Live Multi-Strain Probiotics Enhance Growth Performance by Regulating Intestinal Morphology and Microbiome Population in Weaning Piglets.

The effects of different forms of multi-strain probiotics on weaning piglets are limitedly addressed. Thus, this study investigated the effects of live or inanimate multi-strain probiotics comprising , , and on growth performance, intestinal morphology, fecal microbiota, short-chain fatty acids, and intestinal gene expression of weaning piglets. A total of 160 weaning piglets (4 weeks old) were randomly allocated into four treatments (CON: basal diet; AB: basal diet with 110 ppm and 66 ppm colistin in the weaning and nursery phases, respectively; LP: basal diet with 2.

Effectiveness of Ozone Treatment and Packaging Techniques in Preserving Taiwanese Domestic Beef During Refrigerated Storage.

This study investigates the efficacy of ozone treatment combined with different packaging methods on the preservation of Taiwanese domestically produced beef during refrigerated storage. The preservation of fresh beef is crucial for ensuring food safety and quality; we do not know whether changing the packaging method can mitigate the negative effects of ozone on meat and even enhance its positive impact. Beef samples were treated with ozone and packaged using the vacuum or PVDC-tray methods, then stored at 4 °C for 7 days.

Magnetic raspberry-like CuCo nanoalloy-embedded carbon as an enhanced activator of Oxone to degrade azo contaminant: Cu-induced hollowed structure and boosted activities.

Azo compounds, particularly azo dyes, are widely used but pose significant environmental risks due to their persistence and potential to form carcinogenic by-products. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are effective in degrading these stubborn compounds, with Oxone activation being a particularly promising method. In this study, a unique nanohybrid material, raspberry-like CuCo alloy embedded carbon (RCCC), is facilely fabricated using CuCo-glycerate (Gly) as a template.

Identification of Molecular Profile of Ear Fibroblasts Derived from Spindle-Transferred Holstein Cattle with Ooplasts from Taiwan Yellow Cattle under Heat Stress.

Global warming has a significant impact on the dairy farming industry, as heat stress causes reproductive endocrine imbalances and leads to substantial economic losses, particularly in tropical-subtropical regions. The Holstein breed, which is widely used for dairy production, is highly susceptible to heat stress, resulting in a dramatic reduction in milk production during hot seasons. However, previous studies have shown that cells of cows produced from reconstructed embryos containing cytoplasm (o) from Taiwan yellow cattle (Y) have improved thermotolerance despite their nuclei (n) being derived from heat-sensitive Holstein cattle (H).

Synergistic interface engineering in n-p-n type heterojunction CoO/MIL/Mn-STO with dual S-scheme multi-charge migration to enhance visible-light photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics.

Constructing an effective multi-heterojunction photocatalyst with maximum charge carrier separation remains challenging. Herein, a high-efficient CoO/MIL-88A/Mn-SrTiO (CoO/MIL/Mn-STO) n-p-n heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal method for the photodegradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX). The combination of MIL and CoO/Mn-STO established an internal electric field and heterojunction, accelerating the separation of carriers, and thus improved photocatalytic performance.

Fabrication of Robust and Effective Oil/Water Separating Superhydrophobic Textile Coatings.

A superhydrophobic (SH) surface is typically constructed by combining a low-surface-energy substance and a high-roughness microstructure. Although these surfaces have attracted considerable attention for their potential applications in oil/water separation, self-cleaning, and anti-icing devices, fabricating an environmentally friendly superhydrophobic surface that is durable, highly transparent, and mechanically robust is still challenging. Herein, we report a facile painting method to fabricate a new micro/nanostructure containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid/poly(dimethylsiloxane)/fluorinated SiO (EDTA/PDMS/F-SiO) coatings on the surface of a textile with two different sizes of SiO particles, which have high transmittance (>90%) and mechanical robustness.

Solar-light-driven LaFe Ni O perovskite oxides for photocatalytic Fenton-like reaction to degrade organic pollutants.

LaFe Ni O perovskite oxides were prepared by the sol-gel method under various conditions, including different pH values (pH 0 and pH 7) and different calcination temperatures (500-800 °C) as well as different Fe/Ni ratios (1/9, 3/7, 5/5, 7/3, 9/1). The samples were examined by XRD, DRS, BET, and SEM to reveal their crystallinity, light-absorption ability, specific surface area, and surface features, respectively. The photocatalytic Fenton reaction was conducted using various LaFe Ni O perovskite oxides to decompose the methylene blue molecules.

Anti-fatigue activity of dripped spent hens chicken essence in ICR mice.

