Sea Ranching Feasibility of the Hatchery-Reared Tropical Sea Cucumber Stichopus monotuberculatus in an Inshore Coral Reef Island Area in South China Sea (Sanya, China)

Sea ranching of tropical edible sea cucumbers is an effective way to relieve the overfishing stress on their natural resources and protect the coral reef ecosystem, yet only a few species have been applied in the sea ranching practice based on hatchery-reared juveniles around the world. In this study, an 8-month (April to December) sea ranching study for hatchery-reared edible sea cucumber Stichopus monotuberculatus juveniles was carried out at a tropical coral reef island area in Sanya, China. Several growth performance indexes and basal nutritional components were monitored. Results revealed that the sea cucumbers had a growth rate of 0.35~0.78 mm day-1 during the experimental period, reaching 15.9 cm long before winter. The weight gain reached 491.13% at the end, and most sea cucumbers were able to grow to the commercial size (over 150 g WW) in the first year of sea ranching. The overall specific growth rate (SGR) and survival rates were 0.73 and 27.5%. Most of the death occurred in the first month after release (25.0%–37.5%), and this is probably due to inadaptation to the sudden change of the environment from the hatchery to the wild, which is proved by the remarkable decrease in nutritional indexes (amino acids, total lipid, and crude protein). Stable isotope and lipid biomarkers revealed that the food source mainly comes from water deposits (with microbes), Sargassum sanyaense seaweed debris, phytoplankton, and coral mucus-derived organics. The study proved the feasibility of the sea ranching of the hatchery-reared S. monotuberculatus juveniles in the tropical coral reef island area. Also, it is highly recommended that appropriate acclimation operation before release should be carried out to improve the survival rate of this species

The Role of Sialyl Glycan Recognition in Host Tissue Tropism of the Avian Parasite Eimeria tenella

Eimeria spp. are a highly successful group of intracellular protozoan parasites that develop within intestinal epithelial cells of poultry, causing coccidiosis. As a result of resistance against anticoccidial drugs and the expense of manufacturing live vaccines, it is necessary to understand the relationship between Eimeria and its host more deeply, with a view to developing recombinant vaccines. Eimeria possesses a family of microneme lectins (MICs) that contain microneme adhesive repeat regions (MARR). We show that the major MARR protein from Eimeria tenella, EtMIC3, is deployed at the parasite-host interface during the early stages of invasion. EtMIC3 consists of seven tandem MAR1-type domains, which possess a high specificity for sialylated glycans as shown by cell-based assays and carbohydrate microarray analyses. The restricted tissue staining pattern observed for EtMIC3 in the chicken caecal epithelium indicates that EtMIC3 contributes to guiding the parasite to the site of invasion in the chicken gut. The microarray analyses also reveal a lack of recognition of glycan sequences terminating in the N-glycolyl form of sialic acid by EtMIC3. Thus the parasite is well adapted to the avian host which lacks N-glycolyl neuraminic acid. We provide new structural insight into the MAR1 family of domains and reveal the atomic resolution basis for the sialic acid-based carbohydrate recognition. Finally, a preliminary chicken immunization trial provides evidence that recombinant EtMIC3 protein and EtMIC3 DNA are effective vaccine candidates

Atomic resolution insight into host cell recognition by Toxoplasma gondii.

Accepted versio

Perioperative Toripalimab Plus Chemotherapy for Patients With Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: The Neotorch Randomized Clinical Trial

IMPORTANCE: Adjuvant and neoadjuvant immunotherapy have improved clinical outcomes for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the optimal combination of checkpoint inhibition with chemotherapy remains unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether toripalimab in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy will improve event-free survival and major pathological response in patients with stage II or III resectable NSCLC compared with chemotherapy alone. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This randomized clinical trial enrolled patients with stage II or III resectable NSCLC (without EGFR or ALK alterations for nonsquamous NSCLC) from March 12, 2020, to June 19, 2023, at 50 participating hospitals in China. The data cutoff date for this interim analysis was November 30, 2022. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive 240 mg of toripalimab or placebo once every 3 weeks combined with platinum-based chemotherapy for 3 cycles before surgery and 1 cycle after surgery, followed by toripalimab only (240 mg) or placebo once every 3 weeks for up to 13 cycles. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcomes were event-free survival (assessed by the investigators) and the major pathological response rate (assessed by blinded, independent pathological review). The secondary outcomes included the pathological complete response rate (assessed by blinded, independent pathological review) and adverse events. RESULTS: Of the 501 patients randomized, 404 had stage III NSCLC (202 in the toripalimab + chemotherapy group and 202 in the placebo + chemotherapy group) and 97 had stage II NSCLC and were excluded from this interim analysis. The median age was 62 years (IQR, 56-65 years), 92% of patients were male, and the median follow-up was 18.3 months (IQR, 12.7-22.5 months). For the primary outcome of event-free survival, the median length was not estimable (95% CI, 24.4 months-not estimable) in the toripalimab group compared with 15.1 months (95% CI, 10.6-21.9 months) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.40 [95% CI, 0.28-0.57], P \u3c .001). The major pathological response rate (another primary outcome) was 48.5% (95% CI, 41.4%-55.6%) in the toripalimab group compared with 8.4% (95% CI, 5.0%-13.1%) in the placebo group (between-group difference, 40.2% [95% CI, 32.2%-48.1%], P \u3c .001). The pathological complete response rate (secondary outcome) was 24.8% (95% CI, 19.0%-31.3%) in the toripalimab group compared with 1.0% (95% CI, 0.1%-3.5%) in the placebo group (between-group difference, 23.7% [95% CI, 17.6%-29.8%]). The incidence of immune-related adverse events occurred more frequently in the toripalimab group. No unexpected treatment-related toxic effects were identified. The incidence of grade 3 or higher adverse events, fatal adverse events, and adverse events leading to discontinuation of treatment were comparable between the groups. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The addition of toripalimab to perioperative chemotherapy led to a significant improvement in event-free survival for patients with resectable stage III NSCLC and this treatment strategy had a manageable safety profile. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04158440

Construction deviation control method of transverse super large inclined asphalt pavement

The speed of test vehicles on the high-speed car track of the automobile test field is very high. Reducing the construction error of asphalt pavement is very important to ensure the safety of the test vehicle. In order to realize the paving of asphalt concrete pavement with super-large lateral inclination in the curve section of the high-speed car track in the automobile test field, a special paving control device and control method for the construction on the curve section with super-large lateral inclination were developed. Use the direction of the hanging hammer under the GPS device of paver to adjust the position of GPS device in real time, so that the geometric centre line of GPS device is always perpendicular to the horizontal plane. The reference control line is preset in the paver operation control device, and the lateral displacement deviation of the paver is adjusted to synchronize the data of the paver control device with the travel route. The precise control of the paver’s forward route is realized, the construction precision of the super-large inclined asphalt pavement on the high-speed car track of the automobile test field is achieved, and the construction efficiency is greatly improved. It has important reference value for similar projects such as automobile testing field and racing track

Novel 3D nano-fence matrixes for integrated nanofluidic channels

Combining the advanced silicon etch system (ASETM) with electron beam lithography (EBL), we utilize the silicon sidewall scallops to fabricate 3D nano-fence matrixes for nanofluidic channels. We acquire the scallop size and the effective range of nano mask width for the formation of nano-fences under a fixed etch recipe. We then realize the controllability of fabricating silicon fences by simply varying the nano mask width. The fence matrixes make the micro-channel into integrated nano-channels, which will be very useful for fluid purification, segregation and bias application in certain fluid detection. ? 2014 IEEE.EI