The First Report of Tritrichomonas Foetus and Tetratrichomonas Buttreyi in Raccoon Dogs (Nyctereutes Procyonoides) in China.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the trichomonosis in raccoon dogs in China had occurred frequently. Pentatrichomonas hominis had been described in raccoon dogs in China in some previous studies. PURPOSE TO REVEAL: whether raccoon dogs can be infected by other trichomonad species besides P. hominis, and clarify the prevalence and species distribution of trichomonad in raccoon dogs. METHODS: Herein, the 389 fecal samples were collected from farm-raised raccoon dogs in Hebei Province, all the samples were detected using the microscopic examination and several fecal samples containing trichomonad-like organisms were processed, cultured, stained, and photographed. Meanwhile, all the samples were screened by the species-specific nested PCR based on the small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) gene of P. hominis,Tritrichomonas foetus and Tetratrichomonas buttreyi, respectively, and all positive secondary PCR amplications obtained in this study were sequenced, aligned and analysed. RESULTS: 62 fecal samples (15.9%,62/389) were trichomonad-positive under light microscopy, and the trichomonad-like cells were clearly observed in the culture contents. The PCR results showed that 100 samples were trichomonad-positive, including 45 P. hominis-positive samples (11.6%,45/389), 32 T. foetus-positive samples (8.2%,32/389), and 33 T. buttreyi-positive samples (8.5%,33/389), respectively. Double mixed infections were observed in 10 samples. The prevalence of T. foetus and P. hominis were both significantly higher in raccoon dogs with diarrhea (13.9%, and 25.0%) than that in raccoon dogs without diarrhea (7.6%, and 9.3%) (p < 0.05).All samples confirmed as trichomonad-positive under microscopy were also found to be trichomonad-positive by PCR analysis. The sequencing and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated the sequences obtained in this study belonged to P. hominis, T. foetus and T. buttreyi SSU rRNA, respectively. Among them, the T. buttreyi SSU rRNA sequences obtained in this study harbored the new sequence polymorphisms. Based on preliminary morphological and molecular analyses, raccoon dogs are considered as the new host of T. foetus and T. buttreyi. CONCLUSION: This is the first report about the identifcation and prevalence of T. foetus and T. buttreyi in raccoon dogs in China, and the results increase our knowledge about the host range and prevalence of trichomonad species.

Epoxidized Soybean Oleic Acid/Oligomeric Poly(lactic acid)-Grafted Nano-Hydroxyapatite and Its Role as a Filler in Poly(L-lactide) for Potential Bone Fixation Application.

One of the most effective strategies for modifying the surface properties of nano-fillers and enhancing their composite characteristics is through polymer grafting. In this study, a coprecipitation method was employed to modify hydroxyapatite (HAP) with epoxidized soybean oleic acid (ESOA), resulting in ESOA-HAP. Subsequently, oligomeric poly(lactic acid) (OPLA) was grafted onto the surface of ESOA-HAP, yielding OPLA-ESOA-HAP. HAP, ESOA-HAP, and OPLA-ESOA-HAP were comprehensively characterized. The results demonstrate the progressive grafting of ESOA and OPLA onto the surface of HAP, resulting in enhanced hydrophobicity and improved dispersity in organic solvent for OPLA-ESOA-HAP compared to HAP. The vitality and adhesion of Wistar rat mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were assessed using HAP and modified HAP materials. Following culture with MSCs for 72 h, the OPLA-ESOA-HAP showed an inhibition rate lower than 23.0% at a relatively high concentration (1.0 mg/mL), which is three times lower compared to HAP under similar condition. The cell number for OPLA-ESOA-HAP was 4.5 times higher compared to HAP, indicating its superior biocompatibility. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the OPLA-ESOA-HAP/PLLA composite almost remained unaltered ever after undergoing two stages of thermal processing involving melt extrusion and inject molding. The increase in the biocompatibility and relatively high mechanical properties render OPLA-ESOA-HAP/PLLA a potential material for the biodegradable fixation system.

