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Background: Methionine (Met) is usually the second or third limiting amino acid in swine diets and plays vital roles in promoting the growth, especially, the muscle growth of pigs. This research evaluated the effects of dietary Met restriction on the growth performance, plasma metabolite concentrations, and myogenic gene expression in growing pigs. Materials and methods: Eight genes in two families (myogenic regulatory factor family and myocyte enhancer factor 2 family) were selected for the analysis. Twenty individually penned barrows (crossbred, 23.6 ± 2.4 kg) were randomly allotted to two dietary treatments (n = 10). A diet based on corn and soybean meal (Diet 1, Met-restricted) was formulated to meet or exceed the energy and nutrient requirements, except for Met. Diet 2 (Met-adequate) was formulated by adding crystalline DL-Met to Diet 1 to meet the Met requirement. During the 4-week feeding trial, average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain to feed ratio (G:F) were measured. Immediately before and after the feeding trial, blood was sampled via jugular venipuncture for plasma nutrient metabolite analysis, while Longissimus dorsi muscle were sampled via aseptic biopsy for gene expression analysis. Data were analyzed with Student t-test. Results: Pigs fed the Met-restricted diet had lower ADG and G:F (P < 0.01). Plasma Met, cysteine, and taurine concentrations were lower (P < 0.05), while glycine and histidine concentrations were higher (P < 0.05), in pigs fed the Met-restricted diet. Furthermore, the pigs fed the Met-restricted diet tended to express less myogenic factor 6 (Myf6) and myocyte enhancer factor 2D (Mef2D) mRNA in longissimus dorsi muscle (P < 0.09). Conclusion: Given the fact that Myf6, assisted by Mef2D, is involved in myocyte differentiation, this study suggests that the reduced growth performance in the Met-restricted pigs may be associated with a reduced muscle cell differentiation.

This article marks the occasion of Social Science Research's 50th anniversary by reflecting on the progress of sequence analysis (SA) since its introduction into the social sciences four decades ago, with focuses on the developments of SA thus far in the social sciences and on its potential future directions. The application of SA in the social sciences, especially in life course research, has mushroomed in the last decade and a half. Using a life course analogy, we examined the birth of SA in the social sciences and its childhood (the first wave), its adolescence and young adulthood (the second wave), and its future mature adulthood in the paper. The paper provides a summary of (1) the important SA research and the historical contexts in which SA was developed by Andrew Abbott, (2) a thorough review of the many methodological developments in visualization, complexity measures, dissimilarity measures, group analysis of dissimilarities, cluster analysis of dissimilarities, multidomain/multichannel SA, dyadic/polyadic SA, Markov chain SA, sequence life course analysis, sequence network analysis, SA in other social science research, and software for SA, and (3) reflections on some future directions of SA including how SA can benefit and inform theory-making in the social sciences, the methods currently being developed, and some remaining challenges facing SA for which we do not yet have any solutions. It is our hope that the reader will take up the challenges and help us improve and grow SA into maturity.

Both influenza A virus (IAV) and influenza D virus (IDV) are enzootic in pigs. IAV causes approximately 100% morbidity with low mortality, whereas IDV leads to only mild respiratory diseases in pigs. In this study, we performed a series of coinfection experiments in vitro and in vivo to understand how IAV and IDV interact and cause pathogenesis during coinfection. Results showed that IAV inhibited IDV replication when infecting swine tracheal epithelial cells (STEC) with IAV 24- or 48-hours prior to IDV inoculation, and that IDV suppressed IAV replication when IDV preceded IAV inoculation by 48 hours. Virus interference was not identified during simultaneous IAV/IDV infections or with 6 hours between the two viral infections, regardless of their order. The interference pattern at 24- and 48-hours correlated with proinflammatory responses induced by the first infection, which was about 24-hours slower for IDV than IAV. The viruses did not interfere with each other if both infected the cells before proinflammatory responses were induced. Coinfection in pigs further demonstrated that IAV interfered both viral shedding and virus replication of IDV, especially in the upper respiratory tract. Clinically, coinfection of IDV and IAV did not show significant enhancement of disease pathogenesis, compared with the pigs infected with IAV alone. In summary, this study suggests that interference during coinfection of IAV and IDV is primarily due to the proinflammatory response and is therefore dependent on the time between infection, and the order of infection.ImportanceBoth IAV and IDV are enzootic in pigs, and feral pigs have a higher risk for both IAV and IDV exposures than IDV exposure alone. This study suggests that in coinfection with IAV and IDV either virus can interfere with the replication of the other virus by stimulating proinflammatory responses; however, the proinflammatory response was 24 hours slower for IDV than IAV. In vitro there was no interference during simultaneous coinfection, regardless of infection order. Coinfection of IDV and IAV in pigs did not show enhanced pathogenesis, compared with those infected only with IAV. This study can facilitate our understanding of virus epidemiology and pathogenesis associated with IAV and IDV coinfection.

pipeline leakage causes great harm in industrial production, and the detection of pipeline leakage has important application value in industrial production. Ultrasonic testing technology has a wide range of applications in the field of industry, is one of the main means of non-destructive testing. It is very difficult to distinguish between human eyes and ears. Therefore, by using the propagation characteristics and unidirectionality of ultrasonic, non-destructive testing can be realized, and the detection distance is wide, and the safety of personnel can be guaranteed. In this paper, ANSYS software is used to simulate different cases of pipeline leakage, mainly including the relationship between leakage velocity and ultrasonic frequency with different leakage aperture, different pressure in the pipe, different spacing between two holes. The simulation is of great significance for the field theory research of pipeline leakage and the detection of pipeline leakage.

In life science, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technique is a state-of-the-art research approach for tissue or cell transcriptome analyses. In recent years, RNA-seq has been applied to profile the gene expression in response to dietary nutrients or feed additives to gain thorough understanding of the complex nutrient-gene interactions in agricultural animals. In this presentation, we will selectively review the application of RNA-seq technique in nutrigenomics studies in swine. Such studies have investigated the impact of various sources and quantities of dietary fatty acids, protein (including alternative protein), energy, probiotics, and plant-derived bioactive compounds on the gene expression in major metabolic tissues, such as liver, muscle, and adipose. Although the RNA-seq methodology is a powerful quantitative tool for transcriptomics analysis, it still has various technical challenges and pitfalls throughout its practice steps that include experiment design, sample collection, sample laboratory analysis, data statistical and bioinformatic analyses, and data interpretation. Currently, many options are available for use in some steps, but a thorough understanding of each option is critical for making right decisions and avoiding getting into inconclusive results. Therefore, this presentation will also provide an overview on the “best practices” for applying RNA-seq technique in swine nutrigenomics studies, which include the aspects of appropriately designing experiments, collecting samples, and analyzing the data in order to have confidence in the results obtained from this approach. In short, the aims of this presentation are to provide some basic guidelines for researchers new in the field and to promote a discussion of standardization or “best practices” of RNA-seq methodology for animal nutrigenomics studies.

