Effects of dietary Bacillus coagulans and yeast hydrolysate supplementation on growth performance,immune response and intestinal barrier function in weaned piglets

The present study investigated the effects of Bacillus coagulans and yeast hydrolysate supplementation on growth performance, immune response and intestinal barrier function of weaned piglets. Twenty-four weaned piglets with an average body weight (BW) of 6.89 ± 0.15 kg were divided into four diets for 28 days. The treatments were basal diet (control), basal diet supplemented with antibiotic (20 mg/kg colistin sulphate and 40 mg/kg bacitracin zinc, AT), probiotics (400 mg/kg Bacillus coagulans ≥5 × 109 CFU/g, BC) or yeast hydrolysate (5000 mg/kg yeast hydrolysate, YH). Average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) were improved by AT and YH diets (p < 0.05), while BC diet only increased ADG (p < 0.05). The complement 3 (C3), lysozyme (LZM) and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) concentrations in serum were increased in BC diet (p < 0.05). Feeding AT and YH caused the increase of jejunal villus height (p < 0.05), and a higher ratio of villus height/crypt depth was observed in AT, BC and YH groups (p < 0.05). The mRNA expression of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) in jejunal mucosa was up-regulated by AT, BC and YH diets (p < 0.05). Dietary AT, BC or YH inclusion decreased the interleukin-1β (IL-1β) concentration and TNF-α mRNA expression (p < 0.05), and YH supplementation even down-regulated toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and CD14 expressions (p < 0.05). In summary, the dietary administration of BC or YH both improves growth performance through promoting the intestinal barrier function, indicating both of them can serve as potential alternatives to antibiotics growth promoters for the piglet production.     

Generation of Salmonella ghost cells expressing fimbrial antigens of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and evaluation of their antigenicity in a murine model

Salmonella Typhimurium ghost cells expressing K88ab, K88ac, K99, and FasA fimbriae of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in their envelopes were constructed. The genes encoding the fimbriae were individually cloned into an expression plasmid, pMMP81, carrying the asd gene, which was subsequently electroporated into the Δasd S. Typhimurium mutant. Plasmid pJHLP99, carrying the phiX174 lysis gene E, was also subsequently electroporated into the Salmonella mutant. The presence of the individual fimbriae on the ghost cells was examined by Western blot analysis. Forty BALB/c mice were equally divided into 2 groups of 20 mice each. Group A mice were intramuscularly vaccinated with a mixture of the 4 ghost cells expressing the individual fimbriae. The group B mice were inoculated with sterile phosphate-buffered saline as a control. The antigen-specific serum IgG concentrations were significantly higher in group A than in group B from week 2 until week 6 after inoculation. In addition, the antigen-specific IgA concentrations in fecal samples were significantly higher in group A than in group B at week 2 after inoculation. A large difference between the groups in the number of antigen-specific IgA-secreting cells in the small intestine was observed by immunohistochemical study. Also, the splenic lymphocyte proliferative responses were significantly greater in group A than in the control mice. These results suggest that vaccination with our Salmonella ghost cells can induce both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses and that the increased number of antigen-specific IgA-secreting cells in the small intestine may be correlated with the elevated fecal IgA immune response.     

Pyruvate kinase is necessary for Brucella abortus full virulence in BALB/c mouse

Brucellosis, caused by a facultative intracellular pathogen Brucella, is one of the most prevalent zoonosis worldwide. Host infection relies on several uncanonical virulence factors. A recent research hotpot is the links between carbon metabolism and bacterial virulence. In this study, we found that a carbon metabolism-related pyruvate kinase (Pyk) encoded by pyk gene (locus tag BAB_RS24320) was associated with Brucella virulence. Determination of bacterial growth curves and resistance to environmental stress factors showed that Pyk plays an important role in B. abortus growth, especially under the conditions of nutrition deprivation, and resistance to oxidative stress. Additionally, cell infection assay showed that Pyk is necessary for B. abortus survival and evading fusion with lysosomes within RAW264.7 cells. Moreover, animal experiments exhibited that the Pyk deletion significantly reduced B. abortus virulence in a mouse infection model. Our results elucidated the role of the Pyk in B. abortus virulence and provided information for further investigation of Brucella virulence associated carbon metabolism.     

