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Genomic epidemiology offers important insight into the transmission and evolution of respiratory viruses. We used metagenomic sequencing from negative SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests to identify a wide range of respiratory viruses and generate full genome sequences, offering a streamlined mechanism for broad respiratory virus genomic surveillance., Competing Interests: Disclosures: All authors report no conflicts of interest to disclose.

A large qubit capacity and an individual readout capability are two crucial requirements for large-scale quantum computing and simulation 1 . As one of the leading physical platforms for quantum information processing, the ion trap has achieved a quantum simulation of tens of ions with site-resolved readout in a one-dimensional Paul trap 2-4 and of hundreds of ions with global observables in a two-dimensional (2D) Penning trap 5,6 . However, integrating these two features into a single system is still very challenging. Here we report the stable trapping of 512 ions in a 2D Wigner crystal and the sideband cooling of their transverse motion. We demonstrate the quantum simulation of long-range quantum Ising models with tunable coupling strengths and patterns, with or without frustration, using 300 ions. Enabled by the site resolution in the single-shot measurement, we observe rich spatial correlation patterns in the quasi-adiabatically prepared ground states, which allows us to verify quantum simulation results by comparing the measured two-spin correlations with the calculated collective phonon modes and with classical simulated annealing. We further probe the quench dynamics of the Ising model in a transverse field to demonstrate quantum sampling tasks. Our work paves the way for simulating classically intractable quantum dynamics and for running noisy intermediate-scale quantum algorithms 7,8 using 2D ion trap quantum simulators., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Current disinfection processes pose an emerging environmental risk due to the ineffective removal of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, especially disinfection residual bacteria (DRB) carrying multidrug-resistant plasmids (MRPs). However, the characteristics of DRB-carried MRPs are poorly understood. In this study, qPCR analysis reveals that the total absolute abundance of four plasmids in postdisinfection effluent decreases by 1.15 log units, while their relative abundance increases by 0.11 copies/cell compared to investigated wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) influent. We obtain three distinctive DRB-carried MRPs (pWWTP-01-03) from postdisinfection effluent, each carrying 9-11 antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs). pWWTP-01 contains all 11 ARGs within an ∼25 Kbp chimeric genomic island showing strong patterns of recombination with MRPs from foodborne outbreaks and hospitals. Antibiotic-, disinfectant-, and heavy-metal-resistant genes on the same plasmid underscore the potential roles of disinfectants and heavy metals in the coselection of ARGs. Additionally, pWWTP-02 harbors an adhesin-type virulence operon, implying risks of both antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity upon entering environments. Furthermore, some MRPs from DRB are capable of transferring and could confer selective advantages to recipients under environmentally relevant antibiotic pressure. Overall, this study advances our understanding of DRB-carried MRPs and highlights the imminent need to monitor and control wastewater MRPs for environmental security.

Synthetic dimension is a potent tool in quantum simulation of topological phases of matter. Here we propose and demonstrate a scheme to simulate an anisotropic Harper-Hofstadter model with controllable magnetic flux on a two-leg ladder using the spin and motional states of a single trapped ion. We verify the successful simulation of this model by comparing the measured dynamics with theoretical predictions under various coupling strength and magnetic flux, and we observe the chiral motion of wave packets on the ladder as evidence of the topological chiral edge modes. We develop a quench path to adiabatically prepare the ground states for varying magnetic flux and coupling strength, and we measure the chiral current on the ladder for the prepared ground states, which allows us to probe the quantum phase transition between the Meissner phase and the vortex phase. Our work demonstrates the trapped ion as a powerful quantum simulation platform for topological quantum matter.

Sustained visual attention allows us to process and react to unpredictable, behaviorally relevant sensory input. Sustained attention engages communication between the higher-order visual thalamus and its connected cortical regions. However, it remains unclear whether there is a causal relationship between oscillatory circuit dynamics and attentional behavior in these thalamo-cortical circuits. By using rhythmic optogenetic stimulation in the ferret, we provide causal evidence that higher-order visual thalamus coordinates thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical functional connectivity during sustained attention via spike-field phase locking. Increasing theta but not alpha power in the thalamus improved accuracy and reduced omission rates in a sustained attention task. Further, the enhancement of effective connectivity by stimulation was correlated with improved behavioral performance. Our work demonstrates a potential circuit-level causal mechanism for how the higher-order visual thalamus modulates cortical communication through rhythmic synchronization during sustained attention., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests F.F. is the lead inventor of intellectual property filed on the topics of noninvasive brain stimulation by the University of North Carolina. F.F. serves as a paid consultant to Electromedical Products International. The work presented here is completely unrelated., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is an evolutionarily conserved brain region, well known for valence processing. Despite this central role, the relationship between activity of BLA neuronal ensembles in response to appetitive and aversive stimuli and the subsequent expression of valence-specific behavior has remained elusive. Here, we leverage two-photon calcium imaging combined with single-cell holographic photostimulation through an endoscopic lens to demonstrate a direct causal role for opposing ensembles of BLA neurons in the control of oppositely valenced behavior in mice. We report that targeted photostimulation of either appetitive or aversive BLA ensembles results in mutual inhibition and shifts behavioral responses to promote consumption of an aversive tastant or reduce consumption of an appetitive tastant, respectively. Here, we identify that neuronal encoding of valence in the BLA is graded and relies on the relative proportion of individual BLA neurons recruited in a stable appetitive or quinine ensemble., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Generating ion-photon entanglement is a crucial step for scalable trapped-ion quantum networks. To avoid the crosstalk on memory qubits carrying quantum information, it is common to use a different ion species for ion-photon entanglement generation such that the scattered photons are far off-resonant for the memory qubits. However, such a dual-species scheme can be subject to inefficient sympathetic cooling due to the mass mismatch of the ions. Here we demonstrate a trapped-ion quantum network node in the dual-type qubit scheme where two types of qubits are encoded in the S and F hyperfine structure levels of 171 Yb + ions. We generate ion photon entanglement for the S-qubit in a typical timescale of hundreds of milliseconds, and verify its small crosstalk on a nearby F-qubit with coherence time above seconds. Our work demonstrates an enabling function of the dual-type qubit scheme for scalable quantum networks., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In vivo fluorescence recording techniques have produced landmark discoveries in neuroscience, providing insight into how single cell and circuit-level computations mediate sensory processing and generate complex behaviors. While much attention has been given to recording from cortical brain regions, deep-brain fluorescence recording is more complex because it requires additional measures to gain optical access to harder to reach brain nuclei. Here we discuss detailed considerations and tradeoffs regarding deep-brain fluorescence recording techniques and provide a comprehensive guide for all major steps involved, from project planning to data analysis. The goal is to impart guidance for new and experienced investigators seeking to use in vivo deep fluorescence optical recordings in awake, behaving rodent models., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests M.R.B. is a co-founder and scientific advisory board member of Neurolux, Inc, a Neurotechnology company. None of the research noted here is related to those efforts., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in diverse habitats threatens public health. Watersheds represent critical freshwater ecosystems that interact with both the soil and atmosphere. However, a holistic understanding of ARGs distribution across these environmental media is currently inadequate. We profiled ARGs and bacterial communities in air-water-soil in the same watershed area during four seasons using high-throughput qPCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Our findings demonstrated that aminoglycoside resistance genes (58.5%) were dominant in water, and multidrug resistance genes (55.2% and 54.2%) were dominant in soil and air. Five ARGs and nineteen bacterial genera were consistently detected in all samples, were named as shared genes or bacteria. Co-occurrence Network analysis revealed the co-occurrence module of resistance genes, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and potential bacterial hosts, indicating that shared genes and bacteria may persist and co-spread across different environmental media. The risk assessment framework, based on ARGs' abundance, detection rate, and mobility, identified 33 high-risk ARGs. This is essential to evaluate the health risks of ARGs and to develop strategies to limit the threat of antibiotic resistance. Our study offers new insights into the risks associated with ARGs in the environment and suggests that ARGs may depend on specific bacterial cohabitants that co-exist with MGEs to facilitate their spread across environmental interfaces., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Converting CO 2 into chemicals and fuels by solar energy can alleviate global warming and solve the energy crisis. In this work, CoAl-LDO/MoO 3-x (LDO/MO) composites were successfully prepared and achieved efficient CO 2 reduction under visible light. The CoAl-layered double oxides (CoAl-LDO) evolved from CoAl-layered double hydroxide (CoAl-LDH) exhibited a more robust structure, broader light absorption, and improved CO 2 adsorption ability. The local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect excited by nonstoichiometric MoO 3-x broadened the photo-response range of CoAl-LDO/MoO 3-x . In addition, constructing step-scheme (S-scheme) heterojunctions could simultaneously optimize the migration mechanism of photogenerated electrons and holes, and retain carriers with strong redox ability. Therefore, the production rates of CO and CH 4 on the optimal LDO/MO composite were 7 and 9 times higher than the pristine CoAl-LDH, respectively. This work hybridizes oxidation photocatalysts and LDO-based materials to optimize the charge separation and migration mechanisms, which guides the modification of LDO-based materials., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study aims to investigate the factors that influence the willingness of highway construction enterprises in China to adopt intelligent construction technology. Based on the existing literature, a TOSE framework was proposed, and four dimensions and 15 hypothesized influencing factors were identified through expert interviews. By using a combination of PLS-SEM and ANN, 513 survey data were analyzed to determine the linear and non-linear relationships of the influencing factors on the willingness to adopt. The results showed that all 14 hypothesized factors had varying degrees of positive or negative effects on the willingness to adopt, except for organizational culture, which was found to have no significant impact. Specifically, technology cost was found to be the most influential negative factor, while market demand and organizational structure were the most influential positive factors. The findings of this study have important reference value for decision makers and participants in highway construction enterprises, as well as other construction companies when considering the adoption of smart construction technologies. The originality of this research lies in the novel application of the TOSE framework to investigate smart construction technology adoption, and the combined use of PLS-SEM and ANN to examine both linear and nonlinear relationships between variables for the first time., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The investigation of chemical constituents from the rhizomes of Ruscus aculeatus resulted in the isolation of two new biphenyl derivatives, aculebiphenyls A and B ( 1-2 ), together with two known analogs ( 3-4 ). Their chemical structures were elucidated based on extensive spectroscopic interpretation and HR-ESI-MS analysis. Compounds 3-4 were isolated from the Ruscus genus for the first time. The isolated compounds were tested for anti-inflammatory activities and antibacterial activities. Compound 1 exhibited significant inhibitory effects on LPS-induced NO production and COX-2 with IC 50 values of 10.8  µ M and 0.4  µ M. Compound 1 also significantly down-regulated the levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-1 β , IL-6, and TNF- α . Compound 1 showed moderate antibacterial activities.

