Trematodes of the genus Ogmocotyle are intestinal flukes that can infect a variety of definitive hosts, resulting in significant economic losses worldwide. However, there are few studies on molecular data of these trematodes. In this study, the mitochondrial (mt) genome of Ogmocotyle ailuri isolated from red panda (Ailurus fulgens) was determined and compared with those from Pronocephalata to investigate the mt genome content, genetic distance, gene rearrangements and phylogeny. The complete mt genome of O. ailuri is a typical closed circular molecule of 14 642 base pairs, comprising 12 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and 2 non-coding regions. All genes are transcribed in the same direction. In addition, 23 intergenic spacers and 2 locations with gene overlaps were determined. Sequence identities and sliding window analysis indicated that cox1 is the most conserved gene among 12 PCGs in O. ailuri mt genome. The sequenced mt genomes of the 48 Plagiorchiida trematodes showed 5 types of gene arrangement based on all mt genome genes, with the gene arrangement of O. ailuri being type I. Phylogenetic analysis using concatenated amino acid sequences of 12 PCGs revealed that O. ailuri was closer to Ogmocotyle sikae than to Notocotylus intestinalis. These data enhance the Ogmocotyle mt genome database and provide molecular resources for further studies of Pronocephalata taxonomy, population genetics and systematics.

Multi-legged robots with rigid-flexible coupling grippers have appealing applications to asteroid exploration with the microgravity. However, these robots usually have significantly complicated structures, which leads to a great challenge for the kinematic design.This paper proposes the kinematic design method for a novel multi-legged robot with the microspine gripper. First, the structure of the multi-legged asteroid exploration robot and the microspine gripper are demonstrated. Second, four performance evaluation indices, which are used to evaluate the stiffness, velocity, motion / force transfer efficiency and gripper attachment efficiency of the robot, are derived from the kinematic model. Non-dimensional design spaces of parameters to be optimized are drawn, and performance atlases are presented in design spaces. Third, the stiffness model of the microspine is derived. In addition, the constraint condition of the restoring spring is established, and the stiffness of restoring springs are optimized using the genetic algorithm. Several experiments are conducted to verify the stiffness model of the microspine. Finally, the prototype is developed and the experimental results validates the kinematic design method.

Paediatric Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) is a major cause of community-acquired pneumonia in China. Data on epidemiology of paediatric MPP from China are little known. This study retrospectively collected data from June 2006 to June 2016 in Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University of North China and aims to explore the epidemiological features of paediatric MPP and severe MPP (SMPP) in North China during the past 10 years. A total of 27 498 paediatric patients with pneumonia were enrolled. Among them, 37.5% of paediatric patients had MPP. In this area, an epidemic took place every 2–3 years at the peak, and the positive rate of MPP increased during these peak years over time. The peak age of MPP was between the ages of 6 and 10 years, accounting for 75.2%, significantly more compared with other age groups (χ2 = 1384.1, P < 0.0001). The epidemics peaked in September, October and November (χ2 = 904.9, P < 0.0001). Additionally, 13.0% of MPP paediatric patients were SMPP, but over time, the rate of SMPP increased, reaching 42.6% in 2016. The mean age of paediatric patients with SMPP (6.7 ± 3.0 years old) was younger than that of patients with non-SMPP (7.4 ± 3.2 years old) (t = 3.60, P = 0.0001). The prevalence of MPP and SMPP is common in China, especially in children from 6 to 10 years old. Paediatric patients with SMPP tend to be younger than those with non-SMPP. MPP outbreaks occur every 2–3 years in North China. September, October and November are the peak months, unlike in South China. Understanding the epidemiological characteristics of paediatric MPP can contribute to timely treatment and diagnosis, and may improve the prognosis of children with SMPP.

