Displaying publications 61 - 80 of 272 in total

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  1. Elliptic Flow of Charm and Strange Hadrons in High-Multiplicity p+Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=8.16  TeV
    Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Ambrogi F, Asilar E, Bergauer T, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2018 Aug 24;121(8):082301.
    PMID: 30192601 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.082301
    The elliptic azimuthal anisotropy coefficient (v_{2}) is measured for charm (D^{0}) and strange (K_{S}^{0}, Λ, Ξ^{-}, and Ω^{-}) hadrons, using a data sample of p+Pb collisions collected by the CMS experiment, at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s_{NN}]=8.16  TeV. A significant positive v_{2} signal from long-range azimuthal correlations is observed for all particle species in high-multiplicity p+Pb collisions. The measurement represents the first observation of possible long-range collectivity for open heavy flavor hadrons in small systems. The results suggest that charm quarks have a smaller v_{2} than the lighter quarks, probably reflecting a weaker collective behavior. This effect is not seen in the larger PbPb collision system at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV, also presented.
  2. Emergence of Getah Virus Infection in Horse With Fever in China, 2018
    Lu G, Ou J, Ji J, Ren Z, Hu X, Wang C, et al.
    Front Microbiol, 2019;10:1416.
    PMID: 31281304 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01416
    Getah virus (GETV) is a mosquito-borne virus that was first determined in Malaysia in 1955, and can infect humans and multiple other mammals. GETV infection in horses has been reported in Japan and India, and causes great economic losses. In China, GETV has been identified in mosquitoes, pigs, foxes, and cattle with a wide geographical distribution, but has not been detected in horses. In August 2018, a sudden onset of fever was observed in racehorse in an equestrian training center in Guangdong Province in southern China. Blood samples were collected from the sick horse, and PCR/RT-PCR analysis was performed to screen for equine viral pathogens associated with fever. The results indicated that the samples were GETV RNA positive. After RT-PCR, sequencing, and assembly, the genome of the first Chinese horse-derived GETV strain, GZ201808, was obtained. Compared with the genome sequences of other GETV strains, twelve unique nucleotide substitutions were observed in GZ201808. The genome of GZ201808 had the highest genetic identity (99.6%) with AH9192, which was detected in pigs in China in 2017. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that GZ201808 clustered in Group III, and was located in an independent branch distant from other horse-derived GETV strains, indicating a unique evolutionary pattern of GZ201808. This study first determined and described the disease course of horse infected with GETV in China, sequenced and characterized the genome of the field horse-derived GETV strain, and therefore presented an unequivocal report of GETV infection in horses in China.
  3. Enhanced Enzymatic Sugar Recovery of Dilute-Acid-Pretreated Corn Stover by Sodium Carbonate Deacetylation
    Fu W, Wu S, Wang C, Thangalazhy-Gopakumar S, Kothari U, Shi S, et al.
    Bioengineering (Basel), 2023 Oct 14;10(10).
    PMID: 37892926 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering10101197
