This study aimed to investigate the relationship between bone quality in terms of metabolism, homeostasis of elements, bone mineral density (BMD), and microstructure and keel-bone fractures in laying hens (Gallus gallus domesticus). One hundred and twenty 17 week old Lohmann White laying hens with normal keel bones were individually housed in furnished cages for 25 weeks. Birds were then euthanased and dissected to assess keel-bone status at 42 weeks. Serum and keel-bone samples from normal keel (NK) and fractured keel (FK) hens were collected to determine the previously mentioned bone quality parameters. The results showed FK hens to have higher levels of the components of osteocalcin, greater alkaline phosphatase activity in serum and keel bones, and greater tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity in keel bones, compared to NK hens. Additionally, FK hens also had higher concentrations of Li, B, K, Cu, As, Se, Sn, Hg, and Pb, but lower concentrations of Na, P, and Ca. Moreover, FK hens showed decreased bone microstructural parameters including bone volume/tissue volume, trabecular number, degree of anisotropy, connectivity density, and BMD, but increased trabecular separation. Meanwhile, no differences were detected in serum TRAP activity, trabecular thickness, bone surface, or bone surface/bone volume. Results showed laying hens with keel-bone fractures to have differences in bone metabolism, elements of home-ostasis, bone microstructure parameters, and BMD. These results suggest that keel-bone fractures may be associated with bone quality.

Japanese foxtail (Alopecurus japonicus Steud.) is an invasive grass weed that severely threatens the production of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and canola (Brassica napus L.) crops in eastern Asia. Mesosulfuron-methyl is a highly efficient acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicide widely used for control of this species in China. However, in recent years, some A. japonicus populations have evolved resistance to mesosulfuron-methyl by different amino acid substitutions (AASs) within the ALS gene. In the current study, 11 populations of A. japonicus were collected from Anhui Province, China, where the wheat fields were severely infested with this weed. Based on single-dose screening, eight of these populations evolved resistance to mesosulfuron-methyl, and gene sequencing revealed three AASs located in codon 197 or 574 of the ALS gene in the different resistant populations. Subsequently, three typical populations, AH-1, AH-4, and AH-10 with Trp-574-Leu, Pro-197-Thr, and Pro-197-Ser mutations, respectively, in ALS genes were selected to characterize their cross-resistance patterns to ALS inhibitors. Compared with the susceptible population AH-S, AH-1 showed broad-spectrum cross-resistance to sulfonylureas (SUs), imidazolinones (IMIs), triazolopyrimidines (TPs), and sulfonyl-aminocarbonyl-triazolinones (SCTs); whereas AH-4 and AH-10 were resistant to SUs, TPs, and SCTs but sensitive to IMIs. Moreover, all three resistant populations were sensitive to both photosystem II inhibitor isoproturon and 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase inhibitor QYM201 (1-(2-chloro-3-(3-cyclopropyl-5-hydroxy-1-methyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carbonyl)-6-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)piperidin-2-one). Based on the current state of knowledge, this study is the first report of A. japonicus evolving cross-resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides due to a Pro-197-Ser mutation in the ALS gene.

Music or other background sounds are often played in barns as environmental enrichment for animals on farms or to mask sudden disruptive noises. Previous studies looking at the effects of this practice on non-human animal well-being and productivity have found contradictory results. However, there is still a lack of discussion on whether piglets have the ability to distinguish different types of music. In this study, we exposed piglets to different music conditions to investigate whether the piglets preferred certain music types, in which case those types would have the potential to be used as environmental enrichment. In total, 30 piglets were tested for music type preference to determine whether growing pigs respond differently to different types of music. We used music from two families of instruments (S: string, W: wind) and with two tempos (S: slow, 65 beats/min (bpm); F: fast, 200 bpm), providing four music-type combinations (SS: string-slow; SF: string-fast; WS: wind-slow; WF: wind-fast). The piglets were given a choice between two chambers, one with no music and the other with one of the four types of music, and their behaviour was observed. The results showed that SS and WF music significantly increased residence time (P<0.01) compared with the other music conditions. Compared with the control group (with no music), the different music conditions led to different behavioural responses, where SS music significantly increased lying (P<0.01) and exploration behaviour (P<0.01); SF music significantly increased tail-wagging behaviour (P<0.01); WS music significantly increased exploration (P<0.01); and WF music significantly increased walking, lying, standing and exploration (all P<0.01). The results also showed that musical instruments and tempo had little effect on most of the behaviours. Fast-tempo music significantly increased walking (P=0.02), standing (P<0.01) and tail wagging (P=0.04) compared with slow-tempo music. In conclusion, the results of this experiment show that piglets are more sensitive to tempo than to musical instruments in their response to musical stimulation and seem to prefer SS and WF music to the other two types. The results also suggest a need for further research on the effect of music types on animals.

