Contribution of additives Cu to its accumulation in pig feces: study in Beijing and Fuxin of China

Massive amounts of pig manure are produced by intensive pig farm in China, and the composition of pig manure has changed much due to the use of feed additives. However, little is known about the exact Cu （copper） feed as additives or present as contaminants in pig feed and the residues in feces. One hundred and thirty-seven feeds and one hundred and forty-two fecal samples from 48 pig farms were collected in Beijing and Fuxin cities in 1999 and 2005, respectively. The concentrations of Cu were in the range of 6.86-395.19 mg/kg in the feed samples, and the mean values were in the order of weaner〉 grower-finisher〉 sow＇s feeds. The high concentrations over EU recommendations implied that excessive levels of Cu are fed on many pig farms in Beijing and Fuxin. Cu was also present in high concentrations in feces, and concentrations were highly variable. Cu concentrations in the feces from grower-finisher and weaner pigs were significantly greater than feces of sows. The super-intensive and small-scale farms had higher levels of Cu in feces than the middle farms. Cu concentrations in pig feces were approximately 5-times greater than in pig feeds. Feed management in grower-finisher pigs on super-intensive and small-scale pig farms is needed to reduce high Cu concentrations in feces and risks to soil contamination while feces are land-applied.

Effects of Feces on Spatial Distribution Patterns of Grazed Grassland Communities

Animals excrete feces during grazing. The uneven distribution of feces causes a spatial heterogeneity in grassland communities. In this study, we attempted to clarify the effects of feces on spatial distribution patterns of plant species. A field study was conducted on four grasslands each grazed by a single cow. These four grasslands were defined as Poa pratensis （Kentucky bluegrass） dominated grassland without feces （PoF-）, Poa pratensis dominated grassland with feces （PoF＋）, Zoysia japonica Steud. （Japanese lawngrass） dominated grassland without feces （ZyF-）, and Zoysia japonica Steud. dominated grassland with feces （ZyF＋）. A 50 m line that transects 100 equally spaced quadrats （L-quadrats） was drawn on each of the four grasslands. Each quadrat was 0.50 m × 0.50 m in size and consisted of four equal-area cells of 0.25 m ×0.25 m （S-quadrats）. The occurrences of all plant species were recorded in each S-quadrat. The binomial distribution （BD） and beta-binomial distribution （BBD） were used to represent the variation in spatial patterns. The BBD provided a significant description of the frequency distribution of plants per quadrat. A power law was used to calculate the spatial heterogeneity of each species together with the community heterogeneity. The results revealed that the plants on each of the four grasslands were aggregatively distributed. The ZyF＋ exhibited greater spatial heterogeneity than the ZyF-due to the uneven deposition of feces by cows grazing on the grasslands. Additionally we also found that the feces had effect on the heterogeneity inZyF＋ and did not have effect in PoF＋.

Quantification of HBsAg:Basic virology for clinical practice

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is produced and secreted through a complex mechanism that is still not fully understood. In clinical fields, HBsAg has long served as a qualitative diagnostic marker for hepatitis B virus infection. Notably, advances have been made in the development of quantitative HBsAg assays, which have allowed viral replication monitoring, and there is an opportunity to make maximal use of quantitative HBsAg to elucidate its role in clinical fields. Yet, it needs to be underscored that a further understanding of HBsAg, not only from clinical point of view but also from a virologic point of view, would enable us to deepen our insights, so that we could more widely expand and apply its utility. It is also important to be familiar with HBsAg variants and their clinical consequences in terms of immune escape mutants, issues resulting from overlap with corresponding mutation in the P gene, and detection problems for the HBsAg variants. In this article, we review current concepts and issues on the quantification of HBsAg titers with respect to their biologic nature, method principles, and clinically relevant topics.

PHYTOPLANKTON,ESPECIALLY DIATOMS,IN THE GUT CONTENTS AND FECES OF TWO PLANTIVOROUS CYPRINIDS-SILVER CARP AND BIGHEAD CARP

In order to clarify whether the planktivorous silver carp and bighead carp can collect phytoplanktonas small as Cyclotella(【20μm)in Donghu Lake,studies on phytoplankton in their gut contents and feceswere made in 1990.The fish were cultured in both net cage in Donghu Lake and aquaria with the lakewater.Past the intestine,the average valve diameter of Cyclotella changed little.The average ratio of emptyfrustule of Cyclotella to total Cyclotella in the foregut contents of the fishes were 1.8—1.9 times higherthan that in the lake water,but changed little from foregut to feces.The aquarium experiment showedthat both carps could collect particles as small as 8-10μm, which was obviously narrower than the dis-tance between their gill rakers.Probably,secretion of mucus plays an important role in collecting suchsmall