    The prehydrolysate from dilute acid pretreatment of lignocellulosic feedstocks often contains inhibitory compounds that can seriously inhibit the subsequent enzymatic and fermentation processes. Acetic acid is one of the most representative toxic compounds. In this research, alkaline deacetylation of corn stover was carried out using sodium carbonate under mild conditions to selectively remove the acetyl groups of the biomass and reduce the toxicity of the prehydrolysate. The deacetylation process was optimized by adjusting factors such as temperature, treatment time, and sodium carbonate concentration. Sodium carbonate solutions (2~6 wt%) at 30~50 °C were used for the deacetylation step, followed by dilute acid pretreatment with 1.5% H2SO4 at 121 °C. Results showed that the acetyl content of the treated corn stover could be reduced up to 87%, while the hemicellulose loss remained low. The optimal deacetylation condition was found to be 40 °C, 6 h, and 4 wt% Na2CO3, resulting in a removal of 80.55% of the acetyl group in corn stover and a hemicellulose loss of 4.09%. The acetic acid concentration in the acid prehydrolysate decreased from 1.38 to 0.34 g/L. The enzymatic hydrolysis of solid corn stover and the whole slurry after pretreatment increased by 17% and 16%, respectively.
  4. Fulltext Enhancing operational stability of OLEDs based on subatomic modified thermally activated delayed fluorescence compounds
    Jung S, Cheung WL, Li SJ, Wang M, Li W, Wang C, et al.
    Nat Commun, 2023 Oct 14;14(1):6481.
    PMID: 37838720 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42019-6
    The realization of operationally stable blue organic light-emitting diodes is a challenging issue across the field. While device optimization has been a focus to effectively prolong device lifetime, strategies based on molecular engineering of chemical structures, particularly at the subatomic level, remains little. Herein, we explore the effect of targeted deuteration on donor and/or acceptor units of thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters and investigate the structure-property relationship between intrinsic molecular stability, based on isotopic effect, and device operational stability. We show that the deuteration of the acceptor unit is critical to enhance the photostability of thermally activated delayed fluorescence compounds and hence device lifetime in addition to that of the donor units, which is commonly neglected due to the limited availability and synthetic complexity of deuterated acceptors. Based on these isotopic analogues, we observe a gradual increase in the device operational stability and achieve the long-lifetime time to 90% of the initial luminance of 23.4 h at the luminance of 1000 cd m-2 for thermally activated delayed fluorescence-sensitized organic light-emitting diodes. We anticipate our strategic deuteration approach provides insights and demonstrates the importance on structural modification materials at a subatomic level towards prolonging the device operational stability.
  5. Fulltext Epidural anaesthesia for caesarean section: a comparison of 0.5% bupivacaine plain, 0.5% bupivacaine plus 100 micrograms fentanyl and 0.5% bupivacaine plus 50 micrograms fentanyl
    Wang CY, Ong GS, Delilkan AE
    Med J Malaysia, 1994 Sep;49(3):269-74.
    PMID: 7845278
    Thirty-one healthy women who underwent Caesarean section were studied in a double-blind trial to compare the effectiveness of epidural 0.5% bupivacaine plain, 0.5% bupivacaine plus 100 micrograms fentanyl and 0.5% bupivacaine plus 50 micrograms fentanyl in the prevention of intraoperative pain. There was no difference in the quality of analgesia between the three groups. The incidence of complications was significantly higher in the 0.5% bupivacaine plus 100 micrograms fentanyl group compared with the other two groups.
  6. Establishing metastatic patient-derived xenograft model for colorectal cancer
    Zhang Y, Lee SH, Wang C, Gao Y, Li J, Xu W
    Jpn J Clin Oncol, 2020 Jun 24.
    PMID: 32579167 DOI: 10.1093/jjco/hyaa089
    BACKGROUND: Patient-derived xenograft model is a powerful and promising tool for drug discovery and cancer biology studies. The application of previous metastatic colorectal cancer models has been greatly limited by its low success rate and long time to develop metastasis. Therefore, in this study, we aim to describe an optimized protocol for faster establishment of colorectal cancer metastatic patient-derived xenograft mouse models.

