Plasma metabolomics identifies metabolic alterations associated with the growth and development of cat

Background:The purpose of our study was to study the composition and content of the feline plasma metabolome revealing the critical metabolites and metabolic pathways associated with age during growth and development.Methods:Blood samples were collected from juvenile and adult groups for blood routine tests and serum biochemistry tests.Non-targeted metabolomics analyses of plasma were also performed to investigate changes in metabolites and metabolic pathways.Results:In this study,we found that the red blood cell counts,liver function indexes(albumin and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase),and the concentration of triglyceride and glucose changed significant with growth and development.The metabolomics results revealed that 1427 metabolites were identified in the plasma of young and adult cats.Most of these metabolites belong to major classes of lipids and lipid-like molecules.The most obvious age-related metabolites include reduced levels of chenodeoxycholate,taurocholate,cholate,and taurochenodeoxycholate but increased levels of L-cysteine and taurocyamine in the adult cat's serum.These metabolites are mainly involved in the primary bile acid biosynthesis pathway,the bile secretion pathway,and the taurine and hypotaurine metabolism pathway.Conclusion:This study revealed many age-related metabolite alterations in the feline plasma.These age-varying metabolites,especially in the bile acid biosynthesis and secretion metabolism pathways,indicate that the regulation of these pathways is involved in the growth and development of cats.This study promotes our understanding of the mechanism of feline growth and provides new insights into nutrition and medicine for cats of different ages.

1310 nm Source Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography for Chinese Pigment and Jadeite Research

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technique is a nondestructive optical detection technology based on low-coherence interferometer and it has become an attractive cultural heritage research method. A 1310 nm source spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system based on optical fiber Michelson interferometer and optical spectrum analyzer is proposed and demonstrated for Chinese cultural heritage research. The cross-section OCT images of Chinese pigment samples and jadeite samples can provide a lot of valuable microstructure information for the Chinese cultural heritage research and identification works.

Malnutrition associated factors on children under 5 years old in Lhaviyani Atoll,Maldives

In this report,we aimed to analyze the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among children under 5 years of age in Lhaviyani Atoll,Maldives.A total of 800 children(under 5 years old) and their mothers were selected for this study.Data was collected by using a pretested questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were taken from the hospital record book.Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression were used to find the association between nutritional status and determinants.The distribution of height for age and weight for age in surveyed children in Maldives was skewed to the left compared with the WHO standard.The prevalence of undernutrition based on underweight(10.75%),stunting(13.5%),and wasting(9.60%) was estimated to be 23.85% among children.Child age,gender and mother’s education were significantly associated with undernutrition(P<0.05).Our survey highlighted that better nutritional interventions are needed to improve child health in this region.

Robust integration of nitrogen-vacancy centers in nanodiamonds to optical fiber and its application in all-optical thermometry

In this Letter,we developed a robust method for integrating nanodiamonds(NDs)to optical fiber.The NDs,containing nitrogen-vacancy(NV)centers,were uniformly mixed with UV adhesive before coating the end surface of a multimode fiber as a hemispherical film.The excitation and collection efficiency of NV fluorescence can be enhanced by increasing the thickness of UV adhesive film and additional aluminum film deposition.The fiber-based quantum sensor was also experimentally demonstrated for all-optical thermometry application.The variation of the refractive index of UV adhesive under different temperatures will also affect the NV collection efficiency by changing the light confinement.The demonstrated facile integration approach paves the way for developing fiber-based quantum thermometry and magnetometry.