The complete mitochondrial genome of Anisakis pegreffii Campana-Rouget & Biocca, 1955, (Nematoda, Chromadorea, Rhabditida, Anisakidae) - clarification of mitogenome sequences of the Anisakis simplex species complex

The complete mitochondrial genome of Anisakis pegreffii (former A. simplex A) was determined using the Illumina HiSeq platform. The genome was 14,002 bp in length made up of 36 mitochondrial genes (12 CDSs, 22 tRNAs, and 2 rRNAs). Phylogenetic analysis clarified the mitogenome sequences of the three sibling species of the A. simplex species complex, A. pegreffii, A. simplex sensu stricto and A. berlandi (former A. simplex C)

Impact of Gestational Age at Delivery on Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring During the Second Stage of Labor

Objective: To clarify whether gestational age at delivery affects the interpretation level of fetal heart rate (FHR) tracings in the second stage of labor in primiparous and singleton pregnancies.Methods: The database at one tertiary hospital in Japan was retrospectively reviewed for women with singleton fetuses in cephalic presentation and vaginal labor at ≥37+0 gestational weeks between June 1, 2011, and March 31, 2013. Continuous FHR tracings in the second stage of labor were subdivided into 10-minute intervals, each of which we called a window, from the beginning through delivery, and were assessed according to the five-tier classification proposed by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in which level 1 is normal, level 2 is subnormal, and levels 3-5 are abnormal patterns. Subjects were divided into two groups, including early term (37 0/7 to 38 6/7 weeks) and full term (39 0/7 to 41 6/7 weeks), according to the delivery age.Results: In total, 914 parturient women were eligible for the study protocol, including 228 and 686 women in early and full term, respectively. Vacuum extraction was more often observed in full term than in early term (P=0.007). Although the maximal level, number of level-5 windows, number of level-4 windows, and number of level-3 and level-4 windows were similar between the groups, the summation of level-4 windows ≥3 was significantly higher in full term than in early term (P=0.004).Conclusion: Full term delivery has a higher risk than does early term delivery from the standpoint of FHR monitoring

A population of the Japanese giant salamander Andrias japonicus (Amphibia: Caudata) inhabiting a small stream flowing through a wetland upstream of a dam: A study on the population of small individuals and larval growth in the field

広島県廿日市市飯山のダム上流の湿地を流れる小河川に生息するオオサンショウウオAndrias japonicusの個体群について報告する。本産地は標高が775–795mあり，本種の生息地で最も標高の高い部類に入る。飯山貯水池は1932年より水力発電ダム湖として建造され，その上流は約90年間ダムの下流域と隔離されている。水位の低下した2001年以降は長年人の手の加わっていない湿地となっている。2017–2020年ののべ17日間に渡る調査で，0歳から1歳，2歳と考えられる幼生が多数見つかり，全長210mmの幼体や326–680mmの成体，繁殖巣穴も見つかった。これは独立した繁殖個体群として世代交代している証拠でもある。この個体群からは全長700mmを越える個体が見つかっておらず，全長が小さい傾向がある。また，0歳幼生の全長と確認日の関係を見ると，全長46mmで離散した0歳幼生が，6月から8月にかけて急成長して75mmに達し，10月以降はほとんど成長しないで翌春を迎えることを示唆していた。幼生は主にダム湖であった当時の名残の水草，ヒルムシロPotamogeton distinctusの中から見つかる傾向がある点も特異な点である。ダム湖へ直接流入する源流域の小河川で本種が持続的に繁殖している例として本産地と個体群は稀少な存在であると言える。Here, we describe a population of the Japanese giant salamander Andrias japonicus inhabiting upstream of the Iinoyama Reservoir in Iinoyama, Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The locality is situated at 775–795 m above the sea level and is one of the highest localities in the habitat of this salamander. The Iinoyama Reservoir was originally built as a hydroelectric dam lake in 1932, and its upstream part has remained isolated for nearly 90 years. Since 2001, when the water level dropped, it has become a wetland, albeit not used by human for many years. In surveys over 17 days during 2017–2020, many zero-, first-, and second-year larvae; a juvenile 210 mm in total length (TL); and adults (326–680 mm in TL) as well as a breeding nest were found, providing evidence that the salamanders in this regions constitute an independent breeding population. No individuals measuring over 700 mm in TL were found in this population, and the overall TL tended to be low. Considering the association between the total length and the date of discovery of zero-year larvae, these larvae likely dispersed when they were about 46 mm and rapidly grew from June to August to reach 75 mm; from October, however, they barely grew until the next spring. Interestingly, the larvae were found in the remnants of the dam lake, near the aquatic plant Potamogeton distinctus. The described locality and population present a rare example of continuous breeding of the Japanese giant salamander in a small stream directly flowing into the dam lake

LogDrive: a proactive data collection and analysis framework for time-traveling forensic investigation in IaaS cloud environments

Abstract This paper presents the LogDrive framework for mitigating the following problems of storage forensics in Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud environments: volatility, increasing volume of forensic data, and anti-forensic attacks that hide traces of incidents in virtual machines. The proposed proactive data collection function of virtual block devices mitigates the problem of volatility within the cloud environments and enables a time-traveling investigation to reveal overwritten or deleted evidence files. We employ a sector-hash-based file detection method with random sampling to search for an evidence file in the record of the write logs of the virtual storage. The problem formulation, the investigation context, and the design with five algorithms are presented. We explore the performance of LogDrive through a detailed evaluation. Finally, security analysis of LogDrive is presented based on the STRIDE (Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information disclosure, Denial of service, and Elevation of privilege) threats model and related work. We posted the source code of LogDrive on GitHub

Insertion and Deletion Mismatches Distant from the Target Position Improve Gene Correction with a Tailed Duplex

A 5-tailed duplex (TD) DNA corrects a base-substitution mutation. In this study, the effects of insertion and deletion (indel) mismatches distant from the target position on the gene correction were examined. Three target plasmid DNAs with and without indel mismatches approximate to 330 bases distant from the correction target position were prepared, and introduced into HeLa cells together with the TD. The indel mismatches improved the gene correction efficiency and specificity without sequence conversions at the indel mismatch site. These results suggested that the gene correction efficiency and specificity are increased when an appropriate second mismatch is introduced into the TD fragment