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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of anti-stress agents on the growth performance and immune function of broilers under immune stress conditions induced by vaccination. A total of 128, 1-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were randomly divided into four groups. Group normal control (NC) was the control group. Group vaccination control (VC), T 0.5%, and T 1% were the treatment groups, which were nasally vaccinated with two doses of the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine. The chicks in groups T 0.5% and T 1% were fed conventional diets containing 0.5% and 1% anti-stress agents. Thereafter, these broilers were slaughtered on 1, 7, 14, and 21 days post-vaccination. The results indicated that anti-stress agents could significantly reduce serum adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) (P < 0.01) and cortisol (CORT) (P < 0.05) levels, and improve the growth performance (P < 0.05) and immune function of broilers (P < 0.05); However, the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) (P < 0.05) were decreased, and the decreased total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) (P < 0.01) levels mediated by vaccination were markedly improved. In addition, anti-stress agents could attenuate apoptosis in spleen lymphocytes (P < 0.01) by upregulating the ratio of Bcl-2 to BAX (P < 0.01) and downregulating the expression of caspase-3 and -9 (P < 0.01), which might be attributed to the inhibition of the enzymatic activities of caspase-3 and -9 (P < 0.05). In conclusion, anti-stress agents may improve growth performance and immune function in broilers under immune-stress conditions. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Investigation of effects and mechanism of immune stress induced by vaccination. Beneficial effect of anti-stress agents on growth performance, immune function, oxidative stress, and regulation of lymphocyte apoptosis. Demonstration of the effects of apoptosis on immune function in the organism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation technologies (SR-AOTs) are very effective solutions to remove organic pollutants from wastewater. Nevertheless, difficulties remain in finding an efficient and environmentally friendly catalytic system to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the oxidation process. In this work, a simple impregnation method for synthesizing layered Co(OH)2 deposited g-C3N4 (Co(OH)2/g-C3N4) was developed. The as-obtained Co(OH)2/g-C3N4 showed excellent performance in the destruction of various organic pollutants through PMS activation. The structure, morphology and composition of Co(OH)2/g-C3N4 were analyzed using diverse characterization methods. Various experimental parameters such as catalyst loading, initial PMS concentration, pH, reaction temperature and initial organic pollutant concentration were studied in detail. The obtained Co(OH)2/g-C3N4 composite can completely degrade Rhodamine B (RhB) with a high reaction rate constant of 0.460 min−1 under the optimal conditions, which was much higher than those of Co(OH)2, g-C3N4 and many other metal catalysts. This was because the synergistic effect between the layered Co(OH)2 with sufficient active sites and electron-rich g-C3N4 with good electron transfer ability can accelerate the activation of PMS. Besides, radical quenching experiments indicated that sulfate radicals (SO4˙−) were the major active radicals in the PMS activation process. Finally, the degradation pathways and a reasonable reaction mechanism of the Co(OH)2/g-C3N4/PMS system for RhB removal were put forward. The study revealed that Co(OH)2/g-C3N4 could provide appropriate strategies for the removal of organic pollutants in aqueous environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open in new tab Download slide Open in new tab Download slide OBJECTIVES This study aimed to clarify the incidence of sinoatrial nodal artery (SANa) injury in thoracoscopic epicardial surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) and its impact on postoperative outcomes, which have not been previously elucidated. METHODS We enrolled 103 consecutively patients with AF who underwent thoracoscopic epicardial ablation at our institution. In these patients, we evaluated the postoperative incidence of SANa injury by using enhanced cardiac computed tomography. For patients with confirmed SANa injury, 3-day continuous electrocardiographic monitoring and exercise stress tests were performed to assess the sinus rhythm maintenance and sinus node function. RESULTS Thirteen patients (12.6%) had a confirmed SANa injury (left anterior type in 6 patients, left posterior type in 2 patients and double-branch type in 5 patients). After a median follow-up of 24 months, the patients with SANa injury were not found to be associated with lower sinus rhythm maintenance (hazard ratio 1.09, 95% confidential interval 0.36–3.31) as compared with those without SANa injury after adjustment for patient characteristics. Sinus node function was evaluated in 7 patients with SANa injury who remained in sinus rhythm after the procedure, and no sinus node dysfunction was confirmed in the 3-day electrocardiographic monitoring and exercise stress tests at a median follow-up of 12 months. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of SANa injury in the patients who underwent thoracoscopic epicardial ablation for AF was relatively low, and the incidence of SANa injury was not associated with postoperative restoration of sinus rhythm and sinoatrial node dysfunction. More studies are required to better understand SANa injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-time withstand current ( I\mathrm{ cw} ) is a crucial parameter of air circuit breakers (ACBs) due to the selective protection. Considering the skin effect, the interphase effect, and the nonlinear B – H characteristics of ferromagnet, the 3-D transient finite-element method is adopted to analyze the short-circuit dynamic stability of a three-phase ACB. The transient current, the repulsion torque, the tilting torque, and the sliding torque on each movable conductor are calculated at the beginning stage and the periodic stage of I\mathrm{ cw} , respectively. It is found that the electromagnetic torque tilts and slides the outer movable conductors toward the middle of each phase. The movable conductors of phase B perform the worst in the aspect of dynamic stability. The relevant experiments are also conducted to investigate the dynamic stability through observing the position, the size, and the sliding trace of the erosion marks on contact tips. Based on the proposed calculation model, it is found that installing ferromagnet plates on both the sides of movable conductor groups can enhance the dynamic stability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cr (VI) has been considered to be a harmful environmental pollutant due to its toxicity, mobility and strong oxidation. It has become challenging to remove Cr (VI) from wastewater. In this work, a series of supported palladium-based catalysts were synthesized via a facile wet chemical reduction method. Among all the as-synthesized catalysts, Pd/TiO2 (P25) showed the optimized catalytic activity for the reduction of Cr (VI) to Cr (III) using formic acid (HCOOH) as the reductant. More than 99% of K2Cr2O7 (50 mg/L) was reduced completely within 30 min at 25 °C. The structural properties of the Pd/TiO2 catalyst (such as particle size, hydrophilicity and stability) and the synergistic effect of metal and support played significant roles in the reduction of Cr (VI) to Cr (III). Meanwhile, several pivotal parameters such as Cr (VI) concentration, catalyst loading, HCOOH concentration and temperature were investigated in detail. Furthermore, this catalyst was also active for the reduction of nitro compounds with HCOOH as the reductant at room temperature. Finally, the reasonable reaction mechanism of the Pd/TiO2/HCOOH system for the reduction of Cr (VI) to Cr (III) was put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the role and possible pathogenesis of high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS)., Methods: (1) In vivo, 24 SPFC57BL/6 male mice were randomly divided into normal control group, ALI/ARDS model group, ethyl pyruvate (EP) treatment group and EP control group, with 6 mice in each group. The ALI/ARDS model was established by intraperitoneal injection of 20 mg/kg LPS. Mice in normal control group and EP control group were intraperitoneally injected with the same amount of sterile normal saline. Then, mice in the EP treatment group and EP control group were intraperitoneally injected with 40 mg/kg HMGB1 inhibitor EP. After 6 hours, the mice were sacrificed and lung tissues were collected. The expressions of heparan sulfate (HS), syndecans-1 (SDC-1), heparanase (HPA) and matrix metalloproteinases-9 (MMP-9) in lung tissues were detected by immunofluorescence technique. Orbital blood of mice was collected and serum was extracted to detect the content of HMGB1 by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). (2) In vitro, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were randomly divided into 6 groups: normal control group, HUVECs damage group (treated with 1 mg/L LPS for 6 hours), HMGB1 group (treated with 1 μmol/L recombinant HMGB1 for 6 hours), HMGB1+EP group (treated with recombinant HMGB1 for 1 hour and then added 1 μmol/L EP for 6 hours), LPS+EP group (treated with LPS for 1 hour and then added 1 μmol/L EP for 6 hours), EP group (treated with 1 μmol/L EP for 6 hours). The expressions of HS, SDC-1, HPA and MMP-9 in endothelial cells were detected by immunofluorescence technique., Results: (1) In vivo, light microscopy showed that the alveolar space was thickened after LPS stimulation, and there were a large number of inflammatory cells infiltrating in the alveolar space. Compared with ALI/ARDS model group, the expressions of HS and SDC-1 in lung tissue of EP treatment group were significantly increased [HS (fluorescence intensity): 0.80±0.20 vs. 0.53±0.02, SDC-1 (fluorescence intensity): 0.72±0.02 vs. 0.51±0.01, both P < 0.05], and the expressions of HPA and MMP-9 were significantly decreased [HPA (fluorescence intensity): 2.36±0.05 vs. 3.00±0.04, MMP-9 (fluorescence intensity): 2.55±0.13 vs. 3.26±0.05, both P < 0.05]; there were no significant changes of the above indexes in EP control group. Compared with ALI/ARDS model group, the content of serum HMGB1 in EP treatment group decreased significantly (μg/L: 131.88±16.67 vs. 341.13±22.47, P < 0.05); there was no significant change in the EP control group. (2) In vitro, compared with HMGB1 group, the expressions of HS and SDC-1 in HMGB1+EP group were significantly higher [HS (fluorescence intensity): 0.83±0.07 vs. 0.56±0.03, SDC-1 (fluorescence intensity): 0.80±0.01 vs. 0.61±0.01, both P < 0.05], and the expressions of HPA and MMP-9 were significantly lower [HPA (fluorescence intensity): 1.30±0.02 vs. 2.29±0.05, MMP-9 (fluorescence intensity): 1.55±0.04 vs. 2.50±0.06, both P < 0.05]; the expression of HS, SDC-1, HPA and MMP-9 had no significant changes in EP group., Conclusions: HMGB1 participates in LPS-induced injury of endothelial cell glycocalyx, leading to increased lung permeability, and inhibition of HMGB1 can alleviate lung injury.