Developing alternatives to antibiotics is an urgent need in livestock production. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are regarded as powerful antibiotic substitutes (ASs) because AMPs have broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities and growth-promoting ability. Here, we aimed to comprehensively assess the effects of AMPs on the growth performance, diarrhea rate, intestinal morphology and immunity of healthy or challenged piglets, compared with an antibiotics group or negative control group. We performed a set of meta-analyses of feeding trials from database inception to 27 May 2019. Among the 1379 identified studies, 20 were included in our meta-analyses (56 arms and 4067 piglets). The meta-analyses revealed that (1) compared with the negative control group, AMPs significantly improved the healthy piglets’ average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), gain : feed ratio (G/F), levels of immune globulin (Ig) IgM and IgG, and intestinal villus height : crypt depth ratio (V/C) (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, AMPs significantly increased the challenged piglets’ ADG, ADFI, G/F and V/C of the jejunum and ileum, and notably deceased the diarrhea rate (P < 0.05); (2) compared with antibiotics group, the effects of AMPs were slightly weaker than those of antibiotics in the healthy piglets, but AMPs have similar effects to those of antibiotics in challenged piglets. In a higher purity, the optimal dose of AMPs may be approximately 0.01%. Our findings indicate that AMPs can improve piglet growth performance, enhance immunity, benefit intestinal morphology and decrease the diarrheal rate. AMPs could be great ASs especially under infection conditions.

The search for life in the Universe is a fundamental problem of astrobiology and modern science. The current progress in the detection of terrestrial-type exoplanets has opened a new avenue in the characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres and in the search for biosignatures of life with the upcoming ground-based and space missions. To specify the conditions favourable for the origin, development and sustainment of life as we know it in other worlds, we need to understand the nature of global (astrospheric), and local (atmospheric and surface) environments of exoplanets in the habitable zones (HZs) around G-K-M dwarf stars including our young Sun. Global environment is formed by propagated disturbances from the planet-hosting stars in the form of stellar flares, coronal mass ejections, energetic particles and winds collectively known as astrospheric space weather. Its characterization will help in understanding how an exoplanetary ecosystem interacts with its host star, as well as in the specification of the physical, chemical and biochemical conditions that can create favourable and/or detrimental conditions for planetary climate and habitability along with evolution of planetary internal dynamics over geological timescales. A key linkage of (astro)physical, chemical and geological processes can only be understood in the framework of interdisciplinary studies with the incorporation of progress in heliophysics, astrophysics, planetary and Earth sciences. The assessment of the impacts of host stars on the climate and habitability of terrestrial (exo)planets will significantly expand the current definition of the HZ to the biogenic zone and provide new observational strategies for searching for signatures of life. The major goal of this paper is to describe and discuss the current status and recent progress in this interdisciplinary field in light of presentations and discussions during the NASA Nexus for Exoplanetary System Science funded workshop ‘Exoplanetary Space Weather, Climate and Habitability’ and to provide a new roadmap for the future development of the emerging field of exoplanetary science and astrobiology.

Climate change has greatly affected agricultural production, and will lead to further changes in cropping system, varietal type and cultivation techniques for each region. The potential effects of climate change on rice production in Fujian Province, China, were explored in the current study with CERES-Rice model and climate-change scenarios, based on the self-adaptation of rice production. The results indicated that simulated yields of early rice in the double-rice region in south-eastern Fujian under scenarios A2, B2 and A1B increased by 15·9, 18·0 and 19·2%, respectively, and correspondingly those of late rice increased by 9·2, 7·4 and 7·4% when self-adaptation adjustment was considered, compared to scenarios without that consideration. In the double-rice region in north-western Fujian, simulated yields of early rice increased by 21·2, 20·5 and 18·9% and those of late rice by 14·7, 14·8 and 7·2% under scenarios A2, B2 and A1B, respectively, when self-adaptation was considered, compared to without consideration. Similar results were obtained for the single-rice region in the mountain areas of north-western Fujian, correspondingly increasing by 4·9, 5·0 and 2·9% when self-adaptation was considered compared to when it was not. In this single-rice region, double rice might be grown in the future at the Changting site under scenarios A1 and B2. When the self-adaptation adjustment was considered, the simulated overall output of rice crops in Fujian under scenarios A2, B2 and A1B increased by 5·9, 5·2 and 5·1%, respectively. Thus, more optimistic results were obtained when the self-adaptation ability of rice production was considered.

