Contemporary Asymmetric Genetic Introgression Between Two Pelophylax Species in Shanghai

Human disturbances are considered to break reproduction barriers among species.Significant increases in hybridization events have been reported among a large number of taxonomic groups in anthropogenic environments,providing novel insights into species evolution mechanisms and conservation management in the Anthropocene.The Eastern Golden Frog(Pelophylax plancyi)and BlackSpotted Frog(P.nigromaculatus)are two sympatric anuran species with a long history of mitochondrial genome introgression in highly urbanized continental East Asia.However,there is only limited understanding of the pattern of their contemporary hybridization and factors influencing their interspecific relationship under anthropogenic disturbances.Here,interspecific hybridization between P.plancyi and P.nigromaculatus at the population level was investigated in Shanghai.All except two haplotypes obtained from both species in Shanghai were mixed together,and located in the introgression clade,implying multiple ancient mitochondrial introgression events occurred in the populations of our study area.Asymmetric genetic introgression was detected by microsatellite markers,with 0.7%of P.plancyi and 14.6%of P.nigromaculatus identified as contemporary admixed individuals.Consistent with the trend of population density,higher genetic diversity of neutral microsatellite loci was found in the more abundant P.plancyi;however,variation in mitochondrial(Cyt-b)and nuclear(POMC)genes was higher in relatively rare P.nigromaculatus.The population density of P.plancyi and number of water patches within local habitats were significantly positively correlated with both occurrences and proportions of admixed individuals in the populations of P.plancyi and P.nigromaculatus.Considering the prevalent transformation of habitats in urbanized areas,these results imply that a high population density in isolated artificially altered habitats is likely to increase interspecific hybridization.Thus,population monitoring and improvement of landscape connectivity between habitats would be needed to control the intensity of interspecific hybridization between P.plancyi and P.nigromaculatus in anthropogenic-disturbed environments.

消费者预防在线销售掺假行为的博弈模型及最优策略

建立了描述消费者与带掺假行为的在线零售商之间相互博弈的双层规划模型,其中消费者为领导者,在线零售商为随从者.消费者预防在线销售掺假行为的两种策略是进行商品品质检查和采用延期付款,在线零售商则依据消费者的预防策略决定是否销售掺假商品.根据消费者和在线零售商的可能采用的策略,对模型分四种情形展开分析与讨论,并分别在不同情形下得到了消费者与在线零售商的最优决策.结果表明,消费者延期付款的最优时间和进行商品品质检查能有效遏制在线零售商掺假行为.

Transcriptome analysis provides insights into the regulation of metabolic processes during postharvest cold storage of loquat(Eriobotrya japonica)fruit

Loquat(Eriobotrya japonica)fruit accumulates lignin during postharvest storage under chilling conditions(0℃),while low-temperature conditioning(LTC;5℃for 6 days followed by transfer to 0℃)or heat treatment(HT;40℃for 4 h followed by transfer to 0℃)can alleviate lignification.Here we compared transcriptome profiles of loquat fruit samples under LTC or HT to those stored at 0℃at five time points from day 1 to day 8 after treatment.High-throughput transcriptome sequences were de novo assembled into 53,319 unique transcripts with an N50 length of 1306 bp.A total of 2235 differentially expressed genes were identified in LTC,and 1020 were identified in HT compared to 0℃.Key genes in the lignin biosynthetic pathway,including EjPAL2,EjCAD1,EjCAD3,4CL,COMT,and HCT,were responsive to LTC or HT treatment,but they showed different expression patterns during the treatments,indicating that different structural genes could regulate lignification at different treatment stages.Coexpression network analysis showed that these candidate biosynthetic genes were associated with a number of transcription factors,including those belonging to the AP2,MYB,and NAC families.Gene ontology(GO)enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes indicated that biological processes such as stress responses,cell wall and lignin metabolism,hormone metabolism,and metal ion transport were significantly affected under LTC or HT treatment when compared to 0℃.Our analyses provide insights into transcriptome responses to postharvest treatments in loquat fruit.

