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To investigate the response of ionosphere to strong geomagnetic storms at different latitudes, this paper focuses on the response characteristics of global ionospheric ROTI at different latitudes during the September 2017 strong geomagnetic storms based on global ROTI maps and GPS dual-frequency observation data, and explores the PPP accuracy of GPS stations at each latitude during two different types of strong geomagnetic storms. The results show that (i) the daily mean ROTI values during the September 2017 strong geomagnetic storms show a spatial distribution of higher in the global region in the high-latitude region of North America, the northern European region and the whole Antarctic region, and lower in other regions. (ii) The highest ROTI time mean value in the high-latitude belt, with a peak value of 0.30 TECU/min, exceeds twice the peak value of the global time mean value; within the mid-latitude belt, the ROTI time mean value in the northern hemisphere is larger, with values exceeding three times those of the Southern Hemisphere. (iii) During the strong geomagnetic storm in September 2017, the PPP results of high-latitude GPS stations were affected to a greater extent, and the mean value of positioning error in the vertical direction exceeded 2.0 m. (iv) During the strong geomagnetic storm in November 2021, the changing trend of the mean value of PPP positioning error at different latitudes was consistent with that of 2017, but the mean value of positioning error and RMS at high latitudes in 2021 was higher than those in 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the clinical outcomes of endodontic microsurgery in complicated cases presenting with large or through-and-through lesions. Materials and methods: We retrospectively collected and analyzed preoperative, intraoperative, and follow-up data from 143 complicated cases that underwent endodontic microsurgery. Clinical outcomes were assessed in terms of tooth survival and surgery success. Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate the survival rate and identify associated risk factors. Additionally, the success rate was compared across different postoperative periods, and potential factors contributing to surgical failure were identified through binary logistic regression. Results: The overall survival and success rates were 93.0% and 91.7%, respectively. The Cox regression model identified four risk factors affecting tooth survival, including apicoectomy of four teeth (HR = 35.488; P = 0.0002), an open apex observed on preoperative radiographs (HR = 6.300; P = 0.025), the performance of guided tissue regeneration technique (HR = 8.846; P = 0.028), and a palatal surgical approach (HR = 8.685; P = 0.030). The success rate demonstrated an initial increase in the early postoperative period (from 0.5 to 2 years; P = 5.8124e-30), followed by stabilization (from 2 to 9 years; P = 0.298). Surgery success rate significantly declined when apicoectomy involved four teeth (OR = 109.412; P = 0.002). Conclusions: Endodontic microsurgery demonstrates satisfactory outcomes in complicated cases, maintaining a stable success rate after two years. However, tooth survival and surgery success are significantly compromised when apicoectomy involves four teeth. Factors such as guided tissue regeneration, an open apex, and the palatal surgical approach are associated with an increased risk of tooth extraction. Clinical relevance: Despite achieving acceptable outcomes in complicated cases, endodontic microsurgery is adversely affected by the apicoectomy of four teeth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the possible ionospheric anomalies before the Mw7.2 earthquake in Haiti on August 14, 2021. Based on the dual-frequency observation data of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations and Global Ionosphere Maps (GIM) data products, the sliding interquartile range method was applied to detect and analyze the changes of ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) anomalies before the earthquake. The results show that the TEC anomalies over five GNSS stations show the common existence of anomalous times, which are July 28, August 1, August 2, August 7, and August 13, 2021, respectively. Combining space weather parameters and GIM, it is tentatively concluded that the TEC anomaly that appeared on August 1 (i.e., the 13th day before the earthquake) was not disturbed by geomagnetic storms and solar activity, and may be related to the breeding earthquake. An ionospheric anomaly close to 6 TECU was present near the epicenter 13 days before the earthquake, which is strongly associated with the peak variation of the equatorial anomaly. This suggests that an anomalously increased vertical electric field may have been generated before the earthquake, which in turn enhanced the "fountain effect" and created a strong northern hump. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection with African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes an acute and highly lethal hemorrhagic disease that has been responsible for huge economic losses in China. To exactly detect the antigen of ASFV, we established a rapid, no-wash, one-step sandwich-type immunoassay based on the amplified luminescent proximity homogenous assay-linked immunosorbent assay (AlphaLISA) using two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) M-5 and M-6 against ASFV p72. ASFV p72 in samples was captured by biotinylated mAb M-5 connected to the donor bead surface via streptavidin and "sandwiched" by mAb M-6 which was coated onto the acceptor bead. Efficacy and sensitivity trials revealed that the AlphaLISA could detect ≥0.78 ng/ml of purified p72 and with a linear range of 0.78–100 ng/ml. The AlphaLISA was specific for ASFV and did not cross-react with other common pathogenic porcine viruses. Compared with RealPCR ASFV DNA test and ASFV antigen detection kit, the sensitivity of the AlphaLISA evaluated in 60 porcine serum samples was 93% and 100%, respectively. The specificity was 100% and 91.7%, respectively. This study presents a good laboratory diagnostic tool for sensitive and efficient detection of ASFV in porcine serum. Key points: • MAbs M-5 and M-6 recognized various epitopes of ASFV p72. • The established ASFV p72 AlphaLISA showed well specificity, high sensitivity, and satisfied correlation coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deubiquitination is an essential regulatory step in the Ub-dependent pathway. Deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) mediate the removal of ubiquitin moieties from substrate proteins, which are involved in many regulatory mechanisms. As a component of the DUB module (Ubp8/Sgf11/Sus1/Sgf73) in the SAGA (Spt-Ada-Gcn5-acetyltransferase) complex, Ubp8 plays a crucial role in both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and humans. In S. cerevisiae, Ubp8-mediated deubiquitination regulates transcriptional activation processes. To investigate the contributions of Ubp8 to physiological and pathological development of filamentous fungi, we generated the deletion mutant of ortholog MoUBP8 (MGG-03527) in Magnaporthe oryzae (syn. Pyricularia oryzae). The ΔMoubp8 strain showed reduced sporulation, pathogenicity, and resistance to distinct stresses. Even though the conidia of the ΔMoubp8 mutant were delayed in appressorium formation, the normal and abnormal (none-septum or one-septum) conidia could finally form appressoria. Reduced melanin in the ΔMoubp8 mutant is highly responsible for the attenuated pathogenicity since the appressoria of the ΔMoubp8 mutant was much more fragile than those of the wild type, due to the defective turgidity. The weakened ability to detoxify or scavenge host-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) further restricted the invasion of the pathogen. We also showed that carbon derepression, on the one hand, rendered the ΔMoubp8 strain highly sensitive to allyl alcohol, on the other hand, it enhances the resistance of the MoUBP8 defective strain to deoxyglucose. Overall, we suggest that MoUbp8 is not only required for sporulation, melanin formation, appressoria development, and pathogenicity but also involved in carbon catabolite repression of M. oryzae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The locator is the key component to control the track of contact wire in overhead catenary system (OCS) for high-speed railway. Once the locator slope is out of bound, it would pose a huge hazard to the safety of the high-speed trains and threat to the human life and property damage. In this work, a novel end-to-end locator slope calculation framework is presented for locator slope real-time inspection in high-speed railway system. The pipeline is composed of two stages: locator contour detection and slope calculation. In order to precisely detect the locator contours in OCS images captured from high-speed extreme environments, a novel detection mechanism including rough detection and fine fitting is proposed. For the fast slope calculation through only one camera, monocular vision model is modified by two novel assumptions to calculate the locator space coordinates. Rigorous experiments are performed across a number of standard locator slope calculation benchmarks, showing a large improvement in the precision and speed over all previous methods. Finally, the effectiveness of proposed framework is demonstrated through a real-world application of the high-speed rail OCS inspection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contamination of barley kernel by Fusarium fungi constitutes a serious problem for malting-related industries. Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a secondary metabolite produced by Fusarium fungi. DON can affect dopaminergic receptors in the human brain; it may cause symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, headache, and fever. The aims of this study were to evaluate the DON destruction effect of the intense pulsed light (IPL) and plasma-activated water (PAW) treatments in raw and germinating barley and assess the feasibility for disinfection in the malt industry. Both non-thermal methods degraded DON concentration in germinating barley. IPL treatment significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the DON level of germinating barley samples by 35.5% after 180 pulses in 60 s, and the PAW treatment effectively degraded the DON level by 34.6% in germinating barley in the first 5 min. However, higher barley quality remained for PAW treatment (germination rate: 81-100%) than for the IPL treatment (germination rate: 41-60%). For the raw barley samples, although significant reduction (30.9%) was achieved after 180 pulses of IPL treatment, noticeable quality (germination rate: 20-40%) alteration was