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The diagnosis of atypical cystic meningioma is difficult because of the atypical MRI findings.This paper reported a case of atypical cystic meningioma and described the detailed MRI findings,which would provide valuable imaging evidence for the localization and classification of cystic meningioma.

It is of critical importance for our understanding of speciation process to determine the forms of reproductive isolation and their relative importance in species divergence. Oryza nivara and O. rufipogon are direct ancestors of Asian cultivated rice and a progenitor-daughter species pair. Investigating the reproductive isolation between them provides insights into plant speciation and helps understanding of the rice domestication. Here, we quantitatively measured the major components of reproductive isolation between the two species based on common garden and crossing experiments for three pairs of sympatric populations in Nepal, Cambodia and Laos. We revealed significant differences in the flowering times between species pairs, with O. nivara flowering much earlier than O. rufipogon. A very weak reduction in seed set but no reduction in F1 viability and fertility were detected for the crosses between species relative to those within species. Moreover, we detected asymmetrical compatibility between species and found that emasculation significantly decreased pollination success in O. nivara but not in O. rufipogon. Our study demonstrates that the divergence between O. nivara and O. rufipogon is maintained almost entirely by the difference in flowering times and suggests that differential flowering times contribute to both habitat preferences and reproductive isolation between species.

Intracranial intradural chondroma is a rare disorder,the imaging findings of which have been rarely reported.The current study reported a case of intracranial extra-cerebral chondroma and described the detailed CT and magnetic resonance imaging findings,which would provide valuable imaging evidence for the diagnosis of intracranial extra-cerebral chondroma.

The occurrence of parallel speciation strongly implies the action of natural selection. However, it is unclear how general a phenomena parallel speciation is since it was only shown in a small number of animal species. In particular, the adaptive process and mechanisms underlying the process of parallel speciation remain elusive. Here, we used an integrative approach incorporating population genomics, common garden, and crossing experiments to investigate parallel speciation of the wild rice species Oryza nivara from O. rufipogon. We demonstrated that O. nivara originated multiple times from different O. rufipogon populations and revealed that different O. nivara populations have evolved similar phenotypes under divergent selection, a reflection of recurrent local adaptation of ancient O. rufipogon populations to dry habitats. Almost completed premating isolation was detected between O. nivara and O. rufipogon in the absence of any postmating barriers between and within these species. These results suggest that flowering time is a “magic” trait that contributes to both local adaptation and reproductive isolation in the origin of wild rice species. Our study thus demonstrates a convincing case of parallel ecological speciation as a consequence of adaptation to new environments.

Genetic diversity and population genetic structure of the wild rice species Oryza rufipogon and O. nivara in Sri Lanka were studied using 33 microsatellite markers. A total of 315 individuals of 11 natural populations collected from the wet, intermediate, and dry zones of the country were used in the study. We found a moderate to high level of genetic diversity at the population level, with the polymorphic loci (P) ranging from 60.6% to 100% (average 81.8%) and the expected heterozygosity (H E) varying from 0.294 to 0.481 (average 0.369). A significant genetic differentiation between species and strong genetic structure within species were also observed. Based on species distribution modeling, we detected the dynamics of the preferred habitats for the two species in Sri Lanka and demonstrated that both O. rufipogon and O. nivara populations have expanded substantially since the last internal glacial. In addition, we showed that the geographical distribution of the two species corresponded to the climate zones and identified a few of key environmental variables that contribute to the distribution of the two species, implying the potential mechanism for ecological adaptation of these two species in Sri Lanka. These studies provided important insights into the population genetics and evolution of these wild species in Sri Lanka and are of great significance to the in situ conservation and utilization of these wild resources in genetic improvement of rice.

