Feeding trials were conducted to determine the dietary level of yeast extract (YE) for replacing dietary fish meal for evaluating whether yeast extract was superior to intact yeast as an alternative protein source for shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. The basal diet (control, D0, containing 25% fish meal), was compared with five isonitrogenous and isoenergetic experimental diets [replacing 15% (D15), 30% (D30), 45% (D45), 60% (D60) or 100% (D100) of the fish meal in the basal diet with IYE]. The digestibility, growth and muscle composition of the shrimp were measured. The results showed that all replacement treatments displayed higher apparent digestibility of crude protein than did the control. The trypsinase activity in shrimp hepatopancreas increased significantly, whereas lipase activity decreased as the amount of dietary YE increased. The shrimp treated with D30 diet displayed the highest amylase activity in hepatopancreas. There was no significant difference in the weight gain (WG) and survival of shrimp between the control and the YE replacement treatments. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) increased as the dietary YE increased, and the FCRs of the D60 and the D100 treatments were significantly higher than that of the control (P < 0.05). The growth performance among the treatments was closely related to the similarity of the essential amino acids in the diets. There was no significant difference in muscle composition of the shrimp between control and other treatments. In conclusion, up to approximately 45% of the fish meal in shrimp diet can be replaced by yeast extract in the presence of supplemental fish oil, phosphorus and calcium.

Self-supporting Ni4Mo–V2O3 nanosheets, which combine oxophilic V2O3 as a water dissociation center with Ni4Mo as a proton recombination site, display an extremely low overpotential (39.3 mV at 10 mA cm−2) for hydrogen evolution at neutral pH.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is the most common type of sleep disorder which is associated with a series of cardiovascular disorders, including right ventricular (RV) dysfunction. However, it is difficult to assess the RV function systematically using a conventional echocardiography because RV has a complex geometrical shape. A case-control study was performed to assess the regional right ventricular potential dysfunction in patients with OSAS using velocity vector imaging (VVI) from March 2014 to October 2015.Sixty-nine patients with OSAS were divided into 3 groups: mild, moderate, and severe according to the apnea–hypopnea index (AHI). A total of 31 cases of healthy subjects were enrolled as the control group. Digital images of apex 4-chamber views were acquired to measure the peak systolic velocity (V), strain (ST), and strain rate (STR) of right ventricular free wall (RVFW) basal, middle, and apical segments using VVI.The peak systolic velocity of RVFW basal segments in the mild OSAS group increased (t = 2.22, P = 0.049) and gradually reduced in the moderate and severe groups compared with the controls. The values of systolic ST and STR of apical segments decreased in the mild OSAS group compared with the normal control group (t = 3.30, P = 0.02; t = 3.75, P = 0.01, respectively), and decreased furthermore in the moderate and severe OSAS groups.The change in the right ventricular regional systolic function starts before the development of heart dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. At the early stage of OSAS, the deformation decreases in the RVFW apical segment, and the peak systolic velocities increase in the RVFW basal segment. The VVI is a sensitive method which is expected to be a worthy technique for early clinical therapy in patients with OSAS.

We aimed to investigate whether left ventricular (LV) twist analysis can detect the extent of myocardial fibrosis in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This prospective case–control study recruited 81 consecutive patients with HCM examined between January 2012 and April 2013. Data of 76 patients were analyzed after excluding 5 patients whose echocardiographic images were of poor quality. Healthy volunteers (n = 46) served as controls. Both groups underwent comprehensive echocardiographic examination (i.e., Bas-Rotation, AP-Rotation, LVEF, LADs, IVST, LAVi, E/Em, LVMI, advanced LV-twist analysis by speckle tracking echocardiography) and magnetic resonance imaging. Between-group differences were analyzed by independent t test; logistic regression analysis was performed to identify effect factors. No significant differences were found between baseline characteristics of HCM and control groups (all p > 0.05). HCM patients had significantly higher Bas-Rotation, AP-Rotation, LV Twist, LVEF, LADs, IVST, LAVi, E/Em and LVMI than controls (all p < 0.0001) and significantly lower LVDd and E/A (both p < 0.001). Bas-Rotation, AP-Rotation, LV-Twist, LADs, IVST, LAVi, E/Em and LVMI were significantly higher in HCM patients with fibrosis than in those without fibrosis (p < 0.001), but no significant differences in other echocardiographic parameters were found between those with and without fibrosis. Age, Bas-Rotation, AP-Rotation, LV twist, LADs, IVST, LAVi, E/A, E/Em, and LVMI were significant effect factors for fibrosis. AUROC analysis showed that LV twist had high discriminatory power to detect extent of myocardial fibrosis (AUC 0.996, 95 % CI 0.989–1.004, p < 0.001). Left ventricular twist mechanics are associated with the extent of myocardial fibrosis. LV-twist assessment by STE may be clinically useful.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10554-014-0509-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.