In tritrophic interactions, birds are able to detect herbivore-induced plant volatiles and use them as a signal of presence of arthropods on plant. It remains unclear whether this ability is innate or learned and how the birds react to novel odours. We studied whether and how naïve and trained great tits (Parus major) discriminate between herbivore-induced and noninduced saplings of potentially familiar and novel plant species. Birds trained to discriminate between saplings of either novel or familiar plant species preferred the induced saplings of the plants species they were trained to. Naïve birds did not show any preferences. Our results indicate that the attraction of great tits to herbivore-induced trees is not innate. Yet, the skill can be acquired through learning and novelty of the odour doesn’t seem to be important. This implies that birds are learning whole bouquets of the herbivore-induced volatile compounds, rather than specific compounds individually.

Pollination is an important ecological process. However, the needs of plants and pollinators are not always met. Pollen limitation commonly reduces seed set and bees often experience nectar dearth. Using a theoretical cost-benefit optimization model we show that natural selection acting at the level of individual plants and pollinators will result in positive feedback that exacerbates pre-existing imbalances between nectar supply and demand. When pollinators are scarce plants will be selected to produce more nectar to outcompete other plants in attracting pollinators, and when pollinators are abundant plants will be selected to produce less nectar. We encourage the testing of this novel hypothesis and propose several ways of doing this via comparative study and experimental manipulation. We also suggest that evidence for seasonal variation in foraging conditions provides preliminary empirical support. If our hypothesis is correct it means that pollination faces a particular challenge in balancing nectar supply with demand.

Background To explore the feasibility of preoperative empirical chemotherapy in the clinical practice of child hepatoblastoma from the accuracy of clinical diagnosis based on elevated AFP and the effect of preoperative empirical chemotherapy on treatment results. Procedures Firstly, a retrospective analysis was made on clinical data of 80 children with primary hepatic space-occupying lesions admitted to a single center in the past 5 years, including 50 cases of hepatoblastoma and 30 cases of non-hepatoblastoma. Statistical way was used to analyze the sensitivity and accuracy of differentiating child hepatoblastoma from other liver space occupying lesions based on elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Secondly, among the 50 children with hepatoblastoma, those who had pathological evidence before chemotherapy were classified as the pathological treatment group, and those who started chemotherapy according to the clinical diagnosis of hepatoblastoma based on the elevated AFP were assigned to the empirical chemotherapy group. The survival of the two groups and distribution of pathological types of the two groups were statistically analyzed. Results According to the elevation of serum AFP, the liver primary occupying lesions in children was clinically determined as hepatoblastoma. The sensitivity and specificity were 98% and 100%. There was no significant difference in overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) between pathological treatment group and the empirical chemotherapy group by the Log-rank test. Conclusion The diagnosis of hepatoblastoma based on the elevated serum AFP can be used to guide the preoperative empirical chemotherapy in children with poor surgical tolerance and to minimize the risk of treatment.

A serious disease was recorded in juvenile Pacific abalone in Fujian Province, China in 2018. Although this disease caused no obvious external lesions, affected abalone exhibited bleached pedal epithelial cells and a lack of attachment ability. Bacterial strains were collected and cultured from the mucus of moribund and healthy abalone. A novel method was developed for screening abalone pathogens, based on the important role of mucus in the innate immunity of marine organisms. Using bacterial isolation, sequence analysis, and experimental challenges in vitro and in vivo, we identified the bacterial strains pathogenic to abalone. We verified that abalone mortality rates were high when exposed to Pseudoalteromonas shioyasakiensis strain SDCH87 at high temperatures. This opportunistic pathogen had an outstanding growth ability in mucus, and disrupted first line mucosal immunity in the foot within three days. The unprecedented sea surface temperatures associated with the record-breaking 2018 heatwave in south China may have induced opportunistic pathogenic behavior in P. shioyasakiensis. To our knowledge, this is the first report to show that P. shioyasakiensis is a serious opportunistic pathogen of abalone, or possibly mollusks in general, in the context of a heatwave.