Previous research suggested that arsenic (As) is required by pigs, while inorganic As is a non-threshold carcinogen to humans. This research was conducted to study the As tissue distribution in pigs fed As-containing rice bran (833 ppb). Twenty individually penned gilts (26.3 kg) were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments (n = 6 or 7) with Diets I, II, and III containing 0, 306, and 612 ppb As, respectively. Pigs were fed ad libitum for 6 weeks, and the blood and hair samples were collected immediately before and after. Pigs were harvested at the end of the 6-weeks, and the liver, kidney, and muscle samples were collected. The total As contents in all samples were determined by a commercial laboratory. Data were analyzed with ANOVA, Tobit, or ordinary least squares regression model where appropriate. No pig displayed any poisoning signs throughout the trial. The hair As concentrations of Diets II and III pigs were both higher (P < 0.003) than Diet I pigs, and the hair As concentration of Diet III pigs was higher (P = 0.007) than Diet II pigs. The blood As concentrations were all below the detection limit. In kidney and liver, the As concentrations in Diets II and III pigs were higher (P = 0.01) and numerically higher (P < 0.30), respectively, than Diet I pigs, and there was no difference (P > 0.10) between Diets II and III pigs. In skeletal muscle, the As concentrations were all below 10 ppb. These As tissue distribution data indicate that the absorbed As was rapidly cleared from the blood with some retained in various organs. While pigs’ hair retained the highest level of As, the retention is much lower in the liver and kidney. The muscle As data suggest that the pork produced from the pigs fed a typical As-containing rice bran is safe for human consumption.

We study the electronic structure of GdNi and HoNi, which are magnetic materials with a Curie temperature ${T}_{c}=69$ and ${T}_{c}=36\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$, respectively. These materials are useful for magnetic refrigerator applications at low temperature as they exhibit a large magnetocaloric effect near ${T}_{c}$. We have used hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) to investigate the core-level and valence-band electronic states of GdNi and HoNi. HAXPES measurements of the Gd and Ho $3d, 4d, 4p, 5p$, and $4s$ core-level spectra have been compared with atomic multiplet calculations of ${\mathrm{Gd}}^{3+}$ and ${\mathrm{Ho}}^{3+}$ ionic configurations. The good match between the experimental and calculated spectra clarify the important role of spin-orbit coupling, as well as Coulomb and exchange interactions in the intermediate-coupling scheme. The core-level spectra also show plasmons in addition to the atomic multiplets. The Gd and Ho $4s$ spectra show clear evidence of exchange splitting. The Ni $2p$ and $3s$ spectra of GdNi and HoNi show a correlation satellite at a binding energy of 7 eV above their main peaks. The Ni $2p$ and Ni $3s$ spectra could be reproduced using charge transfer multiplet calculations. Valence-band HAXPES of GdNi and HoNi shows that the Gd $4f$ and Ho $4f$ features are also consistent with atomic multiplets and occur at high binding energies away from the Fermi level. The Ni $3d$ density of states are spread from the Fermi level to about 3 eV binding energy. The results indicate a partially filled Ni $3d$ band and show that the charge transfer model is not valid for describing the electronic structure of GdNi and HoNi.

Orthognathic surgery using a surgery-first approach (SFA) has been shown to result in better quality of life (QoL) throughout the treatment duration; however, the effects of gender, age and type of dentofacial deformity on SFA-related QoL remain unknown. In total, 228 consecutive patients underwent SFA for correction of dentofacial deformities (skeletal class III, bimaxillary protrusion and facial asymmetry). We assessed their QoL before surgery and at 1, 6 and 12 months after surgery using the Orthognathic Quality of Life Questionnaire (OQLQ). The results indicated a significant decrease in the total OQLQ, facial aesthetics and social aspect domain scores 1, 6 and 12 months after surgery. Among all domains, the greatest improvement was noted in the facial aesthetics domain. The oral function scores declined significantly immediately after surgery, but improved significantly 6 and 12 months after surgery; however, the awareness scores remained relatively stable. At each time point, women and the bimaxillary protrusion group exhibited a significantly higher total and specific domain scores. Patients aged 18-22 years exhibited lower total and four specific domain scores than older patients. Thus, QoL improves in all aspects, except awareness domain, by 12 months after SFA, but gender, age, and type of dentofacial deformity affect this improvement.

本文报道了1例多次复发并恶性变的喉炎症性肌纤维母细胞瘤病例。患者首诊主诉声嘶，首次术后病理诊断"考虑肌纤维母细胞来源肿瘤"。后多次复发，于耳鼻喉科行喉次全切除术，病理诊断为"低-中度恶性肌纤维母细胞肉瘤"。术后患者症状改善，随访36个月，肿瘤无复发及转移。.

Resveratrol, a polyphenolie phytoalexin found in many plants, was reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory effects, but its molecular mechanism is not fully understood. This study was aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of resveratrol in vivo using a zebrafish model of wound-induced inflammation. Caudal fin-wounded zebrafish larvae were treated with resveratrol for 8 h. Neutrophil recruitment was visualized in transgenic line ”Tg (mpx: GFP)” expressing GFP-tagged neutrophil-specific myeloperoxidase (mpx). The enzymatic activity of Mpx was evaluated by histochemical staining. Relative mRNA levels of mpx and eyclooxegenase-2 (cox2) were quantified by qRT-PCR, and the protein expression levels of Mpx and Cox2 were detected by immunostaining. Results showed that wound-induced neutrophil recruitment in zebrafish was nut affected by resveratrol, but Mpx enzymatic activity in zebrafish was significantly suppressed by resveratrol in a dote-dependent manner. Moreover, both mRNA and protein expression levels of Mpx and Cox2 were significantly down-regulated by resveratrol. Taken together, our results provide in viva evidence that the anti-inflammatory effects of resveratrol on wound-induced inflammation are significantly mediated through the suppression of Mpx and Cox2 at both transcriptional and protein levels, rather than the down-regulation of neutrophil recruitment. In conclusion, this in vivo zebrafish model can be readily applied to screen other potential anti-inflammatory compounds at a whole-organism level.

Background Advances in nanotechnology have permitted molecular-based targeting of cells through safe and biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles (MNP). Their use to detect and remove damaged spermatozoa from semen doses could be of great interest. Here, MNP were synthesized and tested for their ability to target apoptotic (annexin V) and acrosome-reacted (lectin) boar spermatozoa, for high-throughout retrieval in a magnetic field (nanoselection). The potential impacts of nanoselection on sperm functions and performance of offspring sired by sperm subjected to nanoselection were determined. Fresh harvested and extended boar semen was mixed with various amounts (0, 87.5, and 175 μg) of MNP-conjugates (Annexin V-MNP or Lectin-MNP) and incubated (10 to 15 min) for 37 °C in Exp. 1. In Exp. 2, extended semen was mixed with optimal concentrations of MNP-conjugates and incubated (0, 30, 90, or 120 min). In Exp. 3, the synergistic effects of both MNP-conjugates (87.5 μg – 30 min) on spermatozoa was evaluated, followed by sperm fertility assessments through pregnancy of inseminated gilts and performance of neonatal offspring. Sperm motion, viability, and morphology characteristics were evaluated in all experiments. Results Transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and hyperspectral imaging techniques were used to confirm attachment of MNP-conjugates to damaged spermatozoa. The motility of nanoselected spermatozoa was improved (P 0.05). Conclusions The findings revealed the benefit of magnetic nanoselection for high-throughput targeting of damaged sperm, for removal and rapid and effortless enrichment of semen doses with highly motile, viable, and fertile spermatozoa. Therefore, magnetic nanoselection for removal of abnormal spermatozoa from semen is a promising tool for improving fertility of males, particularly during periods, such as heat stress during the summer months.

