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Background: Aflatoxin contamination caused by Aspergillus fungi has been a serious factor affecting food safety of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) because aflatoxins are highly harmful for human and animal health. As three mechanisms of resistance to aflatoxin in peanut including shell infection resistance, seed infection resistance and aflatoxin production resistance exist among naturally evolved germplasm stocks, it is highly crucial to pyramid these three resistances for promoting peanut industry development and protecting consumers' health. However, less research effort has been made yet to investigate the differentiation and genetic relationship among the three resistances in diversified peanut germplasm collections. Results: In this study, the Chinese peanut mini-mini core collection selected from a large basic collection was systematically evaluated for the three resistances against A. flavus for the first time. The research revealed a wide variation among the diversified peanut accessions for all the three resistances. Totally, 14 resistant accessions were identified, including three with shell infection resistance, seven with seed infection resistance and five with aflatoxin production resistance. A special accession, Zh.h1312, was identified with both seed infection and aflatoxin production resistance. Among the five botanic types of A. hypogaea, the var. vulgaris (Spanish type) belonging to subspecies fastigiata is the only one which possessed all the three resistances. There was no close correlation between shell infection resistance and other two resistances, while there was a significant positive correlation between seed infection and toxin production resistance. All the three resistances had a significant negative correlation with pod or seed size. A total of 16 SNPs/InDels associated with the three resistances were identified through genome-wide association study (GWAS). Through comparative analysis, Zh.h1312 with seed infection resistance and aflatoxin production resistance was also revealed to possess all the resistance alleles of associated loci for seed infection index and aflatoxin content. Conclusions: This study provided the first comprehensive understanding of differentiation of aflatoxin resistance in diversified peanut germplasm collection, and would further contribute to the genetic enhancement for resistance to aflatoxin contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Low-frequency electroacupuncture (EA) has been shown to ameliorate obesity and reproductive dysfunctions in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and further explorations in PCOS-like rats showed that EA could affect white adipose tissue. However, the function and neuromodulation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in PCOS and after EA treatment have remained unknown. The present study focused on the role of BAT in PCOS-like rats and its relationship with EA and characterized the three-dimensional (3D) innervation of BAT associated with activation molecules. Methods: Female rats (21 days old) were implanted with dihydrotestosterone or fed with a high fat diet to establish PCOS-like and obesity models, respectively, and then EA treatment at "Guilai" (ST 29) and "Sanyinjiao" (SP 6) was carried out for 4 weeks. In the present study, morphological analysis, 3D imaging, molecular biology, and other experimental techniques were used to study the sympathetic nerves and activity of BAT. Results: PCOS-like rats showed both obvious weight gain and reproductive dysfunction, similar to what was seen in obese rats except for the absence of reproductive dysfunction. The body weight gain was mainly caused by an increase in white adipose tissue, and there was an abnormal decrease in BAT. Because both the lipid metabolism and reproductive disorders could be improved with bilateral EA at "Guilai" (ST 29) and "Sanyinjiao" (SP 6), especially the restoration of BAT, we further investigated the neuromodulation and inflammation in BAT and identified the sympathetic marker tyrosine hydroxylase as one of the key factors of sympathetic nerves. Modified adipo-clearing technology and 3D high-resolution imaging showed that crooked or dispersed sympathetic nerves, but not the twisted vasculature, were reconstructed and associated with the activation of BAT and are likely to be the functional target for EA treatment. Conclusion: Our study highlights the significant role of BAT and its sympathetic innervations in PCOS and in EA therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the accuracy of vibration mechanics model, the dynamic parameters were studied. Based on the classical system mechanics model, the dynamic model was reconstructed by series expansion in the domain of definition. The differential problem was transformed into an integral equation about the acceleration by using the partial integral method