Search Results (10)

This study aimed to determine effects of postpartal relative body weight change (PRBWC) on production performance, serum biomarkers, and the relation between PRBWC and gastrointestinal microbiota. A total of 59 multiparous cows participated in this research. Every cow’s PRBWC was calculated by the following equation: PRBWC = (BW₂₁ − BW₀)/BW₀ × 100%, in which BW₂₁ refers to body weight on Day 21 post-calving and BW₀ refers to body weight on the day of parturition. Among the 59 enrolled cows, cows with the top 21 ranked PRBWC values were categorized into the high PRBWC (H-PRBWC) group; cows with the bottom 21 ranked PRBWC values were categorized into the low PRBWC (L-PRBWC) group. PRBWC did not have significant influences on average daily milk yield (ADMY). However, on Day 21, cows in the H-PRBWC group displayed significantly higher body weight (BW) and body condition scores (BCS) (BW, p = 0.02; BCS, p < 0.01). Additionally, levels of serum glucose (GLU) and albumin (ALB) were significantly higher in the H-PRBWC group on Day 21 (GLU, p = 0.05; ALB, p < 0.01), while the lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) level was significant lower (p = 0.03). Moreover, the microbiota of fecal samples on Day 0 (FE0) differed notably between groups, as evidenced by various alpha diversity indices, including Shannon (p = 0.02), Simpson (p = 0.03), Pielou_e (p = 0.02), and principal coordinate analysis (p = 0.002). The relative abundances of Monoglobus, norank_f__UCG-010, and Christensenellaceae_R-7_group were significantly higher in the H-PRBWC group (p < 0.05), while the relative abundances of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Turicibacter, and Romboutsia were significantly lower (p < 0.05). Pathways related to amino acid biosynthesis were significantly enriched in the FE0 of the H-PRBWC group, while pathways involved in carbohydrate metabolism were significantly upregulated in the FE0 of the L-PRBWC group. This study argues the potential of PRBWC to describe alteration of energy status in the postpartum, evidenced by production performance, serum biomarkers, and the fecal microbiota. Full article

Background/Objectives: Menopause and related metabolites are associated with mortality. However, the relationship between earlier menopause, premature mortality, and the role of metabolomic signatures remains underexplored. This study investigated the association between earlier menopause and premature mortality, and the mediating effect of metabolomic signatures. Methods: This prospective cohort study used data from the UK Biobank, including 33,687 post-menopausal women aged 40–69 years. Age at menopause was obtained from a baseline self-reported questionnaire and analyzed both as a continuous variable and in categories (<40, 40–49, and ≥50 years). Premature mortality was defined as deaths before 75 years. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs), and elastic net regression identified metabolomic signatures related to menopause age. Mediation analysis was conducted to assess the proportion of the association explained by the metabolomic signature. Results: During a median follow-up of 13.7 years, 1612 cases of premature mortality occurred. Compared to menopause at ≥50 years, earlier menopause (HR 1.17, 95% CI 1.04–1.30) and premature menopause (HR 1.60, 95% CI 1.28–2.00) were associated with higher risks of premature mortality. A metabolomic signature inversely associated with premature mortality (HR per SD increment, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.75–0.83) mediated 13.6% (95% CI, 1.9%–28.3%) of the association between earlier menopause and premature mortality. Conclusions: Earlier menopause is associated with an increased risk of premature mortality, partially mediated by a metabolomic signature related to age at menopause. These findings highlight the importance of metabolomic profiling in understanding menopause and mortality risks. Full article

Oxidative stress damage in periparturient cows decreases both production and their health; supplementation with complex additives during the periparturient period has been used as an important strategy to enhance the antioxidant status and production of dairy cows. The periparturient cows not only risk a negative energy balance due to reduced dry matter intake but also represent a sensitive period for oxidative stress. Therefore, we have developed an immunomodulatory and nutritional regulation combined additive (INC) that hopefully can improve the immune status and production of cows during the periparturient period and their offspring health and growth by improving their antioxidant stress status. The INC comprised a diverse array of additives, including water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins, Selenomethionine, and active dry Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Forty-five multiparous Holstein cows were randomly assigned to three treatments: CON (no INC supplementation, n = 15), INC30 (30 g/d INC supplementation, n = 15), and INC60 (60 g/d INC supplementation, n = 15) based on last lactation milk yield, body condition score, and parity. Newborn calves were administered 4 L of maternal colostrum originating from the corresponding treatment and categorized based on the treatment received by their respective dams. The INC not only served to maintain the antioxidative stress system of dairy cows during the periparturient period but also showed a tendency to improve the immune response (lower tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-6) during the perinatal period. A linear decrease in concentrations of alkaline phosphatase postpartum and β-hydroxybutyrate was observed with INC supplementation. Milk fat yield, milk protein yield, and energy-corrected milk yield were also increased linearly with increasing additive supplementation. Calves in the INC30 group exhibited greater wither height and chest girth but no significant effect on average daily gain or body weight. The diarrhea frequency was linearly decreased with the incremental level of INC. Results indicate that supplementation with INC in peripartum dairy cows could be a major strategy to improve immune response, decrease inflammation, maintain antioxidant stress status in transition dairy cows, and have merit in their calves. In conclusion, this study underlines the benefits of INC supplementation during the transition period, as it improved anti-inflammatory capacity, could positively impact antioxidative stress capacity, and eventually enhanced the production performance of dairy cows and the health and growth of calves. Full article

