Responses of growth performance,antioxidant function,small intestinal morphology and mRNA expression of jejunal tight junction protein to dietary iron in yellow-feathered broilers

This study aimed to investigate the dose-effect of iron on growth performance,antioxidant function.intestinal morphology,and mRNA expression of jejunal tight junction protein in 1-to21-d-old yellow-feathered broilers.A total of 7201-d-old yellow-feathered maleb roilers were allocated to 9 treatments with 8 replicate cages of 10 birds per cage.The dietary treatments were consisted of a basal diet(contained 79.6 mg Fe kg^(-1))supplemented with 0,20,40,60,80,160,320,640,and 1,280 mg Fe kg^(-1)in the form of FeSO_(4)·7H_(2)O.Compared with the birds in the control group,birds supplemented with 20mg Fe kg^(-1)had higher average daily gain(ADG)(P<0.0001).Adding 640 and 1,280 mg Fe kg^(-1)significantly decreased ADG(P<0.0001)and average daily feed intake(ADFI)(P<0.0001)compared with supplementation of 20mg Fe kg^(-1).Malondialdehyde(MDA)concentration in plasma and duodenum increased linearly(P<0.0001),but MDA concentration in liver and jejunum increased linearly(P<0.05)or quadratically(P<0.05)with increased dietary Fe concentration.The villus height(VH)in duodenum and jejunum,and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth(V/C)in duodenum decreased linearly(P?0.05)as dietary Feincreased.As dietary Fe increased,the jejunal relative mRNA abundance of claudin-1 decreased linearly(P=0.001),but the jejunal relative mRNA abundance of zona occludens-1(ZO-1)and occludin decreased linearly(P?0.05)or quadratically(P?0.05).Compared with the supplementation of 20 mg Fe kg^(-1),the supplementation of640 mg Fe kg^(-1)or higher increased(P?0.05)MDA concentrations in plasma,duodenum,and jejunum,decreased VH in the duodenum and jejunum,and the addition of 1,280 mg Fe kg^(-1)reduced(P?0.05)the jejunal tight junction protein(claudin-1,ZO-1,occludin)mRNA abundance.In summary,640 mg of supplemental Fe kg^(-1)or greater was associated with decreased growth performance,increased oxidative stress,disrupted intestinal morphology,and reduced mRNA expression of jejunal tight junction protein.

Advances in Pharmacological Effects of Stevioside

Stevioside is a low-calorie high-power sweetener with a variety of positive pharmacological effects.With the growing attention to health,stevia leaf has garnered widespread interest at home and abroad.This article reviews the main pharmacological effects of stevioside and their mechanisms,in order to provide references for the research on the edible and medicinal value of stevioside.

Molecular dissection of phage lysin PlySs2: integrity of the catalytic and cell wall binding domains is essential for its broad lytic activity

The novel phage lysin PlySs2, is reported to be highly active against various bacteria, including staphylococci, streptococci and Listeria. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying its broad lytic spectrum remain to be established. In the present study, the lytic activity of the catalytic domain(CD, PlySc) and binding specificity of the cell wall binding domain(CBD, PlySb) of PlySs2 were examined. Our results showed that PlySc alone maintains very limited lytic activity. Enhanced green fluorescent protein(EGFP)-fused PlySb displayed high binding affinity to the streptococcal strains tested, including S.suis, S.dysgalactiae, and S.agalactiae, but not staphylococci, supporting its utility as a good CBD donor for streptococcal-targeted lysin engineering. EGFP-fused intact PlySs2 similarly displayed high affinity for streptococci, but not staphylococci. Notably, four truncated PlySb fragments showed no binding capacity. These findings collectively indicate that integrity of the PlySc and PlySb domains is an essential determinant of the broad lytic activity of PlySs2.

Key Points of Supervision of Third-Party Payment Business:A Comparative Analysis of China's Mainland and Macao

China's Mainland has witnessed remarkable achievements in payment innovations based on internet and financial technologies in recent years,whereas Macao has made little progress in financial technologies,especially in payment technologies.Based on the concept and types of third-party payment business in China's Mainland and Macao,as well as to investigate the causes for Macao’s lack of innovation in third-party payment,this study compares their differences from two aspects:business licensing authorities and key points of supervision.By comparison,although the classification and methods of third-party payment businesses are different between China's Mainland and Macao,they are all managed and licensed by a unified supervision department.Moreover,the key points of supervision in both places are similar,but unlike China's Mainland,which takes financial risk prevention as the principle and financial technology as the means to encourage innovation,Macao showed obvious deficiencies.In order to further deepen the connection between the financial markets of China's Mainland and Macao as well as boost financial technologies in Macao,this study aims to provide some suggestions and references for the development of cross-border payment systems.

Reactivation of PPARαalleviates myocardial lipid accumulation and cardiac dysfunction by improving fatty acidβ-oxidation in Dsg2-deficient arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy

Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy(ACM),a fatal heart disease characterized by fibroadipocytic replacement of cardiac myocytes,accounts for 20%of sudden cardiac death and lacks effective treatment.It is often caused by mutations in desmosome proteins,with Desmoglein-2(DSG2)mutations as a common etiology.However,the mechanism underlying the accumulation of fibrofatty in ACM remains unknown,which impedes the development of curative treatment.Here we investigated the fat accumulation and the underlying mechanism in a mouse model of ACM induced by cardiac-specific knockout of Dsg2(CS-Dsg2^(-/-)).Heart failure and cardiac lipid accumulation were observed in CSDsg2^(-/-)mice.We demonstrated that these phenotypes were caused by decline of fatty acid(FA)β-oxidation resulted from impaired mammalian target of rapamycin(m TOR)signaling.Rapamycin worsened while overexpression of m TOR and 4EBP1 rescued the FAβ-oxidation pathway in CS-Dsg2^(-/-)mice.Reactivation of PPARa by fenofibrate or AAV9-Ppara significantly alleviated the lipid accumulation and restored cardiac function.Our results suggest that impaired m TOR-4EBP1-PPARa-dependent FAβ-oxidation contributes to myocardial lipid accumulation in ACM and PPARa may be a potential target for curative treatment of ACM.

Facile hydrothermal and sol-gel synthesis of novel Sn-Co/C composite as superior anodes for Li-ion batteries

As an anode material in lithium ion battery,the Sn-Co/C composite electrode materials have been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal and sol-gel methods,respectively.The resultant composites were mainly composed of Sn-based oxides,nanometer Sn-Co alloy and carbon.Carbon and Co,acting as buffer materials,can accommodate to the large volume change of active Sn during the discharge-charge process,thus improving the cycling stability.Although charge/discharge curves revealed the excellent cycle performance for samples synthesized by both methods,composites obtained by the sol-gel showed a better dispersion effect of nanoparticles on the carbon matrix and possessed much more improved stable capacity with*624.9 mAh g-1over 100 cycles and that by hydrothermal method only exhibited*299.3 mAh g-1.Therefore,the Sn-Co/C composites obtained by sol-gel synthesis method could be a perfect candidate for anode material of Li-ion storage battery.