To elucidate the regulatory mechanisms that impact variability in albumen quality of laying hens from the peak of lay to the late production phase. A 60-wk study was conducted on a cohort of 20,000 ...Hy-Line Brown laying hens from 20 to 80 wk old. Before commencement at 20 wk, the 10-wk-old hens were acclimatized for 10 wk. This study examined changes in albumen quality, serum, and liver antioxidant capacity, magnum morphology, and expression of albumen-protein-related genes in the magnum. To reduce sampling error, we collected eggs (n = 90) from pre-determined cages at every sampling point (5-wk intervals), and 8 hens were selected at 10-wk intervals for blood and tissue collection. Our findings revealed that age significantly affected most evaluated parameters. Albumen gel properties, including hardness, gumminess, and chewiness, increased significantly with age (P < 0.05). With the increasing of hens' age from 20 to 80 wk, the albumen proportion of eggs was decreased, but eggshell proportion, yolk proportion, thick albumen proportion, thick to thin ratio, thick albumen solid content, albumen height, Haugh units (HU), and yolk color were increased and then decreased (P < 0.05). Compared to hens aged 20 to 60 wk, the hens (70–80 wk) had significantly reduced total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and glutathione levels (GSH) in the liver and lower serum TAC and superoxide dismutase levels (SOD) (P < 0.05). The magnum mucosal folds were highest in 40 to 60 wk-old hens, and the luminal diameter increased with age (P < 0.05). In the magnum, the mRNA expression levels for OVA, CPE, and NUP205 increased significantly between 30 and 40 wk, while FBN1 expression was higher between 30 and 50 wk (P < 0.05). At 70 to 80 wk, the expression of BRCA2 was significantly downregulated (P < 0.05). Albumen height, thick albumen proportion with protein secretion-related genes, enhanced antioxidant function, and luminal diameter correlated positively. However, the thick-to-thin albumen ratio negatively correlated with BRCA2, downregulated in aged laying hens. We used principal component and cluster analysis to deduce albumen quality changes during 3 phases: 25 to 35, 40 to 55, and 60 to 80 wk. The decline in albumen quality in aging hens is linked with decreased antioxidant capacity, magnum health, and downregulation of key genes involved in protein synthesis and secretion. These findings emphasize critical albumen quality changes in laying hens and suggest molecular pathways underlying age-related albumen quality alterations.
Osteoporosis, characterized by bone mineral density reduction, bone mass loss, increased bone fragility, and propensity to fractures, is a common disease in older individuals and one of the most ...serious health problems worldwide. The imbalance between osteoblasts and osteoclasts results in the predominance of bone resorption and decreased bone formation. In recent years, it has been found that regular and proper exercise not only helps prevent the occurrence of osteoporosis but also adds benefits to osteoporosis therapy; accordingly, bone homeostasis is closely associated with mechanical stress and the intricate crosstalk between osteoblasts and osteoclasts. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of exercise on osteoporosis and provide new proposals for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
Genistein (GEN) and Glycitein (GLY), are types of isoflavone extracted mainly from soy plants, although GEN is associated with stronger antioxidant and growth-promoting effects. The impact of dietary ...GEN and GLY on reproductive performance, egg quality, and bone quality were investigated in the study. Additionally, to explore the underlying mechanism of action, the serum hormone levels and reproductive-related genes were investigated. A total of 378 Hy-Line Brown laying hens (120 days old) were randomly allocated to 3 dietary groups (Control), (GLY, and GEN at 50 mg/kg respectively) for a period of 8 wk. Each treatment has 126 birds (7 replicates of 18 birds each). Results were analyzed in 2 phases: wk 1 to 4, and 5 to 8 of feeding trial. The results indicated that supplemental GEN significantly increased egg number, hen-day production (HDP), and egg mass during wk 1 to 4, whereas, both glycitein and genistein increased egg number, egg weight, egg mass, HDP and improved feed-egg-ratio during wk 5 to 8. Egg quality analysis revealed significant improvements in eggshell quality; gloss, thickness, strength, and albumen quality indices (albumen height, Haugh unit, thick albumen fraction) due to dietary treatments. Also, the tibia strength, Ca content in the tibia ash and bone mineral content, were significantly increased by the dietary treatments. Significant increases in the serum levels of E2, LH, FSH, T3, T4, and GH, and the activity of antioxidant enzymes; SOD, CAT, GSH while reducing the level of MDA, was notable with the treatments. Additionally, reproductive-related genes: ESR1, FSHR, PRLR, GNRH1 were significantly upregulated by the supplementation of GEN and GLY. The efficacy of GEN in relation to the evaluated parameters was superior to that of GLY. Conclusively, we speculate that the improvement on laying performance, egg quality and tibia quality may be related to promoting effect of isoflavones on calcium metabolism, antioxidant function, reproductive hormones and related genes. Therefore, supplemental GEN at a dosage level of 50 mg/kg, can be used to promote laying performance, sustain egg production and maintain the physiological function of young laying hens.