Objective: Chicken essence and branched chain amino acid (BCAA) supplementation has been recognized to significantly relieve fatigue. To obtain chicken essence with high amounts of BCAA, spent hens herein was used to prepare dripped chicken essence (SCE) and compared with commercial dripped chicken essence (CCE) for in vivo anti-fatigue effect.

Methods: To determine the effect on anti-fatigue by dripped chicken essence, the exhaustive swimming was performed.

Ice-templated synthesis of multicomponent porous coatings via vapour sublimation and deposition polymerization.

A multicomponent vapour-deposited porous (MVP) coating with combined physical and biochemical properties was fabricated based on a chemical vapour sublimation and deposition process. Multiple components are used based on their natural thermodynamic properties, being volatile and/or nonvolatile, resulting in the sublimation of water vapour (from an iced template), and a simultaneous deposition process of poly--xylylene occurs upon radical polymerization into a disordered structure, forming porous coatings of MVP on various substrates. In terms of physical properties, the coating technology exhibits adjustable hydrophobicity by tuning the surface morphology by timed control of the sublimation of the iced template layer from a substrate.

The Exploration of miRNAs From Porcine Fallopian Tube Stem Cells on Porcine Oocytes.

Fallopian tube is essential to fertilization and embryonic development. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from Fallopian tube containing biological regulatory factors, such as lipids, proteins and microRNAs (miRNAs) serve as the key role. At present, studies on oocytes from porcine oviduct and components from EVs remain limited.

Enhanced degradation of ultra-violet stabilizer Bis(4-hydroxy)benzophenone using oxone catalyzed by hexagonal nanoplate-assembled CoS 3-dimensional cluster.

As UV-light stabilizers, Bis(4-hydroxy)benzophenone (BBP), are extensively consumed to quench radicals from photooxidation, continuous release of BPs into the environment poses serious threats to the ecology in view of their xenohormone toxicities, and BBP shall be eliminated from water to avoid its adverse effect. Since sulfate radical (SR)-based chemical oxidation techniques have been proven as effective procedures for eliminating organic emerging contaminants, this study aims to develop useful SR-based procedures through activating Oxone for degrading BBP in water. In contrast to the conventional CoO, cobalt sulfide (CoS) is particularly proposed as an alternative heterogeneous catalyst for activating Oxone to degrade BBP because CoS exhibits more reactive redox characteristics.

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms of Immunity-Related Genes and Their Effects on Immunophenotypes in Different Pig Breeds.

Enhancing resistance and tolerance to pathogens remains an important selection objective in the production of livestock animals. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) vary gene expression at the transcriptional level, influencing an individual's immune regulation and susceptibility to diseases. In this study, we investigated the distribution of SNP sites in immune-related genes and their correlations with cell surface markers of immune cells within purebred (Taiwan black, Duroc, Landrace and Yorkshire) and crossbred (Landrace-Yorkshire) pigs.

Docosahexaenoic Acid Suppresses Expression of Adipogenic Tetranectin through Sterol Regulatory Element-Binding Protein and Forkhead Box O Protein in Pigs.

Tetranectin (TN), a plasminogen-binding protein originally involved in fibrinolysis and bone formation, was later identified as a secreted adipokine from human and rat adipocytes and positively correlated with adipogenesis and lipid metabolism in adipocytes. To elucidate the nutritional regulation of adipogenic TN from diets containing different sources of fatty acids (saturated, -6, -3) in adipocytes, we cloned the coding region of porcine TN from a cDNA library and analyzed tissue expressions in weaned piglets fed with 2% soybean oil (SB, enriched in -6 fatty acids), docosahexaenoic acid oil (DHA, an -3 fatty acid) or beef tallow (BT, enriched in saturated and -9 fatty acids) for 30 d. Compared with tissues in the BT- or SB-fed group, expression of TN was reduced in the adipose, liver and lung tissues from the DHA-fed group, accompanied with lowered plasma levels of triglycerides and cholesterols.

Vapor Sublimation and Deposition to Fabricate a Porous Methyl Propiolate-Functionalized Poly--xylylene Material for Copper-Free Click Chemistry.

Conventional porous materials are mostly synthesized in solution-based methods involving solvents and initiators, and the functionalization of these porous materials usually requires additional and complex steps. In the current study, a methyl propiolate-functionalized porous poly--xylylene material was fabricated based on a unique vapor sublimation and deposition process. The process used a water solution and ice as the template with a customizable shape and dimensions, and the conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) polymerization of poly--xylylene on such an ice template formed a three-dimensional, porous poly--xylylene material with interconnected porous structures.

Overexpression of Adiponectin Receptor 1 Inhibits Brown and Beige Adipose Tissue Activity in Mice.

