Search

Major earthquakes can cause extensive landsliding that poses a major threat to both property and human lives. In addition to co‐seismically triggered ground failure, the earthquake‐affected region remains vulnerable to landslides due to loosened and unstable materials and structures. Many researchers have studied landslide distributions and their controlling factors after earthquakes, but the function of ground motion is unclear. To investigate the connection in a strike‐slip earthquake, we analyzed the 5 September 2022 Luding earthquake (Mw 6.6) in Sichuan Province, China. We interpreted remote‐sensing images to obtain the landslide distribution before and after the earthquake, calculated surface deformation from D‐InSAR data (pre‐ and post‐earthquake), utilized a point‐source model for the focal mechanism inversion, and then constructed a finite fault model for the rupture slip. There are clear differences in the landslide distributions on the two sides of the fault before and after the earthquake. The density of co‐seismic landslides on the west side of the fault exceeded that on the east side. The patterns of surface deformation and ground motion indicated that the areas with larger deformation and motion were associated with more landslides. Furthermore, the landslide size decreased with distance from the fault. A new finding is that co‐seismic landslides induced by strike‐slip earthquakes result in high landslide concentration on both sides of the fault, while previous studies find that co‐seismic landslides triggered by thrust earthquakes present a hanging wall concentrated distribution pattern. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the connection between ground movement patterns and landslide distributions. Plain Language Summary: Our research focused on the 5 September 2022 Luding earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. The study identified distinct disparities in the distribution of landslides on either side of the fault, both landslides that happen before, during, and shortly after an earthquake. The western side of the fault exhibited a higher density of landslides following seismic activity compared with the eastern side during the Luding earthquake. The areas experiencing more significant deformation and motion during the earthquake were more prone to landslides. Moreover, landslides induced by strike‐slip earthquakes displayed high landslide concentrations on both sides of the fault. In contrast, landslides triggered by thrust earthquakes predominantly exhibited a concentrated hanging wall distribution pattern. Key Points: The type of fault is a primary controller of the landslide distribution patternMore landslides occurred in areas with more deformation and greater ground motion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global biodiversity is contracting rapidly due to potent anthropogenic activities and severe climate change. Wild populations of Rosa chinensis var. spontanea and Rosa lucidissima are rare species endemic to China, as well as important germplasm resources for rose breeding. However, these populations are at acute risk of extinction and require urgent action to ensure their preservation.We harnessed 16 microsatellite loci to 44 populations of these species and analysed population structure and differentiation, demographic history, gene flow and barrier effect. In addition, a niche overlap test and potential distribution modelling in different time periods were also carried out.The data indicate that: (1) R. lucidissima cannot be regarded as a separate species from R. chinensis var. spontanea; (2) the Yangtze River and the Wujiang River function as barriers in population structure and differentiation, and precipitation in the coldest quarter may be the key factor for niche divergence of R. chinensis var. spontanea complex; (3) historical gene flow showed a converse tendency to current gene flow, indicating that alternate migration events of R. chinensis var. spontanea complex between south and north were a response to climate oscillations; and (4) extreme climate change will decrease the distribution range of R. chinensis var. spontanea complex, whereas the opposite will occur under a moderate scenario for the future.Our results resolve the relationship between R. chinensis var. spontanea and R. lucidissima, highlight the pivotal roles of geographic isolation and climate heterogeneity in their population differentiation, and provide an important reference for comparable conservation studies on other endangered species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the wormhole geometry in the background of symmetric teleparallel gravity or f(Q)$f(\mathcal {Q})$ gravity, where Q$\mathcal {Q}$ is the non‐metricity term, and definite subject for the gravitational interaction. All the energy conditions are investigated for two different generic shape functions. The presence of exotic matter is confirmed due to the violation of the energy conditions. The epicyclic orbits of test particles around wormhole throat for the considered models are discussed. Twin peak Quasi‐periodic oscillations are calculated and presented with the required behavior. We also explore the physical characteristics and stable configuration of thin‐shell developed from the matching of inner obtained solution of wormhole geometry and outer black hole solution in f(Q)$f(\mathcal {Q})$ gravity. The stability of shell is discussed by using the speed of sound parameter for both choices of shape functions, i.e., β1(D)$\beta _1(D)$and β2(D)$\beta _2(D)$. It is found that the position of event horizon does not change for different values of the physical parameter for the choice of β1(D)$\beta _1(D)$ while it changes for β2(D)$\beta _2(D)$. We explore the proper length, shell energy and entropy of the developed structure for different values of physical parameters. This article explores the wormhole geometry in the background of symmetric teleparallel gravity or f (Q) gravity, where Q is the non‐metricity term, and definite subject for the gravitational interaction. All the energy conditions are investigated for two different generic shape functions. The presence of exotic matter is confirmed due to the violation of the energy conditions. The epicyclic orbits of test particles around wormhole throat for the considered models are discussed. Twin peak Quasi‐periodic oscillations are calculated and presented with the required behavior. The authors also explore the physical characteristics and stable configuration of thin‐shell developed from the matching of inner obtained solution of wormhole geometry and outer black hole solution in f (Q) gravity. The stability of shell is discussed by using the speed of sound parameter for both choices of shape functions, i.e., β1(D) and β2(D)It is found that the position of event horizon does not change for different values of the physical parameter for the choice of β1(D) while it changes for β2(D). The authors explore the proper length, shell energy and entropy of the developed structure for different values of physical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most species in the genus Cypripedium (Cypripedioideae) produce trap flowers, making it a model lineage to study deceptive pollination. Floral attractants in most species studied appear to target bee species of different sizes. However, more recent publications report fly pollination in some subalpine species, suggesting novel suites of adaptive floral traits.Cypripedium lichiangense (section Trigonopedia) is an endangered subalpine species endemic to the Hengduan Mountains, China. We observed and analysed its floral traits, pollinators and breeding systems over 2 years in situ and in the lab.Cypripedium lichiangense was visited by females of Ferdinandea cuprea (Syrphidae). The pollinia were carried dorsally on the fly thoraces. The eggs of this fly were frequently found in the saccate labellum and on other floral organs, suggesting brood‐site mimesis. The orchid is self‐compatible, but cross‐pollination produces more viable embryos.We propose a new mode of floral mimesis, humus‐rich oviposition site mimicry, for C. lichiangense. Compared with the mimesis of aphid colonies attracting syrphid pollinators (subfamily Syrphinae), whose larvae are entomophagic, as reported in some Paphiopedilum species (Cypripedioideae), pollination by deceit in C. lichiangense represents a distinct and separate mode of exploitation of another saprophagic (or phytophagic) larvae syrphid lineage in the subfamily Eristalinae and appears to indicate diversity of pollination strategies in Section Trigonopedia of Cypripedium. However, this new brood‐site mimesis seems to be less attractive to pollinators. As a possible adaptation to the weak attracted pollination strategy, this plant species has a long flowering period and extended lifespan of individual flowers to ensure reproductive success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upcoming Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission provides a promising opportunity for retrieval of high spatiotemporal resolution water surface height (WSH) over inland water bodies. To investigate the accuracy of SWOT derived WSH, the observations over Lake Baikal are simulated and a comprehensive evaluation is conducted in this study. Firstly, compared with Jason‐class altimeter WSH and in situ WSHs, the accuracy of SWOT KaRIn‐derived monthly WSHs and their spatiotemporal characteristics are analyzed. Secondly, a local cross‐calibration method is used to reduce the short wavelength roll error over lakes. The results show that, though SWOT has more observations than Jason‐class altimeter, the accuracy of the SWOT KaRIn‐derived monthly WSHs is difficult to be equivalent with those from Jason‐class altimeter, and