In order to assess the safety of the secondary lining in water-rich Loess Tunnel, this study relies on the Yulinzi Tunnel project to continuously monitor the stress of the steel reinforcement in the secondary lining and analyze the temporal variation of the steel strain. Based on this data, the temporal variation and distribution characteristics of the internal forces of the structure were obtained through section force calculation. The safety factor of the secondary lining structure was evaluated by calculating the safety factor of the structure. It was found that the variation of the safety factor with time conforms to the exponential function, and the fitting results of different measurement points were good. This could be used to predict the future safety factor of the tunnel and evaluate its long-term safety, which has practical guidance significance for actual engineering projects. In addition, the long-term stress and structural deformation characteristics of the tunnel were obtained through numerical simulation. Full article

It is well known that solid diet supplementation in early life can significantly promote rumen development and metabolic function in young ruminants. However, the changes in the expressed proteome and related metabolism in rumen epithelium in response to a supplemented solid diet remain unclear. In this study, rumen epithelial tissue from goats in three diet regimes including milk replacer only (MRO), milk replacer supplemented concentrate (MRC), and milk replacer supplemented concentrate plus alfalfa pellets (MCA) were collected for measurement of the expression of epithelial proteins using proteomic technology (six per group). The results showed that solid diet significantly improved the growth performance of goats, enhanced the ability of rumen fermentation, and promoted the development of epithelial papilla (p < 0.05). Proteome analysis revealed the distinct difference in the expressed protein in the MRC and MCA group compared with the MRO group (42 upregulated proteins and 79 downregulated proteins in MRC; 38 upregulated proteins and 73 downregulated proteins in MCA). Functional analysis showed that solid diet supplementation activated a variety of molecular functions in the epithelium, including protein binding, ATP binding, structural constituent of muscle, etc., in the MRC and MCA groups. Meanwhile, the expression of proteins related to fatty acid metabolism, the PPAR signaling pathway, valine, leucine, and isoleucine degradation, and butanoate metabolism were upregulated, being stimulated by solid feed. In contrast, the proteins associated with carbohydrate digestion and absorption and glycosaminoglycan degradation were downregulated. In addition, the protein expression of enzymes involved in ketone body synthesis in the rumen was generally activated, which was caused by solid feed. In summary, solid feed promoted the development of rumen epithelium by changing the expression of proteins related to fatty acid metabolism, energy synthesis, and signal transduction. The ketone body synthesis pathway might be the most important activated pathway, and provides energy for rumen development. Full article

Paraprobiotics are potential agents for improving animal health and performance. This experiment investigated the effect of dietary supplementation of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) culture (YC) on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, rumen development and microbiome of fattening sheep. Ninety male Hu sheep weighed 38 ± 1.47 kg were randomly assigned to three treatments: CON diet (basal diet), LYC diet (basal diet supplied with 10 and 20 g/d yeast culture at the early and late stages, respectively), and HYC diet (basal diet supplied with 20 and 40 g/d yeast culture at the early and late stages, respectively). Treatments (LYC or HYC) were sprinkled on the feed surface according to the required dosage before feeding the basal diet to each sheep throughout the trial. The trial included early (60 days) and later (30 days) fattening periods. The results showed that average daily gain and feed efficiency were higher (p < 0.05) in the LYC group compared with CON in later and whole stages. Digestibility of DM, OM, CP, NDF and ADF were higher (p < 0.05) in LYC and HYC compared with CON. The retained N, the utilization efficiency of N and the biological value of N were higher (p < 0.05) in LYC compared with CON and HYC. Rumen NH₃-N was higher (p < 0.05) in LYC and HYC. The papillary height of the rumen was higher (p < 0.05) in LYC when compared with CON and HYC, whereas rumen wall thickness and muscular layer thickness were higher (p < 0.05) in HYC compared with CON and LYC. The dressing percentage of LYC and HYC was higher (p < 0.05) compared with CON. The diversity, richness and structure of rumen microbiota showed no significant difference (p > 0.05); however, still observed remarkable increases in the relative abundance of several specific genera including Succiniclasticum and Fibrobacter with increasing doses of yeast culture. In addition, at the ASV level, ASV83, ASV123 (Succiniclasticum), and ASV148, ASV250 (Fibrobacter) were increased in YC groups. In conclusion, we confirmed that the supplementation of YC in diet could improve the growth and slaughter performance of fattening Hu sheep through improving nutrient digestion, especially nitrogen utilization, rumen microbial environment and the development of rumen epithelium, which proves the benefits of paraprobiotics in animal production. Full article

