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Avian leukosis virus (ALV) is an enveloped retrovirus with a single-stranded RNA genome, belonging to the genus Alpharetrovirus within the family Retroviridae. The disease (Avian leukosis, AL) caused by ALV is mainly characterized by tumor development and immunosuppression in chickens, which increases susceptibility to other pathogens and leads to significant economic losses in the Chinese poultry industry. The government and poultry industry have made lots of efforts to eradicate ALV, but the threat of which remains not vanished. This review provides a summary of the updated understanding of ALV in China, which mainly focuses on genetic and molecular biology, epidemiology, and diagnostic methods. Additionally, promising antiviral agents and ALV eradication strategies performed in China are also included., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURES Author Juan Li was employed by Yunnan Sino-science Gene Technology Co., Ltd. The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The current standard second-line treatment is immune checkpoint inhibitors monotherapy for nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The objective of this phase 2 study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nivolumab plus docetaxel compared with nivolumab monotherapy for second-line therapy in immunotherapy-naive patients with advanced NSCLC. Progression-free survival (PFS) was the primary endpoint of this phase 2 study. Patients were randomized to receive nivolumab plus docetaxel or nivolumab monotherapy. From July 2019 to June 2022, a total of 22 patients were recruited, with significantly longer median PFS observed in the nivolumab plus docetaxel group (4.0 months) compared to the nivolumab group (2.0 months), P  = 0.0019. The study was closed in June 2022 due to slow recruitment. The objective response rate was 10.0% [95% confidence interval (CI), 0-28.6] in the nivolumab group and 25% (95% CI, 0.5-49.5) in the nivolumab + docetaxel group ( P  = 0.346). Disease control was significantly higher in the nivolumab plus docetaxel arm (40.0% versus 83.3%, P  = 0.035). There was also an improvement in overall survival (OS) in the nivolumab + docetaxel arm, but this was not statistically significant (10.0 months versus 7.2 months, P  = 0.129). The addition of docetaxel to nivolumab was well-tolerated, with adverse events more common in the combination group. Despite the small sample size, the results suggest that the addition of docetaxel to nivolumab may be a promising treatment option for NSCLC patients progressing on platinum-based chemotherapy, with trends towards improved OS observed., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Fabrication of biodegradable shape memory polymer with remotely controllable shape actuation is of great significance in the biomedical field but remains challenging. Herein, we present a simple strategy to fabricate a monolayer-based stretchable and mechanically robust polycaprolactone/polydopamine elastomer via efficient thiol-ene click chemistry. The resultant elastomers exhibit desirable photothermal transfer efficiency and can enable rapid temperature increase over the melting temperature of polymeric matrix, and quantitative results demonstrate that the crosslinked film exhibited excellent shape memory properties with shape fixity (R f ) and shape recovery ratios (R r ) approaching 92.3 % and 95.6 %, respectively. Combined with photo stimuli, anisotropic polymer chain relaxation of the prestretched film can generate asymmetric contractions and eventually give rise to ut out-of-plane bending actuations upon photo stimulation, meanwhile, numerical simulation reveals the interaction mechanism of light with film. Beyond this, we further demonstrate that the bending angle is correlated with the parameters of prestretch strain, film thickness as well as irradiation time, and the maximum value can reach 158° with prestretch strain of 200 % and film thickness of 0.3 mm. In particular, the bent structures could be reversibly deformed into plane state via photo-directed corresponding opposite surfaces. Remarkably, the in vitro degradation properties of the elastomers on PBS-T buffer solutions demonstrated that the degradation was composed of induction stage and acceleration stage. This work will pave way for designing biodegradable light-induced shape memory materials toward biomedical device fields and so on., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Colloidal phosphorus (P) is an important P form in agricultural runoff and can threaten water quality. However, up to date, there are few effective approaches to mitigate colloidal P pollution. This study investigated the effect of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation on medium-colloidal (MC; 220 nm-450 nm) and fine-colloidal (FC; 3 kDa-220 nm) P in agricultural runoff. Under 24 h of UV irradiation, as the most abundant colloidal P fraction, concentration of total P (TP) in FC consistently decreased by 81.0%, while TP concentration in MC first increased by 74.4% after 3 h and then decreased with irradiation time. At the same time, particulate TP (>450 nm) concentration was found to be increased from 0 to 14.7 μM. However, there were no obvious variations in TP concentrations in FC and MC fractions under dark conditions. In FC fraction, with the decrease of TP, the corresponding concentrations of iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si) declined synchronously, and ferric iron/ferrous iron (Fe(III)/Fe(II)) ratio and organic matter (OM) concentration were reduced as well. These results suggested that P in FC fraction was gradually transformed into particulate P during photoreduction of Fe(III) and photodegradation of OM under UV irradiation. Our study helps to understand the mechanism of the phototransformation of colloidal P, and propose an UV irradiation-based approach to remove colloidal P in agricultural runoff., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) or plus with chemotherapy in older patients., Methods: We enrolled 110 older patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC ≥75 years) who received either chemotherapy alone (chemo), ICI plus chemotherapy (ICI + chemo), or ICI alone and ICI plus other therapies, which included anti-angiogenesis drugs or other novel ICI (ICIs). Patient characteristics, treatment response, survival, and toxicity were evaluated., Results: In total population, the ICIs group has the highest disease control rate (DCR 75%). There were no significant differences in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) among older patients between ICI + chemo and ICIs groups (PFS: 5.3 months vs. 5.5 months, p  = 0.70, OS: 10.7 months vs. 20.3 months, p = 0.995). Meanwhile, we observed ICIs had a longer PFS and OS than chemo group (PFS: 3.9 months vs. 5.5 months, p  = 0.01, OS: 10.9 months vs. 20.3 months, p = 0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that patients with programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) ≥ 1% had a distinct longer trend toward OS in ICIs group compared to ICI + chemo group (22.4 months vs. 10.7 months, p  = 0.605), even though there was no significant difference. In terms of safety, ICIs was more tolerable and had a lower discontinuation rate than ICI + chemo group., Conclusion: In the real world, ICI + chemo is more likely to be discontinued due to adverse effects and does not significantly improve patient survival compared with ICIs treatment in total population and subgroup. Therefore, ICI alone or ICIs plus other therapies, such as anti-angiogenesis drugs or other novel ICI (ICIs) could be recommended for older cases with PD-L1 positive NSCLC., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Three-arm star polymethacrylates with dual-phase (solution and solid-state) fluorescent emission have been synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using a triphenylamine-derived organboron complex (TAPA-BKI-3Br) as initiator. The as-synthesized three-arm star polymethacrylates exhibited bright emission in both solution and the solid states due to the highly twisted structure and intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) effect of TAPA-BKI core, as well as the steric effect and restriction of intramolecular motions from the polymer arms. And the polymer chains have an important influence on the photophysical behavior of the as-synthesized three-arm star polymethacrylates in the aggregated state., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Eutrophication can stimulate the emissions of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) accompanied by variations in environmental variables in lakes. However, the effects of eutrophication on VSC emissions from lake sediments as well as the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, depth gradient sediments at different eutrophication levels and seasons were collected from Lake Taihu to investigate the response of sulfur biotransformation in the sediments to eutrophication based on the analysis of environmental variables, microbial activity, abundance and community structure. H 2 S and CS 2 were the main VSCs produced from the lake sediments, with the production rates of 2.3-7.9 and 1.2-3.9 ng g -1  h -1 in August, respectively, which were higher than those in March, mainly due to the increasing activity and abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) at high temperatures. The VSC production rates from the sediments increased with lake eutrophication level. Higher VSC production rates were detected in surface sediments in eutrophic regions but in deep sediments in oligotrophic regions. Sulfuricurvum, Thiobacillus and Sulfuricella were the main sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) in the sediments, while Desulfatiglans and Desulfobacca were the predominant SRB. Organic matter, Fe 3+ , NO 3 - -N and total sulfur had significant influences on the microbial communities in the sediments. Partial least squares path modelling showed that the trophic level index could stimulate VSC emissions from lake sediments by influencing the activities and abundances of SOB and SRB. These findings indicated that sediments contributed substantially to VSC emissions from eutrophic lakes, especially surface sediments, and sediment dredging might be an effective way to mitigate VSC emissions from eutrophic lakes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Lung Adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a major component of lung cancer. Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) has emerged as a new target for some tumor treatments., Methods: The expression and clinical data of LUAD samples were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, followed by acquiring ERS-related genes (ERSGs) from the GeneCards database. Differentially expressed endoplasmic reticulum stress-related genes (DE-ERSGs) were screened and used to construct a risk model by Cox regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) curves and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to determine the risk validity of the model. Moreover, enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the high- and low- risk groups was conducted to investigate the functions related to the risk model. Furthermore, the differences in ERS status, vascular-related genes, tumor mutation burden (TMB), immunotherapy response, chemotherapy drug sensitivity and other indicators between the high- and low- risk groups were studied. Finally, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to validate the mRNA expression levels of prognostic model genes., Results: A total of 81 DE-ERSGs were identified in the TCGA-LUAD dataset, and a risk model, including HSPD1, PCSK9, GRIA1, MAOB, COL1A1, and CAV1, was constructed by Cox regression analysis. K-M and ROC analyses showed that the high-risk group had a low survival, and the Area Under Curve (AUC) of ROC curves of 1-, 3- and 5-years overall survival was all greater than 0.6. In addition, functional enrichment analysis suggested that the risk model was related to collagen and extracellular matrix. Furthermore, differential analysis showed vascular-related genes FLT1, TMB, neoantigen, PD-L1 protein (CD274), Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE), and T cell exclusion score were significantly different between the high- and low-risk groups. Finally, qRT-PCR results showed that the mRNA expression levels of 6 prognostic genes were consistent with the analysis., Conclusion: A novel ERS-related risk model, including HSPD1, PCSK9, GRIA1, MAOB, COL1A1, and CAV1, was developed and validated, which provided a theoretical basis and reference value for ERS-related fields in the study and treatment of LUAD., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objective: This study aimed to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor-derived endothelial cells (CTECs) in patients with advanced lung cancer, for describing the distribution characteristics of CTC and CTEC subtypes, exploring the correlation between CTC/CTEC subtypes and novel prognostic biomarkers., Methods: A total of 52 patients with advanced lung cancer were enrolled in this study. Using the subtraction enrichment-immunofluorescence in situ hybridization (SE-iFISH) system, CTCs and CTECs derived from these patients were identified., Results: Based on cell size, there were 49.3% small and 50.7% large CTCs, and 23.0% small and 77.0% large CTECs. Triploidy, tetraploidy, and multiploidy varied in the small and large CTCs/CTECs. Besides these three aneuploid subtypes, monoploidy was found in the small and large CTECs. Triploid and multiploid small CTCs and tetraploid large CTCs were associated with shorter overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced lung cancer. However, none of the CTECs subtypes showed a significant correlation with patient prognosis. In addition, we found strong positive correlations (P<0.0001) in the four groups including triploid small cell size CTCs and multiploid small cell size CTECs, and multiploid small cell size CTCs and monoploid small cell size CTECs. Furthermore, combined detection of the specific subtypes, including triploid small CTC and monoploid small CTEC, triploid small CTC and triploid small CTEC, and multiploid small CTC and monoploid small CTEC, were associated with poor prognosis in advanced lung cancer., Conclusions: Aneuploid small CTCs are associated with the outcome of patients with advanced lung cancer. In particular, the combined detection of triploid small CTCs and monoploid small CTECs, triploid small CTCs and triploid small CTECs, and multiploid small CTCs and monoploid small CTECs has clinical significance for predicting prognosis in patients with advanced lung cancer., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Zhang, Hong, Wang, Hu, Tian, Wu, Wang, Dai, Zhang, Yang and Fang.)

Landfill cover soil is the environmental interface between landfills and the atmosphere and plays an important role in mitigating CH 4 emission from landfills. Here, stable isotope probing microcosms with CH 4 or CH 4 and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) were carried out to characterize activity and community structure of methanotrophs in landfill cover soils under DMS stress. The CH 4 oxidation activity in the landfill cover soils was not obviously influenced at the DMS concentration of 0.05%, while it was inhibited at the DMS concentrations of 0.1% and 0.2%. DMS-S was mainly oxidized to sulfate (SO 4 2- ) in the landfill cover soils. In the landfill cover soils, DMS could inhibit the expression of bacteria and decrease the abundances of pmoA and mmoX genes, while it could prompt the expression of pmoA and mmoX genes. γ-Proteobacteria methanotrophs including Methylocaldum, Methylobacter, Crenothrix and unclassified Methylococcaceae and α-Proteobacteria methanotrophs Methylocystis dominated in assimilating CH 4 in the landfill cover soils. Of them, Methylobacter and Crenothrix had strong tolerance to DMS or DMS could promote the growth and activity of Methylobacter and Crenothrix, while Methylocaldum had weak tolerance to DMS and showed an inhibitory effect. Metagenomic analyses showed that methanotrophs had the genes of methanethiol oxidation and could metabolize CH 4 and methanethiol simultaneously in the landfill cover soils. These findings suggested that methanotrophs might metabolize sulfur compounds in the landfill cover soils, which may provide the potential application in engineering for co-removal of CH 4 and sulfur compounds., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Currently there is no standard therapy recommended for second-line treatment for thymic carcinoma. Our study compared multidrug chemotherapy, single-agent chemotherapy, and PD-1 inhibitors in patients diagnosed with advanced thymic carcinoma who had previous platinum-based chemotherapy at the clinic., Methods: The study included patients with thymic carcinoma who failed first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. Kaplan-Meier methods were applied in the study for estimating the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) curves. Pearson chi-square or Fisher's exact chi-square test was adopted to make comparisons of the objective response rate (ORR) between treatment groups. Cox regression was used for the multivariate analyses in PFS and OS., Results: Among the 92 patients enrolled, multidrug chemotherapy was used in 51 (55.4%) patients for second-line therapy. Thirty-six patients (35.9%) received single-agent chemotherapy, and eight patients (8.7%) underwent PD-1 inhibitors. The multidrug chemotherapy group showed better efficacy than the other two groups, with an ORR of 35.3% (p = 0.006). The median PFS of multidrug chemotherapy, single-agent chemotherapy and PD-1 inhibitors were 5.0 months, 3.0 months, and 4.0 months, respectively (p = 0.008). Patients in the multidrug chemotherapy group also showed an advantage in OS in comparison with the other two treatment groups (p = 0.045), with a median OS of 30.4 months. Multivariate analysis showed that second-line treatment was independent factor for both PFS (p = 0.035) and OS (p = 0.037). Grade 3-4 AEs were mostly detected in patients receiving multidrug chemotherapy and were primarily hematologic. Treatment-related mortality was not found in any of the groups., Conclusions: Multidrug chemotherapy had a trend toward a more positive response rate and outcomes in longer survival time than single-agent chemotherapy and PD-1 inhibitors. Multidrug chemotherapy is a choice worth considering for second-line therapy in patients with thymic carcinoma if tolerable., (© 2022 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

In order to realize the value-added utilization of food waste (FW), the preparation of crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) feed by yeast fermentation was investigated. Firstly, the suitable fermentation condition was obtained through a single factor experiment as follows: the initial moisture of the FW was adjusted to 60% with bran and inoculated with a 2% yeast mixture (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida utilis, and Yarrowia lipolytica, 3:2:1) followed by aerobic solid-state fermentation for 7 days. The crude protein and acid-soluble protein contents in the fermented feed were 25.14% and 5.16%, which were increased by 8% and 140.67%, respectively. The crude fat content was 0.74%, decreased by 68.29%. The content of antioxidant glutathione (571.78 μg/g) increased 63.33%, and the activities of protease and amylase increased nearly 9 and 3 times, respectively. The maximum degradation rates of aflatoxin B1, zearalenone, and deoxynivalenol were 63.83%, 77.52%, and 80.16%, respectively. The fermented feeds were evaluated by substituting (0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, and 100%) commercial diet for crayfish (30-day culture period). When the replacement proportion was 30%, the weight gain of crayfish reached 44.87% (initial body weight 13.98 ± 0.41 g), which was significantly increased by 10.25% compared with the control (p = 0.0005). In addition, the lysozyme and SOD enzyme activities in crayfish hepatopancreas were also increased significantly. Our findings suggest that yeast-fermented feed from FW can replace 30% of crayfish's conventional diet, which may improve crayfish's antioxidant capacity and enhance non-specific immunity by providing molecules such as glutathione., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Algae decay is an important process influencing environmental variables and emissions of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) in eutrophic lakes. However, effects of algae decay on VSC emissions from eutrophic lakes as well as fate of algae-derived sulfur remain poorly understood. In this study, simulated algae-sediment systems were used to explore the flow