Purpose: To observe the effect of eicosapentaenoc acid (EPA) on the expression of inflammatory factors in human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (hPDLCs) induced by using lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis)., Methods: hPDLCs were cultured by using tissue block method, and the effects of different concentrations of EPA on the activity of hPDLCs cells were observed by MTT method. According to MTT results, the appropriate concentration of EPA was selected, and the expression of interleukin-6(IL-6), IL-8 and IL-1β in hPDLCs induced by P.gingivalis LPS was detected by real time PCR and ELISA. The data were evaluated by SPSS 10.0 software package., Results: 25-100 μmol/L EPA had no effect on the activity of hPDLCs cells, but could inhibit the expression of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-1β induced by P. gingivalis LPS in a dose-dependent manner., Conclusions: EPA can inhibit the expression of inflammatory factors induced by P. gingivalis LPS without affecting cell activity, indicating that EPA has the possibility of anti-inflammatory treatment of periodontitis.

We analyzed the variation patterns of growth and wood properties of 24 different provenances of 18-year-old Schima superba in Jian'ou, Fujian Province. A total of 11 growth and wood indices were measured, including tree height, diameter at breast height, wood basic density and anatomical structure. We analyzed the geographical variation patterns of growth and wood properties, and the provenance areas were divided. Further, the excellent timber provenances were selected according to different uses. The results showed that the variation of growth traits, which was 17.6%-27.3% with mean value of 22.4%, was larger than that of wood properties (7.0%-21.0%, mean 12.7%). Growth properties and some wood properties (fiber length, fiber lumen diameter and fiber cell wall thickness) had significant differences among provenances. Growth traits were not correlated with fiber traits, and they could be selected independently without emphasis on other traits. There was significant correlation between the longitudinal and radial growth indicators of wood properties, but they were not correlated with the wood basic density, which could be selected independently. In addition, the growth and wood properties were significantly influenced by temperature and precipitation, which showed a latitudinal variation pattern. According to Q-type clustering analysis, 24 provenances could be divided into four categories, of which southern provenances from distribution area of S. superba had vigorous growth and supper wood properties. They had smaller microfibril angle, higher maturity, longer fiber length, and thicker fiber cell wall. Finally, five excellent provenances were selected according to pulpwood and building use.

We conducted a 512-day incubation experiment to study the dynamics of microbial necromass and soil carbon fraction in the 'litter-soil' transformation interface soil layer (TIS) during litter decomposition, using a perennial C3 herb, Stipa bungeana , in the loess hills. The results showed that soil microbial necromass was dominated by fungi in the early and middle stages, and by bacteria in the late stage. The contribution of fungal necromass C to mineral-associated organic C (MAOC) was significantly higher (38.7%-75.8%) than that of bacteria (9.2%-22.5%) and 2-3 times more than the contribution rate of bacterial necromass. Soil organic C (SOC) content was decreasing during litter decomposition. The input of plant C resources stimulated microbial utilization of soil C fractions. The continuous decrease in particulate organic C during the early and late stages of decomposition was directly responsible for the decrease in SOC content. In contrast, the fluctuating changes in microbial necromass C and MAOC played an indirect role in the reduction of SOC. The increase in soil microbial necromass C caused by a single exogenous addition of litter did not directly contribute to SOC accumulation.

Flavonoids have always been considered as the chemical basis for the hypoglycemic effect of mulberry leaves. In the course of our search for hypoglycemic effect agents from natural sources, a systematic study was launched to explore prenylated flavonoids from mulberry leaves. Herein, chemical investigation led to the isolation of 10 characteristic prenylated flavonoids, including two new compounds ( 1 and 3 ). Their structures were elucidated based on spectroscopic data. All compounds exhibited good α-glucosidase inhibitory activity in vitro , among which compound 2 had the best activity (IC 50 = 2.6 μM), better than acarbose (IC 50 = 19.6 μM). Additional in vivo tests have further demonstrated compound that compound 2 has a good ability to reduce postprandial blood glucose. Then, multi-spectroscopic methods and molecular simulation studies were used to study the inhibition mechanism. The results showed that compound 2 was a mixed inhibition of α-glucosidase and the binding process was spontaneous, with van der Waals forces as the main driving force, followed by hydrogen bonding and electrostatic forces. The above studies enriched the chemical basis of mulberry leaves, and the application of computational chemistry also provided a reference for future research on such structures.

