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In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, we investigated the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of a young patient infected by avian influenza A (H5N6) virus in Anhui Province, East China, and analyzed genomic features of the pathogen in 2020. Through the cross‐sectional investigation of external environment monitoring (December 29–31, 2020), 1909 samples were collected from Fuyang City. It was found that the positive rate of H5N6 was higher than other areas obviously in Tianma poultry market, where the case appeared. In addition, dual coinfections were detected with a 0.057% polymerase chain reaction positive rate the surveillance years. The virus was the clade 2.3.4.4, which was most likely formed by genetic reassortment between H5N6 and H9N2 viruses. This study found that the evolution rates of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of the virus were higher than those of common seasonal influenza viruses. The virus was still highly pathogenic to poultry and had a preference for avian receptor binding., Highlights Various avian influenza virus (AIV) subtypes naturally have caused zoonotic infections, but the subtypes H5N1 and H7N9 have caused a prominent impact.At present, the outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID‐19]) has caused a worldwide pandemic.To our knowledge, this is the youngest child infected with H5N6 subtype avian influenza in Anhui Province.Herein, we analyzed the epidemiology of the case and the characteristics of the pathogen genome, to find out the possible evolution of the virus.

Objectives Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it has caused serious casualties worldwide. In recent months, the virus has mutated into an increasingly infectious form (Delta variant) and spread rapidly. Methods In the current study, we analyzed the clinical, epidemiological and viral genetic characteristics of the first four imported Delta cases in Anhui Province, China. Results The four imported Delta cases developed chest inflammation, tissue damage and recovered after admission, the serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and CRP levels showed a first increasing and then decreasing trend. The changes of hs-CRP /CRP and serum neutralizing antibodies (Nab) against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) levels were associated with the regression of chest lesions. The combination of genetic sequencing and epidemiological analysis suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant infection of these four patients may originate from Russia. Conclusions Our study found the certain correlations of serum hs-CRP/CRP and Nab levels with the occurrence, development and outcome of COVID-19 delta variant, suggesting that monitoring hs-CRP/CRP and Nab levels of COVID-19 delta variant patients at hospital admission may be useful for understanding the severity of patients’ current conditions.

The ongoing global pandemic of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 has a significant impact on global health and economy system. In this context, there have been some landmark advances in vaccine development. Over 100 new coronavirus vaccine candidates have been approved for clinical trials, with ten WHO-approved vaccines including four inactivated virus vaccines, two mRNA vaccines, three recombinant viral vectored vaccines and one protein subunit vaccine on the "Emergency Use Listing". Although the SARS-CoV-2 has an internal proofreading mechanism, there have been a number of mutations emerged in the pandemic affecting its transmissibility, pathogenicity and immunogenicity. Of these, mutations in the spike (S) protein and the resultant mutant variants have posed new challenges for vaccine development and application. In this review article, we present an overview of vaccine development, the prevalence of new coronavirus variants and their impact on protective efficacy of existing vaccines and possible immunization strategies coping with the viral mutation and diversity.

