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The paper discuss the application of CRI method in the fuzzy reasoning in the following three aspects: (1) the influence of different implication operators on the classification result; (2) the influence of different shape of triangles on the classification result when fuzzying the example as a triangle; (3) the influence of different compound algorithms on the classification result. The paper presents the maximum information entropy methods to calculate the classification result for a given rule and compares the CRI method with the similarity-based method in the fuzzy classification problems. The experiments show that choosing proper parameters can make the classification accuracy obtained by CRI method prior to the accuracy obtained by similarity-based method. Thereby proves the validity of CRI method in the classification problems.

In this paper, high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was established and successfully applied for the separation and purification of trans-resveratrol from Rhizma Polygoni Cuspidati. After extracted by microwave assisted extraction (MAE), the dry extract was directly dissolved in HSCCC solvent and introduced to HSCCC separation system. Two-phase solvent system of HSCCC was optimized. Trans-resveratrol was separated from extract of Rhizma Polygoni Cuspidati by high-speed counter-current chromatography in two-step using two different solvent systems composed of chloroform-methanol-water (4:3:2, v/v/v) and n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (3:5:4:6, v/v/v/v). From 200 mg of crude extract, 2.5 mg of trans-resveratrol was obtained at over 99% purity by HPLC analyses, and its chemical structure was identified by ESI-MS, 1H NMR.

Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) protein was hydrolysed by papain, and then the tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) protein hydrolysates (TPH) chelated with ferrous ions at various mass ratios of TPH to FeCl2 (5:1, 10:1 and 20:1) to obtain the biological materials of chelate I, chelate II and chelate III, respectively. The ferrous-binding rate and antioxidant activities of the chelates were investigated. It was found that the ferrous-binding rate increased with the increase of mass ratios (TPH/FeCl2) from 5:1 to 20:1. The DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power activity of chelate III were highest in the chelates, and the lipid peroxidation inhibition activity of the chelate III was obviously higher than that of TPH. Compared with TPH, marked changes in microstructure were observed in the biological material of TPH-iron chelate.

BACKGROUND Trauma centers are increasingly advocating the replacement of arterial blood gas measurements with venous blood gas measurements for simplification of base deficit (BD) determination. These values have never been demonstrated to agree in important trauma populations, such as for patients in occult shock (OS) or the elderly. The goal of this study was to investigate the level of agreement between venous and arterial BDs from blood gases in critically ill or injured patients, specifically in OS and the elderly. METHODS This is a retrospective, consecutive, cohort study using matched pairs of venous and arterial blood gases from patients admitted to the Trauma and Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit in a Level I trauma center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Agreement between near simultaneous arterial and venous BD was calculated using the Bland-Altman method. McNemar's test was used for differences in BDs in the presence or absence of OS and in elderly patients. RESULTS BDs for 466 arterial and venous samples from 72 patients were compared pairwise. There was no significant difference between samples (p = 0.88). Ninety-eight percent of samples were within 3.0 mmol/L of each other. No significant differences were detected between venous and arterial BD in the presence of OS or in the elderly (p = 0.72 and p = 0.25, respectively). CONCLUSION Arterial and venous BDs agree, including in the presence of OS and in the elderly. Consideration may be given to venous sampling both in the intensive care unit or in other areas of care, such as the trauma bay. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Diagnostic study, level III.

Based on the analysis of the coal mine accidents dangerous sources and essential factors of occurrence mechanism, the coal mine accidents causation model is built by combing with system security theory and dangerous sources theory. This paper analyzes a large number of accidents causation factors and screens the main factors; finally the coal mine accidents hierarchical structure model is constructed. What’s more, combined with examples, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is applied to evaluate the accidents causation analysis.

Infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) is the type species of the genus Megalocytivirus from the family Iridoviridae . ISKNV is one of the major agents that cause mortality and economic losses to the freshwater fish culture industry in Asian countries, particularly for mandarin fish ( Siniperca chuatsi ). In the present study, we report that the interaction of mandarin fish caveolin 1 (mCav-1) with the ISKNV major capsid protein (MCP) was detected by using a virus overlay assay and confirmed by pulldown assay and coimmunoprecipitation. This interaction was independent of the classic caveolin 1 scaffolding domain (CSD), which is responsible for interacting with several signaling proteins and receptors. Confocal immunofluorescence microscopy showed that ISKNV MCP colocalized with mCav-1 in the perinuclear region of virus-infected mandarin fish fry (MFF-1) cells, which appeared as soon as 4 h postinfection. Subcellular fractionation analysis showed that ISKNV MCP was associated with caveolae in the early stages of viral infection. RNA interference silencing of mCav-1 did not change virus-cell binding but efficiently inhibited the entry of virions into the cell. Taken together, these results suggested that mCav-1 plays an important role in the early stages of ISKNV infection.