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic agent, with excellent analgesic properties and a favorable safety profile. Although it acts predominantly through NMDA receptor antagonism, numerous other molecular targets have been characterized, rendering anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant, and thus expanding its scope for new clinical applications. The noticeable safety of ketamine in children enables its widespread use in pediatric oncology, chiefly for procedural sedation. Its value for chronic pain management in children with cancer is being increasingly recognized but requires more evidence. The topical use of ketamine is largely in investigational stages.. Rational medical use of ketamine is largely free from significant long-term neurological side effects but may have some troublesome short-term effects such as vomiting, palpitations, urinary retention, and hallucinations. This review will provide a brief account of the pharmacology of ketamine and primarily focus on the relevant aspects of ketamine in pediatric oncology.

Purpose: Bayesian inference has become very popular science. It offers some pragmatic approaches to account for uncertainty in inference-decision making. Various estimation methods have been introduced to implement Bayesian methods but although these algorithms are powerful they are not always easy to grasp. This paper aims to provide an intuitive framework of four key Bayesian computational methods for researchers in clinical studies. We will not cover daunting mathematical discussion of these approaches, but rather offer a non-quantitative description of these algorithms and provide some illuminating examples. Materials and methods: Bayesian computational methods namely, i) Importance sampling, ii) Rejection sampling, iii) Markov-chain Monte Carlo, iv) Data augmentation were introduced. Results and conclusions: A load of literature published on Bayesian inference has proved its popularity among researches while its concept is not straightforward for amateur learners. We showed that alternative approaches which are intuitively appealing and easy-to-understand work well in case of low-dimensional problems and appropriate Prior information such as weighted prior, otherwise MCMC is a Trouble-free tool.

Fertilization is a common approach to increase or sustain soil fertility, but its impact on microbial biomass and community structure remains controversial, particularly in paddy soils. In this study, we investigated the effect of different long-term fertilization strategies, beginning in 1986, namely no fertilization, mineral fertilization, mineral fertilization combined with rice straw or chicken manure, on microbial biomass and community composition at four soil depths (0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–40 cm). The extracted soil phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) were pooled into gram-positive (G+) bacteria, gram-negative (G−) bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes groups. Results showed that irrespective of the fertilization type, the abundance of PLFAs decreased with soil depth in the following order due to nutrient decrease along soil profiles: fungi > G− bacteria > G+ bacteria > actinomycetes. Mineral fertilization induced G+ bacteria more than G− bacteria and actinomycetes, which suggested that the inorganic nutrients in mineral fertilizers are utilized more by G+ bacteria than by other microbial groups. Partial replacement of mineral fertilizer with manure further stimulates G+ bacteria at all depths. Redundancy analysis showed obvious microbial separation at the 0−20 and 20−40 cm soil depths due to the rhizodeposition effect and also revealed that the microbial communities were significantly correlated with nutrient content (soil organic carbon and available N) and pH. Overall, our findings highlight microbial community shifts due to different fertilizer types, which provides basic information for understanding how substrate availability controls the structure of soil microbial communities in paddy soil systems.

Climate and land-use change affect the hydrologic cycle by altering streamflow (SF), surface runoff (SR), base-flow (BF), and evapotranspiration (ET). The Lake Tana basin has experienced both land-use and climate change over the past 40 years, and this change can continue in the future. Several studies have addressed the separate impacts of either land-use or climate change on the watershed’s hydrology, but few have explored the combined impacts. In this study, the SWAT model was applied to evaluate the combined impacts of land-use and climate change on hydrological responses in Gumara watershed. This study examined four land-use scenarios that include the present (2015) and projected (2050) land-use based on the business-as-usual trend (BAU), expansion of irrigation crop (EIC), and expansion of forestland (EFL). The climate variables were simulated using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for the baseline (2005-2015) and projected period (2045-2055) under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The result showed that SR increase by 5.1% under BAU scenario while BF decrease by 6.5% without altering SF and ET noticeably. On the contrary, SF decrease by 12.5% and 5.2% respectively under EIC and EFL scenarios, while ET increase by 4.8% and 8.9% respectively under EIC and EFL scenarios. The simulated SF, SR, and ET under RCP8.5 may increase significantly by 34.3%, 51.8%, and 12.2%, respectively. Similarly, the simulated SF, SR and ET may increase significantly under the combination of all three land-use and RCP8.5 scenarios. The findings suggested that climate change will have a greater effect on hydrologic responses than land-use change. The expansion of agriculture and the wetter climate would exacerbate flooding, while the expansion of irrigation and forest offset SF increases. The results of this study can be useful to decision-makers and planners in the design of adaptive measures to climate and land-use change.

