Staphylococcus aureus has been recognised as one of the important zoonotic pathogens. However, knowledge about the epidemiology and genetic characteristics of S. aureus in rabbits was limited. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of 281 S. aureus isolated from dead rabbits of nine rabbit farms in Fujian Province, China. All the isolates were characterised by multi-locus sequencing typing, detection of virulence factors and antimicrobial susceptibility test. The results showed that the 281 isolates were grouped into two sequence types, ST121 (13.52%, 38/281) and ST398 (86.48%, 243/281). Surprisingly, the ST121 strains were only recovered from the lung samples from one of the nine rabbit farms studied. In the 281 isolates, the virulence genes of nuc, hla, hlb, clfA, clfB and fnbpA were positive, whereas the sea, seb, tsst, eta and etb genes were negative. Notably, the 38 ST121 isolates carried the pvl gene. All the 281 isolates were methicillin-susceptible S. aureus, and the isolates were susceptible to most of the used antibiotics, except for streptomycin, kanamycin, azithromycin and penicillin, and the resistance rates of which were 23.84%, 19.57%, 16.01% and 11.03%, respectively. This study first described the epidemiology and characteristics of S. aureus in rabbits in Fujian Province, which will help in tracking the evolution of epidemic strains and preventing the rabbit–human transmission events.

In recent years, the discovery of massive quasars at $z\sim7$ has provided a striking challenge to our understanding of the origin and growth of supermassive black holes in the early Universe. Mounting observational and theoretical evidence indicates the viability of massive seeds, formed by the collapse of supermassive stars, as a progenitor model for such early, massive accreting black holes. Although considerable progress has been made in our theoretical understanding, many questions remain regarding how (and how often) such objects may form, how they live and die, and how next generation observatories may yield new insight into the origin of these primordial titans. This review focusses on our present understanding of this remarkable formation scenario, based on the discussions held at the Monash Prato Centre from November 20 to 24, 2017, during the workshop ‘Titans of the Early Universe: The Origin of the First Supermassive Black Holes’.

Estimating the feed intake of grazing herbivores is critical for determining their nutrition, overall productivity and utilization of grassland resources. A 17-day indoor feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential use of Medicago sativa as a natural supplement for estimating the total feed intake of sheep. A total of 16 sheep were randomly assigned to four diets (four sheep per diet) containing a known amount of M. sativa together with up to seven forages common to typical steppes. The diets were: diet 1, M. sativa + Leymus chinensis + Puccinellia distans; diet 2, species in diet 1 + Phragmites australis; diet 3, species in diet 2 + Chenopodium album + Elymus sibiricus; and diet 4, species in diet 3 + Artemisia scoparia + Artemisia tanacetifolia. After faecal marker concentrations were corrected by individual sheep recovery, treatment mean recovery or overall recovery, the proportions of M. sativa and other dietary forages were estimated from a combination of alkanes and long-chain alcohols using a least-square procedure. Total intake was the ratio of the known intake of M. sativa to its estimated dietary proportion. Each dietary component intake was obtained using total intake and the corresponding dietary proportions. The estimated values were compared with actual values to assess the estimation accuracy. The results showed that M. sativa exhibited a distinguishable marker pattern in comparison to the other dietary forage species. The accuracy of the dietary composition estimates was significantly (P < 0.001) affected by both diet diversity and the faecal recovery method. The proportion of M. sativa and total intake across all diets could be accurately estimated using the individual sheep or the treatment mean recovery methods. The largest differences between the estimated and observed total intake were 2.6 g and 19.2 g, respectively, representing only 0.4% and 2.6% of the total intake. However, they were significantly (P < 0.05) biased for most diets when using the overall recovery method. Due to the difficulty in obtaining individual sheep recovery under field conditions, treatment mean recovery is recommended. This study suggests that M. sativa, a natural roughage instead of a labelled concentrate, can be utilized as a dietary supplement to accurately estimate the total feed intake of sheep indoors and further indicates that it has potential to be used in steppe grassland of northern China, where the marker patterns of M. sativa differ markedly from commonly occurring plant species.

Global inequity in access to and availability of essential mental health services is well recognized. The mental health treatment gap is approximately 50% in all countries, with up to 90% of people in the lowest-income countries lacking access to required mental health services. Increased investment in global mental health (GMH) has increased innovation in mental health service delivery in LMICs. Situational analyses in areas where mental health services and systems are poorly developed and resourced are essential when planning for research and implementation, however, little guidance is available to inform methodological approaches to conducting these types of studies. This scoping review provides an analysis of methodological approaches to situational analysis in GMH, including an assessment of the extent to which situational analyses include equity in study designs. It is intended as a resource that identifies current gaps and areas for future development in GMH. Formative research, including situational analysis, is an essential first step in conducting robust implementation research, an essential area of study in GMH that will help to promote improved availability of, access to and reach of mental health services for people living with mental illness in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). While strong leadership in this field exists, there remain significant opportunities for enhanced research representing different LMICs and regions.

