who exclusively formula-feed their babies at 4 weeks postpartum should be targeted for health promotion programs that aim to delay the introduction of solids in infants to the recommended time.BACKGROUND Synthetic biology requires toolbox of promoters to finely tune gene expression levels for building up efficient cell factories. Yeast promoters owned variable core promoter regions between the TATA-box and transcriptional starting site (TSS) at the length mostly around 20-80 bases. This region allowed flexible design of artificial promoter but potentially demand special base motifs to maintain or enhance the promoter's strength. RESULTS Here, we designed and screened the base motifs and tested the activities of yeast artificial core promoters. Different 30 bases of artificial sequences led to variable expression levels of CrtY enzyme which determined the lycopene-carotene compositions, represented in the colony-color spectrum of red-orange-yellow. The upstream sequences of two strong promoter PEXP1 and PGPD and two starting strains with distinguishable lycopene production levels were utilized to characterize the promoter sequences. Different partition designs of T-rich or G/C-rich base motifs led to distinguishable colony-color distributions. Finally, we screened a champion promoter with a highest 5.5-fold enhancement of lycopene-carotene transformation. Another selected promoter generated a highest beta-carotene production as 7.4 mg/g DCW. CONCLUSIONS This work offered an approach to redesign promoter with artificial sequences. We concluded that the core promoter region could be designated as 30 bases and different base motifs would enhance or weaken the promoter's strength. Generally, more T-rich elements, higher %T and lower G/C percentage were beneficial to enhance the strength of artificial core promoter.BACKGROUND Traditional medicine serves as a form of primary health care for more than 80% of African populations. Currently, there is no research documenting if and how African migrant communities engage with their traditional health practices and beliefs after they resettle in Western countries. The aim of this study was to examine African migrant women's experiences and perspectives about traditional and complementary medicine use in relation to their maternal health and wellbeing in Australia. METHODS We conducted a mixed method study between December 2016 and October 2017. Questionnaires were completed by 319 women and 15 in-depth interviews were conducted among African migrant women residing across the Sydney metropolitan area, Australia. Survey data were analysed using SPSS (version 23) and logistic regression model was used to test associations. Qualitative data were analysed thematically using NVivo 11 software to identify themes and conceptual categories in the participants' responses. The study was = 0.013) were strong predictors of traditional medicine use. CONCLUSION Use of traditional and complementary medicine among African migrant women in Sydney remained high following resettlement in Australia. As noted in Andersen's sociobehavioural model of health service utilisation, specific predisposing and enabling factors including age, education and income were associated with use of traditional and complementary medicine.Porcine growth hormone (pGH) is a class of peptide hormones secreted from the pituitary gland, which can significantly improve growth and feed utilization of pigs. However, it is unstable and volatile in vitro. It needs to be encapsulated in liposomes when feeding livestock, whose high cost greatly limits its application in pig industry. Therefore we attempted to express pGH as intracellular soluble protein in Pichia pastoris and feed these yeasts with partial wall-breaking for swine, which could release directly pGH in intestine tract in case of being degraded in intestinal tract with low cost. In order to improve the intracellular soluble expression of pGH protein in Pichia pastoris and stability in vitro, we optimized the pGH gene, and screened molecular chaperones from E. coli and Pichia pastoris respectively for co-expressing with pGH. In addition, we had also explored conditions of mechanical crushing and fermentation. The results showed that the expression of intracellular soluble pGH protein was significantly increased after gene optimized and co-expressed with Ssa1-Sis1 chaperone from Pichia pastoris. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/actinomycin-d.html Meanwhile, the optimal conditions of partial wall-breaking and fermentation of Pichia pastoris were confirmed, the data showed that the intracellular expression of the optimized pGH protein co-expressed with Ssa1-Sis1 could reach 340 mg/L with optimal conditions of partial wall-breaking and fermentation. Animal experiments verified that the optimized pGH protein co-expression with Ssa1-Sis1 had the best promoting effects on the growth of piglets. Our study demonstrated that Ssa1-Sis1 could enhance the intracellular soluble expression of pGH protein in Pichia pastoris and that partial wall-breaking of yeast could prevent pGH from degradation in vitro, release targetedly in the intestine and play its biological function effectively. Our study could provide a new idea to cut the cost effectively, establishing a theoretical basis for the clinic application of unstable substances in vitro.BACKGROUND Empagliflozin (empa), a selective sodium-glucose cotransporter (SGLT)2 inhibitor, reduced cardiovascular mortality and hospitalization for heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk independent of glycemic control. The cardiovascular protective effect of empa was evaluated in an experimental model of metabolic syndrome, the obese ZSF1 rat, and its' lean control. METHODS Lean and obese ZSF1 rats were either non-treated or treated with empa (30 mg/kg/day) for 6 weeks. Vascular reactivity was assessed using mesenteric artery rings, systolic blood pressure by tail-cuff sphygmomanometry, heart function and structural changes by echocardiography, and protein expression levels by Western blot analysis. RESULTS Empa treatment reduced blood glucose levels from 275 to 196 mg/dl in obese ZSF1 rats whereas normoglycemia (134 mg/dl) was present in control lean ZSF1 rats and was unaffected by empa. Obese ZSF1 rats showed increased systolic blood pressure, and blunted endothelium-dependent relaxations associated with the appearance of endothelium-dependent contractile responses (EDCFs) compared to control lean rats.