Genome-Wide Association Study of Body Conformation Traits in Tashi Goats (Capra hircus).

Identifying genetic markers of economically valuable traits has practical benefits for the meat goat industry. To better understand the genomic variations influencing body conformation traits, a genome-wide association study was performed on Tashi goats, an indigenous Chinese goat breed. A total of 155 Tashi goats were phenotyped for eight body conformation traits: body height, body length, chest depth, chest width, chest girth, rump width, rump height, and cannon bone circumference. Then, 100 Tashi goats were randomly selected for whole-genome sequencing and genotyped. We obtained 1676.4 Gb of raw data with an average sequencing depth of 6.2X. Clean reads were aligned to the ARS1.2 reference genome, and 11,257,923 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. The structure analysis showed that these Tashi goats were almost not genetically related. The 109, 20, 52, 14, 62, 51, 70, and 7 SNPs were significantly associated with body height, body length, chest depth, chest width, chest girth, rump width, rump height, and cannon bone circumference. Within the ±500 kb region of significant SNPs, 183 genes were annotated. The most significantly enriched KEGG pathway was "olfactory transduction", and the most significantly enriched gene ontology (GO) terms were "cellular process", "cellular anatomical entity", and "molecular transducer activity". Interestingly, we found several SNPs on chromosomes 10 and 11 that have been identified multiple times for all eight body conformation traits located in two fragments (114 kb and 1.03 Mb). In chr.10:25988403-26102739, the six SNPs were tightly linked, the TACTAG genotype was the highest at 91.8%, and the FNTB (Farnesyltransferase, CAAX Box Beta) and CHURC1 (Churchill Domain Containing 1) genes were located. In chr.11:88216493-89250659, ten SNPs were identified with several dependent linkage disequilibrium (LD) blocks, and seven related genes were annotated, but no significant SNP was located in them. Our results provide valuable biological information for improving growth performance with practical applications for genomic selection in goats.

New Phenanthro[9,10-d]oxazole-Based Fluorophores with Hybridized Local and Charge-Transfer Characteristics for Highly Efficient Blue Non-Doped OLEDs with Negligible Efficiency Roll-Off.

It is vital to develop highly efficient non-doped blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with high color purity and low-efficiency roll-off for applications in display and lighting. Herein, two blue D-A fluorophores TPA-PO and TPA-DPO are designed and synthesized, in which phenanthro[9,10-d]oxazole (PO) acts as the acceptor and triphenylamine as the donor. TPA-PO and TPA-DPO display good thermal stability and efficient luminescence efficiency in neat film. Results based on photophysical property and theoretical calculation demonstrate that TPA-PO and TPA-DPO possess the hybridized local and charge-transfer (HLCT) feature, which can utilize the triplet exciton to achieve highly efficient electroluminance (EL). The non-doped OLEDs with TPA-PO/TPA-DPO as pure emissive layer show the uniform EL emission peak at 468 nm, corresponding to CIE coordinates of (0.168, 0.187) and (0.167, 0.167), respectively. The TPA-DPO-based non-doped OLEDs provide the maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 7.99 % and high exciton utility efficiency of 48.4 %~72.6 %. Moreover, the TPA-DPO-based device exhibits low-efficiency roll-off, still maintaining the EQE of 6.03 % at the high luminance of 5000 cd m-2. Those findings state clearly that PO is a promising building block of blue fluorophore with a potential HLCT feature to be applied in non-doped OLEDs.

A Sustainable Retinal Drug Co-Delivery for Boosting Therapeutic Efficacy in wAMD: Unveiling Multifaceted Evidence and Synergistic Mechanisms.

