Cross-cultural psychologists have mostly contrasted East Asia with the West. However, this study shows that there are major psychological differences within China. We propose that a history of ...farming rice makes cultures more interdependent, whereas farming wheat makes cultures more independent, and these agricultural legacies continue to affect people in the modern world. We tested 1162 Han Chinese participants in six sites and found that rice-growing southern China is more interdependent and holistic-thinking than the wheat-growing north. To control for confounds like climate, we tested people from neighboring counties along the rice-wheat border and found differences that were just as large. We also find that modernization and pathogen prevalence theories do not fit the data.
The role of autotransplantation in end-stage hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is unclear. We aimed to present our 15-case experience and propose selection criteria for autotransplantation. All ...patients were considered to have unresectable hepatic AE by conventional resection due to critical invasion to retrohepatic vena cava, hepatocaval region along with three hepatic veins, and the tertiary portal and arterial branches. All patients successfully underwent ex vivo extended right hepatectomy and autotransplantation without intraoperative mortality. The median autograft weight was 706 g (380–1000 g); operative time was 15.5 hours (11.5–20.5 hours); and anhepatic time was 283.8 minutes (180–435 min). Postoperative hospital stay was 32.3 days (12–60 days). Postoperative complication Clavien–Dindo grade IIIa or higher occurred in three patients including one death that occurred 12 days after the surgery due to acute liver failure. One patient was lost to follow-up after the sixth month. Thirteen patients were followed for a median of 21.6 months with no relapse. This is the largest reported series of patients with end-stage hepatic AE treated with liver autotransplantation. The technique requires neither organ donor nor postoperative immunosuppressant. The early postoperative mortality was low with acceptable morbidity. Preoperative precise assessment and strict patient selection are of utmost importance.
In this study, the authors sequenced and characterized the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of two hard ticks of the genus Ixodes, I. nipponensis and Ixodes (Pholeoixodes) sp., which were 14 505 ...and 14 543 bp in length, respectively. Their mt genomes encoded 37 genes, including 13 protein‐coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes and two ribosomal RNA genes, and have only one non‐coding region. The gene order in their mt genomes was the same as that of other Ixodes spp. mt genomes. The average sequence identity, combined nucleotide diversity, non‐synonymous/synonymous substitutions ratio analyses consistently demonstrated that cox1, rrnS, cox2, cox3 and cytb were the most conserved and atp8, nad6 and nad2 were the most variable genes across Ixodes mitogenomes. Phylogeny of the present Ixodes spp., and other selected hard tick species, based on concatenated amino acid sequences of PCGs, confirmed their position within the genus Ixodes and sub‐family Ixodinae. The novel mt markers described herein will be useful for further studies of the population genetics, molecular epidemiology and systematics of hard ticks.
This study sequenced and characterized the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of two hard ticks of the genus Ixodes, I. nipponensis and Ixodes (Pholeoixodes) sp..
Two Ixodes ticks mt genomes encoded 37 genes.
This study provided molecular data for Ixodes (Pholeoixodes) sp., which is a taxonomically controversial species.
Melophagus ovinus is a type of ectoparasite infesting sheep. Data regarding the comprehensive bacterial community associated with the whole body and midgut of M. ovinus under different engorged ...statuses are required. Melophagus ovinus were collected from the city of Jiuquan, China. Bacterial DNA was extracted from the whole body and midgut of fully engorged female adults, or newly hatched and unfed adult female M. ovinus. The 16S rRNA gene V3–V4 hypervariable regions were sequenced using the IonS5™XL platform (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, U.S.A.). The whole body bacterial diversity of the newly hatched, unfed adult females was greater compared with that of the other three samples. Proteobacteria was the dominant bacterial phylum in all of the samples. Of the 42 total bacterial genera present in all of the experimental samples, Arsenophonus, Bartonella and Wolbachia were the dominant genera. The relative abundance of Arsenophonus in midgut was greater than that in the whole body. The relative abundance of Bartonella in fully engorged adults was far greater than those in newly hatched, unfed adults. The relative abundance of Wolbachia was highest in the whole body of newly hatched, unfed adults. Seventeen bacterial species were identified in all experimental samples. Bartonella chomelii, Streptococcus hyointestinalis and Escherichia coli were the first species reported in M. ovinus.
