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Wide-ranging outcomes have been reported for surgical and non-surgical management of T3 laryngeal carcinomas. This study compared the outcomes of T3 tumours treated with laryngectomy or (chemo)radiotherapy in the northeast of England.
Methods
The outcomes of T3 laryngeal carcinoma treatment at three centres (2007–2016) were retrospectively analysed using descriptive statistics and survival curves.
Results
Of 179 T3 laryngeal carcinomas, 68 were treated with laryngectomies, 57 with chemoradiotherapy and 32 with radiotherapy. There was no significant five-year survival difference between treatment with laryngectomy (34.1 per cent) and chemoradiotherapy (48.6 per cent) (p = 0.184). The five-year overall survival rate for radiotherapy (12.5 per cent) was significantly inferior compared to laryngectomy and chemoradiotherapy (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively). The recurrence rates were 22.1 per cent for laryngectomy, 17.5 per cent for chemoradiotherapy and 50 per cent for radiotherapy. There were significant differences in recurrence rates when laryngectomy (p = 0.005) and chemoradiotherapy (p = 0.001) were compared to radiotherapy.
Conclusion
Laryngectomy and chemoradiotherapy had significantly higher five-year overall survival and lower recurrence rates compared with radiotherapy alone. Laryngectomy should be considered in patients unsuitable for chemotherapy, as it may convey a significant survival advantage over radiotherapy alone.
The SPARC tokamak is a critical next step towards commercial fusion energy. SPARC is designed as a high-field ($B_0 = 12.2$ T), compact ($R_0 = 1.85$ m, $a = 0.57$ m), superconducting, D-T tokamak with the goal of producing fusion gain $Q>2$ from a magnetically confined fusion plasma for the first time. Currently under design, SPARC will continue the high-field path of the Alcator series of tokamaks, utilizing new magnets based on rare earth barium copper oxide high-temperature superconductors to achieve high performance in a compact device. The goal of $Q>2$ is achievable with conservative physics assumptions ($H_{98,y2} = 0.7$) and, with the nominal assumption of $H_{98,y2} = 1$, SPARC is projected to attain $Q \approx 11$ and $P_{\textrm {fusion}} \approx 140$ MW. SPARC will therefore constitute a unique platform for burning plasma physics research with high density ($\langle n_{e} \rangle \approx 3 \times 10^{20}\ \textrm {m}^{-3}$), high temperature ($\langle T_e \rangle \approx 7$ keV) and high power density ($P_{\textrm {fusion}}/V_{\textrm {plasma}} \approx 7\ \textrm {MW}\,\textrm {m}^{-3}$) relevant to fusion power plants. SPARC's place in the path to commercial fusion energy, its parameters and the current status of SPARC design work are presented. This work also describes the basis for global performance projections and summarizes some of the physics analysis that is presented in greater detail in the companion articles of this collection.
‘Recurrence’ of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has triggered numerous discussions of scholars at home and abroad. A total of 44 recurrent cases of COVID-19 and 32 control cases admitted from 11 February to 29 March 2020 to Guanggu Campus of Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology were enrolled in this study. All the 44 recurrent cases were classified as mild to moderate when the patients were admitted for the second time. The gender and mean age in both cases (recurrent and control) were similar. At least one concomitant disease was observed in 52.27% recurrent cases and 34.38% control cases. The most prevalent comorbidity among them was hypertension. Fever and cough being the most prevalent clinical symptoms in both cases. On comparing both the cases, recurrent cases had markedly elevated concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P = 0.020) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P = 0.007). Moreover, subgroup analysis showed mild to moderate abnormal concentrations of ALT and AST in recurrent cases. The elevated concentrations of ALT and AST may be recognised as predictive markers for the risk of ‘recurrence’ of COVID-19, which may provide insights into the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the future.
The presence of comorbid anxiety disorders (AD) and bipolar II disorders (BP-II) compounds disability complicates treatment, worsens prognosis, and has been understudied. The genes involved in metabolizing dopamine and encoding dopamine receptors, such as aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) and dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) genes, may be important to the pathogenesis of BP-II comorbid with AD. We aimed to clarify ALDH2 and DRD2 genes for predisposition to BP-II comorbid with and without AD. The sample consisted of 335 subjects BP-II without AD, 127 subjects BP-II with AD and 348 healthy subjects as normal control. The genotypes of the ALDH2 and DRD2 Taq-IA polymorphisms were determined using polymerase chain reactions plus restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Logistic regression analysis showed a statistically significant association between DRD2 Taq-I A1/A2 genotype and BP-II with AD (OR = 2.231, P = 0.021). Moreover, a significant interaction of the DRD2 Taq-I A1/A1 and the ALDH2*1*1 genotypes in BP-II without AD was revealed (OR = 5.623, P = 0.001) compared with normal control. Our findings support the hypothesis that a unique genetic distinction between BP-II with and without AD, and suggest a novel association between DRD2 Taq-I A1/A2 genotype and BP-II with AD. Our study also provides further evidence that the ALDH2 and DRD2 genes interact in BP-II, particularly BP-II without AD.