varies with the number of duplicated observations, the spatial location and the time interval due to the effect of systematic erros and random errors, but can be significantly improved by local cross‐calibration method, especially at higher spatial resolutions after cross‐calibration associate with external nadir altimeter. Key Points: SWOT has more observations but less accurate monthly water surface height than Jason‐class altimeter over Lake BaikalThe accuracy of SWOT monthly water surface height varies with spatial resolution and distributions due to the effect of systematic errorsA local cross‐calibration method is presented to reduce the baseline roll angle errors over inland water bodies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigated the effect of melatonin administration in combination with the CoSynch‐56 protocol on the conception rate after artificial insemination (AI) in beef heifers. Methods: Eighty‐six beef heifers were allocated to four treatments in combination with CoSynch‐56 treatment. All heifers, excluding the control group (CTR = 25), were injected with melatonin on day 1. The melatonin (MT = 20) and MT + human chorionic gonadotropin (MT + hCG = 21) groups received no further treatment with melatonin. Each heifer was treated with gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) on day 4, prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) on day 11, and GnRH and AI 56 h later. The fourth group (2MT = 20) was injected again with melatonin concurrent with AI, and the MT + hCG group received hCG on day 19. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed using transrectal ultrasonography 45 days after AI and blood samples were collected via caudal venipuncture on days 0–1, 14–15, 24 and 59. Concentrations of progesterone (P4) and the activities of oxidative stress‐related enzymes were determined using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The conception rate was greater in the 2MT group (75%) than in the other groups, while there was no significant difference among the CTR (44%), MT (45%) and MT + hCG (38.1%) groups. Treatment with melatonin increased superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities and decreased malondialdehyde concentrations but did not significantly affect the concentration of P4. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the administration of melatonin twice during the CoSynch‐56 protocol may increase conception rates in beef heifers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall use efficiency (RUE) is crucial for understanding the changes in grassland productivity due to variations in future rainfall patterns. Recently, numerous studies have been conducted on the relationship between RUE and the amount of rainfall, but there has been little research on the influence of rainfall distribution and the interactive effect of rainfall amounts and distribution on RUE.Here, a simulated rainfall experiment was conducted to evaluate the impacts of rainfall amount (average rainfall amount (R0), 334 mm; decreased (R‐) and increased (R+) rainfall amounts, 233 mm and 434 mm, respectively) and dry intervals (comprising 6‐day, 9‐day, 12‐day, 15‐day, 18‐day and 21‐day intervals between rainfall) on productivity and RUE in Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel., a dominant grass of the Eastern Eurasian Steppe.Our results showed that (1) for biomass production and RUE, moderate extension of dry intervals was conducive to enhancing total biomass production and RUE. The peak values of total biomass and RUE appeared during the 15‐day interval for R‐, and the 18‐day interval for R0 and R+. (2) For biomass allocation, extension of dry intervals decreased the stem to leaf ratio (S/L) and the root to shoot ratio (R/S). (3) Further, the S/L ratio was significantly negatively correlated with RUE.These results suggest that variations in rainfall patterns can alter the RUE by changing the S/L ratio, and finally influence biomass production in L. chinensis. These findings have important implications for understanding and predicting the effect of future climate change on productivity in semi‐arid grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Comparing performance of flexible bronchoscopy with videolaryngoscopy for awake tracheal intubation" by Kamga et al. evaluates the use of the Airtraq videolaryngoscope for awake flexible nasal bronchoscopy in patients with an anticipated difficult airway. The authors raise concerns about the study's methodology and results, including the lack of standardization in airway anesthesia techniques, the competence of participants using the studied tools, the utilization of different tracheal intubation pathways, and the failure of the Airtraq to meet the non-inferiority limit compared to the fiber optic bronchoscope. The authors suggest that the findings of this small study may be biased and question the conclusion that the Airtraq is not non-inferior to the fiber optic bronchoscope. [Extracted from the article]

Powdery mildew is the main disease affecting cucumber cultivation and causes severe economic loss. So far, research on cucumber resistance to powdery mildew has not yielded feasible solutions.This study selected two inbred cucumber lines, XY09‐118 (resistant) and Q10 (susceptible) and investigated their responses to powdery mildew infection (harvested 24 and 48 h after inoculation) using RNA sequencing.More than 20,000 genes were detected in cucumber leaves both with and without powdery mildew infection at the above two time points. Among these, 5478 genes were identified as differently expressed genes (DEGs) between XY09‐118 and Q10. Based on the databases GO and KEGG, the functions of DEGs were analysed. Moreover, the complex regulatory network for powdery mildew resistance was assessed, which involves plant hormone signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, plant–pathogen interaction and the MAPK signalling pathway. In particular, genes encoding WRKY, NAC and TCP were highlighted. In addition, genes involved in plant hormone biosynthesis, metabolism and signal transduction, pathogen resistance and abiotic stress response were analysed. Co‐expression analysis indicated that the transcription factors correlated with plant hormone signal pathway and metabolism, defence and abiotic response. The expression of several genes was validated by qRT‐PCR. The pathogen resistance regulatory network was identified by comparing resistant and susceptible inbred lines infected with powdery mildew.The transcriptome data provide novel insights into cucumber response to powdery mildew infection and the identified pathogen resistance genes will be highly useful for breeding efforts to enhance the resistance of cucumber to powdery mildew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The water environmental capacity (WEC) is an effective tool to solve the water pollution problem and achieve optimal water quality management. However, in a seasonal river, some important input data such as discharge and pollution concentration from river tributaries and lateral inflows are rarely available. This makes WEC calculating more challenging. In this study, the water environment system model that integrates hydrological process in the watershed and hydrodynamic water quality process in the river is proposed to compensate for the lack of data. Taking the Guishui River basin as an example, the SWAT and HEC‐RAS models were selected. The discharge and pollution concentration of ungauged tributary output from SWAT are used as the inputs of the water quality model HEC‐RAS. In addition, static and dynamic design hydrological conditions were used to calculate WEC. The model results basically agree with the observed data, and it was verified that the integrated water environment system model can be used to calculate WEC. The pollutant reduction targets of the tributaries under the monthly line‐fitting method are less than that under static hydrological condition. The obtained results could be used to support water pollution control and water quality management in the Guishui River basin. Key Points: The paper established the water environment system model of the Guishui River basin to calculate the water environmental capacityThe dynamic and static design hydrological conditions were applied to obtain water environmental capacity of the seasonal riversThe model employed simulated the flow and water quality in a reliable way. The dynamic water environmental capacity is higher than static [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hyperthermia upregulates DNAJA4, a member of heat shock proteins (HSPs) 40 family, in human keratinocytes and HPV‐infected tissue. DNAJA4 deficiency enhances growth arrest induced by hyperthermia. Clusterin (CLU) and phosphorylated ERK (p‐ERK) play a role in regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis, under environmental stress. Objectives: To examine the downstream molecules and signalling pathways of DNAJA4 and assess their roles in cell cycle and apoptosis of keratinocytes in response to hyperthermia. Methods: Wild‐type and DNAJA4‐knockout (KO) HaCaT cells were exposed to either 44 °C (hyperthermia) or 37 °C (control) for 30 min. The expression levels of CLU and p‐ERK were determined by RT‐PCR and Western blotting. RNAi and PD98059 were used to inhibit the expression of CLU and p‐ERK, respectively. Cell viability, cell cycle and apoptosis were analysed by MTS assay and flow cytometry. Fresh biopsy samples of human normal foreskin or condyloma acuminatum (CA) were utilized to examine the expression of CLU and p‐ERK after ex vivo culture at 44 °C. Results: The expression of CLU and p‐ERK was significantly increased by hyperthermia treatment at 44 °C in HaCaT cells, foreskin and HPV‐infected