Edge detection is one of the most basic contents of image processing and analysis. The edge of the image contains the position and contour of the image, which is one of the basic features of the image. The accuracy of the traditional algorithm is not high because of the strong jitter of the target and the larger interference. The key to target edge detection lies in the extraction of effective features, and this can be properly realized with a feature extraction based on the depth-learning algorithm. In this paper, a method of sample synthesis is proposed, which is used for network training and can be used to detect small-scale moving targets in a limited sample space. A large number of experimental tests show that the algorithm can detect small moving target edges, showing high accuracy, real-time performance and strong robustness.

Dairy cows exposed to heat stress (HS) show decreased performance and immunity, but increased heat shock protein expressions and apoptosis. Zymosan, an extract from yeast cell walls, has been shown to modulate immune responses and defense against oxidative stress. However, few literatures are available about the effects of zymosan on immune responses and other parameters of the dairy cows under HS. Here, both primary peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) and dairy cow models were established to assess the effects of zymosan on performance, immunity, heat shock protein, and apoptosis-related gene expressions of dairy cows under HS. In vitro study showed that proliferation, IL-2 production, and Bcl-2/Bax-α ratio of cow primary PBMC were reduced, whereas hsp70 mRNA and protein expressions, as well as Annexin V-bing, were increased when PBMCs were exposed to heat. In contrast, zymosan significantly reversed these above changes induced by the HS. In the in vivo study, 40 Holstein dairy cows were randomly selected and assigned into zymosan group (supplemental zymosan; n = 20) and control group (no supplemental zymosan; n = 20). The results showed that zymosan improved significantly the dry matter intake and milk yield, increased IgA, IL-2, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) contents in sera, as well as hepatic Bcl-2/Bax-α ratio, but decreased respiration rate and hepatic hsp70 expressions in the dairy cows under HS. Taken together, zymosan could alleviate HS-induced immunosuppression and apoptosis and improve significantly the productive performance and immunity of dairy cows under HS. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s12192-018-0916-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This study was conducted to investigate how dietary lysine level affects the intramuscular fat (IMF) content and fatty acid (FA) composition in late-stage finishing pigs. Nine crossbred barrows [94.4 ± 6.7 kg body weight (BW)] were randomly allotted to three treatment groups (n = 3). Three corn- and soybean-meal-based diets were formulated to meet the National Research Council (2012) requirements for various nutrients except for lysine, whose concentrations were 0.43%, 0.71%, and 0.98% (as-fed basis) for Diets 1 (lysine-deficient), 2 (lysine-adequate), and 3 (lysine-excess), respectively. After 5 wk of ad libitum access to diets, pigs were harvested and longissimus dorsi samples were collected. The IMF content and FA composition of the samples were analyzed by gas chromatography. Results showed that the IMF content of the muscle was increased linearly (P

The objective of this study was to observe how fat incorporated into an equine forage-based diet through supplementation altered levels of plasma glucose, insulin and fatty acids. Five Shetland/Hackney cross pony mares were fed alfalfa pellet diets top dressed with commercially available vegetable oil (blend of soya bean, canola and corn oils) at 0%, 5%, 10% or 15% of diet. Ponies were randomly assigned one of four diets to start, with a 14-day adjustment period between transitioning to another one of the four diets. Ponies were gradually adapted to the new diet within the 14-day period before a five-day trial period. Each pony received all four diets by the end of the study. Each trial was a five-day period with a three-day sample collection. Blood samples for each collection week were taken 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240 and 270 min and at 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 hr post-feeding. Excess fat did not impact plasma glucose (p > .1), nor did it affect blood plasma insulin concentration. While there was no time alteration found for plasma fatty acid concentration (p > .1), C14:0 increased when ponies were fed 0% fat and C18:2 decreased when ponies were fed 0% fat. Plasma fatty acids (% of total FA) were higher in C18:0, C18:1, C18:2 and C20:1 in the added fat diets (p < .1). These findings suggest the amounts reported in this study of fat supplementation on a forage-based diet did influence the fatty acid analysis within the pony, but did not negatively impact blood glucose and insulin concentrations.

Rice bran is a common feed/food stuff for animals and humans; however, it usually contains a substantial amount of arsenic that is a class-I, non-threshold carcinogen to humans. This study was to investigate the fecal arsenic excretion pattern from the pigs fed an arsenic-containing rice bran. Twenty growing gilts (26.3 kg) were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments (n = 6 or 7) with Diets I, II, and III containing 0, 36.7, and 73.5% rice bran, and 0, 306, and 612 ppb arsenic, respectively. The feeding trial lasted 6 weeks, and fresh fecal samples were collected on Days 0, 14, 28, and 42 post-treatments. Fecal arsenic concentrations were analyzed using an ICP-MS protocol standardized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Tobit statistical model was employed for data analysis because some censored values were obtained from the laboratory sample analysis. Results (Table 1) showed that there were no differences in fecal arsenic concentrations from Day 0 through 42 post-treatment in pigs fed Diet I (a control diet). Nevertheless, the fecal arsenic concentration was increased significantly (P < 0.05) on Days 14 and 28 when compared to Day 0 post-treatment with Diet II (a moderate level of rice bran inclusion), and it was further increased (P < 0.05) on Day 42 post-treatment. The fecal arsenic excretion pattern in pigs fed Diet III (a high level of rice bran inclusion) was the same as that in pigs fed Diet II. The dietary treatment effects on fecal arsenic excretion were already reported previously. In short, the results of this study suggest that the fecal arsenic excretion is increased in the first 4 weeks and then further increased around the 6th week since the start of feeding arsenic-containing rice bran. This further increase may be due to the saturation of arsenic retention in pig body.