    METHODS: Smaller micro tissues (˂150 μm in diameter) mixed with Matrigel were engrafted subcutaneously into NSG mice to generate the passage 1 (P1) patient-derived xenograft. The micro tumours from P1 patient-derived xenograft were then excised and orthotopically xenografted into another batch of NSG mice to generate a metastatic colorectal cancer patient-derived xenograft, P2. Haematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemistry staining were performed to compare the characters between patient-derived xenograft tumours and primary tumours.

    RESULTS: About 16 out of 18 P1 xenograft models successfully grew a tumour for 50.8 ± 5.1 days (success rate 89.9%). Six out of eight P1 xenograft models originating from metastatic patients successfully grew tumours in the colon and metastasized to liver or lung in the NSG recipients for 60.9 ± 4.5 days (success rate 75%). Histological examination of both P1 and P2 xenografts closely resembled the histological architecture of the original patients' tumours. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed similar biomarker expression levels, including CDH17, Ki-67, active β-catenin, Ki-67 and α smooth muscle actin when compared with the original patients' tumours. The stromal components that support the growth of patient-derived xenograft tumours were of murine origin.

    CONCLUSIONS: Metastatic patient-derived xenograft mouse model could be established with shorter time and higher success rate. Although the patient-derived xenograft tumours were supported by the stromal cells of murine origin, they retained the dominant characters of the original patient tumours.

  7. Fulltext Estimating prevalence of subjective cognitive decline in and across international cohort studies of aging: a COSMIC study
    Röhr S, Pabst A, Riedel-Heller SG, Jessen F, Turana Y, Handajani YS, et al.
    Alzheimers Res Ther, 2020 12 18;12(1):167.
    PMID: 33339532 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-020-00734-y
    BACKGROUND: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is recognized as a risk stage for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias, but its prevalence is not well known. We aimed to use uniform criteria to better estimate SCD prevalence across international cohorts.

    METHODS: We combined individual participant data for 16 cohorts from 15 countries (members of the COSMIC consortium) and used qualitative and quantitative (Item Response Theory/IRT) harmonization techniques to estimate SCD prevalence.

    RESULTS: The sample comprised 39,387 cognitively unimpaired individuals above age 60. The prevalence of SCD across studies was around one quarter with both qualitative harmonization/QH (23.8%, 95%CI = 23.3-24.4%) and IRT (25.6%, 95%CI = 25.1-26.1%); however, prevalence estimates varied largely between studies (QH 6.1%, 95%CI = 5.1-7.0%, to 52.7%, 95%CI = 47.4-58.0%; IRT: 7.8%, 95%CI = 6.8-8.9%, to 52.7%, 95%CI = 47.4-58.0%). Across studies, SCD prevalence was higher in men than women, in lower levels of education, in Asian and Black African people compared to White people, in lower- and middle-income countries compared to high-income countries, and in studies conducted in later decades.

    CONCLUSIONS: SCD is frequent in old age. Having a quarter of older individuals with SCD warrants further investigation of its significance, as a risk stage for AD and other dementias, and of ways to help individuals with SCD who seek medical advice. Moreover, a standardized instrument to measure SCD is needed to overcome the measurement variability currently dominant in the field.

