Search

Starting in 2015, the widespread prevalence of hydropericardium-hepatitis syndrome (HHS) has led to considerable financial losses within China’s poultry farming industry. In this study, pathogenicity assessments, whole-genome sequencing, and analyses were conducted on 10 new isolates of the novel genotype FAdV-4 during a HHS outbreak in Guangxi Province, China, from 2019 to 2020. The results indicated that strains GX2019-010 to GX2019-013 and GX2019-015 to GX2019-018 were highly virulent, while strain GX2020-019 exhibited moderate virulence. Strain GX2019-014 was characterized as a wild-type strain with low virulence, displaying no pathogenic effects when 0.5 mL containing 106 TCID50 virus was inoculated into the muscle of specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens at 4 weeks of age, while 107 TCID50 and 108 TCID50 resulted in mortality rates of 80 and 100%, respectively. The whole genomes of strains GX2019-010 to GX2019-013, GX2019-015 to GX2019-018, and GX2020-019 showed high homology with other Chinese newly emerging highly pathogenic FAdV-4 strains, whereas GX2019- 014 was closer to nonmutant strains and shared the same residues with known nonpathogenic strains (B1-7, KR5, and ON1) at positions 219AA and 380AA of the Fiber-2 protein. Our work enriches the research on prevalent strains of FAdV-4 in China, expands the knowledge on the virulence diversity of the novel genotype FAdV-4, and provides valuable reference material for further investigations into the key virulence-associated genetic loci of FAdV-4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the imminent challenge of food supply to the people who are near or below the poverty line across the world. Around half of the world's population is living in perpetual poverty of less than two dollars a day. Some of them who are at the lower end in this estimate do not even access to clean drinking water, adequate sanitation or electricity. The reason behind this suffering is that they are deprived of basic ingredients of water and land. The production of food today is around 2 billion tonnes with most of it is consumed within the countries where it is produced. Countries like China and India have managed to harness a great deal of their resources over the last six decades making strides to feed their own burgeoning population in order to wipe out the chronic starvation. The Fourth World Water Forum, which is scheduled to held in Mexico in March 2006 will reveal clearly the local actions and the lack of success in facing these daunting challenges. To feed the increasing population it is essential to increase the food production in coming years. To provide water to the parched lands of the arid and semi-arid regions will require a great deal of infrastructure to capture the water during the wet season in the humid regions, store it until needed, convey it for long distances and have it delivered to the farmers fields.

This study used ArcGIS to visualize the spatial distribution of barium in soil, and analyzed the adsorption and migration characteristics of barium in soil-groundwater system. Furthermore, the human health risk index was applied to evaluate the human health risk of barium in soil-groundwater. The results showed that barium was mainly accumulated in the area of chlor-alkali enterprises, with a maximum concentration of 25 000 mg kg-1 and an average concentration of 1 584 mg·kg-1, far higher than the regional background value of 292.6 mg·kg-1. The adsorption of the soil for barium could be described by linear isothermal adsorption equation and Kd was 0.0011, indicating that the absorption capacity of soil for barium was weak. Leaching test showed that the concentration of barium in the leachate reduced with time and stabilized at 40 mg·L-1 on the fourth day. Due to the high content of barium in the leachate, the leachate could be hazardous to the groundwater system. Visual MODFLOW model showed that the maximum anticipated barium concentrations in the nearby and downstream rivers were 147 mg L-1 and 13.9 mg L-1, respectively, far exceeding the Class III screening value (0.7 mg·L-1) in Standard for Groundwater Quality (GB/T 14848-2017) and the standard value (0.7 mg·L-1) in Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water (GB 3838-2002). The human health risk index of barium in soil-groundwater was assessed according to the human health risk assessment model. It was found that the hazard index (HI) of barium in the soil to children was lower than that of adults, with 0.545 and 1.018, respectively, which was contrary to previous human health risk assessment conclusions for other heavy metals. The hazard index of adults exceeded the acceptable range of non-carcinogenic health risks (HI<1), indicating that there is a non-carcinogenic risk (NCR) for adults from the barium. At 10 m, 200 m downstream of groundwater, and in the Pi River system, the HI values of barium for children were 27.788, 16.021, and 2.628, while the values for adults were 21.215, 12.232, and 2.006, respectively. This showed that barium caused some harm to humans after diffusing into underground water. In conclusion, barium pollution in soil-groundwater is detrimental to human health, which may result from the leaching of barium-containing liquid in the chlor-alkali