The Chinese white pine beetle Dendroctonus armandi (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) typically displays bivoltinism at altitudes below 1700 m in the Qinling Mountains, China. The periods of host colonization and larval overwintering are two important phases in the life cycle of bark beetles, as it is during these periods that they have to contend with host plant defences and periods of intense cold, respectively. Although during different seasons, the females and males of Chinese white pine beetles show varying tolerances to host plant terpenoids, the sex ratio and survival physiology condition of the two beetle generations are unknown. We investigated the sex ratio of individuals, and also examined the body mass, energy stores, and detoxication enzymes of males and females in each of the two generations in order to determine the overall population stability of each generation. We identified a female-biased sex ratio among adults in both generations. Furthermore, patterns of body mass, energy stores, and detoxication enzymes were found to differ between the two sexes and two seasons. Compared with the males, the females have a larger body mass and higher amounts of stored lipids, which are assumed to be adaptations designed to overcome host resistance and facilitate subsequent oviposition.

Guangxi, a province in southwestern China, has the second highest reported number of HIV/AIDS cases in China. This study aimed to develop an accurate and effective model to describe the tendency of HIV and to predict its incidence in Guangxi. HIV incidence data of Guangxi from 2005 to 2016 were obtained from the database of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network models, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models, generalised regression neural network (GRNN) models and exponential smoothing (ES) were used to fit the incidence data. Data from 2015 and 2016 were used to validate the most suitable models. The model performances were evaluated by evaluating metrics, including mean square error (MSE), root mean square error, mean absolute error and mean absolute percentage error. The LSTM model had the lowest MSE when the N value (time step) was 12. The most appropriate ARIMA models for incidence in 2015 and 2016 were ARIMA (1, 1, 2) (0, 1, 2)12 and ARIMA (2, 1, 0) (1, 1, 2)12, respectively. The accuracy of GRNN and ES models in forecasting HIV incidence in Guangxi was relatively poor. Four performance metrics of the LSTM model were all lower than the ARIMA, GRNN and ES models. The LSTM model was more effective than other time-series models and is important for the monitoring and control of local HIV epidemics.

Co-receptor tropism has been identified to correlate with HIV-1 transmission and the disease progression in patients. A molecular epidemiology investigation of co-receptor tropism is important for clinical practice and effective control of HIV-1. In this study, we investigated the co-receptor tropism on HIV-1 variants of 85 antiretroviral-naive patients with Geno2pheno algorithm at a false-positive rate of 10%. Our data showed that a majority of the subjects harboured the CCR5-tropic virus (81.2%, 69/85). No significant differences in gender, age, baseline CD4+ T-cell counts and transmission routes were observed between subjects infected with CXCR4-tropic or CCR5-tropic virus. The co-receptor tropism appeared to be associated with the virus genotype; a significantly more CXCR4-use was predicted in CRF01_AE infections whereas all CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC were predicted to use CCR5 co-receptor. Sequences analysis of V3 revealed a higher median net charge in the CXCR4 viruses over CCR5 viruses (4.0 vs. 3.0, P < 0.05). The predicted N-linked glycosylation site between amino acids 6 and 8 in the V3 region was conserved in CCR5 viruses, but not in CXCR4 viruses. Besides, variable crown motifs were observed in both CCR5 and CXCR4 viruses, of which the most prevalent motif GPGQ existed in both viral tropism and almost all genotypes identified in this study except subtype B. These findings may offer important implications for clinical practice and enhance our understanding of HIV-1 biology.

The second order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of two different ionic selfassembled multilayer (ISAM) films combined with Ag nanoparticles have been investigated. The plasmon resonances in the Ag particles concentrate the incident light, markedly increasing in the NLO efficiencies of the films. We find that the efficiency enhancement is significantly larger in conventional ISAM films compared to films made using a hybrid covalent ISAM technique (HCISAM), even though the intrinsic bulk second order non-linear susceptibility (χ (2)) is much larger for HCISAM films. We attribute this to the interfaces in HCISAM films being much easier to disrupt by external perturbations such as the metal deposition by which the nanoparticles are fabricated. We conclude that because the plasmon decay length is very short, the plasmonic enhancement of NLO effects primarily occurs at and near the film-particle interface. To discern the importance of the interfaces, we surrounded thin ISAM and HCISAM films with NLOinactive buffer layers, which confirmed this hypothesis, particularly in the case of HCISAM films.