tissues. In HaCaT cells subjected to hyperthermia, DNAJA4 deficiency further augmented the expression of CLU and p‐ERK. CLU deficiency enhanced the p‐ERK expression. Hyperthermia‐induced CLU and p‐ERK exerted protective roles mainly through inhibiting apoptosis and maintaining cell cycle, respectively. Conclusions: In keratinocytes, CLU and p‐ERK are induced by hyperthermia, an effect which can be further enhanced by DNAJA4 deficiency. CLU deficiency also increases p‐ERK expression. Both CLU and p‐ERK are critical protective factors of human keratinocytes from hyperthermia‐induced injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Post‐discharge optimal growth and nutritional intake have beneficial effects for neurodevelopment in preterm very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) with extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR). The present study aimed to compare the effects of a nutrient‐dense formula (NDF) to a post‐discharge formula (PDF) on post‐discharge growth of preterm VLBWIs with EUGR. Methods: Forty‐eight preterm VLBWIs with EUGR at discharge were randomised to receive NDF (100 kcal per 100 mL; 2.6 g protein per 100 mL) or PDF (74 kcal per 100 mL; 1.95 g protein per 100 mL) for 1–6 months until body weight reached the 50th percentile on growth charts with corrected age. Volume, nutrient intake, anthropometry and biochemistry data were collected. Results: Volume intake was lower in the NDF group than the PDF group during the first 2 months of feeding (P = 0.039 and 0.018, respectively).There were no significant differences in volume intake during months 2–6 of feeding. Energy, protein, carbohydrate and fat intake were higher in the NDF group during months 1–6 of feeding. There were no significant differences in weight, length, and head circumference Z‐scores during months 1–6 between the two groups. The △length Z‐score from discharge to month 6 was significantly higher in the NDF group than the PDF group (P = 0.043). No differences existed between the two groups with respect to biochemistry. Conclusions: After discharge, preterm VLBWIs with EUGR fed a NDF gain anthropometric parameter Z‐scores similar to those for a PDF within 6 months of follow‐up. A NDF leading to gain in length requires further follow‐up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In previous epidemiological study, the prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) was 12.94% among children aged 1–7 years by clinical diagnosis, whereas that was 4.76% and 3.51% using U.K., and Hanifin and Rajka diagnostic criteria. Objective: We aimed to propose new diagnostic criteria for children and evaluate its efficiency in different populations. Methods: We screened atopic features and analysed their correlation with AD using data from a previous study. A new set of diagnostic criteria for children in China was proposed and validated in 1031 children in outpatient clinics and 538 children in a birth cohort survey. Clinical diagnosis and atopic feature evaluation were performed face to face by dermatologists specialized in AD. Three criteria were compared for diagnostic efficiency using the clinical diagnosis as the reference. Results: The new diagnostic criteria for children were based on (i) pruritus; (ii) 'typical morphology and distribution' or 'atypical morphology and distribution with xerosis'; and (iii) a chronic or chronically relapsing course. Compared to classical diagnostic criteria, the sensitivity of the new diagnostic criteria was significantly higher in the epidemiological survey and the clinical setting, especially obvious among mild and moderate AD. In the birth cohort, the new criteria showed similar sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion: The new criteria for children yielded higher sensitivity for the diagnosis of AD in the epidemiological survey and clinical setting, particularly for mild and moderate AD. Among the birth cohort with a complete medical history, three criteria showed similar sensitivity and specificity. Linked Commentary: T. Bieber. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2020; 34: 438–439. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.16223. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ninety‐four putative G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs) were identified in the Musca domestica genome. They were annotated and compared with their homologues in Drosophila melanogaster. Phylogenetic analyses of the GPCRs from both species revealed that several family members shared a closer relationship based on the domain architecture. The expression profiles of these genes were examined by quantitative real‐time PCR amongst three strains of the house fly, a near‐isogenic line strain with imidacloprid resistance (N‐IRS), the corresponding susceptible strain (CSS) and another strain derived from field populations with imidacloprid resistance (IRS). We found that five GPCR genes were upregulated in the N‐IRS and eight GPCR genes were upregulated in the IRS strains compared to the CSS strain. The transgenic lines of D. melanogaster with the GPCR genes (LOC101899380 in the N‐IRS strain and LOC101895664 in the IRS strain) exhibited significantly increased tolerance to imidacloprid, and higher expression of cytochrome P450 genes. Bioinformatic analysis of LOC101899380 was carried out based on its full‐length nucleic acid sequence and putative amino acid sequence, and it was named Methuselah‐like10 (Mthl10) owing to its homology with D. melanogaster Mthl10. A cell‐base cell counting kit‐8 toxicity assay demonstrated that the expression of the GPCR gene LOC101899380 in Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells using a baculovirus‐mediated expression system can elevate the cell tolerance to imidacloprid, indirectly supporting the hypothesis that the GPCR gene LOC101899380 plays some role in imidacloprid resistance. These results should be useful for furthering understanding of the regulatory pathway by which house flies develop resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Genomic prediction has been widely utilized to estimate genomic breeding values (GEBVs) in farm animals. In this study, we conducted genomic prediction for 20 economically important traits including growth, carcass and meat quality traits in Chinese Simmental beef cattle. Five approaches (GBLUP, BayesA, BayesB, BayesCπ and BayesR) were used to estimate the genomic breeding values. The predictive accuracies ranged from 0.159 (lean meat percentage estimated by BayesCπ) to 0.518 (striploin weight estimated by BayesR). Moreover, we found that the average predictive accuracies across 20 traits were 0.361, 0.361, 0.367, 0.367 and 0.378, and the averaged regression coefficients were 0.89, 0.86, 0.89, 0.94 and 0.95 for GBLUP, BayesA, BayesB, BayesCπ and BayesR respectively. The genomic prediction accuracies were mostly moderate and high for growth and carcass traits, whereas meat quality traits showed relatively low accuracies. We concluded that Bayesian regression approaches, especially for BayesR and BayesCπ, were slightly superior to GBLUP for most traits. Increasing with the sizes of reference population, these two approaches are feasible for future application of genomic selection in Chinese beef cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A high sodium intake is associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome. However, little is known regarding whether greater salt intake is a potential risk factor for non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We thus prospectively investigated whether individuals with higher perceived dietary salt intake had a higher risk of developing NAFLD. Methods: The present study included 35 023 participants (22 629 men and 12 394 women) from the Kailuan study who were free of NAFLD at baseline (2006) and who did not drink alcohol at baseline and during follow‐up (2006–2014; follow‐rate 95.2%). NAFLD was defined as a participant who had been diagnosed with fatty liver at least twice by ultrasound tests conducted every 2 years during follow‐up. Dietary salt intake was determined by a self‐report question and was classified into three categories: low (<6 g day−1), medium (6–9 g day−1) or high (≥10 g day−1). Cox proportional models were used to estimate the risk of NAFLD, adjusting for potential confounders, such as age, sex, education, physical activity, smoking, income, occupation, marriage, body mass index, waist circumference and blood pressure, as well as serum concentrations of glutamic‐pyruvic transaminase, glucose, total cholesterol and triglyceride. Results: During 8 years of follow‐up, we identified 5102 incident NAFLD cases. After adjusting for potential confounders, the hazard ratio (95% conference interval) for NAFLD was 1.12 (1.00, 1.26) for medium salt intake and 1.19 (1.02,1.39) for high salt consumption (P trend = 0.03) relative to the low salt consumption group. Conclusions: A perceived high salt intake was associated with a higher future risk of NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smoke Sense is a citizen science project with investigative, educational, and action‐oriented objectives at the intersection of wildland fire smoke and public health. Participants engage with a smartphone application to explore current and forecast visualizations of air quality, learn about how to protect health from wildfire smoke, and record their smoke experiences, health symptoms, and behaviors taken to reduce their exposures to smoke. Through participation in the project, individuals engage in observing changes in their environment and recording changes in their health, thus facilitating progression on awareness of health effects of air pollution and adoption of desired health‐promoting behaviors. Participants can also