and introducing the modulation function, so that the obtained acceleration information can be used as the input. The stiifness and damping values were estimated by the least square method, Jacobian orthogonal series was used to express the unknown force, and the estimation of all parameters of the dynamic model was realized. The accuracy of the proposed estimation method was verified by comparing the estimation results with the experimental data. This method can realize dynamic modeling under unknown parameters and has certain engineering application significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Alphapapillomavirus 9 (α-9 HPV) is a member of the Alphapapillomavirus genus and Papillomaviridae family. These viruses are almost all carcinogenic HPV, which is closely related to 75% of invasive cervical cancer worldwide, and has a high prevalence in Sichuan. The carcinogenic function is mainly realized by its E6 oncoprotein. Methods: Cell samples were collected by cervical scraped for HPV detecting and typing. HPV-16, HPV-31, HPV-33, HPV-52, HPV-58 5 α-9 genus HPV subtype positive samples were selected, their E6 gene was sequenced and analyzed. The positive selection sites of HPV E6 genes were estimated by PAML 4.8 server. The secondary and tertiary structure of E6 protein were predicted by PSIPred and Swiss-model. The T-cell antigen epitopes of E6 protein were predicted by IEDB. Results: α-9 HPV has a high prevalence in Sichuan, China. From 2012 to 2017, 18,067 cell cervical samples were collected, and 3135 were detected with α-9 HPV infection. Among which, 250 cases HPV-16 E6, 96 cases HPV-31 E6, 216 cases HPV-33 E6, 288 cases HPV-52 E6 and 405 cases HPV-58 E6 were successfully amplified, 17, 6, 6, 13, and 4 non-synonymous nucleotide mutations were respectively detected in HPV-16, 31, 33, 52, and 58 E6, 7 positive selection sites of α-9 HPV E6 were selected out (D32E of HPV-16 E6, K35N, K93N and R145I of HPV-33 E6, K93R of HPV-52 E6, K93N and R145K of HPV-58 E6). The structure and antigen epitopes of E6 protein with amino acid substitution differ from those of wild-type E6 protein, especially for the mutation located in the E6 positive selection site. Conclusions: HPV E6 nucleotide non-synonymous mutation in the positive selection site influence the protein structure and decrease the antigen epitopes affinity of the E6 protein overall, making it more difficult for the HPV-infected cells to be detected by the immune system, and enhancing the HPV adaptability to the environment. Mutations influence the validity of HPV clinical diagnostic probes, the polymorphism analysis of α-9 HPV E6 enrich the data of HR-risk HPV in Sichuan China, and the detection probes designed with the polymorphism data in mind can improve the efficiency of clinical detection; Mutations influence epitopes affinity, the association of E6 polymorphism and epitope affinity can improve the design of therapeutic vaccine with good immunity and high generality antigen epitope; The above study all provide a good theoretical basis for the prevention and treatment of HPV-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flocculation is one of the commonly used sludge conditioning methods in water supply plants, which can improve the sludge dewatering performance by reducing the specific resistance of sludge (SRF), decreasing the amount of sludge, and finally lowering the transportation cost and subsequent disposal cost of sludge. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop new and efficient flocculants. In this paper, the template copolymer of acryloxy trimethylammonium chloride (DAC) and acrylamide (AM) was successfully synthesized by microwave-template copolymerization (MV-TP) using sodium polyacrylate (NaPAA) as template. The template copolymer was analyzed by infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), nuclear magnetic resonance hydrogen spectroscopy (1H NMR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that this template copolymer had obvious cationic microblock structure. In addition, the test results of association constant (KM) and polymerization kinetics showed that the MW-TP was assigned to free radical initiated polymerization and the polymerization mechanism was I Zip-up (ZIP). It confirmed the formation of cation fragment structure again. Due to its dense positive charges in this new cationic microblock structure, it greatly improved the functions of electric neutralization, electrical patching, and adsorption bridging. The cationic fragment structure in the template copolymer could help to generate large and dense floc structure and form stable drainage channels. Under external pressure, these large and compact floc structures had greater compressive resistance, which avoided deformation and blockage of drainage channels and voids. It was beneficial to reduce SRF and evidently enhanced sludge dewatering performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]