The Siberian crane (Grus leucogeranus), a critically endangered species, is used as an indicator species for ecosystem stability because of its sensitivity to the environment. The distribution of Siberian cranes has shown dramatic fluctuations on an order of magnitude at the main stopover site (Jilin Momoge National Nature Reserve) since the present century, which poses a great challenge to the conservation of endangered species. Research on the threshold values of key factors of the Siberian crane in stopover habitats and the relationship between the Siberian crane and hydrological temporal and spatial fluctuations can promote endangered species conservation. The response of population changes and distribution patterns of Siberian cranes to hydrological temporal and spatial patterns of wetlands was analyzed from 1984 to 2020. The results showed that population changes and distribution patterns of Siberian cranes were highly correlated with hydrological temporal and spatial patterns in the study area, and their variation trend was the same. However, there were obvious stage migration changes in the core activity area of the Siberian crane (1984-2000, 2001-2010 and 2010-2020). The habitat characteristics of fragmentation, dispersion and complex shape of water bodies changed from steady to dramatic fluctuations and then leveled off in the core activity area of Siberian cranes during the 37 years of migration transit. This was closely related to the early agricultural reclamation and the later ecological water replenishment project in the study area. In addition, the trend of the water pattern index of the spatial distribution of Siberian crane active habitat was also closely related to their habitat selection preference. When the perimeter area fractal dimension of water (1.27-1.30), landscape division index (0.73-0.95) and aggregation index (80.97-91.36) are within a certain stable threshold, the stopover habitat of the Siberian crane is suitable.

Background and Purpose: The previous humanized mouse model for HIV/AIDS study loses the superiority of easy operation and justifiable cost. In this study, an economical and easy-to-operate small animal model supporting SIV replication in vivo was established. Experimental approach: Three-week-old male BALB/c nude mice were transplanted with SIV infected MT-2 cells by single intraperitoneal injection to establish the SIV infection model. The change in plasma viral load and the colonization of MT-2 cells in vivo were investigated. Changes of the immune system were evaluated by ELISA assay and flow cytometry assay. Results: The success rates of this model were 100% and all mice in the model group had detectable plasma viral loads (4.98±0.35 ~ 5.39±0.31 log10 SIV RNA copies / mL) in peripheral blood. It is our speculation that the virus replication in mice was mainly due to the proliferation of SIV-infected MT-2 cells that distributed and colonized in abdominal cavities as well as lymph nodes, releasing free virions to maintain infection. It is worth mentioning that there was a statistically significant downtrend in the plasma viral loads of the HAART group. Administration of HAART somewhat reversed this trend of SIV-associated B cell exhaustion and immune collapse. Conclusions and Implications: Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the model proposed in this study could be a valuable tool to evaluate antiviral effects and immune regulation efficacy in vivo.

AbstractWe investigated to what extent responses (N=6617) by four non-native English listener groups (The Netherlands: n=1701; Germany: n=1606; Spain: n=1647; Singapore: n=1663) assigned nativeness to standard, native British and American English accents, compared with a typical Dutch English accent. We assessed to what extent assigned nativeness impacted speaker evaluations (status, affect, dynamism), and to what extent a speaker’s voice influenced speaker evaluations by analyzing listener responses to verbal and matched guises. Results showed that perceptions of a speaker’s nativeness significantly impacted speaker evaluations on all dimensions, and therefore we conclude that speaker evaluations are also based on perceptions of the nativeness of a speaker. In addition, speaker evaluations were influenced by a speaker’s voice to such an extent that this can lead to significantly more positive/negative speaker evaluations of both native and non-native English speakers. Finally, this study confirms the relevance and superiority of the matched-guise technique in accentedness research, compared with the verbal-guise technique, since the former successfully minimizes the actual impact of voice.Introduction In general, speaker evaluation research focusing on non-native English accents shows that (strong) non-native English accents, compared to native English accents, evoke more negative speaker evaluations in native English listeners, in terms of social status and (perceived) speech comprehension, but not necessarily regarding the affect a speaker evokes or a speaker’s dynamism (e.g., Cargile & Giles 1997, Fuertes et al. 2012, Hendriks et al. 2016, Kalin et al. 1980, Levy-Ari & Keysar 2010, Lindemann 2003, Munro & Derwing 1995a,b, Phiko 1997, Nejjari et al. 2012, 2021). In addition, it has been shown that negative perceptions of non-native English speaker groups by native English speaker groups may even negatively impact perceptions of non-native speakers’ trustworthiness, chances for employment and promotion opportunities in organizations (e.g., Da Silva & Leach, 2013; Leach & Da Silva, 2013, Bond & DePaulo, 2006; Carlson & McHenry 2006; Hosoda et al. 2012). Native English in the context of this article refers to the accents produced by inner circle speakers of English, such as British and American English speakers (Kachru, 1985), and non-native English listeners refer to both expanding circle English speakers (e.g., Dutch, German, and Spanish listeners in Nejjari et al. 2020; 2021), but can also include outer circle speakers (e.g., Singaporean listeners in Nejjari et al. 2020).

