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Simple Summary: Giardia duodenalis is a parasite that infects the intestines of both animals and humans, leading to health concerns and economic losses in livestock farming. In black goats, infections can cause severe diarrhea or long-term asymptomatic carriers, which impacts animal husbandry. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of G. duodenalis in black goats from nine districts of Fujian Province, China. A total of 539 goat fecal samples were collected and analyzed using nested PCR targeting the SSU rRNA gene. Further analyses focused on the beta-giardin, glutamate dehydrogenase, and triosephosphate isomerase genes. Results showed that 115 samples (21.34%) tested positive for G. duodenalis, with assemblages A and E detected. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in infection rates between regions but no significant variation by age or gender. These findings contribute valuable data for understanding G. duodenalis in black goats and for improving prevention strategies in livestock. Giardia duodenalis is a zoonotic parasite that causes gastrointestinal diseases in both humans and animals. To evaluate the prevalence and genetic diversity of G. duodenalis in black goats, we collected 539 fecal samples from nine districts in Fujian Province, China. The presence of G. duodenalis was confirmed through nested PCR targeting the SSU rRNA gene, and genotyping was performed at the beta-giardin, glutamate dehydrogenase, and triosephosphate isomerase loci. Among the samples, 115 tested positive, yielding an overall infection rate of 21.34%. Assemblages A and E were identified, with assemblage E being predominant. Statistical analysis revealed significant regional differences in infection rates (p < 0.01), with Zhangzhou exhibiting the highest infection rate (39%) and Fuzhou the lowest (3.13%). No significant differences in infection rates were observed based on age: 24.56% (56/228) for goats <1 year, 14.92% (27/181) for goats 1–2 years, 26.8% (26/97) for goats 2–3 years, and 18.18% (6/33) for goats ≥ 3 years. Similarly, no significant differences were found between sexes: 24.84% (40/161) for males and 19.84% (75/378) for females. Notably, assemblage A, a zoonotic genotype, was detected, indicating a potential risk of cross-species transmission. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of G. duodenalis in black goats and provides critical data for the development of targeted control strategies in Fujian Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPurposeMethodsResultsConclusionCurrently, treating femoral neck fractures (FNFs) with the inverted triangle configuration requires alignment between the femoral neck’s long axis and the axis of cannulated compression screws (CCS). To address whether the ‘parallel’ alignment is the most effective approach for fractures with varying Pauwels angles, we employed finite element analysis (FEA) to investigate how different angles between fracture line and CCS affect stability, based on various Pauwels angles. This study aims to offer improved guidance for treating FNFs with the inverted triangle configuration.FNF models with Pauwels angles of 40°, 50°, 60°, and 70° were developed. The CCS were positioned in an inverted triangle configuration based on the angle between the fracture line and CCS. Using FEA, we compared the biomechanical properties of each model to evaluate the stability by evaluating five key parameters: maximal stress in the proximal femoral fracture fragment (MPFS) and implants (MIS), maximal displacement of the bone (MBD) and implants (MID), and maximal relative displacement of the fragments (MRD).For Pauwels angles of 40°, 50°, 60°, and 70° across different FNF models, various parameters exhibited similar results. The MPFS showed an upward trend with a decrease in the angle, whereas the MIS, MBD, MID, and MRD all exhibited downward trends.The FEA results suggest that decreasing the angle between the fracture line and the CCS for the treatment of FNF can increase the tension resistance of the model, thus increasing the model’s stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Qiule 368' (flour maize) and 'Zhengdan 958' (flint maize) seeds were artificially aged at 46 °C and 95% relative humidity to investigate the changes in physiological quality of maize seeds during aging. The vigor of the seeds, their reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, cell membrane status, antioxidant enzyme system, and cellular ultrastructure were all investigated. The results showed that the germination energy, germination rate, superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities decreased during artificial aging, whereas the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide anion (O2·–), and carbonyl protein as well as relative electrical conductivity (REC) increased during artificial aging. SOD and CAT activities showed highly significant negative correlation with aging time (p < 0.01), MDA, H2O2, O2·– content and REC showed highly significant positive correlation with aging time (p < 0.01), whereas POD activity showed significant negative correlation with aging time (p < 0.05). After aging, the cell membrane ruptured, and negative changes in amyloplast and protein bodies and in liposomes were all observed. This study provided guidelines for the meaningful study of changes in maize seed physiological quality during storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initiating drug use during adolescence increases the risk of developing addiction or other psychopathologies later in life, with long-term outcomes varying according to sex and exact timing of use. The cellular and molecular underpinnings explaining this differential sensitivity to detrimental drug effects remain unexplained. The Netrin-1/DCC guidance cue system segregates cortical and limbic dopamine pathways in adolescence. Here we show that amphetamine, by dysregulating Netrin-1/DCC signaling, triggers ectopic growth of mesolimbic dopamine axons to the prefrontal cortex, only in early-adolescent male mice, underlying a male-specific vulnerability to enduring cognitive deficits. In adolescent females, compensatory changes in Netrin-1 protect against the deleterious consequences of amphetamine on dopamine connectivity and cognitive outcomes. Netrin-1/DCC signaling functions as a molecular switch which can be differentially regulated by the same drug experience as function of an individual's sex and adolescent age, and lead to divergent long-term outcomes associated with vulnerable or resilient phenotypes. Adolescent drug use augments psychiatric risk. Here the authors show that abused drugs dysregulate adolescent Netrin-1/DCC signaling, triggering ectopic long-distance dopamine axon growth in males while Netrin1 compensatory events protect females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common root rot caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana infestation in wheat is one of the main reasons for yield reduction in wheat crops worldwide. The bacterium strain JK-25 used in the current investigation was isolated from wheat rhizosphere soil and was later identified as Bacillus halotolerans based on its morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular properties. The strain showed significant antagonism to B. sorokiniana, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium graminearum, and Rhizoctonia zeae. Inhibition of B. sorokiniana mycelial dry weight and spore germination rate by JK-25 fermentation supernatant reached 60% and 88%, respectively. The crude extract of JK-25 was found, by Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), to contain the surfactin that exerted an inhibitory effect on B. sorokiniana. The disruption of mycelial cell membranes was observed under laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) after treatment of B. sorokiniana mycelium with the crude extract. The antioxidant enzyme activity of B. sorokiniana was significantly reduced and the oxidation product malondialdehyde (MDA) content increased after treatment with the crude extract. The incidence of root rot was significantly reduced in pot experiments with the addition of JK-25 culture fermentation supernatant, which had a significant biological control effect of 72.06%. Its ability to produce siderophores may help to promote wheat growth and the production of proteases and pectinases may also be part of the strain's role in suppressing pathogens. These results demonstrate the excellent antagonistic effect of JK-25 against B. sorokiniana and suggest that this strain has great potential as a resource for biological control of wheat root rot strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many apicomplexan parasites harbor a non-photosynthetic plastid called the apicoplast, which hosts important metabolic pathways like the methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway that synthesizes isoprenoid precursors. Yet many details in apicoplast metabolism are not well understood. In this study, we examined the physiological roles of four glycolytic enzymes in the apicoplast of Toxoplasma gondii. Many glycolytic enzymes in T. gondii have two or more isoforms. Endogenous tagging each of these enzymes found that four of them were localized to the apicoplast, including pyruvate kinase2 (PYK2), phosphoglycerate kinase 2 (PGK2), triosephosphate isomerase 2 (TPI2) and phosphoglyceraldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (GAPDH2). The ATP generating enzymes PYK2 and PGK2 were thought to be the main energy source of the apicoplast. Surprisingly, deleting PYK2 and PGK2 individually or simultaneously did not cause major defects on parasite growth or virulence. In contrast, TPI2 and GAPDH2 are critical for tachyzoite proliferation. Conditional depletion of TPI2 caused significant reduction in the levels of MEP pathway intermediates and led to parasite growth arrest. Reconstitution of another