Wild Field Research Articles

Археологічні дослідження побутового та господарчого життя українського населення Луганщини у XVII–XVIII ст.

This article examines in a complex way the peculiarities of organization of everyday and household life of the Ukrainian population of the Luhansk region in the XVII–XVIII centuries. The basis for the study of those or other aspects of this topic were materials of archaeological expeditions that were carried out in Luhansk region in the second half of the twentieth – early twenty-first century. It is noted that this topic is poorly covered in the works of Ukrainian academics. Among the few studies in this area, the works of N. N. Kaplun, O. V. Stadnik and A. I. Stadnik were the most valuable for the research. Also in the preparation of the article the author relied on the expert estimates of scientific collaborators of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine S. A. Telizhenko, L. Chmiel, L. Mironenko. The aim of the article is to outline the way of life and economic life of the Ukrainian population during the active development of the Luhansk region – that is in the XVII–XVIII centuries. As a result of the conducted research, the authors reached the following conclusions. The presence of diverse archaeological artifacts: ceramic works, artisanal metallurgical furnaces, stone tombstones, the lower boundary of the dating of which falls on the XVII–XVIII centuries, In our view, indicates the existence of sufficiently developed material culture associated with the way of life and household utilities of Ukrainian settlers of the Cossack era in the Luhansk region. Today's assumption that the dynamic development of this region began only at the beginning of active development of the territory at the beginning of the XVIII century – the beginning of the XIX century. Russian Empire, it can be argued that even before its beginning, a significant part of the „Wild Field” did not yield in its development to other regions, both Ukraine and Russia, distant from the restless relations with the Nogai horde.

A protocol to expand plant nuclei.

The resolution achieved by conventional light microscopy is limited by light diffraction. This obstacle can be overcome either by optical super-resolution techniques or by the recently developed method to physically expand specimens, called expansion microscopy (ExM). The method utilizes polymer chemistry and the ability of a swellable polyelectrolyte hydrogel to absorb water, and thus to expand its size. The procedure was successfully applied to different species and tissue samples, mostly from the animal kingdom. Physically expanded nuclei and chromosomes in combination with specific protein labeling and super-resolution microscopy may provide new insight into the ultrastructure, dynamics, and function of plant chromatin. Here we provide a detailed protocol to expand isolated plant nuclei and visualize proteins by indirect immunolabeling. With the focus on chromatin structure, we expanded isolated barley nuclei from root tips and visualized the centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENH3. The achieved physical expansion of ~4.2 times allowed the detection of DAPI-labeled chromatin structures already by conventional wild-field (WF) microscopy with a maximal resolution of ~50-60nm. By applying structured illumination microscopy (SIM), doubling the WF resolution, chromatin structures at a resolution of ~25-35nm were observed. However, a certain distortion of the centromeric chromatin ultrastructure became obvious.

Роль служилых татар Мещеры в отражении набегов ногайских кочевников и заселении южного Предволжья Горной стороны

Research objectives: To study the migration of the serving Tatars of Meschera and their economic development of the “wild field” in the southern Cis-Volga region’s “Hill Bank Land” in the context of the military confrontation with the Nogais at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. Research materials: Bibliographic and archival materials about the military border service of the Meshchera Tatars and their colonization of the territory of the former Nogai nomads in the Volga region. Results and novelty of the research: The authors studied the military confrontation bet­ween the serving Tatars of the Arzamas and Alatyr districts and the Nogai detachments at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. This process became the reason for the resettlement of large groups of Tatars on the territory of the Volga region. The serving Tatars of Meschera began to populate lands on a massive scale in the southern Cis-Volga region after their military clashes with the Nogais in 1571, 1577, 1581, 1593–1594, 1612, 1614, 1620, and after the construction of the city of Simbirsk and the Karsun-Simbirsk defensive line. Today, these territories include the Drozhzhanovsky, Buinsky, Tetyushsky districts, and part of the Kaibitsky district in the Republic of Tatarstan. An important historical event in this process was the defeat of the Nogais in 1612 by the serving Alatyr Tatars and Mordovians under the leadership of Bayush Rozgildeev and Yamash Mangushev. It was during this period that the serving Tatars began to receive estates in the “Dikoe pole” (”Wild field”). The settlement of the region called “Gornaya storona” (“Hill Bank Land”) by serving Tatars continued during the seventeenth and first half of eighteenth century. At this time, there was a shift in the social status of the serving Tatars that was associated with their transfer to the department of the Kazan Admiralty. This was called the Lashman Service. Due to the economic activity of the Tatar landowners, the southern Cis-Volga region became a developed agricultural region in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a wide cooperative peasant trade and the establishment of various crafts. In conclusion, the military border campaign against the Nogais and other nomads in which the Meschera Tatars participated was a powerful stimulus for the formation of one of the key ethnocultural centers of the Tatar people.