Japanese foxtail is a predominant tetraploid grass weed in wheat and oilseed rape fields in eastern China. In China, pyroxsulam is mainly used to manage annual grass weeds, especially those resistant to acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase)-inhibiting herbicides. Using dose–response studies, a pyroxsulam-resistant population, ACTC-1, was identified with a resistance index value of 58. Additionally, ACTC-1 was cross-resistant to sulfonylureas, imidazolinones, triazolopyrimidines, pyrimidinyl-benzoates, and sulfonylaminocarbonyl-triazolinones and multiresistant to ACCase and photosystem II inhibitors. Sequence analysis revealed four gene fragments encoding acetolactate synthase (ALS) from ACTC-1, and three from JNXW-1, a pyroxsulam-sensitive population. An Asp-376-Glu substitution was found in ALS1;2 and an Ile-2041-Asn in Acc1;1, which may be responsible for its resistance to pyroxsulam and ACCase inhibitors, respectively. In vitro assays of ALS activity revealed that in ACTC-1, the sensitivity of ALS to pyroxsulam was lower, and the basal ALS activity was twofold higher than that of sensitive population JNXW-1. Additionally, the combined application of pyroxsulam with malathion or piperonyl butoxide increased the sensitivity of ACTC-1 to pyroxsulam, although it could not completely overcome the resistance. It was inferred that both target-site-based resistance and nontarget-site-based resistance may be involved in the resistance to pyroxsulam.

The dynamics of vortical structures in flow over a circular cylinder in the vicinity of a flat plate is investigated using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The cylinder is placed above the flat plate with its axis parallel to the wall and normal to the flow direction. The Reynolds number $Re_{D}$ based on the cylinder diameter $D$ is 1072 and the gap $G$ between the cylinder and the flat plate is varied from gap-to-diameter ratio $G/D=0$ to $G/D=3.0$. The flow statistics and vortex dynamics are strongly dependent on the gap ratio $G/D$. Statistics show that as the cylinder comes close to the wall ($G/D\leqslant 2.0$), the cylinder wake becomes more and more asymmetric and a boundary layer separation is induced on the flat plate downstream of the cylinder. The wake vortex shedding frequency increases with decreasing $G/D$ until a critical gap ratio (about $G/D=0.25$) below which the vortex shedding is irregular. The deflection of the gap flow away from the wall and its following interaction with the upper shear layer may be the cause of the higher shedding frequency. The vortex dynamics is investigated based on the phase-averaged flow field and virtual dye visualization in the instantaneous PIV velocity field. It is revealed that when the cylinder is close to the wall ($G/D=2.0$), the cylinder wake vortices can periodically induce secondary spanwise vortices near the wall. As the cylinder approaches the wall ($G/D=1.0$) the secondary vortex can directly interact with the lower wake vortex, and a further approaching of the cylinder ($G/D=0.5$) can result in more complex interactions among the secondary vortex, the lower wake vortex and the upper wake vortex. The breakdown of vortices into filamentary debris during vortex interactions is clearly revealed by the coloured virtual dye visualizations. For $G/D<0.25$, the lower shear layer is strongly inhibited and only the upper shear layer can shed vortices. Investigation of the vortex formation, evolution and interaction in the flow promotes the understanding of the flow physics for different gap ratios.

For the prevention and control of newly emergent or sudden infectious diseases, we built an on-site, modularized prevention and control system and tested the equipment by using the clustering analysis method. On the basis of this system, we propose a modular equipment allocation method and 4 applications of this method for different types of infectious disease prevention and control. This will help to improve the efficiency and productivity of anti-epidemic emergency forces and will provide strong technical support for implementing more universal and serialized equipment in China. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:375–382)

Evolution of Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS) in a flat plate boundary layer transition induced by the wake of a circular cylinder is investigated. Both hydrogen bubble visualization and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques are used. It is found that downstream of the cylinder, the disturbance in the boundary layer experiences a fast growth followed by a slow decay in the transition. Lagrangian coherent structures are revealed by qualitative hydrogen bubble visualizations and quantitative finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLE) fields derived from the PIV data. The evolution of the LCS is considered from the very beginning of the transition up to when the boundary layer becomes fully developed turbulent flow. The mean convection velocity and average inclination angle of the LCS are first extracted from the FTLE fields. The streamwise length of the low-speed streaks seems to increase, while their spanwise distance decreases in the boundary layer transition. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the PIV data shows that low-speed streaks associated with the hairpin vortices and hairpin packets are the dominant coherent structures close to the wall in the transitional and turbulent boundary layer. The POD modes also reveal a variety of scales in the turbulent boundary layer. Moreover, it is found that large-scale coherent structures can modulate the amplitude of the small-scale ones.