This study aimed to examine the reproducibility and validity of a new food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) used in a birth cohort study to estimate the usual consumption frequencies of foods during pregnancy. The reference measure was the average of three inconsecutive 24 h diet recalls (24 HR) administrated between two FFQs, and the reproducibility was measured by repeating the first FFQ (FFQ1) approximately eight weeks later (FFQ2). A total of 210 pregnant women from the Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study (BIGCS) with full data were included in the analysis. The Spearman’s correlation coefficients of FFQ1 and FFQ2 ranged from 0.33 to 0.71. The intraclass correlation coefficients of the two FFQs ranged from 0.22 to 0.71. The Spearman’s correlation coefficients of the 24 HR and FFQ2 ranged from 0.23 to 0.62. Cross-classification analysis showed 65.1% of participants were classified into same and contiguous quintiles, while only 3.2% were misclassified into the distant quintiles. Bland-Altman methods showed good agreement for most food groups across the range of frequencies between FFQ1 and FFQ2. Our findings indicated that the reproducibility and validity of the FFQ used in BIGCS for assessing the usual consumption frequencies of foods during pregnancy were acceptable.

Cry1Ie protein derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been proposed as a promising candidate for the development of a new Bt-maize variety to control maize pests in China. We studied the response of the midgut bacterial community of Apis cerana cerana to Cry1Ie toxin under laboratory conditions. Newly emerged bees were fed one of the following treatments for 15 and 30 days: three concentrations of Cry1Ie toxin (20 ng/mL, 200 ng/mL, and 20 μg/mL) in sugar syrup, pure sugar syrup as a negative control and 48 ng/mL imidacloprid as a positive control. The relative abundance of 16S rRNA genes was measured by Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction and no apparent differences were found among treatments for any of these counts at any time point. Furthermore, the midgut bacterial structure and compositions were determined using high-throughput sequencing targeting the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rDNA. All core honey bee intestinal bacterial genera such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Snodgrassella, and Gilliamella were detected, and no significant changes were found in the species diversity and richness for any bacterial taxa among treatments at different time points. These results suggest that Cry1Ie toxin may not affect gut bacterial communities of Chinese honey bees.

Ixodes scapularis, the black-legged tick, is one of the most common human-disease vectors and transmits Borrelia species, such as B. burgdorferi, as well as Theileria microti, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, etc. As basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors have been recognized for many years as important regulators of various developmental processes, we performed phylogenetic analysis of the black-legged tick genome in order to identify the number and family of bHLH transcription factors. Because bHLH family members have been identified in many organisms, including silkworm and fruit fly, we were able to conduct this survey and identify 58 putative bHLH transcription factors. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the black-legged tick has 26, 10, 9, 1, 9, and 1 member in groups A, B, C, D, E, and F, respectively, whereas two were orphan genes. This analysis also revealed that unlike silkworm and fruit fly, the black-legged tick has no Mesp, Mlx, or TF4 family members, but has one more MyoRb family member. The present study provides useful background information for future studies of the black-legged tick as a disease vector with the goal of prevention and treatment.

The nutritional components in the cuttlefish muscle were analyzed and the nutritive quality was evaluated in the paper. The results showed that the contents of the cuttlefish muscle in crude protein, crude fat, carbohydrate were 16.60%, 0.86%, 1.30%, respectively. There were 18 kinds amino acids and the total amino acids reached 17.44%, with an essential amino acid index(EAAI) of 67.95. The composition of the essential amino acids in muscle ratio was consistent with the FAO/WHO standards. In addition, the contents of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids were 41.13%, 12.15% and 46.72%, respectively. And the muscle contains a higher content of EPA and DHA, reached 11.0% and 24.49%, respectively. It was considered that the cuttlefish muscle has a high nutritive value and it can be the important material of the high quality protein and unsaturated fatty acid.

Infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) is the type species of the genus Megalocytivirus from the family Iridoviridae . Megalocytiviruses have been implicated in more than 50 fish species infections and currently threaten the aquaculture industry, causing great economic losses in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. However, the cellular entry mechanisms of megalocytiviruses remain largely uncharacterized. In this study, the main internalization mechanism of ISKNV was investigated by using mandarin fish fry (MFF-1) cells. The progression of ISKNV infection is slow, and infection is not inhibited when the cells are treated with ammonium chloride (NH 4 Cl), chloroquine, sucrose, and chlorpromazine, which are inhibitors of clathrin-dependent endocytosis. The depletion of cellular cholesterol by methyl-β-cyclodextrin results in the significant inhibition of ISKNV infection; however, the infection is resumed with cholesterol replenishment. Inhibitors of caveolin-1-involved signaling events, including phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), genistein, and wortmannin, impair ISKNV entry into MFF-1 cells. Moreover, ISKNV entry is dependent on dynamin and the microtubule cytoskeleton. Cofraction analysis of ISKNV and caveolin-1 showed that ISKNV colocates with caveolin-1 during virus infection. These results indicate that ISKNV entry into MFF-1 cells proceeds via classical caveola-mediated endocytosis and is dependent on the microtubules that serve as tracks along which motile cavicles may move via a caveola-caveosome-endoplasmic reticulum (ER) pathway. As a fish iridovirus, ISKNV entry into MFF-1 cells is different from the clathrin-mediated endocytosis of frog virus 3 entry into mammalian cells (BHK-21) at 28°C, which has been recognized as a model for iridoviruses. Thus, our work may help further the understanding of the initial steps of iridovirus infection.

Mathematical model of the storage tank for air-conditioning condition was established, the dynamics character of a new type of PCM in the storage tank was studied., and the model was numerical simulated by the method of heat capacity. Effects of flow rate and inlet temperature of heat transfer fluid (HTF) on charging process of the storage tank were obtained. The results show that no appreciable change in the total cold thermal energy storage is observed for the increase of flow rate, whereas the improvement of the total cold thermal energy storage due to the decrease of inlet temperature is detectable, when cold storage is finished during low peak of electricity, the best inlet temperature of storage tank is at 2°C-3°C.

The high antioxidant activity product was isolated from Pinctada fucata muscle by a method of Alcalase hydrolysis. Optimization using response surface methodology was performed and 3D response surfaces were plotted from the mathematical model. The results indicated that the optimal extraction conditions were as follows: pH 7.0, temperature 61°C, E/S 3.01%, hydrolysis time 3h, under the conditions of hydrolysis products of the DPPH radical scavenging rate of 67.3% and the degree of hydrolysis of 31.2%, which was in good agreement with the predicted model value.

Mathematical model of heat transfer process of a latent heat thermal storage tank was established, dynamic performance and melting process of cool storage tank were simulated by the apparent heat capacity method. the relation of melting rate along with time and cold thermal energy released along with time were obtained. The results show that no appreciable change in the total cold thermal energy released is observed for the increase of flow rate, whereas improvement on total cold thermal energy released due to the increase of inlet temperature is detectable. At the cool discharge condition, the best inlet temperature of storage tank is at 12°C-13°C.

Lactic acid bacteria commonly used in fermented meat products, dairy products and smoked products such as pickled food industry. They can make the products have a special flavor and color, inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria, and reduce the nitrite content of products, improve food security. 12 strains of lactic acid bacteria were isolated from the salted fish. Some of their biochemical characteristics were studied and compared, as well as their abilities on the tolerance and degradation of nitrite. 3 strains named b2、j2、j5 were approved to degrade nitrite quickly with good biochemical characteristics. After amplification and sequencing of 16S rDNA gene, the isolated strains were identified by sequence homology as Lactobacillus plantarum, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Pediococcus pentosaceus. Strainb2, j2 and j5could degrade 96.2%, 85.6%, 91.2%.

The purpose of this paper is to research on shock wave propagation law of internal gas explosion. The multi-material Eulerian and Lagrangian coupling algorithm was adopt. Using ANSYS/LS-DYNA dynamic analysis software to build frame structure, air and gas explosion models. Multiple ALE elements for simulating air and gas explosion material the analysis of blast shock wave propagation in a three-story steel frame structure and the characteristics of explosion pressure using fluid-structure coupling method are carried out. The conclusions show that fluid-structure coupling method can well simulated shock wave propagation of internal gas explosion, and the pressure peak of blast shock wave increased with the increasing of the blast air initial energy. Locality is the characteristic of explosion pressure in sealed space, and the pressure pass weakly when it propagates in solid.