猪痢疾密螺旋体的冻干保存试验

将密螺旋体菌株(包括猪痢疾密螺旋体和无害螺旋体)接种于华农1或3号血液琼脂平板上,置CO_2:H_2=20:80的环境中和37℃下培养5天。选择生长最好的琼脂平板,每个加入3ml PBS(0.01mol,pH7.2),洗下培养物,集中后加入等容积的S. H. 保护剂并使成均一的悬液分装安瓿瓶。用Edwards EF03型冻干机进行冷冻真空干燥,在真空状态下密封安瓿瓶,冻干菌种保存于4℃冰箱或-10～-15℃冰盒中。保存期:用新鲜保护剂者为8-13个月;用干燥保护剂者为二年。     

深圳市罗湖区415名社区人群亚健康现况调查

目的 了解深圳市罗湖区社区居民亚健康状态现况及人群分布特点,为亚健康状态的干预提供相关依据.方法 采用多阶段随机抽样,对深圳市罗湖区10个社区健康服务中心415名社区居民采用症状自评量表(SCL-90)进行亚健康测评和身心症状分析.结果 调查对象的SCL-90总分及总均分与全国常模比较差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05),亚健康状态主要表现为躯体症状和精神病性症状;相对于女性,男性易出现偏执症状;相对于高文化人群,低文化人群易出现躯体化、抑郁、焦虑以及敌对、精神病性等障碍;相对年轻人群,老年人群易出现躯体化、强迫、焦虑及抑郁等症状.结论 深圳市罗湖区居民身心健康状况良好,但仍存在一些危害健康的亚健康症状,必须加强社区居民健康教育,对不同健康状态的人群进行相应干预.     

融合2D-3D卷积特征识别哺乳母猪姿态转换

母猪姿态转换影响仔猪存活率,且动作幅度与持续时间存在差异,准确识别难度大。该研究提出一种融合2D-3D卷积特征的卷积网络(2D+3D-CNet,2D+3D Convolutional Network)识别深度图像母猪姿态转换。以视频段为输入,引入注意力机制SE模块和3D空洞卷积,以提升3D卷积网络姿态转换的时空特征提取能力,用2D卷积提取母猪的空间特征;经特征融合后,动作识别分支输出母猪转换概率,姿态分类分支输出4类姿态概率,结合这两个输出结果识别8类姿态转换,减少了人工标注数据集的工作量;最后设计动作分数,优化母猪姿态转换的时间定位。在测试集上,2D+3D-CNet姿态转换识别精度为97.95%、召回率为91.67%、测试速度为14.39帧/s,精度、召回率和时间定位精度均高于YOWO、FRCNN-HMM和MOC-D方法。该研究结果实现了母猪姿态转换高精度识别。     

基于隐马尔科夫模型的深度视频哺乳母猪高危动作识别

哺乳母猪的高危动作和仔猪存活率有密切关系,能直接体现其母性行为能力,而这些高危动作又与其姿态转换的频率、持续时间等密切相关。针对猪舍环境下,环境光线变化、母猪与仔猪黏连、猪体形变等给哺乳母猪姿态转换识别带来的困难。该文以梅花母猪为研究对象,以Kinect2.0采集的深度视频图像为数据源,提出基于Faster R-CNN和隐马尔科夫模型的哺乳母猪姿态转换识别算法,通过FasterR-CNN产生候选区域,并采用维特比算法构建定位管道;利用Otsu分割和形态学处理提取疑似转换片段中母猪躯干部、尾部和身体上下两侧的高度序列,由隐马尔科夫模型识别姿态转换。结果表明,对姿态转换片段识别的精度为93.67%、召回率为87.84%。研究结果可为全天候母猪行为自动识别提供技术参考。