Occupational Dynamics at Unit III of the Middle Paleolithic Site of Nesher Ramla, Israel

Landscapes, depositional environments and human occupation at Middle Paleolithic open-air sites in the southern Levant, with new insights from Nesher Ramla, Israel

Objective: To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of human brucellosis in northern and southern areas of China, and to develop national strategies for brucellosis prevention and control. Methods: Individual data on human brucellosis was collected from the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting Information System to describe the situation of brucellosis in China during 2015-2016. Epidemiological features of the disease in northern and southern areas of China were analyzed. Results: A total of 104 125 cases were reported in mainland China during 2015-2016, with an average incidence rate as 3.81/100 000. The overall incidence rate from the northern provinces was 7.77/100 000 in 2016, a 18.6% decrease from 2015 (9.55/100 000), whereas the incidence rate in the southern provinces was 0.27/100 000 in 2016, with an increase of 28.6% than 0.21/100 000 in 2015. 90.0% of the newly infected counties mainly distributed in southern China. As for the locations of reporting cases, most of them were in the same counties in the northern areas (52.3%) while most cases in the southern areas (59.6%) were imported from other counties. The median age of the cases was 48 (IQR: 38-58) years, with male-to-female ratios as 2.7∶1 in the north and 2.2∶1 in the south. Majority of the cases were occupation-related, from both the northern (86.8%) and southern (62.7%) areas. Human brucellosis occurred every month throughout the year but with an obvious seasonal increase between March and July. Conclusions: Different epidemiological features of human brucellosis appeared in both northern and southern areas of China. The disease was seen endemic in the northern and dispersal in the southern provinces. Appropriate strategies for brucellosis prevention and control should be developed, according to the different epidemiological characteristics in the northern or southern areas.

The in-fauna community inhabiting the surface sediments in the Bahrain waters during 2007-2008 was investigated to describe the spatial and temporal variations between and within Northern and Southern areas. Using a 0.05 m2 van veen grab, samples were collected from 12 sampling stations: 6 stations at each Northern and Southern waters. The samples were collected during Summer and Winter to compare the in-fauna species composition on seasonal basis at each area. In situ water analysis (temperature, salinity, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen and depth) and the sediment grain size analysis were carried out at same stations of in faunal samples in order to identify potential environmental key factors causing temporal and spatial variations of in-fauna assemblage. Based on species composition, in-fauna community patterns were identified and evaluated by multivariate analysis Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) using PRIMER V6. A total of 5075 specimens represented by 186 taxon were collected during the study period. Generally, the infauna abundance and number of species in the Northern area was higher than the Southern area and seasonally the samples collected in Summer were relatively more abundant than those collected in Winter. The BIOENV results revealed that the water depth and turbidity are the most influential parameters causing spatial variations of in-fauna community within Northern and Southern areas. On temporal basis, temperature found to be the factor determining major part of the temporal variations within stations associated with Southern area, however turbidity was the influential parameter of temporal variations for stations within the Northern area. On the other hand, the salinity found to be the influential factor affecting the majority of spatial variation between Northern and Southern in-fauna species composition. The present study provides a database on part of marine biodiversity representing a background on benthic community in Bahrain that can be used as a biological indicator to evaluate potential environmental impacts pertaining to developmental projects particularly dredging and reclamation works in coastal and offshore regions.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and the most frequent cancer among women, with an estimated 1.67 million new cancer cases diagnosed in 2012 (25% of all cancers) (1). In Europe the estimated age-adjusted annual incidence of breast cancer in 2012 was 94.2/100 thousand and the mortality 23.1/100 thousand (2). In USA, according to the SEER database [2006-2010], the age-adjusted annual incidence of breast cancer was 123.8/100 thousand and the mortality 22.6/100 thousand (3). The median age at breast cancer diagnosis is 61 years: about 10% of breast cancers occur among women aged younger than 50 years, while 65% occur among women aged 65 years or older (3). Overall, 60% of breast cancers are diagnosed at a localized stage, 32% at a regional stage and 5% at an advanced stage. The 5-year relative survival rate for women diagnosed with localized breast cancer is 98.6%; survival declines to 84.4% for regional stage and 24.3% for distant stage (3). In western countries, due to both early detection through screening programs and the improvement in the available treatment strategies, the percentage of women surviving at least 5 years after diagnosis and treatment has shifted from 74.8% in the early 1970s to 90.3% in the late 1990s (3). In Italy, it has been estimated that approximately 48,000 new cases of breast cancer has been diagnosed in 2013 (4). Excluding skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women: a total of 41% are diagnosed in the age group 0-49 years, 36% in patients aged 50-69 years and 21% in women older than 70 years (2,4,5). Breast cancer incidence and prevalence present a marked north-to-south gradient: the incidence rates are respectively 124.9, 100.3 and 95.6 per 100 thousand in the northern, central and southern areas (5). Regarding breast cancer prevalence, the proportion of prevalent cases in the northern area is remarkably higher (2,055-2,331 per 100 thousand) than in the central area (1,795 per 100 thousand) and about twice than in the southern area (1,151 per 100 thousand). In Italy, breast cancer mortality increased until the late 1980s reaching its maximum value at approximately 27 per 100 thousand, and started to decline thereafter (approximately –1.6%/year) (2). The mortality rate started to decline from the late 1980s in the northern central regions and from the mid-1990s in the southern regions. The 5-year relative survival increased from 78% in 1990-1992 to 87% in 2005-2007 (6,7); age standardized mortality rates are lower in the central area (20.6 per 100 thousand) than in the northern (24.7 per 100 thousand) and southern (25.2 per 100 thousand) areas (4). Breast cancer is a major burden also for Chinese women: Zeng and colleagues recently described the epidemiology of breast cancer in China in 2010, reporting breast cancer statistics by age and geographical area (8). Authors estimated the status of female breast cancer based on existing population-based cancer registries’ data available in 2010; these registries covered approximately 12.96% of the overall female population in China. The estimated number of female breast cancer cases was about 208 thousand; the overall crude incidence rate was 32.43 per 100 thousand, accounting for 16.2% of all cancer cases in Chinese women (first cause of cancer diagnosis). The rates standardized by World population and by China population were 24.20 per 100 thousand and 25.89 per 100 thousand respectively. The estimated number of female breast cancer death was about 55.5 thousand with an overall crude mortality rate of 8.65 per 100 thousand, accounting for 7.90% of all cancer deaths (fifth cause of cancer deaths in Chinese women). After age standardization by China population and World population, the standardized rates were 6.56 per 100 thousand and

