Based on microbiological and histopathological examinations and DNA sequencing, several outbreaks of mycobacteriosis in the reared sturgeons, including Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis Gray) and Amur sturgeon (Acipenser schrencki), were identified during 2009 to 2010. Forty-nine isolates of non-tuberculous mycobacteria(NTM) were isolated from 19 diseased sturgeons. In total, seven species of Mycobacterium were identified, namely, Mycobacterium chelonae, Mycobacterium marinum, Mycobacterium gordonae, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Mycobacterium szulgai, Mycobacterium arupense and Mycobacterium porcinum. Among them, M. marinum was found to be more prevalent (89.5%) compared with the other mycobacterial species. When two molecular biological methods, PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) analysis and rpoB gene library sequencing, were used to analyse the mycobacterial DNAs extracted from the diseased fish tissues, mixed infections of two or three mycobacterial species were found being the predominant infection form (94.7%) in sturgeon mycobacteriosis. M. marinum was the only one species that caused sturgeon mycobacteriosis alone. Virulence assay showed that M. marinum possessed stronger pathogenicity to zebrafish killing 100% of fish in 28 days at 10 3 cfu/fish than the other species. These results suggested that M. marinum is the major pathogenic bacteria in sturgeon mycobacteriosis. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first report on mycobacteriosis in farmed Chinese and Amur sturgeons as well as the first isolation of M. porcinum and M. arupense from fish.

Background: Previous work within our laboratory has revealed that hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) can serve as neuroprotectant against brain damage caused by hypoxia-ischemia (HI) exposure in neonatal mice. After HI insult, activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/ protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway has been shown to be implicated in neurorestoration processes. The goal of the current study was to determine whether the neuroprotective effects of H 2 S were mediated by the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Methods: The mouse HI model was built at postnatal day 7 (P7), and the effects of L-Cysteine treatment on acute brain damage (72 h post-HI) and long-term neurological responses (28 days post-HI) were evaluated. Nissl staining and Transmission electron microscopy were used to evaluate the neuronal loss and apoptosis. Immunofluorescence imaging and dihydroethidium staining were utilized to determine glial cell activation and ROS content, respectively. Results: Quantitative results revealed that L-Cysteine treatment significantly prevented the acute effects of HI on apoptosis, glial cell activation and oxidative injury as well as the longterm effects upon memory impairment in neonatal mice. This protective effect of L-Cysteine was found to be associated with the phosphorylation of Akt and phosphatase and a tensin homolog deletion on chromosome 10 (PTEN). Following treatment with the PI3K inhibitor, LY294002, the neuroprotective effects of L-Cysteine were attenuated. Conclusion: PTEN/PI3K/Akt signaling was involved in mediating the neuroprotective effects of exogenous H 2 S against HI exposure in neonatal mice.

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The sensitivity analysis of wellbore heat transfer during the CO2injection process is of vital importance to Carbon dioxide utilization and sequestration (CCUS). A numerical simulation method is developed to simulate the process of wellbore heat transfer during injecting carbon dioxide by amending the classical heat transfer modelRamey models. It analyses how the selected parameters affect the distribution of the wellbore temperature and pressure, which include CO2injection temperature, pressure and density, the injection flow rate and Joule Thomson coefficient. The results show that, CO2injection temperature has greater impact on the initial level of the temperature distribution; higher injection pressure raises the temperature mainly because of the effect of Joule Thomson coefficient; also, when the injection process lasts a longer time, the distribution is much more stable. When the injection flow rate is higher, the strata temperature has less influence on the flow temperature. The injection pressure and density has very appreciable effect on the pressure distribution. However, the other parameters have less influence on it. The modified simulation method was applied in Jiangsu Caoshe oil field and the simulation results coincided with the measuring data well.