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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized primarily by the synovial infiltration of inflammatory cells. Macrophage infiltration in the joint synovium is one of the early hallmarks of RA disease activity. Cortex periplocae, which has been widely employed in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to alleviate RA, harbors a bioactive compound known as Periploca sepium periplosides (PePs). In this study, collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA) was established in mice through the administration of collagen antibodies and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), followed by treatment with PePs. The therapeutic effects of PePs were evaluated by measuring paw thickness, clinical arthritis scores, and histological changes in joint tissues. Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were used to assess macrophage polarization in vivo and in vitro. The findings indicate that PePs effectively attenuated CAIA by suppressing the polarization of RAW264.7 cells towards the M1 phenotype while promoting their polarization towards the M2 phenotype. These results provide valuable insights into the scientific significance of PePs as a potential therapeutic agent for RA.

Abstract Health monitoring and fault diagnosis of rolling bearings are crucial for the continuous and effective operation of mechanical equipment. In order to improve the accuracy of BP neural network in fault diagnosis of rolling bearings, a feature model is established from the vibration signals of rolling bearings, and an improved genetic algorithm is used to optimize the initial weights, biases, and hyperparameters of the BP neural network. This overcomes the shortcomings of BP neural network, such as being prone to local minima, slow convergence speed, and sample dependence. The improved genetic algorithm fully considers the degree of concentration and dispersion of population fitness in genetic algorithms, and adaptively adjusts the crossover and mutation probabilities of genetic algorithms in a non-linear manner. At the same time, in order to accelerate the optimization efficiency of the selection operator, the elite retention strategy is combined with the hierarchical proportional selection operation. Using the rolling bearing dataset from Case Western Reserve University in the United States as experimental data, the proposed algorithm was used for simulation and prediction. The experimental results show that compared with the other seven models, the proposed IGA-BPNN exhibit superior performance in both convergence speed and predictive performance.

The effects of yeast culture (YC) on dairy goat milk yield and potential effects of rumen microbial population changes on rumen fermentation are poorly understood. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of YC on milk yield and rumen fermentation in dairy goats and explore the potential microbial mechanisms. Forty Laoshan dairy goats with a weight of 51.23 ± 2.23 kg and daily milk yield of 1.41 ± 0.26 kg were randomly divided into 4 groups: control (no YC), YC1 (10 g/day per goat), YC2 (25 g/day per goat), and YC3 (40 g/day per goat). The pre-feeding period was 15 days, and the official period was 60 days. Laoshan dairy goats were milked twice daily, and the individual milk yield was recorded. On the last day of the official period, rumen fluid was collected to measure rumen fermentation, perform quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and detect metabolites. Compared to the control group, the YC group had greater milk yield; higher acetic acid, butyric acid, and total volatile fatty acid contents; and lower ammonia-N (NH3-N) content in the rumen (p

Objective Ankle joint fractures are often accompanied by medial deltoid ligament rupture. There is controversy over whether or how to treat deltoid ligament rupture. This study was aimed to explore the feasibility of repairing the medial deltoid ligament using Kirschner wire internal fixation of the medial tibiotalar joint combined with external fixation. Methods Forty‐six patients with ankle fractures involving deltoid ligament rupture, treated between October 2012 and February 2021, were retrospectively evaluated. Twenty‐five patients were treated with a Kirschner wire to fix the tibiotalar joint and indirectly repair the deltoid ligament as the repaired group. Twenty‐one patients underwent reduction and fixation of internal and external malleolus fractures, and the deltoid ligament was not repaired in the unrepaired group. The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle‐hindfoot score, visual analog scale (VAS), Medical Outcomes Short Form 36‐item questionnaire score (SF‐36), and Medial clear space perpendicular (preoperative, postoperative, final follow‐up) were used for functional evaluations and reduction assessments. Mann–Whitney test were used to compare the differences between the groups. Results The follow‐up time was 13–112 months with a mean of 59.32 months for the repaired group and 11–94 months with a mean of 53.43 months for the unrepaired group. There was no significant difference in the operative time or intraoperative blood loss between the two groups (p > 0.05). At the last follow‐up, the AOFAS ankle‐hindfoot and SF‐36 scores of the repaired group were significantly higher than those of the non‐repaired group (p

