Visible-Light-Driven, Photocatalyst-Free Cascade to Access 3-Cyanoalkyl Coumarins from ortho-Hydroxycinnamic Esters.

A visible-light-driven, photocatalyst-free route starting from easily accessed ortho-hydroxycinnamic esters and O-perfluoropyridin-4-yl oximes has been successfully developed to rapidly assemble a wide range of 3-cyanoalkyl coumarins. This process does not require addition of external photocatalysts, exhibiting beneficial features including mild reaction conditions, synthetic simplicity, and excellent substrate compatibility. Extensive mechanistic investigations revealed that the in situ generated phenolate anions served as photosensitizers to drive this photoinduced transformation.

Study of photogenerated exciton dissociation in transition metal dichalcogenide van der Waals heterojunction A2-MWS4: a first-principles study.

In order to explore the photocatalytic hydrogen production efficiency of the MoS2/WSe2 heterostructure (A2-MWS4) as a photocatalyst, it is highly desirable to study the photogenerated exciton dissociation related to photocatalysis. The electronic properties, optical absorption, and lattice dynamic properties of A2-MWS4 were investigated using a first-principles approach. The results show that the type II energy band alignment of A2-MWS4 facilitates the dissociation of photogenerated excitons (electrons and holes). The highly localized d-state electrons of A2-MWS4 induce the formation of internal potentials that promote the dissociation of photogenerated excitons. The hot carrier diffuses its extra energy into the lattice by scattering with phonons and forms a hot spot in the lattice while releasing phonons, which are dragged away from the hot spot by Ridley decay to promote exciton dissociation. These findings could provide insights for research studies on photochemical reactions and photovoltaic devices.

O-Perfluoropyridin-4-yl Oximes: Iminyl Radical Precursors for Photo- or Thermal-Induced N-O Cleavage in C(sp2)-C(sp3) Bond Formation.

O-Perfluoropyridin-4-yl group was first installed onto cycloketone oximes as a new electrophore, which was proven to be efficient iminyl radical precursors under photocatalytic and thermal conditions. A range of O-perfluoropyridin-4-yl oximes were successfully utilized in C(sp2)-C(sp3) bond formations of quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones and alkenes, providing facile accesses to a range of functionalized alkylnitriles.

Preparative isolation and purification of 12 main antioxidants from the roots of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. using high-speed countercurrent chromatography and preparative HPLC guided by 1,1'-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl-HPLC.

A hyphenated strategy by off-line coupling of 1,1'-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl-high-performance liquid chromatography, high-speed countercurrent chromatography, and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography was established to screen and separate antioxidants from ethyl acetate fraction of the roots of Polygonum multiflorum. Under the targeted guidance of 1,1'-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl-high-performance liquid chromatography experiment, 12 compounds were identified as potential antioxidants and readily isolated by high-speed counter-current chromatography and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography. Ultraviolet spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and 1 H NMR spectroscopy were employed to identify their structures, which were assigned as gallic acid (1, 6.2 mg, 98.28%), catechin (2, 8.8 mg, 90.69%), epicatechin (3, 4.1 mg, 96.71%), polydatin (4, 5.3 mg, 94.91%), 2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxy stilbene-2-Ο-ß-D-glucoside (5, 20.2 mg, 95.23%), piceatannol (6, 5.3 mg, 96.85%), rutin (7, 5.4 mg, 97.92%), resveratrol (8, 5.2 mg, 96.94%), isorhapontigenin (9, 11.4 mg, 94.81%), hyperoside (10, 9.7 mg, 98.52%), rhein (11, 4.9 mg, 97.46%), and emodin (12, 8.2 mg, 95.74%). Notably, compounds 6 and 9 were isolated from Polygonum multiflorum for the first time. In addition, antioxidant activity of compounds 1-12 were evaluated, and compounds 1-8 and 10 exhibited stronger antioxidant activity than ascorbic acid (positive control). These results indicated that the proposed method is a highly efficient strategy to screen and isolate antioxidants from complex natural products.

Separation of α-glucosidase inhibitors from Potentilla kleiniana Wight et Arn using solvent and flow-rate gradient high-speed counter-current chromatography target-guided by ultrafiltration HPLC-MS screening.

