Pathogenic Pseudorabies Virus, China, 2012

In 2012, an unprecedented large-scale outbreak of disease in pigs in China caused great economic losses to the swine industry. Isolates from pseudorabies virus epidemics in swine herds were characterized. Evidence confirmed that the pathogenic pseudorabies virus was the etiologic agent of this epidemic

Immune cell early activation, apoptotic kinetic, and T-cell functional impairment in domestic pigs after ASFV CADC_HN09 strain infection

African swine fever (ASF) caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a fatal and highly contagious disease of domestic pigs characterized by rapid disease progression and death within 2 weeks. How the immune cells respond to acute ASFV infection and contribute to the immunopathogenesis of ASFV has not been completely understood. In this study, we examined the activation, apoptosis, and functional changes of distinct immune cells in domestic pigs following acute infection with the ASFV CADC_HN09 strain using multicolor flow cytometry. We found that ASFV infection induced broad apoptosis of DCs, monocytes, neutrophils, and lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of pigs over time. The expression of MHC class II molecule (SLA-DR/DQ) on monocytes and conventional DCs as well as CD21 expression on B cells were downregulated after ASFV infection, implying a potential impairment of antigen presentation and humoral response. Further examination of CD69 and ex vivo expression of IFN-γ on immune cells showed that T cells were transiently activated and expressed IFN-γ as early as 5 days post-infection. However, the capability of T cells to produce cytokines was significantly impaired in the infected pigs when stimulated with mitogen. These results suggest that the adaptive cellular immunity to ASFV might be initiated but later overridden by ASFV-induced immunosuppression. Our study clarified the cell types that were affected by ASFV infection and contributed to lymphopenia, improving our understanding of the immunopathogenesis of ASFV

Perceived Multitasking Promotes the Willingness to Participate in Prosocial Behaviors

Multitasking is becoming more and more common in people\u27s daily life. This paper explores the influence of perceptual multitasking on consumers\u27 subsequent engagement in prosocial behaviors. Based on a series of experimental studies, we found that consumers with perceptual multitasking were more willing to participate in prosocial behavior (Study 1).This is because consumers with perceptual multitasking will feel more perceptive, thus improving their self-efficacy, thus demonstrating their ability by participating in prosocial behaviors (Study 2). This effect only existed when consumers perceived the activity as non-hedonic and had no distraction during the activity. When consumers perceived the activity as hedonic (Study 3) and perceived distraction (Study 4), the main effect disappeared. Meanwhile, consumers with perceptual multitasking were more likely to participate in charitable donation than those with time-spending prosocial behavior, because consumers with perceptual multitasking had higher perceived time scarcity (Study 5).The research conclusions of this article greatly expand the research of perceptual multitasking, pro-social behavior and related fields, and has a certain enlightenment effect on optimizing the advertising push and accurate push time of charitable and public welfare organizations

Simplified hepatitis C virus genotyping by heteroduplex mobility analysis

Heteroduplex mobility analysis (HMA) was used to genotype hepatitis C viruses (HCV) with PCR fragments derived from the 5' untranslated region (5'-UTR) or the NS5b region. HCV 5'-UTR fragments were amplified from 296 serum samples by use of a combined reverse transcription-PCR assay, and the genotypes of isolates were determined by sequencing. HCV genotype distributions in Australia were 39% for genotype 1a, 15% for 1b, 3% for 1a/b, <1% for 2a/c, 5% for 2b, 34% for 3a, <1% for 3b, and 1% for 4, and 1% of patients were infected with more than one genotype. Pairwise HMA of subtypes 1a, 1b, 2a/c, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, and 6a demonstrated that five distinct heteroduplex patterns were formed between the eight subtypes. A reference panel that contained a representative of each pattern (1a, 2b, 3a, 4a, and 6a) was used for genotyping. The pattern of heteroduplexes formed when a test isolate was mixed with the five reference isolates was correlated with the genotype, as determined by sequencing. Genotypes determined by HMA correlated exactly with sequencing results within the groups 1, 2, 3a, 3b/4, and 6. HMA was also used to simplify the identification of mixed infection with two HCV genotypes. In further studies, with amplicons from the NS5b region, HMA classified isolates into their respective subtypes, and the heteroduplex mobility ratio correlated closely with nucleotide sequence variation at the isolate, subtype, and genotype levels. HMA provides an adaptable, inexpensive, and rapid method of genotyping HCV that requires fewer resources than DNA sequencing

