Butyric acid is a beneficial feed additive used in animal production, including poultry production. However, there are few reports on butyric acid as a prophylactic treatment against intestinal ...inflammation in broilers. The current study explored the effect of sodium butyrate (SB) as a prophylactic treatment on the intestinal health and gut microbiota of broilers with intestinal inflammation induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) by monitoring changes in intestinal histopathology, gut leakiness indicators, inflammatory cytokines, and gut microbiota composition. Sodium butyrate supplementation prior to DSS administration significantly reduced the lesion scores of intestinal bleeding (P < 0.05) and increased villus height and the total mucosa of the ileum (P < 0.05). Regardless of intestinal inflammation, supplementation with SB at 300 mg/kg significantly decreased the levels of D (-)-lactate (P < 0.05), interleukin-6, and interleukin-1β (P < 0.05) but increased the level of interleukin-10 (P < 0.05). The SB treatment did not affect the alpha diversity of intestinal microbiota during intestinal inflammation progression but altered their composition, and the microbial community structure of treated broilers was similar to that of control broilers. Taken together, our results reveal the importance of SB in improving intestinal development, inducing an anti-inflammatory effect during intestinal inflammation progression, and modulating the microbial community in broilers. Sodium butyrate seems to be optimized for anti-inflammatory effects at higher doses (300 mg/kg SB).
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Summary
Background
Controversy exists regarding glucocorticoids therapy and the risk of peptic ulcer bleeding (PUB).
Aim
The present study was undertaken to determine whether short‐term use ...of glucocorticoids is associated with the occurrence of peptic ulcer bleeding.
Methods
The records of adult patients hospitalised for newly diagnosed peptic ulcer bleeding from 2000 to 2012 were retrieved from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, a nationwide population‐based registry system. The association between systemic glucocorticoids usage and peptic ulcer bleeding was determined with a conditional logistic regression model comparing cases and controls during time windows of 7, 14 and 28 days using a case‐crossover design.
Results
Of the 8894 enrolled patients, the adjusted self‐matched odds ratios for peptic ulcer bleeding after exposure to the glucocorticoids were 1.37 (95% CI: 1.12–1.68, P = 0.003) for the 7‐day window, 1.66 (95% CI: 1.38–2.00, P < 0.001) for the 14‐day window and 1.84 (95% CI: 1.57–2.16, P < 0.001) for the 28‐day window. Moderate to high, but not low dose glucocorticoids (methylprednisolone <4 mg/day or its equivalence) were associated with an increased risk of peptic ulcer bleeding. Concomitant use of a nonselective nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug (NSAID) or aspirin further elevated the risk. However, it does not eliminate the effect of underlying diseases flare‐up that may have placed the patients at risk for peptic ulcer bleeding in this kind of study design.
Conclusions
Short‐term (7–28 days) exposure to glucocorticoids is significantly associated with peptic ulcer bleeding; this risk seems dose‐dependent and is higher when nonselective NSAIDs or aspirin are used concurrently.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
For additively manufactured components, it's widely accepted to have high enough energy input to facilitate nearly full density and low enough energy input to avoid cracking tendency. In this work, ...ultrahigh-performance Ti50.6Ni49.4 (at.%) shape memory alloy (SMA) was manufactured by selective laser melting (SLM) under high enough energy inputs (155–292 J/mm3). The microstructure, phase transformation behaviors, mechanical and shape memory properties of the SLM-manufactured SMA were investigated by various characterization methods of X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, differential scanning calorimetry, room temperature and stress-controlled cyclic tensile tests, etc. Results show that the martensite content and the austenite and martensitic transformation temperatures decrease with the decrease of laser energy input (the increase of laser scanning speed). Interestingly, the SLM-manufactured SMA exhibits ultrahigh tensile strength of 776 MPa and elongation of 7.2% under room-temperature tensile condition. In addition, stress-controlled cyclic tensile tests under 400 MPa indicate that the SLM-manufactured SMA has ultrahigh shape memory effect of 98.7% recovery ratio and 4.99% recoverable strain after ten times loading-unloading cycle. The ultrahigh mechanical and shape memory properties are associated to the combined effects of dispersedly distributed nano-sized Ti2Ni precipitates, ultrafine grains and profuse dislocations in the SLM-manufactured SMA. This work substantiates, for the first time, high enough energy input in SLM can be applied to manufacture ultrahigh-performance TiNi SMAs.