Against the backdrop of reform and opening-up (ROU), China, the world’s largest developing country, is increasingly open and keen to engage globally. Such elements as openness, integration, and international engagement represent vital components of the overarching ROU metadiscourse that justifies China’s sociopolitical system and multifarious policies and decisions. As part of a series of digital humanities (DH) informed empirical studies exploring the part played by interpreting in rendering China’s ROU metadiscourse, this study zooms in on the government interpreters’ mediation of Beijing’s international engagement and global involvement discourses. Unlike CDA which often foregrounds the negative themes , an innovative corpus-based positive discourse analysis (PDA) is introduced and applied, drawing on 20 years of China’s press conferences. This article points to the interpreters’ visibility and agency in facilitating and strengthening China’s discourse through (over)producing core lexical items and salient collocational patterns. Following the trends of interdisciplinarity and digital humanities, this corpus-based PDA study illustrates ultimately how a major non-Western developing country from the global South communicates its discourse bilingually in front of the international community. The potential impact and implications of the interpreter-in(tro)duced discursive changes are discussed  China’s rise represents one of the most important single events in our time. Partly as a result of the pragmatist Reform and Opening-up (ROU) programme that began in 1978 under Deng Xiaoping, China has registered decades of steady economic growth and is on track to becoming the world’s largest economy  may be wgrand récit or métarécit). Containing various micro-discourses, a broader metadiscourse or meta-narrative accrues and can enjoy considerable currency over long stretches of time [The ROU, as such, is a vital watershed in China’s recent history, witnessing the country’s rapid development and increasing interaction with the rest of the world. Indeed, like Enlightenment, the clash of civilisations, environmentalism, modernity, progress, the war on terror, multiculturalism, Black Lives Matter, Capitalism, ROU can be viewed as an all-encompassing metadiscourse or meta-narrative  metadiscourse. The international involvement and global engagement discourses, as such, will form the focus of this corpus-based study as useful entry points into the broader ROU metadiscourse. Given the relatively neutral/positive nature of the themes (which constitute the development discourse of a major non-Western developing country), an innovative corpus-based positive discourse analysis (PDA) is carried out to (de)construct and explore its discursive articulations . Framed within the wider contexts of interdisciplinary research and digital humanities (DH), the pragmatist and triangulatory mixed-methods approach of corpus-based PDA is used on a large corpus containing China’s Premier-Meets-the-Press conference data from 1998 to 2017 (20 years) so as to establish the government-affiliated interpreters’ potential agency and discursive mediation in (re)constructing China’s discourse. Viewing interpreters as major sociopolitical actors, this study explores their potentially vital role from a broader international communication and sociopolitical perspective, beyond the traditionally narrow conceptualisation of interpreting as a relatively mechanical process within a self-contained and semi-closed system. This study is one of the first studies to draw on corpus-based PDA and arguably the first one to adopt this approach in translation and interpreting studies. This empirical study, interdisciplinary in nature, promises to contribute st century, the developing world in the Global South is becoming a force to be reckoned with, which is poised to play an increasingly bigger role in the international community. Notably, the dynamic mutually enriching exchanges within the BRICS  countries represent a fine example of South-South cooperation, aiming to advance the development interests of a group of rapidly developing and emerging nations in a similar stage of development [Development discourse relates to the discursive articulations on development most notably in relatively poor and disadvantaged developing or third world countries in the Global South . It is concerned with the sociopolitical, economic, infrastructure, health, and education developments in  societies in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America. The development of these countries is for example explored extensively in the interdisciplinary area of development studies. In our multi-polar world in the 21modus vivendi incorporating elements of market economy and capitalism to China’s overall socialist system featuring a degree of macro-control from the state [As the world’s largest developing country, China’s development discourse taken from its own ROU experience is no doubt one of the most consequential and telling. In contemporary China, there are two major overarching discourse modes, that is, a revolutionary discourse (1949–1977) and a reform and development discourse (1978—now). The first period involved a few (eventful) decades of close-door socialist experimentation since 1949. In view of the relative isolation, backwardness and poverty witnessed in this period, China under Deng Xiaoping has opted for a path of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” since 1978. This represents a major policy and discursive shift towards a more practical and outward-looking approach that focuses on reform, economic development and better integration internationally. Deng’s ROU, as such, represents a pragmatic and flexible he state .inter alia, is about such crucial aspects as economy, market, opening-up, reform, and international engagement. However, it is fundamentally about concrete developments and modernising the country on various fronts. As an example of the overriding focus on development in the post-1978 period, Deng Xiaoping remarked that “development is the only hard truth” (fazhan caishi yingdaoli) and China must develop itself in various aspects. China’s ROU metadiscourse itself represents part of a wider development discourse in the global south [jianghao zhongguo gushi (to tell the Chinese story properly) in recent years. Against such a backdrop, China’s ROU metadiscourse, as the development discourse of the world’s largest developing country, when interpreted into English, can have wider ramifications and may effect change to the ever-shifting power differentials between the North and South and the East and West in the global arena discursively and beyond.China’s ROU, Our recent technological developments have afforded researchers the ability to carry out computer-powered digital research into the different areas of humanities and social sciences. This has given rise to the exponential expansion of digital social sciences and digital humanities over the last decade or so, forging increasing cross-fertilisation between different fields. Framed within a broader context of digital humanities and interdisciplinary research, the mixed-methods approach of corpus-based PDA is adopted in this article concerning interpreting studies, bearing the nature of the study in mind.social practice that is both socially conditioned and socially shaping. Traditionally, critical discourse analysis (CDA), in its various manifestations, has been a major ‘go-to’ framework to investigating the ideology and power reproduced and legitimised through discursive means [Discourse can be viewed as a form of ve means , 24. Howve means  in discoHowever, in reality, as with anything, discourse is not always negative, oppressive, exploitative and sinister in nature. Discourse, despite the ideological and socially shaping nature, can also be progressive, empowering, emancipatory, liberating, and morale-boosting and serve as a form of positive resistance to right the wrong and level the playing field etc. Although it is not always easy to definitively say what is positive or negative, discourses in various scenarios might be considered to be positive and progressive in terms of the underlying intention and/or the discursive effect. Examples of such positive discourses can be the powerful discourse against racism (e.g. during the Black Lives Matter movement), the unifying discourse of solidarity against violence and terrorism, the emancipatory discourse against