Novel coronaviruses, astroviruses, adenoviruses and circoviruses in insectivorous bats from northern China.

Bats are considered as the reservoirs of several emerging infectious disease, and novel viruses are continually found in bats all around the world. Studies conducted in southern China found that bats carried a variety of viruses. However, few studies have been conducted on bats in northern China, which harbours a diversity of endemic insectivorous bats. It is important to understand the prevalence and diversity of viruses circulating in bats in northern China. In this study, a total of 145 insectivorous bats representing six species were collected from northern China and screened with degenerate primers for viruses belonging to six families, including coronaviruses, astroviruses, hantaviruses, paramyxoviruses, adenoviruses and circoviruses. Our study found that four of the viruses screened for were positive and the overall detection rates for astroviruses, coronaviruses, adenoviruses and circoviruses in bats were 21.4%, 15.9%, 20% and 37.2%, respectively. In addition, we found that bats in northern China harboured a diversity of novel viruses. Common Serotine (Eptesicus serotinu), Fringed long-footed Myotis (Myotis fimriatus) and Peking Myotis (Myotis pequinius) were investigated in China for the first time. Our study provided new information on the ecology and phylogeny of bat-borne viruses.

Unique dynamic appearance of a Ge-Si ad-dimer on Si(001).

We carry out a comparative study of the energetics and dynamics of Si-Si, Ge-Ge, and Ge-Si ad-dimers on top of a dimer row in the Si(001) surface, using first-principles calculations. The dynamic appearance of a Ge-Si dimer is distinctively different from that of a Si-Si or Ge-Ge dimer, providing a unique way for its identification by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Its "rocking" motion, observed in STM, actually reflects a 180 degrees rotation of the dimer, involving a piecewise-rotation mechanism. The calculated energy barrier of 0.74 eV is in good agreement with the experimental value of 0.82 eV.

Sex attractants of geometrid and noctuid moths: Chemical characterization and field test of monoepoxides of 6,9-dienes and related compounds.

(Z,Z)-6,9-Dienes with straight C18-C23 chains were synthesized from linoleic acid, and a C17 chain was synthesized by hydrogenation of the corresponding 6,9-diyne prepared from propargyl alcohol. Oxidation of the homoconjugated dienes withm-chloroperoxybenzoic acid yielded a 1:1 mixture of two monoepoxides that could be separated by repeated medium-pressure liquid chromatography with a Lobar column. The chemical structure of each positional isomer was confirmed by analyses of the ozonolysis products, and the isomers showed characteristic(13)C signals in their NMR spectra and fragment ions in their EI mass spectra. In addition to the (Z,Z,Z)-3,6,9-trienes with straight C18-C23 chains and their monoepoxides, field tests using single source lures incorporating one of the above seven dienes and 14 monoepoxymonoenes were carried out in a forest in Tokyo from 1992 to 1994. Consequently, attraction of six geometrid species and five noctuid species was observed for the first time.