This study aimed to evaluate the impact of diets including increasing amounts (1, 2 and 4%) of an iodine-rich macroalgae, Saccharina latissima, on gene expression and fillet composition of ...commercial-sized rainbow trout. Liver and muscle expression of genes related to growth, iodine, oxidative stress, and lipid metabolism, and the fillet content of fatty acids, cholesterol, and vitamin D3 were assessed. The highest kelp inclusion led to lower final body weight and HSI, without significant differences in mRNA transcription of genes involved in growth (ghr1, ghr2 and igf1) or iodine metabolism (dio1, thra, and thrb). A significant downregulation of an oxidative stress marker, gpx1b2, was observed in fish fed 2% S. latissima, which might suggest the need for less endogenous antioxidants. Dietary inclusion of kelp impacted lipid metabolism, with a downregulation of fatty acid synthase, accompanied by a general decrease of fatty acids in fillet. The present study demonstrated that supplementation of diets with 1 or 2% S. latissima can be achieved without detrimental effects on rainbow trout final weight. Evidence suggest a lipid-lowering effect of diets that did not compromise fillet EPA and DHA concentrations, being 3.7 times above the recommended levels for human consumption.
Efforts have been made to find natural, highly nutritious alternatives to replace fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO), which can simultaneously promote fish health and improve the nutritional quality of ...filets for human consumption. This study evaluated the impact of biofortified diets containing microalgae (as replacement for FM and FO), macroalgae (as natural source of iodine) and selenised yeast (organic source of selenium) on gilthead seabream growth, nutrient utilization, tissue composition and gene expression. A control diet (CTRL) with 15% FM and 5.5% FO was compared with three experimental diets (AD1, AD2, and AD3), where a microalgae blend (
sp.,
sp., and DHA-rich
sp.) replaced 33% of FM. Diet AD1 contained 20% less FO. Diets were supplemented with
(0.4% AD1 and AD2; 0.8% AD3) and selenised yeast (0.02% AD1 and AD2; 0.04% AD3). After feeding the experimental diets for 12 weeks, growth was similar in fish fed AD1, AD2, and CTRL, indicating that microalgae meal can partially replace both FM and FO in diets for seabream. But AD3 suppressed fish growth, suggesting that
and selenised yeast supplementation should be kept under 0.8 and 0.04%, respectively. Despite lower lipid intake and decreased PUFAs bioavailability in fish fed AD3, compared to CTRL, hepatic
was upregulated resulting in a significant increase of muscle EPA + DHA. Indeed, filets of fish fed AD2 and AD3 provided the highest EPA + DHA contents (0.7 g 100 g
), that are well above the minimum recommended values for human consumption. Fish consuming the AD diets had a higher retention and gain of selenium, while iodine gain remained similar among diets. Upregulation of selenoproteins (
,
, and
) was observed in liver of fish fed AD1, but diets had limited impact on fish antioxidant status. Overall, results indicate that the tested microalgae are good sources of protein and lipids, with their LC-PUFAs being effectively accumulated in seabream muscle. Selenised yeast is a good fortification vehicle to increase selenium levels in fish, but efforts should be placed to find new strategies to fortify fish in iodine.
Many ectotherms have the ability to voluntarily detach a body part, known as autotomy, usually in response to predator attacks. Autotomy can have an immediate benefit for survival, but it can also ...involve costs related to the individual's body condition. Even though the effects of autotomy have been studied in many ecophysiological aspects, its short‐term costs on the ability to tolerate high environmental temperatures are still unexplored. Herein, we evaluated the effects of autotomy on the behavioral thermal tolerance (VTMax) in the cricket Gryllus assimilis. We hypothesized that, due to the increased energetic costs to maintain homeostasis, autotomized crickets have a lower VTMax than intact ones. Additionally, we investigated differences in VTMax between sexes, as well as the effects of heating rates and body mass on their VTMax. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no differences between VTMax of autotomized and intact individuals. However, we observed that females have a higher VTMax than males, regardless of their condition (i.e., autotomized and intact). Moreover, we detected significant effects of body mass and heating rate on behavioral thermal tolerances. The results of our study indicate that costs associated with limb autotomy at high environmental temperatures might be intricate and not immediately impactful. Furthermore, important aspects of reproduction and ecology might be responsible for differences in VTMax between males and females. Our results contribute to understanding the ecological and physiological aspects of ectotherms and how they respond to changing climatic conditions.
Graphic representation of the expression of the voluntary thermal maximum (VTMax) in crickets and experimental setup.
Research Highlights
Limb autotomy does not affect the VTMax in crickets.
Middle‐leg autotomy might be less costly than losing other limbs, as it does not significantly affect their thermal performance.
Females had higher VTMax temperatures than males, which could be related to their reproductive ecology.
There exists a conspicuous gap of knowledge about the organization of life at mesoscopic levels. Ultra-fast coherent diffractive imaging with X-ray free-electron lasers can probe structures at the ...relevant length scales and may reach sub-nanometer resolution on micron-sized living cells. Here we show that we can introduce a beam of aerosolised cyanobacteria into the focus of the Linac Coherent Light Source and record diffraction patterns from individual living cells at very low noise levels and at high hit ratios. We obtain two-dimensional projection images directly from the diffraction patterns, and present the results as synthetic X-ray Nomarski images calculated from the complex-valued reconstructions. We further demonstrate that it is possible to record diffraction data to nanometer resolution on live cells with X-ray lasers. Extension to sub-nanometer resolution is within reach, although improvements in pulse parameters and X-ray area detectors will be necessary to unlock this potential.
