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Abstract:Pangolins are unique mammals in that they possess scales that serve a protective biological function. As an important raw material of traditional medicine, illegal trades of these scales are frequent and difficult to investigate or prosecute. We used allometric models of dry weight of scales to compare 35 Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) and 119 Malayan pangolins (Manis javanica). Our results showed that the dry weight of scales increases significantly faster with the length of head and body in Malayan pangolins (P=0.005), while dry weight of scales is positive (slope=3.725) in Malayan pangolins but isometric (slope=3.105) in Chinese pangolins. The differences in morphology between these species may reflect an evolutionary adaptation to different environments; Malayan pangolins in tropical regions appear to suffer from greater predation pressure than Chinese pangolins in temperate regions. We advise the conversion standards between dry weight of scales and number of individuals as 573.47 g in Chinese pangolins and 360.51 g in Malayan pangolins respectively, and when two are mixed together, average above two parameters of the median at 466.99 g. We propose these measurements be used as judicial evidences in forensic identification of related cases.

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We study internal features of fiber fuse in a Yb-doped double-clad fiber. The samples of fiber fuse are acquired at the power level of 3 kW in an all-fiber forward-pumped master oscillator power amplifier configuration fiber laser that is built specially for fiber fuse analyses. At this high power level, drastic refractive-index redistribution arises in an expended high refractive index area around the bullet-shaped voids of fiber fuse. Electron spin resonance analyses on post-fiber-fuse samples of the Yb-doped double-clad fiber indicate rising Frenkel defect concentration, meanwhile showing a new resonance center that is different from the ones of the Ge-doped fibers studied previously. This new resonance center probably suggests the generation of Al-oxygen hole center, a kind of defect formed during the catastrophic fuse process.

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The aim of this study was to determine the clinical significance of the results of screening of newborn hearing and the incidence of deafness-susceptibility genes. One thousand newborn babies in the Handan Center Hospital (Handan, China) underwent screening of hearing and deafness-susceptibility genes. The first screening test was carried out using otoacoustic emissions (OAEs). Babies with hearing loss who failed to pass the initial screening were scheduled for rescreening at 42 days after birth. Cord blood was used for the screening of deafness-susceptibility genes, namely the GJB2, SLC26A4 and mitochondrial 12S rRNA (MTRNR1) genes. Among the 1,000 neonates that underwent the first hearing screening, 25 exhibited left-sided hearing loss, 21 exhibited right-sided hearing loss and 15 cases had binaural hearing loss. After rescreening 42 days later, only one of the initial 61 cases exhibited hearing loss under OAE testing. The neonatal deafness gene tests showed two cases with 1555A>G mutation and two cases with 1494C>T mutation of the MTRNR1 gene. In the SLC26A4 gene screening, four cases exhibited the heterozygous IVS7-2A>G mutation and one case exhibited heterozygous 1226G>A mutation. In the GJB2 gene screening, two cases exhibited the homozygous 427C>T mutation and 10 exhibited the heterozygous 235delC mutation. The genetic screening revealed 21 newborns with mutations in the three deafness-susceptibility genes. The overall carrier rate was 2.1% (21/1,000). The association of hearing and gene screening may be the promising screening strategy for the diagnosis of hearing loss.

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