Objective To investigate the intra-and inter-observer reproducibility of iodine concentrations of abdominal parenchymal organs based on spectral CT.Methods The water-free iodine images of the venous phase were retrospectively obtained from 50 patients with abdominal dynamic spectral CT scans.The iodine concentrations were measured in the left,right and caudate lobes of liver,spleen,pancreas and bilateral kidneys.Intraclass correlation coefficient(ICC)and Bland-Altman plot were employed to analyze the intra-and inter-observer reproducibility.Results The intra-observer ICCs of the left,right and caudate lobes of liver,spleen,pancreas,and left and right kidneys were 0.938(0.894,0.965),0.932(0.884,0.961),0.939(0.895,0.965),0.947(0.909,0.970),0.912(0.851,0.949),0.946(0.906,0.969)and 0.907(0.842,0.946),which indicated good intra-observer reproducibility.The inter-observer ICCs of the left,right and caudate lobes of liver,spleen,pancreas,and left and right kidneys were 0.947(0.909,0.970),0.927(0.875,0.958),0.943(0.902,0.968),0.956(0.924,0.975),0.934(0.887,0.962),0.927(0.875,0.958)and 0.892(0.818,0.937),which indicated good inter-observer reproducibility.Bland-Altman plots presented that more than 95% points of the intra-observer differences located within 95% CI of limits of agreement for the caudate lobe of liver,spleen,pancreas and bilateral kidneys,which was same as inter-observer differences of the caudate lobe of liver,spleen and right kidney.Conclusion The iodine concentration measurement based on the spectral CT presented good intra-and inter-observer reproducibility for the caudate lobe of liver and spleen.

Objective To identify the optimal mono-energetic enhanced spectral CT for renal cortex in cortical phase based on the iodine concentration. Methods Fifty patients with normal renal function received the abdominal enhanced spectral CT examination.The iodine concentration and CT values of the multiple mono-energetic spectral images were measured on renal cortex in cortical phase,and the correlation between the iodine concentration and the CT values and the coefficient of variation(CV)were analyzed. Results The correlation analysis demonstrated that the correlation coefficient was 0.994,0.994,0.993,0.987,0.976,0.960,and 0.938 between mono-energetic spectral CT images(40-100 keV with interval 10 keV,respectively)and iodine concentration(all

A homologous series of new chiral liquid crystal compounds, MnBEB (n = 4–10), was prepared by covalently linking a chiral (–)-menthyl with biphenyl-benzoate via a dicarboxylic spacer of varying length and parity. A combination of analysis methods, such as FT-IR, 1H NMR spectra, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarised optical microscopy (POM) and X-ray diffraction was carried out to systematically investigate their phase structures and phase transition behaviours. The length and parity of the flexible spacers has a profound influence on the Tm and Tc and a modest odd-even effect is observed for the chiral liquid crystal compounds MnBEB. Only compound M4BEB developed an N* phase with selectively reflection on heating and a blue phase on cooling process. In addition, increasing the length of the flexible spacers tends to narrow the temperature range of the N* phase and widen the smectic phase, moreover, the pitch becomes longer with the spacer increases.

Whole transcriptomic sequencing of the drought-tolerant (DT) and drought-sensitive (DS) accessions of cultivated and wild rice under drought treatments was performed to uncover the mechanism of plant adaptation to drought and to facilitate the development of drought-tolerant cultivars in crops. By analyzing the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the drought-treated and untreated samples and their co-expressed pattern, we revealed distinct susceptibilities of different samples to the stress treatments and identified some specific transcription factors (TFs) and genes that play critical roles in rice adaptation to drought. Some drought-responsive genes or pathways unique to the wild rice were also detected, highlighting the importance of wild rice resources in developing elite cultivars. Furthermore, we showed that the DEGs in the DT accessions were enriched in the genome as clusters or hotspots in which previously identified drought-associated quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were overrepresented. The finding that a single hotspot contained up to 52 QTLs and involved as many as 20 traits implicates the complicated genetic architecture underlying the DT traits. These results provide new insights into the understanding of plant adaptation to drought and help effective manipulation of specific genes or gene cluster in crop breeding.

Gene doping can be easily concealed since its product is similar to endogenous protein, making its effective detection very challenging. In this study, we selected insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) exogenous gene for gene doping detection. First, the synthetic IGF-I gene was subcloned to recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) plasmid to produce recombinant rAAV2/IGF-I-GFP vectors. Second, in an animal model, rAAV2/IGF-I-GFP vectors were injected into the thigh muscle tissue of mice, and then muscle and blood specimens were sampled at different time points for total DNA isolation. Finally, real-time quantitative PCR was employed to detect the exogenous gene doping of IGF-I. In view of the characteristics of endogenous IGF-I gene sequences, a TaqMan probe was designed at the junction of exons 2 and 3 of IGF-I gene to distinguish it from the exogenous IGF-I gene. In addition, an internal reference control plasmid and its probe were used in PCR to rule out false-positive results through comparison of their threshold cycle (Ct) values. Thus, an accurate exogenous IGF-I gene detection approach was developed in this study.

