A high-fat diet (HFD) increases susceptibility to Escherichia coli colonization in the intestine and raises the risk of intestinal diseases. Lactobacillus reuteri, a commensal bacterium, plays a crucial role in regulating intestinal function and maintaining immune homeostasis. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of L. reuteri on gut barrier function and systemic inflammation in HFD-fed mice challenged with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7, and to further elucidate the potential protective mechanisms involved. The results show that supplementation of L. reuteri ZJ617 mitigates intestinal barrier impairment, inflammatory cell infiltration and systemic inflammation induced by E. coli O157:H7. The potential mechanisms of L. reuteri ZJ617 deal with it involving in forming biofilm, producing functional amino acids and various secondary metabolites. Our works provided comprehensively analysis of potential properties of L. reuteri ZJ617 and indicated that L. reuteri ZJ617 is a promising probiotic to prevent E. coli O157:H7 infection.

Panonychus citri is one of the most destructive pests in citrus orchards, exhibiting varying degrees of tolerance to numerous insecticides, such as spirodiclofen. To effectively manage pests, this study explores the response of P. citri to spirodiclofen stress from the perspectives of life history, enzymatic parameters, and reproduction. The effects of two concentrations (LC30 and LC50) of spirodiclofen on the biological parameters of P. citri were evaluated by the life table method. The results showed that the development duration, fecundity, oviposition days, and lifespan were shortened, though the pre-oviposition period of two treatments was prolonged in comparison with the control. A significant decrease was recorded in the net reproductive rate (R0) and the mean generation time (T) for the two treatments. Nevertheless, the intrinsic rate of increase (r) and the rate of increase (λ) were not significantly affected in the LC30 treatment, whereas they declined in the LC50 treatment. The enzyme activity assay resulted in higher activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and carboxylesterase (CarE), among the treatments than the control. In contrast, the treatments recorded lower cytochromeP450 (CYP450) and Glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities than the control. Furthermore, the study detected that relative mRNA expression of Vitellogenin (Vg) and Vitellogenin receptor (VgR) for two treatments were lower than the control. In summary, two concentrations of spirodiclofen inhibited progeny growth and fecundity of P. citri. Additionally, the results of this study may support further research on tolerance of P. citri in response to spirodiclofen stress.

Calorie restriction plays a role in reducing food intake and weight gain, and improving health and lifespan. We hypothesized that calorie restriction would affect body weight (BW), serum indices, gut microbiota, metabolites and short-chain fatty acids of finishing pigs. Castrated male (Landrace × Yorkshire) pigs (86.13 ± 3.50 kg) were randomly assigned into two groups indicated as control (Con) and calorie restriction (CR) (eight pigs/group), respectively. Pigs in the Con group consumed feed ad libitum, whereas pigs in the CR group were fed 70% of the amount of feed in the Con group. The trial lasted for 38 days. Blood and colonic contents were collected for serum parameters, and microbiota and metabolome analysis, respectively. Main effects were tested by Student’s t-test. We found that for finishing pigs, calorie restriction reduced the cumulative food intake, BW gain, serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels. Calorie restriction did not change the α and β diversity of intestinal microbiota. However, calorie restriction significantly increased the abundance of Romboutsia and unclassified_c_Bacilli, and significantly reduced the abundance of Lachnospiraceae_XPB1014_group, Candidatus_Saccharimonas, Escherichia-–Shigella and Gastranaerophilales. Calorie restriction also simultaneously changed the structure of intestinal metabolites and increased the concentration of isobutyric acid, isovaleric acid and valeric acid. In conclusion, calorie restriction may affect metabolism, reduce obesity and improve intestinal microbiota, which may be a healthy diet treatment that can reduce obesity and improve metabolism.

