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Evaluate the development of multiple complications, their interactions, and common mechanisms in the same individual with T2D. 4-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were divided into: control (n = 6) and T2D (n = 6). T2D was induced through a high-carbohydrate-diet and low doses of streptozotocin. T2D was validated by metabolic parameters. Diabetic neuropathy was evaluated by mechanical and thermal sensitivity tests. We performed a histopathological analysis of the heart, kidney, liver, and parotid salivary glands and changes in bone microarchitecture by μCT. We calculated the relative risk (RR), odd ratios (OR) and Pearson correlation coefficients between the different complications and metabolic features. T2D mice have cardiomyopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, liver steatosis and fibrosis, structural damage in parotid salivary glands, and bone porosity. RR analysis shows that all complications are interrelated by hyperglycaemia, insulin resistance, obesity, and systemic inflammation. T2D mice develop multiple complications simultaneously, which are related to each other, and this is associated with metabolic alterations. Our findings open up new approaches for the study and new therapeutic approaches of the pathophysiology of T2D and its complications. •Type 2 Diabetes complications are interrelated in mouse.•Type 2 Diabetes complications are interrelated by metabolic alterations.•Cardiomyopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, and hepatopathy are interrelated in T2D mouse.

Saline-sodic soils are widely distributed in the western Songnen Plain of Northeast China and planting rice has been found to be an effective and feasible approach for improving saline-sodic soil and increasing food production. Assessment of the effectiveness and sustainability of this method requires monitoring of the changes in soil salinity and nutrient content. The objective of the current study was to investigate the changes of soil salinity and nitrogen (N) contents over 1, 3, 6 and 9 years of cultivation, four application rates of N (N0: no N, N1: 100 kg N/ha, N2: 200 kg N/ha and N3: 300 kg N/ha) and two irrigation water types: ground water irrigation (GWI) and river water irrigation (RWI). Salinity and N contents of soil and water samples were analysed before planting and after harvest throughout the experiments. Soil pH and electrical conductivity (EC), especially in the surface layer of 0–40 cm depth, decreased with years of cultivation with both GWI and RWI, while soil inorganic N and total N contents increased. Moreover, with increasing N application rates, soil inorganic N and total N contents increased significantly in the 0–20 cm soil layer. Increasing N application had little effect on soil pH and EC. Reclaiming and planting rice promoted desalination of the surface and formation of a fertile tillage layer in saline-sodic paddy fields. In terms of irrigation and drainage in saline-sodic paddy fields, both soil salinity and N contents increased. Soil total salinity increased annually by 34 and 12·8 kg/ha, and inorganic N contents increased annually by 9 and 13·5 kg/ha with GWI and RWI, respectively. Therefore, comprehensive agricultural practices should be adopted for improving and cropping rice in saline-sodic paddy fields.

From a stock of A/turkey/Oregon/71-delNS1 (H7N3) virus, which has a 10 nucleotide deletion in the coding region of the NS1 gene, we found that several variants with different sizes of NS genes could be produced by passaging the virus in 10- and 14-day-old embryonating chicken eggs (ECE), but not in 7-day-old ECE or Vero cells. We were able to rescue the reassortant virus that has different sizes of the NS genes and confirmed that those NS genes are genetically stable. By conducting in vivo studies in 2-week-old chickens, we found two plaque purified variants (D-del pc3 and pc4) which can be used as a potential live-attenuated vaccine. The variants were highly attenuated in chickens and did not transmit the virus from infected chickens to uninoculated cage mates. At the same time, the variants induced relatively high antibody titers which conferred good protection against a high dose heterologous virus challenge. Our study indicates that naturally selected NS1 deletion variants might be useful in the development of live-attenuated influenza vaccines in poultry. Furthermore, deletion in the NS1 protein can be potentially useful as a negative marker for a differentiating infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA) approach.

