Modeling Of Ambient Black Carbon Concentration Using Traffic, Temporal And Meteorology Data In Connecticut

Black carbon is a component of fine particle pollution that exerts adverse effects on both global climate change and human health. It is produced through incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biofuels. Therefore, some of its major emission sources are diesel engines, residential heating and industry. Due to its strong ability to absorb solar energy, black carbon is one of the major contributors to global warming. In addition, black carbon and other fine particle pollutants can be inhaled into the lower respiratory track, causing and exacerbating health conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, low birth weight, cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer. Current black carbon monitoring sites are located in close proximity to roads with heavy traffic volume. The dispersion of ambient black carbon is subjected to many influencing factors. Therefore, the concentration of ambient black carbon in residential areas is much lower than that in heavy traffic areas. Environmental health studies using these data are likely to overestimate the concentration of ambient black carbon. As a result, the true threshold for adverse health effects may be lower than what have been reported in these studies. This paper aims to use existing data on ambient black carbon, traffic volume, daily temperature, daily wind speed and daily precipitation level in Connecticut to construct a linear regression model which can be used to reliably predict the level of ambient black carbon in places where black carbon monitors are not available. Data from five black carbon monitor stations, geographically matched traffic count stations and meteorology stations were collected and analyzed. Results showed that black carbon was significantly influenced by seasonal cycle, days of the week, daily temperature and daily average wind speed. In contrast, traffic volume did not have statistically significant influence on ambient black carbon concentration. This study suggests that ambient black carbon is strongly affected by seasonal cycle, daily temperature and inversely affected by daily wind speed, but not by traffic volume, especially as the point of interest moves further away from traffic source. However, given that this study did not account for other sources of emission, such as residential heating and industry emission, the relationship between ambient black carbon and various emission sources could be further explored

Development and evaluation of an immunochromatographic strip test based on the recombinant UL51 protein for detecting antibody against duck enteritis virus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Duck enteritis virus (DEV) infection causes substantial economic losses to the worldwide duck-producing areas. The monitoring of DEV-specific antibodies is a key to evaluate the effect of DEV vaccine and develop rational immunization programs. Thus, in this study, an immunochromatographic strip (ICS) test was developed for detecting DEV serum antibodies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The ICS test is based on membrane chromatography, and uses both the purified recombinant UL51 protein conjugated with colloidal gold and goat anti-rabbit IgG conjugated with colloidal gold as tracers, the purified recombinant UL51 protein as the capture reagent at the test line, and rabbit IgG as the capture reagent at the control line. The specificity of the ICS was evaluated by sera against DEV, Duck hepatitis virus (DHV), Riemerella anatipestifer (RA), Duck E. coli, Muscovy duck parvovirus (MPV), or Duck Influenza viruses (DIV). Only sera against DEV showed the strong positive results. In order to determine the sensitivity of the ICS, anti-DEV serum diluted serially was tested, and the minimum detection limit of 1:128 was obtained. The ICS components, which are provided in a sealed package, require no refrigeration and are stable for 12 months. To evaluate the effect of the ICS, 110 duck serum samples collected from several non-immune duck flocks were simultaneously tested by the ICS test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and neutralization test (NT). The results showed that the sensitivity of the ICS test was almost consistent with ELISA and much higher than NT, has low cost, and is rapid (15 min) and easy to perform with no requirement of specialized equipment, reagent or technicians.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this work, we successfully developed a simple and rapid ICS test for detecting DEV serum antibodies for the first time. The ICS test was high specific and sensitive for the rapid detection of anti-DEV antibodies, and has great potential to be used for the serological surveillance of DEV infection in the field.</p

Detection of anatid herpesvirus 1 gC gene by TaqMan™ fluorescent quantitative real-time PCR with specific primers and probe

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anatid herpesvirus 1 (AHV-1) is known for the difficulty of monitoring and controlling, because it has a long period of asymptomatic carrier state in waterfowls. Furthermore, as a significant essential agent for viral attachment, release, stability and virulence, <it>gC </it>(<it>UL44</it>) gene and its protein product (glycoprotein C) may play a key role in the epidemiological screening. The objectives of this study were to rapidly, sensitively, quantitatively detect <it>gC </it>gene of AHV-1 and provide the underlying basis for further investigating pcDNA3.1-gC DNA vaccine in infected ducks by TaqMan™ fluorescent quantitative real-time PCR assay (FQ-PCR) with pcDNA3.1-gC plasmid.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The repeatable and reproducible quantitative assay was established by the standard curve with a wide dynamic range (eight logarithmic units of concentration) and very good correlation values (1.000). This protocol was able to detect as little as 1.0 × 10¹DNA copies per reaction and it was highly specific to AHV-1. The TaqMan™ FQ-PCR assay successfully detected the <it>gC </it>gene in tissue samples from pcDNA3.1-gC and AHV-1 attenuated vaccine (AHV-1 Cha) strain inoculated ducks respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The assay offers an attractive method for the detection of AHV-1, the investigation of distribution pattern of AHV-1 in vivo and molecular epidemiological screening. Meanwhile, this method could expedite related AHV-1 and gC DNA vaccine research.</p