High-quality Al2O3 porous ceramic planar membranes suffer from severe deformation and cracking, which occur during sintering process. This study reports on solving this problem, by introducing calcium hydroxide powder in the alumina slurry. Phase-inversion tape-casting technology, applied during molding, and sintering at 1550 °C, favored an in-situ expansion reaction, which effectively suppressed deformation, and well-formed and crack-free calcium hexaluminate porous planar membranes were obtained. The produced membranes had a low thermal conductivity (0.69 W·m−1 K−1 at 85 °C), ascribed to the in-situ formed plate-like structure of calcium hexaluminate (CA6) and to the high porosity. After hydrophobic modification, the membranes were applied in membrane distillation processing. High rejection rate (>99.9%) and water flux (19.8 L·m-2 h−1) were achieved at 85 °C, using a 4 wt% NaCl solution as a feed solution.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains a serious emerging global health problem, and little is known about the role of oropharynx commensal microbes in infection susceptibility and severity. Here, we present the oropharyngeal microbiota characteristics identified by full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing through the NANOPORE platform of oropharynx swab specimens from 10 mild COVID-19 patients and 10 healthy controls. Our results revealed a distinct oropharyngeal microbiota composition in mild COVID-19 patients, characterized by enrichment of opportunistic pathogens such as Peptostreptococcus anaerobius and Pseudomonas stutzeri and depletion of Sphingomonas yabuuchiae, Agrobacterium sullae, and Pseudomonas veronii. Based on the relative abundance of the oropharyngeal microbiota at the species level, we built a microbial classifier to distinguish COVID-19 patients from healthy controls, in which P. veronii, Pseudomonas fragi, and S. yabuuchiae were identified as the most prominent signatures for their depletion in the COVID-19 group. Several members of the genus Campylobacter, especially Campylobacter fetus and Campylobacter rectus, which were highly enriched in COVID-19 patients with higher severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral load and showed a significant correlation with disease status and several routine clinical blood indicators, indicate that several bacteria may transform into opportunistic pathogen in COVID-19 patients when facing the challenges of viral infection. We also found the diver taxa Streptococcus anginosus and Streptococcus alactolyticus in the network of disease patients, suggesting that these oropharynx microbiota alterations may impact COVID-19 severity by influencing the microbial association patterns. In conclusion, the low sample size of SARS-CoV-2 infection patients (n = 10) here makes these results tentative; however, we have provided the overall characterization that oropharyngeal microbiota alterations and microbial correlation patterns were associated with COVID-19 severity in Anhui Province.

Porous SiOC ceramic membranes (PSCM), with a narrow pore size distribution, were prepared by a casting method, using a polymer liquid (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS), as a pore-forming agent, and a pre-ceramic liquid (polysiloxane, PSO), followed by pyrolysis at 1200 °C in flowing Ar gas. Pore size, porosity, and N2 and water permeation increased with increasing PDMS content in the mixture of the precursors. An oil-in-water emulsion, with an average oil diameter of 0.83 μm, was effectively separated (95% rejection rate) with membranes which had an average pore size of 0.59 μm. PDMS was also used for membrane surface modification and the surfaces became super-hydrophobic. After modification, membranes with an average pore size of 0.95 μm were tested in sweeping gas membrane distillation. High salt rejection of 99.9% was achieved with NaCl solution (at various concentrations, 4–16 wt%) at several temperatures (55–85 °C). A stable performance was recorded for over 100 h, using 4 wt% NaCl in the feed at 75 °C. The produced membranes displayed clear separation and high efficiency in separation rates, which was reflected in the high permeation flux in both oil-in-water emulsion filtration and membrane distillation, attributed to the narrow pore size distribution.

A novel multi-functional fluorescence nanosensor was developed by introducing carboxyl groups into graphitic carbon nitride. This oxidized graphitic carbon nitride nanoparticles (nano-CNO), which display enhanced fluorescence and water-solubility, exhibited sensitive and selective recognition of iodides and chromium(VI), with a limit of detection (LOD) as 12.4 and 9.6 nM, respectively. In the nano-CNO system containing iodides, the reversible quenching effect, switched by an acid–base reaction, was attributed to the hydrogen bonds established between the I− ions and the carboxyl groups of the nano-CNO, in conjunction with the effect of the heavy I− ion. This “on–off–on” nanosensor for I− (created by introducing no metal ions at all) is promising for potential use in applications in the field of biosensors. The mechanism of highly sensitive probe for Cr(VI) depends on inner filter effect (IFE) and collision quenching, which can also be turned on though the reduction of Cr(VI) by ascorbic acid (AA). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations shed light on the mechanism of the enhanced fluorescence intensity of nano-CNO and on the mechanism for detecting iodides.