  8. Evaluating an economic application of renewable generated hydrogen: A way forward for green economic performance and policy measures
    Wu B, Zhai B, Mu H, Peng X, Wang C, Patwary AK
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2022 Feb;29(10):15144-15158.
    PMID: 34628612 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-16770-6
    Energy security and environmental measurements are incomplete without renewable energy; therefore, there is a dire need to explore new energy sources. Hence, this study aimed to measure the wind power potential to generate renewable hydrogen (H2), including its production and supply cost. This study used first-order engineering model and net present value to measure the levelized cost of wind-generated renewable hydrogen by using the data source of the Pakistan Meteorological Department and State Bank of Pakistan. Results showed that the use of surplus wind and renewable hydrogen energy for green economic production is suggested as an innovative project option for large-scale hydrogen use. The key annual running expenses for hydrogen are electricity and storage costs, which have a significant impact on the costs of renewable hydrogen. The results also indicated that the project can potentially cut carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution by 139 million metric tons and raise revenue for wind power plants by US$2998.52 million. The renewable electrolyzer plants avoided CO2 at a rate of US$24.9-36.9/ton under baseload service, relative to US$44.3/ton for the benchmark. However, in the more practical mid-load situation, these plants have significant benefits. Further, the wind-generated renewable hydrogen delivers 6-11% larger annual rate of return than the standard CO2 catch plant due to their capacity to remain running and supply hydrogen to the consumer through periods of plentiful wind and heat. Also, the measured levelized output cost of hydrogen (LCOH) was US$6.22/kgH2, and for the PEC system, it was US$8.43/kgH2. Finally, it is a mutually agreed consensus among environmental scientists that the integration of renewable energy is the way forward to increase energy security and environmental performance by ensuring uninterrupted clean and green energy. This application has the potential to address Pakistan's urgent issues of large-scale surplus wind- and solar-generated energy, as well as rising energy demand.
  9. Event generator tunes obtained from underlying event and multiparton scattering measurements
    Khachatryan V, Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Asilar E, Bergauer T, et al.
    Eur Phys J C Part Fields, 2016 03 17;76:155.
    PMID: 27471433
    New sets of parameters ("tunes") for the underlying-event (UE) modelling of the pythia8, pythia6 and herwig++ Monte Carlo event generators are constructed using different parton distribution functions. Combined fits to CMS UE proton-proton ([Formula: see text]) data at [Formula: see text] and to UE proton-antiproton ([Formula: see text]) data from the CDF experiment at lower [Formula: see text], are used to study the UE models and constrain their parameters, providing thereby improved predictions for proton-proton collisions at 13[Formula: see text]. In addition, it is investigated whether the values of the parameters obtained from fits to UE observables are consistent with the values determined from fitting observables sensitive to double-parton scattering processes. Finally, comparisons are presented of the UE tunes to "minimum bias" (MB) events, multijet, and Drell-Yan ([Formula: see text] lepton-antilepton+jets) observables at 7 and 8[Formula: see text], as well as predictions for MB and UE observables at 13[Formula: see text].
  10. Evidence for the Higgs Boson Decay to a Z Boson and a Photon at the LHC
    Aad G, Abbott B, Abeling K, Abicht NJ, Abidi SH, Aboulhorma A, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2024 Jan 12;132(2):021803.
    PMID: 38277607 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.021803
    The first evidence for the Higgs boson decay to a Z boson and a photon is presented, with a statistical significance of 3.4 standard deviations. The result is derived from a combined analysis of the searches performed by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations with proton-proton collision datasets collected at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from 2015 to 2018. These correspond to integrated luminosities of around 140  fb^{-1} for each experiment, at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The measured signal yield is 2.2±0.7 times the standard model prediction, and agrees with the theoretical expectation within 1.9 standard deviations.