and distribution of sulfur during algae decay. VSCs including hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), methanethiol (CH 3 SH), carbon disulfide (CS 2 ) and dimethyl sulfide ((CH 3 ) 2 S) were detected during algae decay, which increased with algae biomass and eutrophic levels in lakes. During algae decay, the highest H 2 S, CH 3 SH and (CH 3 ) 2 S emission rates of 10.45, 21.82 and 43.26 μg d -1 occurred in the first 1-2 days, respectively, while the highest CS 2 emission rates were observed between days 8 and 11. The maximum emissions of H 2 S and CS 2 from algae decay were estimated at 0.51 and 0.35 mg m -2 d -1 in Lake Taihu, accounting for 1.57% and 0.69% of the total H 2 S and CS 2 emissions of in situ, respectively. Algae decay could significantly increase the contents of total sulfur and total carbon in sediments by 2.90%-21.11% and 4.23%-45.05%, respectively. The VSC emissions during algae decay could be predicted using the multiple regression models with the contents of total carbon, total nitrogen and sulfur-containing compounds in sediments. Partial least squares path modelling demonstrated that algae decay had a low direct effect on VSC emissions with a strength of 0.06, while it had a significant influence on environmental variables with a strength of 0.63, which could affect VSC emissions with a strength of 0.85, indicating VSC emissions from eutrophic lakes were affected by the environmental variables rather than the direct influence of algae decay. These findings illustrated the mechanisms of VSC emissions during algae decay and provided insights into VSC control and mitigation for eutrophic lakes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Eutrophic lakes are hot spots of CH 4 and volatile sulfur compound (VSC) emissions, especially during algal blooms and decay. However, the response of CH 4 and VSC emissions to lake eutrophication and algae growth as well as the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, the emissions of CH 4 and VSCs from four regions of Lake Taihu with different eutrophic levels were investigated in four months (i.e., March, May, August and December). The CH 4 emissions ranged from 20.4 to 126.9 mg m -2 d -1 in the investigated sites and increased with eutrophic levels and temperature. H 2 S and CS 2 were the dominant volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) emitted from the lake. The CH 4 oxidation potential of water ranged from 2.1 to 14.9 μg h -1 L -1 , which had positive correlations with trophic level index and the environmental variables except for the NH 4 + -N concentration. Eutrophic levels could increase the abundances of bacteria and methanotrophs in lake water. α-Proteobacteria methanotroph Methylocystis was more abundant than γ-Proteobacteria methanotrophs in March and May, while the latter was more abundant in August and November. The relative abundance of Cyanobacteria, including Microcystis, A. granulata var. angustissima and Cyanobium had significantly positive correlations with temperature, turbidity, SO 4 2- -S, and total sulfur. Partial least squares path modelling revealed that the algal growth could promote VSC emissions, which had a positive correlation with CH 4 oxidation potential, likely due to the positive correlation between the CH 4 and VSC emissions from lakes. These findings indicate that water eutrophication and algae growth could increase the emissions of CH 4 and VSCs from lakes. Controlling algae growth might be an effective way to mitigate the emissions of CH 4 and VSCs from freshwater lakes., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Anaplastic lymphoma kinase ( ALK ) gene rearrangement is a series of mutations of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Since 2011, multiple ALK inhibitors (ALKis) have been developed and launched for targeted therapy. In this study, we sought to investigate different strategies of sequential applying the ALKis and their clinical benefits to the overall survival (OS)., Methods: A total of 176 patients with advanced NSCLC (stage IIIB-IV) harboring the ALK rearrangement were included in this cohort study. They were diagnosed between February 1, 2012 and November 19, 2019 at Peking University Cancer Hospital. Clinical characters were reviewed from patients' records. Strategies of drugs, progression-free survival (PFS) and OS were collected during the follow-ups. The Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox proportional-hazard analysis were used to conduct the analyses survival and to examine the relationship between the variables and OS., Results: A significantly longer OS was observed either in patients treated with crizotinib [N=106, median OS (mOS): 32.9 months] or in patients treated with a next-generation ALKi [N=34, mOS: not reached (NR)] as the initial ALKi, compared with patients treated with conventional chemotherapy but no ALKi (N=36, mOS: 10.3 months, P<0.001). After disease progression with initial crizotinib, patients who received no ALKi had shorter OS than those who received only crizotinib beyond progressive disease (CBPD) (mOS: 9.7 vs. 20.3 months; P=0.015), only subsequent next-generation ALKis (mOS: 9.7 vs. 41.1 months; P<0.001), and CBPD followed with subsequent next-generation ALKis (mOS: 9.7 months vs. NR; P<0.001). Patients treated with 2 types of ALKi had better survival than those treated with 1 ALKi (mOS: 45.8 vs. 21.3 months, P=0.003), but no such survival benefit was observed in patients treated with ≥3 ALKis (P=0.366)., Conclusions: ALKis have been shown to be clinically effective in treating NSCLC patients with ALK rearrangements. In the case of disease progression with crizotinib, either of CBPD or sequential other ALKis can extend patients' OS. The sequential application of multiple ALKis was found to be better than it of single ALKi in prolonging OS. However, the question of which inhibitor to select as the initial inhibitor needs to be examined further in future studies., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://jtd.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/jtd-22-622/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Journal of Thoracic Disease. All rights reserved.)

Lakes are important methane (CH 4 ) sources to the atmosphere, especially eutrophic lakes with cyanobacterial blooms accompanied by volatile sulfur compound (VSC) emissions. CH 4 oxidation is a key strategy to mitigate CH 4 emission from lakes. In this study, we characterized the fate of CH 4 -derived carbon and active microbial communities in lake sediments with CS 2 used as a typical VSC, based on the investigation of CH 4 and VSC fluxes from Meiliang Bay in Lake Taihu. Stable isotope probing microcosm incubation showed that the efficiency of CH 4 -derived carbon incorporated into organic matter was 21.1% in the sediment with CS 2 existence, which was lower than that without CS 2 (27.3%). SO 4 2- -S was the main product of CS 2 oxidation under aerobic condition, accounting for 59.3-62.7% of the input CS 2 -S. CS 2 and CH 4 coexistence led to a decrease of methanotroph and methylotroph abundances and stimulated the production of extracellular polymeric substances. CS 2 and its metabolites including total sulfur, SO 4 2- and acid volatile sulfur acted as the main drivers influencing the active microbial community structure in the sediments. Compared with α-proteobacteria methanotrophs, γ-proteobacteria methanotrophs Methylomicrobium, Methylomonas, Crenothrix and Methylosarcina were more dominant in the sediments. CH 4 -derived carbon mainly flowed into methylotrophs in the first stage. With CH 4 consumption, more CH 4 -derived carbon flowed into non-methylotrophs. CS 2 could prompt more CH 4 -derived carbon flowing into non-methanotrophs and non-methylotrophs, such as sulfur-metabolizing bacteria. These findings can help elucidate the influence of VSCs on microorganisms and provide insights to carbon fluxes from eutrophic lake systems., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Landfills are important emission sources of atmospheric N 2 O, especially bioreactor landfills with leachate recirculation. In this study, N 2 O emissions were characterized in four bioreactor landfills with different ventilation methods, including intermittent (2-h aeration per 12 h or 4 h/d in continuous) and continuous aeration (20 h/d), in comparison to a traditional landfill without aeration. During the experiment, the N 2 O emissions from the landfill reactors with intermittent aeration were 7.48 and 7.15 mg, accounting for only 20.8% and 19.9% of those with continuous aeration, respectively. Continuous aeration was more favorable for the biodegradation of organic matter than intermittent aeration in the landfilled waste and leachate. Intermittent and continuous aeration could both effectively remove total nitrogen (TN) and NH 4 + -N with removal efficiencies above 64% in the leachate. In the experimental landfill reactors with gas-water joint regulation, the proportion of N 2 O-N to TN loss ranged from 0.02% to 0.75%. Luteimonas, Pseudomonas, Thauera, Pusillimonas and Comamonas were the dominant denitrifying bacteria in the landfill reactors. The denitrifying bacterial community in the landfilled waste was closely related to its degree of stabilization and nitrogenous compound concentrations in the landfilled waste and leachate. The NO 3 - -N and NO 2 - -N concentrations of leachate were the most important environmental factors affecting the succession of nirS-type and nirK-type denitrifying microbial communities in the landfilled waste. These findings indicated that intermittent aeration was an economical and effective way to accelerate the stabilization of landfilled waste and reduce the pollutants in leachate and N 2 O emissions during landfill mining and reclamation., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The combination of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor and chemotherapy has been clinically confirmed to be beneficial as the first-line treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC. This study aimed to assess the effect of nivolumab + docetaxel versus nivolumab monotherapy in patients with NSCLC after the failure of platinum doublet chemotherapy., Materials and Methods: The efficacy and toxicity of nivolumab + docetaxel combination therapy versus nivolumab monotherapy were compared in this retrospective study. Primary endpoint of the study was progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoints were objective response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), and toxicity., Results: Between November 2017 and December 2019, 77 patients were included in this study, with 58 patients in the nivolumab group and 19 in the nivolumab + docetaxel group. The median follow-up was 18 months, and the PFS was 8 months for patients receiving nivolumab + docetaxel and 2 months for those receiving nivolumab alone (p = 0.001), respectively. Nivolumab + docetaxel showed superior OS compared with nivolumab, with the median OS unreached versus 7 months (p = 0.011). Among patients without EGFR/ALK variation, compared to nivolumab monotherapy, nivolumab + docetaxel showed better PFS (p = 0.04) and OS (p  = 0.05). There was no significant difference in grade 3-4 adverse events (AEs) between the two groups (p = 0.253)., Conclusions: The combination of nivolumab and docetaxel demonstrated a meaningful improvement in progression-free survival and overall survival compared to nivolumab monotherapy, in patients with NSCLC after the failure of platinum doublet chemotherapy, irrespective of EGFR/ALK variation status., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The hyperaccumulating mechanism concerning heavy metal activation or passivation and plant response triggered by fulvic acid (FA) and humic acid (HA) recruitments are investigated herein. We carefully examine the Cd activation effect by various FA and HA, tracing from pig, goat, and duck manure composts to straw compost and commercial materials (i.e., PC, GC, DC, SC, and CM), as well as their roles in plant growth promotion and Cd uptake. Our results indicate that due to the decrease of soil pH and their multiple functional groups, the contents of available Cd (AE-Cd) increased by 4.3-4.8% and 3.6-6.3% when all FA and HA sources were applied for 30 days. A 13.1-19.9% increase in AE-Cd was observed when CFA, DFA, and PFA were applied for five days, and a 9.5% increment was found when PHA was applied for 10 days. In the pot experiment, the Cd accumulation in plants increased by 2.78 and 2.17 folds with PFA and PHA applications, respectively, compared to the blank control group. This result can be attributed to the stimulative effects of the simultaneous Sedum alfredii growth and Cd phytoavailability. Notably, the Cd accumulation increased by 2.26 times with the SFA amendment due to the predominant stimulation effect to the phytoavailable Cd rather than plant growth. However, slight inhibitory effects were observed upon plant growth or Cd uptake, which led to the reduction of the Cd accumulation with DHA, SHA, and CHA employments. Consistently, the corresponding soil Cd removal efficiencies were 43.5% and 34.6% with PFA and PHA, respectively, which hold abundant O- and N-containing groups. Our research aims to gain insights into the ternary interaction in the presence of heavy metal, humic substances, and S. alfredii to simultaneously accelerate Cd activation and hyperaccumulation., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Landfill mining and reclamation is a new strategy for addressing the lack of space available for new landfills and realizing the sustainable development of landfills. A gas-water joint bioreactor landfill is regulated by injecting water and/or recirculating leachate, and a blasting aeration system to optimize waste stabilization. In this study, four landfill reactors were constructed to investigate the effects of ventilation methods, including continuous (20 h d -1 ) and intermittent aeration (4 h d -1 in continuous or 2-h aeration per 12 h, twice a day), on the degradation of organic matter and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in comparison with traditional landfills. A total of 62 VOCs were detected in the landfill reactors. Among them, halogenated compounds had the highest abundance (39.8-65.4 %), followed by oxygenated compounds, alkanes and alkenes, and aromatic compounds. Both intermittent and continuous aeration could accelerate the degradation of landfilled waste and increase the volatilization rate of VOCs. Compared with intermittent aeration, the degradation of landfilled waste was more quickly in the landfill reactor with continuous aeration. However, intermittent aeration could create anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic conditions, which were conducive to the growth and metabolism of anaerobic and aerobic microorganisms in landfills and thereby reduced more than 63.4 % of total VOC emissions from the landfill reactor with continuous aeration. Moreover, intermittent aeration could reduce the ventilation rate and decrease the cost of aeration by 80 % relative to continuous aeration. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Tenericutes predominated in the landfill reactors. The environmental variables including organic matter and VOCs concentrations had significant influences on microbial community structure in the landfilled waste. These findings indicated that intermittent aeration was an effective way to accelerate the stabilization of landfilled waste and reduce the cost and environmental risks in bioreactor landfills with gas-water joint regulation., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Carbofuran (CAS) is one of extensively used carbamate pesticides, which is considered as a derivative or a candidate of carbofuran (CAN) for its lower toxicity and persistence. Nevertheless, CAS could be degraded into its toxic metabolites, imposing potential risks on ecological safety. In this paper, biochars, derived from rice straw (RS), chicken manure (CM), corn straw (CS) and tire rubber (TR), were applied in CAS-contaminated soil to explore their effects on the dissipation of CAS and its metabolites. The dissipation rate of CAS was depressed by the amendment of biochar, mainly because biochar inhibited the hydrolysis of CAS by elevating soil pH value. Nevertheless, CS has efficiently enhanced the dissipation of CAN by almost 2-times for its promotion in hydrolysis and biodegradation. CS and CM improved biodegradation by altering the composition and structure of the microbial communities, exhibiting potential for facilitating bioremediation of CAS and CAN. Moreover, steam activated biochar accelerated the dissipation rate by 1.7-2.9 times and 1.3-2.4 times for CAS and CAN, respectively. This study investigated the effects of biochar on CAS and its toxic metabolites as well as possible governing mechanisms, providing rational instruction for biochar application in ambient atmosphere., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The pretreatment of wheat straw has been recognized to be an essential step prior to anaerobic digestion, owing to the high abundance of lignocellulosic materials. In order to choose economical and effective techniques for the disposal of wheat straw, effects of five pretreatment methods including acid, alkali, co-pretreatment of acid and alkali, CaO 2 , and liquid digestate of municipal sewage sludge on anaerobic digestion of wheat straw were investigated by analyzing biogas production and organic matter degradation in the study. The results showed that among these pretreatment methods, the methane yield was highest in the liquid digestate pretreated-wheat straw with 112.6 mL g TS -1 , followed by the acid, alkali, and CaO 2 pretreatments, and the lowest was observed in the co-pretreatment of acid and alkali. Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the microbial communities in the anaerobic digesters revealed that the genera Ruminiclostridium including Ruminiclostridium and Ruminiclostridium 1, Hydrogenispora, and Capriciproducens were the main hydrolytic bacteria, acidogenic bacteria, and acetogenic bacteria, respectively, in the anaerobic digesters. Capriciproducens and Hydrogenispora dominated in the first and the later stages, respectively, in the anaerobic digesters, which could work as indicators of the anaerobic co-digestion stage of sludge and wheat straw. The total solid and SO 4 2- -S contents of the solid digestate and the NH 4 + -N concentration of the liquid digestate had a significant influence on the microbial community in the digesters. These findings indicated that liquid digestate pretreatment was a potential option to improve the anaerobic digestion of wheat straw, due to the low cost without additional chemical agents., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Endostatin and bevacizumab have been approved for the first-line treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in China; however, the clinical outcomes for each drug combined with platinum-based doublet chemotherapy (PT-DC) have not yet been directly compared. This study sought to assess the clinical outcomes of the 2 drugs combined with PT-DC in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma., Methods: This retrospective cohort study examined the clinical data of patients with metastatic or recurrent lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) treated with endostatin or bevacizumab combined with PT-DC as the first-line treatment from October 2010 to November 2019. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed using a 1:1 ratio nearest neighbor algorithm. The effectiveness and safety outcomes for the 2 groups were evaluated., Results: A total of 202 patients were enrolled in the study. Of these, the endostatin group comprised 124 patients and the bevacizumab group comprised 78 patients; 67 pairs of patients were identified after PSM. The progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients treated with PT-DC + endostatin and PT-DC + bevacizumab were compared [(PFS: before PSM 4.8 vs. 6.5 months, P=0.741; after PSM 6.5 vs. 6.1 months, P=0.402), (OS: before PSM 21.1 vs. 39.3 months, P=0.912; after PSM 23.6 vs. 39.3 months, P=0.579)]. The objective response rates (ORRs) and disease control rates (DCRs) of the 2 groups were comparable (37.7% vs. 50.7%, P=0.094; 89.6% vs. 92.5%, P=0.545). Adverse events (AEs) ≥ grade 3 were not observed in the PT-DC + endostatin group. Three (3.8%) cases of AEs ≥ grade 3 were observed the PT-DC + bevacizumab group, comprising hypertension (n=1), proteinuria (n=1), hemoptysis (n=1)., Conclusions: This retrospective analysis showed that in first-line treatments, PT-DC + endostatin and PT-DC + bevacizumab appear to produce similar anti-tumor activities in patients with metastatic or recurrent lung adenocarcinoma. PT-DC + bevacizumab tended to result in worse adverse reactions than PT-DC + endostatin.

