Effects of Chinese herbal feed additives on the sperm quality and reproductive capacity in breeding boars.

Currently, Chinese herbal feed additives (CHFA) are commonly utilized in domestic pig farms. However, their impact on the sperm quality and reproductive capacity of imported breeding boars has yet to be thoroughly explored. In this study, the effect of CHFA on the sperm quality and reproductive capacity of the imported Duroc boars was investigated. Sixteen boars were randomly divided into control group and experimental (CHFA treated) group and fed normal or CHFA-levels containing diets, respectively. The sperm quality and reproductive hormone levels were periodically tested, and the reproductive capacity with breeding sows were evaluated. The results showed that the CHFA treated group boars significantly improved sperm volume, sperm concentration, and motility and reduced the sperm abnormalities. Furthermore, the serum levels of reproductive hormone such as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone (T) in the CHFA treated group were significantly higher than those in the control group. Although there was no significant difference in the initial birth weight of piglets between the two groups, the CHFA treated group had a significantly higher average number of piglets born, the average number of piglets born alive, the number of piglets weaned at 28 days, and the weaning weight compared to the control group. These findings suggest that CHFA can significantly improve the sperm quality of breeding boars and enhance their reproductive hormone levels as well as the reproductive capacity, providing direct evidence for the further application of CHFA in the management of breeding boars in China.

Efficient and Robust Molecular Solar Thermal Fabric for Personal Thermal Management.

Molecular solar thermal (MOST) materials, which can efficiently capture solar energy and release it as heat on demand, are promising candidates for future personal thermal management (PTM) applications, preferably in the form of fabrics. However, developing MOST fabrics with high energy-storage capacity and stable working performance remains a significant challenge because of the low energy density of the molecular materials and their leakage from the fabric. Here, an efficient and robust MOST fabric for PTM using azopyrazole-containing microcapsules with a deep-UV-filter shell is reported. The MOST fabric, which can co-harvest solar and thermal energy, achieves efficient photocharging and photo-discharging (>90% photoconversion), a high energy density of 2.5 kJ m-2 , and long-term storage sustainability at month scale. Moreover, it can undergo multiple cycles of washing, rubbing, and recharging without significant loss of energy-storage capacity. This MOST microcapsule strategy is easily used for the scalable production of a MOST fabric for solar thermal moxibustion. This achievement offers a promising route for the application of wearable MOST materials with high energy-storage performance and robustness in PTM.

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Provides Insight into Spatio-Temporal Expression Characteristics and Genetic Regulatory Network in Postnatal Developing Subcutaneous and Visceral Fat of Bama Pig.

The depot differences between Subcutaneous Fat (SAF) and Visceral Fat (VAF) are critical for human well-being and disease processes in regard to energy metabolism and endocrine function. Miniature pigs (Sus scrofa) are ideal biomedical models for human energy metabolism and obesity due to the similarity of their lipid metabolism with that of humans. However, the regulation of differences in fat deposition and development remains unclear. In this study, the development of SAF and VAF was characterized and compared in Bama pig during postnatal development (infancy, puberty and adulthood), using RNA sequencing techniques (RNA-Seq). The transcriptome of SAF and VAF was profiled and isolated from 1-, 3- and 6 months-old pigs and identified 23,636 expressed genes, of which 1,165 genes were differentially expressed between the depots and/or developmental stages. Upregulated genes in SAF showed significant function and pathway enrichment in the central nervous system development, lipid metabolism, oxidation-reduction process and cell adhesion, whereas genes involved in the immune system, actin cytoskeleton organization, male gonad development and the hippo signaling pathway were preferentially expressed in VAF. Miner analysis of short time-series expression demonstrated that differentiation in gene expression patterns between the two depots corresponded to their distinct responses in sexual development, hormone signaling pathways, lipid metabolism and the hippo signaling pathway. Transcriptome analysis of SAF and VAF suggested that the depot differences in adipose tissue are not only related to lipid metabolism and endocrine function, but are closely associated with sexual development and organ size regulation.