Genetic diversity and population genetic structure of the wild rice species Oryza rufipogon and O. nivara in Sri Lanka were studied using 33 microsatellite markers. A total of 315 individuals of 11 natural populations collected from the wet, intermediate, and dry zones of the country were used in the study. We found a moderate to high level of genetic diversity at the population level, with the polymorphic loci (P) ranging from 60.6% to 100% (average 81.8%) and the expected heterozygosity (H E) varying from 0.294 to 0.481 (average 0.369). A significant genetic differentiation between species and strong genetic structure within species were also observed. Based on species distribution modeling, we detected the dynamics of the preferred habitats for the two species in Sri Lanka and demonstrated that both O. rufipogon and O. nivara populations have expanded substantially since the last internal glacial. In addition, we showed that the geographical distribution of the two species corresponded to the climate zones and identified a few of key environmental variables that contribute to the distribution of the two species, implying the potential mechanism for ecological adaptation of these two species in Sri Lanka. These studies provided important insights into the population genetics and evolution of these wild species in Sri Lanka and are of great significance to the in situ conservation and utilization of these wild resources in genetic improvement of rice.

Unreasonable sizes of grooves would aggravate the hot air recirculation and improve the air inlet temperature of outdoor units, which would result in a degradation of the energy efficiency ratio (EER) of air conditioner. This study used controlling variables method to design 40 kinds of working conditions by changing the distance from outdoor unit to each wall as well as discussed the change rules of the air inlet temperature of outdoor unit and EER. Finally, it is concluded by the analysis for experimental data that the influence of change in width or height of grooves on the heat dispersion performance of outdoor unit is significant, but that of change in depth of grooves is slight.

Room air conditioners are commonly used for environmental control in daily life, however, the use of room air conditioners often leads to an uncontrolled indoor humidity level. This paper compared the characteristics of space cooling loads of a residential building in Beijing and Guangzhou, presented the results of hourly application sensible heat ratio (SHR) in the summer design day, discussed the problem of indoor humidity deviation due to the mismatching between application SHR and equipment SHR. It is suggested that room air conditioner should be designed differently according to its application condition.

Room air conditioner is widely used in a single room or other enclosed spaces to increase the comfort of the environment. It adjusts the temperature and humidity to maintain the comfort for humans; dehumidification is a very important function of room air conditioner. This paper demonstrated the relationship among dehumidification capacity, entering air parameters, and evaporative temperature, presented the calculation method of maximum condensate water flow rate in certain condition, discussed the interaction of energy efficiency ratio and dehumidification capacity, and gave the relationship of condensate water flow rate and evaporative temperature using a specific compressor model. It is suggested that a balance should be made between dehumidification capacity and energy efficiency ratio for room air conditioner operating requirement.

In the thermal environment which influences people's living and working, air temperature near the underlay surface is the most important and direct, namely air temperature 1.5m high. Low altitude infrared remote sensing has the advantages: macro, timely and fast. If we can find the correlation between underlay surface bright temperature and air temperature 1.5m high, though the one and the correlation we can find out the other. Then the relate research on the urban thermal environment will be convenient and efficient. This paper is written for the analysis on the correlation.

In the thermal environment which influences people's life, air temperature 1.5m high is the most important and direct. Through remote sensing we can quickly get the object surface temperature. But the air temperature can’t be got through it directly. [1]If we can excogitate the method of working-out the air temperature 1.5m high from the altitude remote sensing aerial data, the relate research on the urban thermal environment will be convenient and efficient. This paper is written to research this method and analyze the feasibility by means of analysing the relationship between the radiation brightness temperature, the underlay surface temperature and the air temperature 1.5m high.

