Unraveling aging from transcriptomics.

Research into aging constitutes a pivotal endeavor aimed at elucidating the underlying biological mechanisms governing aging and age-associated diseases, as well as promoting healthy longevity. Recent advances in transcriptomic technologies, such as bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), single-cell transcriptomics, and spatial transcriptomics, have revolutionized our ability to study aging at unprecedented resolution and scale. These technologies present novel opportunities for the discovery of biomarkers, elucidation of molecular pathways, and development of targeted therapeutic strategies for age-related disorders. This review surveys recent breakthroughs in different types of transcripts on aging, such as mRNA, long noncoding (lnc)RNA, tRNA, and miRNA, highlighting key findings and discussing their potential implications for future studies in this field.

[Mid- and long-term outcomes of percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty guided solely by echocardiography].

Objective: To evaluate the mid-and long-term clinical outcomes of percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (PBMV) guided solely by echocardiography. Methods: A total of 71 patients with moderate to severe mitral stenosis who underwent PBMV guided solely by echocardiography at Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, from January 2016 to December 2022 were retrospectively included. The clinical data and follow-up information were collected and analyzed. Results: Finally, 71 patients (11 males and 60 females) aged (48.6±12.4) years, including 3 pregnant women were included. One patient required surgical intervention due to moderate to severe mitral regurgitation, resulting in a procedure success rate of 98.6% (70/71). The procedural duration was (84.1±40.2) minutes, with the balloon diameter of (26.5±1.1) mm and number of dilatations of 2.9±0.7. The mean mitral transvalvular pressure gradient decreased from (12.6±6.1) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) preoperatively to (5.4±2.4) mmHg postoperatively, while the mitral valve orifice area increased from (0.9±0.2) cm² to (1.7±0.3) cm² (both P<0.001). Before discharge, 16 patients developed new mild mitral regurgitation, five developed new moderate mitral regurgitation, and one patient had a small amount of pericardial effusion absorbed by herself. No severe complications such as death, pericardial tamponade, or thromboembolism occurred during the perioperative period. The average follow-up duration was 12-84 (49.7±21.4) months. At two years postoperatively, the mean mitral transvalvular pressure gradient was (6.2±2.5) mmHg, and the mitral valve orifice area was (1.6±0.3) cm². Eight patients underwent surgical mitral valve replacement at an median of [M(Q1, Q3)] 18 (5, 53) months postoperatively, and one patient died during the follow-up period due to non-cardiac reasons. Conclusion: The mid-and long-term outcomes of PBMV guided solely by echocardiography are favorable.

[Analysis factors influencing left ventricular thrombus in patients with non-ischemic heart failure].

Objective: To explore the influencing factors of left ventricular thrombus (LVT) in patients with non-ischemic heart failure (NIHF) and to construct a nomogram prediction model for NIHF patients with LVT. Methods: This study was a case-control study. A total of 2 592 patients with NIHF hospitalized in Beijing Anzhen Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University from January 2018 to July 2022 were selected. Fifty-one patients with LVT identified by echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance were classified into LVT group. One hundred and sixty patients were selected as the non-LVT group using a 1∶3 propensity score matching based on age and gender. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore the influencing factors of LVT in patients with NIHF. A nomogram prediction model was constructed, and the area under (AUC) the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated to evaluate the predictive effect of the model. Results: A total of 211 patients were enrolled, with a median age of 40 years old and 160 males (76%). Compared with non-LVT group, LVT group had lower systolic blood pressure ((112±20) mmHg vs. (120±19) mmHg; 1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF; (27±12)% vs. (39±14)% ), lower proportion of patients with history of hypertension (28% (14/51) vs. 44% (70/160)) and atrial fibrillation (8% (4/51)vs.39% (62/160)), higher proportion of patients with New York Heart Association functional class Ⅲ to Ⅳ (class Ⅲ: 59% (30/51) vs. 41% (66/160); class Ⅳ: 28% (14/51) vs. 19% (31/160)), and larger left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD; (56±14) mm vs. (50±15) mm). The levels of hemoglobin ((152±23) g/L vs. (142±30) g/L), D-dimer (508 (300, 1 105) µg/L vs. 158 (68, 379) µg/L), and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (3 429 (2 462, 4 734) ng/L vs. 1 288 (422, 2 544) ng/L) were higher in LVT group than in non-LVT group (P all<0.05). LVT group had a higher proportion of patients using beta-blockers (92% (47/51) vs. 78% (124/160)), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers or angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitors (88% (45/51) vs. 72% (115/160)), and anticoagulant drugs (98% (50/51) vs. 32% (51/160)) than non-LVT group (all P <0.05). Multivariate logistic regression showed that reduced LVEF (OR=1.08, 95%CI 1.02-1.15, P=0.008), decreased LVESD (OR=1.07, 95%CI 1.01-1.12, P=0.013), and increased D-dimer levels (OR=5.40, 95%CI 1.98-14.74, P=0.001) were independent influencing factors for LVT in patients with NIHF. The ROC curve showed that the AUC of the nomogram for predicting LVT in patients with NIHF was 0.793 (95%CI 0.710-0.876, P<0.001). Conclusion: Reduced LVEF, decreased LVESD, and elevated D-dimer are associated with LVT in NIHF patients. The predictive model developed based on the above indicators has certain value in predicting LVT in NIHF patients.