Model eyes with curved multilayer structure for the axial resolution evaluation of an ophthalmic optical coherence tomography device

Optical coherence tomography(OCT)has been widely applied to the diagnosis of eye diseasesduring the past two decades.However,valid evaluation methods are stil not available for theclinical OCT devices.In order to assess the axial resolution of the OCT system,standard modeleyes with micro-scale multilayer structure have been designed and manufactured in this study.Mimicking a natural human eye,proper Titanium dioxide(TiO_(2))materials of particles withdifferent concentrations were selected by testing the scattering coefficient of PDMS phantoms.The artificial retinas with multilayer films were fabricated with the thicknesses from 9.5 to 30 micrometers using spin coating technology,Subsequently,standard OCT model eyes were ac-complished by embedding the retina phantoms into the artificial frames of eyes.For ease ofmeasurement processing,a series of model eyes were prepared,and each contained flms withthree kinds of thicknesses.Considering the traceability and accuracy of the key parameters of the standard model eyes,the thicknesses of multilayer structures were verfed using ThicknessMonitoring System.Through the experiment with three different OCT devices,it demonstratedthe model eyes fabricated in this study can provide an effective evaluation method for the axialresolution of an ophthalmic OCT device.

More than a Few LAB Alleviate Common Allergies: Impact of Paraprobiotics in Comparison to Probiotical Live Cells

The evidence in this paper indicates that the alarming increase of common allergies can be reduced by the intake of particular “probiotics” or “paraprobiotics” along with food. This appears to build a consensus in the pharmaceutical and food communities about the role of probiotics in the prevention and treatments of common allergies. Food allergy is one of the common allergies, defined as an adverse health effect arising from a specific immune response that occurs reproducibly on exposure to a given food. Improving the digestion of foods and maintaining a healthy gastrointestinal (GI) tract is certainly critical to controlling food allergens. Therefore, the association between a leaky gut or an impaired intestinal permeability and food-allergenic reactions is explained. Gluten has been found to be somehow a justification for protein allergy, and should, therefore, be avoided by people with celiac disease. In several, in vitro models, surface layer (S- layer) proteins of selective paraprobiotics have shown potential in alleviating food allergies and intestinal disorders. Notably, lactobacilli paraprobiotics have proven to be the immediate immunomodulators against common allergies and other diseases, including viral (flu, hepatitis C), bacterial (bronchitis), asthma, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal distress, and autism disorders in humans.

Model eye tool for retinal optical coherence tomography instrument calibration

Optical coherence tomography(OCT)has been extensively used as noninvasive tool for biological tissues owing to its three-dimensional imaging ability and high axial resolution.OCT quality assurance is vital in these occasions to keep the reliability and accuracy in medical diagnosis.It is necessary to develop a calibration tool for OCT product manufacture,calibration,and quality control.A practical tool is demanded in the OCT quality control and calibration of OCT.So far,there is no such a practical tool that can test all the key parameters of OCT.We design and fabricate a model eye tool,which has this function.The model eye comprises a doublet lens,a single filament,a piece of glass plate and the microsphere-embedded phantom.The doublets lens is bonded by two pieces of planoconvex lenses in the plane position.The first lens focuses parallel light onto the rear surface of the second lens.The rear surface marked with concentric circles serves as retina to measure the angular field of view(FOV).The small flat surface on the peak of the second lens is used to test signal to noise ratio(SNR).The single filament with 125μm diameter is used to check the co-alignment of preview and OCT scan.The empty chamber between the small plane of the second lens and the first surface of glass plate is used to measure the depth scaling of the OCT.The microspheres of 1μm diameter distributed uniformly in the phantom,which can test the lateral and the axial resolution of OCT equipment.Experimental results are presented to show the validity of the proposed tool.It is shown that the tool is able to be used in the calibration and quality control of retinal OCT.

A preliminary study on the econazole induced endoplasmic reticulum related apoptosis in HL-60 leukemic cells

Objective: To investigate the anti-leukemic function of econazole (Ec), an azole anti-fungal drug. Methods: We compared efficacy of econazole to induce apoptosis in HL-60 cells with two other known endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress inducer thapsigargin (Tg) and tunicamycin (Tu). Results: Cells treated with Ec showed typical morphology of apoptosis following 24 h incubation, parallel to the morphological changes, the expression of molecular chaperone GRP 78 was up-regulated in all cases and the caspase 12, an ER resident caspase was activated. Conclusion: Ec induced ER stress related apoptosis in HL- 60 cells; the underlying mechanisms are protein synthesis inhibition through eIF2α phosphorylation and caspase 12 activation.