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is characterized by aggressive spread and poor prognosis, but has limited treatment options. Results of prognostic factors from randomized trials on treatment arrangement are conflicting and large-scale real-world analysis is lacking., Methods: Patients diagnosed SCLC between 2008 and 2018 in Peking University Cancer Hospital were included in this study. Kaplan-Meier methods were adopted, and univariate analysis and multivariate Cox regression models were constructed to analyze prognostic factors., Results: Among 1045 patients who presented to our center, 988 eligible patients were identified. Median overall survival (OS) was 16.0 months for the whole group, 24.0 months and 11.0 months for limited stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) and extensive stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), separately. Limited-stage, good performance status (PS) (ECOG 0-1), response to primary systemic treatment, and patients who received initiative irradiation and three or more lines of chemotherapy were predicted to have better OS in the whole group. Only response to first-line systemic therapy and prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) were independent prognostic factors of survival in LS-SCLC; while good PS (ECOG 0-1), without liver, bone, or subcutaneous metastases, response to first-line therapy, initial local irradiation, and three or more lines of systemic therapy predicted a favorable prognosis in ES-SCLC., Conclusions: The present study retrieved from large real-world data suggested that response to primary systemic therapy and aggressive radiotherapy are independent prognostic factors for SCLC. PCI and initiative irradiation for original or metastatic sites improved the OS in LS-SCLC and ES-SCLC, respectively., (© 2021 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Background: Programmed cell death-1/programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-1/PD-L1) inhibitors are increasingly used in China, but no real-world data are available about the immune-related adverse events (irAEs). This real-world retrospective study aimed to assess the safety and effectiveness of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to analyze the association between irAEs and effectiveness., Methods: This was a retrospective study of the clinical data of patients with NSCLC treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors from August 2016 to November 2019 at Beijing Cancer Hospital. The patients were divided into the irAE or non-irAE groups. Overall adverse events, the impact of irAE on tumor response, and the association of irAEs with effectiveness were evaluated., Results: One hundred and ninety-one patients were included, including 70 (36.6%) patients in the irAE group and 121 (63.4%) patients in the non-irAE group. AE, grades 3-5 AEs, and irAE occurred in 107 (56.0%), 24 (12.6%), and 70 (36.6%) of the patients, respectively. The objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were higher in the irAE group compared with the non-irAE group (42.0% vs. 25.8%, P=0.038; 91.9% vs. 70.8%, P=0.002). Multivariable analyses identified that irAE were associated with progression-free survival (HR=0.62, 95%CI: 0.43-0.91; P=0.015), but not with overall survival (HR=0.76, 95%CI: 0.44-1.28; P=0.299)., Conclusion: In NSCLC treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, patients with irAEs showed improved effectiveness over patients without irAEs. Future studies of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy should explore this association and the underlying biological mechanisms of efficacy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Chen, Nie, Dai, Hu, Zhang, Han, Ma, Tian, Han, Wu, Wang, Long, Zhang and Fang.)

Background: Pemetrexed/platinum chemotherapy has been the standard chemotherapy regimen for lung adenocarcinoma patients, but the efficacy varies considerably., Methods: To discover new serum biomarkers to predict the efficacy of pemetrexed/platinum chemotherapy, we analyzed 20 serum samples from advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients who received pemetrexed/platinum chemotherapy with the data-independent acquisition (DIA) quantitative mass spectrometry (MS)., Results: The 20 patients were categorized as "good response" [12 patients achieving partial response (PR)] and "poor response" [8 patients with progressive disease (PD)] groups. Altogether 23 significantly different expressed proteins were identified, which had relative ratios higher than 1.2 or lower than -0.83, with 7 proteins having an area under the curve (AUC) above 0.8. To further validate the DIA results, we used the parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) method to examine 16 candidate serum biomarkers in the study cohort of 20 patients and another cohort of 22 advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients (16 PR and 6 PD). Quantitative validation using PRM correlated well with the DIA results, and 10 promising proteins exhibited a similar up- or downregulation. It is worth noting that glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPX3) exhibits significant upregulation in the poor response group compared with the good response group, which was validated by both DIA and PRM methods., Conclusions: Our study confirmed that combined DIA MS and PRM approaches were effective in identifying serum predictive biomarkers for advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients. Further studies are needed to explore the potential biological mechanism underlying these biomarkers., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tlcr-21-153). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2021 Translational Lung Cancer Research. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Pembrolizumab and bevacizumab both have antitumor activity. According to NCCN updated guideline the benefit of pembrolizumab or bevacizumab as a first line in management of advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is documented in randomized controlled studies. The study aimed to evaluate the response and complications of patients with advanced NSCLC treated with pembrolizumab or bevacizumab plus chemotherapy. Methods: This study was a retrospective cohort study of patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC who received cisplatin with pemetrexed combined with pembrolizumab (A group) or bevacizumab (B group) from 07/02/2018 to 07/03/2021 at Peking University Cancer Hospital. Progression-free survival (PFS) was the primary outcome. The secondary outcomes included overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), duration of response (DoR), and adverse events (AEs). Results: This study included 66 patients, 34 in A group and 32 in B group. There were no differences in median PFS (7.6 vs 9.9 months, P  = .601). There were no differences in median OS (23.1 vs 24.2 months, P  = .782). There were no differences in ORR (57.6 % vs 41.9 % , P  = .211) and DCR (93.9 % vs 100.0 % , P  = .164) between 2 groups. The occurrence of AEs was similar. No new safety signals were observed. Grade 3 to 4 treatment-related AEs occurred in 17 (50.0 % ) patients of A group and in 12 (37.5 % ) of B group ( P  > .05). Conclusion: The addition of pembrolizumab or bevacizumab to pemetrexed plus cisplatin was well tolerated and resulted in a clinically meaningful treatment benefit in advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. When pembrolizumab is not suitable, bevacizumab plus chemotherapy may be an option.

The purpose of this prospective phase II clinical trial was to investigate the efficacy and safety of anlotinib in patients with relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Forty-five patients with relapsed SCLC were enrolled and treated with anlotinib (one cycle of 12 mg daily for 14 days, discontinued for 7 days, and repeated every 21 days) until disease progression or intolerance of treatment. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary end points were overall survival (OS), disease control rate (DCR), objective control rate (ORR) and toxicity. The median PFS was 4.1 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.4-5.8) and the median OS was 6.1 months (95% CI 2.2-10.0). The OS for the limited-stage subgroup was significantly longer than that of the extensive-stage subgroup (P = .02). The DCR was 67%, and the ORR was 11%. The most common adverse event was hypertension (13%), which was controlled well with antihypertensive drugs. In conclusion, anlotinib has likely efficacy in patients with relapsed SCLC, and the side effects can be well tolerated. A longer OS was observed in limited-stage SCLC patients treated with anlotinib., (© 2020 The Authors. International Journal of Cancer published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of UICC.)

β-defensins (BD) are the largest family of vertebrate defensins with potent antimicrobial, chemotactic and immune-regulatory activities. Four BD genes (BD1-4) have been cloned previously in rainbow trout but none have been reported in other salmonids. In this study seven BD genes (BD1a-b, 2-4, 5a-b) are characterised in Atlantic salmon and additional BD genes (BD1b and BD5) in rainbow trout. Bioinformatic analysis revealed up to seven BD genes in the genomes of other salmonids that belong to five subfamilies (BD1-5) due to whole genome duplications. BD1-2 and BD4-5 are also present in basal teleosts but only BD1 and/or BD5 are present in advanced teleosts due to loss of one chromosomal locus. BD3 is salmonid specific. Fish BD have a unique three-coding exon structure. Fish BD are highly divergent between subfamilies but conserved within each subfamily. Atlantic salmon BD genes are differentially expressed in tissues, often with low level expression in systemic immune organs (head kidney and spleen) yet with at least one BD gene highly expressed in mucosal tissues, heart, blood and liver. This suggests an important role of these BD genes in innate immunity in mucosa, liver and blood in Atlantic salmon., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Mammalian CCL20, or macrophage inflammatory protein-3α, can function as a homeostatic and inflammatory chemokine. In relation to the latter, it is responsible for the chemoattraction of lymphocytes and dendritic cells to mucosal immune sites under inflammatory and pathological conditions. CK1, CK8A and CK8B are rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) CC chemokines that were reported previously to be phylogenetically related to mammalian CCL20. In the current study, an additional seven CCL20&#95;L paralogues in rainbow trout are reported, that are divided into three subgroups and have been designated here as: CCL20&#95;L1a (also referred to as CK1), CCL20&#95;L1b1-2, CCL20&#95;L2a (CK8A), CCL20&#95;L2b (CK8B), CCL20&#95;L3a, and CCL20&#95;L3b1-4. Multiple CCL20&#95;L genes were also identified in other salmonids that arose from both whole genome duplication and local gene duplication. Phylogenetic tree, homology and synteny analysis support that CCL20&#95;L1-3 found