Human astroviruses (HAstVs) are single-stranded RNA viruses of the
family. Infection of classic HAstVs is one of the most common causes of acute viral gastroenteritis (infectious viral diarrhea). ...There is a lack of data on the prevalence and genetic characterization of classic HAstVs in acute viral gastroenteritis in the whole population. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological trend, genotypes, viral co-infections, and viral loads of classic HAstVs in Shanghai, China, from January 2015 to December 2016.
A total of 6,051 non-redundant stool samples were collected in outpatients with acute diarrhea in Shanghai from January 2015 to December 2016. One-step real-time RT-PCR was used for screening viral diarrhea, including rotavirus A, rotavirus B, rotavirus C, norovirus genotype I and II, classic human astroviruses, and sapovirus. Real-time PCR was used for screening human enteric adenoviruses. Conventional RT-PCR was used for the amplification of viral fragments for genotyping. PCR products were sequenced and used for the construction of phylogenetic trees.
The detection rate of classic HAstVs was 1.55% (94/6,051). The prevalence of HAstV infection displayed a typical winter/spring (December to March) seasonality and was highest in the 5-14 age group. Eighty-six samples were genotyped, which revealed HAstV-1 as the most prevalent genotype, followed by HAstV-5, HAstV-4, HAstV- 2, HAstV-8, and HAstV-3. There was a dramatic rise in the prevalence of HAstV-4 from December 2015 to March 2016, and the viral loads of HAstV-4 were significantly higher than those of other genotypes. Among the mixed infection samples, noroviruses were found to be the most frequently co-infected enteric viruses with HAstV.
Multiple genotypes of classic HAstVs circulated in Shanghai from January 2015 to December 2016. For the first time, HAstV-3\4\5\8 were detected in Shanghai.
The Arabidopsis thaliana ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS) gene encodes a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor that is required for tapetal cell development and postmeiotic microspore ...formation. However, the regulatory role of AMS in anther and pollen development has not been fully defined. Here, we show by microarray analysis that the expression of 549 anther-expressed genes was altered in ams buds and that these genes are associated with tapetal function and pollen wall formation. We demonstrate that AMS has the ability to bind in vitro to DNA containing a 6-bp consensus motif, CANNTG. Moreover, 13 genes involved in transportation of lipids, oligopeptides, and ions, fatty acid synthesis and metabolism, flavonol accumulation, substrate oxidation, methyl-modification, and pectin dynamics were identified as direct targets of AMS by chromatin immunoprecipitation. The functional importance of the AMS regulatory pathway was further demonstrated by analysis of an insertional mutant of one of these downstream AMS targets, an ABC transporter, White-Brown Complex homolog, which fails to undergo pollen development and is male sterile. Yeast two-hybrid screens and pull-down assays revealed that AMS has the ability to interact with two bHLH proteins (AtbHLH089 and AtbHLH091) and the ATA20 protein. These results provide insight into the regulatory role of the AMS network during anther development.
In this article, we present characterizations of the concavity property of minimal
L
2
integrals degenerating to linearity in the case of fibrations over open Riemann surfaces. As applications, we ...obtain characterizations of the holding of equality in optimal jets
L
2
extension problem from fibers over analytic subsets to fibrations over open Riemann surfaces, which implies characterizations of the fibration versions of the equality parts of Suita conjecture and extended Suita conjecture.
In this article, for singular hermitian metrics on holomorphic vector bundles, we consider minimal
L
2
integrals on sublevel sets of plurisubharmonic functions on weakly pseudoconvex Kähler manifolds ...related to modules at boundary points of the sublevel sets, and establish a concavity property of the minimal
L
2
integrals. As applications, we present a necessary condition for the concavity degenerating to linearity, a strong openness property of the modules and a twisted version, an effectiveness result of the strong openness property of the modules, and an optimal support function related to the modules.
The development of quantum computers has urged the cryptographic community to prepare cryptographic primitives for the eventual arrival of the post-quantum world. At Asiacrypt 2017, Leander and May ...combined Grover’s and Simon’s quantum algorithms to break the FX-based block ciphers. Technically this result is based on the combination of the quantum algorithms of Grover’s and Simon’s for the first time in the cryptographic setting. In this study, we using Bernstein–Vazirani’s and Grover’s algorithms to generate a new quantum key-recovery attacks on different rounds of Feistel constructions. An advantage of our attack is the keys can be divided into multiple blocks to enter the S-box and realize the process of recovery; this method greatly reduces the complexity of key recovery. Hence, it has strong practicability for key recovery (e.g., DES, Camellia, etc.). In order to show that, a detailed process has been provided in this paper.