上海地区金线侧褶蛙种群的潜在空间分布格局及其景观连通性

城市化导致的栖息地破碎和丧失是全球范围内威胁野生动物生存的重要因素。两栖动物是受城市化威胁最严重的陆生脊椎动物类群。研究城市化区域两栖动物空间分布格局,探究影响其片断化小种群间基因交流的景观连通性等问题,有助于我们深入理解城市化对野生动物种群的作用机制及造成的影响,能够为当地生物多样性保护提供理论指导。本研究以上海地区金线侧褶蛙(Pelophylaxplancyi)为研究对象,基于Landsat-8卫星影像,获取上海地区土地利用类型、归一化植被指数(normalized difference vegetation index,NDVI)、地表温度等景观、环境数据。结合野外种群调查,通过最大熵(maximum entropy,MaxEnt)模型得到金线侧褶蛙在本地区的潜在空间分布格局;基于电路理论(Circuitscape)计算各小种群间的扩散阻力距离;结合微卫星位点(simple sequence repeat,SSR)和单核苷酸多态性位点(single nucleotide polymorphism,SNP)计算各小种群间的遗传距离(FST),通过Mantel相关性检验探讨地理距离和阻力距离对各小种群间遗传分化的作用效果。结果显示:(1)金线侧褶蛙栖息地适宜性随城市化水平的增高而显著降低;(2)NDVI是影响其潜在空间分布的主要因素,金线侧褶蛙更倾向于栖息在植被覆盖度较高的区域;(3)遗传距离与地理距离之间没有显著的相关性,但随着景观扩散阻力的增大而显著增大。因此,保护和维持郊区连续栖息地以及市区仍然保留的斑块化栖息地是现阶段保护以金线侧褶蛙为代表的本土两栖动物的首要措施。而通过优化城市景观结构,加强针对不同野生动物类群的廊道建设,促进野生动物小种群间的基因交流,则是实现城市化区域野生动物多样性自维持和长期保护的有效途径。

Microcarriers promote the through interface movement of mouse trophoblast stem cells by regulating stiffness

Mechanical force is crucial in the whole process of embryonic development.However,the role of trophoblast mechanics during embryo implantation has rarely been studied.In this study,we constructed a model to explore the effect of stiffness changes in mouse trophoblast stem cells(mTSCs)on implantation:microcarrier was prepared by sodium alginate using a droplet microfluidics system,and mTSCs were attached to the microcarrier surface with laminin modifications,called T(micro).Compared with the spheroid,formed by the self-assembly of mTSCs(T(sph)),we could regulate the stiffness of the microcarrier,making the Young’s modulus of mTSCs(367.70±79.81 Pa)similar to that of the blastocyst trophoblast ectoderm(432.49±151.90 Pa).Moreover,T(micro)contributes to improve the adhesion rate,expansion area and invasion depth of mTSCs.Further,T(micro)was highly expressed in tissue migration-related genes due to the activation of the Rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase(ROCK)pathway at relatively similar modulus of trophoblast.Overall,our study explores the embryo implantation process with a new perspective,and provides theoretical support for understanding the effect of mechanics on embryo implantation.

Application of Microbiome in Forensics

Recent advances in next-generation sequencing technologies and improvements in bioinformatics have expanded the scope of microbiome analysis as a forensic tool.Microbiome research is concerned with the study of the compositional profile and diversity of microbial flora as well as the interactions between microbes,hosts,and the environment.It has opened up many new possibilities for forensic analysis.In this review,we discuss various applications of microbiome in forensics,including identification of individuals,geolocation inference,and post-mortem interval(PMI)estimation.

Synthesis of easily-processable collagen bio-inks using ionic liquid for 3D bioprinted liver tissue models with branched vascular networks

Bioprinting has been a flouring way to fabricate complex tissue and organ mimics via precisely depositing printable cell-laden biomaterials.However,there is a limited number of biomaterials that fulfill the mechanical property of printing while meeting the responsive environment desired for the cells.Despite excellent cell compatibility and bioactivity,collagen suffers from difficulties in processing and printability which inhibited its utilization in three-dimensional(3D)bioprinting.Herein,we address this limitation by using ionic liquid as the solvent in the modification process,enabling collagens modified with quantified norbornene for chemical crosslink and extrusion-based 3D printing.With improved solubility and rheological properties,norbornene-functionalized collagen(Col-Nor)exhibited better shape fidelity in extrusion-based 3D printing compared with the one before modification.Photo-crosslinked Col-Nor hydrogel provided structural support and promoted the adhesion,proliferation,and differentiation of various types of cells,which afforded a centimeter-scale liver tissue model.This highly generalizable methodology expands printable,versatile,and tunable hydrogels developed from the natural extracellular matrix,allowing the biofabrication of 3D liver tissue model with branched vascular networks.