Despite the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the human breastmilk of mothers infected with HBV, it has been shown that breastfeeding does not increase the risk of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HBV. We tested the hypothesis that human breastmilk may contain active components that bind to HBV and inhibit the infectivity of HBV. The results show that human whey significantly inhibited the binding of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) to its antibodies in competitive inhibition immunoassays. The far-western blotting showed that HBsAg bound to a protein of 80 kD in human whey, which was identified as lactoferrin by mass spectrometry. Competitive inhibition immunoassays further demonstrated that both human lactoferrin and bovine lactoferrin bound to HBsAg. Human whey, human lactoferrin, and bovine lactoferrin each significantly inhibited the infectivity of HBV in vitro. Our results indicate that human breastmilk can bind to HBsAg and inhibit the infectivity of HBV, and the active component is lactoferrin. The findings may explain the reason that breastfeeding has no additional risk for MTCT of HBV, although human breastmilk contains HBV. Our study provides experimental evidence that HBV-infected mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed their infants Full article

The transition from monogastric to rumination stage is crucial in ruminants’ growth to avoid stressors—weaning and neonatal mortalities. Poor growth of the digestive tract could adversely affect the performance of the animal. Modeling informative growth curves is of great importance for a better understanding of the effective development pattern, in order to optimize feeding management system, and to achieve more production efficiency. However, little is known about the digestive tract growth curves. For this reason, one big goat farm of Laiwu black breed was chosen as a basis of this study. Forty-eight kids belonging to eight-time points (1, 7, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, and 84 d; 6 kids for each) were selected and slaughtered. The body weight, body size indices, rumen pH, and stomach parts were determined and fitted to the polynomial and sigmoidal models. In terms of goodness of fit criteria, the Gompertz model was the best model for body weight, body oblique length, tube, and rumen weight. Moreover, the Logistic model was the best model for carcass weight, body height, and chest circumference. In addition, the Quadratic model showed the best fit for dressing percentage, omasum weight, abomasum weight, and rumen volume. Moreover, the cubic model best fitted the ruminal pH and reticulum percentage. The Weibull model was the best model for the reticulum weight and omasum percentage, while the MMF model was the best model describing the growth of chest depth, rumen percentage, and abomasum percentage. The model parameters, R squared, inflection points, area under curve varied among the different dependent variables. The Pearson correlation showed that the digestive tract development was more correlated with age than body weight, but the other variables were more correlated with body weight than age. The study demonstrated the use of empirical sigmoidal and polynomial models to predict growth rates of the digestive tract at relevant age efficiently. Full article

Early microbial colonization in the gut impacts animal performance and lifelong health. However, research on gut microbial colonization and development in young ruminants, especially after weaning, is currently limited. In this study, next-generation sequencing technology was performed to investigate the temporal dynamic changes of the microbial community in the jejunum and colon of goats at 1, 7, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, and 84 days (d) of age. As age increased, significant increases in microbial diversity, including the number of Observed OTUs and the Shannon Index, were observed in both the jejunum and colon. Regarding beta diversity, significant shifts in community membership and structure from d1 to d84 were observed based on both Bray–Curtis and Jaccard distances. With increasing age, dominant genera in the jejunum shifted from Lactobacillus to unclassified Ruminococcaceae, unclassified Lachnospiraceae and unclassified Clostridiales through starter supplementation, whereas colonic dominant genera changed from Lactobacillus and Butyricicoccus, within d1–d28, to unclassified Ruminococcaceae, unclassified Clostridiales and Campylobacter after solid diet supplementation. The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) analysis revealed bacterial features that are stage-specific in the jejunum and colon, respectively. In the jejunum and colon, a significantly distinct structure and membership of the microbiota was observed across all ages. The growth stage-associated microbiota in each gut compartment was also identified as a marker for biogeography. Our data indicate the temporal and spatial differences of the gut microbiota in goats are important for their performance and health. Early microbial colonization can influence microbial composition in later life (e.g., post-weaning phase). This study provides insights that the temporal dynamics of gut microbiota development from newborn to post-weaning can aid in developing feeding strategies to improve goat health and production. Full article

The feeding regime of early, supplementary solid diet improved rumen development and production in goat kids. However, the signature microbiota responsible for linking dietary regimes to rumen function shifts are still unclear. This work analyzed the rumen microbiome and functions affected by an early solid diet regime using a combination of machine learning algorithms. Volatile fatty acids (i.e., acetate, propionate and butyrate) fermented by microbes were found to increase significantly in the supplementary solid diet groups. Predominant genera were found to alter significantly from unclassified Sphingobacteriaceae (non-supplementary group) to Prevotella (supplementary solid diet groups). Random Forest classification model revealed signature microbiota for solid diet that positively correlated with macronutrient intake, and linearly increased with volatile fatty acid production. Bacteria associated with carbohydrate and protein metabolism were also identified. Utilization of a Fish Taco analysis portrayed a set of intersecting core species contributed to rumen function shifts by the solid diet regime. The core community structures consisted of the specific, signature microbiota and the manipulation of their symbiotic partners are manipulated by extra nutrients from concentrate and/or forage, and then produce more volatile fatty acids to promote rumen development and functions eventually host development. Our study provides mechanisms of the microbiome governed by a solid diet regime early in life, and highlights the signature microbiota involved in animal health and production. Full article