The Sacred Landscape of the Yading Nature Reserve

The Yading Nature Reserve has been declared a National Nature Reserve in China since 2001 and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2003. It is not only a wildlife sanctuary, but also a pilgrim site for believers of different schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The glaciated landform of Yading is covered with a range of classic glacial features, such as U-shaped valleys, cirques peaks, horn peaks, and moraines. It is an area surrounding three awe-inspiring glacier-covered peaks which are believed to be the manifestations of Avalokitesvara, Manjusri, and Vajrapani, the three most important Bodhisattvas in Tibetan Buddhism. This article is a preliminary reflection and examination of the sacredness of Yading, its different aspects, and contemporary challenges

Two Mutations Were Critical for Bat-to-Human Transmission of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

To understand how Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) transmitted from bats to humans, we compared the virus surface spikes of MERS-CoV and a related bat coronavirus, HKU4. Although HKU4 spike cannot mediate viral entry into human cells, two mutations enabled it to do so by allowing it to be activated by human proteases. These mutations are present in MERS-CoV spike, explaining why MERS-CoV infects human cells. These mutations therefore played critical roles in the bat-to-human transmission of MERS-CoV, either directly or through intermediate hosts

Transcriptome analysis and identification of genes associated with leaf crude protein content in foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.]

Introduction: Spruce spider mite is a primary insect pest of Chinese chestnut in China and seriously influences its yield and quality. However, the current management against this mite is costly and poorly effective. In previous research, we bred several foxtail millet materials for interplanting with chestnut tree, and found that they had high levels of crude protein (CP) in leaves and attracted spruce spider mite to feed on the leaves, thereby reducing chestnut damage.Methods: In this study, four foxtail millet varieties with significant differences in leaf crude protein content were used for high-throughput sequencing and identification of genes associated with leaf crude protein content. Gene enrichment analyses were carried out to comprehend the functions of these genes and the biological processes in which they are involved. In addition, transcription factors (TFs) were evaluated.Results: 435 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, suggesting their potential role in crude protein accumulation. Some differentially expressed genes were found to be associated with nitrogen metabolism and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis pathways. Moreover, we identified 40 TF genes categorized into 11 transcription factor families.Discussion: Our findings represent an important resource that clarifies the mechanisms of accumulation and control of leaf crude protein in foxtail millet, and provide an opportunity for suppression of spruce spider mite attack on Chinese chestnut by interplanting with foxtail millet varieties with high concentrations of leaf crude protein

An Integrated Model for Simulating Regional Water Resources Based on Total Evapotranspiration Control Approach

Total evapotranspiration and water consumption (ET) control is considered an efficient method for water management. In this study, we developed a water allocation and simulation (WAS) model, which can simulate the water cycle and output different ET values for natural and artificial water use, such as crop evapotranspiration, grass evapotranspiration, forest evapotranspiration, living water consumption, and industry water consumption. In the calibration and validation periods, a "piece-by-piece" approach was used to evaluate the model from runoff to ET data, including the remote sensing ET data and regional measured ET data, which differ from the data from the traditional hydrology method. We applied the model to Tianjin City, China. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (Ens) of the runoff simulation was 0.82, and its regression coefficient 2 was 0.92. The Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (Ens) of regional total ET simulation was 0.93, and its regression coefficient 2 was 0.98. These results demonstrate that ET of irrigation lands is the dominant part, which accounts for 53% of the total ET. The latter is also a priority in ET control for water management

Diagnostic accuracy of serum human epididymis protein 4 in ovarian cancer patients with different ethnic groups and menopausal status: a meta-analysis and systematic evaluation

Objectives: We aimed to analyze and evaluate the diagnostic value of serum human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in ovarian cancer (OC) of patients with different menopausal status. Material and methods: A comprehensive electronic and manual search of the relevant literature was performed through several databases such as CNKI, Wanfang database, VIP database, Chinese biomedical database, web of science, PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane database. We collected Chinese and English articles to assess the diagnostic value of HE4 for ovarian cancer in female with different menopausal status. The quality of the studies included in the systematic review was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) tool. Results: A total of 14 publications were included in this study and we didn’t find publication bias in them. The sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio of HE4 for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer in postmenopausal vs. premenopausal female were 0.71 (95% CI, 0.63–0.78) vs 0.78 (95% CI, 0.74–0.81); 0.91 (95% CI, 0.85–0.95) vs 0.90 (95% CI, 0.86–0.93); 11.90 (95% CI, 6.42–22.07) vs 11.03 (95% CI, 6.44–18.89); and 0.30 (95% CI, 0.22–0.39) vs 0.24 (95% CI, 0.20–0.29), respectively. Conclusions: Serum HE4 has greater diagnostic value in detecting ovarian cancer, especially in Asian postmenopausal female