Ігри з кордонами: політика ідентичності у східній Україні

У статті розглядається вплив ідентичності на сепаратизм на сході України, узагальнюються ключові моменти дисертації, поданої на ступінь магістра міжнародних відносин Кембриджського університету, 2015–2017 рр. Юрієм Бендером із коледжу Робінсона, під керівництвом доктора Рорі Фінніна, доцента кафедри українознавства Кембриджського університету.Моє недавнє дослідження подій, що призвели до відокремлення так званої Донецької Народної Республіки та Луганської Народної Республіки на сході України та їхні подальші спроби функціонувати як окремі автономні регіони, ґрунтувалося на дослідженні впливу економіки та ідентичності, підкріплених зовнішньою політикою Москви в країнах «ближнього зарубіжжя». Ключові економічні чинники тимчасового відокремлення «автономних регіонів» відбувалися на тлі зміни ідентичності та елітарної поведінки. Вивчення цих питань є життєво важливим для визначення того, чи мають «республіки» довгострокове автономне майбутнє. Пропонована стаття присвячена ідентичності, а економічні чинники розглядатимуться деінде. Досліджуються змінні та часто суперечливі множинні ідентичності, закріплені за регіоном Донбасу, історично багатого на просторові ресурси для політичних та економічних біженців. Однак у теперішній конфліктний час мігранти все частіше покидають Донбас, а не в'їжджають в зазначений регіон. Як це не парадоксально, але найбільш підприємливі та освічені громадяни, які демонструють найсильніші прояви ідентичності – саме того типу, який необхідний для створення ефективної держави, – найімовірніше виїдуть.Конфлікт розглядається через теоретичні призми, включаючи «Дике поле» історика Гіроакі Куромії, оскаржуване олігархами, злочинними угрупуваннями та політичними кланами; та євро-азіатський «Хартленд» географа Халфорда Макіндера, що історично боровся та відстоював східні та західні держави. Спираючись на напівструктуровані інтерв’ю, проведені під час моїх візитів до України, я прагну внести свій внесок у дискусію щодо майбутньої траєкторії проблемних східних прикордонних територій України та пролити світло на їхнє недавнє минуле. Детальне вивчення цього геостратегічного регіону може запропонувати рішення для ключових суб’єктів, включно з Росією, Україною та іншими членами міжнародної спільноти, щоб винести урок з конфлікту, що триває. Особливо важливим для політиків є питання змішаних ідентичностей, поширених на більшій частині східної України.

Heat and dehydration induced oxidative damage and antioxidant defenses following incubator heat stress and a simulated heat wave in wild caught four-striped field mice Rhabdomys dilectus.

