Search

This study aimed to identify subtypes of genomic variants associated with the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) by conducting systematic literature search in electronic databases up to May 31, 2021. The main outcomes including overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and durable clinical benefit (DCB) were correlated with tumor genomic features. A total of 1546 lung cancer patients with available genomic variation data were included from 14 studies. The Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog G12C (KRAS(G12C) ) mutation combined with tumor protein P53 (TP53) mutation revealed the promising efficacy of ICI therapy in these patients. Furthermore, patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) classical activating mutations (including EGFR(L858R) and EGFR(Δ19) ) exhibited worse outcomes to ICIs in OS (adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 1.40; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01‍‒‍1.95; P=0.0411) and PFS (adjusted HR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.49‍‒‍2.63; P

The common techniques to improve hydrogel's mechanical properties include increasing crosslinking density and forming crosslinked double-network hydrogel, which may cause some hydrogels to lose their smart functionalities. Inspired by entanglement-induced strengthening, a simple approach to introducing hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) fibers entangled with different smart hydrogel matrix systems are reported. Different from the conventional methods which hinder the movement of the polymer network, through entanglement with HPC fibers, the composite hydrogel shows both improved Young's modulus and toughness and more importantly improved smart functionalities including response speed, anti-drying, and anti-freezing capabilities and cycle stability. This strategy provides a new design rule to fabricate durable and strengthened smart hydrogels which can be used in smart windows, sensors, and soft robots. Ministry of Education (MOE) Published version Y.L. wishes to thank for funding support from the Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Tier 2 grant: MOE-T2EP50221-0014 and Tier 1 grant: RG71/21, and Global STEM Professorship Scheme sponsored by the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Y.Y. wishes to thank Wuhan Textile University for funding support under grant numbers 017/225014, 017/212061J, and 017/202127.

Intestinal microbiota is symbiotically associated with host health, learning about the characteristics of microbiota and the factors that modulate it could assist in developing strategies to promote human health and prevent diseases. Polysaccharides from

Coix seed (also known as adlay, Job’s tears) is a cereal grain mainly popular in tropical Asia. It is used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat various types of diseases and also consumed as fo...

Oxidative stress associated with the imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species and the antioxidant capacity. It is important to select and employ a stable and rapid method to assay antioxidant activity. The aim of this study was to accurately predict the antioxidant activity of S. sagittaria. L polysaccharide (Sap) by miniature fiber near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics. The optimal extraction conditions of Sap through multi-mode divergent ultrasound assisted method were as follows: ultrasonic power 180 W, liquid-to-material ratio 40 mL/g, extraction time 16 min and extraction temperature 77 ℃, and the yield of Sap was 21.24%. The molecular weight of Sap was approximately 120.5 kDa, and its monosaccharide components predominantly consisted of Rha (15.7%), Ara (12.9%), Man (1.6%), Glc (36.4%), and Gal (33.4%). The application of NIR spectroscopy for determination of DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radical scavenging rate of Sap solution (0.125-1 mg/mL), and the coefficient of prediction (Rp) were 0.9568, 0.9667 and 0.9652, respectively. In developing model, five spectra preprocessing methods and three different linear regressions tools (i.e., partial least squares (PLS), interval Partial least Squares (iPLS), synergy interval partial least square (Si-PLS)) were optimized to improve the predictability and stability of the models. The overall results revealed the miniature fiber NIR spectroscopy with PLS and Si-PLS regression tools showed better predictive property, which has the potential to measure antioxidant activity in Sap.

In this study, the effects of ultrasound-assisted alkali extraction (UAE) on the yield, structural, functional and antioxidant properties of dolichos lablab L. protein (DLP) were investigated. Based on Plackett-Burman design (PBD), the parameters of UAE were screened and then optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). The results showed that, under optimum conditions (ultrasound time of 30 min, pH of 10, and liquid to solid ratio of 60 mL/g), the DLP extraction rate of UAE (69.98 %) was significantly higher than that of traditional alkali extraction (TAE) method (40.95 %). Besides, compared with TAE, UAE significantly altered the protein secondary structure, enhanced the thermal stability and increased the foaming ability and oil holding capacity of DLP by 40 %. Moreover, the DLP extracted by UAE showed higher antioxidant activities. These findings revealed that ultrasound-assisted extraction not only increased the yield of DLP, but also enhanced its functional properties and antioxidant activities, which is probably related to the changes of DLP structure. All these suggest that ultrasound can be applied to augment the functional properties of DLP and make them more suitable for industrial needs.

