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Background: Chicken anemia virus (CAV) is the causative agent of chicken infectious anemia (CIA). A high prevalence of CAV has been reported in China. However, VP1 sequences of Chinese isolates show no clear genotype clustering or correlation with geographic origin. Therefore, the present study aimed to detect and characterize CAV isolates from China based on sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the VP1, VP2 and VP3 genes. Results: Of 460 spleen samples tested by PCR, 47 (10.22%) were found to be positive for CAV. A total of 25 CAV, approximately full genomes, from different commercial farms were characterized. Phylogenetic analysis of the Chinese CAV sequences together with strains from different countries resulted in four distinct groups (A-D) with significant high bootstrap values. The Chinese viral sequences were located as four different clusters within groups A and D. All the Chinese CAV genomes characterized in this study had glutamine (Q) at amino acid position 394, which indicated that all are highly pathogenic. Mutations associated with attenuation and weaker reactivity with monoclonal antibody 2A9 were absent in the Chinese sequences. Conclusions: We revealed that CAV prevalence was lower than that reported previously in commercial farms in China. We also showed four distinct sequence groups (A-D), and genetic variability in local CAV sequences that could be divided into four groups based on phylogenetic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Five isolates (JS09GY2, JS09GY3, JS09GY4, JS09GY5, and JS09GY6) of avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) were isolated from six infected commercial layer flocks displaying both hemangioma and myeloid leukosis (ML), which shared the same parental line, in China in 2009. Results: All six of the commercial layer chickens examined showed hemangiomas on their body surface or feet. Some developed hemangiomas in their internal organs, causing hepatorrhexis and blood loss. Histopathologically different stages of hemangiomas with ML in the liver, heart, and spleen, were observed. Five viral isolates were obtained from infected DF1 cells incubated with the spleen tissue or serum of the birds from the six flocks. By full genome sequences analysis, a 19-nucleotide repeat sequence was identified in the primer binding site (PBS)-leader region of isolates JS09GY3 and JS09GY6, located between sites 249 and 250 according to the sequence of reference strain HPRS103, and also present in Rous sarcoma virus strain Schmidt–Ruppin B (RSV-SRB), Rous associated virus type 1 (RAV-1), and Rous associated virus type 2 (RAV-2). The predicted Gp85 proteins of isolates JS09GY2, JS09GY3, JS09GY5, and JS09GY6 were highly variable. Interestingly, the E elements of these four examined isolates showed a key deletion at site 30, which produced a new c-Ets-1 binding site. An 11-bp insertion was also found in the E element of isolate JS09GY3 located between bp 66 and 67 according to the sequence of reference strain HPRS103, while almost all previously reported Chinese strains showed an almost identical deletion of 127 bp in the same region. Conclusions: Five ALV-J isolates were obtained from six field infected commercial layer chickens. Coexistence of hemangioma and ML were observed in these infected cases both macro- and microscopically. Complete proviral genome sequences of two isolates (JS09GY3 and JS09GY6) and the partial sequences of the other two isolates (JS09GY2 and JS09GY5) were determined. The isolates were found to be recombinants of ALV-J with a PBS-leader sequence originating from other retroviruses. The Gp85 protein with an amino acid deletion, a contiguous 11-bp insertion mutation in the E element, and a novel binding site, were noted in the proviral genomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruthenium(III) chloride-catalyzed acylation of a variety of alcohols, phenols, and thiols was achieved in high yields under mild conditions (room temperature) in the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]). The ionic liquid and ruthenium catalyst can be recycled at least 10 times. Our system not only solves the basic problem of ruthenium catalyst reuse, but also avoids the use of volatile acetonitrile as solvent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the development of a sensitive, precise, and accurate liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the extraction of cocaine and other cocaine metabolites from meconium. Use of a solid-phase extraction method; Variation in the quantity and quality of the metabolites that were collected; Potential of ecgonine for testing neonatal cocaine exposure.