business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer ranks among the most prevalent malignant tumours and is the primary contributor to cancer‐related deaths in women. Breast imaging is essential for screening, diagnosis, and therapeutic surveillance. With the increasing demand for precision medicine, the heterogeneous nature of breast cancer makes it necessary to deeply mine and rationally utilize the tremendous amount of breast imaging information. With the rapid advancement of computer science, artificial intelligence (AI) has been noted to have great advantages in processing and mining of image information. Therefore, a growing number of scholars have started to focus on and research the utility of AI in breast imaging. Here, an overview of breast imaging databases and recent advances in AI research are provided, the challenges and problems in this field are discussed, and then constructive advice is further provided for ongoing scientific developments from the perspective of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-tech industry is important in supporting China's construction of a high-quality modern economic system. The high-tech industry markets are spaces for the supply and transaction of high-tech products. The existing research lacks in-depth discussions on the constituent factors and shaping mechanisms of the high-tech industry market. This paper constructs the market field configuration model of the high-tech industry and studies the impact of the market field configuration of the high-tech industry in 30 provinces of China on the innovation performance of the high-tech industry using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method. The findings are as follows: (1) The three structural variables of network, institution, and cognition cannot individually constitute the necessary conditions for explaining the high or low innovation performance of high-tech industries; (2) Three high-tech industry market field configurations can lead to high innovation performance, and the condition combination among different configurations has a substitution effect; (3) Four high-tech industry market field configurations will lead to low innovation performance, in which the lack of multiple conditions in the network, system, and cognition is the main reason for the market failure. The research conclusions of this study highlight the cognitive role of market construction and the configuration characteristics of effective high-tech industry market fields, which provides practical enlightenment for China to improve the innovation performance of high-tech industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship education (EE) is a crucial link to promoting college students' entrepreneurship, which reduces unemployment, economic development, and poverty. Based on a sample of Chinese college students, this study uses a logistic model to investigate the effect of EE on entrepreneurial intention (EI). It focuses on evaluating the impact of EE on the EI of different groups of college students from the perspectives of gender, household registration, school type, and poverty status. Benchmark regression results show that EE has a significant positive impact on the EI of students. The heterogeneity analysis has the following findings. First, EE has a more significant impact on women's EI, which can reduce the entrepreneurial gap between women and men. Second, EE is more effective in improving the EI of urban students, which will further widen the gap between urban and rural students in entrepreneurship. Third, EE has increased the EI of students from private universities, which represent application-oriented universities. This shows that public universities, which represent research-oriented universities, need to increase the training of talent in practical applications to narrow the gap with private universities in entrepreneurship. Fourth, after receiving EE, the EI of nonpoor students improved more than that of poor students. Equal EE increases the gap between poor and nonpoor students, which can easily lead to an intergenerational cycle of poverty in entrepreneurship. This study provides empirical evidence from college students' entrepreneurship in relatively underdeveloped western China, which supports the development of EE and entrepreneurial activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Entrepreneurial competence plays a decisive role in entrepreneurship success. To promote the employment of college students and accelerate economic growth through entrepreneurial activities, the Chinese government and universities encourage the use of multiple inputs to boost holistic entrepreneurship education and training. This study aims to assesses the entrepreneurial competence of college students by analysing the effects of entrepreneurship education and policy implementation in China. Design/methodology/approach: The quantitative approach considered a large sample of 12,269 students, who participated in entrepreneurship education in Chinese "double-first-class" universities, to construct a theoretical model of their entrepreneurial competence. Entrepreneurship competition was introduced as a mediating variable in this model. Findings: This study revealed that college students develop entrepreneurial competence by participating in entrepreneurship competitions