Circulation of reassortant influenza A(H7N9) viruses in poultry and humans, Guangdong Province, China, 2013.

Influenza A(H7N9) virus emerged in eastern China in February 2013 and continues to circulate in this region, but its ecology is poorly understood. In April 2013, the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) implemented environmental and human syndromic surveillance for the virus. Environmental samples from poultry markets in 21 city CDCs (n=8,942) and respiratory samples from persons with influenza-like illness or pneumonia (n=32,342) were tested; viruses isolated from 6 environmental samples and 16 patients were sequenced. Sequence analysis showed co-circulation of 4 influenza A(H7N9) virus strains that evolved by reassortment with avian influenza A(H9N2) viruses circulating in this region. In addition, an increase in human cases starting in late 2013 coincided with an increase in influenza A H7 virus isolates detected by environmental surveillance. Co-circulation of multiple avian influenza viruses that can infect humans highlights the need for increased surveillance of poultry and potential environmental sources.This study was financially supported by 12th five-year-major-projects of China’s Ministry of Public Health. Grant No: 2012zx10004-213 and by the PREDICT Surveillance Animal Human Interface Project of GVF. Grant No: Gvf: 06-09-057-02.This is the accepted version. It'll be replaced with the final pdf when it's available

Effect of live poultry market interventions on influenza A(H7N9) virus, Guangdong, China

Since March 2013, three waves of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus have been detected in China. To investigate virus transmission within and across epidemic waves, we used surveillance data and whole-genome analysis of viruses sampled in Guangdong during 2013–2015. We observed a geographic shift of human A(H7N9) infections from the second to the third waves. Live poultry market interventions were undertaken in epicenter cities; however, spatial phylogenetic analysis indicated that the third-wave outbreaks in central Guangdong most likely resulted from local virus persistence rather than introduction from elsewhere. Although the number of clinical cases in humans declined by 35% from the second to the third waves, the genetic diversity of third-wave viruses in Guangdong increased. Our results highlight the epidemic risk to a region reporting comparatively few A(H7N9) cases. Moreover, our results suggest that live-poultry market interventions cannot completely halt A(H7N9) virus persistence and dissemination

Modified Polyethersulfone Ultrafiltration Membrane for Enhanced Antifouling Capacity and Dye Catalytic Degradation Efficiency

Catalytic membranes, as a combination of heterogeneous advanced oxidation and membrane technology reaction systems, have important application prospects in the treatment of dyes and other organics. In practical applications, it is still challenging to construct catalytic membranes with excellent removal efficiency and fouling mitigation. Herein, molybdenum disulfide-iron oxyhydroxide (MoS2-FeOOH) was fabricated using iron oxide and MoS2 nanoflakes, which were synthesized by the hydrothermal method. Furthermore, by changing the concentration of MoS2-FeOOH, the MoS2-FeOOH/polyethersulfone (PES) composite ultrafiltration membrane was obtained with improved hydrophilicity, permeability, and antifouling capacity. The pure water flux of the composite membrane reached 385.3 L/(m2·h), which was 1.7 times that of the blank PES membrane. Compared with the blank membrane, with the increase of MoS2-FeOOH content, the MoS2-FeOOH/PES composite membranes had better adsorption capacity and catalytic performance, and the membrane with 3.0% MoS2-FeOOH content (M4) could be achieved at a 60.2% methylene blue (MB) degradation rate. In addition, the membrane flux recovery ratio (FRR) of the composite membrane also increased from 25.6% of blank PES membrane (M0) to more than 70% after two cycles of bovine serum albumin (BSA) filtration and hydraulic cleaning. The membrane with 2.25% MoS2-FeOOH content (M3) had the best antifouling performance, with the largest FRR and the smallest irreversible ratio (Rir). Catalytic self-cleaning of the composite membrane M3 recovered 95% of the initial flux with 0.1 mol/L H2O2 cleaning. The MoS2-FeOOH/PES composite membranes with the functions of excellent rejection and antifouling capacity have a good prospect in the treatment of printing and dyeing wastewater composed of soluble dyes

Preparation of a Single-Chain Antibody against Nucleocapsid Protein of Porcine Deltacoronavirus by Phage Display Technology

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) mainly causes severe diarrhea and intestinal pathological damage in piglets and poses a serious threat to pig farms. Currently, no effective reagents or vaccines are available to control PDCoV infection. Single-chain fragment variable (scFv) antibodies can effectively inhibit virus infection and may be a potential therapeutic reagent for PDCoV treatment. In this study, a porcine phage display antibody library from the peripheral blood lymphocytes of piglets infected with PDCoV was constructed and used to select PDCoV-specific scFv. The library was screened with four rounds of biopanning using the PDCoV N protein, and the colony with the highest affinity to the PDCoV N protein was obtained (namely, N53). Then, the N53-scFv gene fragment was cloned into plasmid pFUSE-hIgG-Fc2 and expressed in HEK-293T cells. The scFv-Fc antibody N53 (namely, scFv N53) was purified using Protein A-sepharose. The reactive activity of the purified antibody with the PDCoV N protein was confirmed by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western blot and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Finally, the antigenic epitopes that the scFv N53 recognized were identified by a series of truncated PDCoV N proteins. The amino acid residues 82GELPPNDTPATTRVT96 of the PDCoV N protein were verified as the minimal epitope that can be recognized by the scFv-Fc antibody N53. In addition, the interaction between the scFv-Fc antibody N53 and the PDCoV N protein was further analyzed by molecule docking. In conclusion, our research provides some references for the treatment and prevention of PDCoV