Microplastic pollution is a rising environmental issue worldwide. Microplastics can provide a niche for the microbiome, especially for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which could increase the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, the interactions between microplastics and ARGs are still indistinct in environmental settings. Microplastics were found to be significantly correlated with ARGs (p < 0.001), based on the analysis of samples taken from a chicken farm and its surrounding farmlands. Analysis of chicken feces revealed the highest abundance of microplastics (14.9 items/g) and ARGs (6.24 ×10 8 copies/g), suggesting that chicken farms could be the hotspot for the co-spread of microplastics and ARGs. Conjugative transfer experiments were performed to investigate the effects of microplastic exposure for different concentrations and sizes on the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of ARGs between bacteria. Results showed that the microplastics significantly enhanced the bacterial conjugative transfer frequency by 1.4-1.7 folds indicating that microplastics could aggravate ARG dissemination in the environment. Potential mechanisms related to the up-regulation of rpoS, ompA, ompC, ompF, trbBp, traF, trfAp, traJ, and down-regulation of korA, korB, and trbA were induced by microplastics. These findings highlighted the co-occurrence of microplastics and ARGs in the agricultural environment and the exacerbation of ARGs' prevalence via rising the HGT derived from microplastics., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Non-Hermitian systems generically have complex energies, which may host topological structures, such as links or knots. While there has been great progress in experimentally engineering non-Hermitian models in quantum simulators, it remains a significant challenge to experimentally probe complex energies in these systems, thereby making it difficult to directly diagnose complex-energy topology. Here, we experimentally realize a two-band non-Hermitian model with a single trapped ion whose complex eigenenergies exhibit the unlink, unknot, or Hopf link topological structures. Based on non-Hermitian absorption spectroscopy, we couple one system level to an auxiliary level through a laser beam and then experimentally measure the population of the ion on the auxiliary level after a long period of time. Complex eigenenergies are then extracted, illustrating the unlink, unknot, or Hopf link topological structure. Our work demonstrates that complex energies can be experimentally measured in quantum simulators via non-Hermitian absorption spectroscopy, thereby opening the door for exploring various complex-energy properties in non-Hermitian quantum systems, such as trapped ions, cold atoms, superconducting circuits, or solid-state spin systems.

Background: Antisense transcript of the B-cell translocation gene 3 (ASBEL) is a highly conserved antisense non-coding RNA (ncRNA) and participates in a variety of biological processes. However, the ASBEL expression status in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and its correlation with BTG3 expression and tumor cell progression were not completely clear., Objective: We conducted cell experiments and animal experiments to confirm that ASBEL plays a crucial role in the tumorigenesis of PDAC by targeting BTG3., Methods: ASBEL regulation in PDAC tumorigenesis was evaluated using Western blotting, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, flow cytometry, and cell transfection. We also evaluated the expression of ASBEL and BTG3 in tumor tissues and cells using Western blotting and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Finally, we explored the role of ASBEL in tumor development by silencing or overexpressing ASBEL gene in AsPC-1 or CFPAC-1 cells, respectively, and evaluated the antitumor activity in vivo using an ASBEL antagonist., Results: Our study revealed the expression of ASBEL in all pancreatic cell lines. The expression level of ASBEL in tumor tissues was found to be higher than that of paracarcinomatous tissues. ASBEL suppresses expression of BTG3 , enhances proliferation and suppresses apoptosis, and promotes migration and invasion in pancreatic cancer cell. Antagonist regulates the expression of ASBEL in AsPC-1, and suppresses tumor growth in xenograft mouse model., Conclusions: Our results indicate that ASBEL may play a tumor-promoting factor in PDAC by targeting BTG3 and could be as an important biomarker for PDAC treatment. ( Curr Ther Res Clin Exp . 2023; 84:XXX-XXX)., Competing Interests: The authors have indicated that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the content of this article., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

In order to find potential agents for treating cancer disease in naturally occurring compounds, we conducted a systematic phytochemical investigation on the endemic species of Garcinia nujiangensis. Three new biphenyl derivatives (1-3) and one new polycyclic polyprenylated benzophenone (4), together with four known benzophenone analogues (5-8), have been isolated from the CH 2 Cl 2 extract of the twigs and leaves of G. nujiangensis. Their structures were determined by detailed spectroscopic analyses and comparison with structurally related known analogues. Experimental and calculated ECD method was used to determine the absolute configuration of 1 and 4. Moreover, compounds 5-7 were isolated for the first time from this species. The cytotoxicities of the new compounds were evaluated using HL-60, HepG2, and A549 human cancer cell lines. Compound 4 showed more significant antiproliferative effects against HepG2 cells with an IC 50 value of 11.38 ± 0.79 μM than that of three biphenyl derivatives. The morphological features of apoptosis were evaluated in 4-treated HepG2 cells. Compound 4 effectively prevented the cell cycle progression of HepG2 cells in G 2 phase. Additionally, western blot analysis indicated that treatment of 4 on HepG2 cells led to decreased expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and pro-Caspase-3, and increased protein expression of both pro-apoptotic Bax and cleaved PARP with reference to β-actin. Overall, our results suggested that the active polycyclic polyprenylated benzophenone derivatives in the twigs and leaves of G. nujiangensis can be used as a valuable source of bioactive compounds for the pharmaceutical industry., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Hospital wastewater treatment system (HWTS) is an important source and environmental reservoir of clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, how antibiotic resistome of clinical wastewater changed in HWTS is poorly understood. Herein, the basic quantitative traits (i.e., diversity and abundance) of ARGs in three HWTSs were profiled by metagenomics. In total, 709 ARG subtypes belonging to 20 ARG types were detected with relative abundance ranging from 1.12 × 10 -5  to 7.33 × 10 -1 copies/cell. Notably, most ARGs could not be significantly removed by chlorination treatment in the HWTS. These ARGs were identified to confer resistance to almost all major classes of antibiotics and include ARGs of last-resort antibiotics, such as bla NDM , mcr and tet(X) which were abundantly occurred in HWTS with 19, 5 and 7 variants, respectively. Moreover, qualitative analysis based on metagenome-assembled genome (MAG) analysis revealed that the putative hosts of the identified ARGs were broadly distributed into at least 8 dominant bacterial phyla. Of the 107 ARG-carrying MAGs recovered, 39 encoded multi-antibiotic resistance and 16 belonged to antibiotic resistant pathogens. Further analysis of co-occurrence patterns of ARGs with mobile genetic elements suggested their potential mobility. These key qualitative traits of ARGs provided further information about their phylogeny and genetic context. This study sheds light on the key traits of ARGs associated with resistance dissemination and pathogenicity and health risks of clinical wastewater., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is an important economic crop belonging to family Solanaceae and is widely cultivated in China (Basit 2021). From April to July in 2022, a foliar disease with symptoms similar to grey spot was extensively observed on tobacco in Guangxi Province (24°52' N, 111°23' E), China. Field surveys were conducted in 18 towns and the disease incidence was 0.89% to 6.95%. Symptomatic leaves displayed irregular, dark brown lesions surrounded by yellow halos and accompanied with black conidiomata in gray centers (Fig 1A-E). Symptomatic leaves were collected from 54 different tobacco plants. After surface sterilization (0.5 min in 75% ethanol and 1 min in 3% NaOCl, washed three times with sterilized distilled water), small pieces of symptomatic leaf tissue (0.2 × 0.2 cm) were plated on PDA and incubated at 25°C for 5 days (Fang 2007). Three single-spore isolates, GUCC BZ6-3, GUCC LJ3-4, and GUCC XH1-13 were obtained, which were identical in morphology and molecular analysis. Therefore, the representative isolate GUCC BZ6-3 was used for further study. The colonies on PDA were villiform, greyish (Fig 1F-G). Conidia were abundant, ovoid, with 2-6 transverse septa and 1-2 longitudinal septa 12.60 (9.43 to 14.76) × 4.30 (3.57 to 5.14) μm (n=50) (Fig 1H-S). The morphological features were consistent with Alternaria alstroemeriae E.G. Simmons & C.F. Hill (Simmons 2007; Nishikawa & Nakashima, 2013). The pathogen was confirmed to be A. alstroemeriae by amplification and sequencing of the ITS, GAPDH, LSU, TEF1, and RBP2 genes using primers ITS1/ITS4, gpd1/gpd2, LSU1Fd/LR5, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, and RPB2-5F2/fRPB2-7cR, respectively (Woudenberg 2013). The sequences of the PCR products were deposited in GenBank with accession numbers ON693856 (RBP2), ON714497 (ITS), ON694345 (GAPDH), ON931420 (TEF1) and ON714499 (LSU). BLAST searches of the obtained sequences revealed 99% (565/567 nucleotides), 99% (577/579 nucleotides), 99% (908/911 nucleotides), 99% (238/239 nucleotides), and 99% (751/753 nucleotides) homology with those of A. alstroemeriae in GenBank (MH863036, KP124154, MH874589, KP125072, and KP124765, respectively). Phylogenetic analyses of the sequence data consisted of Bayesian and Maximum likelihood analyses of the combined aligned dataset (MEGA 7.0 and PhyloSuite 1.2.2). The GUCC BZ6-3 in a well-supported cluster with A. alstroemeriae (Fig 2). The pathogen was thus identified as A. alstroemeriae based on morphological characterization and molecular analyses. The pathogenicity of GUCC BZ6-3 was tested through pot assay and carried out three times (Fang 2007). Ten healthy 30-day-old tobacco plants were inoculated by spraying a spore suspension (106 spores·ml-1) of strain GUCC BZ6-3 onto leaves until runoff, and the control leaves were sprayed with sterile water. The plants were maintained at 28°C with high relative humidity (95%) in a growth chamber. The symptoms developed on all inoculated leaves but not on the control. The lesions were first visible 48 h after inoculation, and typical lesions similar to those observed on field plants appeared after 7 days. The same fungus was reisolated and identified based on the morphological characterization and molecular analyses from the infected leaves but not from the noninoculated leaves. Results of pathogenicity experiments fulfilled Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of grey spot disease on tobacco caused by A. alstroemeriae in China. Our findings would be of great importance for the diagnosis and control of the emerging grey spot on tobacco.

