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In this paper, a key to separate the Chinese species of genus Cyrtomorphus Lacordaire is provided for the first time. A new species, Cyrtomorphus rufobrunneus sp. nov., is described and illustrated, and one species, Cyrtomorphus connexus Gorham, 1896 is newly recorded to China.

Background: A tick-borne segmented RNA virus called Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) was recently identified, variants of which were detected in a non-human primate host and fatal patients with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. We investigated its infectivity and pathogenicity for humans. Methods: We obtained skin-biopsy, blood and serum samples from patients with tick bites, and used high-throughput sequencing, in situ hybridisation, and serologic testing to diagnose and ascertain the cases of JMTV infection. Findings: A JMTV strain was isolated from the tick Amblyomma javanense into an embryo-derived tick cell line. We obtained sustained passage of JMTV, and revealed that it was able to accumulate in salivary glands of experimentally infected ticks. Four JMTV-infected patients were identified by high-throughput sequencing of skin biopsies and blood samples. The virus replication in skin tissue was visualised by in situ hybridisation. The four patients all had an itchy or painful eschar at the site of tick bite, with or without lymphadenopathy. Immunohistochemical examination revealed remarkable local inflammation manifested as infiltration by neutrophils. Eight patients were identified by serological testing and showed more severe clinical manifestations. Two Ixodes persulcatus ticks detached from patients were positive for JMTV. All JMTV strains identified in this study formed a well-supported sub-lineage, distinct from those previously reported in China.InterpretationThe public significance of JMTV should be highly concerning due to its potential pathogenicity for humans and efficient transmission by potential ticks. Fund: China Natural Science Foundation, State Key Research Development Programme, and United Kingdom Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Keywords: Jingmen tick virus, Pathogenicity, Human infection, Ticks

According to the requirements of carbon-neutral development, this study explores the comparison and new discussion of replacing nitrogen with carbon dioxide in the conventional two-phase microfluid flow. Thus, carbon dioxide application in various fields can be more precise and convenient. This research uses an artificially continuously tapering micro model to mimic the natural rock channel in low permeability formation, where the liquid imbibition process is entirely under surface tension-dominant. The tested capillary number decreased to 8.49 × 10−6, and the thinnest observed liquid film was reduced to 2 μm. The comparison results in two gas groups (nitrogen and carbon dioxide) show that CO2 gas fluid in microscopic porous media would have more tendency to snap off and leave fewer residual bubbles blocked between the constrictions. However, the N2 gas fluid forms smaller isolated gas bubbles after snap-off. By combining the experimental data and numerical output with the theoretical evolution equation by Beresnev and Deng and by Quevedo Tiznado et al., the results of interface radius, temporal capillary pressure, and velocity profiles for axisymmetric and continuously tapering models are presented and validated. Those findings create a paradigm for future studies of the evolution of microscopic multiphase fluid and enhance a deeper understanding of geological underground fluid properties for greenhouse gas storage and utilization in low permeability formations.

Due to the diversity of alkali categories and reservoir conditions, the varied oil recovery driving mechanism of alkaline flooding is subjected to different types of emulsion generation. In this study, a modified bottle test method that assesses major emulsion type formation for preliminary prediction of alkaline flooding performance in oil recovery is introduced. The modified method considers the necessary energy input required for mixing immiscible bulk phases at low interfacial tension (IFT) regions to improve the representativity of emulsion formation in the bottle test to that of in porous media. To accurately evaluate the emulsion type and phase volume distribution from the bottle test, each emulsion phase after aging in the test bottle was sampled and its water content was measured through Karl Fischer titration. Afterward, material balance calculations other than pure volume observation were applied to quantify the emulsion volume and determine the major emulsion type formation. It is found that the majority of emulsion effluent type from the sandpack flooding test were in agreement with the bottle test forecast which proved the feasibility of the modified bottle test method. The statistically optimized experimental designs were implemented due to the simplicity of the new bottle test method and it considerably cut the time expense regarding the alkaline flooding performance prediction. The high versatility of the modified bottle test ensures that the alkali usage is not limited to the inorganic alkalis mentioned in this study; other type of alkaline solutions can also be used for further expanding the scope of its application.

