Role of Carotenoids in Poultry Industry in China: A Review

The poultry as a rapidly growing global industry, occupies a very crucial position in the economy of China. Based on valid reason and available data, pigmentation plays a key role in attracting and convincing consumers demand on  a yellow bird, because it  is perceived as an indication of health. It was observed that broiler carcass skin and meat color affect the consumer's final judgment on the quality and values of poultry products in China, as well as in some other countries. Broiler chickens with a yellow skin color have been shown to be considered desirable by consumers while chickens with less desirable coloring have a lower market value, and are purchased less often by consumers. These compounds are not naturally synthesized by chickens, instead they are mostly derived from diet. However, for decades, carotenoid have attracted attention for promoting health, skin coloration, improve sexual behavior, vitamin A precursors and  antioxidant. As such, carotenoids are commercially important in  broiler, agriculture, food, health and the cosmetic industries. In China properly formulated feed and carotenoids are a significant part of a successful poultry industry. In this review therefore, an attempt has been made to establish the role of carotenoids. Their importance in the overall economy of the country has been highlighted. Also some constraints and illegal use of pigments in broiler diets have been discussed. However, a workable strategy for the promotion of the poultry has been outlined to strengthen the natural and approved carotenoids to improve the socioeconomic conditions of the rural and urban dweller of the country besides practical knowledge to the farmers and poultry producers. Keywords: Role of carotenoid, pigments , poultry industry, China market

Investigation of Testosterone, Androstenone, and Estradiol Metabolism in HepG2 Cells and Primary Culture Pig Hepatocytes and Their Effects on 17βHSD7 Gene Expression

Steroid metabolism is important in various species. The accumulation of androgen metabolite, androstenone, in pig adipose tissue is negatively associated with pork flavor, odour and makes the meat unfit for human consumption. The 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 7 (17βHSD7) expressed abundantly in porcine liver, and it was previously suggested to be associated with androstenone levels. Understanding the enzymes and metabolic pathways responsible for androstenone as well as other steroids metabolism is important for improving the meat quality. At the same time, metabolism of steroids is known to be species- and tissue-specific. Therefore it is important to investigate between-species variations in the hepatic steroid metabolism and to elucidate the role of 17βHSD7 in this process. Here we used an effective methodological approach, liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, to investigate species-specific metabolism of androstenone, testosterone and beta-estradiol in HepG2 cell line, and pig cultured hepatocytes. Species- and concentration-depended effect of steroids on 17βHSD7 gene expression was also investigated. It was demonstrated that the investigated steroids can regulate the 17βHSD7 gene expression in HepG2 and primary cultured porcine hepatocytes in a concentration-dependent and species-dependent pattern. Investigation of steroid metabolites demonstrated that androstenone formed a 3′-hydroxy compound 3β-hydroxy-5α-androst-16-ene. Testosterone was metabolized to 4-androstene-3,17-dione. Estrone was found as the metabolite for β-estradiol. Inhibition study with 17βHSD inhibitor apigenin showed that apigenin didn't affect androstenone metabolism. Apigenin at high concentration (50 μM) tends to inhibit testosterone metabolism but this inhibition effect was negligible. Beta-estradiol metabolism was notably inhibited with apigenin at high concentration. The study also established that the level of testosterone and β-estradiol metabolites was markedly increased after co-incubation with high concentration of apigenin. This study established that 17βHSD7 is not the key enzyme responsible for androstenone and testosterone metabolism in porcine liver cells. © 2012 Chen et al

Preferential Expression of Integrin αvβ8 Promotes Generation of Regulatory T Cells by Mouse CD103⁺Dendritic Cells

BACKGROUND and AIMS: Immune responses in the intestine are controlled by regulatory T cells (Tregs), which prevent inflammation in response to commensal bacteria. A specific population of intestinal dendritic cells (DCs), marked by expression of CD103, generate Tregs more efficiently than other DC populations through mechanisms that involve retinoic acid and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β. However, it is not clear how CD103(+) DCs are specialized for this function. We investigated the ability of CD103(+) DCs to promote Treg generation through activation of TGF-β and the role of integrins with the αv subunit in this process. METHODS: Naïve T cells were cultured with purified DCs from mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) or intestines of wild-type and αv conditional knockout mice to assess generation of Tregs. Antigens were administered orally to mice, and antigen-specific generation of Tregs was measured in intestinal tissues. Expression of the integrin αv subunit was measured in purified subpopulations of DCs by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunoblot analyses. RESULTS: In vitro, CD103(+) DCs generated more Tregs in the presence of latent TGF-β than other MLN DCs. Efficient generation of Tregs required expression of the integrin αv subunit by DCs; mice that lacked αv in immune cells did not convert naïve T cells to intestinal Tregs in response to oral antigen. CD103(+) DCs derived from the MLNs selectively expressed high levels of integrin αvβ8 compared with other populations of DCs. CONCLUSIONS: Expression of αvβ8 is required for CD103(+) DCs to become specialized and activate latent TGF-β and generate Tregs during the induction of tolerance to intestinal antigens in mice

A Lateral Flow Strip Based Aptasensor for Detection of Ochratoxin A in Corn Samples