To understand the rural sanitary conditions in different geographical areas of Shaanxi Province. According to the stratified random sampling method, 30 agriculture-related counties were selected(The central area includes 13 counties in Xi'an, Tongchuan, Weinan, Xianyang and Baoji cities. The southern area includes 10 counties in Hanzhong, Ankang, Shangluo cities. The northern area includes 7 counties in Yulin, Yan'an cities. ). Five townships were selected randomly in each county(excluding Chengguan Town), and 4 administrative villages were selected randomly in each township as survey villages, which were collected the soil samples for testing lead, cadmium and chromium in each subject village, and 5 households were randomly selected in each villages as survey households. The data was obtained through data reading, interviews, on-site observations, and laboratory testing, etc. The detection of soil lead and cadmium was carried out according to the Measurement of Soil Quality Lead and Cadmium by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry(GB/T 17141-1997), and the detection of chromium was carried out according to the Determination of Total Chromium in Soil by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry(HJ 491). The data was statistically analyzed and evaluated according to the central, southern and northern regions. The population coverage of rural centralized water supply in the three regions(central、southern and northern area) was 92. 86%, 75. 49% and 70. 41%, respectively. The penetration rate of sanitary toilets was 28. 18%, 45. 38% and 9. 90%, respectively. The proportion of villages where domestic garbage was randomly stacked was 0. 38%, 4. 00% and 32. 86%, respectively. The proportion of villages where domestic sewage was randomly discharged was 30. 38%, 40. 00% and 60. 00%, respectively. The heavy metals exceeding the standard in the soil were mainly cadmium. The over-standard rates were 4. 62%, 21. 50% and 0. 71%, respectively. The three regional differences of the above result were statistically significant(χ~2=57 676. 74, 18 143. 94, 124. 86, 33. 15 and 54. 12, P<0. 01). There was still some decentralized water supply population in the province. The coverage rate of the centralized water supply population and the proportion of drinking water after complete treatment projects were both higher in the central area than in the southern area and northern area. Sanitation toilets have a low penetration rate in the province, which was higher in the southern area than in the central area and the northern area. The domestic garbage was randomly discarded, and domestic sewage was randomly discharged, which was more in the northern area than in the central area and the southern area. Soil cadmium pollution was relatively heavy, mainly in the southern area.

