We tested whether periconceptional nutrition with cladodes from the cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, with or without protein-enrichment, improved the metabolomic profile and reproductive outcomes of ...adult female sheep. Sixty Rambouillet ewes of similar body weight were randomly allocated among three nutritional treatments that were fed during the breeding period (34 days): Control (Control; n = 20), Opuntia (Opuntia; n = 20) and protein-enriched Opuntia (E-Opuntia; n = 20). There were no effects of treatment on body weight but assessment of urine samples indicated that, for 76 metabolites, the Control and Opuntia groups differed completely (P < 0.05), whereas there was overlap between the Control and E-Opuntia groups. It appears that, in Opuntia-fed and Control-fed sheep, different functional groups are activated leading to changes in the metabolism of glucose, tyrosine, methane, and glycerolipids. Fertility and reproductive rate tended to be higher in the Opuntia (70% and 95%) and E-Opuntia (90% and 110%) groups than in the Control (55% and 65%), and an orthogonal contrast revealed the difference between Control and Opuntia to be significant for both reproductive variables (P < 0.05). We conclude that nutritional supplementation with Opuntia cladodes, with or without protein enrichment, increased fertility rate and reproductive rate of female sheep, without any accompanying increases in body weight. Our observations suggest that the reproductive responses to Opuntia do not simply reflect a response to good nutrition, but might be caused by specific metabolites/metabolomic pathways, perhaps by an activation of the metabolism of glucose, methane, tyrosine and glycerolipids. There are few reports relating these metabolomic compounds with the metabolism of the sheep, let alone with reproductive efficiency. The novelty of these discoveries suggests that we need further research into the mechanisms through which nutrition affects the reproductive system.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), choline and betaine serum levels have been associated with metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes (T2D) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). These ...associations could be mediated by insulin resistance. However, the relationships among these metabolites, insulin resistance and NAFLD have not been thoroughly investigated. Moreover, it has recently been suggested that TMAO could play a role in NAFLD by altering bile acid metabolism. We examined the association between circulating TMAO, choline and betaine levels and NAFLD in obese subjects.
Serum TMAO, choline, betaine and bile acid levels were measured in 357 Mexican obese patients with different grades of NAFLD as determined by liver histology. Associations of NAFLD with TMAO, choline and betaine levels were tested. Moreover, association of TMAO levels with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was tested separately in patients with and without T2D.
TMAO and choline levels were significantly associated with NAFLD histologic features and NASH risk. While increased serum TMAO levels were significantly associated with NASH in patients with T2D, in non-T2D subjects this association lost significance after adjusting for sex, BMI and HOMA2-IR. Moreover, circulating secondary bile acids were associated both with increased TMAO levels and NASH.
In obese patients, circulating TMAO levels were associated with NASH mainly in the presence of T2D. Functional studies are required to evaluate the role of insulin resistance and T2D in this association, both highly prevalent in NASH patients.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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•First report of AgNPs biosynthesis using Agave tequilana Weber var. azul.•A natural extract was obtained from an agro-industrial residue.•Nanoparticles showed antibacterial activity ...against clinically important bacteria.
The biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using an aqueous extract of an agroindustrial residue of the tequila industry i.e. leaves of Agave tequilana Weber var. azul (AT), and silver nitrate or silver acetate as precursor salts is reported. The presence of AgNPs was confirmed by color change, scanning electron microscopy, ultraviolet visible spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. AgNPs were tested against clinically important bacteria. The effect of extract concentration and the reaction temperature was investigated. Results revealed that, the concentration of AgNPs increases as temperature and extract concentration increase. AgNPs were found to be mainly spherical shaped and showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results demonstrate the possibility of using a natural extract obtained from an abundant agroindustrial residue for the sustainable synthesis of AgNPs.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Metformin consumption for diabetes treatment is increasing, leading to its presence in wastewater treatment plants where conventional methods cannot remove it. Therefore, this work aims to analyze ...the performance of advanced oxidation processes using sulfate radicals in the degradation of metformin from water. Experiments were performed in a photoreactor provided with a low-pressure Hg lamp, using K2S2O8 as oxidant and varying the initial metformin concentration (CA0), oxidant concentration (Cox), temperature (T), and pH in a response surface experimental design. The degradation percentages ranged from 26.1 to 87.3%, while the mineralization percentages varied between 15.1 and 64%. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the output variables were more significantly affected by CA0, Cox, and T. Besides, a reduction of CA0 and an increase of Cox up to 5000 μM maximizes the metformin degradation since the generation of radicals and their interaction with metformin molecules are favored. For the greatest degradation percentage, the first order apparent rate constant achieved was 0.084 min−1. Furthermore, while in acidic pH, temperature benefits metformin degradation, an opposite behavior is obtained in a basic medium because of recombination and inhibition reactions. Moreover, three degradation pathways were suggested based on the six products detected by HPLC-MS: N-cyanoguanidine m/z = 85; N,N-dimethylurea m/z = 89; N,N-dimethyl-cyanamide m/z = 71 N,N-dimethyl-formamide m/z = 74; glicolonitrilo m/z = 58; and guanidine m/z = 60. Finally, it was shown that in general the toxicity of the degradation byproducts was lower than the toxicity of metformin toward Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
