Tibetan mural samples from the Jiazhaer mountain cave were studied using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and immunofluorescence microscopy (IFM). Samples containing protein binders were first identified using ELISA, and then IFM was used to determine the location of protein binders. Using these methods, we discovered gelatin and casein in samples from wall murals, distributed in both red and black pigments. We excluded the possibility of contamination by conducting further experiments where simulated samples were spiked with milk. We conclude that both gelatin and casein were used as binders in the pigments of the Tibetan Buddhist murals in the Jiazhaer (Transliteration from Tibetan) mountain cave. This is the first evidence of casein being used as a binder in Chinese mural pigments.

White beam synchrotron X-ray topography has been applied both to the characterization of two semiconductor heterostructures, GaAs/Si and InxGa1-xAs/GaAs strained layers, and a substrate to be used for growing semiconductor epilayers, Cd1-xZnxTe. In the case of the heterostructures, misfit dislocations were observed using depth sensitive X-ray topographic imaging in grazing incidence Bragg-Laue geometries. The X-ray penetration depth, which can be varied from several hundreds of angstroms to hundreds of micrometers by rotating about the main reflection vector, which in this specific case was (355), is governed by kinernatical theory. This is justified by comparing dislocation contrast and visibility with the extent of the calculated effective misorientalion field in comparison to the effective X-ray penetration depth. For the case of Cd1-xZnxTe, twin configurations are observed, and their analysis is presented.

The aim of the study was to investigate any association between extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR) and intestinal flora of <30-week-old preterm infants. A total of 59 preterm infants were assigned to EUGR (n=23) and non-EUGR (n=36) groups. Intestinal bacteria were compared by using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial rRNA. The total abundance of bacteria in 344 genera (7568 v. 13,760; P<0.0001) and 456 species (10,032 v. 18,240; P<0.0001) was significantly decreased in the EUGR group compared with the non-EUGR group. After application of a multivariate logistic model and adjusting for potential confounding factors, as well as false-discovery rate corrections, we found four bacterial genera with higher and one bacterial genus with lower abundance in the EUGR group compared with the control group. In addition, the EUGR group showed significantly increased abundances of six species (Streptococcus parasanguinis, Bacterium RB5FF6, two Klebsiella species and Microbacterium), but decreased frequencies of three species (one Acinetobacter species, Endosymbiont_of_Sphenophorus_lev and one Enterobacter_species) compared with the non-EUGR group. Taken together, there were significant changes in the intestinal microflora of preterm infants with EUGR compared to preterm infants without EUGR.

The effects of the thermal cyclic aging treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 2060 Al–Li alloy laser beam welded joints were investigated. Aging treatments were conducted at different temperatures and for different cycles. Test results showed that the tensile strength of the weld joints increased and the elongation slightly decreased after the thermal cycling treatment. It was also found that the heat affected zone (HAZ) of the welds exhibited a significant increase in microhardness, whilst the microhardness variation of the nondendrite equiaxed zone (EQZ) can be neglected. The strengthening effect of the thermal cycling became more obvious as the temperature and cycles increased. The highest strength of around 513 MPa (96% of the base metal) was obtained at the temperature of 180 °C. Reprecipitation of strengthening phases such as T1 in the HAZ at 180 °C was observed by TEM, which can be considered as the main reason for the strengthening effect of the aging treatment.

Strain path changes during clock rolling cause more serious interaction between adjacent grains, resulting in the occurrence of interactive regions (IRs) with random orientations. Furthermore, plenty of new grains with relatively random orientations are introduced by the subsequent annealing of these IRs. The morphology of the IR and the origin of random orientations were therefore investigated in this study, and the electron backscatter diffraction technique was used to characterize crystallographic orientations of nuclei and deformed matrices. A short-time annealing was imposed on a specimen to catch the transient nucleation behaviors. The results indicate that the orientations of nuclei are similar to their surrounding deformed matrices, especially the points with larger local-misorientation. Additionally, the shape of new grains depends on where it forms, and it is suggested that this fact mainly results from the great difference in stored energies between deformed matrices with {111} and {100} orientations.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is growing rapidly in many countries. Socioeconomic inequalities might be important for this increase. The aim of this study was to determine associations of body mass index (BMI), overweight and obesity with educational level and marital status in Chinese twins. Participants were adult twins recruited through the Chinese National Twin Registry (CNTR), aged 18 to 79 years, and the sample comprised 10,448 same-sex twin pairs. Current height, weight, educational attainment, and marital status were self-reported. Regression analyses and structural equation models were conducted to evaluate BMI, overweight, and obesity associated with educational level and marital status in both sexes. At an individual level, both educational level and marital status were associated with higher BMI and higher risk of being overweight and obesity in men, while in women the effects of educational level on BMI were in the opposite direction. In within-Monozygotic (MZ) twin-pair analyses, the effects of educational level on BMI disappeared in females. Bivariate structural equation models showed that genetic factors and shared environmental confounded the relationship between education and BMI in females, whereas marital status was associated with BMI on account of significant positive unique environmental correlation apart in both sexes. The present data suggested that marital status and BMI were associated, independent of familiar factors, for both sexes of this study population, while common genetic and shared environmental factors contributed to education-associated disparities in BMI in females.

Dietary restriction (DR) is widely regarded as a viable intervention to extend lifespan and healthspan in diverse organisms. The precise molecular regulatory mechanisms are largely unknown. Epigenetic modifications are not stable upon DR and also keep changing with age. Here, we employed whole genome bisulfite sequencing to determine the DNA methylation changes upon DR in adult Drosophila. Our results indicate that although a low level of DNA methylation exists in the adult Drosophila genome, there is no significant difference in DNA methylation levels upon DR when compared to unrestricted flies. This suggests that other epigenetic components such as histone modifications might be altered by DR.

This study aimed to determine the effects of supplementing the diet of adult Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus with phosphatidylcholine (PC) on growth performance, body composition, fatty acid composition and gene expression. Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia fish with an initial body weight of 83·1 (sd 2·9) g were divided into six groups. Each group was hand-fed a semi-purified diet containing 1·7 (control diet), 4·0, 6·5, 11·5, 21·3 or 41·0 g PC/kg diet for 68 d. Supplemental PC improved the feed efficiency rate, which was highest in the 11·5 g PC/kg diet. Weight gain and specific growth rate were unaffected. Dietary PC increased PC content in the liver and decreased crude fat content in the liver, viscera and body. SFA and MUFA increased and PUFA decreased in muscle with increasing dietary PC. Cytoplasmic phospholipase A 2 and secreted phospholipase A 2 mRNA expression were up-regulated in the brain and heart in PC-supplemented fish. PC reduced fatty acid synthase mRNA expression in the liver and visceral tissue but increased expression in muscle. Hormone-sensitive lipase and lipoprotein lipase expression increased in the liver with increasing dietary PC. Growth hormone mRNA expression was reduced in the brain and insulin-like growth factor-1 mRNA expression in liver reduced with PC above 6·5 g/kg. Our results demonstrate that dietary supplementation with PC improves feed efficiency and reduces liver fat in adult Nile tilapia, without increasing weight gain, representing a novel dietary approach to reduce feed requirements and improve the health of Nile tilapia.