Tetrapanax papyriferus is an evergreen shrub native to China and traditionally used as a herbal medicine (Li et al., 2021). In September 2021, a serious leaf spot disease with symptoms similar to anthracnose was extensively observed on T. papyriferus in Shibing county (E 127°12'0", N 25°11'60"), Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou province, China. Field surveys were conducted in about 1000 T. papyriferus plants in Shibing in September 2021. The incidence of the leaf spot on leaves was 45% to 60%, significantly reducing the quality of medicinal materials. The symptoms began as small yellow spots, developing a brown center and dark brown to black margin, and eventually the diseased leaves were wiltered and rotted. Symptomatic leaves were collected from 20 trees. Symptomatic tissue from diseased leaves was surface desinfected (0.5 min in 75% ethanol and 1 min in 3% NaOCl, washed three times with sterilized distilled water), small pieces of symptomatic leaf tissue (0.2 × 0.2 cm) were plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25°C for about 7 days (Fang. 2007). Three single-spore isolates were obtained (GUTC37, GUTC310 and GUTC311) and deposited in the collection of the Plant Pathology Deparment, College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, China (GUCC) (with the accession numbers, GUCC220241, GUCC220242, GUCC220243 respectively). These isolates were identical in morphology and in the sequences of internal transcribed spacer region [ITS], glyceraldehy-3-phosphate dehydrogenase [GAPDH], chitin synthase [CHS-1], actin [ACT], and calmodulin [CAL] genes (White et al. 1990; Carbone and Kohn 1999; Templeton et al. 1992). Therefore, the representative isolate GUTC37 was used for further analysis. The pathogenicity of GUTC37 was tested through a pot assay. Plants were inoculated by spraying a spore suspension (106 spores·ml-1) of isolated strains onto leaves until runoff, and the control leaves sprayed with sterile water. The inoculated plants were incubated in a growth chamber at 28 ℃ and 95% relative humidity for 10 days. Pathogenicity tests were repeated three times (Fang. 2007). The symptoms developed on the inoculated leaves, while control remained asymptomatic. The lesions were first visible 72 h after inoculation, and typical lesions like those observed on field plants appeared after 10 days. The same fungus was reisolated and identified based on the morphological characterization and molecular analyses from the infected leaves but not from the non-inoculated leaves. Results of pathogenicity experiments of isolated fungi fulfilled Koch's postulates. Fungal colonies on PDA were villiform, creamy-white or greyish, aerial mycelium pale grey, dense, surface partly covered with orange conidial masses. The conidia were abundant, oval-ellipsoid, aseptate, and 13.89 (11.62 to 15.21) × 5.21 (4.39 to 5.65) µm (n=50). Appressorium were greyish green, nearly ovoid to cylindrical, 9.64 (6.62 to 14.61) × 6.33 (5.45-7.72) µm (n=50). The morphological features were consistent with the descriptions of Colletotrichum fructicola Prihast., L. Cai & K.D. Hyde (Prihastuti et al. 2009). The pathogen was identified to be C. fructicola by amplification and sequencing of the five genes. The sequences of the PCR products were deposited in GenBank with accession numbers OP143657 (ITS), OP177868 (GAPDH), OP177865 (CHS-1), OP278677 (ACT) and OP177862 (CAL). BLAST searches of the obtained sequences revealed 100% (509/509 nucleotides), 99.63% (269/270 nucleotides), 99.31% (287/289 nucleotides), 99.29% (280/282 nucleotides), and 99.86% (728/729 nucleotides) homology with those of C. fructicola in GenBank (JX010165, JX010033, JX009866, FJ907426, and JX009676, respectively). Phylogenetic analysis (MEGA 7.0) using the maximum likelihood method placed the isolate GUTC37 in a well-supported cluster with C. fructicola. To our knowledge, this is the first report of anthracnose on T. papyriferus caused by C. fructicola in Guizhou, China. This study provides valuable information for the identification and control of the anthracnose on T. papyriferus.

The Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard (JCH) model is a fundamental many-body model for light-matter interaction. As a leading platform for quantum simulation, the trapped ion system has realized the JCH model for two to three ions. Here, we report the quantum simulation of the JCH model using up to 32 ions. We verify the simulation results even for large ion numbers by engineering low excitations and thus low effective dimensions; then we extend to 32 excitations for an effective dimension of 2^{77}, which is difficult for classical computers. By regarding the phonon modes as baths, we explore Markovian or non-Markovian spin dynamics in different parameter regimes of the JCH model, similar to quantum emitters in a structured photonic environment. We further examine the dependence of the non-Markovian dynamics on the effective Hilbert space dimension. Our Letter demonstrates the trapped ion system as a powerful quantum simulator for many-body physics and open quantum systems.

