This study documents the major external and internal morphological differences between Epinephelus bruneus and Epinephelus moara, and analyses the complete mitogenomes of both species. The partial ...cytochrome oxidase subunit I (coI) sequence divergence between E. bruneus and E. moara is significantly higher than specimens within the same species (P < 0·05). Analyses of gene flow (Nm = 0·02) and genetic differentiation (ϕst = 0·92995, P > 0·05) reveal reproductive isolation between E. bruneus and E. moara. These results support the hypothesis that E. moara is a valid species. Further molecular comparisons between E. bruneus and E. moara obtained in this study and a specimen identified in GenBank as E. bruneus from South Korea reveal that the latter is identical to E. moara rather than to E. bruneus.
We propose a scheme for the preparation, manipulation and detection of quantum states of single molecular ions. In this scheme, molecular and atomic ions are confined in radio-frequency Paul trap and ...share common modes of motion. A frequency comb laser field is used to drive stimulated Raman transitions that couple internal states of the molecular ion with the motion of ions. State transfer from the molecular ion to the atomic ion via the common mode of motion results in efficient state detection for the molecule. The coupling of molecular states to the motion and the subsequent sideband cooling of the ions provide a way to prepare the molecular ion in a well-defined state.
Understanding the pathophysiology of central nervous system tuberculosis (CNS-TB) is hampered by the lack of a good pre-clinical model that mirrors the human CNS-TB infection. We developed a murine ...CNS-TB model that demonstrates neurobehavioral changes with similar immunopathology with human CNS-TB.
We injected two Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) strains, H37Rv and CDC1551, respectively, into two mouse strains, C3HeB/FeJ and Nos2
mice, either into the third ventricle or intravenous. We compared the neurological symptoms, histopathological changes and levels of adhesion molecules, chemokines, and inflammatory cytokines in the brain induced by the infections through different routes in different strains.
Intra-cerebroventricular infection of Nos2
mice with M.tb led to development of neurological signs and more severe brain granulomas compared to C3HeB/FeJ mice. Compared with CDC1551 M.tb, H37Rv M.tb infection resulted in a higher neurobehavioral score and earlier mortality. Intra-cerebroventricular infection caused necrotic neutrophil-dominated pyogranulomas in the brain relative to intravenous infection which resulted in disseminated granulomas and mycobacteraemia. Histologically, intra-cerebroventricular infection of Nos2
mice with M.tb resembled human CNS-TB brain biopsy specimens. H37Rv intra-cerebroventricular infected mice demonstrated higher brain concentrations of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and adhesion molecule ICAM-1 than H37Rv intravenous-infected mice.
Intra-cerebroventricular infection of Nos2
mice with H37Rv creates a murine CNS-TB model that resembled human CNS-TB immunopathology, exhibiting the worst neurobehavioral score with a high and early mortality reflecting disease severity and its associated neurological morbidity. Our murine CNS-TB model serves as a pre-clinical platform to dissect host-pathogen interactions and evaluate therapeutic agents for CNS-TB.
A new model for determining band gaps for wave propagation in two-dimensional (2-D) periodic composite structures is developed using a modified couple stress theory. The general equation of motion ...and boundary conditions in the elasto-dynamics of the modified couple stress theory are first derived by a variational formulation based on Hamilton’s principle. The in-plane and anti-plane wave equations incorporating microstructure effects are then obtained explicitly from the general equation of motion. The plane wave expansion method and the Bloch theorem for periodic media are used to solve the in-plane and anti-plane wave equations, which are reduced to an eigenvalue problem in each case. The band gaps are determined from solving the characteristic equation and plotting the resulting eigen-frequencies. The new model recovers the classical elasticity-based model when microstructure effects are not considered. To quantitatively illustrate the newly developed model, a parametric study is conducted for 2-D periodic composite structures containing circular and square inclusions. The numerical results reveal that the microstructure effects on the band gaps are significant only when the unit cell size is small for both the composite structures. In addition, it is found that the volume fraction has a significant effect on the band gap size, and the inclusion shape has a large influence on the band gaps.
To conduct a large population-based survey on multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence in Shanghai, China.
