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Kirkovirus (kirV), a seemingly novel virus family, has been found in horses and donkeys. The study's objectives are to investigate the presence of the virus in swine. In this study, donkey-like kirV was detected in rectal swabs of piglets with diarrhea, and the positive rate was found to be 100% (149/149). However, this virus was detected in only one of 261 clinically healthy piglets, which suggested a strong relationship between the kirV and the diarrheic disease. We obtained the whole-genome sequences of three kirVs (Cj-D5, Cj-D32, and Cj-D43), with a length of 3750 nucleotides (nt) and sharing 99.9% nt identity with donkey kirVs. Furthermore, the three viruses shared 88.5–100% and 23–51% of the Rep protein sequence, similar to available reference strains of Kirkoviridae and Circoviridae, respectively. Moreover, like horse and donkey kirVs, the RCR domain and P-loop NTPase domains of Rep protein and nonanucleotide motif (CAATATTAC) of the three viruses were similar to those of Circoviruses and Cycloviruses. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these viruses could be grouped with members in the proposed family Kirkoviridae. This is the first report to describe that kirV can circulate in piglets with diarrhea, and future studies are needed to determine the pathogenesis of this virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To report baseline information of a prediabetes mellitus (PDM) cohort with the aim of exploring related factors for the progression of PDM and its complications. Methods. This study is an exploratory and cross-sectional analysis of the baseline data from a cohort study. Residents aged 18 to 70 years from Houtang Village, Nanyue Town, Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province, China, were invited to participate between October 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019. Blood samples were collected for analysis, and questionnaire interviews were conducted to assess behavioral characteristics. The study participants were divided into DM, PDM, and normal groups for comparisons based on their blood work, and multiple multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to assess the risk factors for DM and PDM. Results. Data from 406 participants were used in the baseline analysis, with a mean age of 51.2 ± 11.0 years and 160 (33.0%) males. The number of participants in the DM, PDM, and normal group was 58 (14.3%), 166 (40.9%), and 182 (44.8%), respectively. The prevalence of DM was 14.3%, and the prevalence of PDM was 40.9%. The regression analysis showed that older age (relative risk ratio (RRR) = 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01–1.11, P = 0.018), higher systolic blood pressure (RRR = 1.04; 95% CI, 1.004–1.08, P = 0.030), higher BMI (RRR = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.06–3.06, P = 0.004), higher TG (RRR = 1.80; 95% CI, 1.06–3.06, P = 0.029), and higher WBC count (RRR = 1.32; 95% CI, 1.07–1.64, P = 0.010) were significantly associated with a higher risk of DM. Meanwhile, higher systolic blood pressure (RRR = 1.03; 95% CI, 1.004–1.06, P = 0.025) was the only factor significantly associated with a higher risk of PDM. Conclusion. The prevalence of DM and PDM is relatively high in this wealthy East China village population. Many modifiable risk factors exist for DM and PDM, which will be closely monitored during our longitudinal observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperglycemia is one of the main causes of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) characterized by thickening of the vascular basement membrane. Laminin alpha 1 (LAMA1) is a primary component of laminin, a major protein constituent of the basement membrane. In this study, we investigated the role of LAMA1 in the development of PDR. Retinal choroidal vascular endothelial cells (RF/6A line) were exposed to glucose at different concentrations (5 mM, 15 mM, 25 mM, and 35 mM) and analyzed for cell growth, migration, proliferation, and adhesion. LAMA1 expression was examined 24 and 48 h following glucose treatment using Western blotting, RT-PCR, and immunofluorescence. The results showed that the proliferation, migration, and adhesion of RF/6A cells were increased by high glucose, whereas LAMA1 expression was slightly higher at 15 mM but decreased at 25 mM and 35 mM glucose compared to control. Thus, the changes in the biological behavior of high glucose-exposed retinal vascular endothelial cells correspond to variations in LAMA1 expression, indicating a possibility for LAMA1 involvement in PDR development. Our findings suggest that LAMA1 may play a role in PDR and, thus, may serve as a potential target for DR diagnosis and/or treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration characteristics, sources, and potential ecological risk assessment of 16 PAHs were investigated in the surface water from the Songhua River Basin, Northeast China. A total of 48 river water samples, including 16 from the main streams and 32 from the tributaries, were collected. Samples were separated into dissolved phases and suspended particle matter (SPM) via filtration with 0.47 μm glass fiber filters. Each phase was analyzed for PAHs. The total PAH concentration in the dissolved phase in the water ranged from 32.5 to 108 ng L and from 0.3 to 62.3 μg g (dry weight) in the suspended particle matter (SPM). The total PAH concentration in the main stream was lower than in the tributaries; the volume of annual runoff of rivers had a significant effect on the ƩPAH in the rivers. The 2- and 3-ring PAHs dominated in both the dissolved phase and SPM, indicating a relatively recent local source of PAHs in the study area. The concentrations of PAHs in the Songhua River Basin are lower when compared with the values previously reported in the literature from other rivers around the world. The sources of PAHs were assessed by diagnostic ratios and principal component analysis (PCA), and the ecological risk of the PAHs was assessed based on the risk quotient (RQ). The diagnostic ratios and PCA indicated that the main sources of PAHs originated from pyrogenic and petrogenic sources, and pyrogenic sources had a greater impact. The ecological risk assessment indicated that the PAHs presented low ecosystem risk in the Songhua River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we consider feature selection for face recognition using both labeled and unlabeled data. We introduce the weighted feature space in which the global separability between different classes is maximized and the local similarity of the neighboring data points is preserved. By integrating the global and local structures, a general optimization framework is formulated. We propose a simple solution to this problem, avoiding the matrix eigen-decomposition procedure which is often computationally expensive. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of our approach and confirm that utilizing labeled and unlabeled data together does help feature selection with small number of labeled samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct conversion of aldehyde sodium bisulfites to the corresponding nitriles can be easily performed by the reaction of an aldehyde sodium bisulfites with a slight execss of hydroxylamine hydrochloride in refluxing toluene and in the presence of 1.0 equivalents of pyridine as catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]