Agaricus bisporus (A. bisporus), known as a cultivated mushroom or button mushroom, is a very important edible and medicinal basidiomycete fungus. The numerous health benefits of A. bisporus may be related to their polysaccharides, which have significant dietary value and bioactivity, including immunity stimulation and high antioxidant, anticancer, hepatoprotection, anti-inflammation and anti-obesity functions. In general, the extraction method of A. bisporus polysaccharides (ABPs) is relatively simple, and the yield from enzyme-assisted extraction is the highest among various extraction methods. The monosaccharide composition analysis revealed that ABPs mainly consist of glucose, galactose, fucose and xylose, which each have a backbone composed of (1→6)- and (1→4)-linked α-glucan or alternating (1→4)- and (1→6)-linked β-glucan. The biological activity of ABPs may vary significantly depending on their source, composition, structural properties, and purity, and it is highly correlated with molecular weight (MW) and the monosaccharide components. Therefore, this review aims to introduce the extraction methods, chemical structure, and biological activity of ABPs which may provide a theoretical basis for the further development and utilization of polysaccharides and have important reference value for the future study of the relationship between structural features and biological activities.

Given the increasing exposure of humans to environmental chemicals and the limitations of conventional toxicity test, there is an urgent need to develop next-generation risk assessment methods.This study aims to establish a novel computational system named Toxicogenomics Scoring System (TGSS) to predict the carcinogenicity of chemicals coupling chemical-gene interactions with multiple cancer transcriptomic datasets.Chemical-related gene signatures were derived from chemical-gene interaction data from the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). For each cancer type in TCGA, genes were ranked by their effects on tumorigenesis, which is based on the differential expression between tumor and normal samples. Next, we developed carcinogenicity scores (C-scores) using pre-ranked GSEA to quantify the correlation between chemical-related gene signatures and ranked gene lists. Then we established TGSS by systematically evaluating the C-scores in multiple chemical-tumor pairs. Furthermore, we examined the performance of our approach by ROC curves or prognostic analyses in TCGA and multiple independent cancer cohorts.Forty-six environmental chemicals were finally included in the study. C-score was calculated for each chemical-tumor pair. The C-scores of IARC Group 3 chemicals were significantly lower than those of chemicals in Group 1 (P-value = 0.02) and Group 2 (P-values = 7.49 ×10TGSS highlighted the great potential of integrating chemical-gene interactions with gene-cancer relationships to predict the carcinogenic risk of chemicals, which would be valuable for systems toxicology.

A highly efficient and mild palladium-catalyzed hydroboration of unactivated internal alkynes in water is described. Both aryl- and alkyl-substituted alkynes proceeded smoothly within the reaction time to afford the desired vinylboronates in moderate to high yields. Bis (pinacolato) diboron was used to afford α- and β-hydroborated products in the presence of HOAc. These reactions showed high reactivities and tolerance, thus providing a promising method for the synthesis of alkenyl boron compounds.

This study proposed an optimal way to supplement organic selenium, boost polysaccharides solubility, antioxidant, anticancer, immune responses. A purified polysaccharide fraction of Sagittaria sagittifolia L. (PSSP) was successfully modified with selenium (Se-PSSP), and its characteristics, antioxidant, antineoplastic and immune activities were studied. The structure and the monosaccharide composition were determined by means of UV-visible spectrometry, FT-IR spectra, NMR spectra, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The results showed that both PSSP and Se-PSSP contained a pyranoid polysaccharide linked by α-glycosidic bonds in the main chain. In addition, PSSP and Se-PSSP were amorphous morphology without three-helix conformation. PSSP (47.12 kDa) was mainly composed of glucose, mannose and xylose with molar percentages of 55.82%, 14.86% and 14.35%, respectively. Se-PSSP (16.82 kDa) is mainly composed of glucose, xylose and galactose with molar percentages of 26.49%, 18.76% and 18.14%, respectively. Compared with PSSP, Se-PSSP showed stronger water-solubility, antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity and immunomodulatory activity than that of PSSP. These results suggested that Se-PSSP is a promising novel Se-supplement and may be served as an excellent potential antioxidant, antineoplastic, and immunomodulatory agents in the field of functional foods and medicine industry.