Sustainable retinal codelivery poses significant challenges technically, although it is imperative for synergistic treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD). Here, a microemulsion-doped hydrogel (Bor/PT-M@TRG) is engineered as an intravitreal depot composing of temperature-responsive hydrogel (TRG) and borneol-decorated paeoniflorin (PF) & tetramethylpyrazine (TMP)-coloaded microemulsions (Bor/PT-M). Bor/PT-M@TRG, functioning as the "ammunition depot", resides in the vitreous and continuously releases Bor/PT-M as the therapeutic "bullet", enabling deep penetration into the retina for 21 days. A single intravitreal injection of Bor/PT-M@TRG yields substantial reductions in choroidal neovascularization (CNV, a hallmark feature of wAMD) progression and mitigates oxidative stress-induced damage in vivo. Combinational PF&TMP regulates the "reactive oxygen species/nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2/heme oxygenase-1" pathway and blocks the "hypoxia inducible factor-1α/vascular endothelial growth factor" signaling in retina, synergistically cutting off the loop of CNV formation. Utilizing fluorescence resonance energy transfer and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques, they present compelling multifaceted evidence of sustainable retinal codelivery spanning formulations, ARPE-19 cells, in vivo eye balls, and ex vivo section/retina-choroid complex cell levels. Such codelivery approach is elucidated as the key driving force behind the exceptional therapeutic outcomes of Bor/PT-M@TRG. These findings highlight the significance of sustainable retinal drug codelivery and rational combination for effective treatment of wAMD.

An intravitreal-injectable hydrogel depot doped borneol-decorated dual-drug-coloaded microemulsions for long-lasting retina delivery and synergistic therapy of wAMD.

Sustained retina drug delivery and rational drug combination are considered essential for enhancing the efficacy of therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) due to the conservative structure of the posterior ocular segment and the multi-factorial pathological mechanism. Designing a drug co-delivery system that can simultaneously achieve deep penetration and long-lasting retention in the vitreous is highly desired, yet remains a huge challenge. In this study, we fabricated Bor/RB-M@TRG as an intravitreal-injectable hydrogel depot for deep penetration into the posterior ocular segment and long-lasting distribution in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer. The Bor/RB-M@TRG consisted of borneol-decorated rhein and baicalein-coloaded microemulsions (Bor/RB-M, the therapy entity) and a temperature-responsive hydrogel matrix (the intravitreal depot). Bor/RB-M exhibited the strongest in vitro anti-angiogenic effects among all the groups studied, which is potentially associated with improved cellular uptake, as well as the synergism of rhein and baicalein, acting via anti-angiogenic and anti-oxidative stress pathways, respectively. Importantly, a single intravitreal (IVT) injection with Bor/RB-M@TRG displayed significant inhibition against the CNV of wAMD model mice, compared to all other groups. Particularly, coumarin-6-labeled Bor/RB-M@TRG (Bor/C6-M@TRG) could not only deeply penetrate into the retina but also stably accumulate in the RPE layer for at least 14 days. Our design integrates the advantages of borneol-decorated microemulsions and hydrogel depots, offering a promising new approach for clinically-translatable retinal drug delivery and synergistic anti-wAMD treatment.

Biological Properties and Clinical Significance of Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2 in Ischemic Stroke.

Ischemic stroke, which occurs following blockage of the blood supply to the brain, is a leading cause of death worldwide. Its main cause is atherosclerosis, a disease of the arteries characterized by the deposition of plaques of fatty material on the inner artery walls. Multiple proteins involved in the inflammation response have been identified as diagnosing biomarkers of ischemic stroke. One of these is lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), an enzyme that can hydrolyze circulating oxidized phospholipids, generating proinflammatory lysophosphatidylcholine and promoting the development of atherosclerosis. In the last two decades, a number of studies have revealed that both the concentration and the activity of Lp-PLA2 are independent biomarkers of ischemic stroke. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two tests to determine Lp-PLA2 mass and activity for predicting stroke. In this review, we summarize the biological properties of Lp-PLA2, the detection sensitivity and limitations of Lp-PLA2 measurement, the clinical significance and association of Lp-PLA2 in ischemic stroke, and the prospects of therapeutic inhibition of Lp-PLA2 as an intervention and treatment.

