Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Stimbiotics to Sows on Lactation Performance, Immune Function, and Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Capacities during Late Gestation and Lactation.

Stimbiotic supplementation may provide an innovative feed additive solution to accelerate the proliferation of beneficial fiber-degrading bacteria in the distal intestine and the utilization of dietary fiber. Optimal utilization of dietary fiber has multiple benefits for gut health and nutrient utilization. This study was conducted to evaluate the late gestation and lactation performance, the plasma, colostrum, and milk immunoglobulin (IgA, IgG, and IgM) concentrations, and the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant biomarkers in plasma of sows fed with or without a stimbiotic during the late gestation and lactation phase.

Prioritization of putative metabolite identifications in LC-MS/MS experiments using a computational pipeline.

One of the major bottle-necks in current LC-MS-based metabolomic investigations is metabolite identification. An often-used approach is to first look up metabolites from databases through peak mass, followed by verification of the obtained putative identifications using MS/MS data. However, the mass-based search may provide inappropriate putative identifications when the observed peak is from isotopes, fragments, or adducts.

LC-MS based serum metabolomics for identification of hepatocellular carcinoma biomarkers in Egyptian cohort.

Although hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been subjected to continuous investigation and its symptoms are well-known, early stage diagnosis of this disease remains difficult and the survival rate after diagnosis is typically very low (3-5%). Early and accurate detection of metabolic changes in the sera of patients with liver cirrhosis can help improve the prognosis of HCC and lead to a better understanding of its mechanism at the molecular level, thus providing patients with in-time treatment of the disease. In this study, we compared metabolite levels in sera of 40 HCC patients and 49 cirrhosis patients from Egypt by using ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (UPLC-QTOF MS).

Utilization of metabolomics to identify serum biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Characterizing the metabolic changes pertaining to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with liver cirrhosis is believed to contribute towards early detection, treatment, and understanding of the molecular mechanisms of HCC. In this study, we compare metabolite levels in sera of 78 HCC cases with 184 cirrhotic controls by using ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with a hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF MS). Following data preprocessing, the most relevant ions in distinguishing HCC cases from patients with cirrhosis are selected by parametric and non-parametric statistical methods.

Using a spike-in experiment to evaluate analysis of LC-MS data.

Background: Recent advances in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technology have led to more effective approaches for measuring changes in peptide/protein abundances in biological samples. Label-free LC-MS methods have been used for extraction of quantitative information and for detection of differentially abundant peptides/proteins. However, difference detection by analysis of data derived from label-free LC-MS methods requires various preprocessing steps including filtering, baseline correction, peak detection, alignment, and normalization.

Metabolite identification and quantitation in LC-MS/MS-based metabolomics.

Metabolomics aims at detection and quantitation of all metabolites in biological samples. The presence of metabolites with a wide variety of physicochemical properties and different levels of abundance challenges existing analytical platforms used for identification and quantitation of metabolites. Significant efforts have been made to improve analytical and computational methods for metabolomics studies.

LC-MS-based metabolomics.

Metabolomics aims at identification and quantitation of small molecules involved in metabolic reactions. LC-MS has enjoyed a growing popularity as the platform for metabolomic studies due to its high throughput, soft ionization, and good coverage of metabolites. The success of a LC-MS-based metabolomic study often depends on multiple experimental, analytical, and computational steps.

Mass spectrometric determination of ILPR G-quadruplex binding sites in insulin and IGF-2.

The insulin-linked polymorphic region (ILPR) of the human insulin gene promoter region forms G-quadruplex structures in vitro. Previous studies show that insulin and insulin-like growth factor-2 (IGF-2) exhibit high affinity binding in vitro to 2-repeat sequences of ILPR variants a and h, but negligible binding to variant i. Two-repeat sequences of variants a and h form intramolecular G-quadruplex structures that are not evidenced for variant i.