CTX-M producing Escherichia coli isolated from cattle feces in Bogor slaughterhouse,Indonesia

Objective: To determine the occurrence of CTX-M producing Escherichia coli(E. coli)from cattle feces in Bogor slaughterhouse, Indonesia.Methods: A total of 220 cattle feces samples were collected from Bogor slaughterhouse from March to April 2015. Presence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase(ESBL) producing E. coli was detected by disc diffusion test based on the recommendation from Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute(2014). Bacterial strains which were confirmed as producing ESBLs were further analyzed for the presence of bla genes of the ESBL by PCR.Results: The results showed that CTX-M producing E. coli isolates were detected in 19 samples from 220 samples(8.6%). The b-lactamase genes detected were CTX-M-1(n = 10) and CTX-M-9(n = 9). All of the CTX-M producing E. coli isolates showed multidrug resistance phenotypes to at least four antibiotics. The highest incidence of antibiotics resistance was showed to ampicillin(100.0%), cefotaxime(100.0%), and cefpodoxime(100.0%), followed by streptomycin(84.3%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole(73.7%), erythromycin(52.6%), kanamycin(26.3%), doxycycline(10.5%), and ceftazidime(0.0%).Conclusions: Detection of CTX-M-producing E. coli in cattle feces raises important questions as they can represent a potential risk factor to public health.

A multi-criteria decision-making approach for comparing sample preservation and DNA extraction methods from swine feces

Molecular microbiological methods, such as competetive PCR, real-time PCR, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and large-scale parallel-pyrosequencing, require the extraction of sufficient quantity of high quality DNA from microbiologically and chemically complex matrices. Due to difficulties in the field to standardize/select the optimum DNA preservation-extraction methods in view of laboratories differences, this article attempts to present a straight-forward mathematical framework for comparing some of the most commonly used methods. To this end, as a case study, the problem of selecting an optimum sample preservation-DNA extraction strategy for obtaining total bacterial DNA from swine feces was considered. Two sample preservation methods (liquid nitrogen and RNAlater?) and seven extraction techniques were paired and compared under six quantitative DNA analysis criteria: yield of extraction, purity of extracted DNA (A260/280 and A 260/230 ratios), duration of extraction, degradation degree of DNA, and cost. From a practical point of view, it is unlikely that a single sample preservation-DNA extraction strategy can be optimum for all selected criteria. Hence, a systematic multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach was used to compare the methods. As a result, the ZR Fecal DNA MiniPrepTM DNA extraction kit for samples preserved either with liquid nitrogen or RNAlater? were identified as potential optimum solutions for obtaining total bacterial DNA from swine feces. Considering the need for practicality for in situ applications, we would recommend liquid nitrogen as sample preservation method, along with the ZR Fecal DNA MiniPrepTM kit. Total bacterial DNA obtained by this strategy can be suitable for downstream PCR-based DNA analyses of swine feces.

Biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma based on body fluids and feces

Novel non-/minimally-invasive and effective approaches are urgently needed to supplement and improve current strategies for diagnosis and management of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Overwhelming evidence from published studies on HCC has documented that multiple molecular biomarkers detected in body fluids and feces can be utilized in early-diagnosis,predicting responses to specific therapies,evaluating prognosis before or after therapy,as well as serving as novel therapeutic targets.Detection and analysis of proteins,metabolites,circulating nucleic acids,circulating tumor cells,and extracellular vesicles in body fluids(e.g.,blood and urine)and gut microbiota(e.g.,in feces)have excellent capabilities to improve different aspects of management of HCC.Numerous studies have been devoted in identifying more promising candidate biomarkers and therapeutic targets for diagnosis,treatment,and monitoring responses of HCC to conventional therapies,most of which may improve diagnosis and management of HCC in the future.This review aimed to summarize recent advances in utilizing these biomarkers in HCC and discuss their clinical significance.