Treatments for Periductal Mastitis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: Periductal mastitis (PDM) is a complex benign breast disease with a prolonged course and a high risk of recurrence after treatment. There are many available treatments for PDM, but none is widely accepted. This study aims to evaluate the various treatment failure rates (TFR) of different invasive treatment measures by looking at recurrence and persistence after treatment. In this way, it sets out to inform better clinical decisions in the treatment of PDM. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases for eligible studies about different treatment regimens provided to PDM patients that had been published before October 1, 2019. We included original studies written in English that reported the recurrence and/or persistence rates of each therapy. Outcomes were presented as pooled TFR and 95% CI for the TFR. Results: We included 27 eligible studies involving 1,066 patients in this study. We summarized 4 groups and 10 subgroups of PDM treatments, according to the published studies. Patients treated minimally invasively (group 1) were subdivided into 3 subgroups and pooled TFR were calculated as follows: incision and drainage (n = 73; TFR = 75.6%; 95% CI 27.3-100%), incision alone (n = 74; TFR = 20.1%; 95% CI 0-59.9%), and breast duct irrigation (n = 123; TFR = 19.4%; 95% CI 0-65.0%). Patients treated with a minor excision (excision of the infected tissue and related duct; group 2) were divided into 4 subgroups and pooled TFR were calculated as follows: wound packing alone (n = 127; TFR = 2.1%; 95% CI 0-5.2%), primary closure alone (n = 66; TFR = 37.1%; 95% CI 9.5-64.8%), primary closure under antibiotic treatment cover (n = 55; TFR = 4.8%; 95% CI 0-11.4%), and additional nipple part removal (n = 232; TFR = 9.6%; 95% CI 5.8-13.4%). Patients treated with a major excision (excision of the infected tissue and the major duct; group 3) included the following 2 subgroups: patients treated with a circumareolar incision (n = 142; TFR = 7.5%; 95% CI 0.4-14.7%) and patients treated with a radial incision of the breast (n = 78; TFR = 0.6%; 95% CI 0-3.6%). Group 4 contained patients receiving different major plastic surgeries. The pooled TFR of this group (n = 86) was 3.4% (95% CI 0-7.5%). Conclusion: Breast duct irrigation, which is the most minimally invasive of all of the treatment options, seemed to yield good outcomes and may be the first-line treatment for PDM patients. Minor excision methods, except for primary closure alone, might be enough for most PDM patients. Major excision, especially with radial incision, was a highly effective salvage therapy. The major plastic surgery technique was also acceptable as an alternative treatment for patients with large lesions and concerns about breast appearance. Incision and drainage and minor excision with primary closure alone should be avoided for PDM patients. Further research is still needed to better understand the etiology and pathogenesis of PDM and explore more effective treatments for this disease.

A new landscape of rabbit gut microbiota shaped by the infection of precocious parasites of Eimeria intestinalis.

Rabbit intestinal coccidiosis is caused by one or several Eimeria species, which cause intestinal damage and secondary bacterial infection. However, the impact of Eimeria infection on gut microbiota is much unknown. To evaluate the influence, we detected the feces flora of SPF rabbits infected with the 1 × 104 oocysts of E. intestinalis wild type (WT) and a precocious line (EIP8), a highly pathogenic species, by 16S rRNA sequencing. The microbiota of newly weaned rabbits post vaccination with low doses of EIP8 oocysts was also detected. In SPF rabbits, while Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Bacteroidaceae were dominant families in all groups, EIP8 infection induced less changes in beta-diversity. In EIP8-infected rabbits, the intestinal flora whose abundance changed post infection accounted for less than 5.23 % of the entire flora. In comparison, it accounted for 27.18 % in WT group on d14 PI, while it was more than 20 % in diclazuril control group on d7 or d10 PI. The amount of fecal IgA and the abundance of IgA-production-related bacteria were similar in either EIP8 or WT infected rabbits. In the newly weaned rabbits, vaccination with EIP8 provided sufficient protection against challenge with WT parasites, as the body weight gain of vaccinated rabbits was similar to that of untreated animals, as well as more than 80 % reduction of oocyst output was detected when compared with unimmunized and challenged animals. Moreover, the vaccination had no significant impact on rabbit microbiota. Together, our findings suggested that the precocious line of E. intestinalis, compared with WT, induced a new fecal microbiota biodiversity in rabbits.

Study on anti-scaling of landfill leachate treated by evaporation method.

In the mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) treatment of landfill leachate, scaling in the evaporator and heat exchanger poses a serious problem. This study explored the reasons for such scaling and proposed acid or ion-exchange pre-treatments to reduce the alkalinity of the landfill leachate nanofiltration concentrate (LLNC) to prevent scaling. The feasibility of these two methods was evaluated and the technical and economic parameters for application were obtained via experiments. A large amount of HCO3- in the LLNC was the main cause of scaling. The acid addition experiment and field application demonstrated that this method could prevent fouling problems. The cost of acid addition was USD 0.18/t. LLNC pre-treatment by ion-exchange showed that a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin performed better than a strongly acidic cation-exchange resin did. The amount of solid residue under an alkalinity of 0 mg/L could be decreased by 92.9% compared with that of raw LLNC during evaporation. Both methods could alleviate scaling and enable the wide application of the MVR evaporation process in landfill leachate treatment.

