Improvement of hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus ♀ × E. lanceolatus ♂) by enzyme-digested poultry by-product: Growth performance, amino acid and peptide transport capacity, and intestinal morphology

BackgroundAt present, fish meal (FM) resources are in short supply, and competition for food between humans and animals is becoming increasingly critical. Finding non-grain protein sources that can replace FM is the key to solving the rapid development of aquaculture.MethodsSeven trial diets were prepared with 0 g/kg (EP0), 30 g/kg (EP3), 60 g/kg (EP6), 90 g/kg (EP9), 120 g/kg (EP12), 150 g/kg (EP15), and 180 g/kg (EP18) of enzyme-digested poultry by-product meal (EPBM) by replacing of FM. A total of 630 hybrid groupers (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus ♀ × E. lanceolatus ♂) were equally portioned into 21 tanks. At 8:00 and 16:00 each day, groupers were fed until they were full for a cumulative period of 8 weeks.ResultsThe results showed that 30 g/kg of EPBM significantly increased the rates of weight gain and special growth (P < 0.05). Significantly higher activities of serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase were observed in the EP3 group (P < 0.05). The categories and numbers of the top 10 dominant bacteria in the phylum and genus levels were not significantly influenced by feed (P > 0.05). In the proximal intestine and distal intestine, there were significantly higher expressions of SNAT3, LAAT1, CAT2, and CAT1 in the EP3 group compared with the EP0 group (P < 0.05). In the EP3 group, the expressions of PepT1, LAAT1, B0, +AT, and CAT2 were significantly increased in MI than those in all other groups (except the EP0 group, P < 0.05).ConclusionWhen FM was replaced by 30 g/kg of EPBM, growth performance, antioxidant capacity, and the ability to transport amino acids and peptides of hybrid grouper were significantly improved

Sensory System for Implementing a Human—Computer Interface Based on Electrooculography

This paper describes a sensory system for implementing a human–computer interface based on electrooculography. An acquisition system captures electrooculograms and transmits them via the ZigBee protocol. The data acquired are analysed in real time using a microcontroller-based platform running the Linux operating system. The continuous wavelet transform and neural network are used to process and analyse the signals to obtain highly reliable results in real time. To enhance system usability, the graphical interface is projected onto special eyewear, which is also used to position the signal-capturing electrodes

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Metasurfaces for biomedical applications : imaging and sensing from a nanophotonics perspective

The research is supported by the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), under its Industry alignment fund prepositioning program, Award H19H6a0025. K. D. thanks the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through grant EP/P030017/1.Metasurface is a recently developed nanophotonics concept to manipulate the properties of light by replacing conventional bulky optical components with ultrathin (more than 104 times thinner) flat optical components. Since the first demonstration of metasurfaces in 2011, they have attracted tremendous interest in the consumer optics and electronics industries. Recently, metasurface-empowered novel bioimaging and biosensing tools have emerged and been reported. Given the recent advances in metasurfaces in biomedical engineering, this review article covers the state of the art for this technology and provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary perspective on this field. The topics that we have covered include metasurfaces for chiral imaging, endoscopic optical coherence tomography, fluorescent imaging, super-resolution imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, quantitative phase imaging, sensing of antibodies, proteins, DNAs, cells, and cancer biomarkers. Future directions are discussed in twofold: Application-specific biomedical metasurfaces and bioinspired metasurface devices. Perspectives on challenges and opportunities of metasurfaces, biophotonics, and translational biomedical devices are also provided. The objective of this review article is to inform and stimulate interdisciplinary research: Firstly, by introducing the metasurface concept to the biomedical community; and secondly by assisting the metasurface community to understand the needs and realize the opportunities in the medical fields. In addition, this article provides two knowledge boxes describing the design process of a metasurface lens and the performance matrix of a biosensor, which serve as a "crash-course"introduction to those new to both fields.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Multi-time scale model order reduction and stability consistency certification of inverter-interfaced DG system in AC microgrid

AC microgrid mainly comprise inverter-interfaced distributed generators (IIDGs), which are nonlinear complex systems with multiple time scales, including frequency control, time delay measurements, and electromagnetic transients. The droop control-based IIDG in an AC microgrid is selected as the research object in this study, which comprises power droop controller, voltage- and current-loop controllers, and filter and line. The multi-time scale characteristics of the detailed IIDG model are divided based on singular perturbation theory. In addition, the IIDG model order is reduced by neglecting the system fast dynamics. The static and transient stability consistency of the IIDG model order reduction are demonstrated by extracting features of the IIDG small signal model and using the quadratic approximation method of the stability region boundary, respectively. The dynamic response consistencies of the IIDG model order reduction are evaluated using the frequency, damping and amplitude features extracted by the Prony transformation. Results are applicable to provide a simplified model for the dynamic characteristic analysis of IIDG systems in AC microgrid. The accuracy of the proposed method is verified by using the eigenvalue comparison, the transient stability index comparison and the dynamic time-domain simulation.Published versio