colonialism in previously colonialised societies, the discourse that helps to lower the temperature and extend the olive branch for peaceful dialogue and harmonious co-existence , the positive and encouraging development discourse of the global south that provides an alternative voice and challenges the more dominant ‘North’ (e.g. the broader reform and opening-up discourse from China).yin and yang [Despite the existence of more positive discourses, there has been a lack of sufficient scholarly engagement with the neutral/positive elements in discourse analysis. There have indeed been growing calls for CDA to move beyond the almost exclusive focus on the negative aspects  and be mand yang  that conCompared with CDA, PDA is relatively new and remains less explored and even ‘marginal’  in placeIn the UK setting, drawing on PDA, Sauntson  devoted So far, very few PDA studies, if any, have been carried out in translation and interpreting . The reason why positive discourse analysis is applied in this study as opposed to the traditional CDA is because the discursive articulations of a developing nation from the global South on more open-minded international engagement and global integration, while not necessarily immune from ideological considerations, are essentially positive or at least neutral in nature. This is particularly true when compared with, for instance, the negative isolationist discourses calling for (self)isolation and withdrawal from international affairs and global involvement . As a positive/neutral discourse , 31, theas a “useful methodological synergy” [Similar to the common criticisms the traditionally qualitative CDA is subject to relating to the lack of objectivity and systematicity and the possibility of cherry-picking on the part of researchers , the mossynergy” , 35. As synergy” , a CL apsynergy” , literarsynergy” , and intsynergy” , 9, 16 iAs such, framed within the broader context of interdisciplinary research and digital humanities (DH), the mixed-methods approach of corpus-based positive discourse analysis (CBPDA) is employed in this study to triangulate between the typically qualitative (PDA) and the typically quantitative (CL) for more systematic and thus more convincing findings. Despite the fact that interpreting as a form of bilingual discursive communication can also effect (positive) change on a broader socio-political level, this framework is rarely explored, if at all, in interpreting studies. This article is one of the first studies in interpreting to draw on PDA and arguably the first study to use a corpus-based PDA approach in studying bilingual discursive communication.verbatim. After careful checking and preparation, the corpus-based PDA is carried out, using the AntConc software developed by Laurence Anthony. A detailed breakdown of the corpus data can be found in The corpus-based PDA analysis is carried out on the CE-PolitDisCorp  established to explore the different aspects of political interpreting between Chinese and English. Containing 310,924 tokens , the CE-PolitDisCorp represents a relatively large interpreting corpus, featuring 20 years of China’s Premier-Meets-the-Press conference data (1998–2017). The interpreter-mediated and televised premier’s press conference was itself established against a backdrop of greater international engagement as part of China’s Reform and Opening-up efforts. That is, the conferences gradually became routinised as a high-profile annual discursive event  for bettSince the bulk of the corpus data concerns (1) Subcorpus A  and (2) Subcorpus B (the corresponding content interpreted into English), these two components will represent the sole focus of this article. The interpreters involved are often communist party members and civil servants affiliated with the foreign ministry of the Chinese government. Those high-profile conferences are consecutively interpreted and broadcast live.The interpreting of China’s international engagement and global involvement discourse can be explored from different angles and through examining different lexical items. For example, as illustrated in items semantically related to the globe or being international as a proxy or entry points to the data. In terms of the specific criteria, relevant items are selected from the frequency list (cf. a priori linguistic categories).Attention then will focus specifically on Since the overarching Reform and Opening-up metadiscourse is inevitably realised in various main themes or discourses, DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMY, REFORM, INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT AND GLOBAL INVOLVEMENT, MARKET, STABILITY, OPENNESS, MODERNISATION, SOCIALISM, and HARMONY have been identified as of particular relevance. The identification of those salient themes is both based on lexical frequency in English and the researcher’s expertise in the related topics. The various concepts and themes’ instances in both languages are presented in vis-a-vis the Chinese original over a span of 20 years . Such a focus on lexical items, however crude, is vital discursively. This is because the Chinese premiers’ frequent mentioning of certain important items  indicates both discursively and cognitively how important certain aspects are for China’s reform. For China experts and the media alike, how many times certain keywords are mentioned is routinely used as a useful indication of China’s shifting policies, preoccupations, and priorities [This overall analysis at a lexical level reveals that core concepts and themes constitutive of the ROU metadiscourse have been rendered significantly more prominent by the government-affiliated interpreters in English iorities .jianghao zhongguo gushi), the interpreters play a vital role in (re)telling China’s reform and opening-up story emphatically overall. Regarding the discursive effect and broader implications, the interpreters’ emphatic rendering of China’s ROU metadiscourse constitutes an alternative voice, which discursively might serve to counterbalance the often naturalised, dominant, and taken-for-granted narratives [The interpreters’ proliferated (over)production of relevant lexical items in the decision-making process represents an interesting case of repetition , 23 and rratives  from thorratives . Given trratives  for moreHaving discussed the interpreters’ general tendency to (over)produce lexical items, more focused analysis is conducted on the interpreters’ (re)presentation of China’s (positive) discourses relating to its global involvement and engagement, which directly indicate China’s openness and willingness to interact internationally. The discussion will be presented at a lexical, diachronic and collocational level. Bilingual examples of PDA will also be provided.etc.) and 国际* and international*  were searched. Some of the representative concordance lines indicative of China’s global engagement and international involvement are: ‘China takes an active part and safeguards the international system’, ‘we are willing to work with the countries of the world to maintain global peace’, ‘China will shoulder our due international obligations as a large developing country’, ‘China will continue to work with other countries to advance the international efforts in tackling climate change’, ‘China’s economy is already tied to the globalised economy’, ‘China is ready to work with other countries to further improve the international governing system’, and ‘China is ready to work with other countries in the world in building a fair and equitable new international political and economic order’. These show China’s keen interest in and commitment to interaction globally as a developing country and indicate various positive actions .Firstly, for an overall idea, in both subcorpora, 全球* and glob* , 世界* and world* , 165 mentions of 世界* and 158 mentions of world* (a 4.2% decrease) as well as 121 mentions of 国际* and 144 mentions of international* (a 19% increase). Therefore, while there are 302 instances of lexical items concerning the globe, world and the international in Chinese, there are 362 instances of their counterparts in English. This represents a noticeable 19.87% increase, thus pointing to the government interpreters’ increased institutional alignment. At least discursively, this (re)constructs a positive image in English that China is even more open and global minded in front of the international audience.Diachronically, the premiers’ discourse in Chinese appears to be growingly internationally minded and globally oriented over the three administrations (increasing from on average 8 to 16 and 20.4 times per year), as seen in Example 1 (2010):ST: 我真诚希望美欧承认中国的市场经济地位, 并且放开高科技产品对中国的出口, 这有利于贸易的平衡。