unlike students who participate in regular entrepreneurship education. Additionally, there was a significant difference in the measured impact of entrepreneurship policy between students who participated in entrepreneurship competitions and those who did not. Originality/value: The effects of the implementation of entrepreneurship education and policy were studied using a quantitative design. Additionally, this study highlights the effect of entrepreneurship competitions with empirical evidence from China, and contributes to the discussion of entrepreneurship education at schools and entrepreneurship policy for policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mastering the pattern of food loss caused by droughts and floods aids in planning the layout of agricultural production, determining the scale of drought and flood control projects, and reducing food loss. The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index is calculated using monthly meteorological data from 1984 to 2020 in Shandong Province of China and is used to identify the province's drought and flood characteristics. Then, food losses due to droughts and floods are estimated separately from disaster loss data. Finally, the relationship between drought/flood-related factors and food losses is quantified using methods such as the Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression. The results show that: 1) there is a trend of aridity in Shandong Province, and the drought characteristic variables are increasing yearly while flood duration and severity are decreasing. 2) The food losses caused by droughts in Shandong Province are more than those caused by floods, and the area where droughts and floods occur frequently is located in Linyi City. 3) The impact of precipitation on food loss due to drought/flood is significant, followed by potential evapotranspiration and temperature. 4) The relationship between drought and flood conditions and food losses can be precisely quantified. The accumulated drought duration of one month led to 1.939 × 104 t of grain loss, and an increase in cumulative flood duration of one month resulted in 1.134 × 104 t of grain loss. If the cumulative drought severity and average drought peak increased by one unit, food loss due to drought will increase by 1.562 × 104 t and 1.511 × 106 t, respectively. If the cumulative flood severity and average flood peak increase by one unit, food loss will increase by 8.470 × 103 t and 1.034 × 106 t, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The morphological changes based on deposition of secondary dentin and mineralization of the third molar have been proven to be related to chronological age. However, Kvaal's method on the theory of deposition of secondary dentin was controversial with respect to dental age estimation in the recent research. The aim of this study was to combine the parameters of Kvaal's method with relatively high correlation coefficients and mineralization stages of the third molar to improve the accuracy of predicting the dental age of subadults in northern China. A total of 340 digital orthopantomograms of subadults aged from 15 to 21 years were analysed. A training group was used to test the accuracy of the original Kvaal's method and to establish novel methods for subadults in northern China. A testing group was used to compare the accuracy of the newly established methods with the Kvaal's original method and with published method specifically used in northern China. To increase the feasibility of our estimation model, we combined the mineralization of the third molar to build a combined specific formula. The results showed that the combined specific model increased the coefficient of determination to 0.513, and the standard error of the estimate was reduced to 1.482 years. We concluded that the combined specific model based on the deposition of secondary dentin and mineralization of the third molar could improve the accuracy of dental age assessment of subadults in northern China. Key Points The decrease in the dental pulp cavity based on deposition of secondary dentin is a useful variable for assessing age. A total of 340 orthopantomographs were used in this research, including 278 in training groups and 62 in testing groups. Original Kvaal's method underestimated the dental age for subadults in northern China. The equation of combined specific method constructed in our study was proved more suitable to calculate dental age for subadults in northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Cronobacter spp. are emerging food-borne pathogens capable of causing life-threatening illness via several distinct routes. Although endeavors to reduce the incidence of Cronobacter infections are implemented, potential risk of these microorganisms on food safety remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the genomic features of clinical Cronobacter and the possible food reservoirs of these infections. Methods and results Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data of all human clinical cases (n  = 15) during 2008–2021 in Zhejiang were used and compared to sequenced Cronobacter genomes (n  = 76) representing various food products. Cronobacter strains exhibited a high degree of genetic diversity by WGS-based subtyping. A variety of serotypes (n  = 12) and