observed. Significantly less DON degradation was achieved by the PAW treatment on raw barley than the germinating barley for all times. Overall, these findings suggested that PAW and IPL might potentially be used to reduce DON levels in some malt-related industry applications, and PAW was recommended as a better method than IPL to maintain the barley quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon catabolite repression (CCR) is a common regulatory mechanism used by microorganisms to prioritize use of a preferred carbon source (usually glucose). The CreC WD40-repeat protein is a major component of the CCR pathway in Aspergillus nidulans. To clarify the function of the CreC ortholog from Magnaporthe oryzae in regulating gene expression important for pathogenesis, MoCreC was identified and genetically characterized. The vegetative growth rate of the MoCreC deletion mutant on various carbon sources was reduced. The MoCreC mutant produced fewer conidia and with about 60% of conidia having septation defects. Appressorium formation was impaired in the MoCreC mutant. Although some appressoria of the mutant could penetrate the leaf surface successfully, the efficiency of penetration and invasive growth of infection hyphae was reduced, resulting in attenuated virulence toward host plants. The CCR was defective as the mutant was more sensitive to allyl alcohol in the presence of glucose, and 2-deoxyglucose was unable to fully repress utilization of secondary carbon sources. qRT-PCR results indicated that the genes encoding cell wall degradation enzymes, such as β-glucosidase, feruloyl esterase and exoglucanase, were upregulated in MoCreC mutant. Taken together, we conclude that MoCreC is a major regulator of CCR and plays significant roles in regulating growth, conidiation, and pathogenicity of M. oryzae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two major porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) genotypes, PCV2a and PCV2b, are recognized. PCV2a was predominant in the global pig population until 2000 while PCV2b became predominant from 2003 onward. The aim of this study was to analyze the immune protection conferred by two PCV2a and two PCV2b capsid proteins (Caps) in pigs challenged with a mutant PCV2b/YJ (mPCV2b/YJ) strain. Pigs vaccinated with PCV2a/LG-Cap and PCV2a/CL-Cap elicited significantly higher levels of PCV2-specific antibodies and neutralizing antibodies compared with PCV2b/JF-Cap and mPCV2b/YJ-Cap. Following a mPCV2b/YJ challenge, no viremia was detected in the PCV2a/LG-Cap and PCV2a/CL-Cap groups, while viremias were found in 20 and 40 % of the pigs in the PCV2b/JF-Cap and mPCV2b/YJ-Cap groups, respectively. Viral loads in the inguinal lymph nodes of pigs from the PCV2b/JF-Cap and mPCV2b/YJ-Cap groups were significantly higher than those in the PCV2a/LG-Cap and PCV2a/CL-Cap groups, but significantly lower than those of the challenge control group. Furthermore, PCV2 antigens were not detected in the inguinal lymph nodes of pigs from commercial vaccine groups, as well as the PCV2a/LG-Cap and PCV2a/CL-Cap groups, but were found in the challenge control (100 %, 5/5), PCV2b/JF-Cap (20 %, 1/5), and mPCV2b/YJ-Cap (20 %, 1/5) groups. These findings suggest that mPCV2b/YJ-Cap and PCV2b/JF-Cap were less immunogenic than PCV2a/LG-Cap and PCV2a/CL-Cap. We speculate that a genotypic shift from PCV2a to PCV2b might be the result of the majority of PCV2a strains being more immunogenic than the majority of PCV2b strains. These results provide a possible explanation for why PCV2b strains are more likely to cause epidemics than PCV2a strains. It tells us that PCV2 pathogenesis may be associated with its immunogenicity to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycoplasma hyorhinis is commonly found in the respiratory tract of pigs and is the etiological agent of polyserositis. The metabolic enzymes of M. hyorhinis may play important roles in host-pathogen interactions. We immunized BALB/c mice with sodium deoxycholate-extracted antigens (DOC-Ags) and screened 10 hybridomas that secreted antibodies against various M. hyorhinis proteins. Pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 complex subunit alpha (PDHA) was identified as the protein that reacted with five of the 10 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Sequence analysis indicated that PDHA was highly conserved among M. hyorhinis strains, but not among other mycoplasmas. We predicted the three-dimensional structure of PDHA and identified three epitopes (RTEEEEK, KDKKYITDE, and LKEQKQHAKDY). The mAb 1H12 we generated was used to detect M. hyorhinis PDHA in vitro and in piglets infected with M. hyorhinis. We observed that PDHA was mainly located in the epithelial cells of the lungs. Our results indicate that the mAbs we generated could be used to further investigate the structure and function of M. hyorhinis PDHA. In addition, they could be used in the differential diagnosis of M. hyorhinis and other mycoplasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Torque teno sus virus 1 (TTSuV1) has a non-enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense circular DNA genome, and it is widely distributed in pigs. Open reading frame 1 (ORF1) of TTSuV1 can be transcribed into mRNA and then translated into protein; however, its promoter has not yet been identified. We used a dual-luciferase reporter system, involving pGL3-Basic and pRL-TK, to