Behavioural and physiological responses of Small Tail Han sheep to predators.

Prey animals modify their behaviour and physiology in the presence of predators. Domestic animals differ from wild animals in having less exposure to wild predators, but whether they still retain an antipredator instinct is frequently unknown. In this study, we used domesticated Small Tail Han sheep as a model prey animal to gauge their response to the presence of predators, in the form of odours from the faeces of lion, tiger, and leopard. The faeces of male sheep and male rabbit (as a heterogeneous non-predator) were used as control. We found that the frequency and time of feeding, exploration, moving, watching, and lying down behaviours were significantly affected by predator odour, and that there was an interaction between odour sources and sex. When exposed to predator odour, sheep reduced their frequency and time of feeding, and increased their exploratory, moving, and watching behaviours. Female sheep showed greater motivation towards frequent and lengthy exploration, moving, watching, and lying down behaviours than male sheep, and less motivation towards feeding and drinking behaviours. Serum cortisol levels were lowest in response to tiger stimuli. These results illustrated that Small Tail Han sheep could recognise predator odour and adjust their behaviour to display antipredator strategies, and displayed some physiological responses, although only changing in serum cortisol could be significantly attributed to the odour of predators.

Comparison of clinical efficacy between direct anterior approach and posterolateral approach in primary total hip arthroplasty.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the clinical efficacy of the direct anterior approach (DAA) vs. posterolateral approach (PLA) in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 382 patients who underwent primary THA in our hospital from March 2016 to March 2021 were identified as research subjects, with 183 patients in the DAA group and 199 in the PLA group. Outcome measures included operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative creatine kinase (CK), Harris score, visual analogue scale (VAS), postoperative hospital stay, and postoperative complications. RESULTS: DAA resulted in significantly longer operative time but lower intraoperative bleeding volume vs. PLA. Three months postoperatively, patients receiving DAA showed significantly lower visual analogue scale (VAS) scores and higher Harris scores than those given PLA. No hip dislocation was observed in the DAA group. CONCLUSIONS: DAA results in less intraoperative hemorrhage and muscle damage, better postoperative recovery, and a lower incidence of hip dislocation.

Effect of heat stress on the behavioral and physiological patterns of Small-tail Han sheep housed indoors.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of heat stress on the behavioral and physiological patterns in Small-tail Han sheep housed indoors in summer without climate control. Sixteen adult animals were allocated into two groups of eight animals, based on sex: one group of eight rams and one group of eight ewes. Temperature-humidity index (THI) was used to assess the degree of heat stress. All sheep were subjected to a 10-day pre-experimental period of habituation to the experimental feed and environment. Physiological parameters monitored were respiratory rate (RR), rectal temperature (RT), and heart rate (HR). Blood chemistry parameters were also recorded, including plasma minerals and blood metabolites, from jugular vein blood samples. Behavioral parameters were lying, standing, excreting, drinking, foraging, walking, and ruminating. The research findings showed that there were some significant differences of behavior (standing, P = 0.001; walking, P = 0.049; ruminating, P = 0.010), physiology (RR, P = 0.0001; HR, P = 0.002; RT, P = 0.03;) and plasma minerals and blood metabolites (sodium, P = 0.047; phosphorus, P = 0.002; T4, P = 0.041; cortisol, P = 0.0047; triglyceride, P = 0.009) between ram and ewe and that heat stress also significantly affected (P < 0.05) standing, lying, foraging and drinking behavior, all of the physiological parameters and some of the blood chemistry parameters (chlorides, sodium, phosphorus, total protein, tetraiodothyronine, cholesterol, triglyceride, creatinine, cortisol, and glucose). These results indicate that ewe has better high-temperature tolerance than ram, and heat stress can alter behavioral and physiological patterns in Small-tail Han sheep housed indoors. These changes may allow the sheep to adapt better to the ambient temperature.

[An analysis of status of personnel in occupational disease prevention and treatment institutions in Hunan Province, China, from 1996 to 2015].

