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Porcine enteric alphacoronavirus (PEAV) was first discovered in China in February 2017, and the origin and virulence of this novel porcine coronavirus were not fully characterized. Here, we isolated a strain of PEAV, named GDS04 that is identified by immunofluorescence and typical crown‐shaped particles observed with electron microscopy. Genomic analysis reveals that PEAV GDS04 shares a close relationship with SADS‐CoV and SeACoV. Furthermore, newborn piglets orally challenged with PEAV GDS04 developed typical clinical symptoms as watery diarrhoea in neonatal piglets. Viral RNA was detected in faeces and various tissues of the infected piglets. Moreover, macroscopic and microscopic lesions in whole intestinal tract were observed, and viral antigen could be detected in the small intestines by immunohistochemical staining and electron microscopy. Importantly, the mortality rate of inoculated‐newborn piglets was 100% and half of the cohabiting piglets died. Collectively, we demonstrate that PEAV is highly pathogenic in newborn piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-loop current control is an attractive scheme for the LCL-type grid-connected inverter due to its simplicity and low cost. However, conventional single-loop control schemes, which command either the inverter current or the grid current, are subject to the specific resonance frequency regions. The weighted average current control, which splits the filter capacitor into two parts (in form of an LCCL filter) and commands the current flowing between these two parts, is independent of the resonance frequency, but on the other hand, it is limited by the poor sensitivity to the grid impedance variation and weak stability in the grid current. These limitations are comprehensively explained in this paper and then addressed by identifying that the single-loop weighted average current control is equivalent to the dual-loop grid current control with an inherent capacitor current active damping. By tuning the capacitor split proportion as a second degree of freedom, an optimal damping performance that is robust to the grid impedance variation can be naturally achieved using only the inherent damping. Thus, no extra damping is required, and the single-loop structure with only one current sensing turns to be adequate. Moreover, for convenience of practical implementation, an improved LCCL filter configuration is proposed to allow the use of two equal nominal capacitances for the split capacitors. Finally, experiments are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effects of laparoscopic versus minilaparotomic myomectomy on uterine leiomyoma in premenopausal women. We performed a computerized search of MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from 1996 to 2104. From 711 studies, a total of 4 studies met our inclusion criteria, and a meta-analytic technique was used to study the 4 randomized controlled trials involving 577 women with symptomatic uterine leiomyoma. Compared with the minilaparotomic myomectomy group, the laparoscopic myomectomy group showed a significantly less hemoglobin drop and blood loss, lower postoperative analgesic use, shorter duration of postoperative ileus, shorter hospitalization days and recovery time, and higher levels in the pregnancy rate per cycle and the live birth rate per cycle. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups regarding the operating time, complications, laparotomic conversion rate, cumulative pregnancy rate, cumulative live birth rate, and abortion rates. When performed by experienced surgeons in selected patients (e.g., symptomatic leiomyoma women who have the indications for surgery), laparoscopic myomectomy is a better choice than minilaparotomic myomectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daqu is a traditional Chinese baijiu starter. To investigate the composition of the microbial community of daqu starters, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) combined with culture-dependent method was used to analyze the fungal diversity of thirty starters made at three temperatures (low-, medium- and high-temperature). In the study, we isolated 420 isolates of fungal strains through the plate culture method. Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Wickerhamomyces anomalus and Saccharomycopsis fibuligera were the most common yeasts encountered in these daqu starters, accounting for 79% of the relative abundance. HTS showed that the dominant genera in low-temperature daqu were distinct from those of medium- and high-temperature. The genera, Thermomyces and Thermoascus , exhibited a higher relative abundance and were considered to be the dominant flora in high-(75%) and medium-(47%) temperature starters, respectively. These two genera were thermotolerant fungi. Saccharomycetaceae was the predominant microflora in low-temperature daqu with a relative abundance of 68%. The present study suggests that the effect of the daqu processing temperature on the fungal community was important and that a knowledge of microbial