Objectives: We attempted to establish a set of fetal biometric references for Chinese twin pregnancies, stratified by chorionicity and conception mode as spontaneously conceived monochorionic diamniotic (SC-MCDA), spontaneously conceived dichorionic diamniotic (SC-DCDA) and assisted reproductive technology dichorionic diamniotic (ART-DCDA). Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: International Peace Maternity & Child Health Hospital, shanghai, China. Population or Sample: 929 twin pregnant women, along with 2019 singleton pregnant women, were qualified for the inclusion criteria. Methods: The linear mixed models were used to test the difference of growth pattern between groups, and the growth curve of each biometric parameter was modeled by generalized additive model for location scale and shape. Main Outcome Measures: From 2016 to 2019, ultrasonographic fetal biometric measurements were longitudinally collected in pregnant women, in which six measurements were recorded: fetal weight, biparietal diameter, head circumference, abdominal circumference, femur length and humerus length. Results: Overally, SC-DCDA twins grew faster than SC-MCDA twins, while slower than ART-DCDA twins. Correspondingly, the week-specific differences between groups were also identified for all the six biometric measurements, though the differences were not observed in all gestational weeks. The customized fetal growth charts of each fetal biometric parameter were then respectively constructed for SC-MCDA, SC-DCDA and ART-DCDA twins, and all of the three shows significant difference from singletons, especially during the third trimester. Conclusions: The fetal biometric trajectories demonstrated characterized pattern according to chorionicity and conception mode. We are the first to curve fetal biometric reference values for Chinese SC-MCDA, SC-DCDA and ART-DCDA twin pregnancies.

Soil salinity has today become a highly disastrous phenomenon that is responsible for crop failure worldwide and specially in countries with low farmer incomes and food insecurity. Soil salinity is often caused due to water accumulation in fields due to unscientific flood irrigation wherein plants intake the water leaving salts behind. It is, however, the sub-surface soil salinity that affects the plant growth. These salts in sub-surface soil get trapped in root nodules of plants and prevent further water intake. There have been very few studies conducted for sub-surface soil salinity estimation. Hence this study aims to estimate sub-surface soil salinity (at 60 cm depth) for early stage of wheat crop growth in a simplified manner using freely available satellite data, which is a novel feature and prime objective in this study. The study utilizes Sentinel-1 SAR (Synthetic Aperture RADAR) data for backscatter coefficient generation, Sentinel-2 multispectral data for NDSI (Normalised Differential Salinity Index) generation and on ground equipment for direct collection of soil electrical conductivity. The data were collected for two dates in November and December 2019 and one date for January 2020 during the early stage of wheat crop growth. The dates were selected keeping in mind the satellite pass over the study area of Rupnagar on the same day. Ordinary Least Squares regression was used for modelling which gave R2-statistics of 0.99 and 0.958 in training and testing phase and root mean square error of 1.92 in modelling for soil salinity estimation.

Objective: Evaluate the clinical usefulness of cell-free DNA screening (cfDNA screening) in pregnancies with nuchal translucency (NT) between 95th and 99th percentile. Design: Subgroup analysis of a multicenter prospective cohort study Setting: 12 different secondary and tertiary health care institutions in Korea Sample: 7,547 singleton pregnant women with NT between 95th and 99th percentile Methods: All participants were provided with information about aneuploidy screening or diagnostic testing and selected the first tier test after NT assessment. The first tier test included maternal serum screening tests (MSS), cfDNA screening and invasive test (IT). Main outcome measures: First-tier test preference and chromosomal abnormalities in pregnancies with NT between 95th and 99th percentile Results: A total of 7,547 singleton pregnant women were enrolled and 6,717 cases with known pregnancy outcomes were analyzed. Among these, 89 (1.3%) cases showed NT between 95th and 99th percentile. As the first-tier test, 47 (52.8%) cases chose cfDNA screening, 33 (37.1%) cases selected IT, and nine (10.1%) cases underwent MSS. Chromosomal abnormalities were found in five cases (5.6%), including four cases with trisomy 21 (T21) and one with a balanced translocation. No significant chromosomal abnormalities undetected by cfDNA screening were noted in pregnancies with NT between 95th and 99th percentile. Conclusion: cfDNA screening in pregnancies with NT between 95th and 99th percentile may be considered as an acceptable alternative to invasive test for women intending to avoid the risk of miscarriage.

