Panorama Phylogenetic Diversity and Distribution of Type A Influenza Virus

Type A influenza virus is one of important pathogens of various animals, including humans, pigs, horses, marine mammals and birds. Currently, the viral type has been classified into 16 hemagglutinin and 9 neuraminidase subtypes, but the phylogenetic diversity and distribution within the viral type largely remain unclear from the whole view.The panorama phylogenetic trees of influenza A viruses were calculated with representative sequences selected from approximately 23000 candidates available in GenBank using web servers in NCBI and the software MEGA 4.0. Lineages and sublineages were classified according to genetic distances, topology of the phylogenetic trees and distributions of the viruses in hosts, regions and time.Here, two panorama phylogenetic trees of type A influenza virus covering all the 16 hemagglutinin subtypes and 9 neuraminidase subtypes, respectively, were generated. The trees provided us whole views and some novel information to recognize influenza A viruses including that some subtypes of avian influenza viruses are more complicated than Eurasian and North American lineages as we thought in the past. They also provide us a framework to generalize the history and explore the future of the viral circulation and evolution in different kinds of hosts. In addition, a simple and comprehensive nomenclature system for the dozens of lineages and sublineages identified within the viral type was proposed, which if universally accepted, will facilitate communications on the viral evolution, ecology and epidemiology

A Survey of Avian Influenza in Tree Sparrows in China in 2011

Tree sparrows (Passer montanus) are widely distributed in all seasons in many countries. In this study, a survey and relevant experiments on avian influenza (AI) in tree sparrows were conducted. The results suggested that the receptor for avian influenza viruses (AIVs), SAα2,3Gal, is abundant in the respiratory tract of tree sparrows, and most of the tree sparrows infected experimentally with two H5 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses died within five days after inoculation. Furthermore, no AIVs were isolated from the rectum eluate of 1300 tree sparrows, but 94 serological positives of AI were found in 800 tree sparrows. The serological positives were more prevalent for H5 subtype HPAI (94/800) than for H7 subtype AI (0/800), more prevalent for clade 2.3.2.1 H5 subtype HPAI (89/800) than for clade 2.3.4 (1/800) and clade 7.2 (4/800) H5 subtype HPAI, more prevalent for clade 2.3.2.1 H5 subtype HPAI in a city in southern China (82/800) than in a city in northern China (8/800). The serological data are all consistent with the distribution of the subtypes or clades of AI in poultry in China. Previously, sparrows or other passerine birds were often found to be pathogenically negative for AIVs, except when an AIV was circulating in the local poultry, or the tested passerine birds were from a region near waterfowl-rich bodies of water. Taken together, the data suggest that tree sparrows are susceptible to infection of AIVs, and surveys targeting sparrows can provide good serological data about the circulation of AIVs in relevant regions

Transition Metal Free Sandmeyer-Type Reductive Disulfuration of Anilines

A transition metal/ligand free disulfuration of anilines with disulfur transfer reagents (dithiosulfonate or tetrasulfide) is reported herein. The reaction, which can be considered as a reductive disulfuration variation of the classic Sandmeyer reaction, is performed under mild conditions and exhibits broad scope across aniline substrate and disulfur transfer reagent classes. The gram-scale synthesis of disulfides is successfully achieved through this method, rendering the approach highly valuable. <br /

Status and influencing factors of farmers' private investment in the prevention and control of sheep brucellosis in China: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND:Brucellosis is one of the most common zoonoses worldwide, causing direct losses to the livestock industry and threatening human health. Little is known about the status and factors affecting farmers' private investment in the prevention and control of sheep brucellosis in China. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:From April to October 2017, a cross-sectional, house-based study was conducted in 7 Chinese provinces. A total of 1037 households included in the study were analyzed. The average amount of private investment in the prevention and control of brucellosis was $0.73±0.54 per sheep. Multivariable analysis showed that factors facilitating private investment included older age of householder (OR = 1.07, 95%CI: 1.03-1.11), herd size >100 (OR = 2.49, 95%CI: 1.38-4.51), a higher percentage of income from sheep farming comparing to the total household income (OR = 1.14, 95%CI: 1.11-1.16), higher score of brucellosis knowledge (OR = 3.85, 95%CI: 1.40-10.51), actively learning related knowledge (OR = 2.98, 95%CI: 1.55-5.74), actively participating in related training courses (OR = 3.07, 95%CI: 1.52-6.18), care about other people's attitudes (OR = 1.75, 95%CI: 1.35-2.28), concern about the health of neighbors' livestock (OR = 1.75, 95%CI: 1.23-2.51). The analysis found a discouraging factor for private investment, supporting culling policy (OR = 0.67, 95%CI: 0.49-0.91). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:In addition to providing interventions related to farmers' knowledge, attitudes and practices, guidance must be offered to help farmers understanding the importance of private investment in the prevention and control of brucellosis

Modeling Management in Lean Production Environments: A Study of Italian SMEs

This study investigates the management behaviors associated with successful processes of lean transformation applying regression and non-parametric statistical analysis to an original dataset coming from field research on 26 processes of lean transformation in North Italian small and medium manufacturing enterprises. We test if a repertoire of lean management behaviors drawn from the literature captures the essence of management in lean production environments, and find that these behaviors actually correlate with the degree of advancement of the lean transformation process

Viral infection detection using metagenomics technology in six poultry farms of eastern China.

With rapidly increasing animal pathogen surveillance requirements, new technologies are needed for a comprehensive understanding of the roles of pathogens in the occurrence and development of animal diseases. We applied metagenomic technology to avian virus surveillance to study the main viruses infecting six poultry farms in two provinces in eastern China. Cloacal/throat double swabs were collected from 60 birds at each farm according to a random sampling method. The results showed that the method could simultaneously detect major viruses infecting farms, including avian influenza virus, infectious bronchitis virus, Newcastle disease virus, rotavirus G, duck hepatitis B virus, and avian leukemia virus subgroup J in several farms. The test results were consistent with the results from traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or reverse transcription-PCR analyses. Five H9N2 and one H3N8 avian influenza viruses were detected at the farms and were identified as low pathogenic avian influenza viruses according to HA cleavage sites analysis. One detected Newcastle disease virus was classified as Class II genotype I and avirulent type according to F0 cleavage sites analysis. Three avian infectious bronchitis viruses were identified as 4/91, CK/CH/LSC/99I and TC07-2 genotypes by phylogenetic analysis of S1 genes. The viral infection surveillance method using metagenomics technology enables the monitoring of multiple viral infections, which allows the detection of main infectious viruses

Modeling Transmission Dynamics of Streptococcus suis with Stage Structure and Sensitivity Analysis

Streptococcosis is one of the major infectious and contagious bacterial diseases for swine farm in southern China. The influence of various control measures on the outbreaks and transmission of S. suis is not currently known. In this study, in order to explore effective control and prevention measures we studied a deterministic dynamic model with stage structure for S. suis. The basic reproduction number ℛ0 is identified and global dynamics are completely determined by ℛ0. It shows that if ℛ0<1, the disease-free equilibrium is globally stable and the disease dies out, whereas if ℛ0>1, there is a unique endemic equilibrium which is globally stable and thus the disease persists in the population. The model simulations well agree with new clinical cases and the basic reproduction number of this model is about 1.1333. Some sensitivity analyses of ℛ0 in terms of the model parameters are given. Our study demonstrates that combination of vaccination and disinfection of the environment are the useful control strategy for S. suis