An excitatory peri-tegmental reticular nucleus circuit for wake maintenance.

Sleep is a necessity for our survival, but its regulation remains incompletely understood. Here, we used a human sleep duration gene to identify a population of cells in the peri-tegmental reticular nucleus (pTRNADRB1) that regulate sleep-wake, uncovering a role for a poorly understood brain area. Although initial ablation in mice led to increased wakefulness, further validation revealed that pTRNADRB1 neuron stimulation strongly promotes wakefulness, even after stimulation offset. Using combinatorial genetics, we found that excitatory pTRNADRB1 neurons promote wakefulness. pTRN neurons can be characterized as anterior- or posterior-projecting neurons based on multiplexed analysis of projections by sequencing (MAPseq) analysis. Finally, we found that pTRNADRB1 neurons promote wakefulness, in part, through projections to the lateral hypothalamus. Thus, human genetic information from a human sleep trait allowed us to identify a role for the pTRN in sleep-wake regulation.

Janus Binder Chemistry for Synchronous Enhancement of Iodine Species Adsorption and Redox Kinetics toward Sustainable Aqueous Zn-I2 Batteries.

Currently, the desired research focus in energy storage technique innovation has been gradually shifted to next-generation aqueous batteries holding both high performance and sustainability. However, aqueous Zn-I2 batteries have been deemed to have great sustainable potential, owing to the merits of cost-effective and eco-friendly nature. However, their commercial application is hindered by the serious shuttle effect of polyiodides during reversible operations. In this work, a Janus functional binder based on chitosan (CTS) molecules was designed and prepared; the polar terminational groups impart excellent mechanical robustness to hybrid binders; meanwhile, it can also deliver isochronous enhancement on physical adsorption and redox kinetics toward I2 species. By feat of highly effective remission to shuttle effect, the CTS cell exhibits superb electrochemical storage capacities with long-term robustness, specifically, 144.1 mAh g-1, at a current density of 0.2 mA g-1 after 1500 cycles. Simultaneously, the undesired self-discharging issue could be also well-addressed; the Coulombic efficiency could remain at 98.8 % after resting for 24 h. More importantly, CTS molecules endow good biodegradability and reusable properties; after iodine species were reloaded, the recycled devices could also deliver specific capacities of 73.3 mAh g-1, over 1000 cycles. This Janus binder provides a potential synchronous solution to realize high comprehensive performance with high iodine utilization and further make it possible for sustainable Zn-I2 batteries.

Interfacial-Confined Isochronous Conversion to Biphasic Selenide Heterostructure with Enhanced Adsorption Behaviors for Robust High-Rate Na-Ion Storage.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have gradually become one of the most promising energy storage techniques in the current era of post-lithium-ion batteries. For anodes, transitional metal selenides (TMSe) based materials are welcomed choices , owing to relatively higher specific capacities and enriched redox active sites. Nevertheless, current bottlenecks are blamed for their poor intrinsic electronic conductivities, and uncontrollable volume expansion during redox reactions. Given that, an interfacial-confined isochronous conversion strategy is proposed, to prepare orthorhombic/cubic biphasic TMSe heterostructure, namely CuSe/Cu3 VSe4 , through using MXene as the precursor, followed by Cu/Se dual anchorage. As-designed biphasic TMSe heterostructure endows unique hierarchical structure, which contains adequate insertion sites and diffusion spacing for Na ions, besides, the surficial pseudocapacitive storage behaviors can be also proceeded like 2D MXene. By further investigation on electronic structure, the theoretical calculations indicate that biphasic CuSe/Cu3 VSe4 anode exhibits well-enhanced properties, with smaller bandgap and thus greatly improves intrinsic poor conductivities. In addition, the dual redox centers can enhance the electrochemical Na ions storage abilities. As a result, the as-designed biphasic TMSe anode can deliver a reversible specific capacity of 576.8 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 , favorable Na affinity, and reduced diffusion barriers. This work discloses a synchronous solution toward demerits in conductivities and lifespan, which is inspiring for TMSe-based anode development in SIBs systems.

Sucrose phosphate synthase 8 is required for the remobilization of carbon reserves in rice stems during grain filling.