  11. Exogenous chlorogenic acid inhibits quality deterioration in fresh-cut potato slices
    You W, Wang C, Zhang J, Ru X, Xu F, Wu Z, et al.
    Food Chem, 2024 Jul 15;446:138866.
    PMID: 38430769 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.138866
    Fresh-cut potatoes are prone to surface browning and physiological degradation. Chlorogenic acid (CGA), a natural phenolic antioxidant, has demonstrated preservative properties in various postharvest products. However, the underlying mechanisms of its application on maintaining quality remain unclear. Therefore, the effect of exogenous CGA treatment on quality deterioration of potato slices and the mechanisms involved were investigated. Results revealed CGA treatment retarded the browning coloration, suppressed microbial growth and inhibited the declines in starch, and ascorbic acid contents in potato slices. Meanwhile, the treatment activated the phenylpropanoid pathway but decreased the activities of phenolic decomposition-related enzymes such as polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and tyrosinase and downregulated StPPO expression. Moreover, the treated slices exhibited reduced accumulation of reactive oxygen species and increased activity of antioxidant enzymes. Additionally, they displayed enhanced 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals scavenging capacity and higher ATP levels. Therefore, these findings indicated that CGA treatment was effective for quality maintenance and antioxidant capacity enhancement in fresh-cut potatoes, thereby providing potential strategies for the preservation and processing of fresh-cut produce.
  12. Fentanyl dose for the insertion of Classic Laryngeal Mask Airways in non-paralysed patients induced with propofol 2.5 mg/kg
    Tan AS, Wang CY
    Anaesth Intensive Care, 2010 Jan;38(1):65-9.
    PMID: 20191779
    The aim of this randomised, controlled trial was to determine the optimum dose of fentanyl in combination with propofol 2.5 mg x kg(-1) when inserting the Classic Laryngeal Mask Airway. Seventy-five ASA I or II patients were randomly assigned to five groups of fentanyl dosage: 0 microg x kg(-1) (placebo), 0.5 microg x kg(-1), 1.0 microg x kg(-1), 1.5 microg x kg(-1) and 2.0 microg x kg(-1). Anaesthesia was induced by first injecting the study drug over 10 seconds. Three minutes after the study drug was injected, propofol (2.5 mg x kg(-1)) was injected over 10 seconds. The Classic Laryngeal Mask Airway was inserted four minutes and 30 seconds after injection of the study drug. Insertion conditions were evaluated using a four-category score. Thirty-nine males and 36 females aged 19 to 59 years were studied. The incidence of prolonged apnoea increased as fentanyl dose increased. We found that there was a high rate of successful first attempt at insertion with 1 microg x kg(-1) and 1.5 microg x kg(-1), 93% and 87% respectively, compared to 87% in the 2.0 microg x kg(-1) group. The 1.0 microg x kg(-1) group also achieved an 80% optimal insertion conditions score of 4, compared to 73% in the 1.5 microg x kg(-1) group and 80% in the 2 microg x kg(-1) group. Therefore we recommend 1.0 microg x kg(-1) as the optimal dose of fentanyl when used in addition to propofol 2.5 mg/kg for the insertion of the Classic Laryngeal Mask Airway.
  13. Fulltext Fibreoptic intubation--a case series and brief review
    Tan I, Wang CY
    Med J Malaysia, 1993 Jun;48(2):200-6.
    PMID: 8350796
    Fibreoptic intubation has been established as a major advance in the management of difficult or failed intubation in the awake patient. If necessary, it may be performed under general anaesthesia with either spontaneous or controlled ventilation. This should be considered early in the management of failed intubation, before multiple attempts with other techniques lead to haemorrhage and oedema in the airway. We describe here selected case reports to illustrate this in 8 different situations. This is followed by a brief review of the technique and indications of fibreoptic intubation.
  14. First Evidence for cos2β>0 and Resolution of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa Quark-Mixing Unitarity Triangle Ambiguity
    Adachi I, Adye T, Ahmed H, Ahn JK, Aihara H, Akar S, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2018 Dec 28;121(26):261801.
    PMID: 30636113 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.261801
