Probiotics as Means of Diseases Control in Aquaculture, a Review of Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives

Along with the intensification of culture systems to meet the increasing global demands, there was an elevated risk for diseases outbreak and substantial loss for farmers. In view of several drawbacks caused by prophylactic administration of antibiotics, strict regulations have been established to ban or minimize their application in aquaculture. As an alternative to antibiotics, dietary administration of feed additives has received increasing attention during the past three decades. Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics and medicinal plants were among the most promising feed supplements for control or treatments of bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases of fish and shellfish. The present review summarizes and discusses the topic of potential application of probiotics as a means of disease control with comprehensive look at the available literature. The possible mode of action of probiotics (Strengthening immune response, competition for binding sites, production of antibacterial substances, and competition for nutrients) in providing protection against diseases is described. Besides, we have classified different pathogens and separately described the effects of probiotics as protective strategy. Furthermore, we have addressed the gaps of existing knowledge as well as the topics that merit further investigations. Overall, the present review paper revealed potential of different probiont to be used as protective agent against various pathogens

Metabolome and Transcriptome Analyses Unravels Molecular Mechanisms of Leaf Color Variation by Anthocyanidin Biosynthesis in Acer triflorum

Acer triflorum Komarov is an important ornamental tree, and its seasonal change in leaf color is the most striking feature. However, the quantifications of anthocyanin and the mechanisms of leaf color change in this species remain unknown. Here, the combined analysis of metabolome and transcriptome was performed on green, orange, and red leaves. In total, 27 anthocyanin metabolites were detected and cyanidin 3-O-arabinoside, pelargonidin 3-O-glucoside, and peonidin 3-O-gluside were significantly correlated with the color development. Several structural genes in the anthocyanin biosynthesis process, such as chalcone synthase (CHS), flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H), and dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR), were highly expressed in red leaves compared to green leaves. Most regulators (MYB, bHLH, and other classes of transcription factors) were also upregulated in red and orange leaves. In addition, 14 AtrMYBs including AtrMYB68, AtrMYB74, and AtrMYB35 showed strong interactions with the genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, and, thus, could be further considered the hub regulators. The findings will facilitate genetic modification or selection for further improvement in ornamental qualities of A. triflorum

Chinese eye exercises and myopia development in school age children: a nested case-control study

Chinese eye exercises have been implemented in China as an intervention for controlling children’s myopia for over 50 years. This nested case-control study investigated Chinese eye exercises and their association with myopia development in junior middle school children. Outcome measures were the onset and progression of myopia over a two-year period. Cases were defined as 1. Myopia onset (cycloplegic spherical equivalent ≤ −0.5 diopter in non-myopic children). 2. Myopia progression (myopia shift of ≥1.0 diopter in those who were myopic at baseline). Two independent investigators assessed the quality of Chinese eye exercises performance at the end of the follow-up period. Of 260 children at baseline (mean age was 12.7 ± 0.5 years), 201 were eligible for this study. There was no association between eye exercises and the risk of myopia-onset (OR = 0.73, 95%CI: 0.24–2.21), nor myopia progression (OR = 0.79, 95%CI: 0.41–1.53). The group who performed high quality exercises had a slightly lower myopia progression of 0.15 D than the children who did not perform the exercise over a period of 2 years. However, the limited sample size, low dosage and performance quality of Chinese eye exercises in children did not result in statistical significance and require further studies

Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly for Acer pseudosieboldianum and Highlights to Mechanisms for Leaf Color and Shape Change

Acer pseudosieboldianum (Pax) Komarov is an ornamental plant with prominent potential and is naturally distributed in Northeast China. Here, we obtained a chromosome-scale genome assembly of A. pseudosieboldianum combining HiFi and Hi-C data, and the final assembled genome size was 690.24 Mb and consisted of 287 contigs, with a contig N50 value of 5.7 Mb and a BUSCO complete gene percentage of 98.4%. Genome evolution analysis showed that an ancient duplication occurred in A. pseudosieboldianum. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that Aceraceae family could be incorporated into Sapindaceae, consistent with the present Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system. We further construct a gene-to-metabolite correlation network and identified key genes and metabolites that might be involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis pathways during leaf color change. Additionally, we identified crucial teosinte branched1, cycloidea, and proliferating cell factors (TCP) transcription factors that might be involved in leaf morphology regulation of A. pseudosieboldianum, Acer yangbiense and Acer truncatum. Overall, this reference genome is a valuable resource for evolutionary history studies of A. pseudosieboldianum and lays a fundamental foundation for its molecular breeding

Evaluation and Comparison of Light Use Efficiency and Gross Primary Productivity Using Three Different Approaches