Objective: To analyze the status of personnel in occupational disease prevention and treatment institutions in Hunan Province, China, from 1996 to 2015, to predict staff composition using grey model (GM) (1, 1) , and to provide a scientific basis and reference for optimizing human resource planning of occupational disease prevention and treatment in other provinces and regions and promoting the service capacity of the institutions. Methods: The data of the staff in occupational disease prevention and treatment institutions in Hunan Province, China, from 1996 to 2015 were obtained from the established basic information management system. The descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the dynamic changes in number and composition of the staff and the GM (1, 1) was used to predict the staff composition. Results: The numbers of the staff members in 1996 and 2015 in occupational disease prevention and treatment institutions in Hunan Province, China were 1591 and 1429, respectively. In the twenty years, the main education level of the staff transformed from "technical secondary school education and non-academic qualifications" to "bachelor degree or above and college degree"; the main major of the staff transformed from "other majors" to "public health and clinical medicine"; the proportion of the staff members without professional titles changed from >1/3 to 5%; and the proportions of the staff members with senior, intermediate, and junior professional titles were steadily rising. GM prediction showed that the proportions of highly educated staff members in 2018 and 2020 would be up to 41.00% and 45.61%, respectively; and the proportions of the staff members with a major in public health in 2018 and 2020 would be up to 44.15% and 46.60%, respectively. Conclusion: The staff in occupational disease prevention and treatment institutions in Hunan Province, China, in the twenty years have slight changes in staff size and great improvement in staff quality, which is beneficial to sustainable development of the occupational disease prevention and treatment undertakings. The education level and major will be further optimized in the next five years.

The protective effect of Shenfu injection against elderly severe pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Shenfu injection (SFI) on the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and the interleukin (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10) of elderly patients who suffered from severe pneumonia. METHODS: From June 2012 to September 2014, we performed in our department 89 cases of elderly patients with severe pneumonia. These patients were randomly divided into two groups: the treatment group (45 cases) and the control group (44 cases). The control group was given the treatment of anti-infection, reducing sputum, and support therapy, while the treatment group was fed by SFI intravenously based on the control group. The TNF-α and the interleukin were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Meanwhile, the changes in the inflammatory response indicators, the blood gas analysis, and the parameters of vital signs were measured and compared before and after therapy. RESULTS: Prior to treatment, there is no significant difference between the treatment group and the control group (p > 0.05); after the treatment for 7 days, the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8 were significantly decreased, while the level of IL-10 was obviously increased. The APACHE II score was significantly decreased in comparison to that before the treatment (p < 0.05), and the time of mechanical ventilation, the duration of time in ICU, and the application time of vasoactive drugs were notably shortened. CONCLUSION: The application of Shenfu injection exhibited a positive and effective effect on removing the inflammation media during the treatment of elderly severe pneumonia.

Differential expression of Toll-like receptors in goat dominant and nondominant follicles.

The mechanism of dominant follicle selection is unclear because of its physiological complexity. However, some studies have reported that the immune system plays an important role in reproductive physiology. The objective of the current study was to investigate the differential expression of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the dominant (DFs) and nondominant follicles (NFs), and to determine the correlation between the expression of TLRs and the related genes, such as WNT4 and FOXL2. In this comparative study, the expression levels of TLRs, WNT4, and FOXL2 genes of DFs and NFs were obtained from three Dazu black goats were estimated using the real-time PCR. Our results showed no significant difference in the expression of seven TLRs (excluding TLR2, TLR5, and TLR8), WNT4, and FOXL2 between the DFs and NFs. In addition, the mRNA expression levels of WNT4 significantly correlated with the relative expression of TLR6 (r = 0.949739, P < 0.01); however, no significant expression of the TLR genes was found to be associated with FOXL2 mRNA expression. Our results support the fact that TLRs are not involved in the process of dominant follicle selection; however, TLR6 might play a role in the development of follicles by interacting with WNT4.

