•More research is needed before integrating machine data into genetic evaluation.•This paper proposes a Sheep Data Recorder and Sheep Body Size Collector.•The optimal genetic model using machine data ...is the same as predicted by humans.•Machine measurements may overestimate heritability compared to manual measurements.•This paper shows positive genetic and phenotypic correlations in body size traits.
In the realm of animal phenotyping, manual measurements are frequently utilised. While machine-generated data show potential for enhancing high-throughput breeding, additional research and validation are imperative before incorporating them into genetic evaluation processes. This research presents a method for managing meat sheep and collecting data, utilising the Sheep Data Recorder system for data input and the Sheep Body Size Collector system for image capture. The study aimed to investigate the genetic parameter changes of growth traits in Ujumqin sheep by comparing machine-generated measurements with manual measurements. The dataset consisted of 552 data points from the offspring of 75 breeding rams and 399 breeding ewes. Six distinct random regression models were assessed to pinpoint the most suitable model for estimating genetic parameters linked to growth traits. These models were distinguished based on the inclusion or exclusion of maternal genetic effects, maternal permanent environmental effects, and covariance between maternal and direct genetic effects. Fixed factors such as individual age, individual sex, and ewe age were taken into account in the analysis. The genetic parameters for the yearling growth traits of Ujumqin sheep were calculated using ASReml software. The Akaike information criterion, the Bayesian information criterion, and fivefold cross-validation were employed to identify the optimal model. Research findings indicate that the most accurate models for manually measured data revealed heritability estimates of 0.12 ± 0.15 for BW, 0.05 ± 0.07 for body slanting length, 0.03 ± 0.07 for withers height, 0.15 ± 0.12 for hip height, 0.11 ± 0.11 for chest depth, 0.13 ± 0.13 for shoulder width, and 0.53 ± 0.15 for chest circumference. The optimal models for machine-predicted data showed heritability estimates of 0.1 ± 0.09 for body slanting length, 0.14 ± 0.12 for withers height, 0.55 ± 0.15 for hip height, 0.34 ± 0.15 for chest depth, 0.26 ± 0.15 for shoulder width, and 0.47 ± 0.16 for chest circumference. In manually measured data, genetic correlations ranged from 0.35 to 0.99, while phenotypic correlations ranged from 0.07 to 0.90. In machine data, genetic correlations ranged from −0.05 to 0.99, while phenotypic correlations ranged from 0.03 to 0.84. The results suggest that machine-based estimations may lead to an overestimation of heritability, but this discrepancy does not impact the selection of breeding models.
Consumption of dietary fat is one of the key factors leading to obesity. High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is characterized by induction of inflammation in the hypothalamus; however, the temporal ...regulation of proinflammatory markers and their impact on hypothalamic appetite-regulating neuropeptide Y/agouti-related peptide (NPY/AgRP) neurons remains undefined.
Mice were injected with an acute lipid infusion for 24 h or fed a HFD over 8-20 weeks. Characterized mouse NPY/AgRP hypothalamic cell lines were used for in vitro experimentation. Immunohistochemistry in brain slices or quantitative real-time PCR in cell lines, was performed to determine changes in the expression of key inflammatory markers and neuropeptides.
Hypothalamic inflammation, indicated by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α expression and astrocytosis in the arcuate nucleus, was evident following acute lipid infusion. HFD for 8 weeks suppressed TNF-α, while significantly increasing heat-shock protein 70 and ciliary neurotrophic factor, both neuroprotective components. HFD for 20 weeks induced TNF-α expression in NPY/AgRP neurons, suggesting a detrimental temporal regulatory mechanism. Using NPY/AgRP hypothalamic cell lines, we found that palmitate provoked a mixed inflammatory response on a panel of inflammatory and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress genes, whereas TNF-α significantly upregulated IκBα, nuclear factor (NF)-κB and interleukin-6 mRNA levels. Palmitate and TNF-α exposure predominantly induced NPY mRNA levels. Utilizing an I kappa B kinase β (IKKβ) inhibitor, we demonstrated that these effects potentially occur via the inflammatory IKKβ/NF-κB pathway.
These findings indicate that acute lipid and chronic HFD feeding in vivo, as well as acute palmitate and TNF-α exposure in vitro, induce markers of inflammation or ER stress in the hypothalamic appetite-stimulating NPY/AgRP neurons over time, which may contribute to a dramatic alteration in NPY/AgRP content or expression. Acute and chronic HFD feeding in vivo temporally regulates arcuate TNF-α expression with reactive astrocytosis, which suggests a time-dependent neurotrophic or neurotoxic role of lipids.
Aim
Diabetes is a risk factor in infective endocarditis. However, few studies have focused on the prognostic value of prediabetes in infective endocarditis. This analysis aimed to explore the ...relationship between prediabetes and outcomes for people with infective endocarditis.
Methods
Diabetes and prediabetes definitions were based on the American Diabetes Association 2014 criteria. A total of 866 people who had been consecutively diagnosed with infective endocarditis between January 2009 and July 2015 were included in the analysis. They were divided into three groups: normoglycaemia (n = 469), prediabetes (n = 246) and diabetes (n = 151). Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors for adverse outcomes.
Results
Overall in‐hospital mortality was 8.5% (74 of 866), and differed significantly among the normoglycaemia, prediabetes and diabetes groups (3.4%, 12.6% and 17.9%, respectively; P < 0.001). Compared with the normoglycaemia group, the adjusted odds ratio for in‐hospital death was 2.42 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11–5.31; P = 0.027) for prediabetes and 3.39 (95% CI 1.48–7.80; P = 0.004) for diabetes. The cumulative long‐term death rate was significantly higher in the prediabetes or diabetes groups than in the normoglycaemia group (log‐rank = 34.82; P < 0.001).