Aims Soil pH is known to influence many important biochemical processes in plants and soils, however its role in salinity—boron interactions affecting plant growth and ion relations has not been examined. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the interactive effects of salinity, boron and soil solution pH on broccoli (Brassica olerácea L.) growth, yield, consumptive water use and shoot-boron accumulation. Methods A greenhouse experiment was conducted using a sand tank system where salinity-B-pH treatment solutions were supplemented with a complete nutrient solution. Sulfate-dominated irrigation waters, characteristic of groundwater in California's San Joaquín valley (SJV), were tested at EC levels of 2, 5, 8, 11 and 14 dSm⁻¹. Each salinity treatment consisted of two boron treatments (0.5 and 21 mgL⁻¹) and each of those treatments was tested under slightly basic (pH8.0) and slightly acidic (pH6.0) conditions. Results Results included multiple salinity-boron-pH interactions affecting shoot biomass, head yield and consumptive water use. Broccoli fresh head yields were significantly reduced by salinity and boron, but the degree of yield reductions was influenced by pH. Relative head yields were substantially reduced in treatments with high pH and high B, particularly under low and high salinity where head yields were decreased by 89 % and 96 %, respectively, relative to those at low salinity and low boron. Intermediate levels of salinity were far less damaging. Increased salinity and boron reduced evapotranspiration (ET) and there were no salinity-boron associated interactions on ET. However, increased salinity and boron concentrations increased water use efficiency (shoot biomass/cumulative volume ET). Shoot B concentration increased with increased boron and was greater at pH6 as compared to pH8. Shoot boron concentration decreased with increasing salinity at both pH levels but particularly at the high substrate boron concentration. Conclusions It is likely that different mechanisms, yet unknown, are responsible for severe head-yield reductions at low and high salinity in the presence of high boron under alkaline conditions. We found that boron in the shoot did not accumulate by a simple passive process. Rather as boron increased from 0.5 to 21 mgL⁻¹, there was a restrictive mechanism where total shoot boron (mg plant⁻¹) was reduced by 10 to 40 times the amount potentially supplied to the shoot by passive transport via mass flow perhaps involving complex interactions with membrane channels and B exporters. Total shoot boron concentration was a poor indicator of plant growth response.

We undertook one of the most comprehensive studies on the replication and intraspecies transmission characteristics of low-pathogenicity avian influenza viruses in ducks, chickens and turkeys. Our results indicated that most of these isolates could replicate and be transmitted in poultry without inducing clinical disease. However, differences in transmission to contact control birds were noted, emphasizing the importance of having contact control cage mates in biological characterization experiments. Ducks supported the replication of viruses of wild aquatic bird origin in their respiratory and digestive tracts equally well. The viruses from wild aquatic birds were not effectively transmitted among chickens. In contrast, the wild-bird isolates and viruses of domestic bird origin from live-bird markets and commercial poultry operations replicated and were transmitted more efficiently in turkeys than in chickens or ducks. We also found a lower minimal infectious dose requirement for infection of turkeys compared to chickens and ducks. Our data support an important role of turkeys as being more susceptible hosts for avian influenza viruses than domestic ducks and chickens. These results highlight the role of turkeys as intermediate or bridging hosts in the transmission of influenza viruses from wild birds to land-based domestic poultry or among different land-based bird species.

Soil texture often varies dramatically in both vertical and horizontal directions in field situations and affects the amount of B adsorbed and B movement. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of clay content on B adsorption and to test the predictive ability of the constant capacitance model to describe B adsorption as related to changes in clay content. Boron adsorption on 15 soil samples constituting five depths of each of three sites in the western San Joaquin Valley of California was investigated. Boron adsorption increased with increasing pH, reached an adsorption maximum around pH 9, and decreased with further increases in pH. The model was able to describe B adsorption on the soils by simultaneously optimizing three surface complexation constants. The model was able to predict B adsorption by using surface complexation constants calculated from easily measured chemical parameters. The model was also able to predict B adsorption at all of the depths using the surface complexation constants predicted with the chemical properties of one of the surface depths and a surface area value calculated from clay content. These results are very encouraging, suggesting that for a particular soil series, B adsorption for various sites and depths in a field can be predicted using only clay content and the chemical information from a different site in the same field. Incorporation of the prediction equations into chemical speciation-transport models will allow simulation of soil solution B concentrations in horizontal and vertical space under diverse environmental and agricultural conditions.

The constant capacitance model, a chemical surface complexation model, was applied to arsenate, As(V), adsorption on 49 soils selected for variation in soil properties. The constant capacitance model was able to fit arsenate adsorption on all soils by optimizing either three monodentate or two bidentate As(V) surface complexation constants. A general regression model was developed for predicting soil As(V) surface complexation constants from easily measured soil chemical characteristics. These chemical properties were cation exchange capacity (CEC), inorganic C (IOC) content, organic C (OC) content, iron oxide content, and surface area (SA). The prediction equations were used to obtain values for the As(V) surface complexation constants for five additional soils, thereby providing a completely independent evaluation of the ability of the constant capacitance model to describe As(V) adsorption. The model's ability to predict As(V) adsorption was quantitative on three soils, semi-quantitative on one soil, and poor on another soil. Incorporation of these prediction equations into chemical speciation-transport models will allow simulation of soil solution As(V) concentrations under diverse agricultural and environmental conditions without the requirement of soil specific adsorption data and subsequent parameter optimization.