Background and Aims H9N2 subtype avian influenza virus (AIV) has low‐pathogenicity but causes respiratory symptoms and drop in egg production in chicken with long‐term virus shedding, resulting in great economic losses due to high mortality related to secondary infection with other pathogens. In recent years, H9N2 viruses have been posing a threat to public health, causing human infection in China. Compared to studies on other AIV subtypes, there are relatively few studies on the pathogenic mechanism of the H9N2 virus in mammals. H9N2 subtype AIV has been circulating worldwide in many avian species and transmitting with high efficiency in poultry. It can provide internal genes for other subtypes to produce new viruses, causing a pandemic risk. It is important to carry out long‐term surveillance and pathogenic characteristics of the H9N2 virus. In this study, we conducted environmental surveillance of live poultry markets in Anhui province from 2013 to 2018, and 33 representative environmental isolates were selected and studied systematically. Methods The genomic RNA of Anhui H9N2 isolates was subjected to RT‐PCR amplification followed by sequencing analysis. Results Thirty‐three strains were isolated from the embryonated eggs of specific‐pathogen‐free chickens. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that h9.4.2.5‐like H9N2 viruses were predominant during 2013‐2018 and acquired multiple specific amino acid mutations that may have increased their affinity for mammals and enhanced their infectivity and transmissibility. Additionally, six internal genes of H9N2 clustered together with the novel human‐lethal reassortant viruses, such as the low‐pathogenicity H7N9, H10N8, and Anhui H5N6 viruses, and even HPAI H7N9. Conclusion Because H9N2 viruses may be the donors of internal genes that lead to the generation of novel reassortant viruses with enhanced pathogenicity in Anhui province, continuous environmental surveillance of live poultry markets, a key source of reassorted H9N2 and other avian influenza viruses, is of great importance.

Influenza is an acute respiratory disease that seriously threatens public health. The occurrence of influenza has been proved to be related to a variety of meteorological factors. However, less attention has been paid to the effect of relative humidity (RH) on different types of influenza, especially in subtropical regions. Daily data on laboratory-confirmed influenza cases, weather variables, and air pollutants in Hefei covering the 2014-2019 period were collected. The seasonality and trend of daily influenza cases were explored by the time series seasonal decomposition method. Generalized linear model was fitted in conjunction with distributed lag nonlinear model to quantify the associations of RH with influenza A and influenza B. Subgroup analyses were conducted by sex, age (0-4, 5-17, and ≥18 years), and season (cold and warm seasons). A total of 5238 influenza cases including 2847 influenza A cases and 2391 influenza B cases were recorded. The epidemic of influenza presented a distinct seasonal pattern, and the number of daily influenza cases increased steadily since 2016. High RH was related to an increased risk of influenza A (maximum RR = 1.683, 95%CI: 1.365-2.076), especially among males, females, and school-age children. Low RH was associated with an increased risk of influenza B (maximum RR = 1.252, 95%CI: 1.169-1.340). The contrasting relationships of RH with influenza A and B remained significant in cold seasons. High RH and low RH were significantly associated with the increased risk of influenza A and B, respectively. The findings of our study may provide clues for proposing new effective interventions.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has attracted extensive drug searching interets for the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Although currently several of clinically used “old” drugs have been repurposed to this new disease for the urgent clinical investigation, there is still great demand for more effective therapies for the anti-infections. Here we report the discovery that an “old” drug Emetine could potently inhibit SARS-CoV-2 virus replication and displayed virus entry blocking effect in Vero cells at low dose. In addition, Emetine could significantly reduce the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced interleukin-6 (IL-6) protein level and moderately reduce the tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) protein level in the M1 polarized THP-1 macrophages. In vivo animal pharmacokinetics (PK) study revealed that Emetine was enriched in the lung tissue and had a long retention time (over 12 h). With 1 mg/kg single oral dose, the effective concentration of Emetine in lung was up to 1.8 μM (mice) and 1.6 μM (rats) at 12 h, which is over 200-fold higher than the EC50 of the drug. The potent in vitro antiviral replication efficacy and the high enrichment in target tissue, combining with the well documented safety profiles in human indicate that low dose of Emetine might be a potentially effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 infection therapy. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43556-020-00018-9.