sequence types (n  = 36) were identified, including six novel STs (ST762-ST765, ST798, and ST803) first-time described in this study. Nine clinical clusters representing 12/15 (80%) patients match a potential food source. Genomic insights into virulence genes revealed species/hosts specificity signatures associated with autochthonous populations. Resistance to streptomycin, azithromycin, sulfanilamide isoxazole, cefoxitin, amoxicillin, ampicillin, and chloramphenicol, as well as multidrug resistance, was noted. WGS data can be used to predict resistance phenotypes in amoxicillin, ampicillin, and chloramphenicol, which were extensively used in clinical treatment. Conclusions The wide dissemination of pathogenic potential and antibiotic-resistant strains in multiple food sources emphasized the importance of rigorous food safety policies to reduce Cronobacter contamination in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming has constituted a major global problem. Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming. Therefore, carbon dioxide emission forecasting has attracted widespread attention. Aiming at the problem of carbon dioxide emissions forecasting, this paper proposes a new hybrid forecasting model of carbon dioxide emissions, which combines the marine predator algorithm (MPA) and multi-kernel support vector regression. For further strengthening the prediction accuracy, a novel variant of MPA is proposed, called EGMPA, which introduces the elite opposition-based learning strategy and the golden sine algorithm into MPA. Algorithm test results show that EGMPA can effectively improve the convergence speed and optimization accuracy. The carbon dioxide emission data of China from 1965 to 2020 are taken as the research objects. Root-mean-square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. The proposed multi-kernel support vector regression model is used to forecast China's carbon dioxide emissions during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. The results show that the proposed model has RMSE of 37.43 Mt, MAE of 30.63 Mt, and MAPE of 0.32%, which significantly improves the prediction accuracy and can accurately and effectively predict China's carbon dioxide emissions. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's carbon dioxide emissions will continue to show an increasing trend, but the growth rate will slow down significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Agro-Environment Science is the property of Journal of Agro-Environment Science Editorial Board and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study was conducted to investigate whether the combination of garlic oil and cooked chilli oil is worth using for pigeon production in the context of a total ban on antibiotics in feed additives in China. Two hundred female white king pigeons aged 23 days were randomly divided into five groups with ten replicates (four birds each). In the 47 days trial, the control group was fed with a basal diet, treatment groups were given a basal diet supplemented with 20 mg/kg neomycin sulphate or 2 g/kg corresponding oil (garlic oil or cooked chilli oil or their mixture) respectively. The mixed oil showed obvious antibacterial activity against gram‐positive bacterium and its minimal bactericidal concentration against St. aureus, Salmonella and Escherichia coli were all no more than 1.0 mg/ml. In the feeding experiment, pigeons feed with garlic oil with strong bacteriostatic activity had lower FCR and better protein metabolism, and chilli oil showed strong effects of promoting feed intake and weight gain on pigeons but increased serum glucose and lipid content. Compared with the control and the antibiotic group, the mixed oil got increased growth performance, less drip loss of meat, better protein metabolism promoting, and more complete intestinal structure of pigeon. In addition, the breast meat in the mixed oil group had higher total points in the sensory test. The mixed oil combined the strong bacteriostasis of garlic oil with the feeding promotion effect of cooked chilli oil, it improved the comprehensive performance of pigeons and had the feasibility to be popularized as a non‐antibiotic strategy in pigeon production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the integration of tourism and media, this paper proposes research on the integration of tourism and its practice, leadership, and creative business based on smart city weather information. Based on this research, a systematic investigation and evaluation of smart city tourism competition models are conducted to accurately measure and influence the growth and competitiveness of smart cities, build smart tourism cities, and bring health benefits. Build China's smart tourism city and enhance the international competitiveness of China's tourism industry. Second, develop a measurement process. As for the evaluation criteria of tourism competitiveness of smart tourism cities, this paper mainly adopts the methods of single index evaluation and expert experience scoring. Select single indicators, especially quantitative indicators, and evaluate about relevant national, local, and industrial standard values. For qualitative indicators, based on the determination of relevant weights, five grades I, II, III, IV, and V are adopted, with a total