Excited ion-scale turbulence by a magnetic island in fusion plasmas.

The characteristics of ion-scale turbulence in the presence of a magnetic island are numerically investigated using a gyrokinetic model in fusion plasma. We observe that in the absence of the usual ion temperature gradient (ITG) drive gradient, a magnetic island and its flatten effect could drive ITG instability. The magnetic island (MI) not only drives high-n modes of ITG instability but also induces low-n modes of vortex flow. Moreover, as the magnetic island width increases, the width of the vortex flow also increases. This implies that wider islands may more easily induce vortex flows. The study further indicates that the saturated amplitude and transport level of MI-induced ITG turbulence vary with different magnetic island widths. In general, larger magnetic islands enhance both particle and heat transport. When the magnetic island width reaches to 21ρi, the turbulence-driven transport becomes the same level with the cases that ITG is driven by pressure gradients. Our findings indicate the presence of intricate nonlinear effects in the modulation of plasma turbulence by MIs. These effects are of significant importance for comprehending the phenomenon of nonlinear coupling in forthcoming tokamaks such as ITER.

A Case of Infected Renal Cyst Complicated by Renal Vein Thrombosis.

Renal vein thrombosis (RVT) is not an uncommon condition in patients occurring nephrotic syndrome. Renal cyst by bacterial infection is also rare. Only one case for RVT complicated with infected renal cyst is reported in the English literature. A 78-year-old female was admitted for fever and drowsy mentality for 4 days. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) of the abdomen showed 3.7 cm sized irregular shaped exophytic cyst well enhanced in left kidney upper pole and the left RVT. The culture of cystic fluid revealed Klebsiella pneumoniae. Our patient was effectively treated with antibiotics for 8 weeks and anticoagulant for 12 weeks. At 12-week follow-up, CECT of the kidney showed decreased cyst and nearly disappeared RVT. The possibility of RVT in patients with renal cyst infection by bacteria warrants consideration.

New millimeter-wave diagnostics to locally probe internal density and magnetic field fluctuations in National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (invited).

A set of new millimeter-wave diagnostics will deliver unique measurement capabilities for National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade to address a variety of plasma instabilities believed to be important in determining thermal and particle transport, such as micro-tearing, global Alfvén eigenmodes, kinetic ballooning, trapped electron, and electron temperature gradient modes. These diagnostics include a new integrated intermediate-k Doppler backscattering (DBS) and cross-polarization scattering (CPS) system (four channels, 82.5-87 GHz) to measure density and magnetic fluctuations, respectively. The system can access reasonably large normalized wavenumbers kθρs ranging from ≤0.5 to 15 (where ion sound gyroradius ρs = 1 cm and kθ is the binormal density turbulence wavenumber). The system addresses the challenges for making useful DBS/CPS measurements with a remote control of launch polarization (X- or O-mode), probed wavenumber, polarization match of the launch beam with the edge magnetic field pitch angle, and beam steering of the launched beam for wave-vector alignment. In addition, a low-k DBS system consisting of eight fixed frequencies (34-52 GHz) and four tunable frequencies (55-75 GHz) for low-k density turbulence and fast ion physics will be located at a nearby port location. The combined systems cover the near LCFS and pedestal regions (34-52 GHz), the pedestal or mid-radius (50-75 GHz), and core plasmas (82.5-87 GHz).

