Identification and Characterization of the miRNA Transcriptome Controlling Green Pigmentation of Chicken Eggshells.

Green eggs are mainly caused by inserting an avian endogenous retrovirus (EVA-HP) fragment into the SLCO1B3 gene. Although the genotypes for this insertion allele are consistent, eggshell color (ESC) may vary after a peak laying period; light-colored eggs are undesired by consumers and farmers and result in financial loss, so it is necessary to resolve this problem. miRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that exert essential functions in animal development and diseases. However, the regulatory miRNAs and detailed molecular mechanisms regulating eggshell greenness remain unclear. In the present study, we determined the genotype of green-eggshell hens through the detection of a homozygous allele insertion in the SLCO1B3 gene. The shell gland epithelium was obtained from green-eggshell hens that produced white and green shell eggs to perform transcriptome sequencing and investigate the important regulatory mechanisms that influence the ESC. Approximately 921 miRNAs were expressed in these two groups, which included 587 known miRNAs and 334 novel miRNAs, among which 44 were differentially expressed. There were 22 miRNAs that were significantly upregulated in the green and white groups, respectively, which targeted hundreds of genes, including KIT, HMOX2, and several solute carrier family genes. A Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of the target genes showed that the differentially expressed miRNA-targeted genes mainly belonged to the functional categories of homophilic cell adhesion, gland development, the Wnt signaling pathway, and epithelial tube morphogenesis. A KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the Hedgehog signaling pathway was significantly transformed in this study. The current study provides an overview of the miRNA expression profiles and the interaction between the miRNAs and their target genes. It provides valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying green eggshell pigmentation, screening more effective hens to produce stable green eggs and obtaining higher economic benefits.

Dynamic Changes in Intestinal Gene Expression and Microbiota across Chicken Egg-Laying Stages.

Eggs are a vital dietary component for humans, and it is beneficial to increase egg production to support poultry farming. Initially, the egg production rate rises rapidly with young hens until it reaches its peak, and then it declines gradually. By extending the duration of peak egg production, the hens' performance can be enhanced significantly. Previous studies found dynamic changes in gut microbiota during egg-laying, and several species of microbiota isolated from the chicken gut improved egg-laying performance. However, the interaction between microbes and host gene expression is still unclear. This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of chicken egg-laying by examining dynamic alterations in the microbiota of the entire intestinal tract (i.e., duodenum, jejunum, and ileum) and gene expression. The microbial community in the intestine underwent significant changes during different egg-laying periods (i.e., pre-, peak-, and late-laying periods). Metagenomic functional analysis showed that the relative abundance of biosynthesis of amino acids, secondary metabolites, and cofactors decreased significantly in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum of aging hens. The relative levels of aldosterone, GnRH, insulin, growth hormone, and other hormone-related pathways increased dramatically in the intestinal microbiota during egg-laying, but only in the microbiota located in the duodenum and ileum. Transcriptome analysis suggested that genes associated with various transport processes were upregulated consistently in the small intestine during egg-laying; genes involved in the development of intestinal structure were down-regulated; and genes involved in response to DNA damage and stress were consistent with changes in laying rate. The abundance of Lactobacillus was related to the expression of ANGPTRL1, ANGPTRL2, ANGPT1L, and NOXO1 in the duodenum; Muricomes was correlated significantly with NFKBIZ, LYG2, and IRG1L expression in the jejunum; and Campylobacter was correlated positively with the expression of KMT2A and USF3 in the ileum. These results indicated that the intestinal microbiota and host gene expression may influence egg production jointly.

Rotation of Celosia argentea and Sedum plumbizincicola promotes Cd phytoextraction efficiency.

