Unveiling the power of microenvironment in liver regeneration: an in-depth overview

The liver serves as a vital regulatory hub for various physiological processes, including sugar, protein, and fat metabolism, coagulation regulation, immune system maintenance, hormone inactivation, urea metabolism, and water-electrolyte acid-base balance control. These functions rely on coordinated communication among different liver cell types, particularly within the liver’s fundamental hepatic lobular structure. In the early stages of liver development, diverse liver cells differentiate from stem cells in a carefully orchestrated manner. Despite its susceptibility to damage, the liver possesses a remarkable regenerative capacity, with the hepatic lobule serving as a secure environment for cell division and proliferation during liver regeneration. This regenerative process depends on a complex microenvironment, involving liver resident cells, circulating cells, secreted cytokines, extracellular matrix, and biological forces. While hepatocytes proliferate under varying injury conditions, their sources may vary. It is well-established that hepatocytes with regenerative potential are distributed throughout the hepatic lobules. However, a comprehensive spatiotemporal model of liver regeneration remains elusive, despite recent advancements in genomics, lineage tracing, and microscopic imaging. This review summarizes the spatial distribution of cell gene expression within the regenerative microenvironment and its impact on liver regeneration patterns. It offers valuable insights into understanding the complex process of liver regeneration

Litter size influences rumen microbiota and fermentation efficiency, thus determining host early growth in goats

IntroductionMultiple litters are accompanied by low birth weight, low survival rates, and growth rates in goats during early life. Regulating rumen microbiota structure can indirectly or directly affect host metabolism and animal growth. However, the relationship between high litter size and rumen microbiome, rumen fermentation, and growth performance in goat kids is unclear.MethodsIn the present study, thirty 6-month-old, female goats were investigated, of which 10 goats were randomly chosen from single, twin and triplet goats respectively, and their birth weight was recorded. From birth, all goats were subjected to the same feed and management practices. Individual weaning and youth body weight were measured, and the rumen fluid samples were collected to characterize the bacterial communities and to determine the ruminal volatile fatty acids (VFA), free amino acids (AA), and free fatty acids (FA) concentration of those young goats.Results and DiscussionCompared with the single and twin goats, triplet goats have lower weaning and youth body weight and average daily gain (ADG). Ruminal propionate, butyrate, and total VFA were decreased in triplet goats. Meanwhile, ruminal AA, such as branched chain amino acids (BCAA), essential amino acids (EAA), unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) were decreased, while saturated fatty acids (SFA) and odd and branched chain fatty acids (OBCFA) were increased in triplet goats. Our results also revealed that litter size significantly affected the rumen bacterial communities, and triplet goats had a lower the Firmicutes: Bacteroidota ratio, the abundance of Firmicutes phylum, Rikenellaceae family, and Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group, and had a higher proportion of Prevotellaceae family, and several genera of Prevotellaceae, such as Prevotella, and unclassified f Prevotellaceae. Furthermore, Spearman’s correlation network analysis showed that the changes in the rumen bacteria were associated with changes in rumen metabolites. In conclusion, this study revealed that high litter size could bring disturbances to the microbial communities and decrease the rumen fermentation efficiency and growth performance, which can be utilized to better understand variation in microbial ecology that will improve growth performance in triplet goats

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

A bandwidth-extended electrically small dipole antenna based on composite right/left handed (CRLH) transmission line

A bandwidth-extended electrically small dipole antenna based on composite right/left handed (CRLH) transmission line is presented. The proposed structure is realized by a periodic ladder network of four unit cells having air-gaps and wires.  Simulated results show that, adjusting the gaps and wires without any additional matching network, a 6.36% impedance bandwidth can be achieved when the length of the antenna is 50.4mm, and well-behaved radiation patterns have been displayed

Experimental Investigation on Metallic Droplet Behavior in Molten BOF slag

status: Published onlin

Dynamic Changes in Carbon Sequestration from Opencast Mining Activities and Land Reclamation in China’s Loess Plateau