composition should help to screen fermentation strains thus improving the quality of baijiu liquor. • Analyzed the fungal composition of three representative Chinese baijiu daqu starters. • Effective high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and culture-dependent method resolving the species abundance. • Daqu microbial diversity correlated with processing temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identified from suckling piglets with diarrhea in China a new bat-HKU2-like porcine coronavirus (porcine enteric alphacoronavirus). The GDS04 strain of this coronavirus shares high aa identities (>90%) with the reported bat-HKU2 strains in Coronaviridae-wide conserved domains, suggesting that the GDS04 strain belongs to the same species as HKU2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data collection is an essential part of Beyond-5G and Internet of Things applications. In urban area, heterogeneous access points such as Wi-Fi routers and base stations can meet the required communication coverage and bandwidth in data collection processes. However, in remote area, without communication infrastructures, it is hard to guarantee the communication quality of a large-scale data aggregation network. An existing approach is to use an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to act as a mobile sink to perform data collection and increase the coverage of intelligent wireless sensing and communications. The efficiency and the reliability of such a UAV-assisted data collection system can be significantly enhanced with an intelligent cooperative strategy for the sensors deployed in the field to communicate with the UAV. Furthermore, an energy-efficient trajectory planning algorithm is crucial to address the physical limitations of the UAV in this application. In this paper, a data collection process is modeled as a Markov decision process (MDP). The paper begins with proposing two heuristic greedy algorithms, namely distance-greedy (DG) algorithm and rate-greedy (RG) algorithm, which are designed based on prior knowledge of the system and can guarantee the completion of the data collection process in a remote area without the help of fixed communication infrastructures. Based on the outcomes, a multi-agent greedy-model-based reinforcement learning (MG-RL) algorithm is proposed, which specifically designs the environmental state and the reward scheme, and introduces multiple UAVs with different parameters to explore environments in parallel to accelerate the training. In conclusion, the two proposed greedy algorithms have lower complexity of implementation while the proposed MG-RL algorithm yields practical UAVs' flight trajectories and shortens the time for completing a data collection task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrosamines are a group of carcinogens that have been found in various latex products. Methods have been developed for extraction, concentration and detection of simulant migration of volatile nitrosamines from latex gloves and balloons. After glove samples or balloon samples were treated with artificial sweat and artificial saliva, headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometer detection were performed. Eight volatile nitrosamines were extracted by a fused silica fiber coated with carboxen-polydimethylsioxane, and solid-phase microextraction conditions were optimized. The developed method was successfully used to analyze simulant migration of volatile nitrosamines from latex gloves and balloons. The described methods are rapid and simple, with adequate sensitivity and without organic solvent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Binary metal compounds have higher conductivity and richer redox reactions due to the co-existence and synergism of different transition metals. Besides, carbon in composite materials has the advantage of enhancing electronic conductivity to promote fast electron transmission. Herein, a series of Ni m P n /C, Ni 2 P/C, Co 2 P/C and Ni x Co 2-x P/C nanohybrids with different Ni/Co molar ratios were synthesized by in-situ calcination/phosphorization of MOF precursors. These nanohybrid materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer and electrochemical tests. The NiCoP/C material possesses a granular structure with NiCoP nanoparticles anchored in a large number of carbon. Taking advantage of the bimetallic synergism and carbon anchoring effect, the as-prepared NiCoP/C sample delivers the most prominent specific capacities of 775.7C g−1 at 1 A g−1, and 582.4C g−1 at 20 A g−1 (20-fold) with a superior rate capability of 75.1% retention, much superior to those of the corresponding Ni m P n /C, Ni 2 P/C, Co 2 P/C, other Ni x Co 2-x P/C samples and various reported metal phosphide nanostructures/nanocomposites. Furthermore, the constructed NiCoP/C//activated carbon asymmetric supercapacitor can exhibit a high energy density of 47.6 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 798.9 W kg−1, which was superior to those previously reported of Ni/Co phosphide nanomaterials. Image 1 • Ni m P n /C and