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Sheep growth performance, mainly skeletal muscle growth, provides direct economic benefits to the animal husbandry industry. However, the underlying genetic mechanisms of different breeds remain unclear. We found that the cross-sectional area (CSA) of skeletal muscle in Dorper (D) and binary cross-breeding (HD) was higher than that in Hu sheep (H) from 3 months to 12 months after birth. The transcriptomic analysis of 42 quadriceps femoris samples showed that a total of 5053 differential expression genes (DEGs) were identified. The differences in the global gene expression patterns, the dynamic transcriptome of skeletal muscle development, and the transcriptome of the transformation of fast and slow muscles were explored using weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) and allele-specific expression analysis. Moreover, the gene expression patterns of HD were more similar to D rather than H from 3 months to 12 months, which might be the reason for the difference in muscle growth in the three breeds. Additionally, several genes (GNB2L1, RPL15, DVL1, FBXO31, etc.) were identified as candidates related to skeletal muscle growth. These results should serve as an important resource revealing the molecular basis of muscle growth and development in sheep.

Climate change poses a significant threat to the development of young children, but its impacts are not well known because of data and methodological limitations. Using a unique panel study in disadvantaged rural communities, we find that exposures to low temperatures undermine subsequent cognitive development before age 5, and reduce caregiver-child interactions and material investments. Results do not support income, health and temporary disruption in cognitive performance as potential channels. By undermining children's home environment, climate change may widen socioeconomic inequalities across households by their capacity to adapt, which is severely limited among disadvantaged households.

Staphylococcus aureus infections pose a potential threat to livestock production and public health. A novel strategy is needed to control S. aureus infections due to its adaptive evolution to antibiotics. Autophagy plays a key role in degrading bacteria for innate immune cells. In order to promote S. aureus clearance via Toll-like receptor (TLR)-induced autophagy pathway, the domain fusion TLR2-4 with the extracellular domain of TLR2, specific recognizing S. aureus, and transmembrane and intracellular domains of TLR4 is assembled, then the goat expressing TLR2-4 is generated. TLR2-4 substantially augments the removal of S. aureus within macrophages by elevating autophagy level. Phosphorylated JNK and ERK1/2 promote LC3-puncta in TLR2-4 macrophages during S. aureus-induced autophagy via MyD88 mediated the TAK1 signaling cascade. Meantime, the TRIF-dependent TBK1-TFEB-OPTN signaling is involved in TLR2-4-triggered autophagy after S. aureus challenge. Moreover, the transcript of ATG5 and ATG12 is significantly increased via cAMP-PKA-NF-κB signaling, which facilitates S. aureus-induced autophagy in TLR2-4 macrophages. Overall, the novel receptor TLR2-4 enhances the autophagy-dependent clearance of S. aureus in macrophages via TAK1/TBK1-JNK/ERK, TBK1-TFEB-OPTN, and cAMP-PKA-NF-κB-ATGs signaling pathways, which provide an alternative approach for resistant against S. aureus infection.

Purpose Existing robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS) system lacks of force feedback, and it cannot provide the surgeon with interaction forces between the surgical instruments and patient’s tissues. This paper aims to restore force sensation for the RMIS system and evaluate effect of force sensing in a master-slave manner. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a four-DOF surgical instrument with modular joints and six-axis force sensing capability and proposes an incremental position mode master–slave control strategy based on separated position and orientation to reflect motion of the end of master manipulator to the end of surgical instrument. Ex-vivo experiments including tissue palpation and blunt dissection are conducted to verify the effect of force sensing for the surgical instrument. An experiment of trajectory tracking is carried out to test precision of the control strategy. Findings Results of trajectory tracking experiment show that this control strategy can precisely reflect the hand motion of the operator, and the results of the ex-vivo experiments including tissue palpation and blunt dissection illustrate that this surgical instrument can measure the six-axis interaction forces successfully for the RMIS. Originality/value This paper addresses the important role of force sensing and force feedback in RMIS, clarifies the feasibility to apply this instrument prototype in RMIS for force sensing and provides technical support of force feedback for further clinical application.