Heat waves are known for their disastrous mass die-off effects due to dehydration and cell damage, but little is known about the non-lethal consequences of surviving severe heat exposure. Severe heat exposure can cause oxidative stress which can have negative consequences on animal cognition, reproduction and life expectancy. We investigated the current oxidative stress experienced by a mesic mouse species, the four striped field mouse, Rhabdomys dilectus through a heat wave simulation with ad lib water and a more severe temperature exposure with minimal water. Wild four striped field mice were caught between 2017 and 2019. We predicted that wild four striped field mice in the heat wave simulation would show less susceptibility to oxidative stress as compared to a more severe heat stress which is likely to occur in the future. Oxidative stress was determined in the liver, kidney and brain using malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl (PC) as markers for oxidative damage, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) as markers of antioxidant defense. Incubator heat stress was brought about by increasing the body temperatures of animals to 39-40.8°C for 6 hours. A heat wave (one hot day, followed by a 3-day heatwave) was simulated by using temperature cycle that wild four striped field mice would experience in their local habitat (determined through weather station data using temperature and humidity), with maximal ambient temperature of 39°C. The liver and kidney demonstrated no changes in the simulated heat wave, but the liver had significantly higher SOD activity and the kidney had significantly higher lipid peroxidation in the incubator experiment. Dehydration significantly contributed to the increase of these markers, as is evident from the decrease in body mass after the experiment. The brain only showed significantly higher lipid peroxidation following the simulated heat wave with no significant changes following the incubator experiment. The significant increase in lipid peroxidation was not correlated to body mass after the experiment. The magnitude and duration of heat stress, in conjunction with dehydration, played a critical role in the oxidative stress experienced by each tissue, with the results demonstrating the importance of measuring multiple tissues to determine the physiological state of an animal. Current heat waves in this species have the potential of causing oxidative stress in the brain with future heat waves to possibly stress the kidney and liver depending on the hydration state of animals.

Crimean-Ottoman Factor in the Socio-Cultural System of Russia in Early Modern Times

Abstract: The article gives a description of the sociocultural organization of Russia and the peculiarities of its geopolitical position in the system of international relations of the early modern period. Questions were raised about the reasons for the rapid territorial expansion of the Russian state in the second half of the 15-17 centuries, as well as its high competitiveness in foreign policy both in relations with its western neighbors and in the eastern direction.For the states of Western Europe with the beginning of their modernization, modern age has come, however “Muscovy” in the 15-17 centuries remained a medieval country. At the same time, it not only did not share the fate of many eastern powers with a traditional way, which turned into the 17th-19th centuries in the colony and semi-colony, but also, on the contrary, it led a successful colonial expansion and demonstrated externally the almost synchronous trends in state building that were inherent in the Western European countries.The author believes that the patrimonial structure of the sociocultural system of the Russian state in the 15-17 centuries contributed to the mobilization of internal material and human resources, coupled with an early superficial “Europeanization” (regular borrowing the military, technical, and cultural experience of modernizing Western Europe), ensured Russia's competitiveness in the world. Since the emergence of the united Moscow state, Russia has developed as a land empire.However, the strategic national task of Russia was not to preserve the medieval patrimony, but to create the prerequisites for its modernization. Amid the socio-economic development, which is characteristic of all countries with a patrimonial structure, that could have started only by transferring the center of Russian extensive agriculture to the southern fertile lands. This would free part of the population of the non-chernozem center for trade and industrial activities. But the transfer of the agrarian center to the south was restrained by the constant military danger from the Wild Field, which was part of the Horde, and then the Crimean Khanate, backed until the end of the 18 century by the Ottoman Empire, perceiving the Black Sea with its “inland lake”. As a result, the struggle for the Black Sea and Crimea to become a part of Russia, as well as the overcoming the patrimonial order, becomes a matter of civilizational success or failure of Russia in the context of world history.

Immunogenetic and tolerance strategies against a novel parasitoid of wild field crickets.

Among the parasites of insects, endoparasitoids impose a costly challenge to host defenses because they use their host’s body for the development and maturation of their eggs or larvae, and ultimately kill the host. Tachinid flies are highly specialized acoustically orienting parasitoids, with first instar mobile larvae that burrow into the host’s body to feed. We investigated the possibility that Teleogryllus oceanicus field crickets employ postinfestation strategies to maximize survival when infested with the larvae of the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea. Using crickets from the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, where the parasitoid is present, and crickets from the Cook Islands (Mangaia), where the parasitoid is absent, we evaluated fitness consequences of infestation by comparing feeding behavior, reproductive capacity, and survival of males experimentally infested with O. ochracea larvae. We also evaluated mechanisms underlying host responses by comparing gene expression in crickets infested with fly larvae for different lengths of time with that of uninfested control crickets. We observed weak population differences in fitness (spermatophore production) and survival (total survival time postinfestation). These responses generally did not show an interaction between population and the number of larva hosts carried or by host body condition. Gene expression patterns also revealed population differences in response to infestation, but we did not find evidence for consistent differences in genes associated with immunity or stress response. One possibility is that any postinfestation evolved resistance does not involve genes associated with these particular functional categories. More likely, these results suggest that coevolution with the fly does not strongly select for either postinfestation resistance or tolerance of parasitoid larvae in male crickets.