The development of thermal control systems has become an important issue in next-generation electric aircraft design due to the increase in heat exhausted with electrification. In this paper, a ...wick-type two-phase mechanically pumped fluid loop system for future electric aircraft was proposed through the investigation of current two-phase flow cooling technology. Taking the experimental electric aircraft X-57 as an example, a wick-type two-phase mechanically pumped fluid loop with four evaporators for transporting 12 kW of waste heat within an 80 °C temperature limit was proposed and its feasibility was confirmed. A numerical model was constructed and validated to predict the operating characteristics of a two-phase mechanically pumped fluid loop. The optimal pump outputs under-even and uneven heat load conditions and was investigated for the first time by considering the vapor-liquid separation conditions in each flow path and the power consumption of the pump. Under the optimal pump output condition, the operating characteristics of the wick-type two-phase mechanically pumped fluid loop system were calculated. The calculation results indicate that the proposed wick-type two-phase mechanically pumped fluid loop is suitable as the thermal control system for an X-57 electric aircraft motor, as the calculation results satisfied the operational requirements of the motor.
Background
Increasing evidence indicates that angiogenesis plays an important role in tumor progression. The function of cathepsin L (CTSL), an endosomal proteolytic enzyme, in promoting tumor ...metastasis is well recognized. The mechanisms by which CTSL has promoted the angiogenesis of gastric cancer (GC), however, remains unclear.
Methods
The nuclear expression levels of CTSL were assessed in GC samples. The effects of CTSL on GC angiogenesis were determined by endothelial tube formation analysis, HUVEC migration assay, and chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. The involvement of the CDP/Cux/VEGF-D pathway was analyzed by angiogenesis antibody array, Western blot, co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and dual-luciferase reporter assay.
Results
In this study, we found that the nuclear CTSL expression level in GC was significantly higher than that in adjacent nontumor gastric tissues and was a potential important clinical prognostic factor. Loss- and gain-of-function assays indicated that CTSL promotes the tubular formation and migration of HUVEC cells in vitro. The CAM assay also showed that CTSL promotes angiogenesis of GC in vivo. Mechanistic analysis demonstrated that CTSL can proteolytically process CDP/Cux and produce the physiologically relevant p110 isoform, which stably binds to VEGF-D and promotes the transcription of VEGF-D, thus contributing to the angiogenesis of GC.
Conclusion
The findings of the present study suggested that CTSL plays a constructive role in the regulation of angiogenesis in human GC and could be a potential therapeutic target for GC.
The atmospheric flow field and weather processes exhibit complex and variable characteristics at small scales, involving interactions between terrain features and atmospheric physics. To investigate ...the mechanisms of these process further, this study employs a Lagrangian particle motion model combined with a Euler background field approach to construct a small-scale atmospheric flow field model. The model streamlines the modeling process by combining the benefits of the Lagrangian dynamics model and the Eulerian integration scheme. To verify the effectiveness of the Euler–Lagrange hybrid model, experiments using the Fluent wind field model were conducted for comparison. The results show that both models have their advantages in handling terrain-induced wind fields. The Fluent model excels in simulating the general characteristics of wind fields under specific terrain, while the Euler–Lagrange hybrid model is better at capturing the upstream and downstream disturbances of the terrain on the atmospheric flow field. These findings provide powerful tools for in-depth diagnostic analysis of atmospheric flow simulation and convective precipitation processes. Notably, the Euler–Lagrange hybrid model demonstrates excellent computational efficiency, with an average computation time of approximately 2 s per time step in a Python environment, enabling rapid simulation of 40 time steps within approximately 90 s.
Rare earth chitosan chelate salt (RECC) is a potential feed additive and is a product of the chelation effect between rare earth ions and chitosan. This research study aims to explore the effects of ...dietary RECC on performance, egg quality, intestinal digestive function, and the immune and antioxidant capacity of laying hens in the late phase of production. A total of 360 56-week-old Dawu Jinfeng laying hens were randomly allotted into four treatment groups with six replicates per treatment and 15 birds per replicate. The laying hens were fed the basal diet supplemented with, respectively, 0 (control: CON), 100 (R1), 200 (R2), and 400 (R3) mg/kg for 8 weeks. Dietary RECC significantly improved average daily feed intake (ADFI) and average daily egg yield in both linear and quadratic manner (
< 0.05). In addition, albumen height and HU were improved significantly (
< 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner of RECC. In addition, a significant decrease (
< 0.05) in serum TP, IgA, and MDA for the R1 group and IgG in the R2 group were notable, while the increase in serum TP and decrease in T-AOC were found for R3 dietary group compared to CON (
< 0.05). The level of intestinal IL-2 and TNF-α was decreased by dietary RECC (
< 0.01). The activities of the digestive enzyme (α-Amylase, lipase, and Trypsin) showed a quadratic change with an increase and then decrease in response to increasing dose of RECC, 200 mg/kg RECC significantly increased the activity of lipase and Trypsin (
< 0.01). Supplementation of dietary RECC at low doses compared to higher doses impacted positive effects on the antioxidant capacity and immune function (
< 0.05). The utilization of RECC as a feed additive in the diet of aged laying hens exerted beneficial effects on egg production, albumen quality, humoral immunity, inflammatory response, and activity of digestive enzymes. Thus, the regulation of antioxidant capacity and duodenal function via increased enzyme activity and immune and inflammatory response were critical to the improvement of laying performance and egg quality in aged hens. The optimal supplemental dose is 100-200 mg/kg.