Background: Activity-based funding (ABF) is a means of healthcare reimbursement, where hospitals are allocated funding based on the number and mix of clinical activity. The ABF model is based solely on Australian refined diagnosis-related group (AR-DRG) classifications of hospital encounters. Each AR-DRG is allocated a weighted activity unit (WAU) translating to cost value to determine ongoing funding allocations for each hospital annually. Aim: We explored cost consequences of AR-DRG coding variances within our Medical Oncology department over a 6-month period. Methods: All inpatient encounters for medical oncology from 1 January to 30 June 2014 were identified and paired with actual AR-DRG coding sheets submitted by the hospital coders. Inpatient charts were manually reviewed by a Medical Oncology Registrar to capture any changes or additional AR-DRGs, which were subsequently evaluated for total WAU value variance. Applying 1 WAU = $4676 as per the 2014 Queensland model, cost consequences were calculated. Results: A total of 116 encounters was identified for 72 patients. Of 116 patients, 95 (81%) had additional diagnoses captured, leading to an AR-DRG and WAU change in 26 encounters. The total reimbursement variance for this period was $143 404.07. Cost consequences resulted from: (i) use of abbreviations in clinical notes unable to be coded; and (ii) diagnoses not documented despite treatment delivered as per medication charts. Conclusion: Clinical note documentation ultimately determines the future funding of our healthcare system. Appropriate communication and education of medical staff and hospital coders are vital to ensure precise documentation and accurate AR-DRG coding for optimal and appropriate reimbursement in this funding model.

In this article, the problem of simultaneously detecting and localizing multiple targets in homogeneous noise environment is considered for non-coherent multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar with widely separated antennas. By assuming that the a prior knowledge of target number is available, an optimal solution to this problem is presented first. It is essentially a maximum-likelihood (ML) estimator searching the parameters of interest in a high-dimensional state space. However, the complexity of this solution increases exponentially with the number $G$ of targets. Besides, if the number of targets is unknown, a multi-hypothesis testing strategy to verify all the possible hypotheses on target number is required, which further complicates this method. In order to devise computationally feasible methods for practical applications, we split the high-dimensional maximization into $G$ disjoint sub-optimization problems by sequentially detecting targets and then clearing their interference for the subsequent detection of remaining targets. In this way, we further propose two fast and robust suboptimal solutions which allow to trade performance for a much lower implementation complexity. In addition, the multi-hypothesis testing is no longer required when target number is unknown. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can correctly detect and accurately localize multiple targets even when targets lie in the same range bins. Experimental data recorded by three small radars are also provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithms.

The declines in laying performance during the late production period have adverse effects on the length of the production cycle. Improving the nutrition of laying hens is a crucial measure to reverse this declination. This study investigated the effect of selenium yeast (SY) on egg production, ileal gene expression and microbiota, as well as elucidating their associations in aged laying hens. A total of 375 Jinghong laying hens at 76 weeks old were randomly assigned into 5 dietary treatments, which included a selenium-deficient basal diet based on corn-soybean meal, and dietary supplementation of SY at 0.15, 0.30 and 0.45 mg/kg, and sodium selenite at 0.45 mg/kg. The results showed that SY ameliorated the depression in aged laying performance in the 0.30 mg/kg group (

Background Egg internal and eggshell quality were deteriorated in aging laying hens. Improving egg and shell quality can prolong the laying cycle. Although, selenium yeast (SY) has been found with the potential to enhance the laying performance and egg quality, the underlying mechanisms have not been investigated. Therefore, we investigated the effect and molecule mechanism of selenium yeast on egg and shell quality in aged laying hens. Methods Three hundred 76-week-old Jing Hong laying hens were divided into four equal treatments and fed with Se-deficient diet (SD), 0.15, 0.30, 0.45 mg/kg selenium yeast diet (SY0.15, SY0.30 and SY0.45). At the end of the trial, we evaluated the plasma and tissue selenium content, plasma antioxidant capacity and egg quality. Transcriptomic analysis was performed to investigate the boosting effect of selenium yeast on eggshell quality. The weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) analysis was performed to screen out the key candidate genes related with eggshell quality affected by selenium yeast. Results Dietary selenium yeast supplementation enhanced the eggshell strength (SY0.45) (P P CEMIP), ovalbumin (OVAL), solute carrier family 6 member 17 (SLC6A17), solute carrier family 13 member 5 (SLC13A5), proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and proenkephalin (PENK). Functional enrichment analysis revealed that selenium may alter the biological process including eggshell mineralization, ion transport and laying period to affect eggshell formation. Conclusion Selenium yeast enhanced eggshell strength and reduced the shell translucence by improving antioxidant capacity, selenium status, and regulating the processes of shell mineralization, ion transport and laying period. These findings provide a novel molecule biomarker for affecting eggshell quality regulated by selenium.