score of 100, and the corresponding scores of the five grades are ≤50, 50–59, 60–69, 70–89, and ≥90, so as to determine the evaluation standard of smart Tourism city. The research shows that the research on the integration of tourism industry and cultural and creative industry based on smart city weather data is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Serum uric acid (UA) has been reported to be associated with ischemic stroke and inflammation. However, whether or not UA is related to the recurrence of ischemic stroke, and whether inflammation plays a role in the relationship between them remain inconclusive. Objective: We sought to explore the relationship between UA and the recurrence of ischemic stroke and to define the role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in the aforementioned relationship. Methods: A total of 8,995 patients were included in this study. Basic information and blood samples were collected, and whether or not each participant experienced ischemic stroke recurrence within 3 years was documented. Patients were stratified into three groups according to their UA level, as follows: ≤ 266, 267–339, and ≥ 340 μmol/L. COX regression and restricted cubic spline regression models were used to evaluate the clinical correlation between UA and ischemic stroke recurrence, mediation analysis and interaction and joint analysis were used to evaluate the role of NLR in the association of UA and ischemic stroke recurrence, and sensitivity and subgroup analyses were performed to test the robustness of the data. Results: Ischemic stroke recurrence was related to male sex, older age, higher UA level, higher NLR, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Following adjustment for potential confounders, a high level of UA (≥ 340 μmol/L) increased the risk of recurrence by 92.6% in patients with previous ischemic stroke. We also found that NLR affects the association between UA and the recurrence of ischemic stroke in older adults, suggesting that patients with high NLR and high UA levels are at greater risk for ischemic stroke recurrence. Conclusion: UA level is non-linearly associated with recurrence, and NLR has an additive interaction between UA and ischemic stroke recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this study were to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility, phylotype, and virulence genes of Escherichia coli (E. coli) from cows with clinical mastitis. A total of 497 mastitis samples were collected and 92 E. coli isolates were identified. E. coli isolates were highly resistance to ampicillin (41.3%), followed by piperacillin (36.9%) and tetracycline (34.7%). Five intimin types, namely μR-ι2, λ, ξR/β2, νR-ε2, η, were observed among 75 EPEC strains with eae gene, with all the intimins were first detected in bovine mastitis milk. And 65 E. coli strains (70.7%) belonged to seven different O serotypes (O121, O91, O22, O26, O128, O111, and O113). For the phylogroup assignment, only 87 E. coli isolates could be assigned into phylogroup B1, A, C, and E. This study suggested the prevailing among EPEC strains isolated from mastitis in five provinces was important to understand the etiology of E. coli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diseases with viral etiology continue to emerge in the last years and may represent serious problems that affect various aspects of life. Coronaviruses are a large family of RNA viruses that cause illness affecting the respiratory tract ranging from common cold to severe respiratory distress syndrome. In the last weeks of 2019, enormous cases of unexplained pneumonia were reported in China. Few days later, a novel type of coronavirus was identified as the causative agent of these cases and the disease was named as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization. The disease was rapidly spreading in China and all over the world and now it is considered as pandemic catastrophe. It can be transmitted from animals to human and from human to human. Diabetes mellitus may represent a potential risk factor for the development of COVID-19, possibly due to the relative state of immunosuppression frequently encountered in diabetic patients. This review sheds light on COVID-19 based on the currently available data with reference to the role of the primary care in diabetic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since early 2018, avian leukosis virus (ALV) has re‐emerged throughout six provinces in Northeast and East of China and caused huge economic losses. In different farms, there are significant differences in clinical symptoms, including morbidity, mortality and location of tumours, on affected animals, which implies that the present strains may have different origins and molecular characteristics. In this study, a systematic epidemiological investigation was conducted in 21 farms in six provinces. Results showed that the virus strains present in this outbreak are highly consistent but carry different mutations. All the strains shared 97.0%–99.0% identity with each other and were highly similar to the GD14J2 strain isolated previously, while different insertion fragments can be found in the env gene of different strains, suggesting that the strains of ALV in this outbreak may have the same ancestors but have gone through different