Recent studies have found compared with insulin glargine (IGlar), insulin degludec/aspart (IDeg/Asp) may provide adequate glycemic control and prevent hypoglycemia events in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Consequently, we performed a meta-analysis to appraise and compare the efficiency and safety of IDeg/Asp and IGlar in the treatment of T2DM. We sought the databases including PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane library to confirm related articles which inspected the effect of IDeg/Asp versus IGlar for the treatment of T2DM until May 2021. Finally, six randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of 1,346 patients were included. The results showed that IDeg/Asp significantly decreased the mean hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level but was prone to serious adverse events, and IGlar increased the nocturnal confirmed hypoglycemia events. Besides, there were no significant changes in other indicators, including mean fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level, nine-point self-measured plasma glucose (SMPG) level, and adverse events. What's more, we found that there was no significant difference in the occurrence of hypoglycemia overall, but our subgroup analysis of confirmed hypoglycemia revealed the population in this subgroup (duration of diabetes ≤11 years) might has its particularity effecting the hypoglycemia outcome. Concerning efficiency, IDeg/Asp may have advantages in controlling the mean HbA1c level. Regarding safety, IGlar might increase the risk of nocturnal confirmed hypoglycemia. Further evidence is needed to compare better the efficiency and safety of IDeg/Asp versus IGlar therapy.

Background: Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade plus radiotherapy may be a promising strategy to improve the prognosis of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the optimum combined scheme, treatment time of radiotherapy, and irradiated lesion have not been fully determined., Methods: A total of 321 metastatic NSCLC patients treated with immunotherapy were identified. Among them, 107 patients received PD-1/PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors with radiotherapy, while the remaining cases did not receive radiotherapy. Data on overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), treatment response and adverse events were collected. Comparisons based on type of radiation, timing of radiotherapy and number of irradiated lesions were performed., Results: The median OS in PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus radiotherapy was longer than in nonradiotherapy (22.8 vs. 16.6 months, p = 0.022). The median PFS showed a similar trend in this study (9.4 vs. 6.2 months, p = 0.042). Moreover, the combined strategy demonstrated a superior disease control rate and abscopal control rate versus without radiotherapy (both p ≤ 0.001). Further multivariate analysis in the immunotherapy and radiotherapy groups revealed that age below 65 (p = 0.004), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance scores of 0-1 (p = 0.001), oligometastasis (p = 0.006), concurrent combination (p = 0.002), and treated with SRT (p = 0.013) were associated with longer OS. There was a similar incidence of adverse events between the two groups (both p ≥ 0.05)., Conclusions: The combination of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus palliative radiotherapy demonstrated favorable survival and good tolerability in metastatic NSCLC patients., (© 2022 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Environmental RNA viruses are ubiquitous and diverse, and probably have important ecological and biogeochemical impacts. Understanding the global diversity of RNA viruses is limited by sampling biases, dependence on cell culture and PCR for virus discovery, and a focus on viruses pathogenic to humans or economically important animals and plants. To address this knowledge gap, we generated metatranscriptomic sequence data from 32 diverse environments in 16 provinces and regions of China. We identified 6,624 putatively novel virus operational taxonomic units from soil, sediment and faecal samples, greatly expanding known diversity of the RNA virosphere. These newly identified viruses included positive-sense, negative-sense and double-strand RNA viruses from at least 62 families. Sediments and animal faeces were rich sources of viruses. Virome compositions were affected by local environmental factors, including organic content and eukaryote species abundance. Notably, environmental factors had a greater impact on the abundance and diversity of plant, fungal and bacterial viruses than of animal viromes. Our data confirm that RNA viruses are an integral part of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Introduction. We recently revealed that a significant proportion of clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates are susceptible to pencillins and clavulanic acid (potentiated penicillins), including widely available combinations such as co-amoxiclav. These isolates also showed increased susceptibility to oxacillin on Iso-Sensitest Agar (ISA). Hypothesis/Gap Statement. The increased susceptibility to oxacillin displayed on ISA by these MRSA isolates may be used to distinguish them from the resistant ones. Aim. We aimed to develop a method to simultaneously screen a S. aureus clinical isolate for its susceptibility to methicillin and potentiated penicillins. Methodology. A double-disc diffusion method using 10 µg cefoxitin and 1 µg oxacillin discs on ISA was developed and tested against a panel of 120 whole genome-sequenced MRSA isolates. The sensitivity of the method was compared with that of previously published genotypic and phenotypic methods. In addition, double-disc diffusion was performed for all isolates on Müller-Hinton agar (MHA) following the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) protocol. Results. All isolates (120/120) were reconfirmed to be phenotypically MRSA, as indicated by the result of cefoxitin disc diffusion testing. All isolates (40/40) that had a pencillins and clavulanic acid (Pen-Clav)-resistant genotype were not inhibited by oxacillin, while 77/80 (96.3 %) isolates that had a Pen-Clav-susceptible genotype were inhibited by oxacillin on ISA. The results also showed that the EUCAST method using MHA correctly identified all isolates as MRSA but failed to distinguish the Pen-Clav-susceptible isolates from the Pen-Clav-resistant isolates. Conclusions. This double-disc diffusion method using ISA could be used to accurately screen for clinical MRSA isolates and determine their susceptibility to Pen-Clav simultaneously, rapidly identifying MRSA infections that might be suitable for treatment with potentiated penicillins.

Supersymmetry (SUSY) helps solve the hierarchy problem in high-energy physics and provides a natural groundwork for unifying gravity with other fundamental interactions. While being one of the most promising frameworks for theories beyond the Standard Model, its direct experimental evidence in nature still remains to be discovered. Here we report experimental realization of a supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSY QM) model, a reduction of the SUSY quantum field theory for studying its fundamental properties, using a trapped ion quantum simulator. We demonstrate the energy degeneracy caused by SUSY in this model and the spontaneous SUSY breaking. By a partial quantum state tomography of the spin-phonon coupled system, we explicitly measure the supercharge of the degenerate ground states, which are superpositions of the bosonic and the fermionic states. Our work demonstrates the trapped-ion quantum simulator as an economic yet powerful platform to study versatile physics in a single well-controlled system., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Quantum simulation of 1D relativistic quantum mechanics has been achieved in well-controlled systems like trapped ions, but properties like spin dynamics and response to external magnetic fields that appear only in higher dimensions remain unexplored. Here we simulate the dynamics of a 2D Weyl particle. We show the linear dispersion relation of the free particle and the discrete Landau levels in a magnetic field, and we explicitly measure the spatial and spin dynamics from which the conservation of helicity and properties of antiparticles can be verified. Our work extends the application of an ion trap quantum simulator in particle physics with the additional spatial and spin degrees of freedom.