A document by Bob Zink. Click on the document to view its contents.

A document by Rebecca Ringuette. Click on the document to view its contents.

Background Community pharmacists (CPs) have the capacity to contribute to patient care given their expertise in medication and accessibility to residents in the community. However, multidisciplinary patient care programmes where CPs collaborate with general practitioners (GPs) in patient care is rare in Singapore despite increasing healthcare demand. Objectives This study explores GPs’ perceptions of CPs’ current roles and GPs’ ideas for and attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration. Methods Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 20 private GPs from August to December 2020 via an online video-chat platform. GPs were recruited from the Primacy Care Research Network (pcRn), primary care networks, and using snowballing strategies. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded thematically. Results Current working relationships between GPs and CPs appeared amicable but limited. GPs appreciate the existing roles of CP: dispensing drugs not stocked in their practices and clarifying prescription details. Still, GPs appeared to rarely consider collaborative working. GPs acknowledged that CPs could enhance patient care with initiatives including medication reconciliation and advising on using medical devices. It was suggested that CPs could coordinate the purchase of drugs for primary care networks to improve GPs’ inventory management, but less enthusiasm was expressed for clinical collaborations with CPs. Major concerns about GP-CP clinical collaborations included direct competition with GPs’ own business interests, perceived low acceptability of pharmacy-led services by patients (citing extra time and cost), threat to continuity of care and the absence of a shared patient electronic health record system. Current funding mechanisms do not enable reimbursement of clinical services provided by CPs. Adoption of telemedicine technologies and governmental financial support were identified as possible enablers of GP-CP collaboration. Conclusions GPs saw potential in CPs’ increased involvement in patient care but perceived multiple barriers. Strategies focusing on overcoming these barriers could enable GP-CP collaboration to enhance patient care.

Globalization of social and economic activities has led to the large-scale redistribution of plant species. The issue of whether alien species are invasive and thus pose a threat to local ecosystems has attracted attention in recent years. The characteristics of invasive alien species and the mechanism of successful invasion are still unclear. Here, we downloaded plant trait data on TRY-Plant Trait Database and classified alien species into four groups: high, medium, noteworthy, and harmless according to their distribution and degree of harm to local plant communities. We clarified the relationship between plant functional traits and invasion level, and established a prediction model based on plant functional traits and taxonomy. Our study found that species with smaller seeds, smaller individuals, lower special leaf area and longer seed bank longevity are more likely to be an invasive species after introduction to foreign ecosystems. In addition, seed longevity and seed mass are important for plants’ invasion. In summary, exotic species with longer seedbank longevity and lower seed dry mass are more likely to be invasive in China. We also trained two predictive models based on the recursive split tree method to check if we can predict a species’ invasion. Combining the two model together, statistically, we could predict if a species is invasive from its traits and taxonomy with a 91.84% accuracy. This model could help local governments, managers and stakeholders to evaluate shall we introduce some plant species in China.

Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare disease with a very poor prognosis, is seldom treated surgically, especially for recurrence. However, early diagnosis and aggressive treatment of primary and recurrent tumors, particularly the localized type of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, can achieve long-term patient survival.