A series of NiCuZnAl catalysts with various Cu/Ni molar ratios and XCuZnAl (X=Ni, Co, Mn, Mg, La) catalysts were prepared and used in the aldehyde‐water shift (AWS) reaction with propanal as model compound. Although copper is the main site for AWS reaction, some additives also showed some effects on enhancing the catalytic activity to varying degrees. Mn promoted catalyst showed the highest propanal conversion of 22 % at 260 °C, much better than Co, La etc. Among the Ni promoted catalysts, NCZA‐33 with Ni/(Ni+Cu) molar ratio of 33 % showed the best activity. The trend of activity happened to match the catalyst reducibility expressed by reduction peak temperature in TPR analysis, thus an MVK mechanism was suggested. Introduction of Ni decreases the proportion of Cu0/Cu+ in surface Cu species, thus suppressed the hydrogenation activity and decreased the selectivity of corresponding alcohols. The carboxylic acid selectivity increased from 86.3 % of pristine CuZnAl to more than 90 % on modified catalysts, even 99.6 % on NCZA‐83 catalyst. Both pristine and modified CuZnAl catalysts showed good stability under AWS reaction conditions and carbon deposition is not responsible for the deactivation. AWS reaction was also extended to other aliphatic aldehydes and alcohols, but it's invalid for furfural and Cinnamaldehyde under the employed reaction conditions. The results indicate AWS reaction is very sensitive to the nature of reactants.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of total variation regularized expectation maximization (TVREM) reconstruction on the image quality of (68)Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT using phantom and patient data. METHODS: Images of a phantom with small hot sphere inserts and 20 prostate cancer patients were acquired with a digital PET/CT using list-mode and reconstructed with ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) and TVREM with seven penalisation factors between 0.01 and 0.42 for 2 and 3 minutes-per-bed (m/b) acquisition. The contrast recovery (CR) and background variability (BV) of the phantom, image noise of the liver, and SUV(max) of the lesions were measured. Qualitative image quality was scored by two radiologists using a 5-point scale (1-poor, 5-excellent). RESULTS: The performance of CR, BV, and image noise, and the gain of SUV(max) was higher for TVREM 2 m/b groups with the penalization of 0.07 to 0.28 compared to OSEM 3 m/b group (all p < 0.05). The image noise of OSEM 3 m/b group was equivalent to TVREM 2 and 3 m/b groups with a penalization of 0.14 and 0.07, while lesions’ SUV(max) increased 15 and 20%. The highest qualitative score was attained at the penalization of 0.21 (3.30 ± 0.66) for TVREM 2 m/b groups and the penalization 0.14 (3.80 ± 0.41) for 3 m/b group that equal to or greater than OSEM 3 m/b group (2.90 ± 0.45, p = 0.2 and p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: TVREM improves lesion contrast and reduces image noise, which allows shorter acquisition with preserved image quality for PSMA PET/CT. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: TVREM reconstruction with optimized penalization factors can generate higher quality PSMA-PET images for prostate cancer diagnosis.

A series of Mn promoted CuZnAl catalysts were prepared by coprecipitation method. Doping of manganese in CuZnAl strongly enhanced the AWS activity and propionic acid selectivity. The interaction between Cu and Mn ions results in suppressed the hydrogenation of propanal to propyl alcohol and enhanced the selectivity of propionic acid. According to our results, the most favorable Mn/Cu molar ratio is 1:1. Higher temperature is also beneficial to the selectivity of propionic acid on CuZnAl-based catalysts.