Ionic conductive hydrogels have shown great potential in areas such as wearable devices and electronic skins. Aiming at the sensitivity and biodegradability of the traditional flexible hydrogel electronic skin, this paper developed an ionic skin (S−iSkin) based on edible starch–sodium alginate (starch–SA), which can convert the external strain stimulus into a voltage signal without an external power supply. As an excellent ion conductive polymer, S−iSkin exhibited good stretchability, low hydrophilicity and outstanding electrochemical and sensing properties. Driven by sodium ions, the ion charge transfer resistance of S−iSkin is reduced by 4 times, the capacitance value is increased by 2 times and its conductivity is increased by 7 times. Additionally, S−iSkin has excellent sensitivity and linearity (R2 = 0.998), a long service life and good biocompatibility. Under the action of micro-stress, it can produce a voltage change ratio of 2.6 times, and its sensitivity is 52.04. The service life test showed that it can work stably for 2000 s and work more than 200 stress–voltage response cycles. These findings provide a foundation for the development of health monitoring systems and micro-stress sensing devices based on renewable biomass materials.

Objective To compare the epidemiological characteristics and transmission dynamics in relation to interventions against the COVID-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in mainland China.Design Comparative study based on a unique data set of COVID-19 and SARS.Setting Outbreak in mainland China.Participants The final database included 82 858 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 5327 cases of SARS.Methods We brought together all existing data sources and integrated them into a comprehensive data set. Individual information on age, sex, occupation, residence location, date of illness onset, date of diagnosis and clinical outcome was extracted. Control measures deployed in mainland China were collected. We compared the epidemiological and spatial characteristics of COVID-19 and SARS. We estimated the effective reproduction number to explore differences in transmission dynamics and intervention effects.Results Compared with SARS, COVID-19 affected more extensive areas (1668 vs 230 counties) within a shorter time (101 vs 193 days) and had higher attack rate (61.8 vs 4.0 per million persons). The COVID-19 outbreak had only one epidemic peak and one epicentre (Hubei Province), while the SARS outbreak resulted in two peaks and two epicentres (Guangdong Province and Beijing). SARS-CoV-2 was more likely to infect older people (median age of 52 years), while SARS-CoV tended to infect young adults (median age of 34 years). The case fatality rate (CFR) of either disease increased with age, but the CFR of COVID-19 was significantly lower than that of SARS (5.6% vs 6.4%). The trajectory of effective reproduction number dynamically changed in relation to interventions, which fell below 1 within 2 months for COVID-19 and within 5.5 months for SARS.Conclusions China has taken more prompt and effective responses to combat COVID-19 by learning lessons from SARS, providing us with some epidemiological clues to control the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.

An accurate interpretation of the fluid production profile is the essential scientific step required for the dynamic monitoring and management of a reservoir. Currently, an accurate interpretation of conventional logging is generally available for vertical wells. However, high-accuracy interpretation is still a blank for horizontal wells, especially for those wells with low production. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop a new model that can efficiently improve the interpretation accuracy of horizontal wells' production profiles. Practically, it was observed from experiments that, for multiphase flow in a horizontal well, the flow pattern changes significantly with the varied inclination angle along the well trajectory. This is because the flow pattern is critically related to the flow rate and the measured phase flow data (i.e., the production data of oil, gas, and water), which varies with the inclination angle along the horizontal well trajectory. Based on the above observations, a new methodology is proposed to interpret horizontal wells' production profiles with the same inclination angle. A comparison of the measured data and numerically calculated results indicates that the newly established method can significantly improve the interpretation accuracy of horizontal wells' production fluid profile. The interpretation method is, therefore, enriched by production logging for different types of wells. By comparing the experimentally measured data and the calculated results, the newly established method is indicated to be capable of significantly improving the interpretation accuracy of horizontal wells' fluid production profile. The interpretation method is further extended to production logging for different well types. By applying this new methodology, the main water-producing layer can be precisely identified to prevent and control the water burst from horizontal wells as well as the formation of water plugging. Consequently, oil and gas recovery can be effectively enhanced.

