Sustainable fisheries in shallow lakes: an independent empirical test of the Chinese mitten crab yield model

Next to excessive nutrient loading, intensive aquaculture is one of the major anthropogenic impacts threatening lake ecosystems. In China, particularly in the shallow lakes of mid-lower Changjiang (Yangtze) River, continuous overstocking of the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) could deteriorate water quality and exhaust natural resources. A series of crab yield models and a general optimum-stocking rate model have been established, which seek to benefit both crab culture and the environment. In this research, independent investigations were carried out to evaluate the crab yield models and modify the optimum-stocking model. Low percentage errors (average 47%, median 36%) between observed and calculated crab yields were obtained. Specific values were defined for adult crab body mass (135 g/ind.) and recapture rate (18% and 30% in lakes with submerged macrophyte biomass above and below 1 000 g/m(2)) to modify the optimum-stocking model. Analysis based on the modified optimum-stocking model indicated that the actual stocking rates in most lakes were much higher than the calculated optimum-stocking rates. This implies that, for most lakes, the current stocking rates should be greatly reduced to maintain healthy lake ecosystems.</p

Effectiveness and safety of co-administration of moxifloxacin with netilmicin in drug-resistant tuberculosis patients, and its impact on inflammatory factors and immune function

Purpose: To study the effectiveness and safety of co-administration of moxifloxacin with netilmicin in drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients, and its impact on levels of inflammatory factors and immune function. Methods: We enrolled 100 patients with drug-resistant TB admitted to People’s Hospital of Rizhao between May 2017 and October 2019. The patients were randomly allocated to control group and study group, with 50 patients per group. The control group received moxifloxacin at a dose of 0.2 g t.i.d. for 6 months and the study group received netilmicin at a dose of 0.1 g t.i.d. plus. The response, incidence of adverse reactions, expression levels of inflammatory factors, immune function, and sputum-negative status after 2, 4 and 6 months of TB treatment were compared. Results: The study group showed markedly higher response than the control group (p &lt; 0.05). Moreover, there were lower incidence of adverse effects in the study group than in the control group (p &lt; 0.05). The expression levels of inflammatory factors were significantly lower in the study group, while the concentrations of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ were markedly higher (p &lt; 0.05). After 2, 4 and 6 months of TB treatment, cases of sputum-negative conversion were significantly higher in the study group than in the control group (p &lt; 0.05). Conclusion: Co-administration of moxifloxacin with netilmicin produces much higher effectiveness and safety than moxifloxacin monotherapy, decreases inflammatory factor levels and improves immune function in patients with drug-resistant TB

Limnodrilus simplex sp nov (Oligochaeta: Naididae: Tubificinae) from Changjiang River, China

Limnodrilus simplex sp. nov. (Oligochaeta: Naididae: Tubificinae) is described based on a single specimen from the mainstream of the Changjiang River near Anqing City, Anhui Province, China. The new species is assigned to Limnodrilus by the presence of long vasa deferentia, spindle-shaped atria with long ejaculatory ducts, large prostate glands, and thick cylindrical penial sheaths. It differs from its congeners in having simple-pointed chaetae and cuticularized penial sheaths without hoods. Limnodrilus simplex is closer to L. paramblysetus and L. amblysetus in possessing penial sheaths with relatively low length/maximum width ratio

On the shell and radular morphology of two endangered species of the genus Margarya Nevill, 1877 (Gastropoda: Viviparidae) from lakes of the Yunnan Plateau, Southwest China

The viviparid genus Margarya Nevill, 1877 is endemic to China and has only been recorded from the lakes of the Yunnan Plateau. Currently, all recognized species of this genus have become threatened or even extinct due to water pollution and over-harvesting. In the current paper, Margarya melanioides Nevill, 1877 and Margarya mansuyi Dautzenberg &amp; Fischer, 1905 are re-described based on newly collected material from Lake Dianchi and Lake Xingyun respectively. Intraspecific morphological variability of the shell, especially with respect to the development of the spiral keel, was found to be great. M. melanioides and M. mansuyi can be easily distinguished from each other as well as from other congeners by their relative size, as well as the number and development of the spiral keels. Radulae of the two species are relatively uniform with little differentiation in the number and shape of the teeth