    We present first evidence that the cosine of the CP-violating weak phase 2β is positive, and hence exclude trigonometric multifold solutions of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) Unitarity Triangle using a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of B^{0}→D^{(*)}h^{0} with D→K_{S}^{0}π^{+}π^{-} decays, where h^{0}∈{π^{0},η,ω} denotes a light unflavored and neutral hadron. The measurement is performed combining the final data sets of the BABAR and Belle experiments collected at the ϒ(4S) resonance at the asymmetric-energy B factories PEP-II at SLAC and KEKB at KEK, respectively. The data samples contain (471±3)×10^{6}BB[over ¯] pairs recorded by the BABAR detector and (772±11)×10^{6}BB[over ¯] pairs recorded by the Belle detector. The results of the measurement are sin2β=0.80±0.14(stat)±0.06(syst)±0.03(model) and cos2β=0.91±0.22(stat)±0.09(syst)±0.07(model). The result for the direct measurement of the angle β of the CKM Unitarity Triangle is β=[22.5±4.4(stat)±1.2(syst)±0.6(model)]°. The measurement assumes no direct CP violation in B^{0}→D^{(*)}h^{0} decays. The quoted model uncertainties are due to the composition of the D^{0}→K_{S}^{0}π^{+}π^{-} decay amplitude model, which is newly established by performing a Dalitz plot amplitude analysis using a high-statistics e^{+}e^{-}→cc[over ¯] data sample. CP violation is observed in B^{0}→D^{(*)}h^{0} decays at the level of 5.1 standard deviations. The significance for cos2β>0 is 3.7 standard deviations. The trigonometric multifold solution π/2-β=(68.1±0.7)° is excluded at the level of 7.3 standard deviations. The measurement resolves an ambiguity in the determination of the apex of the CKM Unitarity Triangle.
  15. First Measurements of Absolute Branching Fractions of the Ξ_{c}^{0} Baryon at Belle
    Li YB, Shen CP, Yuan CZ, Adachi I, Aihara H, Al Said S, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2019 Mar 01;122(8):082001.
    PMID: 30932568 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.082001
    We present the first measurements of absolute branching fractions of Ξ_{c}^{0} decays into Ξ^{-}π^{+}, ΛK^{-}π^{+}, and pK^{-}K^{-}π^{+} final states. The measurements are made using a dataset comprising (772±11)×10^{6} BB[over ¯] pairs collected at the ϒ(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e^{+}e^{-} collider. We first measure the absolute branching fraction for B^{-}→Λ[over ¯]_{c}^{-}Ξ_{c}^{0} using a missing-mass technique; the result is B(B^{-}→Λ[over ¯]_{c}^{-}Ξ_{c}^{0})=(9.51±2.10±0.88)×10^{-4}. We subsequently measure the product branching fractions B(B^{-}→Λ[over ¯]_{c}^{-}Ξ_{c}^{0})B(Ξ_{c}^{0}→Ξ^{-}π^{+}), B(B^{-}→Λ[over ¯]_{c}^{-}Ξ_{c}^{0})B(Ξ_{c}^{0}→ΛK^{-}π^{+}), and B(B^{-}→Λ[over ¯]_{c}^{-}Ξ_{c}^{0})B(Ξ_{c}^{0}→pK^{-}K^{-}π^{+}) with improved precision. Dividing these product branching fractions by the result for B^{-}→Λ[over ¯]_{c}^{-}Ξ_{c}^{0} yields the following branching fractions: B(Ξ_{c}^{0}→Ξ^{-}π^{+})=(1.80±0.50±0.14)%, B(Ξ_{c}^{0}→ΛK^{-}π^{+})=(1.17±0.37±0.09)%, and B(Ξ_{c}^{0}→pK^{-}K^{-}π^{+})=(0.58±0.23±0.05)%. For the above branching fractions, the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. Our result for B(Ξ_{c}^{0}→Ξ^{-}π^{+}) can be combined with Ξ_{c}^{0} branching fractions measured relative to Ξ_{c}^{0}→Ξ^{-}π^{+} to yield other absolute Ξ_{c}^{0} branching fractions.
  16. Fulltext Forward-backward asymmetry of Drell-Yan lepton pairs in pp collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]
    Khachatryan V, Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Asilar E, Bergauer T, et al.
    Eur Phys J C Part Fields, 2016;76(6):325.
    PMID: 28280439 DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4156-z
    A measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry [Formula: see text] of oppositely charged lepton pairs ([Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) produced via [Formula: see text] boson exchange in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7[Formula: see text] collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurement of [Formula: see text] is performed for dilepton masses between 40[Formula: see text] and 2[Formula: see text] and for dilepton rapidity up to 5. The [Formula: see text] measurements as a function of dilepton mass and rapidity are compared with the standard model predictions.
  17. Fulltext Genetic variability within and among Haemonchus contortus isolates from goats and sheep in China
    Yin F, Gasser RB, Li F, Bao M, Huang W, Zou F, et al.
    Parasit Vectors, 2013 Sep 25;6(1):279.
    PMID: 24499637 DOI: 10.1186/1756-3305-6-279
    BACKGROUND: Haemonchus contortus (order Strongylida) is a common parasitic nematode infecting small ruminants and causing significant economic losses worldwide. Knowledge of genetic variation within and among H. contortus populations can provide a foundation for understanding transmission patterns, the spread of drug resistance alleles and might assist in the control of haemonchosis.