A Soft Wearable and Fully-Textile Piezoresistive Sensor for Plantar Pressure Capturing.

The trends of wearable health monitoring systems have led to growing demands for gait-capturing devices. However, comfortability and durability under repeated stress are still challenging to achieve in existing sensor-enabled footwear. Herein, a flexible textile piezoresistive sensor (TPRS) consisting of a reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-cotton) fabric electrode and an Ag fabric circuit electrode is proposed. Based on the mechanical and electrical properties of the two fabric electrodes, the TPRS exhibits superior sensing performance, with a high sensitivity of 3.96 kPa-1 in the lower pressure range of 0-36 kPa, wide force range (0-100 kPa), fast response time (170 ms), remarkable durability stability (1000 cycles) and detection ability in different pressures ranges. For the prac-tical application of capturing plantar pressure, six TPRSs were mounted on a flexible printed circuit board and integrated into an insole. The dynamic plantar pressure distribution during walking was derived in the form of pressure maps. The proposed fully-textile piezoresistive sensor is a strong candidate for next-generation plantar pressure wearable monitoring devices.

Genome-Wide Characterization and Comparative Analyses of Simple Sequence Repeats among Four Miniature Pig Breeds.

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are commonly used as molecular markers in research on genetic diversity and discrimination among taxa or breeds because polymorphisms in these regions contribute to gene function and phenotypically important traits. In this study, we investigated genome-wide characteristics, repeat units, and polymorphisms of SSRs using sequencing data from SSR-enriched libraries created from Wuzhishan (WZS), Bama (BM), inbred Luchuan (LC) and Zangxiang (ZX) miniature pig breeds. The numbers and types of SSRs, distributions of repeat units and polymorphic SSRs varied among the four breeds. Compared to the Duroc pig reference genome, 2518 polymorphic SSRs were unique and common to all four breeds and functional annotation revealed that they may affect the coding and regulatory regions of genes. Several examples, such as FGF23, MYF6, IGF1R, and LEPROT, are associated with growth and development in pigs. Three of the polymorphic SSRs were selected to confirm the polymorphism and the corresponding alleles through fluorescence polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and capillary electrophoresis. Together, this study provides useful insights into the discovery, characteristics and distribution of SSRs in four pig breeds. The polymorphic SSRs, especially those common and unique to all four pig breeds, might affect associated genes and play important roles in growth and development.

Printable, Highly Sensitive Flexible Temperature Sensors for Human Body Temperature Monitoring: A Review.

In recent years, the development and research of flexible sensors have gradually deepened, and the performance of wearable, flexible devices for monitoring body temperature has also improved. For the human body, body temperature changes reflect much information about human health, and abnormal body temperature changes usually indicate poor health. Although body temperature is independent of the environment, the body surface temperature is easily affected by the surrounding environment, bringing challenges to body temperature monitoring equipment. To achieve real-time and sensitive detection of various parts temperature of the human body, researchers have developed many different types of high-sensitivity flexible temperature sensors, perfecting the function of electronic skin, and also proposed many practical applications. This article reviews the current research status of highly sensitive patterned flexible temperature sensors used to monitor body temperature changes. First, commonly used substrates and active materials for flexible temperature sensors have been summarized. Second, patterned fabricating methods and processes of flexible temperature sensors are introduced. Then, flexible temperature sensing performance are comprehensively discussed, including temperature measurement range, sensitivity, response time, temperature resolution. Finally, the application of flexible temperature sensors based on highly delicate patterning are demonstrated, and the future challenges of flexible temperature sensors have prospected.

Microbial conversion of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol by an engineered strain of Escherichia coli.