Ni x Co 2-x P/C nanohybrids have been synthetised by in-situ calcination/phosphorization of the corresponding MOF. • Synergistic effect of Ni and Co significantly enhanced the electrochemical performance of Ni 2 P and Co 2 P. • NiCoP/C possesses high specific capacity and superior rate performance. • High energy density of 47.6 W h kg−1 at 798.9 W kg−1 can be obtained in ASC device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fowl adenoviruses (FAdVs) are associated with many diseases, resulting in huge economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. Since 2015, outbreaks of FAdV infections with high mortality rates have been reported in China. A continued surveillance of FAdVs contributes to understand the epidemiology of the viruses. Results: We isolated 155 FAdV strains from diseased chickens from poultry in China between 2015 and 2018. PCR analysis determined that 123 samples were FAdV species C, 27 were FAdV species E, and five contained two different FAdV strains. The phylogenetic analysis demonstrates that these sequences of hexon regions were clustered into three distinct serotypes: FAdV-4 (79.4%, 123/155), FAdV-8a (13.5%, 21/155) and FAdV-8b (3.9%, 6/155), of which FAdV-4 was the dominant serotype in China. Conclusions: The characterization of newly prevalent FAdV strains provides valuable information for the development of an effective control strategy for FAdV infections in chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, mechanical performance testing of 45# carbon steel samples with Ni/Co alloy plasma cladding was conducted through a combination of experiments and numerical simulations. The thickness of the coating of the Ni and Co base has two types of working conditions: 1mm and 0.5mm thick. The differences of the mechanical properties under different cladding thickness of the samples were experimental tested by metallographic analysis, hardness testing, abrasion resistance testing and impact resistance, by which the samples preparation has been confirmed to be essentially qualified. Then, in order to examine the improvement effect of plasma cladding technology on the sand shovel mechanical properties, the two materials were used to simulate the sand collection process of straight blade and bent blade. By analyzing mechanical representation such as stress, strain and fatigue damage, it is found that with the cladding thickness and the shovel shape difference, the force performance of the shovel is relatively different. Therefore, these factors should be comprehensively considered when selecting an appropriate cladding thickness and shovel curve to enhance the performance of the sand shovel during the sand collection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disease and clinically manifests with cognitive decline and behavioral disabilities. Over the past years, mounting studies have demonstrated that the inflammatory response plays a key role in the onset and development of AD, and neuroinflammation has been proposed as the third major pathological driving factor of AD, ranking after the two well-known core pathologies, amyloid β (Aβ) deposits and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Epigenetic mechanisms, referring to heritable changes in gene expression independent of DNA sequence alterations, are crucial regulators of neuroinflammation which have emerged as potential therapeutic targets for AD. Upon regulation of transcriptional repression or activation, epigenetic modification profiles are closely involved in inflammatory gene expression and signaling pathways of neuronal differentiation and cognitive function in central nervous system disorders. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about epigenetic control mechanisms with a focus on DNA and histone modifications involved in the regulation of inflammatory genes and signaling pathways in AD, and the inhibitors under clinical assessment are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase-change materials (PCMs), possessing thermo-optic and thermo-electric properties, have constantly enabled the rewritable optical data storage and the commercialized phase-change memory devices. In particular, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) has been considered for configurable photonics applications, such as active dielectric metasurface. In this paper, we report an active absorber with metal-insulator-metal (MIM) scheme with GST in the infrared region. The absorber consists of Al disk and reflective Al film with a GST spacer layer. Extraordinary absorption with peaks of more than 90% can be achieved over a broad bandwidth, attributing to highly confined gap surface plasmon resonance. In addition, the absorption can be tuned via adjusting the proportion of GST crystallization, which is a unique advantage to design active device. Meanwhile, the absorption is polarization-independent owing to its structural symmetry. Furthermore, we introduce the designed absorber to the application of sensing. This nearly perfect absorbing strategy offers great potential in sensing applications due to its