This is the first report on the microbial community of whole body and midgut of Melophagus ovinus in specimens at different levels of engorgement.
Seven phyla, 42 bacterial genera and 17 bacterial species were found across all of the samples.
The whole‐body bacterial diversity of the newly hatched and unfed adult females was higher compared with that of the other three samples.
The wear behaviour of tungsten carbide–cobalt (WC–Co) high-velocity oxy-fuel coatings within the range of room temperature (RT) to 800°C in air and RT to 650°C in argon was studied using a ...ball-on-disc tribometer. The worn track morphologies, compositions and oxide phases after the tests were analysed by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and Raman spectroscopy. The correlation between the oxidation and wear of WC–Co coatings was investigated. Results show that oxides, as well as the oxidation of coatings, have an important role during the tribological process of WC–Co coatings. The volume loss of WC–Co coatings in air is low at RT to 600°C, which indicates that oxidation inhibits wear. Friction promotes the formation of CoWO4. CoWO4 can reduce friction and wear, and enables the coating to maintain good tribological properties even at 600°C. Above 600°C, the coating oxidises vigorously and its property deteriorates rapidly, which cause serious wear. In argon, the volume loss of WC–Co coating is significantly higher than that in air at RT to 600°C. Wear decreases as temperature rises because of the gradual formation of oxides. Consequently, WC–Co coatings should not be used as wear-resistant coatings in O-deficient environments at RT or at elevated temperatures.
•Wear behaviour of WC–Co coatings at different temperatures in air and argon was studied.•WC–Co coating can be safely used below 600°C in air.•WC–Co coating is not wear-resistant in O-deficient environments.•The atmospheric oxidation and tribo-oxidation are important during wear.
Using an optical fiber to both excite the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond and collect its fluorescence is essential to build NV-based endoscope-type sensor. Such endoscope-type sensor can ...reach inaccessible fields for traditional NV-based sensors built by bulky optical components and extend the application areas. Since single NV's fluorescence is weak and can easily be buried in fluorescence from optical fiber core's oxide defects excited by the green laser, fixing a micrometer size diamond containing high-density NVs rather than a nanodiamond containing single NV or several NVs on the apex of an optical fiber to build an endoscope-type sensor is more implementable. Unfortunately, due to small numerical aperture (NA), most of the optical fibers have a low fluorescence collection efficiency, which limits the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the NV-based endoscope-type sensor. Here, using a tapered optical fiber (TOF) tip, we significantly improve the efficiency of the laser excitation and fluorescence collection of the NV ensembles in diamond. This could potentially enhance the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the NV-based endoscope-type sensor. Numerical calculations show that the TOF tip delivers a high NA and has a high NV excitation and fluorescence collection efficiency. Experiments demonstrate that such TOF tip can obtain up to over 7-fold excitation efficiency and over 15-fold fluorescence collection efficiency of that from a flat-ended fiber (non-TOF) tip.
The significance and status of ECA of embedded flaws in pipeline girth welds are reviewed and outlined. Industry experience and the literature show that the majority of weld repairs in field ...construction is for embedded flaws, either volumetric or planar. Since repair welding of flaws is generally done under less-than-ideal conditions (wide range of temperatures, awkward geometries, time constraints, etc.) that could affect the quality of the welds, there is adequate justification for having the best possible technical approach for evaluating such flaws in standards, e.g. the Canadian pipeline standard (Z662). Stress-based ECA procedures for embedded flaws and re-characterization rules in commonly used standards are reviewed and compared, and progress in recent R&D is reviewed. There have been noticeable research and development (R&D) efforts using finite element modelling (FEM) on embedded flaws subjected to large strains, mainly for strain-based design (SBD) and offshore pipelines. The framework used in recent strain-based ECA studies is reviewed and is found to be useful for future development of stress-based ECA.