Multiple neurotrophic factors, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2, nerve growth factor (NGF) and insulin-like growth factor(IGF)-1, have been shown to play important roles in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. However, insufficient clinical data supporting the importance of these neurotrophic factors in mood disorders, especially manic episode, have made inconclusive to make a connection between these factors and the disorder.
Objectives:
This study intended to investigate possible peripheral biomarkers in serum of manic episode of bipolar disorder.
Aims:
We aimed to investigate whether or not serum levels of VEGF, FGF-2, NGF and IGF-1 varied in manic state.
Methods:
Serum levels of VEGF, FGF-2, NGF and IGF-1 were examined in 70 drug-naïve patients with manic episode of bipolar disorder (BM) as well as 50 healthy controls, using an ELISA method.
Results:
The mean serum levels of VEGF, FGF-2, NGF and IGF-1 were 168.13±225.61pg/ml, 279.09±378.62pg/ml, 61.38±171.67pg/ml and 162.01±72.00ng/ml in BM patients, and 140.80±143.71pg/ml, 275.46±235.29pg/ml, 36.34±15.14pg/ml and 138.90±80.11ng/ml in healthy controls, respectively. Serum levels of FGF-2, NGF and IGF-1 in patients were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (Z=−2.896, P=0.004; Z=− 2.050, P=0.040; Z=−2.188, P=0.029; respectively), although there was no statistical difference in the serum levels of VEGF between two groups (Z=-0.468, P=0.639). Moreover, serum levels of NGF in patients correlated with the duration of disorder (rs=−0.241, P=0.044).
Conclusions:
The increase in serum levels of FGF-2, NGF and IGF-1 in manic state may reflect a neuroprotective role for these factors, and these factors may be considered biological markers for manic episode.
The main aim of the present studies is to determine whether, or to some extent, specific cognitive domains could differentiate the main subtypes of mood disorder in the depressed and clinically remitted status respectively.
Method
Three groups of bipolar I (n = 92), bipolar II (n = 131) and unipolar depression patients (n = 293) were tested with a battery of neuropsychological tests at baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment, contrasting with 202 healthy controls on cognitive performance.
Results
At the acute depressive state, the three patients groups (bipolar I, bipolar II and unipolar depression) showed cognitive dysfunction in processing speed, memory, verbal fluency and executive function but not attention compared with controls. And post comparisons revealed that bipolar I patients performed significantly worse in these impaired cognitive domain than bipolar II and unipolar depression patients in verbal fluency and executive function. After treatment, clinically remitted bipolar I and bipolar II patients only displayed cognitive impairment in processing speed and visual memory in relative to controls, while remitted unipolar depression patients showed cognitive impairment in executive function in addition to processing speed and visual memory.
Conclusion
Bipolar I, bipolar II and unipolar depression patients have a similar pattern of cognitive impairment during the state of acute depressive episodes. At the clinically remission, still both bipolar disorder and unipolar depression patients showed cognitive deficits in processing speed and visual memory, and executive dysfunction might be a status-maker for bipolar disorder, but a trait-marker for unipolar depression
It is known that Sexual Dysfunction (SD) is higher in patient with depression than in the general population. Though antidepressant seems to worsen the situation, there are also indications that the gender may play a role on it.
Objective:
Evaluate the gender effect of sexual function among unmedicated MDD, MDD receiving antidepressant, and healthy controls.
Methods:
The sample was formed by male and female Taiwanese outpatients in three age and sex matched groups, with sixty nine participants per group: unmedicated MDD, MDD receiving antidepressant, and healthy controls. the diagnoses of depressions were performed according DSM-IV and Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire. SD was evaluated with the Chinese version of the Changes in Sexual Functioning Questionnaire. Finally, the data was analyzed using SPSS software v17. Mixed designed ANOVA was used.