To maintain a healthy gut is definitely key for a pig to digest and absorb dietary nutrients efficiently. A balanced microbiota (i.e., a healthy micro-ecosystem) is an indispensable constituent of a healthy gut. Probiotics, the live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer good health benefits onto the host, are a category of feed additives that can be used to replenish the gut microbial population while recuperating the host immune system. Besides their antitoxin and diarrhea reduction effects, dietary supplementation of probiotics can improve gut health, nutrient digestibilities and, therefore, benefit nutrient utilization and growth performance of pigs. Current knowledge in the literature pertinent to the beneficial effects of utilizing various probiotics for swine production has been comprehensively reviewed, and the safety and the risk issues related to probiotic usage have also been discussed in this paper. Considering that the foremost cost in a swine operation is feed cost, feed efficiency holds a very special, if not the paramount, significance in commercial swine production. Globally, the swine industry along with other animal industries is moving towards restricting and eventually a total ban on the usage of antibiotic growth promoters. Therefore, selection of an ideal alternative to the in-feed antibiotics to compensate for the lost benefits due to the ban on the antibiotic usage is urgently needed to support the industry for profitable and sustainable swine production. As is understood, a decision on this selection is not easy to make. Thus, this review paper aims to provide some much needed up-to-date knowledge and comprehensive references for swine nutritionists and producers to refer to before making prudent decisions and for scientists and researchers to develop better commercial products.

The heterogeneous population of spermatozoa within the semen ejaculate influences the sire fertility. The current design of magnetic nanoparticle conjugates allows for selective targeting and removal of non-viable spermatozoa within the semen ejaculate. However, the safe application of this process, termed as nanoselection or nanopurification in previous studies, in food animal production and toxicity concerns has yet to be explored. Here, we assessed the fertility potential of nanoselected boar spermatozoa and the subsequent post-natal growth and health characteristics of resulting offspring. Semen doses were harvested from three fertile boars (n=4 doses per boar) and split in two groups (2 doses/boar). Six semen doses (2 per boar)) were subjected to the targeted depletion of acrosome membrane damaged and apoptotic spermatozoa (nanoselected). Meanwhile, the remaining semen doses (n=6) were maintained in the shipping Styrofoam box (control). The motility characteristics of both control and nanoselected spermatozoa were evaluated before and after nanoselection, followed by their use for double inseminations of six estrus synchronized gilts (2 doses/boar/gilt; 3 gilts /control or nanoselected). In comparison to the controls, the computer-assisted sperm analyzer (Hamilton-Thorne) revealed greater motion characteristics of nanoselected spermatozoa, with a significantly higher proportion of progressive spermatozoa and straightness (P 0.05). Various developmental and health parameters of produced offspring such as hepatic cytochrome P450 enzyme activities, blood glucose and immunoglobulin G concentrations, hematocrit, and white blood cell proportions were similar between and across all pigs (control and nanoselected). In addition, reproductive tracts of females born from nanoselected spermatozoa showed no indication of impaired fertility potential, although a significant shortened uterine horn length was measured (56.3±2.6 cm vs. 64.4±2.2 cm in the control group, P=0.04). In conclusion, findings revealed no obvious perturbations of sperm function following nanoselection, while post-natal growth, development, or health data of derived offspring suggest absence of inflicted sub-lethal toxicities attributable to sperm nanoselection. This study supports the safe use of the proposed nanotechnology-based selection for effective semen handling in terminal line swine production systems.

For high strength low alloys, intercritical heat treatment processes are usually used to obtain the dual phase steel. In this work, a micro–macroscopic model was developed for describing the hardening and fracture behavior of such steels after the heat treatments. In the microscopic model, a description of flow curves was established based on a 2D representative volume element from a real microstructure, whereas in the macroscopic model, the Gurson–Tveergard–Needleman approach was used to simulate the failure process. Furthermore, the simulation flow curves and true stress–strain curves were compared with the experimental observations. The results demonstrate that such a multiscale model can accurately predict the work hardening and fracture behavior of steels after the intercritical heat treatments.

Severe pediatric burns require a multidisciplinary team approach at a specialized pediatric burn center. Special attention must be paid to estimations of total body surface area, fluid resuscitation and metabolic demands, and adequate analgesia and sedation. Long-term effects involve scar management and psychosocial support to the child and their family. Compassionate comprehensive burn care is accomplished by a multidisciplinary team offering healing in the acute setting and preparing the child and family for long-term treatment and care.

Lysine is the first-limiting amino acid (AA) in typical swine diets and plays very important roles in promoting growth performance of pigs. This research was conducted to study the effects of dietary lysine on blood plasma concentrations of protein, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolites of pigs. Eighteen crossbred finishing pigs (nine barrows and nine gilts; initial BW 92.3 ± 6.9 kg) were individually penned in an environment controlled barn. Pigs were assigned to three dietary treatments according to a randomized complete block design with gender as block and pig as experimental unit (6 pigs/treatment). Three corn and soybean meal-based diets were formulated to contain total lysine at 0.43%, 0.71%, and 0.98% (as-fed basis) for Diets I (lysine deficient), II (lysine adequate), and III (lysine excess) respectively. After 4 weeks on trial, jugular vein blood was collected and plasma was separated. The plasma concentrations of total protein, albumin, urea nitrogen (UN), triglyceride, total cholesterol, and glucose were determined using an ACE Clinical Chemistry System (Alfa Wassermann, Inc., West Caldwell, NJ, USA). Data were analysed using the GLM Procedure with PDIFF (adjust = T) option of SAS. No differences (p 0.10) were found between barrows and gilts for any of the metabolites measured. While there were no differences (p 0.10) between pigs fed Diets II and III in plasma concentrations of UN, albumin, and total cholesterol, the concentration of albumin in these pigs was higher (p .05) than that of pigs fed Diet I, and the concentrations of UN and total cholesterol in these pigs were lower (p .05) than that of pigs fed Diet I. There were no differences (p 0.10) among the three dietary treatments in plasma concentrations of total protein, triglycerides, and glucose. These findings indicated that the plasma metabolite profile can be affected by changing dietary lysine content only. Thorough understanding how the plasma metabolite profile is alternated by dietary lysine will facilitate nutrient management for more sustainable swine production.

This is a corrigendum to Gaia Collaboration (2018). It corrects errors in Appendix B, which describes the modelling of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC). One of these errors also affects Fig. 18 of the paper, which shows the rotation curve and median radial motion in the LMC. No other results in the paper are affected. There should be no vector products in Appendix B, and everywhere a vector product appears should be a scalar product. This affects Eqs. (B.5), (B.8), (B.10), (B.12), (B.13), and (B.20). Equation (B.10), which defines one component of position within the plane of the galaxy, contains an additional typographical error, and it should have read (Farmula Presented) Equation (B.21) is incorrect. The factor of (ax + by + z) is applied to the wrong part of the equation. It should have read (Farmula Presented) This error affects the derived deprojected motions of stars in the LMC, and means that changes in the observational signature of the bulk motion away from the centre are not properly accounted for. The effect becomes more significant further from the centre. Figure 1 shows the resulting median tangential velocity, vT (the rotation curve), and median radial velocity vR as a function of de-projected radius R for the LMC, which is otherwise produced in the same way as before. The major differences between this and the equivalent figure in Gaia Collaboration (2018) are as follows The rotation curve reaches a greater velocity (~85 km s-1 versus ~75 km s-1) and remains flat beyond 6 kpc, as opposed to starting to fall. The difference in asymmetric drift for the blue and red populations is clearer the blue population, which is typically younger than the redder population, is rotating faster. The apparent outward motion of the stellar populations is much smaller. The blue population has almost no net radial motion, while the red population has one of .8 km s-1 (as opposed to ~20 km s-1). The difference in radial motion between the y < 0 and y > 0 populations is dramatically reduced, as is the difference between the value derived assuming the known line-of-sight bulk motion and the one derived leaving this value free. © 2020 ESO.

