Effects of Bacillus methylotrophicus SY200 Supplementation on Growth Performance, Antioxidant Status, Intestinal Morphology, and Immune Function in Broiler Chickens.

The present study was focused on evaluating the effects of Bacillus methylotrophicus SY200 in broiler production. A total of 120 healthy 7-day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments, which included basal diet supplemented with 0%, 0.10%, 0.25%, or 0.50% (w/w) B. methylotrophicus SY200 preparation (1.0 × 109 cfu/g), regarded as negative control group (NC), low-dose group (BML), medium-dose group (BMM), and high-dose group (BMH), respectively. Each treatment was fed the corresponding experimental diet for 35 days. Results showed that dietary supplementation of B. methylotrophicus SY200 could improve broiler weight gain, especially the finisher phase. Further studies suggested that a certain amount of B. methylotrophicus SY200 enhanced the broiler antioxidant status and improved the morphological development of jejunum. Besides, dietary supplementation of B. methylotrophicus SY200 especially in 0.50% levels significantly increased the relative weight of immune organs and Newcastle disease virus antibody titer, similarly, increased mRNA expression levels of claudin-1, claudin-3, zonula occluden-1, and zonula occluden-2 were observed in the jejunum of BMM group. Moreover, B. methylotrophicus SY200 also showed beneficial effects in improving broilers microbiota homeostasis by increasing the number of beneficial bacteria. Conclusively, B. methylotrophicus SY200 could effectively improve the antioxidant status, modulate the intestinal structure, enhance the intestinal mucosal barrier function, and regulate the immune function of broilers, which finally improves the performance of the chicken in the finisher period.

Conservative Treatment for Delayed Infection After Cranioplasty With Titanium Alloy.

Cranioplasty (CP) is considered a low-risk operation in the field of neurosurgery following decompression craniectomy. Nevertheless, CP is still burdened by surgical complications, among which early or late infections are the most common outcome-threatening ones. Most of infection cases occur within a week after CP. Except that, implant-associated scalp infection is the most common complication, and leads to implant removal in many patients with refractory and recurrent infection. The authors reported a patient presenting with epidural infection about 3 months after titanium implant and cured by anti-infective treatment for 2 weeks.

[Superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde and proline as new quality criteria for Schizochytrium sp. fermentation].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to find a novel method to evaluate the strain quality of Schizochytrium sp. HX-308. METHODS: An acclimatized strain and an original strain were cultivated under normal condition. Meanwhile, the same acclimatized strain was cultured under two different conditions, the optimum condition and the harsh condition. We detected the activity of superoxide dismutase and the contents of malondialdehyde and proline by WST-1 method, thiobarbituric acid test and colorimetry, respectively. The relationship between the three criteria and the fermentation performance of Schizochytrium sp. HX-308 was studied. RESULTS: The acclimatized strain cultured under the optimal fermentation condition had the lowest superoxide dismutase activity (0.025 U/g protein), malondialdehyde (26.20 mmol/g x Fw) and proline contents (0.098 mg/g x Fw). In contrast, the superoxide dismutase activity of the original strain cultured in the harsh conditions was 5 times higher than that of the acclimatized strain, the malondialdehyde and proline contents were both 2 times as high as the acclimatized strain. CONCLUSION: The three criteria were correlated negatively with the fermentation performance. Thus, they could be used to evaluate quality and fermentation performance of Schizochytrium sp.