flexibility and polarization-independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has caused enormous economic losses to the global pig industry. Currently available PEDV vaccine strains have limited protective effects against PEDV variant strains. Methods: In this study, the highly virulent epidemic virus strain CT was serially passaged in Vero cells for up to 120 generations (P120). Characterization of the different passages revealed that compared with P10 and P64, P120 had a higher viral titer and more obvious cytopathic effects, thereby demonstrating better cell adaptability. Results: Pathogenicity experiments using P120 in piglets revealed significant reductions in clinical symptoms, histopathological lesions, and intestinal PEDV antigen distribution; the piglet survival rate in the P120 group was 100%. Furthermore, whole-genome sequencing identified 13 amino acid changes in P120, which might be responsible for the attenuated virulence of P120. Conclusions: Thus, an attenuated strain was obtained via cell passaging and that this strain could be used in preparing attenuated vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Co-Mo-O (Co 1.2 MoO 4.2 ·1.3H 2 O)/Ni 3 S 2 nanosheet arrays were in-situ grown directly on Ni foam (NF) by a facile two-step hydrothermal reaction, in which the untrathin Co-Mo-O nanosheets are connected to each other into a three-dimensional (3D) porous hierarchical architecture with Ni 3 S 2 entrapped on the underneath Ni support. The resulting Co-Mo-O/Ni 3 S 2 /NF exhibits an excellent electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in KOH solution, which yields a 50 mA cm−2 of OER current density at an overpotential of 0.29 V, outperforming the state-of-the-art noble RuO 2 (η 50 = 0.42 V), Co-Mo-O/NF (η 50 = 0.33 V) and Ni 3 S 2 /NF (η 50 = 0.31 V). And it demonstrates a high specific capacity of 340 mAh g−1 at 2 mA cm−2 with good capability (82.1% of the retention at 32 mA cm−2) in basic solution when used as supercapacitor electrode, which is superior to those of Co-Mo-O/NF (183 mAh g−1) and Ni 3 S 2 /NF (70 mAh g−1). The outstanding electrochemical performance of Co-Mo-O/Ni 3 S 2 /NF is associated with the synergistic effect of the individual components as well as the nanosheets directly grown on Ni conducting support with more active sites exposed. Furthermore, Co-Mo-O/Ni 3 S 2 /NF displays good durability in 12 h-electrolysis experiment for OER and 10000 charge-discharge cycles. It is expected to benefit from Ni 3 S 2 entrapped by the protective layer of 3D porous Co-Mo-O nanosheet arrays, which not only can provide channel for electrolyte ion to pass through, but also improve the stability of Ni 3 S 2. In addition, the fabricated Co-Mo-O/Ni 3 S 2 /NF//Activated carbon (AC) asymmetrical supercapacitor shows an ultra-high energy density of 57.9 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 1.1 kW kg−1. Graphical abstract Ultrathin Co-Mo-O nanosheet arrays were in-situ grown on Ni foam into 3D porous architecture with Ni 3 S 2 entrapped on Ni support, which exhibits electrocatalytic activity for OER (η 50 = 0.29 V), and demonstrates a specific capacity of 340 mAh g−1 at 2 mA cm−2 with good capability (82.1% of the retention at 32 mA cm−2) in KOH solution with good durability in 12 h-electrolysis experiment and 10000 charge-discharge cycles. Image 1 Highlights • The Ni 3 S 2 warped by Co-Mo-O (Co 1.2 MoO 4.2 · 1.3H 2 O) fabricated by hydrothermal method. • Co-Mo-O/Ni 3 S 2 /NF exhibits an excellent performance for oxygen evolution reaction and supercapacitor. • The asymmetric supercapacitor device obtains high energy density and power density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coccidiosis, a prominent intestinal protozoan disease, carries significant economic implications for the poultry industry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Fengqiang Shengtai (BLES), a probiotics product, and coccidiosis vaccine in modulating the intestinal microbiome and providing insight into mitigating the occurrence and management of avian coccidiosis. Methods: Broilers included in the study were divided into four pre-treatment groups: the Pre-Con group (commercial diet), Pre-BLES group (BLES supplement), Pre-Vac group (coccidiosis vaccination) and Pre-Vac-BLES group (combined vaccination and BLES). Body weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio were monitored from age 25 to 55 days. Cecum contents were collected at 8 and 15 days of age for comparative analysis of intestinal microbiomes. In the Pre-BLES and Pre-Vac-BLES groups, probiotics were administered at a dose of 0.01 g per chicken between ages 3 to 6 days and 10–13 days. At 3 days of age, chickens in the Pre-Vac and Pre-Vac-BLES groups were vaccinated with 1700 sporulated oocysts of the live coccidiosis vaccine per chicken. At the age of 25 days, Eimeria spp. challenge experiments were performed based on the aforementioned immunization strategy, and the oocysts per gram (OPG) in the feces, intestinal lesion score and intestinal pathological characteristics were evaluated. Specifically, 30 