An error occurred during the production process of the original published version. The following names were omitted from the author list: R. Haigron, D. Hatzidimitriou, M. Hauser, M. Haywood, U. Heiter, J. Heu, T. Hilger. The original published version has been corrected together with the publication of this corrigendum. © 2020 EDP Sciences. All rights reserved.

Lysine is the first limiting amino acid (AA) in typical swine diets. Our previous research showed that dietary lysine restriction compromised the growth performance of late-stage finishing pigs, which was associated with the changes in plasma concentrations of nutrient metabolites and hormone insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). This study was conducted to investigate how dietary lysine restriction affects the plasma concentrations of selected metabolites and three anabolic hormones in growing pigs. Twelve individually penned young barrows (Yorkshire × Landrace; 22.6 ± 2.04 kg) were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments (n = 6). Two corn and soybean meal based diets were formulated to contain 0.65% and 0.98% standardized ileal digestible lysine as a lysine-deficient (LDD) and a lysine-adequate (LAD) diets, respectively. During the 8-week feeding trial, pigs had ad libitum access to water and their respective diets, and the growth performance parameters including average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain-to-feed ratio (G:F) were determined. At the end of the trial, jugular vein blood was collected for plasma preparation. The plasma concentrations of free AA and six metabolites were analyzed with the established chemical methods, and the hormone concentrations were analyzed with the commercial ELISA kits. Data were analyzed with Student’s t-test. The ADG of LDD pigs was lower (P < 0.01) than that of LAD pigs, and so was the G:F (P < 0.05) since there was no difference in the ADFI between the two groups of pigs. In terms of free AA, the plasma concentrations of lysine, methionine, leucine, and tyrosine were lower (P < 0.05), while that of β-alanine was higher (P < 0.01), in the LDD pigs. The total plasma protein concentration was lower (P < 0.02) in the LDD pigs, whereas no differences were observed for the other metabolites between the two groups. No differences were observed in the plasma concentrations of growth hormone (GF), insulin, and IGF-1 between the two groups as well. These results indicate that the lack of lysine as a protein building block must be the primary reason for a reduced body protein synthesis and, consequently, the compromised G:F ratio and ADG. The changes in the plasma concentrations of total protein and four AA suggest that the compromised growth performance might be associated with some cell signaling and metabolic pathways that may not involve the GH/IGF-1 axis.

Background Ovarian follicular fluid influences follicle and oocyte growth, but the fluctuation of its protein content during folliculogenesis has not been comprehensively analyzed. Here we used a shotgun approach and bioinformatics analyses to investigate and compare the proteomes of porcine follicular fluid (pFF) obtained from small ( 6–12 mm) follicles. Results Follicular fluid samples containing highest estrogen levels were selected as non-atretic from small (SNA: 26.1 ± 15 ng/mL), medium (MNA: 162 ± 54 ng/mL), and large (LNA: 290 ± 37 ng/mL) follicles for proteomic analyses. We detected 1627, 1699, and 1756 proteins in SNA, MNA, and LNA samples, respectively. Nearly 60–63% of total proteins were specific to each sample, 11–13% were shared in pairwise comparisons, and 247 proteins were shared among all samples. Functional categorization indicated comparable gene ontology (GO) terms distribution per cellular component, molecular function, and biological process categories across samples; however, the ranking of highly significantly enriched GO terms per category revealed differences between samples. The patterns of protein-to-protein interactions varied throughout follicle development, and proteins such as serine protease inhibitor, clade E (SERPINE); plasminogen activator, urokinase (PLAU); and plasminogen activator, urokinase receptor (PLAUR) appeared stage-specific to SNA, MNA, and LNA, respectively. The “complement and coagulation cascades” was the common major pathway. Besides, properdin and fibulin-1 were abundant proteins that appeared absent in LNA samples. Conclusion This study provides extensive and functional analyses of the pFF proteome changes during folliculogenesis and offers the potential for novel biomarker discovery in pFF for oocyte quality assessment.

Animal life essentially is a set of gene expression processes. Thorough understanding of these processes driven by dietary nutrients and other environmental factors can be regarded as a bottom line of modern advanced animal nutrition research for improving animal growth, development, health, production, and reproduction performance. Nutrigenomics, a genome-wide approach using the knowledge and techniques obtained from the disciplines of genomics (including transcriptomics) and molecular biology, is to study the effects of dietary nutrients on cellular gene expression, cellular metabolic responses and, ultimately, the phenotypic changes of a living organism. Transcriptomics can be applied to investigate animal tissue transcriptome at a defined physiological or nutritional state, which provides a holistic view of the intracellular expression of RNA, especially mRNA. As a novel, promising transcriptomics approach, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology can monitor all-gene expressions simultaneously in response to dietary intervention. The principle and history of RNA-Seq technology will be briefly reviewed, and the three principal steps of this methodology, including the laboratory analysis of tissue samples, the bioinformatics analysis of the generated sequence data, and the subsequent biological interpretation of the data, will be described. The application of RNA-Seq technology in different areas of animal nutrition research, which include maternal nutrition, feeding strategy and gut microbiota, will be summarized. Lastly, the application of RNA-Seq technology in swine science and nutrition research will also be discussed. In short, to further improve animal feeding or production efficiency, RNA-Seq technology holds a great potential to be employed to explore the new insights into better understanding of nutrient-gene interactions in agricultural animals, and it is expected that the application of this cutting-edge technology in animal nutrition research will continue to grow in the foreseeable future. This research was supported in part by a USDA-NIFA Multistate Project (No. 1007691).

High feed cost is a major economic concern in animal production industries, largely due to the increasing global demands for foods, feeds, and biofuels. Animal producers, especially animal nutritionists, have been searching for alternative feedstuffs to reduce the feed cost. Guar meal is the main by-product from the guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoba L.) gum industry. Although said to be unpalatable and maybe toxic, the new guar meal products, such as GuarPro F-81, possess promise to be alternatives for feeding animals, mainly because they contain great amounts of protein and carbohydrates and are inexpensive. The proximate nutrient values and amino acid profile of GuarPro F-81 have been previously reported, and this study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the mineral contents of GuarPro F-81 are comparable to that of soybean meal. Three GuarPro F-81 samples were randomly collected from a guar meal production company in India and aliquoted to 30 to 100 g/sample after arrival for analysis in four university and commercial laboratories. The results showed that GuarPro F-81 contained (as-fed basis; mean ± SD, n = 4) 0.22 ± 0.015% calcium, 0.77 ± 0.022% phosphorus, 0.40 ± 0.023% magnesium, 1.67 ± 0.079% potassium, 0.016 ± 0.012% sodium, 249 ± 42.8 ppm iron, 21.3 ± 1.78 ppm manganese, 72.8 ± 9.00 ppm zinc, and 11.5 ± 7.25 ppm copper. The sulfur content was 0.54 ± 0.177% (n = 2) and the nickel content was 5.30% (n = 1). When compared with soybean meal (dehulled, solvent extracted), the contents of iron, magnesium, zinc, sulfur, and phosphorus in GuarPro F-81 are approximately 154, 50, 49, 34, and 8% greater, respectively, while the contents of copper, potassium, calcium, manganese, and sodium are approximately 24, 25, 34, 40, and 80% less, respectively. Nonetheless, the bioavailabilities of these minerals warrant further investigation.