International audience; Tropilaelaps mite samples were collected from 72 locations in 25 provinces throughout China. The mitochondrial DNA cox1 and ribosomal ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 fragments of Tropilaelaps mites were surveyed for sequence variation or the presence or absence of specific restriction sites that differentiate four species of Tropilaelaps mite (Tropilaelaps clareae, Tropilaelaps mercedesae, Tropilaelaps koenigerum, and Tropilaelaps thaii). Based on these identified diagnostic characters, all samples in this study corresponded to T. mercedesae, which has been mistaken for T. clareae until now. None of the other Tropilaelaps species were found infesting Apis mellifera in China. A total of 73 cox1 haplotypes and 104 ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 haplotypes were discovered in this study. Haplotype analysis revealed that there is no association between geographic distance and genetic distance among populations. The results of the present study clarified the taxonomic status and biogeography of Tropilaelaps mites in China, and should have implications for the control and bee quarantine efforts in China.

Previous studies have shown that delayed apoptotic polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) might play an important role in the development of multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS). Somatostatin (SST) may improve the histopathological lesions as well as functions of vital organs in rats with MODS. This study was to investigate the association of SST levels in plasma or jejunum tissue and PMN life in macaques following intestinal ischemia reperfusion. SST levels in macaque plasma or jejunum tissue were significantly decreased after intestinal ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury. The apoptotic rate of PMNs was obviously reduced (15.4±1.41 to 3.5±0.53%, P

Caveolae, the major source of caveolin-1 protein, are specialized invaginated microdomains of the plasma membrane that act as organizing centers for signaling molecules in the immune system. In the present study, we report the cloning and characterization of caveolin-1 (mCav-1) from mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi) and study on the roles of mCav-1 in the fish Jak–Stat signaling pathway and in virus infection. The cDNA sequence of mCav-1 was 707 bp in size, encoding a protein of 181 amino acids, which was different from the mammalian protein (178 amino acids). The deduced amino acid sequence of mCav-1 shared similar architecture with vertebrate caveolin-1 proteins, but mCav-1 lacked a phosphorylation site (y14). The major subcellular location of mCav-1 was in the caveolae, where the protein appeared to have major functions. Real-time PCR revealed that the expression of the mandarin fish Mx, IRF-1, SOCS1, and SOCS3 genes involved in the poly(I:C)-induced Jak–Stat signaling pathway was impaired by the mCav-1 scaffolding domain peptide (mSDP). In mandarin fish fry (MFF-1) cells, the protein levels of mCav-1 were markedly up-regulated at 12 and 24 h post-infection with ISKNV (infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus). In addition, ISKNV entry into MFF-1 cells was significantly inhibited by mSDP, and the inhibition was dose-dependent. Thus, ISKNV infection was apparently associated with mCav-1 protein and may utilize the caveolae-related endocytosis pathway. The findings reported here further our understanding of the function of caveolin-1 in the complex signal transduction network in fish immune systems and in the cellular entry mechanism of iridoviruses.

This study is about to reveal the connections and the importance of China`s country image, product image, and purchase intention. Following are the results of the empirical analysis summary. First, in country`s national image, except political image, economic image and cultural image have a positive (+) impact on the product image is true. Secondly, a country`s product image have a positive (+) impact on purchase intention. Therefore, consumer tend to improve purchase intention when China`s product image increase. In summary, consumers` purchase intention can obtain the best positive result, when a country`s national image is set as the core factor, which combines and improves concurrently with one`s product image.

With the development of e-commerce, security has been the center of the transaction. This article analyses the technologies of e-commerce and then examines the issues related to the security of assets and transactions in the e-commerce components and activities. After examining the technologies used in e-commerce, the article goes on to identify the security requirement of ecommerce systems from perceived threats and vulnerabilities. Then e-commerce security is viewed as an engineering management problem. And a life cycle approach is put forward.

The reinforced concrete (RC) beams have three failure modes using large-scale finite element procedure LS-DYNA to simulate dynamic responses and failure modes of RC beams under blast loading. Holmquist-Johnson-Cook material model was used in concrete, the damage and strain rate effects were considered the kinematic hardening plasticity material model was used in reinforcing bars. With different rebar ratios and charges of weight TNT equivalent and stand-off distance were investigated and discussed. The numerical simulation can predict responses and flexure, flexure-shear and direct shear of the RC beams under different blast loading. The influence of the several factors have been identified and provided a theoretical basis for blast resistant design and retrofitting of the RC beam.