Impact of Diabetes, Drug-Induced Liver Injury, and Sepsis on Outcomes in Metabolic Dysfunction Associated Fatty Liver Disease-Related Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure.

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and its complication, MAFLD-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (MAFLD-ACLF), is rising. Yet, factors determining patient outcomes in MAFLD-ACLF remain understudied. METHODS: Patients with MAFLD-ACLF were recruited from the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver-ACLF Research Consortium (AARC registry). The diagnosis of MAFLD-ACLF was made when the treating unit had identified the etiology of chronic liver disease as MAFLD (or previous nomenclature such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis-cirrhosis). Patients with coexisting other etiologies of chronic liver disease (such as alcohol, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, etc.) were excluded. Data were randomly split into derivation (n = 258) and validation (n = 111) cohorts at a 70:30 ratio. The primary outcome was 90-day mortality. Only the baseline clinical, laboratory features and severity scores were considered. RESULTS: The derivation group had 258 patients; 60% were male, with a mean age of 53. Diabetes was noted in 27% and hypertension in 29%. The dominant precipitants included viral hepatitis (hepatitis A virus and hepatitis E virus, 32%), drug-induced injury (drug-induced liver injury, 29%), and sepsis (23%). Model for End-Stage Liver Disease-Sodium (MELD-Na) and AARC scores on admission averaged 32 ± 6 and 10.4 ± 1.9. At 90 days, 51% survived. Nonviral precipitant, diabetes, bilirubin, international normalized ratio, and encephalopathy were independent factors influencing mortality. Adding diabetes and precipitant to MELD-Na and AARC scores, the novel MAFLD-MELD-Na score (+12 for diabetes, +12 for nonviral precipitant), and MAFLD-AARC score (+5 for each) were formed. These outperformed the standard scores in both cohorts. DISCUSSION: Almost half of patients with MAFLD-ACLF die within 90 days. Diabetes and nonviral precipitants such as drug-induced liver injury and sepsis lead to adverse outcomes. The new MAFLD-MELD-Na and MAFLD-AARC scores provide reliable 90-day mortality predictions for patients with MAFLD-ACLF.

[Early experience with mechanical hemodynamic support for catheter ablation of malignant ventricular tachycardia].

Objective: To explore the role of mechanical hemodynamic support (MHS) in mapping and catheter ablation of patients with hemodynamically unstable ventricular tachycardia (VT), report single-center experience in a cohort of consecutive patients receiving VT ablation during MHS therapy, and provide evidence-based medical evidence for clinical practice. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. Patients with hemodynamically unstable VT who underwent catheter ablation with MHS at Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University between August 2021 and December 2023 were included. Patients were divided into rescue group and preventive group according to the purpose of treatment. Their demographic data, periprocedural details, and clinical outcomes were collected and analyzed. Results: A total of 15 patients with hemodynamically unstable VT were included (8 patients in the rescue group and 7 patients in the preventive group). The acute procedure was successful in all patients. One patient in the rescue group had surgical left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, remaining 14 patients received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for circulation support. ECMO decannulation was performed in 12 patients due to clinical and hemodynamic stability, of which 6 patients were decannulation immediately after surgery and the remaining patients were decannulation at 2.0 (2.5) d after surgery. Two patients in the rescue group died during the index admission due to refractory heart failure and cerebral hemorrhage. During a median follow-up of 30 d (1 d to 12 months), one patient with LVAD had one episode of ventricular fibrillation at 6 months after discharge, and no further episodes of ventricular fibrillation and/or VT occurred after treatment with antiarrhythmic drugs. No malignant ventricular arrhythmia occurred in the remaining 12 patients who were followed up. Conclusions: MHS contributes to the successful completion of mapping and catheter ablation in patients with hemodynamically unstable VT, providing desirable hemodynamic status for emergency and elective conditions.

Thermal facial image analyses reveal quantitative hallmarks of aging and metabolic diseases.