Background: The declines in both laying performance and egg shell quality during late production period have adverse effects on long production cycle. Improving nutrition of laying hens is a crucial measure to reverse the declination. Selenium (Se) plays important roles in antioxidant defense, redox balance, immune response, and modulation of gut microbiota. However, the mechanism underlying selenium yeast regulating the interaction between transcriptome and gut microbiota to influence laying performance, is still unclear. Here, we use the transcriptome and 16S rRNA analysis to investigate how selenium yeast alters the gene expression and microbiota composition of ileum in aged laying hens.Results: In this study, selenium yeast ameliorated the depression in aged laying performance with a significant increase of laying rate in 0.30 mg/kg group. Furthermore, functional enrichment and STEM analysis were performed using RNA-Seq, which indicated selenium yeast activated metabolic progresses (e.g. Glycerolipid metabolism, Glycerophospholipid metabolism, and fatty acid metabolism), immune response and oxidative stress response. Four hub genes (TXNRD1, DLD, ILK and LZTS2) were involved in intestinal metabolism which was closely associated with Se deposition/status. Additionally, Se increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria including Veillonella, Turicibacter, and Lactobacillus whiledecreasing the abundance of pathogenic bacteria Stenotrophomonas by 16S rRNA-Seq. The Integrated analysis of omics revealed that several microbiotas (Maritalea, Alteromonas, Geobacter, etc.) were positively associated with both Se content and laying rate, and there was a markable correlation between several specific microbiotas (Aliivibrio, Anaerobacillus, Shewanella, etc.) and the immune response pathways (regulation of acute inflammatory response, positive regulation of lymphocyte activation and IFN gamma response). Meanwhile, the “switched on” gene PSCA had a positive relationship with Veillonella, and a negative relationship with the opportunistic pathogens Stenotrophomonas. CCA analysis indicated that both the Se content and the laying rate were highly positively correlated with Anaerobacillus, Alteromonas, Loktanella and the positive regulation of lymphocyte activation, but were negative correlated with Streptococcus, Devosia, Aerococcus, Intestinibacter and fatty acid metabolic progress. Conclusions: Overall, our study provides unprecedented insights showing that selenium yeast supplementation can affect immune response, metabolic processes, and specific microbiota composition to ameliorate the egg production deterioration in aged laying hens.

Protein Kinase A catalytic subunit α (PKACα), plays an important role in the PKA and NF-κB signaling pathway in mammals. However, the function of PKACα in teleost fish remains largely unknown. In this study, PKACα from black carp (bcPKACα) has been cloned and its role in the innate immune antiviral signaling pathway was investigated. The open reading frame of bcPKACα gene contains 1056 nucleotides and the immunofluorescence assay verified that PKACα was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm. The reporter assay showed that bcPKACα expression and co-expression of bcPKACα and black carp TAK1 (bcTAK1) could activate the transcription of NF-κB. However, bcTAK1/bcIRF7-mediated IFN transcription was inhibited by bcPKACα. Knockdown of bcPKACα showed slightly enhanced antiviral activity against spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) compared with control group. Accordingly, the antiviral activity against SVCV and grass carp reovirus (GCRV) of EPC cells co-expressing bcPKACα, bcTAK1 and bcIRF7 was obviously lower than that of EPC cells co-expressing bcTAK1 and bcIRF7. The similar subcellular distribution and interaction between bcPKACα and bcTAK1 were detected by immunofluorescent staining and co-immunoprecipitation assay separately. The data generated in this study demonstrates that bcPKACα associates with bcTAK1 and positively regulates NF-κB signaling, however, negatively regulates TAK1/IRF7 signaling pathway.

In this paper, we designed a 8 degrees of freedom (DOFs) haptic device for applications in minimally invasive surgical robot. The device can provide three translational, three rotational and a grasping motion and force feedback capability. It is composed of three parts, including an arm mechanism, a redundant wrist mechanism and a grasper mechanism. The kinematics and gravity compensation algorithms are also detailed in the paper. In addition, the haptic device and a slave surgical robot for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) developed by our lab are integrated as a master-slave surgical robotic system in this paper. In the master-slave robotic system, a new control system is designed to realize real-time mater-slave control based on EtherCAT bus technology. Experiments show that the haptic device can effectively compensate gravity at any position in its workspace and successfully realize master-slave operation by the control method, which prove the haptic device designed in this paper can be used as a master manipulator to control the surgical robot.

Purpose Robot-assisted system for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has been attracting more and more attentions. Compared with a traditional MIS, the robot-assisted system for MIS is able to overcome or reduce defects, such as poor hand-eye coordination, heavy labour intensity and limited motion of the instrument. The purpose of this paper is to design a novel robotic system for MIS applications. Design/methodology/approach A robotic system with three separate slave arms for MIS has been designed. In the proposed robot, a new mechanism was designed as the remote centre motion (RCM) mechanism to restrain the movement of instrument or laparoscope around the incision. Moreover, an improved instrument without coupling motion between wrist and grippers was developed to enhance its manipulability. A control system architecture was also developed, and an intuitive control method was applied to realize hand-eye coordination of the operator. Findings For the RCM mechanism, the workspace was analyzed and the positioning accuracy of the remote centre point was tested. The results show that the RCM mechanism can be applied to MIS. Furthermore, the master-slave trajectory tracking experiments reveal that slave robots are able to follow the movement of the master manipulators well. Finally, the feasibility of the robot-assisted system for MIS is proved by performing animal experiments successfully. Originality/value This paper offers a novel robotic system for MIS. It can accomplish the anticipated results.