Enhancing electromagnetic absorption performance of Molybdate@Carbon by metal ion substitution

Transition metal molybdate(RMoO4)has been extensively studied in optics,electricity and catalysis due to its low cost and multivalent Mo atoms,while its poor electrical conductivity limits its application in electromagnetic wave absorption(EMA).Compounding molybdate with conductive materials is an effective way to improve its electrical conductivity.In this work,a homogeneous coating on the molybdate surface was achieved by utilizing a pyrrole oxidation polymerization mechanism,and then stabilized composites of Molybdate@Carbon(RMoO4@C)were obtained by high-temperature pyrolysis.The EMA properties of the nanocomposites were tuned by substituting the species of transition metal elements(RMoO_(4)@C,R=Fe,Co,Cu).Among them,Fe_(2)(MoO_(4))_(3)@C has a minimum reflection loss of−60.62 dB at an ultra-low thickness of 1.7 mm,and the effective absorption bandwidth(EAB)can reach 4.75 GHz at 3.00 mm.This work expands the range of applications for molybdate and provides a new material basis for building high-performance EMA materials.

Diversity analysis of tick-associated viruses in northeast China

Dear Editor,The ongoing threat of tick-borne diseases,especially the increasing rate of new infections caused by tick-borne viruses has drawn wide attention in recent years(Madison-Antenucci et al.,2020;Yang et al.,2023).Therefore,there is a need to strengthen the surveillance of a wide range of viruses carried by ticks to prevent outbreaks of tick-borne diseases.

肝素酶在医药领域应用的研究进展

肝素酶是一类能够特定切割肝素或硫酸乙酰肝素中α-1,4糖苷键并将其裂解成有活性寡糖片段的酶,主要分为真核生物肝素酶(Heparanase)和原核生物肝素酶(Heparinase)。由于原核生物肝素酶是一种高效绿色的生物催化剂,因此近年来在医药领域的应用性研究逐渐被重视。文中结合本课题组相关工作,归纳介绍了原核生物肝素酶通过作用于硫酸肝素蛋白聚糖(HSPGs)生成肝素小分子,抑制肿瘤细胞增殖方面的应用;原核生物肝素酶在制备第三代创新型抗凝血药物低分子量肝素(Low molecular weight heparin,LWMH)和超低分子量肝素(Ultra low molecular weight heparin, ULMWH)方面的应用;原核生物肝素酶作为肝素拮抗药物等医药领域的重要应用;并展望了原核生物肝素酶的未来应用前景及挑战。

Effect of age on the pharmacokinetics of polymorphic nimodipine in rats after oral administration

The previous investigation has proved that their existed pharmacokinetic difference between the different crystal forms of the polymorphic drugs after oral administration.However,no systemic investigations have been made on the change of this pharmacokinetic difference,resulted either from the physiological or from the pathological factors.In this paper,we used polymorphic nimodipine(Nim) as a model drug and investigated the effect of age difference(2- and 9-month old) on the pharmacokinetics after oral delivery in rats.As the results shown,for L-form of Nim(L-Nim),the AUC0–24 hin 2-month-old rats was 343.68747.15 ng h/m L,which is 23.36% higher than that in 9-month-old rats.For H-form of Nim(H-Nim),the AUC0–24 hin 2-monthold rats was 140.91719.47 ng h/m L,which is 54.64% higher than that in 9-month-old rats.The AUC0–24 h ratio between H-Nim and L-Nim was 2.44 in 2-month-old rats and 3.06 in 9-month-old rats.Since age difference could result in unparallelled change of the absorption and bioavailability of the polymorphic drugs,the results in this experiment are of value for further investigation of crystal form selection in clinical trials and rational clinical application of the polymorphic drugs.

On social computing research collaboration patterns： a social network perspective

社会计算的领域超过十年以前出现了。在最后十年期间，从许多学科的研究人员仔细一直在协作增加社会计算研究的生长。这篇论文瞄准识别关键研究人员和机构，并且在这个领域里检验合作模式。我们在不同层次采用合作作家身分网络分析从 1998 ～ 2011 在社会计算学习 6 543 份出版物的文献的信息。这篇论文在社会计算和罐头给当前的研究的一张快照在社会计算提供起始的指导给新研究人员。

Identification of Histoplasma causing an unexplained disease cluster in Matthews Ridge, Guyana