Most hyperaccumulators cannot maintain vigorous growth throughout the year, which may result in a low phytoextraction efficiency for a few months. In the present study, rotation of two hyperaccumulators is proposed to address this issue. An 18-month field experiment was conducted to evaluate the phytoextraction efficiency of Cd by the monoculture and rotation of Celosia argentea and Sedum plumbizincicola. The results showed that rotation increased amount of extracted Cd increased by 2.3 and 1.6 times compared with monoculture of C. argentea and S. plumbizincicola. In rotation system, the biomass of S. plumbizincicola and Cd accumulation in C. argentea increased by 54.4% and 40.7%, respectively. Rotation reduced fallow time and increased harvesting frequency, thereby enhancing Cd phytoextraction. Planting C. argentea significantly decreased soil pathogenic microbes and increased the abundances of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase genes, which may be beneficial for the growth of S. plumbizincicola. Planting S. plumbizincicola increased the abundance of sulfur oxidization (SOX) system genes and decreased soil pH (p < 0.05), thereby increasing the Cd uptake by C. argentea. These findings indicated that rotation of C. argentea and S. plumbizincicola is a promising method for promoting Cd phytoextraction.

Different effects of taproot and fibrous root crops on pore structure and microbial network in reclaimed soil.

Understanding the effects of plant roots on the pore structure and microbial community of soil is crucial to recovery and improve soil productivity in mining areas. This study aims to assess the impact of taproot (TR) and fibrous root (FR) crops on the physicochemical properties, pore structure, and microbial communities and networks in reclaimed mine soil. Results showed that reclamation positively influenced pore structure and microbial diversity. Tillage with TR and FR crops significantly increased porosity, total pore volume, and area of mining soil (p < 0.05). Compared with TR, FR produced more macropores, mesopores, and micropores. In addition, the module group, average degree, density, and connectivity of microbial network in FR cultivated soil were higher than those in TR cultivated soil. The microbial network map showed that FR had more keystone taxa than TR, and mainly consisted of Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria. In the FR microbial network, Rhizobiales, Betaproteobacteria, and Acidobacteria_Gp11 play critical roles as module hubs and Noviherbaspirillum and Zavarzinella as connectors. Furthermore, most of the key microbes were significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with the total pore area and probably tended to live in pores >75 µm and 0.1-5 µm in size. Therefore, FR crops were more effective than TR crops in improving pore structure and enhancing the development of microbial network in reclaimed soil.

A deep learning-based method for pediatric congenital heart disease detection with seven standard views in echocardiography.

Background: With the aggregation of clinical data and the evolution of computational resources, artificial intelligence-based methods have become possible to facilitate clinical diagnosis. For congenital heart disease (CHD) detection, recent deep learning-based methods tend to achieve classification with few views or even a single view. Due to the complexity of CHD, the input images for the deep learning model should cover as many anatomical structures of the heart as possible to enhance the accuracy and robustness of the algorithm. In this paper, we first propose a deep learning method based on seven views for CHD classification and then validate it with clinical data, the results of which show the competitiveness of our approach. Methods: A total of 1411 children admitted to the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine were selected, and their echocardiographic videos were obtained. Then, seven standard views were selected from each video, which were used as the input to the deep learning model to obtain the final result after training, validation and testing. Results: In the test set, when a reasonable type of image was input, the area under the curve (AUC) value could reach 0.91, and the accuracy could reach 92.3%. During the experiment, shear transformation was used as interference to test the infection resistance of our method. As long as appropriate data were input, the above experimental results would not fluctuate obviously even if artificial interference was applied. Conclusions: These results indicate that the deep learning model based on the seven standard echocardiographic views can effectively detect CHD in children, and this approach has considerable value in practical application.

Assessing the potential of red mud and dehydrated mineral mud mixtures as soil matrix for revegetation.