Photinia × fraseri is a well-known evergreeen ornamental tree. Owing to its flower-like red leaves and its ability to tolerate stressful environments, P. fraseri is widely cultured as a fast-growing hedge in southern China. From July to September in 2021, a disease with symptoms similar to leaf spot was extensively observed on P. fraseri in Daozhen county (28° 51 'N, 107° 57 'E), Zunyi, Guizhou province, China. About 500 plants were surveyed and the incidence of leaf spot on P. fraseri leaves was 35% to 70%, significantly reducing the ornamental and economic value. The symptomatic leaves displayed irregular, watery dark brown lesions with black conidiomata in gray centers, and 10 symptomatic leaves were collected from 10 trees. After surface sterilization (0.5 min in 75% ethanol and 2 min in 3% NaOCl, washed three times with sterilized distilled water) (Fang 2007), small pieces of symptomatic leaf tissue (0.2 × 0.2 cm) were plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25°C for about 7 days. Three single-spore isolates, GZAAS 21-0327, GZAAS 21-0328 and GZAAS 21-0329, were obtained, which were identical in morphology and molecular analysis. Therefore, the representative isolate GZAAS 21-0328 was used for further study. The pathogenicity of GZAAS 21-0328 was tested through a pot assay. Ten healthy plants were scratched with a sterilized needle on the leaves. Plants were inoculated by spraying a spore suspension (106 spores mL-1) of GZAAS 21-0328 onto leaves until runoff, and the control leaves sprayed with sterile water. The plants were maintained at 28°C with high relative humidity (95%) in a growth chamber. The pathogenicity test was carried out three times (Fang 2007). The symptoms developed on all inoculated leaves but not on the control leaves. The lesions were first visible 72 h after inoculation, and typical lesions similar to those observed on field plants appeared after 15 days. The same fungus was reisolated and identified based on the morphological characterization and molecular analyses (ITS, TUB and TEF) from the infected leaves but not from the noninoculated leaves. Results of pathogenicity experiments of isolated fungi fulfilled Koch's postulates. Fungal colonies on PDA were villiform, creamy-white and sparse aerial mycelium on the surface with black, gregarious conidiomata. The conidia were fusoid, ellipsoid, straight to slightly curved, 4-septate, septa darker than the rest of the cell, and 23.0 (21.0 to 27.0) × 6.0 (5.0 to 7.0) µm (n=50). The morphological features were consistent with the descriptions of Neopestalotiopsis asiatica Maharachch. & K.D. Hyde (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2012; Maharachchikumbura et al. 2014; Farr et al. 2022). The pathogen was confirmed to be N. asiatica by amplification and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), the partial β-tubulin (TUB) and partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF) genes using primers ITS4/ITS5, T1/Bt-2b and EF1-728F/EF-2, respectively (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2014). The sequences of PCR products were deposited in GenBank with accession numbers OK563071 (ITS), OK584020 (TUB) and OK663023 (TEF). BLAST searches of the obtained sequences revealed 100% (482/482 nucleotides), 99.05% (419/421 nucleotides), and 99.33% (891/897 nucleotides) homology with those of N. asiatica in GenBank (JX398983, JX399018 and JX399049, respectively). Phylogenetic analysis (MEGA 6.0) using the maximum likelihood method placed the isolate GZAAS 21-0328 in a well-supported cluster with N. asiatica. The pathogen was thus identified as N. asiatica based on the morphological characterization and molecular analyses. To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot on P. fraseri caused by N. asiatica in China. This study provides valuable information for the identification and control of the leaf spot on Photinia × fraseri.

The significant rise in the number of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) that resulted from our abuse of antibiotics could do severe harm to public health as well as to the environment. We investigated removal efficiency and removal mechanism of electrochemical (EC) treatment based on 6 different bacteria isolated from hospital wastewater carrying 3 last resort ARGs including NDM-1, mcr-1 and tetX respectively. We found that the removal efficiency of ARGs increased with the increase of both voltage and electrolysis time while the maximum removal efficiency can reach 90%. The optimal treatment voltage and treatment time were 3 V and 120 min, respectively. Temperature, pH and other factors had little influence on the EC treatment process. The mechanism of EC treatment was explored from the macroscopic and microscopic levels by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and flow cytometry. Our results showed that EC treatment significantly changed the permeability of cell membrane and caused cells successively experience early cell apoptosis, late cell apoptosis and cell necrosis. Moreover, compared with traditional disinfection methods, EC treatment had less potential risks. The conjugative transfer frequencies of cells were significantly reduced after treatment. Less than 1% of bacteria entered the viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state and less than 5% of intracellular ARGs (iARGs) turned into extracellular ARGs (eARGs). Our findings provide new insights into as well as important reference for future electrochemical treatment in removing ARB from hospital wastewater., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Quantum simulation provides important tools in studying strongly correlated many-body systems with controllable parameters. As a hybrid of two fundamental models in quantum optics and in condensed matter physics, the Rabi-Hubbard model demonstrates rich physics through the competition between local spin-boson interactions and long-range boson hopping. Here, we report an experimental realization of the Rabi-Hubbard model using up to 16 trapped ions and present a controlled study of its equilibrium properties and quantum dynamics. We observe the ground-state quantum phase transition by slowly quenching the coupling strength, and measure the quantum dynamical evolution in various parameter regimes. With the magnetization and the spin-spin correlation as probes, we verify the prediction of the model Hamiltonian by comparing theoretical results in small system sizes with experimental observations. For larger-size systems of 16 ions and 16 phonon modes, the effective Hilbert space dimension exceeds 2^{57}, whose dynamics is intractable for classical supercomputers.

Rhododendron delavayi Franch, a member of Ericaceae family, is globally famous for its garden flowers with significant ornamental value (Liu et al., 2020). In July 2020 and 2021, a disease survey of R. delavayi groves was conducted in Baili Azalea Forest Area (N27°10'-27°20', E 105°04'-106°04'). We arbitrarily selected an area with around 280 R. delavayi trees covering 2.5 hectares in R. delavayi grove where 20-35% of leaves showed symptoms of anthracnose. Typical symptoms included elliptical to irregularly shaped brown lesions on leaves and masses of black dots clustered on it. About 30 pieces of leaves with anthracnose lesions were collected. A few black dots were picked from the lesions with a sterilized needle, plated on water agar and incubated at 25℃ for 12 h to observe spore germination (Fang, 2007). Then the germinated spores were transferred onto PDA medium for further purification and morphological observation. Fourteen single-spore isolates with similar morphology were obtained. The surface of the colony was white or gray and spongy; the edge was smooth; and the back side was pinkish brown after 7 days of growth on PDA. Conidia were spindle-shaped, transparent, 11.1-16.6×3.6-4.9 μm (n=50). Appressorium from conidia was nearly ovate or proximate, brown or dark brown in color, 4.3-10.3 ×3.2-7.6 μm (n=50). These characteristics are consistent with Colletotrichum fioriniae reported by Shivas and Tan (2009). DNA was extracted from a representative isolate MYDJ12. The internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), β-tubulin (TUB), actin (ACT), and chitin synthase 1 (CHS-1) genes were amplified using primer pairs described by Damm et al. (2012). The sequences were deposited in GenBank with accession number MW692854 (ITS), MW727518 (GAPDH), MW727519 (TUB2), MW727520 (ACT), and MW727521 (CHS-1). BLASTN searches of the ITS, GADPH, TUB2, ACT and CHS-1 genes revealed 100% (540/540 nucleotides), 100% (254/254 nucleotides), 99.38% (4488/491 nucleotides), 98.77% (242/245 nucleotides) and 100% (282/282 nucleotides) homology with those of C. fioriniae CBS:128517T in GenBank (NR&#95;111747, JQ948622, JQ949943, JQ949613 and JQ948953 respectively). The phylogenetic tree showed the isolate MYDJ12 to cluster with C. fioriniae CBS:128517T. Finally, two-year old R. delavayi plants (n=5) were inoculated by wounding with a syringe needle and placing 10 μL of spore suspension (106 spores per mL) of the isolate MYDJ12 on three leaves per plant. Control leaves were inoculated with sterile water. The experiment was conducted twice. Inoculated leaves were wrapped in parafilm tape and then the plants were placed in a greenhouse at 25°C with high relative humidity (90 to 95%). Seven days after incubation, brown lesions appeared, similar to those observed in the grove. Black dots clustered on the lesions after 15 days. Re-isolation was conducted 20 days after inoculation. From all the five inoculated plants, similar symptoms were observed, and the same pathogen was re-isolated. One of the isolates was selected for morphological observation and multi-gene (ITS, GAPDH, ACT, TUB2 and CHS-1) analysis indicated the reisolated fungus to be C. fioriniae. No fungal pathogens were isolated from mock inoculated plants. This study can provide effective management and useful information for the control of this disease on R. delavayi in Baili Azalea Forest Area. References: Damm, U., et al. 2012. Stud Mycol 73: 37. Fang, Z. D. 2007. Research Methods of Plant Diseases (Third edition). China Agriculture Press. Liu, J., et al. 2020. Mitochondrial DNA B 5:37. Shivas, R, G; Tan, Y, P. 2009. Fungal Divers 39:111.