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures, bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3), as represented by one of the topological insulators (TI) materials, have attracted tremendous interests from world-wide scientists due ...to their potential applications in electronic devices. However, the growth mechanism especially chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and the optoelectronic device applications of these Bi2Te3 nanostructures have barely been investigated and reported. In this work, we present a detailed study on the controlled CVD growth of 2D Bi2Te3 nanostructures and explore their applications in high performance visible photodetectors. With increasing the precursor material temperature from 470 °C to 510 °C, it is observed that the lateral size of Bi2Te3 nanoplates first increases and then becomes saturated when the precursor material temperature over 490 °C, which is mainly due to the competition between the transportation and diffusion of precursor molecules onto the substrate surface and the reaction consumption of precursor atoms on the substrate surface. In addition, it is also observed that the lateral size of Bi2Te3 nanoplates decreases with increasing the total inner tube pressure as a result of the reduced diffusion rate of Bi2Te3 precursor molecules. 2D Bi2Te3 nanoplates with a lateral size over 10 μm can be obtained with applying proper precursor material temperature and total inner tube pressure. Furthermore, a visible photodetector is fabricated using few-layered 2D Bi2Te3 nanoplates grown in this work. This visible photodetector demonstrates a high responsivity of 23.43 AW−1 and a high detectivity of 1.54 × 1010 Jones, outperforming some visible detectors based on traditional 2D nanomaterials. Tche intensity-dependent photo-responsivity measurements show stable photoswitching behavior. This 2D Bi2Te3 nanoplate photodetector also presents high flexibility by showing no obvious performance degradation after being bent for 50 times. The results presented in this work will not only contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the CVD growth mechanism of Bi2Te3 nanostructures, but open up novel optoelectronic device applications for 2D Bi2Te3 nanostructures.
•We provide a growth model for achieving controlled growth of Bi2Te3 nanoplates.•The device shows a responsivity of 23.43 AW−1 and a detectivity of 1.54 × 1010 Jones.•The Bi2Te3 nanoplate photodetectors also show high flexibility.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
This multicenter trial showed that, despite immunologic challenges, recipients of kidney transplants from HLA-incompatible live donors had a survival benefit as compared with controls who remained on ...the waiting list or received transplants from deceased donors.
More than 32,000 patients awaiting kidney transplantation in the United States have anti-HLA antibodies.
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The presence of anti-HLA antibodies makes it very difficult to find a match with a compatible donor, and these “sensitized” patients can remain on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for years without a suitable donor ever being identified.
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Those fortunate enough to have a willing but incompatible live donor can either participate in paired kidney donation, for which the chance of a compatible match is also limited,
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or undergo desensitization and subsequent transplantation with a kidney from an incompatible live donor.
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The pre-summer rainy season (April to mid-June) over South China (SC) is characterized by a high intensity and frequent occurrence of heavy rainfall in the East Asian monsoon region. This review ...describes recent progress in the research related to this phenomenon. The mechanisms responsible for pre-summer rainfall consist of multiscale processes. Sea surface temperatures over the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans are shown to have a great influence on the interannual variations of pre-summer rainfall over SC. Synoptic disturbances associated with regional extreme rainfall over SC are mainly related to cyclone- and trough-type anomalies. Surface sensible heating and mechanical forcing from the Tibetan Plateau can contribute to the formation and intensification of such anomalies. On a sub-daily scale, double rain belts often co-exist over SC. The northern rain belt is closely linked to dynamic lifting by a subtropical low pressure and its associated front/shear line, whereas westward extension of the western North Pacific high and intensification of the southwesterly monsoonal flows play important roles in providing high-equivalent potential temperature air to the west- and east-inland regions, respectively. The southern rain belt, with a smaller horizontal span, exists in the warm sector over either inland or coastal SC. The warm-sector rainfall over inland SC results from surface heating, local topographic lifting, and urban heat island effects interacting with the sea breeze. The warm-sector rainfall over coastal SC is closely associated with double low-level jets, land-sea-breeze fronts, and coastal mountains. A close relationship is found between convectively-generated quasi-stationary mesoscale outflow boundaries and continuous convective initiation in extreme rainfall events. Active warm-rain microphysical processes can play an important role in some extreme rainfall events, although the relative contributions of warm-rain, riming, and ice-phase microphysical processes remain unclear. Moreover, to improve rainfall predictions, efforts have been made in convection-permitting modeling studies.
ABSTRACT A sample of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope spectra of early-type M0-M3 dwarfs is compared with Kepler observations. It is found that M dwarfs with strong ...chromospheric emission in have large flare activity in general. The rotational periods derived from the Kepler measurements have close correlations with the sizes of the flares, the power-law distribution index, and the equivalent widths of the emission. A clear trend exists for higher magnetic activities being detected in faster-rotating M dwarfs (rotation periods < 20 days).
