Alginate based gels are widely adopted in many pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. The main rheological characteristics of the alginate-based gels are important design parameters for gel preparation. A new methodology for rheological tests on the alginate-based gels has been assessed in order to obtain reliable and reproducible results in terms of loss and storage moduli. The methodology accounts for the effect of morphology on the rheological properties. find more Reliable results can be achieved if the structure of the gel is preserved during the analysis, thus, the control of the load applied during the rheological test plays a crucial role. The application of the proposed methodology allows to obtain information about the cross-linking degree of hydrogels. To this purpose, hydrogels with different ratios of divalent cations and alginate have been adopted. The number of junctions in the network formed during the cross-linking process has been evaluated and the results are consistent with the infrared analysis conducted on the same hydrogels.Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) remains a primary choice of material for load bearing applications in total joint arthroplasty. Superior mechanical properties and wear resistance are unique to its performance. However, the addition of nanomaterials has improved its properties significantly. In the present study, a novel sandwich configuration has been considered to achieve unique surface and bulk properties specific to these sandwich composites. UHMWPE was reinforced at various loadings of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 wt. % by surface modified Nano-diamond (ND). It is observed that the young’s modulus, yield stress, fracture stress and toughness of UHMWPE were improved by 15, 31, 30, and 49.6% respectively at the optimum loading of 0.5 wt. % ND filler. The % of elongations and impact strength showed best results at 0.3 wt. % ND. Sandwich nanocomposites were prepared with the optimum loading of 0.3 & 0.5 wt. % ND and assessed for their properties and behaviour. The sectional hardness of sandwich nanocomposites revealed the cross-sectional variation of properties of the material. The reasons for diminution of the mechanical properties of nanocomposites and sandwich nanocomposites were also ascertained by rheological studies. The vibration response, damping behaviour, water contact angle and density of the composites which influence the longevity of the implant material were also assessed. The sandwich composite (PE 0.3ND – PE – PE 0.3ND) has shown better performance in all respect as compare to SW1 and SW3 composite due to good intermingling between the adjacent layers. It is concluded that the existence of ND improved the surface properties and mechanical properties of UHMWPE. However, sandwich nanocomposites have shown better properties unique unto itself.The aim of this study was to characterize a mcr-1-carrying integrative and conjugative element (ICE) in a novel Pasteurellaceae-like bacteria of swine origin. The mcr-1-positive GY-402 strain, recovered from a pig fecal sample, was subjected to whole genome sequencing with the combination of Illumina Hiseq and MinION platforms. Genome-based taxonomy revealed that strain GY-402 exhibited highest ANI value (84.89 %) to Actinobacillus succinogenes, which suggested that it represented a novel Actinobacillus species. Sequence analysis revealed that mcr-1 was clustered with eight other resistance genes in the MDR region of a novel ICE element, named ICEAsp1. Inverse PCR and mating assays showed that ICEAsp1 is active and transferrable. In addition, six circular forms mediated by four ISApl1 elements were detected with different inverse PCR sets, indicating that flexible composite transposons could be formed by pairwise combinations of multiple IS copies. Cloning experiment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the novel Cat protein, designated CatT, belongs to type-A family and confers resistance to chloramphenicol. In conclusion, this is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of mcr-1 gene on ICE structure and also in Pasteurellaceae bacteria. The diverse composite transposons mediated by multicopy IS elements may facilitate the dissemination of different resistance genes.Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) encodes many multifunctional proteins that inhibit host innate immune response during virus infection. As one of important structural proteins, PEDV E protein has been found to block the production of type I interferon (IFN) in virus life cycle, but little is known about this process that E protein subverts host innate immune. Thus, in this present study, we initiated the construction of eukaryotic expression vectors to express PEDV E protein. Subsequently, cellular localization analysis was performed and the results showed that the majority of PEDV E protein distributed at cytoplasm and localized in endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Over-expression of PEDV E protein significantly inhibited poly(IC)-induced IFN-β and IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) productions. We also found that PEDV E protein remarkably suppressed the protein expression of RIG-I signaling-associated molecules, but all their corresponding mRNA levels remained unaffected and unchanged. Furthermore, PEDV E protein obviously interfered with the translocation of IRF3 from cytoplasm to nucleus through direct interaction with IRF3, which is crucial for the IFN-β production induced by poly(IC). Taken together, our results suggested that PEDV E protein acts as an IFN-β antagonist through suppression of the RIG-I-mediated signaling. This study will pave the way for the further investigation into the molecular mechanisms by which PEDV E protein evades host innate immune response.Previous studies have pointed out that bluetongue virus (BTV) down-regulates the expression levels of type Ⅰ interferon (IFN-Ⅰ) and inhibits IFN-Ⅰ signaling by targeting on the Janus tyrosine kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription protein (STAT) pathway. However, individual viral protein could not effectively block IFN-Ⅰ signaling. There is a need to explore the underlying mechanisms by which viral proteins of BTV coordinate to antagonize the IFN-Ⅰ signaling. We investigated the coordinative role of BTV-1 nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) and NS4 in counteracting IFN-Ⅰ signaling in the JAK-STAT pathway by directly interacting with STAT1. The NS3 and NS4 targeted the SH2 domain of STAT1 to inhibit its phosphorylation, heterodimerization, nuclear translocation, as well as activation of downstream genes of the JAK-STAT pathway. NS3 and NS4 impaired STAT1 phosphorylation induced by IFN-Ⅰ in a dose dependent manner. Overall, this study confirmed that NS3 and NS4 of BTV participate in interfering with IFN-Ⅰ signaling process.