Eighth Division Research Articles

The status and influencing factors of lung ventilation function in employees exposed to dust in enterprises of the XPCC, China.

Occupational health is closely related to harmful factors in the workplace. Dust is the primary contributing factor causing impaired lung ventilation function among employees with dust exposure, and their lung ventilation function may also be influenced by other factors. We aimed at assessing the status and influencing factors of lung ventilation function among employees exposed to dust in the enterprises of the Eighth Division located in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), China. Employees exposed to dust in enterprises of the Eighth Division located in the XPCC in 2023 were selected as the subjects of this cross-sectional study. Their lung ventilation function indicators were extracted from health examination records, and an on-site electronic questionnaire survey was conducted among them. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the factors influencing lung ventilation function. According to the fixed value criteria, the abnormal rates of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and FEV1/FVC were 31.6, 1.4, and 0.4%, respectively. The lower limit of normal (LLN) criteria could overestimate the rate of abnormal lung ventilation function. Several factors were related to impaired lung ventilation function, including gender, age, education level, marital status, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, physical activity, the type of dust, industry, enterprise scale, occupation, length of service, working shift, monthly income, and respiratory protection. A relatively low abnormal rate of lung ventilation function was observed among employees exposed to dust in enterprises of the Eighth Division, XPCC, and their lung ventilation function was associated with various factors. Effective measures should be taken urgently to reduce the effects of adverse factors on lung ventilation function, thereby further protecting the health of the occupational population.

Residual Film Pollution in the Eighth Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps

This study investigated the residual film content and distribution at different soil depths in the Eighth Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Before spring plowing in 2019, representative fields in four areas (Anjihai, Shihezi suburbs, Mosuowan and Xiayedi) were selected for residual film collection. The average content of residual film in the Eighth Division was 104 kg/ha. The residual film content in the four areas decreased in the order Anjihai ＞ Shihezi suburbs ＞ Mosuowan ＞ Xiayedi. The average amount of residual film collected from cotton fields was greater than that from corn fields. Residual film content in the cotton field at soil depths of 0～10 and 10～30 cm was higher than that in the corn field, whereas the residual film content at a 30–50 cm soil depth in the corn field was higher than that in the cotton field. The results showed that farmers do not consider the long-term benefits, the high cost and short time of recycling, and the easy recycling of surface residual film. The shallow that the higher content of residual film, the less water in the soil of cotton. The same time, the results showed that the quantity of residual film in cotton field had greater influence on cotton quality.

Gonadal Mosaicism Induced by Chemical Treatment of Sperm in Drosophila melanogaster.

Accurate interpretation of forward genetic screens of chromosomes exposed in mature spermatozoa to a mutagenic chemical requires understanding-incomplete to date-of how exposed chromosomes and their replicas proceed through early development stages from the fertilized ovum to establishment of the germline of the treated male's offspring. We describe a model for early embryonic development and establishment of the germline of Drosophila melanogaster and a model-validating experiment. Our model proposes that, barring repair, DNA strands modified by treatment with alkylating agents are stable and mutagenic. Each replication of an alkylated strand can result in misreplication and a mutant-bearing daughter nucleus. Daughter nuclei thenceforth replicate faithfully and their descendants comprise the embryonic syncytium. Of the 256 nuclei present after the eighth division, several migrate into the polar plasm at the posterior end of the embryo to found the germline. Based upon distribution of descendants of the alkylated strands, the misreplication rate, and the number of nuclei selected as germline progenitors, the frequency of gonadal mosaicism is predictable. Experimentally, we tracked chromosomes 2 and 3 from EMS-treated sperm through a number of generations, to characterize autosomal recessive lethal mutations and infer gonadal genetic content of the sons of treated males. Over 50% of 106 sons bore germlines that were singly, doubly, or triply mosaic for chromosome 2 or chromosome 3. These findings were consistent with our model, assuming a rate of misreplication between 0.65 and 0.80 at each replication of an alkylated strand. Crossing treated males to mismatch-repair-deficient females had no apparent effect on mutation rate.

Pattern of mutation rates in the germline of Drosophila melanogaster males from a large-scale mutation screening experiment.

The sperm or eggs of sexual organisms go through a series of cell divisions from the fertilized egg; mutations can occur at each division. Mutations in the lineage of cells leading to the sperm or eggs are of particular importance because many such mutations may be shared by somatic tissues and also may be inherited, thus having a lasting consequence. For decades, little has been known about the pattern of the mutation rates along the germline development. Recently it was shown from a small portion of data that resulted from a large-scale mutation screening experiment that the rates of recessive lethal or nearly lethal mutations differ dramatically during the germline development of Drosophila melanogaster males. In this paper the full data set from the experiment and its analysis are reported by taking advantage of a recent methodologic advance. By analyzing the mutation patterns with different levels of recessive lethality, earlier published conclusions based on partial data are found to remain valid. Furthermore, it is found that for most nearly lethal mutations, the mutation rate at the first cell division is even greater than previous thought compared with those at other divisions. There is also some evidence that the mutation rate at the second division decreases rapidly but is still appreciably greater than those for the rest of the cleavage stage. The mutation rate at spermatogenesis is greater than late cleavage and stem-cell stages, but there is no evidence that rates are different among the five cell divisions of the spermatogenesis. We also found that a modestly biased sampling, leading to slightly more primordial germ cells after the eighth division than those reported in the literature, provides the best fit to the data. These findings provide conceptual and numerical basis for exploring the consequences of differential mutation rates during individual development.