Legionnaires’ disease (LD) is a globally distributed systemic infectious disease. The burden of LD in many regions is still unclear, especially in Asian countries including China. A survey of Legionella infection using real-time PCR and nested sequence-based typing (SBT) was performed in two hospitals in Shanghai, China. A total of 265 bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) specimens were collected from hospital A between January 2012 and December 2013, and 359 sputum specimens were collected from hospital B throughout 2012. A total of 71 specimens were positive for Legionella according to real-time PCR focusing on the 5S rRNA gene. Seventy of these specimens were identified as Legionella pneumophila as a result of real-time PCR amplification of the dotA gene. Results of nested SBT revealed high genetic polymorphism in these L. pneumophila and ST1 was the predominant sequence type. These data revealed that the burden of LD in China is much greater than that recognized previously, and real-time PCR may be a suitable monitoring technology for LD in large sample surveys in regions lacking the economic and technical resources to perform other methods, such as urinary antigen tests and culture methods.

We determined the prevalence and seasonality of infections by Fasciola of goats and bovine species (cattle and water buffalo) in Hubei and Anhui provinces of China. Faecal samples were collected at 2- to 3-month intervals from 200 goats in Hubei province and from 152 bovine species in Anhui province. All faecal samples were examined for the presence of parasites. We determined the nucleotide sequences of the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of 39 Fasciola worms from Anhui province. The prevalence of Fasciola infection in goats ranged between 3.5 and 37.0%, with mean eggs per gram (EPG) ranging between 29.0 and 166.0. Prevalence and EPG exhibited downward trends over time with significant differences. The prevalence of Fasciola infection in cattle ranged between 13.3 and 46.2% (mean EPG, 36.4–100.0), and that of water buffalo ranged between 10.3 and 35.4% (mean EPG, 25.0–89.6), with a higher prevalence of infection and EPG from June to October compared with December to March. Analysis of ITS-1 and ITS-2 sequences revealed that F. hepatica and F. gigantica were present in all bovine species of Anhui province and that F. gigantica mainly infected water buffalo. This is the first demonstration of Fasciola infection in Hubei province and detection of F. hepatica and F. gigantica in Anhui province. The present study of Hubei province shows that mass treatment of livestock with closantel sodium injections in April and August/September controlled Fasciola infection effectively.

Development of partial inter-specific hybrid (PIH) rice is a promising approach for exploiting inter-specific heterosis between Oryza glaberrima and Oryza sativa. In the present study, the relationship between genetic distance (GD) of parental lines and yield performance of the PIHs was assessed using partial diallel crosses between three indica male sterile lines and 14 introgression lines (ILs) with different fragments of O. glaberrima genes. Twenty two out of the 42 PIHs expressed positive heterobeltiosis (i.e., the F l hybrid showed superiority over the better parent in the target trait) for panicle number, spikelet number, thousand grain weight and grain yield/plant. The proportion of O. glaberrima genome in the ILs ranged from 0·03 to 0·41, as revealed by 16 informative simple sequence repeat markers. Significant positive correlations were found between the proportion of O. glaberrima genome of the ILs and the GD between the ILs and the three different female parents. Heterosis of spikelet number per panicle in the hybrids was positively proportional with the O. glaberrima genome content of the parental ILs, while that of fertile grain percentage was negatively proportional to the O. glaberrima genome proportion. On average, the PIHs with higher grain yield and highest heterobeltiosis were obtained from the ILs carrying between 0·15 and 0·30 of O. glaberrima genome. The results indicated that a small proportion (<0·15) of the O. glaberrima genome in the ILs might limit heterosis expression of spikelet number per panicle, while a very large proportion (>0·30) of the O. glaberrima genome decreased the grain filling percentage in the PIHs, thus an intermediate range of O. glaberrima genome proportion should be more suitable for breeding heterotic PIHs. The exploitation of inter-specific heterosis between O. glaberrima and O. sativa has potential value for heterotic breeding in rice.