Carbon reserve remobilization in stems is closely related to rice grain filling. Sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) is highly associated with carbon reserve remobilization. In this study, we investigated the expression pattern of SPS genes in various rice tissues, and found that SPS8 is the major SPS isoform in rice stems during the grain-filling stage. We then constructed sps8 mutants using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. The SPS activity of the sps8 mutants was markedly reduced in the stems. In addition, the sps8 mutants exhibited significant starch accumulation in stems. 14C-labelling experiments revealed that the remobilization of non-structural carbohydrates from rice stems to grains was impaired in the sps8 mutants. In the sps8 mutants, grain filling was delayed and yield decreased by 15% due to a reduced percentage of ripened grains. RNA sequencing and quantitative PCR analyses indicated that the genes involved in starch synthesis and degradation were up-regulated in the sps8 mutant stems. In addition, the activity of the enzymes involved in starch synthesis and degradation was increased in the sps8 stems. These results demonstrate that SPS8 is required for carbon reserve remobilization from rice stems to grains, and that its absence may enhance 'futile cycles' of starch synthesis and degradation in rice stems.

A Lightweight Remote Sensing Small Target Image Detection Algorithm Based on Improved YOLOv8.

In response to the challenges posed by small objects in remote sensing images, such as low resolution, complex backgrounds, and severe occlusions, this paper proposes a lightweight improved model based on YOLOv8n. During the detection of small objects, the feature fusion part of the YOLOv8n algorithm retrieves relatively fewer features of small objects from the backbone network compared to large objects, resulting in low detection accuracy for small objects. To address this issue, firstly, this paper adds a dedicated small object detection layer in the feature fusion network to better integrate the features of small objects into the feature fusion part of the model. Secondly, the SSFF module is introduced to facilitate multi-scale feature fusion, enabling the model to capture more gradient paths and further improve accuracy while reducing model parameters. Finally, the HPANet structure is proposed, replacing the Path Aggregation Network with HPANet. Compared to the original YOLOv8n algorithm, the recognition accuracy of mAP@0.5 on the VisDrone data set and the AI-TOD data set has increased by 14.3% and 17.9%, respectively, while the recognition accuracy of mAP@0.5:0.95 has increased by 17.1% and 19.8%, respectively. The proposed method reduces the parameter count by 33% and the model size by 31.7% compared to the original model. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can quickly and accurately identify small objects in complex backgrounds.

Robotic-assisted total hip arthroplasty in patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip.

PURPOSES: Due to the morphological diversity of deformities, technical difficulties, improperly designed components, and so on, THA remains a challenging task in dysplastic hips, especially in highly dislocated hips. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the clinical outcomes of robot-assisted THA in patients with DDH through a large cohort study, including the precision of acetabular cup positioning, indicators of inflammatory response, indicators of muscle damage, and complications. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed patients with DDH who underwent THA in our prospectively constructed joint registry between August 2018 and August 2022. Finally, 147 manual THAs and 147 robotic-assisted THAs were included in the final analysis. Patient demographics, indicators of inflammation, indicators of muscle damage, operative time, Harris hip scores (HHS), and forgotten joint score (FJS) were recorded for analysis. The precision of the positioning of the acetabular component was assessed with plain radiographs. RESULTS: In the Crowe II/III groups, the reconstructed center of rotation (COR) in the robotic-assisted group was closer to the anatomical COR with less variation than the manual group (absolute horizontal distances of COR 3.5 ± 2.8 vs. 5.4 ± 4.9 mm, p < 0.05; absolute vertical distances of COR 6.4 ± 4.1 vs. 11.7 ± 8.2 mm, p = 0.001). For all Crowe subtypes, the robotic-assisted THA significantly increased the proportion of acetabular cups located in the safety zone within 5° (all p < 0.05). Interleukin-6 and creatine kinase levels were slightly lower and significantly different in the robotic-assisted group at three days postoperatively (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the manual technique, the robot-assisted technique improved the precision and reproducibility of acetabular component positioning, particularly in DDH patients with Crowe types II/III. The robotic-assisted technique did not increase operative time, bleeding, complications, or revision rates, and had a slighter early inflammatory response and muscle damage.

Clinicopathological significance and immunotherapeutic outcome of claudin 18.2 expression in advanced gastric cancer: A retrospective study.

