Hydrofractures, or hydraulic fractures, are fractures where a significantly elevated fluid pressure played a role in their formation. Natural hydrofractures are abundant in rocks and are often preserved as magmatic dykes or sills, and mineral-filled fractures or mineral veins. However, we focus on the formation and evolution of non-igneous hydrofractures. Here we review the basic theory of the role of fluid pressure in rock failure, showing that both Terzaghi’s and Biot’s theories can be reconciled if the appropriate boundary conditions are considered. We next discuss the propagation of hydrofractures after initial failure, where networks of hydrofractures may form or hydrofractures may ascend through the crust as mobile hydrofractures. As fractures can form as a result of both tectonic stresses and an elevated fluid pressure, we address the question of how to ascertain whether a fracture is a hydrofracture. We argue that extensional or dilational fractures that formed below c. 2–3 km depth are, under normal circumstances, hydrofractures, but at shallower depth they may, but must not be hydrofractures. Since veins and breccias are often the products of hydrofractures that are left in the geological record, we discuss these and critically assess which vein structures can, and which do not necessarily, indicate hydrofracturing. Hydrofracturing can suddenly and locally change the permeability in a rock by providing new fluid pathways. This can lead to highly dynamic self-organization of crustal-scale fluid flow.

We wished to determine if Mycoplasma bovis infection can negatively impact milk quality and production in Holstein dairy cows. For this Research Communication, milk samples (271) from Holstein cows from 3 herds were screened for M. bovis by real-time PCR. Positive (n = 21) and negative animals (n = 21) were matched by herd, age, lactations and days in milk (DIM). Pairs were evaluated in 7 stages of lactation: D1–50, D51–100, D101–150, D151–200, D201–250, D251–300, and D ≥ 301. A mixed model was used to assess the effect of groups (M. bovis+ × M.bovis−), time (lactation) and groups × time interaction. Cows positive for M. bovis had lower average milk production per day and high somatic cells count (SCC).

Since massive stars form preferentially as members of close binary systems, we use dense grids of detailed binary evolution models to explore how binary evolution shapes the main-sequence morphology of young star clusters. We propose that binary mergers might be the origin of the blue main sequence stars in young star clusters. Our results imply that stars may either form by accretion, or through a binary merger, and that both paths lead to distinctly different spins, magnetic fields, and stellar mass distributions.

The objective of the present study was to elucidate whether resveratrol could facilitate the survival of boar sperm during liquid preservation and fast cooling processes. Boar semen were diluted with Modena extender containing different concentrations of resveratrol. Sperm motility was evaluated by visual estimation. Membrane integrity, acrosome integrity and mitochondrial membrane potentials were measured by SYBR-14/PI, FITC-PNA and JC-1 staining, respectively. Moreover, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malonaldehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) were measured using commercial assay kits. B-cell lymphoma protein-2 (BCL2) content was determined by western blotting. During liquid preservation at 17oC, the addition of 50 μM resveratrol to the Modena extender significantly improved sperm motility, membrane integrity, acrosome integrity, and sperm mitochondrial membrane potentials. Similar results were also observed in the 150 μM resveratrol group during the fast cooling process. Furthermore, addition of resveratrol led to a decrease of ROS and MDA, and an increase in the content of T-AOC and BCL2. These observations suggest that addition of resveratrol to Modena extender protects boar sperm against oxidative stress. The optimal concentrations of resveratrol are 50 μM and 150 μM during liquid preservation and fast cooling process, respectively.

We have collected 2330 Cepheids to establish an intuitive 3D map of the Milky Way’s disk. As regards the warp amplitude, the Cepheid disk agrees well with the gas disk for radii up to 15 kpc. However, the mean line of nodes (LON) of the Cepheid disk deviates from the Galactic Center–Sun direction by 17.5±1.0°. This is a new and different result compared with previous results. The LON is not stable at any given radius, but it twists. The twisted pattern suggests that the formation of the Milky Way’s warp is dominated by the massive inner disk. The kinematic warp defined by the Cepheids is also in concordance with the spatial warp. In the 2020 era, the anticipated increasing number of new Cepheids will provide a key opportunity to view our Milky Way’s disk as a whole, and we expect that our knowledge of the disk’s main structural features will be much improved.