evolutionary trajectories. This study demonstrated that these viruses may point to multiple sources of infection, and all should be identified and taken seriously in the formulation of control plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii Matsumura, which is widely spread in the main soft-skinned fruits production areas in China, presents a threat to importing countries. In order to develop a phytosanitary cold treatment measure for preventing the movement of this drosophila fly, cold tolerance of six immature life stages of D. suzukii was compared followed by time-mortality and large-scale confirmatory tests on the most tolerant stage in grape fruit. Egg was defined as the most cold-tolerant stage by comparing the mortality of all the immature stages (egg, first, second, and third instars, early and late pupa) treated at 0 and 2°C. The minimal lethal time (LT) for 99.9968% mortality (95% confidence level [CL]) estimated by the probit model was 10.47 d at 0°C and 11.92 d at 2°C, respectively. Hence, 11 d (at 0°C) and 12 d (at 2°C) were chosen as the target time to conduct the confirmatory tests. No survivors were found among the estimated 50,385 and 57,366 treated eggs, which resulted in the efficacy of 99.9941 and 99.9948% mortality (95% CL) at 0 and 2°C, respectively. Our study suggests a technical basis for cold disinfestation on D. suzukii in cage-infested Chinese 'Red Globe' (Vitis vinifera L.) grape, which could provide flexible phytosanitary treatment for control of D. suzukii in the international trade of grape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was performed to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of virulence genes in Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolated from piglets suffering post‐weaning diarrhoea (PWD) in Shandong Province, China. The standard bacteriological method was used to isolate and identify E. coli, and then multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) was performed to determine virulence genes in E. coli. Among the 300 isolates, 166 (55.3％) harboured at least one virulence gene. Among the 166 isolates, 155 (93.4％) contained toxin‐related genes. For enterotoxin genes, EAST1 (58/166, 34.9％) and LT‐I (45/166, 27.1％) were the most common, followed by STa (32/166, 19.3％) and STb (21/166, 12.7％); for pathogenicity island (PAI) genes, irp2 (49/166, 29.5％) was the most dominant, followed by eae (48/166, 28.9％); for Shiga toxigenic E. coli (STEC)‐associated toxin genes, Stx2e and hlyA genes were observed in 19 (19/166, 11.4％) and three strains (3/166, 1.8％) respectively. In addition, of the 166 isolates, 95 (95/166, 57.2％) contained adhesin genes, and AIDA‐I (33/166, 19.9％) was the most common, followed by paa (27/166, 16.3％), F5 (K99) (20/166, 12.0％), F18 (15/166, 9.0％) and F41 (12/166, 7.2％). In summary, these findings demonstrated the prevalence and characteristics of virulence factors in E. coli isolates from piglets with PWD in Shandong Province of China, and the data may be useful for establishing preventive measures for post‐weaning piglet diarrhoea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circoviruses are found in many species, including mammals, birds, lower vertebrates and invertebrates. To date, there are no reports of circovirus‐induced diseases in chickens. In this study, we identified a new strain of chicken circovirus (CCV) by PacBio third‐generation sequencing samples from chickens with acute gastroenteritis in a Shandong commercial broiler farm in China. The complete genome of CCV was verified by inverse PCR. Genomic analysis revealed that CCV codes two inverse open reading frames (ORFs), and a potential stem‐loop structure was present at the 5′ end with a structure typical of a circular virus. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that CCV formed an independent branch between mammalian and avian circovirus, and homology analysis indicated that the homology of CCV with 21 other known circoviruses was less than 40%. Thus, this CCV strain represents a new species in the genus Circovirus. The infection rate of CCV in 12 chickens with diarrhoea was 100%, but no CCV was found in healthy chickens, thereby indicating that the novel CCV strain is highly associated with acute infectious gastroenteritis in chickens. The emergence of a novel CCV in commercial broiler chickens is highly concerning for the broiler industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yangbajain contains the largest geothermal energy power station in China. Geothermal explorations in Yangbajain first started in 1976, and two plants were subsequently built in 1981 and 1986. A large amount of geothermal fluids have been extracted since then, leading to considerable surface subsidence around the geothermal fields. In this paper, InSAR time series analysis is applied to map the subsidence of the Yangbajain geothermal fields during the period from December 2011 to November 2012 using 16 senses of TerraSAR-X stripmap SAR images. In the case of the TerraSAR-X data, most orbital fringes were removed using precise orbits during the interferometric processing. However, residual orbital ramps remain in some interferograms due to the uncertainties in the TerraSAR-X orbits. To remove the residual orbital ramps, we estimated a best-fit ‘twisted plane’ for each epoch