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The original description of Natrix leonardi (currently Rhabdophis leonardi) by Frank Wall in 1923, based on a specimen from the "Upper Burma Hills," lacked important morphological details that have complicated the assignment of recently collected material. Furthermore, although the holotype was never lost, its location has been misreported in one important taxonomic reference, leading to further confusion. We report the correct repository of the holotype (Natural History Museum, London), together with its current catalog number. We also describe key features of that specimen that were omitted from the original description, and provide new details on the morphology of the species, including sexual dichromatism unusual for the genus, based upon specimens from southern Sichuan, China. Rhabdophis leonardi is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: 15 or 17 DSR at midbody and 6 supralabials; distinct annulus around the neck, broad and red in males, and narrow and orange with a black border in females; dorsal ground color light green or olive; some lateral and dorsal scales possessing black edges, the frequency of black edges gradually increasing from anterior to posterior, forming irregular and ill‐defined transverse black bands; eye with prominent green iris; black ventral spots with a red edge, most numerous at midbody but extending halfway down the length of the tail. In southwestern China, this species is frequently found at 1730–2230 m elevation. It has been documented to prey upon anuran amphibians, including toads. A recently published phylogenetic analysis showed this species to be deeply nested with the genus Rhabdophis, as a member of the R. nuchalis Group. That analysis also revealed the existence of two closely related but geographically distinct subclades in the molecular analysis, one of which may represent an unnamed taxon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) has become a major therapeutic concern in clinical settings, and carbapenemase genes have been widely reported in various bacteria. In Serratia marcescens , class A group carbapenemases including SME and KPC were mostly identified. However, there are few reports of metallo-β-lactamase-producing S. marcescens. Here, we isolated a carbapenem-resistant S. marcescens (S378) from a patient with asymptomatic urinary tract infection which was then identified as an IMP-4-producing S. marcescens at a tertiary hospital in Sichuan Province in southwest of China. The species were identified using MALDI-TOF MS, and carbapenemase-encoding genes were detected using PCR and DNA sequencing. The results of antimicrobial susceptibility testing by broth microdilution method indicated that the isolate S. marc escens S378 was resistant to meropenem (MIC = 32 μg/ml) and imipenem (MIC = 64 μg/ml) and intermediate to aztreonam (MIC = 8 μg/ml). The complete genomic sequence of S. marcescens was identified using Illumina (Illumina, San Diego, CA, United States) short-read sequencing (150 bp paired-end reads); five resistance genes had been identified, including bla IMP–4, bla SRT–2, aac(6′)-Ic , qnrS1 , and tet(41). Conjugation experiments indicated that the bla IMP–4-carrying plasmid pS378P was conjugative. Complete sequence analysis of the plasmid pS378P bearing bla IMP–4 revealed that it was a 48,780-bp IncN-type plasmid with an average GC content of 50% and was nearly identical to pP378-IMP (99% nucleotide identity and query coverage). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The equity of health resource allocation geographically is a contested topic. Sichuan Province, located in Southwest China, has varied topography, providing us with natural materials to explore the determinants of health resource distribution. Materials and methods: Spatial panel econometric models were constructed to explore the relationship between health resources and factors such as health care service demand and socioeconomic and demographic perspectives using data from Sichuan Province for eight consecutive years (2010–2017). Results: Health care service demands were found to be a major driving force behind the distribution of health resources, showing that an increase in health care service demands draws health resources to specific counties and surrounding areas. From a socioeconomic perspective, gross domestic product per capita and the average wage show a positive association with health resources. In addition, the total population and proportion of the urban population have diverse effects in regard to health-related human resources but have the same effects on material and financial health resources. Conclusions: Our results provide the Chinese government with evidence needed to formulate and promulgate effective policies, especially those aiming to tackle inequity among different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yibin area is located in the southwestern margin of Sichuan Basin of upper Yangtze River basin, close to the