Search

Glugea plecoglossi is an obligate intracellular microsporidium, which poses a significant threat to ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis). In vitro cultivation models are invaluable tools for investigating intracellular microorganisms, including G. plecoglossil. In this study, we attempted to in vitro cultivate G. plecoglossi using primary cultures derived from ayu monocytes/macrophages (MO/MΦ), a murine-derived macrophage cell line RAW264.7, and the epithelioma papulosum cyprini (EPC) cell line. The results demonstrated that MO/MΦ infected with spores exhibited a pronounced immune response which was presented by rapidly high expression levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as PaIL-1β, PaTNF-α, PaIL-10, and PaTGF-β, and detached within 96 h post-infection (hpi). Infected RAW264.7 cells remained capable of stable passage yet exhibited cellular deformation with a decrease in intracellular spores occurring around 8 days post-infection (dpi). In contrast, EPC cells promised a substantial parasite population, and the cytokine expression levels returned to normal by 8 dpi. In addition, G. plecoglossi spores recovered from EPC cells could infect young ayu, suggesting that EPC cells might be used as an in vitro cultivation system for G. plecoglossi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-performance surfactant NHJ with temperature and salt resistance is prepared, and its interfacial tension performance, temperature and salt resistance performance, surface tension performance, adaptability to formation water and oil washing performance are evaluated through experiments. The evaluation results show that w(NHJ) 0.3% solution can reduce the interfacial tension of crude oil to the order of 10-2 mN/m, with a temperature resistance of 80 ²C and an anti-mineralization degree of 8x104 mg/L, anti-Ca2+up to 4 000 mg/L. The surface tension of w(NHJ) 0.3% solution is 21.24 mN/m, and it has good adaptability to formation water, with oil washing rate of 45%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed a novel method for the detection of Vibrio alginolyticus, utilizing the specific recognition of an aptamer for V. alginolyticus and signal amplification via hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and horseradish-peroxidase-conjugated streptavidin. The proposed HCR-based multivalent aptamer (multi-Apt) amplifier allows for sensitive detection of V. alginolyticus in a linear range from 10 to 107 CFU/mL. The linear equation is y = 747.5x + 126.2, R2 = 0.986, and the limit of detection (LOD) is 3 CFU/mL. Seawater and freshwater samples were utilized in the spike recovery experiment, yieldng a recovery rates ranging from 94.3% to 108.8%. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for all samples is below 6.73%. Taken together, the proposed method has great potential for application in monitoring of V. alginolyticus in aquaculture environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on daily precipitation data from 1960 to 2017 in the rainy season in east China, to a given percentile threshold of one observation station, the time that precipitation spends below threshold is defined as quiet time τ. The probability density functions τ in different thresholds follow power-law distributions with exponent β of approximately 1.2 in the day, pentad and ten-day period time scales, respectively. The probability density functions τ in different regions follow the same rules, too. Compared with sandpile model, Γ function describing the collapse behavior can effectively scale the quiet time distribution of precipitation events. These results confirm the assumption that for observation station data and low-resolution precipitation data, even in China, affected by complex weather and climate systems, precipitation is still a real world example of self-organized criticality in synoptic. Moreover, exponent β of the probability density function τ , mean quiet time τ ¯ q and hazard function H q of quiet times can give sensitive regions of precipitation events in China. Usual intensity precipitation events (UPEs) easily occur and cluster mainly in the middle Yangtze River basin, east of the Sichuan Province and north of the Gansu Province. Extreme intensity precipitation events (EPEs) more easily occur in northern China in the rainy season. UPEs in the Hubei Province and the Hunan Province are more likely to occur in the future. EPEs in the eastern Sichuan Province, the Guizhou Province, the Guangxi Province and Northeast China are more likely to occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptosporidium is one of the most important parasites in poultry, and this pathogen can infect more than 30 avian species. The present study investigated the infection rate of Cryptosporidium among broiler chicken flocks. A total of 385 fecal samples from broiler chickens in 7 regions of Zhejiang Province collected from November 2010 to January 2012 were examined by microscopy. Thirty-eight (10%) samples were positive for Cryptosporidium infection, and 3 genotypes (Cryptosporidium baileyi, Cryptosporidium meleagridis, and avian genotype II) were identified by PCR and sequencing. A phylogenetic tree of the isolates was analyzed. These results suggest that cryptosporidiosis is widespread in poultry in Zhejiang Province, and is a potential threat to public health as well as the economy. This is the first report about the infection rate and molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium in broiler chickens in Zhejiang.

