Maternal exposure to DON during lactation induces testicular toxicity in pubertal and adult offspring mice.

Deoxynivalenol (DON), a type B trichothecene mycotoxin, commonly occurs in cereal grains, and poses significant health risks to humans and animals. Numerous studies reveal its obvious toxic effects on male reproductive performance as well as its ability to transfer from the lactating mother to the suckling offspring through colostrum and milk. The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxic effect of lactational DON exposure on testicular morphology, hormonal levels, inflammation, apoptosis and proliferation of germ cells, tight junction, and sperm quality in male offspring.

A new experimental setup for combined fast differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy.

Synchrotron-radiation-based techniques are a powerful tool for the investigation of materials. In particular, the availability of highly brilliant sources has opened the possibility to develop techniques sensitive to dynamics at the atomic scale such as X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS). XPCS is particularly relevant in the study of glasses, which have been often investigated at the macroscopic scale by, for example, differential scanning calorimetry.

Direct observation of strong momentum-dependent electron-phonon coupling in a metal.

Phonon scattering in metals is one of the most fundamental processes in materials science. However, understanding such processes has remained challenging and requires detailed information on interactions between phonons and electrons. We use an ultrafast electron diffuse scattering technique to resolve the nonequilibrium phonon dynamics in femtosecond-laser-excited tungsten in both time and momentum.

Neddylation inhibition affects early embryonic development by disrupting maternal-to-zygotic transition and mitochondrial function in mice.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are critical for early development in mice because early cleavage-stage embryos are characterized by transcriptional inactivity. Neddylation is an important ubiquitin-like PTM that regulates multiple biophysical processes. However, the exact roles of neddylation in regulating early embryonic development remain largely unknown.

Evidence for phonon hardening in laser-excited gold using x-ray diffraction at a hard x-ray free electron laser.

Studies of laser-heated materials on femtosecond timescales have shown that the interatomic potential can be perturbed at sufficiently high laser intensities. For gold, it has been postulated to undergo a strong stiffening leading to an increase of the phonon energies, known as phonon hardening. Despite efforts to investigate this behavior, only measurements at low absorbed energy density have been performed, for which the interpretation of the experimental data remains ambiguous.

Lactational exposure to Deoxynivalenol causes mammary gland injury via inducing inflammatory response and impairing blood-milk barrier integrity in mice.

Lactation is a unique physiological process to produce and secrete milk. Deoxynivalenol (DON) exposure during lactation has been demonstrated to affect adversely the growth development of offspring. However, the effects and potential mechanism of DON on maternal mammary glands remain largely unknown.

Effects of IL-11/IL-11 Receptor Alpha on Proliferation and Steroidogenesis in Ovarian Granulosa Cells of Dairy Cows.

Granulosa cells (GCs) are essential for follicular growth, oocyte maturation, and steroidogenesis in the ovaries. Interleukin (IL)-11 is known to play a crucial role in the decidualization of the uterus, however, the expression of the IL-11 system (IL-11, IL-11Rα, and gp130) in the bovine ovary and its exact role in GCs have not been extensively studied. In this study, we identified the IL-11 signaling receptor complex in the bovine ovary and investigated the regulatory effects and underlying mechanism of IL-11Rα on the proliferation and steroidogenesis of GCs.

Structural changes across thermodynamic maxima in supercooled liquid tellurium: A water-like scenario.

Liquid polymorphism is an intriguing phenomenon that has been found in a few single-component systems, the most famous being water. By supercooling liquid Te to more than 130 K below its melting point and performing simultaneous small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements, we observe clear maxima in its thermodynamic response functions around 615 K, suggesting the possible existence of liquid polymorphism. A close look at the underlying structural evolution shows the development of intermediate-range order upon cooling, most strongly around the thermodynamic maxima, which we attribute to bond-orientational ordering.

Novel Insight into the Potential Role of Acylglycerophosphate Acyltransferases Family Members on Triacylglycerols Synthesis in Buffalo.

Acylglycerophosphate acyltransferases (AGPATs) are the rate-limiting enzymes for the de novo pathway of triacylglycerols (TAG) synthesis. Although AGPATs have been extensively explored by evolution, expression and functional studies, little is known on functional characterization of how many members of the AGPAT family are involved in TAG synthesis and their impact on the cell proliferation and apoptosis. Here, 13 AGPAT genes in buffalo were identified, of which 12 AGPAT gene pairs were orthologous between buffalo and cattle.