southeastern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The paleoclimatic characteristics recorded by Quaternary river sediments in this area can display the impact of uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau on paleoclimate change of Sichuan Basin. In this paper, the macro-characteristics, clay minerals and the diagnosis geochemical elements characteristics of the sediments of terraces and floodplain were used as climatic proxies to explore the evolutionary process of the Quaternary paleoclimatic change in the study area. Key findings can be shown as follows: 1) warm and humid paleoclimate occurred during the Middle Pleistocene and the early Late Pleistocene (730–90 ka), shown by the high values of Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , Rb/Sr, chemical index of alteration (CIA, 82–97), illite chemical index (ICI, >0.5), kaolinite and the low values of Na 2 O, K 2 O, MgO, K 2 O/Al 2 O 3 , (CaO + Na 2 O)/Al 2 O 3 , illite, smectite, chlorite from the brown or brownish-red sediments of the terraces T5 to T3. 2) The reversal values of these geochemical and clay mineral proxies (e.g., values of CIA between 50 and 64) derived from grey and greyish-yellow sediments in terrace T2 and floodplain denote the dry and cold paleoclimate, emerging in the middle-late Late Pleistocene (50 ka), corresponding to the Baiyu glacial period of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Comparing the paleoclimatic evolutionary characteristics in Yibin area with those of the Three Gorges area of northeastern margin of Sichuan Basin from previous researches, this paper considers that during the Gonghe tectonic movement (0.15 Ma), the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its southeastern boundary intensified the Plateau winter monsoon and caused the southwesterly withdrawal of the Indian monsoon from Sichuan Basin. Consequently, the warm and humid paleoclimate at the northeastern and southwestern margins of the Basin had successively become dry and cold in the early and middle-late periods of the Late Pleistocene. • Paleoclimate information can be well preserved in terrace sediments in Yibin area. • The paleoclimate in Yibin area had changed from warm and wet to cold and dry since 50 ka. • Quaternary paleoclimate changed to dry and cold from northeast to southwest in the Sichuan Basin. • Tibetan Plateau's Gonghe tectonic movement enhanced the Plateau monsoon and blocked the Indian summer monsoon. • Influence of Indian summer monsoon weakened in the Sichuan Basin along the SW direction after 110 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bayesian inference (BI) phylogenetic tree of the Rhabdophis nuchalis Group based on concatenated sequences of four mtDNA (cyt b , CoI , 12S and 16S) genes and one nuDNA (c-mos) gene. The phylogenetic tree includes the Bayesian posterior probabilities (PP), as well as the maximum likelihood bootstrap (BS) values of the nodes (PP/BS). A hyphen (−) indicates PP < 0.9 or BS < 75. The names displayed represent the current taxonomy. [Display omitted] • Seven clades were identified in a phylogenetic analysis, revealing cryptic diversity in the Rhabdophis nuchalis Group. • The R. nuchalis Group originated in Hengduan Mountains at approximately 6.24 Mya and expanded to the Qinling-Daba Mountains. • The Sichuan Basin may have been a barrier to expansion of the R. nuchalis Group. • This is the most comprehensive molecular analysis to date of the relationships among members of the R. nuchalis Group. Previous studies, have found that the rapid uplift of the Tibetan plateau accelerated the diversification of species. However, there are few relevant biogeographic data for the Colubridae in this region. We conducted a comprehensive study of the Rhabdophis nuchalis Group, which presently contains four nominal species, R. nuchalis , R. pentasupralabialis , R. leonardi , and R. chiwen. Building upon previous studies with specimens we have recently examined, greater interspecific and intraspecific diversity has been revealed. Here we address three questions: (1) Do the intraspecific differences represent only geographic variation within lineages, or are there cryptic species? (2) What are the interspecific relationships among members of the R. nuchalis Group? (3) What has been the biogeographic history of this species group? To resolve these questions we used four mitochondrial gene sequences and one nuclear sequence to investigate the molecular phylogenetic and geographic relationships among populations. Our molecular analysis reveals cryptic species diversity within the R. nuchalis Group, and seven clades were identified in the analysis. Ancestral area estimation suggests that the R. nuchalis Group originated in the Hengduan Mountains approximately 6.24 Mya and expanded its range northward to the Qinling-Daba Mountains. The Sichuan Basin appears to have been a barrier to migration. Species divergence seems to have been related to the rapid uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]