We investigated the effects of road transportation and administration of the vitamin E and selenium (ESe) on circulating cortisol, haptoglobin, blood metabolites, oxidative biomarkers, white blood ...cell profiles, and behaviors in pregnant dairy heifers. Forty pregnant Holstein heifers were randomly assigned to one of 4 treatments: no transportation and no ESe administration; no transportation and ESe administration; transportation and no administration; transportation and ESe administration. The ESe (70 IU/kg dry matter feed of DL-α-tocopheryl acetate and 0.3 mg/kg dry matter feed of sodium selenite) was orally delivered once a day from 7 d before transportation to 3 d after transportation. The heifers were transported in trucks designed for cattle transportation. Blood was collected 1 h before transportation, immediately after transportation (IAT), and at 6, 24, and 48 h after transportation. Behaviors were recorded using a video camera for 2 consecutive days after transportation. Transported/non-ESe-administered heifers had greater cortisol at IAT, haptoglobin at 6 h and 24 h after transportation, total oxidative status at 6 h after transportation, and nonesterified fatty acid levels, white blood cell numbers, and neutrophil percentages at IAT and 6 h after transportation in the blood than non-transported heifers. Transported/non-ESe administered heifers had lower total antioxidative status levels at 48 h after transportation and lymphocyte percentages at IAT and 6 h after transportation than non-transported heifers. Lying time was shorter in transported heifers than non-transported/non-ESe-administered heifers. Transported/ESe-administered heifers had lower cortisol, total oxidative status, nonesterified fatty acid levels at IAT, and haptoglobin concentrations at 6 h and 24 h after transportation than transported/non-ESe-administered heifers. Transported/ESe-administered heifers had greater total antioxidative status levels at 48 h after transportation than transported/non-ESe-administered heifers. No ESe administration effects were observed for white blood cell number and neutrophil and lymphocyte percentages and lying time. In conclusion, road transportation caused temporal oxidative stress. Administrating ESe partially alleviated the stress, suggesting that ESe administration could be a viable strategy to reduce stress in transported pregnant heifers, providing a novel role of vitamin E and selenium for improving animal welfare.
A three-dimensional (3-D) full-field measurement technique was developed for measuring large deformations in optically transparent soft materials. The technique utilizes a digital volume correlation ...(DVC) algorithm to track motions of subvolumes within 3-D images obtained using fluorescence confocal microscopy. In order to extend the strain measurement capability to the large deformation regime (>5%), a stretch-correlation algorithm was developed and implemented into the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)-based DVC algorithm. The stretch-correlation algorithm uses a logarithmic coordinate transformation to convert the stretch-correlation problem into a translational correlation problem under the assumption of small rotation and shear. Estimates of the measurement precision are provided by stationary and translation tests. The proposed measurement technique was used to measure large deformations in a transparent agarose gel sample embedded with fluorescent particles under uniaxial compression. The technique was also employed to measure non-uniform deformation fields near a hard spherical inclusion under far-field uniaxial compression. Introduction of the stretch-correlation algorithm greatly improved the strain measurement accuracy by providing better precision especially under large deformation. Also, the deconvolution of confocal images improved the accuracy of the measurement in the direction of the optical axis. These results shows that the proposed technique is well-suited for investigating cell-matrix mechanical interactions as well as for obtaining local constitutive properties of soft biological materials including tissues in 3-D.
Angiotensinogen (AGT) is an essential component in the renin-angiotensin system. AGT has highly conserved sequences in the loop and β-sheet regions among species; however, their functions have not ...been studied.
Adeno-associated viral vector (AAV) serotype 2/8 encoding mouse AGT with mutations of conserved sequences in the loop (AAV.loop-Mut), β-sheet (AAV.βsheet-Mut), or both regions (AAV.loop/βsheet-Mut) was injected into male hepatocyte-specific AGT-deficient (hepAGT
) mice in an LDL (low-density lipoprotein) receptor-deficient background. AAV containing mouse wild-type AGT (AAV.mAGT) or a null vector (AAV.null) were used as controls. Two weeks after AAV administration, all mice were fed a western diet for 12 weeks. To determine how AGT secretion is regulated in hepatocytes, AAVs containing the above mutations were transducted into HepG2 cells.
In hepAGT
mice infected with AAV.loop-Mut or βsheet-Mut, plasma AGT concentrations, systolic blood pressure, and atherosclerosis were comparable to those in AAV.mAGT-infected mice. Interestingly, plasma AGT concentrations, systolic blood pressure, and atherosclerotic lesion size in hepAGT
mice infected with AAV.loop/βsheet-Mut were not different from mice infected with AAV.null. In contrast, hepatic
mRNA abundance was elevated to a comparable magnitude as AAV.mAGT-infected mice. Immunostaining showed that AGT protein was accumulated in hepatocytes of mice infected with AAV.loop/βsheet-Mut or HepG2 cells transducted with AAV.loop/βsheet-Mut. Accumulated AGT was not located in the endoplasmic reticulum.