Abstract. The composition of the algal diet of Siganus luridus was compared with that of the algal vegetation found in fish habitats along the Mediterranean coast of Israel. North‐south differences in the diet were found and reflected differences in the available algal resources as well as in algal species selected.In the northern area, the diet and the algal selection differed considerably between S. luridus and a congeneric Lessepsian migrant siganid. S. rivulatus, whereas in the southern area the two species showed similarity in feeding.A comparison is made between the Mediterranean populations and those of the tropical Red Sea Gulf of Elat (Aqaba). The diet partitioning in the Northern Mediterranean resembles that found in the Gulf of Elat. where the realized diet may be related to strong competition between herbivores in combination with availability of numerous edible algal species. There. the two siganids showed different preferences. In the Northern Mediterranean, competition is probably lower. since there are fewer herbivorous fish species. while numerous good algal habitats (rocky areas) enable selection. By contrast, rocky algal habitats are scarce in the southern area; this implies that the total amount of algae available to choose from is smaller there.The similar diets and preferences in the southern part of the Mediterranean indicate scarcity of preferred food species. as the fishes fed mainly on small filamentous species of the algal turf on the bottoms.SummaryThe algae and seagrasses in gut contents of two Lessepsian migrants were analysed: Siganus rivulatus and S. luridus from both Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean locations. The quantitative and qualitative composition of the diet was compared to that of the algal and seagrass vegetation in four regions: the southern and northern basins of the Gulf of Elat and the southern and northern area in the Mediterranean along Israel's coast.In the original environment of the fish in the southern basin of the Gulf of Elat, a variety of large brown algae as well as fleshy and soft red algae, green and blue‐green algae and seagrasses inhabited the coral reefs and adjoining areas, all of which were accessible to the fish. There, S. luridus mainly fed on and selected large brown algae, while S. rivulatus mainly fed on and selected fleshy and soft red algae. In the Mediterranean, horizontal platforms at about sea level are covered with algae. The small tidal range makes these sites mostly inaccessible to grazing fish. In the submerged habitats where the fish fed, calcareous red algae dominated. In the southern area both siganids fed on and selected small filamentous algae as found in the algal turf. In the northern area S. luridus fed on and selected large brown algae, S. rivulatus on Ulva and fleshy red algae. The algal partitioning in the Red Sea disappeared in the southern area of the Mediterranean as an adaption to the environment. It developed in the northern area probably due to the prevalent rocky areas with their algal habitats.

By means of thin section authentication, physical characteristics analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, and vitrinite reflectance analysis, this paper, based on regional geological research achievements, studies the sedimentary facies and diagenesis of the southern and northern Silurian Xiaoheba Formation areas of Southeast Sichuan and their relationships with the physical characteristics of the reservoirs. The results indicate that, in the northern study area, the microfacies are mainly deposited in the underwater distributary main channel of the distal shallow-water delta front; while in the south, the microfacies include an estuary bar, sheet sand, distal bar, and interdistributary bay, which are far away from the main channel. The physical characteristics of sandstone are positively correlated with its particle sizes and thickness. The sand body of the underwater distributary main channel microfacies features high porosity, large crack opening, and good connectivity, followed by the sandstone of the estuary bar microfacies regarding those characteristics. By contrast, the physical characteristics of the sandstone reservoirs corresponding to the microfacies including the distal bar, sheet sand, and interdistributary bay are poor. The Xiaoheba Formation reservoir is located in the late diagenetic stage, with the reservoir space dominated by dissolved pores and micro-cracks; the diagenesis and pore evolution in the south are significantly different from those in the north. The Xiaoheba Formation reservoir in the northern area is far away from the carbonate rock platform of the same period in the south but is close to the center of hydrocarbon generation. Besides, the reservoir was sufficiently reformed by organic acid dissolution in the early-medium diagenetic stage, with only a little carbonate cementation formed in the early stage, while the cementation in the late diagenetic stage was weak. Therefore, the reservoir pores were relatively well preserved. However, the Xiaoheba Formation reservoir in the southern area has a large amount of calcite cement that was formed in the early diagenetic stage and the pores were blocked due to the influence of the carbonate platform. Since the dissolution was weak at the same time, the reservoir in the southern area is tight. Based on the understanding above, this paper established the inhomogeneous sedimentation–diagenesis–reservoir formation mode of the northern and southern areas of the study area.