A practical formal likelihood function (L) is developed to separate model structure errors and observation errors by the separation of correlated and uncorrelated model residuals. L overcomes the time-consuming problem of likelihood functions proposed by previous studies, and combines the Mean Square Error (MSE) and first-order Auto-Regression (AR(1)) models. For comparison of the effect of different error models, MSE, AR(1), and L are used as efficiency criteria to calibrate the three-dimensional variably saturated ground-water flow model (MF2K-VSF) based on the soil tank seepages of rainfall&ndash, runoff experiments. Results of L are nearly the same as those of AR(1) due to negligible observational errors. Although all calibrated models well mimic the seepage discharges, MF2K-VSF with MSE cannot capture the groundwater level and soil suction processes because of the considerable autocorrelation of model residuals owing to model inadequacies (e.g., neglect of the soil moisture hysteresis), which obviously violates the statistical assumption of MSE. By contrast, L accounts for the model structural errors and thus enhances the reliability of hydrological simulations.

A novel and efficient synthetic method has been developed for the preparation of chiral acyclic nucleosides with a chiral amino side chain by Mitsunobu reaction between nucleoside bases and protected L-serine. This method suggests a potentially more efficient and complementary process to acquire chiral acyclic nucleosides.

The JAK/STAT signal transduction pathway plays a critical role in host defence against viral and bacterial infections. In the present study, we report cDNA cloning and characterization of the JAK family (mJAK1-3 and mTYK2) and STAT family members (mSTAT1, mSTAT3-6) from the mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi. To our knowledge, JAK2, TYK2 and STAT6 genes were cloned from fish for the first time. The mJAK family proteins consist of 1112-1177 residues with a FERM domain, an SH2 domain, a pseudokinase domain, and a tyrosine kinase domain. The mSTAT family members contain 716-786 residues with similar architecture, including an N-terminal domain, a coiled coil domain, a DNA binding domain, a linker domain, an SH2 domain, and a transcription activation domain. Multiple sequence alignments of mJAKs/mSTATs and phylogenetic analysis showed that mJAK1 was closed to mTYK2, and mJAK2 was closed to mJAK3. Quantitative real-time PCR results revealed that mJAK/mSTAT family members were expressed in most tissues examined except muscle. In mandarin fish fry cells, the expressions of IRF-1, Mx, SOCS1 and SOCS3 genes were significantly induced by poly(I:C) stimulation, indicating that the mJAK/mSTAT signal pathway is activated by poly(I:C). Furthermore, expressions of all four mJAKs and four mSTATs were all up-regulated after poly(I:C) stimulation, but expression of mSTAT5 was inhibited by poly(I:C). These results suggest that mandarin fish has the JAK/STAT signal transduction pathways similar to those in mammals, and these signalling pathways may play an important role in regulation of antiviral responses in fish.

The international ImMunoGeneTics information system® (IMGT) (http://imgt.cines.fr), created in 1989, by the Laboratoire d'ImmunoGenetique Moleculaire LIGM (Universite Montpellier II and CNRS) at Montpellier, France, is a high-quality integrated knowledge resource specializing in the immunoglobulins (IGs), T cell receptors (TRs), major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of human and other vertebrates, and related proteins of the immune systems (RPI) that belong to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) and to the MHC superfamily (MhcSF). IMGT includes several sequence databases (IMGT/LIGM-DB, IMGT/PRIMER-DB, IMGT/PROTEIN-DB and IMGT/MHC-DB), one genome database (IMGT/GENE-DB) and one three-dimensional (3D) structure database (IMGT/3Dstructure-DB), Web resources comprising 8000 HTML pages (IMGT Marie-Paule page), and interactive tools. IMGT data are expertly annotated according to the rules of the IMGT Scientific chart, based on the IMGT-ONTOLOGY concepts. IMGT tools are particularly useful for the analysis of the IG and TR repertoires in normal physiological and pathological situations. IMGT is used in medical research (autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, AIDS, leukemias, lymphomas, myelomas), veterinary research, biotechnology related to antibody engineering (phage displays, combinatorial libraries, chimeric, humanized and human antibodies), diagnostics (clonalities, detection and follow up of residual diseases) and therapeutical approaches (graft, immunotherapy and vaccinology). IMGT is freely available at http://imgt.cines.fr.

