Effects of mixed extract from two tropical plants on gut microbiome and metabolome in piglets.

In this study, we performed a quantitative analysis of 12 compounds derived from Piper sarmentosum extract (PSE) and guava leaf extract (GE). In addition, we investigated the effects of mixed extract (ME) of PSE and GE (1:1) on piglets' gut microbiome and metabolome. A total of 200 piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Large Yorkshire, 21-day-old) were randomly assigned into two groups with five replicates of 20 piglets/pen having the same initial body weight.

Diverse associations observed between pregnancy complications and RBC or plasma folates determined by an in-house developed LC-MS/MS method.

Background: As folates are essential for embryonic development and growth, it is necessary to accurately determine the levels of folates in plasma and red blood cells (RBCs) for clinical intervention. The aims of this study were to develop and validate a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for quantitation of folates in plasma and RBCs and to examine the association between plasma and RBC folate concentrations and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia (PE).

Methods: With the in-house developed LC-MS/MS, a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted.

Porcine intestinal antimicrobial peptide as an in-feed antibiotic alternative improves intestinal digestion and immunity by shaping the gut microbiota in weaned piglets.

Antibiotic resistance of pathogens, which is caused by the abuse of in-feed antibiotics, threatens the sustainable development of livestock production. The present study aimed to investigate the efficiency of porcine intestinal antimicrobial peptide (PIAP) as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics in terms of growth performance, intestinal morphology, digestive enzymes and immunity, and microbiota community of the post-weaning piglets. A total of 204 piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, weaned at 28 d age) with a similar body weight of 7.

Delivery prediction by quantitative analysis of four steroid metabolites with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in asymptomatic pregnant women.

Background: Prediction of delivery is important for assessing due dates, providing adequate prenatal care, and suggesting appropriate interventions in preterm and post-term pregnancies. Recent metabolomic findings suggested that the temporal abundance information of metabolome can be used to predict delivery timing with high accuracy in a cohort of healthy women. However, a targeted and quantitative assay is required to further validate the clinical performance and utility of this group of metabolomic candidates in delivery prediction with a larger and independent cohort.

An Intervention Study on Children's Healthy Joint Attention Skills Based on a Mixed Instructional Approach of DTT and PRT.

Joint attention is an important element that influences children's early development of communication and sociality, and joint attention is more often than not the earliest incipient of their prosocial behavior. Joint attention skills are one of the core deficits of children with autism, and identifying and remediating the core problems of autism is a popular area of interest, with joint attention being the focus of attention. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the combined orientation model of Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) and Pivotal Response Training (PRT) could improve the joint attention skills of children with autism.

The Positive Effects of Unneeded Consumption Behaviour on Consumers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become an important global contagion that requires workers to implement necessary behaviours to cope. Based on the conservation of resources theory, the present studies explore the effects of unneeded consumption behaviour on consumers' recovery level and work engagement and the moderated mediating process of such relationships. Using a purchasing experiment, study 1 examined the positive effect of unneeded consumption behaviour on recovery among 100 MBA students.

The Influence of Individual and Team Mindfulness on Work Engagement.

Mindfulness metacognitive practice that can be performed in the workplace. Drawing on the theory of conservation of resources, we test a moderated mediating model of how and when employee mindfulness has a positive effect on work engagement. Via analysis of data from 311 employees from 83 teams at different times, this study investigates the relationship between employee mindfulness and work engagement as well as the moderating effect of team mindfulness and the mediating effect of recovery level.

Effects of Male Defendants' Attractiveness and Trustworthiness on Simulated Judicial Decisions in Two Different Swindles.

The present study aimed to examine the effects of male defendants' facial appearance (attractiveness and trustworthiness) on judicial decisions in two different swindles. We selected the following four categories of faces by manipulating facial attractiveness and trustworthiness simultaneously: the attractive and trustworthy face; the attractive but untrustworthy face; the unattractive but trustworthy face; and the unattractive and untrustworthy face. A total of six hundred and sixty-three participants across two studies were asked to make conviction-related judgments and penalty-related decisions for the defendants after they were randomly assigned to one of the four categories of faces.

[Simultaneous determination of six Salvia miltiorrhiza gradients in rat plasma and brain by LC-MS/MS].

To develop a LC-MS/MS method for the determination of protocatechuic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde, salvianolic acid A, salvianolic acid B, cryptotanshinone and tanshinone II(A) in rat plasma and brain. The plasma and brain samples were precipitated with ethyl acetate, then were separated on an Agilent eclipse plus-C18 column (2.1 mm x 50 mm, 3.

Adaptive mixed reality rehabilitation improves quality of reaching movements more than traditional reaching therapy following stroke.

Background: Adaptive mixed reality rehabilitation (AMRR) is a novel integration of motion capture technology and high-level media computing that provides precise kinematic measurements and engaging multimodal feedback for self-assessment during a therapeutic task.

Objective: We describe the first proof-of-concept study to compare outcomes of AMRR and traditional upper-extremity physical therapy.

Methods: Two groups of participants with chronic stroke received either a month of AMRR therapy (n = 11) or matched dosing of traditional repetitive task therapy (n = 10).

A novel adaptive mixed reality system for stroke rehabilitation: principles, proof of concept, and preliminary application in 2 patients.

This article presents the principles of an adaptive mixed reality rehabilitation (AMRR) system, as well as the training process and results from 2 stroke survivors who received AMRR therapy, to illustrate how the system can be used in the clinic. The AMRR system integrates traditional rehabilitation practices with state-of-the-art computational and motion capture technologies to create an engaging environment to train reaching movements. The system provides real-time, intuitive, and integrated audio and visual feedback (based on detailed kinematic data) representative of goal accomplishment, activity performance, and body function during a reaching task.