view what others are reporting. Data from the pilot season (1 August 2017 to 7 January 2018; 5,598 downloads) suggest that there is a clear demand for personally relevant data during wildfire episodes motivated by recognition of environmental hazard and the personal concern for health. However, while participants shared clear perceptions of the environmental hazard and health risks in general, they did not consistently recognize their own personal health risk. The engagement in health protective behavior was driven in response to symptoms rather than as preventive courses of action. We also observed clear differences in the adoption likelihood of various health protective behaviors attributed to barriers and perceived benefits of these actions. As users experience a greater number and severity of symptoms, the perceived benefits of taking health protective actions exceeded the costs associated with the barriers and thus increased adoption of those actions. Based on pilot season data, we summarize key insights which may improve current health risk communications in nudging individuals toward health protective behavior; there is a need to increase personal awareness of risk and compelling evidence that health protective behaviors are beneficial. Plain Language Summary: An observed increase in wildfire smoke exposure highlights the need for best practices in promoting protective health behaviors during wildfire smoke events. Understanding perceptions, motivations, and barriers to behavioral change (physical, social, or financial) among impacted individuals can provide insights into how to improve health risk communication and achieve better public health outcomes during smoke events. However, almost nothing is known about how current recommendations are perceived, adopted, and adhered to by individuals impacted by smoke. Smoke Sense is a citizen science project which aims to engage participants by encouraging them to observe their environment and record changes in their health, thus facilitating progression on awareness of health effects of air pollution and adoption of desired health‐promoting behaviors. We examined the feasibility of engaging smartphone users in a citizen science study and investigated the range of behavioral responses taken when experiencing smoke and health symptoms. Based on pilot season data, we suggest that to nudge individuals toward adopting health protective behaviors, we need to increase health risk awareness and provide compelling evidence that health protective behaviors are beneficial. Key Points: With Smoke Sense, citizen scientists become human sensors of their own behavior in relation to their environmentSmoke Sense reaches participants when and where they experience wildfire smokeIncreasing personal awareness of risk and providing compelling evidence of health benefit is needed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anodic activity of anodic catalyst for borohydride oxidation reaction (BOR) and inhibiting the borohydride hydrolysis reaction (BHR) are crucial to development for direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFC). In this paper, binder free CoSnx‐B/Ni‐foam (x = 0, 0.33, 0.5, 1) anode catalysts for BOR were prepared by chemical reduction method. It is found that the tin (Sn) is favor for improving the catalytic activity of cobalt (Co) for BOR, meanwhile, the catalytic activity is in relation to Co/Sn atom ratios. A maximum power density of 158 mW cm−2 of DBFC anodic catalytic is achieved at 293 K using CoSn0.33‐B/Ni‐foam which is 1.58 times that of Co‐B/Ni‐foam (100 mW cm−2). The constant discharge test of DBFCs showed that the specific capacity or fuel conversion efficiency decrease with the catalytic activity increasing. However, for the same electrocatalyst, the fuel conversion efficiency increased with the discharge current grown, indicating that there is a BHR which was independent of electrocatalyst in the discharge process. The results showed that CoSnx‐B/Ni‐foam had superior activity for BOR, suggesting their potential application as anodes in DBFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) have an unexplained higher incidence of pouchitis and a greater amount of peripouch fat compared with patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). The aims of this study were to compare the peripouch fat areas between patients with UC and patients with FAP, and to explore relationship between peripouch fat and pouchitis or chronic antibiotic‐refractory pouchitis (CARP). Method: Patients with an abdominal CT image from our prospectively maintained Pouch Database were included. Abdominal fat and peripouch fat were measured on CT images at different levels or planes. Comparisons of peripouch fat and CARP were performed before and after propensity score matching. Results: A total of 277 patients with UC and 40 patients with FAP were included. Compared with patients with FAP, patients with UC were found to have a higher incidence of pouchitis (58.5% vs 15.0%, P < 0.001) and CARP (24.5% vs 2.5%, P = 0.002) and a higher total peripouch fat area (P = 0.030) and mesenteric peripouch fat area (P = 0.022) at Level‐3. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that diagnosis (UC vs FAP) and peripouch fat areas at Level‐3 and Level‐5 were independent risk factors for CARP. With propensity score matching, 38 pairs of patients with UC and FAP were matched successfully. After matching, patients with UC were found to have higher total peripouch fat area and higher mesenteric peripouch fat area at Level‐3, and a higher incidence of pouchitis (57.9% vs 13.2%, P < 0.001) and CARP (23.7% vs 2.6%, P = 0.007). Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that patients with UC have more peripouch fat than those with FAP, which may explain the difference in the frequency of pouchitis and CARP between these groups of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We performed a genome‐wide association study to identify candidate genes for body measurement traits in 463 Wagyu beef cattle typed with the Illumina Bovine HD 770K SNP array. At the genome‐wide level, we detected 18, five and one SNPs associated with hip height, body height and body length respectively. In total, these SNPs are within or near 11 genes, six of which (PENK, XKR4, IMPAD1,PLAG1,CCND2 and SNTG1) have been reported previously and five of which (CSMD3,LAP3,SYN3,FAM19A5 and TIMP3) are novel candidate genes that we found to be associated with body measurement traits. Further exploration of these candidate genes will facilitate genetic improvement in Chinese Wagyu beef cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Particle aggregation and aggregate breakdown are important processes that frequently occur in soil under natural conditions. However, how these two opposing processes are affected by the forces that govern soil particle interaction remains unclear. Thus, in this research, we aimed to: (i) investigate the relation between particle aggregation and aggregate breakdown and (ii) probe the mechanism underlying particle aggregation and aggregate breakdown under the influences of soil particle interaction forces. Specifically, we investigated particle aggregation and aggregate breakdown in a permanently charged clay‐rich soil in solutions with different electrolyte (NaNO3 and Mg(NO3)2) concentrations. We used the fast wetting method in aggregate breakdown experiments and the dynamic light‐scattering method in aggregation experiments. For soils in either NaNO3 or Mg(NO3)2 solution, the critical coagulation concentration obtained through particle aggregation experiments was equal to the critical breakdown concentration from aggregate breakdown experiments. This result indicated that the net force, which is defined as the sum of the van der Waals, electrostatic and surface hydration forces, is attractive for aggregation but is repulsive for aggregate breakdown. Although several interaction forces were involved in soil particle interactions, we found that the repulsive electrostatic force solely determines whether the net force is attractive or repulsive and thus determines whether aggregation or breakdown would occur. For a given soil, non‐classical cationic polarization in cation–surface interactions strongly influenced the repulsive electrostatic potential energy of soil particles, thus influencing the occurrence of aggregation or breakdown. Our results suggested that adjusting soil internal forces is a feasible approach to regulate particle aggregation and promote aggregate stability. Highlights: The process of soil aggregate breakdown and particle aggregation were evaluated quantitatively.There was equality in the opposing forces for particle aggregation and aggregate breakdown.Electrostatic repulsive force between soil particles controlled processes of aggregation and aggregate breakdownCationic non‐classic polarization in cation–surface interactions has an important effect on aggregation and aggregate breakdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This qualitative study analysed students' experiences and perceptions about different types of videos in a psychomotor skills course, relating to clinical knowledge and skills and how they benefited learners in and out of the classroom. Methods: Subjects were recruited from 4th and 5th year dental undergraduate programme. The recruitment was terminated after 24 students participated since data saturation was reached. A semi‐structured interview was conducted with each participating student, digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis was performed using an inductive approach to identify key themes. Results: Four key domains were identified from thematic analysis: functionality and access; learning and understanding; clinical skills preparation and performance