In an effort to improve industrial production of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD), we engineered a novel polycistronic operon under the control of the temperature-sensitive lambda phage P(L)P(R) promoter regulated by the cIts857 repressor and expressed it in Escherichia coli K-12 ER2925. The genes for the production of 1,3-PD in Clostridium butyricum, dhaB1 and dhaB2, which encode the vitamin B(12)-independent glycerol dehydratase DhaB1 and its activating factor, DhaB2, respectively, were tandemly arrayed with the E. coli yqhD gene, which encodes the 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase isoenzyme YqhD, an NADP-dependent dehydrogenase that can directly convert glycerol to 1,3-PD. The microbial conversion of 1,3-PD from glycerol by this recombinant E. coli strain was studied in a two-stage fermentation process. During the first stage, a novel high-cell-density fermentation step, there was significant cell growth and the majority of the metabolites produced were organic acids, mainly acetate. During the second stage, glycerol from the fresh medium was rapidly converted to 1,3-PD following a temperature shift from 30 degrees C to 42 degrees C. The by-products were mainly pyruvate and acetate. During this two-stage process, the overall 1,3-PD yield and productivity reached 104.4 g/liter and 2.61 g/liter/h, respectively, and the conversion rate of glycerol to 1,3-PD reached 90.2% (g/g). To our knowledge, this is the highest reported yield and productivity efficiency of 1,3-PD with glycerol as the sole source of carbon. Furthermore, the overall fermentation time was only 40 h, shorter than that of any other reports.

[Analysis of polymorphism on exon 2 of SLA-DRB in Wuzhishan, Erhualian and Pietrain pigs with PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSCP].

Exon 2 of SLA-DRB gene in three strains of pigs was genotyped by PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSCP methods. The strains involved were Wuzhishan, Erhualian and Pietrain, and the numbers of them were 17, 28 and 28, respectively. After genotyping by PCR-RFLP with Msp I, all pigs showed the same band pattern (143 bp/102 bp) named M. However, four kinds of band patterns were created by Rsa I, that were A:141 bp/93 bp/11 bp, B:111 bp/69 bp/54 bp/11 bp, C:180 bp/54 bp/11 bp and D:93 bp/48 bp/39 bp/54 bp/11 bp. There were different pattern types in various pigs, AA and BB in Wuzhishan pigs, AA, BB and AB in Erhualian pigs, AA, CC and BD in Pietrain pigs. In each strain, A was the dominant band pattern, its frequency in Wuzhishan, Erhualian and Pietrain pigs were 0.69, 0.73 and 0.82, respectively. There were no significant differences in the frequency of A band pattern among these three strains. After genotyping by PCR-SSCP, seven pattern types (alphaalpha, alphadelta, betabeta, gammagamma, alphagamma, deltadelta and betaepsilon) were observed in these three populations. There were alphaalpha, alphadelta and betabeta in Wuzhishan pigs, alphaalpha, gammagamma and alphagamma in Erhualian pigs, and alphaalpha, deltadelta, alphadelta, betaepsilon and betabeta in Pietrain pigs. In each breed, the frequency of a band pattern was the highest in all defined bands. The frequency of delta band pattern followed to alpha band pattern in the populations of Wuzhishan and Pietrain pigs, corresponding to that, the frequencies of alphadelta pattern type were maximal in these two populations. The frequencies of all pattern types analyzed by PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSCP were Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium in Erhualian populations; however, the same results did not appear in the other two populations.

[Advances in allelic polymorphism at class II of the pig MHC(SLA)].

This article gave a detailed introduction about regional map,molecular structure,genotyping and polymorphism of SLA class II genes. The pig major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II antigens have been known to exhibit a different degree of allelic polymorphism. The locus-specific oligonucleotide primers and RFLP analysis provide a simple and rapid method for genotyping expressed SLA class II from genomic DNA. SLA class II polymorphism was related to the antigenic peptide binding sites. Detailed analysis of sequences showed that there were 4 GC-rich sequences in exon 2 of SLA-DQB and SLA-DRB1 genes.