How can a firm apply the appropriate interaction between exploration and exploitation with the goal of either radical or incremental innovation? In this study, we seek to answer this puzzling question by reframing exploitation and exploration as a duality of learning (i.e., two modes that are partial complementary for synergy as well as partial conflicting for tradeoff). Specifically, rather than assuming either a positive or negative interaction between exploration and exploitation as prior literature has done, our study highlights a novel pattern of inverted U-shaped interaction between exploration and exploitation for both radical and incremental innovations. With a Chinese sample of 508 firms, our empirical evidence supports our prediction of two patterns of inverted U-shaped interaction of exploration and exploitation. Such unique findings showcase the unique value of reframing paradox into duality from the meta-perspective of yin-yang balancing to shed new light on organizational ambidexterity and innovation management.

This paper, based on the idea of redundancy angle discretisation, proposes an obstacle avoidance method for the fixed tip pose trajectory of a seven degrees-of-freedom (7-DOF) modular manipulator. First, for the case in which a specific redundancy angle is given, the analytical solutions of the redundant manipulator left 6-DOF subchain are found. Then, through the discretisation of the redundancy angle, the concept of the self-motion space of the tip pose is proposed and is extended to the concept of the self-motion space of the trajectory. Based on this discrete space, a path-planning algorithm is proposed to help select the appropriate redundancy angles to obtain the collision-free solution set of the fixed Cartesian trajectory. However, due to the large fluctuation of the obtained path, a path optimisation method based on the path cost is proposed to smooth the path, and the continuous and collision-free solution set of the manipulator tip’s trajectory is obtained. The method proposed in this paper provides a new thought for the problem of collision-free solution set planning for the Cartesian trajectory of a 7-DOF manipulator and it has great application potential in working environments with high accuracy requirements for the trajectory.

The current epidemic of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) significantly affects human health worldwide. Activation of brown adipocytes and browning of white adipocytes are considered as a promising molecular target for T2DM treatment. Mulberry leaf, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been demonstrated to have multi-biological activities, including anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory effects. Our experimental results showed that mulberry leaf significantly alleviated the disorder of glucose and lipid metabolism in T2DM rats. In addition, mulberry leaf induced browning of inguinal white adipose tissue (IWAT) by enhancing the expressions of brown-mark genes as well as beige-specific genes, including uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), PRD1-BF-1-RIZ1 homologous domain containing protein 16 (PRDM16), cell death inducing DFFA-like effector A (Cidea), CD137 and transmembrane protein 26 (TMEM26). Mulberry leaf also activated brown adipose tissue (BAT) by increasing the expressions of brown-mark genes including UCP1, PGC-1α, PPARα, PRDM16 and Cidea. Moreover, mulberry leaf enhanced the expression of nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF-1) and mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) genes that are responsible for mitochondrial biogenesis in IWAT and BAT. Importantly, mulberry leaf also increased the expression of UCP1 and carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 (CPT-1) proteins in both IWAT and BAT via a mechanism involving AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and PGC-1α pathway. In conclusion, our findings identify the role of mulberry leaf in inducing adipose browning, indicating that mulberry leaf may be used as a candidate browning agent for the treatment of T2DM.

The Scaly-sided Merganser Mergus squamatus is a globally ‘Endangered’ species breeding in north-east Asia. Limited by information on the geographic distribution of suitable habitat, the conservation management programme has not been comprehensive or spatially explicit for the breeding population. This study combines potentially important environmental variables with extensive data on species occurrence to create the first species distribution model for the breeding Scaly-sided Merganser, followed by a GAP analysis to highlight the unprotected areas containing suitable habitat. The predictive map showing the most suitable breeding habitat for the Scaly-sided Merganser covered broad-leaved deciduous forest distributed in six provincial regions in south-east Russia, north-east China, and North Korea. The conservation GAP, i.e. 90% (38,813 km2) of highly suitable habitat, is mainly concentrated in the Sikhote-Alin and Changbai mountain ranges. This study suggests that prioritizing conservation of unprotected broad-leaved deciduous riverine forests within the above two mountainous regions should be included in international conservation planning, and the remaining suitable patches need to be preserved to allow range expansion in future. This predictive map improves the expert global assessment of breeding Scaly-sided Merganser distribution and provides a basic reference for establishing conservation areas or implementing conservation actions for the breeding Scaly-sided Merganser in north-east Asia.