We have studied the electronic structure of ${\mathrm{BaCoO}}_{3}$ using soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Co ${L}_{2,3}$ and O $K$ edges, magnetic circular dichroism at the Co ${L}_{2,3}$ edges, and valence band hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The quantitative analysis of the spectra established that the Co ions are in the formal low-spin tetravalent $3{d}^{5}$ state and that the system is a negative charge transfer Mott insulator. The spin-orbit coupling also plays an important role for the magnetism of the system. At the same time, a trigonal crystal field is present with sufficient strength to bring the $3{d}^{5}$ ion away from the ${J}_{\mathrm{eff}}=1/2$ state. The sign of this crystal field is such that the ${a}_{1g}$ orbital is doubly occupied, explaining the absence of a Peierls transition in this system, which consists of chains of face-sharing ${\mathrm{CoO}}_{6}$ octahedra. Moreover, with one hole residing in ${e}_{g}^{\ensuremath{\pi}}$, the presence of an orbital moment and strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy can be understood. Yet we also infer that crystal fields with lower symmetry must be present to reproduce the measured orbital moment quantitatively, thereby suggesting the possibility for orbital ordering to occur in ${\mathrm{BaCoO}}_{3}$.

Using alternative feedstuffs can be a feasible measure to reduce swine production cost. GuarPro F-71, a newly developed guar meal product, is considered as a potential protein source for pigs. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary GuarPro F-71 inclusion on growth performance and nutrient metabolism of growing pigs. Sixty crossbred barrows (31.9 ± 1.84 kg BW) were allotted to 5 dietary treatments according to a completely randomized experiment design with 4 pens/treatment and 3 pigs/pen. Diet 1 was a corn-and-soybean-meal based diet with nutrient composition following NRC (2012) recommendations. GuarPro-71 was used to replace 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of soybean meal (on equivalent CP basis) in Diet 1 to generate Diets 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Crystalline amino acids were used to balance the essential amino acid concentrations across the 5 diets. Dietary inclusion of GuarPro-71 reduced ADFI (P < 0.01), whereas no clinical signs of unhealthiness of pigs were observed. The magnitude of ADFI reduction showed linear but also quadratic relationships (P < 0.05) with the GuarPro-71 inclusion rate. The blood plasma concentrations of six metabolites (urea nitrogen, total protein, albumin, glucose, total cholesterol, and total triglycerides) were not affected (P > 0.30), indicating that the pigs’ metabolic utilization of nutrients was not compromised. The cubic effect (P < 0.05) of dietary GuarPro-71 inclusion on the G:F suggests that the level of soybean meal replacement up to 75% by GuarPro-71 did not negatively affect feed efficiency in pigs. In short, the feed intake reduction due to the dietary GuarPro-71 inclusion should be, if not solely, responsible for the ADG and final BW reduction. Overall, this study suggests that the dietary inclusion of GuarPro-71 can negatively affect ADFI and ADG in growing pigs. The reason for the ADFI reduction warrants further investigation.

Thorough understanding of animal gene expression driven by dietary nutrients can be regarded as a bottom line of advanced animal nutrition research. Nutrigenomics (including transcriptomics) studies the effects of dietary nutrients on cellular gene expression and, ultimately, phenotypic changes in living organisms. Transcriptomics can be applied to investigate animal tissue transcriptomes at a defined nutritional state, which can provide a holistic view of intracellular RNA expression. As a novel transcriptomics approach, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology can monitor all gene expressions simultaneously in response to dietary intervention. The principle and history of RNA-Seq are briefly reviewed, and its 3 principal steps are described in this article. Application of RNA-Seq in different areas of animal nutrition research is summarized. Lastly, the application of RNA-Seq in swine science and nutrition is also reviewed. In short, RNA-Seq holds significant potential to be employed for better understanding the nutrient–gene interactions in agricultural animals.

Gut health has significant implications for swine overall health status and nutrient utilization, due to its various functions including digestion and absorption of nutrients, secretion of mucins and immunoglobulins, and selective barrier protection against harmful antigens and pathogens. Both the basic anatomical structure of the gut (such as epithelial cells) and its luminal microbiota play important roles for maintaining gut health and functions. The interactions between epithelial cells and luminal microbiota have significant impact on host nutrition and health through the metabolism of dietary components. Amino acids, which are major nutrients for pigs, are not only obligatory for maintaining the intestinal mucosal mass and integrity, but also for supporting the growth of microorganisms in the gut. Dietary amino acids are the major fuel of the small intestinal mucosa. Particularly, glutamate, glutamine, and aspartate are the major oxidative fuel of the intestine. Emerging evidence shows that arginine activates the mTOR signaling pathway in the small intestine. Utilization of glycine by the small intestinal mucosa to synthesize glutathione is a very important physiological pathway, and the role of glycine as a powerful cytoprotectant has also been recognized. The major end products of methionine and cysteine metabolism are glutathione, homocysteine and taurine, which play important roles in the intestinal immune and anti-oxidative responses. Threonine is highly utilized by the gut and is particularly important for mucin synthesis and maintenance of gut barrier integrity. Moreover, either a deficiency or an excess of dietary threonine can reduce the synthesis of intestinal mucosal proteins and mucins in young pigs. Various new functions of amino acids on gut health and functions have been discovered in recent years. Thus, this review is to provide some up-to-date knowledge for industry application of dietary amino acids in order to enhance swine gut health and functions, and also it is to provide a comprehensive reference for further scientific research in this regard.

