The Chinese bees of the genus Anthidium Fabricius, 1804, are reviewed. Twenty-one species are confirmed to occur in China, five of which are described and illustrated as new Chinese endemics: Anthidium (Anthidium) pseudomontanum Niu & Zhu, sp. nov., A. (A.) pseudophilorum Niu & Zhu, sp. nov., A. (A.) tasitiense Niu & Zhu, sp. nov., A. (A.) xuezhongi Niu & Zhu, sp. nov., and A. (Proanthidium) qingtaoi Niu & Zhu, sp. nov.. The previously unknown female of A. (A.) kashmirense Mavromoustakis, 1937 and male of A. (P.) kashgarense (Cockerell, 1911) are described for the first time. Anthidium (A.) furcatum Wu, 2004 (junior primary homonym, nec Anthidium furcatum Ducke, 1908) is replaced with its valid and available synonym A. (A.) striatum Wu, 2004. New synonymies are also established for A. (A.) kashmirense Mavromoustakis, 1937 = A. (A.) nigroventrale Wu, 1982, syn. nov., and A. (A.) florentinum (Fabricius, 1775) = A. (A.) helianthinum Wu, 2004, syn. nov. The non-Chinese Anthidium amabile Alfken, 1933 (junior primary homonym, nec Anthidium porterae var. amabile Cockerell, 1904) is unavailable and the available name Anthidium (Proanthidium) minimum Pasteels, 1969, is valid for this species. Updated synonymies and distributional data are provided for some widespread Palaearctic species including two now adventive in the New World. For Chinese species, the distribution and floral associations of each are provided along with illustrations and a key to the known species.
Changes in abuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization rate and in nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium content in Bt corn 5422Bt11 and 5422CBCL resulting from two different transformation events along with their non-transgenic isogenic lines 5422 were investigated.Meanwhile,the correlation between abuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization rate and nutrient content was subjected to further analysis in this study.The results indicate no significant differences among three corn cultivars in abuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization rate for the experiment period.Remarkable differences,however,exist between Bt and non-Bt corn in-terms of nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium content.Moreover,the correlation between abuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization rate and nutrient content varies with corn variety,growth stage and plant organ.For Bt corn 5422Bt1,leaf total potassium and root total phosphorus at the large trumpet stage,leaf total phosphorus and root total nitrogen at flowering stage,leaf total potassium at milk stage,and leaf total phosphorus and root nitrogen and potassium at mature stage are significantly higher than those for the non-Bt corn 5422.On the contrary,leaf total nitrogen at large trumpet and flowering stages,root total phosphorus and potassium at flowering stage,and root total potassium at milk stage tend to decrease in Bt corn 5422Bt1.With regard to Bt corn 5422CBCL,leaf total potassium and root total nitrogen and potassium at large trumpet stage,leaf total phosphorus at flowering stage,and root total nitrogen and potassium at mature stage are evidently higher than those for the non-Bt corn 5422.However,root total phosphorus at flowering stage,root total phosphorus and potassium at milk stage,and leaf total phosphorus at mature stage are relatively lower than those for the non-Bt corn 5422.The analysis shows that abuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization rate in non-Bt corn 5422 and Bt corn 5422CBCL is positively correlated with root total nitrogen and leaf total potassium (P0.05).Contrarily,there is insignificant correlation between abuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization rate and nutrient content in Bt corn 5422Bt1 (P0.05).In comparison with non-Bt corn,the findings suggest that the changes in nutrient content along with correlation variations between abuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization rate and nutrient content of Bt corns are associated with the varietal characteristics induced by transformation process.
An HPLC method for determination of scoparone and ayapin was established for investigating the distributed patterns of scoparone and ayapin in 37 species of Dendrobium. The contents of scoparone and ayapin in varied collected samples were determined by the established HPLC method. The pseudo-bulbs sampled were collected according to different growth age of D. thyrsiflorum. The results showed that the contents of scoparone and ayapin were much differently distributed in species of Dendrobium. Only D. thyrsiflorum and D. densfilorum contained both scoparone and ayapin, the content decreased with the growth age. A fewer amount of ayapin was tested in D. loddigesii from Wenshan. The scoparone and ayapin were not determined in the rest species of Dendrobium. The method was concise, sensitive, accurate and reproducible. It could be applied to assay scoparone and ayapin in populations of herbal Dendrobium.
Atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV), a highly divergent pestivirus, has a wide geographical distribution around the world. APPV is known to cause type A-II congenital tremors in newborn piglets. The main objective of this study is to access APPV prevalence in the US swine herds utilizing a newly developed quantitative real-time RT-PCR assay. Retrospective analysis of 1,785 samples revealed a 19.0% prevalence in Midwest swine herds over a period of three years (2016-2018). Among all clinical and field samples that were APPV positive, 82 samples (24.19%) were also positive for one or more swine viral pathogens. Two APPV US strains identified in this study demonstrated significant sequence diversity (~12% in full genome) compared to the first reported APPV strain from the United States in 2014. Of the two strains identified in this study, USA/023005/2016 is closer to two strains identified in Germany, and USA/047310/2017 shares more similarities with two US strains including Minnesota-1 and ISDVDL2014016573. Partial NS5B sequences (9127-9836 nt of the polyprotein gene) obtained from 54 APPV-positive samples revealed considerable sequence diversity, ranging from 85.8% to 100% nucleotide identity, within the US strains in samples from different geographic regions. Analysis of all US samples indicates high prevalence of APPV in Minnesota (37.35%), followed by Illinois (32.86%), Iowa (30.60%) and Kansas (21.89%). APPV was detected in 15.48% of samples assayed from 2017, slightly higher than that in 2016 (13.08%), but much lower than 2018 (28.77%). Among the various sample types tested, oral fluid samples had the highest prevalence and lowest average Ct value suggesting their suitability as a reliable diagnostic specimen for APPV detection. Overall, sequence variation among APPV strains and prevalence of the pathogen within the United States provides a basis for understanding the genetic diversity and molecular epidemiology of APPV in the US swine herds.
Effective patient-provider communication is crucial in clinical care, directly impacting patient outcomes and quality of life. Traditional evaluation methods, such as human ratings, patient feedback, and provider self-assessments, are often limited by high costs and scalability issues. Although existing natural language processing (NLP) techniques show promise, they struggle with the nuances of clinical communication and require sensitive clinical data for training, reducing their effectiveness in real-world applications. Emerging large language models (LLMs) offer a new approach to assessing complex communication metrics, with the potential to advance the field through integration into passive sensing and just-in-time intervention systems. This study explores LLMs as evaluators of palliative care communication quality, leveraging their linguistic, in-context learning, and reasoning capabilities. Specifically, using simulated scripts crafted and labeled by healthcare professionals, we test proprietary models (e.g., GPT-4) and fine-tune open-source LLMs (e.g., LLaMA2) with a synthetic dataset generated by GPT-4 to evaluate clinical conversations, to identify key metrics such as `understanding' and `empathy'. Our findings demonstrated LLMs' superior performance in evaluating clinical communication, providing actionable feedback with reasoning, and demonstrating the feasibility and practical viability of developing in-house LLMs. This research highlights LLMs' potential to enhance patient-provider interactions and lays the groundwork for downstream steps in developing LLM-empowered clinical health systems.