Relatives of rubella virus in diverse mammals.

We describe the first known relatives of rubella virus (Matonaviridae: Rubivirus)1 in Africa and Europe. Ruhugu virus, the closest relative of rubella virus, was found in apparently healthy cyclops leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideros cyclops) in Uganda. Rustrela virus, outgroup to the rubella/ruhugu clade of viruses, was found in acutely encephalitic placental and marsupial animals at a zoo in Germany and in wild yellow-necked field mice (Apodemus flavicollis) at and near the zoo. Ruhugu and rustrela viruses share an identical genomic architecture with rubella virus2,3. Amino acid sequences of rubella, ruhugu, and rustrela viruses are moderately to highly conserved within 4 putative B-cell epitopes in the fusion (EI) protein and, in the case of rubella and ruhugu viruses, within two putative T-cell epitopes in the capsid protein4–6. Modeling of E1 homotrimers in the post-fusion state predicts similar host-cell membrane fusion capacity for ruhugu and rubella viruses5. Together, these findings suggest show that some members of the Matonaviridae can cross wide host species barriers and that rubella virus likely had a zoonotic origin. Our findings raise concerns about future zoonotic transmission of rubella-like viruses but open doors for heretofore impossible comparative studies and novel animal models of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome.

Historical and architectural monuments of wooden architecture in the territory of historical settlements in Belgorod region

The study analyzes the origin and development of wooden architecture in Belgorod region in connection with the development of the Wild Field on the southern borders of Russia. Volumetric-planning and architectural and compositional features of the preserved wooden heritage buildings were considered: church buildings and residential buildings in large settlements both for poor population and for more prosperous one. The study describes the architectural and compositional construction of temples and residential buildings of different centuries. The authors analyzed the construction periods and the impact of architectural styles that were embodied in the space-planning solution and the design of facades of both wooden churches and residential buildings. Particular attention was paid to cultural heritage sites of regional significance – architectural monuments located in cities of Belgorod and Stary Oskol and villages of Belgorod region. The article presents the research work related to the conversion of a cultural heritage site into a hotel and a museum.

Prospects and limitations of expansion microscopy in chromatin ultrastructure determination

Expansion microscopy (ExM) is a method to magnify physically a specimen with preserved ultrastructure. It has the potential to explore structural features beyond the diffraction limit of light. The procedure has been successfully used for different animal species, from isolated macromolecular complexes through cells to tissue slices. Expansion of plant-derived samples is still at the beginning, and little is known, whether the chromatin ultrastructure becomes altered by physical expansion. In this study, we expanded isolated barley nuclei and compared whether ExM can provide a structural view of chromatin comparable with super-resolution microscopy. Different fixation and denaturation/digestion conditions were tested to maintain the chromatin ultrastructure. We achieved up to ~4.2-times physically expanded nuclei corresponding to a maximal resolution of ~50–60 nm when imaged by wild-field (WF) microscopy. By applying structured illumination microscopy (SIM, super-resolution) doubling the WF resolution, the chromatin structures were observed at a resolution of ~25–35 nm. WF microscopy showed a preserved nucleus shape and nucleoli. Moreover, we were able to detect chromatin domains, invisible in unexpanded nuclei. However, by applying SIM, we observed that the preservation of the chromatin ultrastructure after the expansion was not complete and that the majority of the tested conditions failed to keep the ultrastructure. Nevertheless, using expanded nuclei, we localized successfully centromere repeats by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and the centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENH3 by indirect immunolabelling. However, although these repeats and proteins were localized at the correct position within the nuclei (indicating a Rabl orientation), their ultrastructural arrangement was impaired.