Gene doping can be easily concealed since its product is similar to endogenous protein, making its effective detection very challenging. In this study, we selected insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) exogenous gene for gene doping detection. First, the synthetic IGF-I gene was subcloned to recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) plasmid to produce recombinant rAAV2/IGF-I-GFP vectors. Second, in an animal model, rAAV2/IGF-I-GFP vectors were injected into the thigh muscle tissue of mice, and then muscle and blood specimens were sampled at different time points for total DNA isolation. Finally, real-time quantitative PCR was employed to detect the exogenous gene doping of IGF-I. In view of the characteristics of endogenous IGF-I gene sequences, a TaqMan probe was designed at the junction of exons 2 and 3 of IGF-I gene to distinguish it from the exogenous IGF-I gene. In addition, an internal reference control plasmid and its probe were used in PCR to rule out false-positive results through comparison of their threshold cycle (Ct) values. Thus, an accurate exogenous IGF-I gene detection approach was developed in this study.

In the research on urban climate, “heat island effect” is the key point, which directly affects the buildings of city, the traffic, and people's daily life.[1]One important performance of the "heat island effect" is that the bottom atmosphere environment temperature is high, especially the air temperature near the underlay surface, namely air temperature 1.5m high. In the thermal environment which influences people's living and working, air temperature 1.5m high is the most important and direct. [2] It rises mainly by the absorption of the long wave radiation reflected by the underlay surface. So the type of underlay has a very important influence to the air temperature 1.5m high. The underlay surface temperature and the air temperature 1.5m high have a certain grade correlation. This paper is written for the research on the correlation.

The porous materials are more and more popular throughout the world. However most of the resent researches focus on the porous materials applying to horizontal plane. In this paper an experiment was conducted to study the applicability of porous decorative layer applying to vertical walls. The Experimental result shows that the wet porous decorative layer has a good applicability to west-facing wall by reducing the external surface temperature at least 8°C and eliminating the temperature peak of inner surface. The equivalent thermal resistance of the porous decorative layer is 0.40 m2•K/W, when using the 4-day value of the measurement. In the summer of Guangzhou, the porous decorative layer on west-facing wall is recommended to supply water once a day at 13:00.

In order to exactly provide scientific basis for pressure dynamic balance control of working chamber of earth pressure balance shield (EPBS), study on optimal arrangement of pressure measurement points in working chamber was conducted. Based on mathematical description of optimal arrangement for pressure measurement points, fuzzy clustering analysis and discriminant analysis were used to divide pressure regions of nodes on bulkhead. Finally, the selection method of optimal measurement points was proposed, and by selecting d6.28 m EPBS as study object, the case study was conducted. By contrast, based on optimal arrangement scheme of pressure measurement points, through adopting weighted algorithm, the absolute error mean of equivalent pressure of working chamber is the smallest. In addition, pressure curve of optimal arrangement points presents parabola, and it can show the state of pressure distribution on bulkhead truly. It is concluded that the optimal arrangement method of pressure measurement points in working chamber is effective and feasible, and the method can provide basis for realizing high precision pressure control of EPBS.

Greenroofs are increasingly popular throughout the world. Radiative properties of greenroofs are important for the analysis and enhancement of their thermal performance. The radiative properties of a typical Sedum lineare greenroof were studied in this paper. Experimental results revealed that the solar radiation absorptivity, longwave radiation absorptivity and emissivity of this Sedum lineare greenroof were 0.84, 1.0 and 1.0 respectively.

In order to calculate the air temperature of the near surface layer in urban environment, the surface layer air was divided into several sections in the vertical direction, and some energy balance equations were developed for each air layer, in which the heat exchange due to vertical turbulence and horizontal air flow was taken into account. Then, the vertical temperature distribution of the surface layer air was obtained through the coupled calculation using the energy balance equations of underlying surfaces and building walls. Moreover, the measured air temperatures in a small area (with a horizontal scale of less than 500 m) and a large area (with a horizontal scale of more than 1 000 m) in Guangzhou in summer were used to validate the proposed model. The calculated results accord well with the measured ones, with a maximum relative error of 4.18%. It is thus concluded that the proposed model is a high-accuracy method to theoretically analyze the urban heat island and the thermal environment.