Hub Genes, Possible Pathways and Predicted Drugs in Hereditary Gingival Fibromatosis by Bioinformatics Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To explore potential pathogenic processes and possible treatments using unbiased and reliable bioinformatic tools. METHODS: Gene expression profiles of control and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) samples were downloaded from CNP0000995. Analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was conducted using R software (version 4.2.1, R Foundation, Vienna, Austria). Functional enrichment analyses were performed using the Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) databases, then the proteinprotein interaction (PPI) network was constructed to screen the top 10 hub genes. Finally, five genes related to cell junctions were selected to build gene-miRNA interactions and predict small-molecule drugs. RESULTS: A total of 342 downregulated genes and 188 upregulated genes were detected. Candidate pathways include the extracellular matrix (ECM) receptor interaction pathway, the TGF-ß signalling pathway and the cell adhesion molecule (CAM) pathway, which were discovered through KEGG and GSEA enrichment studies. GO analyses revealed that these DEGs were significantly enriched in cell adhesion, the adherens junction and focal adhesion. Five hub genes (CDH1, SNAP25, RAC2, APOE and ITGB4) associated with cell adhesion were identified through PPI analysis. Finally, the gene-miRNA regulatory network identified three target miRNAs: hsa-miR-7110-5p, hsa-miR-149-3p and hsa-miR-1207-5p. Based on the gene expression profile, the small-molecule drugs zebularine, ecuronium and prostratin were selected for their demonstrated binding activity when docked with the mentioned molecules. CONCLUSION: This study offered some novel insights into molecular pathways and identified five hub genes associated with cell adhesion. Based on these hub genes, three potential therapeutic miRNAs and small-molecule drugs were predicted, which are expected to provide guidance for the treatment of patients with HGF.

Ultracold field-linked tetratomic molecules.

Ultracold polyatomic molecules offer opportunities1 in cold chemistry2,3, precision measurements4 and quantum information processing5,6, because of their rich internal structure. However, their increased complexity compared with diatomic molecules presents a challenge in using conventional cooling techniques. Here we demonstrate an approach to create weakly bound ultracold polyatomic molecules by electroassociation7 (F.D. et al., manuscript in preparation) in a degenerate Fermi gas of microwave-dressed polar molecules through a field-linked resonance8-11. Starting from ground-state NaK molecules, we create around 1.1 × 103 weakly bound tetratomic (NaK)2 molecules, with a phase space density of 0.040(3) at a temperature of 134(3) nK, more than 3,000 times colder than previously realized tetratomic molecules12. We observe a maximum tetramer lifetime of 8(2) ms in free space without a notable change in the presence of an optical dipole trap, indicating that these tetramers are collisionally stable. Moreover, we directly image the dissociated tetramers through microwave-field modulation to probe the anisotropy of their wavefunction in momentum space. Our result demonstrates a universal tool for assembling weakly bound ultracold polyatomic molecules from smaller polar molecules, which is a crucial step towards Bose-Einstein condensation of polyatomic molecules and towards a new crossover from a dipolar Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluid13-15 to a Bose-Einstein condensation of tetramers. Moreover, the long-lived field-linked state provides an ideal starting point for deterministic optical transfer to deeply bound tetramer states16-18.

Variation in Pheidole nodus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) functional morphology across urban parks.

Background: Habitat fragmentation and consequent population isolation in urban areas can impose significant selection pressures on individuals and species confined to urban islands, such as parks. Despite many comparative studies on the diversity and structure of ant community living in urban areas, studies on ants' responses to these highly variable ecosystems are often based on assemblage composition and interspecific mean trait values, which ignore the potential for high intraspecific functional trait variation among individuals. Methods: Here, we examined differences in functional traits among populations of the generalist ant Pheidole nodus fragmented between urban parks. We used pitfall trapping, which is more random and objective than sampling colonies directly, despite a trade-off against sample size. We then tested whether trait-filtering could explain phenotypic differences among urban park ant populations, and whether ant populations in different parks exhibited different phenotypic optima, leading to positional shifts in anatomical morphospace through the regional ant meta-population. Results: Intraspecific morphological differentiation was evident across this urban region. Populations had different convex hull volumes, positioned differently over the morphospace. Conclusions: Fragmentation and habitat degradation reduced phenotypic diversity and, ultimately, changed the morphological optima of populations in this urban landscape. Considering ants' broad taxonomic and functional diversity and their important role in ecosystems, further work over a variety of ant taxa is necessary to ascertain those varied morphological response pathways operating in response to population segregation in urban environments.

Effective Potential and Superfluidity of Microwave-Shielded Polar Molecules.

We analytically show that the effective interaction potential between microwave-shielded polar molecules consists of an anisotropic van der Waals-like shielding core and a modified dipolar interaction. This effective potential is validated by comparing its scattering cross sections with those calculated using intermolecular potential involving all interaction channels. It is shown that a scattering resonance can be induced under microwave fields reachable in current experiments. With the effective potential, we further study the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing in the microwave-shielded NaK gas. We show that the superfluid critical temperature is drastically enhanced near the resonance. As the effective potential is suitable for exploring the many-body physics of molecular gases, our results pave the way for studies of the ultracold gases of microwave-shielded molecular gases.

