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We study the dynamics of isolated interacting spin chains that are periodically driven by sudden quenches. Using full exact diagonalization of finite chains, we show that these systems exhibit three distinct regimes. For short driving periods, the Floquet Hamiltonian is well approximated by the time-averaged Hamiltonian, while for long periods, the evolution operator exhibits properties of random matrices of a circular ensemble (CE). In between, there is a crossover regime. Based on a finite-size scaling analysis and analytic arguments, we argue that, for thermodynamically large systems and nonvanishing driving periods, the evolution operator always exhibits properties of the CE of random matrices. Consequently, the Floquet Hamiltonian is a nonlocal Hamiltonian with multispin interaction terms, and the driving leads to the equivalent of an infinite temperature state at long times. These results are connected to the breakdown of the Magnus expansion and are expected to hold beyond the specific lattice model considered.

Transportation duration and distance are significant concerns for animal welfare, particularly in the poultry industry. However, limited proteomic studies have investigated the impact of transport duration on poultry welfare. In this study, mass spectrometry based bottom up proteomics was employed to sensitively and impartially profile the liver tissue proteome of chickens, addressing the issue of animal stress and welfare in response to transportation before slaughter. The liver exudates obtained from Ross 508 chickens exposed to either short or long road transportation underwent quantitative label-free LC-MS proteomic profiling. This method identified a total of 1,368 proteins, among which 35 were found to be significantly different (p < 0.05) and capable of distinguishing between short and long road transportation conditions. Specifically, 23 proteins exhibited up-regulation in the non stressed group, while 12 proteins showed up-regulation in the stressed group. The proteins identified in this pilot study encompassed those linked to homeostasis and cellular energetic balance, including heat shock proteins and the 5′-nucleotidase domain-containing family. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the proteome in broiler liver tissues, shedding light on poultry adaptability to transport stress. Furthermore, the identified proteins present potential as biomarkers, suggesting promising approaches to enhance poultry care and management within the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Milk is a valuable source of proteins and other nutrients. Changes in milk production toward systems that obtain increased milk yield have resulted in a change in milk composition in large and small ruminants, such as goats. A better characterisation of breeds that undergo a limited formal crossbreeding, such as the Teramana goat is pivotal in order to obtain useful data that could be applied for the management of the breed. Proteomic technologies have brought significant advances in the characteristion of new proteins. In this study, this technology was used to compare the proteome of the autochthon Teramana and Saanen breeds, which are commonly used by the industry to allow for the identification of a cohort of proteins that were able to discriminate the two goat breeds. Proteomics offered the potentiality for a deeper investigation of the biological differences of the breeds under study in a substrate easy to obtain. Goat's milk is an excellent source of nutrients, with greater benefits compared to cow's milk. Limited information is available on autochthon goat breeds, which are important for biodiversity preservation. In this study, the aim of using label-free quantification was to investigate the milk proteome of two goat breeds, the autochthon Teramana and Saanen breeds, which are commonly used by the industry. Utilising label-free proteomic analysis, 749 and 666 proteins, respectively were identified and quantified from the Teramana and Saanen goat milk. Moreover, utilising statistical analysis, 29 proteins were able to discriminate the two goat breeds, with many of the identified proteins involved in complement and coagulation cascades. This work enhances our understanding of the goat milk proteome and shows differences between the two breeds, leading to an important contribution toward a more detailed molecular-view of this unique substrate. Additionally, charactersation of the milk proteins can help in guiding genetic improvements in the goat herds, and thus increasing its use in human nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Little is known about the interdependencies between livestock production and biodiversity. The swine sector is characterized by a diversity of extensive and intensive production practices, which rely on a wide range of natural and manmade activities (e.g., different use of the land) that can reduce its adverse effects on biodiversity. The Nero d'Abruzzo pig is a black domestic pig from the Abruzzo region, Italy, that is reared with extensive practice. This study using a proteomics approach aimed to investigate breed differences between the autochthon Nero d'Abruzzo and commercial-hybrid pigs commonly used by the industry. The comparison of the protein profile of muscle exudate obtained following centrifugation from the diaphragm of the two pig breeds highlight significant differences in the protein expression of a large pool of proteins. Among the proteins that were upregulated or downregulated differently in the two pigs, three—fatty acid synthase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase—may contribute in part to explaining, according to their functions, the phenotypic differences between the pigs. This work has identified a cohort of proteins that can be potentially useful to define new molecular phenotypes for novel applications in pig breeding programs and are of great interest for future work. Capital-driven animal husbandry systems undertaken in the last century led to the abandoning of many pig breeds that were not profitable. These local pig breeds and their respective production systems have great potential as they are able to respond to the high criteria and needs of modern society concerning some environmental aspects, animal-welfare, healthiness, etc. This is the case of the black pigs of Italy. The Apulo-Calabrese is a breed of black pig, known by many other names such as Nero d'Abruzzo. In order to further understand the biological differences between different types of porcine genetics (Nero d'Abruzzo and commercial-hybrid) we used a label-free LC-MS strategy and Western-blot to characterize the proteomes of muscle-exudate collected from these pigs. This proteomics approach identified 1669 proteins of which 100 changed significantly in abundance between breeds. Bioinformatics functional analysis indicated that differentially expressed proteins were involved in several biological processes related to energy-metabolism and response to oxidative stress, suggesting that these functions might distinguish between these pigs. Fatty-acid synthase, catalase and glutathione-peroxidase, involved in enzymatic activity were found to be more represented in samples obtained from the Nero d'Abruzzo. This biological information can potentially provide new biological factors that could determine the different production performances of these pigs, distinguished by their different genetic backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Regular training, in particular endurance exercise, induces structural myocardial adaptation, so-called "athlete's heart". In addition to the 2D standard echo parameters, assessment of myocardial function is currently possible by deformation parameters (strain, rotation and twist). Aim of study is to assess the role of rotation and twist parameters for better characterize the heart performance in trained elite young athletes from different kind of sports. Eventually, verify early on any possible impact due to the regular sport activity not revealed by the standard parameters. Methods 50 young athletes (16 cyclists, 17 soccer players, 17 basket players) regularly trained at least three times a week for at least 9 months a year and 10 young controls (mean age 18.5 ± 0.5 years) were evaluated either by to 2D echocardiography or by a Speckle Tracking (ST) multi-layer approach to calculate Left Ventricle (LV) endocardial and epicardial rotation, twist, circumferential strain (CS) and longitudinal strain (LS). Data were compared by ANOVA test. Results All the found values were within the normal range. Left Ventricle Diastolic Diameter (LVDD 51.7 ± 2.6 mm), Cardiac Mass index (CMi 114.5 ± 18.5 g/m2), epi-CS, epi-LS, epicardial apex rotation and the Endo/Epi twist were significantly higher only in cyclists. In all the groups, a physiological difference of the Endo/Epi basal circumferential strain and twist values have been found. A weak but not significant relationship between the Endo and twist values and LVDD (r2 = 0.44, p = .005) and CMi was also reported in cyclists. Conclusions Progressive increase of apical LV twist may represent an important component of myocardial remodelling. This aspect is particularly evident in the young cyclists group where the CMi and the LVDD are higher. ST multilayer approach completes the LV performance evaluation in young trained athletes showing values similar to adults.