertilized eggs were sampled on embryonic days(E)16,19,22,25,28,31 and the day of hatch(DOH)to determine the critical period of lipid metabolism.In Exp.2,a total of 120 fertilized eggs were divided into two groups(60 eggs/group)for in ovo feeding(IOF)procedures on E25.Eggs were injected into the yolk sac with PBS as the control group and with oleic acid(OA)as the IOF-OA treatment group.Samples were collected on E28 and E31.In Exp.1,hepatic triacylglycerol(TG)and cholesterol(CHO)contents increased while serum TG content decreased from E16 to DOH(P<0.05).Both serum and liver displayed an increase in unsaturated FA and a decrease in saturated FA(P<0.05).There was a quadratic increase in the target gene and protein expression related to hepatic FA de novo synthesis and oxidation(P<0.05),whose inflection period was between E22 and E28.In Exp.2,compared with the control embryos,IOF-OA embryos had an increased yolk sac TG content on E28 and E31,and a decreased serum TG and CHO content on E28(P<0.05).The IOF-OA embryos had less OA in the yolk sac and liver on E28,and less unsaturated FA in the serum and liver on E31 than did the control embryos(P<0.05).Hepatic gene mRNA expression related to FA uptake,synthesis,and oxidation on E28 was lower in IOF-OA than in control embryos(P<0.05),not on E31(P>0.05).Maximal metabolic changes in lipid and FA metabolism occurred on E22-E28 in Muscovy duck embryogenesis,along with the altered target gene and protein expression related to lipogenesis and lipolysis.IOF-OA intervention on E25 could inhibit the target gene expression related to FA uptake,synthesis,and oxidation,which may influence the normal FA metabolism on E28 during embryogenesis.