[A pre-conception cohort study of fertility and its related factors among couples with the intention of conception].

Objective: To describe fertility and explore factors associated with it among pre-conception couples of childbearing age. Methods: Based on the pre-conceptional offspring trajectory study of the School of Public Health of Fudan University, couples of childbearing age who participated in the pre-conception physical examination in Shanghai Jiading District from 2016 to 2021 were recruited and followed up. Couples' time to pregnancy (TTP) was analyzed and Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to explore the factors associated with TTP. Kaplan-Meier was used to calculate each menstrual cycle's cumulative pregnancy rate. Results: A total of 1 095 preconception couples were included in the analysis, the M(Q1,Q3)of TTP was 4.33 (2.41, 9.78) menstrual cycles. Age of women (FR=0.90, 95%CI: 0.85-0.95, P<0.001), women who were overweight or obese before pregnancy (FR=0.36, 95%CI: 0.24-0.55, P<0.001), women who were exposed to second-hand smoking (FR=0.63, 95%CI: 0.44-0.92, P=0.016), women whose home or office had been renovated in the past 2 years and had a particular smell (FR=0.46, 95%CI: 0.26-0.81, P=0.008) were risk factors for impaired fertility. Regular menstrual cycles (FR=1.64, 95%CI: 1.16-2.31, P=0.005), females who often drank tea/coffee (FR=1.55, 95%CI: 1.11-2.17, P=0.011) and males who took folic acid before conception (FR=2.35, 95%CI: 1.38-4.23, P=0.002) were associated with better fertility. The cumulative pregnancy rate of 3, 6, and 12 menstrual cycles was 37.6%, 64.4%, and 78.4%, respectively. Conclusion: Older couples, overweight or obesity before pregnancy, irregular menstruation, exposure to secondhand smoke and decoration pollutants in females are associated with impaired fertility. Frequent tea/coffee drinking before pregnancy in females and taking folic acid before pregnancy in males are associated with shortened conception time.

Curcumin and resveratrol in combination modulate drug-metabolizing enzymes as well as antioxidant indices during lung carcinogenesis in mice.

This study investigated combined chemopreventive potential of curcumin and resveratrol during benzo(a)pyrene (BP)-induced lung carcinogenesis in mice. The mice were segregated into five groups that included normal control, BP-treated, BP + curcumin-treated, BP + resveratrol-treated, and BP + curcumin + resveratrol-treated groups. A statistically significant increase in the levels of lipid peroxidation (LPO) was observed in the lungs of mice after 22 weeks of single dose of benzo(a)pyrene. Further, BP treatment also resulted in a significant increase in the enzyme activities of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase as well as drug-metabolizing enzymes, namely cytocrome P450 and cytochrome b5. On the other hand, reduced glutathione (GSH) levels, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) were found to be significantly decreased following BP treatment. Supplementation with curcumin and resveratrol to BP-treated mice significantly decreased the LPO levels, GSH levels, and enzyme activities of drug-metabolizing enzymes. Further, treatment of curcumin and resveratrol to BP-treated mice significantly elevated the activities of SOD, GR, and GST. Histoarchitectural studies showed well-differentiated signs of lung carcinogenesis following BP administration to mice. However, combined treatment with curcumin and resveratrol resulted in a noticeable improvement in the lung histoarchitecture. This study, therefore, concludes that curcumin and resveratrol when supplemented in combination regulate drug-metabolizing enzymes as well as antioxidant enzymes during lung carcinogenesis in mice.

Insertion depth of oral stomach tubes may affect the fermentation parameters of ruminal fluid collected in dairy cows.

Six rumen-fistulated dairy cows were used in 2 trials to validate the technique for the collection of ruminal fluid by an oral stomach tube (OST). Trial 1 was conducted to compare the differences of ruminal fermentation parameters among rumen sites (cranial dorsal, cranial ventral, central, ventral, caudal dorsal, and caudal ventral). The ruminal fluid was collected once per day for 3 consecutive days through rumen cannula (RC). The samples were analyzed for pH, volatile fatty acids (VFA), ammonia N, sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, and phosphorus concentrations. The ruminal fermentation parameters varied significantly among rumen sites. Compared with the central or ventral rumen, the cranial dorsal rumen had significantly higher pH, ammonia, and sodium concentrations and lower acetate, propionate, and butyrate concentrations, indicating that the sampling site may be one of the main factors contributing to the difference in ruminal fermentation parameters between the samples collected via the OST and RC. In trial 2, the fermentation parameters of ruminal fluid collected via OST at 2 insertion depths (180 or 200 cm) were compared with those of ruminal fluid collected via RC (ventral sac). Ruminal fluid was collected once per week at 5 to 6h after morning feeding. When the OST was inserted to a depth of 180 cm, the OST head was located in the cranial dorsal (atrium) of the rumen. The ruminal fluid collected via the OST had higher pH and sodium concentrations but lower VFA, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus concentrations than that collected via RC. However, when the OST was inserted to a depth of 200 cm, the OST head could pass through the front rumen pillar and reach the central rumen for sampling. No differences were found in pH, VFA, ammonia N, and ion concentrations between the samples collected via the 2 sampling methods. These results indicated that the OST should be inserted to reach the central rumen to obtain representative rumen fluid samples.