Exposure to airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Nevertheless, a comprehensive understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms by which PM2.5 exposure induces or aggravates CVDs remain insufficiently clear. In the present study, the flow cytometry was employed to investigate the apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by PM2.5 in culture. The underlying apoptotic pathway was also studied through the determination of the protein expression and activation of p53, Bax, Bcl-2, caspases-9, -7, -3, and PARP by western blot. The results showed that PM2.5 could significantly induce the apoptosis of HUVECs at the tested concentrations (0.2, 1, 5, 25 μg mL-1), compared with the negative control (p

Watermelon seed, a watermelon processing industry by-product, is a good protein source for the preparation of antioxidant peptides due to its high protein content, low cost, special amino acid composition. Antioxidant hydrolysates obtained from watermelon seed protein (WSP) after slit divergent ultrasound (SDU) treatment were studied. The stepwise multiple linear regression model verified that the reducing power of watermelon seed protein hydrolysates (WSPHs) is positively related with -SH and β-turn content of WSP (R2 = 0.931, p d -galactose in male SD rats.

The aim of this study was to purify and identify antioxidant peptides from watermelon seed protein hydrolysates (WSPHs-I: Mw 1 kDa) and further evaluate their cytoprotective effects against H

Wearable sensors for smart textile applications have garnered tremendous interest in recent years and can have enormous potential for human machine interfaces and digital health monitoring. Here, we report a soft capacitive microfiber sensor that can be woven seamlessly into textiles for strain measurement. Comprising a dual-lumen elastomeric microtube and liquid metallic alloy, the microfiber sensor enables continual strain perception even after being completely severed. In addition, our microfiber sensor is highly stretchable and flexible and exhibits tunable sensitivity, excellent linearity, a fast response, and negligible hysteresis. More importantly, the microfiber sensor is minimally affected by train rate and compression during strain sensing. Even under drastic environmental changes, the microfiber sensor presents good electrical stability. By integrating the microfiber sensor imperceptibly with textiles, we devise smart textile wearables to interpret hand gestures, detect limb motion, and monitor respiration rate. We believe that this sensor presents enormous potential in unobtrusive continuous health monitoring.

Background Myiasis due to Old World screw-worm fly, Chrysomya bezziana, is an important obligate zoonotic disease in the OIE-list of diseases and is found throughout much of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, southeast and east Asia. C. bezziana myiasis causes not only morbidity and death to animals and humans, but also economic losses in the livestock industries. Because of the aggressive and destructive nature of this disease in hosts, we initiated this study to provide a comprehensive understanding of human myiasis caused by C. bezziana. Methods We searched the databases in English (PubMed, Embase and African Index Medicus) and Chinese (CNKI, Wanfang, and Duxiu), and international government online reports to 6th February, 2019, to identify studies concerning C. bezziana. Another ten human cases in China and Papua New Guinea that our team had recorded were also included. Results We retrieved 1,048 reports from which 202 studies were ultimately eligible for inclusion in the present descriptive analyses. Since the first human case due to C. bezziana was reported in 1909, we have summarized 291 cases and found that these cases often occurred in patients with poor hygiene, low socio-economic conditions, old age, and underlying diseases including infections, age-related diseases, and noninfectious chronic diseases. But C. bezziana myiasis appears largely neglected as a serious medical or veterinary condition, with human and animal cases only reported in 16 and 24 countries respectively, despite this fly species being recorded in 44 countries worldwide. Conclusion Our findings indicate that cryptic myiasis cases due to the obligate parasite, C. bezziana, are under-recognized. Through this study on C. bezziana etiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology, prevention and control, we call for more vigilance and awareness of the disease from governments, health authorities, clinicians, veterinary workers, nursing homes, and also the general public., Author summary Chrysomya bezziana larvae are characterized by feeding aggressively on the living tissues and body fluids of the host. The dreadful feelings of patients suffering from myiases with severe tissue and bone destruction, even death, and the enormous economic losses in the livestock industries have been described previously. But our findings indicate that C. bezziana myiases still appear to be under-recognized as a serious medical or veterinary condition throughout the world. Both in China and the world at large, it is probable that C. bezziana distribution could well be greater than currently reported. Our study provides an opportunity for clinicians and health authorities to gain a comprehensive understanding of this disease from its etiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology, prevention and control. In addition, our findings will engage governments, health staff, veterinary workers, aged-care facilities, and also the general public, in efforts to recognize, prevent, and control such infestations.