A forced and damped Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation for a magnetized electron–positron–ion plasma affected by an external force is studied in this paper. Via the Hirota method, the soliton-like solutions are given. The soliton’s amplitude gets enhanced with the phase velocity ${\it\lambda}$ decreasing or ion-to-electron density ratio ${\it\beta}$ increasing. With the damped coefficient increasing, when the external force $g(t)$ is periodic, the two solitons are always parallel during the propagation and background of the two solitons drops on the $x{-}y$ plane, and amplitudes of the two solitons increase on the $x{-}t$ and $y{-}t$ planes, with $(x,y)$ as the coordinates of the propagation plane and $t$ as the time. When $g(t)$ is exponentially decreasing, the two solitons merge into a single one and the background rises on the $x{-}y$ plane, and amplitudes of the two solitons decrease on the $x{-}t$ and $y{-}t$ planes. Further, associated chaotic motions are obtained when $g(t)$ is periodic. Using the phase projections and Poincaré sections, we find that the chaotic motions can be weakened with ${\it\alpha}_{1}$, the amplitude of $g(t)$, decreasing. With ${\it\alpha}_{2}$, the frequency of $g(t)$, decreasing, a three-dimensional attractor with stretching-and-folding structure is found, indicating that the weak chaos is transformed into the developed chaos. Chaotic motions can also be weakened with ${\it\lambda}$, the phase velocity, decreasing, but strengthened with ${\it\beta}$, the ion-to-electron density ratio, and ${\it\alpha}_{2}$ decreasing.

Postnatal rapid growth by excess intake of nutrients has been associated with an increased susceptibility to diseases in neonates with intra-uterine growth restricted (IUGR). The aim of the present study was to determine whether postnatal nutritional restriction could improve intestinal development and immune function of neonates with IUGR using piglets as model. A total of twelve pairs of normal-birth weight (NBW) and IUGR piglets (7 d old) were randomly assigned to receive adequate nutrient intake or restricted nutrient intake (RNI) by artificially liquid feeding for a period of 21 d. Blood samples and intestinal tissues were collected at necropsy and were analysed for morphology, digestive enzyme activities, immune cells and expression of innate immunity-related genes. The results indicated that both IUGR and postnatal nutritional restriction delayed the growth rate during the sucking period. Irrespective of nutrient intake, piglets with IUGR had a significantly lower villous height and crypt depth in the ileum than the NBW piglets. Moreover, IUGR decreased alkaline phosphatase activity while enhanced lactase activity in the jejunum and mRNA expressions of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR-9) and DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) in the ileum of piglets. Irrespective of body weight, RNI significantly decreased the number and/or percentage of peripheral leucocytes, lymphocytes and monocytes of piglets, whereas the percentage of neutrophils and the ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ were increased. Furthermore, RNI markedly enhanced the mRNA expression of TLR-9 and DNMT1, but decreased the expression of NOD2 and TRAF-6 in the ileum of piglets. In summary, postnatal nutritional restriction led to abnormal cellular and innate immune response, as well as delayed the growth and intestinal development of IUGR piglets.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether increased consumption of methionine as dl-methionine (DLM) or its hydroxy analogue dl-2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutanoic acid (HMTBA) could benefit milk synthesis and neonatal growth. For this purpose, eighteen cross-bred (Landrace × Yorkshire) primiparous sows were fed a control (CON), DLM or HMTBA diet (n 6 per diet) from 0 to 14 d post-partum. At postnatal day 14, piglets in the HMTBA group had higher body weight (P= 0·02) than those in the CON group, tended (P= 0·07) to be higher than those in the DLM group, and had higher (P< 0·05) mRNA abundance of jejunal fatty acid-binding protein 2, intestinal than those in the CON and DLM groups. Compared with the CON diet-fed sows, milk protein, non-fat solid, and lysine, histidine and ornithine concentrations decreased in the DLM diet-fed sows (P< 0·05), and milk fat, lactose, and cysteine and taurine concentrations increased in the HMTBA diet-fed sows (P< 0·05). Plasma homocysteine and urea N concentrations that averaged across time were increased (P< 0·05) in sows fed the DLM diet compared with those fed the CON diet. Metabolomic results based on 1H NMR spectroscopy revealed that consumption of the HMTBA and DLM diets increased (P< 0·05) both sow plasma methionine and valine levels; however, consumption of the DLM diet led to lower (P< 0·05) plasma levels of lysine, tyrosine, glucose and acetate and higher (P< 0·05) plasma levels of citrate, lactate, formate, glycerol, myo-inositol and N-acetyl glycoprotein in sows. Collectively, neonatal growth and milk synthesis were regulated by dietary methionine levels and sources, which resulted in marked alterations in amino acid, lipid and glycogen metabolism.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether early weaning-induced growth retardation could be attenuated by increased consumption of methionine as dl-methionine (DLM) or dl-2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyrate (HMTBA) in both lactating sows and weaned piglets. Therefore, diets containing DLM and HMTBA at 25 % of the total sulphur-containing amino acids (AA) present in the control (CON) diet were fed to lactating sows and weaned piglets and their responses were evaluated. Compared with the CON diet-fed sows, the HMTBA diet-fed sows exhibited a tendency (P< 0·10) towards higher plasma taurine concentrations and the DLM diet-fed sows had higher (P< 0·05) plasma taurine concentrations, but lower (P< 0·05) isoleucine concentrations. Suckling piglets in the HMTBA treatment group had higher (P< 0·05) intestinal reduced glutathione (GSH) content, lower (P< 0·05) oxidised glutathione (GSSG):GSH ratio, and higher (P< 0·05) plasma cysteine and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity than those in the CON and DLM treatment groups. The feed intake (P< 0·05) and body weight of piglets averaged across post-weaning (PW) days were higher (P< 0·05) in the HMTBA treatment group than in the DLM treatment group and were higher (P< 0·05) and tended (P< 0·10) to be higher, respectively, in the HMTBA treatment group than in the CON treatment group. Increased (P< 0·05) GSSG content and GSSG:GSH ratio and down-regulated (P< 0·05) expression of nutrient transport genes were observed in the jejunum of piglets on PW day 7 than on PW day 0. On PW day 14, the HMTBA diet-fed piglets had higher (P< 0·05) intestinal GSH content than the CON diet-fed piglets and higher (P< 0·05) plasma GPx activity, villus height and goblet cell numbers than the CON diet- and DLM diet-fed piglets. In conclusion, early weaning-induced growth retardation appears to be attenuated through changes in plasma AA profiles and elevation of growth performance and intestinal antioxidant capacity in piglets following increased consumption of methionine as HMTBA.