The paper reports the blood group genetic variations found in 1479 individuals, mainly of 17 cultural and linguistic groups, in the ABO, MNS and Rh blood group system. The blood samples consisted of 913 from groups in the south, 422 from the Central Highlands region, and 144 from the northeastern part of the country near Lake Sentani and the Cyclops Mountains.The results of all surveys in West New Guinea in which the ABO, MNS and Rh blood groups were determined have been tabulated.Wide variations in gene frequencies were found for A, B, n, S, R1 and R2. No example of subgroup A2 was detected. Remarkably high values for A of 0.36 and 0.41 were found in the Sarmi and Wakde of the northern area. The frequency of B reached an unusually high value of 0.3938 in the Mulia region of the Western Dani (central area), while in other Dani populations B values were also relatively high. In the Sarmi region in the north B was 0.335 in the Baudji and 0.02 in the Wakde.The n frequencies were all high with values reaching 0.97–0.98 in southern, central and northern areas. S of MNS varied from 0 to 50% in phenotype values; however, in the central area and in parts of the northern area the S gene was absent, or present only in very low values. The genotype mS was found in Samarckema and in Pionier‐Bivak natives of the Mamberamo region (northern area).Values for R1 reached 0.996 in Asmat (southern area), 0.980 in Dani, Baliem Valley, Pyramid (central area), 0.98 in Martewar, Ferkami, Teba and 0.99 in Takar and Mamberamo (northern area). The phenotype RH0 was found only twice, and then in Sentani (northern area). The gene Rz was detected in three southern series, in two central series, and in two northern series. Rh0(Du) variants of “high‐grade” and “low‐grade” were found in northern and in southern series.Possible reasons for the wide gene frequency variations found in the same linguistic group, in different groups in the same area, and in all the indigenous peoples of the southern, central and northern areas are discussed.A comprehensive map of South West New Guinea showing all linguistic groups and the sites in 1963 of all villages is appended to the paper. This map covers one of the areas whose blood groups are reported in the paper, but includes many more villages and linguistic groups than those from which bleedings were obtained.

Agriphotovoltaic (APV) systems emerge as a progressive solution to the dual challenge of sustainable energy generation and agricultural production. The thermal environment introduced by the photovoltaic (PV) panels plays a pivotal role within APV systems, influencing both plant growth and solar efficiency. However, a comprehensive investigation into the study for the regulatory effect of APV systems with different panel heights on the thermal environment has yet to be fully conducted. This study addressed this gap by carrying out test monitoring and establishing a thermal model based on computational fluid dynamics to explore the regulatory effect of different panel heights on air and soil temperature. Three panel heights of APV systems were selected, which were 2.5 m (H2.5), 3.2 m (H3.2), and 3.9 m (H3.9), respectively. The experimental plot for each panel height was segmented into 3 areas along the span direction, which were the southern, middle, and northern area. The key findings of this study revealed that the height of PV panels significantly affects the distribution of soil temperatures within the APV systems. At a reduced height of 2.5 m, the soil temperature in the middle area was notably higher compared to the northern and southern areas. When the panel height was increased to 3.9 m, soil temperatures in the northern and southern areas rose, while those in the middle area decreased. These results emphasize the pronounced sensitivity of soil temperatures to variations in panel height. Additionally, although air temperature differences across the varying panel heights were minimal, raising the panel height facilitated improved air circulation in the middle area. This enhanced airflow contributed to a more balanced heat exchange, thereby creating a more favorable environment for crop growth. In conclusion, adjusting the height of PV panels enables effective regulation of soil and air temperatures across different areas, thereby creating a favorable microclimate for crop growth. This study plays a crucial role in boosting the overall efficiency of APV systems, maximizing crop yields, and extending the return on investment period for the project.