Objective: Immunotherapeutic outcomes and clinical characteristics of claudin 18 isoform 2 positive (CLDN18.2-positive) gastric cancer (GC) vary in different clinical studies, making it difficult to optimize anti-CLDN18.2 therapy. We conducted a retrospective analysis to explore the association of CLDN18.2 expression with clinicopathological characteristics and immunotherapeutic outcomes in GC. Methods: A total of 536 advanced GC patients from 2019 to 2021 in the CT041-CG4006 and CT041-ST-01 clinical trials were included in the analysis. CLDN18.2 expression on ≥40% of tumor cells (2+, 40%) and CLDN18.2 expression on ≥70% of tumor cells (2+, 70%) were considered the two levels of positively expressed GC. The clinicopathological characteristics and immunotherapy outcomes of GC patients were analyzed according to CLDN18.2 expression status. Results: CLDN18.2 was expressed in 57.6% (cut-off: 2+, 40%) and 48.9% (cut-off: 2+, 70%) of patients. Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and CLDN18.2 were co-expressed in 19.8% [combined positive score (CPS)≥1, CLDN18.2 (cut-off: 2+, 40%)] and 17.2% [CPS≥5, CLDN18.2 (cut-off: 2+, 70%)] of patients. CLDN18.2 expression positively correlated with younger age, female sex, non-gastroesophageal junction (non-GEJ), and diffuse phenotype (P<0.001). HER2 and PD-L1 expression were significantly lower in CLDN18.2-positive GC (both P<0.05). Uterine adnexa metastasis (P<0.001) was more frequent and liver metastasis (P<0.001) was less common in CLDN18.2-positive GC. Overall survival and immunotherapy-related progression-free survival (irPFS) were inferior in the CLDN18.2-positive group. Conclusions: CLDN18.2-positive GC is associated with poor prognosis and worse immunotherapeutic outcomes. The combination of anti-CLDN18.2 therapy, anti-PD-L1/PD-1 therapy, and chemotherapy for GC requires further investigation.

China special issue on gastrointestinal tumors-NTRK fusion in a large real-world population and clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA genotyping to guide TRK inhibitor treatment.

Neurotrophic tropomyosin receptor kinase (NTRK) gene fusions are rare oncogenic drivers and targets of TRK inhibitors in solid tumors. Little is known about NTRK fusion in Chinese patients with pan-cancer. Our study investigated the prevalence and genomic features of NTRK1/2/3 gene fusions in 67 883 Chinese patients with pan-cancer using next-generation sequencing (NGS) data and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) NGS to guide TRK inhibitor treatment and resistance monitoring. The prevalence of NTRK fusion (tissue NGS) in the pan-cancer population was 0.18%, with 46 unique NTRK-fusion partner pairs, of which 33 were not previously reported. NTRK2 breakpoint occurred more frequently in intron 15 than intron 12. In colorectal cancers (CRCs), compared to NTRK-negative tumors, NTRK-positive tumors displayed higher tumor mutational burden (TMB) levels (54.6 vs 17.7 mut/Mb, P < .0001). In microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) CRC, patients with NTRK fusion had a significantly lower TMB than NTRK-negative cases (69.3 vs 79.9 mut/Mb, P = .012). The frequency of NTRK fusion in a ctDNA NGS cohort of 20 954 patients with cancer was similar to that of the tissue NGS cohort. In eight NTRK fusion ctDNA-positive patients, larotrectinib induced objective response in 75% of patients and median progression-free survival was 16.3 months. Blood samples collected from a patient with disease progression after larotrectinib treatment revealed NTRK3 G623R as the potential resistance mechanism. Our study revealed previously unreported NTRK fusion partners, associations of NTRK fusion with MSI and TMB, and the potential utility of ctDNA to screen candidates for TRK inhibitors and monitor drug resistance.

Integrated lithium niobate optical mode (de)interleaver based on an asymmetric Y-junction.

Lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) platforms promise unique advantages in realizing high-speed, large-capacity, and large-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs) by leveraging lithium niobate's attractive material properties, which include electro-optic and nonlinear optic properties, low material loss, and a wide transparency window. Optical mode interleavers can increase the functionality of future PICs in LNOI by enabling optical mode division multiplexing (MDM) systems, allowing variable mode assignment while maintaining high channel utilization and capacity. In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate an optical mode interleaver based on an asymmetric Y-junction on the LNOI platform, which exhibits an insertion loss of below 0.46 dB and modal cross talk of below -13.0 dB over a wavelength range of 1500-1600 nm. The demonstrated mode interleaver will be an attractive circuit component in future high-speed and large-capacity PICs due to its simple structure, scalability, and capacity for efficient and flexible mode manipulation on the LNOI platform.