Although human core body temperature is known to decrease with age, the age dependency of facial temperature and its potential to indicate aging rate or aging-related diseases remains uncertain. Here, we collected thermal facial images of 2,811 Han Chinese individuals 20-90 years old, developed the ThermoFace method to automatically process and analyze images, and then generated thermal age and disease prediction models. The ThermoFace deep learning model for thermal facial age has a mean absolute deviation of about 5 years in cross-validation and 5.18 years in an independent cohort. The difference between predicted and chronological age is highly associated with metabolic parameters, sleep time, and gene expression pathways like DNA repair, lipolysis, and ATPase in the blood transcriptome, and it is modifiable by exercise. Consistently, ThermoFace disease predictors forecast metabolic diseases like fatty liver with high accuracy (AUC > 0.80), with predicted disease probability correlated with metabolic parameters.

Single-cell omics: experimental workflow, data analyses and applications.

Cells are the fundamental units of biological systems and exhibit unique development trajectories and molecular features. Our exploration of how the genomes orchestrate the formation and maintenance of each cell, and control the cellular phenotypes of various organismsis, is both captivating and intricate. Since the inception of the first single-cell RNA technology, technologies related to single-cell sequencing have experienced rapid advancements in recent years. These technologies have expanded horizontally to include single-cell genome, epigenome, proteome, and metabolome, while vertically, they have progressed to integrate multiple omics data and incorporate additional information such as spatial scRNA-seq and CRISPR screening. Single-cell omics represent a groundbreaking advancement in the biomedical field, offering profound insights into the understanding of complex diseases, including cancers. Here, we comprehensively summarize recent advances in single-cell omics technologies, with a specific focus on the methodology section. This overview aims to guide researchers in selecting appropriate methods for single-cell sequencing and related data analysis.

[Epidemiological characteristics and spatial aggregation of acute myocardial infarction in Shandong Province].

Objective: To understand the characteristics and trends of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Shandong Province and to provide evidence for formulating prevention and control strategies. Methods: Data were derived from the AMI incidence reports of Shandong Province's Chronic Disease Surveillance Information Management System in 2012-2021. The crude and standardized incidence rates were used as indicators to describe the incidence level of AMI. Joinpoint regression analysis was used to analyze the trends in the incidence and age of onset over the years. The contribution of population aging to the increase in AMI incidence was assessed using the rate difference decomposition method. The incidence of AMI in each district (county) in Shandong Province was visualized using ArcGIS 10.8 software, and global and local spatial autocorrelation analysis was performed using DeoDa 1.12 software. Results: From 2012 to 2021, 198 233 cases of AMI were reported from 19 provincial monitoring sites in Shandong Province, of which 53.13% were males and 97.12% were ≥45 years old. The reported crude incidence increased from 90.12 per 100 000 in 2012 to 176.54 per 100 000 in 2021, with an average annual increase of 7.01% (Z=7.35, P<0.001). There was no significant upward trend in standardized incidence (Z=1.64, P=0.140), but the standardized incidence of male residents showed an increasing trend (Z=2.76, P=0.028). Before 2014, the reported crude incidence of males was similar to that of females, but after 2014, the reported crude incidence of males was continuously higher than that of females. However, males' standardized incidence was higher than females in all years. Both crude and standardized incidence rates were higher in rural residents than in urban areas. The median onset of AMI increased from 71.6 years old in 2012 to 73.5 years old in 2021. The median age of onset in males was lower than that in females in all years, and in most years, the median age of onset in urban residents was lower than that in rural residents. The incidence of AMI in males showed a trend in younger age groups. According to the seasonal decomposition, the incidence peak of AMI was in January, and the trough was in September. The contribution of aging population to the increase in crude incidence of AMI increased from 8.63% in 2013 to 52.58% in 2021. The global spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that the incidence of AMI presented an obvious spatial clustering distribution. Local spatial autocorrelation analysis found that the high-incidence areas (counties) were mainly concentrated in Liaocheng City and Dezhou City in the northwest region of Shandong Province and Heze City in the southwest. Conclusions: The incidence of AMI among residents in Shandong Province was rising, with spatial clustering and seasonal clustering characteristics. People aged 45 years and older, male residents, and rural residents were at high risk of developing AMI. There was a certain trend of younger age at onset among men. Targeted prevention and control measures should be taken for high-incidence seasons, high-risk groups, and high-incidence clustering areas in northwestern Shandong Province.

