Exploring the effects of lysozyme dietary supplementation on laying hens: performance, egg quality, and immune response

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the dietary supplementation with lysozyme's impacts on laying performance, egg quality, biochemical analysis, body immunity, and intestinal morphology. A total of 720 Jingfen No. 1 laying hens (53 weeks old) were randomly assigned into five groups, with six replicates in each group and 24 hens per replicate. The basal diet was administered to the laying hens in the control group, and it was supplemented with 100, 200, 300, or 400 mg/kg of lysozyme (purity of 10% and an enzyme activity of 3,110 U/mg) for other groups. The preliminary observation of the laying rate lasted for 4 weeks, and the experimental period lasted for 8 weeks. The findings demonstrated that lysozyme might enhance production performance by lowering the rate of sand-shelled eggs (P < 0.05), particularly 200 and 300 mg/kg compared with the control group. Lysozyme did not show any negative effect on egg quality or the health of laying hens (P > 0.05). Lysozyme administration in the diet could improve intestinal morphology, immune efficiency, and nutritional digestibility in laying hens when compared with the control group (P < 0.05). These observations showed that lysozyme is safe to use as a feed supplement for the production of laying hens. Dietary supplementation with 200 to 300 mg/kg lysozyme should be suggested to farmers as a proper level of feed additive in laying hens breeding

Changes in the Water-Energy Coupling Relationship in Grain Production: A Case Study of the North China Plain

Water consumption and energy consumption are inevitable in grain production, but few studies have focused on the integrated assessment of these two indicators and their relationships. To address the research deficiency, taking the North China Plain (NCP) as a case study, this paper quantifies the changes in grain crop planting structure and the accompanying changes in irrigation water consumption (IWC) and energy consumption (EC) in the NCP. On this basis, the water-energy coupling index (CI) is constructed to analyze the water-energy coupling relationship in the context of grain crop planting structure change. The results revealed that the sown area of three of the four main grain crops in the NCP, namely winter wheat, summer maize, and rice, roughly increased in the south and decreased in the north, while the sown area of spring maize increased in most counties where it was planted in the NCP from 2000 to 2015. With the change of grain crop planting structure, IWC and EC of winter wheat in the NCP decreased by 19.87 × 106 m3 and 16.78 × 108 MJ, respectively, mainly distributed in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, while IWC and EC of other crops all increased. In terms of CI values, although that of spring maize increased, those of winter wheat, summer maize, and rice all decreased, and the overall CI values of grain production in the NCP decreased from 0.442 in 2000 to 0.438 in 2015, indicating that grain crop distribution has been optimized toward a less water- and energy-intensive and more sustainable layout in the NCP. This paper can add case and methodological support to the food-water-energy (FEW) nexus research and can also provide policy suggestions for regional crop optimization layout and conservation of both water and energy resources

Root-Knot Density as a New Index Can Quantitatively Diagnose the Damage of Root Nematodes to Plant Growth

Root-knot nematode disease occurs frequently due to continuous monocropping and excessive water and nitrogen input. The disease degree and gall index are often used to evaluate the damage of root-knot disease. However, the weak correlation between these two indicators to tobacco leaf dry weight has often been reported. The objective of this study was to verify whether the use of the root-knot density (RKD)—the root-knot number per unit root weight or volume—as a new indicator could describe the damage of root-knot disease to tobacco growth and yield quantitatively. A total of 3000 tobacco plants from 60 independent plots were classified according to the damage symptom of leaves in situ. A total of 6 plants in each plot were selected and sampled to represent six damage levels in a total of 360 plants. The responding roots were taken out with a root auger. The dry weight of the leaves, stems, roots and root knots as well as the root volume, root-knot number and volume, disease degree, and gall index were determined for all 360 plants separately. Our results showed that: (1) the disease degree and gall index of the root-knot nematodes had a weak negative correlation with the tobacco leaf dry weight while the leaf dry weight and the dry weight, volume, and number of root knots were not correlated; (2) the root dry weight, volume, and length of roots with a diameter ≥2 mm were significantly positively correlated with the leaf dry weight; (3) the RKD of roots with a diameter ≥2 mm was significantly negatively correlated with the leaf dry weight; and (4) the dry weight of the leaves, stems, and roots decreased significantly with the increase in the average RKD of roots with a diameter ≥2 mm in the reclassified groups, which was significantly positively correlated with the average reclassified disease degree and gall index. Our results highlighted that the proposed RKD in this paper can be used to evaluate the damage degree of root-knot disease quantitatively as a new indicator in future research and the practical diagnosis of root-knot nematodes