Cloning, expression and characterization of gE protein of Duck plague virus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The gE protein of duck plague virus is the important membrane glycoprotein, its protein characterization has not been reported. In this study, we expressed and presented the characterization of the DPV gE product.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>According to the sequence of the gE gene, a pair of primers were designed, and the DNA product with 1490bp in size was amplified by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR product was cloned into pMD18-T vector, and subcloned into pET32a(+), generating the recombinant plasmid pET32a/DPV-gE. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the fusion pET32a/DPV-gE protein was highly expressed after induction by 0.2 mM IPTG at 30°C for 4.5 h in Rosseta host cells. Over expressed 6×His-gE fusion protein was purified by nickel affinity chromatography, and used to immunize the rabbits for the preparation of polyclonal antibody. The result of the intracellular localization revealed that the gE protein was appeared to be in the cytoplasm region. The real time PCR, RT-PCR analysis and Western blotting revealed that the gE gene was produced most abundantly during the late phase of replication in DPV-infected cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this work, the DPV gE protein was successfully expressed in a prokaryotic expression system, and we presented the basic properties of the DPV gE product for the first time. These properties of the gE protein provided a prerequisite for further functional analysis of this gene.</p

Polyclonal antibody against the DPV UL46M protein can be a diagnostic candidate

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The duck plague virus (DPV) UL46 protein (VP11/12) is a 739-amino acid tegument protein encoded by the <it>UL46 </it>gene. We analyzed the amino acid sequence of UL46 using bioinformatics tools and defined the main antigenic domains to be between nucleotides 700-2,220 in the <it>UL46 </it>sequence. This region was designated UL46M. The DPV <it>UL46 </it>and <it>UL46M </it>genes were both expressed in <it>Escherichia coli </it>Rosetta (DE3) induced by isopropy1-β-<smcaps>D</smcaps>-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) following polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and subcloning into the prokaryotic expression vector pET32a(+). The recombinant proteins were purified using a Ni-NTA spin column and used to generate the polyclonal antibody against UL46 and UL46M in New Zealand white rabbits. The titer was then tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and agar diffusion reaction, and the specificity was tested by western blot analysis. Subsequently, we established Dot-ELISA using the polyclonal antibody and applied it to DPV detection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In our study, the DPV UL46M fusion protein, with a relative molecular mass of 79 kDa, was expressed in <it>E. coli </it>Rosetta (DE3). Expression of the full <it>UL46 </it>gene failed, which was consistent with the results from the bioinformatic analysis. The expressed product was directly purified using Ni-NTA spin column to prepare the polyclonal antibody against UL46M. The titer of the anti-UL46M antisera was over 1:819,200 as determined by ELISA and 1:8 by agar diffusion reaction. Dot-ELISA was used to detect DPV using a 1:60 dilution of anti-UL46M IgG and a 1:5,000 dilution of horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled goat anti-rabbit IgG.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The anti-UL46M polyclonal antibody reported here specifically identifies DPV, and therefore, it is a promising diagnostic tool for DPV detection in animals. UL46M and the anti-UL46M antibody can be used for further clinical examination and research of DPV.</p

Towards the Better Ranking Consistency: A Multi-task Learning Framework for Early Stage Ads Ranking

Dividing ads ranking system into retrieval, early, and final stages is a common practice in large scale ads recommendation to balance the efficiency and accuracy. The early stage ranking often uses efficient models to generate candidates out of a set of retrieved ads. The candidates are then fed into a more computationally intensive but accurate final stage ranking system to produce the final ads recommendation. As the early and final stage ranking use different features and model architectures because of system constraints, a serious ranking consistency issue arises where the early stage has a low ads recall, i.e., top ads in the final stage are ranked low in the early stage. In order to pass better ads from the early to the final stage ranking, we propose a multi-task learning framework for early stage ranking to capture multiple final stage ranking components (i.e. ads clicks and ads quality events) and their task relations. With our multi-task learning framework, we can not only achieve serving cost saving from the model consolidation, but also improve the ads recall and ranking consistency. In the online A/B testing, our framework achieves significantly higher click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate (CVR), total value and better ads-quality (e.g. reduced ads cross-out rate) in a large scale industrial ads ranking system.Comment: Accepted by AdKDD 2

Impacts of Duck-Origin Parvovirus Infection on Cherry Valley Ducklings From the Perspective of Gut Microbiota

Duck-origin goose parvovirus (D-GPV) is the causative agent of beak atrophy and dwarfism syndrome (BADS), characterized by growth retardation, skeletal dysplasia, and persistent diarrhea. However, the pathogenic mechanism of D-GPV remains undefined. Here, we first reported the gut microbiome diversity of D-GPV infected Cherry Valley ducks. In the investigation for the influence of D-GPV infection on gut microbiota through a period of infection, we found that D-GPV infection caused gut microbiota dysbiosis by reducing the prevalence of the dominant genera and decreasing microbial diversity. Furthermore, exfoliation of the intestinal epithelium, proliferation of lymphocytes, up-regulated mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17A, and IL-22 and down-regulated mRNA expression of anti-inflammatory IL-10 and IL-4 occurred when D-GPV targeted in cecal epithelium. In addition, the content of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in cecal contents was significantly reduced after D-GPV infection. Importantly, the disorder of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines was associated with the decrease of SCFAs-producing bacteria and the enrichment of opportunistic pathogens. Collectively, the decrease of SCFAs and the enrichment of pathogen-containing gut communities promoted intestinal inflammatory injury. These results may provide a new insight that target the gut microbiota to understand the progression of BADS disease and to research the pathogenic mechanism of D-GPV