It is unclear how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection leads to the strong but ineffective inflammatory response that characterizes severe Coronavirus disease 2019 ...(COVID-19), with amplified immune activation in diverse cell types, including cells without angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors necessary for infection. Proteolytic degradation of SARS-CoV-2 virions is a milestone in host viral clearance, but the impact of remnant viral peptide fragments from high viral loads is not known. Here, we examine the inflammatory capacity of fragmented viral components from the perspective of supramolecular self-organization in the infected host environment. Interestingly, a machine learning analysis to SARS-CoV-2 proteome reveals sequence motifs that mimic host antimicrobial peptides (xenoAMPs), especially highly cationic human cathelicidin LL-37 capable of augmenting inflammation. Such xenoAMPs are strongly enriched in SARS-CoV-2 relative to low-pathogenicity coronaviruses. Moreover, xenoAMPs from SARS-CoV-2 but not low-pathogenicity homologs assemble double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into nanocrystalline complexes with lattice constants commensurate with the steric size of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-3 and therefore capable of multivalent binding. Such complexes amplify cytokine secretion in diverse uninfected cell types in culture (epithelial cells, endothelial cells, keratinocytes, monocytes, and macrophages), similar to cathelicidin's role in rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The induced transcriptome matches well with the global gene expression pattern in COVID-19, despite using <0.3% of the viral proteome. Delivery of these complexes to uninfected mice boosts plasma interleukin-6 and CXCL1 levels as observed in COVID-19 patients.
•An adsorber coated with composite adsorbents has been investigated.•The effect of pre-heating phase on SCP and EER has been studied experimentally.•The effect of solar collectors’ area on SCP, COP ...and EER has been studied.•A SCP of 208 W/kg, a COP of 0.24 and an EER of 4.5 have been achieved.•The SCP is improved by 92.5% after conducting the pre-heating phase for 2 h.
In this study, a solar-powered adsorption cooling system (ACS) using vehicle radiators as an adsorbent bed was built and the system performance was studied experimentally in the Guangzhou climate. 6 single-glazed flat plate solar collectors with the total area of 12 m2 were utilized to collect solar energy. Zeolite 13X/CaCl2 composite adsorbent – water was used as the adsorbent – adsorbate working pair. The composite adsorbent was coated on the fins of the vehicle radiators using an electrostatic coating method. The results show that an adsorbent coating layer with a thickness of 0.5 mm was evenly distributed, and strongly adhered. The effect of the duration of the pre-heating phase and solar collector area on the cooling performance of the ACS was investigated. A pre-heating phase of 2 h was proposed and a minimum area of solar collectors of 6 m2 was recommended for a 1–2 kW scale ACS. A specific cooling power (SCP) of 208.2 W/kg of the ACS and an energy efficiency ratio (EER) of 4.5 driven by solar energy were achieved with a pre-heating phase of 2 h, and a maximum solar intensity of 880 W/m2.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Using multigenerational, single-cell tracking we explore the earliest events of biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. During initial stages of surface engagement (≤20 h), the surface cell ...population of this microbe comprises overwhelmingly cells that attach poorly (∼95% stay <30 s, well below the ∼1-h division time) with little increase in surface population. If we harvest cells previously exposed to a surface and direct them to a virgin surface, we find that these surface-exposed cells and their descendants attach strongly and then rapidly increase the surface cell population. This “adaptive,” time-delayed adhesion requires determinants we showed previously are critical for surface sensing: type IV pili (TFP) and cAMP signaling via the Pil-Chp-TFP system. We show that these surface-adapted cells exhibit damped, coupled out-of-phase oscillations of intracellular cAMP levels and associated TFP activity that persist for multiple generations, whereas surface-naïve cells show uncorrelated cAMP and TFP activity. These correlated cAMP–TFP oscillations, which effectively impart intergenerational memory to cells in a lineage, can be understood in terms of a Turing stochastic model based on the Pil-Chp-TFP framework. Importantly, these cAMP–TFP oscillations create a state characterized by a suppression of TFP motility coordinated across entire lineages and lead to a drastic increase in the number of surface-associated cells with near-zero translational motion. The appearance of this surface-adapted state, which can serve to define the historical classification of “irreversibly attached” cells, correlates with family tree architectures that facilitate exponential increases in surface cell populations necessary for biofilm formation.
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