Ginkgo biloba extract alleviates fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome in laying hens via reshaping gut microbiota

Background Ginkgo biloba extract(GBE)is evidenced to be effective in the prevention and alleviation of metabolic disorders,including obesity,diabetes and fatty liver disease.However,the role of GBE in alleviating fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome(FLHS)in laying hens and the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated.Here,we investigated the effects of GBE on relieving FLHS with an emphasis on the modulatory role of GBE in chicken gut microbiota.Results The results showed that GBE treatment ameliorated biochemical blood indicators in high-fat diet(HFD)-induced FLHS laying hen model by decreasing the levels of TG,TC,ALT and ALP.The lipid accumulation and pathological score of liver were also relieved after GBE treatment.Moreover,GBE treatment enhanced the antioxidant activity of liver and serum by increasing GSH,SOD,T-AOC,GSH-PX and reducing MDA,and downregulated the expression of genes related to lipid synthesis(FAS,LXRα,GPAT1,PPARγand Ch REBP1)and inflammatory cytokines(TNF-α,IL-6,TLR4 and NF-κB)in the liver.Microbial profiling analysis revealed that GBE treatment reshaped the HFD-perturbed gut microbiota,particularly elevated the abundance of Megasphaera in the cecum.Meanwhile,targeted metabolomic analysis of SCFAs revealed that GBE treatment significantly promoted the production of total SCFAs,acetate and propionate,which were positively correlated with the GBE-enriched gut microbiota.Finally,we confirmed that the GBE-altered gut microbiota was sufficient to alleviate FLHS by fecal microbiota transplantation(FMT).Conclusions We provided evidence that GBE alleviated FLHS in HFD-induced laying hens through reshaping the composition of gut microbiota.Our findings shed light on mechanism underlying the anti-FLHS efficacy of GBE and lay foundations for future use of GBE as additive to prevent and control FLHS in laying hen industry.

Advances of high-performance LiNi_(1-x-y)Co_(x)M_(y)O_(2) cathode materials and their precursor particles via co-precipitation process

Layered LiNi_(1-x-y)Co_(x)M_(y)O_(2)(M=Mn or Al)is a promising cathode material for lithium-ion batteries due to its high specific capacity and acceptable manufacturing cost.However,the polycrystalline LiNi_(1-x-y)Co_(x)M_(y)O_(2) cathode material suffers from disordered orientation of primary particles and poor geometric symmetry of secondary particles,which severely hampers the migration of Lit ions.Furthermore,the resulting anisotropy accelerates the disintegration of the secondary particle structure,significantly affecting the electrochemical performance of the polycrystalline cathode.In spite of less grain boundary,the single-crystal LiNi_(1-x-y)Co_(x)M_(y)O_(2) cathodes still suffer from severe microcracks generated by repeated planar gliding during cycling,which poses a great challenge to the cycling stability of single-crystal materials.It's worth noting that the microstructure of the cathode material is mainly inherited from its precursor.Therefore,it is necessary to deeply understand the influence of the microstructure of Ni_(1-x-y)Co_(x)M_(y)(OH)2 on the electrochemical properties of LiNi_(1-x-y)Co_(x)M_(y)O_(2) cathode materials,so as to optimize the production process of preparing high-performance cathode precursors.In this review,we summarize recent advances in the research and development of Ni-rich cathode precursor materials.Firstly,the challenges faced by the Ni-rich hydroxide precursor materials are presented,including the effect of primary particle morphology and arrangement on the electrochemical performance of cathode materials,the influence of secondary particle morphology on lithium insertion reactions in cathode,and the effect of particle size on the microcracking of single-crystal particles.Secondly,the presentation of the conventional co-precipitation reactor,the mechanism of precursor particle growth,and the influence of coprecipitation parameters are described in detail.Finally,the strategies are systematically discussed to solve the challenges of hydroxide precursors,such as the innovation and optimization on reactants,synthesis processes,and reaction equipment.To obtain satisfactory high-quality precursor materials,future work will require an in-depth understanding of the reaction mechanism,combined with simulation techniques such as flow field theory calculations to guide the synthesis of precursors.This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the current progresses on the producing technologies of highperformance cathode precursors and offers prospects for future industry developments.