Background Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is among the most common psychiatric disorders of childhood that often persists into adulthood and old age. Yet ADHD is currently ...underdiagnosed and undertreated in many European countries, leading to chronicity of symptoms and impairment, due to lack of, or ineffective treatment, and higher costs of illness.
Methods The European Network Adult ADHD and the Section for Neurodevelopmental Disorders Across the Lifespan (NDAL) of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), aim to increase awareness and knowledge of adult ADHD in and outside Europe. This Updated European Consensus Statement aims to support clinicians with research evidence and clinical experience from 63 experts of European and other countries in which ADHD in adults is recognized and treated.
Results Besides reviewing the latest research on prevalence, persistence, genetics and neurobiology of ADHD, three major questions are addressed: (1) What is the clinical picture of ADHD in adults? (2) How should ADHD be properly diagnosed in adults? (3) How should adult ADHDbe effectively treated?
Conclusions ADHD often presents as a lifelong impairing condition. The stigma surrounding ADHD, mainly due to lack of knowledge, increases the suffering of patients. Education on the lifespan perspective, diagnostic assessment, and treatment of ADHD must increase for students of general and mental health, and for psychiatry professionals. Instruments for screening and diagnosis of ADHD in adults are available, as are effective evidence-based treatments for ADHD and its negative outcomes. More research is needed on gender differences, and in older adults with ADHD.
Structural studies on living cells by conventional methods are limited to low resolution because radiation damage kills cells long before the necessary dose for high resolution can be delivered. ...X-ray free-electron lasers circumvent this problem by outrunning key damage processes with an ultra-short and extremely bright coherent X-ray pulse. Diffraction-before-destruction experiments provide high-resolution data from cells that are alive when the femtosecond X-ray pulse traverses the sample. This paper presents two data sets from micron-sized cyanobacteria obtained at the Linac Coherent Light Source, containing a total of 199,000 diffraction patterns. Utilizing this type of diffraction data will require the development of new analysis methods and algorithms for studying structure and structural variability in large populations of cells and to create abstract models. Such studies will allow us to understand living cells and populations of cells in new ways. New X-ray lasers, like the European XFEL, will produce billions of pulses per day, and could open new areas in structural sciences.
Standalone photovoltaic (PV) systems without some energy storage element are widely used in rural areas. In this type of systems, the output voltage must be regulated to be at a fixed value, ...independent of changes in weather conditions or variations in the output load. Therefore, this article presents a Linear Quadratic Integral (LQI) control applied to a DC-DC boost converter in order to regulate the output voltage in an standalone PV system, reducing the impact of external factors. Also, the mathematical modeling of the boost converter used is introduced in this work. The LQI controller design was developed from the previous modeling, using the values of the power circuit. Finally, the proposal is validated by simulations and experimental results obtained through the developed prototype. For this, different tests were performed, changing the irradiation values in the PV panel, changing the DC load at the output of the converter and inserting shading on the PV panel.
Sporisorium scitamineum is a biotrophic fungus responsible for the sugarcane smut, a worldwide spread disease. This study provides the complete sequence of individual chromosomes of S. scitamineum ...from telomere to telomere achieved by a combination of PacBio long reads and Illumina short reads sequence data, as well as a draft sequence of a second fungal strain. Comparative analysis to previous available sequences of another strain detected few polymorphisms among the three genomes. The novel complete sequence described herein allowed us to identify and annotate extended subtelomeric regions, repetitive elements and the mitochondrial DNA sequence. The genome comprises 19,979,571 bases, 6,677 genes encoding proteins, 111 tRNAs and 3 assembled copies of rDNA, out of our estimated number of copies as 130. Chromosomal reorganizations were detected when comparing to sequences of S. reilianum, the closest smut relative, potentially influenced by repeats of transposable elements. Repetitive elements may have also directed the linkage of the two mating-type loci. The fungal transcriptome profiling from in vitro and from interaction with sugarcane at two time points (early infection and whip emergence) revealed that 13.5% of the genes were differentially expressed in planta and particular to each developmental stage. Among them are plant cell wall degrading enzymes, proteases, lipases, chitin modification and lignin degradation enzymes, sugar transporters and transcriptional factors. The fungus also modulates transcription of genes related to surviving against reactive oxygen species and other toxic metabolites produced by the plant. Previously described effectors in smut/plant interactions were detected but some new candidates are proposed. Ten genomic islands harboring some of the candidate genes unique to S. scitamineum were expressed only in planta. RNAseq data was also used to reassure gene predictions.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This work presents a broadband artificial neural network (ANN)-based transistor behavioral model (BM). The model is based on load-pull and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S ...</tex-math></inline-formula>-parameter measurements of a gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) transistor over a predetermined frequency band. The incorporation of frequency dependence in the model follows a Hammerstein-inspired approach, which can be implemented and extracted using conventional ANN training techniques. The proposed model is tested in a commercial harmonic balance (HB) simulator, demonstrating its suitability for power amplifier (PA) design. The model is then validated with a sequential load-modulated balanced amplifier (LMBA) that was experimentally implemented and measured.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and its derivatives have been investigated and applied in regenerative medicine. The use of PRP as a supplement of cell culture media has consistently shown to potentiate ...stem cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation. In addition, the clinical utility of PRP is supported by evidence that PRP contains high concentrations of growth factors (GFs) and proteins which contribute to the regenerative process. PRP based therapies are cost effective and also benefit from the accessibility and safety of using the patient's own GFs. In the last years, a great development has been witnessed on PRP based biomaterials, with both structural and functional purposes. In this study we overview the most relevant PRP applications encompassing PRP based materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This review also summarizes the challenges in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and provides a perspective on future directions.
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