Identification and biological characteristics of Enterococcus casseliflavus TN-47 isolated from Monochamus alternatus.

With the widespread use of antibiotics, the incidence of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms has increased. Monochamus alternatus is a trunk borer of pine trees. This study aimed to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial and biological characteristics of Enterococcus casseliflavus TN-47 (PP411196), isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of M. alternatus in Jilin Province, PR China. Among 13 isolates obtained from the insects, five were preliminarily screened for antimicrobial activity. E. casseliflavus TN-47, which exhibited the strongest antimicrobial activity, was identified. E. casseliflavus TN-47 possessed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus USA300 and Salmonella enterica serovar Pullorum ATCC 19945. Furthermore, E. casseliflavus TN-47 was sensitive to tetracyclines, penicillins (ampicillin, carbenicillin, and piperacillin), quinolones and nitrofuran antibiotics, and resistant to certain beta-lactam antibiotics (oxacillin, cefradine and cephalexin), macrolide antibiotics, sulfonamides and aminoglycosides. E. casseliflavus TN-47 could tolerate low pH and pepsin-rich conditions in the stomach and grow in the presence of bile acids. E. casseliflavus TN-47 retained its strong auto-aggregating ability and hydrophobicity. This strain did not exhibit any haemolytic activity. These results indicate that E. casseliflavus TN-47 has potential as a probiotic. This study provides a theoretical foundation for the future applications of E. casseliflavus TN-47 and its secondary metabolites in animal nutrition and feed.

Spatial variations of macrozoobenthos and sediment nutrients in Lake Yangcheng: Emphasis on effect of pen culture of Chinese mitten crab.

We determined the effect of Chinese mitten crab (CMC) pen culture on the quantified spatial distribution of the macrozoobenthic community and sediment nutrients in Lake Yangcheng. Redundancy analysis indicated that water temperature, macrophyte occurrence, sediment type, and crab culture were the main environmental factors that influence the spatiotemporal macrozoobenthic distribution. Macrozoobenthic assemblages in the lake were characterized by eutrophic indicator species. In the most polluted estuaries, the abundance and diversity indices of the whole community and abundance of chironomids and oligochaetes were significantly depressed, and sediment carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) were significantly enhanced compared with those in the western, middle (MB), and eastern basin (EB). Crab culture in this lake had significant effects on the species composition of the macrozoobenthic community in one of three CMC culture pens (CP), and generally depressed the abundance of most chironomid and oligochaete species. Significantly increased diversity, evenness, sediment carbon and nitrogen content, and sediment C:P ratio in the CP were found compared with those in the three basins. However, no conspicuous difference in sediment P content between the CP and the two basins of MB and EB was detected. Our results showed that the enhanced diversity and evenness of macrozoobenthos might be associated with the joint effect of macrophyte planting and crab predation, and macrophyte planting may modify the effects of CMC culture by leading to disproportional accumulation of C and N in the sediment relative to P in the CP of the lake.

Formation of emerging iodinated disinfection by-products during ballast water treatment based on ozonation processes.

Disinfection by-products (DBPs) generated by ballast water treatment pose a potential threat to marine environment which aroused widespread concern. In recent years, emerging iodinated DBPs have attracted widespread attention because of their stronger cytotoxicity and genotoxicity than brominated/chlorinated DBPs. In this study, the effects of different natural organic matter species, total residual oxidant (TRO) concentrations, storage time, temperature, pH, bromide and iodide concentrations on the generation of iodinated trihalomethanes (I-THMs) during ozonation process of ballast water were investigated. The results showed that bromochloroiodomethane and diiodochloromethane (DICM) were not detected under all conditions during ozonation of humaic acid (HA). Different kinds of precursors had a significantly effect on the formation of I-THMs. For algal cells as precursor, DICM were detected (1.22 µg/L), while DICM were not detected from oxidation of 1,3-etonedicarboxylic acid, fulvic acid (FA), phenol, resorcinol, hydroquinone and HA as precursors. The yields of I-THMs from oxidation of algal cells, FA and phenol were higher than other precursors. Linear relationships were observed between the formation of I-THMs and TRO concentrations. The yields of I-THMs reached a peak at 48 h (180 µg/L) after ozonation treatment of ballast water, and then decreased with storage time extension. An increase in temperature enhanced the formation of dibromoiodomethane and bromodiiodomethane, while wakened the formation of iodoform and dichloroiodomethane. The formation of I-THMs was complicatedly affected by different pH values in the range from 4 to 9. The more bromide concentrations, the more brominated I-THMs were formed. The concentrations of I-THMs increased with increasing iodide concentrations, and low concentrations of iodide had greater effect on the production of I-THMs than high concentrations of iodide.

Study on Optimal Selection of Wavelet Vanishing Moments for ECG Denoising.

The frequency characteristics of wavelets and the vanishing moments of wavelet filters are both important parameters of wavelets. Clarifying the relationship between the wavelet frequency characteristics and the vanishing moments of the wavelet filter can provide a theoretical basis for selecting the best wavelet. In this paper, the frequency characteristics of wavelets were analyzed by mathematical modeling, the mathematical relationship between wavelet frequency characteristics and vanishing moments was clarified, the optimal wavelet base function was selected hierarchically according to the amplitude frequency characteristics of ECG signal, and an accurate notch filter was realized according to the frequency characteristics of the noise. The experimental results showed that the optimal orthogonal wavelet analysis for the ECG signals with different frequency characteristics could make the high frequency energy distribution sparser, and the method proposed in this paper could effectively preserve the singularity of the signal and reduce the signal distortion.