Inhalable iron redox cycling powered nanoreactor for amplified ferroptosis-apoptosis synergetic therapy of lung cancer

Fenton reaction centered ferroptosis-apoptosis synergetic therapy has emerged as a promising tumor elimination strategy.However,the low intracellular Fenton level and accumulation of therapeutics at the lesion site greatly limit the efficacy of ferroptosis therapy.To overcome these two bottlenecks,an inhalable metal polyphenol network(MPN)-hybrid liposome,encoded as LDG,was proposed for enhancing the intracellular Fenton reaction level by co-delivering the ferroptosis inducer dihydroartemisinin(DHA)and the ferrous ion(Fe2+)donor MPN.The synthesized LDG had excellent nebulization performance which significantly improved the accumulation in the lungs,about 8.2 times of intravenous injection.In terms of anticancer mechanisms,MPN raised the intracellular level of Fe2+by constructing iron cycling in the weakly acidic environment of tumors.Triggered by Fe2+,DHA with peroxide-bridge structure underwent a high level of Fenton-like reaction,promoted the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species(ROS)and induced strong ferroptosis while cooperating with apoptosis.LDG exhibited extraordinary antitumor ability in an orthotopic lung tumor model,whose tumor inhibition efficiency was 1.53(P=0.0014)and 1.32(P=0.0183)times of the LG group(liposomes coated with gallic acid(GA)-Fe MPN)and LD group(liposomes loaded with DHA),respectively,showing the strongest anticancer effect.In conclusion,the constructed MPN-hybrid liposomes could be a potent custom nanoplatform for pulmonary delivery and underscored the great potential of ferroptosis-apoptosis synergetic therapy.

Numerical optimization of transonic natural laminar flow nacelles

Natural laminar flow nacelle is a promising technology for drag reduction.In this paper,an optimization platform is established for the design of transonic axisymmetric and threedimensional natural laminar flow nacelles for large civil aircraft.The platform adopts the class/shape transformation method for geometric parameterization,a four-equation transition model for transition prediction,and the differential evolution algorithm combined with the radial basis function surrogate model as the optimization algorithm.The optimized axisymmetric nacelle demonstrates approximately 31%chord length of laminar flow,with the drag reduction of 13.3%.The influence of the Reynolds number and inlet mass flow rate on the optimization result is also investigated.The axis-symmetric nacelle optimization method is further used for the section profile design of a non-axisymmetric nacelle.An equivalent method is used to simulate the different local flow angles at different sections in the circumferential direction of the non-axisymmetric nacelle by using different inlet mass flow rates of the axisymmetric nacelle.The optimized natural laminar flow nacelle maintains over 30%chord length of laminar flow with robustness to the change of the freestream angle of attack.The total drag of the non-axisymmetric nacelle is reduced by 5.4%under cruise conditions.

Solvothermal Synthesis of TiO2/Bi2WOs Heterojunction Photocatalyst with Optimized Interface Structure and Enabled Photocatalytic Performance

TiO2/Bi2WO6 （TB） heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully synthesized and characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis and photoluminescence measurement. The heterojunction interface structure of TB heterojunction photocatalyst was optimized via adjusting the ethylene glycol/water （EG/W） ratio. Based on XRD, SEM and TEM, the crystal size of Bi2WO6 reduced from 14.6 nm to 8.8 nm, and the interface structure between Bi2WO6 nanosheets and TiO2 particle significantly changed with increasing EG concentration. Furthermore, the photoeatalytic activity and the related mechanism of TB heterojunction photocatalyst were systematically discussed. Among them, TBEG/w sample shows the highest normalized apparent rate constant, which is attributed to its highest electron-hole pairs separation ability driven by optimized heterojunction interface between two semiconductors.

An Autonomous Overtaking Maneuver Based on Relative Position Information

Reliable and efficient overtaking maneuvers are important and challenging for autonomous vehicles.Higher precision position information is thus required,rather than that traditional global navigation satellite systems can provide.In this paper,we try to perform reliable autonomous overtaking controls of vehicles,mainly based on the“relative”position information,including the distance,angle and velocity between vehicles,which can be achieved by on-board radars.To reduce the complexity of maneuvers,a fuzzy inference system is applied to analyze the driving behavior of the preceding vehicle based on the obtained consecutive relative position information.An output of“safe”or“dangerous”will be sent to the decision part based on reinforcement learning frameworks.Various overtaking maneuvers including“conservative”and“aggressive”can be obtained accordingly.Furthermore,we propose another overtaking strategy that vehicles can share their maneuver information during overtaking process via wireless links.Numeric results validate our analysis,and can provide meaningful performance benchmarks for practical system implementations.