Rapid generation of a tomato male sterility system and its feasible application in hybrid seed production.

KEY MESSAGE: A practical approach for the rapid generation and feasible application of green hypocotyl male-sterile (GHMS) tm6 dfr lines in tomato hybrid breeding was established. Male sterility enables reduced cost and high seed purity during hybrid seed production. However, progress toward its commercial application has been slow in tomato due to the disadvantages of most natural male-sterile mutants. Here, we developed a practical method for efficient tomato hybrid seed production using a male-sterile system with visible marker, which was rapidly generated by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing. Two closely linked genes, TM6 and DFR, which were reported to be candidates of ms15 (male sterile-15) and aw (anthocyanin without) locus, respectively, were knocked out simultaneously in two elite tomato inbred lines. Mutagenesis of both genes generated green hypocotyl male-sterile (GHMS) lines. The GHMS lines exhibited male sterility across different genetic backgrounds and environmental conditions. They also showed green hypocotyl due to defective anthocyanin accumulation, which serves as a reliable visible marker for selecting male-sterile plants at the seedling stage. We further proposed a strategy for multiplying the GHMS system and verified its high efficiency in stable male sterility propagation. Moreover, elite hybrid seeds were produced using GHMS system for potential side effects evaluation, and no adverse influences were found on seed yield, seed quality as well as important agronomic traits. This study provides a practical approach for the rapid generation and feasible application of male sterility in tomato hybrid breeding.

Is Robotic-Assisted Technology Still Accurate in Total Hip Arthroplasty for Fibrous-Fused Hips?

BACKGROUND: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) for fibrous-fused hips is technically demanding. This study aimed to evaluate the precision and accuracy, as well as the rate of conversion of robotic-assisted THA in such difficult patients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 67 patients (84 hips) who underwent THA with fibrous-fused hips between August 2018 and June 2021 at our institution. Demographics, acetabular cup positioning, leg-length discrepancies, and postoperative Harris hip scores were recorded for all patients. Thirty-six patients (44 hips) who underwent robotic-assisted THA and 31 patients (40 hips) who underwent manual THA were enrolled in this study. RESULTS: The robot accurately executed the preoperative plan, and there were no statistically significant differences between the preoperative planned anteversion, inclination, and postoperative measurements. In the robotic group, the percentage of acetabular cups in the safe zone was significantly higher than in the manual group (87.2 versus 55%, respectively, P = .042). The rate of conversion to manual THA for various reasons in the robotic-assisted THA group was 11.4% (5/44). Compared with manual THA, the mean increase in operative time for conversion from robotic-assisted to manual THA was 24 min (P < .001). CONCLUSION: In patients who have fibrous-fused hips, preoperative planning can be accurately executed by robotic-assisted technology. Compared with manual THA, robotic-assisted THA had a remarkable advantage in improving the frequency of achieving cup positioning within the target zone. Overall, robotic-assisted technology was helpful in such difficult cases, and the approximately 11.4% of cases converted to manual THA are reminders that surgeons should be thoroughly prepared preoperatively.

Drug Delivery and Therapy Strategies for Osteoporosis Intervention.

With the advent of the aging society, osteoporosis (OP) risk increases yearly. Currently, the clinical usage of anti-OP drugs is challenged by recurrent side effects and poor patient compliance, regardless of oral, intravenous, or subcutaneous administration. Properly using a drug delivery system or formulation strategy can achieve targeted drug delivery to the bone, diminish side effects, improve bioavailability, and prolong the in vivo residence time, thus effectively curing osteoporosis. This review expounds on the pathogenesis of OP and the clinical medicaments used for OP intervention, proposes the design approach for anti-OP drug delivery, emphatically discusses emerging novel anti-OP drug delivery systems, and enumerates anti-OP preparations under clinical investigation. Our findings may contribute to engineering anti-OP drug delivery and OP-targeting therapy.

Arbitrary access to optical carriers in silicon photonic mode/wavelength hybrid division multiplexing circuits.