Embryonic development of the sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax

The embryonic development of the sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax during the endotrophic period is discussed. An 8 cells stage, not reported for other studied species, results from two rapid successive cleavages. Blastula occurs at the eighth division when the embryo is made of 128 cells. During gastrulation, the infolded blastoderm creates the endomesoblastic layer. The Kupffer’s vesicle is reported to drive the left/right patterning of brain, heart and digestive tract. Heart formation starts at 8 pairs of somites, differentiation of myotomes and sclerotomes starts at the stage 18 pairs of somites; main parts of the digestive tract are entirely formed at 25 pairs of somites. At 28 pairs of somites, a rectal region is detected, however, the digestive tube is closed at both ends, the jaw appears the fourth day after hatching, but the mouth is not opened before the fifth day. Although cardiac beating and blood circulation are observed, gills are not reported in newly hatched individuals; eye melanization appears concomitant with exotrophic behavior.

Study on the System of Water Resources Optimization of the Eighth Division Irrigation in Manas River

Study on the System of Water Resources Optimization of the Eighth Division Irrigation in Manas River

Early Embryogenesis in the Stable Fly (Diptera: Muscidae)1

Early developmental events in the stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), as studied by light and scanning and transmission electron microscopy, are described. Cleavage is centrolecithal and typically rapid and synchronous throughout the first nine divisions. From the mass of cleavage nuclei, primary vitellophage nuclei segregate centrally and longitudinally through the embryo at the time of the eighth division; a syncytial blastoderm is completed after the ninth division. Before the inception of cytokinesis after the 13th division, 9 or 10 blastoderm nuclei at the posterior pole typically divide to form a distinctive cap of ca. 36 cells and supply secondary vitellophages. Germ band formation is by invagination of appropriate presumptive areas of the blastoderm. Five transient transverse furrows, anterior to the elongating germ band, consistently characterize the embryo dorsum posterior to the cephalic furrow. There is one pair of tracheal invaginations to each segment from the prothoracic to the eighth abdominal segment. At 30°C, the cellular blastoderm was completed in ca. 2.5 h, and germ band retraction commenced in 9 h.

Stanzaic Symmetry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Apparent structural symmetries have long been noted in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.1 But Donald Howard's view of the symmetrical structure of the poem describes parallels between parts 2 and 4 and parts 3 and 4, and Kent Hieatt and Hans Kasmann describe symmetries within part 3, which seem to leave the first part of the poem a mere introduction. Is it not odd that the poet who achieved the degree of structural balance evident in the twenty sections and 101 stanzas of Pearl should have produced the same number of stanzas in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but divided them into sections of 21, 24, 34, and 22 stanzas? The last long line of the poem, line 2525, underlines the symbolic importance of the number five in it; and when the poet has made an effort to relate the form of the work as a whole in this way to one of its motifs the pentangle are we not right to expect a greater degree of structural balance between the four sections? The traditional view that the five small initial capitals in the manuscript of the poem are not systematically planned2 must be mistaken. Between the seventh and the eighth manuscript divisions (lines 1998 and 2259, stanzas 80-90) there is a sequence of eleven stanzas. Between the eighth division and the end of the poem there are also eleven stanzas (91-101). Between the fourth and fifth manuscript divisions (lines 1126 and 1421) there is again a sequence of eleven stanzas (46-56). Two of the small capitals, therefore, those at lines 2259 and 1421, link up with the large capitals to form these three groups of eleven stanzas; when almost one-third of the poem is, beyond any question, marshalled into groups of eleven stanzas, a considerable and significant consistency of organization is already present. The capitals at lines 1126 and 1421 mark the openings, respectively, of the deer hunt and the boar hunt; and when we turn forward a further eleven stanzas

PANDEMIC "INFLUENZA" AND SECONDARY PNEUMONIA AT CAMP FREMONT, CALIF.

The expected storm of the prevailing pandemic infection broke suddenly on the Eighth Division, U. S. Army, Camp Fremont, Calif., Oct. 8, 1918, and during the next six weeks, 2,418 patients suffering from respiratory diseases were admitted to the base hospital. In addition, many soldiers having more or less mild infections were cared for in the various camp infirmaries in order to avoid overcrowding in the base hospital. Altogether there were, at a conservative estimate, 3,000 cases. Pneumonia was diagnosed in 408 cases, an incidence of nearly 14 per cent. We know now, however, that there were many cases of pneumonia that were diagnosed as bronchitis, and that the true incidence of pneumonia was greater than that indicated. Of the 408 patients with pneumonia diagnosed, 147 died, a mortality of 36 per cent. for the pneumonia series and about 5 per cent. for the epidemic. No deaths occurred without a