Simplified Hepatitis C Virus Genotyping by Heteroduplex Mobility Analysis

Heteroduplex mobility analysis (HMA) was used to genotype hepatitis C viruses (HCV) with PCR fragments derived from the 5′ untranslated region (5′-UTR) or the NS5b region. HCV 5′-UTR fragments were amplified from 296 serum samples by use of a combined reverse transcription-PCR assay, and the genotypes of isolates were determined by sequencing. HCV genotype distributions in Australia were 39% for genotype 1a, 15% for 1b, 3% for 1a/b, <1% for 2a/c, 5% for 2b, 34% for 3a, <1% for 3b, and 1% for 4, and 1% of patients were infected with more than one genotype. Pairwise HMA of subtypes 1a, 1b, 2a/c, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, and 6a demonstrated that five distinct heteroduplex patterns were formed between the eight subtypes. A reference panel that contained a representative of each pattern (1a, 2b, 3a, 4a, and 6a) was used for genotyping. The pattern of heteroduplexes formed when a test isolate was mixed with the five reference isolates was correlated with the genotype, as determined by sequencing. Genotypes determined by HMA correlated exactly with sequencing results within the groups 1, 2, 3a, 3b/4, and 6. HMA was also used to simplify the identification of mixed infection with two HCV genotypes. In further studies, with amplicons from the NS5b region, HMA classified isolates into their respective subtypes, and the heteroduplex mobility ratio correlated closely with nucleotide sequence variation at the isolate, subtype, and genotype levels. HMA provides an adaptable, inexpensive, and rapid method of genotyping HCV that requires fewer resources than DNA sequencing

Conceptual framework of modern Zangxiang concept: a qualitative content analysis

Background: Some scholars believe modern Zangxiang concept is conceived under the thought of bio-medicine (Western medicine), which differs greatly compared to the ancient one. The view put forward stirs up great argument. Therefore, we attempt to explore whether the modern Zangxiang concept can fully reflect the specific content and structural relationship of ancient one through analyzing the frame structure of modern Zangxiang concept. Methods: The qualitative content analysis was used. The document was selected from Zangxiang Chapter in Fundamental Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (7th edition). The textual document was added to QSR International’s NVivo qualitative data analysis software. Text was manually coded line by line according to the content described, and new categories were identified which were further divided into initial code, sub-theme, and theme. The relationships among them were explored, and a visual map of the body of knowledge (BoK) in Zangxiang theory was depicted. The similarities and differences between modern and ancient Zangxiang concepts were discussed by interpreting these themes, relationships and the visual map. Results: After analysis, there were 126 initial codes, 13 sub-themes, and 4 themes including structure, function, functional outcome and the corresponding external sign. Two principal relationships, generation and mutual promotion, restriction, and inter-dependence in function were obtained. By analyzing four themes and two kinds of principal relationships, we found five different aspects between modern Zangxiang concept and ancient Zangxiang theory. Conclusion: The BoK of the modern Zangxiang concept contains four themes: structure, function, functional outcome, and the corresponding external sign. The principal relationship is referring to generation between structure and function, and between function and its corresponding outcomes. Great differences exist when talking about modern Zangxiang concept which doesn’t reflect TCM characteristics and is more inclined to bio-medicine in structure from the perspective of ancient TCM theory

An All-Optical Microwave Frequency Divider with Tunable Division Factors Based on DP-DPMZM

Based on a dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach&ndash;Zehnder modulator (DP-DPMZM), an all-optical frequency divider is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Two radio frequency (RF) signals are modulated on an optical carrier to work as a dual-beam master laser (ML). The optical signals of the ML are injected into a distributed feedback (DFB) laser to initiate the period-two (P2) state oscillation. By beating the output of the slave laser (SL) via circulator in a photodetector, a frequency divider with tunable factors can be achieved. The innovation of the scheme lies in having a simple structure and only requires optical devices, which is operated in wide RF frequency range without any electrical amplifiers before the photodetector to increase the conversion gain. Experiment results also demonstrate that the frequency division factors can be adjusted