The ultimate relative slip between reinforced polymer (FRP) and concrete on their bond interface is a key parameter to analyze the debonding failure of FRP strengthened reinforced concrete beams. Lots of simple shear test specimens have been used to test the slip-shear stress relationship on the bond interface. However, the ultimate FRP-concrete slip has not been obtained directly from these experiments. Based on different theoretical considerations some ultimate slip values have been predicted. These values differ from one another to a large extent. The lower limit of the maximal slip between FRP and concrete in the span of strengthened beams is derived through a set of simple assumptions. Example calculations show that at loads exceeding 80% of the designed loads most maximal slips would reach 0.2mm or greater. The fact that most experimental beams at such loads do not exhibit debonding failure manifests that the ultimate slip should be greater than 0.2mm.

As stadiums have high energy consumption in architectural lighting and air conditioning, how to make full use of natural lighting and natural ventilation is the key to architectural energy conservation. To this end, many passive energy conservation measures have been taken into account in designing Multifunctional Stadium of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. For instance, strip light windows with vertical shading have been installed on east and west facade, open external windows on south and north facade etc. Test result of the Stadium shows that the above-mentioned passive design methods are able to increase natural light intensity of the playing field and prevent glare, improve wind velocity of natural ventilation and comfort in spectator areas.

This paper is focused on the relationship between the motivations for people to actively use air movement and indoor climates, with an aim to determine the preferred levels of air movement for the occupants of naturally ventilated buildings in hot and humid climates in China. Based on 429 questionnaires collected in a background survey, 29 college students were chosen to join in the transverse survey. Totally 247 sets of raw data in 5 weeks were obtained. Primary results show that the main motivation of opening window changed from “fresh air” to “cool room and body” as the summer coming. The proportion of wanting more air movement increased as ET* rose, and the ambient and preferred air velocity increased linearly with ET* too.

Simulating the summer outdoor thermal environment of Exhibition Center in Taizhou with the improved CTTC (cluster thermal time constant) model to quantitatively analyze the effect of shading types on the heat island intensity. The results show that the effect of tree canopy is the most obvious. When the shading coverage ratio is less than 20%, the variations of average heat island intensity with the increased of solar radiation transmissivity is little, and the cooling effect is not significant.

In this work, a field survey is performed in 309 residential building clusters in South China to obtain the basic characters of urban planning and design of residential buildings in this area. Based on it, the basic model of residential building clusters in this area is established, and CFD method is used to simulate the outdoor wind environment around residential buildings with different planning and design factors. The influence of building coverage ratio on the pedestrian spatial mean velocity ratio under 16 wind directions is found to be more remarkable than those of the floor area ratio and building layout. 10% increase of the building coverage ratio results in 0.1 linear decrease of the mean velocity ratio under 16 wind directions at the pedestrian level.

For seeking out suitable means of thermal insulation system of building envelope in south China, this paper has conducted simulation analysis on respective energy consumption of the typical residential template in cold region and south China, when adopt exterior thermal insulation system or interior thermal insulation system. The study has shown that the exterior thermal insulation system is much better than the interior thermal insulation system in energy efficiency in the cold region, but there isn’t obvious difference between them in south China. And from the aspects of the climate’s influence on the insulation quality, the installation’s influence on the building facades and the construction practices, it is proved that the interior thermal insulation system is more suitable than the exterior thermal insulation system in south China.

The DeST is used to simulate the convention island building energy consumption of nuclear power station under different operating modes and building performance. Changing the operating mode is found to be an effective way to save the energy consumption of nuclear power station. The annual accumulative cool load will decrease 12% when the air conditioning operating temperature is changes from 35°C to 40°C in the season when air conditioning is used. And the annual accumulative cool load will decrease 5% when the air change rate increases 1 times/h in the season when mechanical ventilation is used.

To provide a more accurate prediction of building energy consumption, it is necessary to take into account the influence of the microclimate around a building establishing through the interaction with other buildings or the natural environment. This paper presents a method for the quantitative assessment of building performance under any given urban context by linking the urban microclimate model ENVI-met to the building energy simulation (BES) program EnergyPlus. The full microclimatic factors such as solar radiation, thermal radiation, outdoor air temperature, humidity, and wind speed have been considered in the proposed scheme. The method outlined in this paper could be useful for urban and building optimal design.