The present paper deals with the researches on classification of 7 species belonging to the Genus Hypsolyrium Schmidt. Among them 3 species are described as new to science, namely H. aleurites, H. sapium and H. jiangxiensis, the other 4 are known species, namely H. uncinatum (stal), H. kempi (Distant), H. guizhouensis Chou et Yuan and H. fujianensis Chou et Yuan. Geographical distributions of all the species and host plants of 3 species are noted. A diagnostic key to species is provided. A phylogenetic cladogram of all the species is made out. All the type specimens are kept in the Entomological Museum of the Northwestern Agricultural University.1. Hypsolyrium aleurites Yuan et Gao, sp. nov. (Fig.3)Length including tegmina 7.2-8.5mm. Wing expanse 15.6-17.6mm. Height from bottom of thorax to tip of anterior process 3.5-4.3mm. Height of dorsal subapical node on posterior process 0.21-0.50mm. This species is closely related to H. fujianensis Chou et Yuan, but is different from it in following characters: the dorsal subapical node on posterior process lower and not triangular-shaped; posterior process not reaching to the semicircular hyaline marking inside the internal angles of tegmina or just reaching to the marking; terminal part of male subgenital plate wider, process on lateral plate shorter and smaller; aedeagus thicker.Type: Holotype: (?) , Allotype: (?) , Paratypes: 4 (?) (?) , 8 (?) (?) , Daozhen County, Guizhou Province, China, 20-Ⅹ-1980, colected by Xiang He.Host plant: Aleurites fordii Hemsl.2. Hypsolyrium sapium Yuan et Gao, sp. nov. (Fig.4)Male length including tegmina 8.4mm. Wing expanse 15.7mm. Height from bottom of thorax to tip of anterior process 5.9mm. Height of dorsal subapical node on posterior process 0.28mm. This species is closely related to H. aleurites Yuan et Gao, but is different from it in the following characters: anterior process standing tall, curved backwards and crescent; the distance between ocelli nearly twice as far as between ocellus and eye; apex of median lobe of frontoclypeus wide and truncate; dorsal subapical node high and triangular-shaped; male genitalia lateral plate with longer and curved process, terminal part of aedeagus thinner.Type: Holotype: (?) , Daozhen County, Guizhou Province, China, 20-Ⅹ-1980, collected by Xiang He.Host plant: Sapium sebiferum, (L.) Roxb.3. Hypsolyrium jiangxiensis Yuan et Xu, sp. nov. (Fig.5)Length including tegmina 7.8-8.0mm. Wing expanse 14.4-16.9mm. Height from bottom of the thorax to tip of anterior process 4.0-5.3mm. Height of dorsal subapical node 0.44-0.88mm. This species is closely related to H. fu jianensis Chou et Yuan, but is different from it in following characters: posterior process extending beyond half of semicircular hyaline marking inside internal angles of tegmina; aedeagus thicher, its apical part thinning abruptly, spines on its surface arranging regularly.Type: Holotype: (?) , Allotype: (?) , Paratypes: 3 (?) (?), 3 (?) (?) , Jiulianshan, Jiangxi Province.
The fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis is endemic to the vast region of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau (QTP). The unique and complex geographical environmental conditions have led to the "sky island" distribution structure of O. sinensis. Due to limited and unbalanced sample collections, the previous data on O. sinensis regarding its genetic diversity and spatial structure have been deemed insufficient. In this study, we analyzed the diversity and phylogeographic structures of O. sinensis using internally transcribed spacer region (ITS) and 5-locus datasets by a large-scale sampling. A total of 111 haplotypes of ITS sequences were identified from 948 samples data of the fungus O. sinensis, with representing high genetic diversity, and 8 phylogenetic clades were recognized in O. sinensis. Both the southeastern Tibet and the northwestern Yunnan were the centers of genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of the fungus, and they were inferred as the glacial refugia in the Quaternary. Three distribution patterns were identified to correspond to the 8 clades, including but not limited to the coexistence of widely and specific local distributive structures. It also revealed that the differentiation pattern of O. sinensis did not fit for the isolation-by-distance model. The differentiation into the 8 clades occurred between 1.56 Myr and 6.62 Myr. The ancestor of O. sinensis most likely originated in the late Miocene (6.62 Myr) in the northwestern Yunnan, and the Scene A–C of the Qinghai–Tibetan movements may have played an important role in the differentiation of O. sinensis during the late Miocene–Pliocene periods. Our current results provide a much clearer and detailed understanding of the genetic diversity and geographical spatial distribution of the endemic alpine fungus O. sinensis. It also revealed that the geochronology resulting from paleogeology could be cross-examined with biomolecular clock at a finer scale.
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