Performance comparison of different microbial DNA extraction methods on bird feces

Background:As an important player during food digestion,gut microbiota has attracted much attention in diet adaptation studies in birds.Microbiota extracted from feces has been widely used as a proxy for gut microbiota.Although several methods have been developed for microbial DNA extraction,their performances in the bird feces have not been systematacially evaluated yet.Methods:In this study,we applied three DNA extraction methods(Qiagen,MoBio and Bead)to extract DNA from feces of three avian dietary guilds(granivore,omnivore and carnivore),sequenced V4 region of 16S rRNA gene for each extract and evaluated the performances of DNA yield,DNA integrity,microbial composition,cell lysis capacity and alpha diversity for the three methods on each dietary guild.Results:Bead method was the best on the performance of both DNA yield and DNA integrity regardless of dietary guild.In granivore,microbial relative abundance at both species and phylum levels,alpha diversity and cell lysis capacity were comparable among all methods.In omnivore,Qiagen had the best performance on alpha diversity,fol-lowed by Bead and MoBio.There were small variations on microbial relative abundance at both species and phylum levels among different extraction methods.MoBio exhibited the best performance on cell lysis capacity.In carnivore,considerable variations were found on microbial relative abundance at both species and phylum levels.Qiagen had the best performance on alpha diversity,followed by MoBio and Bead.MoBio had the highest cell lysis capacity.Conclusions:DNA yield and integrity have no obvious impact on microbial composition,alpha diversity or cell lysis capacity.The microbiota results(e.g.,microbial composition,cell lysis capacity,alpha diversity)obtained from differ-ent methods are comparable in granivorous avian species but not in omnivorous or carnivorous birds.Either method could be used in granivore microbiota studies.For omnivores and carnivores,we recommend Qiagen method when the research purpose is microbial diversity and MoBio when gram-positive bacteria is the research target.

Nitrogen and fiber concentration in rumen contents and fecescontents of Mongolian gazelles

Fecal indicators of nutritional status of wild ungulates were less constrained than that of blood, rumen contents, or urine analyses. Thus, we compared the nitrogen and fiber concentrations of feces with those of the rumen contents of Mongolian gazelles (Procapra guttrurosa) in Hulunbeier Grassland. Rumen contents and fecal nutritional concentrations varied in different seasons. Dietary nitrogen concentrations only increased linearly with increase nitrogen concentration in fecal in winter. There was a positive correlation between rumen NDF (neutral detergent fiber) and fecal NDF concentrations. But the regression coefficient was small (r=0.3917). There was a significant regression equation between rumen contents ADF (acid detergent fiber) and fecal ADF concentrations,as well as ADL (acid detergent lignin) concentrations. Nitrogen concentration was found to be negatively correlated with NDF ADF and ADL concentrations both in rumen and in fecal compositions. Our data suggest that fecal nitrogen, ADF ADL concentrations may assess winter dietary qualities that are in protein, crude fiber and lignin concentrations for Mongolian gazelles.

Distribution in tissue and excretion in urine and feces of swertisin after intravenous administration to rats

Swertisin contents in rat urine,feces and tissues were determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography（RP-HPLC） method.Chromatographic separations were performed on a C18 column with acetonitrile-water（23：77,v/v） as the mobile phase.The calibration curves were linear over the ranges of 0.175-35.0μg/mL for rat urine,0.5-60.0μg/mL for rat feces,and 0.014 to 53.0μg/mL for all tissues.The inter-and intra-day precisions and accuracy for all measured samples were satisfactory.The fully validated method was applied for tissue distribution and excretion of swertisin in rat urine and bile after intravenous administration.The maximum level of swertisin was found in kidney,which reached 83.87± 6.36μg/g.In rat heart,swertisin was hardly detected under used experimental conditions.Swetisin level in liver,kidney,stomach,smooth muscle and skeletal muscle continued to decrease from 5 to 60min.Swertisin showed increasing tendency in intestine,spleen and testis tissues at scheduled time points.Detectable swertisin was found in brain and lung tissue.Totally 11.9% swertisin dose was cumulatively excreted from urine in 60h after intravenous administration.There was small amount of swertisin in rat feces and the cumulative excretion level reached 4.59% of intravenous dose in 60h.

Scotomas in molecular virology and epidemiology of hepatitis C virus

In the 1970s,scientists learned of a new pathogen causing non-A,non-B hepatitis.Classical approaches were used to isolate and characterize this new pathogen,but it could be transmitted experimentally only to chimpanzees and progress was slow until the pathogen was identified as hepatitis C virus(HCV)in 1989.Since then,research and treatment of HCV have expanded with the development of modern biological medicine:HCV genome organization and polyprotein processing were delineated in 1993;the first three-dimensional structure of HCV nonstructural protein(NS3 serine protease)was revealed in 1996;an infectious clone of HCV complementary DNA was first constructed in 1997;interferon and ribavirin combination therapy was established in 1998 and the therapeutic strategy gradually optimized;the HCV replicon system was produced in1999;functional HCV pseudotyped viral particles were described in 2003;and recombinant infectious HCV in tissue culture was produced successfully in 2005.Recently,tremendous advances in HCV receptor discovery,understanding the HCV lifecycle,decryption of the HCV genome and proteins,as well as new anti-HCV compounds have been reported.Because HCV is difficult to isolate and culture,researchers have had to avail themselves to the best of modern biomedical technology;some of the major achievements in HCV research have not only advanced the understanding of HCV but also promoted knowledge of virology and cellular physiology.In this review,we summarize the advancements and remaining scotomas in the molecular virology and epidemiology of HCV.