Summary: Recently, considerable efforts have been focused on intensifying the screening process for asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in the Chinese Mainland, especially for up to 10 million citizens living in Wuhan City by nucleic acid testing. However, a high percentage of domestic asymptomatic cases did not develop into symptomatic ones, which is abnormal and has drawn considerable public attention. Here, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 infections in the Chinese Mainland from a statistical perspective, as it is of referential significance for other regions. By conservatively assuming a development time lag from pre-symptomatic (i.e., referring to the infected cases that were screened before the COVID-19 symptom onset) to symptomatic as an incubation time of 5.2 days, our results indicated that 92.5% of those tested in Wuhan City, China, and 95.1% of those tested in the Chinese Mainland should have COVID-19 syndrome onset, which was extremely higher than their corresponding practical percentages of 0.8% and 3.3%, respectively. We propose that a certain false positive rate may exist if large-scale nucleic acid screening tests for asymptomatic cases are conducted in common communities with a low incidence rate. Despite adopting relatively high-sensitivity, high-specificity detection kits, we estimated a very low prevalence of COVID-19 infections, ranging from 10−6 to 10−4 in both Wuhan City and the Chinese Mainland. Thus, the prevalence rate of asymptomatic infections in China had been at a very low level. Furthermore, given the lower prevalence of the infection, close examination of the data for false positive results is necessary to minimize social and economic impacts.

Background/Aims: Researches have showed that cardiac shock wave therapy (CSWT) could improve left ventricular function and attenuate LV remodeling of the ischemic heart. Apoptosis plays an important role in myocardial infarction and determines heart function and prognosis. However, it is still not clear whether CSWT is sufficient to attenuate acute myocardial infarction (AMI) induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis in vivo. In this study, we used a rat model to examine whether CSWT could attenuate cardiomyocyte apoptosis after AMI and to explore potential mechanisms. Methods: We generated an AMI rat model to investigate the function and possible regulatory mechanisms of CSWT. All rats were randomly divided into four groups: the sham-operated only group, sham-operated with SW treatment group, AMI only group, and AMI treated with SW treatment group.The rats were treated with a left anterior descending coronary artery ligation for 12h and then treated with or without CSWT (800 shots at 0.1 mJ/ mm2). Cytochrome c release was measured to analyze mitochondrial function and integrity. The apoptotic cell rate was determined by TUNEL assay. Western blot was used to analyze the cell apoptosis-, inflammation-, and survival-related signaling pathways. Results: First, the methodology of CSWT in the rat model of AMI was established. Second, CSWT attenuated the cardiomyocyte apoptosis rate in the infarct border zone. Third, CSWT suppressed the expression of apoptosis and inflammation molecules after AMI. Fourth, CSWT inhibited activation of the JNK pathway, which indicated inhibition of the cell inflammatory pathways and promotion of cardiomyocyte survival after AMI. Conclusion: These results indicate that CSWT exerts a protective effect against AMI-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis, potentially by attenuating cytochrome c release from the mitochondria and inhibiting of the mitochondrial-dependent intrinsic apoptotic pathway. We also demonstrate that CSWT suppresses the JNK pathway and cardiomyocyte inflammation, which may also decrease cardiomyocyte apoptosis in vivo.

We conducted an investigation of Borrelia miyamotoi infections in humans and ticks in northeastern China. Of 984 patients reporting recent tick bites, 14 (1.4%) were found to be infected with B. miyamotoi by PCR and genomic sequencing. The 14 patients had nonspecific febrile manifestations, including fever, headache, anorexia, asthenia, and arthralgia. Rash, eschar, and regional lymphadenopathy were each observed in 1 patient. Four (28.6%) patients were hospitalized because of severe disease. B. miyamotoi was detected in 3.0% (19/627) of Ixodes persulcatus, 1 (2.8%) of 36 Haemaphysalis concinna, and none of 29 Dermacentor silvarum ticks. Phylogenetic analyses based on sequences of a nearly entire 16s rRNA gene, a partial flagellin gene, and the glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase gene revealed that B. miyamotoi identified in patients and ticks were clustered in the group of the Siberian type. These findings indicate that B. miyamotoi is endemic in northeastern China and its public health significance deserves further investigation.