1. Microsatellite genotyping is an important genetic method for a number of research questions in biology. Given that the traditional fragment length analysis using polyacrylamide gel or capillary electrophoresis has several drawbacks, microsatellite genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) has arisen as a promising alternative. Although GBS mitigates many of the problems of fragment length analysis, issues with allelic dropout and null alleles often remain due to mismatches in primer binding sites and unnecessarily long PCR products. This is also true for GBS in catarrhine primates where cross-species amplification of loci (often human derived) is common. 2. We therefore redesigned primers for 45 microsatellite loci based on 17 available catarrhine reference genomes. Next, we tested them in singleplex and different multiplex settings in a panel of species representing all major lineages of Catarrhini and further validated them in wild Guinea baboons (Papio papio) using faecal samples. 3. The final panel of 42 microsatellite loci can efficiently be amplified with primers distributed into three amplification pools. 4. With our microsatellite panel, we provide a tool to universally genotype catarrhine primates via GBS from different sample sources in a cost- and time-efficient way, with higher resolution, and comparability among laboratories and species.

Background and Purpose Inactivation of Cys674 (C674) in the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase 2 (SERCA2) by causing the accumulation of intracellular Ca2+ to activate calcineurin-mediated nuclear factor of activated T-lymphocytes (NFAT)/NF-κB pathways, resulted in the phenotypic modulation of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to accelerate angiotensin II-induced aortic aneurysm. Our goal was to investigate the mechanism involved. Experimental Approach We used heterozygous SERCA2 C674S knock-in (SKI) mice, where half of C674 was substituted by serine, to represent partial irreversible oxidation of C674. The aortas of SKI mice and their littermate wild-type mice were collected for RNA sequencing, cell culture, protein expression, luciferase activity and aortic aneurysm analysis. KEY RESULTS Inactivation of C674 inhibited the promoter activity and protein expression of PPARγ, which could be reversed by inhibitors of calcineurin or NF-κB. Overexpression of PPARγ2 inhibited the phenotypic modulation of SKI SMCs. Pioglitazone, the activator of PPARγ, blocked the activation of NFAT/NF-κB, inhibited SMC phenotypic modulation, and ameliorated angiotensin II-induced aortic aneurysms in SKI mice. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The inactivation of SERCA2 C674 promotes the development of aortic aneurysm by disrupting the balance between PPARγ and NFAT/NF-κB. Our study highlights the importance of C674 redox status in regulating PPARγ to maintain aortic homeostasis.

Background: The practice of allergology varies widely between countries, and the costs and sales for the treatment of rhinitis differ depending on practices and health systems. To understand these differences and their implications, the rhinitis market was studied in some of the EU countries. Methods: We conducted a pharmaco-epidemiological database analysis to assess the medications that were prescribed for allergic rhinitis in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. We used the IQVIA platforms for prescribed medicines (MIDAS® - Meaningful Integration of Data, Analytics and Services) and for OTC medicines (OTC International Market Tracking - OTCims). We selected the five most important markets in the EU (France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain). The UK was excluded due to a lack of data. Results: Intra-nasal decongestants were excluded from the analyses because they are not prescribed for allergic rhinitis. For both Standard Units (SU) and costs, France is leading the other countries. In terms of SU, the four other countries are similar. For costs, Poland is lower than the three others. However, medication use differs largely. For 2018, in SU, intra-nasal corticosteroid is the first treatment in Poland (70.0%), France (51.3%), Spain (51.1%) and Germany (50.3%) whereas the Italian market is dominated by systemic anti-histamines (41.4%) followed by intra-nasal corticosteroids (30.1%). Results of other years were similar. Discussion: There are major differences between countries in terms of rhino-conjunctivitis medication usage.

