Fatty liver disease is a growing problem in fish aquaculture and there is an urgent need to identify causes and possible remedies. In the present study, the effects of treating fatty liver disease in the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus Linnaeus, 1758) with an extract derived from a herb, Sedum sarmentosum Bunge (SSB), was investigated. We found that the SSB extract could restore the changes to feed coefficient, immune capacity, and pathological index caused by fatty liver disease, and also prevent apoptosis in hepatocytes. An RNA-seq analysis showed that treatment with SSB extract altered expression of genes in the lipid metabolic process, metabolic process, and oxidation-reduction process. Our results suggest that disorders of the PPAR and p53 signaling pathways may be involved in steatohepatitis development and in the therapeutic mechanism of the SSB extract treatment; these observations shed new light on possible treatment of steatohepatitis.

The study was to analyse the relationship between the alternative exon 7 splice variant of the BF gene and MHC-related Marek's disease (MD) resistance in chickens. The experiment first determined whether or not the cocks of Xiayan chickens have alternative splicing-out of the exon 7 of the BF gene from peripheral blood leucocytes (PBLs). Then, selected two groups: Group K included the offspring of the selected cocks which have no alternative splicingout of the exon 7 of the BF gene; Group Y included the offspring of the selected cocks which have alternative splicing-out of the exon 7 of the BF gene. All hens used in the cross-breeding were non-selected. The experimental chickens were challenged with a very virulent strain of Marek's disease virus (MDV) at 4 days old and were raised for 12 weeks. At this time, all the surviving chickens were killed and necropsy was also performed during the experiment whenever chickens died from the infection. Tumour incidence and mortality were calculated using SPSS, and the tissues were collected to detect MDV by PCR. The results showed that the mortalities of Group K and Y were 52.75% and 70.65%, respectively; and that the tumour incidences of non-alternative splicing-out of the exon 7 of the BF for Groups K and Y were 15.38% and 38.89%, respectively; the tumour incidences for the alternative splicing-out of the exon 7 were 46.15% and 56.76%, respectively. The results demonstrated the tumour incidence was highly related with the alternative exon 7 splice variant of the BF gene (P < 0.05).

Gaze control is a substitution for disabled people to play computer games. However, many disabled people may be inexperienced in games and/or novices using gaze-control. This study presents a game accessibility approach using gaze control modality for novice players and disabled people. A workshop was conducted involving a playtest on three games with gaze-control. The game experiences were observed, recorded, and evaluated with mixed methods. The study estimated the gaze control game accessibility by System Usability Scale (SUS), Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ), and an open-ended questionnaire. The gaze control modality demonstrated possible game accessibility to people with motor disabilities. The results also indicate that the challenge of game mechanics and the accuracy of the gaze-control system are two significant impact factors. Further research will be conducted on gaze-control games including more disabled people, and also develop the data analysis methods for evaluating gaze-control modality for game accessibility.

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