Results:
There are significant differences between males and females CSFQ results (sex main effect F = 82.44, p < 0.001) and between groups (group main effect F = 3.48, p = 0.034). Additionally, the 2-way interaction between sex and group was also significant (F = 3.40, p = 0.036). Simple main effect analysis shows differences among male participants, between healthy and medicated males (F = 11.41, p = 0.002), but not in female (F = 1.58, p = 0.21). However the statistics weren’t different between females groups, the medicated expresses better results (similar to healthy group) than the unmedicated one.
Conclusions:
SD is different between genders in each of the groups. Antidepressant seems to increase SD in man, while improves sexual satisfaction/function among depressive woman. We speculate that psychological improvement after treatment may have different impact between genders on sexual satisfaction.
The main aim of this study is to investigate the capacity of a number of variables from four dimensions (clinical, psychosocial, cognitive and genetic domains) to predict the antidepressant treatment outcome, and combined the predictors in one integrate regression model with the aim to investigate which predictor contributed most.
Methods
In a semi-naturalistic prospective cohort study with a total of 241 fully assessed MDD patients, decrease in HAM-D scores from baseline to after 6 weeks of treatment was used to measure the antidepressant treatment outcome.
Results
The clinical and psychosocial model (R2 = 0.451) showed that HAM-D scores at baseline and MMPI-2 scale paranoia was the best clinical and psychosocial predictor of treatment outcome respectively. The cognitive model (R2 = 0.502) revealed that combination of better performance on TMT-B test and worse performance on TOH and WAIS-R Digit Backward testes could predict decline in HAM-D scores. The genetics analysis only found median of percent improvement in HAM-D scores in G-allele of GR gene BclI polymorphism carriers (72.2%) was significant lower than that in non-G allele carriers (80.1%). The integrate model showed that three predictors, combination of HAM-D scores at baseline, MMPI-2 scale paranoia and TMT-B test, explained 57.1% of the variance.
Conclusion
Three markers, HAM-D scores at baseline, MMPI-2 scale paranoia and TMT-B test, might serve as predictor of antidepressant outcome in daily psychiatric practice.
The present study identified the neural mechanism of risky decision-making in Internet gaming disorder (IGD) under a probability discounting task.
Methods
Independent component analysis was used on the functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 19 IGD subjects (22.2 ± 3.08 years) and 21 healthy controls (HC, 22.8 ± 3.5 years).
Results
For the behavioral results, IGD subjects prefer the risky to the fixed options and showed shorter reaction time compared to HC. For the imaging results, the IGD subjects showed higher task-related activity in default mode network (DMN) and less engagement in the executive control network (ECN) than HC when making the risky decisions. Also, we found the activities of DMN correlate negatively with the reaction time and the ECN correlate positively with the probability discounting rates.
Conclusions
The results suggest that people with IGD show altered modulation in DMN and deficit in executive control function, which might be the reason for why the IGD subjects continue to play online games despite the potential negative consequences.
This paper reported the designed approaches of cycloidal mechanisms, studied its dynamic forces and failure characteristics using finite element methods (FEM). A simplified cycloidal mechanism (CM) is constructed to fulfill dynamic analysis and reliability evaluation. The studied results show that the loads of the mechanism are shared mainly by a half of the outer rollers and the inner pins. The possible failures of the mechanism will occur at the inner pins caused by the bending stress, and at the cycloid disc induced by the contacting stress. The failure of the inner pins will dominate the damage of the mechanism. A method of evaluating stress variation is proposed for fulfilling reliability design. The stress variations are derived according to the data in dynamic analysis by regression analysis. The methods of design modification are reported for improve the reliabilities. The allowable loads of the CM can be decided accordingly based on the analyzed information.
Patients with severe mental disorders in low-resource settings have limited access to services, resulting in overwhelming caregiving burden for families. In extreme cases, this has led to the long-term restraining of patients in their homes. China underwent a nationwide initiative to unlock patients and provide continued treatment. This study aims to quantify household economic burden in families after unlocking and treatment, and to identify factors associated with increased burden due to schizophrenia.
Methods
A total of 264 subjects were enrolled from three geographically diverse provinces in 2012. Subjects were patients with schizophrenia who were previously put under restraints and had participated in the ‘unlocking and treatment’ intervention. The primary outcome was the current household economic burden, obtained from past year financial information collected through on-site interview. Patient disease characteristics, treatment, outcomes and family caregiving burden were collected as well. Univariate and multivariate linear regression were used to construct risk factor models for indirect economic burden.
