ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary fumaric acid (FA) on the growth performance, hematological parameters and serum biochemistry in broilers under heat stress (HS) condition. A total number of 200 broilers were allocated to five treatments including the thermoneutral group, which was reared at standard ambient temperature and fed basal diet (CONT) and four heat-stressed groups, which were held at 32 ± 1ºC aged from 22 to 42 days and fed the basal diet supplemented with 0, 5, 10 and 15 g/kg FA, respectively. On day 42, body weight and feed intake were measured and feed conversion ratio was calculated. Blood was collected for the estimation of hematological and biochemical parameters. HS impaired the growth performance, but the addition of FA made a higher final body weight, average daily gain and European broiler index in comparison with HS group. The hemoglobin concentration and packed cell volume of HS broilers were significantly lower than those of the CONT birds. Birds administered 5g/kg FA diet had significantly (p<0.05) higher erythrocyte counts and hemoglobin concentration compared with birds in the HS group fed basal diet. Also, the HS group exhibited significant increase in glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and creatinine when compared with CONT group. Dietary 5g/kg FA increased the serum total protein, albumin, globulin, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in comparison with the HS group. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the importance of using FA as feed additives to improve the growth performance of heat-stressed broilers through haematological and biochemical regulation.

Abstract Sediment yield is affected by many factors, such as climate, geology, geomorphology, land use and human activities. Sediment signatures are the statistic indices or curves that are able to effectively describe the temporal and spatial characteristics of sediment transport and evaluate the ability of the streamflow to deliver the sediment. In this study, the sediment signatures of Upper Sangamon River Basin, which is an intensively managed watershed for agriculture development, are analyzed. Firstly, a semi-distributed model of sediment transport is built up based on the Tsinghua Representative Elementary Watershed (THREW) model, and it is applied to the Upper Sangamon River Basin. The result of sediment simulation is analyzed by four sediment signatures, i.e. specific sediment yield, sediment delivery ratio, cumulative sediment curve and effective discharge. The sediment signatures are consistent with each other and accord with the fact of the agricultural production in Upper Sangamon River Basin.

ABSTRACTThis study aimed at examining the effect of overfeeding on the activity of the mTOR pathway in the liver and muscle tissues of Gang geese. Eighty healthy male Gang geese were reared under the same feeding conditions, and were divided at 14 weeks of age into a control group and an overfed group. All birds were slaughtered after three weeks of over feeding. Gene expression and protein content of several genes involved in the mTOR pathway were evaluated. The results showed that the gene expression of mTOR, raptor, and rictor, and the protein contents of mTOR and PI3K were higher in liver, breast muscle, and leg muscle of the overfed group than that of control group. However, the S6K expression level was clearly lower in the liver of the overfed group than that of control group, and there was no evident difference in both breast muscle and leg muscle between the control group and the overfed group. These results suggest that overfeeding induces the activity of raptor, rictor, and mTOR, and that mTOR signaling pathway was closely linked with PI3K pathway in the evaluated geese.

The performance of microemulsified diesel and conventional diesel collectors in coal flotation was compared by flotation indicators, including combustible recovery, ash content of the clean coal, and the flotation index. An efficient separation with lower dosage was obtained using the microemulsified diesel collector. Under optimum separation conditions, the microemulsion consumption was 100 g/t less compared with diesel. The saving in diesel consumption using the microemulsion reached about 70%, disregarding the consumption of the surfactant and cosurfactant. Frothing tests showed that the frother dosage was decreased by using the microemulsion collector, because of the surfactant and cosurfactant added during preparation. The microemulsified diesel collector is superior to the conventional diesel collector in terms of diesel consumption and separation efficiency, but the selectivity requires further improvement.

In this paper, the tracking control problem is considered for the payload transportation with an underactuated two-dimensional overhead crane. Two sliding mode controllers are designed to perform the trajectory tracking. One is proposed to control hoisting and lowering the suspended payload, and the other one is proposed to control both trolley positioning and payload swaying. Considering the second sliding mode controller is used to control two degrees of freedom (DOFs), a fuzzy inference algorithm is proposed to dynamically adjust the coupling factor between the two DOFs. The two controllers make the payload track a predefined trajectory and be safely transported as fast and accurately as possible with a small swing angle, and then place the payload at the desired position. Simulations are performed with the proposed controllers and the results show their effectiveness.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumours and its five-year survival rate remains low. Autophagy is a catabolic process conserved among all eukaryotes ranging from yeast to mammals. Recently, many studies show that tumour cells can utilize autophagy as a cellular defence mechanism when facing metabolic stress. Thus, we hypothesize that autophagy may play an important role in the resistance of hepatocellular carcinomas to therapy. Although the exact role of autophagy on tumour cells is still complex and further studies are needed to prove the impact of autophagy on HCC, it suggests that autophagy may be a new therapeutic target for the resistance to therapy of HCC.

El carcinoma hepatocelular (CHC) es uno de los tumores malignos más comunes, y su tasa de super-vivencia a los cinco años sigue siendo baja. La autofagia es un proceso catabólico conservado en todos los eucariotas, que abarca desde las levaduras hasta los mamíferos. Recientemente, numerosos estudios han demostrado que las células tumorales pueden utilizar la autofagia como un mecanismo celular de defensa frente al estrés metabólico. De este modo, sostenemos la hipótesis de que la autofagia puede desempeñar un papel importante en la resistencia de los carcinomas hepatocelulares a la terapia. Aunque el papel exacto de la autofagia en las celulares tumorales sigue siendo complejo, y se requieren más estudios a fin de probar el impacto de la autofagia en el CHC, hay indicios de que la autofagia puede ser un nuevo objetivo terapéutico para la resistencia a la terapia del CHC.