The manipulation of optical modes directly in a multimode waveguide without affecting the transmission of undesired signal carriers is of significance to realize a flexible and simple structured optical network-on-chip. In this Letter, an arbitrary optical mode and wavelength carrier access scheme is proposed based on a series of multimode microring resonators and one multimode bus waveguide with constant width. As a proof-of-concept, a three-mode (de)multiplexing device is designed, fabricated, and experimentally demonstrated. A new, to the best of our knowledge, phase-matching idea is employed to keep the bus waveguide width constant. The mode coupling regions and transmission regions of the microring resonators are designed carefully to selectively couple and transmit different optical modes. The extinction ratio of the microring resonators is larger than 21.0 dB. The mode and wavelength cross-talk for directly (de)multiplexing are less than -12.8 dB and -19.0 dB, respectively. It would be a good candidate for future large-scale multidimensional optical networks.

Glycinebetaine mitigates tomato chilling stress by maintaining high-cyclic electron flow rate of photosystem I and stability of photosystem II.

KEY MESSAGE: Glycinebetaine alleviates chilling stress by protecting photosystems I and II in BADH-transgenic and GB-treated tomato plants, which can be an effective strategy for improving crop chilling tolerance. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most cultivated vegetables in the world, but is highly susceptible to chilling stress and does not naturally accumulate glycinebetaine (GB), one of the most effective stress protectants. The protective mechanisms of GB on photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII) against chilling stress, however, remain poorly understood. Here, we address this problem through exogenous GB application and generation of transgenic tomatoes (Moneymaker) with a gene encoding betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH), which is the key enzyme in the synthesis of GB, from spinach. Our results demonstrated that GB can protect chloroplast ultramicrostructure, alleviate PSII photoinhibition and maintain PSII stability under chilling stress. More importantly, GB increased the electron transfer between QA and QB and the redox potential of QB and maintained a high rate of cyclic electron flow around PSI, contributing to reduced production of reactive oxygen species, thereby mitigating PSI photodamage under chilling stress. Our results highlight the novel roles of GB in enhancing chilling tolerance via the protection of PSI and PSII in BADH transgenic and GB-treated tomato plants under chilling stress. Thus, introducing GB-biosynthetic pathway into tomato and exogenous GB application are effective strategies for improving chilling tolerance.

[Investigation and health risk assessment of veterinary drug residues in chickens and eggs sold in Ningxia from 2016 to 2020].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the monitoring status of veterinary drug residues in chickens and eggs sold in Ningxia from 2016 to 2020, and to evaluate the health risks of human intake. METHODS: A total of 303 chicken and 237 eggs were collected from 2016 to 2020, and the veterinary drug residues in chickens and eggs sold in Ningxia were detected and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The food safety index method was used to assess the health risks in combination with the dietary intake of residents. RESULTS: The detection rate of veterinary drug residues in chicken was 38.0%(115/303), and the over-standard rate was 7.6%(23/303). The detection rate of veterinary drug residues in eggs was 26.6%(63/237), and the over-standard rate was 19.8%(47/237). The food safety index of doxycycline in chicken was 4.59, and the food safety indexes of doxycycline, flumequine and flufenicol in eggs were 7.09, 26.5 and 2.33, respectively, all of which were much higher than 1, suggesting that there were health risks. The food safety indexes of other substances were all less than 1, and the food safety indexes were all acceptable. CONCLUSION: Veterinary drugs were widely detected in chicken and eggs in Ningxia from 2016 to 2020. Some veterinary drugs had hidden health risks.

Factors Affecting the Mixotrophic Flagellate Poterioochromonas malhamensis Grazing on Chlorella Cells.

Grazing behaviour between protozoa and phytoplankton exists widely in planktonic ecosystems. Poterioochromonas malhamensis is a well-known and widespread mixotrophic flagellate, which is recognized to play an important role within marine and freshwater planktonic ecosystems and regarded as the greatest contamination threat for mass algal cultures of Chlorella. In this study, a comprehensive range of factors, including morphological characters, biochemical compositions, and specific growth rate of ten species or strains of Chlorella, were evaluated for their effect on the feeding ability of P. malhamensis, which was assessed by two parameters: the clearance rate of P. malhamensis on Chlorella spp. and the specific growth rate of P. malhamensis. The results showed that the clearance rate of P. malhamensis was negatively correlated with cell wall thickness and specific growth rate of Chlorella spp., while the specific growth rate of P. malhamensis was positively correlated with carbohydrate percentage and C/N ratio and negatively correlated with protein, lipid percentage, and nitrogen mass. In conclusion, the factors influencing feeding selectivity include not only the morphological character and chemical composition of Chlorella, but also its population dynamics. Our study provides useful insights into the key factors that affect the feeding selectivity of P. malhamensis and provides basic and constructive data to help in screening for grazing-resistant microalgae.

