BAC-pool sequencing and analysis confirms growth-associated QTLs in the Asian seabass genome

The Asian seabass is an important marine food fish that has been cultured for several decades in Asia Pacific. However, the lack of a high quality reference genome has hampered efforts to improve its selective breeding. A 3D BAC pool set generated in this study was screened using 22 SSR markers located on linkage group 2 which contains a growth-related QTL region. Seventy-two clones corresponding to 22 FPC contigs were sequenced by Illumina MiSeq technology. We co-assembled the MiSeq-derived scaffolds from each FPC contig with error-corrected PacBio reads, resulting in 187 sequences covering 9.7 Mb. Eleven genes annotated within this region were found to be potentially associated with growth and their tissue-specific expression was investigated. Correlation analysis demonstrated that SNPs in ctsb, skp1 and ppp2ca can be potentially used as markers for selecting fast-growing fingerlings. Conserved syntenies between seabass LG2 and five other teleosts were identified. This study i) provided a 10 Mb targeted genome assembly; ii) demonstrated NGS of BAC pools as a potential approach for mining candidates underlying QTLs of this species; iii) detected eleven genes potentially responsible for growth in the QTL region; and iv) identified useful SNP markers for selective breeding programs of Asian seabass

Health care systems in Sweden and China: Legal and formal organisational aspects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sharing knowledge and experience internationally can provide valuable information, and comparative research can make an important contribution to knowledge about health care and cost-effective use of resources. Descriptions of the organisation of health care in different countries can be found, but no studies have specifically compared the legal and formal organisational systems in Sweden and China.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To describe and compare health care in Sweden and China with regard to legislation, organisation, and finance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Literature reviews were carried out in Sweden and China to identify literature published from 1985 to 2008 using the same keywords. References in recent studies were scrutinized, national legislation and regulations and government reports were searched, and textbooks were searched manually.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The health care systems in Sweden and China show dissimilarities in legislation, organisation, and finance. In Sweden there is one national law concerning health care while in China the law includes the "Hygienic Common Law" and the "Fundamental Health Law" which is under development. There is a tendency towards market-orientated solutions in both countries. Sweden has a well-developed primary health care system while the primary health care system in China is still under development and relies predominantly on hospital-based care concentrated in cities.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Despite dissimilarities in health care systems, Sweden and China have similar basic assumptions, i.e. to combine managerial-organisational efficiency with the humanitarian-egalitarian goals of health care, and both strive to provide better care for all.</p

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Analysis on prognostic factors of ischemic stroke caused by middle cerebral artery stenosis or occlusion

Objective To screen related influencing factors for good prognosis of ischemic stroke caused by middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis or occlusion. Methods A total of 109 patients with ischemic stroke caused by MCA stenosis or occlusion were enrolled in this study. Their clinical data were recorded, such as sex, age, time from onset to MRI, history [stroke and/or transient ischemic attack (TIA), coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation, smoking and drinking], systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), serum glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), plasma homocysteine (Hcy), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score on admission and discharge, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 3-month follow-up. MRI and three-dimensional time-of-flight (3D-TOF) MRA were performed to get MCA stenosis rate, FLAIR vascular hyperintensity (FVH) score, FVH-diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) mismatching proportion, DWI-Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS). Univariate and multivariate forward Logistic regression analysis was used to screen related influencing factors for good prognosis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the accuracy and best threshold of FVH and DWI-ASPECTS scores predicting good prognosis. Results According to mRS score, patients were divided into good prognosis group (mRS ? 2, N = 24) and poor prognosis group (mRS > 2, N = 85). Logistic regression analysis showed that DBP (OR = 0.924, 95% CI: 0.869-0.983; P = 0.013), FVH score (OR = 2.008, 95% CI: 1.404-2.873; P = 0.000) and DWI-ASPECTS score (OR = 1.955, 95% CI: 1.336-2.862; P = 0.001) were independent influencing factors for good prognosis. ROC curve showed that area under the curve (AUC) of FVH score was 0.768 (95% CI: 0.656-0.880, P = 0.000), AUC of DWI-ASPECTS score was 0.721 (95%CI: 0.608-0.834, P = 0.001). The best threshold of FVH score was 4.50, sensitivity was 0.625, specificity was 0.824, Youden index was 0.449. The best threshold of DWI-ASPECTS score was 6.50, sensitivity was 0.750, specificity was 0.671, Youden index was 0.421. Conclusions For ischemic stroke caused by MCA stenosis or occlusion, the related prognostic factors include DBP, FVH score and DWI-ASPECTS score, whereas FVH score has higher accuracy. DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2018.04.00