Over recent decades, Chinese giant salamanders Andrias spp. have declined dramatically across much of their range. Overexploitation and habitat degradation have been widely cited as the cause of these declines. To investigate the relative contribution of each of these factors in driving the declines, we carried out standardized ecological and questionnaire surveys at 98 sites across the range of giant salamanders in China. We did not find any statistically significant differences between water parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, salinity, alkalinity, hardness and flow rate) recorded at sites where giant salamanders were detected by survey teams and/or had been recently seen by local respondents, and sites where they were not detected and/or from which they had recently been extirpated. Additionally, we found direct and indirect evidence that the extraction of giant salamanders from the wild is ongoing, including within protected areas. Our results support the hypothesis that the decline of giant salamanders across China has been primarily driven by overexploitation. Data on water parameters may be informative for the establishment of conservation breeding programmes, an initiative recommended for the conservation of these species.

We present a long-term seasonal tree ring cellulose oxygen isotope (δ18Oc) time series created by analyzing four segments (S1, S2, S3, and S4) per year during the period of 1951–2009 from southeastern Tibetan Plateau. This intraseasonal δ18Oc reveals the onset and mature phase of the summer monsoon precipitation in this region. Analysis indicates that the δ18Oc of S1 has the strongest correlation with precipitation during the regional monsoon onset (29–33 pentads, May 21–June 10, r = −0.69), and the δ18Oc values for S2, S3, and S4 correlate strongly with June, July, and August precipitation, respectively. Combined δ18Oc of S2, S3, and S4 shows the most robust correlation (r = −0.82) with the mature-phase monsoon precipitation (June-July-August, JJA), passing rigorous statistical tests for calibration and verification in dendroclimatology. These results demonstrate the feasibility in using long-term intraseasonal δ18Oc to reconstruct the Asian summer monsoon's intraseasonal variations.

This article presents a brief review of our case studies of data-driven Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) for intelligently discovering advanced structural metal materials, including light-weight materials (Ti, Mg, and Al alloys), refractory high-entropy alloys, and superalloys. The basic bonding in terms of topology and electronic structures is recommended to be considered as the building blocks/units constructing the microstructures of advanced materials. It is highlighted that the bonding charge density could not only provide an atomic and electronic insight into the physical nature of chemical bond of materials but also reveal the fundamental strengthening/embrittlement mechanisms and the local phase transformations of planar defects, paving a path in accelerating the development of advanced metal materials via interfacial engineering. Perspectives on the knowledge-based modeling/simulations, machine-learning knowledge base, platform, and next-generation workforce for sustainable ecosystem of ICME are highlighted, thus to call for more duty on the developments of advanced structural metal materials and enhancement of research productivity and collaboration.

The spatial structure of the Milky Way outer disk is characterized with ~ 70000 LAMOST DR3 K giants after carefully correction of their selection effects. By slicing the data into various Galactocentric radius bins, we are able to fit the vertical stellar density profile with a models composed of two isothermal-sheet disks and an oblate power-law halo. We find that although the thin disk is significantly flared, the radial surface density profile can extend to as far as 19 kpc. Beyond 12 kpc, only one thicker disk, rather than two disk components, are found in the samples. Moreover, the residual of the density profiles after subtracting the best fit models show different oscillation patterns in almost all range of detecting radius.

From the derived stellar density profile using LAMOST giant stars, we find that the Galactic disk does not show truncation or break, but smoothly transit to the halo from 19 kpc. The scale length of the outer disk is only 1.6 ± 0.1 kpc, substantially smaller than previous results. This implies that the shapes of the inner and outer disk are different. Meanwhile, the disk flaring is not only found in older populations, but also in younger population. Moreover, the vertical oscillations of the disk are identified in a wide range or R from 8 to 14 kpc. We also find that the velocity dispersion profile as a function of the Galactocentric radius is flat with scale length of 26.3 ± 3.2 kpc. We confirm that the radial velocity profile in outer disk is significantly affected by asymmetric motion. The bar with either a slower or a faster pattern speed can induce the similar radial asymmetric motion.