INTRODUCTION: Potentilla kleiniana Wight et Arn is widely used as a herbal medicine to treat type 2 diabetes. However, detailed information about its active compounds is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To develop an efficient method for the rapid screening and separation of α-glucosidase inhibitors from Potentilla kleiniana Wight et Arn. METHODOLOGY: Potential α-glucosidase inhibitors from Potentilla kleiniana Wight et Arn were rapidly screened out through ultrafiltration high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), and then followed by a target-guided high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) separation using two-phase solvent systems composed of n-hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:10:1:10, v/v/v/v and 1:10:5:6, v/v/v/v), and adopting increasing flow-rate from 1.5 to 3.0 mL/min after 200 min. Their structures were identified by ultraviolet (UV), MS, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1 H-NMR) and carbon-13 (13 C)-NMR, and their α-glucosidase inhibitory activities were assessed by in vitro assay. RESULTS: Five α-glucosidase inhibitors including gallic acid (25.7 mg, 98.2%, 1), brevifolincarboxylic acid (9.86 mg, 95.3%, 2), ethyl evifolincarboxylate (13.26 mg, 97.6%, 3), 3,3'-di-O-methylellagic acid-4'-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside (16.26 mg, 95.1%, 4), and 3,3'-di-O-methylellagic acid (10.54 mg, 96.8%, 5) were successfully purified from 250 mg n-butanol extract in a single run. Compounds 1, 2, 4 and 5 exhibited stronger α-glucosidase inhibitory activities[half maximal inhibition concentration (IC50 ) values at 173.41 ± 6.35, 323.46 ± 8.08, 44.63 ± 2.50, and 20.73 ± 2.56 µM, respectively] than acarbose (IC50 value at 332.12 ± 5.52 µM, reference compound). CONCLUSIONS: Notably, compounds 2-5 were reported in the Potentilla kleiniana Wight et Arn for the first time. The results indicated that the proposed method could be applied for the rapid screening and preparative separation of α-glucosidase inhibitors from a complex matrix.

Rumen Development of Tianhua Mutton Sheep Was Better than That of Gansu Alpine Fine Wool Sheep under Grazing Conditions.

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the differences in rumen tissue morphology, volatile fatty acid content, and rumen microflora between Tianhua mutton sheep and Gansu alpine fine wool sheep under the same grazing conditions. Twelve 30-day-old lambs were randomly selected from two different flocks in Duolong Village and grazed together for a period of 150 days. The rumen tissue was fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and brought back to the laboratory for H&E staining, the volatile fatty acid content of the rumen contents was detected by gas chromatography, and the rumen flora structure was sequenced by full-length sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene using the PacBio sequencing platform. The acetic acid and total acid contents of the rumen contents of Tianhua mutton sheep were significantly higher than those of Gansu alpine fine wool sheep (p < 0.05). The rumen papillae height of Tianhua mutton sheep was significantly higher than that of Gansu alpine fine wool sheep (p < 0.05). The diversity and richness of the rumen flora of Tianhua mutton sheep were higher than those of Gansu alpine fine wool sheep, and Beta analysis showed that the microflora structure of the two fine wool sheep was significantly different. At the phylum level, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes dominated the rumen flora of Tianhua mutton sheep and Gansu alpine fine wool sheep. At the genus level, the dominant strains were Christensenellaceae_R_7_group and Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group. LEfSe analysis showed that Prevotella was a highly abundant differential species in Tianhua mutton sheep and lachnospiraccac was a highly abundant differential species in Gansu alpine fine wool sheep. Finally, both the KEGG and COG databases showed that the enrichment of biometabolic pathways, such as replication and repair and translation, were significantly higher in Tianhua mutton sheep than in Gansu alpine fine wool sheep (p < 0.05). In general, there were some similarities between Tianhua mutton sheep and Gansu alpine fine wool sheep in the rumen tissue morphology, rumen fermentation ability, and rumen flora structure. However, Tianhua mutton sheep had a better performance in the rumen acetic acid content, rumen papillae height, and beneficial bacteria content. These differences may be one of the reasons why Tianhua mutton sheep are more suitable for growing in alpine pastoral areas than Gansu alpine fine wool sheep.