Background: Autophagy plays an important role in cardiovascular disease. Controversy still exists regarding the effect of autophagy on ischemic/hypoxic myocardium. Cardiac shock wave therapy (CSWT) is an effective alternative treatment for refractory ischemic heart disease. Whether CSWT can regulate cardiomyocyte autophagy under hypoxic conditions is not clear. We established a myocardial hypoxia model using the H9c2 cell line and performed shock waves (SWs) treatment to evaluate the effect of SW on autophagy. Methods: The H9c2 cells were incubated under hypoxic conditions, and SW treatment was then performed at energies of 0.02, 0.05, or 0.10 mJ/mm2. The cell viability and intracellular ATP level were examined. Western blot analysis was used to assess the expression of LC3B, AMPK, mTOR, Beclin-1, Sirt1, and HIF-1α. Autophagic vacuoles were visualized by monodansylcadaverine staining. Results: After the 24-hour hypoxic period, cardiomyocyte viability and ATP levels were decreased and autophagy was significantly increased in H9c2 cells. SW treatment with an energy of 0.05 mJ/mm2 significantly increased the cellular viability, ATP level, LC3B-II/I, and number of autophagic vacuoles. In addition, phosphorylated AMPK and Sirt1 were increased and phosphorylated mTOR and HIF-1α were decreased after SW treatment. Conclusion: SW treatment can potentially promote cardiomyocyte autophagy during hypoxia and protect cardiomyocyte function by regulating the AMPK/mTOR pathway.

The tick-borne bacterium Anaplasma ovis is a widely distributed pathogen affecting sheep, goats and wild ruminants. Here, the HL-60 human promyelocytic leukemia cell line was used to isolate A. ovis from PCR-positive sheep and goats in Heilongjiang Province, China. Two weeks after inoculation, morulae were observed in cytoplasmic vacuoles in four different HL-60 cultures. Confocal microscopy using a Cy3-labeled A. ovis-specific probe confirmed that the HL-60 cells were infected with A. ovis. Cells from the 6th HL-60 subculture displayed positive fluorescence when incubated with A. ovis antiserum in the indirect fluorescent antibody assay. PCR amplification and sequencing of 16S rRNA, groEL, gltA, msp2 and msp4 Anaplasma genes revealed that the four A. ovis culture isolates were identical. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the sequences clustered with other A. ovis strains but could clearly be distinguished from other Anaplasma species. When the 18th subculture of infected HL-60 cells was examined by electron microscopy, lysosomes were often observed near the vacuoles. After the 24th subculture, Giemsa staining and PCR indicated that the HL-60 cells were negative for A. ovis. Although A. ovis can infect HL-60 cells for only four months, the ability of the organism to infect and multiply in HL-60 cells provides a tool to study intra-erythrocytic Anaplasma and host cell interactions.Emerging Microbes & Infections (2017) 6, e83; doi:10.1038/emi.2017.70; published online 20 September 2017

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to expand, while the relationship between weather conditions and the spread of the virus remains largely debatable. In this paper, we attempt to examine this question by employing a flexible econometric model coupled with fine-scaled hourly temperature variations and a rich set of covariates for 291 cities in the Chinese mainland. More importantly, we combine the baseline estimates with climate-change projections from 21 global climate models to understand the pandemic in different scenarios. We found a significant negative relationship between temperatures and caseload. A one-hour increase in temperatures from 25 °C to 28 °C tends to reduce daily cases by 15.1%, relative to such an increase from −2 °C to 1 °C. Our results also suggest an inverted U-shaped nonlinear relationship between relative humidity and confirmed cases. Despite the negative effects of heat, we found that rising temperatures induced by climate change are unlikely to contain a hypothesized pandemic in the future. In contrast, cases would tend to increase by 10.9% from 2040 to 2059 with a representative concentration pathway (RCP) of 4.5 and by 7.5% at an RCP of 8.5, relative to 2020, though reductions of 1.8% and 18.9% were projected for 2080–2099 for the same RCPs, respectively. These findings raise concerns that the pandemic could worsen under the climate-change framework.