Results
After participating in the intervention, 85% of patients continued to receive mental health services, 70% used medication as prescribed and 80% were never relocked. Family members reported significantly decreased caregiving burden after receiving the intervention. Mean direct and indirect household economic burdens were CNY963 (US$31.7) and CNY11 724 (US$1670) per year, respectively, while family total income was on average CNY12 108 (US$1913) per year. Greater disease severity and poorer patient psychosocial function at time of study were found to be independent factors related to increased indirect burden.
Conclusions
The ‘unlocking and treatment’ intervention has improved the lives of patients and families. Indirect burden due to disease is still a major economic issue that needs to be addressed, potentially through improving treatment and patient functioning. Our findings contribute to the unravelling and eventual elimination of chronic restraining of mentally ill patients in low-resource settings.
Seasonal influenza virus epidemics have a major impact on healthcare systems. Data on population susceptibility to emerging influenza virus strains during the interepidemic period can guide planning for resource allocation of an upcoming influenza season. This study sought to assess the population susceptibility to representative emerging influenza virus strains collected during the interepidemic period. The microneutralisation antibody titers (MN titers) of a human serum panel against representative emerging influenza strains collected during the interepidemic period before the 2018/2019 winter influenza season (H1N1-inter and H3N2-inter) were compared with those against influenza strains representative of previous epidemics (H1N1-pre and H3N2-pre). A multifaceted approach, incorporating both genetic and antigenic data, was used in selecting these representative influenza virus strains for the MN assay. A significantly higher proportion of individuals had a ⩾four-fold reduction in MN titers between H1N1-inter and H1N1-pre than that between H3N2-inter and H3N2-pre (28.5% (127/445) vs. 4.9% (22/445), P < 0.001). The geometric mean titer (GMT) of H1N1-inter was significantly lower than that of H1N1-pre (381 (95% CI 339–428) vs. 713 (95% CI 641–792), P < 0.001), while there was no significant difference in the GMT between H3N2-inter and H3N2-pre. Since A(H1N1) predominated the 2018–2019 winter influenza epidemic, our results corroborated the epidemic subtype.
Temperature resulting from the joule heating power and the turn-on and turn-off dissipation of high-power, high-frequency applications is the root cause of their thermal instability, electrical performance degradation, and even thermal-fatigue failure. Thus, the study presents thermal and electrical characterizations of the power MOSFET module packaged in SOT-227 under natural convection and forced convection through three-dimensional (3D) thermal-electric (TE) coupled field analysis. In addition, the influences of some key parameters like electric loads, ambient conditions, thermal management considerations (heat sink, heat spreader) and operation conditions (duty cycle and switching frequency) on the power loss and thermal performance of the power module are addressed. The study starts from a suitable estimation of the power losses, where the conduction losses are calculated using the temperature- and gate-voltage-dependent on-state resistance and drain current through the device, and the switching losses are predicted based on the ideal switching waveforms of the power MOSFETs applied. The effectiveness of the theoretical predictions in terms of device’s power losses and temperatures is demonstrated through comparison with the results of circuit simulation and thermal experiment.
Sodium and chloride are the key factors maintaining normal osmotic pressure (OSM) and volume of the extracellular fluid, and influencing the acid–base balance of body fluids. The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary Na+ and Cl− level on growth performance, excreta moisture, blood biochemical parameters, intestinal Na+–glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1) messenger RNA (mRNA), and Na+–H+ exchanger 2 (NHE2) mRNA, and to estimate the optimal dietary sodium and chlorine level for yellow-feathered chickens from 22 to 42days. A total of 900 22-day-old Lingnan yellow-feathered male chickens were randomly allotted to five treatments, each of which included six replicates of 30 chickens per floor pen. The basal control diet was based on corn and soybean meal (without added NaCl and NaHCO3). Treatments 2 to 5 consisted of the basal diet supplemented with equal weights of Na+ and Cl−, constituting 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.4% of the diets. Supplemental dietary Na+ and Cl− improved the growth performance (P<0.05). Average daily gain (ADG) showed a quadratic broken-line regression to increasing dietary Na+ and Cl− (R2=0.979, P<0.001), and reached a plateau at 0.1%. Supplemental Na+ and Cl− increased (P<0.05) serum Na+ and OSM in serum and showed a quadratic broken-line regression (R2=0.997, P=0.004) at 0.11%. However, supplemental Na+ and Cl− decreased (P<0.05) serum levels of K+, glucose (GLU) and triglyceride. Higher levels of Na+and Cl− decreased duodenal NHE2 transcripts (P<0.05), but had no effect on ileal SGLT1 transcripts. The activity of Na+ /K+-ATPase in the duodenum decreased (P<0.05) with higher levels of dietary Na+ and Cl−. In conclusion, the optimal dietary Na+ and Cl− requirements for yellow-feathered chickens in the grower phase, from 22 to 42 days of age, to optimize ADG, serum Na+, OSM, K+ and GLU were 0.10%, 0.11%, 0.11%,0.17% and 0.16%, respectively, by regression analysis.