Laiwu black goats comprise an excellent local germplasm resource; however, a shortage of feed resources has led to the application of unconventional feed. Ginger straw feed has good physiological effects, but research on this feed source for ruminant animals is lacking. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of enzymatic silage ginger straw on Laiwu black goat performance. The experiment used an independent sample t-test analysis method; 24 healthy Laiwu black goats with a body weight of 20.05 ± 1.15 kg and age of 5.67 ± 0.25 months were randomly divided into two groups with three replicates (bars) per group and four goats per replicate. The experimental diet was composed of mixed concentrate, silage, and garlic peel at a 2:7:1 ratio. The silage used in the two groups was whole corn silage (CON group) and 60% whole corn silage plus 40% enzymatic silage ginger straw (SG group), and the other components were identical. Daily feed intake/daily gain (F/G) was significantly higher in the SG group than in the CON group (p < 0.05), but there were no significant differences in dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) digestibility between the groups. The shear force, cooking loss, centrifugal loss, and pressure loss of the longissimus dorsi muscle group were significantly lower in the SG than in the CON group (p < 0.05). Compared with those in the CON group, the serum and liver total antioxidant capacity was significantly increased in the SG group, and in the liver, the O2·−, malondialdehyde, and OH· contents were significantly decreased. Collectively, the rumen fluid microbial diversity was changed in the SG group. It was concluded that enzymatic silage ginger straw usage instead of 40% whole silage corn as feed for Laiwu black goats can significantly improve the muscle quality, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal flora, with no adverse effects on production performance. In conclusion, our study provides a basis for ginger straw processing and storage and its rational application in the Laiwu black goat diet.

Abstract Objective To investigate the efficacy of the minimally invasive clamp reduction technique via the anterior approach in the treatment of irreducible intertrochanteric femoral fractures. Methods From January 2015 to January 2021, 115 patients (48 males and 67 females) with irreducible intertrochanteric femoral fractures were treated. The average age of the patients was 78.7 (45–100 years old). The types of injuries were falls (91 cases), traffic accidents (12 cases), smashing (6 cases), and high falling (6 cases). The duration between injury and surgery ranged from 1 to 14 days, with an average of 3.9 days. The distribution of AO classification was as follows: 31-A1 in 15 cases, type 31-A2 in 67 cases and 31-A3 in 33 cases. Results All patients achieved good reduction, with fracture reduction times ranging from 10 to 32 min (mean of 18 min), and were followed up for 12–27 months after surgery (mean of 17.9 months). Two patients with pronation displacement of the proximal fracture segment died of infection or hypostatic pneumonia after internal fixation failure; one patient with failed internal fixation switched to joint replacement. After internal fixation, the lateral wall of six reversed intertrochanteric femoral fractures showed repronation and abduction displacement, but all fractures achieved bony healing. The rest of the patients did not lose fracture reduction, and all fractures achieved bony healing with a healing time ranging from 3 to 9 months (mean of 5.7 months). While two patients died and one patient exhibited failed internal fixation and thus switched to joint replacement, 91 of the remaining 112 patients had an excellent Harris score of the hip joint function at the final follow-up, while 21 patients had a good Harris score. Conclusion The minimally invasive clamp reduction technique via the anterior approach for the treatment of irreducible intertrochanteric femoral fractures is simple, effective and minimally invasive. In the case of irreducible intertrochanteric femoral fractures associated with lateral wall displacement, the lateral wall needs to be strengthened after clamp reduction and intramedullary nail fixation to avoid loss of reduction and failure of internal fixation.

Abstract The current methods for detecting pathogenic bacteria in feed require high technique and take a long time. The Micro Biological Survey (MBS) rapid detection system is a simple, economical and rapid microbial detection method. The purpose of this experiment was to compare the detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Listeria monocytogenes (LM), coliform (COLI) and total viable count (TVC) in feed by the MBS rapid microbial detection system and plate counting method (PCM). The results showed that the limit of quantitation, recovery rate and coefficient of variation of the MBS microbial rapid detection system are better than the plate counting method. When detecting the pathogenic bacteria content in artificially contaminated feed, the MBS rapid microbial detection system was positively correlated with the PCM. When the MBS microbial rapid detection system and PCM were used to detect the collected real feed samples, there was no significant difference in the detection results of the two methods in most of the feed samples. In summary, the MBS microbial rapid detection system is the most convenient and rapid detection method and is suitable for promotion and application in production lines.