Prediagnosis recognition of acute ischemic stroke by artificial intelligence from facial images.

Stroke is a major threat to life and health in modern society, especially in the aging population. Stroke may cause sudden death or severe sequela-like hemiplegia. Although computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are standard diagnosis methods, and artificial intelligence models have been built based on these images, shortage in medical resources and the time and cost of CT/MRI imaging hamper fast detection, thus increasing the severity of stroke. Here, we developed a convolutional neural network model by integrating four networks, Xception, ResNet50, VGG19, and EfficientNetb1, to recognize stroke based on 2D facial images with a cross-validation area under curve (AUC) of 0.91 within the training set of 185 acute ischemic stroke patients and 551 age- and sex-matched controls, and AUC of 0.82 in an independent data set regardless of age and sex. The model computed stroke probability was quantitatively associated with facial features, various clinical parameters of blood clotting indicators and leukocyte counts, and, more importantly, stroke incidence in the near future. Our real-time facial image artificial intelligence model can be used to rapidly screen and prediagnose stroke before CT scanning, thus meeting the urgent need in emergency clinics, potentially translatable to routine monitoring.

[Intermittent exotropia complicated with spasm of the near reflex: a case report].

A 21-year-old female patient presented to the Ophthalmology Department of Yunnan University Affiliated Hospital with complaints of "bilateral blurred vision accompanied by diplopia for 3 weeks". The patient's main symptoms included intermittent visual blurring, diplopia, headaches, and ocular discomfort. Ocular examination revealed intermittent exotropia, sometimes accompanied by esotropia or orthotropia, along with signs of pupillary constriction and pseudomyopia. Based on the clinical presentation, a diagnosis of intermittent exotropia complicated by spasm of the near reflex (SNR) was made. The patient underwent bilateral exotropia surgery, which corrected the ocular alignment and resolved the symptoms and signs of SNR postoperatively.

[Identification of key genes in Wilms tumor based on high-throughput RNA sequencing and their impacts on prognosis and immune responses].

OBJECTIVE: To identify the key genes differentially expressed in Wilms tumor and analyze their potential impacts on prognosis and immune responses of the patients. METHODS: High-throughput RNA sequencing was used to identify the differentially expressed mRNAs in clinical samples of Wilms tumor and paired normal tissues, and their biological functions were analyzed using GO, KEGG and GSEA enrichment analyses. The hub genes were identified using STRING database, based on which a prognostic model was constructed using LASSO regression. The mutations of the key hub genes were analyzed and their impacts on immunotherapy efficacy was predicted using the cBioPortal platform. RT-qPCR was used to verify the differential expressions of the key hub genes in Wilms tumor. RESULTS: Of the 1612 differentially expressed genes identified in Wilms tumor, 1030 were up-regulated and 582 were down-regulated, involving mainly cell cycle processes and immune responses. Ten hub genes were identified, among which 4 genes (TP53, MED1, CCNB1 and EGF) were closely related to the survival of children with Wilms tumor. A 3-gene prognostic signature was constructed through LASSO regression analysis, and the patients stratified into with high- and low-risk groups based on this signature had significantly different survival outcomes (HR=1.814, log-rank P=0.002). The AUCs of the 3-, 5- and 7-year survival ROC curves of this model were all greater than 0.7. The overall mutations in the key hub genes or the individual mutations in TP53/CCNB1 were strongly correlated with a lower survival rates, and a high TP53 expression was correlated with a poor immunotherapy efficacy. RT-qPCR confirmed that the key hub genes had significant differential expressions in Wilms tumor tissues and cells. CONCLUSION: TP53 gene plays an important role in the Wilms tumor and may potentially serve as a new immunotherapeutic biomarker as well as a therapeutic target.

Coordinate-wise monotonic transformations enable privacy-preserving age estimation with 3D face point cloud.