    METHODS: 152 H. contortus individual adult worms were collected from seven different geographical regions in China. The second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA and mitochondrial nicotinamide dehydrogenase subunit 4 gene (nad4) were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced directly. The sequence variations and population genetic diversities were determined.

    RESULTS: Nucleotide sequence analyses revealed 18 genotypes (ITS-2) and 142 haplotypes (nad4) among the 152 worms, with nucleotide diversities of 2.6% and 0.027, respectively, consistent with previous reports from other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Sweden, the USA and Yemen. Population genetic analyses revealed that 92.4% of nucleotide variation was partitioned within populations; there was no genetic differentiation but a high gene flow among Chinese populations; some degree of genetic differentiation was inferred between some specimens from China and those from other countries.

    CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study of genetic variation within H. contortus in China. The results revealed high within-population variations, low genetic differentiation and high gene flow among different populations of H. contortus in China. The present results could have implications for studying the epidemiology and ecology of H. contortus in China.

  18. Fulltext Genome-Centric Metagenomic Insights into the Impact of Alkaline/Acid and Thermal Sludge Pretreatment on the Microbiome in Digestion Sludge
    Liang Z, Shi J, Wang C, Li J, Liang D, Yong EL, et al.
    Appl Environ Microbiol, 2020 11 10;86(23).
    PMID: 32948522 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01920-20
    Pretreatment of waste-activated sludge (WAS) is an effective way to destabilize sludge floc structure and release organic matter for improving sludge digestion efficiency. Nonetheless, information on the impact of WAS pretreatment on digestion sludge microbiomes, as well as mechanistic insights into how sludge pretreatment improves digestion performance, remains elusive. In this study, a genome-centric metagenomic approach was employed to investigate the digestion sludge microbiome in four sludge digesters with different types of feeding sludge: WAS pretreated with 0.25 mol/liter alkaline/acid (APAD), WAS pretreated with 0.8 mol/liter alkaline/acid (HS-APAD), thermally pretreated WAS (thermal-AD), and fresh WAS (control-AD). We retrieved 254 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) to identify the key functional populations involved in the methanogenic digestion process. These MAGs span 28 phyla, including 69 yet-to-be-cultivated lineages, and 30 novel lineages were characterized with metabolic potential associated with hydrolysis and fermentation. Interestingly, functional populations involving carbohydrate digestion were enriched in APAD and HS-APAD, while lineages related to protein and lipid fermentation were enriched in thermal-AD, corroborating the idea that different substrates are released from alkaline/acid and thermal pretreatments. Among the major functional populations (i.e., fermenters, syntrophic acetogens, and methanogens), significant correlations between genome sizes and abundance of the fermenters were observed, particularly in APAD and HS-APAD, which had improved digestion performance.IMPORTANCE Wastewater treatment generates large amounts of waste-activated sludge (WAS), which consists mainly of recalcitrant microbial cells and particulate organic matter. Though WAS pretreatment is an effective way to release sludge organic matter for subsequent digestion, detailed information on the impact of the sludge pretreatment on the digestion sludge microbiome remains scarce. Our study provides unprecedented genome-centric metagenomic insights into how WAS pretreatments change the digestion sludge microbiomes, as well as their metabolic networks. Moreover, digestion sludge microbiomes could be a unique source for exploring microbial dark matter. These results may inform future optimization of methanogenic sludge digestion and resource recovery.
  19. Genome-Wide Association for HbA1c in Malay Identified Deletion on SLC4A1 that Influences HbA1c Independent of Glycemia
    Chai JF, Kao SL, Wang C, Lim VJ, Khor IW, Dou J, et al.
    J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2020 Dec 01;105(12).
    PMID: 32936915 DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa658
    CONTEXT: Glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level is used to screen and diagnose diabetes. Genetic determinants of HbA1c can vary across populations and many of the genetic variants influencing HbA1c level were specific to populations.

    OBJECTIVE: To discover genetic variants associated with HbA1c level in nondiabetic Malay individuals.

    DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis for HbA1c using 2 Malay studies, the Singapore Malay Eye Study (SiMES, N = 1721 on GWAS array) and the Living Biobank study (N = 983 on GWAS array and whole-exome sequenced). We built a Malay-specific reference panel to impute ethnic-specific variants and validate the associations with HbA1c at ethnic-specific variants.

    RESULTS: Meta-analysis of the 1000 Genomes imputed array data identified 4 loci at genome-wide significance (P 

  20. Fulltext Genome-wide association study in a Chinese population identifies a susceptibility locus for type 2 diabetes at 7q32 near PAX4
    Ma RC, Hu C, Tam CH, Zhang R, Kwan P, Leung TF, et al.
    Diabetologia, 2013 Jun;56(6):1291-305.
    PMID: 23532257 DOI: 10.1007/s00125-013-2874-4
    AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Most genetic variants identified for type 2 diabetes have been discovered in European populations. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in a Chinese population with the aim of identifying novel variants for type 2 diabetes in Asians.

    METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis of three GWAS comprising 684 patients with type 2 diabetes and 955 controls of Southern Han Chinese descent. We followed up the top signals in two independent Southern Han Chinese cohorts (totalling 10,383 cases and 6,974 controls), and performed in silico replication in multiple populations.

    RESULTS: We identified CDKN2A/B and four novel type 2 diabetes association signals with p 

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