The conserved sequences in either the loop or β-sheet region individually have no effect on AGT regulation, but the conserved sequences in both regions synergistically contribute to the secretion of AGT from hepatocytes.
Background
There may be concerns about purely laparoscopic donor right hepatectomy (PLDRH) compared with open donor right hepatectomy, especially when performed by surgeons accustomed to open ...surgery. This study aimed to describe technical tips and pitfalls in PLDRH.
Methods
Data from donors who underwent PLDRH at Seoul National University Hospital between December 2015 and July 2017 were analysed retrospectively. Endpoints analysed included intraoperative events and postoperative complications. All operations were performed by a single surgeon with considerable experience in open living donor hepatectomy.
Results
A total of 26 donors underwent purely laparoscopic right hepatectomy in the study interval. No donor required transfusion during surgery, whereas two underwent reoperation. In two donors, the dissection plane at the right upper deep portion of the midplane was not correct. One donor experienced portal vein injury during caudate lobe transection, and one developed remnant left hepatic duct stenosis. One donor experienced remnant portal vein angulation owing to a different approach angle, and one experienced arterial damage associated with the use of a laparoscopic energy device. One donor had postoperative bleeding due to masking of potential bleeding foci owing to intra‐abdominal pressure during laparoscopy. Two donors experienced right liver surface damage caused by a xiphoid trocar.
Conclusion
Purely laparoscopic donor hepatectomy differs from open donor hepatectomy in terms of angle and caudal view. Therefore, surgeons experienced in open donor hepatectomy must gain adequate experience in laparoscopic liver surgery and make adjustments when performing PLDRH.
Long learning curve even for experienced surgeons
RNA polymerase III (Pol III) transcribes medium-sized non-coding RNAs (collectively termed Pol III genes). Emerging diverse roles of Pol III genes suggest that individual Pol III genes are ...exquisitely regulated by transcription and epigenetic factors. Here we report global Pol III expression/methylation profiles and molecular mechanisms of Pol III regulation that have not been as extensively studied, using nc886 as a representative Pol III gene. In a human mammary epithelial cell system that recapitulates early breast tumorigenesis, the fraction of actively transcribed Pol III genes increases reaching a plateau during immortalization. Hyper-methylation of Pol III genes inhibits Pol III binding to DNA via inducing repressed chromatin and is a determinant for the Pol III repertoire. When Pol III genes are hypo-methylated, MYC amplifies their transcription, regardless of its recognition DNA motif. Thus, Pol III expression during tumorigenesis is delineated by methylation and magnified by MYC.
•Forests show higher temperature than croplands by 0.15 ± 0.06 ℃.•Forests show higher temperature than grasslands by 0.32 ± 0.04 ℃.•Non-growing season warming effects dominate annual positive ...temperature response.•The biophysical effects of forest transitions vary among forest types.•Radiative processes dominate the annual net warming effect on surface temperature.
Forest cover change directly affects the surface energy balance by altering the radiative and non-radiative properties of the surface. These competing processes may yield considerable biophysical impacts on local and regional climate that depend on background climate and specific forest type. Here we compared the differences in land surface temperature (LST) between temperate forests and adjacent croplands/grasslands to quantify the potential biophysical effects of transitions from croplands/grasslands to forests in Northeast China, based on multiple satellite observation products from 2001 to 2016. Forests were found to show a slight lower daytime LST and strong higher nighttime LST than adjacent croplands or grasslands. As a result, the daily LST of forests was 0.15 ± 0.06 ℃ and 0.32 ± 0.04 ℃ higher than that of croplands and grasslands, respectively. On the seasonal scale, the warming effect of cropland/grassland-to-forest transition during non-growing season outweighed the cooling effect during growing season, and dominated the annual positive LST response. Moreover, the cooling effect of cropland-to-forest transition during growing season was stronger in the early growth stage than late growth stage (−1.65 ± 0.9 ℃ in May to June, −0.39 ± 0.5 ℃ in July to September). The net cooling effect of warm temperate broadleaved forests was found to shift toward net warming effect of cold temperate coniferous forests with increasing latitude. The daytime cooling effect of forests was mainly driven by increased non-radiative evapotranspiration. Overall, the radiative process related to the solar energy dominated the net warming effect of forest transitions over Northeast China. Estimating the climate feedback potential of forests could be useful to provide theoretical references for the adaptation and mitigation strategies for climate change.
The magnetism of FeRh (001) films strongly depends on film thickness and surface terminations. While the magnetic ground state of bulk FeRh is G-type antiferromagnetism, the Rh-terminated films ...exhibit ferromagnetism with strong perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy whose energy +2.1 meV/whitesquare is two orders of magnitude greater than bulk 3d conventional magnetic metals (whitesquare is the area of a two-dimensional unit cell). While the Goodenough-Kanamori-Anderson rule on the superexchange interaction is crucial in determining the magnetic ground phases of FeRh bulk and thin films, the magnetic phases are the results of interplay and competition between three mechanisms-the superexchange interaction, the Zener-type direct interaction, and energy gain by Rh magnetization.
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