Lamiophlomis rotata (L. rotata; Benth.) Kudo is an effective traditional herb in the clinical treatment of chronic pain syndromes in China. 8-O-acetyl shanzhiside methylester (8-OaS), a chief component in L. rotata, possesses potent immunosuppressive activities and favorable analgesic effects. This study was proposed to compare the analgesic effects of 8-OaS with those of lidocaine and ketamine in a spinal nerve ligation (SNL) model by behavioral tests, and then investigated its effects upon the expression of spinal glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), phosphorylated extracellular regulated protein kinases (pERK) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) via immunofluorescence staining and western blot analyses. The data showed consecutive intrathecal injection of 8-OaS for 2 weeks brought about remarkable palliation of neuropathic pain (NP), possessing similar anti-allodynia effects with those of lidocaine and ketamine. Two weeks after surgery, pERK within the spinal dorsal horn was mainly expressed in astrocytes more than neurons and microglia, and 8-OaS inhibited spinal astrocytic activation and TNF-α expression. Finally, co-treatment of 8-OaS and PD98059 (an Extracellular signal-regulated kinase, ERK inhibitor) did not lead to remarkable increase in pain relief or TNF-α expression comparing to rats treated with 8-OaS or PD98059 alone. In conclusion, the anti-nociceptive effects of 8-OaS in the condition of NP relied on the inhibition of SNL-induced astrocyte activation, probably via the down-regulation of the ERK/TNF-α pathway.

BACKGROUND:Babesia, usually found in wild and domestic mammals worldwide, have recently been responsible for emerging malaria-like zoonosis in infected patients. Human B. microti infection has been identified in China, primarily in the Southwest along the Myanmar border but little direct surveillance of B. microti infection in rodents has been carried out here (Yunnan province). In this region, a diverse topographic range combined with tropical moisture sustains a high biodiversity of small mammals, which might play important role on Babesia transmission. METHODS:Small mammals were captured in 141 sample locations from 18 counties located Yunnan Province, and screened for B. microti-like parasites infection by a nested PCR to target 18S rRNA gene of Babesia, plus directly sequencing for positive samples. Univariate and multivariate forward stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to access the association between infections and some related risk factors. RESULTS:Infection with Babesia microti was confirmed in 2.4% (53/ 2204) of small mammals. Significant differences in prevalence rates of B. microti were observed based on variations in forest, agricultural, and residential landscapes. Furthermore, adult small mammals had higher prevalence rates than younger, pubertal mammals. The near full-length 18S rRNA gene revealed that there were two types of B. microti, Kobe and Otsu, which demonstrate the genetic diversity and regional distribution. CONCLUSIONS:There exists a wide distribution and genetic diversity of endemic B. microti in Southwestern China, warranting further investigations and monitoring of clinical disease in individuals presenting with Babesia like symptoms in these areas.

A black currant (Ribes nigrum L.) extract (BCE) was prepared to investigate its protective effects against damage to lung fibroblast MRC-5 cells induced by H2O2. BCE exhibited strong scavenging activities against hydroxyl (•OH) and superoxide anion radicals (O2• –) in vitro. Exposing MRC-5 cells to H2O2 reduced the cell viability, the activities of antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT), and cell apoptosis while increasing the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) content. Pretreating cells with different concentrations of BCE (0, 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/ml) enhanced the cell viability and antioxidant enzyme activities while decreasing the TBARS content. Morphological observations and flow cytometric analysis revealed that BCE alleviated the cell apoptosis induced by H2O2. These protective effects of BCE on MRC-5 cells suggest that black currants may possess the ability to eliminate over-produced ROS in humans.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Haemaphysalis concinna is reported for the first time in this study. Its entire mitogenome is 14,675 bp in length, contained 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and two non-coding regions. Among the 13 protein-coding genes, apart from the nad1, nad4, nad4L, and nad5 gene encoded on the L-strand, the remaining protein-coding genes were encoded on the H-strand. The phylogenetic analysis by Bayesian inference method shows that Amblyomma sphenodonti and H. parva formed one clade, while H. concinna and other species of genus Haemaphysalis formed the other clade, indicating that H. concinna belong to the genus Haemaphysalis.