Background COVID-19 is a newly emerging disease caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which spread globally in early 2020. Asymptomatic carriers of the virus contribute to the propagation of this disease, and the existence of asymptomatic infection has caused widespread fear and concern in the control of this pandemic. Methods In this study, we investigated the origin and transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 in Anhui’s two clusters, analyzed the role and infectiousness of asymptomatic patients in disease transmission, and characterized the complete spike gene sequences in the Anhui strains. Results We conducted an epidemiological investigation of two clusters caused by asymptomatic infections sequenced the spike gene of viruses isolated from 12 patients. All cases of the two clusters we investigated had clear contact histories, both from Wuhan, Hubei province. The viruses isolated from two outbreaks in Anhui were found to show a genetically close link to the virus from Wuhan. In addition, new single nucleotide variations were discovered in the spike gene. Conclusions Both clusters may have resulted from close contact and droplet-spreading and asymptomatic infections were identified as the initial cause. We also analyzed the infectiousness of asymptomatic cases and the challenges to the current epidemic to provided information for the development of control strategies.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 has caused a huge outbreak in China and multiple countries since it emerged in Wuhan, China in December, 2019 The virus caused diseases

The red-emitting Sr[LiAl3N4]:Eu2+ (SLA) phosphor was synthesized under flowing N2 gas. A thin organosilica layer (about 5–10 nm) was coated on the surface of SLA phosphors by a very simple method, which transformed the phosphor surface from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity. The contact angle of water droplets on the surface of the packed SLA phosphors was more than 140°. Compared with the unmodified sample, the modified SLA phosphors could keep at a high emission intensity for more than twice the time under an extremely high moisture level (at relative humidity of 100%, 85 °C). The hydrophobic modification could also improve the uniform dispersion of phosphors during assembly process of white LED.

Objective Viral nucleic acid detection by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is the current standard method for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, due to low viral load in some COVID-19 patients, false negative results from this method have been repeatedly reported. Method In this study, we compared the sensitivity and specificity of digital PCR (dPCR) in simulated samples and clinical samples with qPCR assay through a series of vigorous tests. Results The results showed that dPCR was more sensitive than qPCR especially for samples with low viral load (≤3 copies). In addition, dPCR had similar specificity as qPCR and could effectively distinguish other human coronaviruses and influenza virus from SARS-CoV-2. More importantly, dPCR was more sensitive than qPCR in detecting the virus in the “negative” samples from recurrent COVID-19 patients. Conclusions In summary, dPCR could serve as a powerful complement to the current qPCR method for SARS-CoV-2 detection, especially for the samples with extremely low viral load, such as recurrent COVID-19 patients.

H9N2 viruses can cause great economic losses to the domestic poultry industry when co-infected with other influenza viruses or pathogens. . To better understand the molecular characteristics of H9N2 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) and analyze the genetic evolutionary relationship, we isolated three H9N2 subtypes AIVs from nasopharyngeal swab specimens from the three cases reported in Anhui province since 2015, and systematically reviewed the genome-wide data of 21 poultry--isolated H9N2 viruses during 1998–2017. The six internal genes of three human-isolated viruses and recent poultry-isolated viruses (since 2014) in Anhui province presented high gene homologies with HPAI H7N9, even including H10N8 and H5N6. The three human-isolated H9N2 AIVs and poultry-isolated viruses (since 2008) in Anhui province were highly similar, and classified into genotype S. Seven N-linked potential glycosylation sites in the HA protein were detected in the three human-isolated viruses, which also appeared in poultry-isolated H9N2 AIVs. None of the human-isolated H9N2 AIVs had the I368V mutation in PB1 protein, but all the poultry-isolated H9N2 viruses in 2017 carried this mutation. Multidisciplinary, cross-regional and cross-sectoral approaches are warranted to address complex public health challenges and achieve the goal of ‘one health’.