Imprinted genes uniquely drive and support fetoplacental growth by controlling the allocation of maternal resources to the fetus and affecting the newborn’s growth. We previously showed that alterations of the placental imprinted gene expression are associated with suboptimal perinatal growth and respond to environmental stimuli including socio-economic determinants. At the same time, maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy (MPSP) has been shown to affect fetal growth. Here, we set out to test the hypothesis that placental imprinted gene expression mediates the effects of MPSP on fetal growth in a well-characterized birth cohort, the Stress in Pregnancy (SIP) Study. We observed that mothers experiencing high MPSP deliver infants with lower birthweight (P=0.047). Among the 109 imprinted genes tested, we detected panels of placental imprinted gene expression of 23 imprinted genes associated with MPSP and 26 with birthweight. Among these genes, five imprinted genes (CPXM2, glucosidase alpha acid (GAA), GPR1, SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domains 2 (SHANK2) and THSD7A) were common to the two panels. In multivariate analyses, controlling for maternal age and education and gestational age at birth and infant gender, two genes, GAA and SHANK2, each showed a 22% mediation of MPSP on fetal growth. These data provide new insights into the role that imprinted genes play in translating the maternal stress message into a fetoplacental growth pattern.

Real time observations of the YBa2Cu3O7-δ (123) melting process by high temperature XRD and optical microscopy reveal a reaction sequence which does not correspond well with the literature. CO2 gas, present in the air, reacts with 123 to produce the Y2CU2O5 phase. This reaction begins well below 800°C and persists up to 970°C when BaCuO2 begins to form. The previously unreported BaCuO2 reaction occurs in either air or oxygen and this phase grows at the expense of the 123 until both rapidly disappear at 1050°C with the appearance of Y2B2CuO5 (211), Formation of Y2O3 from the 211 melt occurs more slowly, beginning at 1150°C. Dynamic 00ℓ orientation has been observed at 950°C upon cooling from the melt. The orientationa) growth is believed to be a surface tension dependent, liquid assisted sintering reaction.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of supplementing different amounts of daidzein in a diet on the growth performance, blood biochemical parameters and meat quality of finishing beef cattle. Thirty finishing Xianan steers were distributed in three groups equilibrated by weight and fed three different dietary treatments (concentrate ratio = 80%): (1) control; (2) 500 mg/kg daidzein and (3) 1000 mg/kg daidzein, respectively. Steers were slaughtered after an 80-day feeding trial. Results showed that daidzein supplementation had no effect on the final body weight, average daily gain and feed conversion rate of steers. Steers fed with 1000 mg/kg daidzein had greater dry matter intake than those fed with control diets. Compared with the control group, the 1000 mg/kg daidzein group had a higher fat thickness, lower shear force and lightness. The pH, drip loss, cooking loss, redness (a*), yellowness (b*), moisture, ash, crude protein and intramuscular fat of the Longissimus dorsi muscle were unaffected by daidzein supplementation. Compared with the control group, the 1000 mg/kg daidzein group significantly increased the serum concentrations of insulin, free fatty acid and Glutamic-pyruvic transaminase. The 500 mg/kg daidzein group significantly increased the serum concentration of tetraiodothyronine compared with the control group. Supplemental daidzein did not affect the blood antioxidant ability and blood immune parameters in serum. In conclusion, daidzein supplementation above 500 mg/day modifies feed intake and metabolic and hormonal profile, with positive and negative effects on meat quality.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Drugs to attenuate aortic growth are usually not initiated in patients with Marfan syndrome until aortic dilation is already present. Therefore, we measured the impact of drugs (the renin-angiotensin system inhibitors losartan and enalapril) on survival and thoracic aortic growth in a mouse model of Marfan syndrome when extensive aortic dilation was already present. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Male and female fibrillin-1 hypomorphic (FBN1 mgR/mgR) mice (n=10-12/group) were stratified into treatment groups by aortic diameter at 6 weeks of age to ensure an equivalent average aortic diameter in each group at the start of the study. Osmotic mini pumps filled with PBS (vehicle), enalapril (2 mg/kg/d), or losartan (20 mg/kg/d) were implanted subcutaneously into mice after stratification. Mini pumps infusing drug or vehicle were replaced every 4 weeks for a total duration of 12 weeks. Wild type littermates (n=10) were infused with PBS as a negative control to the Marfan mouse model. Ascending aortic diameters from male and female FBN1 mgR/mgR mice and their wild type littermates were assessed by ultrasound every 4 weeks from 6 to 18 weeks of age. Aortic diameters were measured luminal edge to luminal edge during diastole. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: 6 week old FBN1 mgR/mgR mice exhibited significantly dilated ascending thoracic aortas at study initiation compared to their wild type sex-matched littermates (in males: FBN1 mgR/mgR = 1.87 +/− 0.07mm, wild type = 1.23 +/− 0.07mm; p <0.001) (in females: FBN1 mgR/mgR = 1.56 +/− 0.07mm, wild type = 1.18 +/− 0.07mm; p <0.001). Baseline mortality of FBN1 mgR/mgR mice infused with PBS was 36% in male and 22% in female mice at the time of study termination. Within sex-matched mgR littermates, there was no significant difference in survival between groups treated with PBS, enalapril, or losartan after 12 weeks (p=0.224 for males, p=0.094 in females). In the same groups, no significant difference in maximum ascending aortic diameter was detected after treatment for 12 weeks (in males: PBS=2.69 +/− 0.19 mm, enalapril=2.04 +/− 0.27 mm, losartan=2.42 +/− 0.28 mm; p=0.24) (in females: PBS = 1.92 +/− 0.13, enalapril=1.89 +/− 0.31, losartan=1.98 +/− 0.17; p=0.86). Furthermore, aortic diameters in the FBN1 mgR/mgR mice were found to demonstrate sexual dimorphism. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This research shows that losartan is not effective when administered after significant thoracic aortic dilation has already occurred in FBN1 mgR/mgR mice. This has important translational implications because losartan is usually not started in patients with Marfan syndrome until significant aortic dilation is already present. Therefore, more research needs to be done to determine the critical time period within which this medicine will be effective if given to patients. In addition, this research demonstrates that male FBN1mgR/mgR mice have a significantly larger aortic diameter than female FBN1mgR/mgR mice. This sexual dimorphism has recently been observed in patients with Marfan syndrome as well. Additional studies for understanding the mechanism underlying this sexual dimorphism have the potential to elucidate new therapeutic approaches for aortic disease.