Dynamic Sliding Enhancement on the Friction and Adhesion of Graphene, Graphene Oxide, and Fluorinated Graphene

Graphene and functionalized graphene are promising candidates as ultrathin solid lubricants for dealing with the adhesion and friction in micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS). Here, the dynamic friction and adhesion characteristics of pristine graphene (PG), graphene oxide (GO), and fluorinated graphene (FG) were comparatively studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The friction as a function of load shows nonlinear characteristic on GO with strong adhesion and linear characteristic on PG and FG with relatively weak adhesions. An adhesion enhancement phenomenon that the slide-off force after dynamic friction sliding is larger than the pull-off force is observed. The degree of adhesion enhancement increases with the increasing surface energy, accompanied by a corresponding increase in transient friction strengthening effect. The dynamic adhesion and friction enhancements are attributed to the coupling of dynamic tip sliding and surface hydrophilic properties. The atomic-scale stick–slip behaviors confirm that the interfacial interaction is enhanced during dynamic sliding, and the enhancing degree depends on the surface hydrophilic properties. These findings demonstrate the adhesive strength between the contact surfaces can be enhanced in the dynamic friction process, which needs careful attention in the interface design of MEMS and NEMS

A molecular pyroelectric enabling broadband photo-pyroelectric effect towards self-driven wide spectral photodetection

Abstract Broadband spectral photoresponse has shown bright prospects for various optoelectronic devices, while fulfilling high photoactivity beyond the material bandgap is a great challenge. Here, we present a molecular pyroelectric, N-isopropylbenzylaminium trifluoroacetate (N-IBATFA), of which the broadband photo-pyroelectric effects allow for self-driven wide spectral photodetection. As a simple organic binary salt, N-IBATFA possesses a large polarization (~9.5 μC cm−2), high pyroelectric coefficient (~6.9 μC cm−2 K−1) and figures-of-merits (F V = 187.9 × 10−2 cm2 μC−1; F D = 881.5 × 10−5 Pa−0.5) comparable to the state-of-art pyroelectric materials. Particularly, such intriguing attributes endow broadband photo-pyroelectric effect, namely, transient currents covering ultraviolet (UV, 266 nm) to near-infrared (NIR, 1950 nm) spectral regime, which breaks the restriction of its optical absorption and thus allows wide UV-NIR spectral photodetection. Our finding highlights the potential of molecular system as high-performance candidates toward self-powered wide spectral photodetection

The beneficial effects of Moringa oleifera leaf on reproductive performance in mice

Moringa oleifera is a tropical plant with high nutritional and medicinal value. Recent studies have reported its remarkable effects in inflammatory, antioxidative, and anti‐diabetes modulations, but there was no significant report on its role in animal breeding. In this study, we investigated the effects of dietary Moringa oleifera leaf (MOL) on reproductive performances in mice. We studied the reproductive performance of mice for six consecutive gestations. Mice fed with 4% MOL diet showed improved litter size, litter birth weight, and litter survivals until weaning age compared to control mice fed with normal diet (p < 0.05). Mice fed with MOL diet did not change weight and organ coefficients. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations in both male and female mice were significantly decreased by dietary MOL (p < 0.05), but glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐PX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were unchanged. For male, dietary MOL significantly reduced sperm abnormality rate (p < 0.05) and Bcl2‐associated X protein (Bax) expression in testis (p < 0.05), but did not affect serum testosterone and the expression levels of androgen receptor (AR), phosphoglycerate kinase 2 (Pgk2), protamine2 (Prm2), and B cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) in testis. For female, dietary MOL did not change serum estradiol and the expressions of estrogen receptor beta (ERβ), Bcl2, Bax, and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) in ovary. In summary, MOL increased litter size and antioxidant ability, reduced the rate of sperm abnormality and the expression of Bax. Therefore, MOL may serve as a functional feed addictive for improving animal reproductive performance

The Effect of Oxidative Stress on the Chicken Ovary: Involvement of Microbiota and Melatonin Interventions

The poultry ovary is used as a classic model to study ovarian biology and ovarian cancer. Stress factors induced oxidative stress to cause follicle atresia, which may be a fundamental reason for the reduction in fertility in older laying hens or in aging women. In the present study, we set out to characterize the relationships between oxidative stress and ovarian function. Layers (62 weeks of age; BW = 1.42 ± 0.12 kg) were injected with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP) at 0 (CON) and 800 μmol/kg BW (oxidative stress group, OS) for 24 days and the role of melatonin (Mel) on tBHP-induced ovary oxidative stress was assessed through ovary culture in vitro. The OS (800 μmol/kg BW tert-butyl hydroperoxide) treatment decreased the reproduction performance and ovarian follicle numbers. OS decreased the expression of SIRT1 and increased the P53 and FoxO1 expression of the ovary. A decreased Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio, enriched Marinifilaceae (family), Odoribacter (genus) and Bacteroides_plebeius (species) were observed in the cecum of the OS group. Using Mel in vitro enhanced the follicle numbers and decreased the ovary cell apoptosis induced by tBHP. In addition, it increased the expression of SIRT1 and decreased the P53 and FoxO1 expression. These findings indicated that oxidative stress could decrease the laying performance, ovarian function and influence gut microbiota and body metabolites in the layer model, while the melatonin exerts an amelioration the ovary oxidative stress through SIRT1-P53/FoxO1 pathway