Remarkable morphological variation in the proboscis of Neorhadinorhynchus nudus (Harada, 1938) (Acanthocephala: Echinorhynchida).

The acanthocephalans are characterized by a retractible proboscis, armed with rows of recurved hooks, which serves as the primary organ for attachment of the adult worm to the intestinal wall of the vertebrate definitive host. Whilst there is a considerable variation in the size, shape and armature of the proboscis across the phylum, intraspecific variation is generally regarded to be minimal. Consequently, subtle differences in proboscis morphology are often used to delimit congeneric species. In this study, striking variability in proboscis morphology was observed among individuals of Neorhadinorhynchus nudus (Harada, 1938) collected from the frigate tuna Auxis thazard Lacépède (Perciformes: Scombridae) in the South China Sea. Based on the length of the proboscis, and number of hooks per longitudinal row, these specimens of N. nudus were readily grouped into three distinct morphotypes, which might be considered separate taxa under the morphospecies concept. However, analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed a level of nucleotide divergence typical of an intraspecific comparison. Moreover, the three morphotypes do not represent three separate genetic lineages. The surprising, and previously undocumented level of intraspecific variation in proboscis morphology found in the present study, underscores the need to use molecular markers for delimiting acanthocephalan species

Octopus: A Heterogeneous In-network Computing Accelerator Enabling Deep Learning for network

Deep learning (DL) for network models have achieved excellent performance in the field and are becoming a promising component in future intelligent network system. Programmable in-network computing device has great potential to deploy DL for network models, however, existing device cannot afford to run a DL model. The main challenges of data-plane supporting DL-based network models lie in computing power, task granularity, model generality and feature extracting. To address above problems, we propose Octopus: a heterogeneous in-network computing accelerator enabling DL for network models. A feature extractor is designed for fast and efficient feature extracting. Vector accelerator and systolic array work in a heterogeneous collaborative way, offering low-latency-highthroughput general computing ability for packet-and-flow-based tasks. Octopus also contains on-chip memory fabric for storage and connecting, and Risc-V core for global controlling. The proposed Octopus accelerator design is implemented on FPGA. Functionality and performance of Octopus are validated in several use-cases, achieving performance of 31Mpkt/s feature extracting, 207ns packet-based computing latency, and 90kflow/s flow-based computing throughput

Diagnosis and treatment characteristics of radioactive optic neuropathy

AIM: To explore the diagnosis and treatment methods of radioaction-induced optic neuritis(RION)through the clinical dates of 17 patients. <p>METHODS: It was a retrospective case series study. From August 2008 to October 2013, 17 cases(24 eyes)of Rion clinical dates from Chinese PLA General Hospital were studied. The diagnosis methods including visual acuity, pupil, fundus, visual field, fundus fluorescein angiography(FFA), visual electrophysiological testing, and head MRI. To analysis the clinical date of patients with diagnosis of RION by statistical description.<p>RESULTS: The deterioration degree of vision: 13 eyes were classified as Ⅳ, 9 eyes as Ⅲ, 2 eyes as Ⅱ. Ten eyes RAPD(+), visual electrophysiology is extinguished. The retina of 5 eyes showed flame hemorrhages and cotton wool spots exudation. Optic nerve head edema in one eye. T1-weighted MRI enhanced in 19 eyes which showed optic nerve of the intracranial and intratubal segments abnormal changed, optic chiasm and pituitary stalk signal abnormalities and enhancement of the optic nerve. Tortuous optic nerves and rough edges were observed in 5 eyes. Treatment effect: 4 eyes of visual acuity improved, 1 eye from blindness to light perception,1 eye from 0.08 to 0.2, 1 eye from 0.4 to 0.6,1 eye from 0.04 to 0.15, the rest of the cases did not see any improvement.<p>CONCLUSION: The unique clinical manifestation of RION can provide objective basis for clinical diagnosis in time, but there have not been proven any effective treatments