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Due to its special flavour and cheapness, starch is a source of nutrition for humans and most animals, some of whom even prefer to consume large amounts of starchy foods. However, the use of starch by carnivorous fish is limited and excessive starch intake can lead to liver damage, but the mechanism of damage is not clear. Therefore, in this study, two isonitrogenous and isolipid semi-pure diets, Z diet (0% starch) and G diet (22% starch), were formulated, respectively. The largemouth bass (M. salmoides) cultured in fiberglass tanks were randomly divided into two groups and fed the two diets for 45 days. Blood and liver were collected on day 30 and 45 for enzymology, histopathology, ultramicropathology, flow cytometry, and transcriptomics to investigate the damage of high starch on the liver of largemouth bass and its damage mechanism. The results showed that the high starch not affect the growth performance of largemouth bass. However, high starch caused a whitening of the liver and an increase in hepatopancreas index (HSI), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in the serum. Histopathological observations showed that high starch led to severe vacuolisation, congestion, and moderate to severe necrotizing hepatitis in the liver. The high starch intake led to a significant increase in postprandial blood glucose and insulin in serum of largemouth bass, promoting the synthesis and accumulation of large amounts of hepatic glycogen in the liver, leading to the loss of hepatocyte organelles and inducing liver fibrosis. Meanwhile, high starch induced the production of oxidative stress and promoted apoptosis and necrosis of hepatocytes. Transcriptome analysis revealed that there were 10,927 and 2,656 unique genes in the G and Z groups, respectively. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that 19 pathways were significantly enriched, including those related to glucose metabolism and cell survival. Network mapping based on enrichment pathways and differential expressing genes showed the emergence of a regulatory network dominated by PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. This indicated that the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway plays a very important role in this process, regulating the liver injury caused by high starch. Our results provide a reference for the mechanism of liver injury caused by high starch, and the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway could be a potential therapeutic target for liver injury caused by high starch.

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Additional file 4: Fig. S2. GO enrichment analysis of DE-lncRNA trans-target genes.

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Additional file 7: Fig. S3. KEGG enrichment analysis of DE-lncRNA trans-target genes.

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Additional file 11: Table S3. Primers used for qRT–PCR and incubation.

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Additional file 2: Fig. S1. Identification results of new lncRNA.

Additional file 10: Table S2. Primers used for cloning.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Quality inspection of transcriptome data.

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Because of high conductivity, acceptable cost and good screen-printing process performance, silver pastes have been extensively used for making flexible electronics. However, there are few reported articles focusing on high heat resistance solidified silver pastes and their rheological properties. In this paper, a fluorinated polyamic acids (FPAA) is synthesized by polymerization of the 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene) diphthalic anhydride and 3,4′-diaminodiphenylether as monomers in the diethylene glycol monobutyl. The nano silver pastes are prepared by mixing the obtained FPAA resin with nano silver powder. The agglomerated particles caused by nano silver powder are divided and the dispersion of nano silver pastes are improved by three-roll grinding process with low roll gaps. The obtained nano silver pastes possess excellent thermal resistance with 5% weight loss temperature higher than 500 °C. The volume resistivity of cured nano silver paste achieves 4.52 × 10−7 Ω·m, when the silver content is 83% and the curing temperature is 300 °C. Additionally, the nano silver pastes have high thixotropic performance, which contributes to fabricate the fine pattern with high resolution. Finally, the conductive pattern with high resolution is prepared by printing silver nano pastes onto PI (Kapton-H) film. The excellent comprehensive properties, including good electrical conductivity, outstanding heat resistance and high thixotropy, make it a potential application in flexible electronics manufacturing, especially in high-temperature fields.

Background Chronic heat stress (CHS) may threaten the survival of cultivated and wild sturgeon by jeopardizing heart function. Methods Therefore, we established a heart damage model for the Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) using varying degrees of CHS (24°C and 28°C) to explore its effect on the heart structure and function, and their mutual relationship. Results Our research showed that CHS caused systemic heart failure in A. baerii, clinically manifested as severely irregular ventricles, increased myocardial fibrotic in the interstitium of cardiomyocytes, and myocardial necrosis. Echocardiographic imaging of A. baerii revealed an accelerated heart rate, incomplete ventricular contraction, decreased cardiac output, and significantly reduced pumping efficiency under CHS. Generally, the contractility of the heart decreased and the afterload increased under CHS, which is typical of high-resistance and low-output heart failure. However, cooling of cultured water (20°C) can offset the adverse effects of partial or total CHS on tissue structure and function. Conclusion Our results systematically characterized the relationship between the effects of CHS on the heart structure and heart function in sturgeon. This work provides a preliminary reference for future summer breeding pond management and protection of sturgeon.