Detection of Campylobacter sp. from Poultry Feces in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Background: Campylobacter contamination in poultry and poultry product has been reported worldwide. The present study aims to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter in poultry feces using selective enrichment Bolton broth and multiplex PCR. Method: Two methods were used in this study: the first was direct plating of poultry feces into mCCDA agar plates. The second, three antibiotics were used at different concentrations to add in Bolton broth supplemented. These antibiotics were Rifampicin (Oxoid, Nepean, Ontario) with 10 mg/L, colistin (Oxoid, Nepean, Ontario) with 1 mg/mL and 2 mg/mL;trimethoprim (Oxoid, Nepean, Ontario) with 10 mg/L. The colonies with typical campylobacter morphology on blood agar (little, red and ring colonies) were further identified to the species level by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: The addition of colistin (2 mg/mL) to the Bolton broth with selective supplements enhanced the selective isolation of Campylobacter strains. Out of the 52 feces samples, 18 (34.61%) were positive for campylobacter and direct plating on mCCDA 11 (21.15%) campylobacter strains (p < 0.05). The PCR results have shown that 17 (94.45%) of the campylobacter strains detected belonged to Campylobacter coli and 1 (5.55%) strain to Campylobacter jejuni. Conclusion: Although it is known to be difficult to isolate Campylobacter from animal feces samples, this study shows that antibiotic selective pressure improves the isolation efficiency of Campylobacter from poultry feces.

Medical Virology in Malaysia

Virology is a branch of biological science dealing with the study of viruses,and medical virology focuses on the study and control of diseases due to viruses that is of medical importance. The development of medical virology in Malaysia has its beginning in the Institute for Medical Research(IMR) ,following the establishment of the Division of Medical Zoology and Virus Research in the institute on 23 March 1953. The second institution in the country to establish diagnostic and research work in medical virology was Department of Medical Microbiology,Faculty of Medicine,University Malaya. This was followed by University Kebangsaan Malaysia,University Sains Malaysia and University of Sarawak Malaysia. The National Public Health Laboratory(NPHL) is the latest institution to establish a laboratory in 2003 for virus isolation and services to support country surveillance and outbreak investigation of infectious diseases due to viruses. In the field of medical virology,Malaysia contributed substantially in the areas of virus diagnostic services,development and research ranging from survey and documentation on the existence and prevalence of viruses causing diseases in Malaysia,clinical presentation and epidemiological features of virus diseases,evaluation of new diagnostic tests to pathogenesis of viral diseases. Malaysia contributed to the discoveries of at least 12 new viruses in the world. ASEAN plus Three(China,Japan,Republic of Korea) Emerging Infectious Programme was established to overcome the challenges and impact of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in this region. Malaysia as the co-ordinator of the laboratory component of the programme,contributed to strengthen the regional laboratory capability,capacity,laboratory-based surveillance and networking. The future of medical virology in Malaysia in terms of integration of diagnostic,reference and research to support the country's need will be enhanced and strengthened with the on-going development of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC Malaysia) which also incorporates a futuristic Special Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory.

Difference and clinical value of metabolites in plasma and feces of patients with alcohol-related liver cirrhosis