A Novel ECG Eigenvalue Detection Algorithm Based on Wavelet Transform.

This study investigated an electrocardiogram (ECG) eigenvalue automatic analysis and detection method; ECG eigenvalues were used to reverse the myocardial action potential in order to achieve automatic detection and diagnosis of heart disease. Firstly, the frequency component of the feature signal was extracted based on the wavelet transform, which could be used to locate the signal feature after the energy integral processing. Secondly, this study established a simultaneous equations model of action potentials of the myocardial membrane, using ECG eigenvalues for regression fitting, in order to accurately obtain the eigenvalue vector of myocardial membrane potential. The experimental results show that the accuracy of ECG eigenvalue recognition is more than 99.27%, and the accuracy rate of detection of heart disease such as myocardial ischemia and heart failure is more than 86.7%.

Research and improvement of ECG compression algorithm based on EZW.

Embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) is an efficient compression method that has advantages in coding, but its multilayer structure information coding reduces signal compression ratio. This paper studies the optimization of the EZW compression algorithm and aims to improve it. First, we used lifting wavelet transformation to process electrocardiograph (ECG) signals, focusing on the lifting algorithm. Second, we utilized the EZW compression coding algorithm, through the ECG information decomposition to determine the feature detection value. Then, according to the feature information, we weighted the wavelet coefficients of ECG (through the coefficient as a measure of weight) to achieve the goal of improved compression benefit.

[Phytoplankton community structure in Mingzhu Lake of Chongming Island, Shanghai].

A preliminary study was conducted on the phytoplankton community structure and the annual variation of species diversity in Mingzhu Lake of Chongming Island from January to December 2007. A total of 120 phytoplankton species belonging to 8 phyla and 63 genera were collected, among which, Phormidium tenue, Meismopedia tenuissima, M. convoluta, Microcystis incerta and Synedra ulna were the dominant species. The mean annual density and biomass of the phytoplankton were 5361.57 x 10(4) cell x L(-1) and 7.68 mg x L(-1) respectively. There was a significant difference in the monthly phytoplankton standing crop (P < 0.01) , being the highest in July, but no significant difference was observed among different observation stations. The Shannon index and Margalef index of the phytoplankton community were higher in spring and winter than in the summer and autumn. Biological evaluation indicated that the water quality of Mingzhu Lake was better in spring and winter than in the other two seasons, and canonical correlation analysis (CCA) suggested that the main factors affecting the phytoplankton community were water temperature, followed by total phosphorus, and total nitrogen.

[Community structure of rotifer in Mingzhu Lake of Chongming Island, Shanghai].

A comprehensive survey on the quantitative distribution, community structure, species composition, dominant species, and species diversity of rotifer was conducted in the Mingzhu Lake of Chongming Island, Shanghai in January-December, 2008. There were 27 species of rotifer in the Lake, belonging to 8 families and 11 genera. The dominant species were Polyarthra trigla, Trichocerca pusilla, Brachionus calyciflorus, Brachionus forficula, and Philodina sp. The rotifer had an average annual density of (1505.42 +/- 1304.63) ind x L(-1), and an average annual biomass of (2.012 +/- 2.146) mg x L(-1). The Shannon-Wiener diversity index, evenness index, and richness index of rotifer community in the Lake were relatively low, while the dominance index was rather high, indicating that the community structure of the rotifer was unstable. The E/O value wes 1.61 +/- 1.46 on average, and the Q(B/T) values wes 1.23 +/- 0.84 on average. Water temperature was the main factor affecting the rotifer distribution. Biological assessment of water quality suggested that the Mingzhu Lake was on eutrophication.

[Structural characteristics of chironomid community and their indicative significance in bioassessment of water quality in Mingzhu Lake of Chongming Island, Shanghai].

The structural characteristics of chironomid (Diptera: Chironomidae) community in Mingzhu Lake of Chongming Island, Shanghai, China were studied from July 2006 to April 2008. A total of eleven chironomid species belonging to 10 genera and 3 subfamilies were collected, among which, Propsilocerus akamusi and Microchironomus sp. were predominant. Based on clustering analysis (CA) and importance value (IV), it was found that the dominant species shifted seasonally, with Microchironomus sp. in spring and summer, Tanypus chinensis in autumn, and P. akamusi in winter. There was a significant seasonal difference in the Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H') of the chironomid community, with the lowest in summer and higher in the other three seasons. The H' was significantly correlated with species richness (S) and evenness (J), and more strongly governed by J. The average density and biomass of the chironomid community were the highest in winter, with a minimum density in autumn and a lower biomass in the other seasons. Among the three dominant species, P. akamusi and Microchironomus sp. had more obvious seasonal fluctuations in their population dynamics than T. chinensis. Based on the bioassessment methods of water quality, e.g., H' and Hilsenhoff biotic index (BI), the Mingzhu Lake was considered to be moderately organically polluted and eutrophicated.