The aim of this study was to investigate the physicochemical and functional properties of polysaccharides from Sagittaria sagittifolia L. (SSP), extracted by the assistance of multi-mode divergent ultrasound (SSU), with different frequencies (20, 28, 40 kHz) and various combinations (20/28, 20/40, 28/40, 20/28/40 kHz). The results showed that, compared with hot water extraction, multi-mode divergent ultrasound assistance extraction (MDU) not only improved the yield of SSP (SSU-28/40 increased by 43.47%) with lower Mw and higher uronic acid content, but also changed its morphology (p

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of simultaneous dual-frequency divergent ultrasound-assisted extraction (SDFUE) on the yield, structure, thermal and antioxidant activities of protein from Chlorella pyrenoidosa (CPP). Based on single factor experiments, the extraction conditions were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). Under optimal conditions, ultrasonic power of 360 W, extraction temperature of 45 °C, 3% (w/v) alkali concentration and ultrasonic time of 20 min, the maximal extraction rate of CPP was 52.36 ± 0.31%, significantly higher than that of hot water extraction (HWE). In addition, the amino acid composition, the secondary and tertiary structure of CPP were significantly changed due to the unfolding of protein molecules and the exposure of hydrophobic groups. Moreover, the thermal property of CPP was more stable, the denaturation temperature and the heat required for denaturation were increased. Besides, the antioxidant properties of CPP (6 mg/mL) extracted by SDFUE showed that, the maximum 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity was 86.96 ± 0.33%, maximum 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity was 59.07 ± 0.31%, maximum Fe2+ chelating capacity was 34.37 ± 0.43%, and the maximum 2-Phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (PTIO) radical scavenging activity at pH 4.5 was 66.24 ± 0.98%, which were all improved obviously compared with that of HWE, PTIO trapping assay demonstrated that electron transfer (ET) was mainly involved in the antioxidant process of CPP. These findings revealed that ultrasound-assisted extraction not only increased the yield of CPP, but also enhanced its thermal and antioxidant properties, which was related to the changes of CPP structure. This work might break the traditional single-frequency ultrasonic extraction model and provide a reference for the utilization of ultrasonic extraction in the field of Chlorella pyrenoidosa as bioactive materials.

Two amphiphilic macromolecules were synthesized from polyethylene glycol monomethylether (PEG) and borondipyrrolmethene (BODIPY) via one-pot multicomponent Passerini reaction, and they could self-assemble into stable nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous media. The optical properties, including fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) were studied in detail. The obtained NPs possess good cytocompatibility, and could be used for living cell imaging and effective photodynamic therapy (PDT). These results shed light on one-pot synthesis of PEGylated fluorescent nanoparticles via multicomponent reaction for biomedical application.

The aim of this study was to purify and identify antioxidant peptides from watermelon seed protein hydrolysates (WSPHs-I: Mw

Concerns over the health risk of the widely distributed, commonly used titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO2 ) are increasing worldwide. Yet, up-to-now, our understanding in their potential effects on the cardiovascular system is very limited and the toxicological mechanisms are still unclear. In the present study, the CCK-8 assay was performed to determine the cytotoxicity of four sizes (10, 30, 50, and 100 nm) of anatase nano-TiO2 on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in culture, and the flow cytometry was employed to investigate the potential of these nano-TiO2 to induce the apoptosis of HUVECs. The apoptotic pathway was also probed through the determination of the protein expression and activation of p53, Bax, Bcl-2, caspases-9, -7, -3, and PARP by western blot. The results showed that at the administrative levels (1, 5, 25 μg/mL), all the four sizes of nano-TiO2 could significantly inhibit the viability of HUVECs and elicit significant apoptosis in them, compared with the negative control (P < .05, P < .01). Moreover, the apoptotic rates of HUVECs were increased respectively with the elevating levels and decreasing sizes of the administrative nano-TiO2 , showing a clear dose- and size-dependent effect relationships. Interestingly, the increasing phosphorylation of p53, decreasing ratio of Bcl-2/Bax, and enhancing activation of the downstream proteins caspase-9, -7, -3, and PARP, were also observed with the decreasing sizes of the administrative nano-TiO2 in the western blot, indicating that the intracellular approach of apoptosis, the p53-caspase pathway, is the major way of the nano-TiO2 -mediated apoptosis in HUVECs in culture and that the size is an important parameter that may determine the potential of nano-TiO2 to induce cellular response. In conclusion, these results suggested that high levels of nano-TiO2 exposure may pose potential risks to human cardiovascular health by inducing cardiovascular EC apoptosis.