Pen size and parity effects on maternal behaviour of Small-Tail Han sheep.

The aim of this experiment was to study the effects of pen size and parity on maternal behaviour of twin-bearing Small-Tail Han ewes. A total of 24 ewes were allocated to a 2×2 design (six per pen), with parity (primiparous or multiparous) and pen size (large: 6.0×3.0 m; small: 6.0×1.5 m) as main effects at Linyi University, Shandong Province, China. Behaviour was observed from after parturition until weaning. All ewes were observed for 6 h every 5 days from 0700 to1000 h and from 1400 to 1700 h. Continuous focal animal sampling was used to quantify the duration of maternal behaviours: sucking, grooming and following as well as the frequency of udder accepting, udder refusing and low-pitched bleating. Oestradiol and cortisol concentrations in the faeces (collected in the morning every 5 days) were detected using EIA kits. All lambs were weighed 24 h after parturition and again at weaning at 35 days of age. The small pen size significantly reduced following (P<0.005), grooming (P<0.001) and suckling durations (P<0.05), as well as the frequency of udder refusals (P<0.001). However, there was a significant interaction with ewe parity, with decreased grooming and suckling in the small pen largely seen in the multiparous ewes (P<0.001). Independent of pen size, multiparous ewes accepted more sucking attempts by their lambs (P<0.05) and made more low-pitched bleats than primiparous ewes (P<0.001). Multiparous ewes had higher faecal oestradiol concentrations than primiparous ewes (P<0.001), and ewes in small pens had higher faecal cortisol levels compared with ewes in larger pens (P<0.001). As lambs increased in age, the duration of maternal grooming, following and suckling as well as frequency of udder acceptance and low-pitched bleating all declined, and the frequency of udder refusing increased (P<0.001 for all). Ewe parity, but not pen size, affected lamb weight gain during the period of observation (P<0.001). This is the first study to show that pen size, interacting with parity, can affect the expression of maternal behaviour in sheep during lactation. The study is also the first to report on the maternal behaviour of Chinese native sheep breeds (Small-Tail Han sheep), with implications for the production of sheep in China.

Polymorphisms of the PNPLA3 gene and their associations with chicken growth and carcass traits.

1. An F(2) resource population of Gushi chickens crossed with Anka broilers was used to investigate the genetic effects of the chicken PNPLA3 gene on growth and adipose accumulation. 2. Associations between three SNPs (g.40006G > T, g.42344T > C and g.42404A > T) and broiler traits were determined using linkage disequilibrium, haplotype construction and association analysis. 3. The g.40006G > T mutation was associated with body weights at 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age, carcass weight, evisceration weight and semi-evisceration weight (P < 0.05). 4. Haplotypes of the g.42344T > C and g.42404A > T mutations were associated with body weight at 12 weeks, carcass weight, evisceration weight, and semi-evisceration weight (P < 0·05) and were associated with significant dominance effects. 5. The results suggest that the PNPLA3 gene may be in linkage with the causative mutation or a QTL controlling growth traits in chickens. In contrast to human studies, the polymorphisms were not associated with fat related traits.

Association study of polymorphisms inside the miR-1657 seed region with chicken growth and meat traits.

1. Polymorphisms occurring in the seed region of microRNAs (miRNAs) could influence their target gene and lead to phenotypic variation. The purpose of the research was to explore the genetic effects of the rs14934924 (G > A) mutation resident in the conserved seed region of miR-1657 on growth and meat traits of the Gushi-Anka F2 resource population. 2. The NdeI polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method and association analysis were used to analyse the polymorphism. 3. The mutation was associated with body weight at 8 weeks of age, shank girth at 12 weeks of age, breast bone length at 12 weeks of age, pelvis breadth at 4 weeks of age and subcutaneous fat thickness (P < 0·05) and was associated with body weight at 4, 6, 10 and 12 weeks of age (P < 0·01). 4. Our results will be a useful resource for a subsequent study in miRNA function, and provide a basis for molecular techniques in chicken breeding.