The present study investigated the effects of xanthophylls (containing 40 % of lutein and 60 % of zeaxanthin) on proinflammatory cytokine (IL-1β, IL-6, interferon (IFN)-γ and lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-α factor (LITAF)) and anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-4 and IL-10) expression of breeding hens and chicks. In Expt 1, a total of 432 hens were fed diets supplemented with 0 (as the control group), 20 or 40 mg/kg xanthophylls (six replicates per treatment). The liver, duodenum, jejunum and ileum were sampled at 35 d of the trial. The results showed that both levels of xanthophyll addition decreased IL-1β mRNA in the liver and jejunum, IL-6 mRNA in the liver, IFN-γ mRNA in the jejunum and LITAF mRNA in the liver compared to the control group. Expt 2 was a 2 × 2 factorial design. Male chicks hatched from 0 or 40 mg/kg xanthophyll diet of hens were fed a diet containing either 0 or 40 mg/kg xanthophylls. The liver, duodenum, jejunum and ileum were collected at 0, 7, 14 and 21 d after hatching. The results showed that in ovo xanthophylls decreased proinflammatory cytokine expression (IL-1β, IL-6, IFN-γ and LITAF) in the liver, duodenum, jejunum and ileum and increased anti-inflammatory cytokine expression (IL-4 and IL-10) in the liver, jejunum and ileum mainly at 0–7 d after hatching. In ovo effects gradually vanished and dietary effects began to work during 1–2 weeks after hatching. Dietary xanthophylls modulated proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6 and IFN-γ) in the liver, duodenum, jejunum and ileum and anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) in the liver and jejunum mainly from 2 weeks onwards. In conclusion, xanthophylls could regulate proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine expression in different tissues of hens and chicks.

An optimal protocol for cryopreservation of boar semen was established. First, the boar semen was pre-diluted with ZORLESCO (ZO) solution and pre-equilibrated at room temperature for 1 h. After adding extender I, spermatozoa were equilibrated at 5°C for 1.5 h; then an equal volume of extender II was added and the spermatozoa equilibrated for 2 h. The resulting spermatozoa were loaded into 0.25 ml straws, equilibrated for 10 min at 3 cm above the surface of liquid nitrogen (LN), then promptly submerged into LN. When thawing, straws were incubated in a water bath at 37°C for 30 s. This procedure yielded the highest post-thaw motility of 0.58±0.03 and plasma integrity of 63.2±1.2%, together with a normal acrosome in 51.4±2.6% of spermatozoa. Abnormal spermatozoa after freezing represented only 14.0±3.0%.

To identify Porcine haemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (HEV) 67N receptor in porcine kidney (PK) cell membranes, the S1 protein of HEV was expressed in Pichia pastoris and purified by Ni2+ affinity chromatograph. Polyclonal antibodies to HEV were prepared by immunizing rabbits by injecting the purified S1 protein four times. After SDS–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE), the PK cell membrane proteins were transferred on to nitrocellulose membrane. A virus overlay protein binding assay (VOPBA) was performed using the recombinant S1 protein to identify the protein binding receptor, HEV-S1. The result showed that HEV-S1 protein bound to one band (about 90 kDa) in PK cell membranes. This result is very important for the study of the pathogenic mechanism of HEV.

This paper concerns the issue of mechanism design of a simplified 6-DOF 6-RUS parallel manipulator. The design of robotic mechanisms, especially for 6-DOF parallel manipulators, is an important and challenging problem in the field of robotics. This paper presents a design method for robotic mechanisms, which is based on the physical model of the solution space. The physical model of the solution space, which can transfer a multi-dimensional problem to a two or three-dimensional one, is a useful tool to obtain all kinds of performance atlases. In this paper, the physical model of the solution space for spatial 6-RUS (R stands for revolute joint, U universal joint and S spherical joint) parallel manipulators is established. The atlases of performances, such as workspace and global conditioning index, are plotted in the physical model of the solution space. The atlases are useful for the mechanism design of the 6-RUS parallel manipulators. The technique used in this paper can be applied to the design of other robots.

The design of the robotic mechanisms is most important because they determine the performance characteristics of the robots. This paper concerns the issue of computer-aided design (CAD) for planar 3-DOF parallel robotic mechanisms by means of the physical model of the solution space, which can be used systematically to express the relationships between the performance criteria and all link lengths of one type of the robtic mechanism. The performance atlases of the workspace volume for the manipulators are plotted in the physical model of the solution space. The characteristics of the distribution of the workspace shapes in the physical model of the solution space are presented. The results are useful for the optimum design of the robotic mechanisms. This paper proposes a new way for robotic CAD.