Field-linked resonances of polar molecules.

Scattering resonances are an essential tool for controlling the interactions of ultracold atoms and molecules. However, conventional Feshbach scattering resonances1, which have been extensively studied in various platforms1-7, are not expected to exist in most ultracold polar molecules because of the fast loss that occurs when two molecules approach at a close distance8-10. Here we demonstrate a new type of scattering resonance that is universal for a wide range of polar molecules. The so-called field-linked resonances11-14 occur in the scattering of microwave-dressed molecules because of stable macroscopic tetramer states in the intermolecular potential. We identify two resonances between ultracold ground-state sodium-potassium molecules and use the microwave frequencies and polarizations to tune the inelastic collision rate by three orders of magnitude, from the unitary limit to well below the universal regime. The field-linked resonance provides a tuning knob to independently control the elastic contact interaction and the dipole-dipole interaction, which we observe as a modification in the thermalization rate. Our result provides a general strategy for resonant scattering between ultracold polar molecules, which paves the way for realizing dipolar superfluids15 and molecular supersolids16, as well as assembling ultracold polyatomic molecules.

Ultracold Sticky Collisions: Theoretical and Experimental Status.

Collisional complexes, which are formed as intermediate states in molecular collisions, are typically short-lived and decay within picoseconds. However, in ultracold collisions involving bialkali molecules, complexes can live for milliseconds, completely changing the collision dynamics. This can lead to unexpected two-body loss in samples of nonreactive molecules. During the past decade, such "sticky" collisions have been a major hindrance in the preparation of dense and stable molecular samples, especially in the quantum-degenerate regime. Currently, the behavior of the complexes is not fully understood. For example, in some cases, their lifetime has been measured to be many orders of magnitude longer than recent models predict. This is not only an intriguing problem in itself but also practically relevant, since understanding molecular complexes may help to mitigate their detrimental effects. Here, we review the recent experimental and theoretical progress in this field. We treat the case of molecule-molecule as well as molecule-atom collisions.

A new species of Protopsyllidiidae (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha) from the Middle Jurassic of northeastern China.

Based on two compression fossils from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou Village, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, China, a new fossil species, Poljanka curticapillata L, Luo & Yao, sp. nov., of the extinct family Protopsyllidiidae is described. It is characterized by the flagellomeres 16 slender and 6 small subsections at apex, the presence of genae, the basal tarsomere almost equal to the apical tarsomere of fore and middle legs, and basal tarsomere about 2.11 times as long as apical tarsomere of hind leg, and the forewing veins R longer than M + Cu1, Cu1 with curved Cu1a and Cu1b, and Cu1a/Cu1b ratio 3.463.63. These body features and combination of forewing venation characteristics differ the new taxon from all other known species of Poljanka Klimaszewski, 1995. We also provide a key to the species of Poljanka and revise the diagnosis of the genus.

First Detection and Molecular Identification of Entamoeba bovis in Farm-Raised Sika Deer from Anhui Province, China.

BACKGROUND: Protozoans of Entamoeba spp. are one of the most common enteric parasites that infect humans and diverse animals including deer. PURPOSE: However, data regarding the prevalence and species/genotypes of Entamoeba spp. in deer in China is scarce. This study investigated the prevalence and species distribution of Entamoeba spp. in sika deer (Cervus nippon) in Anhui Province. METHODS: In our survey, 336 fecal samples were collected from five sika deer farms in different regions of Anhui Province. All samples were examined for the presence of Entamoeba spp. by PCR and phylogenetic analysis of the conserved 18S rRNA gene. RESULTS: 106/336 (31.5%) fecal samples were positive for Entamoeba spp. A statistically significant difference in the prevalence of Entamoeba spp. infection was observed between sampling farms (p < 0.001), and the prevalence of Entamoeba spp. in male and female sika deer showed no significant difference (p > 0.05). Sequence and phylogenetic analysis revealed the single species, E. bovis, was identified in this study. CONCLUSION: This is the first report about the identification of E. bovis in farm-raised sika deer in China, and these results expand our understanding of host range and species distribution of Entamoeba spp. in ruminants.

Molecular prevalence of Tetratrichomonas gallinarum and Trichomonas gallinae in three domestic free-range poultry breeds in Anhui Province, China.