The disposal of red mud (RM) and dehydrated mineral mud (DM) presents a significant challenge for the global alumina industry. This study proposes a novel disposal method for RM and DM, which uses mixtures of RM and DM as a soil matrix for revegetation in the mining area. RM mixed with DM effectively alleviated its salinity and alkalinity. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that reduction of salinity and alkalinity may be due to the release of chemical alkali from sodalite and cancrinite. Applications of ferric chloride (FeCl3), gypsum, and organic fertilizer (OF) improved the physicochemical properties of the RM-DM mixtures. FeCl3 significantly reduced available Cd, As, Cr, and Pb content in the RM-DM, while OF significantly increased the cation exchange capacity, microbial carbon and nitrogen, and aggregate stability (p < 0.05). Micro-computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis showed that amendment with OF and FeCl3 increased the porosity, pore diameter, and hydraulic conductivity in the RM-DM mixture. The RM-DM mixtures had low leaching of toxic elements, indicating low environmental risk. Ryegrass grew well in the RM-DM mixture at a ratio of 1:3. OF and FeCl3 significantly increased the ryegrass biomass (p < 0.05). These results suggested that RM-DM amended with OF and FeCl3 has a potential application in the revegetation of areas after bauxite mining.

Ecological evolution during the three-year restoration using rhizosphere soil cover method at a Lead-Zinc tailing pond in Karst areas.

A major challenge for the restoration of the Lead-Zinc tailing pond in Karst areas lies in how to establish vegetation with less soil and restore the ecological functions of the substrate. In this study, a novel method, rhizosphere soil cover method (RSC), was applied to recover the vegetation at a Pb-Zn tailing pond in Karst areas. Two local tolerate plants, Miscanthus sinensis and Pueraria phaseoloides, were planted as pioneer species. Although 68 % of the tailing pond was not covered with soil, the vegetation coverage has reached over 90 % after restoration for three years. Compared with the natural revegetation process (vegetation coverage was <5 % after 20 years of natural succession), the revegetation in the tailing pond was accelerated by RSC and planting pioneer species. Both the plant's diversity and richness have significantly increased in the tailings pond during the restoration (p < 0.05). The important value indicators of M. sinensis and P. phaseoloides were the highest in the plant community, indicating the dominant role of these two plants in revegetation. Moreover, the total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total potassium in the tailings increased annually (p < 0.05), which demonstrated that the revegetation has improved the chemical properties in the substrate. In addition, the Shannon diversity index of bacteria in the tailings increased significantly from 4.11 to 5.51. The relative abundance of microbial genes related to carbon fixation and nitrogen fixation in the tailings increased by 17 % and 43 %, respectively. Meanwhile, the physicochemical properties, microbial community structure, and nutrient cycling function in the tailings without topsoil were improved more obviously than those in soils. It is thereby concluded that RSC is an efficient means for ecological restoration of the tailing ponds in Karst areas to improve the ecosystem structure and function of Pb-Zn tailings.

Therapeutic management of hemorrhage from visceral artery pseudoaneurysms after pancreatic surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Hemorrhage from pseudoaneurysms after pancreatic surgery is a rare but life-threatening and complicated complication. The study presents our experience to provide therapeutic management for this rare condition. METHODS: Between February 1994 and January 2011, 35 patients experienced hemorrhage from pseudoaneurysms in our hospital. Medical data of this rare complication were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The prevalence of hemorrhage from pseudoaneurysms was 3.2% (35/1,102). Sixteen patients (45.7%) experienced sentinel bleeding. Pancreatic fistula (74.3%) and intra-abdominal abscess (57.1%) were two common complications prior to hemorrhage. Of 35 patients, 20 underwent endovascular intervention, 14 received surgical re-laparotomy, and bleeding stopped spontaneously in one. The overall mortality rate was 22.9%. Technical success rate of endovascular treatment was 87%. There were significant differences in the mortality rate (10.0% vs 42.9%), operation time (72.8 vs 123.9 min), estimated blood loss (1,835 vs 3,000 ml), and intensive care unit stay (3.6 vs 8.6 days) between endovascular and surgical treatment. Mean follow-up was 19.2 ± 17.0 (range, 5-63 months). CONCLUSION: Endovascular intervention represents the first-line treatment for hemorrhage from pseudoaneurysms after pancreatic surgery. Endovascular embolization or stent-graft placement should be selected individually depending on the involved artery and its vascular anatomy.