•The significance, status and future R&D direction for ECA of embedded flaws in pipeline girth welds are reviewed and outlined.•Standard stress-based ECA procedures for embedded flaws employ engineering approximations and are widely considered too conservative. The rules for re-categorization of embedded flaws to surface flaws differ for commonly-used standards without clear scientific justification.
Coronary artery disease and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are the leading causes of death for both men and women. Serum cardiac-specific troponin level is now used for the “early” diagnosis of ...AMI. However, due to the “delayed” release of troponin, an earlier, more sensitive and specific biomarker is urgently demanded to further reduce AMI mortality. Recent studies have found that circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are closely linked to myocardial injury. Due to the cell-specific physiological functions and the stability of miRNAs in plasma, serum, and urine, they are emerging as sensitive biomarkers of AMI. This review summarizes the latest insights into the identification and potential application of plasma and serum miRNAs as novel biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of AMI.
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► Cardiac troponin is the most commonly used biomarkers for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) diagnosis. ► Recently studies have found that microRNAs (miRNA) stably existed in the circulation and the expression profiles are significantly changed after AMI. ► We reviewed the latest insights in the identification and potential use of miRNAs in the plasma and serum as novel biomarkers of AMI.
The heat shock protein 70 (HSPA) family and their genes have been studied in ticks and are considered as possible antigen candidates for the development of anti‐tick vaccines. However, knowledge ...about their members, structure and function in ticks is incomplete. Based on our transcriptomic data, the full length of four HSPA genes in Haemaphysalis flava (Acari: Ixodidae) was cloned via rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The open reading frame of HSPA2A, HSPA2B, HSPA5 and HSPA9 was 1920, 1911, 1983 and 2088 bp in length, respectively. Three family signatures and one localization motif were in the encoding proteins. HSPA2A and HSPA2B were predicted to be located at cytoplasm/nucleus, whereas HSPA5 and HSPA9 were at endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria, respectively. In silico simulation demonstrated that those proteins had distinct numbers of α‐helixes, extended strands and coils, and different antigenic epitopes. Expression of HSPA5 and HSPA9 in the salivary gland was significantly higher in partially‐engorged female adult ticks than the fully‐engorged (P < 0.01) as shown by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Our data indicated that H. flava ticks had at least four HSPA genes encoding proteins with different cellular locations, structures and expression profiles, suggesting their diverse roles in tick biology.
Four heat shock protein 70 genes (HSPA), namely HSPA2A, HSPA2B, HSPA5 and HSPA9, were cloned from Haemaphysalis flava ticks.
Those HSPA had different expression profiles in vivo, and their encoding proteins were predicted to have different cellular locations and structures.
HSP70 may have diverse roles in tick biology.
Amblyomma javanense is an important ectoparasite of Manis javanica, although the population genetics, molecular biology and systematics of A. javanense remain poorly understood. In the present study, ...the mitochondrial genome of A. javanense was sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq sequencing platform (Illumina, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.) and compared with the genomes of two closely related species: Amblyomma fimbriatum and Amblyomma americanum. The intraspecies and interspecies relationships of A. javanense and another 21 selected species were investigated by constructing a maximum‐likelihood tree and a neighbour‐joining tree. The mitochondrial genome of A. javanense was 14 780 bp in length and contained 13 protein‐coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and two control regions. The results of the comparisons indicate that there is great similarity among these three species, and both trees indicate that A. javanense is a member of the Amblyomminae. The study of A. javanense of pangolins also indicates the premise and foundation of the relationship between the parasite and other species.
This is the first report on the mitochondrial genome of Amblyomma javanense collected from the body surface of the endangered Malayan pangolin (Manis javanica).
Illumina HiSeq sequencing technology (Illumina, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.) was used to obtain the sequence of the template DNA fragments of the mitochondrial genome of Amblyomma javanense.
There is great similarity among Amblyomma javanense, Amblyomma fimbriatum and Amblyomma americanum, with both trees indicating that A. javanense is a member of the Amblyomminae.
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