Effects of sorghum distillers dried grains with solubles on the carcass characteristics and muscle quality of China Micro Duck drakes aged from 4 to 8 weeks.

A study was conducted to determine the effects of feeding sorghum distiller's dried grains with solubles (SDDGS) on carcasses characteristics (live weight, whole net carcass rate, breast muscle percentage, thigh muscle percentage), muscle quality (meat color, shear stress, cooking loss rate, cooked meat percentage), and meat composition of China Micro Duck (CMD) drakes aged from 4 to 8 wk. A total of 240 CMD drakes (aged 4 wk and initial weight was 496.7 g) were randomly allotted to one of 4 dietary treatments in randomized complete block design. The 4 treatments were S0(the control group, S5, S10, S15, indicating the dietary content of SDDGS (zero, 5,10 and 15%, respectively). Each treatment with 60 drakes was equally divided into 6 repeated test groups, each group with 10 drakes. The results showed that S5, S10, and S15 could decrease the thigh muscle percentage linearly (P < 0.01); however, there was no significant (p > 0.05) effect on other carcass characteristic and muscle quality indexes of live body weight (BW), whole net carcass yield (WNCY), breast muscle percentage (BMP), breast muscle color (BMC), thigh muscle color (TMC), breast shear strength (BSS), cooking loss (CL), or cooked meat percentage (CMP). For meat composition, the increasing level of SDDGS caused a linear and quadratic decrease (P < 0.01) of crude protein and a linear and quadratic (P < 0.01) increase of crude fat of thigh and breast muscle, while breast muscle ash was not significantly affected (P > 0.05). Overall, this study revealed that in the 3 kinds of diets with SDDGS, S5 had the least negative impact on carcass characteristics, muscle quality, and meat composition.

Developmental changes in the expression of the GLUT2 and GLUT4 genes in the longissimus dorsi muscle of Yorkshire and Tibetan pigs.

Glucose transporter proteins 2 and 4 (GLUT2 and GLUT4) play important roles in glucose transport and energy metabolism. Changes in the levels of GLUT2 and GLUT4 mRNA were measured in longissimus dorsi muscle from the lean Yorkshire and fat Tibetan pig breeds at six different time points (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 months) with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions. The results showed that GLUT2 and GLUT4 mRNA were abundantly expressed in the longissimus dorsi muscle and that the developmental expression patterns were similar in both breeds. Tibetan pigs exhibited higher intramuscular fat and GLUT2 mRNA levels, while Yorkshire pigs exhibited a higher myofiber cross-sectional area (CSA) and GLUT4 mRNA levels. Furthermore, the changes in the GLUT4 mRNA levels were strongly and positively correlated with the CSA over a period of six months. These results exhibit time- and breed-specific expression patterns of GLUT2 and GLUT4, which highlight their potential as candidate genes for assessing adipose deposition and muscle development in pigs. These differences in the expression of GLUT family genes may also have indications for meat quality.

A combined In situ grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction study of the growth of Ge Islands on pit-patterned Si(001) substrates.

The growth of Ge islands on a pit-patterned Si(001) template is investigated in situ, combining grazing incidence diffraction, multiple wavelength anomalous diffraction, and small angle scattering. This allows monitoring in situ the detailed structural and morphological evolutions of the pits, of the wetting-layer and of the nucleated islands on the pit-patterned Si(001) substrate. It is shown that after Si regrowth, the Si substrate displays {107} and {1 1 11} facets. During the very first stages of Ge growth, the preliminary facets of the Si substrate are energetically unfavourable, and the pit facets break up into a rather complex pattern of {10n} and {11m} facets with n > 7 and m > 11. At 5 and 6 ML, intensity rods from {105} and {113}-type facets appear in the GISAXS images revealing the formation of pyramids and domes, respectively. The degree of ordering, the shape, strain and composition of the islands are characterized during the growth process to provide a detailed evolution of their structure and morphology.

Plasma reproductive hormones in normal and vasectomized Chinese males.

Plasma reproductive hormones (testosterone, LH, FSH and prolactin) were measured in 298 normal healthy males aged 30-73 years from rural areas of Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China, and in 505 similar men vasectomized between 1 year and 25 years previously. Age-related increases in LH and FSH but not in testosterone or prolactin were noted in normal men. No adverse effects of vasectomy were observed apart from a 16% increase in mean LH levels in the vasectomized compared to non-vasectomized men of similar ages.

PIP: The longterm effect of vasectomy on plasma reproductive hormones was investigated in a cross-sectional study conducted in China's Sichuan Province. The study group included 505 men 30-73 years of age who had undergone vasectomy 1-25 years earlier and 298 nonvasectomized controls in the same age group. The mean age of vasectomized men was 48.8 years and that if controls was 46.3 years. The mean duration since vasectomy was 12.4 years in the study group. Study findings revealed a significant increase in plasma testosterone and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) with time since vasectomy, but no difference was observed between the vasectomized men and nonvasectomized controls when age effects were controlled. The mean testosterone level in men vasectomized 1-11 years earlier (22.8 nmol/1) was significantly below that for nonvasectomized controls (24.9 mmol/1); however, in men vasectomized 12-15, 16-19, and 20+ years earlier the mean testosterone levels were higher (26.4, 24.6, and 29.0 mmol/1, respectively). Plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) levels increased with age in both groups, but the levels did not differ according to time since vasectomy. The rise in plasma LH, without an associated decrease in testosterone levels, in healthy men suggests either that the aging testis requires higher concentrations of gonadotropins to maintain its testosterone biosynthetic efficiency or that the biological to immunological ratio of the circulating LH may decrease with age.