isoprenoid precursor synthesis pathway called the mevalonate pathway in the TPI2 depletion mutant partially rescued its growth defects. Similarly, knocking down the GAPDH2 enzyme that produces NADPH also reduced isoprenoid precursor synthesis through the MEP pathway and inhibited parasite proliferation. In addition, it reduced de novo fatty acid synthesis in the apicoplast. Together, these data suggest a model that the apicoplast dwelling TPI2 provides carbon source for the synthesis of isoprenoid precursor, whereas GAPDH2 supplies reducing power for pathways like MEP, fatty acid synthesis and ferredoxin redox system in T. gondii. As such, both enzymes are critical for parasite growth and serve as potential targets for anti-toxoplasmic intervention designs. On the other hand, the dispensability of PYK2 and PGK2 suggest additional sources for energy in the apicoplast, which deserves further investigation. Author summary: The apicoplast is a unique organelle in most apicomplexan parasites, a large group of unicellular pathogens that infect humans and animals. It is essential for parasite growth as it hosts important metabolic pathways and provides critical metabolites. By endogenous gene tagging, here we found four glycolytic isoenzymes localized to the apicoplast of Toxoplasma gondii, including PYK2, PGK2, TPI2 and GAPDH2. Gene inactivation studies demonstrated that the two ATP generating enzymes PYK2 and PGK2 were dispensable for the growth of T. gondii, whereas TPI2 and GAPDH2 were essential. Combined genetic and metabolic analyses suggest that TPI2 generated glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate is critical for the MEP pathway to synthesize isoprenoid precursors, which are essential for parasites proliferation. On the other hand, GAPDH2 is probably a main source of reducing power for metabolic enzymes involved in isoprenoid precursor and fatty acid synthesis in the apicoplast. As such, both enzymes are required for optimal parasite growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flexible-route bus system is a type of dynamic public transit service. Routes and timetables are not fixed during the operation process, and driving routes are planned according to passengers' reservation needs. This study develops a model that considers inter-regional travel demands. The optimal network layout is determined by minimizing an objective function that comprises operator and user costs. Then, two cases with and without loop-line buses are analyzed. In the case of the joint optimal solution, the parameter values of region side width, region angle, and cost components are compared. Results indicate that regional flexible transit is suitable for operation in areas with low demand density. Within certain ranges, increases in vehicle capacity and in the number of circle layers result in additional average total costs. Furthermore, adopting a mode with a loop is better when numerous inter-regional demands exist. The findings derived from numerical and sensitivity analyses can be used as planning guides for designing flexible-route bus systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many biosynthetic pathways produce pyrophosphate (PPi) as a by-product, which is cytotoxic if accumulated at high levels. Pyrophosphatases play pivotal roles in PPi detoxification by converting PPi to inorganic phosphate. A number of apicomplexan parasites, including Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum, express a PPi-dependent phosphofructokinase (PPi-PFK) that consumes PPi to power the phosphorylation of fructose-6-phosphate. However, the physiological roles of PPi-PFKs in these organisms are not known. Here, we report that Toxoplasma expresses both ATP- and PPi-dependent phosphofructokinases in the cytoplasm. Nonetheless, only PPi-PFK was indispensable for parasite growth, whereas the deletion of ATP-PFK did not affect parasite proliferation or virulence. The conditional depletion of PPi-PFK completely arrested parasite growth, but it did not affect the ATP level and only modestly reduced the flux of central carbon metabolism. However, PPi-PFK depletion caused a significant increase in cellular PPi and decreased the rates of nascent protein synthesis. The expression of a cytosolic pyrophosphatase in the PPi-PFK depletion mutant reduced its PPi level and increased the protein synthesis rate, therefore partially rescuing its growth. These results suggest that PPi-PFK has a major role in maintaining pyrophosphate homeostasis in T. gondii. This role may allow PPi-PFK to fine-tune the balance of catabolism and anabolism and maximize the utilization efficiency for carbon nutrients derived from host cells, increasing the success of parasitism. Moreover, PPi-PFK is essential for parasite propagation and virulence in vivo but it is not present in human hosts, making it a potential drug target to combat toxoplasmosis. Author summary: Different from classic ATP-dependent phosphofructokinases, PPi-PFKs use pyrophosphate