Search Results (7)

In this study, changes in milk performance, nutrient digestibility, hindgut fermentation parameters and microflora were observed by inducing milk fat depression (MFD) in dairy cows fed with a high-starch or a high-fat diet. Eight Holstein cows were paired in a completely randomized cross-over design within two 35 d periods (18 d control period and 17d induction period). During the control period, all cows were fed the low-starch and low-fat diet (CON), and at the induction period, four of the cows were fed a high-starch diet with crushed wheat (IS), and the other cows were fed a high-fat diet with sunflower fat (IO). The results showed that, compared to when the cows were fed the CON diet, when cows were fed the IS or IO diet, they had lower milk fat concentrations, energy corrected milk, 3.5% fat-corrected milk yield, feed efficiency and apparent digestibility of NDF and ADF. However, cows fed the IO diet had a lower apparent digestibility of ether extracts. In addition, we observed that when cows were fed the high-starch (IS) or high-fat (IO) diet, they had a higher fecal concentration of propionate and acetate, and a lower NH₃-N. Compared to when the cows were fed the CON diet, cows fed the IS diet had a lower pH, and cows fed the IO diet had a lower concentration of valerate in feces. In the hindgut microbiota, the relative abundance of Oscillospiraceae_UCG-005 was increased, while the Verrucomicrobiota and Lachnospiraceae_AC2044_group were decreased when cows were fed the IO diet. The relative abundance of Prevotellaceae_UCG-003 was increased, while the Alistipes and Verrucomicrobiota decreased, and the Treponema, Spirochaetota and Lachnospiraceae_AC2044_group showed a decreasing trend when cows were fed the IS diet. In summary, this study suggested that high-starch or high-fat feeding could induce MFD in dairy cows, and the high-fat diet had the greatest effect on milk fat; the high-starch or high-fat diet affected hindgut fermentation and apparent fiber digestibility. The changes in hindgut flora suggested that hindgut microbiota may be associated with MFD in cows. Full article

Predicting high-dimensional short-term time-series is a difficult task due to the lack of sufficient information and the curse of dimensionality. To overcome these problems, this study proposes a novel spatiotemporal transformer neural network (STNN) for efficient prediction of short-term time-series with three major features. Firstly, the STNN can accurately and robustly predict a high-dimensional short-term time-series in a multi-step-ahead manner by exploiting high-dimensional/spatial information based on the spatiotemporal information (STI) transformation equation. Secondly, the continuous attention mechanism makes the prediction results more accurate than those of previous studies. Thirdly, we developed continuous spatial self-attention, temporal self-attention, and transformation attention mechanisms to create a bridge between effective spatial information and future temporal evolution information. Fourthly, we show that the STNN model can reconstruct the phase space of the dynamical system, which is explored in the time-series prediction. The experimental results demonstrate that the STNN significantly outperforms the existing methods on various benchmarks and real-world systems in the multi-step-ahead prediction of a short-term time-series. Full article

Lymph node metastasis is associated with poor prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and few studies have explored the relevance of postoperative lymphatic drainage (PLD) in metastatic OSCC. Alpha-enolase (ENO1) is a metabolic enzyme, which is related to lymphatic metastasis of OSCC. However, the role of ENO1 in PLD in metastatic OSCC has not been elucidated. Herein, we collected lymphatic drainage after lymphadenectomy between metastatic and non-metastatic lymph nodes in OSCC patients to investigate the relationship between ENO1 expression and metastasis, and to identify the proteins which interacted with ENO1 in PLD of patients with metastatic OSCC by MS/GST pulldown assay. Results revealed that the metabolic protein apolipoprotein C-III (ApoC3) was a novel partner of ENO1. The ENO1 bound to ApoC3 in OSCC cells and elicited the production of interleukin (IL)-8, as demonstrated through a cytokine antibody assay. We also studied the function of IL-8 on Jurkat T cells co-cultured with OSCC cells in vitro. Western blot analysis was applied to quantitate STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) and p-STAT3 levels. Mechanistically, OSCC cells activated the STAT3 signaling pathway on Jurkat T cells through IL-8 secretion, promoted apoptosis, and inhibited the proliferation of Jurkat T cells. Collectively, these findings illuminate the molecular mechanisms underlying the function of ENO1 in metastasis OSCC and provide new strategies for targeting ENO1 for OSCC treatment. Full article

