Search

The blood acts as a transfer channel for a variety of factors in the whole body. The ricefield eel (Monopterus albus) is a protogynous hermaphrodite vertebrate. Until now, no research has reported an analysis of the blood transcriptome during the process of sexual development in the ricefield eel. In this study, the transcriptome sequencing of blood samples from male and female ricefield eels was completed with a total of 34.70 Gb clean data. The clean data of each sample all reached 5.23 GB, and the percent of the Q30 basic group was 88.62% and above. A total of 106,369 unigenes were obtained after assembly, including 13,296 unigenes with a length of more than 1 kb. Further functional annotation analysis showed that there are 28,522 unigenes that can be annotated. The annotations of genes with differential expression revealed that there were 563 genes with significant differential expression in the blood of male and female ricefield eels, including 91 upregulated genes and 472 downregulated genes. Among which, 14 genes may be closely related to sex differentiation, the qPCR was used to confirmed the expression pattern of those genes and result shown that 11 genes were downregulated and 3 genes were upregulated, consistent with the results of our RNA-Seq analysis. This blood transcript dataset will open future research avenues on ricefield eel sex development and differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to statistics, solid product formed by the reaction between SF6 gas and metal electrodes at the connecting joint of ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) wall bushing is likely to adhere to the surface of insulating materials, which may seriously threaten the insulation of the bushing. Thus, studying the effect of the solid products on DC surface flash-over voltage is of great significance for evaluating the internal insulation of UHVDC wall bushing. The electrical parameters of the solid products were measured and compared with those of epoxy-impregnated composite insulating materials. The comparison result shows that there is a significant difference between them, which demonstrate that the solid products may have an impact on the DC flash-over voltage of epoxy-impregnated composite insulating materials. Furthermore, by means of the DC surface flash-over platform, the characteristic of the surface flash-over voltage of the epoxy-impregnated composite insulating materials with the solid products attached directly is analyzed. It is found that the decrease in the surface flash-over voltage is closely related to the type of solid product, gas pressure, distance between electrodes, way of attachment, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studied the influence of water parameters on the behaviour of an electrical wire explosion. In the experiments, a Cu wire of four sizes was exploded in water medium with different conductivity, hydrostatic pressure, and temperature. Under three typical discharge types, the electrical characteristics, shock wave, and optical emission phenomena were obtained and analysed. It has been found that the ambient medium changed the wire explosion process via adjusting the energy deposition or suppressing the later cavity expansion. Furthermore, wire explosion and its accompanied phenomena could be regulated based on the shunt effect. Finally, the mechanisms of the influence of water medium on a water gap breakdown and wire explosion were compared, and possible applications discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plenty of solid products will be produced when the arc discharge fault occurs in SF6 gas-insulated electrical equipment, which will extremely threaten the internal insulation properties of the equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out research on the solid products formed by the reaction of SF6 with metal electrode under electric arc, aiming to study their effect on the operation of the equipment. First of all, the formation characteristics of the solid products with different metal electrodes and different pressures are studied. Then, the composition of the solid products is determined. Besides, the quantitative relationship between the mass of the solid products and the discharge energy is analyzed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatty liver is an increasingly serious disease of fish in aquaculture. However, the mechanisms responsible for the occurrence of fatty liver remain unclear, and no effective methods for the prevention and treatment of this disease have yet been found. In the present study, we aimed to develop an in vitro model of hepatocyte injury using oleic acid as hepatotoxicant and evaluate the protective effects of Rhizoma Alismatis extract (RAE) in Jian carp using this model. Primary hepatocytes from Jian carp were isolated and purified and cultured in vitro. The result indicated that 0.4 mmol L−1 oleic acid and 48 h could be the optimal conditions to induce hepatocyte injury model in cultured hepatocytes. Hepatocytes were exposed to oleic acid, followed by the addition of RAE at 0, 1, 5, 10, 20, or 50 μg mL−1. The hepatocytes and supernatant were then analyzed. RAE