[Application of portal vein chemoembolization in major hepatectomy for initially unresectable primary and secondary hepatic tumors].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the surgical treatment of initially unresectable primary and secondary hepatic tumors. METHODS: For the patients with multiple and bilobar colonic hepatic metastases, a first-stage hepatectomy consisted in a radical resection of sigmoid colonic carcinoma and left lateral hepatic segment. Subsequently, under the guidance of ultrasonography and radiography, a right portal vein chemoembolization (PVCE) was performed via a percutaneous approach through left portal branch to induce the atrophy of right hemiliver and hypertrophy of left hemiliver. At Week 5 post-PVCE, a second-stage hepatectomy was planned to resect the right hemiliver. For patients with huge hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) were performed and it was followed by PVCE 1 week later. At Week 4 post-PVCE, a right trisegmentectomy was attempted to resect the right liver tumor. The volume of liver was evaluated with three-dimensional CT scan at Weeks 2 and 4 weeks post-PVCE. RESULTS: At Week 4 post-PVCE, the atrophy of right lobe was induced and the left lobe underwent compensatory hypertrophy. The remnant volumes of right lobe and right trisegmentectomy for HCC decreased from 1380.0 cm(3), 1685.4 cm(3) at pre-PVCE to 740.2 cm(3), 1228.1 cm(3) at post-PVCE. The values increased from pre-PVCE 435.1 cm(3), 151.5 cm(3) to post-PVCE 624.4 cm(3), 560.2 cm(3) for left hepatic lobe remnant of colonic liver metastases and left lateral segment for HCC. The ratios of liver remnant to estimated total liver volume increased from 25.6%, 13.6% at pre-PVCE to 50.0%, 43.1% post-PVCE respectively. The postoperative course was uneventful. The liver function, serum CEA and AFP decreased to the normal levels. Two patients were followed up for 18 and 8 months respectively. There was no tumor recurrence. CONCLUSION: PVCE prevents the hepatic function failure after a major hepatectomy. And it may benefit more patients with previously unresectable liver tumors.

Protective effects of ischaemic postconditioning on warm/cold ischaemic reperfusion injury in rat liver: a comparative study with ischaemic preconditioning.

BACKGROUND: Ischaemic reperfusion injury (IRI) is inevitable during major liver surgery. Ischaemic preconditioning (IPC) has been proven an effective intervention against hepatic IRI. Recently, it was demonstrated that ischaemic postconditioning (IPO) provided effective cardioprotection on IRI. We evaluated the protective effects of IPO on warm/cold IRI in rat liver by a comparison with IPC and assessed the role of apoptosis in the process. METHODS: Warm IRI model (clamping hepatic pedicle for 30 minutes) and cold IRI model (orthotopic liver transplantation with 2 hours cold storage) were established. Each model consisted of 3 groups: (1) control group, normal warm/cold IRI; (2) IPC group, 5 minutes of ischaemia followed by 5 minutes of reperfusion twice prior to warm/cold IRI; (3) IPO group, 30 seconds of reperfusion followed by 30 seconds of reocclusion for three times after warm/cold ischaemia. The levels of serum transaminase, glucose, and gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT) in bile, histopathological examination, apoptotic activity of hepatocyte, and apoptosis related protein Fas, at 3 hours after operation were compared. Survival rates one week after intervention were also compared. RESULTS: IPO and IPC protected the functions of hepatocytes and biliary epithelial cells, inhibited the hepatocellular apoptosis by preventing expression of Fas gene, and elevated the one week survival rate compared with control group in both models (P < 0.05). IPO and IPC groups were comparable in levels of serum transaminase levels, glucose, and GGT in bile, Fas positive expression index, and one week survival. In cold ischaemic models, IPO had lower apoptotic index than IPC (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with ischaemic preconditioning, ischaemic postconditioning is associated with comparable protections of rat liver from warm or cold ischaemic reperfusion injury.