The bending properties of three-dimensional (3Dim) and five-directional (5Dir) braided/epoxy resin composites at room temperature, 90 °C, 110 °C, and 150 °C and heating for 0.25 h, 10 h, and 30 h, respectively, were studied. The effect of different temperatures and heating times on the bending property of these composites was discussed. The results showed that the bending strength of these composites at 90 °C, 110 °C, and 150 °C and heating time of 0.25 h is 33.86%, 46.27%, and 83.94% lower, respectively, than that at room temperature. In addition, 3Dim−5Dir braided composites exhibit different damage modes at different temperatures, revealing different failure mechanisms. Heating temperature has greater influence on the bending properties of these composites than heating time. The results provided a basis for the application of resin-based 3Dim−5Dir braided/epoxy resin composites at different temperatures.

To improve oil recovery significantly in low-mid permeability reservoirs, a novel modified nano-SiO2 hyperbranched copolymer (HPBS), consisting of polyacrylamide as hydrophilic branched chains and modified nano-SiO2 as the core, was synthesized via an in situ free radical polymerization reaction. The structure and properties of the hyperbranched copolymer were characterized through a range of experiments, which showed that HBPS copolymers have better stability and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) capacity and also smaller hydrodynamic radius in comparison with hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM). The flooding experiments indicated that when a 1000 mg/L HPBS solution was injected, the resistance factor (RF) and residual resistance factor (RRF) increased after the injection. Following a 98% water cut after preliminary water flooding, 0.3 pore volume (PV) and 1000 mg/L HPBS solution flooding and extended water flooding (EWF) can further increase the oil recovery by 18.74% in comparison with 8.12% oil recovery when using HPAM. In this study, one can recognize that polymer flooding would be applicable in low-mid permeability reservoirs.

A black currant extract (BCE) was prepared and its antiproliferative activity against gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells was investigated. Strong 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) radical scavenging activities and a high reducing power were confirmed with BCE. BCE inhibited the proliferation of SGC-7901 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and the IC50 were 12.7, 10.2 and 9.0 mg/mL for 12, 24 and 48 h, respectively. Morphologic observations with inverted and fluorescence microscopes yielded vivid evidence of cell shrinkage, formation of cytoplasmic filaments, condensation of nuclear chromatin, and cell apoptosis in the presence of BCE. Flow cytometric analysis also showed that BCE treatment at concentrations of 10–20 mg/mL resulted in marked reductions of viable cells. The high concentration of phenolic compounds present in the BCE (12.2 mg/mL), including six prominent anthocyanins identified by HPLC–ESI-MS2, appeared to be responsible for BCE’s antiradical activity and anticancer effects. These findings of inhibition of SGC-7901 cells and induction of apoptosis suggest that black currant may contribute to the reduction in gastric cancer risk.

We used molecular methods to identify Rickettsia raoultii infections in 2 persons in China. These persons had localized rashes around sites of tick bites. R. raoultii DNA was detected in 4% of Dermacentor silvarum ticks collected in the same area of China and in 1 feeding tick detached from 1 patient.

A total of 705 rodents from 6 provinces and autonomous regions of mainland People’s Republic of China were tested by PCRs for tick-borne agents (Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, spotted fever group rickettsiae, and Francisella tularensis). Infection rates were 5.5%, 6.7%, 9.1% and 5.0%, respectively. Eighteen (2.6%) rodents of 10 species were positive for 2 or 3 agents. Sequence analysis of PCR products confirmed the presence and genotypes of detected agents. These findings demonstrate that these tick-borne agents cocirculate and that a variety of rodent species may be involved in their enzootic maintenance.