ABSTRACT: Mycotoxins, including aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), zearalenone (ZEN) and deoxynivalenol (DON), are common contaminants of moldy feeds. Mycotoxins can cause deleterious effects on the health of chickens and can be carried over in poultry food products. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of moldy corn (containing AFB1, ZEN, and DON) on the performance, health, and mycotoxin residues of laying hens. One hundred and eighty 400-day-old laying hens were divided into 4 treatments: basal diet (Control), basal diet containing 20% moldy corn (MC20), 40% moldy corn (MC40) and 60% moldy corn (MC60). At d 20, 40, and 60, the performance, oxidative stress, immune function, metabolism, and mycotoxin residues in eggs were determined. At d 60, mycotoxin residues in muscle and edible viscera were measured. Results showed the average daily feed intake (ADFI) and laying performance of laying hens were decreased with moldy corn treatments. All the moldy corn treatments also induced significant oxidative stress and immunosuppression, reflected by decreased antioxidase activities, contents of cytokines, immunoglobulins, and increased malonaldehyde level. Moreover, the activities of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine transaminase were increased by moldy corn treatments. The lipid metabolism was influenced in laying hens receiving moldy corn, reflected by lowered levels of total protein, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and increased total triglyceride as well as uric acid. The above impairments were aggravated with the increase of mycotoxin levels. Furthermore, AFB1 and ZEN residues were found in eggs, muscle, and edible viscera with moldy corn treatments, but the residues were below the maximum residue limits. In conclusion, moldy corn impaired the performance, antioxidant capacity, immune function, liver function, and metabolism of laying hens at d 20, 40, and 60. Moldy corn also led to AFB1 residue in eggs at d 20, 40, and 60, and led to both AFB1 and ZEN residues in eggs at days 40 and 60, and in muscle and edible viscera at d 60. The toxic effects and mycotoxin residues were elevated with the increase of moldy corn levels in feed.

Given the ban on antibiotic growth promoters, the effects of nonantibiotic alternative growth promoter combinations (NAGPCs) on the growth performance, nutrient utilization, digestive enzyme activity, intestinal morphology, and cecal microflora of broilers were evaluated. All birds were fed pellets of two basal diets—starter (0–21 d) and grower (22–42 d)—with either enramycin (ENR) or NAGPC supplemented. 1) control + ENR; 2) control diet (CON, basal diet); 3) control + mannose oligosaccharide (MOS) + mannanase (MAN) + sodium butyrate (SB) (MMS); 4) control + MOS + MAN + Bacillus subtilis (BS) (MMB); 5) control + MOS + fruit oligosaccharide (FOS) + SB (MFS); 6) control + FOS + BS (MFB); 7) control + MOS + FOS + MAN (MFM); 8) control + MOS + BS + phytase (PT) (MBP). ENR, MOS, FOS, SB, MAN, PT, and BS were added at 100, 2,000, 9,000, 1,500, 300, 37, and 500 mg/kg, respectively. The experiment used a completely random block design with six replicates per group: 2400 Ross 308 broilers in the starter phase and 768 in the grower phase. All NAGPCs significantly improved body weight gain (P < 0.01), utilization of dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein (P < 0.05), villus height and villus height/crypt depth in the jejunum and ileum (P < 0.01), and decreased the feed conversion ratio (P < 0.01) at d 21 and 42. MMS, MMB, MFB, and MFM duodenum trypsin, lipase, and amylase activities increased significantly (P < 0.05) at d 21 and 42. On d 21 and 42, MMS, MMB, and MBP increased the abundance of Firmicutes and Bacteroides whereas MMB, MFB, and MBP decreased the abundance of Proteobacteria, compared to ENR and CON. Overall, the NAGPCs were found to have some beneficial effects and may be used as effective antibiotic replacements in broilers.

In image classification of tomato leaf diseases based on deep learning, models often focus on features such as edges, stems, backgrounds, and shadows of the experimental samples, while ignoring the features of the disease area, resulting in weak generalization ability. In this study, a self-attention mechanism called GD-Attention is proposed, which considers global pixel value distribution information and guide the deep learning model to give more concern on the leaf disease area. Based on data augmentation, the proposed method inputs both the image and its pixel value distribution information to the model. The GD-Attention mechanism guides the model to extract features related to pixel value distribution information, thereby increasing attention towards the disease area. The model is trained and tested on the Plant Village (PV) dataset, and by analyzing the generated attention heatmaps, it is observed that the disease area obtains greater weight. The results achieve an accuracy of 99.97% and 27 MB parameters only. Compared to classical and state-of-the-art models, our model showcases competitive performance. As a next step, we are committed to further research and application, aiming to address real-world, complex scenarios.

