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Background: Yersinia pestis is the pathogen of the plague and caused three pandemics worldwide. Pneumonic plague is rarer than bubonic and septicemic plague. We report detailed clinical and pathogenic data for all the three sporadic cases of pneumonic plagues in China in 2014.Case Presentation: All the three patients are herders in Gansu province of China. They were all infected by Yersinia pestis and displayed in the form of pneumonic plague respectively without related. We tested patient specimens from the upper (nasopharyngeal swabs) or the lower (sputum) respiratory tract and whole blood, plasma, and serum specimens for Yersinia pestis. All patients had fever, cough and dyspnea, and for patient 2 and 3, unconscious. Respiratory symptoms were predominant with acute respiratory failure. The chest X-ray showed signs consistent with necrotizing inflammation with multiple lobar involvements. Despite emergency treatment, all patients died of refractory multiple organ failure within 24 h after admission to hospital. All the contacts were quarantined immediately and there were no secondary cases.Conclusions: Nowadays, the plague is epidemic in animals and can infect people who contact with the infected animals which may cause an epidemic in human. We think dogs maybe an intermediate vector for plague and as a source of risk for humans who are exposed to pet animals or who work professionally with canines. If a patient has been exposed to a risk factor and has fever and dyspnea, plague should be considered. People who had contact with a confirmed case should be isolated and investigated for F1 antigen analysis and receive post-exposure preventive treatment. A vaccination strategy might be useful for individuals who are occupationally exposed in areas where endemically infected reservoirs of plague-infected small mammals co-exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title compound, C15H28O2, crystallizes with four molecules in the asymmetric unit. The molecules are linked by O—H...O and C—H...O intermolecular hydrogen bonds to form a continuous chain, which runs parallel to the a axis; intramolecular C—H...O hydrogen bonds are also present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the title compound, C15H22O2, the C=C bond lengths in the cyclo­hexene ring and the allylic acid group [1.325 (3) and 1.324 (3) Å] are almost equal and are shorter than those observed in ethyl­ene. The C=O and C—O bond lengths in the allylic acid group [1.201 (3) and 1.321 (3) Å] are almost equal to those of formic acid. There is an intra­molecular hydrogen bond between the allylic acid H atom and the hydr­oxy O atom [C⋯O = 2.673 (2) Å and C—H⋯O = 101°]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dipentodon sinicus is an extant relict plant of East Asia. It is a small deciduous broad-leaved tree, the sole surviving representative of the Dipentodonaceae. We investigated forest features, population structure, and regeneration dynamics of forest stands containing this species in Caojian Forest Station of Yunnan Province and Yushe National Forest Parks of Guizhou Province, southwestern China. We identified six forest types: Carpinus kweichowensis-Liquidambar formosana-Lithocarpus glaber-Dipentodon sinicus forest (Type 1); Illicium simonsii-Salix matsudana-Schima khasiana-Dipentodon sinicus forest (Type 2); Dipentodon sinicus forest (Type 3); Dipentodon sinicus-Schima khasiana forest (Type 4); Dipentodon sinicus-Tetracentron sinense forest (Type 5); Pterocarya macroptera var. delavayi-Tetracentron sinense-Populusyunnanensis-Salix matsudana forest (Type 6). Among the six forest types, D. sinicus forest (Type 3) had the lowest values in species richness, Shannon-Wiener and Simpson's diversity indices. The maximum age of D. sinicus was 54 years, reaching 34 cm DBH, with 14 m maximum height. Its frequency distribution in DBH-and age-class displayed a sporadic pattern in various forests. Its regeneration was more active in D. sinicus forest (Type 3), Dipentodon sinicus-Tetracentron sinense forest (Type 5), and Carpinus kweichowensis-Liquidambar formosana-Lithocarpus glaber-Dipentodon sinicus forest (Type 1) than that in the other forests (Types 2, 4 and 6). D. sinicus' growth rate generally fluctuated from 1.15 to 5.62 mm/year. Its regeneration modes were seedlings and sprouts. Its seedling establishment depends on forest gaps formation by disturbances. It is clear that the population persistence of D. sinicus was maintained in habitats where natural disturbances were frequent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous chromosome doubling via union of unreduced (2n) gametes has been thought to be the way that common wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) was originated from the hybridization of T. turgidum L. with Ae. tauschii Cosson. Previous works have observed unreduced gametes in F1 hybrids of Ae. tauschii with six of the eight T. turgidum subspecies. It is not clear, however, whether the formation of these unreduced gametes is a norm in the F1 hybrids. In the present study, we tried to answer this question by assessing the occurrence frequency of unreduced gametes in 115 T. turgidum– Ae. tauschii hybrid combinations, involving 76 genotypes of seven T. turgdium subspecies and 24 Ae. tauschii accessions. Our data show that these hybrid combinations differed significantly ( P ≤ 0.01, F = 11.40) in selfed seedset, an indicator for production of unreduced gametes. This study clearly showed that meiotic restitution genes are widely distributed within T. turgidum. However, significant differences were found between as well as within T. turgidum subspecies and in the interaction of the T. turgidum genotypes with those of Ae. taushii. The possible application of the meiotic restitution genes from T. turgidum in production of double haploids is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]