Laser ablation coupled to a multi-collector inductively coupled mass spectrometer (LA-MC-ICP-MS) is a promising tool for in situ analysis of metal and metalloid stable isotope ratios. Potential ...isotopic fractionation associated with laser ablation may, however, cause biased sampling of the substrate, posing a major challenge for precise and accurate isotope ratio measurements. To better characterize the nature of laser ablation induced isotopic fractionation, this study compared particle morphologies, sizes, and size-dependent Fe isotope fractionations produced by ablation of a suite of semi-conductive samples, including natural Fe oxide, sulfide, and carbonate minerals, under various conditions using a 193nm ArF nanosecond (ns) laser and a 266nm Ti:sapphire femtosecond (fs) laser. Ablation-produced particles were sorted based on aerodynamic size using a cascade impactor, and Fe isotope compositions of size-sorted particles were then measured offline using conventional solution nebulization ICP-MS to quantify isotopic fractionation produced by the laser ablation. Particle morphology and size distributions produced by ns-laser ablation are more substrate and fluence dependent as compared to fs-laser ablation, resulting from the thermal nature of ns-laser ablation. Often, a higher proportion of the ablated Fe mass resides in particles with large aerodynamic sizes during ns-laser ablation as compared to fs-laser ablation, posing a potential difficulty for LA-ICP-MS analysis due to the increased possibility of incomplete ionization of large particles. Significant size-dependent Fe isotope fractionations of up to several per mil can occur during both ns- and fs-laser ablation, highlighting the importance of quantitative transport of particles to the ICP-MS for accurate Fe isotope analysis. Size-dependent Fe isotope fractionation observed for fs-laser ablation of all Fe minerals can be explained by particle formation through a condensation model, but multiple processes need to be considered to explain the observed Fe isotope fractionation during ns-laser ablation. Mass-balance calculations suggest that ns-laser ablation does not sample magnetite stoichiometrically for Fe isotope compositions at low fluence (1J/cm2), but does at higher fluences for all minerals. In contrast, fs-laser ablation always provides stoichiometric sampling for Fe isotopes regardless of fluence. Results of this study demonstrate that ns-laser ablation is substrate- and fluence-dependent, resulting in variable particle size distributions and Fe isotope fractionations, and possible non-stoichiometric sampling of semi-conductive samples for Fe isotope analysis. Instead, fs-laser ablation largely minimizes the substrate and fluence dependence, providing more consistent ablation.
•The first offline comparison of ns- and fs-laser for Fe isotope analysis.•Ablation produced particle size distribution and morphology were studied.•Laser ablation induced isotopic fractionation was quantified and investigated.•Isotopically non-stoichiometric sampling was found for ns-laser ablation.•Ablation is largely independent of samples and laser conditions for fs-laser.
The leucocyte esterase (LE) strip test often is used to diagnose periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). In accordance with the manufacturer's directions, the LE strip test result is read 3 minutes ...after exposing it to joint fluid, but this has not been supported by robust research. Moreover, we have noted that the results of the LE strip test might change over time, and our previous studies have found that centrifugation causes the results of the LE strip test to degrade. Still, there is no evidence-based recommendation as to when to read the LE strip test to maximize diagnostic accuracy, in general, and the best reading times for the LE strip test before and after centrifugation need to be determined separately, in particular.
(1) What is the optimal timing for reading LE strip test results before centrifugation to diagnose PJI? (2) What is the optimal timing for reading LE strip test results after centrifugation to diagnose PJI?