In-line digital holographic particle imaging is gifted with high axial resolution but axial displacement of nearly-in-focus or in-focus particle is unable to be measured because of twin-image ...problem. Both in-focus and out-of-focus particles can be measured by off-axis digital holographic particle imaging but with poor axial resolution. These two make particle tracking in three-dimensional more complicated. This paper proposes a compound method of in-line and off-axis digital holographic microscopy to measure the axial displacement of both the in-focus and out-of-focus particle with improved resolution up to nanometer scale collectively. In the proposed compound digital holographic microscopy (CDHM), the critical reconstruction distance (CRD) is calculated. The twin image effect can be resolved by ensuring the reconstruction distance is larger than the CRD, then in-line digital holographic particle imaging can be effectively applied. If the reconstruction distance is smaller than the CRD, the ring pixels of optical path length (RPOPL) method is applied to improve resolution. The axial displacement of silica particles 5 μm and 10 μm in diameter fixed on the piezoelectric stage were successfully measured using CDHM method at resolution up to 4 nm (in-focus particle) and 2 nm (out-of-focus particle).
•Both off-axis and in-line hologram can be obtained in on CDHM setup.•Off-axis or in-line hologram is freely selected based on boundary parameter—CRD.•Axial displacement of both in-focus & out-of-focus particles can be measured.•5 nm axial resolution of particle displacement measurement is achieved.
With global warming and intensified human activities, extreme convective precipitation has become one of the most frequent natural disasters. An accurate and reliable assessment of severe convective ...precipitation events can support social stability and economic development. In order to investigate the accuracy enhancement methods and data fusion strategies for the assessment of severe convective precipitation events, this study is driven by the horizontal reflectance factor (ZH) and differential reflectance (ZDR) of the dual-polarization radar. This research work utilizes microphysical information of convective storms provided by radar variables to construct the precipitation event assessment model. Considering the problems of high dimensionality of variable data and low computational efficiency, this study proposes a dual-polarization radar echo-data-layering strategy. Combined with the results of mutual information (MI), this study constructs Bayes–Kalman filter (KF) models (RF, SVR, GRU, LSTM) for the assessment of severe convective precipitation events. Finally, this study comparatively analyzes the evaluation effectiveness and computational efficiency of different models. The results show that the data-layering strategy is able to reduce the data dimensions of 256 × 256 × 34,978 to 5 × 2213, which greatly improves the computational efficiency. In addition, the correlation coefficient of interval III–V calibration period is increased to 0.9, and the overall assessment accuracy of the model is good. Among them, the Bayes–KF-LSTM model has the best assessment effect, and the Bayes–KF-RF has the highest computational efficiency. Further, five typical precipitation events are selected for validation in this study. The stratified precipitation dataset agrees well with the near-surface precipitation, and the model’s assessment values are close to the observed values. This study completely utilizes the microphysical information offered by dual-polarized radar ZH and ZDR in precipitation event assessment, which provides a wide range of application possibilities for the assessment of severe convective precipitation events.
Background
Oncostatin M receptor (OSMR) is a member of the interleukin 6 (IL-6) receptor family that transduces signaling events of Oncostatin M (OSM). OSM–OSMR signaling plays a key role in ...inflammation and cancer progression. However, the role of OSM–OSMR in gastric cancer (GC) is still unknown.
Methods
OSMR expression in GC was determined by real-time PCR (RT-PCR), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blot. The effects of OSM–OSMR on GC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vitro and metastasis in vivo were examined. The pathways underlying OSM–OSMR signaling were explored by Western blot. Regulatory mechanism between SP1 and OSMR was explored in vitro.
Results
OSMR was highly expressed in GC tissues and its expression level was closely associated with age, T stage, Lauren classification, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage and worse prognosis of patients with GC. Knockdown of OSMR expression in GC cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT in vitro, as well as tumorigenesis and peritoneal metastasis in vivo induced by OSM. These effects mediated by OSM–OSMR were dependent on the activation of STAT3/FAK/Src signaling. SP1 could bind to the promoter region of human OSMR gene from − 255 to − 246 bp, and transcriptionally regulated OSMR overexpression in GC cells.
Conclusions
OSM–OSMR contributes to GC progression through activating STAT3/FAK/Src signaling, and OSMR is transcriptionally activated by SP1.
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