Genome Assembly for a Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau “3E” Fish, Anabarilius grahami (Regan), and Its Evolutionary and Genetic Applications

A Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau fish, the Kanglang white minnow (Anabarilius grahami), is a typical “3E” (Endangered, Endemic, and Economic) species in China. Its distribution is limited to Fuxian Lake, the nation’s second deepest lake, with a significant local economic value but a drastically declining wild population. This species has been evaluated as VU (Vulnerable) in the China Species Red List. As one of the “Four Famous Fish” in Yunnan province, the artificial breeding has been achieved since 2003. It has not only re-established its wild natural populations by reintroduction of the artificial breeding stocks, but also brought a wide and popular utilization of this species to the local fish farms. A. grahami has become one of the main native aquaculture species in Yunnan province, and the artificial production has been emerging in steady growth each year. To promote the conservation and sustainable utilization of this fish, we initiated its whole genome sequencing project using an Illumina Hiseq2500 platform. The assembled genome size of A. grahami is 1.006 Gb, accounting for 98.63% of the estimated genome size (1.020 Gb), with contig N50 and scaffold N50 values of 26.4 kb and 4.41 Mb, respectively. Approximately about 50.38% of the genome was repetitive. A total of 25,520 protein-coding genes were subsequently predicted. A phylogenetic tree based on 4,580 single-copy genes from A. grahami and 18 other cyprinids revealed three well-supported subclades within the Cyprinidae. This is the first inter-subfamily relationship of cyprinids at genome level, providing a simple yet useful framework for understanding the traditional but popular subfamily classification systems. Interestingly, a further population demography of A. grahami uncovered a historical relationship between this fish and Fuxian Lake, suggesting that range expansion or shrinkage of the habitat has had a remarkable impact on the population size of endemic plateau fishes. Additionally, a total of 33,836 simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers were identified, and 11 loci were evaluated for a preliminary genetic diversity analysis in this study, thus providing another useful genetic resource for studying this “3E” species

Optimal design of homogeneous ignition of biomass by pulse ignition technique

The volatile matters in biomass have an essential effect on their ignition stabilization. In the present work, the homogeneous ignition of seven kinds of biomass and eight kinds of coals is studied by the pulse ignition technique. At ignition, the flame brightness of biomass appears more faintly than that of coal. The flame color appears in bluish violet for biomass and yellowish red for coal. The homogeneous ignition temperature ranges from 270°C to 310°C for biomass and 390-500°C for coal, respectively, and it decreases with the decrease of the particle size. A theoretical model is established to predict the homogeneous ignition temperature by the thermal balance method and the thermal explosion theory. Based on the theoretical prediction, a quasi-linear model and a non-linear model are developed through the least square algorithm

Dynamic Characteristics of a Vibrating Flip-Flow Screen and Analysis for Screening 3 mm Iron Ore

Deep dry screening is the key unit in mineral processing. A vibrating flip-flow screen (VFFS) can provide effective solutions for screening fine-grained minerals, and it has been extensively used in many industrial fields. An accurate dynamic model of VFFS considering the influence of materials is significant for its dynamic analysis and screening process research, but it has rarely been studied in detail. In this paper, an improved dynamic model of VFFS is proposed and its dynamic equations are solved to find the reasonable operating condition, and experiments are carried out to verify the reasonability of the proposed model under no-load and loading materials conditions. Furthermore, the method of multistage sampling and multilayer screening is also applied to evaluate the screening performance of iron ore at 3 mm cut size on VFFS. Results show that when the mass of materials, relative amplitude, and operating frequency have values of 107 kg, about 6 mm and 80.79 rad/s, respectively, the screening efficiency gradually increases with an increase of screening length, reaching 89.05%; however, it does not change much when the screening length exceeds 1900.8 mm. Additionally, the misplaced materials of coarse particles will continue to increase as the screening length increases. This provides theoretical and technical support for the optimization of the length of the VFFS

EBV epitranscriptome reprogramming by METTL14 is critical for viral-associated tumorigenesis.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous oncogenic virus that induces many cancers. N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) modification regulates many cellular processes. We explored the role of m6A in EBV gene regulation and associated cancers. We have comprehensively defined m6A modification of EBV latent and lytic transcripts. Furthermore, m6A modification demonstrated a functional role in regulation of the stability of viral transcripts. The methyltransferase METTL14 was induced at the transcript and protein levels, and knock-down of METTL14 led to decreased expression of latent EBV transcripts. METTL14 was also significantly induced in EBV-positive tumors, promoted growth of EBV-transformed cells and tumors in Xenograft animal models. Mechanistically, the viral-encoded latent oncoprotein EBNA3C activated transcription of METTL14, and directly interacted with METTL14 to promote its stability. This demonstrated that EBV hijacks METTL14 to drive EBV-mediated tumorigenesis. METTL14 is now a new target for development of therapeutics for treatment of EBV-associated cancers