and supplementary learning resources. Students perceived videos to be an important and vital learning tool relating to its on‐demand access, control of functionality and use for particular needs that is not possible from textbooks or lectures. Video learning materials allows students to clarify knowledge, improve cognitive thinking and enhance revision of theoretical concepts and clinical skills. Two types of video were regarded as particularly useful as students reported being actively and cognitively engaged in the learning content and broadened their clinical experience. In addition, students reported mental preparation of clinical psychomotor skills using their own mental visualisation which enabled them to prepare for the clinical care of their patients. Conclusion: This qualitative research supports the benefits of learning from videos in relation to convenience of access and functionality of the videos. In addition, it shows novel aspects to learning from videos that are more cognitively engaging and in mental preparation of clinical skills prior to patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Currently, many laboratories have switched the traditional screening algorithm (TSA) to reverse screening algorithm (RSA) for the efficiencies in high‐volume syphilis screening. However, confusions have been arisen regarding this paradigm shift. Objective: To compare the performance of two algorithms with head‐to‐head mode. Methods: Sera screening for syphilis were tested in parallel with chemiluminescence immunoassay (CIA) and toluidine red unheated serum test (TRUST). CIA‐reactive sera from the RSA were reflexively tested with TRUST and confirmed with Treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay (TPPA), while the TRUST‐reactive serology from the TSA were afterwards tested with TPPA. Results: A total of 110 663 serum samples were screened. The RSA identified 2259 (2.0%) CIA‐reactive results, of which 377 (16.7%) showed TPPA nonreactive results, while the TSA identified 934 (0.8%) TRUST‐reactive results, of which 67 (7.2%) showed TPPA‐nonreactive results. Among the 2259 CIA‐reactive results, 1392 (61.6%) were TRUST‐nonreactive, of which 350 (25.1%) were TPPA‐nonreactive. A total of 182 sera from the 350 TPPA‐nonreactive sera were further tested by a second CIA (VITROS Syphilis TPA, VITROS TPA), of which 155 (85.2%) were nonreactive and 27 (14.8%) were reactive. The 27 VITROS TPA‐reactive sera were further tested with a treponemal Western blot assay (Euroimmun IgG Western Blot, EuroWB), of which 11 (41%) were indeterminate, 6 (22%) were nonreactive and 10 (37%) were reactive. Among the 10 EuroWB‐reactive sera, two seroconverted to TPPA 1:80+/− after 1‐year follow‐up. Of 867 CIA‐reactive/TRUST‐reactive results, 27 (3.1%) were TPPA‐nonreactive. Conclusions: The RSA identified more patients with reactive treponemal serology. However, it also yielded an increased likely false‐reactive rate compared with the TSA, especially those results with low index values and TRUST‐nonreactive serology, were necessary to retest with a second treponemal test. Further testing results with TPPA, VITROS TPA and EuroWB suggested the false‐reactive CIA screening results and the likely false‐nonreactive TPPA results when the reactive treponemal results screened with RSA were to be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Phlebotomidae) are vectors of the zoonotic disease leishmaniasis. To better understand the distribution of phlebotomine sandflies in order to facilitate control of leishmaniasis transmission, the present study explored the impacts of climate and landscape on local abundances of Phlebotomus chinensis in northwestern mainland China. Identification records were used to create a geodatabase for the locations at which P. chinensis had been collected in the region, and a regional‐scale map was developed to show the distribution of P. chinensis. Location data and data on environmental factors during the years in which the samples were collected were incorporated, and a presence‐only modelling method was used to evaluate the species' habitat preferences and to predict its potential distribution in northwestern mainland China. Jackknife analysis revealed that several meteorological variables, including maximum temperature in the warmest quarter, precipitation in the driest month, daily average temperature and daily precipitation, significantly affected the presence of this species. Moreover, the presence of P. chinensis was significantly associated with grassland and shrubland. Probability distributions using maximum entropy were used to map the distribution ranges of P. chinensis based on suitable habitats in northwestern mainland China. The models generated can be used to develop detailed strategies for the prevention and control of leishmaniasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this systematic review were to compare the incidence and intensity of postoperative pain after single‐visit root canal treatment using manual, rotary, and reciprocating instruments. An extensive literature search in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science was performed to identify investigations that evaluated the effects of different instruments on postendodontic pain. Meta‐analyses and additional analyses, including subgroup and sensitivity analyses, were conducted. We included seventeen trials in this study. Pooled results showed that patients treated with rotary instruments experienced a significantly lower incidence of postoperative pain (RR, 0.32, p = .0005) and reduced pain intensity than did patients treated with manual instruments. In addition, patients treated with multiple rotary‐file systems experienced a significantly lower incidence of postoperative pain than did those treated with reciprocating systems (RR, 0.73; p < .0001). The use of rotary instruments contributed to a lower incidence and intensity of postoperative pain than did the use of hand files in patients who received single‐visit root canal treatment. In addition, the use of multiple rotary‐file systems contributed to a lower incidence of postoperative pain than did the use of reciprocating systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Introduction: Stress in dental students is well established with potential psychological distress, emotional exhaustion and burnout‐related symptoms. Little attention has been given to the problems encountered by dental students during the transition from theoretical or paraclinical training to the clinical environment. The aim of this study was to adopt a qualitative research methods approach to understand the perceived stressors during students’ clinical transition and provide insights for curriculum planners to enhance learning. Methods: This study analysed four groups of 2nd‐ and 3rd‐year BDS students’ experiences in focus group interviews relating to their pre‐clinical and clinical transitions. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and a thematic analysis was performed using an inductive qualitative approach. Results: Key overlapping domains identified were the transition gap and stresses. The transition gap was subclassified into knowledge and skill (hard and soft), and stresses was subcategorised into internal and external stresses. On first coming to clinics, students experienced knowledge gaps of unfamiliar clinical treatments with mismatches between knowledge acquisition and clinical exposure. Students felt incompetent owing to the stresses attributable to curriculum design, staff and the patient. This negatively affected their confidence and clinical performance. Conclusion: A range of challenges have been identified that will allow curriculum designer's to plan a more supportive learning experience to help students during their transition to clinical practice giving them timely knowledge, confidence and clinical performance to better prepare them for entering clinics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A genome‐wide association study (GWAS) was conducted for two carcass traits in Chinese Simmental beef cattle. The experimental population consisted of 1301 individuals genotyped with the Illumina BovineHD SNP BeadChip (770K). After quality control, 671 990 SNPs and 1217 individuals were retained for the GWAS. The phenotypic traits included carcass weight and bone weight, which were measured after the cattle were slaughtered at 16 to 18 months of age. Three statistical models—a fixed polygene model, a random polygene model and a composite interval mapping polygene model—were used for the GWAS. The genome‐wide significance threshold after Bonferroni correction was 7.44E‐08 (= 0.05/671 990). In this study, we detected eight and seven SNPs significantly associated with carcass weight and bone weight respectively. In total, 11 candidate genes were identified within or close to these significant SNPs. Of these, we found several novel candidate genes, including PBX1, GCNT4, ALDH1A2, LCORL and WDFY3, to be associated with carcass weight and bone weight in Chinese Simmental beef cattle, and their functional roles need to be verified in further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To explore the trend of CD64+ neutrophils being present in the peripheral blood of patients with burns and verification in vitro. Method: We isolated and purified CD64+ neutrophils from healthy people, stimulated cells with inactivated Staphylococcus aureus in vitro to make them proliferate and analyzed them with Modfit 2 analysis software. Patients with burns were divided into two groups, depending on whether there was a complicated infection or not, and 35 healthy participants were enrolled as blank group. WBC and CD64+ neutrophil counts were detected and then analyzed the specificity and sensitivity according to