Gut microbiota plays a critical role in the healthy growth and development of young animals. However, there are few studies on the gut microbiota of young Hainan black goats. In this study, 12 three-month-old weaned lambs with the same birth date were selected and divided into the high body weight group (HW) and low body weight group (LW). The microbial diversity, composition, and predicted function in the feces of HW and LW groups were analyzed by collecting fecal samples and sequencing the 16S rRNA V3-V4 region. The results indicated that the HW group exhibited higher community diversity compared with the LW group, based on the Shannon index. The core phyla of the HW and LW groups were both Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Parabacteroides, UCG-005, and Bacteroides are the core genera of the HW group, and Bacteroides, Escherichia-Shigella, and Akkermansia are the core genera of the LW group. In addition, genera such as Ruminococcus and Anaerotruncus, which were positively correlated with body weight, were enriched in the HW group; those genera, such as Akkermansia and Christensenellaceae, which were negatively correlated with body weight, were enriched in the LW group. Differential analysis of the KEGG pathway showed that Amino Acid Metabolism, Energy Metabolism, Carbohydrate Metabolism, and Nucleotide Metabolism were enriched in the HW group, while Cellular Processes and Signaling, Lipid Metabolism, and Glycan Biosynthesis and Metabolism were enriched in the LW group. The results of this study revealed the gut microbial characteristics of Hainan black goats with different body weights at weaning age and identified the dominant flora that contributed to their growth.

Background The inhibin alpha (INHA) gene is one of the important genes affecting the reproductive traits of animals. Hainan black goats are the main goat breed in Hainan Island (China), whose development is limited by low reproductive performance. However, the relationship between INHA gene and the reproductive performance of Hainan black goats is still unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to explore the effect of INHA gene polymorphisms on the litter size of Hainan black goats. Methods Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of INHA were detected, and the genetic parameters and haplotype frequency of these SNPs were calculated and association analysis was performed for these SNPs with the litter size. Finally, the SNP with significant correlations to litter size was analyzed by Bioinformatics tools. Results The results showed that the litter size of individuals with the AC genotype at loci g.28317663A>C of INHA gene was significantly higher than those with the AA genotype. This SNP changed the amino acid sequence, which may affect the function of INHA protein by affecting its structure. Our results suggest that g.28317663A>C loci may serve as a potential molecular marker for improving the reproductive traits in Hainan black goats.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of multidisciplinary collaborative care (MCC) in patients with both acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and depression and/or anxiety disorders compared with usual physician care (UPC). Methods: Depression and/or anxiety were screened by using SDS and SAS, ACS patients with depression and/or anxiety disorders were randomized into MCC and UPC groups. The cardiac outcomes and the life quality were evaluated at 1 year follow-up. Results: Overall, 30.19% (96/318) patients had positive screen results. At 1 year, Cardiac outcome measures for patients in MCC group were significantly better for composite events of cardiac death and non-fatal MI (6.12% vs 23.40%, p=0.016), cardiac function (NYHA functional classification III or IV, 0% vs 25%, p=0.05), and angina pectoris (21.28% vs 85%, p<0.0005), than patients in UPC group; the life quality were improved in patients in MCC group. Conclusion: After ACS, 30.19% of patients had depression and/or anxiety disorders, MCC had better effects on cardiac outcomes and quality of life in ACS patients with Psychiatric disorders.

Breeding and geneticsFull-length research article Identification of key genes in bovine mammary epithelial cells challenged with Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by integrated bioinformatics analysisABSTRACT -This study integrated four microarray datasets by Robust Rank Aggregation (RRA) method to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEG) in bovine mammary epithelial (BME) cells in response to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus infection. Furthermore, the GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the integrated DEG were performed. Finally, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed. A total of 72 integrated DEG were identified from the four datasets. The most significantly enriched terms within the integrated DEG were mainly involved in the immune response. The PPI network of DEG was constructed with 53 nodes. Seventeen genes, which constitute a significant module, were identified as hub genes. Among them, CD40, CXCL6, and NFKBIZ were further screened as the key genes and have the potential to become biomarkers of E. coli and S. aureus mastitis, considering the specificity of biomarkers for diseases. The identified key genes and pathways in this study can assist in the search for biomarkers for mastitis diagnosis and disease resistance breeding.