Gloss: I sincerely hope that the US and Europe will recognize China’s market economy status and open up their export of high-tech products to China. This is beneficial to trade balance.TT: I sincerely hope that Europe and the United States will recognize China’s market economy status and lift restrictions on the exports of high technology commodities to China, because that will help promote trade balance in the world.Example 2 (2017):ST: 提高中国产品的质量, 迈向中高端, 必然要更大地打开大门, 更多地引进国外先进的技术和产品。Gloss: To improve the quality of China’s products and to enter into the medium and high end (market) necessitate opening the door wider and introducing advanced foreign technologies and products more.TT: The requirement for raising our own products’ quality and upgrading our own industries to a medium-high level actually needs us to open even wider to the outside world by introducing more advanced products and technologies.Although seemingly insignificant individually, taken together, the interpreters’ such repeated additions and more explicit mentions of items relating to the world or the globe in English cumulatively help (re)construct a favourable image that China is even more global minded and internationally oriented in English compared with the Chinese STs.Beyond an overall lexical level, more focused discussions are provided on international* and global* as well as their corresponding collocational patterns here. An exploration of collocations is useful because discourse is inevitably constructed through collocations or the ‘company’  certain 5.2.2.1 International*. International* was firstly searched in the English subcorpus to retrieve concordance lines, which were then sorted to the right and left to identify patterns. Some of the identified patterns are: international financial crisis (22), international community (9), international market(s) (8), international environment (8), international practice(s) (6), international issues (3), international law(s) (3), international obligations (3), international currency (3), international effort(s) (2), international organisation(s) (2), international standard(s) (2), international asset (1), international commodity prices (1), international trade (1), international resources (1) and international rescue effort (1). These patterns are mostly accurate (re)presentations of the premiers’ utterances after a comparative analysis with the Chinese STs. Yet, ‘international community’ and ‘international practice(s)’ prove to be two salient patterns. More detailed discussions can be found below.(a) International communityUnited States and its Western allies. Similarly, Martin Jacques sees the term as a way of dignifying the west, of globalising it, of making it sound more respectable, more neutral and high-faluting. The term, as Wang’s [‘International community’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘the countries of the world considered collectively’. Often used by politicians and journalists in the realms of geopolitics and international relations, the term conveys a sense of legitimacy and credibility through the indication of common consensus worldwide on certain issues. The term is not without its critics. Noam Chomsky argues that the inclusive sounding ‘international community’ is used almost exclusively to refer to the s Wang’s  corpus-bAn investigation in both subcorpora shows that there are 9 instances of ‘international community’ in English see  yet onlyThe interpreters’ proliferated use of ‘international community’ in English is salient ideologically, representing a strengthening of the Chinese originals. The functions of the interpreters’ employment of the term can be categorised into the following aspects:To lend further credence and legitimacy to China’s  claims:(1) This is evidenced in the example below , which suggests that China’s claim is justified and universally recognised and supported. Such usage is similar to that used by Western countries to show universal acceptance or recognition.Example 3 (2004)ST: There is but one China in the world. Both the mainland and Taiwan are part of China. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of China allow no division. China’s sovereignty over Taiwan has been explicitly recognised in the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. And it is a principle universally recognised by the international community.To translate general items relating to ‘the world’ as ‘international community’:(2) Discursively, compared with using the more generic items related to the ‘world’, the interpreters’ repeated mentions of the family-like conceptualisation ‘international community’ emphasise a strong sense of togetherness and international membership, thus helping portray China as a relevant, important and visible member of a big family of nations in English. This is illustrated in the following examples in English.international community’ (2008); the discourse of Sino-US ties: ‘a great deal of attention has been paid to China-US relations in the international community’ (2017) and ‘it has already sent out a very clear message to the whole international community that China-US business ties will get even closer’ (2015); Also, China’s climate change discourse: ‘the issue of climate change concerns human survival, the interests of all countries, and equity and justice in our international community’ (2010).China’s expected position in the world: ‘to ensure that our nation is duly respected in the The mentions of the more emphatic ‘international community’ in these examples are respectively triggered by general unmarked items 世界 (the world), 全世界 (the whole world), 世界 (the world) and 世界 (the world) in Chinese. As such, interpreters’ repeated use of the expression represents a small degree of strengthening compared with the Chinese STs.The interpreter’s addition of ‘international community’ untriggered by the ST.(3) in the international community about the downward pressure on China’s economic growth’ (2014).Another scenario involves the interpreters’ addition of ‘international community’ that is not triggered by the ST at all. The addition therefore helps portray China as an active member and important stakeholder of a bigger interconnected family of nations in an emphatic manner. This is exemplified in: ‘Last year there was this concern To sum up, through the repeated use of ‘international community’, discursively, the interpreters have aligned institutionally and helped further boost China’s claims, emphasise China’s international membership and facilitate its global integration in the English discourse.(b) International practice(s)Having discussed the collocation ‘international community’, attention is now focused on another interesting pattern ‘international practice(s)’. Statistically, there are 6 instances of ‘international practice(s)’ in the English subcorpus , which ain line with the international practice and in line with the requirements of a market economy can be put into place’, or ‘the practice of China in the Internet management is also consistent with the established international practice’ as remarked by the premier in response to the journalist’s question on China’s ‘Internet censorship’ issue.These represent a justificatory discourse, where conforming to an expected and widely recognised international standard is used as a justification to strengthen China’s positions and arguments and to deflect criticisms. Examples of this are ‘we must conduct fundamental reform in this system so that an investment and funding system that is Interestingly, all 6 instances of ‘international practice(s)’ appear in the first two administrations (1998–2012) and mentions of it are conspicuously absent in the latest Xi-Li administration so far (2013–2017). This shows that, at a time when China was less integrated globally and was in a weaker position politically and economically (first two administrations), China tended to use the adherence to international standards as a way to justify what the government had done and proposed to do in English.Comparative analysis suggests that there are 4 instances of its literal equivalent 国际惯例 in Chinese. Despite the relatively small numbers, this indeed points to a tendency for the interpreters to use this expression and further legitimise