Using culturomics and social media data to characterize wildlife consumption

Wildlife provides food, medicine, clothing, and other necessities for humans, but overexploitation can disrupt the sustainability of wildlife resources and severely threaten global biodiversity. Understanding the characteristics of consumer behavior is helpful for wildlife managers and policy makers, but the traditional survey methods are laborious and time-consuming. In contrast, culturomics may more efficiently identify the features of wildlife consumption. As a case study of the culturomics approach, we examined tiger bone wine consumption in China based on social media and Baidu search engine data. Tiger bone wine is one of the most purchased tiger products; its consumption is closely related to tiger poaching, which greatly threatens wild tiger survival. We searched a popular social media website for the term “tiger bone wine” and focused on posts that were originally created from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2018. We filtered and classified posts related to the purchase, sale, or consumption of tiger bone wine and extracted information on providers, consumption motivations, year of production, and place of origin of the tiger bone wines based on the texts and photos of these posts. We found 756 posts related to tiger bone wine consumption, 113 of which mentioned providers of tiger bone wine, including friends (53%), elder relatives (37%), peer relatives (7%), and others (3%). Out of the 756 posts, 266 indicated the motivations of tiger bone wine consumption. Tiger bone wines were consumed as a tonic (34%), medicine (23%), game product (30%), and a symbol of wealth (28%). Some posts indicated ≥2 consumption motivations. These findings were consistent with the search queries from Baidu index. Such information could help develop targeted strategies for tiger conservation. The culturomics approach illustrated by our study is a rapid and cost-efficient way to characterize wildlife consumption.     

First-trimester screening for Down syndrome; the role of nasal bone assessment in the Korean population

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of nasal bone assessment in first-trimester screening for Down syndrome (DS) in the Korean population. Methods From July 2004 to March 2006, we prospectively evaluated the fetal nasal bones at 11–14 weeks' gestation in the Korean population. Results A successful evaluation was possible in 6490 of 6787 fetuses (95.6%). Absent, hypoechoic, and short nasal bones were seen in 4 (26.7%), 4 (26.7%), and 1 (6.7%) of 15 fetuses with DS, respectively, whereas in 5 (0.1%), 11 (0.2%), and 246 (3.8%) of 6456 normal fetuses. The incidence of absent and hypoechoic nasal bone showed significant differences between normal fetuses and fetuses with DS (P < 0.0005, both). Screening for DS using an absent or hypoechoic nasal bone resulted in a sensitivity of 53.3%, a specificity of 99.8%, a positive likelihood ratio of 215.2, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.5. Conclusion Our study showed that nasal bone abnormality at 11–14 weeks of gestation had a high association with DS in the Korean population. This suggests that nasal bone assessment can be used to supplement the current first-trimester screening for DS in the Korean population. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conceiving a fetus for bone marrow donation: An ethical problem in prenatal diagnosis

We present a family who sought prenatal diagnosis in order to bear a healthy child to serve as an HLA–identical bone marrow donor for their son affected with Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome. They intended to abort HLA-incompatible fetuses who would have been unsuitable bone marrow donors. This case led us to conclude that prenatal diagnosis should not be used to benefit a third party or facilitate the conception or abortion of a fetus for the purpose of generating an organ for transplantation. The limits of parental autonomy and physician responsibility are discussed.     

裂变产物170Tm的体内蓄积特性诱发骨髓细胞突变效应研究

对裂变产物~(170)Tm的体内蓄积特性和诱发细胞突变效应的监测结果表明,当机体摄入~(170)Tm后,在短时间内即能迅速进入并滞留于骨组织中,其滞留量占体内各器官组织中的首位呈现高度选择性亲骨特征,在机体摄入~(170)Tm后的不同阶段,骨组织中的累积吸收剂量随着观察时间的延长而增升,其诱发骨髓细胞的染色体畸变率亦相应增高。由~(170)Tm内污染所诱发的染色体结构异常为染色单体型畸变,其中主要为染色单体断裂。随着骨组织中累积吸收剂量的增升,可观察到在一个细胞中同时有两个畸变发生,也诱发个别的染色体易位。     

