With many non-human primates (NHPs) showing continued population decline, there is an ongoing need to better understand their ecology and conservation threats. One such threat is the risk of disease, with various bacterial, viral and parasitic infections previously reported to have damaging consequences for NHP hosts. Strongylid nematodes are one of the most commonly reported parasitic infections in NHPs. Current knowledge of NHP strongylid infections is restricted by their typical occurrence as mixed infections of multiple genera, which are indistinguishable through traditional microscopic approaches. Here, modern metagenomics approaches were applied for insight into the genetic diversity of strongylid infections in South-East and East Asian NHPs. We hypothesized that strongylid nematodes occur in mixed communities of multiple taxa, dominated by Oesophagostomum, matching previous findings using single-specimen genetics. Utilizing the Illumina MiSeq platform, ITS-2 strongylid metabarcoding was applied to 90 samples from various wild NHPs occurring in Malaysian Borneo and Japan. A clear dominance of Oesophagostomum aculeatum was found, with almost all sequences assigned to this species. This study suggests that strongylid communities of Asian NHPs may be less species-rich than those in African NHPs, where multi-genera communities are reported. Such knowledge contributes baseline data, assisting with ongoing monitoring of health threats to NHPs.

National disease surveillance systems are essential to a healthy pig industry but can be costly and logistically complex. In 2019, Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) piloted an abattoir disease surveillance system to assess for the presence of high impact pig diseases (HIPDs) using serological methods. The Lao Department of Livestock and Fisheries (DLF) identified Classical Swine Fever (CSF), Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS) and Brucella suis as HIPDs of interest for sero-surveillance purposes. Porcine serum samples (n = 597) were collected from six Lao abattoirs in March to December of 2019. Serological enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods were chosen for their high-throughput and relatively low-costs. The true seroprevalence for CSF and PRRS seropositivity were 68.7%, 95% CI (64.8–72.3) and 39.5%, 95% CI (35.7–43.5), respectively. The results demonstrated no evidence of Brucella spp. seroconversion. Lao breed pigs were less likely to be CSF seropositive (P < 0.05), whilst pigs slaughtered at <1 year of age were less likely to be PRRS seropositive (P < 0.01). The testing methods could not differentiate between seropositivity gained from vaccine or natural infection, and investigators were unable to obtain the vaccine status of the slaughtered pigs from the abattoirs. These results demonstrate that adequate sample sizes are possible from abattoir sero-surveillance and lifetime health traceability is necessary to understand HIPDs in Lao PDR.

The COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) project is a large international collaborative effort to analyze individual-level phenotype data from twins in multiple cohorts from different environments. The main objective is to study factors that modify genetic and environmental variation of height, body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and size at birth, and additionally to address other research questions such as long-term consequences of birth size. The project started in 2013 and is open to all twin projects in the world having height and weight measures on twins with information on zygosity. Thus far, 54 twin projects from 24 countries have provided individual-level data. The CODATwins database includes 489,981 twin individuals (228,635 complete twin pairs). Since many twin cohorts have collected longitudinal data, there is a total of 1,049,785 height and weight observations. For many cohorts, we also have information on birth weight and length, own smoking behavior and own or parental education. We found that the heritability estimates of height and BMI systematically changed from infancy to old age. Remarkably, only minor differences in the heritability estimates were found across cultural–geographic regions, measurement time and birth cohort for height and BMI. In addition to genetic epidemiological studies, we looked at associations of height and BMI with education, birth weight and smoking status. Within-family analyses examined differences within same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins in birth size and later development. The CODATwins project demonstrates the feasibility and value of international collaboration to address gene-by-exposure interactions that require large sample sizes and address the effects of different exposures across time, geographical regions and socioeconomic status.

