Hepatitis E virus in Cuba: A cross-sectional serological and virological study in pigs and people occupationally exposed to pigs

Surveillance of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in risk groups is an important strategy to monitor its circulation pattern and to timely detect changes thereof. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to estimate the prevalence of HEV infections in pigs and humans from different regions of the country, to identify risk factors for increasing anti-HEV IgG prevalence and to characterize HEV strains. The presence of anti-HEV antibodies was assessed by commercial ELISA in serum samples from the general population, farm and slaughterhouse employees, as well as pigs sampled in the three regions of Cuba from February to September 2016. Overall, individuals with occupational exposure to swine or swine products (70/248, 28.2%) were 4 times more likely to be seropositive compared to the general population (25/285, 8.7%; OR: 4.18; p < .001). Within the risk group, risk factors included age, number of years working in a professional activity with direct exposure to swine, geographic region and distance between residence and closest professional swine setting, while wearing gloves had a protective effect. Prevalence of total anti-HEV antibodies in swine was 88.2% (165/187) and HEV RNA was detected by real-time RT-PCR in 9.2% (16/173) swine stools. All HEV strains sequenced clustered within genotype 3. Some strains clearly belonged to subtype 3a, while another group of strains was related with subtypes 3b and 3 k but partial HEV sequences did not allow unequivocal subtype assignment. These findings suggest that the high HEV exposure in Cuban individuals with swine-related occupations could be due to enzootic HEV in certain regions, direct contact with infectious animals or their products as well as environmental contamination.     

Highly recurrent BRAF p.V595E mutation in canine papillary oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common oral epithelial malignancy in dogs. It exhibits locally aggressive biological behaviour with the potential to metastasize, and a reported 1-year survival rate of 0% when left untreated. Expression studies suggest that aberrant MAPK signalling plays a key role in canine OSCC tumorigenesis, which is consistent with BRAF and HRAS MAPK-activating mutations reported in some tumours. Several morphological subtypes of canine OSCC have been described, with papillary, conventional, and basaloid as the most common patterns. We hypothesized that mutational differences may underlie these phenotypic variations. In this study, targeted Sanger sequencing and restriction fragment length polymorphism assays demonstrate that up to 85.7% of canine papillary OSCC (n = 14) harbour a BRAF p.V595E mutation. Assessment of neoplastic epithelial cell proliferation using Ki67 immunolabelling (n = 10) confirmed a relatively high proliferation activity, consistent with their known aggressive clinical behaviour. These findings underscore a consistent genetic feature of canine papillary OSCC and provide a basis for the development of novel diagnostic and targeted therapeutic approaches that can improve the quality of veterinary care.     

右美托咪定抑制NOX4缓解急性应激致大鼠肾损伤

本研究拟探索右美托咪定（dexmedetomidine,DEX）对大鼠急性应激致肾损伤的保护作用,并从氧化应激的角度探索DEX对大鼠肾的保护通路。本研究使用了急性束缚应激模型,其中,大鼠被迫游泳15 min,并束缚3 h。本试验采用生化检测、组织病理学切片观察以评估肾功能,然后测定了氧化应激以及氧化应激的相关通路蛋白。旷场试验证实成功建立了急性应激模型。急性应激引起的肾损伤增加了NOX4,降低了Nrf2/HO-1/NQO1表达水平。DEX可降低NOX4表达,同时升高Nrf2/HO-1/NQO1的表达水平。DEX治疗组与急性应激组相比的肾生化结果明显恢复正常,病理切片观察损伤显著降低。试验结果表明,DEX治疗急性应激可影响NOX4/Nrf2/HO-1/NQO1信号通路,并抑制氧化应激。因此,DEX对急性应激引起的肾损伤具有保护作用,并在应激综合征中具有潜在的临床应用。     

四十种瓜菜中超氧化物歧化酶含量测定

采用化学发光法测定了40种蔬菜、瓜、果中的超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)的含量,并在此基础上探讨了9种蔬菜中维生素E、C、蛋白对SOD的影响以及它们之间的关系.还观察了蔬菜中SOD的热稳定性.结果表明,不同蔬菜、瓜、果间SOD含量的差异很大,其范围在1.26～176.10×10~(-3)g/g蛋白之间;去除脂溶性维生素E时SOD有不同程度的下降;维生素C及蛋白与SOD无明显对应关系;加热处理后样品的SOD仍得到较好保存.     

白菜型油菜DFR基因的克隆与序列分析

By using RACE (rapid amplification ofcDNA ends) based homologous cloning strategy, we have successfully isolated the genomic and full-length cDNA sequences of a gene encoding typical DFR (dihydroflavonol-4-reductase) from black-seeded Brassica campestris L. var. oleifera DC.. The gene, designated BcDFR here, is 1 722bp in length and harbors 5 introns with typical splice sites of plant DFR genes. BcDFR cDNA is 1311bp in length with a 1 158bp ORF as well as a 25bp 5‘ UTR and a 128bp 3‘ UTR. The encoded BcDFR protein is 385 aa with a calculated Mw of 42.85kD and a pI value of 5.55. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of this gene share extensive homologies to plant DFR genes of wide origins especially high similarities to Cruciferous DFR genes. Sequence analyses such as phylogenetic analysis, conserved domain search and substrate specificity region detection all indicated that BcDFR gene is a quite potentially biofunctional gene. Its cloning enables us to further dissect the possible relatedness between DFR gene and Brassica seed coat color traits and to create transgenic novel yellow-seeded rapeseed germplasm through antisense- or RNAi-suppression of DFR gene expression in black-seeded elite cultivars.     

Work-hardening Mechanism of Non-magnetic High Manganese ZG25Mn18Cr4 Castings

The important character of non-magnetic high manganese ZG25 Mn18Cr4 alloy is rapid work-hardening under external stress. With X-ray diffraction and TEM analysis, it is proved that the microstructures of both undeformed and deformed matrixes are austenite and carbide with some striation structure in the matrixes, the amount of stripes in the deformed matrix is obviously more than that in the undeformed matrix. Electronic diffraction analysis confirmed that the stripes in coarse austenite grains are high density lamination fault sheets. A great deal of lamination fault sheets produced by plastic deformation divides up austenite matrix, shortens the free distance of dislocation movement and results in the rapid work-hardening of ZG25Mn18Cr4 alloy.     

锌元素对籼稻成熟胚愈伤组织绿苗分化率的影响

本实验就锌元素对籼稻成熟胚愈伤组织绿苗分化率的影响进行了研究，结果指出：(1)锌元素能明显提高籼稻成熟胚愈伤组织绿苗分化频率，且使用浓度范围较广(0.5～10μmol/L)，其中以锌浓度1μmol/L效果较好；(2)在本实验范围内各籼稻品种对锌元素的反应是一致的，但品种间差异很大，其中中早14绿苗分化率较高；(3)锌脉冲试验指     

水平直元线犁体曲面的三维参数化设计

介绍了水平直元线三维参数化设计犁体曲面的方法,并利用其设计了相关的犁体曲面.与犁体曲面平面作图的方法相比较,该方法克服了犁体曲面平面作图设计的缺陷和不足,缩短了犁体曲面的设计周期,降低了设计费用,提高了设计质量,效果较好,为后续犁体曲面开发奠定了良好的基础.