Growth Performance of French Guinea Fowl Broilers Fed the Probiotics Lactobacillus reuteri and Streptomyces coelicolor

The continuous use of antibiotics is associated with many complications in the poultry industry. Probiotics have emerged as a viable alternative over the past few decades to counter the adverse effects of antibiotics. No candidate probiotic microorganisms have been fully evaluated in the poultry industry for their effectiveness as potential probiotics in guinea fowls (GFs) compared to chickens. Recently, a metagenome evaluation of GFs in our laboratory revealed a predominance of Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) and actinobacteria class of bacteria in their gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this study is to evaluate a well-known lactic acid probiotic bacterium (L. reuteri) and a unique probiotic (S. coelicolor) that has not been assessed in any guinea fowl species. In the current study, L. reuteri and Streptomyces coelicolor (S. coelicolor) were selected as probiotic bacteria, encapsulated, and added into French guinea fowl (FGF) feed individually at a concentration of 108 cfu/g or both microorganisms combined each at 104 cfu/g. In an 8-week study, 216-day-old guinea keets were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments as indicated: (1) L. reuteri (108 cfu/g); (2) S. coelicolor (108 cfu/g); (3) mixture of L. reuteri (104 cfu/g) and S. coelicolor (104 cfu/g); and (4) control treatment (no probiotics included). The L. reuteri, S. coelicolor, and L. reuteri + S. coelicolor were added into the feed using wheat middlings as a carrier at a final concentration of 108 cfu/g. The FGFs that were fed diets containing L. reuteri showed improved feed consumption at 3–8 weeks of age (WOA). The guineas fed L. reuteri and S. coelicolor showed a lower feed conversion ratio (FCR), which was significant at 2 and 8 WOA, and a numerically lower 8-week average FCR when compared with other dietary treatments. Differences in body weight gain among all dietary treatments were not significant. This research suggests that L. reuteri and S. coelicolor may have the potential for use as probiotics in FGFs when used in combination or separately

Characterization of Mechanical Property Evolution and Durability Life Prediction of Engineered Cementitious Composites Under Frozen State

Engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) exhibit superior mechanical properties (MPs) and excellent crack control capabilities, making them widely used in practical engineering applications. However, the MPs of ECCs in frozen states (FSs), particularly their flexural properties (FPs), still need to be better understood. MP tests were designed for frozen ECC samples to investigate the service performance of ECCs in an FS. The samples underwent 0 to 300 freeze–thaw cycles (FTs), followed by compressive and flexural tests at a constant freezing temperature of −18 °C. The compressive properties (CPs) and FPs of the samples and their influencing mechanisms were analyzed. Based on this analysis, a life prediction model (LPM) for freeze–thaw-damaged (FTD) ECCs was established using the entropy weight method and the GM(1,1) model to predict the durability changes of ECCs in FS. The results indicate that with an increasing number of FTs, the uniaxial compressive strength (CS), elastic modulus (E), initial crack strength, and ultimate strength of ECCs in the FS are higher than those in the thawed state (TS), with a notable increase in brittleness at ultimate failure. The overall stiffness of the specimens increased under high FTs. The established model effectively predicts the durability changes of ECCs in the FS

High-Salt Tumor Microenvironment: Not as Bad as It Sounds, Not as Good as It Seems

Recent evidence suggests a high-sodium microenvironment in breast tumors. However, the exact role of this high-sodium microenvironment on tumorigenesis is unknown. Salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) is a well-known inflammatory molecule playing a significant role in various chronic ailments like cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases. Importantly, chronic inflammation is recognized as one of the major hallmarks of carcinogenesis. Breast cancer cell culture-based studies demonstrated that high-salt (HS) treatment (Δ35–50 mM NaCl) induced cancer cell proliferation. However, preclinical murine research showed reduced tumor progression kinetics in mice fed a short-term HS diet (4% NaCl diet, 0–2 weeks prior to the injection of tumor cells). Molecular studies demonstrated that the short-term HS diet induced the inflammatory activation of naïve CD4+ T cells to the Th17/Th1 anti-tumor phenotype. As human health-related adverse outcomes from HS diets usually occur as a consequence of prolonged HS intake over a period of several years, we have developed a novel chronic HS dietary murine tumor model. In this model, tumor cells are sequentially passaged (four cycles) in vivo under high-salt conditions, and tumor kinetics were analyzed in the passage-4 mice. These studies demonstrated enhanced tumor progression (pro-tumor) under chronic HS dietary conditions through the activation of tumor-initiating stem cells, along with the exhaustion of immune cells. Based on the, apparently paradoxical, evidence, we propose a comprehensive unifying hypothesis to elucidate the complex role of a high-sodium microenvironment towards tumor immune sculpting. This understanding will enable novel drug repositioning strategies, the development of unique ion channel-based anti-cancer therapeutics and promote low-salt diet intake in breast cancer patients on immunotherapy