When a turbulent flow in a porous medium is determined numerically, the crucial question is whether turbulence models should account only for turbulent structures restricted in size to the pore scale or whether the size of turbulent structures could exceed the pore scale. The latter would mean the existence of macroscopic turbulence in porous media, when turbulent eddies exceed the pore size. In order to determine the real size of turbulent structures in a porous medium, we simulated the turbulent flow by direct numerical simulation (DNS) calculations, thus avoiding turbulence modelling of any kind. With this study, which for the first time uses DNS calculations, we provide benchmark data for turbulent flow in porous media. Since perfect DNS calculations require the resolution of scales down to the Kolmogorov scale, often only approximate DNS solutions can be obtained, especially for high Reynolds numbers. This is accounted for by using and comparing two different DNS approaches, a finite volume method (FVM) with grid refinement towards the wall and a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) with equal grid distribution. The solid matrix was simulated by a large number of rectangular bars arranged periodically. The number of bars in the solution domain with periodic boundary conditions was reduced systematically until a minimum size was found that does not suppress any large-scale turbulent structures. Two-point correlations, integral length scales and energy spectra were determined in order to answer the question of whether or not macroscopic turbulence can be found in porous media.

Despite the strong increase in observational data on extrasolar planets, the processes that led to the formation of these planets are still not well understood. However, thanks to the high number of extrasolar planets that have been discovered, it is now possible to look at the planets as a population that puts statistical constraints on theoretical formation models. A method that uses these constraints is planetary population synthesis where synthetic planetary populations are generated and compared to the actual population. The key element of the population synthesis method is a global model of planet formation and evolution. These models directly predict observable planetary properties based on properties of the natal protoplanetary disc, linking two important classes of astrophysical objects. To do so, global models build on the simplified results of many specialized models that address one specific physical mechanism. We thoroughly review the physics of the sub-models included in global formation models. The sub-models can be classified as models describing the protoplanetary disc (of gas and solids), those that describe one (proto)planet (its solid core, gaseous envelope and atmosphere), and finally those that describe the interactions (orbital migration and N-body interaction). We compare the approaches taken in different global models, discuss the links between specialized and global models, and identify physical processes that require improved descriptions in future work. We then shortly address important results of planetary population synthesis like the planetary mass function or the mass–radius relationship. With these statistical results, the global effects of physical mechanisms occurring during planet formation and evolution become apparent, and specialized models describing them can be put to the observational test. Owing to their nature as meta models, global models depend on the results of specialized models, and therefore on the development of the field of planet formation theory as a whole. Because there are important uncertainties in this theory, it is likely that the global models will in future undergo significant modifications. Despite these limitations, global models can already now yield many testable predictions. With future global models addressing the geophysical characteristics of the synthetic planets, it should eventually become possible to make predictions about the habitability of planets based on their formation and evolution.

The first experimental measurements of intense ( ${\sim }7\times 10^{19}~ {\rm W}~ {\rm cm}^{-2}$ ) laser-driven terahertz (THz) radiation from a solid target which is preheated by an intense pulse of laser-accelerated protons is reported. The total energy of the THz radiation is found to decrease by approximately a factor of 2 compared to a cold target reference. This is attributed to an increase in the scale length of the preformed plasma, driven by proton heating, at the front surface of the target, where the THz radiation is generated. The results show the importance of controlling the preplasma scale length for THz production.

Habitual consumption of dairy products has been shown to play an important role in the prevention of several chronic diseases. We aimed to prospectively assess the relationship between the change in dairy product consumption (both regular fat and low/reduced fat) and the 15-year incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In the Blue Mountains Eye Study, 2037 participants aged 49 years or above at baseline were re-examined at follow-up in 1997–9, 2002–4 and/or 2007–9. AMD was assessed from retinal photographs. Dietary data were collected using a semi-quantitative FFQ, and servings of dairy product consumption calculated. Over the 15-year follow-up, there were 352, 268 and eighty-four incident cases of any, early and late AMD, respectively. After adjusting for age, sex, current smoking, white cell count and fish consumption, a significant linear trend (P for trend = 0·003) was observed with decreasing consumption of total dairy foods and the 15-year incidence of late AMD, comparing the lowest v. highest quintile of intake (OR 2·80, 95 % CI 1·21, 3·04). Over the 15 years, decreased consumption of reduced-fat dairy foods was associated with an increased risk of incident late AMD, comparing the lowest to highest quintile of intake (OR 3·10, 95 % CI 1·18, 8·14, P for trend = 0·04). Decreasing total dietary Ca intake over the 15 years was also associated with an increased risk of developing incident late AMD (multivariable-adjusted P for trend = 0·03). A lower consumption of dairy products (regular and low fat) and Ca was independently associated with a higher risk of developing incident late AMD in the long term. Additional cohort studies are needed to confirm these findings.