This study was designed to determine the effect of ultra-fine Chinese herbal powder as a dietary additive on serum concentrations and apparent ileal digestibilities (AID) of amino acids (AA) in young pigs. In Experiment 1, 60 Duroc x Landrace x Yorkshire piglets weaned at 21 days of age were randomly assigned to one of three treatments, representing supplementation with 0 or 2 g/kg of the powder, or 0.2 g/kg of colistin (an antibiotic) to corn- and soybean meal-based diets (n = 20 per group). Blood samples from five piglets per group were collected on days 7, 14, and 28 to determine serum AA concentrations. In Experiment 2, 12 barrows with an average initial body weight of 7.64 kg were randomly assigned to one of the three dietary treatments, followed by surgical placement of a simple T-cannula at the terminal ileum. All of the diets contained 0.1% titanium oxide as a digestibility marker. The samples of terminal ileal digesta were collected on day 7 for determining AID of AA. Results show that dietary supplementation with the herbal powder increased (P < 0.05) serum concentrations and AID of most AA by 10-50% and 10-16%, respectively. As an indicator of improved intestinal function, AID values of calcium were also enhanced in piglets supplemented with the herbal powder. Dietary supplementation of colistin increased serum concentrations and AID values of some AA by 8-44% and 10-15%, respectively, in comparison with the non-supplemented group. These novel findings demonstrate that the herbal powder can enhance the digestibility of dietary protein and the intestinal absorption of AA into the systemic circulation in post-weaning pigs, therefore providing a new mechanism for its growth- and immunity-promoting efficacy.

A high energy and high efficiency extracavity KTiOAsO4 (KTA) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with excellent stability and beam quality, which is pumped by a Q-switched single-longitudinal-mode Nd:YAG laser, has been demonstrated based on a type II non-critical phase matching (NCPM) KTA crystal. The maximum pulse energy of 10 mJ at 3.467 μm is obtained with the repetition rate of 10 Hz and pulse width of 2 ns, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 14% from 1.064 μm to 3.467 μm. After one hour of investigation, the OPO output stability better than 4.5% rms has been obtained. The output stability of 3.467 μm

A highly efficient pulse cleaner based on nonlinear ellipse rotation (NER) in a liquid medium of CS(2) is investigated for the temporal contrast enhancement of ultrashort pulses. In theory, a nonlinear transmissivity higher than 60% can be achieved with the temporal contrast improved by about four orders of magnitude, on the condition that the extinction ratio of the polarizer-analyzer pair is better than 10(4). In a proof of principle experiment, the cleaned pulses at the mJ level with total transmissivity as high as 30% are obtained via NER, in which the temporal contrast is enhanced by about three orders of magnitude. This provides a simple and feasible technology for improving the temporal contrast of an ultrashort and ultraintense laser system in the future.