In this study, an effective antibiotic-degrading strain NG3 was isolated from activated sludge of antibiotic wastewater treatment. According to the results of morphological, physiological and biochemical identification and phylogenetical analysis of 16S rDNA sequence, the isolated strain belonged to Acinetobacter sp., which was named Acinetobacter sp. NG3. Moreover, biological properties of the isolated strain were analyzed preliminarily, which provided a basis for the application of Acinetobacter sp. NG3 strain in efficient treatment of antibiotic industrial wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants produce diverse flavonoids for defense and stress resistance, most of which have health benefits and are widely used as food additives and medicines. Methylation of the free hydroxyl groups of flavonoids, catalyzed by S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent O-methyltransferases (OMTs), significantly affects their physicochemical properties and bioactivities. Soybeans (Glycine max) contain a rich pool of O-methylated flavonoids. However, the OMTs responsible for flavonoid methylation in G. max remain largely unknown. We screened the G. max genome and obtained 22 putative OMT-encoding genes that share a broad spectrum of amino acid identities (25-96%); among them, 19 OMTs were successfully cloned and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. We used the flavonoids containing the free 3, 5, 7, 8, 3', 4' hydroxyl group, such as flavones (luteolin and 7, 8-dihydroxyflavone), flavonols (kaempferol and quercetin), flavanones (naringenin and eriodictyol), isoflavonoids (daidzein and glycetein), and caffeic acid as substrates, and 15 OMTs were proven to catalyze at least one substrate. The methylation activities of these GmOMTs covered the 3, 7, 8, 3', 4'-hydroxyl of flavonoids and 7, 4'-hydroxyl of isoflavonoids. The systematic characterization of G. max flavonoid OMTs provides insights into the biosynthesis of methylated flavonoids in soybeans and OMT bioparts for the production of methylated flavonoids via synthetic biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curcumin, a well-known hydrophobic polyphenol extracted from the rhizomes of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), has attracted great interest in the last ten years due to its multiple pharmacological activities. A growing body of evidence has manifested that curcumin has extensive pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxygenation, lipid regulation, antiviral, and anticancer with hypotoxicity and minor adverse reactions. However, the disadvantages of low bioavailability, short half-life in plasma, low drug concentration in blood, and poor oral absorption severely limited the clinical application of curcumin. Pharmaceutical researchers have carried out plenty of dosage form transformations to improve the druggability of curcumin and have achieved remarkable results. Therefore, the objective of this review summarizes the pharmacological research progress, problems in clinical application and the improvement methods of curcumin's druggability. By reviewing the latest research progress of curcumin, we believe that curcumin has a broad clinical application prospect for its wide range of pharmacological activities with few side effects. The deficiencies of lower bioavailability of curcumin could be improved by dosage form transformation. However, curcumin in the clinical application still requires further study regarding the underlying mechanism and clinical trial verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: The Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention provides annual updates on cancer occurrence and trends in Shanghai. This study aimed to investigate the cervical cancer incidence and mortality in 2016 and their trends from 2002 to 2016 in Shanghai. Methods: Data of new cervical cancer diagnoses and deaths from 2002 to 2016 were obtained from the population-based cancer registry and Vital Statistics System of Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Cervical cancer incidence and mortality stratified by year of diagnosis or death, and age group were analyzed. Number, proportion, crude rate, age-specific rate, age-standardized rate and others were calculated. The number, proportion and rates of common cancers in different groups were also calculated. Trends in number, age-standardized rates and age-specific rates of incidence and death were estimated. Trends in age-standardized rates of incidence and death were estimated by Joinpoint analysis and characterized by the annual percent change (APC). The cases and proportion of selected diagnostic characteristics in different periods of diagnosis years grouped were also calculated. Segi’s 1960 world standard population was used for calculating age-standardized rates of incidence and mortality. Results: The new cervical cancer cases and deaths were 987 and 267 in Shanghai in 2016. The crude rate of incidence was 13.53/105, and the age-standardized rate of incidence was 8.26/105. The crude rate of mortality was 3.66/105, and the age-standardized rate of mortality was 1.87/105. The age-specific number and rate of incidence reached the peak in the age group of 55-59 years and 45-49 years respectively, while those of mortality reached the peak in the age group of 50-54 years and 80-84 years respectively. The standardized incidence rate of cervical cancer increased by an average annual growth of 12.51% from 2002 to 2010 and 3.12% per year from 2010 to 2016 in Shanghai. The standardized mortality rate increased by 4.52% per year from 2002 to 2016. The major histopathological type of cervical cancer was squamous cell carcinoma. The proportions of morphological verification and stage Ⅰwere increasing. Conclusions: In Shanghai, the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer were at a lower level of the world, but they were increasing. The current status and trends reflect Shanghai permanent population changes in risk factors, screening test use, diagnostic practices and treatment advances. Improvement of the surveillance and research on cervical cancer will help to promote more efficient control and prevention strategies and decrease cancer burden.

