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Background: Herpes zoster (HZ) and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) significantly affect patients' quality of life (QoL). Cultural differences may lead to different patient-reported outcomes across countries. The current study aims to evaluate the detrimental impact of HZ and PHN on QoL in China. Methods: This prospective study was conducted from January 2020 to April 2023. We used the Zoster Brief Pain Inventory (ZBPI) and 5-level EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire to assess the QoL of HZ and PHN patients. Patients were required to complete the questionnaires at 15, 30, 60, and 90 days after the onset of the HZ rash. Additional questionnaires were administered at 120, 150, and 180 days for those who developed PHN within three months of the rash's onset. Results: A cohort of 633 patients with a median age of 63 years were included in the study. The mean delay from the appearance of the initial HZ rash to the first medical consultation was 5.1 ± 2.8 days. Approximately 30% of the HZ patients (189/633) went on to develop PHN. For patients with HZ who did not progress to PHN, the ZBPI worst pain score and impaired QoL had nearly resolved by day 90 post-rash onset. Conversely, there was no significant improvement in the ZBPI worst pain score and QoL for those with PHN, even by day 180 post-rash onset. Conclusion: Both HZ and PHN significantly impaired patients' QoL. However, the impairment caused by PHN was more severe in both intensity and duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Herpes zoster (HZ) typically manifests in the acute phase with distinct blisters and severe neuropathic pain. Remarkably, a subset of patients initially presents with only a mild skin rash and moderate pain that gradually intensifies, following a parabolic pattern. Despite being frequently observed in clinical settings, the underlying causes of this trajectory and its potential connection with post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) remain unclear. Methods: To investigate this phenomenon in-depth, we conducted a meticulous retrospective study involving 529 eligible HZ patients. All these patients sought medical care at the Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, China, between January 2020 and December 2023. Results: The research identified that 14.6% of the sample (77 patients) experienced pain scores aligning with a parabolic curve. This trend was significantly more prevalent in patients aged 60 and above, accounting for 90.9% of this group, and demonstrated a positive correlation with age. Moreover, 87.0% of these patients had pre-existing medical conditions, highlighting the potential role of comorbidities in influencing the pain trajectory. A concerning 45.5% of patients sought medical attention more than seven days after the onset of symptoms, a delay that could exacerbate neurological damage. Notably, among those following a parabolic pain pattern, 66.2% eventually developed PHN, a considerably higher rate compared to the broader patient population. Conclusion: We emphasize that healthcare practitioners meticulously assess patients who initially report lower pain scores for high-risk factors potentially leading to parabolic pain increases, including being over 60 years old, having comorbid conditions, and delaying medical consultation beyond seven days from symptom onset. Early implementation of supplementary pain management therapies may mitigate the risk of PHN development and enhance the quality of life for patients. This study furnishes clinicians with a deeper understanding of the variations in HZ-related pain trajectories, promising to improve treatment approaches and prognoses for HZ patients while paving the way for enriched clinical practice in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser‐induced periodic surface structure (LIPSS) can form structural color on the metal surfaces with high production efficiency and thermal stability, and has been used in various industrial applications such as unfaded color marking and anti‐counterfeiting. Herein, a novel fabrication scheme of multilayer LIPSS is proposed by multiple writing in situ with changing the laser polarization direction, to exhibit an effect of color superposition. To verify this approach, the color formation mechanism of LIPSS on the stainless‐steel surface is analyzed by finite‐element numerical calculation and reveals that the high‐angular dispersion of LIPSS is mainly the result of optical diffraction occurring on the surface of periodic structures. The relationship between the angular dispersion of multilayer LIPSS and laser‐processing parameters is established. Through the proposed multilayer LIPSS coloring technology, vivid full‐color patterns on the steel surface are demonstrated, and the in situ superposition of three‐layer graphs is realized, which can greatly enrich the color levels and be competitive in industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines molybdenum dioxide (MoO2) instead