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes in the feces of black beef cattle reared in geographically distant areas in Japan. We surveyed 130 farms in the following three areas: northern (Hokkaido prefecture), central (Gifu and Mie prefectures), and southern (Oita, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima prefectures) areas and collected 1738 fecal samples. Our data showed the following isolation rate for each area: northern, 11.4% of 651; central, 2.8% of 572; and southern, 2.9% of 515, indicating that the isolation rate in the northern area was significantly higher than that in the central or southern areas (p<0.01). Moreover, serotyping of 996 isolates identified 1/2b as the most prevalent serotype (40.5%), followed by 1/2a (36.9%), 4b (21.6%), and 4ab (1.0%). In the northern area, multiple serotypes were isolated from 60% of L. monocytogenes-positive farms. In addition, multiple serotypes were isolated from individual fecal samples from 18 cattle. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) characterization of 239 isolates detected 48 different PFGE types. We found that isolates from northern farms were genetically diverse compared to those from central and southern farms. Five isolates from human clinical cases and three isolates from animal clinical cases were identical to isolates from black beef cattle. Furthermore, the isolates from northern and central farms were characterized to possess epidemic clone II or III markers. We next showed that the isolates were susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, gentamicin, kanamycin, streptomycin, erythromycin, vancomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Taken together, our survey provides crucial data regarding the prevalence and characteristics of L. monocytogenes in black beef cattle farms throughout Japan.

Elucidating the temporal natural history of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection provides not only useful information for assessing the spread of HBV infection but also a bedrock for economic appraisal of population-based preventive strategies (such as universal vaccination). HBV transmissions are transmitted through the maternal (vertical) route and environmental (horizontal) route. As the infection process from susceptible to active virus replication and finally to recovery state or to carrier state through both routes is not directly observable, mathematical models were therefore proposed to quantitatively elucidate the dynamic process of HBV infection with time. We began with a simple two-state model (from susceptible to infection) and further developed a five-state (including susceptible, latent phase, active viral replication, carrier, and recovery states) stochastic process to quantify the dynamics of HBV infection, making allowances for a mixed proportion of vertical and horizontal transmissions. The data used in the estimation, which were collected before implementation of a policy for universal HBV vaccination, were derived from several previous serum prevalence studies, including both low (northern) and high (southern) HBV prevalence areas, in Taiwan. The parameters obtained from stochastic models were converted to compute the basic reproductive number (R0) in each study to indicate the extent of the spread of HBV infection. By linking the temporal natural history of HBV infection with the previously established Markov process for the sequelae of HBV infection (chronic hepatitis infection, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocelluar carcinoma), we developed a Markov cycle decision tree to evaluate the two population-based preventive strategies related to vaccination and maternal lamivudine use with a cost-effectiveness analysis. In the five-state model, horizontal transmission was found to contribute more to HBV infection than vertical transmission in the northern area (59 vs. 41 %), whereas vertical transmission was more likely than horizontal transmission in the southern area (80 vs. 20 %). After considering the parameters of the two transmission routes, annual infection rate (person-years) for susceptible subjects was higher in the northern area (0.35) than the southern area (0.011). A similar finding was noted for annual rate of the transition from the latent period to active viral replications (1.12 in the northern area and 0.072 in the southern area). Annual rate of the conversion from active viral replication to the carrier state was higher in the southern area (0.184) than the northern area (0.119). Annual recovery rates were 0.014 in the northern area and 0.024 in the southern area for the carrier and 0.048 and 0.088 for transient viremia. The R0 at age 30 using the parameters obtained from the five-state stochastic model was estimated as 4.88 in the northern and 7.03 in the southern area. Regarding the findings of economic appraisal, both preventive strategies were cost-saving, yielding the negative value of incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, compared with the baseline group (no intervention), regardless of areas. The preventive strategies in the southern area were more cost-saving than those in the northern area. The consolidation of elucidating the temporal natural history of HBV infection, estimating basic reproductive number, and conducting an economic appraisal of population-based preventive strategy can aid health policy-makers in designing effective preventive strategies in other countries worldwide where HBV is still prevalent. However, the empirical findings on transmission routes and the temporal evolution of HBV infection varying with areas should be considered with great caution as only two studies were modeled.

We studied changes in the abundance of wild Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in lowland Yakushima from 1991-1994 to 2013-2014. We quantified abundance based on the detection frequency during point observation. Data included 271 points censused between July and August from 1991 to 1994 and 58 points censused between July and September in 2013 and 2014. Abundance of Japanese macaques significantly decreased in northern and eastern areas, but not in the western and southern areas. Comparing the estimated population between 1991 and 1994 and the number of hunted macaques for pest control between 2007 and 2013, hunting pressure seems to be high in northern and eastern areas, low in southern areas, and absent in western areas. Conifer plantation is more widespread in eastern and northern areas, which may also explain the declining trend of the macaque population in these areas. The number of macaques hunted for pest control exceeded 1,000 each year following 2009 in Yakushima. Our results suggest that macaques are overhunted in Yakushima, so we recommend putting more emphasis on measures against crop-raiding other than pest control, in particular in eastern and northern areas.