Background To investigate and compare the clinical and imaging features among family members infected with COVID-19. Methods We retrospectively collected a total of 34 COVID-19 cases (15 male, 19 female, aged 48 ± 16 years, ranging from 10 to 81 years) from 13 families from January 17, 2020 through February 15, 2020. Patients were divided into two groups: Group 1 - part of the family members (first-generation) who had exposure history and others (second-generation) infected through them, and Group 2 - patients from the same family having identical exposure history. We collected clinical symptoms, laboratory findings, and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) features for each patient. Comparison tests were performed between the first- and second-generation patients in Group 1. Results In total there were 21 patients in Group 1 and 20 patients in Group 2. For Group 1, first-generation patients had significantly higher white blood cell count (6.5 × 109/L (interquartile range (IQR): 4.9–9.2 × 109/L) vs 4.5 × 109/L (IQR: 3.7–5.3 × 109/L); P = 0.0265), higher neutrophil count (4.9 × 109/L (IQR: 3.6–7.3 × 109/L) vs 2.9 × 109/L (IQR: 2.1–3.3 × 109/L); P = 0.0111), and higher severity scores on HRCT (3.9 ± 2.4 vs 2.0 ± 1.3, P = 0.0362) than the second-generation patients. Associated underlying diseases (odds ratio, 8.0, 95% confidence interval: 3.4–18.7, P = 0.0013) were significantly correlated with radiologic severity scores in second-generation patients. Conclusion Analysis of the family cluster cases suggests that COVID-19 had no age or sex predominance. Secondarily infected patients in a family tended to develop milder illness, but this was not true for those with existing comorbidities., Highlights • Family cluster is an important transmission route of COVID-19. • Secondarily infected cases are generally milder than the initially infected cases in family cluster cases. • Family members with a similar exposure history might have cross infection with each other.

A novel single-phase white-light-emitting YPO4 phosphor, single and co-doped with Dy3+/Eu3+, aiming at UV-pumping in white-light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) which exhibits an outstanding optical performance, was successfully produced. The crystal structure, the morphology, the electronic band structure, the electronic configuration, and the bond length of the prepared phosphors were thoroughly investigated, both experimentally and by computational methodology. The results showed that the host lattice provides various surrounding environments to the Eu3+ activators is a results of Eu3+ single and Dy3+/Eu3+ co – doped YPO4 phosphors. Under ultra-violet (UV) excitation (353 nm), the prepared tetragonal phase YPO4:Dy3+ phosphors emitted a bluish-white-light because it has peaks of similar intensity in the blue and the yellow spectral region. The emission spectrum can be tuned from bluish white to green/yellow/red and warm white by adjusting the concentration of Tb3+/Eu3+ dopants. A high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQYs) 68.55% was achieved. It was observed that the tetragonal YPO4:Tb3+/Dy3+/Eu3+ phosphors emit-white-light which covers the whole visible region, and have good thermal stability from 20 to 200 °C. Finally, a WLED was fabricated by using a UV LED (365 nm) chip coated with the optimized YPO4:Tb3+/Dy3+/Eu3+ single-phase phosphor, demonstrating an excellent white-light emission with a high CRI value (Ra = 92) and a low CCT value (Tc = 2497 K). Hence, the produced material is a promising candidate for UV-pumped single-phase phosphor-converted WLEDs.

We compared complete genome sequences of two strains of an avian influenza A (H5N6) virus isolated from a patient in Anhui Province with those of other strains from GenBank and Global initiative on sharing all influenza data (GISAID). The HA gene of the isolated virus shared homology with that of A/chicken/Zhejiang/727155/2014 (H5N6) at the level of similarity of 98%. The six internal genes of the Anhui strains were close to those of H9N2 viruses from Zhejiang, Shandong, and Guangdong provinces, with a similarity of 99%. In addition, the similarity between the internal antigens (NP and MP) of the isolated H5N6 virus and H7N9 and H10N8 viruses was 99%. Based on the data of phylogenetic analysis, the H5N6 influenza virus isolated in Anhui Province belonged to clade 2.3.4.4. The virus was shown to have molecular characteristics of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses, including eight glycosylation sites and an amino acid sequence of the HA protein cleavage site, PLRERRRKKR/GLF, containing multiple basic amino acids. Additionally, the stalk domain of the NA protein was found to have a deletion in NA stalk region (11 amino acids in N6, positions 58–68). Our study demonstrated that the H5N6 virus from Anhui Province represented a triple-reassortant virus and could be highly pathogenic to humans. The prevalence of this virus should be closely monitored.