suppressed oleic acid-induced elevations in aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, triglycerides, total cholesterol, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, cholinesterase, malondialdehyde, γ-glutamyl transferase, cytochrome P450 1A, cytochrome P450 2E1, liver-type fatty acid binding protein, free fatty acid, fatty acid synthetase, and tumor necrosis factor-α (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05); reduced protein levels of cytochrome P450 1A, nuclear factor (NF)-κB p65, and NF-κB c-Rel; and inhibited cytochrome P4503A, NF-κB c-Rel, nuclear factor erythroid-related factor 2, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α, and cytochrome P4501A mRNA levels. In conclusion, RAE exhibited a protective effect against hepatocyte injury in Jian carp. Further in vivo studies are needed to provide more evidence for the use of RAE as a hepatoprotective agent for the treatment of hepatocyte injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sun-photometer measurements at Hefei, an urban site located in central East China, were examined to investigate the variations of aerosol loading and optical properties. It is found that aerosol optical thickness (AOT) keeps higher in winter/spring and gets relatively lower in summer/autumn. The large AOT in winter is caused by anthropogenic sulfate/nitrate aerosols, while in spring dust particles elevate the background aerosol loading and the excessive fine-mode particles eventually lead to severe pollution. There is a dramatic decline of AOT during summer, with monthly averaged AOT reaching the maximum in June and soon the minimum in August. Meanwhile, aerosol size decreases consistently and single scattering albedo (SSA) reaches its minimum in July. During summertime large-sized particles play a key role to change the air from clean to mild-pollution situation, while the presence of massive small-sized particles makes the air being even more polluted. These complicated summer patterns are possibly related to the three key processes that are active in the high temperature/humidity environment concentrating on sulfate/nitrate aerosols, i.e., gas-to-particle transformation, hygroscopic growth, and wet scavenging. Regardless of season, the increase of SSA with increasing AOT occurs across the visible and near-infrared bands, suggesting the dominant negative/cooling effect with the elevated aerosol loading. The SSA spectra under varying AOT monotonically decrease with wavelength. The relatively large slope arises in summer, reinforcing the dominance of sulfate/nitrate aerosols that induce severe pollution in summer season around this city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Ty3/gypsy-retrotransposon-type transposon was found in the genome of the Jian carp ( Cyprinus carpio var. Jian) in a previous study (unpublished), and was designated a JRE retrotransposon (Jian retrotransposon). The full-length JRE retrotransposon is 5126 bp, which includes two long terminal repeats of 470 bp at the 5′ end and 453 bp at the 3′ end, and two open reading frames between them: 4203 bp encoding the group-specific antigen (GAG) and polyprotein (POL). The pol gene has a typical Ty3/gypsy retrotransposon structure, and the gene order is protease, reverse transcriptase, RNase H, and integrase (PR-RT-RH-IN). A phylogenetic analysis of the pol gene showed that it has similarities of 40.7, 40, and 32.8 %, to retrotransposons of Azumapecten farreri, Mizuhopecten yessoensis, and Xiphophorus maculatus, respectively. Therefore, JRE might belong to the JULE retrotransposon family. The copy number of the JRE transposon in the genome of the Jian carp is 124, determined with real-time quantitative PCR. The mRNA of the JRE retrotransposon is expressed in five Jian carp tissues, the liver, kidney, blood, muscle, and gonad, and slightly higher in the kidney and liver than in the other tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common carp, specifically the Jian variety ( Cyprinus carpiovar var. Jian), is an important Chinese and global aquatic stock for commercial foodstuff. Homologous recombination of carp gene sequences has been widely used in population genetics to broadly screen for beneficial phenotypical variations, thus optimizing artificially engineered carp stocks with Jian variety and native stock varieties. Random rearrangement of homologous DNA fragments from parent specimens of C. carpiovar var. Jian were attained by digestion of genomic DNA with MspI followed by religation and redigestion with EcoR I to specifically rearrange homologous DNA fragments of myostatin and microsatellite genes. Based on known characteristics of myostatin gene function, growth pattern changes in resultant carp mutant varieties was expected. DNA fragments were introduced into metaphase-II oocytes, resulting in one to several dozen insertions of homologous fragments into the host genome by sperm-mediated transgenesis. Introduction of rearranged homologous DNA fragments often resulted in phenotypic changes in C. carpiovar var. Jian, including significant phenotypic changes linked to growth rate at 4 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]