In relativistic heavy-ion collisions, a global spin polarization, PH, of Λ and Λ¯¯ hyperons along the direction of the system angular momentum was discovered and measured across a broad range of ...collision energies and demonstrated a trend of increasing PH with decreasing $\sqrt{s{NN}}$. A splitting between Λ and Λ¯¯ polarization may be possible due to their different magnetic moments in a late-stage magnetic field sustained by the quark-gluon plasma which is formed in the collision. The results presented in this study find no significant splitting at the collision energies of $\sqrt{s{NN}}$ = 19.6 and 27 GeV in the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions Beam Energy Scan Phase II using the STAR detector, with an upper limit of PΛ¯¯ – PΛ < 0.24 % and PΛ¯¯ – PΛ < 0.35 %, respectively, at a 95% confidence level. We derive an upper limit on the naive extraction of the late-stage magnetic field of B < 9.4 × 1012 T and B < 1.4 × 1013 T at $\sqrt{s{NN}}$ = 19.6 and 27 GeV, respectively, although more thorough derivations are needed. Differential measurements of PH were performed with respect to collision centrality, transverse momentum, and rapidity. With our current acceptance of |y| < 1 and uncertainties, we observe no dependence on transverse momentum and rapidity in this analysis. These results challenge multiple existing model calculations following a variety of different assumptions which have each predicted a strong dependence on rapidity in this collision-energy range.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) is the principal cause of major losses in the penaeid shrimp farm. The disease is associated with intoxication by pirAB toxins homologous with
...Photorhabdus
insecticidal Pir toxin, a protein secreted during bacterial proliferation that affects the epithelial cells of the hepatopancreas. In this study, the progression of AHPND was evaluated by observation of the pathological changes using wet mount analysis, their effect on the hepatosomatic index (HSI) and clinical signs. The wet mount method showed progressive changes, including loss of vacuoles in the epithelial cells, massive sloughing of cells and melanised tubular necrosis, consistent with the histopathological evidence. The effect on clinical signs and HSI in diseased shrimp were significantly different (
p
< 0.05) concerning the time and healthy shrimp. The HSI values dropped over time, reaching 47% hepatopancreas size in diseased shrimp at 36 hpi, which coincided with the terminal stage. Criteria such as practical scoring system values ≥ 5, pale hepatopancreas without membrane, and massive sloughing of epithelial cells showed high discriminative power to identify diseased shrimp and significant association (
p
< 0.05) with AHPND. Tubules with deformities and loss of vacuoles in epithelial cells were also criteria with association (
p
< 0.001) to AHPND, but only in a high degree (G3 deformities) or absence of vacuoles in R and B cells. These criteria can be applied to facilitate AHPND presumptive diagnostic and could be used as screening tools for diagnosis or the surveillance of disease outbreaks in shrimp farms.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
We report systematic measurements of dielectron (e+e–) invariant-mass Mee spectra at midrapidity in Au + Au collisions at sNN=27 = 27, 39, and 62.4 GeV taken with the STAR detector at the ...Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. For all energies studied, a significant excess yield of dielectrons is observed in the low-mass region ( 0.40 < Mee < 0.75 MeV / c2) compared to hadronic cocktail simulations at freeze-out. Models that include an in-medium broadening of the ρ -meson spectral function consistently describe the observed excess. In addition, we report acceptance-corrected dielectron-excess spectra for Au + Au collisions at midrapidity ( |yee| < 1) in the 0–80% centrality bin for each collision energy. The integrated excess yields for 0.4 < Mee < 0.75 GeV / c2, normalized by the charged particle multiplicity at midrapidity, are compared with previously published measurements for Au + Au at sNN=27 = 19.6 and 200 GeV. Models that include an in-medium broadening of the ρ -meson spectral function consistently describe the observed excess. Furthermore, the normalized excess yields in the low-mass region show no significant collision energy dependence. The data, however, are consistent with model calculations that demonstrate a modest energy dependence.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
The differential cross section for Z0 production, measured as a function of the boson’s transverse momentum (pT), provides important constraints on the evolution of the transverse momentum dependent ...parton distribution functions (TMDs). The transverse single spin asymmetry (TSSA) of the Z0 is sensitive to one of the polarized TMDs, the Sivers function, which is predicted to have the opposite sign in p + p → W/Z + X from that which enters in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering. In this Letter, the STAR Collaboration reports the first measurement of the Z0/γ* differential cross section as a function of its pT in p+p collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 510 GeV, together with the Z0/γ* total cross section. We also report the measurement of Z0/γ* TSSA in transversely polarized p+p collisions at 510 GeV.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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