Salp15, a 15-kDa tick salivary gland protein, is both essential for ticks to successfully obtain host blood and also facilitates transmission of Lyme borreliosis. To determine whether the Salp15 gene is expressed in Ixodes persulcatus and Ixodes sinensis, principle vectors of Lyme borreliosis in China, we studied transcriptions of this gene in semi-engorged larvae, nymph and adults of these two species. A total of eight Salp15 homologues, five in I. persulcatus and three in I. sinensis, were identified by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Interestingly, the intra-species similarity of Salp15 is approximately equal to its interspecies similarity and more than one Salp15 protein is expressed in a certain tick developmental stage. Comparison of DNA and proteins with other available tick Salp15 homologues suggests that the Salp15 superfamily is genetically conserved and diverse in the Ixodes ricinus complex. These findings indicate that Salp15 proteins in the I. ricinus complex may play an essential role in interacting with the host immune system and transmission of Borrelia genospecies.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza A (HPAI) H5N1 viruses are circulating among poultry populations in parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and have caused human infections with a high mortality rate. H5 subtype hemagglutinin (HA) has evolved into phylogenetically distinct clades and subclades based on viruses isolated from various avian species. Since 1997, humans have been infected by HPAI H5N1 viruses from several clades. It is, therefore, important to develop strategies to produce protective antibody responses against H5N1 viruses from multiple clades or antigenic groups. In the current study, we optimized the signal peptide design of DNA vaccines expressing HA antigens from H5N1 viruses. Cross reactivity analysis using sera from immunized rabbits showed that antibody responses elicited by a polyvalent formulation, including HA antigens from different clades, was able to elicit broad protective antibody responses against multiple key representative H5N1 viruses across different clades. Data presented in this report support the development of a polyvalent DNA vaccine strategy against the threat of a potential H5N1 influenza pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have shown that the predominant genotype of Chinese Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is evolving from genotype 3 to genotype 1. However, in recent years, almost all genotype 1 isolates were from mosquitoes, and genotype 1 has been less associated with human disease than genotype 3. This study reports the isolation of human genotype 1 JEV and its genetic characteristics to provide additional insights into human JE pathogens that are currently circulating in China. METHODS AND RESULTS: In 2009, 31 cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected from patients living in Yunnan and Shanxi provinces and were used to inoculate Aedes albopictus C6/36 cells for virus isolation. The JEV strains were identified using immunofluorescent assays and the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Phylogenetic analyses based on the partial capsid/pre-membrane and full envelope (E) sequences were performed using Clustalx 1.8 software. Three JEV isolates were obtained from a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy living in Yunnan and an 82-year-old woman in Shanxi. The boy had been immunized with one dose of JE live attenuated vaccine. New isolates were grouped into genotype 1. Amino acid sequence for the viral E protein indicated 95% to 100% identity with each other and with other JEV strains. When compared with a consensus sequence of E protein, two amino acid substitutions were found: Ser(E-123)-Asn in the two Yunnan isolates and Lys(E-166)-Arg in the Shanxi isolate. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the genotype 1 of JEV is causing human infections in China. Our observation of a previously vaccinated boy developing JE from genotype 1 virus infection also calls for more detailed studies, both in vitro and in vivo neutralization tests as well as active surveillance, to examine the possibility of a lack of complete protection conferred by the live attenuated JE vaccine against genotype 1 virus.