of the gold film with photonic crystal fiber (PCF) for the first time. A novel C-type micro-opening surface plasmon resonance (SPR) optical fiber sensor coated with MoO2 nanofilm is proposed. The polarization and sensing characteristics of the sensor coated with plasma film on the outer surface of the polished optical fiber are numerically analyzed by the finite element method (FEM). The simulation results show that when the plasma material deposited by the optical fiber micro-opening is noble metal gold, the sensor can realize the sensing detection of the refractive index of the analyte from 1.33 to 1.39, and the average wavelength sensitivity in the x-polarization direction reaches 1107 nm/RIU. It is most noteworthy that when the plasma coating material of the optical fiber is replaced by metal oxide MoO2, the sensor can realize the sensing detection of the refractive index of the analyte from 1.31 to 1.37, and the average sensitivity of the x-polarization direction can reach 4821 nm/RIU. By comparison, we can know that the sensor coated with plasma material MoO2 has excellent sensing characteristics. This research is of great scientific significance for expanding the application range of MoO2 materials and promoting the development of photonic crystal fiber sensors coated with new materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Black spot disease caused by the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria spp. is one of the most devastating diseases affecting Chrysanthemum morifolium. There is currently no effective way to prevent chrysanthemum black spot. Results: We revealed that pre-treatment of chrysanthemum leaves with the methy jasmonate (MeJA) significantly reduces their susceptibility to Alternaria alternata. To understand how MeJA treatment induces resistance, we monitored the dynamics of metabolites and the transcriptome in leaves after MeJA treatment following A. alternata infection. JA signaling affected the resistance of plants to pathogens through cell wall modification, Ca2+ regulation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulation, mitogen‐activated protein kinase cascade and hormonal signaling processes, and the accumulation of anti-fungal and anti-oxidant metabolites. Furthermore, the expression of genes associated with these functions was verified by reverse transcription quantitative PCR and transgenic assays. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that MeJA pre-treatment could be a potential orchestrator of a broad-spectrum defense response that may help establish an ecologically friendly pest control strategy and offer a promising way of priming plants to induce defense responses against A. alternata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, portable, and low-cost microfluidic system-funnel adapted sensing tube (FAST) is developed as an integrated, power-free, and pipette-free biosensor for viral nucleic acids. This FAST chip consists of four reaction chambers separated by carbon fiber rods, and the reagents in each chamber are transferred and mixed by manually removing the rods. Rather than using electrical heaters, only a hand warmer pouch is used for an isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and CRISPR–Cas12a reaction. The signal produced by the RPA–CRISPR reaction is observed by the naked eye using an inexpensive flashlight as a light source. The FAST chip is fabricated using water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a sacrificial core, which is simple and environmentally friendly. Using a SARS-CoV-2 fragment as a target, a ∼10 fM (6 × 103 copies per μL) detection limit is achieved. To generalize standard optical readout for individuals without training, a linear kernel algorithm is created, showing an accuracy of ∼100% for identifying both positive and negative samples in FAST. This power-free, pipette-free, disposable, and simple device will be a promising tool for nucleic acid diagnostics in either clinics or low-resource settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective culture and management of adult tri-spine horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus can ensure that stock enhancement programs and aquaculture systems are maintained. To explore suitable feed for animals during the breeding season, Pacific oyster (Ostrea gigas) (oyster group; OG) and frozen sharpbelly fish (Hemiculter leucisculus) (frozen fish group; FG) were selected to feed 20 T. tridentatus male and female pairs, respectively. At the end of the experiment, intestinal samples were obtained to measure digestive enzymes activities. The intestinal flora were determined by 16S rDNA sequencing. No eggs were observed in the FG and one T. tridentatus adult died. No animals died in the OG, and 9.7 × 104 eggs were obtained. These results show that oysters are more suitable for the development and reproduction of adult T. tridentatus than frozen fish. Additionally, the digestive enzyme activity analysis revealed that animals in the OG exhibited higher protein digestibility than those in