We investigate and compare the electronic structure of a bulk single crystal of ${\mathrm{Y}}_{3}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$ garnet [YIG, a high-${T}_{C}$ (= 560 K) ferrimagnet] with that of an epitaxial ultrathin (3.3 nm) film of YIG with a reduced ferrimagnetic temperature ${T}_{C}=380\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$, using bulk-sensitive hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES), x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The Fe $2p$ HAXPES spectrum of the bulk single crystal exhibits a purely trivalent ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{3+}$ state for octahedral and tetrahedral sites. The Fe $3s$ spectrum shows a clear splitting which allows us to estimate the on-site Fe $3s\text{\ensuremath{-}}3d$ exchange interaction energy. The valence band HAXPES spectrum shows Fe $3d$, O $2p$, and Fe $4s$ derived features and a band gap of $\ensuremath{\sim}2.3\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$ in the occupied density of states, consistent with the known optical band gap of $\ensuremath{\sim}2.7\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$. Fe $L$-edge XAS identifies the octahedral ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{3+}$ and tetrahedral ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{3+}$ site features. XMCD spectra at the Fe ${L}_{2,3}$ edges show that bulk single-crystal YIG exhibits antiferromagnetic coupling between the octahedral- and tetrahedral-site spins. The calculated Fe $2p$ HAXPES, Fe $L$-edge XAS, and XMCD spectra using full multiplet cluster calculations match well with the experimental results and confirm the full local spin moments. In contrast, HAXPES, XAS, and XMCD of the Pt/YIG (3.3 nm) ultrathin epitaxial film grown by a pulsed laser deposition method show a finite ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{2+}$ contribution and a reduced ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{3+}$ local spin moment. The ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{2+}$ state is attributed to a combination of oxygen deficiency and charge transfer effects from the Pt capping layer to the ultrathin film. However, the conserved XMCD spectral shape for the ultrathin film indicates that the 3.3-nm epitaxial film is genuinely ferrimagnetic, in contrast to recent studies on films grown by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering which have shown a magnetic dead layer of $\ensuremath{\sim}6$ nm. The presence of ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{2+}$ and the reduced local spin moment in the epitaxial ultrathin film lead to a reduced Curie temperature, quantitatively consistent with well-known mean-field theory. The results establish a coupling of the local Fe spin moments, valency, and long-range magnetic ordering temperature in bulk single crystal and epitaxial ultrathin-film YIG.

Herein, a Mn4+ ion doped complex ternary-alkaline fluoride red phosphor K2NaAlF6:Mn4+ has been synthesized through a facile two-step co-precipitation method at room temperature. The crystal structure, morphological properties and influence of the dopant concentration, temperature and humidity on luminescence properties as well as the performance of the as-synthesized phosphor used in white light emitting diodes (WLEDs) were investigated carefully. Intense absorption in the blue region (∼460 nm) and bright narrow-band red emission (∼630 nm) with high color purity were observed from this resultant powder. Temperature-dependent investigation and reliability examination in a HTHH environment (85 °C high temperature and 85% high humidity) indicate that the obtained ternary-alkaline fluoride phosphor K2NaAlF6:Mn4+ presents more exceptional thermal quenching behavior and longevity compared to some other binary-alkaline fluorides. Moreover, using K2NaAlF6:Mn4+ as a red light component, a warm WLED with a preferable color rendering index (Ra = 85.5) and luminous efficacy (LE = 91.2 lm W−1) as well as a low corresponding color temperature (CCT = 3650 K) is easily achieved, further revealing the great potential of the as-prepared ternary-alkaline fluoride red phosphor K2NaAlF6:Mn4+ for WLED applications.

The concept of the "Golden Hour" has been a time-honored tenet of prehospital trauma care, despite a paucity of data to substantiate its validity. Non-compressible torso hemorrhage has been demonstrated to be a significant cause of mortality in both military and civilian settings. We sought to characterize the impact of prehospital time and torso injury severity on survival. Furthermore, we hypothesized that time would be a significant determinant of mortality in patients with higher Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) grades of torso injury (AIS ≥ 4) and field hypotension (prehospital SBP ≤ 110 mmHg) as these injuries are commonly associated with hemorrhage.Data for this analysis was generated from a registry of 2,523,394 injured patients entered into the National Trauma Data Bank Research Data Set from 2012 to 2014. Patients with torso injury were identified utilizing Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) for body regions 4 (Thorax) and 5 (Abdomen). Specific inclusion criteria for this study included pre-hospital time, prehospital SBP ≤110 mmHg, torso injury qualified by AIS and mortality. Patients with non-survivable torso injury (AIS = 6), severe head injuries (AIS ≥ 3), no signs of life in the field (SBP = 0), interfacility transfers, or those with any missing data elements were excluded. This classification methodology identified a composite cohort of 42,135 adult patients for analysis.The overall mortality rate of the study population was 7.9% (3326/42,135); Torso AIS and prehospital time were noted to be strong independent predictors of patient mortality in all population strata of the analysis (P 0.05). The data demonstrated a profound incremental increase in mortality in the early time course after injury associated with torso AIS ≥4.In patients with high-grade torso injury, AIS grades ≥4, the degree anatomic disruption is associated with significant hemorrhage. In our study, a precipitous rise in patient mortality was exhibited in this high-grade injury group at prehospital times30 min. Our data highlight the critical nature of prehospital time in patients with non-compressible torso hemorrhage. However, realizing that evacuation times ≤30 min may not be realistic, particularly in rural or austere environments, future efforts should be directed toward the development of therapies to increase the window of survival in the prehospital environment.

Background: With the increasingly serious energy and environmental crises and shortages of conventional energy such as coal and oil, humans have been focusing on new energy sources, especially the abundant wave energy resource. Previous researchers have made great contributions to the design of wave energy converters and have also applied for many patents. However, advanced comprehensive wave energy evaluation and application systems are still scarce, which results in the primitive state of wave energy evaluation. Methods: The goal of this work is to overview the status and prospects of the evaluation of global wave energy to find an effective method to evaluate wave energy resources. This study divides the wave energy evaluation into 4 historical periods according to the data source. The future focus for wave energy resource evaluation is also presented in this study. Results: The wave energy evaluation includes 4 periods: the observational wave data period, the satellite-derived wave data period, the hindcast (simulation wave data from a wave model) wave data period and the reanalysis wave data period. In future research, the focus of wave energy evaluation should include the swell energy, the climatic characteristics of the wave energy resource, the characteristics of marine environments, the mid-to-long-term prediction of wave energy, the short-term forecasting of wave energy, and the evaluation of resources at a particular site. Conclusion: A scientific evaluation framework and application system (software) is urgently needed to provide a basis for decisions for the development of wave power generation, desalination and other developments of wave energy and to promote the sustainable development of human society.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of feeding glycerol-enriched yeast culture (GY) on feed intake, lactation performance, blood metabolites, and expression of some key hepatic gluconeogenic enzymes in dairy cows during the transition period. Forty-four multiparous transition Holstein cows were blocked by parity, previous 305-d mature equivalent milk yield, and expected calving date and randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments: Control (no additive), 2 L/d of GY (75.8 g/L glycerol and 15.3 g/L yeast), 150 g/d of glycerol (G; 0.998 g/g glycerol), and 1 L/d of yeast culture (Y; 31.1 g/L yeast). All additives were top-dressed and hand mixed into the upper one-third of the total mixed ration in the morning from -14 to +28 d relative to calving. Results indicated that the DMI, NE intake, change of BCS, and milk yields were not affected by the treatments ( > 0.05). Supplementation of GY or Y increased milk fat percentages, milk protein percentages, and milk protein yields relative to the Control or G group ( 0.10). In conclusion, dietary GY or Y supplementation increased the milk fat and protein content of the cows in early lactation and GY or G supplementation improved the energy status as indicated by greater plasma glucose and lower plasma BHBA and NEFA concentrations and upregulated the hepatic gluconeogenic enzymes of dairy cows during the transition period. Feeding cows with a GY mixture in the peripartum period combined the effects of yeast on lactation performance and the effects of glycerol on energy status in dairy cows.