An innovative strategy for control of fungus gnats using entomopathogenic nematodes alone or in combination with waterlogging.

Chive gnat (Bradysia odoriphaga) is a soil-borne pest of Chinese chives, which causes millions of dollars in yield losses per year. Traditional methods, such as chemical pesticides leave detrimental chemical residues on plants, which potentially threaten human health. To find a sustainable method of reducing the chive gnat, the authors evaluated the effects of waterlogging and the addition of entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) on reducing chive gnat in Chinese chives via three pot experiments and one field demonstration. Results indicated that increasing the duration of waterlogging markedly increases chive gnat mortality. The presence of EPN also caused chive gnat mortality to increase with exposure time. Most importantly, the combination of waterlogging and EPN had synergistic effects on chive gnat mortality; the combination led to higher mortality than using waterlogging and EPN alone. The study demonstrated that a combination of two environmental friendly methods of fungus gnat control could lead to synergistic effects, which may provide novel approaches to economic and environmentally sustainable pest management measures.Chive gnat (Bradysia odoriphaga) is a soil-borne pest of Chinese chives, which causes millions of dollars in yield losses per year. Traditional methods, such as chemical pesticides leave detrimental chemical residues on plants, which potentially threaten human health. To find a sustainable method of reducing the chive gnat, the authors evaluated the effects of waterlogging and the addition of entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) on reducing chive gnat in Chinese chives via three pot experiments and one field demonstration. Results indicated that increasing the duration of waterlogging markedly increases chive gnat mortality. The presence of EPN also caused chive gnat mortality to increase with exposure time. Most importantly, the combination of waterlogging and EPN had synergistic effects on chive gnat mortality; the combination led to higher mortality than using waterlogging and EPN alone. The study demonstrated that a combination of two environmental friendly methods of fungus gnat control could lead to synergistic effects, which may provide novel approaches to economic and environmentally sustainable pest management measures.

Photosynthesis, sucrose metabolism, and starch accumulation in two NILs of winter wheat.

The photosynthetic oxygen evolution rate, Hill reaction activity of seedlings and photosynthetic parameter, Pn-Ci curve and some source-sink metabolism-related enzyme activities, and substance content of flag leaves were measured by using two wheat near isogenic lines with significant differences in the photosynthetic rate of the 154 (high photosynthetic rate) and 212 (low photosynthetic rate) lines as materials. The results showed that the maximal carboxylation efficiency (Vcmax) and Hill reaction activity were higher in line 154 than that of line 212. The Pn in flag leaves of line 154 was significantly higher than that of line 212 during the anthesis to grain-filling stage. Higher leaf sucrose phosphate synthase activity, grain sucrose synthase activity, and grain ADPG pyrophosphorylase activity ensured that the photosynthate of line 154 could be transported to grains and translated into starch in a timely and effective manner, which also contributed to the maintenance of its high photosynthetic rate. Eventually, all of these factors of line 154 resulted in its higher grain yield compared with the low photosynthetic rate of line 212.

Alterations of digestive enzyme activities, intestinal morphology and microbiota in juvenile paddlefish, Polyodon spathula, fed dietary probiotics.

The effects of dietary supplementation of probiotics on digestive enzymes activities, intestinal morphology and microbiota in juvenile paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) were studied. A total of 400 fish were reared in two cages and fed with a basal diet (control group, CG) or diet supplemented with commercial probiotics (treatment group, TG) for 80 days. Enzymes activities analysis indicated that protease and α-amylase activities increased (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) in TG. Light microscopy observation demonstrated the decrease of wall thickness and muscularis thickness in foregut (P < 0.01), the increase of those in hindgut (P < 0.05), the increase of folds height in foregut (P < 0.01) and midgut in TG (P < 0.05). DGGE results of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA confirmed that the richness and diversity of intestinal microbial species increased in TG. The similarity between the commercial bacteria product and intestinal microbiota of TG were higher than the microbiota from CG. The quantities of bacterium, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Fusobacteria, present an increasing trend from foregut to hindgut both in two groups. To our knowledge, this is the first in vivo study to reveal the effect of dietary probiotics on intestinal digestive enzymes activities, morphology and microbiota in paddlefish.