Spectrum of thrombotic complications and their outcomes in Chinese children with primary nephrotic syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Thromboembolism is a life-threatening, limb-threatening or organ-threatening complication that occurs in patients with primary nephrotic syndrome (NS). There are few studies on the spectrum, complications and outcomes of thrombosis in children with NS. This study aimed to determine the spectrum of thrombosis and its relationship with the nephrotic state, treatment and outcomes in children and adolescents with primary NS. METHODS: The medical records of subjects aged 1-18 years with NS complicated with thromboembolism treated at our centre within the last 26 years were retrieved. Data on the status of NS, site, symptoms and signs, laboratory investigations, diagnosis, treatment, complications and outcomes of thrombosis were collected and reviewed retrospectively. A severe complication was defined as a condition associated with thrombosis requiring a special diagnostic modality to confirm or a specific treatment such as surgical intervention. The outcome of thrombosis was defined as the status of thrombosis, as determined by imaging methods and the functional status with respect to the anatomic sites of thrombosis at the last follow-up. The permanent dysfunction of an organ or limb related to thrombosis was defined as a sequela. RESULTS: We observed thrombosis in 1.4% (27/1995) of subjects with NS during the study period. There were 27 subjects with thrombosis, including 21 males and 6 females. Thrombosis was observed in 51.9% (14/27) of the study participants with steroid resistant NS. Most episodes of thrombosis occurred during the active stage of NS; however, 7.4% of thrombosis cases occurred during the remission of proteinuria. Renal vein thrombosis (33.3%) and pulmonary embolism (25.9%) were the most common types of thrombosis. Among the 17 subjects biopsied, minimal change disease and membranous nephropathy were the two most common findings. Six (22.2%) subjects experienced severe complications or sequelae; 1 had persistent intracranial hypertension, 1 had intestinal perforation, 1 had hypoxemia and pulmonary hypertension, 1 had lameness, 1 had epilepsy, and 1 had an askew mouth due to facial paralysis. In 19 (70.4%) subjects, the symptoms resolved completely or improved without severe complications or sequelae. CONCLUSIONS: Thrombosis mostly occurred in males of school age during the active stage of NS. Renal vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism were the most common types of thrombosis. In most patients with thrombosis, the symptoms improved completely without complications with standard anticoagulation therapy. However, 22.2% had severe complications or sequelae requiring an advanced diagnostic modality and aggressive treatment.

Factors Affecting Pathological Complete Response After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Operable Primary Breast Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate factors influencing pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in operable primary breast cancer. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Breast Center, Shunyi District Health Care Hospital for Women and Children of Beijing, Beijing 101300, P.R. China, from January 2009 to December 2017. METHODOLOGY: Two hundred and sixty-one operable primary invasive breast cancer patients treated with NAC were included in this observational study. Pathological complete response (pCR) was defined as no residual invasive disease in either the breast or the axillary lymph nodes, with non-invasive breast residuals permitted (ypT0/is ypN0). Factors affecting pCR were subjected to univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Seventy-six patients (29.1%) achieved pCR after NAC. Tumor size, histological grade, status of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR), expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and Ki67, axillary lymph node status, and chemotherapy regimen were all significantly associated with pCR in univariate analysis (all p<0.05). In multivariate analysis, high histological grade, negative HR status and lymph nodes, positive HER2 status, and taxane-based regimens were independent predictive factors of pCR. Patients with HER2-positive tumors were more sensitive to NAC regimen including trastuzumab. CONCLUSION: In this study, breast cancer patients with high histological grade, negative HR status and lymph nodes, positive HER2 status, as well as taxane-based regimens were significantly associated with achieving pCR with NAC. Key Words: Breast neoplasms, Neoadjuvant therapy, Surgery, Pathology.

Vaginal dysbiosis dominated by miscellaneous bacteria correlates with more severe clinical symptoms.