This research was conducted to study the growth performance, arsenic (As) tissue distribution, and As excretion of pigs fed As-containing rice bran. Twenty gilts (26.3 kg) were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments (n = 6 or 7) with Diets I, II, and III containing 0, 36.7, and 73.5% rice bran and 0, 306, and 612 ppb As, respectively. Pigs were fed for 6 weeks, and their growth performance and daily activities were examined. Fecal, blood, and hair samples were collected immediately before and after the 6-weeks. At the end of the 6-weeks, pigs were slaughtered; the liver, kidney, muscle, and urine samples were collected. No pig showed any unhealthy signs throughout the trial. The average daily feed intake, average daily gain, and final body weight of Diet III pigs were lower (p ≤ 0.001) than Diet I pigs. The gain to feed ratios were not different among the treatments. The fecal, hair, kidney, and urinary As concentrations of both Diets II and III pigs were higher than Diet I pigs. The hair As concentration of Diet III pigs was higher than Diet II pigs, but no difference was found in the fecal, urinary, kidney, or muscle As concentrations between Diets II and III pigs. The blood and muscle As concentrations were below 10 ppb. These results suggest that 73.5% dietary rice bran inclusion compromised growth performance, whereas the 36.7% inclusion did not. The fecal As data imply that dietary As was poorly absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract. The tissue As data indicate that the absorbed As was rapidly cleared from the blood with some retained in various organs and others eliminated via urine. The hair As concentration was much higher than that of liver and kidney. The muscle As data suggest that the pork produced from the pigs fed a typical As-containing rice bran as used in this study is safe for human consumption.

Methionine (Met) is the second or third limiting AA in typical swine diets and plays important roles in promoting the growth, especially, the muscle growth of pigs. This research studied the effects of dietary Met restriction on growth performance and myogenic gene expression in growing pigs. Eight genes in two families, including myogenic regulatory factor family comprising myogenic differentiation 1 (MyoD1), myogenic factor 5 (Myf5), myogenin (MyoG) and myogenic factor 6 (Myf6), and myocyte enhancer factor 2 (Mef2) family comprising Mef2A, Mef2B, Mef2C and Mef2D, were selected for analysis. Individually penned barrows (crossbred, 23.6±2.4 kg) were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments. A basal diet (Diet 1; Met-deficient) was formulated to contain 0.22% standardized ileal digestible (SID) Met and 0.52% SID Met+Cys but to meet the NRC (2012) recommendations for other nutrients. Crystalline DL-Met was added to the basal diet to generate Diet 2 adequate in Met (0.37% SID Met, 0.67% SID Met+Cys). During the four-week ad libitum feeding trial, ADG, ADFI and G:F were measured. Immediately before and after the trial, muscle samples were collected from the longissimus dorsi using a standard biopsy protocol. Total RNA was extracted from the muscle samples (TRIzol Reagent; Invitrogen) and subjected to cDNA reverse-transcription (QuantiTect Reverse Transcription Kit; Qiagen). Transcribed cDNA were used for qPCR analysis (Rotor-Gene Q System; Qiagen). Comparative ΔΔCT method was used for quantitation. Data were analyzed with Student’s T-test. Pigs fed Diet 1 (vs. Diet 2) had a lower ADG and G:F (P< 0.01). Before the feeding trial, all the tested genes had comparable mRNA levels between the two treatments (P >0.17). After the trial, Diet 1 pigs showed tendency for lower levels of Myf6 and Mef2D mRNA (P< 0.09). These results suggest that the reduced ADG and G:F is associated with the possibly-reduced muscle cell differentiation in pigs fed Met-deficient diet.

Methionine is the second or third limiting amino acid in typical swine diets, and exogenous methionine supplementation can improve the efficiency of dietary protein utilization by swine when dietary methionine is limiting. Several feed-grade methionine products, such as DL -methionine and DL -methionine hydroxy analogue free acid, have been on the market for feed formulation. Recently, some feed-grade l -methionine products also became available on the market for swine. However, questions often asked by producers and nutritionists are whether or not more crystalline methionine should be used, and which product should be used. Although a simple answer does not exist, this paper was written to comprehensively summarize our current knowledge in methionine nutrition with an attempt to provide a single source of reference for swine nutritionists and scientists to develop more pertinent answers for different swine production systems. Therefore, in this paper, firstly, different forms of commercially available feed-grade methionine products were reviewed chronologically. Secondly, the overall effectiveness of methionine on swine growth performance was summarized. Thirdly, our current understanding of methionine metabolism in animal body was updated. Fourthly, various biochemical and physiological functions of methionine in swine were described. Lastly, dietary methionine deficiency and toxicity to the animal were pointed out. In brief, it is understood from the cellular metabolism standpoint that methionine functions primarily as a substrate for protein and peptide biosyntheses in the body. From a regulatory standpoint, methionine is an initiator amino acid for universal protein translation. Methionine is also an essential source of methyl groups for methylation of at least seven classes of bioactive compounds, such as DNA, RNA, and proteins. Meanwhile, methionine and some of its derivatives are endogenous antioxidants which can protect living cells from oxidative stress. Synthesized from methionine, a myriad of proteins and peptides are involved in immune system for maintaining animal health. Dietary methionine deficiency negatively affects pig growth performance, while supplementation of more methionine may cause toxic effects. Overall, this paper not only can endorse animal scientists to further explore the underlying metabolic and molecular mechanisms that are responsible for methionine nutrition, particularly in pigs, but also can help the field nutritionists to determine methionine requirements of pigs with different production purposes and to selectively use certain commercial methionine products during their diet formulation practice.

A stable occlusion at the time of surgery is considered important for post-surgical stability after orthognathic surgery. The aim of this study was to determine whether skeletal stability after bimaxillary surgery using a surgery-first approach for skeletal class III deformity is related to the surgical occlusal contact or surgical change. Forty-two adult patients with a skeletal class III deformity corrected by Le Fort I osteotomy and bilateral sagittal split osteotomy with a surgery-first approach were studied. Dental models were set and used to measure the surgical occlusal contact, including contact distribution, contact number, and contact area. Cone beam computed tomography was used to measure the surgical change (amount and rotation) and post-surgical skeletal stability. The relationship between skeletal stability and surgical occlusal contact or surgical change was evaluated. No relationship was found between maxillary or mandibular stability and surgical occlusal contact. However, a significant relationship was found between maxillary and mandibular stability and the amount and rotation of surgical change. The results suggest that in the surgical-orthodontic correction of skeletal class III deformity with a surgery-first approach, the post-surgical skeletal stability is not related to the surgical occlusal contact but is related to the surgical change.