THE STATUS OF CAPITAL IN THE “KYIV’S TEXT” OF THE BAROQUE EPOCH

Urban studies are a multidisciplinary area, but experts in different fields conclude that the city is worth considering in the categories of text. Moreover, urban studies in literary criticism are distinguished by the fact that the phrase “a city as a text” for philologists is not only a beautiful metaphor. The fiction space, including urban space, is a separate reality that exists according to its own rules, depending on the epoch style and the genre of a particular piece of writing. In the Baroque times, a city is a place of creation and functioning of culture. In the XVII century in Ukrainian cities appeared many educational institutions, thanks to patrons, numerous churches were built, which was reflected in panegyrics. At the same time, the large number of Kyiv Rus’ buildings had been reconstructed, and there are mentions of the Russ past of the city in polemical literature, school dramaturgy and chronicles. In Kyiv, the glory of the “capital”, “Jerusalem of the Russ land” is affirmed. The purpose of the author is to explore the mechanism of rethinking the past and its role in the construction of an artistic model of the city in the Baroque epoch. The ways of transcoding Kyiv Russ urban motifs into the language of Baroque culture are considered in the paper. In the early 1600s, Kyiv remained a capital status in the minds of citizens, despite the decline and destruction of the past. At the turn of the 16–17th centuries the idea of continuity of the history and glory of Kyiv from the Middle ages became widespread among intellectuals. In times of statelessness, the current becomes relative and unimportant, while the past is considered to be the actual reality. This article aims to examine how the urban space becomes the embodiment of collective memory: through the buildings of St. Sophia’s Cathedral, St. Michael’s Cathedral, the Desiatynna Church, the Church of Virgin Mary Pyrohoshcha, the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery, the holiness and centrality of the city are transmitted in sacral and profane levels. The author pays particular attention to the analysis of the opposite self-image of Kyiv citizens as residents of the “city on the outskirt”, on the border of Wild Field.

Shared but Threatened: The Heritage of Wild Food Plant Gathering among Different Linguistic and Religious Groups in the Ishkoman and Yasin Valleys, North Pakistan.

A wild food ethnobotanical field study was conducted in the Ishkoman and Yasin valleys, located in the Hindukush Mountain Range of Gilgit-Baltistan, northern Pakistan. These valleys are inhabited by diverse, often marginalized, linguistic and religious groups. The field survey was conducted via one hundred and eighty semistructured interviews to record data in nine villages. Forty gathered wild food botanical and mycological taxa were recorded and identified. Comparative analysis among the different linguistic and religious groups revealed that the gathered wild food plants were homogenously used. This may be attributed to the sociocultural context of the study area, where most of the population professes the Ismaili Shia Islamic faith, and to the historical stratifications of different populations along the centuries, which may have determined complex adaptation processes and exchange of possibly distinct pre-existing food customs. A few wild plants had very rarely or never been previously reported as food resources in Pakistan, including Artemisia annua, Hedysarum falconeri, Iris hookeriana, Lepidium didymium and Saussurea lappa. Additionally, the recorded local knowledge is under threat and we analyzed possible factors that have caused this change. The recorded biocultural heritage could, however, represent a crucial driver, if properly revitalized, for assuring the food security of the local communities and also for further developing ecotourism and associated sustainable gastronomic initiatives in the area.

Transcriptome-wide analysis reveals different categories of response to a standardised immune challenge in a wild rodent

Individuals vary in their immune response and, as a result, some are more susceptible to infectious disease than others. Little is known about the nature of this individual variation in natural populations, or which components of immune pathways are most responsible, but defining this underlying landscape of variation is an essential first step to understanding the drivers of this variation and, ultimately, predicting the outcome of infection. We describe transcriptome-wide variation in response to a standardised immune challenge in wild field voles. We find that genes (hereafter 'markers') can be categorised into a limited number of types. For the majority of markers, the response of an individual is dependent on its baseline expression level, with significant enrichment in this category for conventional immune pathways. Another, moderately sized, category contains markers for which the responses of different individuals are also variable but independent of their baseline expression levels. This category lacks any enrichment for conventional immune pathways. We further identify markers which display particularly high individual variability in response, and could be used as markers of immune response in larger studies. Our work shows how a standardised challenge performed on a natural population can reveal the patterns of natural variation in immune response.