Light use efficiency (LUE), which characterizes the efficiency with which vegetation converts captured/absorbed radiation into organic dry matter through photosynthesis, is a key parameter for estimating vegetation gross primary productivity (GPP). Studies suggest that diffuse radiation induces a higher LUE than direct radiation in short-term and site-scale experiments. The clearness index (CI), described as the fraction of solar incident radiation on the surface of the earth to the extraterrestrial radiation at the top of the atmosphere, is added to the parameterization approach to explain the conditions of diffuse and direct radiation in this study. Machine learning methods—such as the Cubist regression tree approach—are also popular approaches for studying vegetation carbon uptake. This paper aims to compare and analyze the performances of three different approaches for estimating global LUE and GPP. The methods for collecting LUE were based on the following: (1) parameterization approach without CI; (2) parameterization approach with CI; and (3) Cubist regression tree approach. We collected GPP and meteorological data from 180 FLUXNET sites as calibration and validation data and the Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) products and ERA-interim data as input data to estimate the global LUE and GPP in 2014. Site-scale validation with FLUXNET measurements indicated that the Cubist regression approach performed better than the parameterization approaches. However, when applying the approaches to global LUE and GPP, the parameterization approach with the CI became the most reliable approach, then closely followed by the parameterization approach without the CI. Spatial analysis showed that the addition of the CI improved the LUE and GPP, especially in high-value zones. The results of the Cubist regression tree approach illustrate more fluctuations than the parameterization approaches. Although the distributions of LUE presented variations over different seasons, vegetation had the highest LUE, at approximately 1.5 gC/MJ, during the whole year in equatorial regions (e.g., South America, middle Africa and Southeast Asia). The three approaches produced roughly consistent global annual GPPs ranging from 109.23 to 120.65 Pg/yr. Our results suggest the parameterization approaches are robust when extrapolating to the global scale, of which the parameterization approach with CI performs slightly better than that without CI. By contrast, the Cubist regression tree produced LUE and GPP with lower accuracy even though it performed the best for model validation at the site scale

A hierarchical carbon nanofiber-In2S3 photocatalyst with well controlled nanostructures for highly efficient hydrogen production under visible light

In this study, a novel hierarchical visible-light responsive photocatalyst was delicately designed and synthesized by anchoring In2S3 flower-like nanostructures on non-woven carbon nanofibers (CNC) for the first time. The nanostructures of these CNF-In2S3 composites were fine tuned, with the aim to achieve the highest photocatalytic hydrogen production activity under visible light. The results indicated that the hierarchical CNF-In2S3-24h photocatalyst exhibited exceptionally high hydrogen evolution rate (ca. 390 μmol h-1), which was around 15 and 12 times higher than that of pure In2S3 and commercial N-TiO2 nanoparticles, respectively. The prominent photocatalytic hydrogen production activity of the hierarchical CNF-In2S3-24h photocatalyst can be attributed to the excellent properties of enhanced light absorption and efficient charge separation, which are all derived from the special 3D hierarchical nanostructures.Published versio

Effects of various TiO2 nanostructures and graphene oxide on photocatalytic activity of TiO2

The nanostructures of TiO2 significantly affect its photocatalytic activity. In this work, various TiO2 nanostructures have been successfully synthesized, including one-dimensional (1D) TiO2 nanotube, 1D TiO2 nanowire, three-dimensional (3D) TiO2 sphere assembled by nanoparticles (TiO2 sphere-P) and 3D TiO2 sphere assembled by nanosheets (TiO2 sphere-S). The results of photodegradation activity towards acid orange 7 (AO7) indicate that the photodegradation efficiency of TiO2 sphere-S is the highest among the investigated TiO2 nanostructures, even though the specific surface area of TiO2 sphere-S is lower than that of TiO2 nanotube. The best photodegradation activity of TiO2 sphere-S can be attributed to the highest light harvesting capacity resulted from multiple reflections of light, and hierarchical mesoporous structure. In addition, the combination of TiO2 sphere-S with graphene oxide (GO) sheets can further enhance the photodegradation efficiency of AO7 and disinfection activity of Escherichia coli (E. coli) under solar light, which is more energy efficient. The promising photocatalytic activity of GO-TiO2 composites is originated from the enhanced light absorption and efficient charge separation. Hence, this study paves a way for improving the performance of other photocatalysts.NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore)Accepted versio

Temporal Analysis on Contribution Inequality in OpenStreetMap: A Comparative Study for Four Countries

Contribution inequality widely exists in OpenStreetMap (OSM), which means that most data come from a minority of the contributors, while the majority only accounts for a small percentage of data. This phenomenon is of great importance to understanding from where the data come and how the project evolves. The investigation in this paper is dedicated to answering the following questions: How does contribution inequality change over time in OSM? Which group of contributors plays a more important role in influencing trends in contribution inequality: the “vocal minority” or the “silent majority”? To answer the first question, we provide overall measurements for contribution inequality using the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. To answer the second question, we use quantile-based classifying strategy to analyze structural changes in the community, and use the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test to analyze productivity changes. Our case study shows that in countries without significant imports, contributions become more unequal over time. This trend is consistent with the rapid expansion of the silent majority, even though other classes of contributors also grow at a slower pace. On the other hand, contribution inequality fluctuates a lot in countries with huge imports, and agrees well with the productivity changes in the vocal minority

GIMAP7 induces oxidative stress and apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells in polycystic ovary syndrome by inhibiting sonic hedgehog signalling pathway

Highlights 1. GIMAP7 is upregulated in ovary granulosa cells of PCOS rat; 2. GIMAP7 shRNA relieves the symptoms of PCOS rats; 3. GIMAP7 shRNA inhibits the apoptosis and oxidative stress of KGN cells; 4. GIMAP7 inhibits sonic hedgehog signalling pathway in KGN cells