The loops of modular polyketide synthases (PKSs) serve diverse functions but are largely uncharacterized. They frequently contain amino acid repeats resulting from genetic events such as slipped-strand mispairing. Determining the tolerance of loops to amino acid changes would aid in understanding and engineering these multidomain molecule factories. Here, tandem repeats in the DNA encoding 949 modules within 129 cis-acyltransferase PKSs were catalogued, and the locations of the corresponding amino acids within the module were identified. The most frequently inserted interdomain loop corresponds with the updated module boundary immediately downstream of the ketosynthase (KS), while the loops bordering the dehydratase (DH) were nearly intolerant to such insertions. An analysis of the loops bordering the acyl carrier protein (ACP) reveals they are relatively short (14±6 residues), that they resist large increases in length, and that ACP may rely on acyltransferase (AT) accessing a conformation like that observed through electron microscopy of the pikromycin PKS. From the 949 modules, no repetitive sequence loop insertions are located within ACP, and only 2 reside within KS, indicating the sensitivity of these domains to alteration.

Arachnids are the most abundant land predators. Despite the importance of their functional roles as predators and the of necessity to understand their diet for conservation and nutrient fluxes, the trophic ecology of many arachnid species is not fully understood. In the case of the wandering spider, Phoneutria boliviensis F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897, only selected field and laboratory observational studies about their diet exist. By using a DNA metabarcoding approach, we compared the prey found in the gut content of males and females from three distant Colombian populations of P. boliviensis. By DNA metabarcoding of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), we detected and identified 234 prey records belonging to 96 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), as prey for this wandering predator. Our results broaden the known diet of P. boliviensis with at least 75 prey taxa not previously registered in fieldwork or laboratory experimental trials. These results suggest that P. boliviensis feeds predominantly on invertebrates (Diptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Orthoptera) and opportunistically on small squamates. Intersex and interpopulation differences are observed. Assuming that prey preference does not vary between populations, these differences are likely associated with a higher local prey availability. Finally, we suggest that DNA metabarcoding can be used for evaluating subtle differences in the diet of distinct populations of P. boliviensis, particularly when predation records in the field cannot be established or quantified using direct observation

Objectives: Cochlear implantation can restore access to sound and speech understanding in subjects with substantial hearing loss where acoustic hearing aids do not. The Health Utilities Index Mark III (HUI3) is commonly used to measure health utility across all types of intervention and is sensitive to changes in hearing. In the current study we analysed for factors predicting clinically important gains in HUI3 scores in adult Nucleus cochlear implant recipients, implanted in a single centre. Design: Retrospective analysis of data collected in an observational study. Demographic and other baseline parameters were analysed for their association with gains in HUI3 scores. Participants: One-hundred and thirty-seven adult recipients of Nucleus cochlear implants who had at least one-year follow-up. Main Outcome Measures: HUI3 scores and speech, spatial, quality (SSQ) scale scores were collected at baseline before device activation and one-year after. Difference scores were computed. Clinically important gain was defined as 0.1 point on the HUI3 scale. Results: Baseline telephone use and baseline HUI3 hearing, speech and emotion attribute levels were significantly associated with clinically important gains in HUI3 scores. However, SSQ scores increased significantly with or without clinically important gains in HUI3 scores. Conclusion: Those subjects who were unable to use the telephone prior to cochlear implantation were one-and-a-half times more likely to obtain a clinically important gain in health utility. Those subjects who were unhappy, or experienced difficulties communicating with strangers were twice or more likely to obtain a clinically important gain in HUI3 scores compared to those who did not.