This study aims to investigate the prevalence and genotype distribution of anal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among men with different sexual orientations with or without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted during 2016–2017 in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. Convenient sampling was used to recruit male participants from HIV voluntary counselling and testing clinics and Center for Disease Control and Prevention. A face-to-face questionnaire interview was administered and an anal-canal swab was collected for HPV genotyping. A total of 160 HIV-positive and 113 HIV-negative men participated in the study. The prevalence of any type HPV was 30.6% for heterosexual men, 74.1% for homosexual and 63.6% for bisexual men among HIV-positive participants, while the prevalence was 8.3%, 29.2% and 23.8% respectively among HIV-negatives. The most prevalent genotypes were HPV-58 (16.9%), HPV-6 (15.6%) and HPV-11 (15.0%) among HIV-positive men, and were HPV-16 (4.4%), HPV-52 (4.4%) and HPV-6 (3.5%) among HIV-negative men. Having ever had haemorrhoids and having ever seen blood on tissue after defaecation was associated with HPV infection. One-fourth of the HPV infections in this study population can be covered by the quadrivalent vaccine in market. The highly prevalent anal HPV infection among men especially HIV-infected men calls for close observation and further investigation for anal cancer prevention.
The association between opportunistic infection (OI) and anaemia among HIV-infected patients remains to be studied. We investigated the prevalence and risk factors of anaemia in hospitalised HIV-infected patients to reveal the association between OI and anaemia. We conducted a retrospective study of HIV-positive hospitalised patients from June 2016 to December 2017 in Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University. Patients’ information on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were carefully collected. The comparison of anaemia prevalence between groups was conducted with χ2 test. A logistic regression model was carried out to analyse the predictors of anaemia. The total prevalence of anaemia in hospitalised HIV-infected patients was 55.15%. The prevalence of mild, moderate and severe anaemia was 41.42%, 11.08% and 2.64%, respectively. Predictors independently associated with anaemia were: CD4 counts <50 cells/μl (odds ratio (OR): 6.376, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.916–21.215, P = 0.003), CD4 counts 50–199 cells/μl (OR: 6.303, 95% CI = 1.874–21.203, P = 0.003), co-infection with tuberculosis (TB) (OR: 2.703, 95% CI = 1.349–5.414, P = 0.005) or Penicillium marneffei (PM) (OR: 7.162, 95% CI = 3.147–15.299, P < 0.001). In Fujian, China, more than half inpatients with HIV were anaemic, but severe anaemia is infrequent. Lower CD4 counts, co-infection with TB or PM were independent risk factors for anaemia. Chinese HIV patients especially with TB, PM infection and low CD4 level should be routinely detected for anaemia to improve therapy.
Hemostasis, a process which causes bleeding to stop, can be enhanced using chitosan; but the detailed mechanism is unclear. Red blood cells (RBCs) adhere to chitosan because of their opposite charges, but the adhesion force is small, 3.83 pN as measured here using an optical tweezer, such that the direct adhesion cannot be the sole cause for hemostasis. However, it was observed in this study that layer structures of aggregated RBCs were formed next to chitosan objects in both static and flowing environments, but not formed next to cotton and rayon yarns. The layer structure is the clue for the initiation of hemostatsis. Through the supporting measurements of zeta potentials of RBCs and pH's using blood-chitosan mixtures, it is proposed here that the formation of the RBC layer structure next to chitosan objects is due to the reduction of repulsive electric double layer force between RBCs, because of the association of H+ deprotonated from chitosan with COO− on RBC membrane, under the DLVO (Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek) theory. The results are beneficial for designing effective chitosan-based wound dressings, and also for general biomedical applications.
The dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) and visual memory deficits have been consistently reported to be associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study aimed to examine whether a DAT1 haplotype affected functional and structural brain alterations in children with ADHD and whether those alterations were associated with visual memory.
