Neural Correlate Differences in Number Sense Between Children With Low and Middle/High Socioeconomic Status.

Although some cognitive studies provided reasons that children with low socioeconomic status (SES) showed poor mathematical achievements, there was no explicit evidence to directly explain the root of lagged performance in children with low SES. Therefore, the present study explored the differences in neural correlates in the process of symbolic magnitude comparison between children with different SESs by the event-related potentials (ERPs). A total of 16 second-graders from low-SES families and 16 from middle/high-SES families participated in this study. According to the results of anterior N1 (early attention) and P2 (extraction of numerical meaning) over the frontal region, the differences among children with different SESs were manifested as differences in general neural activities in terms of attention and top-down cognitive control. In the late stage of cognitive processing, there was no significant difference in the average amplitude of the late positive component (LPC) between children with different SES, indicating that low SES did not influence the information encoding and memory updating of numerical representation, which was responsible by the parietal lobe. The educational implications of this study are mentioned in the discussion.

Cost-effectiveness of comprehensive schistosomiasis control strategy with fo-cus on cattle and sheep removal in Junshan District,Yueyang City / 中国血吸虫病防治杂志

Objective To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of comprehensive schistosomiasis control measures with focus on total removal of cattle and sheep in Juanshan District,Yueyang City.Methods The schistosome infection status of human,cat-tle,sheep and Oncomelania hupensis snails and costs of control measures were gathered during the period of 2006 to 2016.The costs for different periods and cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated.Results The prevalence of schistosome infection in resi-dents in the pilot villages decreased from 3.44% in 2006 to 0 in 2016.The annual costs of schistosomiasis prevention and control were 4 708 500 yuan from 2006 to 2008,5 094 700 yuan from 2009 to 2012 and 9 522 700 yuan from 2013 to 2016.The cost-ef-fectiveness analysis showed that the average annual cost of reduction in the residents'infection rate by 1% were 79 500 yuan from 2006 to 2008,101 200 yuan from 2009 to 2012,and 95 200 yuan from 2013 to 2016,respectively. Conclusion The comprehensive schistosomiasis control strategy with focus on cattle and sheep removal in Junshan District is cost effective, which could be extended to other lake and marshland schistosomiasis endemic areas.

[Strategy and effect of Oncomelania hupensis snail control in inside-embankment areas in Junshan District, Hunan Province from 1998 to 2017].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the strategy and countermeasures of Oncomelania hupensis snail control and evaluate the effect in inside-embankment areas of lake-type schistosomiasis endemic area, for providing the effective method for controlling and interrupting the schistosomiasis transmission. METHODS: The data of schistosomiasis epidemic and its control and prevention were collected in Junshan District, Hunan Province, and the effect of snail control countermeasures were evaluated and the trend of indexes of snails was drafted in the inside-embankment areas of Junshan District, Hunan Province from 1998 to 2007. RESULTS: The area with snails in the inside embankment areas of Junshan District decreased by 98.43%, from 1 496.66 hm2 in 1998 to 23.48 hm2 in 2017. The occurrence rate and average density of of living snails decreased from 20.61% and 0.45 snail/0.1 m2 in 2003 to 2.06% and 0.03 snail/0.1 m2 in 2017. The highest area with schistosome infected snails was found in 2001 and the total area was 79.36 hm2, however, no infected snails were found since 2007. The total fiscal investment for schistosomiasis prevention and control was 398.857 million RMB in Junshan District, including molluscicide (81.770 9 million RMB) and environment reform (213.5 million RMB) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The comprehensive measures, mainly including the combination of molluscicide and environment reform have gotten a significant effect in snail control and elimination in the inside-embankment areas, but the snail surveillance still need to be strengthened in the historic areas with snails.

[Cost-effectiveness of comprehensive schistosomiasis control strategy with focus on cattle and sheep removal in Junshan District, Yueyang City].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of comprehensive schistosomiasis control measures with focus on total removal of cattle and sheep in Juanshan District, Yueyang City. METHODS: The schistosome infection status of human, cattle, sheep and Oncomelania hupensis snails and costs of control measures were gathered during the period of 2006 to 2016. The costs for different periods and cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated. RESULTS: The prevalence of schistosome infection in residents in the pilot villages decreased from 3.44% in 2006 to 0 in 2016. The annual costs of schistosomiasis prevention and control were 4 708 500 yuan from 2006 to 2008, 5 094 700 yuan from 2009 to 2012 and 9 522 700 yuan from 2013 to 2016. The cost-effectiveness analysis showed that the average annual cost of reduction in the residents'infection rate by 1% were 79 500 yuan from 2006 to 2008, 101 200 yuan from 2009 to 2012, and 95 200 yuan from 2013 to 2016, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The comprehensive schistosomiasis control strategy with focus on cattle and sheep removal in Junshan District is cost effective which could be extended to other lake and marshland schistosomiasis endemic areas.