the FG, but no significant differences in lipid and carbohydrate uptake were observed between the groups. Furthermore, the intestinal flora analysis showed that operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and the Chao1 index were significantly higher in the OG than in the FG, but no significant difference was observed in the Shannon or Simpson indices between the groups. Our data indicate that the oyster diet improved the intestinal microbial diversity of T. tridentatus. We hypothesize that nutrients, such as oyster-based taurine, proteins, and highly unsaturated fatty acids, improve protease activity in the T. tridentatus digestive tract, alter the intestinal floral structure, and improve the reproductive performance of T. tridentatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problems of the high computational complexity, low real-time performance, and low accuracy of classification models in the current malicious domain name detection algorithms, a malicious domain name detection algorithm by Rf-C5 (Relief-C5.0) is proposed. Firstly, the global URL features of the domain names to be tested are extracted. Then, the improved Relief algorithm is used to calculate the weight of the extracted features, and the features are prioritized according to the weight values. Finally, the key features of the top 20 weighted values are selected as the input of C5.0 classifier to classify legitimate domain names and malicious domain names. Experimental results show that under the large sample data set, compared with the current mainstream malicious domain name detection algorithms, the detection accuracy of Rf-C5 model increases by 1.58~4.91 percentage points on the basis of increasing the average detection rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further study the biological function of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) in the Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis), we conducted a transcriptome analysis of primary macrophages induced by IFN-γ using Illumina sequencing technology. We obtained 88,879 unigenes, with a total length of 93,919,393 bp, and an average length of 1,057bp. We identified 8,490 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the untreated and IFN-γ-treated macrophages, with 4,599 upregulated and 3,891 downregulated. Gene ontology (GO) analysis showed that 4,044 DEGs were enriched in the biological, cellular components, and molecular function categories. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) identified 278 immunity-related pathways enriched for the DEGs. According to the GO enrichment results, eight key immunity-related genes were screened for verification using qPCR. Results indicate that IFN-γ can activate macrophage Interferon Regulatory Factors (IRFs) and type I interferon (IFN-I), activate RIG-I-like and Toll-like receptor-related pathways, and improve the antiviral ability of macrophages in Chinese sturgeon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adenosine deaminases acting on tRNAs (ADATs) are involved in the formation of inosine in tRNAs, and they are members of the adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR) family of RNA editing enzymes. In this study, we analyzed and characterized two ADAT genes, AdADAT2 and AdADAT3, from Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus). The full‐length cDNAs of AdADAT2 and AdADAT3 were 1704 and 1402 bp, respectively, and they encoded putative proteins of 188 amino acids and 355 amino acids, respectively. AdADAT2 and AdADAT3 genes contain six exons and two exons, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences exhibit signature features of three residues (generally, one histidine and two cysteines) embedded in three characteristic motifs (motif Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ). AdADAT2 and AdADAT3 mRNAs were expressed ubiquitously in the tissues of healthy A. dabryanus, with elevated levels in the intestine, middle kidney, head kidney, and spleen. In response to polyinosine‐polycytidylic acid (poly I:C), the AdADAT2 mRNA level was significantly upregulated at 6 h post‐stimulation (hps), but the AdADAT3 mRNA level was prominently downregulated at 6 hps. The different responses of the two genes to poly I:C indicate that they have different defense mechanisms against viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a novel D-shaped photonic crystal fiber sensor with double loss peaks based on surface plasmon resonance. The proposed sensor has a lot of better characteristics for refractive index detection compared with single-peak sensor. It is worth noting that the trough of the loss spectrum keeps unchanged as the analyte refractive index increases, which indicates that this sensor is extremely stable. In addition, numerical simulation shows that the average wavelength sensitivity can reach 29,000 nm/RIU and the maximum resolution is as high as 3.45 × 10−5 RIU. Furthermore, the coupling theory between fundamental mode and the surface plasmon polarization (SPP) mode is investigated in this paper. It