CIDE gene expression in adipose tissue,liver, and skeletal muscle from obese and lean pigs

The expression of the cell death-inducing DNA fragmentation factor α-like effector (CIDE) family including Cidea, Cideb, and Cidec was significantly increased in mouse and human models of obesity. However, there was less information on these genes’ expression in pigs. Here, we hypothesized that different fat accumulation between lean (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire gilts, DLY) and obese (Lantang) pigs was attributed to porcine CIDE-modulating lipid metabolism. Our data showed that Cidea and Cidec were expressed at a high level in adipose tissue, and at a relatively high level in skeletal muscle, whereas Cideb was mainly expressed in the liver in both breeds of pig. Lantang pigs had higher white adipose and skeletal muscle Cidea and Cidec mRNA abundance, and hepatic and muscle Cideb mRNA than DLY pigs. Lipid metabolism-related genes including sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c), hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α (HNF-4α), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), fatty acid synthase (FASN), diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), and DGAT2 showed a higher expression level in adipose tissue from obese pigs than in that from lean pigs. Lantang pigs exhibited higher mRNA abundance for liver SREBP-1c, HNF-4α, and PGC-1α, and higher skeletal muscle SREBP-1c, HNF-4α, PGC-1α, and DGAT2 expression, as compared with DLY pigs. However, the perlipin2 mRNA levels in adipose tissues, liver, and skeletal muscle were significantly lower in obese pigs than in their lean counterparts. Furthermore, plasma non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), glucose, and triacylglycerol (TAG) levels were greater in obese pigs than in lean pigs. Finally, data from correlation analysis further found that CIDE mRNA expression was positively correlated with back fat thickness (BFT), abdominal fat mass (AFM), and the levels of NEFA, TAG, and glucose in the two breeds. Collectively, these data revealed that the porcine CIDEs possibly modulated lipid metabolism and contributed to the development of fat deposition and obesity in Lantang pigs.     

“Project Screen” — A Follow‐up Study of a Pre‐school Screening Battery

This study examines a pre‐school screening survey battery with an aim to validate it in terms of predicting school performance. Subjects participating in the screening were tested at the end of their first year at school. Analysis of the data, using a canonical correlation procedure, suggested elimination of a number of test items ‐‐ age, sex, age of walking, socio‐economic rating, Draw‐a‐Man Test, balance and posture, body image, perceptual motor match, height and weight. Measures of general ability, visual discrimination, visual reception, general development, receptive language, language concepts and positional concepts were the best predictors of school performance.     

Conversion of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> to useful substances with composite iron,nickel, and copper catalysts

Composite materials of Fe/Al₂O₃, which consist of small particles of iron supported by thermally stable alumina even at 500–700 °C, have been widely used in the water-gas shift reaction for natural gas reforming. Therefore, Fe/Al₂O₃ is one of the promising candidates for re-transformation of exhausted CO₂ into fuels such as alcohols and hydrocarbons. The development of a CO₂ reforming system using the composite materials of Fe/Al₂O₃ through CO₂ reduction to CO, dissociation of water into hydrogen, and methanol synthesis has been investigated. It was found that dry and steam (i.e. wet) reforming of CO₂ produced almost the same amount of CO. At a temperature above 500 °C, maximal and saturated yields of CO and H₂ from CO₂ and water were obtained. However, this CO₂ reforming system requires higher-pressure conditions from several tens to hundreds standard atmospheric pressure in order to achieve high yield and selectivity for methanol production. In this study we developed the modified CO₂ reforming system by the utilization of Ni and/or Cu instead of Fe in order to obtain other types of useful products such as CO, CH₄, and carbon, more efficiently and selectively under atmospheric pressure. When Ni or Cu was used, conversion of CO₂ was reduced to 76%, while 9% of methane was detected in the case of Ni. On the other hand, though the CO₂ conversion reduced half of the Fe, the selectivity of CO from CO₂ increased to 95% in the case of Cu.     

Numerical investigation of cavitating flow behind the cone of a poppet valve in water hydraulic system

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of cavitating flow through water hydraulic poppet valves were performed using advanced RNGk-epsilon turbulence model. The flow was turbulent, incompressible and unsteady, for Reynolds numbers greater than 43000. The working fluid was water, and the structure of the valve was simplified as a two dimensional axisymmetric geometrical model. Flow field visualization was numerically achieved. The effects of inlet velocity, outlet pressure, opening size as well as poppet angle on cavitation intensity in the poppet valve were numerically investigated. Experimental flow visualization was conducted to capture cavitation images near the orifice in the poppet valve with 30° poppet angle using high speed video camera. The binary cavitating flow field distribution obtained from digital processing of the original cavitation image showed a good agreement with the numerical result. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 59835160) and Scientific Research Foundation for Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry of China (No. 50175097)