To study the effects of growing rice (Oryza sativa L.) leaves under the treatment of the short-term elevated CO(2) during the period of sink-source transition, several physiological processes such as dynamic changes in photosynthesis, photosynthate accumulation, enzyme activities (sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS), and sucrose synthase (SS)), and their specific gene (sps1 and RSus1) expressions in both mature and developing leaf were measured. Rice seedlings with fully expanded sixth leaf (marked as the source leaf, L6) were kept in elevated (700 micromol/mol) and ambient (350 mol/L) CO(2) until the 7th leaf (marked as the sink leaf, L7) fully expanded. The results demonstrated that elevated CO(2) significantly increased the rate of leaf elongation and biomass accumulation of L7 during the treatment without affecting the growth of L6. However, in both developing and mature leaves, net photosynthetic assimilation rate (A), all kinds of photosynthate contents such as starch, sucrose and hexose, activities of SPS and SS and transcript levels of sps1 and RSus1 were significantly increased under elevated CO(2) condition. Results suggested that the elevated CO(2) had facilitated photosynthate assimilation, and increased photosynthate supplies from the source leaf to the sink leaf, which accelerated the growth and sink-source transition in new developing sink leaves. The mechanisms of SPS regulation by the elevated CO(2) was also discussed.

Super-high sulfur coal resultes in serious coal-derived pollution but might have a particular genesis. Thus, a columnar section of an Early Permian Liangshan Formation coal seam. weight average sulfur content 5.80%, from Kaili, eastern Guizhou, was studied using the methods of coal petrology and geochemistry. The results show that the seam was apparently formed in seawater-effected peat bogs that developed in two distinct stages. During the first stage various layers were formed in a supratidal bog and have a composition characteristic of a bog with a gradually decreasing seawater effect, decreasing water dynamics, and an increasingly reductive environment. Layers in the upper seam formed during a second stage in an intertidal bog. These layers are very high in total and inorganic sulfur, the ratios of organic/inorganic sulfur and V/I drop, they are high in coal ash yield and have a high ash component index, considerable barkinite, oxidized and detrital macerals, have a porphyroclatic micro-structure and are rich in pyrite, all of which indicate the coal-forming environment had higher oxidation potential, strong and roiling water dynamics, and intermittent exposure to a sulfur rich environment.

Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis is a species of cephalopod that is becoming economically important in the South China Sea. As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn concentrations were determined in the mantle, arms, and digestive gland of S. oualaniensis from 31 oceanographic survey stations in the central and southern South China Sea. Intraspecific and interspecific comparisons with previous studies were made. Mean concentrations of trace elements analyzed in arms and mantle were in the following orders: Zn > Cu > Cd > Cr > As > Hg. In digestive gland, the concentrations of Cd and Cu exceed that of Zn. All the Pb concentrations were under the detected limit.

The research studies the ultrastructure effect on texture of crisp grass carp (CGC) and grass carp (GC) fillets inducing heating for 15, 25, and 40 min with boiling water. After heating, the hardness, fracturability, springiness, chewiness, resilience, and cohesiveness of CGC were higher than that of raw CGC, whereas the all textural characteristics of heating GC were lower obviously than that of raw GC. The hardness, fracturability, springiness, chewiness, resilience, and cohesiveness of CGC for heating 15 min were higher by 6.3%, 9.0%, 27.0%, 71.8%, 9.4%, and 23.9%, respectively, than that of raw CGC (RCGC). The hardness increasing of CGC flesh with the extension of heating time related closely to more coagulating connective tissue in interstitial spaces, especially relating to smaller muscle fiber diameter and denser muscle fiber density. The more and larger spaces between fiber and fiber with the extension of heating time results in the decrease of cohesiveness and resilience of CGC flesh. For chewiness, the stronger chewiness of cooked CGC associated with more detachment of myofiber-myocommata and fiber-fiber. Overall, the results show that the changes of texture characteristics of CGC fillet with extension of heating time correlates positively with the ultrastructure.

Salted fish is a traditional Chinese aquatic product, because of its rich nutrition and the salty, sweet, unique taste and flavor, it is loved by consumers. At present, empirical traditional processing methods are adopted in enterprises that processing salted aquatic products, which have many disadvantages not only in the production scale, but also its efficiency. In order to innovate the traditional salted fish processing technology, as well as to meet the demand of modern consumers for salted fish with lower salt, richer nutrition, higher safety, better quality and flavor, this paper reviews researches on the isolation of dominant microorganisms in traditional salted fish and the application of lactic acid bacteria and other microorganisms in the salted fish processing, further, puts forward the tendency of applying modern microbial technologies to the processing of salted fish products.