Zea mays (maize) is an important agricultural crop that produces a variety of valuable terpenoids, including several triterpenoids. However, no oxidosqualene cyclase (OSC) enzymes, which catalyze the first step in triterpenoid biosynthesis, have been identified in maize. Here, we identified a novel OSC (ZmOSC1) in maize using a combination of genomic mining and phylogenetic analyses. To functionally characterize the candidate OSC, we constructed a yeast strain that produced high levels of 2,3-oxidosqualene. When ZmOSC1 was expressed in this strain, three compounds were detected and identified as hop-17(21)-en-3-ol, hopenol B and simiarenol, respectively. For their biosynthesis, we proposed a potential cyclization mechanism catalyzed by ZmOSC1 via the generation of a dammarenyl cation, followed by sequential cationic ring expansion, cyclization, cationic migration and further proton elimination. This study discovered and characterized an OSC from maize for the first time, and laid a foundation to produce three bioactive pentacyclic triterpenes, hop-17(21)-en-3-ol, hopenol B and simiarenol, using synthetic biology approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the thyroid cancer incidence and mortality in Shanghai 2016 and trend change from 2002 to 2016. Methods Cases of thyroid cancer diagnosed, and thyroid cancer deaths during 2002 to 2016 were included from the population-based cancer registry and Vital Statistics System of Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Both incidence and mortality of thyroid cancer were stratified based on the year when diagnosed or died, and on gender and age, and were analyzed. Both case number and death number, and crude rate, age-specific rate, age-standardized and other rate were calculated. Changing trends in incidence and mortality, crude rate, age-specific rate and age-standardized rate were estimated. The annual percent change(APC) of age-standardized rates of both incidence and mortality was estimated by Joinpoint analysis. The case number and proportion of thyroid cancer in different diagnosis years with some diagnostic character were also calculated. Age-standardized rates of incidence and mortality were adjusted and calculated using Segi′s 1960 world standard population. Results Cases number 7 683 diagnosed as thyroid cancer and death number 138 due to thyroid cancer was in Shanghai 2016. The crude rate of incidence was 53.06/105 and the age-standardized rate 38.10/105. The crude rate of mortality was 0.95/105 and the age-standardized rate 0.31/105. The age-standardized rates of both incidence and mortality in males were lower than those in females. The age-specific both case and death and rates of incidence and mortality increased with aging. The age-specific case number and rate of incidence reached the peak at the age group of both 55-59 years and 50-54 years, respectively. The age-specific death number and rate of mortality reached the peak at the age group of more than 85 years. The age-standardized rate of incidence increased 20.40% per year between 2002 and 2016, however, that of mortality was stable. Papillary thyroid cancer was the dominant histopathological type when the proportion of papillary microcarcinoma increased. The ratio of stage of thyroid cancer was most at stage Ⅰ and increased continually. Conclusions The current status and changing trend of thyroid cancer stratified based on both gender and age were similar to those in most countries of the world, which indicate the risk factors, methods of detection, levels of both diagnosis and treatment improved in Shanghai. Development of the survey and research on thyroid cancer will help to promote more efficient control and prevention strategies, and decrease cancer burden.

