Development of a HPLC-UV Method for the Separation and Quantification of Hesperidin, Neohesperidin, Neohesperidin Dihydrochalcone and Hesperetin.

An analysis method was developed for the separation and quantification of hesperidin, neohesperidin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone and hesperetin by using HPLC-UV. Single factor experiments and Box-Behnken Designs were used to optimize separation of four flavonoids, in which a gradient elution method was adopted with 99% acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid as mobile phases at a flow rate of 0.9 mL/min. A C18 column was used with a column temperature of 35 °C. LODs and LOQs were below 0.84 µg/mL and 2.84 µg/mL, respectively. Linearity with good correlation coefficients (r > 0.99, n = 5) was attained, recovery rate of four flavonoids ranged from 88% to 130%, the RSD indicating results precision for analyzing hesperidin, neohesperidin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone and hesperetin ranged from 1.2% to 4.6%. Finally, the present method could be successfully applied to identify and quantify hesperidin, neohesperidin and hesperetin in Fructus Aurantii Immaturus and Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae.

Supplementation of graded levels of rumen-protected choline to a pelleted total mixed ration did not improve the growth and slaughter performance of fattening lambs.

Choline is an essential nutrient in ruminant diets, which contributes to the fundamental biological functions of the animal. However, choline is easily degraded in the rumen before it can be absorbed. Rumen-protected choline (RPC) supplementation might support the fast growth of ruminants. This study aimed to investigate the effects of supplementing graded levels of RPC in a pelleted total mixed ration for fattening lambs. Sixty three-month-old male Small Tail Han and northeast fine wool sheep hybrid lambs with a liveweight of 15.3 ± 1.8 kg (mean ± SD) were fed designated diets and randomly assigned into five treatment groups (n = 12 per group). The five treatments were the rate of RPC supplementation at 0, 1.25, 2.50, 3.75, and 5.00 g (equivalent to 0, 0.31, 0.63, 0.94, and 1.25 g of choline chloride, respectively)/kg basal diet and the RPC-supplemented feed was offered for 112 days after 12 days of adaptation. Average daily gain, dry matter intake, and nutrient digestibility were similar across treatments. The rumen pH was quadratically significant among treatments, with the lowest and highest pH observed from the 2.5 and 5 g/kg RPC supplement groups, respectively (P = 0.02). After feeding, the ruminal ammonia concentrations among treatments were different (P < 0.05), with the highest value observed from the 5 g/kg RPC supplement group. Microbial crude protein level was different, with the highest value recorded from the 0 g/kg RPC supplement group (P = 0.028). A linear effect (P < 0.05) was observed from short-chain fatty acid values among treatments before and after feeding. Serum albumin (P = 0.003) and albumin/globulin ratio (P = 0.002) had a quadratic effect, with the highest value found in the 0 g/kg RPC supplement group. Abdominal fat was higher in RPC-supplemented groups (P < 0.05) compared to the control group. Drip loss was 65% higher in RPC-supplemented groups compared to the control group (P = 0.012). Overall, the study results showed an effect of RPC on ruminal parameters, but the supplementation of low-level RPC did not improve the growth and slaughter performance of fattening lambs.

Silicon-Based Metastructure Optical Scattering Multiply-Accumulate Computation Chip.

Optical neural networks (ONN) have become the most promising solution to replacing electronic neural networks, which have the advantages of large bandwidth, low energy consumption, strong parallel processing ability, and super high speed. Silicon-based micro-nano integrated photonic platforms have demonstrated good compatibility with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processing. Therefore, without completely changing the existing silicon-based fabrication technology, optoelectronic hybrid devices or all-optical devices of better performance can be achieved on such platforms. To meet the requirements of smaller size and higher integration for silicon photonic computing, the topology of a four-channel coarse wavelength division multiplexer (CWDM) and an optical scattering unit (OSU) are inversely designed and optimized by Lumerical software. Due to the random optical power splitting ratio and incoherency, the intensities of different input signals from CWDM can be weighted and summed directly by the subsequent OSU to accomplish arbitrary multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations, therefore supplying the core foundation for scattering ONN architecture.