Primatologists have classified rhesus macaques of the Taihangshan Mountains area as Macaca mulatta tcheliensis, a subspecies confined to China. The northernmost area of its distribution is in the southern part of the Taihangshan Mountains, which includes a National Nature Reserve established in 1998. To investigate the current status of the subspecies, we surveyed the population and distribution of macaque groups in Jiyuan, Henan, China. In addition, we investigated habitat preferences and the food items foraged by macaques during winter and early spring. The results show that: 1) ca. 2100 macaques currently inhabit the Taihangshan Mountains National Nature Reserve, mainly in Jiyuan; 2) fragmentation of habitats of rhesus macaques have become severe in recent years; and 3) food resources are very poor during the long winter and the early spring. Macaques in the Taihangshan Mountains feed mainly on seeds, twigs, and bark and the eggs of some insects.

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In July 2022, the World Health Organization announced monkeypox as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), over 85,000 global cases have been reported currently. However, preventive and therapeutic treatments are very limited. The monkeypox virus (MPXV) E12, an mRNA capping enzyme small subunit, is essential for the methyltransferase activity of RNA capping enzymes of MPXV. Here, we solved a 2.16 angstrom crystal structure of E12. We also docked the D1 subunit c-terminal domain (D1CTD) of vaccinia virus (VACV) with E12 to analyze the critical residues of interface between them. These residues are used for drug screening. The top six compounds are Rutin, Quercitrin, Epigallocatechin, Rosuvastatin, 5-hydroxy-L-Tryptophan, and Deferasirox. These findings may provide insights into the development of anti-MPXV drugs.

C15H10BrN, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 14.6998(9) Å, b = 5.9337(4) Å, c = 14.6275(11) Å, β = 113.542(8)°, V = 1169.67(15) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0396, wRref(F2) = 0.1103, T = 293(2) K.