Chinese perch are one of the most valuable food ®sh in China, but the sole source of feed for intensive culture is live prey ®sh. Our previous studies on systematic sensory physiology revealed that this species have a mechanism for this peculiar feeding habit. In the present study, a speci®c training procedure was designed, and both experimental (initial body weight 171.0 g; 120 days) and commercial (initial body weight 52.4 g; 240 days) netcage cultures were conducted to investigate the training success, growth performance and survival of the trained yearlings fed with nonlive or Oregontype moist diet. The training successes of minced prey ®sh and the Oregon moist diet were 100 and 89.9%, respectively, in experimental culture, and 92.2 and 83.5% in commercial culture. In an experimental trial, the ®sh fed minced prey ®sh or the Oregon moist diet attained ®nal body weights of 472.7 g or 344.7 g, although the speci®c growth rates of these groups were signi®cantly lower than that of the ®sh fed live prey ®sh (®nal body weight 560.0 g). Mortality was not signi®cantly related to dietary treatment. In commercial culture, the ®nal body weights were as follows: 750 g on live prey ®sh, 705 g on minced prey ®sh and 651 g on the Oregon moist diet. Feed costs to produce 1 kg ®sh were estimated to be US$6.59 for live prey ®sh, US$1.76 for minced prey ®sh and US$2.07 for the Oregon moist diet. The results of the present study con®rmed that sensory modality and associative learning appear to be critical factors in determining food discrimination of Chinese perch, indicating that both minced trash ®sh and Oregon-type moist diet can be substituted for live prey ®sh in intensive commercial production.

Many natural compounds derived from plants or microbes show promising potential for anticancer treatment, but few have been found to target energy-relevant regulators. In this study, we report that neoalbaconol (NA), a novel small-molecular compound isolated from the fungus, Albatrellus confluens, could target 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1) and inhibit its downstream phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3-K)/Akt-hexokinase 2 (HK2) pathway, which eventually resulted in energy depletion. By targeting PDK1, NA reduced the consumption of glucose and ATP generation, activated autophagy and caused apoptotic and necroptotic death of cancer cells through independent pathway. Necroptosis was remarkably induced, which was confirmed by several necroptosis-specific markers: the activation of autophagy, presence of necrotic morphology, increase of receptor-interacting protein 1 (RIP1)/RIP3 colocalization and interaction and rescued by necroptosis inhibitor necrostatin-1. The possibility that Akt overexpression reversed the NA-induced energy crisis confirmed the importance of the PDK1-Akt-energy pathway in NA-mediated cell death. Moreover, NA shows the capability to inhibit PI3-K/Akt signaling and suppress tumor growth in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) nude mouse model. These results supported the feasibility of NA in anticancer treatments.

Recent observations of the light component of the cosmic-ray spectrum have revealed unexpected features that motivate further and more precise measurements up to the highest energies. The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a satellite-based cosmic-ray experiment that is operational since December 2015, continuously collecting data on high-energy cosmic particles with very good statistics, energy resolution, and particle identification capabilities. In this work, the latest measurements of the energy spectrum of proton+helium in the energy range from 46 GeV to 316 TeV are presented. Among the most distinctive features of the spectrum, a spectral hardening at ∼600 GeV has been observed, along with a softening at ∼29 TeV measured with a 6.6σ significance. Moreover, by measuring the energy spectrum up to 316 TeV, a strong link is established between space-and ground-based experiments, also suggesting the presence of a second hardening at ∼150 TeV. * https://geant4.web.cern.ch/node/302 † https://web.ikp.kit.edu/rulrich/crmc.html