With the growing production and applications of silica nanoparticles (SiNPs), human exposure to these nanoparticles continues to increase. However, the possible hazards that SiNP exposure may pose to human cardiovascular system and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, the flow cytometry was employed to investigate the potential of four sizes (10, 25, 50, 100 nm) of SiNPs to induce the apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in culture. The apoptotic pathway was also explored through the determination of the protein expression and/or activation of p53, Bcl-2, Bax, caspases-9, -7, -3, and PARP by western blot. The results showed that all the four sizes of SiNPs could significantly elicit apoptosis in HUVECs at the tested concentrations (1, 5, 25 μg/mL), compared with the negative control (p

We present an improved ant colony algorithm-based approach to assess the vulnerability of a road network and identify the critical infrastructures. This approach improves computational efficiency and allows for its applications in large-scale road networks. This research involves defining the vulnerability conception, modeling the traffic utility index and the vulnerability of the road network, and identifying the critical infrastructures of the road network. We apply the approach to a simple test road network and a real road network to verify the methodology. The results show that vulnerability is directly related to traffic demand and increases significantly when the demand approaches capacity. The proposed approach reduces the computational burden and may be applied in large-scale road network analysis. It can be used as a decision-supporting tool for identifying critical infrastructures in transportation planning and management.

For many families within the animal kingdom, DNA barcoding has proven to be a valuable tool for confirma- tion of species identification and it will be increasingly used to identify the reservoir hosts of zoonotic diseases. Rabies is a fatal disease that can be transmitted to virtually all mammalian species but the etiological agent, rabies virus, is main- tained in particular host reservoirs comprising various carnivore and chiropteran species. With the success of rabies con- trol programs that target carnivores across the Americas and in Europe, chiropteran rabies cases worldwide will assume proportionately greater significance in the future. Information on the species of bats which act as rabies reservoirs and which are most likely to infect other mammals by spill-over transmission of the virus is important from public and veteri- nary health perspectives. While bats submitted for rabies diagnosis from across Canada are identified to species according to their morphological traits, accurate species assignment may often be compromised due to poor sample condition or submission of limited material. In this study, a collection of bats representative of the species most commonly submitted for rabies diagnosis, as identified by morphological examination of the specimens, was re-examined by DNA barcoding methods. This comparison identified certain species which are routinely misidentified by traditional taxonomic methods and suggests that species confirmation by barcoding will improve the epidemiological information generated from rabies testing.

Phylogenetic analysis of a collection of rabies viruses that currently circulate in Canadian big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) identified five distinct lineages which have emerged from a common ancestor that existed over 400 years ago. Four of these lineages are regionally restricted in their range while the fifth lineage, comprising two-thirds of all specimens, has emerged in recent times and exhibits a recent demographic expansion with rapid spread across the Canadian range of its host. Four of these viral lineages are shown to circulate in the US. To explore the role of the big brown bat host in dissemination of these viral variants, the population structure of this species was explored using both mitochondrial DNA and nuclear microsatellite markers. These data suggest the existence of three subpopulations distributed in British Columbia, mid-western Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) and eastern Canada (Quebec and Ontario), respectively. We suggest that these three bat subpopulations may differ by their level of female phylopatry, which in turn affects the spread of rabies viruses. We discuss how this bat population structure has affected the historical spread of rabies virus variants across the country and the potential impact of these events on public health concerns regarding rabies.

Genetic male sterility (GMS) genes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) can be used for commercial hybrid seed production. A new wheat GMS mutant, LZ, was successfully used in the 4E-ms system for producing hybrid wheat, a new approach of producing hybrid seed based on GMS. Our objective was to analyse the genetic mechanism of male sterility and locate the GMS gene in mutant LZ to a chromosome. We firstly crossed male sterile line 257A (2n = 42) derived from mutant LZ to Chinese Spring and several other cultivars for determining the self-fertility of the F1 hybrids and the segregation ratios of male-sterile and fertile plants in the F2 and BC1 generations. Secondly, we conducted nullisomic analysis by crossing male sterile plants of line 257A to 21 self-fertile nullisomic lines as male to test the F1 fertilities and to locate the GMS gene in mutant LZ to a chromosome. Thirdly, we conducted an allelism test with Cornerstone, which has ms1c located on chromosome 4BS. All F1s were male fertile and the segregation ratio of male-sterile: fertile plants in all BC1 and F2 populations fitted 1:1 and 1:3 ratios, respectively. The male sterility was stably inherited, and was not affected by environmental factors in two different locations or by the cytoplasm of wheat cultivars in four reciprocal cross combinations. The results of nullisomic analysis indicated the gene was on chromosome 4B. The allelism test showed that the mutant LZ was allelic to ms1c. We concluded that the mutant LZ has common wheat cytoplasm and carries a stably inherited monogenic recessive gene named ms1g.