interferogram using quadratic polynomial models based on a network approach. This method removes most of the long-wavelength signals, including orbit ramps and atmospheric effects. The vertically stratified component (Topography Correlated Atmospheric Delay, TCAD) was also removed using a network approach. If the influence of seasonal frozen ground (SFG) is not taken into consideration, our results show that the subsidence rate around power plant I (the south plant) is approximately 20 mm/yr with a peak of 30 mm/yr. The subsidence rate around power plant II (the north plant) is approximately 10 mm/yr, when accounting for the influence of SFG on the power plant and its surrounding ground surface. Our results show that ground motion is caused by seasonal frozen ground and is strongly related to the temperature change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Secondary use of medical big data is increasingly popular in healthcare services and clinical research. Understanding the logic behind medical big data demonstrates tendencies in hospital information technology and shows great significance for hospital information systems that are designing and expanding services. Big data has four characteristics - Volume, Variety, Velocity and Value (the 4 Vs) - that make traditional systems incapable of processing these data using standalones. Apache Hadoop MapReduce is a promising software framework for developing applications that process vast amounts of data in parallel with large clusters of commodity hardware in a reliable, fault-tolerant manner. With the Hadoop framework and MapReduce application program interface (API), we can more easily develop our own MapReduce applications to run on a Hadoop framework that can scale up from a single node to thousands of machines. This paper investigates a practical case of a Hadoop-based medical big data processing system. We developed this system to intelligently process medical big data and uncover some features of hospital information system user behaviors. This paper studies user behaviors regarding various data produced by different hospital information systems for daily work. In this paper, we also built a five-node Hadoop cluster to execute distributed MapReduce algorithms. Our distributed algorithms show promise in facilitating efficient data processing with medical big data in healthcare services and clinical research compared with single nodes. Additionally, with medical big data analytics, we can design our hospital information systems to be much more intelligent and easier to use by making personalized recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background To retrospectively compare axial elongation in children with different degrees of myopia wearing spectacles and undergoing ortho-k treatment. Methods The medical records of 128 patients who were fitted with spectacles or orthokeratology (ortho-k) lenses in our clinic between 2008 and 2009 were reviewed. Ortho-k group comprised 65 subjects and 63 subjects wearing spectacles were included in the control group. Subjects were also divided into low-myopia, moderate-myopia and high-myopia groups, based on the basic spherical equivalent refractive error. Axial length periodically measured over 2-year of lens wear and changes in axial length were compared between treatment groups and between subgroups with different degrees of myopia. Results The control group exhibited more changes in axial length than the ortho-k group at both 12 months (0.39 ± 0.21 mm vs 0.16 ± 0.17 mm, p <0.001) and 24 months (0.70 ± 0.35 mm vs 0.34 ± 0.29 mm, p <0.001). Axial length elongation was estimated to be slower by about 51% in the ortho-k group. Similar results were found for the subgroups (49%, 59% and 46% reductions, respectively). In the group with low and moderate myopia, the annual increases in axial length were significantly different between the ortho-k and control groups during both the first ( Low myopia: 0.19 ± 0.17 mm vs 0.40 ± 0.18 mm, p = 0.001; Moderate myopia: 0.14 ± 0.18 mm vs 0.45 ± 0.22 mm, p <0.001) and second ( Low myopia: 0.18 ± 0.14 mm vs 0.32 ± 0.19 mm, p = 0.012; Moderate myopia: 0.18 ± 0.16 mm vs 0.34 ± 0.30 mm, p = 0.030) years. In the high myopia groups, significant differences were only found between the orthok and control groups during the first year (0.16 ± 0.18 mm vs 0.34 ± 0.22 mm, p = 0.004). The 2-year axial elongation was significantly associated with initial age (p <0.001) and treatment (p <0.001), but not with gender, initial refractive error, initial axial length, initial corneal curvature. Conclusions This 2-year study indicates that ortho-k contact lens wear is effective for reducing myopia progression in children with low, moderate and high myopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enchytraeid surveys were made in China, mainly along the Changjiang (Yangtze) River Basin, during the period 1991-1999. Among the findings, four terrestrial species of Marionina are new to science and well illustrate the taxonomic complexity of the genus as currently defined. Marionina sinica sp. n. is characterized by a specific chaetal distribution, the marionine pattern of the dorsal blood vessel, and elongate, fusiform, spermathecal ectal ducts. Marionina sacculata sp. n. is distinguished by the possession of a pair of pouch-like