Method
We recruited a total of 37 drug-naïve children with ADHD (17 with the DAT1 rs27048 (C)/rs429699 (T) haplotype and 20 without the CT haplotype) and 37 typically developing children (17 with the CT haplotype and 20 without the CT haplotype). Visual memory was assessed by the pattern recognition memory (PRM) and spatial recognition memory (SRM) tasks. We analyzed functional and structural brain architecture with regional homogeneity (ReHo) and gray matter volume (GMV).
Results
The CT haplotype was associated with decreased ReHo in the left superior occipital gyrus, cuneus, and precuneus; and decreased GMV in the left superior occipital gyrus, cuneus, and precuneus, and in the right angular gyrus. Significant interactions of ADHD and the CT haplotype were found in the right postcentral gyrus for ReHo and in the right supplementary motor area for GMV. For the ADHD-CT group, we found negative correlations of total correct responses in PRM and SRM and positive correlations of mean latency of correct responses in PRM with the GMV in the left superior occipital gyrus, cuneus, and precuneus.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that the DAT1-related GMV alterations in the posterior cortical regions may contribute to visual memory performance in children with ADHD.
The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has been shown to be involved in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced immune responses in many mammal cells. Here, we suggest that the mTOR pathway is involved in the intestinal inflammatory responses evoked by LPS treatment in chicken embryos. The intestinal tissue from Specific pathogen free chick embryos was cultured in the presence of LPS for 2 h. Secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) concentrations, messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of cytokines, and protein levels of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), mTOR and p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (p70S6K) were determined. The results showed that LPS treatment increased sIgA concentrations in a dose-dependent manner. The mRNA levels of interleukine (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α and Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 were upregulated by LPS treatment (P<0.05). Lipopolysaccharide increased the phosphorylation of Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 MAPK and NF-κB (P<0.05) while decreasing the phosphorylation level of mTOR (P<0.05). Supplementation of leucine at doses of 10, 20 and 40 mM dose-dependently decreased sIgA production. Leucine supplementation at 40 mM restored the phosphorylation level of mTOR and p70S6K while suppressing the phosphorylation levels of NF-κB (P<0.05) and partially down-regulating the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and JNK. The transcription of IL-6 was significantly decreased by leucine supplementation. These results suggested that leucine could alleviate LPS-induced inflammatory responses by down-regulating NF-κB signaling pathway and evoking mTOR/p70S6K signaling pathway, which may involve in the regulation of the intestinal immune system in chicken embryos.
Iron-deficiency anemia is a public health concern that frequently occurs in pregnant mammals and neonatal offspring. Ferrous N-carbamylglycinate chelate (Fe-CGly) is a newly designed iron fortifier with proven effects in iron-deficient rats and weanling piglets. However, the effects of this new compound on pregnant mammals are unknown. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Fe-CGly on sow reproductive performance and iron status of both sows and neonatal piglets. A total of 40 large-white sows after second parity were randomly assigned to two groups (n=20). They were receiving a diet including 80 mg Fe/kg as FeSO4 or Fe-CGly, respectively, from day 85 of gestation to parturition. The serum (day 110 of pregnancy) and placentas of sows were sampled. Litter size, mean weight of live born piglets, birth (live) litter weight, number of live born piglets, and the number of still-born piglets, mummies, and weak-born piglets were recorded. Once delivered, eight litters were randomly selected from the 20 litters per treatment, and one new-born male piglet (1.503±0.142 kg) from each selected litter was slaughtered within 3 h after birth from the selected litters, without colostrum ingestion. The serum, longissimus muscle, liver and kidneys of the piglets were collected. The iron status of the serum samples and the messenger RNA level of iron-related genes in the placenta, liver and kidney were analyzed. The results showed that litter weight of live born piglets was higher (P=0.030) in the Fe-CGly group (19.86 kg) than in the FeSO4 group (17.34 kg). Fe-CGly significantly increased placental iron concentration (P<0.05) of sows. It also significantly increased iron saturation and reduced the total iron-binding capacity of piglets (P<0.05) at birth. However, the results revealed that supplementation of Fe-CGly in sows reduced liver and kidney iron concentration of neonatal piglets (P<0.05), indicating decreased iron storage. In addition, the concentration of iron in the colostrum was not significantly changed. Therefore, the present results suggested that replacement of maternal FeSO4 supplement with Fe-CGly in the late-gestating period for sows could improve litter birth weight, probably via enhanced iron transportation in the placenta.