Rocks are natural materials with a heterogeneous microstructure, and the heterogeneity of the microstructure plays a crucial role in the evolution of microcracks during the compression process. A numerical model of a rock with a heterogeneous structure under compression is developed by digital image processing techniques and the discrete element method. On the grain scale, the damage mechanism and microcrack characteristics of a heterogeneous Biotite granite under compression fracture are investigated. First, the process of constructing a digital image-based heterogeneous grain model is described. The microscopic characteristics of geometric heterogeneity, elastic heterogeneity, and contact heterogeneity are all considered in the numerical model. Then, the model is calibrated according to the macroscopic properties of biotite granite obtained in the laboratory, and the numerically simulated microcrack cracking processes and damage modes are obtained with a high degree of agreement compared to the experiments. Numerical simulations have shown the following: (1) Microcracking occurs first at the weak side of the grain boundaries, and the appearance of intragranular shear cracks indicates that the rock has reached its peak strength. (2) The stress concentration caused by the heterogeneity of the microstructure is an essential factor that causes rock cracks and induces rupture. Intragranular cracks occur successively in quartz, feldspar (plagioclase), and biotite, with far more intragranular cracks in quartz and feldspar (plagioclase) than in biotite. (3) Microcracking in quartz occurs as clusters, fork and fracture features, and in feldspar (plagioclase) it tends to cause penetration microcracking, which usually surrounds or terminates at the biotite. (4) As the confining pressure increases, the tensile break between the grains is suppressed and the number of shear cracks increases. At the macro level, the rock failure mode of the numerical model changes from split damage to shear destruction, which is consistent with the law shown in laboratory experiments. Full article

Microorganisms in the guts of insects enhance the adaptability of their hosts with different lifestyles, or those that live in different habitats. Tuta absoluta is an invasive pest that is a serious threat to tomato production in China. It has quickly spread and colonized Xinjiang, Yunnan and other provinces and regions. We used Illumina HiSeq next generation sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to study and analyze the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota of three geographical populations of T. absoluta. At the phylum level, the most common bacteria in T. absoluta across all three geographical populations were Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. An uncultured bacterium in the Enterobacteriaceae was the dominant bacterial genus in the T. absoluta gut microbiotas. There were no significant differences in alpha diversity metrics among the Spanish, Yunnan and Xinjiang populations. The structures of the gut microbiota of the three populations were similar based on PCoA and NMDS results. The results confirmed that the microbial structures of T. absoluta from different regions were similar. Full article

In the study of rock mechanics, the variation of rock mechanical characteristics in high-temperature environments is always a major issue. The discrete element method and Voronoi modeling method were used to study the mechanical characteristics and crack evolution of granite specimens subjected to the high temperature and uniaxial compression test in order to study the internal crack evolution process of granite under the influence of high temperatures. Meanwhile, dependable findings were acquired when compared to experimental outcomes. A modified failure criterion was devised, and a Fish function was built to examine the evolution behavior of tensile and shear cracks during uniaxial compression, in order to better understand the evolution process of micro-cracks in granite specimens. Shear contacts occurred first, and the number of shear cracks reached its maximum value earliest, according to the findings. The number of tensile contacts then rapidly grew, whereas the number of shear cracks steadily declined. Furthermore, it was found that when temperature rises, the number of early tensile cracks grows. This study develops a fracture prediction system for rock engineering in high-temperature conditions. Full article

Species identification of oaks (Quercus) is always a challenge because many species exhibit variable phenotypes that overlap with other species. Oaks are notorious for interspecific hybridization and introgression, and complex speciation patterns involving incomplete lineage sorting. Therefore, accurately identifying Quercus species barcodes has been unsuccessful. In this study, we used chloroplast genome sequence data to identify molecular markers for oak species identification. Using next generation sequencing methods, we sequenced 14 chloroplast genomes of Quercus species in this study and added 10 additional chloroplast genome sequences from GenBank to develop a DNA barcode for oaks. Chloroplast genome sequence divergence was low. We identified four mutation hotspots as candidate Quercus DNA barcodes; two intergenic regions (matK-trnK-rps16 and trnR-atpA) were located in the large single copy region, and two coding regions (ndhF and ycf1b) were located in the small single copy region. The standard plant DNA barcode (rbcL and matK) had lower variability than that of the newly identified markers. Our data provide complete chloroplast genome sequences that improve the phylogenetic resolution and species level discrimination of Quercus. This study demonstrates that the complete chloroplast genome can substantially increase species discriminatory power and resolve phylogenetic relationships in plants. Full article