Fast tidal streams are a promising source of clean, predictable power, but the task of arranging tidal turbines for maximum power capture is complicated. Actuator disc models, such as the two-scale actuator disc theory, have proven useful in seeking optimal turbine arrangements, yet these models assume flows that are frictionless and steady, and thus quite unlike the channel flow conditions that actual tidal turbines experience. In this paper, we use numerical methods to relax these assumptions and explore how optimal turbine arrangements change as the flow transitions from frictionless and steady to rough and oscillatory. In so doing, we show that, under certain conditions, the assumption of quasi-steady flow in models of tidal turbines may neglect leading-order physics. When the ratio of drag to inertial forces in the unexploited channel is very low, for instance, the optimal turbine arrangements are found to be quite different, and the potential for enhanced power capture is found to be much greater than predicted by two-scale actuator disc theory.

To determine the burden of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI), the nature of antimicrobial prescribing and factors contributing to inappropriate prescribing for SSTIs in Australian aged care facilities, SSTI and antimicrobial prescribing data were collected via a standardised national survey. The proportion of residents prescribed ⩾1 antimicrobial for presumed SSTI and the proportion whose infections met McGeer et al. surveillance definitions were determined. Antimicrobial choice was compared to national prescribing guidelines and prescription duration analysed using a negative binomial mixed-effects regression model. Of 12 319 surveyed residents, 452 (3.7%) were prescribed an antimicrobial for a SSTI and 29% of these residents had confirmed infection. Topical clotrimazole was most frequently prescribed, often for unspecified indications. Where an indication was documented, antimicrobial choice was generally aligned with recommendations. Duration of prescribing (in days) was associated with use of an agent for prophylaxis (rate ratio (RR) 1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08–2.52), PRN orders (RR 2.10, 95% CI 1.42–3.11) and prescription of a topical agent (RR 1.47, 95% CI 1.08–2.02), while documentation of a review or stop date was associated with reduced duration of prescribing (RR 0.33, 95% CI 0.25–0.43). Antimicrobial prescribing for SSTI is frequent in aged care facilities in Australia. Methods to enhance appropriate prescribing, including clinician documentation, are required.