Intestinal barrier disruption due to the intestinal epithelial cells’ (IECs) death is one of the critical pathological features of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). SM934, an artemisinin analog, has previously been proven to ameliorate colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in mice by suppressing inflammation response. In this study, we investigated the protective effects of SM934 on the epithelial barrier and the underlying mechanism in trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis mice. We demonstrated that SM934 restored the body weight and colon length, and improved the intestine pathology. Furthermore, SM934 treatment preserved the intestinal barrier function via decreasing the intestinal permeability, maintaining epithelial tight junction (TJ) protein expressions, and preventing apoptosis of epithelial cells, which were observed both in the colon tissue and the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced human colonic epithelial cell line HT-29. Specifically, SM934 reduced the pyroptosis of IECs exposed to pathogenic signaling and inhibited pyroptosis-related factors such as NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), adapter apoptosis-associated speck-like protein (ASC), cysteine protease-1 (caspase-1), gasdermin (GSDMD), interleukin-18 (IL-18), and high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) both in colon tissue and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) co-stimulated HT-29 cells in vitro. Moreover, SM934 interdicted pyroptosis via blocking the transduction of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) signaling pathways. In conclusion, SM934 protected TNBS-induced colitis against intestinal barrier disruption by inhibiting the apoptosis and pyroptosis of epithelial cells via the NLRP3/NF-κB/MAPK signal axis, and intestinal barrier protection in company with an anti-inflammatory strategy might yield greater benefits in IBD treatment.

The transportation control infrastructure serves as the foundation for regional traffic signal control. However, in practice, this infrastructure is often imperfect and complex, characterized by factors such as heterogeneity and uncertainty, which pose significant challenges to existing methods and systems. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel approach to coordinated traffic signal control that emphasizes flexibility. To achieve this flexibility, we combine the flexible model of complex networks with robust fuzzy control methods. This approach enables us to overcome the complexity of the transportation control infrastructure and ensure efficient management of traffic signals. Additionally, to ensure long-term operational ease, we develop a regional traffic signal control system using steam computing technology, which provides high scalability and compatibility. Finally, computational experiments are performed to validate adaptability and performance of our proposed approach.

Public transportation is a crucial component of urban transportation systems, and improving passenger sharing rates can help alleviate traffic congestion. To enhance the punctuality and supply–demand balance of dedicated buses, we propose a hierarchical multi-objective optimization model to optimize bus guidance speeds and bus operation schedules. Firstly, we present an intelligent decision-making method for bus driving speed based on the mathematical description of bus operation states and the application of the Lagrange multiplier method, which improves the overall punctuality rate of the bus line. Secondly, we propose an optimization method for bus operation schedules that respond to passenger needs by optimizing departure time intervals and station schedules for supply–demand balance. The experiments were conducted in Future Science City, Beijing, China. The results show that the bus line’s punctuality rate has increased to 90.53%, while the retention rate for platform passengers and the intersection stop rate have decreased by 36.22% and 60.93%, respectively. These findings verify the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed hierarchical multi-objective optimization model.

Fumonisin B1 (FB1), produced by Fusarium, is among the most abundant and toxic mycotoxin contaminations in feed, causing damages to the health of livestock. However, the mechanisms of FB1 toxicity in chickens are less understood. As splenic lymphocytes play important roles in the immune system, the aim of this study was to investigate the immunotoxic effects and mechanisms of FB1 on chicken splenic lymphocytes. In the present study, the chicken primary splenic lymphocytes were harvested and treated with 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 40 μg/mL FB1. Then, the cell proliferation, damage, ultrastructure, inflammation and apoptosis were evaluated. Results showed that the proliferation rate of splenic lymphocytes was decreased by FB1 treatments. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was increased by FB1 treatments in a dose-dependent manner, implying the induction of cell damage. Consistently, the ultrastructure of splenic lymphocytes showed that FB1 at all the tested concentrations caused cell structure alterations, including nuclear vacuolation, mitochondrial swelling and mitochondrial crest fracture. Besides, immunosuppressive effects of FB1 were observed by the decreased concentrations of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, IL-12 and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in the cell culture supernatant. Furthermore, apoptosis was observed in FB1-treated cells by flow cytometry. The mRNA expressions of apoptosis-related genes showed that the expression of Bcl-2 was decreased, while the expressions of the P53, Bax, Bak-1, and Caspase-3 were increased with FB1 treatment. Similar results were found in the concentrations of apoptosis-related proteins in the cell supernatant by ELISA assay. Moreover, regression analysis indicated that increasing FB1 concentration increased LDH activity, concentrations of Bax, Bak-1 and mRNA expression of Bak-1 linearly, increased M1 area percentage quadratically, decreased concentration of IFN-γ, mRNA expression of Bcl-2 linearly, and decreased concentrations of IL-2 and IL-4 quadratically. Besides, regression analysis also showed reciprocal relationships between IL-12 concentration, Caspase-3 mRNA expression and increasing FB1 concentration. The increasing FB1 concentration could decrease IL-12 concentration and increase Caspase-3 mRNA expression. Altogether, this study reported that FB1 induced the immunotoxicity of chicken splenic lymphocytes and caused splenic lymphocytes apoptosis by the Bcl-2 family-mediated mitochondrial pathway of caspase activation.