identify the promoter of TTSuV1 ORF1. Our results revealed that the sequence between nucleotides 196 and 525 promoted the transcription of the firefly luciferase gene. The core sequence of the promoter was between nucleotides 250 and 400. A comparison of the identified TTSuV1 ORF1 promoter with that from cytomegalovirus (CMV) suggested that the two promoters were similar in strength. Our findings provide new information regarding the molecular biology of TTSuV1 and have revealed a new promoter that can be used in plasmids for numerous applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pseudorabies virus (PRV) UL42 protein, known as the DNA polymerase processivity factor, is an essential protein required for viral replication. The in vitro function of UL42 has been characterized; however, there is little information concerning the linear B cell epitopes of UL42 that are recognized during humoral immune responses. We generated and characterized six UL42-reactive monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from mice that had been immunized with a recombinant form of UL42. Through western blotting analysis, we identified two regions of UL42 (amino acids 39-148 and 302-384) that reacted with these mAbs. We then synthesized a panel of UL42-derived peptides spanning the two regions and screened the six mAbs. We were able to identify three linear epitopes (SGGVLDALK, KRPAAPR, and RMYTPIAK) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The SGGVLDALK epitope was located at the amino-terminus, while the other two epitopes were at the carboxy-terminus. Using these mAbs, we found that UL42 localized to the nucleus during viral replication and could be immunoprecipitated from PRV-infected PK-15 cells. We also established a UL42 mAb-based immunoperoxidase monolayer assay for the determination of PRV titers. Sequence analysis showed that the linear epitopes of UL42 were highly conserved among PRV strains. Taken together, our results indicate that the six generated mAbs could be useful tools for investigating the structure and function of UL42 during viral replication. In addition, these mAbs could be applied to diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the effective control of PRV infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine parvovirus type 1 (PPV1) is a major causative agent of embryonic and fetal death in swine. The PPV1 VP2 protein is closely associated with viral immunogenicity for eliciting neutralizing antibodies, but its antigenic structures have been largely unknown. We generated three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against baculovirus-expressed recombinant PPV1 VP2 protein. A PEPSCAN analysis identified the minimal B cell linear epitopes of PPV1 VP2 based on these MAbs. Three core epitopes, QQITDA, RSLGLPPK, and FEYSNGGPFLTPI, were defined and mapped onto three-dimensional models of the PPV1 virion and VP2 monomer. The epitope QQITDA is exposed on the virion surface, and the other two are located inside the protein. An alignment of the PPV1 VP2 amino acid sequences showed that RSLGLPPK and FEYSNGGPFLTPI are absolutely conserved, whereas QQITDA has a single substitution at residue 233 in some (S → A or T). We developed a VP2 epitope-based indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( iELISA) to test for anti-PPV1 antibodies. In a comparative analysis with an immunoperoxidase monolayer assay using 135 guinea pig sera, the VP2-epitope-based iELISA had a concordance rate of 85.19 %, sensitivity of 83.33 %, and specificity of 85.47 %. MAb 8H6 was used to monitor VP2 during the PPV1 replication cycle in vitro with an indirect immunofluorescence assay, which indicated that newly encapsulated virions are released from the nucleus at 24 h postinfection and the PPV1 replication cycle takes less than 24 h. This study provides valuable information clarifying the antigenic structure of PPV1 VP2 and lays the foundations for PPV1 serodiagnosis and antigen detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the interleaving space of a multithreaded program to efficiently detect concurrency bugs is important but also difficult because of the astronomically many thread schedules. This paper presents a novel framework to decompose a thread schedule generator that explores the interleaving space into the composition of a basic generator and its extension under the “small interleaving hypothesis”. Under this framework, we in-depth analyzed research work on interleaving space exploration, illustrated how to design an effective schedule generator, and shed light on future research opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 450 samples from domestic pigs in China were tested for porcine parvoviruses (PPVs) and co-infections with porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), and their complete capsid genes were sequenced. The prevalence of PPV1, PPV2, PPV3, PPV4, and PCV2 was 5.56 %, 39.56 %, 45.11 %, 21.56 %, and 47.33 %, respectively, and co-infection with PCV2 occurred in 4 % (PPV1), 22.44 % (PPV2), 24 % (PPV3), and 12 % (PPV4) of the samples. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two main lineages for each virus, and residues that differentiated these viruses were identified. The co-infections of emerging PPVs and PCV2 were prevalent, indicating their cooperative roles in porcine circovirus-associated diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]