发硒的动态变化与大骨节病早期病变自然修复的关系

研究表明,在自然状态下,儿童大骨节病病情的变化是以人体硒营养变化为基础的骨质病变或修复的变化。早期病变的自然修复与人体发硒含量的升高同步发生,从而为用发硒含量定量地监测和预报病情提供了客观的指标。     

二氧化硫体内衍生物诱发小鼠骨髓嗜多染红细胞微核的效应

通过微核试验证明，给小鼠腹腔注射ＳＯ２体内衍生物－亚硫酸钠和亚硫酸氢钠混合液可诱发小鼠骨髓嗜多染红细胞微核形成，导致微核细胞率显著升高，且呈明显的剂量效应关系。从整体水平证明了ＳＯ２是染色体断裂剂和基因毒性因子。     

醋酸乙烯生产过程废触媒的资源化回收

采用正交实验研究了微波、超声波条件对废触媒解吸效果的影响,对比实验结果表明,1次微波2次超声波联用技术锌的洗脱率较高,回收的活性炭超过了林业局粉状活性炭二级品指标.用洗脱的醋酸锌溶液制备的磷酸锌符合防锈颜料要求.最终的废液采用电石废渣中和后达到国家废水处理三级排放标准.实现了废触媒的综合回收利用.     

Sorption of Cu and Zn by bone charcoal

Bone charcoal is being developed as a treatment for decontaminating polluted water. In particular, its potential to adsorb metal species from contaminated water supplies is being examined. In this study, bone charcoal was used in batch and column experiments designed to investigate the sorption of two cationic metals Cu and Zn. The data from batch experiments fitted the Langmuir isotherm and so theoretical maximum binding capacities could be obtained. These values were compared with experimental values derived from the column experiments. The mechanisms involved in the immobilisation were also investigated.     

催化裂解治理废旧轮胎制炭黑和燃料油产业化研究

介绍采用催化裂解技术治理废旧轮胎制炭黑和燃料油的工艺流程和成套设备,该工艺设备耗能低、产品质量好,工艺合理, 可连续投料、连续运转,处理效率高,最大限度地降低了二次污染,适合于治理废旧轮胎的产业化发展。     

微生物发酵菌和生物质炭及蘑菇渣对污泥堆肥效果的影响

为解决污泥的处理处置难题,实现污泥减量化、无害化和资源化,在污泥中添加蘑菇渣、微生物发酵菌和生物质炭等辅料,进行共堆肥试验,设置T1（不添加辅料）、T2（添加30%的园林枯枝）、T3（添加20%的园林枯枝、9.9%的蘑菇渣和0.1%的微生物发酵菌）、T4（添加20%的园林枯枝和10%的生物质炭）,以及T5（添加20%的园林枯枝、4.9%的蘑菇渣、0.1%的微生物发酵菌和5%的酸化生物质炭）5个好氧堆肥处理,考察各处理堆肥过程中温度变化、肥料的理化特性以及GI（发芽指数）.结果显示:①T5处理的效果最好,堆肥至第3天,堆体温度达到70.5℃,并且温度不低于50℃的时间达到19 d. ②T5处理肥料的w（TKN）（TKN为总凯氏氮）、w（TP）和w（TK）均最高,分别达到3.88、0.64和1.10 g/kg,远高于其他4个处理;产品的GI随堆肥时间的延长逐渐增长,达到183%. ③T5处理的NH₃排放最少,氮元素流失最低,能最大程度的转化成固化无机氮;残渣态重金属含量最高,不易浸出到环境中进入生态系统,生物毒性低.研究显示,蘑菇渣、微生物发酵菌和生物质炭能够促进污泥的腐熟,减少二次污染的产生,产品质量较好.