With the development of the Chinese economy, how to make the right decision regarding firms� risk is becoming more and more important. Case-based reasoning (CBR) is a potential method that can help forecast business risk status in advance; it is easy to apply and is able to provide good explanations of output. In order to obtain more accurate prediction with CBR, it is essential to investigate factors that influence CBR's performance, and to optimize these factors sequentially for the improvement of CBR's performance in firm risk prediction in emerging markets under a more practicable assumption. We verified that sequential optimization of feature selection, feature weighting, instance selection and the number of nearest neighbours is a possible alternative for improving predictive performance of CBR forecasting under the assumption that the number of failed samples is smaller than that of nonfailed samples. The detailed implementation includes: (1) selecting significant features through a correlation matrix and reducing feature dimensions with factor analysis; (2) using variance contribution ratios of features from factor analysis as feature weights; (3) eliminating noisy cases via a state matrix; and (4) obtaining the optimal number of nearest neighbours from empirical results among different numbers of nearest neighbours. To validate the usefulness of the sequential optimization approach, we applied it to a real-world case: firm risk prediction with imbalanced data from the emerging market of China. Experimental results show that predictive accuracy of CBR applied in the emerging market was improved with the sequential optimization approach. Insightful thoughts from the results of the sequential optimization of the CBR forecasting system on modelling social tasks are also provided. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Case-based reasoning CBR is one of the main forecasting methods in business forecasting, which performs well in prediction and holds the ability of giving explanations for the results. In business failure prediction BFP, the number of failed enterprises is relatively small, compared with the number of non-failed ones. However, the loss is huge when an enterprise fails. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods trained on imbalanced samples which forecast well for this small proportion of failed enterprises and performs accurately on total accuracy meanwhile. Commonly used methods constructed on the assumption of balanced samples do not perform well in predicting minority samples on imbalanced samples consisting of the minority/failed enterprises and the majority/non-failed ones. This article develops a new method called clustering-based CBR CBCBR, which integrates clustering analysis, an unsupervised process, with CBR, a supervised process, to enhance the efficiency of retrieving information from both minority and majority in CBR. In CBCBR, various case classes are firstly generated through hierarchical clustering inside stored experienced cases, and class centres are calculated out by integrating cases information in the same clustered class. When predicting the label of a target case, its nearest clustered case class is firstly retrieved by ranking similarities between the target case and each clustered case class centre. Then, nearest neighbours of the target case in the determined clustered case class are retrieved. Finally, labels of the nearest experienced cases are used in prediction. In the empirical experiment with two imbalanced samples from China, the performance of CBCBR was compared with the classical CBR, a support vector machine, a logistic regression and a multi-variant discriminate analysis. The results show that compared with the other four methods, CBCBR performed significantly better in terms of sensitivity for identifying the minority samples and generated high total accuracy meanwhile. The proposed approach makes CBR useful in imbalanced forecasting.

Excessive glutamatergic neurotransmission is considered an underlying factor of epilepsy. The modulation of the synaptic activity occurs both by the removal of glutamate from the synaptic cleft and by excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) and by modulation of glutamate receptors. The spontaneously epileptic rat (SER), a double mutant (zi/zi, tm/tm), exhibits both tonic convulsions and absence-like seizures from the age of 8 weeks. However, there are no reports that can elucidate the effects of EAATs and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in SER. The present study was undertaken to detect EAATs (GLAST, GLT-1 and EAAC-1) and Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR1) in SER hippocampus from both the level of mRNA and protein in SERs hippocampus compared with control Wistar rats. In this study, the glutamate concentration in SERs hippocampus was increased compared with that of control rats by high performance liquid chromatography; the mRNA expressions of GLAST and mGluR1 in SERs hippocampus were significantly lower than those in control rats hippocampus, whereas an abundant increase in mRNA for GLT-1 was observed by RT-PCR; EAAC-1 and mGluR1 protein in SERs and control rats were localized widely in the hippocampus including CA1, CA3 and dentate gyrus regions by immunohistochemistry; the number of GLAST and mGluR1-positive cells in the hippocampus of SERs were less than those in control rats, especially for CA3 and DG region; the protein expression of GLT-1 was up-regulated, but the protein expressions of GLAST and mGluR1 were down-regulated in SER hippocampus by western blot. Our data show that epileptogenesis in SER are associated with regulations of glutamate transporters and mGluR1, which might be potential targets for therapy in genetic epilepsy.