This study was a prospective diagnostic trial. In all, 120 patients who were scheduled for revision arthroplasty and had signs of infection underwent joint aspiration in the outpatient operating room between July 2018 and July 2019 and were enrolled in this single-center study. For inclusion, patients must have had a diagnosis of PJI or nonPJI, valid synovial fluid samples, and must not have received antibiotics within 2 weeks before arthrocentesis. As such, 36 patients were excluded; 84 patients were included for analysis, and all 84 patients agreed to participate. The 2018 International Consensus Meeting Criteria (ICM 2018) was used for the classification of 49 patients with PJI (score ≥ 6) and 35 without PJI (score ≤ 2). The classification was used as the standard against which the different timings for reading LE strips were compared. All patients without PJI were followed for more than 1 year, during which they did not report the occurrence of PJI. All patients were graded against the diagnostic criteria regardless of their LE strip test results. In 83 patients, one drop of synovial fluid (50 μL) was applied to LE strips before and after centrifugation, and in one patient (without PJI), the sample was not centrifuged because the sample volume was less than 1.5 mL. The results of the strip test were read on an automated colorimeter. Starting from 1 minute after centrifugation, these strips were automatically read once every minute, 15 times (over a period of 16 minutes), and the results were independently recorded by two observers. Results were rated as negative, ±, 1+, and 2+ upon the machine reading. Grade 2+ (dark purple) was used as the threshold for a positive result. An investigator who was blinded to the study performed the statistics. Optimal timing for reading the LE strip before and after centrifugation was determined by using receiver operative characteristic (ROC) analysis. The specificity, sensitivity, and positive predictive and negative predictive values were calculated for key timepoints.
Before centrifugation, the area under the curve was the highest when the results were read at 5 minutes (0.90 95% CI 0.83 to 0.98; sensitivity 0.88 95% CI 0.75 to 0.95; specificity 0.89 95% CI 0.72 to 0.96). After centrifugation, the area under the curve was the highest when the results were read at 10 minutes (0.92 95% CI 0.86 to 0.98; sensitivity 0.65 95% CI 0.50 to 0.78; specificity 0.97 95% CI 0.83 to 1.00).
The LE strip test results are affected by time and centrifugation. For samples without centrifugation, we found that 5 minutes after application was the best time to read LE strips. We cannot deny the use of centrifuges because this is an effective way to solve the sample-mingling problem at present. We recommend 10 minutes postapplication as the most appropriate time to read LE strips after centrifugation. Multicenter and large-sample size studies are warranted to further verify our conclusion.
Level II, diagnostic study.
The generation and topological configuration of double-layered polarization singularity array (PSA) having paired C-points of opposite topological index through superposing three Laguerre-Gaussian ...(LG) component beams with orthogonal linear polarization states are demonstrated. The generated PSA beam exhibits diversity in topological geometry and intensity pattern. The topological rule that the zero net topological charge and helicity conservation hold for the entire PSA is also confirmed. Based on our experiment setup consisting of a computer-controlled spatial light modulator (SLM), the PSA morphology can be flexibly customized and dynamically regulated by modulating the parameters of constituent beams. Our scheme provides a convenient device for manipulating polarization singularities and can facilitate the potential applications of singular optics.
Friedel-Crafts reaction was elected as the specific chemical approach to modify Aramid fiber surface in this article. After the surface treatment, the interfacial shear strength value of Aramid ...fiber/Epoxy composites was enhanced by about 50%. The surface elements of Aramid fibers were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, whose results showed that the ratio of Oxygen/Carbon was increased. The crystalline state of Aramid fibers was determined by X-ray diffraction instrument, and the surface morphological of Aramid fibers was analyzed by Scanning electron microscope. The results indicated that this novel surface treatment approach, which is a suitable way of the batch-process for Industrialization, not only can improve the interfacial bonding strength of Aramid fibers reinforced Epoxy resin matrix composites remarkably, but also hardly has any negative influence on the intrinsic tensile strength of Aramid fibers. The wettability degree of the fiber surface was enhanced by this new approach too.
Persea americana Mill. is an important cash crop that contains effective ingredients to reduce cholesterol and protect the cardiovascular system. Presently, the gene regulation mechanism and signal ...pathway of stress response in P. americana are unclear. To explore the gene expression changes of P. americana under drought and low-temperature stress, the transcripts of P. americana were sequenced under these conditions. The results produced 42,815,960 bp raw reads. Analysis of the related metabolic pathways and differentially expressed genes showed that under drought stress, the gene expression of beta-amylase 3, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and hexokinase were upregulated, while the gene expression of UDP-glycosyltransferase superfamily protein isoform, glucose-1-phosphate adenylyltransferase, and glucose-6-phosphate 1-epimerase were downregulated. Under low-temperature stress, the expression of beta-amylase and shikimate O-hydroxycinnamoyl transferase genes was downregulated. In addition, WRKY, MYB, bHLH, and NAC transcription factors were expressed under drought and low-temperature stress. Finally, the RNA-Seq data were validated using real-time fluorescence quantitative analysis to identify the key genes of P. americana regulated at the transcriptional level under drought and low-temperature stress. This study provides a theoretical basis for the selection of drought-resistant and low-temperature tolerant P. americana varieties.
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