in salmonids are also present in most teleosts arose from the 3 R whole genome duplication and in some species, local gene duplication. Like mammalian CCL20, rainbow trout CCL20&#95;L molecules possess a high positive net charge with a pI of 9.34-10.16, that is reported to be important for antimicrobial activity. Rainbow trout CCL20&#95;L paralogues are differentially expressed and in general highly expressed in mucosal tissues, such as gills, thymus and intestine. The expression levels of rainbow trout CCL20&#95;L paralogues are increased during development and following PAMP/cytokine stimulation. For example, in RTS-11 cells CCL20&#95;L3b1 and CCL20&#95;L3b2 are highly up-regulated by LPS, Poly I:C, recombinant(r) IFNa and rIL-1β. Trout CCL20&#95;L paralogues are also increased after Yersinia ruckeri infection or Poly I:C stimulation in vivo, with CCL20&#95;L3b1 and CCL20&#95;L3b2 again highly up-regulated. Overall, this is the first report of the complete CCL20 chemokine subfamily in rainbow trout, and the analysis of their expression and modulation in vitro and in vivo. These results suggest that teleosts possess divergent CCL20&#95;L molecules that may have important roles in anti-viral/anti-bacterial defence and in mucosal immunity., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Chemokines direct cell migration in development and immune defense, and bridge between innate and adaptive immune responses. The chemokine gene family has been rapidly evolving and has undergone species/lineage-specific expansion. Mammals possess inflammatory CXC chemokines CXCL1-8/15 and CXCL9-11 sub-groups, and homeostatic CXCL12-14, 16-17. Orthologues of mammalian CXCL12-14, three chemokines related to CXCL1-8/15 (CXCL8&#95;L1-3), two chemokines related to CXC9-11 (CXCL11&#95;L1-2), and five fish-specific chemokines (CXCL&#95;F1-5) have been described in teleosts. In this study, we reported three novel CXC chemokines in Asian swamp eel Monopterus albus, a commercially important freshwater fish species in China. Two of them belong to the fish-specific CXCL&#95;F2 group, named CXCL&#95;F2a/b, that share 89.5% amino acid identity. The other (CXCL11&#95;L3) belongs to a third CXCL11&#95;L related to the mammalian CXCL9-11 subfamily found only in percomorph fish species, and is the only CXCL9-11 related molecules in this lineage. Mammalian CXCL9-11 attract Th1 cells, and block the migration of Th2 cells in an immune response. This study suggests that all major lineages of teleosts have a CXCL9-11 related chemokine that will aid future functional investigation of CXCL11&#95;L in fish. Cxcl&#95;f2a is highly expressed constitutively in the skin of swamp eels that may attract immune cells to protect the skin in the absence of scales. Cxcl11&#95;l3 and cxcl&#95;f2b are highly expressed in immune tissues/organs and are up-regulated by the viral mimic poly I:C, but not bacterial infection in vivo, suggesting their role in anti-viral defense. The two cxcl&#95;f2 paralogues are differentially expressed and modulated, indicating sub- and/or neo-functionalization., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Excessive application of phosphorus (P) fertilizer to the agriculture soil can lead to the P loss to the aquatic ecosystem. Three soils from different land use (tea, paddy, and vegetable soils) were treated with biogas slurry (BS) at rate of 79.8 kg ha -1 , anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) at rate of 12.5, 25 and 50 kg ha -1 , Gypsum (Gy) at rate of 5t ha -1 , and the control (Ck) without treatment, to control P losses in a laboratory batch experiment. The soil solution was analyzed for total P (TP), dissolved reactive P (DRP) and total dissolved P (TDP). Particulate P (PP) and dissolved unreactive P (DURP) were calculated by subtracting DRP from TP and TDP, respectively. The DRP was within a range of 68-98% of TP whereas PP varied in a range of 2-32% of TP and DURP was within a range of 0.1-19% of TP, depending on soil types and different treatments. The addition of PAM at a high rate and Gy together on the soil after BS application reduced the release of TP by 54, 46, and 51% and that of DRP by 61, 49, and 53% for tea, paddy and vegetable soils, respectively. However, the application of BS with PAM alone promoted the release of DRP by 77, 86, 70% for tea, paddy, and vegetable soils, respectively. This study suggests that the synergic application of PAM and Gy on soils after BS addition can be a good strategy to reduce P losses., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Myxovirus resistance (Mx) proteins are interferon (IFN)-inducible Dynamin-like GTPases, which play an important role in antiviral immunity. Three Mx genes (Mx1-3) have been cloned previously in rainbow trout. In this study, an additional six Mx genes were cloned that reside in four chromosomal loci. Further bioinformatics analysis suggests the presence of three teleost Mx groups (TMG) each with a characteristic gene organisation. Salmonid Mx belong to TMG1 and TMG2. The increased salmonid Mx gene copies are due mainly to local gene duplications that happened before and after salmonid speciation, in a lineage/species specific manner. Trout Mx molecules have been diversified in the loop 1 and 4 regions, and in the nuclear localisation signal in loop 4. The trout Mx genes were shown to be differentially expressed in tissues, with high levels of expression of TMG1 (Mx1-4) in blood and TMG2 (Mx5-9) in intestine. The expression of the majority of the trout Mx genes was induced by poly IC in vitro and in vivo, and increased during development. In addition, induction by antiviral (IFN) and proinflammatory cytokines was studied, and showed that type I IFN, IFNγ and IL-1β can induce Mx gene expression in an Mx gene-, cytokine- and cell line-dependent manner. These results show that salmonids possess a large number Mx genes as well as complex regulatory pathways, which may contribute to their success in an anadromous life style., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: This real-world study assessed the efficacy and toxicity of anlotinib as salvage treatment in Chinese patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Methods: The medical records of 81 patients with advanced NSCLC who had failed at least two lines of chemotherapy were retrospectively collected. All patients were administered anlotinib treatment until disease progression or intolerance as a result of adverse events. Survival curves were created using the Kaplan-Meier method. The log-rank test was used for univariate analysis of progression-free survival (PFS) between groups. Cox regression was used to estimate the statistically significant factors based on univariate analysis., Results: The median PFS was five months (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.5-6.5). The objective response rate (ORR) was 7% and the disease control rate (DCR) was 84%. The following subgroups of patients had longer PFS (P < 0.05): squamous cell carcinoma, no brain or liver metastases, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) of 0-1, and no previous VEGF-tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment. The results of Cox regression indicated that an ECOG PS of 0-1 (hazard ratio 0.152, 95% CI 0.057-0.403; P = 0.00) and patients without brain metastases (hazard ratio 0.421, 95% CI 0.195-0.911; P = 0.028) had longer PFS following anlotinib treatment., Conclusion: Anlotinib, which is well tolerated, plays a significant role in the salvage treatment of advanced NSCLC. Patients with advanced NSCLC with an ECOG PS of 0-1 and no brain metastases achieved longer PFS following anlotinib salvage treatment., (© 2019 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Background: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) can significantly prolong overall survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutation or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-rearrangement. However, the real-world evaluation status of ALK/EGFR in China remains unclear., Methods: We conducted a prospective study including 1134 patients with cytologically or histologically confirmed advanced NSCLC (stage IIIb-IV) at 12 Chinese hospitals., Results: The most common evaluation methods were amplification-refractory mutation system for EGFR status and immunohistochemistry targeting D5F3 for ALK status. Among patients with non-squamous, the EGFR mutation rate was 44.1% and the ALK rearrangement rate was 10.0%. Among patients with squamous cell carcinoma, the EGFR mutation rate was 8.3% and the ALK rearrangement rate was 3.7%. Among all patients, gender (HR = 1.7, 95%CI = 1.2-2.4, P = 0.006), smoking history (HR = 1.8, 95%CI = 1.3-2.7, P = 0.001), histology (HR = 5.0, 95%CI = 2.4-10.1, P < 0.001), and brain metastases (HR = 1.5, 95%CI = 1.1-2.2, P = 0.017) were independent predictors of EGFR mutation, while age (HR = 2.6, 95%CI = 1.7-4.1, P < 0.001) was an independent predictor of ALK rearrangement. The median time from tumor diagnosis to EGFR or ALK status confirmation was 7 and 5 days, respectively. Targeted therapy rate was 73.8% in EGFR-positive patients and 51.4% in ALK-positive patients. There was a negative correlation between the first-line targeted therapy rate and the EGFR mutation detection period (r = -0.152, P = 0.02), while no significant correlation among patients with ALK rearrangement (r = -0.179, P = 0.076)., Conclusion: Squamous NSCLC patients should also be routinely tested to determine their EGFR/ALK statuses. The first-line targeted therapy rate remains low in Chinese patients with NSCLC., (© 2019 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