Examine the association of number of lifetime children with heart disease and stroke in United States older adults. We analyzed the 2012 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, a representative study with six cohorts born between 1890–1959. Participants self-reported number of children and doctor-diagnosed heart disease/stroke. In two sex-stratified logistic regression models (n≈19000), we included: cohort, census region, race/ethnicity, and then education. Compared to nulliparous women, those with 3–4, 5–6, and 7+ children had 1.21, 1.26, & 1.46 the odds of heart disease (p

Investigate the association of age at first childbirth (AFB) with Framingham Laboratory Risk Scores (FRS) for CVD. Multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted with baseline data from a multisite study of community-dwelling older female adults (N=868). Women with adolescent childbirth (AFB

Examine risks clusters for metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components (hypertension, abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance) in highly distinct societies (St. Hyacinthe and Kingston, Canada; Tirana, Albania; Manizales, Colombia; Natal, Brazil). With baseline data from a multisite study (N=1587), we employed model-based recursive partitioning to cluster subjects into age-adjusted groups according to: sex, living arrangements, smoking, childhood adversity, education, income and work status. Women were separately analyzed to investigate if age at first childbirth and parity contributed to clustering. MetS was observed in 43% of participants. The highest predicted prevalence was among women from middle-income sites (58–69%). For all components, except high density lipoprotein, study site was the primary partitioning variable, followed by sex. MetS was particularly prevalent among middle-income women, but female reproductive characteristics were not explanatory variables. Individual risk characteristics appeared to so strongly conditioned by study site that they could not be captured in the models.

The saignee method was applied to Vitis vinifera L. Cabernet Sauvignon wine making to improve the phenolic component in fresh and 1-year aged wines. The physicochemical properties of the saignee-treated wine were similar to those of the control. A moderate enhancement of the total non-anthocyanin content was observed in the saignee-treated wine, but this was not significant (p > .05). After fermentation, the anthocyanin content was increased in the treated wine compared to the control (p ≤ .05). Anthocyanin content was reduced after aging (p ≤ .05), while the content of the treated wine was still higher than the control (p ≤ .05). After aging, the treated wine showed lower b* value (blue/yellow component) than the control. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that decreased anthocyanin was the major factor differentiating between aged and fresh wines. There were also significant differences in individual phenolic acid, flavonol, and anthocyanin contents between the treated and control wines from the PCA. Practical applications Saignee treatment could enhance extraction of phenolic compounds and improve wine color. This study could provide winemakers with an approach to compensate for poor color intensity and stability.

Honey bees are at an unavoidable risk of exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides, which are used worldwide. Compared with the well-studied roles of these pesticides in nontarget site (including midgut, ovary, or salivary glands), little has been reported in the target sites, the brain. In the current study, laboratory-reared adult worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) were treated with sublethal doses of imidacloprid. Neuronal apoptosis was detected using the TUNEL technique for DNA labeling. We observed significantly increased apoptotic markers in dose- and time-dependent manners in brains of bees exposed to imidacloprid. Neuronal activated caspase-3 and mRNA levels of caspase-1, as detected by immunofluorescence and real-time quantitative PCR, respectively, were significantly increased, suggesting that sublethal doses of imidacloprid may induce the caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway. Additionally, the overlap of apoptosis and autophagy in neurons was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. It further suggests that a relationship exists between neurotoxicity and behavioral changes induced by sublethal doses of imidacloprid, and that there is a need to determine reasonable limits for imidacloprid application in the field to protect pollinators.

Inflammation is a hallmark of several disease states ranging from neurodegeneration to sepsis but is also implicated in physiological processes like ageing. Non-resolving inflammation and prolonged neuroinflammation are unclear processes implicated in several conditions, including ageing. In this study we studied the long-term effects of endotoxemia, as systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection, focusing on the role of astrocyte activation and cytokine release in the brain of aged rats. A single dose of LPS (2 mg/kg) or 0.9% saline was injected intraperitoneally in aged rats. Levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNFα and IL-1β) and NF-κB p65 activation were measured systemically and in hippocampal tissue. Astrocytes and cytokines release in the CNS were detected via double immunofluorescence staining at different time-points up to day 30. Serum levels of TNFα and IL-1β were significantly increased acutely after 30 minutes (p

One watt white light emitting diodes (LEDs) were made by GaN-based blue light chips. The chips were coated by YAG phosphor and transparent silica gel. Current of 900 mA as electrical stress was carried on the LED samples and the optical properties of the samples were observed by measuring the main optical parameters during the aging test. After 4 200 hours of aging, the luminous flux rate of LEDs declined by a factor between 15% and 18%. Changes in I-V curves indicated the increase in leakage current, which were caused by the increase in defect density. Radiant flux of the blue light drawn from the spectrogram didn't decrease while the yellow light decreased obviously, which implies the degradation of conversion efficiency of YAG phosphor. Reasons for the increase in color temperature and keeping constant in color rendering index (CRI) were theoretically analyzed. The results of the experiment will provide a reference to the illumination applications of the high power white LED.