the government’s actions in the first two administrations.Unlike this relatively defensive and conformist mode of discursive articulation, China appears less preoccupied with justifying its actions using the perceived international standards during the Xi-Li administration. Now over three decades into the pragmatist reform, China is increasingly seeking to play a proactive role in shaping the rules of the game as a major global player . Therefore, the interpreters’ language use both reflects and contributes to the shifting power relations globally against a changing sociopolitical landscape.5.2.2.2 Glob*. Having explored international*, 全球* and glob*  are now investigated in the corpus to study China’s level of global engagement in both subcorpora. As illustrated in A close inspection of the concordance lines containing glob* shows that ‘economy’ is featured prominently in the (re)presentation of China’s discourse on its global engagement. This is evidenced in the following recurring patterns: ‘global economic + noun’ (9 instances), ‘global economy’ (14 instances), ‘global trade’ (7 instances), ‘economic globalisation’ (2 instances), and ‘globalised economy’ (1 instance). Some of the patterns can be found in the concordance lines below . UnsurprThis sudden uptick in the references to global(ised) economy marks a noticeable shift that China’s economy fundamentally transformed from one that was largely inward-looking (focusing on domestic economic policies and initiatives) to one that is inextricably linked to the global economy. Relatively unscathed by the global economic downturn around 2008, China became a major engine for world economic growth and overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Notably, China’s economic growth started to slow down gradually around 2015, entering into what is officially called a “new normal”. ST-TT comparisons show that the patterns and trends (re)presented in English are accurate reflections of the Chinese originals, hence a general level of interpreter alignment.globalised and globalisation), diachronically, there is only one explicit mention each in Premier Zhu and Premier Wen’s administrations (in 2001 and 2008), indicating that China in these two periods was still relatively domestically-oriented. Notably, however, there is a sudden spike in 2017 during the Xi-Li period where globalisation is mentioned 8 times  and ‘China has championed economic globalisation and free trade’ (line 3), which represent China’s ‘consistent position’ (line 3).opening-up’ (lines 8) and ‘seize the opportunities of opening up’ in globalisation (line 9) and ‘peace, development and cooperation and globalisation are indivisible’ (line 7). This suggests the close nexus cognitively between these concepts and China’s general view on various elements central to reform and opening-up. Comparative analyses show that the above patterns are accurate (re)productions of the STs.Notably, China’s discourse on its global engagement is also constructed in conjunction with other important concepts: ‘China will remain committed to Reform and Opening-up has been an overarching metadiscourse justifying and legitimating China’s sociopolitical systems, development model, and numerous decisions and positions in the entire post-1978 China. The ROU metadiscourse also represents a vital developing discourse for China—the largest developing nation in the world. This study dissected the government-affiliated interpreters’ mediation of the neutral/positive international engagement and global involvement discourses. Bearing the nature of the study in mind, an innovative corpus-based PDA approach was adopted for more systematic and objective analysis. The analysis firstly established the interpreters’ general strengthening of major themes/discourses  through the (over)production of relevant lexical items in English. The interpreters’ proliferated mentions of these lexical items represent a salient case of repetition , 23, thuWith this as a general starting point, the interpreters’ mediation of China’s global involvement and international engagement discourses was analysed at different levels. It is found that at a lexical level China’s global involvement and international engagement discourses have been rendered more emphatic and visible in English overall and also in each administration. Also, diachronically, across the three administrations, facilitated by the interpreters, a positive image of China being internationally engaged and global-minded has been progressively (re)created. At a collocational level, interesting patterns were identified, cognitively revealing China’s thinking patterns and priorities  in its global engagement and integration over the 20 years. These represent an accurate (re)presentation of the Chinese discourses facilitated by those interpreters. Notably, interpreters have tended to repeatedly add salient patterns such as ‘international community’ and ‘international practice(s)’ in English. It is found that China’s discursive pattern has shifted from a defensive, conformist, and justificatory type of discourse in earlier administration(s) towards one that increasingly features initiative, international engagement and recently international leadership as a defender of free trade and champion of an open globalised market (unlike the US under Trump). Doubtlessly, the government-affiliated interpreters have successfully facilitated such discursive changes, helping (re)create an increasingly proactive image of China as a global player.Looking beyond the traditional conceptualisation of interpreters as agentless and transparent conduits, the press conference interpreters’ strengthening of China’s ROU metadiscourse in general and more specifically China’s global engagement and international involvement discourses points to their key role as interested participants in (re)telling China’s story and (re)articulating sociopolitical truth and knowledge beyond China’s physical borders. Given the outward-facing and high-profile nature of the discursive event, the often more emphatic, forceful and convincing rendering of Beijing’s discourses in English might have far-reaching global ramifications beyond the confines of the press conference hall. That is, the interpreter-mediated discourses can contribute discursively to the constantly shifting and delicate power differentials between China and the more dominant and vociferous West and counterbalance the naturalised and often taken-for-granted Western narratives , 40. TheFramed within the recent trends of interdisciplinary and digital humanities research, this innovative corpus-based PDA study highlights the vital role of interpreters as indispensable (re)tellers of China’s reform and opening-up discourse in an increasingly mediat(is)ed and (re)mediat(is)ed world. The study ultimately illustrates how a major non-Western developing country from the global South communicates its positive development discourse bilingually in front of the international community. Moving beyond the exploration of unique features of a particular type of language use or genre and the identification of linguistic patterns for pedagogical or lexicographical purposes, this study has demonstrated how a corpus linguistics approach can be fruitfully adopted to help us better understand our world from a broader social, diplomatic and geopolitical perspective.This interdisciplinary study promises to contribute to image studies, interpreting studies, corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, the political sciences, development studies, and media and communication studies. This empirical study also exemplifies a much-needed ‘outward turn’ in interpreting studies that foregrounds the active sociopolitical and historical shaping role of interpreting and promotes interdisciplinary and mutually enhancing dialogues with other disciplines and areas –48. It iS1 File(DOC)Click here for additional data file.