Blunt injury to the abdominal aorta is a rare but potentially fatal event. Despite being much less common than thoracic aorta involvement, it carries high morbidity and mortality. Computed tomography (CT) has become the standard method for evaluating the trauma patient and can provide a rapid accurate diagnosis of aortic injury. Depending on the magnitude of the traumatic forces, aortic injuries may be present in blunt abdominal trauma and appear as a spectrum of disease ranging from small intraluminal defects to full-thickness circumferential ruptures. We classify lesions into four groups as it has been reported in the literature: intimal flap (grade I), intramural hematoma (grade II), pseudoaneurysm (grade III), and rupture (grade IV). Radiologists play a crucial role in the evaluation and care of these patients since imaging findings significantly affect clinical management. The purpose of this paper is to describe the different types of traumatic injury to the abdominal aorta, highlighting the key imaging findings on computed tomography (CT)., (© 2021. American Society of Emergency Radiology.)

Hospital wastewater contains abundant antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and pathogens. Last-resort antibiotic resistance genes (LARGs) include the New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase gene bla NDM , mobile colistin resistance gene mcr and tigecycline resistance gene tet(X) which confers resistance to carbapenems, colistin and tigecycline. The presence and significance of LARGs in hospital wastewater treatment systems (HWTS) have not yet been systematically explored. Here, LARG variants were shown to be prevalent both influents and effluents of HWTS. A total of 989 Enterobacteriaceae isolates that confer resistance to last-resort antibiotics were collected from effluents and multiple genetic contexts of LARGs were analyzed. LARGs-carrying plasmids were confirmed to show high multidrug phenotypes and transferability. We also discovered the co-occurrence of plasmids harboring bla NDM-1 and mcr-1 in single Escherichia coli, as well as E. coli HM016 containing two unique mcr-1-carrying plasmids. This result might accelerate co-dissemination of LARGs under environmental selection pressure. Different core genetic arrangements in these strains suggest several evolutionary pathways in HWTS. The resistance functions of LARGs were confirmed in vitro and in vivo by mass spectrometry. This study provides novel insights into the diversity, genetic context and function of critical ARGs in HWTS. The results raise the concern that LARGs may further spread into the environment, thus, more stringent discharge standards and regulations for hospital wastewater are urgently needed., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Trapped ions are one of the leading platforms in quantum information science. For quantum computing with large circuit depth and quantum simulation with long evolution time, it is of crucial importance to cool large ion crystals at runtime without affecting the internal states of the computational qubits, thus the necessity of sympathetic cooling. Here, we report multi-ion sympathetic cooling on a long ion chain using a narrow cooling beam focused on two adjacent ions, and optimize the choice of the cooling ions according to the collective oscillation modes of the chain. We show that, by cooling a small fraction of ions, cooling effects close to the global Doppler cooling limit can be achieved. This experiment therefore demonstrates an important enabling step for quantum information processing with large ion crystals.

Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly serious threat to public health worldwide. The presence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in human airways and relevant environments has not received significant attention. In this study, abundances of ARGs and microbes from airborne particulate matter, dust, and human airways in a hospital were profiled using high-throughput qPCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. More diverse ARGs and microbes in indoor dust and higher levels of ARGs in particulate matter PM 10 and PM 2.5 were observed. Macrolides and aminoglycoside resistance genes were the most abundant ARGs in the airway and environmental samples, respectively. Moreover, the co-occurrences of priority pathogens, ARGs, and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were shown by the Network analysis. Campylobacter spp. and Staphylococcus spp. positively correlated with fluoroquinolone (vatC-02, mexD) and β-lactams (blaZ, mecA) resistance genes, respectively. In this regard, based on SourceTracker analysis, inhalable particles contributed to 4.0% to 5.5% of ARGs in human airway samples, suggesting an important exchange between airborne inhalable particles and human commensals. This study may advance knowledge about ARGs in airborne particulate matter and dust associated environments, reveal their potential link between environments and humans, and provide a new sight and fundamental data for ARG risk assessment., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Abuse of antibiotics in aquaculture have been alarming and might aggravate spread of resistance genes in the environment. Holistic ARGs proliferation checks require deeper analyses of coupled absolute abundances in 16S rRNA bacteria communities at the phylum level to detect biomarkers. Sulfanilamide (sul) and copper II sulfate (CuSO 4 II) were, therefore, designed and added as separate or combined treatments in 9 replicate engineered goldfish tanks comprising 3 individual sul, 3 CuSO 4 II, 3 (sul + CuSO 4 II) combinations, and 3 controls within 180 days. The DNA from water and fish guts was sequenced under qPCR to determine 16S rRNA bacteria biomarkers co-occurring with the correspondent ARGs. Combined chemical addition at 0.8-1.5 mg sul + 0.5-1.0 mg CuSO 4 II/3 L of tank waters reduced sequenced 16S rRNA bacteria absolute abundances in fish gut and water samples while portraying the biomarkers. Absolute abundances of the entire 16S rRNA bacteria was higher in fish guts (3.4 × 10 14 -4.9 × 10 8 copies/g) than water samples (1.5 × 10 9 -2.6 × 10 15 copies/L), respectively. Much as sul 1(log) were dominant over intl 1(log) genes, and their fundamental profiles were also higher in the fish guts than water samples; the Spearman's correlation analyses revealed positive relationship (p < 0.01 and r = 0.873) among the biomarkers of both ARG pairs at the phylum level and the physicochemical parameters. In the fish gut and water samples ratios, Bacteroidetes (10-85:12-85%) > Proteobacteria (10-50:15-65%) > Planktomycetes (10-52:8-25%) featured prominently based on LEfSe use as the hot-spotted biomarkers, hence justifying its higher prospects towards innovative environmental microbiological and biotechnological studies., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In plants, reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced following the expression of the respiratory burst oxidase homolog (Rboh) gene are important regulators of stress responses. However, little is known about how plants acclimate to salt stress through the Rboh-derived ROS signaling pathway. Here, we showed that a 400-bp fragment of the tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) NtRbohE promoter played a critical role in the salt response. Using yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) screens, NtbHLH123, a bHLH transcription factor, was identified as an upstream partner of the NtRbohE promoter. These interactions were confirmed by Y1H, electrophoretic mobility assay, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Overexpression of NtbHLH123 resulted in greater resistance to salt stress, while NtbHLH123-silenced plants had reduced resistance to salt stress. We also found that NtbHLH123 positively regulates the expression of NtRbohE and ROS production soon after salt stress treatment. Moreover, knockout of NtRbohE in the 35S::NtbHLH123 background resulted in reduced expression of ROS-scavenging and salt stress-related genes and salt tolerance, suggesting that NtbHLH123-regulated salt tolerance is dependent on the NtbHLH123-NtRbohE signaling pathway. Our data show that NtbHLH123 is a positive regulator and acts as a molecular switch to control a Rboh-dependent mechanism in response to salt stress in plants., (© American Society of Plant Biologists 2021. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Although isolated left vertebral artery is a supra-aortic trunk variant, it is not so rare. It may pose additional difficulties during total arch replacement surgeries. The aim of this study was to present our experience with prior reconstruction of isolated left vertebral artery by isolated left vertebral artery-left common carotid artery during total arch replacement combined with stented elephant trunk implantation., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.)