A cytogenetic method for producing hybrid seed using a nuclear gene for male sterility and an alien chromosome to obtain a pollination control system has been proposed in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Our objective was to transfer the alien chromosome 4E to the monogenic recessive male-sterile mutant Lanzhou (LZ), and then to establish an efficient cytogenetic system of maintaining the male sterility of the LZ mutant. After crossing the 4E disomic addition line 81529 (2n = 44) as male to LZ [2n = 42(msms) = 42], we obtained the 4E monosomic addition line [2n = 43(msms)] in the F 3 generation that had light-blue seed color. The line was homozygous for the male-sterile gene (msms) of the host wheat and also had good self-fertility. The self-fertilized seeds segregated into 64.3% white (nonblue) with genotype 2n = 42(msms), 32.1% light blue with genotype 2n = 43(msms) and 3.6% deep blue with genotype 2n = 44(msms) grains. All plants grown from the white grains were completely male sterile. All plants grown from the light-blue grains had good self-fertility whose progeny seeds segregated into white, light-blue, and deep-blue grains again in succeeding generations. All plants grown from the deep-blue grains were self-fertile and retained their deep-blue color in the succeeding generations. When white grain male-sterile lines were crossed using any cultivar as the male parent, the hybrid plants had male fertility restored. And, this is the basis for the 4E-ms system of producing hybrid wheat.

Delay is the critical index which is used for evaluating the signal timing plan of intersection. There are some classic models for calculating delay, such as HCM2000, Webster, ARRB and the synthesis algorithm used for urban comprehensive planning in Shanghai. The methods mentioned above are verified with the delay data surveyed in some intersections in Harbin. The result shows that there is a large difference between the mentioned models and the measured data. Thereby, five parameters model is established with the measured data by SPSS for calculating the delay of intersection which operates in different status. The test values satisfy the condition, which is required in the SPSS, and the correlation coefficients has attained above 98 percent. The built models have been used for evaluating the traffic situations of signal-controlled intersection in Harbin. The results can be accepted by the experts. Whether the built model can be used in other cities needs further research.

Phylogenetic analysis of a collection of rabies viruses that currently circulate in Canadian big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) identified five distinct lineages which have emerged from a common ancestor that existed over 400 years ago. Four of these lineages are regionally restricted in their range while the fifth lineage, comprising two-thirds of all specimens, has emerged in recent times and exhibits a recent demographic expansion with rapid spread across the Canadian range of its host. Four of these viral lineages are shown to circulate in the US. To explore the role of the big brown bat host in dissemination of these viral variants, the population structure of this species was explored using both mitochondrial DNA and nuclear microsatellite markers. These data suggest the existence of three subpopulations distributed in British Columbia, mid-western Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) and eastern Canada (Quebec and Ontario), respectively. We suggest that these three bat subpopulations may differ by their level of female phylopatry, which in turn affects the spread of rabies viruses. We discuss how this bat population structure has affected the historical spread of rabies virus variants across the country and the potential impact of these events on public health concerns regarding rabies.

After discussion about definition and constitution and properties of fitting normal error, one new method is put forward, that suggests the fitting normal error represents the error of fitting the horizontal alignment in old:highway. In addition, the accuracy indexes of fitting horizontal alignment in old:highway based on fitting normal error is established. The algorithms of swinging approach on compressible size step can be used to calculate the fitting normal error. From the way and basic norm of decision about fitting normal error’ sign discussed, It is practicable that the quantity of fitting the horizontal alignment in old:highway is controlled by the accuracy index of fitting the horizontal alignment in field and interior work. Finally, an example of estimate for accuracy of fitting horizontal alignment in reform design of the State Highway G321 is offered.