the ROC curve. Results: The proliferation index of the CD64+ cells in the experimental wells was significantly higher than that in the control wells (P < .05). The CD64+ cell counts in the peripheral blood of patients in the infection group were significantly higher than patients without infection, but also higher than the healthy people (P < .05). The sensitivity and specificity of CD64+ cellular diagnosis for burn infection were 94.2% and 76.8%, respectively, according to the ROC curve, which were significantly better than those of the WBCs. Conclusion: CD64+ cells in the peripheral blood of patients with burns complicated by infection increased significantly, and thus, it can be regarded as an early diagnostic indicator of burns with a concurrent infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Bone weight, defined as the total weight of the bones in all the forequarter and hindquarter joints, can reflect somebody conformation traits and skeletal diseases. To gain a better understanding of the genetic determinants of bone weight, we used a composite strategy including multimarker and rare‐marker association to perform genomewide association studies (GWAS) for that character in Simmental cattle. Our strategy consisted of three models: (i) A traditional linear mixed model (LMM) was applied (Q+K‐LMM); (ii) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with p‐values less than .05 from the LMM were selected to undergo the least absolute shrinkage and selector operator (Lasso) in the second stage (LMM‐Lasso); (iii) genes containing two or more rare SNPs were examined by performing the sequence kernel association test (gene‐based SKAT). A total of 1,225 cattle were genotyped with an Illumina BovineHD BeadChip containing 770,000 SNPs. After the quality‐control procedures, 1,217 individuals with 608,696 common SNPs and 105,787 rare SNPs (with 0.001 < minor allele frequency [MAF] <0.05) remained in the sample for analysis. A traditional LMM successfully mapped three genes associated with bone weight, while LMM‐Lasso identified nine genes, which included all genes found by traditional LMM. Only a single gene, EPHB3, surpassed the significance threshold after Bonferroni correction in gene‐based SKAT. In conclusion, based on functional annotation and results from previous endeavours, we believe that LCORL, RIMS2, LAP3, PRKAR2B, CHSY1, MAP2K6 and EPHB3 are candidate genes for bone weight. In general, such a comprehensive strategy for GWAS may be useful for researchers seeking to probe the full genetic architecture underlying economic traits in livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contents: Puberty is initiated by increased pulsatile gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) release from the hypothalamus. Epigenetic repression is thought to play a crucial role in the initiation of puberty, although the existence of analogous changes in methylation patterns across species is unclear. We analysed mRNA expression of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and methyl‐binding proteins (MBPs) in goats and rats by quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR). DNA methylation profiles of hypothalamic were determined at the pre‐pubertal and pubertal stages by bisulphite sequencing. In this study, expression of DNMTs and MBPs mRNA showed different patterns in goats and rats. Global methylation variation was low in goats and rats, and the profile remained stable during puberty. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed the involvement of 62 pathways in puberty in goats and rats including reproduction, type I diabetes mellitus and GnRH signalling pathways and found that Edn3, PTPRN2 and GRID1 showed different methylation patterns during puberty in goats and rats and similar variation patterns for Edn3 and PTPRN2 were showed. These indicated that Edn3 and PTPRN2 would play a role in the timing of puberty. This study provides evidence of the epigenetic control of puberty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: ILC populations elaborate a similar cytokine expression pattern with helper T cell subsets Th1, Th2 and Th17. Recent studies indicate that CD25+ILC2 could alleviate atherosclerosis by altering lipid metabolism, whereas the depletion of CD90‐expressing ILCs had no influence on atherosclerosis. Thus, these findings raise the question of whether ILC1 cells react on atherosclerosis. Hence, our group attempted to explore the role of ILC1 cells in atherosclerosis. We found that ILC1 cells have a high Th1‐like gene expression of T‐bet and IFN‐γ, which is distinct from ILC2, ILC3 or conventional NK (cNK) cells. Moreover, atherosclerotic lesions were greatly reduced in ApoE−/−Rag1−/− mice treated with anti‐NK1.1 mAbs for depleting ILC1 cells (ILC1+cNK cells), compared to ApoE−/−Rag1−/− mice treated with anti‐IL‐15R mAbs for depleting cNK cells, and these effects could be fully rescued through the adoptive transfer of ILC1 cells sorted from the spleen of ApoE−/−TLR4+/+ mice into ApoE−/−Rag1−/− mice treated with anti‐NK1.1 mAbs. However, the adoptive transfer of ILC1 cells sorted from the spleen of ApoE−/−TLR4−/− mice into ApoE−/−Rag1−/− mice treated with anti‐NK1.1 mAbs blocked the progression of atherosclerosis, indicating that the pro‐atherosclerotic role of ILC1 cells is dependent on TLR4. Furthermore, oxLDL‐induced increase in IFN‐γ expression from ApoE−/− ILC1 cells was correlated with the decrease in BACH2 expression. Taken together, ILC1 cells exist in atherosclerosis and aggravate atherosclerosis via increasing pro‐inflammatory cytokine expression in a TLR4/BACH2‐dependent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies show that variants in some interferon genes together with interferon receptor genes are associated with the outcome of infectious diseases. We examined the association between the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver disease and the functional polymorphisms within IFNL4, IFNLR1, IFNA1, IFNA2, IFNA5 and IFNAR2 genes (14 loci in all) in a Han Chinese population. A total of 3128 people participated and were divided into 5 groups: healthy controls, natural clearance, chronic hepatitis B(CHB), liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Significant associations were observed for 4 variants in IFNAR2, IFNLR1 with HBV infection, and IFNLR1- rs4649203 was associated with HBV recovery. Moreover, we demonstrated the clear relevance of 5 polymorphisms in IFNA1, IFNA2, IFNL4 with HCC. Three SNPs in IFNL4 gene may be important susceptible factors for the progression of HBV- related liver disease by trend chi- square test. The IFNL4 haplotype conformed by rs12971396_G, rs8113007_T and rs7248668A was more frequent in HCC than CHB and LC group. Three polymorphisms in the 5'region of the IFNL4 gene are associated with the progression of HBV-related liver disease. IFNA1- rs1831583 and IFNA2-rs649053 are associated with the development of HCC. IFNLR1- rs4649203, rs7525481 are predictors for HBV infection, and rs4649203 is a predictor of spontaneous clearance. IFNAR2 - rs1051393, rs12233338 may be predictive markers of HBV infection in the Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aim: Afferent arterioles (AA) hold a key position in the regulation of renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate. Being the effector site of tubuloglomerular feedback, the afferent arteriole contributes to the renal handling of sodium and fluid. Dehydration goes along with increased renal interstitial protein concentration. Here, the hypothesis was tested that extravasal protein concentration directly modulates afferent arteriolar tone, a mechanism which may contribute to body fluid volume control. Method: The effect of increased extravasal albumin concentration on the vascular reactivity was investigated in renal AA and interlobar arteries of mice, in rat renal AA and in pancreatic islet arterioles. Results: Albumin (2 and 4% in the bath solution) significantly potentiated the contractile response of renal afferent arterioles induced by angiotensin II and adenosine, as well as their combination, compared to the control situation (0.1% albumin). Albumin did not influence the contractility of larger renal vessels or pancreatic islet arterioles. Mimicking the increase in the osmolality induced by 4% albumin by applying mannitol to the bath solution also increased the response of renal arterioles to Ang II. However, the effect was smaller compared to that of albumin. The nitric oxide bioavailability, measured by DAF‐FM fluorescence, was reduced in afferent arterioles exposed to 4% albumin. Conclusion: The protein‐induced modulation of AA tone is mediated by the increased osmolality as well as by NO scavenging. The results suggest a possible contribution of these mechanisms to the control of extracellular fluid volume via adjustment of renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We aimed to determine whether density gradient centrifugation and magnetic‐activated cell sorting (DGC‐MACS) could select viable spermatozoa, with lower levels of DNA fragmentation, from an immotile population. Analysis involved sixteen patients, each with a sperm count ≥107/mL. All samples were immotile despite exhibiting a live population >40%. Spermatozoa were prepared using DGC‐MACS and selected spermatozoa evaluated for membrane and DNA integrity using the hypo‐osmotic swelling (HOS) test, vital staining and the TUNEL test. The mean proportion of spermatozoa with an intact membrane in control, DGC and DGC‐MACS populations, was 52.5 ± 12.21%, 69.38 ± 7.87% and 81.81 ± 5.29%. The mean proportion of live spermatozoa in control, DGC and DGC‐MACS populations, was 65.88 ± 12.77%, 77.25 ± 7.39% and 85.81 ± 5.2%. DGC‐MACS reduced the within‐sample discrepancy between HOS test and vital stain results from 13.18% to 4.12%. The mean proportion of spermatozoa exhibiting DNA damage in control, DGC and DGC‐MACS populations, was 9.56 ± 3.39%, 5.25 ± 1.61% and 2.75 ± 1.13%. Finally, analysis showed that 71.23% of the DNA‐fragmented spermatozoa in unprocessed samples were removed following DGC‐MACS and that the addition of MACS to an existing DGC protocol reduced fragmented spermatozoa by a further 26.15% compared to DGC alone. Consequently, DGC‐MACS is a clinically viable method able to select viable spermatozoa with lower levels of DNA fragmentation from an immotile population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Krabbe disease (KD) is a rare disease caused by the deficiency of β‐galactocerebrosidase. This study investigated 22 unrelated Chinese patients, including their clinical presentations, plasma psychosine levels and β‐galactocerebrosidase gene mutations. We found the late‐onset form of KD present in 82% of the patients in our study, which was more prevalent than in patients from other populations. Plasma psychosine levels were elevated in KD, which were correlated with the severity of clinical presentations. Sanger sequencing identified 8 novel mutations, including 7 missense mutations, p.H253Y, p.S259L, p.P318L, p.F350V, p.T428A, p.L530P, p.G586D, and 1 splicing mutation, c.1251+1G>A. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and multiplex ligation‐dependent probe amplification identified a novel exon 12 and 14 deletion, separately. Next generation sequencing, applied at the final step, revealed 2 missense mutant alleles missed using Sanger sequencing. The most common mutation in Chinese population is p.P154H, which accounts for 20.5% of alleles. Consistent with the higher prevalence of the late‐onset form of KD, missense mutations predominated in our study, different with the common mutation types in Europe and Japan. This work was the first large‐scale study of Chinese KD patients describing their clinical, biochemical and genetic characteristics, which furthered our understanding of this classical neurological lysosomal storage disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Osteoarchaeology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Carboxylesterases (CarEs) play an important role in detoxifying insecticides in insects. Over-expression and structural modification of CarEs have been implicated in the development of organophosphate (OP) insecticide resistance in insects. A previous study identified four nonsynonymous mutations (resulting in four amino acid residue substitutions) in the open reading frame of the carboxylesterase gene of resistant cotton aphids compared to the omethoate susceptible strain, which has possibly influenced the development of resistance to omethoate (a systemic OP insecticide). The current study further characterized the function of these mutations, both alone and in combination, in the hydrolysis of OP insecticides. The metabolism results suggest that the combination of four mutations, mainly existing in the laboratory-selected OP-resistant cotton aphid population, increased the OP hydrolase activity (approximately twofold) at the cost of detectable carboxylesterase activity. The functional studies of single or multiple mutations suggest the positive effect of H104R, A128V and T333P on the acquisition of OP hydrolase activity, especially the combination of H104R with A128V or T333P. K484R substitution decreased both the OP hydrolase activity and the CarE activity, indicating that this mutation primarily drives the negative effect on the acquisition of OP hydrolase activity amongst these four mutations in the resistant strain. The modelling and docking results are basically consistent with the metabolic results, which strongly suggest that the structural gene modification is the molecular basis for the OP resistance in this laboratory-selected cotton aphid strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immersion experiment was carried out to illustrate the corrosion behavior of low-alloy pipeline steel exposed to vapor-saturated CO2 and CO2-saturated brine conditions in terms of microstructure, corrosion kinetics, corrosion phases, macroscopic and microscopic surface morphologies. Experimental results indicate that the corrosion rate of vapor-saturated CO2 condition is greatly lower than that of CO2-saturated brine condition. The corrosion products of CO2-saturated brine condition are formed uniformly on coupons surface and the ones of vapor-saturated CO2 condition deposit in cluster. Vapor-saturated CO2 condition is beneficial for the formation of fine corrosion products compared with CO2-saturated brine condition. The corrosion mechanisms of vapor-saturated CO2 and CO2-saturated brine conditions are different, which contribute to the distinction in water chemistry. The schematic models of corrosion mechanisms of the two corrosion conditions are proposed based on experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, water temperature longitudinal and temporal patterns were investigated in four locations of the Yangtze River to identify their influence on spawning of the Chinese sturgeon ( Acipenser sinensis Gray 1835). The results showed that, historically (1960-1980), the four locations, Pingshan (PS, 2,687 river kilometres [rkm]), Yichang (YC, 1,640 rkm), Chenglingji (CLJ, 1,265 rkm), and Hukou (HK, 805 rkm), all had similar average annual water temperatures (around 18.0 °C) but very different amplitudes: The upper two locations, PS (11.4-23.2 °C) and YC (9.1-25.9 °C), were relatively stable and had smaller amplitude than the lower two ones, CLJ (6.0-30.0 °C) and HK (5.9-30.8 °C). On the basis of the physiological effects for Chinese sturgeon, we defined three water temperature ranges: stressing (>23 °C), holding (23-20 °C), and spawning (20-16 °C). We found that the upper two locations with successful spawning of the Chinese sturgeon (PS and YC) had short or no stressing period but long holding and spawning periods. Currently (2013-2016), the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir increases the time for water temperature decreasing to 20 °C at the current spawning ground (YC) in autumn, which increases the stressing and holding periods, and has significant negative impact on the spawning of Chinese sturgeon. Nonetheless, considering the very high stressing temperature and the short duration of the holding and spawning periods at CLJ and HK, we propose that YC is still the most suitable spawning location for the Chinese sturgeon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of dietary dry matter intake ( DMI) on endogenous nitrogen (N) flows at different part of the digestive tract of growing lambs was determined using a 15N isotope dilution technique. Three Kazakh male lambs (30 ± 2.75 kg of body weights and 4 months old, average daily gain 200 g/day) were fitted with ruminal, duodenal and ileal cannulae and raised in metabolic cage individually. The experiment was conducted in a 3 × 3 Latin square design with three lambs, three DMI levels (1100, 920 and 736 g/day respectively) and three periods. Each period lasted 18 days, consisting of 10 days for adaptation, 8 days for the continuous infusion of l-[15N]leucine, during which the intestinal flow of N and 15N enrichment were determined. The total endogenous secretions in the forestomach ( Sfs) were decreased (p = 0.0512) with increased level of DMI. On the contrary, endogenous nitrogen ( EN) secretions into the small intestine ( Si) increased (p = 0.0249) significantly with the high level of DMI ( HI) group compared with that of low level of DMI ( LI). Total absorption from forestomach was reduced (p = 0.0121) with increased level of DMI, whereas total absorption from small intestine for HI group increased (p = 0.0116) significantly compared with that of LI treatment. The real digestibility of N in the rumen accompanied with the increase in feed intake is decreased (p = 0.081). In contrast, there were no effects of DMI level on the computed real digestibility of N across both small intestine and whole tract. The results of this study indicate that the total flows of EN at duodenum may be unaffected by the level of DMI; however, the EN flow at ileal level increased from 12% to 37% with the increase in DMI level, corresponding to 33% of total N flow at ileum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this review was to systematically evaluate common vetch seeds as a potential feedstuff for animals, by summarizing and discussing the available published literature covering their nutritional composition as well as their content of antinutritional factors and potential techniques for their reduction. In addition, animal feeding studies that have investigated the effect of inclusion of common vetch seeds on animal growth and performance were identified and evaluated to stimulate interest in their use as a good source of nutrients for inclusion in animal diets. The collective literature shows that common vetch seeds are a less costly (in comparison with alternatives) and rich source of protein and minerals for farmed animals, are of high digestibility and have a high energy content, and can be used to partially or totally replace soya bean meal and/or to replace a large proportion of cereals in the diet. Furthermore, the literature shows that common vetch seeds contain a range of antinutritional factors which, if they are to be utilized in non-ruminant diets and to increase their utilizing efficiency, need to be removed or inactivated. This can be achieved via certain pre-processing methods, the combination of which may deliver better results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Valsa mali ( V. mali), the causal agent of apple tree Valsa canker, severely damages apple production, a major economic crop in China. To date, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms associated with the pathogenicity of V. mali is still limited. RNA interference participates in various biological processes in multicellular organisms. The Argonaute proteins ( AGOs), which are a core component of the RNA interference system, play key roles in vegetable growth, environmental responses and fungal pathogenicity. Previously, transcriptome analysis revealed that the AGO2 gene ( VMAGO2) was up-regulated during V. mali infection, suggesting that VMAGO2 plays a potential role in pathogenicity. In this study, we investigated the potential roles of VMAGO2 in the growth, stress responses and pathogenicity of V. mali. VMAGO2 was isolated and found to be orthologous to AGO2 of Neurospora crassa and Fusarium graminearum. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed that VMAGO2 expression was 3.4-fold higher than that of the control (mycelium) at 24 hr post-inoculation (hpi). Six positive VMAGO2 mutants were generated using double-joint PCR and PEG-mediated transformation. Deletion of VMAGO2 did not result in any obvious phenotypic change when compared with that of wild-type strain 03-8. Furthermore, the colonial morphology was not obviously affected when the mutants were subjected to osmotic and pH stress treatments. However, the knockout mutants did not grow on PDA with 0.05% H2O2. More importantly, infection assays showed that the average lesion diameter/length resulting from mutant infections was 34.8% and 19.8% smaller on apple leaves and twigs, respectively, than those resulting from wild-type infections. All six positive mutants showed a consistent phenotype, and the defects of the mutants were fully complemented by re-introducing the WT VMAGO2 allele. Our results demonstrated that VMAGO2 plays an important role in H2O2 tolerance and the pathogenicity of V. mali. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii, is one of the most economically important agricultural pests worldwide as it is polyphagous and resistant to many classes of insecticides. Overexpression of the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (P450) CYP6DA2 has previously been found to be associated with gossypol and spirotetramat tolerance in the cotton aphid. In the present study, the elements located in the promoter region (-357:-343; -250:-241; -113:-104) of CYP6DA2 were shown to control promoter activity, and gossypol induction was observed. We hypothesized that the expression of CYP6DA2 is subject to transcriptional regulation. To investigate the underlying mechanism, we assessed two transcription factors, aryl hydrocarbon receptor ( AhR) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator ( ARNT), and found that the abundance of AhR was highly correlated with CYP6DA2 abundance. RNA interference of AhR or ARNT significantly decreased the levels of the target gene as well as those of its counterpart, and both dramatically repressed CYP6DA2 expression. Cotransfection of the ARNT, AhR, or AhR plus ARNT and C YP6DA2 promoter constructs elevated CYP6DA2 promoter activity, with the AhR plus ARNT cotransfection being the most effective. Thus, these elements located in the promoter were responsible for C YP6DA2 transcription, and CYP6DA2 expression was regulated by the transcription factors AhR and ARNT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herbage minerals affect performance of grazing cattle. We investigated the response of herbage P, K, Ca and Mg contents and Ca/P and K/(Ca + Mg) ratios to long-term stocking rate, continuous vs. discontinued grazing practice, and sampling year. Cattle had been stocked at 2·4 and 4·8 animal unit months ha−1 since 1949. Exclosures were installed in April 1998. Herbage samples were collected near peak herbage mass in 2001, 2003, 2008 and 2012 and analysed for mineral content. Mineral contents were similar between the two stocking rates, but were lower ( P < 0·05) under discontinued than continuous stocking, with the exception of similar P contents. The content of P and K in herbage was higher and the content of Ca and Mg was lower ( P < 0·05) in years with greater precipitation and lower temperatures. Herbage mineral content, with the exception of P, exceeded minimum recommended levels for cattle. Given the low P content in herbage (0·74-1·19 g kg−1) and high Ca/P ratios during the dry and hot year (of 2001), a dietary P supplement should be considered for cattle grazing rough fescue grassland in drought years. The low K/(Ca + Mg) ratios (<2·2) suggest there is little risk of grass tetany in cattle grazing on this grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the frequency and types of genetic results in different testicular histology of patients with nonobstructive azoospermia ( NOA), and correlated with hormones and sperm retrieval ( SR), a retrospective study was conducted in 286 Chinese NOA patients who underwent testis biopsy and 100 age-matched fertile men as the control group. Chromosome karyotype analyses were performed by the peripheral blood chromosome G-band detection method. Screening of Y chromosome microdeletions of azoospermia factor ( AZF) region was performed by polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) amplification of 11 sequence-tagged sites ( STS). The serum levels of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone and testosterone (T) and the appearance of scrotal ultrasound were also obtained. In 286 cases of NOA, 14.3% were found to have chromosomal alterations. The incidence of chromosomal abnormality was 2.8%. Sex chromosomal abnormalities were seen in six cases (four cases of Klinefelter's syndrome (47, XXY) and two cases of mosaics). The incidence of polymorphic chromosomal variants was 3% in the normal group and 11.5% in the NOA group. In total, 15.7% of NOA patients were found to have AZF microdeletions and AZF (c + d) was the most frequent one. The results of hormone and SR were found to be significantly different among all testicular histological types, whereas no significant differences were found when it comes to genetic alterations. It is concluded that the rate of cytogenetic alterations was high in NOA patients. So screening for chromosomal alterations and AZF microdeletions would add useful information for genetic counselling in NOA patients with testis biopsy and avoid vertical transmission of genetic defects by assisted reproductive technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on tree response to pest attacks under drought and heat stress is crucial for predicting the effect of climate change on forest pests and tree health. In this work, we studied the influence of severe water stress on the resistance of Pinus yunnanensis to inoculations of Grosmannia yunnanensis, a pathogenic fungus associated with the aggressive bark beetle, Tomicus yunnanensis. Experiments were performed in two plots, one located at the top of a hill and the other at the foot of a hill, in Xiaojiu, Yunnan, China, from May to September 2010 and March to April 2012. Measurements of soil and needle water content and predawn needle water potentials confirmed that severe droughts occurred during these periods. Maximum water stress intensity even occurred in 2010 during the typical rainy season. Following low-density inoculations, the reaction zone length and fungal growth were measured in the phloem. Sapwood blue staining and total sapwood occlusion were quantified following fungal mass inoculations. Our results suggest that severe water stress has a negative impact on a tree's resistance to G. yunnanensis. By comparing our results to previous work performed from 1997 to 1999 on the same tree species, and in the same locality under mild water stress, we concluded that drought had opposite effects on tree resistance above and below a certain threshold of predawn needle water potential. The threshold, corresponded to maximum efficiency for tree defence mechanisms, was visible in our results, and was estimated to be approximately -1.1 MPa to -1.2 MPa for P. yunnanensis under local conditions. We suggest that the existence of such a threshold of water stress intensity may be viable for any conifer undergoing biotic aggressions and, specifically, bark beetle attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC) catalyses the carboxylation of acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) to produce malonyl-CoA during the de novo synthesis of fatty acids. Spirotetramat, an inhibitor of ACC, is widely used to control a range of sucking insects, including the Aphis gossypii. In the present study, Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) results demonstrated that ACC was significantly overexpressed in a laboratory-selected spirotetramat-resistant strain compared with the susceptible strain. ACC RNA interference significantly suppressed fecundity and led to cuticle formation deficiencies in resistant adults and nymphs compared with the control. The full-length ACC gene was sequenced from both resistant and susceptible cotton aphids, and a strong association was found between spirotetramat resistance and 14 amino acid substitutions in the biotin carboxylase domain and carboxyl transferase domain of the ACC gene. Furthermore, ACC activity was higher in resistant aphids than in the susceptible strain, and ACC in the resistant aphids exhibited significant insensitivity to spirotetramat and spirotetramat-enol. The results indicate that the overexpressed insensitive (mutated) ACC target played an important role in the high levels of spirotetramat resistance observed here. This association of amino acid substitution with resistance is the first report of a potential target site mechanism affecting spirotetramat in the cotton aphid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]