A device was developed to determine the viscoplastic parameters of conditioned soil, which works on the principle of torsional shear applied to a standard vane with controlled strain rate. Rheological measurements were taken for three sand samples with the same bentonite slurry injection ratio (14.3%), but with different foam injection ratios (19%, 23%, and 27%), by changing the gasbag pressure levels (i.e., 0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 kPa) and vane speeds (i.e., 1/3.4, 1/4.1, 1/5, 1/6.4, 1/9, 1/15, and 1/30 RPM) to determine the effects of confining pressure and foam injection ratio on the viscoplastic parameters. The results show that the values of viscosity coefficient and yield stress for conditioned sands are in the range of 9.1–53.5 kPa·s and 1.5–10.2 kPa, respectively. The viscoplastic parameters increase with the increase of the confining pressure, and decrease with the increase of the foam injection ratio for all tested samples.

A hot-humid climatic wind tunnel using wind tunnel technology was developed to simulate the true outdoor dynamic climatic parameters, including solar radiation, air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed, which realized a small-step periodic changing climatic environment of a particular area. To obtain atmospheric evaporation force of porous material, water evaporation experiment representing the impact of climatic elements with atmospheric evaporation force was carried out, then a Penman formula based water evaporation experimental model was built. Considered to different texture of materials, different beginning times and different climatic parameters, porous material evaporation experiments were carried out and an experimental model was established.

In subtropical areas of China, air temperature and relative humidity were relatively high in summer, as well as the solar radiation. In the university campus, students are relatively concentrated and have more outdoor activities. Hot and humid weather conditions may cause students uncomfortable and even heat stroke. Therefore, the influences of landscape design on thermal environment should be taken into account in the process of campus planning. In this paper, the field measurement of outdoor air temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity, heat radiation and integrated hot environmental indicator namely wet bulb global temperature were carried out around the Dong Lake in South China University of Technology in typical summer days. The impacts of design methods of water, tree, grass and floor on thermal environment were analyzed.

As stadiums have high energy consumption in architectural lighting and air conditioning, how to make full use of natural lighting and natural ventilation is the key to architectural energy conservation. To this end, many passive energy conservation measures have been taken into account in designing Multifunctional Stadium of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. For instance, strip light windows with vertical shading have been installed on east and west facade, open external windows on south and north facade, and green roof on Auxiliary Stadium etc. Test result of the Stadium shows that the above-mentioned passive design methods are able to increase natural light intensity of the playing field and prevent glare, improve wind velocity of natural ventilation and comfort in spectator areas, reduce inner surface temperature and thermal radiation of the roof on Auxiliary Stadium.

In this paper, a research was performed which considers the material characteristics of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks and the weather characteristics in Pearl River Delta region. The AAC blocks laws of absorption and desorption and its thermal conductivity under different equilibrium moistures were measured. The experimental results show that equilibrium moisture content (EMC)is 6.27% for AAC blocks with a B07 density in hot and humid areas in the Pearl River Delta region including the city of Guangzhou, and the correction coefficient of the thermal conductivity is 1.5.

RsmA is an RNA-binding protein functioning as a global post-transcriptional regulator of various cellular processes in bacteria and has been demonstrated to be an important virulence regulator in many animal bacterial pathogens. However, its function in other phytopathogenic bacteria is unclear, except for the Erwinia carotovora RsmA, which acts as a negative virulence regulator. In this work, we investigated the function of the rsmA-like gene, named rsmAXcc, of the phytopathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. Deletion of rsmAXcc resulted in complete loss of virulence on the host plant Chinese radish, hypersensitive response on the nonhost plant pepper ECW-10R, and motility on the surface of an agar plate. The rsmAXcc mutant displayed a significant reduction in the production of extracellular amylase, endoglucanase, and polysaccharide, but a significant increase in intracellular glycogen accumulation and an enhanced bacterial aggregation and cell adhesion. Microarray hybridization and semiquantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that deletion of rsmAXcc led to significantly reduced expression of genes encoding the type III secretion system (T3SS), T3SS-effectors, and the bacterial aggregate dispersing enzyme endo-β-1,4-mannanase. These results suggest that rsmAXcc is involved in the control of various cellular processes, including pathogenesis of X. campestris pv. campestris.