Tetratrichomonas gallinarum and Trichomonas gallinae can colonize the alimentary tract of domestic birds. However, little information is available on the epidemiology of the two trichomonad species in domestic free-range poultry in China. In this study, the occurrence and genetic characteristic of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae among free-range chickens, ducks, and geese in Anhui Province, China, were investigated. The 1910 fecal samples collected from 18 free-range poultry farms throughout Anhui Province were examined for the presence of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae by PCR and sequence analysis of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene of T. gallinarum and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequence of T. gallinae. The overall occurrence of T. gallinarum in poultry was 1.2% (22/1910), with infection rates of 2.1% (17/829) in chickens, 0.2% (1/487) in ducks, and 0.7% (4/594) in geese. The constructed phylogeny tree using the concatenated ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region and SSU rRNA indicated the T. gallinarum isolates detected in this study were closely related to previously defined genogroups A, D, and E, respectively. Nine (0.5%) fecal samples were positive for T. gallinae, with infection rates of 0.8% (7/829) in chickens, 0.4% (2/487) in ducks, and 0% (0/594) in geese. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis showed that four T. gallinae ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequences obtained from chicken feces and one duck fecal sample belonged to genotype ITS-OBT-Tg-1. This is the first report of the prevalence and genetic characterization of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae in free-range chickens, ducks, and geese in China.

Evaporation of microwave-shielded polar molecules to quantum degeneracy.

Ultracold polar molecules offer strong electric dipole moments and rich internal structure, which makes them ideal building blocks to explore exotic quantum matter1-9, implement quantum information schemes10-12 and test the fundamental symmetries of nature13. Realizing their full potential requires cooling interacting molecular gases deeply into the quantum-degenerate regime. However, the intrinsically unstable collisions between molecules at short range have so far prevented direct cooling through elastic collisions to quantum degeneracy in three dimensions. Here we demonstrate evaporative cooling of a three-dimensional gas of fermionic sodium-potassium molecules to well below the Fermi temperature using microwave shielding. The molecules are protected from reaching short range with a repulsive barrier engineered by coupling rotational states with a blue-detuned circularly polarized microwave. The microwave dressing induces strong tunable dipolar interactions between the molecules, leading to high elastic collision rates that can exceed the inelastic ones by at least a factor of 460. This large elastic-to-inelastic collision ratio allows us to cool the molecular gas to 21 nanokelvin, corresponding to 0.36 times the Fermi temperature. Such cold and dense samples of polar molecules open the path to the exploration of many-body phenomena with strong dipolar interactions.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Aphaenogaster japonica (Forel, 1911) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Aphaenogaster japonica (Forel, 1911) is an omnivorous ant that is widely distributed in eastern Asia. The mitochondrial genome of A. japonica reported here was 18,607 bp in length, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and a control region. The base composition was AT biased (the GC ratio is 18.9%). With A. japonica added, we obtain weak evidence that the sister group of the Stenammini group, including Aphaenogaster, is the Myrmicini group. Therefore, the Stenammini and Myrmicini groups may be not a robust monophyletic group, unlike the previous results based on the complete mitochondrial genome.

Suppression of Unitary Three-Body Loss in a Degenerate Bose-Fermi Mixture.

We study three-body loss in an ultracold mixture of a thermal Bose gas and a degenerate Fermi gas. We find that at unitarity, where the interspecies scattering length diverges, the usual inverse-square temperature scaling of the three-body loss found in nondegenerate systems is strongly modified and reduced with the increasing degeneracy of the Fermi gas. While the reduction of loss is qualitatively explained within the few-body scattering framework, a remaining suppression provides evidence for the long-range Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interactions mediated by fermions between bosons. Our model based on RKKY interactions quantitatively reproduces the data without free parameters, and predicts one order of magnitude reduction of the three-body loss coefficient in the deeply Fermi-degenerate regime.

Comparing Ant Assemblages and Functional Groups across Urban Habitats and Seasons in an East Asia Monsoon Climate Area.

China's East Asia monsoon zone is undergoing rapid land-use conversion and urbanization. Safeguarding remaining biodiversity requires reducing, mitigating, and/or eliminating the negative impacts of human-induced landscape modification. In this study, we sampled ground-dwelling ants at 40 plots over 12 continuous months in a suburban area in southwestern China to examine whether and how vegetation composition and habitat fragmentation affected species richness and assemblage composition for the general ant community and, specifically, for principal functional groups (including Opportunists and Generalized Myrmicinae). Warmer seasons were associated with a higher capture rate for all functional groups. Patterns of ant species richness among Opportunists were more sensitive to vegetation and fragmentation than for Generalized Myrmicinae, and these effects generally varied with season. Patterns of ant assemblage composition for Opportunists were exclusively sensitive to vegetation, whereas Generalized Myrmicinae were sensitive to both vegetation and fragmentation with variation among seasons. Overall, our findings highlight the important role of seasonality, vegetation composition, and habitat fragmentation in mediating the impacts of human-induced landscape modification on urbanized ant communities, which make an essential functional contribution to biodiversity in the East Asia monsoon zone.