Development of a chlamydial vaccine for koalas : Protection against infection and disease

Abstract Wild koala populations continue to experience serious declines as a result of several threatening factors including, (i) loss of habitat, (ii) motor vehicle trauma; (iii) dog attacks; (iv) Chlamydia. Chlamydial infections are associated with diseases ranging from ocular disease leading to blindness, as well as urinary and genital tract disease, leading to female infertility. Modeling shows that targeting chlamydial disease would have a major impact on stabilising population decline. Our studies have demonstrated that koalas can be safely immunized with a vaccine containing a mixture of chlamydial major outer membrane protein (MOMP) antigens combined with a single dose subcutaneous regime. We conducted a wild koala field trial and observed strong, specific and long-lasting immune responses in the vaccinated koalas; high titre antibody responses (as measured by ELISA and also in vitro neutralisation) as well as Chlamydia-specific cytokine responses (interferon-gamma and IL-17 in particular). For animals which were Chlamydia PCR positive at the time of vaccination, we observed a significant reduction in their infection PCR load. We also observed protection from progression to clinical disease in the vaccinated animals. We also conducted a small trial to vaccinate animals which already have clinical signs of ocular disease. Instead of the normal practice of administering antibiotics (chloramphenicol, daily for 28 days, which severely disrupts the animal’s gut microbiome) we vaccinated four animals with a single dose, 3-MOMP vaccine. For all vaccinated animals, their Chlamydia PCR load decreased, and for 6 of the 7 animals, ocular disease regressed and the animals could be released back into the wild without further treatment.

Facile and Reliable Thickness Identification of Atomically Thin Dichalcogenide Semiconductors Using Hyperspectral Microscopy.

Although large-scale synthesis of layered two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) has been made possible, mechanical exfoliation of layered van der Waals crystal is still indispensable as every new material research starts with exfoliated flakes. However, it is often a tedious task to find the flakes with desired thickness and sizes. We propose a method to determine the thickness of few-layer flakes and facilitate the fast searching of flakes with a specific thickness. By using hyperspectral wild field microscopy to acquire differential reflectance and transmittance spectra, we demonstrate unambiguous recognition of typical TMDCs and their thicknesses based on their excitonic resonance features in a single step. Distinct from Raman spectroscopy or atomic force microscopy, our method is non-destructive to the sample. By knowing the contrast between different layers, we developed an algorithm to automatically search for flakes of desired thickness in situ. We extended this method to measure tin dichalcogenides, such as SnS2 and SnSe2, which are indirect bandgap semiconductors regardless of the thickness. We observed distinct spectroscopic behaviors as compared with typical TMDCs. Layer-dependent excitonic features were manifested. Our method is ideal for automatic non-destructive optical inspection in mass production in the semiconductor industry.

Animal cognition in the field: performance of wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) on a reversal learning task.

Increasingly, researchers are moving animal cognitive research into wild field settings. A field-based approach offers a valuable complement to laboratory-based studies, as it enables researchers to work with animals in their natural environments and indicates whether cognitive abilities found in captive subjects are generalizable to wild animals. It is thus important to field-based research to clarify which cognitive tasks can be replicated in wild settings, which species are suitable for testing in the wild, and whether replication produces similar results in wild animals. To address these issues, we modified a well-known lab test for field applications. The transfer index (TI) is a reversal learning task that tests whether animals rely on more associative or rule-based learning strategies (Rumbaugh in Primate behavior: developments in field and laboratory research. Academic Press, Inc., New York, pp. 2-66, 1970). In this paper, we detail changes needed to use a TI-like task in the field, here referred to as the Field Reversal Index (FRI). We tested a sample of nine wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) on the FRI task at Lake Nabugabo, Uganda. We show that wild primates can successfully be tested on reversal learning paradigms, and present findings that reinforce previous conclusions from captive experiments. Our results indicate that vervets, like other cercopithecoids, rely on associative learning rather than rule-based learning. Further, our results are consistent with previous research that reports improved performance post-reversal in younger individuals relative to older individuals. The FRI enables researchers to test animals both in the wild and in captivity to facilitate direct comparisons between the learning abilities of captive and wild animals.

Combination of multiplex reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification assay and capillary electrophoresis provides high sensitive and high-throughput simultaneous detection of avian influenza virus subtypes.