Cooperative vehicular communications in the drive-thru internet

This brief presents a unified analytical framework for the evaluation of drive-thru Internet performance and accordingly proposes an optimal spatial access control management approach. A comprehensive overview and in-depth discussion of the research literature is included. It summarizes the main concepts and methods, and highlights future research directions. The brief also introduces a novel cooperative vehicular communication framework together with a delicate linear cluster formation scheme and low-delay content forwarding approach to provide a flexible and efficient vehicular content distribution in the drive-thru Internet. The presented medium access control and vehicular content distribution related research results in this brief provide useful insights for the design approach of Wi-Fi enabled vehicular communications and it motivates a new line of thinking for the performance enhancements of future vehicular networking. Advanced-level students, researchers and professionals interested in vehicular networks or coordinated network sharing will find Cooperative Vehicular Communications in the Drive-thru Internet a valuable reference

Current concepts of imaging genomics in glioma

Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors, the grading of which is associated with biological behavior and prognosis. With rapid advances in our understanding of glioma biology and a move toward personalized medicine, it is important to obtain a greater understanding of these tumors, beyond that provided by conventional neuroimaging. “Imaging genomics” is an emerging field which has an immense potential to greatly expand our understanding of glioma behavior. This article reviews the relationship between the radiologic and genomic features of gliomas, which may aid in personalizing patient treatment

The effects of corticospinal tract glioma on motor function evaluated by diffusion tensor imaging

Objective To evaluate the damage effect of glioma on corticospinal tract (CST) and motor function of lower extremities by using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). Methods A total of 45 patients with histopathologically confirmed gliomas (13 cases of low-grade gliomas and 32 cases of high-grade gliomas) were included in this pilot study. Motor cortex was not involved in all cases. Manual Muscle Testing (MMT) was used to measure contralateral muscle strength of knee joint. DTI images were used to measure the affected and contralateral posterior limb of internal capsule fractional anisotropy (FA) and relative FA (rFA, rFA = affected FA / contralateral FA). DTT images were used to measure affected and contralateral CST fiber density index (FDi) and relative FDi (rFDi, rFDi = affected FDi / contralateral FDi). Results In 45 patients, there were 6 cases (13.33% ) of MTT grade 2, 12 cases (26.67%) of grade 3, 21 cases (46.67%) of grade 4 and 6 cases (13.33%) of grade 5. All patients had different degrees of CST injury, including 21 cases (46.67%) of grade 1, 6 cases (13.33%) of grade 2 and 18 cases (40%) of grade 3. There were significant differences in the degree of CST injury (H = 38.560, P = 0.000), rFA (F = 37.453, P = 0.000) and rFDi (F = 6.734, P = 0.001) in different muscle strength groups. Among them, MTT grade 2 group had significantly higher degree of CST injury (Z = -4.088, P = 0.000; Z = -3.317, P = 0.001) and lower rFDi values (t = -3.850, P = 0.000; t = -3.481, P = 0.001) than MTT grade 4 and grade 5 groups, while had lower rFA values than MTT grade 3, grade 4 and grade 5 groups (t = -8.218, P = 0.000; t = -8.898, P = 0.000; t = -12.028, P = 0.000). Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that muscle strength was negatively correlated with CST injury (rs = -0.840, P = 0.000) and positively correlated with rFA values of posterior limb of internal capsule (rs = 0.615, P = 0.000) and rFDi (rs = 0.567, P = 0.000). Conclusions The degree of CST injury in patients with glioma in CST area is related to the degree of motor dysfunction. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2018.10.01