With the development of next-generation sequencing methods, dysbiosis patterns of the vaginal microbiome have been described worldwide, but the correlation between dysbiosis and clinical symptoms, which is crucial for understanding the vaginal microbiome-host interaction, is largely unknown. The present study identified 4 types of community states in 88 women with vaginal dysbiosis. These community state types (CSTs) were dominated by non-iners Lactobacillus (CST1), L.iners (CST2), and Gardnerella vaginalis (CST3), and a variety of dominant species other than the above three (CST4). We found that urodynia or lumbodynia was more prevalent in women with CST4 than in women with CST3, and cervical hypertrophy was more prevalent in women with CST4 than in women with CST2 and CST3. These results indicate that patients in CST4 may have a greater tendency of vaginal symptoms, and the detailed mechanisms underlying these correlations of specific microbes with host symptoms should be further studied.

Rabies virus glycoprotein serology ELISA for measurement of neutralizing antibodies in sera of vaccinated human subjects.

BACKGROUND: Vaccination provides protection against infection by inducing VNAs mainly against RABV surface GP. The measurement of VNAs to RABV is commonly used to assess the level of immunity in humans and animals after vaccination. A VNA titer of  ≥ 0.5 IU/mL of sera indicates adequate response to vaccination. Here, we report the development and validation of a RABV GP serology ELISA kit for semi-quantitative measurement of VNA titers in sera of vaccinated human subjects. METHODS: Using a recombinant RABV GP expressed in mammalian cells as the capture antigen, the ELISA method was established using HuMAb NM57 reference initially and HRIG reference subsequently. The limit of detection (LOD), linear range, reproducibility, and precision of the method were examined. Specificity and sensitivity were established to assess the diagnostic accuracy. RESULTS: RABV GP for ELISA plate coating and optimal dilution of human serum sample was 1 µg/mL and 1:20, respectively. Multiple assays were carried out by different technicians at different laboratories for assay standardization. Using the HRIG reference, the LOD was found to be 0.02-0.06 IU/mL and the linear range was 0.2-10.0 IU/ mL. The inter-assay CVs were in the range of 6.60-10.79%, indicating the reproducibility. None of the 12 known negative human sera, tested positive by ELISA, highlighting the specificity. A total of 415 unknown positive human sera were double-blind tested by the RFFIT and ELISA. The VNA titer cut-off value of ELISA was set at 1.5 IU/mL to ensure no false-positive. The diagnostic specificity and sensitivity were 100% and 91.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The validation data characterize this ELISA as a suitable method for semi-quantitative measurement of VNA titers in human serum samples to assess vaccination status. The ELISA kit can offer simplicity, speed, low cost and high throughput, making it a practical tool for monitoring the immune response following vaccination.

A strategy for generating rice apomixis by gene editing.

Apomixis is an asexual reproduction way of plants that can produce clonal offspring through seeds. In this study, we introduced apomixis into rice (Oryza sativa) by mutating OsSPO11-1, OsREC8, OsOSD1, and OsMATL through a CRISPR/Cas9 system. The quadruple mutant showed a transformation from meiosis to mitosis and produced clonal diploid gametes. With mutated Osmatl, which gives rise to haploid induction in plants, the quadruple mutant is expected to be able to be produced apomictic diploid offspring. We named this quadruple mutant as AOP (Apomictic Offspring Producer) for its ability to produce apomictic offspring.

Selection and identification of a precocious line of Eimeria intestinalis with enlarged oocysts and deletion of one generation of schizogony.

Rabbit coccidiosis is a common parasitic disease and responsible for enormous economic losses in the rabbit industry. Eimeria intestinalis, one of the highly pathogenic and common Eimeria species infecting rabbits, is considered as an indispensable species for the development of live oocyst vaccines against rabbit coccidiosis. In this study, we report the successful selection of a precocious line (EIP8) from a wild-type strain of E. intestinalis (WT) by successively collecting and propagating the early excreted progeny oocysts. The EIP8 line had a prepatent period of only 132 h compared to 204 h for the WT. Oocysts of EIP8 were notably different from those produced by the WT strain by their significantly larger size (mean length: 29.3 vs 27.6 µm and mean width 20.5 vs 19.8 µm). Examination of tissue sections prepared from EIP8-infected rabbits revealed that this precocious line undergoes only two generations of schizogony before differentiating into gametocytes by 120 h post-infection. In contrast, WT parasites undergo three generations of schizogony and gametocytes are present by 168 h post-infection. EIP8 multiplication capacity reduced by more than 35-fold and a concomitant decrease in pathogenicity was detected. Interestingly, immunization with 103 or 104 EIP8 oocysts provided sufficient protection against homologous challenge with wild-type parasites, as body weight gain of immunized and challenged rabbits was similar to that of untreated animals, as well as more than 90% reduction of oocyst output was detected in immunized and challenged animals when compared to unimmunized and challenged animals. Together, these results show that the EIP8 precocious line of E. intestinalis is an attenuated immunogenic strain and a suitable candidate for the development of a live vaccine against rabbit coccidiosis.