A bioinformatics approach using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis was performed to improve the current real-time reverse transcription–PCR (RRT-PCR) tests for the rapid detection of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). In total, 422 NDV complete genomes were analyzed using the Virus Pathogen Resource to compare the conservation of the primer and probe sequences and to select regions to develop new RRT-PCR tests. The sensitivity and specificity of the three new RRT-PCR tests targeting the nucleoprotein (NP) and polymerase (L) genes were optimized and were compared with established tests for NDV detection. The SNP analysis was also used to identify the number of mismatches between selected primers/probes and the NDV complete genome sequences. The SNP analysis, averaged over the entire primer or probe, showed the primer/probe sequences of three new tests were more conserved than the primer/probe sequences of the commonly used test targeting the matrix (M) gene. The M RRT-PCR test was compared with the new tests on a panel of 46 viruses, comprising 31 NDV isolates. Limit of detection (LOD) varied from 1.3 to 3.7 log 50% egg-infective doses using five isolates from different genotypes by all tests. The two RRT-PCR tests targeting the L and M genes detected three out of five isolates with the lowest LOD. The NP and M RRT-PCR tests had the lowest and highest rates of genetic variants, respectively, among all probes. Because currently used tests are likely to miss some isolates, the availability of validated alternative tests provides alternatives for detection of viral variants that can be rapidly deployed to diagnostic laboratories.

Monitoring programs for highly dangerous avian diseases in the Russian Federation from 2001 to 2009 detected 77 samples that were PCR positive for avian paramyxovirus serotype-1 (APMV-1) from sick or dead feral and domestic pigeons. Nucleotide sequences of the fusion (F) gene, including a nucleotide sequence encoding the F protein cleavage site, were determined for these isolates. All of the studied isolates possessed virulent F0 protein cleavage sites (112KRKKRF117, 112RRQKRF117, or 112KRQKRF117). Intracerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI) values determined for seven of the isolates exceeded the value of 0.7 (the range from 0.8 to 1.41). Based on partial genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, the isolates were assigned to two individual sublineages within class II genotype VIb. It was determined that most of these Newcastle disease virus isolates (70/77) recovered from the pigeons belonged to a relatively poorly studied sublineage VIb/2. The complete nucleotide sequence of the genome for the Pigeon/Russia/Vladimir/687/05 isolate of sublineage VIb/2 was determined. Características de los aislamientos de paramixovirus de palomas serotipo 1 (PPMV-1) de la Federación de Rusia desde el año 2001 hasta el 2009. Mediante los programas de vigilancia para las enfermedades aviares altamente peligrosas en la Federación de Rusia desde el año 2001 hasta el 2009, se detectaron 77 muestras positivas por PCR para paramixovirus aviar del serotipo 1 (APMV-1) de palomas silvestres y domésticas que estaban enfermas o muertas. Para todos los aislamientos, se determinaron las secuencias de nucleótidos del gene de fusión (F), incluyendo una secuencia de nucleótidos que codifica el sitio de disociación de la proteína F. Todos los aislamientos estudiados poseían en la proteína F0, sitios de disociación característicos de cepas virulentas (112KRKKRF117, 112RRQKRF117 o 112KRQKRF117). Se determinó el índice de patogenicidad intracerebral (ICPI) de siete aislamientos los cuales excedieron el valor de 0.7 (rango de 0.8 a 1.41). Con base en la secuenciación parcial del genoma y en el análisis filogenético, los aislamientos fueron asignados a dos sublinajes individuales dentro de la clase II genotipo VIb. Se determinó que la mayor parte de estas cepas del virus enfermedad de Newcastle (70/77) obtenidas de las palomas pertenecían a un sublinaje VIb/2 relativamente poco estudiado. Se determinó la secuencia completa de nucleótidos del genoma del aislamiento Paloma/Rusia/Vladimir/687/05 de sublinaje VIb/2.

Triple reassortant (TR) H3N2 influenza viruses have been isolated from turkeys in the United States since 2003. These TR H3N2 virus infections have been associated with drastic declines in egg production in breeder turkeys although co-infection with multiple agents could have been responsible for exacerbating the clinical signs. In this study, we experimentally confirmed that TR H3N2 influenza virus alone can cause drastic reduction/complete cessation of egg production and pathology of the reproductive tract in 26-week-old breeder turkeys. We confirmed high levels of virus replication and abundant distribution of avian specific α2,3 sialic acid-galactose receptors in the oviduct of these turkeys. Although 2–6-week-old turkeys are routinely used for pathogenicity and vaccine protection studies, the low levels of viral shedding and asymptomatic infections in this age group often pose difficulty in interpretation of results. Our study shows that breeder turkeys should be used to assess the potential pathogenicity of TR H3N2 viruses and the viral titers and pathology of the oviduct as well as egg production data can be good measures of protection following in vivo challenge in vaccine efficacy studies.