Change in the composition of intestinal microbiota is associated with metabolic disorders such as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).
To understand how the microbiota impacts the development of ...gestational diabetes mellitus, we profiled the intestinal microbiome of 54 pregnant women, including 27 GDM subjects, by employing 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Additionally, we conducted targeted metabolomics assays to validate the identified pathways with overrepresented metabolites.
We evaluated the patterns of changing abundances of operational taxonomic units (OTU) between GDM and the healthy counterparts over three timepoints. Based on the significant OTUs, we inferred 132 significantly altered metabolic pathways in GDM. And identified two overrepresented metabolites of pregnancy hormone, butyrate and mevalonate, as potential intermediary metabolites of intestinal microbiota in GDM. Finally, we validated the impacts of the intestinal microbiota on GDM by demonstrating consistent changes of the serum levels of progesterone, estradiol, butyrate, and mevalonate in an independent cohort.
Our findings confirm that alterations in the microbiota play a role in the development of GDM by impacting the metabolism of pregnancy hormones. This provides a novel perspective on the pathogenesis of GDM and introduces potential biomarkers that can be used for early diagnosis and prevention of the disease.
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•R. stabekisii CY2 reduces LPS, IL-1, IL-6 & increase IL-10. Increasing the abundance of probiotic species, significantly improved chick growth.
Human and animal organisms are in a ...state of low-grade inflammation caused by low concentrations of LPS. The novel potential probiotic Rummeliibacillus stabekisii CY2 was pre-proven in vitro to reduce LPS. Explored its effect in vivo, chicks were fed in different groups (0, CY2L, and CY2H). Results showed that CY2H had significantly lower serum levels of LPS and the inflammatory factors IL-1 and IL-6, reduced low-grade inflammatory levels, and significantly higher levels of the inflammatory inhibitory factor IL-10. The structure of the chicks’ intestinal microbiota was improved. The relative abundance of the potentially probiotic Lactobacillales increased significantly. Importantly, the growth performance of chicks has been significantly improved. In conclusion, CY2 supplementation can improve immunity through the degradation of LPS, alleviate low-grade inflammation, improve intestinal microbiota, and thus promote the growth of the chicks.
Syn-tectonic quartz veins are widely present in low- to medium-grade metapelitic belts, however, dating these veins is challenging due to the lack of suitable target minerals for most ...geochronological methods. Andalusite is a common K-poor aluminosilicate mineral in these quartz veins. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of dating fluid inclusions in andalusite using the 40Ar/39Ar gentle stepwise crushing technique. Three andalusite samples in syn-tectonic quartz veins from the Chinese Altai, Central Asia yielded similar gas release patterns. The first crushing steps generated significant excess 40Ar which likely originated from secondary gas inclusions. These steps gave anomalously old and quickly declining apparent ages. The following crushing steps generated less significant excess 40Ar and yielded concordant and well-defined Early Permian ages of 282–277 Ma. These steps were likely dominated by the degassing of intra-crystal liquid-rich fluid inclusion planes. Two of the crushed powder samples from the stepwise crushing experiments were selected for additional 40Ar/39Ar stepwise heating using a furnace and yielded a much younger age of 216 Ma. Laser stepwise heating of muscovite flakes in two of the investigated andalusite samples and one chloridized biotite sample from a different andalusite-bearing quartz vein yielded 40Ar/39Ar ages of 243–241 Ma and 214 Ma, respectively. Compared with gases released from the crushing experiments, gases extracted from the heating experiments showed distinct Cl–K–Ca compositional characteristics and younger ages with near atmospheric initial 40Ar/36Ar value. These observations suggest that 1) contrary to common wisdom, excess 40Ar in K-poor nesosilicates are preferably preserved in fluid inclusions rather than mineral lattices, and 2) K (Ar) contamination from K-bearing solid phases is negligible during gentle stepwise crushing. As such, the 282–277 Ma fluid inclusion 40Ar/39Ar ages could be considered as the timing of andalusite growth in the quartz veins. The younger muscovite 40Ar/39Ar ages likely record more recent cooling events. The youngest 40Ar/39Ar ages of the crushed andalusite powder and the biotite sample could reflect the timing of sericitization and chloritization of the samples, which is evidenced by petrologic observations and x-ray K mapping results. Furthermore, andalusite 40Ar/39Ar ages agree with the monazite/zircon U–Pb ages (280–273 Ma) of syn-tectonic leucogranite and pegmatite dykes and metamorphic ages (299–262 Ma) for the low-pressure metamorphic rocks of the region. These results suggest that fluid inclusion 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of andalusite can be used to constrain the timing of deformation and associated metamorphism in low-pressure metapelitic terranes, which can also provide more complete pictures of the tectono-thermal evolution in combination with traditional 40Ar/39Ar stepwise heating geochronology.
This study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with
D1 (
D1) on growth performance, serum anti-inflammatory cytokines, and intestinal microbiota composition and diversity in bearded ...chickens. To investigate the effects of
and fermented soy milk, 7-day-old broilers were orally fed different doses of
D1 fermented soy milk for 35 days, with the unfermented soy milk group as the Placebo group. This study found that
D1 fermented soy milk improved the intestinal microbiota of broilers, significantly increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria and decreasing the abundance of harmful bacteria in the gut.
D1 fermented soy milk also significantly reduced the serum lipopolysaccharide (LPS) content. The body weight and daily weight gain of broilers were increased. In conclusion, the results of this study are promising and indicate that supplementing the diets of bearded chickens with
D1 fermented soy milk has many beneficial effects in terms of maintaining intestinal microbiota balance and reducing inflammation in chickens.