BACKGROUND Alterations in plasma and intestinal metabolites contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of alcohol-related liver cirrhosis(ALC).AIM To explore the common and different metabolites in the plasma and feces of patients with ALC and evaluate their clinical implications.METHODS According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria,27 patients with ALC and 24 healthy controls(HCs)were selected,and plasma and feces samples were collected.Liver function,blood routine,and other indicators were detected with automatic biochemical and blood routine analyzers.Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to detect the plasma and feces metabolites of the two groups and the metabolomics of plasma and feces.Also,the correlation between metabolites and clinical features was analyzed.RESULTS More than 300 common metabolites were identified in the plasma and feces of patients with ALC.Pathway analysis showed that these metabolites are enriched in bile acid and amino acid metabolic pathways.Compared to HCs,patients with ALC had a higher level of glycocholic acid(GCA)and taurocholic acid(TCA)in plasma and a lower level of deoxycholic acid(DCA)in the feces,while L-threonine,L-phenylalanine,and L-tyrosine increased simultaneously in plasma and feces.GCA,TCA,L-methionine,L-phenylalanine,and L-tyrosine in plasma were positively correlated with total bilirubin(TBil),prothrombin time(PT),and maddrey discriminant function score(MDF)and negatively correlated with cholinesterase(CHE)and albumin(ALB).The DCA in feces was negatively correlated with TBil,MDF,and PT and positively correlated with CHE and ALB.Moreover,we established a P/S BA ratio of plasma primary bile acid(GCA and TCA)to fecal secondary bile acid(DCA),which was relevant to TBil,PT,and MDF score.CONCLUSION The enrichment of GCA,TCA,L-phenylalanine,L-tyrosine,and L-methionine in the plasma of patients with ALC and the reduction of DCA in feces were related to the severity of ALC.These metabolites may be used as indicators to evaluate the progression of alcohol-related liver cirrhosis.

New Year’s greeting and overview of World Journal of Virology in 2021

The 2020 year-end wrap-up session of Baishideng Publishing Group was held on December 31,2020.All staff attended this session.We shared our key results area and made a business plan regarding the journal management.World Journal of Virology(WJV)is now abstracted and indexed in PubMed and PubMed Central.It received 23 manuscripts and published 9 papers which included 6 articles reporting coronavirus 19 in 2020.On the other hand,we made major strategies for WJV’s development in 2021.At present,WJV only has 28 Editorial Board members and cannot receive many manuscripts.We must redouble our efforts to invite more highly influential scientists to join our Editorial Board member and write high-quality manuscripts.

Study Progress on Animal Feces Treatment by Microorganism

With the fast development of livestock breeding,serious environmental pollution issues caused by the large accumulation of animal feces have arisen increasingly. It is of great importance to re-use these organic matter resources in order to ease the environmental and resource problems. And we reviews the significance of microorganism for livestock development and particularly the close relationship between microorganism and biodegradation of animal breeding residues. These bacteria play important roles in odor control,degradation and conversion of organic matters,and even the reduction of animal waste discharging amount by adjusting the feed nutrition proportion or improving the digestibility of nutrients. Consequently,it shows good application prospect of microbe practice in the improvement of contaminated environment resulting from livestock farming residues and the utilization of livestock manure resource.

STUDY ON VIROLOGY OF EXPERIMENTAL LEUKEMIA IN CHINA

Since 1960, the Department of Pathophysio-logy of Shanghai Medical University has beenstudying the virology of experimental leukemia,the strains of L6565 mouse viral leukemia, SRSascitic and solid lymphoma and L783 transplan-table leukemia were established successively. Allof these tumor strains originated from the spon-taneous lymphocytic leukemia of Kunmin mouse(Figure 1). Type A and type C virus particlescould be observed in ultrathin sections of thymus,spleen and lymphonode of all these strains mouse

A Brief Analysis of Syntactical Features of English Virology Texts

Ever since late 2019,the COVID pandemic has given the world a great deal of pain and financial loss.Virologists around the world are working hard to eradicate it.Vaccines and treatment methods have been found,which cannot be accomplished without the joint efforts of the world virologist community.Naturally,facilitating global communication would help advance the research.This paper analyzes syntactical features of English virology texts and finds that:In these texts,verbs and postpositive attributes are used frequently,complicated logic needs careful analysis,and personification is often used.Having some knowledge of these sentence features may contribute to better communication in the virology community.

A Brief Analysis of Lexical Features of English Virology Texts

COVID has already been taken as a global pandemic,the culprit of which is the virus called SARS-CoV-2.Virologists around the world have been working hard at trying to find remedies and protection methods for the world.This paper is a brief analysis of lexical features of English virology texts,which will show that technical words,semi-technical words,and acronyms are the three prominent lexical features of English virology tests.It may be helpful in guiding cross-language communication in the virologists’community,which the authors hope would facilitate global research on COVID.

INSTITUTE OF VIROLOGY CHINESE ACADEMY OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

The Institute of Virology was established in 1964. Its precursor was the Laboratory of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (1949-1955), which was subsequently expanded to become the Department of Virology (1956-1963). This Institute has a total of around 350 staff and 11 departments, namely, the Departments of Hepatitis Viruses, Epidemic Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses, Arboviruses, Influenza Viruses, Viral Immunology, Viral Genetics, Viral Diagnosis, Viral Oncology, Viral Morphology, Viral Biological Product Development, and the National Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Genetic Engineering. It acts as the