oesophageal appendages in IV, the lack of lateral chaetae in VII-XI, a marionine pattern of the dorsal blood vessel, and short spermathecal ectal ducts gradually expanding into spherical ampullae. Both M. sinica and M. sacculata have minute bodies (2-3 mm long in vivo) and lack spermathecal accessory glands. The former species shows its closest aYnities with the European M. brendae Rota, 1995, whereas the latter is closest to the German M. hoVbaueri Möller, 1971, for which an amended diagnosis is provided. Marionina seminuda sp. n. has only ventral chaetal bundles, distributed from III onwards and bisetose. It is similar to the Holarctic M. subterranea (Knöllner, 1935) in lacking entirely the lateral chaetae and in having the brain incised posteriorly, the dorsal vessel bifurcating behind the pharynx, and coelomocytes containing opaque granules, but diVers from it in having the longest chaetae in preclitellar segments and gland cells distributed all over the spermathecal ectal ducts. Marionina righiana sp. n. is diagnosed by the location of the head pore on the prostomium, the absence of lateral chaetae from VIII (VII or IX) onwards, the possession of free spermathecae extending backwards through one to four segments, the brain deeply incised posteriorly, the lumbricilline pattern of the dorsal blood vessel, and the opacity of coelomocytes in vivo. Prior to this study, members of the genus so atypical as M. righiana with respect to the position of the head pore and the structure of the spermathecae were known only from South American soils. Until the taxonomy of Marionina has been more thoroughly assessed and revised, the assignment of the four species to this large assemblage should be regarded as tentative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the rapid development of the building industry in western cities during the period of "Western Development" in China, the paints industry has developed rapidly and become more mature. In addition, waterborne inorganic exterior wall paints have been a great choice in the building industry because of their reduced volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and less toxicity and odor. However, the problem of stain resistance for exterior wall paints in western cities has not been solved, which has become a major obstacle to the application and promotion of exterior wall paints in western cities in China. Therefore, effective measures should eventually be carried out for improving the stain resistance of exterior wall paints in western cities in China. In this paper, an experimental study on improving stain resistance for exterior wall paints in a typical western city in China, Chongqing, is reported. In the three defined designs, the effects of the paint structure type, the pigment volume concentration (PVC), thickeners, cosolvents and wetting and dispersing agents on the stain resistance of exterior wall paints in a typical western city in China, Chongqing, were examined. The experimental results suggest that the stain resistance of silicone–acrylic paint was the most suitable among the three kinds of tested paints (silicone–acrylic paint, styrene–acrylic paint and pure acrylic paint). In addition, the PVC had a great influence on the stain resistance of the exterior wall paints. The compactness, water absorption and stain resistance of the paint's film were the most suitable when the PVCs of the paints reached 45%. Furthermore, the tested wetting and dispersing agents made the same contributions to the paints' stain resistance, as their decline rates for reflectivity were similar. The reflectivity of the film significantly decreased when the ratio of associating thickener to non-associating thickener reached 4:1, and also significantly declined when the content of propylene glycol reached 5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to excessive resource consumption and pressing environmental issues of the sewage treatment industry, there is extensive attention in China. Given the unique craft production process in the sewage treatment system, a series of integral emergy indicators have been used to evaluate the environmental sustainability based on infrastructure construction and operation stage emergy analysis. Taking a new typical sewage treatment plant as an example, this paper performed a case study. The results illustrate that (1) the infrastructure construction process emergy (approximate 92.6%) is more critical than sewage treatment process emergy; (2) nonrenewable resource is the primary factor for the emergy analysis, followed by energy (23.5%) and purchased supply (7%); (3) cement, steel, and gravel have dominant impacts on the nonrenewable resource emergy; (4) the emergy sustainability index is 0.001101, which displays weak environmental sustainability; (5) the unit emergy value (UEV) of the new sewage treatment plant is 3.40 × 1012 sej/m3; (6) sensitivity analysis results of the hypothesis demonstrate that nonrenewable resources have significant fluctuations (6.903%) while, for the indicators, emergy sustainability index (ESI) (4.8072%) has the most significant impact; and (7) wastewater is a major contributor. In light of comprehensive discussions, two positive measures are proposed in order to ameliorate the environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]