The ability to gather genetic information from organisms obtained directly from environmental samples is crucial to determine biodiversity baselines and understanding population dynamics in the marine realm. While DNA metabarcoding is effective in evaluating biodiversity at community level, genetic patterns within species are often concealed in metabarcoding studies and overlooked for marine invertebrates. In the present study, we implement recently developed bioinformatics tools to investigate intraspecific genetic variability for invertebrate taxa in the Mediterranean Sea. Using metabarcoding samples from Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) deployed in three locations, we present haplotypes and diversity estimates for 145 unique species. While overall genetic diversity was low, we identified several species with high diversity records and potential cryptic lineages. Further, we emphasize the spatial scale of genetic variability, which was observed from locations to individual sampling units (ARMS). We carried out a population genetic analysis of several important yet understudied species, which highlights the current knowledge gap concerning intraspecific genetic patterns for the target taxa in the Mediterranean basin. Our approach considerably enhances biodiversity monitoring of charismatic and understudied Mediterranean species, which can be incorporated into ARMS surveys.

Crouzon syndrome(CS) is the most common craniosynostosis condition.This report presents a rare case of a 25-year-old male CS patient referred for orthodontic treatment with the chief complaint of severe irregularities in the arrangement of teeth and abnormal facial appearance.The clinical,cephalometric features and initial orthodontic management of this patient are discussed

A 25-year-old female with interstitial lung disease underwent a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) for exertional dyspnea. This was initially reported as suspicious for pulmonary hypertension due to a significantly elevated right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP). Cardiac catheterization showed normal cardiac and pulmonary pressures, ruling out pulmonary hypertension. Review of her TTE images revealed an apically located muscular ventricular septal defect with flow directed towards the tricuspid valve. This created a doppler jet signal that was mistaken to be that of tricuspid regurgitation which led to a miscalculation of the RVSP.

Ultrasound is used more and more in determining acute blood loss. This study is to compare tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) and mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) measurement to determine volume loss pre and post blood donation in healthy volunteers. The systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressures and pulses of the donors were measured in the standing and supine position by the by the attending physician, then, inferior vena cava (IVC), TAPSE and MAPSE measurements were made pre and post blood donation. Statistically significant differences were found in systolic blood pressure and pulse rate values that obtained in the standing position, and in the systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure and pulse values that obtained in the supine position (p<0.05). The difference between IVC expiration (IVCexp) pre and post blood donation was 4.76±2.94, and the difference in IVC inspiration (IVCins) was 2.73±2.91. In addition, the MAPSE and TAPSE differences were 2.16±1.4 and 2.98±2.13, respectively. Statistically significant differences were found between IVCins-exp, TAPSE and MAPSE values. TAPSE and MAPSE can be used in the early diagnosis of acute blood loss.

Despite continued interest in flow regime variability and its influence on stream dynamics in intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams, the link between different precipitation events and its control on water presence in hydrologically transient catchments with varying land cover and biophysical characteristics, has rarely been studied. This paper presents the results from high-resolution (30-min) precipitation data and streambed temperatures collected from a fifteen-month period from six different Mediterranean intermittent and ephemeral catchments. The monitoring timeframe proved to be one of the driest periods in the studied areas in the last 50 years and most recorded rain events were small, the majority of which not exceeding 0.4mm of rainfall in a single event. The results demonstrate the larger studied catchments had longer water level response lag times to precipitation episodes. In addition, reduced water level responses to autumn rain events in rural areas indicated that the soil water retention capacity due to the limited soil moisture content during the summer period and the empty water-retention infrastructure, play an important role in governing flow presence. The smaller and predominantly urban catchment, resulted with the second most rapid water presence response times and the highest average streambed temperature peaks following precipitation events. Conversely, rural catchments that have groundwater springs contributing to stream flows, showed more stable temperature variations. This research highlights the need for the improved understanding of the intrinsic landscape and basin properties that control the spatio-temporal patterns of transient flows and thermal responses to varying rain events, especially in a changing climate.

Chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection (CAEBV) is a rare syndrome characterized by prolonged infectious with elevated peripheral blood EBV DNA load. CAEBV has been primarily reported in East Asia. Aggressive NK cell leukemia (ANKL) is a rare malignant lymphoproliferative disorder of mature NK cells closely associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The morphology of ANKL tumor cells, highly atypical features with basophilic cytoplasm containing azurophilc granules, with a median survival of less than three months. A 9-year-old boy with CAEBV infection for more than three years with EBV-associated encephalitis received an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant four months ago. His health rapidly deteriorated with pancytopenia, diffuse intravascular coagulation, central nervous system and liver dysfunction. Monoclonal NK cells appeared in the bone marrow and cytokine IL-10 was significantly increased. His NK cells had an abnormal immune phenotype and morphological abnormality. This patient had clinical progressed of CAEBV to ANKL, while clinical progression was rapid and fatal.

Background- Cardiovascular disorders is becoming an epidemic among South Asians. The study aim was to detect polymorphism of Methionine synthase & cystathionine beta-synthase genes and effect of vitamin B therapy on homocysteine, and major cardiovascular outcomes. Methods- A randomized controlled trial was conducted upon 90 hyperhomocysteinemic ischemic stroke patients at a tertiary care hospital. Participants were randomly selected into vitamin B therapy (B6, B9 & B12) or the control group (standard hospital treatment) (n=45 in each group) given for four months. Collected data includes genetic polymorphisms, homocysteine levels, vitamin B12, folate levels. Results- Both the genotypic distribution found no significant association with p value 0.3 & 0.7 respectively. The vitamin B therapy group reported significant reduction in homocysteine levels, mRS scores and improvement in vitamin B12, folate levels with p value <0.01. Regression analysis showed that vitamin B 12 levels and green vegetable consumption were significant factors for the homocysteine but polymorphism lacks this association. Conclusion- Polymorphisms were not found to be associated with hyperhomocysteinemia among ischemic stroke. Even though, nutritional deficiencies, consumption of green vegetables proved as independent predictors of the hyperhomocysteinemia. The vitamin B therapy has been proficiently reduced homocysteine and improve nutritional deficiencies in this area.

Rajendra Kr. Joshi1, and Satish Chandra Garkoti1*1School of Environmental Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi-110067, India*Correspondence Satish Chandra Garkoti, School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India. Email: sgarkoti@yahoo.com

This article is concerned with the initial-value problem of a Schrödinger-Hartree equation in the presence of anisotropic partial/whole harmonic confinement. Firstly, we get a sharp threshold for global existence and finite time blow-up at the ground state mass in the L 2 -critical case. Then, some new cross-invariant manifolds and variational problems are constructed to study blow-up versus global well-posedness criteria in the L 2 -critical and L 2 -supercritical cases. Finally, we research the mass concentration phenomenon of blow-up solutions and the dynamics of the L 2 -minimal blow-up solutions in the L 2 -critical case. The main ingredients of the proofs are the variational characterization of the ground state, a suitable refined compactness lemma and scaling techniques. Our conclusions extend and compensate for some previous results.

Germ-soma cellular differentiation plays a key role in the evolutionary transition from single-celled individuality to multicellular individuality. The volvocine green algae, with their relatively recent origin of multicellularity and gradient in multicellular complexity across closely related species, serves as a model system for studying the evolution of multicellularity and cellular differentiation. Volvox carteri is the best studied species in its genus and is consequently a well-established model for the evolution of multicellular development. However, V. carteri possesses a derived type two developmental program in which cellular differentiation is determined by differences in cell size that arise through asymmetric division. Compared to other Volvox species, Volvox powersii is less studied and has ancestral features, including a type one developmental program in which large gonidia undergo rapid, symmetrical divisions with cellular differentiation occurring after hatching. With the absence of asymmetrical divisions, in contrast to the more derived type two developmental program, embryonic cell size cannot be a valid determinant of cell fate. We hypothesized that chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) inheritance may be a determining factor in cell fate due to expression levels of photosynthetic genes varying greatly among somatic and germ cells and greater amounts of chloroplast DNA in germ cells. Using gyrase inhibitors Nalidixic acid and Novobiocin, Volvox powersii cultures were manipulated to disrupt the distribution of cpDNA throughout the colonies and analyze the resulting distribution of cell types, the size of each cell, and the number of offspring in consecutive generations. Our results indicate that there is a specific amount of cpDNA that must be present in each cell to be able to fully develop into a germ cell.