Here,we report the identification of Histoplasma causing an unexplained disease cluster in Matthews Ridge,Guyana.In March 2019,14 employees of Chongqing Bosai Mining Company,China,working in a manganese mining of Guyana,had unexplained fever,and two of them died.We obtained lung and brain tissues as well as the blood samples from the two deceased cases(patient No.1 and 2),and bronchoscopy lavages and cerebrospinal fluid samples from one severe case(patient No.3),respectively.All samples were tested by pathological examination,high-throughput sequencing,and real-time PCR.Pathological detection showed the presence of spore-like structures in the lung tissue of patient No.1,indicating a fungal infection in this patient.Nanopore sequencing identified the existing of H.capsulatum in the lung tissue sample within 13 h.Next-generation sequencing identified specific fragments of H.capsulatum in all of the samples tested(lung,brain and blood serum from the deceased cases,and plasma from the severe case).Real-time PCR assays did not reveal any viral infection related to transmission from bat feces.We conclude that H.capsulatum was the causative pathogen of this disease cluster based on epidemiologic,clinical,pathological and nucleic acid evidence.

Cyst(e)ine in nutrition formulation promotes colon cancer growth and chemoresistance by activating mTORCl and scavenging ROS

Weight loss and cachexia are common problems in colorectal cancer patients;thus,parenteral and enteral nutrition support play important roles in cancer care.However,the impact of nonessential amino acid components of nutritional intake on cancer progression has not been fully studied.In this study,we discovered that gastrointestinal cancer patients who received cysteine as part of the parenteral nutrition had shorter overall survival(P<0.001)than those who did not.Cystine indeed robustly promotes colon cancer cell growth in vitro and in immunodeficient mice,predominately by inhibiting SESN2 transcription via the GCN2-ATF4 axis,resulting in mTORCl activation.mTORCl inhibitors Rapamycin and Everolimus block cystine-induced cancer cell proliferation.In addition,cystine confers resistance to oxaliplatin and irinotecan chemotherapy by quenching chemotherapy-induced reactive oxygen species via synthesizing glutathione.We demonstrated that dietary deprivation of cystine suppressed colon cancer xenograft growth without weight loss in mice and boosted the antitumor effect of oxaliplatin.These findings indicate that cyst(e)ine;as part of supplemental nutrition,plays an important role in colorectal cancer and manipulation of cyst(e)ine content in nutritional formulations may optimize colorectal cancer patient survival.

Denoising method of X-ray phase contrast DR image for TRISO-coated fuel particles

TRISO （tristructural-isotropic） fuel is a type of micro fuel particles used in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors （HTGRs）. Among the quality evaluation methods for such particles, inqine phase contrast imaging technique （PCI） is more feasible for nondestructive measurement. Due to imaging hardware limitations, high noise level is a distinct feature of PCI images, and as a result, the dimensional measurement accuracy of TRISO-coated fuel particles decreases. Therefore, we propose an improved denoising hybrid model named as NL P-M model which introduces non-local theory and retains the merits of the Perona-Malik （P-M） model. The improved model is applied to numerical simulation and practical PCI images. Quanti- tative analysis proves that this new anisotropic diffusion model can preserve edge or texture information effectively, while ruling out noise and distinctly decreasing staircasing artifacts. Especially during the process of coating layer thickness measurement, the NL P-M model makes it easy to obtain continuous contours without noisy points or fake contour segments, thus enhancing the measurement accuracy. To address calculation complexity, a graphic processing unit （GPU） is adopted to realize the acceleration of the NL P-M denoising.

体质量稳定及肠外营养特征与结直肠癌患者预后的相关性

背景:代谢紊乱及肠外营养(PN)特征对接受肠外营养的癌症患者生存的影响,目前所知有限。本研究旨在评估临床方法:研究纳入美国MD Anderson癌症中心2008-2013年接受肠外营养支持的572例结直肠癌患者。记录病例特征、体质指数、体质量、药物/手术治疗史、PN适应证、PN相关数据及生存情况。分析临床及PN特征与患者生存的相关性。结果:437例患者纳入最终分析,平均年龄57岁,81%为进展期结直肠癌。经多因素校正后,PN开始前体质量不稳定(变化≥2.5%)与生存负相关(HR=1.41,P=0.023)。肠梗阻作为PN适应证者较无肠梗者预后更差(HR=1.75,P=0.017)。PN配方中每千克理想体质量的氨基酸含量(g/kg)更高者,其生存时间更长(HR=0.59,P=0.029);而非PN配方中的静脉卡路里摄入量更高者,其生存时间更短(HR=1.04,P=0.011)。结论:体质指数和体质量稳定可能是预测接受PN支持的结直肠癌患者预后的有效营养学指标。制定PN计划时应考虑到非PN卡路里的摄入量,从而获得最佳的能量支持和能量平衡。进一步研究需明确PN配方中最优的氨基酸需求量和能量平衡。