The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a major destructive insect pest of coffee, which impacts the coffee crops negatively. As a draft genome has been completed for this insect, most molecular studies on gene transcriptional levels under different experimental conditions will be conducted using real-time reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reactions (RT-qPCR). However, the lack of suitable internal reference genes will affect the accuracy of RT-qPCR results. In this study, the expression stability of nine candidate reference genes was evaluated under different developmental stages, temperature stress, and Beauveria bassiana infection. Data analyses were completed by four commonly used programs, BestKeeper, NormFinder, geNorm, and RefFinder. The result showed that RPL3 and EF1α combination were recommended as the most stable reference genes for developmental stages. EF1α and RPS3a combination were the top two stable reference genes for B. bassiana infection. RPS3a and RPL3 combination performed as the optimal reference genes both in temperature stress and all samples. Our results should provide a good foundation for the expression profile analyses of target genes in the future, especially for molecular studies on insect genetic development, temperature adaptability, and immune mechanism to entomogenous fungi in H. hampei.

We present a theoretical asymptotic solution for high-speed transient flow through microporous media in this work by addressing the inertia effect in the high-pressure-difference pulse-decay process. The capillaric model is adopted, in which a bundle of straight circular tubes with a high length–radius ratio is used to represent the internal flow paths of microporous media so that the flow is described by a simplified incompressible Navier–Stokes equation based on the mean density, capturing the major characteristics of mass flow rate. By order-of-magnitude analysis and asymptotic perturbation, the inertial solution with its dimensionless criterion for the high-pressure-difference pulse-decay process is derived. To be compared with experimental data, the theoretical solution involves all three related effects, including the inertia effect, the slippage effect and the compressibility effect. A self-built experimental platform is therefore established to measure the permeability of microporous media by both pulse-decay and steady-state methods to validate the theoretical solution. The results indicate that the relative difference between two methods is less than 30 % even for permeability at as low as $48.2$ nD $(10^{-21}\,{\rm m}^2)$, and the present theoretical solution can accurately capture the inertia effect in the high-pressure-difference pulse-decay process, which significantly accelerates the measurements for ultra-low-permeability samples.

The northern Alxa region is located in the central segment of the southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Many controversies and deficiencies still exist regarding the magma source characteristics, petrogenesis and tectonic regimes during the late Palaeozoic – early Mesozoic period within this region. This study presents whole-rock compositions and zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopic data for three early Mesozoic I- and A-type granitic plutons occurring in the northern Alxa region. The Haerchaoenji and Chahanhada I-type granitoids yielded zircon 206Pb–238U ages of 245 ± 5 Ma and 245 ± 2 Ma, respectively. The variable positive zircon ϵHf(t) values between +1.8 and +11.8, with young TDM ages of 425–837 Ma, indicate that these I-type granitoids were mainly derived from juvenile crustal materials. The Wulantaolegai pluton has a zircon 206Pb–238U age of 237 ± 2 Ma and is classified as having high-K calc-alkaline A-type affinity. Furthermore, the positive zircon ϵHf(t) values of the Wulantaolegai granite range from +3.3 to +8.7 with young TDM ages of 545–778 Ma, suggesting the involvement of a juvenile crustal source as well. Furthermore, the major-element compositions of the Chahanhada and Wulantaolegai granites suggest the input of metasedimentary components. Geochemically, the Haerchaoenji and Chahanhada I-type granitoids show an arc affinity, while the Wulantaolegai granite exhibits a post-collisional affinity. However, with regional data, we suggest that the Haerchaoenji and Chahanhada I-type granitoids were also emplaced in a post-collisional setting, and the arc affinity was probably inherited from recycled subduction-related materials. These lines of evidence obtained in this study enable us to argue that the Palaeo-Asian Ocean in the central segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt closed before Middle Triassic time.

Grain-filling, as the final growth stage of rice, is sensitive to environmental temperature change. Previous studies mainly concerned about the effects of high temperature stress during grain-filling on rice growth, and most experiments were carried out with pot for cultivating rice and greenhouse for warming. This research investigated the response of rice grain-filling of superior spikelets (SS) and inferior spikelets (IS) of two japonica cultivars to elevated temperature during grain-filling stage under open-field warming conditions in lower reaches of Yangtze River Basin using free-air temperature enhancement facility. Results indicated that rice yield was not significantly changed by warming less than 4°C. SS and IS showed different responses to elevated temperature during the grain-filling stage, whereas there were similar trends between two cultivars and years. For SS, although elevated temperature enhanced its filling rate during the early grain-filling period, and caused a shorter grain-filling period and a lighter grain weight; for IS, elevated temperature improved its grain weight by enhancing its filling rate during middle and late grain-filling period due to the increased number of days with suitable temperature. For both SS and IS, key starch biosynthesis enzymes and indole-3-acetic acid content exhibited generally a similar dynamics trend with grain-filling rates, and these sink strength parameters presented higher levels under elevated temperature relative to natural temperature for IS during middle and late grain-filling period. Consequently, warming less than 4°C presented different influences on SS and IS; the improvement of IS filling under warming regime was associated with the intensification of grain sink strength.

Excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) increases the risk of maternal anaemia during pregnancy, but whether it is associated with offspring anaemia has not been investigated. We aimed to prospectively investigate the association of GWG rate in the second/third trimester with infant Hb concentration and anaemia risk. The present study comprised 13 765 infants born during 2006–2009 to mothers who participated in a trial on prenatal micronutrient supplementation. The GWG was calculated by subtracting the maternal weight at enrolment from that at end-pregnancy. The GWG rate was calculated as dividing the GWG by number of weeks between the two measurements and classified into quintiles within each category of maternal BMI. Infant Hb concentrations were measured at 6 and 12 months of age, and anaemia was defined as an Hb concentration <110 g/l. Of the 13 765 infants, 949 (6·9 %) were anaemic at 6 months and 728 (5·3 %) at 12 months. The GWG rate was inversely and linearly associated with the infant Hb concentrations at both 6 and 12 months (P < 0·001 for linearity). Compared with the middle quintile of GWG rate, the highest quintile was associated with an increased risk of anaemia at 6 months (adjusted OR 1·30, 95 % CI 1·07, 1·59) and 12 months (adjusted OR 1·74, 95 % CI 1·40, 2·17). The associations were consistently mediated by maternal anaemia during pregnancy (P < 0·001). In conclusion, excessive GWG rate appears to be associated with an increased risk of infant anaemia, partly independent of maternal anaemia during pregnancy that mediates the association.

A 230Th/U-dated stalagmite from Hulu Cave was analyzed for δ18O, δ13C, and trace elements. A ~10-yr-resolution δ18O record, spanning 51.7–42.6 ka, revealed Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events 14 to 11. A similar rapid transition and synchronous timing of the onset of DO 12 is evident between the Greenland and Hulu Cave records, which suggests a common forcing mechanism of DO cycles in the North Atlantic and monsoonal region of Asia. Centennial-scale monsoonal oscillations in the cave δ18O record are indicative of hydroclimatic instability during interstadials. After removing the signals of remote moisture sources, the proportion of moisture from nearby sources is found to be higher during stadials than during interstadials. To explain this, we propose that the movement of the westerly jet is an important control on the balance of nearby and distant moisture sources in East Asia. In addition, the records of δ13C and trace element ratios, which are proxies of local environmental changes, resemble the δ18O record on the scale of DO cycles, as well as on even shorter timescales. This suggests that hydrological processes and biological activity at the cave site respond sensitively to the monsoonal changes.

The present study investigates the use of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) instead of (NH4)2SO4 as a lixiviant in the recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from clays. Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of leaching conditions such as leaching time, lixiviant concentration and liquid:solid ratio on the leaching efficiency. The optimum leaching conditions, leading to 75.48% of total REE leaching efficiency, required a stirring speed of 500 rpm, a leaching time of 30 min, a lixiviant concentration of 3 wt.% and a liquid:solid ratio of 3:1. After extension of the leaching process by a second stage, the leaching efficiency may reach up to 96.19%, which is slightly higher than that obtained by (NH4)2SO4. Leaching varies from element to element, with Ce presenting the lowest leaching efficiency, and the partition in leaching solution is in agreement with that in raw ore other than for Ce. Based on these findings, MgSO4 lixiviant is an excellent alternative leaching agent for a sustainable REE industry because it reduces or eliminates NH4+–N pollution.

Serine protease inhibitors (serpins) play essential physiological roles in a wide range of biological processes. Serpins are researched limited in Taenia solium, although some are considered to participate in host immune responses. Tsserpins were identified as typical serpins due to the primary structure of characteristic features: the serpin motif, serpin signature and reaction centre loop (RCL). RCLs of four serpin genes (TsB6, Ts4848, Ts12383 and Ts570) contained the conserved sequences of inhibitory serpins, which may involve in immune regulation. TsEP45 differed greatly from the patterns of representative serpins, suggesting that TsEP45 may be non-inhibitory. The bioinformatic analyses were supposed that Tsserpins might be a potential antigen for diagnosis. The five recombinant Tsserpin proteins were expressed and identified reacting with Cysticercus cellulosae-positive serum samples. The indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISAs) based on Tsserpins were developed and validated, one of the five Tsserpins, TsEP45, showed excellent diagnostic results with 93·33% sensitivity and 94·12% specificity, respectively. This performance was in perfect accordance with the results of the bioinformatic analysis. This study provided a comprehensive demonstration of sequences and structural-based analysis of Tsserpins. The iELISAs based on five Tsserpins were developed and compared. TsEP45 was the potential species-specific antigen for developing iELISA to detect porcine cysticercosis.