Mitogenome and phylogenetic analyses support rapid diversification among species groups of small-eared shrews genus Cryptotis(Mammalia:Eulipotyphla:Soricidae)

The small-eared shrew genus Cryptotis is the third largest in the family Soricidae and occurs in North,Central,and northern South America.In Mexico and Central and South America,most species inhabit geographically isolated moist,montane habitats at middle and high elevations in a typical sky-island pattern.The 49 recognized species have been partitioned into as many as six species groups based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies.The relationships among these species groups are poorly resolved,and their evolutionary histories,including migration patterns and locomotor adaptations,remain unclear.Herein,we provide a new phylogeny incorporating complete mitochondrial genomes(mitogenomes)and supermatrix approach.We compared different evolutionary scenarios using approximately unbiased(AU),Kishino-Hasegawa(KH),and Shimodaira-Hasegawa(SH)statistical tests.The phylogenetic hypothesis based on mitogenomes revealed novel relationships supporting a basal position for the Cryptotis parvusgroup in the genus,and a close relationship between C.gracilis and one clade of the C.thomasi-group.The former relationship is consistent with the least derived humerus morphology and northern distribution of the species.The latter relationship i mplies multiple migrations between Central and South America.The lack of fine resolution for the species group relationships may be due partly to the lack of taxon sampling.In contrast,multi-approach analyses suggest that the unresolved relationships may be a result of rapid diversification during the early stages of Cryptotis evolution.

Trends in carbon capture technologies:a bibliometric analysis

Climate change is an ever-present issue,which has a vast variety of potential solutions,one of which being carbon capture.This paper aims to use bibliometric analysis techniques to find trends in carbon capture within the technologies of adsorption,absorption,membranes,and hybrid technologies.The Web of Science core collection database performed bibliometric searches,with the‘Bibliometrix’plug-in for R software,performing the bibliometric analysis.Bibliometric data spanned across 1997–2020 and the investigation found that adsorption technologies dominated this period in terms of citations and articles,with hybrid technologies being the least produced but rising in scientific productivity and citations.The Analysis found China and the United States of America to be the dominant producers of articles,with global collaboration being central to carbon capture.The‘International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control’ranked as the top producer of articles however,the‘ACS Applied Materials&Interfaces’was the leading journal in terms of H-index.

Development of a hybrid photo-bioreactor and nanoparticle adsorbent system for the removal of CO2,and selected organic and metal co-pollutants

Fossil fuel combustion and many industrial processes generate gaseous emissions that contain a number of toxic organic pollutants and carbon dioxide（CO_2） which contribute to climate change and atmospheric pollution.There is a need for green and sustainable solutions to remove air pollutants,as opposed to conventional techniques which can be expensive,consume additional energy and generate further waste.We developed a novel integrated bioreactor combined with recyclable iron oxide nano/micro-particle adsorption interfaces,to remove CO_2,and undesired organic air pollutants using natural particles,while generating oxygen.This semi-continuous bench-scale photo-bioreactor was shown to successfully clean up simulated emission streams of up to 45% CO_2 with a conversion rate of approximately 4%CO_2 per hour,generating a steady supply of oxygen（6 mmol/hr）,while nanoparticles effectively remove several undesired organic by-products.We also showed algal waste of the bioreactor can be used for mercury remediation.We estimated the potential CO_2 emissions that could be captured from our new method for three industrial cases in which,coal,oil and natural gas were used.With a 30% carbon capture system,the reduction of CO_2 was estimated to decrease by about 420,000,320,000 and 240,000 metric tonnes,respectively for a typical 500 MW power plant.The cost analysis we conducted showed potential to scale-up,and the entire system is recyclable and sustainable.We further discuss the implications of usage of this complete system,or as individual units,that could provide a hybrid option to existing industrial setups.

Does human papillomavirus infection do harm to in-vitro fertilization outcomes and subsequent pregnancy outcomes？

Background Some studies suggested that human papillomavirus （HPV） infection could reduce the clinical pregnancy rate and double the spontaneous abortion rate compared with non-infected women after in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer （IVF-ET）. But some other studies showed there was no difference between HPV infected and non-infected groups of ART outcomes. The role of HPV infection in infertile women undergoing IVF treatments has been a controversial issue which this article attempts to investigate. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of 3880 infertile women undergoing IVF treatment at Peking University Third hospital reproductive medical center in 2008. Patients with abnormal thin-layer preparation cytologic test （TCT） results who underwent fresh cycle embryo transfer were divided into an HPV positive group （n=56） and an HPV negative group （n=56）. The clinical parameters were compared （using Student＇s t-test and chi-squared test）. Univariate and multivariate analyses were taken to see if HPV infection affects the clinical pregnancy rate. Results Of the 3880 cases 157 had TCT abnormality （4.0%）. Of the 149 patients who had HPV test results, 112 women （81.2%） received a fresh cycle embryo transfer. Each group had 56 cases. The patients were of similar age and BMI, basic hormone levels, and infertile factors were similar. The gonadotropin use, oocyte retrieval number, clinical pregnancy rate, abortion rate and newborn condition were all similar between groups. Analyses showed neither HPV infection nor HPV hybrid capture （HC） II results affected clinical pregnancy rate after IVF treatments, but the FSH level did. Conclusion HPV positivity did not appear to impact assisted reproductive technology （ART） success. ＂Extensive treatment＂ for HPV before IVF was not recommended because treatment time will increase age and reduce ovarian function, which will lead to inferior IVF outcomes.

Dynamics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 genome variants in the feces during convalescence

In response to the current coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic,it is crucial to understand the origin,transmission,and evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-Co V-2),which relies on close surveillance of genomic diversity in clinical samples.Although the mutation at the population level had been extensively investigated,how the mutations evolve at the individual level is largely unknown.Eighteen time-series fecal samples were collected from nine patients with COVID-19 during the convalescent phase.The nucleic acids of SARS-CoV-2 were enriched by the hybrid capture method.First,we demonstrated the outstanding performance of the hybrid capture method in detecting intra-host variants.We identified 229 intra-host variants at 182 sites in 18 fecal samples.Among them,nineteen variants presented frequency changes>0.3 within 1-5 days,reflecting highly dynamic intrahost viral populations.Moreover,the evolution of the viral genome demonstrated that the virus was probably viable in the gastrointestinal tract during the convalescent period.Meanwhile,we also found that the same mutation showed a distinct pattern of frequency changes in different individuals,indicating a strong random drift.In summary,dramatic changes of the SARS-CoV-2 genome were detected in fecal samples during the convalescent period;whether the viral load in feces is sufficient to establish an infection warranted further investigation.