The diverse Grania fauna (Clitellata : Enchytraeidae) of the Esperance area, Western Australia, with descriptions of two new species

Seven species of the marine enchytraeid genus Grania Southern, 1913 are described from sediments sampled during the 2003 International Workshop on the Marine Flora and Fauna of Esperance Bay and the Recherche Archipelago, on the southern coast of Western Australia. Two species are new to science, the euryhaline Tasmanian G. dolichura Rota and Erseus, 2000 represents a new record for the state, and the remaining four species were known from other parts of Western Australia. Grania quaerens sp. n. is recognized by having a high chaetal index (= 5 short chaetal foot), small coelomocytes, penial apparati with long whip-like terminal stylets, conspicuous spermathecae with ectally bulbous ducts, and ectally granulated ampullae housing sperm rings in their ental region. Grania sperantia sp. n. is readily distinguishable by the complete lack of lateral chaetae, a multiple-banded pattern of the clitellum, extremely long sperm funnels, and the intrasegmental location of the spermathecal pores. The latter new species and four others in the collection (G. bykane Coates, 1990, G. crassiducta Coates, 1990, G. dolichura, and G. ersei Coates, 1990) are remarkable in possessing the head organ, a sensory structure unique to Grania that was not noted previously in Western Australian species. When considering the whole genus, the geographic pattern of the head organ appears southern-centred: of the 17 species of Grania reported to possess it, as many as 13 inhabit the southern latitudes. The seventh species of the Esperance collection, G. vacivasa Coates and Stacey, 1993, is notable for the kind of items found in its gut and the unusual appearance of its pygidium.Seven species of the marine enchytraeid genus Grania Southern, 1913 are described from sediments sampled during the 2003 International Workshop on the Marine Flora and Fauna of Esperance Bay and the Recherche Archipelago, on the southern coast of Western Australia. Two species are new to science, the euryhaline Tasmanian G. dolichura Rota and Erseus, 2000 represents a new record for the state, and the remaining four species were known from other parts of Western Australia. Grania quaerens sp. n. is recognized by having a high chaetal index (= 5 short chaetal foot), small coelomocytes, penial apparati with long whip-like terminal stylets, conspicuous spermathecae with ectally bulbous ducts, and ectally granulated ampullae housing sperm rings in their ental region. Grania sperantia sp. n. is readily distinguishable by the complete lack of lateral chaetae, a multiple-banded pattern of the clitellum, extremely long sperm funnels, and the intrasegmental location of the spermathecal pores. The latter new species and four others in the collection (G. bykane Coates, 1990, G. crassiducta Coates, 1990, G. dolichura, and G. ersei Coates, 1990) are remarkable in possessing the head organ, a sensory structure unique to Grania that was not noted previously in Western Australian species. When considering the whole genus, the geographic pattern of the head organ appears southern-centred: of the 17 species of Grania reported to possess it, as many as 13 inhabit the southern latitudes. The seventh species of the Esperance collection, G. vacivasa Coates and Stacey, 1993, is notable for the kind of items found in its gut and the unusual appearance of its pygidium

Responses of an emergent macrophyte, Zizania latifolia, to water-level changes in lakes with contrasting hydrological management

Twenty-four lakes associated with the Yangtze floodplain and Huaihe basin, China, with different degrees of disconnection from the river systems, exhibited managed hydrologies ranging from minimally fluctuating reservoir-like lakes, through intermittently fluctuating lakes to those with large, quasi-natural fluctuations in level. We hypothesized that annual water-level fluctuations limit growth and survival of the emergent macrophyte Zizania latifolia. We investigated adaptations to submergence and sought to define the tolerances of Z. latifolia to the amplitude and timing of water-level fluctuations in these types of lake, at different stages in its phenology and life cycle. Shoots from rhizome buds emerged in early spring and reached maximum extension with high water levels in summer. Z. latifolia did not occur in lakes with the highest amplitude (> 5 m) of fluctuation. Height growth in lakes with low amplitude (reservoir-like) was smaller than in lakes with greater amplitude (intermittent to quasi-natural fluctuations), giving the appearance of ‘short’ and ‘tall’ phenotypes. Across all lakes, however, maximum height was linearly related to water depth in June and to annual amplitude of water level, indicating a continuous phenotypic response. Peak biomass was weakly affected by these environmental drivers. Field experiments showed that seedlings tolerated water depths of c. twice their height (0.6 m), and submergence rates similar to their maximum extension growth rate (2 cm.d-1). Sprouting of rhizome buds was unaffected by submergence to a depth of 0.4 m, but then declined with depth. This study reveals the effects of large-scale hydrological engineering on an emergent macrophyte of economic and conservation importance and informs the management of its populations under seasonally fluctuating water-level regimes