The pandemic of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in Asia has caused enormous economic loss in poultry industry and human health threat, especially clade 2.3.4.4 H5 and H7 subtypes in recent years. The endemic chicken H6 virus in Taiwan has also brought about human and dog infections. Since wild waterfowls is the major AIV reservoir, it is important to monitor the diversified subtypes in wildfowl flocks in early stage to prevent viral reassortment and transmission. To develop a more efficient and sensitive approach is a key issue in epidemic control. In this study, we integrate multiplex reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification (RT-RPA) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) for high-throughput detection and differentiation of AIVs in wild waterfowls in Taiwan. Four viral genes were detected simultaneously, including nucleoprotein (NP) gene of all AIVs, hemagglutinin (HA) gene of clade 2.3.4.4 H5, H6 and H7 subtypes. The detection limit of the developed detection system could achieve as low as one copy number for each of the four viral gene targets. Sixty wild waterfowl field samples were tested and all of the four gene signals were unambiguously identified within 6 h, including the initial sample processing and the final CE data analysis. The results indicated that multiplex RT-RPA combined with CE was an excellent alternative for instant simultaneous AIV detection and subtype differentiation. The high efficiency and sensitivity of the proposed method could greatly assist in wild bird monitoring and epidemic control of poultry.

Aridy index over time in five ecosystems on semiarid

The local climate change was registered over time (1992-2018) on different land use ecosystems, in Brazilian Semiarid area. The aimed of this work was to analyze aridity index in five ecosystems (Wild Caatinga, Caatinga on management, Cactaceae field, Eucalyptus reforestation, and Fabaceae crop), and to compare this index with environment variables. Meteorological towers and measures with porometer and psychrometers were carried out to collect the data. The main result was that the studied areas are hotter and drier. The Fabaceae crop and Eucalyptus reforestation studied ecosystems already are on Arid classification according with registered aridity index. Wild Caatinga and Cactaceae field ecosystems are on Semiarid classification, and over time Caatinga on management ecosystem pass from Semiarid to Arid classification. The five ecosystems together are classified on Arid climate. The VPD and Ψsoil were the variables more directly proportional with Aridity index to analyzed ecosystems.

Induction of superovulation using inhibin antiserum and competence of embryo development in wild large Japanese field mice (Apodemus speciosus)

Seasonally, bred wild mice provide a unique bioresource, with high genetic diversity that differs from wild-derived mice and laboratory mice. This study aimed to establish an alternative superovulation method using wild large Japanese field mice (Apodemus speciosus) as the model species. Specifically, we investigated how the application of inhibin antiserum and equine chorionic gonadotropin (IASe) during both the reproductive and non-reproductive seasons impact the ovulation rate and competence of embryo development after in vitro fertilization (IVF) with fresh and cryopreserved sperm. When the wild mice were superovulated by injecting eCG followed by human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), few oocytes were collected during the reproductive and non-reproductive seasons. In comparison, the number of ovulated oocytes was dramatically enhanced by the administration of IASe, followed by isolation of ovulated oocytes 24hr after 30IU hCG administration. The IVF oocytes that were in vitro cultured (IVC) with medium containing serum further developed to the 2- and/or 4-cell stage using both fresh and frozen-thawed sperm. In conclusion, we successfully established an alternative protocol for collecting ovulated oocytes from wild large Japanese field mice by administering IASe and hCG during both the reproductive and non-reproductive seasons. This study is the first to develop IVF-IVC wild large Japanese field mice beyond the 2- and/or 4-cell stage in vitro using fresh and cryopreserved sperm. This approach could be used in other species of wild or endangered mice to reduce the number of animals used for experiments, or in maintaining stocks of germ cells or embryos.

High pass filter based on curvelet transform coefficients

High pass filter are widely used in image processing for different purpose, due to that use many researchers provide this field with so many type for those filters with different techniques. This research provide a new approach to design high pass filter by adopting the properties of the curvelet transformation coefficients (fine, coarse and detail). Studying the effect of that coefficient by dropping some of them, then reconstructed the image from the remaining coefficients. The proposed technique applied on different type of images, which hold different amount of frequencies, dropping one level of high frequencies starting from level two up to last level of image decomposition. The result shows that dropping cells at last level will produce fine edges and thicker edges can be got by dropping cells at level 2. The benefits that were appear from the approach that this type of high frequency does not need kernel to reject low pass frequencies but depend upon the image itself. Using different images with different high frequencies support users to get wild field in using edge detection.