Most species of the genus Elizabethkingia are pathogenic to humans and animals, most commonly causing meningitis. However, our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms involved is poor and there have been few pathological studies of Elizabethkingia spp. in animals. To understand the host injury induced by Elizabethkingia spp., we established a model of E. miricola infection in the black-spotted frog (Pelophylax nigromaculatus). The systematic pathology in and oxidative damage in the infection model were investigated. Our results show that recently isolated E. miricola is a bacterium that mainly parasitizes the host brain and that neurogenic organs are the predominant sites of damage. Infection mainly manifested as severe brain abscesses, meningoencephalitis, necrotic spondylitis, and necrotic retinitis. The liver, spleen, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, and lung were also affected to varying degrees, with bacterial necrotic inflammation. P. nigromaculatus also suffered enormous damage to its oxidative system during E. miricola infection, which may have further aggravated its disease state. Our results provide a preliminary reference for the study and treatment of Elizabethkingia spp.-induced neurological diseases in animals.

Cadmium (Cd) causes a broad spectrum of toxicological effects to animals. Aquatic animals were more likely to accumulate Cd than terrestrial animals because of the living environment. Clearance of Cd in aquatic animals has become an important part of aquatic food safety. The present study was focused on the oxidative damage induced by Cd in the liver of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idellus and the protective effect of vitamin E (VE) and metallothionein (MT). Grass carp were divided into four groups: the control group, Cd+phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) group, Cd+VE group, and Cd+MT group. All fish were injected with CdCl2 on the first day and then VE, MT, and PBS were given 4 days after injection, respectively. The liver function and antioxidant capacity of grass carp were evaluated. Cd administration resulted in damage of liver function and morphology in liver, which was expressed as the increased content of AST and ALT, rupture of organelles, and decrease of CAT, SOD, and GSH-Px activity. However, VE and MT treatments protected against Cd-induced damage of liver in grass carp by decreasing AST and ALT content, repairing organelles, and maintained the antioxidant system by elevating CAT, SOD, and GSH-Px activity and regulating related mRNA transcript expression. The results revealed that VE and MT might play an important role in the treatment of heavy metal poisoning through their antioxidative effects.

As an environmental and industrial pollutant, cadmium (Cd) can cause a broad spectrum of toxicological effects. Multiple organs, especially the liver, are considerably affected by Cd in both humans and animals. We investigated the protective effects of metallothionein (MT) and vitamin E (VE) supplementation on Cd-induced apoptosis in the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) liver. Grass carp were divided into four groups: the control group, Cd + phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) group, Cd + VE group, and Cd + MT group. All fish were injected with CdCl2on the first day and then VE, MT, and PBS were given 4 days postinjection, respectively. The results showed that Cd administration resulted in liver poisoning in grass carp, which was expressed as an increase in Cd contents, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, percentage of hepatocyte apoptosis, and apoptosis-related gene mRNA transcript expression. However, VE and MT treatments protected against Cd-induced hepatotoxicity in grass carp by decreasing Cd contents, lipid peroxidation, and histological damage and reducing the percentage of hepatocyte apoptosis by regulating related mRNA transcript expression. These data demonstrate that oxidative stress and activation of the caspase signaling cascade play a critical role in Cd-induced hepatotoxicity. However, VE and MT alleviate Cd-induced hepatotoxicity through their antioxidative and antiapoptotic effects, and MT has a more powerful effect than VE.