Robot-assisted systems can enhance the precision of surgical procedures, and have been widely used in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). This paper proposes the master–slave real-time control strategy for a novel surgical robot for MIS. The robot is equipped with two instrument manipulators and one laparoscope manipulator. The control strategy solves problems of kinematics transformation on consistency principle, intra-operative re-mapping and tremor attenuation in real-time. The kinematics model of slave instrument manipulators is established, and the master–slave control method in Cartesian space is proposed. Intra-operative re-mapping and real-time tremor attenuation algorithms are also proposed as auxiliary functions to improve surgical robot’s performance. The proposed methods are verified by respective experiments. Finally, animal experiment is performed to verify the correctness and efficiency of the control strategy in this research.

A novel separate robotic system for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has been presented in this paper. Control system architectures were designed, basing on versatile performance criteria. The comp...

Background: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) based on computer and robot-assisted technology is becoming more and more popular.Methods: Intuitive motion control implemented by kinematic algorithm o...

Background/AimThis study aims to examine differences between outer regional (OR) and remote/very remote (RVR) patients in northern Queensland, Australia in the times taken to receive various aspects of head and neck cancer management.MethodsOur study prospectively recruited head and neck cancer patients presenting to three North Queensland regional hospitals from January 2009 to January 2011. Data on demographic and cancer-specific details, comorbidities and timing of presentation to various services, were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that included two questions in relation to possible reason for delays to health services. Multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the effects of various demographic characteristics on time delays. Survival and disease recurrence data were analysed in 2014.ResultsOne hundred and fifty-eight patients participated. RVR patients had significantly longer median times between diagnosis and first treatment compared with OR patients (P=0.015). Indigenous patients had significant delays from diagnosis to first treatment (P=0.013) and visit to first specialist and treatment (P=0.031) compared to non-Indigenous patients. Longer median times between symptoms and first treatment was associated with low income (P=0.03) and lower education level (P=0.04). Disease recurrence was higher for RVR patients compared with OR patients (P=0.04), without significant differences in overall survival. Possible reasons for delays included patient and professional factors.ConclusionSignificant delays in various aspects of head and neck cancer management were associated with remoteness, Indigenous and socioeconomic status. While patient and professional factors could be addressed at local levels, sustainable improvement in outcomes requires a state and national level approach.

A key challenge in developing countries interested in providing early childhood development programs at scale is whether these programs can be effectively delivered through existing public service infrastructures. We present the results of a randomized experiment evaluating the effects of a home-based parenting program delivered by cadres in China’s Family Planning Commission (FPC) - the former enforcers of the onechild policy. We find that the program significantly increased infant skill development after six months and that increased investments by caregivers alongside improvements in parenting skills were a major mechanism through which this occurred. Children who lagged behind in their cognitive development and received little parental investment at the onset of the intervention benefited most from the program. Household participation in the program was associated with the degree to which participants had a favorable view of the FPC, which also increased due to the program. ispartof: pages:1-36 status: published

This paper introduces the concept of material design, material design, the development status of material design outlook, etc.

As an important micronutrient, selenium (Se) plays many essential roles in immune response and protection against pathogens in humans and animals, but underlying mechanisms of Se-based control of salmonella growth within macrophages remain poorly elucidated. In this study, using RNA-seq analyses, we demonstrate that Se treatment (at an appropriate concentration) can modulate the global transcriptome of chicken macrophages HD11. The bioinformatic analyses (KEGG pathway analysis) revealed that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were mainly enriched in retinol and glutathione metabolism, revealing that Se may be associated with retinol and glutathione metabolism. Meanwhile, Se treatment increased the number of salmonella invading the HD11 cells, but reduced the number of salmonella within HD11 cells, suggesting that enhanced clearance of salmonella within HD11 cells was potentially modulated by Se treatment. Furthermore, RNA-seq analyses also revealed that nine genes including SIVA1, FAS, and HMOX1 were differentially expressed in HD11 cells infected with salmonella following Se treatment, and GO enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs were mainly enriched in an extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway. In summary, these results indicate that Se treatment may not only affect retinol and glutathione metabolism in macrophages, but could also inhibit salmonella-induced macrophage apoptosis via an extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway involving SIVA1.