NCOA3 Loss Disrupts Molecular Signature of Chondrocytes and Promotes Posttraumatic Osteoarthritis Progression

Background/Aims: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease. Recently, a novel variant near the nuclear receptor coactivator 3 (NCOA3) has been identified in association with greater risk of developing OA. However, how NCOA3 is regulated in chondrocytes and involved in OA pathogenesis remain elusive. Methods: The expression and DNA methylation of NCOA3 in knee OA cartilage and in vitro dedifferentiated chondrocytes with or without rs6094710 SNP were analyzed by qRT-PCR, immunoblotting, methylation-specific PCR and bisulfite sequencing. NCOA3 was depleted by siRNA or shRNA or inhibited by a chemical inhibitor to assess its role in chondrocyte dedifferentiation or OA pathogenesis in posttraumatic OA animal model established by cruciate ligament transection surgery. Results: We found that compared with normal counterparts, samples with rs6094710 SNP failed to upregulate NCOA3. Further evidence associated this phenotype with DNMT1-mediated hypermethylation in gene promoter region. Moreover, we showed that NCOA3 maintained the molecular signature of chondrocytes dedifferentiating in vitro or exposed to IL-1β, nevertheless, NCOA3 appeared dispensable for preventing OA initiation, since NCOA3 loss did not trigger OA in young mice. Instead, NCOA3 loss promoted posttraumatic OA progression, and in parallel, enhanced NF-κB activation. Finally, the promoted posttraumatic OA progression was significantly retarded when administrated with NF-κB pathway inhibitor, suggesting that NCOA3 lose promotes posttraumatic OA at least partially by enhancing NF-κB activation. Conclusion: Thus, our findings indicate a critical role of NCOA3 in chondrocytes, and imply that manipulating NCOA3 might present a potential therapeutic approach to interfere OA progression

DeteX: A highly accurate software for detecting SNV and InDel in single and paired NGS data in cancer research

Background: Genetic testing is becoming more and more accepted in the auxiliary diagnosis and treatment of tumors. Due to the different performance of the existing bioinformatics software and the different analysis results, the needs of clinical diagnosis and treatment cannot be met. To this end, we combined Bayesian classification model (BC) and fisher exact test (FET), and develop an efficient software DeteX to detect SNV and InDel mutations. It can detect the somatic mutations in tumor-normal paired samples as well as mutations in a single sample.Methods: Combination of Bayesian classification model (BC) and fisher exact test (FET).Results: We detected SNVs and InDels in 11 TCGA glioma samples, 28 clinically targeted capture samples and 2 NCCL-EQA standard samples with DeteX, VarDict, Mutect, VarScan and GatkSNV. The results show that, among the three groups of samples, DeteX has higher sensitivity and precision whether it detects SNVs or InDels than other callers and the F1 value of DeteX is the highest. Especially in the detection of substitution and complex mutations, only DeteX can accurately detect these two kinds of mutations. In terms of single-sample mutation detection, DeteX is much more sensitive than the HaplotypeCaller program in Gatk. In addition, although DeteX has higher mutation detection capabilities, its running time is only .609 of VarDict, which is .704 and .343 longer than VarScan and MuTect, respectively.Conclusion: In this study, we developed DeteX to detect SNV and InDel mutations in single and paired samples. DeteX has high sensitivity and precision especially in the detection of substitution and complex mutations. In summary, DeteX from NGS data is a good SNV and InDel caller