Deoxynivalenol exposure inhibits biosynthesis of milk fat and protein by impairing tight junction in bovine mammary epithelial cells.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the most common feed contaminants, and it poses a serious threat to the health of dairy cows. The existing studies of biological toxicity of DON mainly focus on the proliferation, oxidative stress, and inflammation in bovine mammary epithelial cells, while its toxicity on the biosynthesis of milk components has not been well documented. Hence, we investigated the toxic effects and the underlying mechanism of DON on the bovine mammary alveolar cells (MAC-T).

Novel functional mutation of the PDIA3 gene affects milk composition traits in Chinese Holstein cattle.

Protein disulfide isomerase family A member 3 (PDIA3) is a multifunctional protein, and it plays a vital role in modulating various cell biological functions under physiological and pathological conditions. Our previous study on Mediterranean buffalo demonstrated that PDIA3 is a potential candidate gene associated with milk yield based on genome-wide association study analysis. However, the genetic effects of the PDIA3 gene on milk performance in dairy cattle and the corresponding mechanism have not been documented.

Universal Two-Component Dynamics in Supercritical Fluids.

Despite the technological importance of supercritical fluids, controversy remains about the details of their microscopic dynamics. In this work, we study four supercritical fluid systems─water, Si, Te, and Lennard-Jones fluid─via classical molecular dynamics simulations. A universal two-component behavior is observed in the intermolecular dynamics of these systems, and the changing ratio between the two components leads to a crossover from liquidlike to gaslike dynamics, most rapidly around the Widom line.

High Pressure Brillouin Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffraction of Cerium Dioxide.

Simultaneous high-pressure Brillouin spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction of cerium dioxide powders are presented at room temperature to a pressure of 45 GPa. Micro- and nanocrystalline powders are studied and the density, acoustic velocities and elastic moduli determined. In contrast to recent reports of anomalous compressibility and strength in nanocrystalline cerium dioxide, the acoustic velocities are found to be insensitive to grain size and enhanced strength is not observed in nanocrystalline CeO2.

Two-Component Dynamics and the Liquidlike to Gaslike Crossover in Supercritical Water.

Molecular-scale dynamics in sub- to supercritical water is studied with inelastic x-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations. The obtained longitudinal current correlation spectra can be decomposed into two main components: a low-frequency (LF), gaslike component and a high-frequency (HF) component arising from the O-O stretching mode between hydrogen-bonded molecules, reminiscent of the longitudinal acoustic mode in ambient water. With increasing temperature, the hydrogen-bond network diminishes and the spectral weight shifts from HF to LF, leading to a transition from liquid- to gaslike dynamics with rapid changes around the Widom line.

Speckle correlation as a monitor of X-ray free-electron laser induced crystal lattice deformation.

X-ray free-electron lasers (X-FELs) present new opportunities to study ultrafast lattice dynamics in complex materials. While the unprecedented source brilliance enables high fidelity measurement of structural dynamics, it also raises experimental challenges related to the understanding and control of beam-induced irreversible structural changes in samples that can ultimately impact the interpretation of experimental results. This is also important for designing reliable high performance X-ray optical components.

High-Pressure Melt Curve and Phase Diagram of Lithium.

We investigate the phase diagram of lithium at temperatures of 200 to 400 K, to pressures over 100 GPa using x-ray diffraction in diamond anvil cells, covering the region in which the melting curve is disputed. To overcome degradation of the diamond anvils by dense lithium we utilize a rapid compression scheme taking advantage of the high flux available at modern synchrotrons. Our results show the hR1 and cI16 phases to be stable to higher temperature than previously reported.

Compact hard x-ray split-delay system based on variable-gap channel-cut crystals.

We present the concept and a prototypical implementation of a compact x-ray split-delay system that is capable of performing continuous on-the-fly delay scans over a range of ∼10  ps with sub-100 nanoradian pointing stability. The system consists of four channel-cut silicon crystals, two of which have gradually varying gap sizes from intentional 5 deg asymmetric cuts. The delay adjustment is realized by linear motions of these two monolithic varying-gap channel cuts, where the x-ray beam experiences pairs of anti-parallel reflections, and thus becomes less sensitive in output beam pointing to motion imperfections of the translation stages.