The second year of life is a period of nutritional vulnerability. We aimed to investigate the dietary patterns and nutrient intakes from 1 to 2 years of age during the 12-month follow-up period of the Growing Up Milk – Lite (GUMLi) trial. The GUMLi trial was a multi-centre, double-blinded, randomised controlled trial of 160 healthy 1-year-old children in Auckland, New Zealand and Brisbane, Australia. Dietary intakes were collected at baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post-randomisation, using a validated FFQ. Dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis of the frequency of food item consumption per d. The effect of the intervention on dietary patterns and intake of eleven nutrients over the duration of the trial were investigated using random effects mixed models. A total of three dietary patterns were identified at baseline: ‘junk/snack foods’, ‘healthy/guideline foods’ and ‘breast milk/formula’. A significant group difference was observed in ‘breast milk/formula’ dietary pattern z scores at 12 months post-randomisation, where those in the GUMLi group loaded more positively on this pattern, suggesting more frequent consumption of breast milk. No difference was seen in the other two dietary patterns. Significant intervention effects were seen on nutrient intake between the GUMLi (intervention) and cows’ milk (control) groups, with lower protein and vitamin B12, and higher Fe, vitamin D, vitamin C and Zn intake in the GUMLi (intervention) group. The consumption of GUMLi did not affect dietary patterns, however, GUMLi participants had lower protein intake and higher Fe, vitamins D and C and Zn intake at 2 years of age.

Nuclear wastes generated from reprocessing of used nuclear fuel tend to contain a large fraction of rare earth (RE, e.g., Nd3+), transition (TM, e.g., Mo6+, Zr4+), alkali (A, e.g., Cs+), and alkaline earth cations (AE, e.g., Ba2+, Sr2+). Various strategies have been considered for immobilizing such waste streams, varying from nominally crystal-free glass to glass-ceramic to multi-phase ceramic waste forms. For glass and glass-ceramic waste forms, the added glass-forming system is generally alkali-alkaline earth-aluminoborosilicate (i.e., Na-Ca-Al-B-Si oxide). In a US-UK collaborative project, summarized here, we investigated the glass structure and crystallization dependence on compositional changes in simulated nuclear waste glasses and glass-ceramics. Compositions ranged in complexity from five – to – eight oxides. Specifically, the roles of Mo and rare earths are investigated, since a proposed glass-ceramic waste form contains crystalline phases such as powellite [(AE,A,RE)MoO4] and oxyapatite [(RE,AE,A)10Si6O26], and the precipitation of molybdenum phases is known to be affected by the rare earth concentration in the glass. Additionally, the effects of other chemical additions have been systematically investigated, including Zr, Ru, P, and Ti. A series of studies were also undertaken to ascertain the effect of the RE size on glass structure and on partitioning to crystal phases, investigating similarities and differences in glasses containing single RE oxides of Sc, Y, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Er, Yb, or Lu. Finally, the effect of charge compensation was investigated by considering not only the commonly assessed peralkaline glass but also metaluminous and peraluminous compositions. Glass structure and crystallization studies were conducted by spectroscopic methods (i.e., Raman, X-ray absorption, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), optical absorption, photoluminescence, photoluminescence excitation, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), microscopy (i.e., scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis), scattering (i.e., X-ray and neutron diffraction, small angle measurements), and physical characterization (i.e., differential thermal analysis, liquidus, viscosity, density). This paper will give an overview of the research program and some example unpublished results on glass-ceramic crystallization kinetics, microstructure, and Raman spectra, as well as some examples of the effects of rare earths on the absorption, luminescence, and NMR spectra of starting glasses. The formal collaboration described here has resulted in the generation of a large number of results, some of which are still in the process of being published as separate studies.

The association between opportunistic infection (OI) and anaemia among HIV-infected patients remains to be studied. We investigated the prevalence and risk factors of anaemia in hospitalised HIV-infected patients to reveal the association between OI and anaemia. We conducted a retrospective study of HIV-positive hospitalised patients from June 2016 to December 2017 in Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University. Patients’ information on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were carefully collected. The comparison of anaemia prevalence between groups was conducted with χ2 test. A logistic regression model was carried out to analyse the predictors of anaemia. The total prevalence of anaemia in hospitalised HIV-infected patients was 55.15%. The prevalence of mild, moderate and severe anaemia was 41.42%, 11.08% and 2.64%, respectively. Predictors independently associated with anaemia were: CD4 counts <50 cells/μl (odds ratio (OR): 6.376, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.916–21.215, P = 0.003), CD4 counts 50–199 cells/μl (OR: 6.303, 95% CI = 1.874–21.203, P = 0.003), co-infection with tuberculosis (TB) (OR: 2.703, 95% CI = 1.349–5.414, P = 0.005) or Penicillium marneffei (PM) (OR: 7.162, 95% CI = 3.147–15.299, P < 0.001). In Fujian, China, more than half inpatients with HIV were anaemic, but severe anaemia is infrequent. Lower CD4 counts, co-infection with TB or PM were independent risk factors for anaemia. Chinese HIV patients especially with TB, PM infection and low CD4 level should be routinely detected for anaemia to improve therapy.