Ulva prolifera, has resulted in serious consequences for coastal waters of the Yellow Sea, China. Although viruses are considered to be one of the key factors in controlling microalgal bloom demise, understanding of the relationship between viral communities and the macroalgal green tide is still poor. Here, a Qingdao coastal virome (QDCV) time-series data set was constructed based on the metagenomic analysis of 17 DNA viromes along three coastal stations of the Yellow Sea, covering different stages of the green tide from Julian days 165 to 271. A total of 40,076 viral contigs were detected and clustered into 28,058 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs). About 84% of the vOTUs could not be classified, and 62% separated from vOTUs in other ecosystems. Green tides significantly influenced the spatiotemporal dynamics of the viral community structure, diversity, and potential functions. For the classified vOTUs, the relative abundance of Pelagibacter phages declined with the arrival of the bloom and rebounded after the bloom, while Synechococcus and Roseobacter phages increased, although with a time lag from the peak of their hosts. More than 80% of the vOTUs reached peaks in abundance at different specific stages, and the viral peaks were correlated with specific hosts at different stages of the green tide. Most of the viral auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were associated with carbon and sulfur metabolism and showed spatiotemporal dynamics relating to the degradation of the large amount of organic matter released by the green tide.The world’s largest macroalgal green tide, caused by IMPORTANCE To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the responses of viruses to the world’s largest macroalgal green tide. It revealed the spatiotemporal dynamics of the unique viral assemblages and auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) following the variation and degradation of Ulva prolifera. These findings demonstrate a tight coupling between viral assemblages, and prokaryotic and eukaryotic abundances were influenced by the green tide. Ulva prolifera, which has occurred in successive years in the Yellow Sea, China, since 2007. The green tide has caused complex and profound effects on marine ecosystems and has had a serious negative economic impact  to 271 (28 September) in 2017. This study provides the first glimpse of the viral assemblages and potential biogeochemical roles during an outbreak and demise of a green tide.Although viral dynamics are closely related to the formation and progression of algal blooms, our understanding of their roles in green tides is still limited. In this study, using metagenomics, we analyzed the spatiotemporal dynamic, community structure, and AMGs of metagenomic-assembled viral contigs and their relationship with host cells and environmental parameters at three stations in the coastal waters of Qingdao, during and after a a (chl. a) was higher after the blooms (on Julian days 243 and 271) than during the blooms , with the lowest value on day 193 and then gradually increasing at all three stations . Viral and bacterial abundances increased several times, from day 165 to peak values on day 201 and then decreased on day 208. The virus-to-bacteria ratio (VBR) increased from day 165 to day 193 and then decreased to minimum values on day 201  and Peilou’s J, increased from during the bloom  to after the bloom (on days 243 and 271)  data set contained 17 DNA virome libraries with a total of 176.85 Gb of sequence data. A total of 236,478 contigs longer than 3 kb were assembled. Combined with the prediction outputs of VirSorter, VirFinder, and Contig Annotation Tool (CAT), a total of 40,076 viral contigs were detected and clustered into 28,058 viral operational taxonomic units vOTUs, . Most 8. Howeverra bloom , and theand 271) .10.1128/msystems.01211-22.1FIG S1U. prolifera bloom at the three stations. (b) Venn plot of shared and specific vOTUs among the three stations. (c) Principal-component analysis (PCA) of the virome samples at three stations during the different stages of U. prolifera bloom. (d) Variations of α-diversity indexes of three stations during the different stages of U. prolifera bloom. Download FIG S1, TIF file, 1.5 MB.(a) UpSet plot visualizing the intersecting sets of viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) during the different stages of Copyright © 2023 Han et al.2023Han et al.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.This content is distributed under the terms of the 10.1128/msystems.01211-22.7TABLE S2Table S2, XLSX file, 0.01 MB.Basic information about Qingdao coastal virome (QDCV). Download Copyright © 2023 Han et al.2023Han et al.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.This content is distributed under the terms of the 4  were positively correlated with NO2. The virome samples from both days 243 and 271 were negatively related to pH, temperature, salinity, bacterial abundance, and NH4  between vOTUs and environmental factors showed that the virome samples could be divided into three groups , which i4 . The vir and NH4 .U. prolifera bloom, and the other environmental viromes from the Integrated Microbial Genomes/Viruses (IMG/VR) v3 data set, a total of 4,025 VCs were predicted, of which 525 VCs contained U. prolifera bloom-associated vOTUs in the QDCV data sets  Histogram showing the proportion of lysogenic and lytic viruses. (b) Viral community structure at the family level in the three stations. Download Copyright © 2023 Han et al.2023Han et al.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.This content is distributed under the terms of the 10.1128/msystems.01211-22.3FIG S3U. prolifera and RefSeq prokaryotic viral genomes. Nodes (circles) represent viral genomes and vOTUs, and the shared edges (lines) indicate shared protein content. Color represents the taxon annotation in RefSeq prokaryotic viral genomes and vOTUs in the bloom of U. prolifera. (b) Dynamic changes of VCs caused by the arrival of U. prolifera bloom. Download FIG S3, TIF file, 2.6 MB.Spatiotemporal variations of viral clusters (VCs). (a) A network of shared predicted protein content among viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) (≥10 kb) in the bloom of Copyright © 2023 Han et al.2023Han et al.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.This content is distributed under the terms of the U. prolifera blooms at the three stations, the temporal dynamics of the peak abundance vOTUs are presented  and virophages (Lavidaviridae) (U. prolifera (Pelagibacter (SAR11) were the dominant group, but these decreased with the arrival of the bloom and then rebounded after the bloom (Cyanobacteria (Synechococcus phage and Prochlorococcus phage), Verrucomicrobia (Verrucomicrobia phage), Roseobacter (Roseobacter phage), and Vibrio (Vibrio phage) increased from during the bloom to after the bloom  were classified into the es order , followeviridae) . Althougrolifera . Viruseshe bloom . In conthe bloom . In addihe bloom . Lavidavhe bloom . In addihe bloom  was genehe bloom  and was he bloom  and b, b10.1128/msystems.01211-22.4FIG S4FIG S4, TIF file, 2.9 MB.Relationships between viruses and the hosts . (a) The correlation network of viruses and hosts. The node size and node color represent the viral clusters (VCs) of the peak class of relative abundance or the OTU taxonomy of bacteria and microbial eukaryotes. The orange edge means that two nodes are positively correlated, while the purple edge means that two nodes are negatively correlated. (b) Heat map of the numbers of VCs significantly correlated with host bacteria and microbial eukaryotes in different observed cases. The shade of each square indicates numbers of VCs significantly correlated with their hosts. Orange and blue represent positive and negative correlations between VCs and their hosts, respectively. Download Copyright © 2023 Han et al.2023Han et al.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.This content is distributed under the terms of the Using the sequence similarity, tRNA sequences and CRISPR spacers, putative hosts were predicted for 278 of the 12,768 QDCV vOTUs ≥5 kb; . Most prthiF, moeB, and mec, were more abundant after the bloom, whereas the AMGs relating to sulfur metabolism, such as cysK, cysH, and msmA, were more abundant during the bloom  . Si. Si27). he bloom . CAZyme he bloom . In addi < 0.05) .10.1128/msystems.01211-22.5FIG S5U. prolifera bloom in the three stations. (b) KEGG function category of viral auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs). (c) The top 20 protein families changed during different stages of U. prolifera bloom in the three stations. Download FIG S5, TIF file, 0.9 MB.(a) Viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes changed during different stages of Copyright © 2023 Han et al.2023Han et al.