International audience; We conducted feeding trials in a laboratory setting to test for possible adverse effects of Cry1Ah toxin mixed thoroughly into sugar syrup (60% w/v sucrose solution) at three concentrations (10 μg/mL, 10 ng/mL, and 1 ng/mL) on the survival, pollen consumption, and hypopharyngeal gland mass of Apis mellifera ligustica and Apis cerana cerana. No significant differences in the survival of A. mellifera or A. cerana were found among groups fed on sugar syrup with or without Cry1Ah toxin. No significant differences were found in the longevity of A. mellifera fed sugar syrup with Cry1Ah toxin compared with the control. No differences were detected in the pollen consumption of A. mellifera ligustica and A. cerana cerana. No significant differences were found in the hypopharyngeal gland weight of 12-day-old honeybees A. mellifera ligustica and A. cerana cerana fed on sugar syrup with Cry1Ah toxin compared with the control. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of the risks of transgenic corn crops for honeybees.

Interferon (IFN)-induced Janus kinase (Jak)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (Stat) pathway is important in controlling immune responses and is negatively response-regulated by the suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins. However, several viruses have developed various strategies to inhibit this pathway to circumvent the anti-viral immunity of the host. The infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) is the type species of the genus Megalocytivirus in the family Iridoviridae and a causative agent of epizootics in fish. ISKNV ORF103R encodes a predicted viral SOCS (vSOCS) with high homology to the vertebrate SOCS1, but lacks a SOCS-box domain. Interestingly, vSOCS only exists in the genus Megalocytivirus. ISKNV-vSOCS can block the IFN-α-induced Jak/Stat pathway in HepG2 cells. Over-expression of ISKNV-vSOCS inhibited the activities of IFN-stimulated response element (ISRE) promoter; however, the inhibitions by ISKNV-vSOCS were dose-dependent. ISKNV-vSOCS interacted with Jak1 protein and inhibited its tyrosine kinase activity in vitro. ISKNV-vSOCS also impaired the phosphorylation of Stat1 and Stat3 proteins and suppressed their activations. The point mutations (F18D, S66A, S85A, and R64K) of ISKNV-vSOCS significantly impaired the inhibition of IFN-α-induced ISRE-promoter activation. In conclusion, vSOCS inhibits IFN-α-induced Stat1/Stat3 signaling, suggesting that Megalocytivirus has developed a novel strategy to evade IFN anti-viral immunity via vSOCS protein.

Tiger frog virus (TFV), in the genus Ranavirus of the family Iridoviridae , causes high mortality of cultured tiger frog tadpoles in China. To explore the cellular entry mechanism of TFV, HepG2 cells were treated with drugs that inhibit the main endocytic pathways. We observed that TFV entry was inhibited by NH 4 Cl, chloroquine, and bafilomycin, which can all elevate the pH of acidic organelles. In contrast, TFV entry was not influenced by chlorpromazine or overexpression of a dominant-negative form of Esp15, which inhibit the assembly of clathrin-coated pits. These results suggested that TFV entry was not associated with clathrin-mediated endocytosis, but was related to the pH of acidic organelles. Subsequently, we found that endocytosis of TFV was dependent on membrane cholesterol and was inhibited by the caveolin-1 scaffolding domain peptide. Dynamin and actin were also required for TFV entry. In addition, TFV virions colocalized with the cholera toxin subunit B, indicating that TFV enters as caveola-internalized cargo into the Golgi complex. Taken together, our results demonstrated that TFV entry occurs by caveola-mediated endocytosis with a pH-dependent step. This atypical caveola-mediated endocytosis is different from the clathrin-mediated endocytosis of frog virus 3 (FV3) by BHK cells, which has been recognized as a model for iridoviruses. Thus, our work may help further the understanding of the initial steps of iridovirus infection in lower vertebrates.