Brush Use in Lot-Fed Cattle Shows Continued Use and Positive Behaviour.

Feedlot cattle were assessed for the consistency of enrichment brush use, higher incidence of natural behaviour, and less agonistic or abnormal behaviour compared to cattle without the brush. Cattle were assigned to one of two treatment pens, (1) access to a vertical grooming brush (EB; = 89) or (2) no access control (CON; = 80), for a period of 107 days. A Principal Component (PC) analysis was used on pen-side demeanour scores.

Halogenated organic compounds in mangrove sediments from Bintan Island, Indonesia: Occurrence, profiles, sources, and potential ecological risk.

The first comprehensive analysis of halogenated organic compounds (HOCs), including 209 full congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 26 organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs), 41 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and four other brominated flame retardants (BFRs), was performed on surface mangrove sediments from Bintan Island, Province of the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia. Among the measured HOC contaminants, the mean concentration of ∑PCBs (2.3±0.

Bacterial wilt disease alters the structure and function of fungal communities around plant roots.

Background: Fungal communities around plant roots play crucial roles in maintaining plant health. Nonetheless, the responses of fungal communities to bacterial wilt disease remain poorly understood. Here, the structure and function of fungal communities across four consecutive compartments (bulk soil, rhizosphere, rhizoplane and root endosphere) were investigated under the influence of bacterial wilt disease.

Anti-Obesogenic and Antioxidant Potential of Lychee Seed Flour in Zebrafish Fed a High-Fat Diet.

Objective: Obesity has become one of the major public health issues and is associated with various comorbidities, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Lychee seeds are considered promising ingredients for developing functional foods owing to their nutraceutical properties and phytochemical composition. This study aimed to induce obesity in zebrafish () through a hyperlipidic diet supplemented with different concentrations of lychee seed flour and to evaluate its effects on adipose tissue, biochemical parameters, oxidative stress, and caudal fin regeneration.

Relationship between daily eating habits and occurrence of stroke in the O City Cohort I survey: a 26-year follow-up of residents in rural Japan.

Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between daily eating habits and stroke risk factors in O City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, using stroke registry data collected over a 26-year follow-up period based on standardized national criteria.

Materials And Methods: Overall, 1,793 middle-aged Japanese participants (446 men and 1,347 women) who completed a 33-item Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and had no history of stroke were matched to those from O City in a stroke registry from 1996 to 2022. Stroke diagnosis for each person was used to determine whether this was their first documented stroke, and we classified strokes as either a cerebral infarction (CI) or a hemorrhagic stroke (HS), the latter which included an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) or a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Effects of Baseline Blood Zinc Levels on the Humoral Immune Response After COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination: A Prospective Study in a Japanese Population.

Background/objectives: Although the protective effects of zinc against COVID-19 are documented, its impact on COVID-19 vaccine immunogenicity remains unknown.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study involving a cohort of 79 Japanese individuals (aged 21-56 years; comprising three subcohorts) and measured their serum zinc levels pre-vaccination and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG levels pre- and post-vaccination over 4 months.

Results: Serum zinc concentrations ranged between 74-140 and 64-113 μg/dL in male and female individuals, respectively, with one male and 11 female participants exhibiting subclinical zinc deficiency (60-80 μg/dL).

Effect of Seed Hydropriming on the Elongation of Plumule and Radicle During the Germination Process and Changes in Enzyme Activity Under Water-Deficient Conditions.

Hydropriming rice seeds effectively improve the germination percentage, shortens the germination period, and promotes seedling growth. The impact of seed hydropriming is to speed up growth under dry soil conditions, thereby avoiding drought damage. This study analyzes the effect of hydropriming on morpho-physiological changes in the water uptake of rice seeds using "Kasalath" and "Nipponbare" under water-deficit conditions.

Energy, Aromatic, and Medicinal Plants' Potential and Prospects for the Remediation of Potentially Toxic Element-Contaminated Agricultural Soils: A Critical Meta-Analysis.

A critical meta-analysis of the past decade's investigations was carried out with the aim of assessing the use of plant-based techniques for soil remediation. Potentially toxic element (PTE) contaminated soils were selected since these contaminants are considered hazardous and have long-term effects. Furthermore, energy, aromatic, and medicinal plants were studied as their high-value products seem to be affected by PTEs' existence.

Treatment with Pterostilbene Ameliorates the Antioxidant Status of Bovine Spermatozoa and Modulates Cell Death Pathways.

Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) play an important role in sperm physiology. They are required in processes such as capacitation and fertilization. However, the exposure of spermatozoa to ROS generated from internal or external sources may create a potentially detrimental redox imbalance.

A novel mechanism promoting lipid droplet formation.

Recently, Torres-Romero et al. identified a novel lipid droplet (LD)-associated protein, α/β-hydrolase domain containing protein 1 (ABHD1), in algae. Structurally, ABHD1 promotes the budding and growth of LDs and, functionally, it hydrolyzes lyso-diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine (lyso-DGTS) to generate glyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine (GTS) and free fatty acids (FFAs).

Subfamily evolution analysis using nuclear and chloroplast data from the same reads.