The human face is a valuable biomarker of aging, but the collection and use of its image raise significant privacy concerns. Here we present an approach for facial data masking that preserves age-related features using coordinate-wise monotonic transformations. We first develop a deep learning model that estimates age directly from non-registered face point clouds with high accuracy and generalizability. We show that the model learns a highly indistinguishable mapping using faces treated with coordinate-wise monotonic transformations, indicating that the relative positioning of facial information is a low-level biomarker of facial aging. Through visual perception tests and computational 3D face verification experiments, we demonstrate that transformed faces are significantly more difficult to perceive for human but not for machines, except when only the face shape information is accessible. Our study leads to a facial data protection guideline that has the potential to broaden public access to face datasets with minimized privacy risks.

Improving chilling tolerance of peanut seedlings by enhancing antioxidant-modulated ROS scavenging ability, alleviating photosynthetic inhibition, and mobilizing nutrient absorption.

Peanut production is threatened by climate change. Damage to seedlings from low temperatures in early spring can limit yield. Plant adaptations to chilling stress remain unclear in peanut seedlings. It is essential to understand how peanut acquires chilling tolerance. We evaluated effects of chilling stress on growth and recovery of peanut seedlings. We compared and analysed biological characteristics, antioxidants, photosynthesis, biochemical and physiological responses, and nutrient absorption at varying levels of chilling. Compared with chilling-sensitive FH18, the reduced impact of chilling stress on chilling-tolerant NH5 was associated with reduced ROS accumulation, higher ascorbate peroxidase activity and soluble sugar content, lower soluble protein content, and smaller reductions in nutrient content during stress. After removal of chilling stress, FH18 had significant accumulation of O2 •- and H2O2, which decreased photosynthesis, nutrient absorption, and transport. ROS-scavenging reduced damage from chilling stress, allowed remobilization of nutrients, improved chilling tolerance, and restored plant functioning after chilling stress removal. These findings provide a reference for targeted research on peanut seedling tolerance to chilling and lay the foundation for bioinformatics-based research on peanut chilling tolerance mechanisms.

Single-cell senescence identification reveals senescence heterogeneity, trajectory, and modulators.

Cellular senescence underlies many aging-related pathologies, but its heterogeneity poses challenges for studying and targeting senescent cells. We present here a machine learning program senescent cell identification (SenCID), which accurately identifies senescent cells in both bulk and single-cell transcriptome. Trained on 602 samples from 52 senescence transcriptome datasets spanning 30 cell types, SenCID identifies six major senescence identities (SIDs). Different SIDs exhibit different senescence baselines, stemness, gene functions, and responses to senolytics. SenCID enables the reconstruction of senescent trajectories under normal aging, chronic diseases, and COVID-19. Additionally, when applied to single-cell Perturb-seq data, SenCID helps reveal a hierarchy of senescence modulators. Overall, SenCID is an essential tool for precise single-cell analysis of cellular senescence, enabling targeted interventions against senescent cells.

Limosilactobacillus reuteri peptidoglycan alleviates aflatoxin B1-induced toxicity through adsorbing toxins and improving growth, antioxidant status, immunity and liver pathological changes in chicks.

1. The objective of this study was to investigate the protective effects of a peptidoglycan produced by Limosilactobacillus reuteri against aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) induced toxicity in vitro and in vivo in broiler chicks.2. Toxin adsorption experiments were carried out firstly in vitro. These experiments indicated that the absorption efficiency of the peptidoglycan for AFB1 was 64.3-75.9%.3. In the in vivo experiments, Hy-Line Brown chicks were fed a diet containing AFB1 at 71.43 µg/kg with and without peptidoglycan supplementation at concentrations of 100, 200, or 300 g/kg feed from 0-42 d of age.4. The peptidoglycan supplementation in AFB1-contaminated diets resulted in significant improvements in terms of average daily gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, white blood cell count, haemoglobin content, glutathione peroxidase activity, immunoglobulin (Ig) A, IgG, IgM and Newcastle disease virus antibody titres (p < 0.05) and diminished liver steatosis.5. In conclusion, peptidoglycan supplementation alleviated AFB1-induced toxicity through adsorbing toxins and improving growth performance, antioxidant ability, immunity and liver pathological changes in chicks. The optimal supplemental dose was 200 mg/kg in feed.