Strategies on Poisonous Plants Problem in China

Poisonous plants are widely distributed on large areas of native grasslands of China, causing livestock poisoning and grassland degradation, which severely impacts the development of animal husbandry. Of the almost 300 poisonous species that are responsible for livestock losses in China, locoweed, drunken horse grass and Langdu cause the greatest impact. Many strategies have been developed to minimise the impact of poisonous plants including the treatment of livestock that have been poisoned, controlling poisonous plants and managing livestock grazing. Both physical and chemical traditional methods are still used to eliminate poisonous plants while biological control using specific insects may eventually be used to control certain species. According to a grassland law, grazing systems (rotational, rest and forbidden grazing) may be applied on dense stands of poisonous plants

Impact of dietary protein on lipid metabolism-related gene expression in porcine adipose tissue

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High dietary protein can reduce fat deposition in animal subcutaneous adipose tissue, but little is known about the mechanism.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty Wujin pigs of about 15 kg weight were fed either high protein (HP: 18%) or low protein (LP: 14%) diets, and slaughtered at body weights of 30, 60 or 100 kg. Bloods were collected to measure serum parameters. Subcutaneous adipose tissues were sampled for determination of adipocyte size, protein content, lipid metabolism-related gene expression, and enzyme activities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HP significantly reduced adipocyte size, fat meat percentage and backfat thickness, but significantly increased daily gain, lean meat percentage and loin eye area at 60 and 100 kg. Serum free fatty acid and triglyceride concentrations in the HP group were significantly higher than in the LP group. Serum glucose and insulin concentrations were not significantly affected by dietary protein at any body weight. HP significantly reduced gene expression of acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS) and sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c) at 60 kg and 100 kg; however, the mRNA level and enzyme activity of FAS were increased at 30 kg. HP promoted gene and protein expression and enzyme activities of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), carmitine palmtoyltransferase-1B (CPT-1B), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor <it>γ </it>(PPAR<it>γ</it>) and adipocyte-fatty acid binding proteins (A-FABP) at 60 kg, but reduced their expression at 100 kg.</p> <p>Gene expression and enzyme activity of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) was reduced markedly at 60 kg but increased at 100 kg by the high dietary protein. Levels of mRNA, enzyme activities and protein expression of ACC, FAS, SREBP-1c and PPAR<it>γ </it>in both LP and HP groups increased with increasing body weight. However, gene and protein expression levels/enzyme activities of LPL, CPT-1B, A-FABP and HSL in both groups were higher at 60 kg than at 30 and 100 kg.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Fat deposition in Wujin pigs fed high dietary protein for 25 weeks was reduced mainly by depression of lipogenic gene expression. The mechanism of lipid transport, lipolysis and oxidation in adipose tissue regulated by dietary protein appeared to be different at 60 kg and 100 kg body weights.</p

Two-dimensional anisotropic Dirac materials PtN4C2 and Pt2N8C6 with quantum spin and valley Hall effects

We propose two novel two-dimensional topological Dirac materials, planar PtN4C2 and Pt2N8C6, which exhibit graphene-like electronic structures with linearly dispersive Dirac-cone states exactly at the Fermi level. Moreover, the Dirac cone is anisotropic, resulting in anisotropic Fermi velocities and making it possible to realize orientation-dependent quantum devices. Using the first-principles electronic structure calculations, we have systemically studied the structural, electronic, and topological properties. We find that spin-orbit coupling opens a sizable topological band gap so that the materials can be classified as quantum spin Hall insulators as well as quantum valley Hall insulators. Helical edge states that reside in the insulating band gap connecting the bulk conduction and valence bands are observed. Our work not only expands the Dirac cone material family, but also provides a new avenue to searching for more two-dimensional topological quantum spin and valley Hall insulators.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Study on the support performance of anti-impacting and energy-absorbing concrete-filled steel tube arches in roadways