A study of 7,388 consecutive patients after hepatic resection between 2011 and 2012 identified hepatolithiasis, cirrhosis, and intraoperative blood transfusion as the only independent risk factors of both incisional and organ/space surgical site infection (SSI). Patients with these conditions should be cared for with caution to lower SSI rates.

Crystallographic and X-ray powder diffraction data were derived from a sample of (Na0.5Bi0.5)TiO3 synthesized by standard ceramic techniques. The powder data were indexed on a monoclinic cell having the space group P2 or Pm, which differed from a previously reported rhombohedral cell.

Denote the Palm measure of a homogeneous Poisson process Hλ with two points 0 and x by P0,x. We prove that there exists a constant μ ≥ 1 such that P0,x(D(0, x) / μ||x||2 ∉ (1 − ε, 1 + ε) | 0, x ∈ C∞) exponentially decreases when ||x||2 tends to ∞, where D(0, x) is the graph distance between 0 and x in the infinite component C∞ of the random geometric graph G(Hλ; 1). We derive a large deviation inequality for an asymptotic shape result. Our results have applications in many fields and especially in wireless sensor networks.

The Tarim Basin in Northwest China hosts petroleum reservoirs of Cambrian, Ordovician, Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary ages. The sedimentary thickness in the basin reaches about 15 km and with an area of 560000 km2, the basin is expected to contain giant oil and gas fields. It is therefore important to determine the ages and depositional environments of the petroleum source rocks. For prospective evaluation and exploration of petroleum, palynological investigations were carried out on 38 crude oil samples collected from 22 petroleum reservoirs in the Tarim Basin and on additionally 56 potential source rock samples from the same basin. In total, 173 species of spores and pollen referred to 80 genera, and 27 species of algae and fungi referred to 16 genera were identified from the non-marine Mesozoic sources. By correlating the palynormorph assemblages in the crude oil samples with those in the potential source rocks, the Triassic and Jurassic petroleum source rocks were identified. Furthermore, the palynofloras in the petroleum provide evidence for interpretation of the depositional environments of the petroleum source rocks. The affinity of the miospores indicates that the petroleum source rocks were formed in swamps in brackish to lacustrine depositional environments under warm and humid climatic conditions. The palynomorphs in the crude oils provide further information about passage and route of petroleum migration, which is significant for interpreting petroleum migration mechanisms. Additionally, the thermal alternation index (TAI) based on miospores indicates that the Triassic and Jurassic deposits in the Tarim Basin are mature petroleum source rocks.