Opencast coal mining causes serious damage to the natural landscape, resulting in the depletion of the carbon sequestration capacity in the mining activity. There are few studies on the variation of carbon sequestration capabilities caused by land use changes in opencast mining areas. This paper uses six images were used to quantify the changes in land use types from 1986 to 2015 in the Pingshuo mining area in northwest China. At the same time, used statistical analysis and mathematical models to study soil and vegetation carbon sequestration. Results indicate that the total carbon sequestration exhibits a significant downward trend from 4.58 × 106 Mg in 1986 to 3.78 × 106 Mg in 2015, with the decrease of soil carbon sequestration accounting for the largest proportion. The carbon sequestration of arable land accounted for 51% of the total carbon sequestration in the mining area, followed by grassland (31%) and forestland (18%). Land reclamation contributed to the greatest increase in carbon sequestration of arable land from 17,890.15 Mg (1986) to 27,837.95 Mg (2015). Additionally, the downward trend in the carbon sequestration capacity of the mining ecosystem was mitigated after 2010 as the positive effects of land reclamation gradually amplified over time and as the mining techniques were greatly optimized in recent years in the Pingshuo mining area. Thus, terrestrial carbon sequestration can be improved through land reclamation projects and optimized mining activities. These results can help guide the utilization of reclaimed land in the future

Staphylococcus aureus on the effect of expression of MMPs/TIMPs and uPA system in bovine mammary fibroblasts

Background: Bovine mammary fibrosis is characteristic of chronic in injury in response to diverse pathogens. Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) is a frequent cause of mastitis in bovine and is prone to persistent infection. Diverse studies have shown MMPs/TIMPs and uPA system as a potent target for the treatment of fibrosis. However, pathogenesis of S. aureus-induced mammary fibrosis has not been completely defined. Methods: BMFBs treated with heat-inactivated S. aureus (105, 106, and 108 CFU/mL) for 6, 12, 24, and 48 h. Total RNA and protein were isolated from the treatments and controls of BMFBs samples. MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-9, MMP-13, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, COL Ⅰ, uPA, uPAR and PAI-1 gene and protein expression were examined by RT-qPCR and Western blot analysis. Gelatin zymography assay was performed to assess the levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 enzyme secreted. Results: BMFBs treated with heat-inactivated S. aureus increased mRNA and protein expression levels of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-9 and MMP-13, and heat-inactivated S. aureus induced TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and COL Ⅰ expression. There was a clear activation of MMP-2 in the presence of heat-inactivated S. aureus in the conditioned medium from the BMFBs, whereas MMP-9 was no significantly altered. Moreover, uPA system was activated in BMFBs to S. aureus. Conclusion: Activation of the uPA system together with its impact on the MMPs levels could play a significant role in S. aureus-induced BMFBs with mechanism of ECM metabolism, MMPs/TIMPs and uPA system could participate in bovine mammary fibrosis

Hydrodynamics study of bubbly flow in a top-submerged lance vessel

© 2018 Free surfaces of large bubbles are involved in gas injection into liquid through a top-submerged lance. The Volume of Fluid (VOF) multiphase model is chosen to simulate these flows. However, the selection of an appropriate turbulence model remains a point of discussion. Therefore, three representative turbulence models, namely the Renormalization Group (RNG) k-ε model, the Reynolds Stress model (RSM) and the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model, respectively coupled with VOF simulations, are studied. The results are compared with Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) experiments. Afterwards, the selected turbulence model is used to study the two-phase flow characteristics. It has been found that the three turbulence models are able to capture the main averaged features of the flow such as the flow structures and average velocity field. However, the RNG and RSM models are not capable of estimating the fluctuating flow parameters such as the Reynolds stresses. In contrast, the LES model gives very good agreement with experimental data. The subsequent study on flow characteristics also showed that the 3D VOF-LES model can describe the bubble behavior and surface fluctuation. Resorting to Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method, it has been proven that the bubble frequency is around 20 Hz and the turbulence in the bubbly region is between the single phase -5/3 and two-phase -10/3 power law in the inertial sub-range. Finally, the effect of the contact angle between the formed bubbles and outer lance wall on the flow has been estimated. The results showed that contact angle has limited influence on the flow.status: publishe