is found that there is obvious competition between the resonant modes. This study has enlightening significance for us to understand the generation mechanism of polarization-entangled quantum photo source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A persistent non-treponemal serological response can be observed in patients with syphilis after treatment and is referred to as serofast. This status makes it difficult for clinicians to judge the curative effect of treatment, particularly in patients with early syphilis. In the present study, a total of 114 eligible serofast patients treated between January 2009 and June 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were subjected to rapid plasma reagin (RPR) serological tests and followed up for 24 months. The patients who remained serofast after initial therapy were given the first retreatment, and at 12 months, those who were still serofast received a second retreatment. After the first retreatment (6 months), 33.3% of the subjects (38/114) were serologically cured (≥4-fold decline in RPR titer). At 24 months, the patients that had achieved serological cure accounted for 23.7% (18/76) of the patients that received the second retreatment. Furthermore, 26.3% of subjects that achieved serological cure (10/38) and had not been further treated after the first retreatment spontaneously presented with a ≥4-fold decline in RPR titer or negative status. In conclusion, the present study indicated that in patients with early syphilis and serofast status after initial treatment, retreatments may not provide any significant benefit. The second retreatment did not significantly improve the patient's serological cure rate. There is no evidence that patients with early syphilis and serofast should receive multiple retreatments, in spite of this being commonly performed in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A single-mode single-polarization photonic crystal fiber (SMSP-PCF) filter at the wavelengths of 1.125 and 1.31 μm based on surface plasmon resonance is proposed and studied by the finite element method. Numerical results indicate that compared with the filter with the same size of holes near the core, the filter with four small holes near the core makes its extinction ratio (ER) at the wavelengths of 1.125 and 1.31 μm twice as large. That is, when the fiber length is 500 μm, the ER at 1.125 μm increases from 33.43 to 58.62 dB, and the ER at 1.31 μm increases from 129.41 to 244.85 dB. Furthermore, the designed SMSP-PCF filter also has a good structural tolerance. The proposed optical fiber filter has excellent performance of compact structure, high ER and good structural tolerance, and can be used in an integrated communication transmission system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mx and Viperin are important interferon‐stimulated genes that mediate the antiviral immune response. In this study, we cloned the Mx and viperin genes from Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus). The Mx cDNA sequence contained an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,449 nucleotides, encoding a putative protein of 392 aa, which is significantly shorter than other animal Mx proteins. Although the similarity and identity were low between sturgeon Mx and other animal Mx proteins, sturgeon Mx contains the conserved tripartite GTP binding motif and a dynamin family signature. The sturgeon Mx gene contains eight exons split by seven introns. The sturgeon viperin cDNA sequence contained an ORF of 1,047 bp encoding a putative protein of 349 aa, which is relatively well conserved among species. Sturgeon viperin proteins show 82% similarity with those of Xiphophorus maculatus platyfish and Poecilia formosa Amazon molly. The sturgeon viperin gene has a six exon/five intron structure with the same size of second, third, fourth, and fifth exons between different species. The expression of Mx and viperin was detectable in all tissues examined, with the highest expression in skin for Mx and in peripheral blood for viperin. After mock infection using polyinosine‐polycytidylic acid, Mx and viperin showed significantly upregulated expression in primary spleen leukocytes from 3 hr to 72 hr. Lipopolysaccharide could also induce their expression. These results suggested Mx and Viperin could play a vital antiviral role in the innate immune system of Dabry's sturgeon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) represents an ancient Actinopterygian lineage that are termed "living fossils". Many diseases have been found in Dabry's sturgeon. In the present study, genes encoding interleukin (IL)‐16 and IL‐17D in Dabry's sturgeon were identified by RNA‐sequencing. Phylogenetic tree analysis suggested that they clustered together with the corresponding pro‐IL‐16 proteins and IL‐17D proteins from other fish. Sequence analysis revealed that IL‐17D protein was more conserved than pro‐IL‐16. Dabry's sturgeon pro‐IL‐16 contains four putative PDZ domains and do not include signal peptides, while IL‐17D only possesses signal peptides (1–25 aa). The expression patterns of IL‐16 and IL‐17D genes were investigated in Dabry's sturgeon to reveal their functions in disease. The expression level of IL‐16 showed no significant changes in embryos; however, the high expression level of IL‐17D at 0–14 hpf (hours post fertilization) implied the existence of maternal expression in the oocyte and an association with embryonic development. Tissue distribution analysis revealed that IL‐16 and IL‐17D proteins have potential functions in immune and non‐immune tissue compartments. IL‐16 and IL‐17D had different fold changes in primary spleen leukocytes after polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration, which suggested that IL‐16 has a stronger antiviral capability compared with its antibacterial response, and IL‐17D has a stronger antibacterial capability compared with its antiviral response. IL‐16 showed an earlier response to virus compared with IL‐17D, and IL‐17D showed earlier and shorter response to bacteria compared with IL‐16. Our findings suggested the roles of IL‐16 and IL‐17D in Dabry's sturgeon, and provided the theoretical basis for the prevention and control of diseases of Dabry's sturgeon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TRIM proteins are a group of highly conserved proteins that participate in a variety of biological processes in innate immunity. However, the roles of the Acipenseridae trim genes in the anti‐bacterial immune response remained uncertain. In the present study, the Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) TRIM2, TRIM8, and TRIM59 protein sequences were found to be similar to Chicken (Gallus gallus), with identities 92.8%, 89.1%, and 79.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, the TRIM23, TRIM37, and TRIM82 proteins shared 95.8%, 81.7%, and 78.1% similarity with Zebrafish (Danio rerio) homologs, respectively. Sequence alignment indicated that these six adTRIMs contained incomplete domains at their N‐termini, including a RING‐finger domain and one or two B‐boxes domains. The six adtrim genes were constitutively expressed in immune related tissues, such as the head kidney, and were also expressed in non‐immune related tissues, like the blood, brain, muscle, and liver. After challenge with Aeromonas hydrophila, the expression levels of adtrims changed during the early stage of infection. Stimulation by A. hydrophila upregulated the expression levels of adtrim8 and adtrim59 in the spleen and caudal kidney, while the expression of adtrim82 in the spleen and caudal kidney was inhibited at 12 hr post‐infection. A. hydrophila challenge led to significant upregulation of adtrim2 and downregulation of adtrim23 in the spleen. In addition, adtrim37 was only weakly affected by A. hydrophila stimulation. These results suggested that adtrims were related to the immune response to bacterial infection, which provides the fundamental basis for protecting Dabry's sturgeon against pathogen attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonisation of plant root facilitates the absorption of nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and enhances plant biotic and abiotic resistance generally. However, arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) colonisation decreases with application of chemical fertiliser. Here, we investigated whether AMF inoculation in nurseries would facilitate AM colonisation and take physiological and ecological functions in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) in the field. Pot experiments were carried out to study the change of AMF colonised seedling on physiology and gene expression in nursery site. Field experiments were performed to investigate the effect of nursery AMF inoculation on yield, quality and disease resistance of watermelon in the field. The results showed that nursery‐inoculated seedlings produced more dry matter and root surface area than non‐inoculated seedlings. Expression of the secretory purple acid phosphatase (PAP) genes ClaPAP10 and ClaPAP26 was up‐regulated following AMF colonisation. Accordingly, acid phosphatase activities at the root surface and P concentrations in seedling were enhanced. After transplantation to the field, the shoot dry matter and P concentration in old stem were higher in the nursery AMF inoculated seedlings than that in non‐AMF inoculated seedling. AMF inoculation also induced increase of yields and decrease of wilt disease indexes and soluble sugar content. In addition, acid phosphatase activities and AMF spore densities were increased by nursery‐inoculation in watermelon rhizosphere soil in the field. In conclusion, nursery colonisation AMF seedling enhanced watermelon growth and yield by improving the root growth and P acquisition in nursery cultivating stage, as well as optimised soil properties in the field. Nursery cultivation of watermelon seedling with AMF was an effective technique to reduce wilt disease in continuous cropped management in watermelon. Mechanism of nursery cultivation arbuscular mycorrhizal seedling acting on watermelon