据报道，兔戊型肝炎病毒 (HEV) 为潜在人畜共患性传染病。报道显示HEV 3型是造成兔HEV流行的主要原因。为调查戊型肝炎在肉兔中的流行情况，本研究从中国河北省的一个屠宰场收集了176份肝脏样本。RNA检测结果显示3份样本HEV-ORF2检测阳性，占样本量的1.7%。序列分析表明，3株分离株具有较高的同源性 (94.08%~98.85%)，为HEV基因3型。此外，免疫组化 (IHC) 检测HEV ORF2蛋白显示，131份肝脏样本阳性，占样本量的74.4%。肝脏组织病理学观察结果显示，H.E染色的组织病理学变化主要有肝细胞变性、坏死、淋巴细胞浸润、胆管上皮细胞增生、含铁血黄素沉着等。这些结果表明，在家兔中存在戊型肝炎病毒，但兔戊肝病毒 (rHEV) 的传染性及人兔跨种传播的潜在风险有待进一步研究。

The assessment of the biomass of energy crops has garnered widespread interest since renewable bioenergy may become a substantial proportion of the future energy supply, and modeling has been widely used for the simulation of energy crops yields.  A literature survey revealed that 23 models have been developed or adapted for simulating the biomass of energy crops, including Miscanthus, switchgrass, maize, poplar, willow, sugarcane, and Eucalyptus camaldulensis.  Three categories (radiation model, water-controlled crop model, and integrated model with biochemical and photosynthesis and respiration approaches) were addressed for the selected models according to different principles or approaches used to simulate biomass production processes.  EPIC, ALMANAC, APSIM, ISAM, MISCANMOD, MISCANFOR, SILVA, DAYCENT, APEX and SWAT are radiation models based on a radiation use efficiency approach (RUE) with few empirical and statistical parameters.  The AquaCrop model is a typical water-crop model that emphasizes crop water use, the expression of canopy cover, and the separation of evapotranspiration to soil evaporation and plant transpiration to drive crop growth.  CANEGRO, 3PG, CropSyst and DSSAT are integrated models that use photosynthesis and respiration approaches.  SECRETS, LPJmL, Agro-BGC, Agro-IBIS, and WIMOVAC/BioCro, DNDC, DRAINMOD-GRASS, and AgTEM are integrated models that use biochemical approaches.  Integrated models are mainly mechanistic models or combined with functional models, which are dynamic with spatial and temporal patterns but with complex parameters and large amounts of input data.  Energy crop models combined with process-based models, such as EPIC in SWAT and CANEGRO in DSSAT, provide good examples that consider the biophysical, socioeconomic, and environmental responses and address the sustainability and socioeconomic goals for energy crops.  The use of models for energy crop productivity is increasing rapidly and encouraging; however, relevant databases, such as climate, land use/land cover, soil, topography, and management databases, are scarce.  Model structure and design assumptions, as well as input parameters and observed data, remain a challenge for model development and validation.  Thus, a comprehensive framework, which includes a high-quality field database and an uncertainty evaluation system, needs to be established for modeling the biomass of energy crops.

Infection by hepatitis B virus (HBV) results in acute and chronic liver damages in humans. Liver products of broilers as a primary food consumed in our daily life have a close connection with public health. The prevalence of the virus in livers and serum of broilers is of great significance, owning to the potential transmission between chickens and humans. Liver tissues and serum samples were tested to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in slaughtered broilers, for expression of HBV antigens and antibodies. The distribution and positive rate of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) in liver samples were examined using immunohistochemistry. HBsAg was mainly located in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes with a positivity of 81.61% whereas HBeAg and HBcAg were primarily located in the nucleus of hepatocytes with a positivity of 40.13 and 49.10%, respectively. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis of serum for HBV serological markers demonstrated a high prevalence of hepatiits B surface antibody (HBsAb, 54.91%) and hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb, 27.68%), whereas HBeAb, HBsAg and HBeAg were rarely detectable. Classic hepatitis pathological changes, including swollen hepatocytes, focal parenchymal necrosis, lymphocytic infiltration and hyperplasia of fibrous connective tissues were observed using histopathological analysis. Some of the liver samples were found positive for HBV DNA using nested PCR. Sequence comparison confirmed that all sequences shared 97.5–99.3% identity with human HBV strains. These results demonstrated the existence of HBV in livers and serums of broilers. Animals or animal products contaminated with HBV could raise an important public health concern over food safety and zoonotic risk.

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC; EC 4.1.1.31) catalyses phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to yield oxaloacetate, which is involved in protein biosynthesis. Pyruvate kinase (PK; EC 2.7.1.40) catalyzes PEP to yield pyruvate, which is involved in fatty acid synthesis. In this study, five PEPC genes (AhPEPC1, AhPEPC2, AhPEPC3, AhPEPC4, and AhPEPC5) from peanut have been cloned. Using a quantitative real-time RT-PCR approach, the expression pattern of each gene was monitored during the seed development of four peanut varieties (E11, Hebeigaoyou, Naihan 1, and Huayu 26). It was found that these five genes shared similar expression behaviors over the developmental stages of E11 with high expression levels at 30 and 40 d after pegging (DAP); whereas these five genes showed irregular expression patterns during the seed development of Hebeigaoyou. In Naihan 1 and Huayu 26, the expression levels of the five genes remained relatively high in the first stage. The PEPC activity was monitored during the seed development of four peanut varieties and seed oil content was also characterized during whole period of seed development. The PEPC activity followed the oil accumulation pattern during the early stages of development but they showed a significantly negative correlation thereafter. These results suggested that PEPC may play an important role in lipid accumulation during the seed development of four peanut varieties tested.