To analyze the feeding habits and trophic level of jellyfish ( Rhopilema esculentum ), Chinese shrimp ( Fenneropenaeus chinesis ), grass shrimp ( Penaeus monodon ), and clam ( Ruditapes philippinarum ), and the food web structure in marine aquaculture pond, we measured the δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of the four species and different feed from May to September in 2017. The average proportional contribution of different feed to the four species were analyzed using the IsoSource linear mixture model. The results showed that zooplankton was the main food source to jellyfish, Engraulis japonicus was the main food source to the two shrimp species, and the phytoplankton, benthic diatoms and dejecta of the two shrimp species were the main food source to the clam. The trophic level of the clam ranged from 2.64 to 2.95, with a mean value of 2.84. The trophic level of jellyfish ranged from 2.78 to 3.27, with a mean value of 3.06. the grass shrimp ranged from 3.03 to 3.54, with a mean value of 3.25. The trophic level of Chinese shrimp ranged from 3.76 to 4.40, with a mean value of 3.95. Results of comprehensive analysis showed that the clam was the primary consumer, jellyfish was the secondary consumer, and shrimps were the predators. Jellyfish filtered the dejecta of the two kinds of prawns and improved water quality of the polyculture pond to a certain extent.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in China have been upgraded or renovated with a variety of emerging processes, but a comprehensive understanding of the behavior of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in these WWTPs is still lacking. Here, the distribution of ARGs and bacterial community were investigated in a wastewater treatment plant with upgrading processes (WWTP-UP). 238 unique ARGs were detected in all samples. During the study period, the average ARGs concentration decreased by 98.4% along the entire treatment process. The removal efficiency of A 2 /O-membrane bioreactor (MBR) process was significantly higher than that of A 2 /O-high efficiency flocculent settling/cloth media filter (HEFS/CMF) process (p < 0.05), which corresponded to 3.5 and 2.1 log values on average, respectively. Notably, 35 ARGs and 14 mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were persistent in all samples. Based on the co-occurrence pattern revealed by network analysis, persistent ARGs possibly spread through the transfer of persistent MGEs among persistent bacteria. Using multiple linear regression analysis, we obtained 3 to 5 possible indicators for major ARG types, which might be served to evaluate the general distribution of ARGs or even predict the abundance of different ARG types. Our findings provide new insights into the impacts of upgrading process on ARGs and highlight the need for better strategies to improve ARGs elimination in WWTPs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) as emergence contaminations have spread widely in the water environment. Wild fish may be recipients and communicators of ARGs in the water environment, however, the distribution and transmission of ARGs in the wild fish and relevant water environment were rarely reported. Here, we have profiled ARGs and bacterial communities in wild freshwater fish and relevant water in a peri-urban river using high-throughput qPCR and 16S rRNA gene sequence. A total of 80 and 220 unique ARG subtypes were identified in fish and water samples. Fish and water both showed significant ARG seasonal variations (P < 0.05). The highest absolute abundance of ARGs in fish and water occurred in summer (1.32 × 10 9 copies per g, on average) and autumn (9.04 × 10 6 copies per mL), respectively. In addition, the bipartite network analysis showed that 9 ARGs and 1 mobile genetic element continuously shared in fish and water. Furthermore, bacteria shared in fish and water were found to significantly correlate with shard ARGs. The findings demonstrate that bacteria and ARGs in fish and water could interconnect and ARGs might transfer between fish and water using bacteria as a spreading medium., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In order to realize precise fertilization and high yield management of Pinus massoniana clonal seed orchard, clones with different fruiting abilities were used as the materials. Four P fertilization levels were at 0, 400, 800 and 1600 g per plant (P 0 , P 4 , P 8 and P 16 respectively). Fertilization was applied before floral primordia formation and after cone picked, respectively. The effects of P fertilizer on the female strobilus of P. massoniana clones and the changes of N, P contents in needles of different positions during floral primordia formation stage and early stage of flower bud differentiation were investigated. The results showed that compared with P 0 , the female strobilus of P 8 and P 16 were significantly increased by 67.4% and 61.2% in 2018 and 28.9% and 14.1% in 2019, respectively. There was a significant negative correlation between the female strobilus with the N content and N/P, a significant positive correlation between the female strobilus and the P content in needles. The responses of N and P contents in needles to P fertilization differed in clones with different fruiting abilities. In floral primordia formation stage, the N content of clones with weak fruiting ability was high, and the N/P was 11.5-12.5, while the P content of clones with strong fruiting abilities was high, and the N/P was 9.5-10.5. During this period, the P content of most clones under P 8 treatment was the highest, while the N/P was lowest. In the early stage of flower bud differentiation, the N/P of two fruiting clones was 15.3-17.0 and 13.2-15.1, respectively. The P content in upside layer was significantly higher while N/P was significantly lower than that in middle and lower layers. In conclusion, the 800 g P fertilization per plant could increase the P content and reduce the N/P of needles during the floral primordia formation stage of clones with diffe-rent fruiting abilities, which was beneficial to the formation of female strobilus and promote the yield of clone seed orchards.

Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) are usually associated with many-body systems in the thermodynamic limit when their ground states show abrupt changes at zero temperature with variation of a parameter in the Hamiltonian. Recently it has been realized that a QPT can also occur in a system composed of only a two-level atom and a single-mode bosonic field, described by the quantum Rabi model (QRM). Here we report an experimental demonstration of a QPT in the QRM using a 171 Yb + ion in a Paul trap. We measure the spin-up state population and the average phonon number of the ion as two order parameters and observe clear evidence of the phase transition via adiabatic tuning of the coupling between the ion and its spatial motion. An experimental probe of the phase transition in a fundamental quantum optics model without imposing the thermodynamic limit opens up a window for controlled study of QPTs and quantum critical phenomena.

Antibiotic resistance is exacerbated by the exchange of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) between microbes from diverse habitats. Plasmids are important ARGs mobile elements and are spread by horizontal gene transfer (HGT). In this study, we demonstrated the presence of multi-resistant plasmids from inhalable particulate matter (PM) and its effect on gene horizontal transfer. Three transferable multi-resistant plasmids were identified from PM in a hospital, using conjugative mating assays and nanopore sequencing. pTAir-3 contained 26 horizontal transfer elements and 10 ARGs. Importantly pTAir-5 harbored carbapenem resistance gene (blaOXA) which shows homology to plasmids from human and pig commensal bacteria, thus indicating that PM is a media for antibiotic resistant plasmid spread. In addition, 125 μg/mL PM 2.5 and PM 10 significantly increased the conjugative transfer rate by 110% and 30%, respectively, and augmented reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Underlying mechanisms were revealed by identifying the upregulated expressional levels of genes related to ROS, SOS, cell membranes, pilus generation, and transposition via genome-wide RNA sequencing. The study highlights the airborne spread of multi-resistant plasmids and the impact of inhalable PM on the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)