Landform and lithospheric development contribute to the assembly of mountain floras in China.

Although it is well documented that mountains tend to exhibit high biodiversity, how geological processes affect the assemblage of montane floras is a matter of ongoing research. Here, we explore landform-specific differences among montane floras based on a dataset comprising 17,576 angiosperm species representing 140 Chinese mountain floras, which we define as the collection of all angiosperm species growing on a specific mountain. Our results show that igneous bedrock (granitic and karst-granitic landforms) is correlated with higher species richness and phylogenetic overdispersion, while the opposite is true for sedimentary bedrock (karst, Danxia, and desert landforms), which is correlated with phylogenetic clustering. Furthermore, we show that landform type was the primary determinant of the assembly of evolutionarily older species within floras, while climate was a greater determinant for younger species. Our study indicates that landform type not only affects montane species richness, but also contributes to the composition of montane floras. To explain the assembly and differentiation of mountain floras, we propose the 'floristic geo-lithology hypothesis', which highlights the role of bedrock and landform processes in montane floristic assembly and provides insights for future research on speciation, migration, and biodiversity in montane regions.

Effect of photoperiod during incubation on embryonic temperature, hatch traits, and performance of 2 commercial broiler strains.

Provision of light during incubation has shown the potential to enhance hatching traits and affect posthatch productivity, physiology, and behavior. In this study, 2 repeated trials were conducted to investigate the effect of photoperiod and strain on the embryo temperature, hatching traits and posthatch growth performance of 2 commercial strains of broilers (Ross 308 and Cobb 500). In each trial, hatching eggs were randomly distributed into 6 incubators with 3 photoperiod treatments: blue LED light for 12 h d-1 (12L:12D) or 18 h d-1 (18L:6D) during entire incubation were compared with no illumination condition (DARK). Data were analyzed as a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement with the trial as the blocking factor. Embryos incubated under 12L:12D and 18L:6D had lower air cell temperature (P < 0.05) than the DARK embryos from d 13 of incubation onward except on the day of candling. The response of air cell temperature to periodic illumination differed between 2 strains. Cobb embryos had lower air cell temperature in 12L:12D than those incubated with 18L:6D from d 16 of incubation onward, whereas lower air cell temperature was found in Ross embryos when illuminated with 18L:6D photoperiod compared to those under 12L:12D. The 12L:12D treatment was associated with improved (P < 0.05) navel closure condition of hatchlings. There were no differences in hatchability, embryo mortality, body weight, or length at hatch among photoperiod groups or its combination with strain. No differences in production parameters were found between DARK and illuminated groups. However, 12L:12D had heavier (P < 0.05) body weight on d 14 of age and higher (P < 0.05) body weight gain than 18L:6D from d 7 to 14 of age. The results of this study indicate that providing blue LED light up to 18 h d-1 has no detrimental effect on production of broilers, however, 12L:12D light regime improved chick quality at hatch compared to DARK and resulted in heavier birds by d 14 compared to 18L:6D.