We established a network of physicians, mainly neurologists, for identifying prevalent patients ...with MS and systematically checked inpatient registers at each hospital in the study area for patients with a diagnosis of MS, neuromyelitis optica, or other demyelinating disorders. MS diagnosis in patients was validated by senior neurologists according to the McDonald criteria.
In total, 123 patients with a validated MS diagnosis from the study population, 8.86 million inhabitants with permanent residence in Shanghai, were alive on the prevalence day. The crude MS prevalence rate was 1.39 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (95% CI: 1.16 to 1.66 cases) in the study population in Shanghai. There were 79 female and 44 male patients with MS, a female-to-male ratio of 1.8. Nearly all (96%) of the patients with validated MS had been examined by MRI.
Multiple sclerosis prevalence in Shanghai is in line with that reported for other Asian populations.
We report the observation of a set of coherent high frequency electromagnetic fluctuations that leads to a turbulence induced self-regulating phenomenon in the DIII-D high bootstrap current fraction ...plasma. The fluctuations have frequency of 130-220 kHz, the poloidal wavelength and phase velocity are 16-30 m^{-1} and ∼30 km/s, respectively, in the outboard midplane with the estimated toroidal mode number n∼5-9. The fluctuations are located in the internal transport barrier (ITB) region at large radius and are experimentally validated to be kinetic ballooning modes (KBM). Quasilinear estimation predicts the KBM to be able to drive experimental particle flux and non-negligible thermal flux, suggesting its significant role in regulating the ITB saturation.
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a glycoprotein hormone conventionally thought to be responsible only in producing red blood cells in our body. However, with the discovery of the presence of EPO and EPO ...receptors in the retinal layers, the EPO seems to have physiological roles in the eye. In this review, we revisit the role of EPO in the eye. We look into the biological role of EPO in the development of the eye and the physiologic roles that it has. Apart from that, we seek to understand the mechanisms and pathways of EPO that contributes to the therapeutic and pathological conditions of the various ocular disorders such as diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, optic neuritis, and retinal detachment. With these understandings, we discuss the clinical applications of EPO for treatment of ocular disorders, modes of administration, EPO formulations, current clinical trials, and its future directions.
As a nonspecific physical stimulation, the effect of acupuncture on diseases is produced by motivating the inherent regulatory system in the body, having the characteristics of whole regulation, dual ...directional regulation, etc. Modern scientific researches show that body’s inherent regulatory system is neuro–endocrine–immune (NEI) network. Hence, we speculate that the regulatory effect of acupuncture may be produced through its regulation of NEI network. In this article, we reviewed the recent researches about acupuncture’s effect on the NEI network, to find out the evidence of acupuncture adjusting NEI network and provide some evidences for revealing the mechanism of acupuncture.
Aims
To characterize the hemicellulolytic and cellulolytic enzymes from novel fungi, and evaluate the potential of novel enzyme system in releasing ferulic acid (FA) from biomass resource.
Methods ...and Results
A hemicellulolytic and cellulolytic enzyme‐producing fungus 4‐14 was isolated from soil by Congo red staining method, and identified as Eupenicillium parvum based on the morphologic and molecular phylogenetic analysis. The optimum temperature of fungal growth was 37°C. Hemicellulolytic and cellulolytic enzymes were produced by this fungus in solid‐state fermentation (SSF), and their maximum activities were 554, 385, 218, 2·62 and 5·25 U g−1 for CMCase, xylanase, β‐glucosidase, FPase and FAE respectively. These enzymes displayed the best catalytic ability at low pH values (pH 4·5–5·0). The optimum temperatures were 70°C, 70°C, 75°C and 55°C for CMCase, β‐glucosidase, xylanase and FAE respectively. CMCase, xylanase and FAE were stable at different pHs or high temperature (60°C). Enzymatic hydrolysis experiment indicated that the maximum (76·8 ± 4)% of total alkali‐extractable FA was released from de‐starched wheat bran by the fungal enzyme system.
Conclusions
High activities of thermotolerant CMCase, β‐glucosidase, xylanase and FAE were produced by the newly isolated fungus E. parvum 4‐14 in SSF. The fungal enzyme system displayed high efficiency at releasing FA from wheat bran.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This study provides a new fungal strain for researches of novel hemicellulolytic and cellulolytic enzymes and will improve the bioconversion and utilization of agricultural by‐products.
PDF