Tune-Out and Magic Wavelengths for Ground-State

We demonstrate a versatile, state-dependent trapping scheme for the ground and first excited rotational states of ^{23}Na^{40}K molecules. Close to the rotational manifold of a narrow electronic transition, we determine tune-out frequencies where the polarizability of one state vanishes while the other remains finite, and a magic frequency where both states experience equal polarizability. The proximity of these frequencies of only 10 GHz allows for dynamic switching between different trap configurations in a single experiment, while still maintaining sufficiently low scattering rates.

Beating the classical precision limit with spin-1 Dicke states of more than 10,000 atoms.

Interferometry is a paradigm for most precision measurements. Using N uncorrelated particles, the achievable precision for a two-mode (two-path) interferometer is bounded by the standard quantum limit (SQL), [Formula: see text], due to the discrete (quanta) nature of individual measurements. Despite being a challenging benchmark, the two-mode SQL has been approached in a number of systems, including the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and today's best atomic clocks. For multimode interferometry, the SQL becomes [Formula: see text] using M modes. Higher precision can also be achieved using entangled particles such that quantum noises from individual particles cancel out. In this work, we demonstrate an interferometric precision of [Formula: see text] dB beyond the three-mode SQL, using balanced spin-1 (three-mode) Dicke states containing thousands of entangled atoms. The input quantum states are deterministically generated by controlled quantum phase transition and exhibit close to ideal quality. Our work shines light on the pursuit of quantum metrology beyond SQL.

Extending Rotational Coherence of Interacting Polar Molecules in a Spin-Decoupled Magic Trap.

Superpositions of rotational states in polar molecules induce strong, long-range dipolar interactions. Here we extend the rotational coherence by nearly 1 order of magnitude to 8.7(6) ms in a dilute gas of polar ^{23}Na^{40}K molecules in an optical trap. We demonstrate spin-decoupled magic trapping, which cancels first-order and reduces second-order differential light shifts. The latter is achieved with a dc electric field that decouples nuclear spin, rotation, and trapping light field. We observe density-dependent coherence times, which can be explained by dipolar interactions in the bulk gas.

Metastases of transverse colon cancer to bilateral ovaries (Krukenberg tumor) and the left breast: A case report.

Breast cancer has the highest rate of incidence among all types of cancer in women. Only ~0.43% of breast malignancies occur as a result of metastatic lesions from extramammary tumors. The present study reports an extremely rare case of transverse colon cancer metastasizing to the bilateral ovaries and the left breast. The patient was a 47-year old female, who had a lump in the left breast without axillary lymphadenopathy. Specimens obtained by core needle biopsy were submitted for hematoxylin and eosin examination, and results revealed that the lump was a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Since the patient had elevated levels of the carcinoembryonic antigen and a medical history of a Krukenberg tumor metastasized from colon cancer, immunohistochemical examinations were applied. Results identified that caudal-related homeobox protein 2 and cytokeratin 20 were positively stained, whilst cytokeratin 7 was negatively stained. Therefore, this patient was diagnosed as having colon cancer that had metastasized to the bilateral ovaries and the left breast. As the life expectancy of patients with cancer is increasing, types of metastases that used to be seen as rare are increasingly becoming more common. For clinicians, diagnosis should be cautious, and differential diagnosis should always be kept in mind.

Harmonic trap resonance enhanced synthetic atomic spin-orbit coupling.

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) plays an essential role in many exotic and interesting phenomena in condensed matter physics. In neutral-atom-based quantum simulations, synthetic SOC constitutes a key enabling element. The strength of SOC realized so far is limited by various reasons or constraints. This work reports tunable SOC synthesized with a gradient magnetic field (GMF) for atoms in a harmonic trap. Nearly ten-fold enhancement is observed when the GMF is modulated near the harmonic-trap resonance in comparison with the free-space situation. A theory is developed that well explains the experimental results. Our work offers a clear physical insight into and analytical understanding of how to tune the strength of atomic SOC synthesized with GMF using harmonic trap resonance.