Background: Enterobacter hormaechei is commonly considered a causative pathogen for nosocomial infections and it does not usually cause diseases in animals. However, researchers have recently dissociated the pathogenic Enterobacter hormaechei from foxes and piglets. Here, the Enterobacter hormaechei was first found to be associated with respiratory disease in unweaned calves in China. Case presentation: A 2-month-old calf was severely sick and diagnosed with respiratory infection by a rural veterinarian, and it died 5 days after treatment with penicillin G. The lung sample was then run through histopathological analysis and pathogen isolation. The sequence analysis and biochemical tests results showed the isolated bacterium strain to be Enterobacter hormaechei, and drug sensitivity tests showed resistance to all β-lactam antimicrobials and sensitivity to quinolones. Thickened alveoli septum, inflammatory cell infiltration, and erythrocyte diapedesis around the pulmonary alveoli septum were visible in lung histopathological sections. One week later, at the same farm, another calf showed similar clinical signs, and the Enterobacter hormaechei strain was isolated from its nasal discharge; after a week of treatment with enrofloxacin, as suggested by the results of drug sensitivity tests, this calf fully recovered. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of calves with respiratory disease that was associated with E. hormaechei, and multi-drug resistance was observed in isolates.

Shiftwork became common during the last few decades with the growing demands of human life. Despite the social inactivity and irregularity in habits, working in continuous irregular shifts causes serious health issues including sleep disorders, psychiatric disorders, cancer, and metabolic disorders. These health problems arise due to the disruption in circadian clock system, which is associated with alterations in genetic expressions. Alteration in clock controlling genes further affects genes linked with disorders including major depression disorder, bipolar disorder, phase delay and phase advance sleep syndromes, breast cancer, and colon cancer. A diverse research work is needed focusing on broad spectrum changes caused by jet lag in brain and neuronal system. This review is an attempt to motivate the researchers to conduct advanced studies in this area to identify the risk factors and mechanisms. Its goal is extended to make the shift workers aware about the risks associated with shiftwork.

Climate change has emerged as one of the most important environmental issues worldwide. As the world’s biggest developing country, China is participating in combating climate change by promoting a low carbon economy within the context of global warming. This paper summarizes the pathways of China’s low carbon economy including the aspects of energy, industry, low carbon cities, circular economy and low carbon technology, afforestation and carbon sink, the carbon emission trading market and carbon emission reduction targets. There are many achievements in the implementation of low carbon policies. For example, carbon emission intensity has been reduced drastically along with the optimizing of energy and industry structure and a nationwide carbon trading market for electricity industry has been established. However, some problems remain, such as the weakness of public participation, the ineffectiveness of unified policies for certain regions and the absence of long-term planning for low carbon cities development. Therefore, we propose some policy recommendations for the future low carbon economy development in China. Firstly, comprehensive and long-term planning should be involved in all the low carbon economy pathways. Secondly, to coordinate the relationship between central and local governments and narrow the gap between poor and rich regions, different strategies of carbon emission performance assessment should be applied for different regions. Thirdly, enterprises should cooperate with scientific research institutions to explored low carbon technologies. Finally, relevant institutions should be regulated to realize comprehensive low carbon transition through reasonable and feasible low carbon pathways in China. These policy recommendations will provide new perspectives for China’s future low carbon economy development and guide practices for combating climate change.

Gut microbiota has been increasingly linked to metabolic health and diseases over the past few decades. Bile acids (BAs), the major components of bile, are bidirectionally linked to intestinal microbiota, also known as the gut microbiome-BA metabolic axis. Gut microbiota-derived bile salt hydrolase (BSH, EC 3.5.1.24), which catalyzes the “gateway” reaction in a wider pathway of bile acid modification, not only shapes the bile acid landscape, but also modulates the crosstalk between gut microbiota and host health. Therefore, microbial BSHs exhibit the potential to directly or indirectly influence microbial and host physiologies, and have been increasingly considered as promising targets for the modulation of gut microbiota to benefit animal and human health. However, their physiological functions in bacterial and host physiologies are still controversial and not clear. In this review, we mainly discuss the current evidence related to the physiological roles that BSHs played in gut microbiota and human health, and the possible underlying mechanisms. Meanwhile, we also present the potential applications of BSHs and BSH-producing probiotics in various fields. Finally, we describe several important questions that need to be addressed by further investigations. A detailed exploration of the physiological significance of BSHs will contribute to their future diagnostic and therapeutic applications in improving animal and human health.