Emerging tick-borne infections in mainland China: an increasing public health threat

Since the beginning of the 1980s, 33 emerging tick-borne agents have been identified in mainland China, including eight species of spotted fever group rickettsiae, seven species in the family Anaplasmataceae, six genospecies in the complex Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, 11 species of Babesia, and the virus causing severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. In this Review we have mapped the geographical distributions of human cases of infection. 15 of the 33 emerging tick-borne agents have been reported to cause human disease, and their clinical characteristics have been described. The non-specific clinical manifestations caused by tick-borne pathogens present a major diagnostic challenge and most physicians are unfamiliar with the many tick-borne diseases that present with non-specific symptoms in the early stages of the illness. Advances in and application of modern molecular techniques should help with identification of emerging tick-borne pathogens and improve laboratory diagnosis of human infections. We expect that more novel tick-borne infections in ticks and animals will be identified and additional emerging tick-borne diseases in human beings will be discovered

Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in Mainland China

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 has posed a significant threat to both humans and birds, and it has spanned large geographic areas and various ecological systems throughout Asia, Europe and Africa, but especially in mainland China. Great efforts in control and prevention of the disease, including universal vaccination campaigns in poultry and active serological and virological surveillance, have been undertaken in mainland China since the beginning of 2006. In this study, we aim to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of HPAI H5N1, and identify influencing factors favoring the occurrence of HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry in mainland China. Our study shows that HPAI H5N1 outbreaks took place sporadically after vaccination campaigns in poultry, and mostly occurred in the cold season. The positive tests in routine virological surveillance of HPAI H5N1 virus in chicken, duck, goose as well as environmental samples were mapped to display the potential risk distribution of the virus. Southern China had a higher positive rate than northern China, and positive samples were mostly detected from chickens in the north, while the majority were from duck in the south, and a negative correlation with monthly vaccination rates in domestic poultry was found (R = −0.19, p value = 0.005). Multivariate panel logistic regression identified vaccination rate, interaction between distance to the nearest city and national highway, interaction between distance to the nearest lak

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Proteomic Analysis of Trichinella spiralis Adult Worm Excretory-Secretory Proteins Recognized by Sera of Patients with Early Trichinellosis

The most commonly used serodiagnostic antigens for trichinellosis are the excretory-secretory (ES) antigens from T. spiralis muscle larvae (ML), but the specific antibodies against the ML ES antigens are usually negative during early stage of Trichinella infection. The recent studies demonstrated that T. spiralis adult worm (AW) antigens were recognized by mouse or swine infection sera on Western blot as early as 7–15 days post-infection (dpi), the AW antigens might contain the early diagnostic markers for trichinellosis. The purpose of this study was to screen early diagnostic antigens in T. spiralis AW ES proteins recognized by sera of early patients with trichinellosis. T. spiralis AW were collected at 72 h post-infection (hpi), and their ES antigens were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Our results showed that 5 protein bands (55, 48–50, 45, 44, and 36 kDa) were recognized by sera of early patients with trichinellosis collected at 19 dpi, and were subjected to shotgun LC–MS/MS and bioinformatics analyses. A total of 185 proteins were identified from T. spiralis protein database, of which 116 (67.2%) proteins had molecular weights of 30∼60 kDa, and 125 (67.6%) proteins with pI 4–7. Bioinformatic analyses showed that the identified proteins have a wide diversity of biological functions (binding of nucleotides, proteins, ions, carbohydrates, and lipids; hydrolase, transferase, and oxidoreductase, etc.). Several enzymes (e.g., adult-specific DNase II, serine protease and serine protease inhibitor) could be the invasion-related proteins and early diagnostic markers for trichinellosis. Moreover, recombinant T. spiralis serine protease (rTsSP-ZH68) was expressed in E. coli and its antigenicity was analyzed by Western blot with the early infection sera. The rTsSP-ZH68 was recognized by sera of infected mice at 8–10 dpi and sera of early patients with trichinellosis at 19 dpi. T. spiralis AW proteins identified in this study, especially serine protease, are the promising early diagnostic antigens and vaccine candidates for trichinellosis

BIG Modulates Stem Cell Niche and Meristem Development via SCR/SHR Pathway in Arabidopsis Roots

BIG, a regulator of polar auxin transport, is necessary to regulate the growth and development of Arabidopsis. Although mutations in the BIG gene cause severe root developmental defects, the exact mechanism remains unclear. Here, we report that disruption of the BIG gene resulted in decreased quiescent center (QC) activity and columella cell numbers, which was accompanied by the downregulation of WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX5 (WOX5) gene expression. BIG affected auxin distribution by regulating the expression of PIN-FORMED proteins (PINs), but the root morphological defects of big mutants could not be rescued solely by increasing auxin transport. Although the loss of BIG gene function resulted in decreased expression of the PLT1 and PLT2 genes, genetic interaction assays indicate that this is not the main reason for the root morphological defects of big mutants. Furthermore, genetic interaction assays suggest that BIG affects the stem cell niche (SCN) activity through the SCRSCARECROW (SCR)/SHORT ROOT (SHR) pathway and BIG disruption reduces the expression of SCR and SHR genes. In conclusion, our findings reveal that the BIG gene maintains root meristem activity and SCN integrity mainly through the SCR/SHR pathway