The cerebellum is involved in encoding balance, posture, speed, and gravity during locomotion. However, most studies are carried out on flat surfaces, and little is known about cerebellar activity ...during free ambulation on slopes. Here, it has been imaged the neuronal activity of cerebellar molecular interneurons (MLIs) and Purkinje cells (PCs) using a miniaturized microscope while a mouse is walking on a slope. It has been found that the neuronal activity of vermal MLIs specifically enhanced during uphill and downhill locomotion. In addition, a subset of MLIs is activated during entire uphill or downhill positions on the slope and is modulated by the slope inclines. In contrast, PCs showed counter‐balanced neuronal activity to MLIs, which reduced activity at the ramp peak. So, PCs may represent the ramp environment at the population level. In addition, chemogenetic inactivation of lobule V of the vermis impaired uphill locomotion. These results revealed a novel micro‐circuit in the vermal cerebellum that regulates ambulatory behavior in 3D terrains.
By imaging the neuronal activity of cerebellar molecular interneurons and Purkinje cells, it has been found that the neuronal activity of MLIs specifically enhances during uphill and downhill locomotion and PCs show counter‐balanced neuronal activity to MLIs. These results reveal a novel micro‐circuit in the vermal cerebellum that regulates ambulatory behavior in 3D terrains.
Reference genes are a key factor for the sensitivity and reliability of quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. The elongation factor gene
EF1α
encodes a ...highly conserved ubiquitous protein that functions in the binding of aminoacyl-tRNA to the ribosome during peptide synthesis in eukaryotes, which is proposed for qRT-PCR as an internal reference for its putative housekeeping gene character. However, information about the paralogous copies and expression diversification of
EF1α
has been neglected and ill defined. In this study, the members of pear (
Pyrus
)
EF1α
were explored by mining public data. The family- and/or species-specific members of
EF1α
in Rosaceae plants or other species revealed by phylogenetic analysis suggested that the specific gene expansion occurred after the family or species diversification. The expression analysis based on the high-throughput sequencing and sequence differences typing provided a high resolution to distinguish the expression among the members of pear
EF1α
. The
EF1α
members showed an obviously unstable expression in both pear and apple (
Malus
×
domestica
) fruits at different developmental stages, clustered by two conserved expression patterns in pear fruit. The complementary expression among certain pear
EF1α
members leads to the sum expression of these members having a higher level of expression stability among the fruit at different developmental stages, which can be used as an approach to optimize
EF1α
as the internal reference. The result can also provide insight into the expression characteristics of pear
EF1α
in other tissues of pear. In addition, it indicates that any two genes having complementary expression patterns can be used as a reference for qPCR analysis with the high stability of their mean expression value.
The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a small and highly social New World monkey with high reproduction rates, which has been proven to be a compelling non-human primate model for biomedical ...and neuroscience research. Some females give birth to triplets; however, the parents cannot raise all of them. To save these infants, we have developed a hand-rearing method for raising newborn marmosets. In this protocol, we describe the formula of the food, the time for feeding, the configuration of the temperature and humidity, as well as the adaptation of the hand-reared infants to the colony environment. This hand-rearing method significantly increases the survival rate of marmoset infants (without hand-rearing: 45%; with hand-rearing: 86%) and provides the opportunity to study the development of marmoset infants with similar genetic backgrounds raised in different postnatal environments. As the method is practical and easy to use, we anticipate that it could also be applied to other labs working with common marmosets.
This study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens D1 (B. amyloliquefaciens D1) on growth performance, serum anti-inflammatory cytokines, and intestinal ...microbiota composition and diversity in bearded chickens. To investigate the effects of Bacillus amyloliquefaciensa and fermented soy milk, 7-day-old broilers were orally fed different doses of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens D1 fermented soy milk for 35 days, with the unfermented soy milk group as the Placebo group. This study found that B. amyloliquefaciens D1 fermented soy milk improved the intestinal microbiota of broilers, significantly increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria and decreasing the abundance of harmful bacteria in the gut. B. amyloliquefaciens D1 fermented soy milk also significantly reduced the serum lipopolysaccharide (LPS) content. The body weight and daily weight gain of broilers were increased. In conclusion, the results of this study are promising and indicate that supplementing the diets of bearded chickens with B. amyloliquefaciens D1 fermented soy milk has many beneficial effects in terms of maintaining intestinal microbiota balance and reducing inflammation in chickens.
Particulate reinforcement composite ZrB
/6061Al was fabricated from Al-K
ZrF
-KBF
by a direct melt reaction. Laser surface melting was used to improve the surface strength of the in situ ZrB
/6061Al ...composite, which includes a series of laser-melted composites with different laser power and cooling conditions processed by a 2-kW yttrium aluminum garnet laser generator. The surface substructure of these laser-treated specimens was investigated by light optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. The penetration depth of the molten pool increases with increases in power density, and decreases with increases in the degree of undercooling. The Vickers hardness of the laser-melted composites reached 60–75.2 HV in liquid nitrogen and 56–64.0 HV in air, and increased by 50.4 % and 28 %. Grain refinement with decreased cellular spacing is important in strength performance. Because of a thermocapillary flow vortex and α-Al phase precipitation, nano-ZrB
particles were distributed along the cellular dendrite boundary as observed by scanning electron microscopy. This was considered to be a key factor responsible for the improved mechanical composite properties. When cooling under liquid nitrogen, the thermal mismatch stress between particles and the matrix generates a high dislocation density. The dislocation grows along the interface between the matrix and particles and provides the laser-melted composites with additional strength.