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin identified as a contaminant in grains and wine throughout the world, and convenient, rapid and sensitive detection methods for OTA have been a long-felt need for food safety monitoring. Herein, we presented a new competitive format based lateral flow strip fluorescent aptasensor for one-step determination of OTA in corn samples. Briefly, biotin-cDNA was immobilized on the surface of a nitrocellulose filter on the test line. Without OTA, Cy5-labeled aptamer combined with complementary strands formed a stable double helix. In the presence of OTA, however, the Cy5-aptamer/OTA complexes were generated, and therefore less free aptamer was captured in the test zone, leading to an obvious decrease in fluorescent signals on the test line. The test strip showed an excellent linear relationship in the range from 1 ng·mL−1 to 1000 ng·mL−1 with the LOD of 0.40 ng·mL−1, IC15 value of 3.46 ng·mL−1 and recoveries from 96.4% to 104.67% in spiked corn samples. Thus, the strip sensor developed in this study is an acceptable alternative for rapid detection of the OTA level in grain samples

Recovery of Silver and Gold from Copper Anode Slimes

© 2014, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. Copper anode slimes, produced from copper electrolytic refining, are important industrial by-products containing several valuable metals, particularly silver and gold. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the extraction processes for recovering silver and gold from conventional copper anode slimes. Existing processes, namely pyrometallurgical processes, hydrometallurgical processes, and hybrid processes involving the combination of pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical technologies, are discussed based in part on a review of the form and characteristics of silver and gold in copper anode slimes. The recovery of silver and gold in pyrometallurgical processes is influenced in part by the slag and matte/metal chemistry and related characteristics, whereas the extraction of these metals in hydrometallurgical processes depends on the leaching reagents used to break the structure of the silver- and gold-bearing phases, such as selenides. By taking advantage of both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical techniques, high extraction yields of silver and gold can be obtained using such combined approaches that appear promising for efficient extraction of silver and gold from copper anode slimes

Effects of iron and manganese ions on potentiostatic current transients for copper electrodeposition

The effects of iron and manganese ions on potentiostatic current transients for copper electrodeposition are investigated by recording the current-time curves for acidic copper sulphate electrolyte solutions and a copper bioleaching solution. For copper electrodeposition from the acidic copper sulphate electrolyte solutions, the variation of the current density with time indicates the charging of the electrical double layer and the formation and growth of copper nuclei. The addition of Fe3+ ions inhibits the reduction of Cu2+ ions to Cif ions in the solutions since the Cu+ ions generated during copper electrodeposition are oxidized back to the Cu 2+ ions by the Fe ions. Likewise, the addition of Mn ions hinders the formation and growth of copper nuclei. For copper electrodeposition from the bioleaching solution, the current density decreases to a minimum and then increases slightly when the applied potentials are 0.20 and 0.25 V. The copper electrodeposition process in the bioleaching solution experiences three steps: The formation of 2D copper clusters, the transition from the 2D copper clusters to 3D supercritical nuclei and the growth of the 3D supercritical copper nuclei. Copyrigh

Synthesis and Characterization of Co3O4/rGO Composite Magnetic Microwave Absorbing Materials

To prepare high-performance microwave absorbing materials, Co3O4/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite materials were prepared from graphite powder and cobalt acetate by a simplified hydrothermal method. It is demonstrated that the reflection loss (RL) and effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of Co3O4/rGO composites can be adjusted in accord of demands. By changing the thickness and the compositional ratio of the material, the electromagnetic parameters, attenuation constant and eddy current effect of the material can be adjusted to obtain desired outcomes. The EAB of Co3O4/rGO composites can cover 97.5% of 4–18 GHz band when thickness is 2–5 mm. The maximum RL of the obtained composite reached -64.8 dB when the thickness was 2.8 mm, and the maximum EAB was 9.63 GHz when the thickness was 3.0 mm. Because of its lamellar micromorphology, Co3O4 /rGO prepared in this study has made a breakthrough in its microwave absorption properties such as the highest reflection loss and effective absorption bandwidth. The result of this study provided a new approach for designing microwave absorption capacity

A simple method to extract DNA from hair shafts using enzymatic laundry powder.

A simple method to extract DNA from hair shafts was developed by using enzymatic laundry powder at the first step of the process. The whole extraction can be finished in less than 2 hours. The simple extraction reagent proposed here contains only two cheap components: ordinary enzymatic laundry powder and PCR buffer. After extraction, an ultra sensitive fluorescent nucleic acid stain, PicoGreen, was used for quantifying trace amount of double-stranded DNA in the solution extracted. For further validation of DNA extraction, four primers were employed to amplify DNA microsatellite loci. Both fluorescence spectroscopy and PCR results suggested that this method can extract DNA from hair shafts with good efficiency and repeatability. The study will greatly facilitate the use of hair shafts in future for DNA analyses on genome-wide scale

An effective method for quality control of the thermocouple

As a basic testing element, the thermocouples are widely used in the safety and energy efficiency testing of the electronic and electrical products, new energy products and so on. The accuracy of all thermocouples can't be assured for they are mostly calibrated by sampling. In view of this situation, an efficient and convenient method for the intermediate check of the thermocouple is proposed in this paper. Taking 0 degree and 100 degree which can be easily obtained in the nature as the reference standard temperature, the deviation of the testing thermocouples and the reference standard temperature can be determined and the qualification rate of the thermocouples can be obtained. This method can promote the quality control of the laboratory