Tai'an, a famous cultural tourist district, is a new endemic foci of scrub typhus in northern China. Frequent reports of travel-acquired cases and absence of effective vaccine indicated a significant health problem of scrub typhus in Tai'an. Thus, descriptive epidemiological methods and spatial-temporal scan statistics were used to describe the epidemic characteristics and detect the significant clusters of the high incidence of scrub typhus at the town level in Tai'an. Results of descriptive epidemiological analysis showed a total of 490 cases were reported in Tai'an with the annual average incidence ranging from 0·48 to 2·27/100 000 during 2006–2013. Females, the elderly and farmers are the high-risk groups. Monthly changes of scrub typhus cases indicated an obvious epidemic period in autumn. Spatial-temporal distribution analysis, showed significant clusters of high incidence mainly located in eastern and northern Tai'an. Our study suggests that more effective, targeted measures for local residents should be implemented in the eastern and northern areas of Tai'an in autumn. Meanwhile, it may prove beneficial for health policy makers to advise travellers to take preventive measures in order to minimize the risk of infection of scrub typhus in Tai'an.

Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) have attracted much interest owing to their unique optical properties. In this paper, a facile process has been successfully developed to synthesize the SiO2/Au hybrid microspheres with a diameter of 200 nm via the galvanic replacement of SiO2/Ag hybrid microspheres and chlorauric acid (HAuCl4) solution. The as-prepared products were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM, JEOL-6700F), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM, JEOL 3010), respectively. As expected, the as-prepared SiO2/Au hybrid microspheres show strong chemical stability and superior catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). The SiO2/Au hybrid microspheres would be found widely used in wastewater treatment, catalytic reaction, bacteriostatic and bactericidal applications.

We present a provenance study of core ZK2 from the Huanghe (Yellow River) Delta in order to assess the impacts of climate change on the sediment supplies during the last glacial–interglacial cycle. Facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy methods are used to construct the age model. Sr isotopic compositions of ZK2 range from 0.716389 to 0.723884, with 87Sr/86Sr increased with decreasing grain size. Nd and Pb isotopic compositions display two large major excursions during Marine Oxygen Isotope stages (MIS) 2 and 4, with less radiogenic εNd and lower 208Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 206Pb/204Pb values during these periods. These excursions have been explained in terms of changes in the mixing proportion of sediments from the Loess Plateau and Ordos Plateau, resulting from East Asian monsoon intensity variations. The weak summer monsoon precipitation resulted in decreased erosion of Loess Plateau during MIS 2, 4 and the middle of MIS 3. Meanwhile, both the intensified East Asian winter monsoon and the southward expansions of Mu Us desert significantly enhanced the eolian sand entering the Huanghe. Therefore, our results highlight the impact of monsoon variability on erosion patterns in the Huanghe basin.

In structural design of current complex mechanisms or robots like parallel kinematic machines (PKMs), surgical robots, and reconfigurable robots, there commonly exist some functional modules called complex joints (CJs). Each of them, consisting of several simple pairs and essentially a mechanism, plays the same and more important roles as simple joints in kinematics and dynamics. However, as the primarily important aspect in mechanism analysis, the type and mobility of these CJs are far from familiarity. Therefore, this paper aims at addressing the type and mobility of CJs. For this purpose, the concept and classification of CJs are first discussed, an effective method to analyze the mobility characteristics of these CJs is then developed based on the equivalent screw system. The advantage of this method is that it reveals mobility characteristics by using equivalent transformations of kinematic pair screw (KP-screw) and constraint screw (C-screw) systems. With this method, the mobility characteristics of some concrete CJs are obtained correspondingly.