PURPOSEIn this study, we aimed to investigate trends in the age-standardized and age-specific incidence rates in two distinct regions (the northern and southern areas) of South Africa covered by a population-based cancer registry. In addition, trends in coverage of the cervical cancer screening program were assessed using routine health service data.METHODSOccurrences (topography C53.0-C53.9) for the period 1998-2012 were extracted from a cancer registry database from which basic descriptive statistics and frequencies were analyzed for all variables using CanReg4. Trends over time were estimated using a direct standardization method and world standard population as a reference. Screening coverage annualized figures for women age ≥ 30 years by sub–health district were extracted from the District Health Information System.RESULTSIn the northern area, annual age-standardized incidence rates per 100,000 women increased from 24.0 (95% CI, 21.1 to 27.0) in 1998-2002 to 39.0 (95% CI, 35.6 to 42.5) in 2008-2012, with a screening coverage rate of 15% by 2012. In contrast, no increase was observed in incidence in the southern area, with rates of 20.0 (95% CI, 18.5 to 21.4) in 1998-2002 and 18.8 (95% CI, 16.2 to 21.4) in 2008-2012, and the southern area had a higher screening coverage of 41% in 2012. Overall, the percentage distribution of stage at diagnosis showed that 28.5% of occurrences were diagnosed at disease stages I and II and 35%, at III and IV; 36% had with missing stage information (2003-2012). In 77% of occurrences, a histologically verified diagnosis was made, compared with only 12.3% by cytology.CONCLUSIONThis study has demonstrated an almost two-fold increase in the incidence rate in the northern area but little change in the southern area of the cancer registry.

A large-scale survey was conducted to investigate the infection status of fresh water fishes with Clonorchis sinensis metacercariae (CsMc) in 3 wide regions, which were tentatively divided by latitudinal levels of the Korean peninsula. A total of 4,071 freshwater fishes were collected from 3 regions, i.e., northern (Gangwon-do: 1,543 fish), middle (Chungcheongbuk-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do: 1,167 fish), and southern areas (Jeollanam-do, Ulsan-si, and Gyeongsangnam-do: 1,361 fish). Each fish was examined by the artificial digestion method from 2003 to 2010. In northern areas, only 11 (0.7%) fish of 2 species, Pungtungia herzi and Squalidus japonicus coreanus from Hantan-gang, Cheolwon-gun, Gangwon-do were infected with av. 2.6 CsMc. In middle areas, 149 (12.8%) fish were infected with av. 164 CsMc. In southern areas, 538 (39.5%) fish were infected with av. 159 CsMc. In the analysis of endemicity in 3 regions with an index fish, P. herzi, 9 (6.2%) of 146 P. herzi from northern areas were infected with av. 2.8 CsMc. In middle areas, 34 (31.8%) of 107 P. herzi were infected with av. 215 CsMc, and in southern areas, 158 (92.9%) of 170 P. herzi were infected with av. 409 CsMc. From these results, it has been confirmed that the infection status of fish with CsMc is obviously different among the 3 latitudinal regions of the Korean peninsula with higher prevalence and burden in southern regions.

ABSTRACT: Genetic variations of Abies koreana and Abies nephrolepis were assessed using two mitochondrialDNA regions (nad5 intron 4 and nad5 intron 1) for 16 natural populations to understand their phylogeograph-ical history. Seven polymorphic sites of the two combined regions resulted in the resolution of four haplotypes(M1−M4). The average gene diversity within the population (H S ) was 0.098, the total gene diversity (H T ) was0.620, and the interpopulation differentiation was G ST = 0.841, N ST = 0.849. The populations were divided intothree groups (northern area, central area, southern area) according to their geographic locations. The popu-lations of the northern and southern areas were mostly fixed for M1 and M2, respectively. The populations ofthe central area showed the highest levels of gene diversity (H T = 0.654) due to introgression from the north-ern area and southern area. The presence of a single mtDNA haplotype in the southern area suggests that cur-rent widespread populations have expanded to the central area from a specific refugium population after thelast glacial period.