Background: Although left atrial (LA) expansion index is associated with cardiovascular prognosis, whether it affects recurrent strokes is still unknown. Methods: This study enrolled 176 patients hospitalized for a first ischemic stroke. Stroke subtype was classified as cardioembolic stroke (CE), noncardioembolic stroke (NCE), embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) or transient ischemic attack. The LA expansion index was calculated as (Volmax-Volmin) x 100%/Volmin, where Volmax was defined as maximal LA volume and Volmin as minimal LA volume. The study endpoint was recurrent ischemic stroke. Results: Over a 5-year (mean 4.9 years) follow-up period, 21 (11.9%) participants reached the study endpoint, including 10 with CE, 5 with NCE and 6 with ESUS. The LA expansion index was lower in the event groups compared to the non-event group. For predicting recurrent stroke, LA expansion index < 62.5% (76% sensitivity and 68% specificity) was superior to LA volume and E/e’. Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that the 5-year cumulative recurrent stroke rate in patients with LA expansion index < 62.5% was 23.9%, which was significantly higher than the 5-year cumulative recurrent stroke rate of 4.6% in patients with LA expansion index > 62.5% (log rank p < 0.001). The LA expansion index was a significant independent predictor of recurrent stroke (HR 0.87; 95% CI 0.782-0.968 per 10% increase in LA expansion index; p 0.011). Conclusion: The LA expansion index is useful for predicting recurrent stroke.

Left ventricular pseudoaneurysm is a type of rare and lethal mechanical complication derived from rupture of the ventricular free wall but enclosed by the adherent pericardium or scar tissue. We present a rare case of a massive pseudoaneurysm with a large thrombotic burden. Echocardiography had a pivot role on early diagnosis of the pseudoaneurysm allowing for appropriate downstream diagnostic testing. Cardiac magnetic resonance confirmed a large pseudoaneurysm. Furthermore, late gadolinium enhancement imaging demonstrated large thrombotic burden within the pseudoaneurysm. Due to eminent risk of rupture and danger of an embolic event our patient underwent a successful ventricular aneurysectomy. The defect was closed with a 5cm patch of bovine pericardium. An echocardiogram day 6 post-op showed an intact patch repair with no residual pseudoaneurysm.

Background and Purpose: Escherichia coli is a common mastitis-causing pathogens and is destructive to the blood-milk barrier. Oral administration of Lactobacillus casei Zhang (LCZ) could alleviate mice mastitis. However, its prophylactic effect and mechanism through intramammary injection on E. coli-induced mastitis is unclear now. Here, we investigate this using E. coli-induced mastitis model. Experimental Approach: Prophylactic effects and mechanism of intramammary injection of LCZ on blood-milk barrier and inflammation were studied in both bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs) and pregnant mice. Key Results: In vitro tests revealed that LCZ significantly inhibited the adhesion of E. coli to monolayer cells, reduce the damage of cell desmosomes, up-regulated the expression of tight junction proteins (claudin-1, claudin-4, occludin, and ZO-1), and down-regulated the expression of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) thereby enhancing the trans-epithelial electric resistance of monolayer BMECs and effectively protecting cells from damage caused by E. coli. In vivo experiments suggested that LCZ significantly promoted the expression of tight junction proteins (claudin-3, occludin, and ZO-1) but significantly inhibited the expression of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) in mouse mammary tissue, thereby decreased disruption in mammary tissues, infiltration of inflammatory cells in E. coli-induced mastitis. Conclusions and Implications: In our study, LCZ ameliorates blood-milk barrier disruption and suppresses the inflammatory response during E. coli-induced mastitis, indicating LCZ may serve as a effective prophylactic agent to preserve the blood-milk barrier function during mastitis.