The reuse of water in agriculture has become more common in water management worldwide. However, there is very limited information about nutrient retention in water reclamation management. In this study, an improved low impact development (LID) practice was constructed to investigate the synergistic effects of three substrates amendment on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) retention under two irrigation modules: spray and drip irrigation. The orthogonal combination of the three substrates was controlled during four leaching events, with polyacrylamide (PAM), peat soil, and straw biochar application rates of 1, 2, and 4 g kg -1 ; 5, 10, and 20 g kg -1 ; and 10, 20, and 40 g kg -1 , respectively. Results showed that the optimum treatments for N and P were 2 g kg -1 of PAM; 2 g kg -1 of PAM, 10 g kg -1 of peat soil, and 40 g kg -1 of straw biochar, respectively. The highest amounts of N and P retention under spray and drip irrigation were 83.12 mg N kg -1 and 50.09 mg N·kg -1 , and 11.88 mg P·kg -1 and 7.47 mg P·kg -1 , respectively. The analysis of variance indicated that PAM, biochar, and peat soil affected the retention of leachate, N, and P differently. PAM application could not only improve the water, N, P retention capacity of soil, but also significantly increase the content of ＞2 mm water-stable soil aggregate (WSA) (p＜0.05), and there is an advisable linear relation between N, P retention and the content of ＞2 mm WSA (R 2  = 0.79, 0.67, respectively). Overall, this study concludes that a combined application of PAM and biochar could reduce P loss and increase the ＞2 mm WSA under leaching condition., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: High concordance has been observed between Ventana D5F3 ALK immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) in lung adenocarcinoma (LADC). However, whether a similar conclusion can be applied to lung squamous-cell carcinoma (LSCC) has remained unclear. We therefore evaluated the ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) status and the therapeutic effect of an ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) in IHC- or FISH-positive LSCC., Materials and Methods: A total of 2403 LSCC patients from three institutions were screened for ALK aberration by IHC. All IHC-positive cases were subjected to FISH (with an approximately equal number of negative cases as a control group) and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Clinical efficacy was evaluated for the patients who received TKI therapy., Results: In 2403 cases of LSCC, 37 cases were identified as ALK-positive by IHC. After quality control, 28 cases were succeeded by FISH (six with insufficient tissue, three with lack of signals) and 13 by NGS (24 failed due to insufficient samples or poor DNA quality); the percentage of non-diagnostic tests was 24.3% (9/37) and 64.9% (24/37), respectively. Four cases (4/2394, 0.17%) analyzed by FISH were determined as ALK-positive. For the control group (40 ALK IHC), FISH demonstrated no samples with ALK gene fusion. The concordance between ALK IHC- and ALK FISH-positive results was 14.3% (4/28). In the 13 cases studied by NGS, two cases showed ALK-EML4 fusion (consistent with two FISH-positive results), and two cases were interpreted as harboring an ALK-association gene mutation. Among four patients (two FISH-positive and two IHC-positive only cases) receiving TKI therapy, two patients had stable disease and the other two had progressive disease., Conclusions: The positive concordance rate of ALK IHC and FISH in LSCC is far less than that reported for LADC. Therefore, ALK IHC detection in LSCC cannot be used as a diagnostic method for ALK rearrangement., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Biochars derived from rice straw (RS), corn straw (CS), chicken manure (CM) and tire rubber (TR) were applied to soil to investigate their effects on the dissipation of cyazofamid and its metabolite CCIM (4-chloro-5-p-tolylimidazole-2-carbonitrile), with high acute toxicity compared to cyazofamid. The enhancement of cyazofamid dissipation followed the order of CS > RS > CM, whereas TR depressed the cyazofamid dissipation. Adsorption, hydrolysis and microbial degradation were all involved in cyazofamid dissipation. CM and CS enhanced the contribution of biodegradation to cyazofamid dissipation, which might be related with the shifted microbial community. More importantly, CCIM residual was drastically increased by 8-15 times after biochar application, regardless of biochar type. In total, this study shed light on the issue of build-up of metabolites in biochar-amended soil, especially for metabolites having higher toxicities than parent compounds, providing new insights into potential risk of biochar application for soil remediation., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Thymoma and thymic carcinoma are rare thymic epithelial tumors. We investigated the efficacy of first-line gemcitabine and cisplatin (GP) chemotherapy versus gemcitabine and cisplatin chemotherapy combined with the anti-angiogenic drug endostar (GP + E) in advanced thymoma and thymic carcinoma., Methods: The records of 45 patients with invasive metastatic thymomas or thymic carcinomas treated with GP as first-line therapy between August 2008 and July 2017 at the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute were retrospectively reviewed., Results: Eighteen patients (75%) in the GP + E group achieved a partial response and six (25%) had stable disease. In GP only group, nine (42.8%) patients achieved a partial response, 11 (52.4%) had stable disease, and one (4.8%) had progressive disease. The GP + E group had a significantly higher overall response rate (75% vs. 42.9%; P = 0.028), and median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of 19 and 76 months, respectively. In the GP only group, median PFS and OS were 16 and 29 months, respectively. PFS and OS were not significantly different between the groups., Conclusions: GP has moderate efficacy and could represent a suitable first-line therapy for thymic carcinoma and thymoma. Chemotherapy combined with endostar could improve the overall response rate, but did not prolong PFS or OS., (© 2018 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Photobioreactor is deemed to be one of limiting factors for the commercial application of wastewater treatment based on microalgae cultivation. In this study, a novel Flat-Plate Continuous Open Photobioreactor (FPCO-PBR) was developed to treat piggery biogas slurry. The operation parameters, microbial stability and nutrient recovery potential of FPCO-PBR were investigated. Results showed that the appropriate influent mode for FPCO-PBR was multi-point or spraying mode. The optimal hydraulic retention time and interval time for biomass harvesting of FPCO-PBR were both 2 d. Nitrogen and phosphorus recovery rate were 30 mg L -1  d -1 and 7 mg L -1  d -1 respectively under optimal operating parameters. Microbial diversity remained relatively stable in FPCO-PBR. Biomass production rate of FPCO-PBR was 0.47 g L -1  d -1 under optimal operating parameters. The revenue generated from biomass was estimated to be 15.06 $ kg -1 , which means that treating one ton of wastewater can generate $ 7.08 in revenue., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aim: Patients with advanced nonsquamous nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who experienced progression with two or more lines chemotherapy have no treatment options that clearly confer a survival benefit. As a novel vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, apatinib has a certain antitumor effect for various solid tumors. The present study evaluated the efficacy and safety of apatinib in advanced nonsquamous NSCLC as salvage treatment in Chinese real-world practice., Methods: Twenty-eight patients were enrolled in this observational study from October 2015 to May 2017. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were graphed by Kaplan-Meier curve and intergroup comparisons were carried out by log-rank test. Objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR) and adverse effects (AEs) were also evaluated., Results: Seven patients obtained partial response, and 18 obtained stable disease, representing an ORR of 26% and a DCR of 93%. Median PFS and OS were 3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.6-3.4) and 7.4 (95% CI 1.3-13.5) months, respectively. The efficacy analysis showed that Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1 was correlated with prolonged OS and PFS (P < 0.05), and hypertension during apatinib treatment was correlated with prolonged OS (P < 0.05). Cox regression showed that ECOG performance status (P < 0.01) (RR = 0.231) (95% CI 0.083-0.642) and hypertension during apatinib treatment (P = 0.05) were predictive indicators for apatinib treatment. Grade 3-4 AEs with incidences of 10% or greater were hypertension (21%), hand-foot syndrome (14%) and proteinuria (11%) which could be relieved by dose reduction., Conclusion: In conclusion, apatinib has a certain therapeutic effect in patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. ECOG performance status and hypertension during apatinib might be predictive indicators for treatment efficacy., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus), as a living fossil, is considered a critically endangered aquatic animal in China. To date, the immune system of this species remains largely unknown, with limited available sequence information. In addition, increasing incidence of bacterial pathogenic diseases has been reported. Hence, the present study aimed to characterize comprehensively transcriptome profile of the head kidney from Dabry's sturgeon infected with Aeromonas hydrophila using Illumina platform. Over 42 million high-quality reads were obtained and de novo assembled into a final set of 195240 unique transcript fragments (unigenes), with an average length of 564 bp. Approximately 41702 unigenes were annotated in the NR NCBI database. Dabry's sturgeon unigenes had the highest number of hits with 14365 (34.45%) to Lepisosteus oculatus. The 195240 unigenes were assigned to three Gene Ontology (GO) categories: biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. Among them, 27770 unigenes were clustered into 26 Eukaryotic Orthologous Group (KOG) functional categories, and 36031 unigenes were mapped to 335 known Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. After A. hydrophila administration, 1728 differentially expressed unigenes were identified, including 980 upregulated and 748 downregulated unigenes. Further KEGG enrichment analysis of these unigenes identified 16 immune-related pathways, including the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, chemokine signaling pathway, complement and coagulation pathway, RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway, and NOD-like receptor signaling pathway. 20 DEGs were selected and their expression patterns are largely consistent with the transcriptome profile analysis, which clearly validated the reliability of the DEGs in transcriptome analysis. This work revealed novel gene expression patterns of Dabry's sturgeon host defense and contributes to a better understanding of the immune system and defense mechanisms of Dabry's sturgeon in response to bacterial infection. The results provide valuable references for studies in sturgeons that lack complete genomic sequences, and could also be helpful for the analyzing evolution among cartilaginous and teleost fish., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Converting swine manure to biochar is an effective way to recycle valuable nutrients, but there are few reports on its feasibility as a phosphorus (P) source. The objective of this study was to clarify the unique nature, including P speciation, of manure biochar products under various pyrolysis temperatures. We used solution 31 P nuclear magnetic resonance and P K-edge X-ray adsorption near-edge spectroscopy (P XANES) to characterize P species in swine manure biochar. For every 100 °C increment starting from 300 °C, the P content in manure biochar increased by 2.16 to 3.37 g kg -1 . However, above 400 °C, organic P species did not appear anymore, and only inorganic P, including orthophosphate and pyrophosphate, existed. P K-edge XANES spectra further showed all biochar samples had higher percentages of Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 and NaP 2 O 7 , and lower percentages of FePO 4 , AlPO 4 , and inositol hexaphosphate compared to manure. Interestingly, percentages of Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 , FePO 4 , and AlPO 4 in MB400 (indicating manure pyrolysed at 400 °C) were comparable with those in MB700 while the percentage of NaP 2 O 7 was higher in MB400. Phosphorus release from MB400 maintained a relatively high level at 0.33 g kg -1 during the whole 300-h observation period. These results suggest that with a suitable pyrolysis temperature, it was feasible for manure biochar to be a P source alternative. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Teleost fish have more complex interferon receptor systems than mammals. In the present study, genes encoding four cytokine receptor family B (CRFBs) and two interferon gamma receptors (IFNGRs) in Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) were identified by RNA-sequencing. Sequence analysis revealed that the Dabry's sturgeon CRFBs and IFNGRs contained several conserved characteristics features, including signal peptides and a transmembrane domain. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that they belong to the CRFB3, CRFB5, and IFNGR protein families, and were named CRFB3a, CRFB3b, CRFB5a, CRFB5b, IFNGR1, and IFNGR2. The expression patterns of the CRFB and IFNGR genes were investigated in Dabry's sturgeon. The expression levels of CRFB5a, CRFB5b, and IFNGR1 showed no significant changes, suggesting that those genes do not mediate embryonic development. By contrast, the high expression levels of CRFB3a, CRFB3b, and IFNGR2 in the fertilized egg, 16-cell phase, and initial blastula stage implied the existence of maternally expression in the oocyte and association with embryonic development. Tissue distribution analysis revealed that the CRFB and IFNGR proteins have potential functions in immune and non-immune tissue compartments. Comprehensive analysis in Dabry's sturgeon revealed that the expression fold changes of CRFB3a, CRFB3b, CRFB5a, and CRFB5b in Dabry's sturgeon stimulated with poly I:C were higher than those in fish administrated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Conversely, the fold changes IFNGRs mRNA levels stimulated with LPS were higher than those in fish administrated with poly I: C. CRFB5a and IFNGR2 genes showed the earliest responses to the poly I: C, and the CRFB5a and IFNGR1 genes showed the earliest responses to LPS. These results implied that CRFB5a has important role in the IFN immune response. Our findings indicated that the Dabry's sturgeon CRFB and IFNGR genes have important functions in antiviral and antibacterial immune responses. The differential responses of these genes to poly I: C and LPS implied differences in the defense mechanisms against viruses and bacteria., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Currently, environmental pollution by heavy metals is a global problem. Therefore, it is crucial to develop effective detection techniques to determine the levels of heavy metal contamination in various mediums. Voltammetry is a highly sensitive electrochemical method used for the in situ detection of heavy metal ions. This study investigates the current trends related to electrode modification, developments in materials, and optimization of the experimental parameters. We discuss the sensing performance of four kinds of nanomaterials capable of inorganic modification (metal nanoparticles, metal oxides, carbonaceous nanomaterials, and their nanocomposites). The impact of several important factors, such as the deposition potential and time, buffer solution types, and pH on the sensitivity, reproducibility, stability, and anti-interference ability of the detection process, especially with regard to the co-detection of several heavy metal ions, was reviewed. We noted that in addition to the application of voltammetry to water-related issues, it is suitable for rapid and simple identification and analyses of heavy metals in polluted soil and other mediums. Thus, it is important to conduct additional research on the application of voltammetry to this area., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aims to investigate the effects of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) on the growth performance and serum metabolic characteristics of heat-stressed broilers. A total of 192 14-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were divided into 4 groups with 6 replicates per group (8 chickens/cage). Thermoneutral group (Group TN) was fed the basal diet and maintained at 28°C for 24 h/d. The heat-stressed groups were housed at 35°C for 12 h/d and 28°C for 12 h/d and fed the basal diet supplemented with EGCG at 0, 300, and 600 mg/kg diet (Groups HS0, HS300, and HS600, respectively). The production performance and serum metabolic characteristics were analyzed at d 21, 28, and 35, respectively. At d 35 of age, heat stress reduced (P < 0.05) the body weight (BW), feed intake (FI) and the contents of serum total protein (TP) and glucose (GLU); inhibited (P < 0.05) alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity; But increased (P < 0.05) the contents of uric acid (UA), cholesterol (CHOL), triglyceride (TG), and the activities of creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST). Heat-stressed chickens fed EGCG exhibited a linear increase (P < 0.05) in BW, FI, the levels of serum TP, GLU, and ALP activity; and linear decrease (P < 0.05) in the contents of serum UA, CHOL, and TG, as well as the activities of LDH, CK, and AST. Heat stress also reduced (P < 0.05) the activities of serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) on d 35 and increased (P < 0.05) the GSH-Px and SOD activity on d 21 and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents. There was a linear increase (P < 0.05) in activities of GSH-Px, SOD and CAT at 35 d of age, and linear decreased (P < 0.05) in MDA contents. In conclusion, EGCG can improve the growth performance of broilers by enhancing antioxidant property and alleviating oxidant damage caused by heat stress., (© 2017 Poultry Science Association Inc.)

Interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) are crucial regulators in initiating the host innate immune response against pathogen invasions. Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) is particularly a valuable fish species found in the Yangtze River, China for which there is scarce immunological data. In the present study, we investigated the expression profile of sturgeon IRF genes. All adIRFs were composed of 8 exons and 7 introns, except adIRF1, which possessed 9 exons interrupted by 8 introns. Moreover, the predicted protein sequence has a DNA-binding domain (DBD) sharing high identity with spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus). Regarding the expression patterns, 5 adIRF genes were found to be constitutively expressed in all tissues examined, and were significantly higher in lymphoid organs (eg, blood, kidney, intestine, and spleen). Following Aeromonas hydrophila infection, the expression of adIRF1 and adIRF3 were upregulated in the spleen and caudal kidney, while both the adIRF5 and adIRF8 genes were downregulated in caudal kidney. In addition, adIRF4 was significantly upregulated at 3 h postinfection by A. hydrophila in the spleen and caudal kidney. These results suggest that adIRFs are related to the immune response to bacterial infection, which will help clarify the function of these IRFs and provide a fundamental basis for protecting the Dabry's sturgeon.

This study investigated the effects of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) on the growth performance and antioxidant capacity of 35-d-old broilers exposed to heat stress. Broilers, 14 d of age, were divided into four groups with six replicates per group (eight chickens/replicate). Thermoneutral group (Group TN) was fed the basal diet and maintained at 28°C for 24 h/d. The heat-stressed groups were housed at 35°C for 12 h/d and 28°C for 12 h/d and fed the basal diet supplemented with EGCG at 0, 300 and 600 mg/kg diet (Groups HS0, HS 300 and HS600, respectively). Compared with Group TN, heat-stressed groups showed significantly reduced gain, feed intake and serum total protein and glucose levels; inhibited serum alkaline phosphatase activities; and increased serum levels of uric acid, cholesterol and triglycerides and the activity of serum creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and aspartate aminotransferase (p < 0.05). Compared with Group HS0, Group HS600 exhibited an increased gain and feed intake; and normalised blood parameters and enzyme activities. Compared with Group TN, the expression of antioxidant-related liver proteins was decreased in Group HS0 and increased in Groups HS300 and HS600 (p < 0.05). The results suggest that EGCG can improve the growth performance and alleviate the oxidant damage by modulating the antioxidant properties of broilers.

Tripartite motif (TRIM) proteins are receiving increased research interest because of their roles in a wide range of cellular biological processes in innate immunity. In zebrafish (Danio rerio), the functions of the finTRIM (ftr) family are unclear. In the present study, we investigated the expression pattern of ftr12, ftr51, ftr67, ftr82, ftr83, and ftr84 in zebrafish for the first time. The results showed that ftr12, ftr67, and ftr84 are maternally expressed in the oocyte and highly expressed at the early stage (0-4 hpf) of embryo (P < 0.05), suggesting their involvement in the embryonic innate defense system. The ftr82 gene was highly expressed at 8 hpf (P < 0.05), which implied that the embryos could synthesize their own immunity-related mRNAs. However, ftr51 and ftr83 were highest at 8 hpf (2.33 and 51.53 relative to β-actin respectively) and might mediate embryonic development. The expression levels of ftr12, ftr51, and ftr67 were highest in the gill, intestines, and liver, respectively. Ftr82, ftr83, and ftr84 were predominantly expressed in the kidney, suggesting that these finTRIMs might play roles in both immunity and non-immunity-related tissue compartments. Zebrafish embryonic fibroblast (ZF4) cells were infected with Grass carp reovirus (GCRV) and Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV). During GCRV infection, the expression of ftr12 was significantly upregulated from 12 h to 24 h; and ftr51 and ftr67 increased from 3 h to 12 h. The expressions of ftr82, ftr83, and ftr84 were only upregulated at 12 h, 12 h, and 24 h, respectively. All of these genes were significantly downregulated at 48 h (P < 0.05). Challenge with SVCV upregulated the expressions of ftr12 and ftr51 at 12 h and 48 h (P < 0.05), respectively, and ftr67 reached its highest expression level at 3 h. ftr82 showed only a slight upregulation at 6 h and 48 h, and ftr83 and ftr84 were consecutively increased, reaching their highest levels at 12 h (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, ftr67 and ftr83 were significantly downregulated at 48 h (P < 0.05). Our research demonstrated that ftr12, ftr51, ftr67, ftr82, ftr83, and ftr84 probably have important roles in innate immune responses and in non-immunity-related tissues., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)