Efficacy and safety of nonpharmacological strategies for the treatment of oligoasthenospermia: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Oligoasthenospermia (OAT) is the most common cause of male infertility, and the annual incidence of the disease continues to increase due to changing lifestyle habits, increased work pressure and increased environmental pollution. A variety of nonpharmacological therapies have been reported to be effective for treating OAT; however, there is a lack of direct evidence comparing these different nonpharmacological therapies. Therefore, the optimal strategy has yet to be identified. OBJECTIVES: A network meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nonpharmacological treatments for OAT, thus providing an evidence-based medical reference for the clinical treatment of oligoasthenospermia. METHODS: The Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, Weipu (VIP), Wan Fang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and China Biomedical Literature (CBM) databases were searched from inception to April 2022 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examined nonpharmacological treatments for oligozoospermia. Grey literature was also searched. Studies that met the quality criteria were analysed using Stata 16.0 and Review Manager 5.4 software. RESULTS: A total of 4629 publications were initially retrieved; ultimately, 38 RCTs were analysed, including 8 nonpharmacological therapies and 3080 patients. Each intervention outperformed the sham intervention and no treatment approaches in terms of improved efficacy. In terms of improved total effective rate and sperm concentration, warming acupuncture may be the most effective treatment (SUCRA = 80.1% and 93.4%, respectively). Electroacupuncture perhaps resulted in the best improvement in sperm motility a% and a + b% (SUCRA = 96.6% and 82.0%, respectively). In terms of the incidence of adverse reactions, the three safest interventions probably were no treatment, warming acupuncture, and sham intervention (SUCRA = 88.0%, 68.8% and 62.9%, respectively). In terms of improving the reproductive hormones FSH, LH, and T, the best interventions perhaps were hyperbaric oxygen, 2 Hz TEAS, and electroacupuncture (SUCRA = 85.1%, 96.8% and 99.4%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Nonpharmacological treatments for oligoasthenospermia have good clinical efficacy. Warm acupuncture and electroacupuncture have better overall efficacy and safety. These treatment approaches can be recommended based on the actual situation. If a patient is complicated with varicoceles, they should be removed before symptomatic treatment. Due to the limitations of the quality of the included studies, the findings need to be further validated.

Metabolic engineering of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens for efficient production of α-glucosidase inhibitor1-deoxynojirimycin.

Owing to the feature of strong α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, 1-deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ) has broad application prospects in areas of functional food, biomedicine, etc., and this research wants to construct an efficient strain for 1-DNJ production, basing on Bacillus amyloliquefaciens HZ-12. Firstly, using the temperature-sensitive shuttle plasmid T2 (2)-Ori, gene ptsG in phosphotransferase system (PTS) was weakened by homologous recombination, and non-PTS pathway was strengthened by deleting its repressor gene iolR, and 1-DNJ yield of resultant strain HZ-S2 was increased by 4.27-fold, reached 110.72 mg/L. Then, to increase precursor fructose-6-phosphate (F-6-P) supply, phosphofructokinase was weaken, fructose phosphatase GlpX and 6-phosphate glucose isomerase Pgi were strengthened by promoter replacement, moreover, regulator gene nanR was deleted, 1-DNJ yield was further increased to 267.37 mg/L by 2.41-fold. Subsequently, promoter of 1-DNJ synthetase cluster was optimized, as well as 5'-UTRs of downstream genes in synthetase cluster, and 1-DNJ produced by the final strain reached 478.62 mg/L. Last but not the least, 1-DNJ yield of 1632.50 mg/L was attained in 3 L fermenter, which was the highest yield of 1-DNJ reported to date. Taken together, our results demonstrated that metabolic engineering was an effective strategy for 1-DNJ synthesis, this research laid a foundation for industrialization of functional food and drugs based on 1-DNJ.

Research on Digital Steganography and Image Synthesis Model Based on Improved Wavelet Neural Network.

Network compression coding technology is a research hotspot in the field of digital steganography and image synthesis. How to improve image quality while achieving short compression time is a problem currently faced. Based on the improved wavelet neural network theory, this paper constructs a digital steganography and image synthesis model. The model first tracks the contour of the digit to be recognized, then equalizes and resamples the contour to make it translation-invariant and scaling-invariant, and then uses multi-wavelet neural network clusters to stretch the contour shell to obtain orders of magnitude multi-resolution and its average, and finally, these shell coefficients are fed into a feedforward neural network cluster to identify this handwritten digit, solving the problem of multi-resolution decomposition of contour shells while having a high sampling rate. In the simulation process, the classification model that a single pixel is a text/non-text pixel is trained on the original gray value of the gray pixel and its neighboring pixels, and the classified text pixels are connected to a text area through an adaptive MeanShift method. The experimental results show that it is feasible to use multi-wavelet features for handwritten digit recognition. The model combines the neural network and the genetic algorithm, making full use of the advantages of both, so that the new algorithm has the learning ability and robustness of the neural network. The compression ratio after compression by ordinary wavelet coding, PSNR, MSE, and compression time are 8.4, 25 dB, 210, and 7 s, respectively. The values are 11.7, 24 dB, 207, and 11 s, respectively. At the same time, the peak signal-to-noise ratio is higher and the mean square error is lower, that is, the compression quality is better, and the accuracy of digital steganography and image synthesis is effectively improved.

Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis of Acupuncture Combined with Massage in Treating Knee Osteoarthritis.

Background: Knee osteoarthritis is a common clinical disease with frequent occurrence. More and more studies have shown that external therapies such as acupuncture and massage are beneficial to the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Objective: The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTS) was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture and massage combined with treatment of KOA and to provide some reference for clinical treatment of KOA. Methods: Network meta-analysis was used to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture combined with massage in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, Chinese Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), VIP, and Wanfang were searched by computer for randomized controlled trials on acupuncture combined with massage in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. All researchers independently screened the literature, extracted data, and evaluated quality, and studies that met the quality criteria were analyzed using Stata16.0 software. Results: A total of 3076 articles were retrieved, and finally, 49 studies involving 10 acupuncture combined with massage methods were included. The total sample size was 4458, including 2182 in the experimental group and 2276 in the control group. The results of network meta-analysis showed the following: in terms of effective rate, the optimal first three interventions were floating needle+massage, needle knife+massage, and silver needle+massage; in terms of reducing VAS score, the optimal first three interventions were common acupuncture+massage, needle knife+massage, and warm needle+massage; in terms of improving total Lysholm index score, the optimal first three interventions were silver needle+massage, electroacupuncture+massage, and needle knife+massage; in terms of reducing total WOMAC score, the optimal first three interventions were silver needle+massage, electrothermal needle+massage, and common acupuncture+massage; in terms of reducing WOMAC stiffness score, the optimal first three interventions were warm needle+massage, silver needle+massage, and common acupuncture+massage; and in terms of reducing WOMAC joint function score, the optimal first three interventions were silver needle+massage, warm needle+massage, and common acupuncture+massage. Conclusion: The results showed that acupuncture combined with massage could improve the clinical therapeutic effect of patients with knee osteoarthritis. Limited by the quality of the included studies, the conclusions obtained still need to be further validated.

Providing colored photoperiodic light stimulation during incubation: 2. Effects on early posthatch growth, immune response, and production performance in broiler chickens.

Previous findings have reported that providing light during incubation can affect hatchability and chick quality. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of providing light during incubation on posthatch broiler production parameters, thermoregulation and immune response. Lights with different wavelengths were used over the course of four separate hatches. Ross 308 broiler hatching eggs were randomly distributed into 4 lighting treatments for each hatch. The incubation lighting treatments included: dark as control, white, red, or blue lights for 12 h d-1 (200 lux at egg level). Broilers hatched from each incubator with the same gender were placed into one of 8 sets of pens (3 pens/set) and raised under 18 h d-1 photoperiod. Six birds per pen were immunized intraocularly with AviPro ND-IB Polybanco vaccine on d 10 and 21 posthatch. Chicks hatched under white and blue lights had heavier (P < 0.05) body weight and higher (P < 0.05) feed consumption than the control group during the first 6 h postplacement. No differences in vent temperature were found among treatments at 24 h posthatch (P > 0.05). Chicks hatched with light stimulation however had more stable (P < 0.05) cloaca temperature at 36 h posthatch. No differences in average body weight gain, feed consumption or feed conversion ratio were found among lighting treatments between d 7 and d 35. On d 14 of age, birds hatched from red light had higher (P < 0.05) total IgG concentration than those hatched under dark, blue or white light. These results indicated that in ovo light stimulation with different wavelengths did not affect growth parameters of broilers at market age. Providing photoperiodic blue and white light during incubation improved the production parameters of broilers during the first week posthatch.

Providing colored photoperiodic light stimulation during incubation: 1. Effects on embryo development and hatching performance in broiler hatching eggs.