The association between dietary patterns and CVD risk factors among non-Hispanic whites has not been fully studied. Data from 650 non-Hispanic white adults who participated in one of two clinical sub-studies (about 2 years after the baseline) of the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) were analysed. Four dietary patters were identified using a validated 204-item semi-quantitative FFQ completed at enrolment into AHS-2: vegans (8·3 %), lacto-ovo-vegetarians (44·3 %), pesco-vegetarians (10·6 %) and non-vegetarians (NV) (37·3 %). Dietary pattern-specific prevalence ratios (PR) of CVD risk factors were assessed adjusting for confounders with or without BMI as an additional covariable. The adjusted PR for hypertension, high total cholesterol and high LDL-cholesterol were lower in all three vegetarian groups. Among the lacto-ovo-vegetarians the PR were 0·57 (95 % CI 0·45, 0·73), 0·72 (95 % CI 0·59, 0·88) and 0·72 (95 % CI 0·58, 0·89), respectively, which remained significant after additionally adjusting for BMI. The vegans and the pesco-vegetarians had similar PR for hypertension at 0·46 (95 % CI 0·25, 0·83) and 0·62 (95 % CI 0·42, 0·91), respectively, but estimates were attenuated and marginally significant after adjustment for BMI. Compared with NV, the PR of obesity and abdominal adiposity, as well as other CVD risk factors, were significantly lower among the vegetarian groups. Similar results were found when limiting analyses to participants not being treated for CVD risk factors, with the vegans having the lowest mean BMI and waist circumference. Thus, compared with the diet of NV, vegetarian diets were associated with significantly lower levels of CVD risk factors among the non-Hispanic whites.

An epitaxial NdFeAs(O,F) thin film of 90 nm thickness grown by molecular beam epitaxy on MgO single crystal with Tc = 44.2 K has been investigated regarding a possible vortex glass–liquid transition. The voltage–current characteristics show excellent scalability according to the vortex-glass model with a static critical exponent ν of around 1.35 and a temperature-dependent dynamic exponent z increasing from 7.8 to 9.0 for the investigated temperature range. The large and non-constant z values are discussed in the frame of 3D vortex glass, thermally activated flux motion, and inhomogeneity broadening.

We investigate the two-photon absorption characteristics of hemicyanine dyes that exhibit a one-photon absorption at around 500 nm. The dyes exhibited two-photon-induced fluorescence upon irradiation with an Yb-doped femtosecond fiber laser operating at 1030 nm. Among the dyes, 4-[4-[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]-1,3-butadienyl]-1-ethyl-pyridinium perchlorate exhibited the most efficient two-photon-induced fluorescence at 1030 nm. Since these dyes possess cationic moiety, the dyes accumulated in the mitochondria of a living cell. Two-photon images of mitochondria were obtained by staining living HEK293 cells with these dyes. When 4-[4-[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]-1,3-butadienyl]-1-ethyl-pyridinium perchlorate was employed, a two-photon-induced fluorescence image could be obtained even when a 3 mW fiber laser beam was used as the excitation source.

Blazar OJ287 exhibits large thermal flares at least twice every 12 years. The times of these flares have been predicted successfully using the model of a quasi-Keplerian eccentric black hole binary where the secondary impacts the accretion disk of the primary, creating the thermal flares. New measurements of the historical light curve have been combined with the observations of the 2015 November/December flare to identify the impact record since year 1886, and to constrain the orbit of the binary. The orbital solution shows that the binary period, now 12.062 years, is decreasing at the rate of 36 days per century. This corresponds to an energy loss to gravitational waves that is 6.5 ± 4 % less than the rate predicted by the standard quadrupolar gravitational wave (GW) emission. We show that the difference is due to higher order gravitational radiation reaction terms that include the dominant order tail contributions.

High-resolution paleomonsoon proxy records from peat and eolian sand–paleosol sequences at the desert–loess transition zone in China denote a rapid oscillation from cold–dry conditions (11,200–10,600 14C yr B.P.) to cool–humid conditions (10,600–10,200 14C yr B.P.), followed by a return to cold–dry climate (10,200–10,000 14C yr B.P.). Variations in precipitation proxies suggest that significant climatic variability occurred in monsoonal eastern Asia during the Younger Dryas interval. Late-glacial climate in the Chinese desert–loess belt that lies downwind from Europe was strongly influenced by cold air from high latitudes and from the North Atlantic via the westerlies. The inferred precipitation variations were likely caused by variations in the strength of the Siberian high, which influenced the pressure gradient between land and ocean and therefore influenced the position of the East Asian monsoon front.

As many as six levels of emerged Holocene coral terraces occur along 40 km of coastline on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, recording uplift history since culmination of the postglacial transgression. The Holocene reef crest, ca. 6000 yr B.P., is tilted down to the northwest, parallel to the coast and concordant with the deformation of the last interglacial coral reef terrace, and descends from 23 to 12 m in the study area. The pattern and rate of deformation have been uniform in the late Quaternary because average uplift rates have remained the same since the last interglaciation. The Holocene terraces described here are erosional features with regressive encrusting corals, developed upon the Holocene transgressive reef. The multiple levels represent episodic, probably coseismic uplift, which has occurred repeatedly in the last ca. 6000 yr. Significant longshore variation in the age of the lowest terrace, from 1700 to 2500 yr B.P., suggests independent coseismic uplift on different sectors of the coast. This is supported by age-height relationships of the higher Holocene terraces. Nonlinear uplift during the Holocene, with recurrence intervals increasing toward the present, is clearly recorded by the regressive terraces in each subregion. Some of the Holocene regressive terraces grade laterally into fluvial terraces capped with debris-flow deposits, probably reflecting seismically triggered mass movement.