Most plant phylogeographic studies in subtropical China have stressed the importance of multiple refugia and limited admixture among refugia. Little attention has been paid to range expansion and recolonization routes in this region. In this study, we implemented a phylogeographic survey on Sargentodoxa cuneata, a widespread woody deciduous climber in subtropical China to determine if it conforms to the expansion-contraction (EC) model during the Pleistocene. Sequence variation of two chloroplast intergenic spacers (IGSs) in 369 individuals from 54 populations of S. cuneata was examined. Twenty-six chloroplast haplotypes were recovered. One of these (H5) occurred across the range of S. cuneata and was absent from only 13 populations. Sixteen of the 26 haplotypes were connected to H5 by one mutation and displayed a star-like pattern in the haplotype network. All chloroplast haplotypes clustered into two lineages (A and B) in a Bayesian tree, and most haplotypes (18 out of 26) originated during the mid-Pleistocene (0.63-1.07Ma). Demographic analyses detected a recent range expansion that occurred at 95.98ka (CI: 61.7-112.53ka) for Lineage A. The genetic signature of an ancient range expansion after the Middle Pleistocene Transition (MPT) was also evident. Three recolonization routes were identified in subtropical China. The results suggest that temperate plants in subtropical China may conform to the EC model to some extent. However, the genetic signature from multiple historical processes may complicate the phylogeographic patterns of organisms in the region due to the mild Pleistocene climate. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the evolutionary history of temperate plants in subtropical China.

Background Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) relies on a homeostasis of macrophages and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The small heat shock protein, Mtb Hsp16.3 (also known as latency-associated antigen), plays an important role in Mtb persistence within macrophages. However, the mechanism of LTBI remains elusive. The aim of this study was to delineate LTBI-related miRNA expression in U937 macrophages expressing Mtb Hsp16.3 protein. U937 macrophages were infected with an integrase-deficient Lentivirus vector to transiently express Mtb Hsp16.3, and green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a control. We used a microRNA (miRNA) microarray chip containing more than 1000 probes to identify the significant differentially expressed miRNAs in the infected U937 cells, and employed real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) for validation. Furthermore, we confirmed these candidate LTBI-related miRNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from subjects with LTBI and in healthy control individuals. Functional annotation prediction of miRNA target genes and pathway enrichment analyses were used to explore the putative links between these miRNAs and LTBI. Results Analysis of the miRNA expression profile identified 149 miRNAs that were differentially expressed in U937 macrophages expressing Mtb Hsp16.3 compared with the control expressing GFP. The expression level of seven miRNAs (miR-424-5p, miR-493-5p, miR-296-5p, miR-27b-3p, miR-377-5p, miR-3680-5p, miR-191-5p) were validated by qRT-PCR. The expression level of four miRNAs (miR-424-5p, miR-27b-3p, miR-377-5p, miR-3680-5p) in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells samples from LTBI and healthy participants reflected the altered patterns observed in the microarray profile. The bioinformatic analyses suggest that the miRNAs may regulate Mtb latent infection by affecting the development of macrophage cells. Conclusions The results suggest that miRNA expression may play a considerable role in the pathogenesis of LTBI, and this would increase our understanding of the molecular basis of Hsp16.3-facilitated Mtb survival in macrophages.

Mip (macrophage infectivity potentiator) and Mip-like proteins have been demonstrated to be involved in virulence of several animal pathogens, but as yet none of their native bacterial targets has been identified. Our previous work demonstrated that the Mip-like protein found in the plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) (hereafter called Mip(Xcc)) is also involved in virulence. Inactivation of the mip(Xcc) gene leads to a significant reduction in exopolysaccharide production and extracellular protease activity via an unknown mechanism. The Xcc genome encodes six extracellular proteases, all of which are secreted via the type II secretion system. The serine protease PrtA makes the largest contribution to Xcc's total extracellular proteolytic activity. In this study, Western blotting analysis demonstrated that Mip(Xcc) was located in the periplasm. Bacterial two-hybrid and far-Western analysis indicated that Mip(Xcc) interacted with PrtA directly. Purified Mip(Xcc) was found to be able to rescue the protease activity of periplasmic proteins extracted from the mip(Xcc) mutant. These findings show that Mip(Xcc) plays a role in the maturation of PrtA, which is the novel native target for at least one Mip or Mip-like protein.