PTD-hEGF fusion protein--gene expression and function analysis / 生物工程学报

To produce membrane-permeable human epidermal growth factor (hEGF), a pPTD-hEGF prokaryocyte expression vector was constructed and transformed into E. coli BL 21 (DE3). The PTD-hEGF fusion protein was induced by 0.3 mmol/L of IPTG expressed in the form of inclusion body with an yield of 40% of the total protein in the cells, and then purified by Ni2+ -NTA affinity chromatography. The SDS-PAGE analysis showed a single fusion protein band with a molecular weight of 16 kD. The amino acid sequence was checked by MALDI-TOF-MS analysis. The genetic engineering PTD-hEGF fusion protein obviously promoted the proliferation and growth of the HEK-293 cells in vitro.

The Progress in Research on Avirulence Gene of the Rice Blast Fungus / 中国生物工程杂志

It was widely believed that the interaction between rice and rice blast fungus can be interpreted by the gene-for-gene hypothesis. Two interaction models between rice blast fungus and anti-disease genes had been briefed. They were receptor-ligand model and guard model. The progress of research about molecular marker and position on avirulence genes of the pathogens of rice blast (Magnaporthe oryzae) was reviewed, and the methods to clone and the cloned avirulence genes of rice blast fungus were also summarized.

Marker-assisted selection and pyramiding for three blast resistance genes, Pi-d(t)1, Pi-b, Pi-ta2, in rice / 生物工程学报

G46B is a promising holding line used for three-lines breeding strategy in hybrid rice, but it is susceptible to blast disease caused by Pyricularia grisea. To improve its blast resistance, three rice varieties, Digu, BL-1, and Pi-4, with blast resistance genes, Pi-d(t), Pi-b, and Pi-ta2, respectively, were used to be crossed with G46B, and 15 plants with these three blast resistance genes, Pi-d(t)1, Pi-b, and Pi-ta2, were selected from their F2 and B1C1 populations via a marker-aided crossing procedure. Among them, four plants were heterozygotes in the three resistance genes, with the genotype of Pi-d(t)1 pi-d(t)/Pi-b pi-b/ Pi-ta2 pi-ta2; ten plants were heterozygotes in two of the three resistance genes, of which six with the genotype of Pi-d(t)1 Pi-d(t)1/Pi-b pi-b/Pi-ta2 pi-ta2, three with the genotype of Pi-d(t)1 pi-d(t)1/Pi-b pi-b/Pi-ta2 Pi-ta2, and one with the genotype of Pi-d(t)1pi-d(t)1/Pi-b Pi-b/Pi-ta2 pi-ta2; and only one plant was homozygote in two of the three resistance genes with the genotype of Pi-d(t)1 Pi-d(t)/Pi-b pi-b/Pi-ta2 Pi-ta2. These results demonstrate the capacity of maker-assisted selection (MAS) in gene pyramiding for rice blast resistance and its enhancement for the efficiency in rice resistance breeding.

Accelerated improvement of bacterial blight resistance of 'Shuhui527' using molecular marker-assisted selection / 生物工程学报

'Shuhui527' is a promising restorer line bred by Rice Research Institute of Sichuan Agricultural University in recent years. However, this line is susceptible to Bacterial Blight (BB), which limits its use. The IRBB60, from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), contains dominant genes Xa21 and Xa4 conferring resistance to BB. The objective of this study is to improve the BB resistance of 'Shuhui527' by introgressing Xa21 and Xa4, the two broad-spectrum BB resistance genes, into 'Shuhui527' with IRBB60 as the donor, pTA248 and MP12, linking tightly with Xa21 and Xa4 respectively as DNA markers. BC1 F1 progenies of (Shuhui527 x IRBB60), containing Xa21 and Xa4 identified using PCR screening and with agronomic traits including plant type, grain type and days to heading etc similar to those of 'Shuhui527', were subsequently backcrossed to 'Shuhui527' and self-pollinated to generate BC2 F1 and BC1 F2 . The BC3 F1 and BC3 F2 were subsequently developed using the same approach. Among the 20 BC3 F2 plants, homozygous Xa21 and Xa4,10 plants were the most similar to 'Shuhui527' in the agronomic traits, and were screened using 120 pairs SSR and 100 pairs RAPD markers. Based on the results of the background screening and the performance of the agronomic traits, 5 plants were identified as improved-'Shuhui527' and designated as 527R-5, 527R-6, 527R-8, 527R-9 and 527R-10. The improved-' Shuhui527' lines expressed high resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv . oryzae (Xoo) stains C I - C VII, P1 and P6. The evaluation of the polymorphisms and selection accuracies of pTA248 and MP12 demonstrated that the polymorphisms of the two markers were obvious and co-dominant and the accuracies were more than 97% and 83% respectively, indicating the two markers are good for Xa21 and Xa4 in Molecular Marker-assisted Selection.

THE EFFECT OF PRESERVATION MYCELIAL FUNGUS BY THE METHODS OF SLANT AND RUBBER PLUG / 微生物学通报

This paper has reported the effect of preservation myceh'al fungus by the methods of slant and rubber plug. The mycelial fungus preserved include 29 genera, 69 species, 128 strains. The preservation time is from 2 years to 17 years. By slant inoculation, their survival conditions are still good keep their original charaters. The result shows that it is simple and effective preserving some mycelial fungus by the methods of slant and rubber plug.