Objective To investigate the colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality in 2016 Shanghai and trend change between 2002 and 2016. Methods Data of CRC incidence and death between 2002 and 2016 were collected from the population-based cancer registry and Vital Statistics System of Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention. CRC incidence and mortality including year of incidence and mortality, gender, cancer site and age-group were analyzed. CRC incidence and mortality, and proportion, crude rate, age-specific rate, and age-standardized rate were also calculated. Trends of incidence and death of CRC, crude rate, age-specific rate and age-standardized rate were estimated. Trends of gender-standardized CRC incidence and death and the annual percent change(APC) were estimated by Joinpoint analysis. The incidence and proportion of new CRC cases with selected diagnostic character in different years were also calculated. Age-standardized incidence and mortality were calculated using Segi’s 1960 world standard population. Results CRC incidence and mortality were 9 337 and 4 599 in Shanghai 2016. Crude incidence was 64.48/105, and age-standardized rate was 24.64/105. Crude mortality was 31.76/105, and age-standardized rate was 10.13/105. Age-standar-dized incidence and mortality in males were higher than those in females. Age-specific case number and rate and age-specific death number and rate increased with aging. Age-specific case number and rate reached peak at age group both 60-64 years and 80-84 years, and age-specific death number and rate reached peak at age group more than 85 years. Overall, age-standardized CRC incidence between 2002 and 2016 increased 1.07% per year, and age-standardized CRC mortality was stable. Conclusions The current status and trends of CRC stratified by gender or age-group reflect the changes in risk factors, screening test use, and advances in diagnosis and treatment in Shanghai permanent population. Data of population-based cancer incidence and mortality can be used to decrease cancer burden.

Claviceps purpurea produces many pharmacologically important ergot alkaloids (EAS), which are widely used to treat migraine and hypertension and to aid childbirth. Although an EAS biosynthetic cluster of C. purpurea has been discovered more than 20 years ago, the complete biosynthetic pathway of EAS has not been fully characterized until now. The main obstacle to elucidating this pathway and strain modification is the lack of efficient genome-editing tools for C. purpurea. The conventional gene manipulation method for C. purpurea relies on homologous recombination (HR), although the efficiency of HR in C. purpurea is very low (~1-5%). Consequently, the disruption of target genes is laborious and time-consuming. Although CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing methods based on in vivo Cas9 expression and gRNA transcription have been reported recently, their genedisruption efficiency is still very low. Here, we developed an efficient genome-editing system in C. purpurea based on in vitro assembled CRISPR/Cas9 gRNA ribonucleoprotein complexes. As proof of principle, three target genes were efficiently knocked out using this CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complex-mediated HR system, with editing efficiencies ranging from 50% to 100%. Inactivation of the three genes, which are closely related to uridine biosynthesis (ura5), hypha morphology (rac), and EAS production (easA), resulted in a uridine auxotrophic mutant, a mutant with a drastically different phenotype in axenic culture, and a mutant that did not produce EAS, respectively. Our ribonucleoprotein-based genome-editing system has a great advantage over conventional and in vivo CRISPR/Cas9 methods for genome editing in C. purpurea, which will greatly facilitate elucidation of the EAS biosynthetic pathway and other future basic and applied research on C. purpurea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Base editing using CRISPR technologies is an invaluable tool for crop breeding. One of the major base editors, the adenine base editor (ABE), has been successfully used in both model plants and many crops. However, owing to limited editing efficiency, the ABE has been difficult to apply in polyploid crops such as allohexaploid bread wheat that often require simultaneous mutation of multiple alleles for fast breeding. We have designed a wheat high-efficiency ABE (WhieABE), using the newly developed high-activity adenosine deaminase TadA8e. In vivo and in vitro analysis demonstrated the improved applicability of TadA8e over the commonly used TadA7.10. Dinitroaniline is a widely used herbicide with high effectiveness and low toxicity to animals. However, wheat cultivars with tolerance to dinitroaniline are rare, limiting the application of dinitroaniline in wheat planting. Using A-to-G editing with WhieABE, we found that a Met-to-Thr mutation in wheat tubulin alleles located on chromosomes 1A, 1B, 1D, 4A, and 4D increased the resistance of wheat to dinitroaniline, revealing a dosage effect of edited tubulins in resistance. The WhieABE promises to be a valuable editing tool for accelerating crop improvement and developing herbicide-resistant wheat germplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microorganisms not only have a strong biosorption capacity but also can achieve tremendous volume reduction effects for radionuclide wastes. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the biosorption characteristics of uranium on inactivated Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the volume reduction and enrichment of uranium after biosorption were also studied in combination with the ashing method. The results revealed that inactivated S. cerevisiae biomass was able to adsorb uranium. The maximum removal efficiency and biosorption capacity for uranium were 96.8% and 31.8 mg/g, respectively. The optimum pH for U(VI) removal was 2.75 and U(VI) biosorption was well described by the Freundlich isotherm model. Thermodynamic investigations showed that biosorption of U(VI) on inactivated S. cerevisiae was a spontaneous and endothermic process. In the kinetic studies, U(VI) adsorption on inactivated S. cerevisiae reached an equilibrium in 60 min and followed a pseudo-secondorder kinetics model. The 100 mg/L of uranium was reduced to less than 0.05 mg/L after 6 rounds gradient descent adsorption, which was enough to meet the National uranium wastewater discharge standards. The ashing experiment demonstrated that ashing process resulted in a large volume and weight reduction ratio as well as enrichment for uranium in the ash. XRD results showed that the species of uranium that existed in the ash were uranium phosphate and KPUO6·3H2O. Waste volume reduction and metal enrichment can be obtained by ashing treatment of the biological absorbent. The method may be beneficial for nuclide and heavy metal disposal treatment in many fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radioactivity and heavy metal toxicity of multi-metal deposits coexisting with the element uranium (U) could have long-term adverse impacts on soil biological processes and the health of soil ecosystems. Soil enzyme activities are considered bioindicators for assessing soil health. An experiment was designed to investigate invertase and β-glucosidase activity in multi-metal deposits. Radioactivity and heavy metals were also investigated during this study. Our results showed that the invertase and β-glucosidase activities were significantly lower in the core mining area than the control area (p<0.05). Activities of the two enzymes decreased with increasing metal concentrations and radioactivity. Cu and Zn showed significant negative effects on β-glucosidase and invertase activities in a multi-metal deposit at the study site. A significant nonlinear relationship was recorded between soil enzyme activities, radiation dose (R2 = 0.71, 0.63; p<0.05), Zn (R2 = 0.34, 0.41; p<0.05) and Cu concentrations (R2 = 0.46, 0.45; p<0.05). There were turning points at 1 μGy h-1, 250 μg g-1, and 30 μg g-1 for radiation dose, Zn and Cu contents, respectively. The findings could provide more information regarding the toxic effects of radiation and heavy metals on the soil health of multi-metal deposits, which can more precisely guide environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matrix alloying is an effective and convenient method to improve the interface bonding strength for continuous carbon fiber reinforced magnesium matrix composites. In this work, rare earth metal Gd was selected as an alloying element to improve the interface bonding of Cf/Mg composite. Cf/Mg composites with different Gd content were fabricated by pressure infiltration method. The effect of Gd addition on the interfacial microstructures and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated. The results showed that the rare earth Gd tended to segregate at interface area to form Gd2O3 layer and particle phase Mg7Gd. Both the interfacial products enhanced the interface bonding strength which can be identified by the increase of interlaminar shear strength (ILSS). In particular, the Gd addition promoted the ILSS and bending strength greatly, with an increase by 60.4% and 25.3% compared with Cf/Mg composite, respectively. The fracture surfaces of the composites were examined by scanning electron microscopy and micrographs were employed to explain the inherent relation between interface characterization and mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium (Mg) alloy containing 1 wt% Yttrium (Y) reinforced with 60 vol% carbon fiber (Cf) composites was fabricated by the pressure infiltration method. The morphological study with Y addition in the composite revealed that the Y element was prone to segregate on the surface of the carbon fiber during the fabrication process, forming plate-like intermetallic compound Mg2Y. The mechanical properties of the composite were investigated by a flexure test and a short-beam shear test. The results showed that the addition of Y element to the composite improved the bending strength and interlaminar shear strength greatly. A study of the fracture mechanism uncovered the important role of Y addition on the interface bonding strength of the Cf/Mg composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]