Comparative transcriptome analysis of Eimeria maxima (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) suggests DNA replication activities correlating with its fecundity.

BACKGROUND: Chicken coccidiosis, caused by the infection of Eimeria species, leads to important economic losses to the poultry industry. Vaccination with attenuated live parasites seems to be the best way to control this disease. Attenuated eimerian parasites with shortened prepatent times show great changes in intracellular development compared to their parent strains but the mechanisms involved in these biological differences are still unclear. RESULTS: In this study, we obtained a precocious line of E. maxima by sequential selection of 22 generations of early shed oocysts in chickens and performed a comparative transcriptome analysis of three different developmental stages of the precocious line and its parent strain using Illumina high-throughput sequencing. Our E. maxima precocious line showed decreased pathogenicity, reduced fecundity and a greatly shorted prepatent time of only 98 h. We found that typical gene changes in the stage development from unsporulated to sporulated oocyst and from sporulated oocyst to merozoite were marked by upregulated organelle genes and protein translation related genes, respectively. Additionally, major differences between the precocious line and its parent strain were detected in the merozoite stage, characterized by downregulated genes involved in protein cleavage and DNA replication activities. CONCLUSIONS: Our study generated and characterized an E. maxima precocious line, illustrating gene expression landscapes during parasite development by transcriptome analysis. We also show that the suppressed DNA replication progress in the merozoite stage in the precocious line may result in its reduced fecundity. These results provide the basis for a better understanding of the mechanism of precocity in Eimeria species, which can be useful in studies in early gametocytogenesis in apicomplexan parasites.

Eimeria tenella infection perturbs the chicken gut microbiota from the onset of oocyst shedding.

Coccidiosis is a serious threat to the poultry industry, resulting in substantial economic losses worldwide. The effective development of alternative treatments for coccidiosis that does not involve chemotherapy drugs and does not result in antibiotic resistance relies on gaining a clearer understanding of the interaction between host intestinal microbiota and enteric coccidia. Here, we established an Eimeria tenella infection model in chickens and subsequently monitored the changes in the overall intestinal microbiome using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that the gut (i.e. fecal) microbiota of infected chicken differed from that of uninfected naïve animals. Levels of non-pathogenic bacteria, including Lactobacillus and Faecalibacterium declined, whereas those of pathogenic bacteria, including Clostridium, Lysinibacillus, and Escherichia, increased over time in response to E. tenella infection. Similar dynamic changes of the fecal microbiota were observed in both Arbor Acres broilers and White Leghorn chickens, indicating that the perturbation of the microbiota was directly induced by E. tenella infection. Our findings could be used to further elucidate the serious damage to host health caused by coccidia infection, leading to the development of new effective treatment options for coccidiosis.

Altered splenic miRNA expression profile in H1N1 swine influenza.

Previous studies have demonstrated the key regulatory roles played by microRNAs (miRNAs) in influenza virus-host interactions. To gain more insight into the contribution of miRNAs to the host immune response, spleen tissues from mice infected with A/Swine/GD/2/12 (H1N1) virus were harvested 5 days postinfection, and miRNA deep sequencing was performed. The results showed that 50 miRNAs were modulated. Interestingly, pathway analysis of miRNAs and targets showed that upregulated miR-124-3p interacts with innate immune-related pathways such as the Toll-like receptor pathway, RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway and JAK-STAT signaling pathway, and this might play a major role in the anti-inflammatory response. Further understanding of the roles played by these miRNAs in influenza virus infection will provide new insights into host-pathogen interactions.

Bovine mastitis Staphylococcus aureus: antibiotic susceptibility profile, resistance genes and molecular typing of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive strains in China.