production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) is an endemic fish species of China listed as a critically endangered (CR) species on the IUCN Red List (since 2010). There was a recent outbreak of a novel disease characterized by haemorrhagic ascites and intestinal and renal haemorrhaging in cultured Chinese sturgeon, which clearly posed a serious threat to this species. Two kinds of pathogenic bacteria were isolated from moribund diseased Chinese sturgeon. Two isolates, AHth‐1 and AVth‐2, were selected as representative strains and were identified as Aeromonas hydrophila and Aeromonas veronii based on their morphology, biochemical characteristics, and a phylogenetic analysis derived from 16S rRNA, gyrB, and rpoD gene sequencing. Experimental infection tests showed that both identified isolates were pathogenic to juvenile Dabry's sturgeon (A. dabryanus) via intraperitoneal injection. Histopathology of Dabry's sturgeon infected with A. hydrophila or A. veronii revealed liver hyperaemia, hepatic, and splenic necrosis, and enteritis. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests showed that both bacterial strains were equally sensitive to fluoroquinolones antibiotics, and to third‐ and fourth‐generation cephalosporins. These results provide a scientific reference for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of haemorrhagic septicaemia caused by A. hydrophila or A. veronii in cultured sturgeon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interferon regulatory factors ( IRFs) are crucial regulators in initiating the host innate immune response against pathogen invasions. Dabry's sturgeon ( Acipenser dabryanus) is particularly a valuable fish species found in the Yangtze River, China for which there is scarce immunological data. In the present study, we investigated the expression profile of sturgeon IRF genes. All adIRFs were composed of 8 exons and 7 introns, except adIRF1, which possessed 9 exons interrupted by 8 introns. Moreover, the predicted protein sequence has a DNA-binding domain (DBD) sharing high identity with spotted gar ( Lepisosteus oculatus). Regarding the expression patterns, 5 adIRF genes were found to be constitutively expressed in all tissues examined, and were significantly higher in lymphoid organs (eg, blood, kidney, intestine, and spleen). Following Aeromonas hydrophila infection, the expression of adIRF1 and adIRF3 were upregulated in the spleen and caudal kidney, while both the adIRF5 and adIRF8 genes were downregulated in caudal kidney. In addition, adIRF4 was significantly upregulated at 3 h postinfection by A. hydrophila in the spleen and caudal kidney. These results suggest that adIRFs are related to the immune response to bacterial infection, which will help clarify the function of these IRFs and provide a fundamental basis for protecting the Dabry's sturgeon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) is endangered through anthropogenic activities including over-fishing, damming, shipping, and pollution. Controlled reproduction has been adopted and successfully conducted for conservation. However, little information is available on the reproductive regulation of the species. In this study, we conducted de novo transcriptome assembly of the gonad tissue to create a comprehensive dataset for A. sinensis. Results: The Illumina sequencing platform was adopted to obtain 47,333,701 and 47,229,705 high quality reads from testis and ovary cDNA libraries generated from three-year-old A. sinensis. We identified 86,027 unigenes of which 30,268 were annotated in the NCBI non-redundant protein database and 28,281 were annotated in the Swiss-prot database. Among the annotated unigenes, 26,152 and 7,734 unigenes, respectively, were assigned to gene ontology categories and clusters of orthologous groups. In addition, 12,557 unigenes were mapped to 231 pathways in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Pathway database. A total of 1,896 unigenes, potentially differentially expressed between the two gonad types, were found, with 1,894 predicted to be up-regulated in ovary and only two in testis. Fifty-five potential gametogenesis-related genes were screened in the transcriptome and 34 genes with significant matches were found. Besides, more paralogs of 11 genes in three gene families (sox, apolipoprotein and cyclin) were found in A. sinensis compared to their orthologs in the diploid Danio rerio. In addition, 12,151 putative simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected. Conclusions: This study provides the first de novo transcriptome analysis currently available for A. sinensis. The transcriptomic data represents the fundamental resource for future research on the mechanism of early gametogenesis in sturgeons. The SSRs identified in this work will be valuable for assessment of genetic diversity of wild fish and genealogy management of cultured fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed 27 polymorphic microsatellite loci in Hucho bleekeri, a glacial relict and freshwater resident salmonid fish in China. The number of alleles varied from 2 to 8 for each primer set. The observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.250 to 0.906 and 0.508 to 0.845, respectively. The polymorphic information content ranged from 0.371 to 0.808. These microsatellite loci should be useful to study population genetics, paternity identification, speciation and adaptive evolution of this lineage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hucho hucho, one of the most endangered members of the family Salmonidae, is endemic to the Danube basin. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome ofH. huchowas sequenced and characterized. The genome is 16,751 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs and a noncoding control region. The gene arrangement and nucleotide composition of the mitochondrial genome are similar to those ofH. bleekeri. An 82 bp tandem repeat was identified in the control region, which is variable in length and copy number of repeat between and within species. The complete mitochondrial DNA ofH. huchoshould be useful to study population genetics, biogeography and adaptive evolution of this lineage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chinese sucker ( Myxocyprinus asiaticus) is a second class state-protected animal in China. In this study, we developed twenty-three polymorphic microsatellite loci in Chinese sucker. The observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.292-0.958 to 0.423-0.900, respectively. The polymorphic information content ranged from 0.356 to 0.869, with a mean of 0.710. These microsatellite loci are expected to be useful for further studies of genetic diversity, population genetic structure, and assessments of the artificial propagation release effect of Chinese sucker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ptychobarbus kaznakoviis endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China. The complete mitochondrial genome ofP. kaznakoviwas sequenced and characterized. The genome is 16 700 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs, and a non-coding control region. The gene arrangement and nucleotide composition of the mitochondrial genome are similar to those of Cyprinidae fish. A 2 bp tandem repeat was identified in the control region. We conclude that the control region is variable in length between and within species. The complete mitochondrial DNA in this study should be used in the studies on population genetics and phylogeny ofP. kaznakovi. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, we cloned and sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome ofSchizothorax lantsangensisTsao from Langcang River in Yunnan province, China. The genome was 16,580 bp in length and consisted of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and a control region. Most of the genes are encoded on the heavy strand except ND6 and eight tRNA genes encoded on the light strand. This mitogenome sequence data would play an important role in the population genetics structure and phylogenetic analysis of the Schizothoracinae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hucho bleekeri, a glacial relict and freshwater resident salmonid fish, is endemic to the Yangtze River drainage in China. This species has important significances for studies of biogeography, evolution, phylogeny, ecology, reproduction and development. The complete mitochondrial genome ofH. bleekeriwas sequenced and characterized. The genome is 16,837 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs, and a non-coding control region. The gene arrangement and nucleotide composition of the mitochondrial genome are similar to those ofH. taimen. An 82 bp tandem repeat was identified in the control region. We conclude that the control region is variable in length and copy number of repeat between and within species. The complete mitochondrial DNA ofH. bleekerishould be useful to study population genetics, biogeography, speciation and adaptive evolution of this lineage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tunable single polarizing filter is proposed by selectively coating gold film on the air holes of photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The polarization properties of the PCF filter are evaluated by the finite-element method. Simulation results show that the loss of y-polarized core mode at 1250 and 1550 nm is 136.23 and 839.73 dB/cm, respectively. Furthermore, we innovatively combine stable modulation with flexible modulation. To be specific, the resonance wavelengths are slowly controlled in a small wavelength range by altering the diameter of the air-hole-coated gold film, while the resonance wavelengths are flexibly controlled in a wide wavelength range by altering the thickness of the gold film or the diameter of the small air holes. When the length of the PCF is 500 µm, the bandwidth of extinction ratio greater than − 20 dB is only 60 nm at the communication window of 1550 nm. It is beneficial to fabricate a narrow-band polarization filter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]