Water temperature can affect the metabolism of fish. Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is a representative eurythermic fish that can survive at a wide range of ambient temperatures, allowing it to live in an extensive geographical range. The goal of this work was to study the glucose metabolism of common carp at different temperatures and determine the miRNAs involved in the regulation of glucose metabolism. We determined the indicators related to glucose metabolism after long-term temperature stress and constructed nine small RNA libraries of livers under different temperature stress (5 °C, 17 °C, and 30 °C, with three biological replicates for each temperature), and subjected these samples to high-throughput sequencing. A positive relationship was observed between weight gain rate (WGR) and temperature increase after 18 days of temperature stress. However, the glucose level in the plasma maintained a gentle decrease. Unexpectedly, liver lactic acid levels were elevated in HTG (high temperature group) and LTG (low temperature group). Six down-regulated miRNAs (miR-122, miR-30b, miR-15b-5p, miR-20a-5p, miR-1, and miR-7b) were identified as involved in the regulation of glycolysis. Twelve genes were predicted as targets of these miRNAs, and these genes are in pathways related to pyruvate metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and the citrate cycle (TCA cycle). The results allowed prediction of a potential regulatory network of miRNAs involved in the regulation of glycolysis. The target genes of six down-regulated miRNAs were up-regulated under temperature stress, including Aldolase C, fructose-bisphosphate, b (ALDOCB), multiple inositol-polyphosphate phosphatase 1 (MINPP1), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 (PCK1), pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 alpha 1 (PDHA1), aldehyde dehydrogenase 9 family member A1a (ALDH9A1A), Acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase (ACSS), lactate dehydrogenase b (LDH-b), and glyoxylate reductase/hydroxypyruvate reductase (GRHPR). Other key genes of glycolysis, glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1), pyruvate kinase PKM (PKM), and mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) were significantly up-regulated in LTG and HTG. Overall, the results suggest that miRNAs maintain their energy requirements by regulating glycolysis and play an important role in the molecular response to cold and heat stress of common carp. These data provide the foundation for further studies of the role of miRNAs in environmental adaptation in fish.

Hepatopancreatic necrosis syndrome (HPNS) has a severe impact on the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) industry. In this work, a cross-sectional study method was used to assess the association between 55 variables and HPNS. A total of 98 farmers were surveyed, including 34 whose farms had crabs with HPNS (treated as the diseased group) and 64 whose farms did not have crabs with HPNS (treated as the healthy group). The results demonstrated that 11 risk factors had the greatest effects on HPNS, including “Recent pH in the pond”, “Crabs culture method”, “Current incidence of HPNS in nearby farms”, “Single pond area in the farm”, “Depth of pond's water”, “Frequency of water supplement in the farm”, “Frequency of the abamectin use”, “Frequency of switching aerator on in the farm”, “Frequency of disinfectant use”, “Amount of edible animal ingredient”, “How many factories and residential areas are within 500 m”, “Abundance of Cyanobacteria in the pond”, and “Frequency of clearing the ponds”, suggesting that HPNS prevalence might be closely related to water quality and nutrition. The roles of these 11 variables in the occurrence of HPNS were further evaluated, and it was found that there was a greater risk of HPNS occurrence when the following variables coexisted: “>3 factories and residential areas within 500m” + “high pH” + “>1 disinfectant per shell” + “1.3-2 hm2pond” + “

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is an important issue affecting the food safety of aquatic products. Cd can impair the immune system and cause irreversible damage to fish and other aquatic organisms. The immunoprotection activities of exogenous metallothionein (MT) and vitamin E (VE) were investigated in Cd poisoned grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idellus, in the present study. C. idellus were divided into three groups: Cd+phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) group; Cd+MT; and Cd+VE. All fish were injected with cadmium chloride (CdCl2) on the first day and then treated with PBS, MT or VE four days post-injection. Fish not injected with Cd were used as a negative control. Cd exposure caused severe head-kidney and splenic injury in C. idellus, mainly expressed as an increase in Cd content, histological damage, percentage of head-kidney and splenic cells apoptosis and decreases in immune-related gene mRNA transcript expression. However, MT and VE treatments protected against Cd-induced immunotoxicity in C. idellus by decreasing Cd contents, lessening histological damage, reducing the percentage of apoptosis and recovering immune-related mRNA transcript expression. Our results demonstrate that MT and VE can alleviate Cd-induced immunotoxicity and that MT has a more powerful effect than VE, indicating that MT could be a potential antidote in cases of Cd poisoning.

This paper studies the cognitive broadcast channel in which the primary user communicates to the primary receiver, while the secondary user has noncausal knowledge of the primary radio's codeword and expects to communicate to two secondary receivers. Comparing with the existing cognitive radio channel which considers only one secondary receiver, cognitive broadcast channel studies the case that there are multiple secondary receivers. To this end, we investigate the fundamental limits of the performance of the Gaussian cognitive broadcast channel from the information theoretic perspective. Specifically, we derive the capacity region of the Gaussian cognitive degraded broadcast channel with weak interference.

Cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important crop worldwide challenged by a number of pests which cause enormous yield loss.Although extensive cultivation of transgenic Bt cotton has decreased the population growth of the most destructive pest,cotton bollworm(Helicoverpa armigera),the secondary pest like mirid bug has become a primary pest.In addition to the evolution of Bt toxin resistance in cotton bollworm,it is urgent to develop environment friendly and plant-derived pesticides for the integrated pest management.Induction of plant defense against pests is very common among higher plants.Jasmonic acid(JA) is a kind of plant growth regulator with a variety of biological function except for induced plant defense against herbivores.The objectives of the current study were to investigate the dosage-and exposure time-dependent induction of defense-related secondary metabolites and antinutritive/antidigestive enzymes in cotton seedlings by exogenous application of JA.The potential pest control nature of induced defense in seedlings of conventional cotton plants by JA was also discussed in terms of the fecundity,developmental time,mortality and parasitism of insects.We hypothesized that,as a ubiquitous phytohormone,JA should regulate the induced plant defense in cotton like those in some model plants including mustard,tobacco and tomato by increasing the contents of some feeding deterrent secondary metabolites and the activity of enzymes responsible for their synthesis,as well as the activities of antinutritive and antidigestive enzymes.Results of the present study suggested that 0.01 mmol/L,0.1 mmol/L,and 1.0 mmol/L JA were effective concentrations in priming the pest resistance nature of six-foliage cotton seedlings within two weeks in terms of enhanced contents of cotton tannin and protease inhibitors(PIs) and increased activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase(PAL),polyphenol oxidase(PPO),peroxidase(POD) and catalase(CAT).In comparison,0.1 mmol/L jasmonic acid was more effective in inducing PIs,PPO,POD and CAT than the other two concentrations tested,while 0.1 mmol/L and 1.0 mmol/L JA were equally powerful in priming tannin and PAL,and both JA concentrations were more effective than 0.01 mmol/L JA.We also found that JA concentration,time after JA exposure and their interaction have significant effects on tannin content,PPO activity and POD activity,and that JA concentration and time after JA exposure have significant effect on PIs content and PAL activity,while JA concentration and its interaction with exposure time after JA exposure have significant effects on CAT activity.In addition,analysis of the duration of JA-mediated defense suggested that the optimal induction effects occurred one day after JA treatment for POD,7 d for PIs,14 d for tannin,1 d and 7 d for PPO,7 d and 14 d for PAL,while no significance was observed for CAT.In summary,JA can enhance cotton defense against insects by the induction of defense-related chemicals like tannin,some antinutritive/antidigestive enzymes like PPO,POD,CAT,and enzyme related to the synthesis of tannin like PAL.Future work should focus on the real effects of induced defense against insects in terms of the feeding behavior,oviposition preference,ecological immunity,detoxification capacity,and tritrophic interaction among cotton plant,herbivore insects and natural enemies,thereby facilitating the discovery of the physiological,ecological and biochemical basis of JA-induced plant defense.

This study aims to evaluate the effects of supplementing golden apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) eggs powder (EP) in the diet as a source of natural carotenoids on survival, pigmentation and antioxidant activity of Blood parrot. A total of 90 fish were divided into three treatment groups with three replicates per treatment. Blood parrot were fed with diets containing 0 (control), 5 % (EP 5 %), and 15 % (EP 15 %) dry powder of golden apple snail egg for 60 days, and nine fish per group were sampled at 20, 40, and 60 days. No differences in survival of the fish among treatments were found throughout the experiment. The body coloration of Blood parrot was enhanced in the skin and caudal fin with increasing content of golden apple snail egg powder in the diet. At the end of the experiment, the carotenoid content in the caudal fin and the number of scale chromatophores of the fish fed dietary with EP were higher (P 0.05) in CAT activities. Results demonstrated that golden apple snail eggs can be used as a colorant to promote the pigmentation efficacy of Blood parrot.

Yang, Shiyong, Zhang, Xiuyue, Liu, Xiaoshuai, Hu, Jiaxiang, Wang, Yingqin, Du, Zongjun, Yan, Taiming (2014): Chorion surface ultrastructure of loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus: adaptation to the environment and correlation with the reproductive strategy. Journal of Natural History 48 (35-36): 2207-2218, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2014.925597, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2014.925597

Location privacy is an important concern in VANETS. Anonymity is one of commonly adopted solution to protect location privacy. In this paper, we present a mechanism based on an ID-based cryptosystem in order to ensure vehicles' anonymity by pseudonyms. In this mechanism, we adopt Pseudonyms Synchronously Change () scheme, which improves anonymity. In our schemes, vehicles change pseudonym at different times and locations. Performance evaluations demonstrate our schemes have superior performance on location privacy preservation.

Several methods on fuzzy control for performance improvement are introduced in the paper, then their specialities and areas of application are summarized.