Providing lighting schedule during incubation has been shown to improve chick quality and reduce stress posthatch. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of providing light of different colors during incubation on embryo development, air cell temperature, the spread of hatch, and hatching performance. Four batches of eggs (n = 2,176, 1,664, 1,696 and 1,600) from Ross 308 broiler breeders were used in the experiment. In each trial, eggs were randomly distributed into 4 lighting treatments. The incubation lighting treatments included: incubated under dark as control, illuminated with white, red or blue lights for 12 h daily. There were no incubation lighting treatment differences in embryo development, the spread of hatch, hatchability, embryo mortality, hatch weight, chick length, navel closure quality, yolk-free body weight, or relative spleen weight. However, embryos incubated under red light had lower average air cell temperature than those in dark, white or blue light treatments. This finding may suggest higher melatonin secretion during the scotophase when illuminated with red light. Male chicks incubated under dark had a higher bursa of Fabricius weight than males illuminated with blue light. In conclusion, these results suggest that the red, white and blue light stimulation during incubation had no negative effects on hatchability, embryo mortality, spread of hatch or day-old chick quality, but may have potential impacts on immunity and energy metabolism in broiler embryos.

AIEgen modulated per-functionalized flower-like IRMOF-3 frameworks with tunable light emission and excellent sensing properties.

A series of functional IRMOF-3 frameworks with solid-state luminescence and tuneable light emission (from 490 to 608 nm) have been synthesized by per-functionalizing AIE-active Schiff-bases with zinc. These precursor AIE-active ligands endowed the functional frameworks with boosted fluorescence emission efficiencies (from 0.16% to 1.03%). IRMOF-3-h revealed a flower-like morphology attributed to the formation of J-aggregates, and could be used as a fluorescent probe for sensitive detection of copper(ii) (135 pM) and thiols (subnanomole).

[Characterization, Seasonal Variation, and Source Apportionments of Particulate Amines (PM2.5) in Northern Suburb of Nanjing].

PM2.5 samples were collected from December 2017 to November 2018 at a northern suburb site of Nanjing. The concentrations of five amines, major water-soluble ions, organic carbon, and elemental carbon were determined. The five amines measured were methylamine, ethylamine, dimethylamine, trimethylamine, and aniline. The annual average of the total amine concentration was (54.2±29.2) ng·m-3. Among these, dimethylamine was the most abundant[annual average:(20.2±13.7) ng·m-3], followed by methylamine[annual average:(13.1±6.3) ng·m-3], trimethylamine[annual average:(8.6±4.1) ng·m-3], ethylamine[annual average:(6.3±4.1) ng·m-3], and aniline[annual average:(5.9±3.9) ng·m-3]. The total amine concentration showed explicit seasonal variations:summer > autumn > spring > winter. The amine concentration on polluted days was higher than that on clean days. This may be influenced by aerosol acidity, promoting the partitioning of gaseous amine into the particulate phase. Aerosol acidity was also the major reason for the higher concentration of amine observed in summer than in other seasons. During new particle formation events, the concentrations of amines increased substantially. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was utilized to identify the potential sources of amines, identifying six sources:industrial emission, agriculture emission, biomass burning, automobile emission, secondary formation, and dust. Methylamine and ethylamine mainly originated from secondary formation and automobile emissions. Dimethylamine and trimethylamine mainly originated from biomass burning, secondary formation, and automobile emissions; Aniline mainly originated from industrial emissions and biomass burning. A significant seasonal difference is observed with respect to the sources of amines. In spring and autumn, road dust sources account for a relatively high proportion. In summer, secondary sources are the main sources of amines. However, the diurnal variations of amine are not evident, and the secondary source, motor vehicle emission, and biomass combustion are the three main influencing factors.

Pyrene metabolites by bacterium enhancing cell division of green alga Selenastrum capricornutum.