Conclusion
In addition to diabetes, prediabetes was also associated with a higher risk of in‐hospital and long‐term mortality among people with infective endocarditis. Therefore, attention should be paid to this population.
What's new
Compared with normoglycaemic people, those with infective endocarditis and diabetes demonstrated higher in‐hospital and long‐term mortality.
Prediabetes was also a significant risk factor for mortality in people with infective endocarditis.
Early identification and better monitoring and treatment is also suggested for people with prediabetes in order to improve their prognoses.
Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models with undesirable inputs and outputs have been frequently discussed in DEA literature, e.g., via data transformation. These studies were scatted in the ...literature, and often confined to some particular applications. In this paper we present a systematic investigation on model building of DEA without transferring undesirable data. We first describe the disposability assumptions and a number of different performance measures in the presence of undesirable inputs and outputs, and then discuss different combinations of the disposability assumptions and the metrics. This approach leads to a unified presentation of several classes of DEA models with undesirable inputs and/or outputs.
Older age, renal dysfunction and low left ventricular ejection fraction are accepted predictors of poor outcome in patients with infective endocarditis (IE). This study aimed to investigate the ...prognostic significance of the age, creatinine and ejection fraction (ACEF) score in IE.
The study involved 1019 IE patients, who were classified into three groups according to the tertiles of ACEF score: low ACEF (<0.6, n = 379), medium ACEF (0.6-0.8, n = 259) and high ACEF (>0.8, n = 381). The ACEF score was calculated as follows: age (years)/ejection fraction (%)+1 (if serum creatinine value was >2 mg/dL). The relationship between ACEF score and adverse events was analyzed.
In-hospital mortality was 8.2%, which increased with the increase of ACEF score (4.2% vs. 5.0% vs. 14.4% for the low-, medium- and high-ACEF groups, respectively; P < 0.001). ACEF score had a good discriminative ability for predicting in-hospital death areas under the curve (AUC), 0.706, P < 0.001. The predictive value of ACEF score in surgical treatment was significantly higher than in conservative treatment for predicting in-hospital death (AUC, 0.812 vs. 0.625; P = 0.001). Multivariable analysis revealed that ACEF score was independently associated with in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 2.82; P < 0.001) and long-term mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.51; P < 0.001).
ACEF was an independent predictor for in-hospital and long-term mortality in IE patients, and it could be considered as a useful tool for risk stratification. ACEF score was more suitable for surgical patients in terms of assessing the risk of in-hospital mortality.
To improve the electrical conductivity and cycling stability of germanium compounds as anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), Zn
2
GeO
4
nanorods grown on carbon cloth (Zn
2
GeO
4
/CC) ...were designed and fabricated by a simple hydrothermal process combined with a post-annealing treatment. The Zn
2
GeO
4
/CC composites possess hierarchical porosity and a network structure. Serving as free-standing and binder-free anodes for LIBs, they exhibit high specific capacity and excellent reversibility. A discharge capacity as high as 1851.9 mA h g
−1
is attained at a current density of 200 mA g
−1
, and the Zn
2
GeO
4
/CC electrode still maintains a high reversible capacity of 1302.3 mA h g
−1
after 200 cycles. Even at a high specific current of 2000 mA g
−1
, it still retains a capacity of 847.5 mA h g
−1
. The superior electrochemical performance of the Zn
2
GeO
4
/CC composites is attributed to the synergistic effects of the hierarchical porosity, Zn
2
GeO
4
nanorods, and 3D carbon cloth network structure, which can effectively accommodate the huge volume change of the Zn
2
GeO
4
nanorods during cycling and maintain perfect electrical conductivity throughout the electrode. Moreover, the excellent mechanical flexibility of the Zn
2
GeO
4
/CC composites makes the material a promising candidate for self-supported and flexible electrodes for LIBs.
A novel strategy was proposed for the simultaneous preparation of a high performance flexible Zn
2
GeO
4
/CC electrode. The as-formed composites exhibited high reversible lithium storage capacity, long cyclability, and excellent rate capability.
Abstract
PSR J2150+3427 is a 0.654 s pulsar discovered by the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey. From the follow-up observations, we find that the pulsar is in a highly eccentric orbit (
e
= ...0.601) with an orbital period of 10.592 days and a projected semimajor axis of 25.488 lt-s. Using 2.7 yr of timing data, we also measured the rate of periastron advance
ω
̇
= 0.0115(4) deg yr
−1
. An estimate for the total mass of the system using the
ω
̇
gives
M
tot
= 2.59(13)
M
⊙
, which is consistent with most of the known double neutron star (DNS) systems and one neutron star (NS)–white dwarf (WD) system named B2303+46. Combining
ω
̇
with the mass function of the system gives the masses of
M
p
< 1.67 and
M
c
> 0.98
M
⊙
for the pulsar and the companion star, respectively. This constraint, along with the spin period and orbital parameters, suggests that it is possibly a DNS system, and we cannot entirely rule out the possibility of an NS–WD system. Future timing observations will vastly improve the uncertainty in
ω
̇
, and are likely to allow the detection of additional relativistic effects, which can be used to modify the values of
M
p
and
M
c
. With a spin-down luminosity of
E
̇
= 5.07(6) × 10
29
erg s
−1
, PSR J2150+3427 is a very low-luminosity pulsar, with only the binary pulsar J2208+4610 having a smaller
E
̇
.
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