consumption to power the conversion of fructose-6-phosphate to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, the committed step of glycolysis. PPi-PFK is found in diverse organisms including archaea, bacteria, protists and plants. However, half a century after its first discovery, the physiological functions of PPi-PFK are still not well defined. Using the Toxoplasma gondii parasite as a model, here we show that PPi-PFK has a coordinator function to assure matched activities of anabolism and catabolism. This is achieved by maintaining the homeostasis of PPi, which is a byproduct, as well as an inhibitor of many biosynthetic reactions. PPi-PFK hydrolyzes PPi to promote anabolism, meanwhile being a glycolytic enzyme involved in catabolism. As such, it gauges the anabolic and catabolic activities in parasites to maximize the utilization efficiency of acquired nutrients. This work provides important insights to understand the physiological significance of PPi-PFK in Toxoplasma and other organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a prominent role in post-transcriptional gene expression regulation and have been involved in various biological and metabolic processes to regulate gene expression. For Brassica napus, improving seed-weight and oil-content is the main breeding goal. In order to better understand the regulation mechanism of miRNAs during seed-weight formation and oil-content accumulation in B. napus, in this study, a high-throughput sequencing technology was used to profile miRNAs expression of Brassica napus immature seeds from one to six weeks after flowering. A total of 1,276 miRNAs, including 1,248 novel and 28 known miRNAs, were obtained from both the high-seed-weight with low-oil-content RNA pool (S03) and the low-seed-weight with high-oil-content RNA pool (S04). Analysis of their expression profiles disclosed that 300 novel and two known miRNAs were differentially expressed between S03 and S04. For degradome analysis, 57 genes with 64 degradation sites were predicted to be targeted for degradation by these miRNAs. Further bioinformatics analysis indicated that these differentially expressed miRNAs might participate in regulation of myriad cellular and molecular processes, during seed development and oil synthesis. Finally, 6 target genes with potential roles in regulation of seed development and 9 other targets in seed oil synthesis, were further confirmed as candidate genes from small RNA and degradome sequencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing temperatures of the processing elements (PEs) on VLSI may threaten the reliability and performance of a hard real-time system. This paper presents a temperature-aware algorithm to reconfigure two-dimensional VLSI arrays in the presence of faulty PEs. Based on dynamic programming, the proposed algorithm constructs each logical column with the lowest temperature for a cool target array on a given processor array. In addition, the lower bound of the temperatures of the cool target array has been established. Simulation results show that the temperatures of target array are reduced without loss of harvest in comparison to the state-of-the-art. Moreover, the produced peak temperature of cool target array is pretty close to the lower bound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interleukin 18 (IL-18) is a pleiotropic cytokine and capable of stimulating proliferation of certain cell types. Nonetheless, its effect on normal liver cells cultured remains unclear. In the present study, we discovered that IL-18 expression level was remarkably elevated at 3.3 and 8.6 h after synchronized BRL-3A rat liver cells (G0 phase) re-entering the cell cycle. In addition, recombinant rat IL-18 (rrIL-18) at dosages 5–10 ng/ml increased the cell viability compared to untreated cells (with medium only) at 24 and 48 h ( P < 0.05). At the same time, the percentage of BrdU-labeling cells was also significantly increased ( P < 0.01). On the other hand, knockdown of IL-18 expression with short interference RNA (siRNA), the cell viability began to decline at 24 h and significantly decreased compared to negative control (NC) at 48 and 72 h after transfection ( P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the number of cells in division phase (G2/M) was reduced in parallel. Further, after treatment with rrIL-18 (5 ng/ml), IL-18 and its receptor subunit IL-18Rα increased both at mRNA and protein levels. Moreover, the expression levels of adaptor molecule MyD88, transcription factor NF-κB and its downstream targets cyclin B1 and cyclin B2 were remarkably enhanced in BRL-3A cells stimulated by rrIL-18. Furthermore, transcription factor ATF2 and its targeted genes cyclin A2, Bcl-2 were also markedly increased after treatment with rrIL-18. These results demonstrated that IL-18 can augment cell proliferation via NF-κB and p38/ATF2 pathway by targeting cyclin B1, cyclin B2, cyclin A2 and Bcl-2 in BRL-3A rat liver cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]