This paper constructs a third-step second-order numerical approach for solving a mathematical model on the dynamic of corruption and poverty. The stability and error estimates of the proposed technique are analyzed using the L 2 -norm. The developed algorithm is at least zero-stable and second-order accurate. Furthermore, the new method is explicit, fast and more efficient than a large class of numerical schemes applied to nonlinear systems of ordinary differential equations and can serve as a robust tool for integrating general systems of initial-value problems. Some numerical examples confirm the theory and also consider the corruption and poverty in Cameroon.

Catheter ablation for treatment of symptomatic non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation remains challenging. Clinical failure and need for continued medical therapy or repeat ablation is common, especially in more advanced forms of atrial fibrillation. Hybrid ablation has emerged as a more effective and safe therapy than endocardial-only ablation particularly for longstanding persistent atrial fibrillation as demonstrated by the randomized controlled CONVERGE trial. Hybrid ablation requires collaboration of electrophysiologists and cardiac surgeons to develop specific workflows. This review describes the Hybrid Convergent approach in the context of available ablation options and offers guidance for workflow development and patient selection.

A document by An Yin. Click on the document to view its contents.

Climate change and shrub encroachment affect nematode biodiversity, although shrub species had different effects on below-ground community. Yet, the consequences of shrub species on the nematode beta diversity under future climate change scenarios remain insufficiently explored. Here, we studied the dominant shrub effects on the beta diversity of soil nematode communities along climate gradients on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We investigated soil nematode communities in 31 sites of alpine meadow ecosystems across a 1200 km × 1200 km area with widespread shrub on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We found that shrubs decreased the nematode beta diversity through decreasing the nestedness component at local and landscape scales. Leguminous shrubs had stronger effects on the nematode beta diversity than non-leguminous shrub types at landscape scale. MAP and MAT both significantly increased the negative shrub effects on the nematode beta diversity, but they remained constant for leguminous shrub. The pSEM analysis showed that shrubs had direct and indirect effects on nematode beta diversity via plant species turnover. Our results showed that shrub encroachment, particularly leguminous shrubs, leads to the homogenization of nematode communities. The “warming-wetting” trend will exacerbate shrub effects on the homogenization of nematode communities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Our study provides insight into the ecological processes that maintain soil biodiversity and biogeographic patterns of soil communities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

A document by Luyandza Mamba. Click on the document to view its contents.

MDCK is the main cell line for influenza vaccine production. Previous studies have reported that MDCK cells have tumorigenic ability in nude mice. Although complete cell lysis can be ensured during vaccine production, more caution is needed in vaccine production for human use. Therefore, the use of gene editing technology to establish cells that cannot form tumors can significantly improve the biosafety of influenza vaccines. The key is to understand the genes and molecular mechanisms that affect the tumorigenic ability of MDCK cells. However, our understanding is still superficial. We previously obtained a cell line CL23 with significantly reduced cell proliferation, migration, and invasion through a monoclonal cell screen, and subsequent tumor-bearing experiments in nude mice showed no tumorigenic cells. DIA proteomics method was used to compare the protein expression differences between wild-type (M60) and non-tumorigenic (CL23) cells, and to explore the genes related to tumorigenesis in MDCK cells. The differentially expressed proteins were verified at the mRNA level by RT-qPCR, and several genes involved in cell tumorigenesis were preliminarily screened. Western blot further confirmed that the expression of related proteins was significantly reduced in non-tumorigenic cells. Inhibition of CDC20 expression by RNAi significantly reduced the proliferation and migration of MDCK cells and increased the proliferation of influenza virus. Therefore, CDC20 is an effective target gene for inhibiting the tumorigenicity of MDCK cells. This study lays the foundation for the establishment of target gene screening in genetically engineered non-tumorigenic MDCK cell lines.