Experimental Echinococcus multilocularis infection and deworming was repeated three or five times in nine dogs at various re-infection schedules. The mean number of worms decreased more than 91% in dogs with repeated infection, compared to first infection controls (n= 6). The copro-antigen assay and the egg count in the faeces suggested that the worm burden gradually decreased each time the dogs were re-infected. To examine whether such worm exclusion was a non-specific response, five dogs were sequentially infected with the parasite four times and subsequently fed freely for 6 months. Even after the 6-month interval, the five dogs that were infected five times with the parasite were still able largely to exclude the adult worms. The results suggested that the ability of worm exclusion in dogs that developed a resistance did not become rapidly extinct. Observation of the condition of faeces and the excretion of hooks in the faeces of repeatedly infected dogs revealed that the exclusion of worms started at the first week after the re-infection, and it continued during the patent period. Serum antibodies specific to the parasite antigen increased gradually until the third infection and significantly decreased during the 6-month interval. There was little enhancement of serum antibodies after the fifth infection in most dogs, although no clear correlation was observed between the antibody response and the worm burden. These findings suggested the possibility of developing a vaccine.

Intake of marine-based n-3 fatty acids (EPA, docosapentaenoic acid and DHA) is recommended to prevent CHD. Stearidonic acid (SDA), a plant-based n-3 fatty acid, is a precursor of EPA and may be more readily converted to EPA than α-linolenic acid (ALA). While transgenic soyabeans might supply SDA at low cost, it is unclear whether SDA is associated with CHD risk. Furthermore, associations of other n-3 fatty acids with CHD risk remain inconsistent. The present ancillary study examined the association of erythrocyte SDA as well as other n-3 fatty acids with the risk of CHD. In a prospective nested case–control study of the Physicians' Health Study, we randomly selected 1000 pairs of incident CHD with matching controls. Erythrocyte fatty acids were measured using GC. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate relative risks. Mean age was 68·7 (sd 8·7) years. In a multivariable model controlling for matching factors and established CHD risk factors, OR for CHD for each standard deviation increase of log-SDA was 1·03 (95 % CI 0·90, 1·18). Corresponding values for log-ALA and log-marine n-3 fatty acids were 1·04 (95 % CI 0·94, 1·16) and 0·97 (95 % CI 0·88, 1·07), respectively. In conclusion, the present data did not show an association among erythrocyte SDA, ALA or marine n-3 fatty acids and the risk of CHD in male physicians.

Porous scaffolds of alkaline-soluble collagen including nanocompositeparticles of chondroitin sulfate and low crystalline hydroxyapatite forcartilage regeneration were fabricated by freeze-drying and thermaldehydration treatments; porous collagen scaffolds were also synthesized as areference. The scaffolds were cross-linked using glutaraldehyde (GA) vaportreatment in order to enhance biodegradable resistance. Microstructuralobservation with scanning electron microscope indicated that the scaffoldswith and without GA cross-linkage had open pores between 130 to 200 μm indiameter and well-interconnected pores of 10 to 30 μm even aftercross-linkage. In vitro biodegradable resistance tocollagenase was significantly enhanced by GA cross-linking of the scaffolds.All these results suggest that the GA cross-linked scaffolds consisting ofcollagen, chondroitin sulfate, and low crystalline hydroxyapatite havesuitable microporous structures and long-term biochemical stability forcartilage tissue engineering.

We report the growth and field emission properties of boron nitride (BN) island films by chemical vapor deposition in inductively coupled plasma. Fine-grained island films with large surface roughness can be grown for initial sp2-bonded BN and subsequent cubic BN (cBN) phases by using low-energy (~20 eV) ion bombardment. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that the electron affinity is as low as 0.3 eV for both sp2-bonded BN and cBN phases. The evolution of cBN islands reduces the turn-on field down to around 9 V/μm and increases the current density up to 10-4 A/cm2. The surface potential barrier height is estimated to be about 3.4 eV for emission from the Fermi level.