Prevention and Control Strategies of African Swine Fever and Progress on Pig Farm Repopulation in China.

African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating disease in domestic and wild pigs. Since the first outbreak of ASF in August 2018 in China, the disease has spread throughout the country with an unprecedented speed, causing heavy losses to the pig and related industries. As a result, strategies for managing the disease are urgently needed. This paper summarizes the important aspects of three key elements about African swine fever virus (ASFV) transmission, including the sources of infection, transmission routes, and susceptible animals. It overviews the relevant prevention and control strategies, focusing on the research progress of ASFV vaccines, anti-ASFV drugs, ASFV-resistant pigs, efficient disinfection, and pig farm biosecurity. We then reviewed the key technical points concerning pig farm repopulation, which is critical to the pork industry. We hope to not only provide a theoretical basis but also practical strategies for effective dealing with the ASF epidemic and restoration of pig production.

Gate-Tunable Surface States in Topological Insulator ß-Ag2Te with High Mobility.

Stimulated by novel properties in topological insulators, experimentally realizing quantum phases of matter and employing control over their properties have become a central goal in condensed matter physics. ß-silver telluride (Ag2Te) is predicted to be a new type narrow-gap topological insulator. While enormous efforts have been plunged into the topological nature in silver chalcogenides, sophisticated research on low-dimensional nanostructures remains unexplored. Here, we report the record-high bulk carrier mobility of 298 600 cm2/(V s) in high-quality Ag2Te nanoplates and the coexistence of the surface and bulk state from systematic Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations measurements. By tuning the correlation between the top and bottom surfaces, we can effectively enhance the contribution of the surface to the total conductance up to 87% at 130 V. These results are instrumental to the high-mobility physics study and even suitable to explore exotic topological phenomena in this material system.

Inhibition of pro-inflammatory mediators in RAW264.7 cells by 7-hydroxyflavone and 7,8-dihydroxyflavone.

OBJECTIVES: Flavonoids are a class of compounds that having the benzo-γ-pyrone skeleton, which possess anti-inflammatory properties in vitro and in vivo. The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibition of two flavonoids 7-hydroxyflavone (HF) and 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (DHF) on the production of pro-inflammatory mediators in RAW264.7 cells activated by lipopolysaccharides (LPS). METHODS: For this purpose, we selected four pro-inflammatory mediators including nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2 ), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) as markers to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of HF and DHF. KEY FINDINGS: In this regard, we showed that HF and DHF dose-dependently reduced the production of NO, PGE2 , TNF-α and IL-6 through downregulating mRNA expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2), TNF-α and IL-6, respectively. Moreover, DHF generally possesses more efficient than HF in reducing these markers secretion in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Consider together, these findings suggest that DHF and HF can inhibit LPS-induced inflammation via attenuating the production of NO, PGE2 , TNF-α and IL-6, indicating that they may be lead compounds for developing anti-inflammatory agent.

Wogonoside displays anti-inflammatory effects through modulating inflammatory mediator expression using RAW264.7 cells.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The root of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, also called Huangqin in China, is an herbal-based nutraceutical which is usually used in Chinese medicated diet (CMD). As an abundant ingredient in Huangqin, wogonoside is a flavonoid glycoside. The present work investigated the anti-inflammatory activities of wogonoside in lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: RAW264.7 cells were used. The inhibition of wogonoside against nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells were measured. Additionally, the effects of wogonoside on mRNA expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2), TNF-α and IL-6 were also investigated. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Wogonoside not only dose-dependently decreased the production of inflammatory mediators including NO and PGE2 but also inhibited the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α and IL-6 in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, wogonoside possessed significantly in vitro inhibitory effects on the gene expression of iNOS, COX2, TNF-α and IL-6. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that wogonoside may be used as a functional food component for prevention and treatment of inflammation.