BackgroundThe present study compared the effects of soybean meal fermented by three different probiotics organisms with non-fermented soybean meal on growth performance, serum parameters, immune chemistry and intestinal morphology in weaned piglets.MethodsOne hundred and forty-four 35-day old crossbred (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) piglets were randomly allocated into four different dietary treatments (n = 36 per group) containing 0, 5, 10 and 15% fermented soybean meal.ResultsThe piglets fed fermented soybean meal showed an increase (p < 0.05) in average daily weight gain and a reduction in feed consumption (p < 0.05).The piglets fed 10 and 15% fermented soybean meal showed the greatest growth improvement with higher levels of serum alkaline phosphatase and total serum proteins. Serum urea nitrogen in the experimental group was significantly lower than control whereas serum IgG, IgM and IgA levels were all significantly higher. Moreover, villus height in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum was significantly higher (p < 0.05) and the crypt depth was significantly lower (p < 0.05). The levels of the autophagy factor LC3B in piglets showed a downward trend in the jejunum and ileum compared to control.ConclusionsFermented soybean meal could significantly improve the growth, immune function and intestinal health in weaned piglets, and the best effective benefits showed in 10% FSBM group.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12934-017-0809-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Annually, tons and tons of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are produced in the world. And they are applied in almost all aspects of our life. Their release from the products into environment may pose issue for human health. Although many studies have reported the adverse effects of ZnO NPs on organisms, little is known about the effects on female reproductive systems or the related mechanisms. Quantitative proteomics have not been applied although quantitative transcriptomics have been used in zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) research. Genes are very important players however proteins are the real actors in the biological systems. By using hen’s ovarian granulosa cells, it was found that ZnO-NP-5μg/ml and ZnSO4-10μg/ml treatments produced the same amount of intracellular Zn and resulted in similar cell growth inhibition. And NPs were found in the treated cells. However, ZnO-NP-5μg/ml specifically regulated the expression of genes and proteins compared with that in ZnSO4-10μg/ml treatment. For the first time, this investigation reports that intact NPs produce different impacts on the expression of genes and proteins involved in specific pathways compared to that by Zn2+. The findings enrich our knowledge for the molecular insights of zinc oxide nanoparticles effects on the female reproductive systems. This also may raise the health concern that ZnO NPs may adversely affect the female reproductive systems through regulation of specific signaling pathways.

The well-sustained CEQ release from the microspheres revealed its suitability as a drug delivery vehicle that minimized injury to healthy tissues while achieving the accumulation of therapeutic drug for lung targeting. The intravenous administration of CEQ gelatin microspheres prepared by SDM is of potential value in treating lung diseases in animals.

Background Cervical cancer is the fourth most frequent malignancy among women globally, with approximately 604,000 new cases and 341,000 deaths per year. Necroptosis is a newly discovered mechanism of cell death involved in biological behaviors of cancer. Methods LASSO Cox regression analysis was conducted to construct a prognostic necroptosis-related signature. lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA regulatory axis was constructed with a ceRNA network. qRT-PCR was performed to verify our result. Results A total of 54 necroptosis-related genes were differentially expressed in cervical cancer (all p < 0.05). We also summarized genetic mutation landscape of necroptosis-related genes in cervical cancer. We then developed a necroptosis-related prognostic signature including 13 necroptosis-related genes (ATRX, AXL, DDX58, IDH1, ITPK1, MAP3K7, SLC39A7, TARDBP, TNF, TNFRSF1A, TNFRSF1B, TNFSF10, TRIM11) for cervical cancer. Cervical cancer patients with high riskscore had a poor overall survival (HR = 2.128, p = 0.00194) with an AUC of 0.725, 0.763 and 0.637 in 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year ROC curve. Consensus clustering analysis revealed that all cervical cancer cohort could be divided into three subtypes, which was correlated with different prognosis and immune infiltration (p < 0.05). A PPI network revealed TNF as the hub gene and TNF expression was correlated with immune infiltration (all p < 0.05), microsatellite instability (p < 0.012) and drug sensitivity (p < 0.05). The ceRNA network was performed and identified a lncRNA NUTM2B-AS1/miR-361-5p/TNF regulatory axis for cervical cancer. qRT-PCR result also suggested that TNF was upregulated in cervical cancer (p < 0.001) and associated with a poor overall survival (p = 0.007). Univariate and multivariate analysis demonstrated TNF expression, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage were prognosis factors of cervical cancer patients (p < 0.05). Conclusion We developed a necroptosis-related prognostic signature including 13 necroptosis-related genes for cervical cancer. Moreover, we also identified a lncRNA NUTM2B-AS1/miR-361-5p/TNF regulatory axis, which may play a vital role in the progression of cervical cancer. Further studies should be conducted to verify these results.

We extracted and purified three polysaccharides from Echinacea purpurea using pectinase-assisted extraction to obtain crude preparations and optimized the method using an orthogonal analysis. We obtained three polysaccharide fractions (EPPS-1,...