In response to the problem of lack of shrinkable pressure-allowing performance of steel pipe concrete arch in the current roadway support, an anti-impacting and energy-absorbing steel pipe concrete arch structure is designed from the perspective of energy-absorbing pressure-allowing. The combination model of the new steel pipe concrete arch and the surrounding rock was established by Abaqus, and the support effect and impact resistance of the new arch on the roadway were compared and analyzed under both static and dynamic loading conditions. The conclusions are as follows: ① Designing the wall thickness and size of the energy-absorbing member according to the reasonable yielding resistance characteristics. Energy-absorbing components are installed at the connection between the upper arch and the middle of the bottom arc to prevent excessive bending from causing instability. The sleeve shape is designed as a pleated shape based on the U-shaped steel arch clamp structure, which achieves compression yield through friction with the arch; ② Under the vertical and lateral impact, the displacement of the optimized arch support tunnel at each point is reduced, which reduces the sinking of the top arc section of the arch and the up-arch of the bottom arc section, and the support effect is stronger; ③ Under static loads, after the arch contacts the energy-absorbing component, the plastic strain at each point of the arch no longer increases, and the energy-absorbing component replaces the arch to deform. After being subjected to dynamic loads, the energy-absorbing component can respond quickly, while the corners of the arch bend and deform, and the remaining parts have not undergone significant deformation. After the energy-absorbing component is crushed, the overall plastic strain of the arch starts to increase, and finally the equivalent plastic strain at each point of the arch is reduced by 10%−50% and 13%−78% under vertical and lateral impacts, respectively, after optimization

The More Similar, the Healthier: The Effect of Perceived Parent-Child Facial Resemblance on Parental Physical Health

Parent-child facial resemblance (PCFR) is one of the direct cues used to assess the genetic relationship between two individuals. Due to the inner fertilization of humans, fathers are liable to suffer from paternal uncertainty. When a father perceives low father-child facial resemblance, he would become anxious, which is detrimental to his immune system and physical health. For a mother, however, she can assure her genetic relationship to her children and does not need any external cues to verify her maternity. Thus, the mother-child facial resemblance does not influence the mothers’ physical health. To test these hypotheses, we examined the moderating effect of parental gender and the mediating effect of trait anxiety on the relationship between PCFR and physical health of parents. The results showed that fathers’ PCFR positively predicted their physical health, whereas the mothers’ PCFR failed to show any predicting effect on mothers’ physical health. Furthermore, trait anxiety mediated the relationship between fathers’ PCFR and their physical health. The implications for paternal uncertainty, gender difference, and public policy were discussed

Transcriptome analysis provides insights into the mechanism of carapace stripe formation in two closely related Marsupenaeus species

Marsupenaeus japonicus has two types of phenotypic differences that are mainly reflected in the stripe pattern of the carapace. However, the underlying mechanism regulating the stripe patterns is not clear. In the present study, we first observed the composition of pigment cells and detected the contents of different carotenoids in the carapace of M. japonicus. We clearly observed the setae structure on the carapace. There were red pigment cells in the stripe pattern and yellow pigment cells in the other parts. Both red pigment cells and yellow pigment cells showed dendritic morphology. In the carapace, the content of astaxanthin was the highest, significantly (P &lt; 0.05) higher than that of other carotenoids. Some differentially expressed genes between two pattern types of M. japonicus, may be associated with the body color formation, such as crustacyanin (CRCN), apolipoprotein D (ApoD), tubulin alpha-1 chain, cuticle protein, and ABC transporter, which were verified by quantitative PCR experiments. The amino acid composition and secondary structure of CRCN A2, CRCN C1, and ApoD were significantly different. The results of this study will help to elucidate the molecular mechanism of the differential pattern formation of M. japonicus and provide a reference for further exploration of the formation mechanism of crustacean color

Research progress and applications of epigenetic biomarkers in cancer

Epigenetic changes are heritable changes in gene expression without changes in the nucleotide sequence of genes. Epigenetic changes play an important role in the development of cancer and in the process of malignancy metastasis. Previous studies have shown that abnormal epigenetic changes can be used as biomarkers for disease status and disease prediction. The reversibility and controllability of epigenetic modification changes also provide new strategies for early disease prevention and treatment. In addition, corresponding drug development has also reached the clinical stage. In this paper, we will discuss the recent progress and application status of tumor epigenetic biomarkers from three perspectives: DNA methylation, non-coding RNA, and histone modification, in order to provide new opportunities for additional tumor research and applications