The chloroplast (cp) genome is a widely used tool for exploring plant evolutionary relationships, yet its effectiveness in fully resolving these relationships remains uncertain. Integrating cp genome data with nuclear DNA information offers a more comprehensive view but often requires separate datasets. In response, we employed the same raw read sequencing data to construct cp genome-based trees and nuclear DNA phylogenetic trees using Read2Tree, a cost-efficient method for extracting conserved nuclear gene sequences from raw read data, focusing on the Aurantioideae subfamily, which includes Citrus and its relatives.

Identification of the MAP4K gene family reveals GhMAP4K13 regulates drought and salt stress tolerance in cotton.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinases (MAP4Ks) are a class of highly conserved serine/threonine-protein kinases in eukaryotes. They participate in the typical MAPK cascade system and various signal transduction pathways regulating biological processes in plants, during stressful conditions. To date, genome-wide identification of MAP4Ks in cotton has not been reported.

Widely targeted metabolomics analysis reveals differences in volatile metabolites among four Angelica species.

Angelica L. has attracted global interest for its traditional medicinal uses and commercial values. However, few studies have focused on the metabolomic differences among the Angelica species.

Changes in phosphorus due to pyrolysis and in the soil-plant system amended with sewage sludge biochar compared to conventional P fertilizers: A global meta-analysis.

Phosphorus (P) plays an essential role for plant growth, but conventional P sources used in agriculture are finite and non-renewable. As a result, there is a growing need to explore alternative P sources such as sewage sludge (SS) - a P-rich solid waste and valuable renewable resource that is often mismanaged globally. Pyrolysis is a promising technique for managing SS.

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of GhAMS11 and GhMS188 reveals key roles in tapetal development and pollen exine formation in upland cotton.

The ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS) gene is crucial for tapetal cell development and pollen formation, but its role in Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) has not been previously documented. This study identified GhAMS11 as a key transcription factor, with its high expression specifically observed during the S4-S6 stages of anther development, a critical period for tapetal activity and pollen formation. Subcellular localization confirmed that GhAMS11 was located in the nucleus.

Past and present foodscapes of a traditional fermented milk, mabisi, in three Zambian regions.

Food serves not only as a source of individual physical sustenance but also a central element in shaping social relationships and culture within families and communities. The concept of foodscapes has emerged as a valuable framework for understanding the intricate connections between food, the environment, and society, highlighting both the physical and cultural dimensions of food. Production and consumption practices of traditional healthy foods, such as the Zambian traditional fermented milk mabisi, evolve over generations, a process influenced by the foodscape they are embedded in.

Endocrine-disrupting chemical, methylparaben, in environmentally relevant exposure promotes hazardous effects on the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis.

Methylparaben (MP) belongs to the paraben class and is widely used as a preservative in personal care products, medicines, and some foods. MP acts as an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) on the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis. However, the effects of MP have not yet been completely elucidated, as published results are scarce and controversial.

The Implications of the Non-precipitable Nature of Branched Amylose with Concanavalin A for the Branched Structures of Rice Amylose.

The branched structure of amylose was probed using concanavalin A (ConA) lectin, which forms precipitable aggregates with highly branched glucans, such as glycogen and amylopectin. Rice (japonica cultivar) amylose was fractionated from de-fatted, gelatinized starch by precipitation with 1-butanol (BuOH) and purified by ultracentrifugation and repeated crystallization. The purified amylose still has short side chains, whose chain-length (CL) distribution resembles that of amylopectin.

MicroGlycoDB: A database of microbial glycans using Semantic Web technologies.

Glycoconjugates are present on microbial surfaces and play critical roles in modulating interactions with the environment and the host. Extensive research on microbial glycans, including elucidating the structural diversity of the glycan moieties of glycoconjugates and polysaccharides, has been carried out to investigate the function of glycans in modulating the interactions between the host and microbes, to explore their potential applications in the therapeutic targeting of pathogenic species, and in the use as probiotics in gut microbiomes. However, glycan-related information is dispersed across numerous databases and a vast amount of literature, which makes it laborious and time-consuming to identify and gather the relevant information about microbial glycosylation.

Revealing critical mechanisms involved in carbon nanosol-mediated tobacco growth using small RNA and mRNA sequencing in silico approach.

Nanomaterials have been shown to promote crop growth, yield and stress resistance. Carbon nanosol (CNS), a type of nanomaterial, is used to regulate tobacco shoot and root growth. However, information about the application of CNS to crop plants, especially tobacco, is still limited.

An AP2/ERF transcription factor GhERF109 negatively regulates plant growth and development in cotton.

Cotton is an important source of natural fibers. The AP2/ethylene response factor (ERF) family is one of the largest plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) groups, playing key roles in plant growth and development. However, the role of ERF TFs in cotton's growth and development remains unclear.

Implications of cyantraniliprole sublethal doses on the population dynamics and gene expression of Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae).

Cyantraniliprole (CYA), widely recognized as a highly effective solution, is widely used in pest management. It has been broadly utilized to manage diverse pests, among which Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a prominent agricultural pest that leads to significant crop damage worldwide. Studies suggest that the sublethal effect of insecticides might contribute to the resurgence of A.