The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in dairy animals is of great concern for livestock and public health. The aim of present study was to detect new trends of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) towards antibiotic susceptibility, resistance genes and molecular typing by methods of disc diffusion, multiplex PCR assay and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). A total of 219 S. aureus strains were isolated from bovine mastitis cases from six provinces of China, including 34 MRSA strains. The results revealed that more than 70% isolated strains showed resistance to various antibiotics, and multiple-drugs resistance to more than five categories of antibiotics was found more common. The ermC was the most prevalent resistance gene, followed by other genes; however, ermA was the least frequently detected gene. Twenty-eight mecA-negative MRSA and six mecA-positive MRSA strains were detected, and in which three strains were ST97-MRSA-IV, others were ST965-MRSA-IV, ST6-MRSA-IV and ST9-MRSA-SCCmec-NT. The mecA-negative MRSA strains were found resistant to most of the antibiotics, and harbored aac(6')/aph(2''), aph(3')-III and tetM genes higher than MSSA strains. The resistance to most of the antibiotics was significantly higher in MRSA than in MSSA strains. The MLST profiles showed that these strains mainly belonged to CC5, CC398, CC121 and CC50 lineage, especially within ST97 and ST398, while some novel sequence types (ST2154, ST2165 and ST2166) were identified and deposited in the MLST database. This indicates that the resistance of S. aureus is becoming more complicated by changes in multi-drug resistance mechanism and appearance of mecA-negative MRSA isolates, and importantly, MRSA-IV strains in different MLST types are emerging.

In vivo differences in the virulence, pathogenicity, and induced protective immunity of wboA mutants from genetically different parent Brucella spp.

To explore the effects of the genetic background on the characteristics of wboA gene deletion rough mutants generated from different parent Brucella sp. strains, we constructed the rough-mutant strains Brucella melitensis 16 M-MB6, B. abortus 2308-SB6, B. abortus S19-RB6, and B. melitensis NI-NB6 and evaluated their survival, pathogenicity, and induced protective immunity in mice and sheep. In mice, the survival times of the four mutants were very different in the virulence assay, from less than 6 weeks for B. abortus S19-RB6 to 11 weeks for B. abortus 2308-SB6 and B. melitensis NI-NB6. However, B. abortus S19-RB6 and B. melitensis 16 M-MB6, with a shorter survival time in mice, offered better protection against challenges with B. abortus 2308 in protection tests than B. abortus 2308-SB6 and B. melitensis NI-NB6. It seems that the induced protective immunity of each mutant might not be associated with its survival time in vivo. In the cross-protection assay, both B. melitensis 16 M-MB6 and B. abortus S19-RB6 induced greater protection against homologous challenges than heterologous challenges. When pregnant sheep were inoculated with B. abortus S19-RB6 and B. melitensis 16 M-MB6, B. abortus S19-RB6 did not induce abortion, whereas B. melitensis 16 M-MB6 did. These results demonstrated the differences in virulence, pathogenicity, and protective immunity in vivo in the wboA deletion mutants from genetically different parent Brucella spp. and also indicated that future rough vaccine strain development could be promising if suitable parent Brucella strains and/or genes were selected.

[Effects of soybean isoflavone on reproductive development in SD rats].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of soybean isoflavone on reproductive development in SD rats. METHODS: Forty 4 week-old SD rats (20 males and 20 females) were randomly divided into a control group and a soy isoflavone (SI) group according to their body mass, and were fed with normal diet or normal diet added with soy isoflavone (100 mg/kg BW), respectively. The body weight, daily food intake, estrous cycle, fertility index, pregnant index, gestation length, number of pups, blood hormone level, the weight of reproduction organ and the quality of sperm of the parental generation and the sex ratio, anogenital distance, vagina opening time, prepuce separation time of F1 generation were recorded. The data were analyzed by two independent t test, and the data of pups in each litter were analyzed as a unit. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the body weight and food utilization of male and female rats in SI group were lower before copulation (P < 0.05). The total number of sperm of parental males was higher (P < 0.05). Serum luteinizing hormone (LH) level of parental male was lower (P < 0.05), serum luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin (PRL) and progesterone (P) of parental female were lower in SI group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences of other indices such as estrous cycle, mating index, fertility index between two groups. CONCLUSION: SI has certain effect on the bodyweight of parental males, food utilization of females, and the total number of sperm and the level of some hormones.