Today, several strategies are being used to decrease the serious effects of antibiotics abuse on broilers industry and public health, among which synbiotics are one of the most promising antibiotic alternative. This study was undertaken to assess the effects of synbiotics, which composed of probiotics (Bacillus subtilis) and prebiotics (xylooligosaccharide and mannanoligosaccharide), on growth performance, intestinal morphology, sIgA content and antioxidant parameters of broilers. Four hundred and fifty one-day-old commercial Cobb48 broilers were assigned to five treatments consisting of six replicates of 15 birds each pen. Five dietary treatments include basal diets (control), basal diets plus antibiotics (4 mg/kg Xanthomycin), basal diets plus 1 g of probiotics B. subtilis product/kg of diets (4 × 10 cfu/kg), basal diets plus 150 mg/kg xylooligosaccharide (35%) and 1 g/kg mannanoligosaccharide (75%), and basal diets plus synbiotics (1 g of probiotics B. subtilis product/kg of diets (4 × 10 cfu/kg), 150 mg/kg xylooligosaccharide (35%) and 1 g/kg mannanoligosaccharide (75%). The results demonstrated that on 21 and 42 days, dietary supplementation of the synbiotics significantly increased daily weight gain (p < 0.05), feed efficiency (p < 0.05), the villus height and villus:crypt ratio in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum (p < 0.05), as well as intestinal mucosa sIgA content (p < 0.05), serum T-SOD activity (p < 0.05) and lysozyme content (p < 0.05), comparing with control group. In conclusion, synbiotics (B. subtilis and xylooligosaccharide and mannanoligosaccharide) is one of the safe and ideal dietary supplementations to increase broilers' growth performance by improving small intestinal morphology, sIgA content and antioxidant capabilities.

In order to improve boar sperm quality during frozen-thawed process, the influence of the presence of trehalose on success of cryopreservation of boar sperm were investigated. We evaluated freeze-thawing tolerance of boar spermatozoa in a base cooling extender with the addition of different trehalose concentrations (0, 25, 50, 100 and 200 mm), and try to determine the optimum concentration of trehalose. We chose sperm motility, mitochondrial activity, acrosome integrity and membrane integrity as parameters to evaluate cryopreservation capacity of boar spermatozoa. We obtained the best results for 100 mm trehalose-supplemented extenders, with values of 49.89% for motility, 44.69% for mitochondrial activity, 66.52% for acrosome integrity and 44.61% for membrane integrity, while freeze-thawing tolerance diminished significantly for 200 . The synergic effect of trehalose and glycerol resulted in better cryosurvival of boar spermatozoa than that of a single cryoprotectant. In conclusion, when trehalose-supplementation was added up to 100 mm, trehalose confers a greater cryoprotective capacity to the extender, and the sperm motility, mitochondrial activity, membrane integrity and acrosome integrity parameters were significantly improved during frozen-thawed process.

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Background and aimsGambling disorder (GD) is a mental disorder with a relatively higher prevalence in university students compared to adolescents and adults. Its reciprocity with mental being indicators, such as psychological flourishing, would be expected, but prior to this study had not yet been empirically examined. In addition, the predictive value of purpose in life (PIL) on university students' GD and psychological flourishing also remained unknown. This 1-year longitudinal study was the first to test the potential bidirectional relationships among PIL, self-reported GD symptoms, and psychological flourishing.MethodsIn this study, a total of 283 university students (39.6% females; age = 18–27 years,M = 20.47,SD = 1.15) completed an anonymous questionnaire at both baseline and a year later in a follow-up study.ResultsThe results of our cross-lagged analysis did not show the hypothesized reciprocity between GD symptoms and psychological flourishing (P > 0.05). However, PIL significantly predicted fewer GD symptoms (β = −0.23,P < 0.001) and higher levels of psychological flourishing (β = 0.30,P < 0.001) in the follow-up study. Moreover, psychological flourishing predicted PIL a year later.ConclusionThe findings demonstrate the potential efficacy of purpose/meaning oriented interventions in gambling prevention and in well-being promotion programs.

SOCS2, a member of suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) family, is a negative regulator of the signal pathway Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT). Growth hormone (GH) could stimulate lipolysis in adipose tissue. To demonstrate the specific influence of SOCS2 on porcine adipocytes differentiation and lipid metabolism induced by GH, we induced porcine primary adipocytes with 500 ng/ml GH and then tested the triglyceride (TG) accumulation and mRNA expressions of crucial genes in lipid metabolism like peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), fatty acid synthase (FAS), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), SOCS2 and SOCS3. Then we retested these genes expressions in different time point after further treatment that over expressed SOCS2 in primary adipocytes and treated with 500 ng/ml GH. Results showed 500 ng/ml GH significantly restrained the porcine primary adipocytes differentiation. Specifically, 0.5 h after the induction with GH, accumulation of TG began to increase, and turned down since 8 h after. GH could promote PPARγ and FAS expressions during earlier stage (0-1 h), restrain from 4 h. However, ATGL and HSL mRNA expressions were stabile increasing. The expression of SOCS2 increased steadily after GH stimulation while SOCS3 expression was instantaneous rise. Overexpression of SOCS2 significantly decreased GH-induced the increase of PPARγ, FAS, ATGL and HSL mRNA expressions in earlier stage (0-1 h), as well as FAS and ATGL protein expression. Otherwise SOCS2 overexpression significantly decreased signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3), signal transducers and activators of transcription 5 (STAT5) mRNA expressions and tyrosine phosphorylation levels with GH stimulation. At the same time SOCS3 mRNA kept in a lower level in Ad-SOCS2 transfected adipocytes. In conclusion, SOCS2 might be an important negative regulator of GH signaling in porcine adipocytes, which would provide the ground work for the mechanism of SOCS2 regulation fat metabolism.