The equipment manufacture industry is an important pillar for the development of Zhejiang economy. It is also a driving force for the economic growth, the transformation and upgrading of the industrial. The paper evaluated the capability of technology innovation of seven sub-industry of equipment manufacture in Zhejiang with panel data in 2009 based on factor analysis. The advantage and disadvantage of Zhejiang equipment manufacture technology innovation capability has been given with the analysis of the result. It aims to provide scientific basis for development strategy making of Zhejiang equipment manufacture industry.

Mitochondrial genomes have maintained some bacterial features despite their residence within eukaryotic cells for approximately two billion years. One of these features is the frequent presence of polycistronic operons. In land plants, however, it has been shown that all sequenced vascular plant chondromes lack large polycistronic operons while bryophyte chondromes have many of them. In this study, we provide the completely sequenced mitochondrial genome of a lycophyte, from Huperzia squarrosa, which is a member of the sister group to all other vascular plants. The genome, at a size of 413,530 base pairs, contains 66 genes and 32 group II introns. In addition, it has 69 pseudogene fragments for 24 of the 40 protein- and rRNA-coding genes. It represents the most archaic form of mitochondrial genomes of all vascular plants. In particular, it has one large conserved gene cluster containing up to 10 ribosomal protein genes, which likely represents a polycistronic operon but has been disrupted and greatly reduced in the chondromes of other vascular plants. It also has the least rearranged gene order in comparison to the chondromes of other vascular plants. The genome is ancestral in vascular plants in several other aspects: the gene content resembling those of charophytes and most bryophytes, all introns being cis-spliced, a low level of RNA editing, and lack of foreign DNA of chloroplast or nuclear origin.

The performance of many classifiers based on balanced data sets can't do well in imbalanced data sets. This article integrates the over-sampling method of Random-SMOTE (R-S), which is based on SMOTE method, in imbalanced data mining. We use the R-S method to increase the number of the minority randomly in the minority sample space until it is almost equal to the majority in data mining tasks. 5 UCI imbalanced data sets are balanced with the integrated data mining process. Log it algorithm is used for classification with these data sets. The result shows that the integrated use of R-S in data mining can improve the performance of the classifier significantly.

The loss of GABAergic neurotransmission has been closely linked with epileptogenesis. The modulation of the synaptic activity occurs both via the removal of GABA from the synaptic cleft and by GABA transporters (GATs) and by modulation of GABA receptors. The tremor rat (TRM; tm/tm) is the parent strain of the spontaneously epileptic rat (SER; zi/zi, tm/tm), which exhibits absence-like seizure after 8 weeks of age. However, there are no reports that can elucidate the effects of GATs and GABA(A) receptors (GABARs) on TRMs. The present study was conducted to detect GATs and GABAR α1 subunit in TRMs hippocampus at mRNA and protein levels. In this study, total synaptosomal GABA content was significantly decreased in TRMs hippocampus compared with control Wistar rats by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); mRNA and protein expressions of GAT-1, GAT-3 and GABAR α1 subunit were all significantly increased in TRMs hippocampus by real time PCR and Western blot, respectively; GAT-1 and GABAR α1 subunit proteins were localized widely in TRMs and control rats hippocampus including CA1, CA3 and dentate gyrus (DG) regions whereas only a wide distribution of GAT-3 was observed in CA1 region by immunohistochemistry. These data demonstrate that excessive expressions of GAT-1 as well as GAT-3 and GABAR α1 subunit in TRMs hippocampus may provide the potential therapeutic targets for genetic epilepsy.