chickens were randomly selected from each group and orally administered 34,000 sporulated oocysts of Eimeria spp. per chicken, re-defined as Eimeria group, BLES-Eimeria group, Vac-Eimeria group and Vac-BLES-Eimeria group, respectively. Additionally, 30 chickens were randomly selected from the Pre-Con group and included as negative control without Eimeria spp. challenge. Intestinal microbiota was sequenced and analyzed when the broilers were 32 days old. Results: A significant improvement was observed in body weight gain of the broilers in the Pre-BLES and Pre-Vac-BLES group at 45 days of age. Analysis of the intestinal microbiota revealed a positive correlation between the experimental groups receiving BLES and coccidiosis vaccines at 8 and 15 days of age with the Enterococcus genus and Lachnospiraceae NK4A136 group, respectively. In addition to the reduced lesion score and OPG values, the combination of coccidiosis vaccine and BLES also reduced the intestinal epithelial abscission induced by coccidiosis vaccines. The results of intestinal microbial function prediction demonstrated that N-glycan biosynthesis and ferroptosis were the prominent signal pathways in the Vac-BLES-Eimeria group. Conclusions: Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that supplementation of BLES with coccidiosis vaccine represents a promising strategy for improving growth performance, alleviating clinical manifestations and inducing favorable alterations to the intestinal microbiota in broiler chickens affected by coccidiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since a novel hyper-virulent fowl adenovirus serotype 4 (FAdV-4) infection occurred in 2015, the novel FAdV-4 has been widely spreading across China, causing significant economic losses to the poultry industry. As the urgency of the issue calls for effective and efficient solutions, the present study investigated the possibility of the fiber-2 protein of the FAdV-4 to serve as a vaccine candidate against the novel FAdV-4. In the research, fiber-2 proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli , and then purified. To evaluate the immunogenicity of the recombinant fiber-2 protein, we investigated both the humoral and cellular immune responses in chickens immunized with fiber-2. The humoral immunity was assessed by detecting IgY antibodies and virus-neutralizing antibodies in chicken serum at 7, 14, 21 days post-immunization (dpi). We examined cellular immune responses by detecting CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ changes in chickens’ peripheral blood through using flow cytometry at 7, 14, 21 dpi. The cytokine production in the serum of the immunized chickens was detected by ELISA at 7, 14, 21 dpi to further explore the impact of the recombinant protein on the regulation of cytokines. The protective efficacy was determined by the survival rate of the immunized chickens challenged with the novel FAdV-4. The results show that the level of IgY antibodies of the chickens immunized with fiber-2 protein was significantly higher than that of the chickens immunized with an inactivated vaccine against FAdV-4. Moreover, 7 days after immunization, the CD4+ T-cell proliferative response of the chickens immunized with fiber-2 was significantly higher than that of the chickens immunized with the inactivated vaccine. Challenge experiment showed that the fiber-2 protein could provide full protection and the inactivated vaccine could provide 90 percent protection against the FAdV-4. These results suggest that the recombinant fiber-2 protein can be an ideal candidate for subunit vaccines against the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chicken infectious anaemia virus (CIAV) has been identified as the causative agent of chicken infectious anaemia (CIA), causing huge economic losses to the poultry industry globally. In this study, a total of 573 clinical samples were collected from 197 broiler farms in 17 provinces of China during 2020-2021. Among them, 375 samples (375/573, 65.4%) were positive for CIAV by real-time PCR. The positive rate of CIAV detection between different regions of China ranged from 46.67% (North China) to 81.25% (Central China). The nucleotide sequences of the VP1 gene were obtained for 91 CIAV strains, whole genome sequencing was successful for 72 out of 91 strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on the VP1 gene revealed that 91 CIAV strains currently circulating in China belong to three genotypes (II, IIIa and IIIb), and most of the CIAV strains belong to genotype IIIa. Phylogenetic analysis of the whole genome showed that 71 CIAV strains belong to genotype IIIa, and one strain belongs to genotype II. Sequence analysis showed several amino acid substitutions in both the VP1, VP2 and VP3 proteins. Our results enhance the understanding of the molecular characterization of CIAV infection in China. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS A molecular systematic survey of CIAV in China during 2020-2021. CIAV genotype IIIa is the predominant genotype in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]