Candidatus Liberibacter species cause severe, economically important diseases. All known species of these pathogens are putatively insect-transmitted, specifically by psyllids. Detection of Liberibacter in plants is complicated by its uneven distribution in host plants and largely unculturable nature. The death of black (Fraxinus nigra) and mancana (Fraxinus mandshurica) ash trees in Saskatchewan, Canada has been associated with infestation with the cottony ash psyllid (Psyllopsis discrepans). We hypothesized that the symptoms and death could be due to a psyllid-transmitted Liberibacter. We used a combination of conventional PCR and Sanger sequencing of the 16S rDNA for detection of Liberibacter, and the genes CO1 and Cyt-b to determine species of psyllids. The 16S sequencing generated two sequences, NTHA 5 (GenBank accession number MK942379) and NTHA 6 (GenBank accession number MK937570) that were 1058 and 1085 bp long. A BLAST search for homology showed 99-100% sequence similarity to a Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum sequence (GenBank accession number: KX197200) isolated from the Nearctic psyllid (Bactericera maculipennis) of US provenance. CO1 and Cyt-b gene sequencing of our psyllids yielded sequence information confirming that they were P. discrepans from comparisons with sequences in GenBank and BOLD. Confirmatory sequence comparison with a reference sample from the United Kingdom was concurrent. These results provide the first evidence on the likely cause of ash dieback in Saskatchewan. Further, they suggest a relatively rare example of a Liberibacter adapting a new host plant.

Objective The purpose of this investigation was to compare the efficacy of an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system and traditional methods for evaluating speech intelligibility in children with hearing loss. Design Observational Research Outcome Setting Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China Participants Ninety- four children aged 30 to 180 months with hearing loss who used hearing aids or cochlear implants prior to the examination and children with hearing loss who had congenital microtia. Main outcome measures Speech intelligibility evaluation，include the speech intelligibility score of traditional evaluation and automatic speech recognition system. Results For the speech intelligibility evaluation in the 94 children, the ASR system yielded speech intelligibility scores ranging from 0 to 100 (mean 64.3±31.1), and the traditional method yielded speech intelligibility scores ranging from 0 to 100 (mean 81.5±24.4. The correlation between the results of the traditional method and those of the ASR system was 0.895 (p <0.001). Conclusion Speech intelligibility evaluation for children with hearing loss in the clinic can be performed using the ASR system. This method can increase the precision, objectivity, and efficacy of speech intelligibility assessments.

This study highlights application of erodibility nomograph to assess soil erosion in central and northern agro-ecological zones of Cross River State, Nigeria. Seventeen composite soil samples were collected from sites showing moderate to severe erosion problems to the depth of 0-30 cm with the use of soil auger by random sampling and analyzed using standard laboratory procedures. Results showed that the particle size analysis was coarse textured soils with high sand content giving dominant textural classes of sandy loam in central and loamy sand texture in northern agro-ecological zones. The soil separates were predominantly silt content in central and medium sand in the northern agro-ecological zones with mean values of 29.5 % and 26.3 %. The erodibility using nomograph showed low to medium (0.10 – 0.19 Mg ha-1 MJ mm-1) in the central and medium (0.20 – 0.29 Mg ha-1 MJ mm-1) in the northern agro-ecological zones with high CV (%) of 52.4 % in the central and 118.2 % in the northern agro-ecological zones suggesting erodible soils. Soil conservation measures such as contouring, mulching and cover cropping should be adopted to address and combat soil erosion to avoid serious soil erodibility.

In this paper, we structure a phytoplankton zooplankton interaction system with two delays and Monod-Haldane type functional response, and mainly discuss the affect of $\tau$ and $\tau_1$ to the dynamic behavior of system. Firstly, we give the existence of equilibrium and property of solution. The sufficient conditions ensuring the globally asymptotical stability of the boundary equilibrium are given. The nonexistence of the positive equilibrium ensures the global stability of the boundary equilibrium. Secondly, let $\tau_1=0$ and dynamic behavior of system with one delay ($\tau$) is investigated. The stability switches phenomenon can occur as $\tau$ varying. Then fixed $\tau$ in stable interval, using $\tau_1$ as parameter, it can investigate the effect of $\tau_1$ and find $\tau_1$ can also cause the oscillation of system. Specially, when $\tau=\tau_1$, the system can also occur the stable switching phenomenon, and, under certain conditions, the periodic solution will exist with the wide range as delay away from critical value. Furthermore, using the crossing curve methods, it can obtain the stable changes of positive equilibrium in $(\tau,\tau_1)$ plane. When choosing $\tau$ in the unstable interval, the system still can occur Hopf bifurcation as delays varying. Some numerical simulations are given to indicate the correction of the theoretical analyses. At last, some conclusions are given.