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.This content is distributed under the terms of the U. prolifera in the Yellow Sea, has resulted in serious social and environmental consequences and has had serious impacts on the coastal microbial community structure and metabolic activity  or during the bloom , together with the CCA results  and unknown (including the unclassified and previously unknown viruses) viruses had either a single or a wide peak of abundance on one or successive Julian days. Only 7% to 11% vOTUs had several peaks  and c. T results , may indPelagibacter phages were more abundant after the bloom (Candidatus Pelagibacter (SAR11 clade)  database, and phage sulfur carriers were found to be more abundant than catalytic subunits due to the greater need for sulfur carriers to drive dissimilatory sulfur transformations ; , 9; U. prolifera . Virus-erolifera , 56. In rolifera .Massive macroalgal blooms can cause the death of other chitin-rich organisms, including protozoa and invertebrates, through the development of hypoxia , 9. In tU. prolifera bloom. A large proportion of the viruses identified were novel, and the viral community structure (both of the known and unknown viruses) and AMGs showed a clear succession during the different stages of the bloom, which was consistent with the spatiotemporal dynamics of their putative hosts. For the known viruses, viruses linked to hosts with degradation of algal-derived organic matter were found, such as Sulfitobacter, Cycloclasticus, Vibrio, Bacilli, and Roseobacter phages. AMGs related to sulfur  and carbon  metabolism were also discovered, and they may assist the hosts to degrade the algal-derived and other DOM. Whether the viruses will assist the host in degrading the liable, semiliable, and refractory DOM requires further study. This study has enhanced our understanding of the interactions between viruses and their hosts and created a preliminary view of the ecological roles of viruses in coastal waters affected by the largest U. prolifera green tide in the world.This study, for the first time, used a metagenomic analysis to investigate the community structure, diversity, life strategy, and AMGs of DNA viruses in coastal waters during a 3, NH4, NO3, and NO2) and chl. a concentration and were determined by a four-channel AA3 continuous flow AutoAnalyzer (Seventeen seawater samples (~20 liters) were collected from 5 m beneath the surface at three stations in Qingdao City: ZQ , MS , and XG  along the coastal waters of Yellow Sea from 14 June to 28 September in 2017 . This inAnalyzer  and the Analyzer , respectAnalyzer .−4 of the Molecular Probes stock solution, Thermo Fisher, USA) in the dark at 80°C. Then, the incubated samples were cooled at room temperature for 5 min and analyzed with a CytoFLEX flow cytometer  at a total volume of 30 μL sample−1. For bacterial enumeration  for 15 min in the dark, and analyzed with the CytoFLEX flow cytometer (Beckman) for 1 min at a delivery rate of 60 μL min−1.Viral abundance was estimated following the previous methods , 63 withmeration , the tha3-mediated flocculation method (3) solution was added to the filtered seawater with a 0.2-μm filter and mixed thoroughly. After incubating at room temperature for at least 40 min, the sample was passed through a polycarbonate membrane filter  and stored at 4°C until analysis.The FeCln method  was used2 buffer (pH 6.0) at 4°C. The viruses were concentrated to about 400 μL by centrifugal ultrafiltration . Total DNA was extracted using the QIAamp DNA minikit (Qiagen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Library construction was conducted using a NEBNext Ultra DNA Library Prep kit , and high-throughput sequencing of the viral DNA was performed using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000  platform .The filtered membranes with concentrated viral particles were resuspended in 0.1 M EDTA, 0.2 M MgClP < 0.05; (ii) VirSorter in categories 1, 2, 4, and 5; (iii) VirFinder with a score ≥ 0.7 and P < 0.05 and VirSorter in categories 1 to 6; and (iv) contigs detected as virus by CAT, which utilizes the last common ancestor (LCA) of conservative open reading frames (ORFs) to determine the taxon  . Then, the relative abundances of the vOTUs were determined as transcripts per million (TPM) reads mapped , producing 28,058 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs). To calculate the relative abundances of vOTUs in each sample, clean reads were mapped to the vOTUs using bowtie2  and couns mapped .The viral taxonomic classifications of the vOTUs were annotated by CAT ; the ORFin silico methods, including CRISPR spacer match, tRNA match, and nucleotide sequence homology (−5). (ii) The tRNAs from sequences of vOTUs and bacterial genomes were identified using ARAGORN (v1.2.38) (parameters: -t) (−5 and ≤1 mismatch over the whole spacer (The virus-host linkages were predicted using three different homology : (i) Seqers: -t) . Each maers: -t) . (iii) Cers: -t) , and CRIe spacer .−5; bit score > 30; version Pfam33.1)  and searched for sulfur and nitrogen metabolic genes using GhostKOALA against the KEGG GENES database . The relative abundance of viral ORFs was calculated for each sample by summing the relative abundance of each ORF and normalizing to the abundance of the vOTUs in which it was encoded.ORFs were predicted using metaProdigal . VIBRANTfam33.1) . To dete−5; query coverage ≥ 50%; identity ≥ 25%) . For comparison with other environmental viromes, we also placed the vOTUs (≥ 10kb) with the viral reference  and high-quality  predicted complete viral genomes (vOTUs) from marine, freshwater, terrestrial soil, wastewater environment, and algae-host-associated genomes in IMG/VR v3 data set (To cluster and place the vOTUs (≥10 kb) in the context of known viruses, the predicted proteins were clustered with predicted proteins from viral sequences in public databases . All proteins were compared using all-versus-all DIAMOND v0.9.29.130) BLASTp  . A simil.130 BLASr > 0.8 or r < −0.8) and statistically significant (P < 0.05) correlations were included into the network analysis.The network structure was used to determine the potential interactions between viral and host communities based on the Pearson index between viral clusters (VCs) and host OTUs. Only robust  using the vegdist function (method “bray”). For analysis of vOTUs and VCs dynamics, higher than the mean value of abundance (TPM) for a vOTU/VC was considered belonging to a peak of abundance . The vOTPRJNA797266).The raw reads data reported in this paper were previously deposited in the NCBI database (under Bioproject number


RBGO - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia is proud to announce the achievement of its first Impact Factor. This accomplishment supports RBGO's position as the leading Gynecology and Obstetrics journal in Latin America.Having a high-quality ObGyn journal published in Brazil has been the goal of Brazilian researchers so that the high-quality science produced here could be increasingly disseminated internationally. As a Society that proposes to support the training and education of professionals in Gynecology and Obstetrics, the Brazilian Federation of the Association of Gynecology and Obstetrics – FEBRASGO- also understood this need and did its utmost to offer our Brazilian researchers, residents, postgraduate students, and professionals a high-level and internationally competitive journal.In the last seven years, RBGO has been completely reformulated: an English edition was made available, it became an “open access” journal, its board of associate editors was restructured, it is now indexed in the main databases of international scientific literature and the periodicity was regularized. All these improvements made it an international journal that is offered cost free to the authors. The indicators below  demonstFinally, this June, RBGO was awarded an Impact Factor of 1.2 by Clarivates after a rigorous evaluation during the past 5 years. We take advantage of this historic moment to invite all authors to join our academic community! There are many benefits of publishing in RBGO which, from now on, gains greater importance and competitiveness in the dissemination of works published in the journal. Our great challenge in the future is to maintain this “status” with a pretentious desire to ascend.We thank the authors who submitted their manuscripts to RBGO, the Associate Editors and “anonymous” reviewers, the Editorial Office team and Febrasgo collaborators. A special thanks to the Executive Board of Febrasgo, who believed in the proposal of the NEW RBGO and offered their unconditional support to the Editors.