Displaying antigens on yeast surface as an oral vaccine has been widely explored, while its potential as an immersion vaccine has not been evaluated. Here, an immersion vaccine was prepared by displaying ORF25 of Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV‐2) on the surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Carassius auratus gibelio was immersion immunized by 2 × 107 CFU/mL yeast for 2 h, and reinforce the immunity using the same method 14 days after the first immunization. The results showed that ORF25 specific antibody in immunized crucian carp serum was detected at a high level, and the mRNA expression level of IgM, IgT, IL‐1β, and IFN‐1 in vaccinated head‐kidney and spleen tissues were higher than the control group, indicating that innate and adaptive immunity were induced. Moreover, the immersion vaccination provided effective protection for fish against CyHV‐2, leading to a relative percent survival of 50.2%. Meanwhile, immersion vaccination restrained virus replication and histological damage in CyHV‐2 infected crucian carp. Our data suggested that immersion immunization of S. cerevisiae‐displayed ORF25 could be served as a candidate vaccine to prevent CyHV‐2 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many methods available for printer identification of questioned documents, however most of them need identical contents of the training and testing documents. There is no effective method yet when the contents of the training and testing documents are different. To overcome this obstacle a method based on synthetic texture analysis is proposed in this paper. The inner texture of printed characters is reconstructed in order to generate an artificial textural image similar to the real texture while independent of document content. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) methods are then used for feature extraction. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve a high recognition rate and provide a new platform for printer identification independent on the content of documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Metapenaeus ensis was obtained by PCR, containing 37 genes with 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), two ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and a non-coding control region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diapause induced in the early fourth stage of Haemonchus contortus is a strategy to adapt this nematode to hostile environmental conditions. In this study, we identified a new gene, Hc-fau , a homologue of human fau and Caenorhabditis elegans Ce-rps30 . Hc-fau encodes two proteins through alternative RNA splicing, Hc -FAUA and Hc -FAUB, consisting of 130 and 107 amino acids, respectively. Hc -FAU possesses a diverged ubiquitin-like (UBiL) protein domain and a conserved ribosome protein S30 domain. The protein is ubiquitously expressed, except in the gonad. However Hc-fau transcripts decrease significantly in diapausing L4s of H. contortus . In C. elegans , knockdown of Ce-rps30 confers an extended lifespan, increased lipid storage in the intestine and shortened body length. These morphological characteristics are comparable with dauer larvae of C. elegans , in which the gonad is condensed considerably. In contrast, a shortened lifespan is observed in C. elegans over-expressing Hc-faua , and especially Hc-faub , with hatching failure detected. The genes of insulin/IGF-1 signalling (IIS), TGF-β, cGMP, dafachronic acid (DA), apoptosis (AP) and fatty acids (FA) metabolism are all down-regulated in Ce-rps30 RNAi (RNA interference) worms, except for akt-1 and daf-16 . However, daf-16 up-regulation is inconsistent with its target gene down-regulation and the result from a heat stress assay in these worms. Daf-16 RNAi conducted in Ce-rps30 (tm6034/nt1) mutants failed to rescue the worms. The S30 domain stays in the nucleus, while UBiL accumulates in the cytoplasm. Compared with Hc -FAUA, results of UBiL domain and S30 domain over-expression indicate synergism between UBiL and S30 in regulating lifespan and reproduction. These results suggest the potential functions of Hc-fau in regulating larval diapause in H. contortus . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]