Effects of dietary supplementation of methionine and lysine on milk production and nitrogen utilization in dairy cows.

The effect of the content of lysine and methionine in metabolizable protein (MP) on lactation performance and N utilization in Chinese Holstein cows was determined. A control diet (C) was formulated to be adequate in energy but slightly limiting in MP. The concentration of Met and Lys in MP was 1.87 and 5.93%, respectively. The treatments were as follows (% of Met or Lys in MP): L=diet C supplemented with L-lysine-HCl at 0.49% on a dry matter (DM) basis (Met, 1.87; Lys, 7.00); M=diet C supplemented with 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio)-butanoic acid (HMB) at 0.15% (Met, 2.35; Lys, 5.93); ML=diet C supplemented with 0.49% L-lysine HCl and 0.15% HMB (Met, 2.39; Lys, 7.10). The diets were fed to 60 Chinese Holsteins in mid-lactation (average days in milk=120, and milk yield=32.0 kg/d) for 8 wk. Milk yield was increased by supplementation of either Lys (1.5 kg/d) or Met (2.0 kg/d), and supplementation of both Lys and Met further increased milk yield (3.8 kg/d). There was no significant difference in dry matter intake across treatment groups. Cows on treatments M (3.95%) and ML (3.90%) had higher milk fat content than those on C (3.60%) and L (3.67%), but there were no significant differences in milk protein and lactose contents or somatic cell count among treatments. Supplementation of Met or Lys significantly increased Met or Lys concentration in arterial plasma. Treatment ML had a higher conversion of intake N to milk N and lower urea N concentrations in serum, urine, and milk than did treatment C. Supplementing HMB and L-lysine-HCl to provide approximately 2.3% Met and 7.0% Lys of the MP in diets slightly limiting in MP increased milk production, milk protein yield, and N utilization efficiency.

Effects of dietary sources of vegetable oils on performance of high-yielding lactating cows and conjugated linoleic acids in milk.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of dietary supplementation with vegetable oils on performance of high-yielding lactating cows and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk fat. Twelve lactating Holstein cows in early lactation (30 to 45 d postpartum) were used in a triple 4 x 4 Latin square design. In each period, the cows in each group were fed the same basal diet and received one of the following treatments: 1) control (without oil), 2) 500 g of cottonseed oil, 3) 500 g of soybean oil, and 4) 500 g of corn oil. Each experimental period lasted for 3 wk, with the first 2 wk used for adaptation to the diet. Supplementation with vegetable oils tended to increase milk yield, with the highest milk yield in the cottonseed oil group (35.0 kg/d), compared with the control (34.4 kg/d). Milk fat percentage was decreased, but there were few effects on percentage and yield of milk protein as well as milk fat yield. The cows fed added soybean oil produced milk with the highest content of trans-11 C(18:1) (23.8 mg/g of fat), which was twice that of the control (12.6 mg/g of fat). Content of cis-9, trans-11 CLA in milk fat increased from 3.5 mg/g in the control to 6.0, 7.1, and 10.3 mg/g for the cows fed oils from cottonseed, corn, and soybean, respectively. A significant linear relationship existed between trans-11 C(18:1) and cis-9, trans-11 CLA. Supplementation with oils doubled the content of total fatty acids in blood plasma, with little difference between different vegetable oil sources. Octadecenoic acid content was significantly higher in blood plasma of animals fed added oils from cottonseed and soybean than those fed with corn oil and control. The plasma trans-11 C(18:1) content was significantly higher in the oil-added animals than in control. Supplementation of vegetable oils tended to improve milk production of lactating cows, and the CLA content in milk fat was significantly increased. Soybean oil seemed to be the optimal source to increase CLA production.

[Deficiency and excess syndrome of chronic atrophic gastritis].

In this study, Syndrome of Deficiency revealed that gastric acid secretion, cellular immunity, hematopoietic and synthetic metabolism were all decreased. The RBC, Hb, TG, HDL-C, CD8, infection rate of HP, the degree of atypical hyperplasia and the staining intensity of PNA were different for Spleen-Kidney-Deficiency syndrome from spleen-Deficiency syndrome, the former was lower than the latter, while LPO was higher and ESR was faster for the former. Syndrome of Excess revealed that the serum gastrin level was higher, humoral immunity and catabolic metabolism were increased, its blood was in hyperviscosity and hypercoagulation state. The Qi Stagnation with Blood Stasis was different from the Qi stagnation alone which including the atrophic degree of the former was severer, the ESR was faster than that of the later. The Heat Stagnation (HS), retention of Dampness (RD) and Damp-Heat (DH) have some difference. First, for secretion of gastric acid. HS was the lowest, DH the next, RD the third. Second, for the level of LPO, HS was the highest.