Newly developed flexible plant wearable devices have recently been regarded as a promising smart strategy for monitoring plant physiological signals in forestry genetics and breeding. However, the interfacial contact between the plant and the device can interfere with the normal physiological functions of the plant and easily induce abiotic stress effects, affecting plant growth and detection results. Here, we develop a simple, scalable, and respiratory plant-friendly wearable (PW) sensor that can effectively mitigate abiotic stresses and significantly reduce potential damage to plants. Notably, the frog foot inspired structure has a transparent, stretchable hexagonal prism array structure that provides four azimuthal escape routes for water vapor and high transparency (92%) with little obstruction to light. The results show that the PW sensor significantly ameliorates the effects of compound abiotic stress caused by flooding and light exposure and achieves stress levels comparable to those of the conventional hydrogel wearable device within a delay of about 2 weeks. Meanwhile, by utilizing the dual network structure formed by cross-linking between the materials, the PW sensor has excellent sensitivity to a wide range of ambient temperature (30-100 °C) and humidity (30-100% RH) variations. In addition, we have designed a wireless monitoring system to facilitate real-time remote monitoring of plant growth microenvironments. This work is expected to establish an innovative perspective for plant-friendly wearable interfaces, thereby expanding the application scope of flexible plant-friendly wearables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronary artery lesions (CALs) are a major complication of Kawasaki disease (KD); however, data on CAL incidence and risk factors in recurrent KD are limited. Ninety-seven children with recurrent KD were retrospectively enrolled from 2013 to 2022, and CAL incidence was tracked during admission, discharge, and during follow-up. Initially, 27.8% had CAL at admission and discharge, declining to 7.2% at 12 months post-discharge. Most patients (66 of 97, 68.0%) did not exhibit CAL at any of the time points, 7 cases presented CAL at all time points, indicating a persistent CAL. The remaining 20 cases presented CAL at admission but recovered at discharge or during follow-up. Notably, transient CALs had presented at discharge, or during the follow-up, but finally resolved at 12 months after discharge. Notably, prior IVIG resistance and increased prothrombin time seemed associated with CAL in recurrent KD, suggesting they could help identify patients needing close monitoring. The study highlights decreasing CAL incidence over time in recurrent KD but with diverse patterns, emphasizing the importance of monitoring and further investigations to confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reference methods for determining the contents of functional traits in camel milk are expensive and complex, hindering their widespread use. Mid‐infrared technology has the advantages of fast, economic, batch processing for dairy detection. In the present study, mid‐infrared spectroscopy (MIRS) prediction models previously established based on cow milk were used to predict 1101 Bactrian camel milk samples in terms of fat, protein, lactose, total solids, total casein, β‐casein, K, Ca, Na and Mg contents. The MIRS‐predicted values for the 10 traits were close to the reference values, demonstrating the utility and efficiency of the proposed method. Furthermore, the quality characteristics of camel milk were compared with those of other dairy animals, confirming that it is a valuable and rich source of essential nutrients for humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encrypted traffic identification pertains to the precise acquisition and categorization of data from traffic datasets containing imbalanced and obscured content. The extraction of encrypted traffic attributes and their subsequent identification presents a formidable challenge. The existing models have predominantly relied on direct extraction of encrypted traffic data from imbalanced datasets, with the dataset's imbalance significantly affecting the model's performance. In the present study, a new model, referred to as UD-VLD (Unbalanced Dataset-VAE-LSTM-DRN), was proposed to address above problem. The proposed model is an encrypted traffic identification model for handling unbalanced datasets. The encoder of the variational autoencoder (VAE) is combinedwith the decoder and Long-short term Memory (LSTM) in UD-VLD model to realize the data enhancement processing of the original unbalanced datasets. The enhanced data is processed by transforming the deep residual network (DRN) to address neural network gradient-related issues. Subsequently, the data is classified and recognized. The UD-VLD model integrates the related techniques of deep learning into the encrypted traffic recognition technique, thereby solving the processing problem for unbalanced datasets. The UD-VLD model was tested using the publicly available Tor dataset and VPN dataset. The UD-VLD model is evaluated against other comparativemodels in terms of accuracy, loss rate, precision, recall, F1-score, total time, and ROC curve. The results reveal that the UD-VLD model exhibits better performance in both binary and multi classification, being higher than other encrypted traffic recognition models that exist for unbalanced datasets. Furthermore, the evaluation performance indicates that the UD-VLD model effectivelymitigates the impact of unbalanced data on traffic classification. and can serve as a novel solution for encrypted traffic identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]