ABSTRACT In recent years, Guangxi has become one of the most severely affected provinces by epidemics of avian cholera in China. To date, the major determinant climatic factors of the disease in the region have remained largely unknown, making it difficult to effectively target countermeasures for avian cholera surveillance and control. This study aimed to quantify the relationship between climatic variables and cases of avian cholera in subtropical areas of China. Data relating to local meteorological variables and notified cases of avian cholera were supplied by the relevant authorities between January 2006 and December 2015. Spearman correlation, co-linearity statistics and cross-correlation analysis were applied to the data, controlling for co-linearity and lag effects. A time-series Poisson regression analysis was conducted to examine the degree of correlation between the climate variables and avian cholera transmission. The results indicated that monthly mean temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and the multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation Index, with 2-3 months lag, were correlated with avian cholera incidence. The final model had good predictive ability for the occurrence of avian cholera. Overall, the findings indicate that climate variability plays an important role in avian cholera transmission in Guangxi province. Adoption of the model presented in this study could usefully inform avian cholera surveillance strategies, making them significantly simpler and more effective. The model could also serve as a decision support tool for veterinary professionals and health authorities.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether exogenous retinoic acid (RA) can upregulate the mRNA and protein expression of growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43), thereby promoting brain functional recovery in a rat distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model of ischemia. A total of 216 male Sprague Dawley rats weighing 300–320 g were divided into 3 groups: sham-operated group, MCAO+vehicle group and MCAO+RA group. Focal cortical infarction was induced with a distal MCAO model. The expression of GAP-43 mRNA and protein in the ipsilateral perifocal region was assessed using qPCR and immunocytochemistry at 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after distal MCAO. In addition, an intraperitoneal injection of RA was given 12 h before MCAO and continued every day until the animal was sacrificed. Following ischemia, the expression of GAP-43 first increased considerably and then decreased. Administration of RA reduced infarction volume, promoted neurological functional recovery and upregulated expression of GAP-43. Administration of RA can ameliorate neuronal damage and promote nerve regeneration by upregulating the expression of GAP-43 in the perifocal region after distal MCAO.

The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of diets supplemented with glucose oxidase (GOD) on growth performance, serum parameters and faecal microflora of piglets. One hundred and twelve piglets (35 days old) were randomly assigned to two groups (four replicates per group, half male and half female, and 14 piglets per replicate) and fed a diet with or without 100 U GOD per kg, for 35 days. Feeding GOD caused a higher average daily weight gain and feed intake, and lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) of piglets. No significant difference was observed in the reference values of serum biochemical parameters between the groups fed with or without GOD. The contents of triiodothyronine, thyroxine and growth hormone of piglets fed GOD were higher than those of the control. Moreover, GOD supplementation suppressed the concentration of faecal Salmonella. The results showed that supplementation of GOD to diets promoted growth performance, increased the contents of growth and development-related hormones, and improved the faecal microflora of growing piglets.

Cardiac remodeling involves changes in heart shape, size, structure, and function after injury to the myocardium. The proinflammatory adaptor protein myeloid differentiation protein 88 (MyD88) contributes to cardiac remodeling. To investigate whether excessive MyD88 levels initiate spontaneous cardiac remodeling at the whole-organism level, we generated a transgenic MyD88 mouse model with a cardiac-specific promoter. MyD88 mice (male, 20-30 g, n=∼80) were born at the expected Mendelian ratio and demonstrated similar morphology of the heart and cardiomyocytes with that of wild-type controls. Although heart weight was unaffected, cardiac contractility of MyD88 hearts was mildly reduced, as shown by echocardiographic examination, compared with wild-type controls. Moreover, the cardiac dysfunction phenotype was associated with elevation of ANF and BNP expression. Collectively, our data provide novel evidence of the critical role of balanced MyD88 signaling in maintaining physiological function in the adult heart.

The radial approach is widely used in the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease. We conducted a meta-analysis of published results on the efficacy and safety of the left and right radial approaches in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary procedures. A systematic search of reference databases was conducted, and data from 14 randomized controlled trials involving 6870 participants were analyzed. The left radial approach was associated with significant reductions in fluoroscopy time [standardized mean difference (SMD)=-0.14, 95% confidence interval (CI)=-0.19 to -0.09; P<0.00001] and contrast volume (SMD=-0.07, 95%CI=-0.12 to -0.02; P=0.009). There were no significant differences in rate of procedural failure of the left and the right radial approaches [risk ratios (RR)=0.98; 95%CI=0.77-1.25; P=0.88] or procedural time (SMD=-0.05, 95%CI=0.17-0.06; P=0.38). Tortuosity of the subclavian artery (RR=0.27, 95%CI=0.14-0.50; P<0.0001) was reported more frequently with the right radial approach. A greater number of catheters were used with the left than with the right radial approach (SMD=0.25, 95%CI=0.04-0.46; P=0.02). We conclude that the left radial approach is as safe as the right radial approach, and that the left radial approach should be recommended for use in percutaneous coronary procedures, especially in percutaneous coronary angiograms.

In this work, we discuss the preliminary analysis of some disruptive plasma discharges with a moveable graphite limiter on the HT-7 tokamak, which has been developed in order to investigate the influence of the horizontal plasma position on the density limit. What we have observed is that the m=2, MHD component dominates during almost the whole discharge duration, when the density limit is approached at values of the edge safety factor 3 < q(a) < 3.5. For the poloidal-magnetic-field fluctuations observed at the Mirnov coils, Mirnov-coil analysis shows that the m = 2 mode is unstable, which finally causes disruption.

The type and frequency of bovine GAD1 and GAL alleles have not yet been studied in beef cattle. Initial, partial characterization of several polymorphism sites of GAD1 and GAL genes was reported, and association analyses with feed intake, growth and carcass traits were performed. There was a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the 533bp fragment of GAD1 (Accession no. DQ139316), and this fragment revealed a polymorphism Ssp I restriction site caused by a G/A transition, located in 3'-UTR. A polymorphism Pst I restriction site at 102 (A/G transition) and a polymorphism Bsh1236 I restriction site at 837 (C/G transition) in the 2816bp PCR fragment (Accession no. DQ146944) corresponding to the bovine GAL gene were also identified. One hundred and thirty eight unrelated cattle from four breeds (Simmental, Angus, Hereford and Crossed Simmental) were genotyped and their allele frequencies were determined. In a preliminary trait association study, significant associations of GAD1 SNP-409, GAL SNP-102 and SNP-837 were found with average daily feed intake (ADFI). GAD1 and GAL SNPs were found to be good candidates to be used in marker-assisted selection (MAS) for ADFI.