Adult humans and mice possess significant classical brown adipose tissues (BAT) and, upon cold-induction, acquire brown-like adipocytes in certain depots of white adipose tissues (WAT), known as beige adipose tissues or WAT browning/beiging. Activating thermogenic classical BAT or WAT beiging to generate heat limits diet-induced obesity or type-2 diabetes in mice. Adiponectin is a beneficial adipokine resisting diabetes, and causing "healthy obese" by increasing WAT expansion to limit lipotoxicity in other metabolic tissues during high-fat feeding.

Synergistic and Regulatable Bioremediation Capsules Fabrication Based on Vapor-Phased Encapsulation of Bacteria and its Regulator by Poly--Xylylene.

A regulatable bioremediation capsule material was synthesized with isolated single-strain bacteria ( species, ) and a regulator molecule (carboxymethyl cellulose, CMC) by a vapor-phased encapsulation method with simple steps of water sublimation and poly--xylylene deposition in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. Mechanically, the capsule construct exhibited a controllable shape and dimensions, and was composed of highly biocompatible poly--xylylene as the matrix with homogeneously distributed bacteria and CMC molecules. Versatility of the encapsulation of the molecules at the desired concentrations was achieved in the vapor-phased sublimation and deposition fabrication process.

Parylene-Based Porous Scaffold with Functionalized Encapsulation of Platelet-Rich Plasma and Living Stem Cells for Tissue Engineering Applications.

A scaffold was fabricated to synergistically encapsulate living human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) based on a vapor-phase sublimation and deposition process. During the process, ice templates were prepared using sterile water as the solvent and were used to accommodate the sensitive living cells and PRP molecules. Under controlled processing conditions, the ice templates underwent vapor sublimation to evaporate water molecules, while at the same time, vapor-phase deposition of poly--xylylene (Parylene, USP Class VI highly biocompatible) occurred to replace the templates, and the final construction yielded a scaffold with Parylene as the matrix, with simultaneously encapsulated living hASCs and PRP molecules.

100th Anniversary of Macromolecular Science Viewpoint: Piezoelectrically Mediated Mechanochemical Reactions for Adaptive Materials.

Synthetic polymeric materials with adaptive capabilities triggered by mechanical stimuli could significantly extend their life cycle and boost performance. To achieve this, robust mechanically responsive chemistries must be developed. Piezoelectrically mediated chemistry is an emergent area of interest for this purpose since environmental mechanical energy can be harvested and directly converted to chemical energy.

Rapid genotypic antibiotic susceptibility test using CRISPR-Cas12a for urinary tract infection.

The current clinical protocol to conduct a bacterial antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) requires at least 18 hours, and cannot be accomplished during a single visit for patients. Here, a new method based on the technique of CRISPR-Cas12a is utilized to accomplish a bacterial genotypic AST within one hour with good accuracy. Two amplification approaches are employed and compared: (1) enriching the bacterial concentration by culturing in growth media; and (2) amplifying target DNA from raw samples by recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA).

Nanostructure- and Orientation-Controlled Resistive Memory Behaviors of Carbohydrate--Polystyrene with Different Molecular Weights via Solvent Annealing.

We report the resistive electrical memory characteristics controlled by the self-assembled nanostructures of maltoheptaose--polystyrene (MH--PS) block copolymers, where the MH and PS blocks provide the charge-trapping and the insulating tunneling layer, respectively. A simple solvent annealing process, with various annealing conditions, were introduced for MH--PS thin films to achieve disordered, orientated cylinders and ordered-packed spheres morphologies. More details about the self-assembled MH--PS nanostructures, coupled with different volume fractions between MH and PS blocks, were investigated using atomic force microscopy and grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering analyses.

Passivating Injured Endothelium with Kinexins in Thrombolytic Therapy.

Without conjunctive administration of an anticoagulant, endothelial injury-induced thrombosis is resistant to thrombolysis and prone to re-thrombosis. We hypothesized that co-delivery of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) with annexin V-containing anticoagulants that specifically target the injured endothelium may passivate the thrombogenic elements of the vascular injury site and enhance rtPA-induced thrombolysis. In this study, the effects of conjunctive administration of Kinexins (Kunitz inhibitor-annexin V fusion proteins) with rtPA on thrombolysis were determined and .

Docosahexaenoic acid increases accumulation of adipocyte triacylglycerol through up-regulation of lipogenic gene expression in pigs.

Background: Changing dietary fatty acid composition in modern diet influences the prevalence of obesity. Increasing evidences suggest favorable effects of n-3 PUFA for protecting against obesity and the metabolic syndrome. However, the regulation of n-3 PUFA in adipose is still unclear.