Variability in Predialysis Systolic Blood Pressure and Long-Term Outcomes in Hemodialysis Patients

Background/Aims: While systolic blood pressure variability (SBPV) is an independent risk factor for mortality in the general population, its association with outcomes in hemodialysis patients has been less well-investigated. Methods: In this retrospective study, we enrolled 99 eligible HD patients from 2006 to 2016. Predialysis blood pressure measurements obtained over 1-year period were used to determine each patient’s BPV. The standard deviation (SD), the coefficient of variation (CV) and the variation independent of the mean (VIM) were used as metrics of BPV. Results: During a median follow-up period of 68 months, 52 patients died, and cardiovascular disease (31.3%) was the primary cause of death in these patients. After adjusting for covariates, the hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were 1.80 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11-2.92) and 1.71 (95% CI 1.01-2.90), respectively, for a one percent increase in CV. Variability in the volume removed per session and predialysis serum albumin and calcium levels were identified as factors associated with BPV. Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrate that greater variability in predialysis SBP is associated with long-term mortality in hemodialysis patients. Controlling volume variation, avoiding hypoalbuminemia and reducing blood calcium levels might reduce SBP variability and thereby improve prognoses in these patients

Optoelectronic System and Device Integration for Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diode White Lighting with Computational Design Framework

We propose a computational design framework to design the architecture of a white lighting system having multiple pixelated patterns of electric-field-driven quantum dot light-emitting diodes. The quantum dot of the white lighting system has been optimised by a system-level combinatorial colour optimisation process with the Nelder-Mead algorithm used for machine learning. The layout of quantum dot patterns is designed precisely using rigorous device-level charge transport simulation with an electric-field dependent charge injection model. A theoretical maximum of 97% colour rendering index has been achieved with red, green, cyan, and blue quantum dot light-emitting diodes as primary colours. The white lighting system has been fabricated using the transfer printing technique to validate the computational design framework. It exhibits excellent lighting performance of 92% colour rendering index and wide colour temperature variation from 1612 K to 8903 K with only the four pixelated quantum dots as primary.UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) project EP/P027628/1 Smart Flexible Quantum Dot Lighting’ and by the European Union under H2020 grant agreement No 685758 ‘1D-NEON’ EPSRC through the doctoral training partnership (DTP) scheme, studentship award EP/N509620/

DataSheet_1_New-onset metabolic syndrome is associated with accelerated renal function decline partially through elevated uric acid: an epidemiological cohort study.docx

BackgroundThe burden of metabolic syndrome (MetS) continues to rise globally and is associated with complications of multiple organ systems. We aimed to identify the association between changes in MetS status and accelerated renal function progression through a regional epidemiological survey in China, thus discovering influence factors with treatable potential.MethodsThis study was a population-based survey conducted in 2008 and 2014, assessing a representative sample of 5,225 individuals from rural areas of China. They were divided into four subgroups according to their MetS status in 2008 and 2014 (Never, Previously abnormal, New-onset, and Consistent). Multivariate logistic regression and stratification analysis evaluated the relationship between clinical factors and renal function decline under different MetS statuses. Smooth curve fitting further addressed the role of serum uric acid, illustrating the vital turning point of uric acid levels in the background of renal function deterioration.ResultsOf all groups of MetS states, the new-onset MetS showed the most significant eGFR decline, with a 6.66 ± 8.21 mL/min/1.73 m2 decrease over 6 years. The population with newly-onset MetS showed a considerable risk increase in delta eGFR with a beta coefficient of 1.66 (95%CI=1.09-2.23) after necessary correction. In searching for the drivers, the strength of the association was significantly reduced after additional adjustment for uric acid levels (β=0.91, 95%CI=0.35-1.45). Regarding the turning point, uric acid levels exceeding 426 μmol/L were more significantly associated with the stepped-up deterioration of kidney function for those with new-onset MetS.ConclusionMetabolic syndrome demonstrated a solid correlation with the progression of renal function, particularly in those with newly-onset MetS status. In addition to the diagnostic components of MetS, hyperuricemia could be used as a marker to identify the high risk of accelerating eGFR decline early. Furthermore, we suggested a potential renal benefit for the newly-onset MetS population when maintaining their serum uric acid level below the criteria for asymptomatic hyperuricemia.</p

The Impact of U.S. Consumption Tax Reform on Canada

<p>(A) The reactivity of various recombinant GST-fusion proteins with mAb5B7 was confirmed using Western blot. The mutant amino acids are underlined. (B) The reactivity of various mutant full-length GapC proteins with mAb5B7 was confirmed using Western blot. The mutant amino acids are highlighted with number.</p