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The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus emerged from China in 1996 and has spread across Eurasia and Africa, with a continuous stream of new cases of human infection appearing since the first large-scale outbreak among migratory birds at Qinghai Lake. The role of wild birds, which are the natural reservoirs for the virus, in the epidemiology of the H5N1 virus has raised great public health concern, but their role in the spread of the virus within the natural ecosystem of free-ranging terrestrial wild mammals remains unclear. In this study, we investigated H5N1 . Further, we discovered that in contrast to the MV-like pika virus, which is nonpathogenic to mice, the QH-like pika virus is highly pathogenic. To mimic the virus infection of pikas, we intranasally inoculated rabbits, a species closely related to pikas, with the H5N1 virus of pika origin. Our findings first demonstrate that wild pikas are mammalian hosts exposed to H5N1 subtype avian influenza viruses in the natural ecosystem and also imply a potential transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus from wild mammals into domestic mammalian hosts and humans.

Background: Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) is a powerful method to study protein expression and function in living organisms and diseases. This technique, however, has not been applied to avian bursa of Fabricius (BF), a central immune organ. Here, optimized 2-DE sample preparation methodologies were constructed for the chicken BF tissue. Using the optimized protocol, we performed further 2-DE analysis on a soluble protein extract from the BF of chickens infected with virulent avibirnavirus. To demonstrate the quality of the extracted proteins, several differentially expressed protein spots selected were cut from 2-DE gels and identified by matrixassisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).

Precise calibration of a binocular vision system is the foundation of binocular vision measurement. In this paper, we propose a highly precise and robust binocular camera calibration method, which is devoted to minimize the error between the geometric relation of 3D reconstructed feature points and the ground truth, such as adjacent distance error, collinear error, and right-angle error. In addition, the reprojection error and epipolar are introduced to satisfy the homography relation and epipolar geometry theory better. We optimize all intrinsic parameters, extrinsic parameters, and distortion parameters to minimize the objective function, which is the sum of a series of nonlinear least squares terms. Levenberg-Marquardt iterative algorithm is used to find the optimal solution of the camera parameters. To test the precision and robustness of the proposed method, both actual measurement experiments and Gauss noise-adding experiments are carried out. The experimental results show that compared with the other two calibration methods in the contrast experiment, the distance measurement error, collinear error, and right-angle error are reduced dramatically. It is noticeable that in Gauss noise-adding experiments, the calibration parameters estimated by the proposed method are more stable.

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The replication-associated (Rep) protein of porcine circovirus (PCV) was suggested to play an essential role in the replication and translation of viral DNA. In this study, one monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific for Rep protein of porcine circovirus type 1 (PCV1), two mAbs against Rep protein of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), and five mAbs to both Rep protein of PCV1 and PCV2 were generated using, respectively, Rep protein of PCV1 and PCV2 expressed in Escherichia coli as an immunogen. Western blot analysis showed that native Rep protein of PCV2 virions appeared in two forms with different molecular weight in PCV2-infected cells. Laser confocal analyses further exhibited that Rep protein distributed mainly in the cellular nucleoplasm at the early stage of PCV2 infection, and moved to the nuclear periphery and the cytoplasm at the last stage of PCV2 infection. The results from this study confirmed that Rep protein of PCV2 distributed in both nucleus and cytoplasm, and provided an mAb tool to further analyze replications of PCV1 and PCV2 in vitro and in vivo.

Forest succession analysis can predict forest change trends in the study area, which provides an important basis for other studies. Remote sensing is a recognized and effective tool in forestry succession analysis. Many forest modeling studies use statistic values, but only a few uses remote sensing images. In this study, we propose a machine learning-based digital twin approach for forestry. A data processing algorithm was designed to process Landsat 7 remote sensing data as model's input. An LSTM-based model was constructed to fit historical image data of the study area. The experimental results show that this study's digital twin method can effectively forecast the study area's future image.

IntroductionPreoperative inflammation affects the postoperative outcomes of patients undergoing heart valve surgery. This study aimed to explore the role and predictive effects of preoperative inflammation on the primary outcomes after valvular cardiac surgery.MethodsThis retrospective study utilized a medical recording system to screen 5075 patients who underwent heart valve surgery. Data on the C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) before heart valve surgery were collected from the hospital’s medical system. Postoperative hepatic insufficiency, acute kidney injury, heart failure, and myocardial damage were assessed using blood indicators. Patients with and without prolonged mechanical ventilation, extended intensive care unit stays, prolonged hospital stays, and death within 30 days after surgery (considered the primary outcome in this study) were compared. Group comparisons, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses, and logistic analyses were performed to determine the associations between preoperative inflammation and outcomes after heart valve surgery.ResultsA total of 3249 patients were included in the analysis. Significant differences in CRP level, ESR, and NLR were found between patients with and without postoperative adverse outcomes. ROC analysis showed that CRP levels >5 mg/L effectively predicted postoperative heart failure, and NLR >3.5 had a good predictive effect on all-cause mortality within 30 days after surgery. Patients with CRP levels >5 mg/L had a higher incidence of postoperative heart failure than other patients (20.7% vs. 12.6%, P<0.001), with a relative risk of 1.447 (95% confidence interval: 1.155–1.814). Patients with NLR >3.5 had a higher incidence of death within 30 days after surgery (5.3% vs. 1.2%, P<0.001), with a relative risk of 3.236 (95% confidence interval: 1.773–5.906).ConclusionPreoperative inflammation can affect postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing heart valve surgery. CRP level >5 mg/L and NLR >3.5 can effectively predict postoperative heart failure and death within 30 days after surgery, respectively.