Collaborations between multiple microbial species are important for understanding natural clearance and ecological effects of toxic organic contaminants in the environment. However, the interactions between different species in the transformation and degradation of contaminants remain to address. In this study, the effects of pyrene and its bacterial metabolites on the algal growth (Selenastrum capricornutum) were examined. The specific growth rate of algal cells incubated with bacterial pyrene metabolites (1.18 d-1) was highest among all treatment, followed by the controls (1.07 d-1), treated with pyrene-free bacterial metabolites (1.04 d-1) and those treated with pyrene (0.55 d-1). G1 phase is the key growth phase for the cells to synthesize biomolecules for subsequent cell division in the cell cycle. Approximately 76.9% of the cells treated with bacterial pyrene metabolites were at the G1 phase and significantly lower than those with the controls (85.3%), pyrene-free bacterial metabolites (85.5%) and pyrene treatment (92.5%). Transcriptomic analysis of algae showed that the expression of 47 ribosomal unigenes was down-regulated by 5 mg L-1 of pyrene, while 308 unigenes related to the preparation of cell division (DNA replication and protein synthesis) were up-regulated by bacterial pyrene metabolites. It indicated that basal metabolism associated with the growth and proliferation of algal cells could be significantly promoted by bacterial pyrene metabolites. Overall, this study suggests a close relationship between algae and bacteria in the transformation and ecological effects of toxic contaminants.

Investigation of concentration quenching and 1.3 microm emission in Nd(3+)-doped bismuth glasses.

Nd(2)O(3)-doped 70Bi(2)O(3)-20B(2)O(3)-10SiO(2)-xNd(2)O(3) (x=0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5 mol%) bismuth glasses were prepared by the conventional melt-quenching method, and the Nd(3+):(4)F(3/2)-->(4)I(13/2) fluorescence properties had been studied for different Nd(3+) concentrations. The Judd-Ofelt analysis for Nd(3+) ions in bismuth boron silicate glasses was also performed on the base of absorption spectrum. The transition probabilities, excited state lifetimes, the fluorescence branching ratios, quantum efficiency and the stimulated emission cross-sections of (4)F(3/2)-->(4)I(13/2) transition were calculated and discussed. Based on the electric dipole-dipole interaction theory, the interaction parameters: C(DD), for the energy migration rate (4)F(3/2), (4)I(9/2)-->(4)F(3/2), (4)I(9/2) and C(DA), for cross-relaxation rate (4)F(3/2), (4)I(9/2)-->(4)I(15/2), (4)I(15/2), and/or (4)F(3/2), (4)I(9/2)-->(4)I(13/2), (4)I(15/2) in bismuth boron silicate glasses were about 18.4 x 10(-40)cm(6)/s and 3.4 x 10(-40)cm(6)/s, respectively.

Fumigating broiler hatching eggs with lysozyme product (Inovapure) to reduce eggshell microbial load.

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a lysozyme product (InovapureTM) (LP) against E. coli penetrating eggshells. In the first microbiological experiment, 60 agar-filled eggs were inoculated with E. coli suspension, then fumigated with distilled water, 1.5% or 3.0% LP or a quaternary ammonium product (QA) at 0.125% for 10 min. In the second microbiological experiment, another 60 agar-filled eggs were fumigated with the same sanitizer treatments first, then inoculated with the E. coli suspension. Eggshells were candled and visual colonies were counted after 48 h incubation. An animal experiment was conducted to evaluate LP applied to the surface of 2080 broiler hatching eggs on hatching and growth performance. Hatching eggs were submerged in an E. coli suspension. After drip drying, eggs were randomly divided into four fumigation treatments, each with four subsets of 150 eggs. Fumigation treatments were the same as in the microbiological experiments. Eggs were incubated in 8 incubators (2 replicate incubators per treatment) and the broilers were grown to 33 d of age. In the microbiological experiments, inoculated eggs fumigated with 3.0% LP and 0.125% QA reduced (P < 0.05) the total amount of E. coli to 11 cfu/egg and 10 cfu/egg, respectively. When eggs were sanitized prior to inoculation, 3.0% LP demonstrated (P < 0.05) ongoing bactericidal action to prevent E. coli penetration. No differences in hatchability, fertility rate or egg weight loss percent were found among sanitation treatments. At hatch, body weight or the ratio of yolk sac weight to yolk-free body weight were not affected by the sanitation treatments. However, the application of sanitizers decreased (P < 0.05) the presence of E. coli in the yolk sac of newly hatched chicks. Feed consumption, body weight and feed conversion ratio were not affected by sanitation treatments. However, average daily body weight gain was lower (P < 0.05) following QA. Overall, 3.0% LP demonstrated acceptable activity against E. coli on eggshells, and provided ongoing bactericidal action to prevent E. coli penetration without negatively affecting growth performance.