Effects of Plant-Derived Glycerol Monolaurate (GML) Additive on the Antioxidant Capacity, Anti-Inflammatory Ability, Muscle Nutritional Value, and Intestinal Flora of Hybrid Grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus♀ × Epinephelus lanceolatus♂)

In a context where the search for plant-derived additives is a hot topic, glycerol monolaurate (GML) was chosen as our subject to study its effect on grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus♀ × Epinephelus lanceolatus♂). Seven gradient levels of GML (0, 600, 1200, 1800, 2400, 3000, and 3600 mg/kg) were used for the experiment. Based on our experiments, 1800 mg/kg GML significantly increased the final body weight (FBW) and weight gain rate (WGR). GML increased the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and decreased malondialdehyde (MDA). Adding 1800 mg/kg GML also significantly increased the levels of lauric acid (C12:0) (LA), n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PFA), and the n-6 PFA-to-n-3/n-6 ratio, while significantly decreasing the levels of saturated fatty acids (SFA). Dietary supplementation with GML significantly inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory factors and reduced the occurrence of inflammation. GML improved intestinal flora and the abundance of beneficial bacteria (Bacillus, Psychrobacter, Acinetobacter, Acinetobacter, Stenotrophomonas, and Glutamicibacter). It provides a theoretical basis for the application of GML in aquafeed and greatly enhances the possibility of using GML in aquafeed. Based on the above experimental results, the optimum level of GML in grouper feed is 1800 mg/kg

Dietary lysophospholipids improves growth performance and hepatic lipid metabolism of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)

This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of dietary lysophospholipids combined with 1% dietary fish oil reduction on the growth performance and hepatic lipid metabolism of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Five isonitrogenous feeds were prepared with lysophospholipids at 0% (fish oil group, FO), 0.05% (L-0.05), 0.1% (L-0.1), 0.15% (L-0.15) and 0.2% (L-0.2), respectively. The dietary lipid was 11% in the FO diet and 10% in the other diets. Largemouth bass were fed for 68 d (initial body weight = 6.04 ± 0.01 g) with 4 replicates per group and 30 fish per replicate. The results showed that the fish fed diet containing 0.1% lysophospholipids had higher digestive enzyme activity and obtained better growth performance compared to the fish fed FO diet (P < 0.05). The feed conversion rate in the L-0.1 group was significantly lower than that in the other groups. Serum total protein and triglyceride contents in L-0.1 group were significantly higher than those in other groups (P < 0.05) and the contents of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in L-0.1 group were significantly lower than those in FO group (P < 0.05). The activity and genes expression of hepatic glucolipid metabolizing enzymes in L-0.15 group were significantly increased compared to those in FO group (P < 0.05). Reducing 1% fish oil along with 0.1% lysophospholipids added to the feed could improve the digestion and absorption of nutrients, enhance the activity of liver glycolipid metabolizing enzymes, and thus effectively promote the growth of largemouth bass

Clostridium autoethanogenum protein substitution and bile acids addition altered intestinal health and transcriptome profiles of hepatopancreas in Litopenaeus vannamei

Dietary Clostridium autoethanogenum protein (CAP) has the potential to replace fishmeal (FM), but excessive CAP substitutions will affect gut health. Bile acids (BAs) have multiple benefits, but little information is available on the effects of BAs on Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) fed a CAP diet (CAP replacing FM). An 8-week feeding trial were used to investigate the impacts of CAP substitution and BAs addition on structural changes of intestine, apoptosis, inflammatory cytokine and NFκB pathway of intestine, and transcriptomic profiles of hepatopancreas in Pacific white shrimp. Compared to PC (control) treatment, the NC (CAP50, CAP replacing 50% FM) treatment significantly decreased the fold height (FH) and villus length (VL) of midgut, and impaired the mitochondrial cristae. Compared to NC group, the FH was increased in BA1 (CAP50 with 0.03% BAs) and BA2 (CAP50 with 0.06% BAs) groups, the muscle layer thickness (MT) was decreased in BA2 and BA3 (CAP50 with 0.09% BAs) groups, the VL was increased in BA1 group, and the mitochondrial cristae was normal and well-defined in BA1 and BA2 groups (all p < 0.05). The NC increased the genes expression of apoptosis and NFκB signalling pathway, while the BA2 decreased the genes expression of apoptosis, inflammatory cytokine and NFκB signalling pathway. In transcriptomics analysis, a total of 171 differential expression genes (DEGs) were identified in NC group and 50 DEGs in BA2 group. There was 13 DEGs was observed both in NC and BA2 groups. The 5 KEGG pathways were statistically enriched in all treatments, including “Carbon metabolism”, “One carbon pool by folate”, “Glycine, serine and threonine metabolism”, “Amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism”, and “PPAR signaling pathway”. In conclusion, CAP50 substitution impaired the intestinal health and 0.06% BAs addition improved it, both treatments altered the transcriptomics profiles of hepatopancreas in Pacific white shrimp