There has recently been great interest in the use of accelerometers onboard electronic transmitters to characterise various aspects of the ecology of wild animals. We review use cases and outline how these tools can provide opportunities for studying activity and survival, exercise physiology of wild animals, the response to stressors, energy landscapes and conservation planning tools, and the means with which to identify behaviours remotely from transmitted data. Accelerometer transmitters typically send data summaries to receivers at fixed intervals after filtering out static acceleration and calculating root-mean square error or overall dynamic body action of 2- or 3-axis acceleration values (often at 5–12.5 Hz) from dynamic acceleration onboard the tag. Despite the popularity of these transmitters among aquatic ecologists, we note that there is wide variation in the sampling frequencies and windows used among studies that will potentially affect the ability to make comparisons in the future. Accelerometer transmitters will likely become increasingly popular tools for studying finer scale details about cryptic species that are difficult to recapture and hence not suitable for studies using data loggers. We anticipate that there will continue to be opportunities to adopt methods used for analysing data from loggers to datasets generated from acceleration transmitters, to generate new knowledge about the ecology of aquatic animals. Movemeng, which are equivalent to the force of gravity in air 9.81 m/s2, representing a combination of static and dynamic acceleration. Static acceleration is the angular incidence of the device relative to the gravitational field and the dynamic acceleration is the component of the measurement attributable to movement of the device [Measurements of animal acceleration have become an important tool in the ecologist’s toolbox , 77. Acce device . The stae device . These se device , measuree device , and to e device . AccelerAccelerometers are now part of many standard biologging packages but must be recovered to offload the high dimensional data that are too large to be transmitted. The important data provided by accelerometers have also been adopted for use in transmitters, which integrate an accelerometer that makes measurements at fixed intervals, summarises the data onboard the tag, and transmits it as a data package to a receiver . Most taProgramming of accelerometer transmitters can be customised in various ways by the manufacturer to suit the needs of investigators. Similarly, attachment of accelerometer transmitters to animals  also varies. To explore the selection of such specifications, a review of ecology-based acoustic telemetry studies using accelerometer transmitters between 2010 and 2019 was conducted. Peer-reviewed acoustic telemetry articles were identified using the following search term in Web of Science™(v.5.34): “Acoustic telemetry” OR “Acoustic tracking” OR “Passive telemetry” OR “Acoustic transmit*” OR “Acoustic receiver*” OR “Acoustic tag*” OR “Ultrasonic tracking” OR “Ultrasonic telemetry” OR “Fish track*”  or 10 Hz (8/33) as a sampling frequency for accelerometer transmitters Table , which i9/33 or 1The sampling window is the duration during which the measurements are drawn before they are summarised and transmitted. Shorter sampling windows will provide a more detailed snapshot of the activity at a given moment whereas longer sampling windows will yield a more synoptic view of the animal’s activity. Animals can shift their active states from sedentary to bursting at very short intervals so longer sampling windows are prone to include a more heterogeneous scope of the activity than shorter sampling windows. Moreover, shorter sampling windows better approximate the output of a high frequency tri-axial logger. The sampling window of studies reviewed ranged between 0.25 and 180 s, with mean and median values of 34 s and 25 s, respectively  to reduce transmission burdens associated with the narrow bandwidth of ultrasonic transmissions [Operation mode typically refers to one of two modes in which acceleration is estimated from either two or three axes. When two axes (roll and yaw) are measured, the purpose is to estimate acceleration from undulations of the animal’s body and not any motion up or down (pitch). Only a few studies (4/53) used this ‘tailbeat’ mode to measure caudal fin  or mantle  undulations Table . The remmissions .Acoustic transmitters can also be constructed with different types of sensors in addition to (or instead of) accelerometers. These may provide additional information about the behaviour of the animal, such as whether it is moving  or measuring depth use . Other sensors may also provide information about the surrounding environment . Based on the reviewed literature, pressure (39/53 studies) and temperature 2/53) were the only additional types of sensors used  implanted acoustic transmitters internally, while the remainder attached transmitters externally Table . InternaHeterodontus portusjacksoni), demonstrating nocturnal peaks in activity and seasonal peaks indicative of migratory restlessness . These transmitted data can be applied to understand environmental correlates of activity but can also be used to investigate energy partitioning and the limits of exercise for animals. Few investigations have attempted to determine the share of time partitioned into different activity states, for example calculating the time a fish spends at or near its maximum capacity for activity, but these transmitters provide a tool with which to observe activity budgets.Accelerometer transmitters provide a tool with which to observe activity of an animal within an array as well as infer survival. The activity transmitted by the accelerometers can be used to infer spatiotemporal dynamics, individual variation, or draw comparisons between sexes/among species, etc. Kadar et al.  used acoNatural mortality is a key component of animal demography but is challenging to establish in the wild . MortaliSepia apama) aggregating at spawning grounds in the northern Spencer Gulf, South Australia, by calibrating transmitted acceleration data to observed swimming speeds and oxygen consumption. Combining acoustic telemetry and respirometry experiments have also provided detailed knowledge of the field metabolic rates of bonefish Albula vulpes [Oncorhynchus nerka in a swim tunnel respirometer, and later used these calibrations to estimate swimming speeds and energetic costs of the migration in marine and riverine habitats [Negaprion brevirostris) in a mesocosm had highest swimming velocities and energy expenditure during diurnal periods and flooding tides; these experimental approaches are effective for better understanding costs of life for animals in their environment. Some variation can be expected depending on the body plan and swimming mode of the fish, and Arechavala-Lopez et al. [Sparus aurata).Animals expend energy through aerobic and anaerobic pathways to accomplish diverse tasks, which can be linked both directly and indirectly to fitness , 12. Acca vulpes , 52. Wila vulpes  calibrathabitats , 80. Bouhabitats  demonstrAcipenser fulvescens, showing that all these metrics were good indicators of swimming speed for this species and how these metrics relate to each other; similar calibrations are possible with transmitters. Moreover, calibration studies make it possible to evaluate how well various acceleration metrics perform in distinguishing between the behavioural states of interest and is hence useful for pilot studies before launching large biotelemetry programs. ODBA and VeDBA were compared by Qasem et al. [Calibration experiments are useful for enabling comparisons between studies by transforming sensor output to common units such as swimming speed and energy expenditure, or by establishing direct relationships between output from different sensor types, tagging methods, or accelerometer-derived metrics. Using loggers rather than transmitters, Thiem et al.  linked fm et al.  who concm et al.  found thArgyrosomus japonicus) cowered in response to boat noise and reduced activity during affected periods, a stress response with ecological implications for the species as well as conservation relevant applications for managing boat traffic. Moreover, van der Knaap et al. [Gadus morhua) to exhibit a response to disturbances from seismic surveys.Stress is an adaptive response to cope with challenges that organism’s encounter, which often mobilises energy for a fight/flight response . Responsp et al.  used vecAcipenser medirostris). McLean et al. [Acipenser transmontanus) exhibited a brief period of swimming (10 min) following recreational capture before re-establishing a steady state of sedentary behaviour. Burnett et al. [Animals have primary, secondary, and tertiary responses to stressors and the metabolic costs of these responses must be repaid during a recovery period. Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) can be measured from animal respiration to quantify the costs of recovery from stress and determine the extent to which stressors impact individuals. The recovery period from stress is often characterised by low activity and distinguished from normal activity by changes in behavioural state. Moser et al.  demonstrn et al.  used simt et al.  is one oPterois volitans and P. miles) with acoustic tags implemented with acceleration sensors and revealed that they were more active during dusk and dawn and least active during night in Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. This type of data can be valuable for successful culling of invasive species by documenting their temporal and spatial activity patterns. Based on tailbeat frequency, tail thrust, accelerometer and depth loggers, Tanaka et al. [Oncorhynchus keta) was more energy demanding than the descending phase, illustrating that energy use might vary vertically in the water column, which could be much more tested using transmitters. Additionally, accelerometers can be combined with environmental data to reveal how activity is affected by abiotic variables and their transience through time  as documented with an acoustically tagged Caribbean queen conch  were higher along the coral reef shelf southwest of Eleuthera, The Bahamas, and more evenly distributed along the shelf during night than during day. Furthermore, Kneebone et al. [Carcharias taurus) in Massachusetts to visualise the spatial partitioning of activity by modelling Guassian Markov random fields using R-INLA [Energy landscapes, a term coined to describe the heterogeneity in costs of transport and other physiological expenses associated with habitat features , offer ae et al.  used accg R-INLA . Becauseg R-INLA , 69. IdeSalvelinus alpinus) in a field lab to identify acceleration values associated with resting, swimming, and bursting. Jury et al. [Epinephelus akaara) using loggers, classified behaviours, and programmed a transmitter to identify and transmit the detected behaviours. Still, few seem to have attempted to match visual observations of aquatic animal behaviour to RMS or ODBA data products from transmitters for behaviour identification despite the broad application of this method in ecology using tri-axial loggers.Habitual and routine animal behaviours can be deconstructed into their component activities based on patterns in accelerometer data. Tri-axial accelerometers are able to be calibrated to identify behaviours using supervised machine learning algorithms such as random forest or support vector machines based on visual observations used to train the models  may provide the basis for Hidden Markov modelling (HMM) and unsupervised classification of behavioural states Box . Leos-BaThis paper addresses an increasingly used methodology in aquatic animal science and is intended to help investigators overcome common challenges that are encountered and perceived when designing studies with accelerometer transmitters and using the data. Accelerometer transmitters are different tools from their derivative, the tri-axial accelerometer biologger that is more readily used in terrestrial environments and for animals from which tags can easily be recovered. Although accelerometer loggers have been used for many aquatic species with pop-off packages, transmitters provide a much lower risk means of collecting activity or energetics data remotely given many aquatic animals are too small to carry pop-off packages or are too cryptic to be recaptured and recover the tag. Because accelerometer transmitters must have user-specified sampling windows and frequencies and transmit data summaries, the applications of accelerometer transmitters are somewhat different and users should consider these aspects as such when designing studies.There is a need for better consideration in how accelerometer transmitters are specified by users. An overview of the literature indicated that most users are working with a sampling frequency of 5–10 Hz. Frequencies of 5 Hz may be too brief to effectively capture swimming dynamics of fast swimming species but 10 Hz is probably sufficient for most fish, albeit perhaps too infrequent for behavioural identification . ApparenAcoustic transmitters are predominantly inserted into the intraperitoneal cavity of fish, but may also be attached externally to the dorsal fins of sharks, mounted on wires through the dorsal musculature of teleosts, glued to the carapace of turtles, or attached to claws of decapod crustaceans . The acSalmo trutta) in a lake and modelled the activity in horizontal and vertical dimensions to determine how the fish partitioned activity at different layers of the lake. In loggers, accelerometers are frequently coupled with magnetometers, which can add rotational information missed by accelerometers [Our paper focuses on multi-axial accelerometer transmitters, however, there are other ways to use accelerometers that can add value to telemetry studies. It is possible to program tags with single axis accelerometer values to investigate, for example, animal pitch and transmit data about the movement toward or away from the water surface. Combining a tri- or bi-axial accelerometer transmitter with additional tag sensors can be valuable. Temperature measurements made by sensors and transmitted to receivers by the tag will represent either the external temperature experienced by the animal  or the internal temperature that adjusts to ambient water temperatures at a rate proportional to the animal’s size and the rate of temperature change . Combinirometers . MagnetoWe foresee new opportunities in the application of accelerometer transmitters for aquatic ecology. Our overview of key applications of these data to challenging questions in the aquatic realm suggests that several methods commonly applied to tri-axial accelerometer loggers are not well developed for accelerometer transmitters. Specifically, behavioural identifications using supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods may be promising for making use of acceleration data transmitted by aquatic animals; we predict that these tools will be more frequently applied and better integrated into aquatic research with accelerometer transmitters. Applying wavelet transform methods, commonly used to identify dominant spectra in logger data, may also contribute to identifying activity patterns and rhythms in data series from transmitters , 67,e.g.


The success of implant-supported fixed complete dental prostheses (ISFCDPs) depends on multiple factors: some are related to the fixtures, such as fixture material, surface characteristics, positioning, and type of connection to prosthetic components; others are related to the prostheses, such as design and materials used. Zirconia is a material widely used in fixed prosthodontics, whether on natural teeth or on implants, with excellent results over time. Regarding the use of zirconia for ISFCDPs, the 2018 ITI Consensus Report stated that “implant-supported monolithic zirconia prostheses may be a future option with more supporting evidence”. Since CAD/CAM technology and zirconia are being continuously innovated to achieve better results and performances over time, a narrative review of the literature seems necessary to focus research efforts towards effective and durable solutions for implant-supported, full-arch rehabilitations. The objective of the present narrative review was to search the literature for studies regarding the clinical performance of zirconia-based ISFCDPs. According to the results of this review, the use of zirconia for ISFCDPs showed good clinical outcomes, with high survival rates ranging from 88% to 100% and prosthetic complications that were restorable by the clinicians in most cases. The increasing aging of the population worldwide has led to a major proportion of patients who could develop complete edentulism and consequently need prosthetic rehabilitation, which can be an actual challenge for clinicians ,2.Before the advent of implant dentistry, the only therapeutic option to treat complete edentulism was to manufacture complete removable dentures .Despite many patients still accepting complete dentures for financial or personal reasons, some physiological modifications of the normal anatomy of the maxillary and mandibular bones, such as severe alveolar bone resorption, could lead to difficulties in prosthetic retention, which in turn causes pain and difficulties in chewing and eating properly .Nowadays, thanks to the high survival and success rates of dental implants , implantThe advantages offered by ISFCDPs are multiple, ranging from the improvement of patients’ comfort to the preservation of the alveolar bone from the mechanical stress of removable dentures, among others ,7.For this reason, according to some authors , ISFCDPsSome of the most commonly used materials for ISFCDPs are metal-acrylic hybrids, where acrylic resin teeth and gingival tissue are cemented on a metal framework; these materials are easy to use, affordable, and can be easily repaired . On the Zirconia is a material widely used for fixed prostheses supported by natural teeth or implants, with excellent results over time . MoreoveAccording to the Group 2 ITI Consensus Report for Prosthodontics and Implant Dentistry of May 2018 , zirconiRegarding the use of zirconia for full-arch rehabilitations, the 2018 ITI Consensus Report states that “implant-supported monolithic zirconia prostheses may be a future option with more supporting evidence”.In a more recent review , the autSince CAD/CAM technology and zirconia are being continuously innovated to achieve better results and performance over time, a narrative review of the literature seems necessary to focus research efforts towards effective and durable solutions for implant-supported, full-arch rehabilitations.The objective of the present narrative review was to search the literature for clinical studies focusing on the performance in terms of survival, success, and prosthetic complications of zirconia-based implant-supported fixed complete dental prostheses.The research was conducted by two groups of reviewers . The two groups of reviewers attended a group meeting to choose the PICO question, to be aligned during the article selection, and to set up the inclusion/exclusion criteria.The selected PICO question was the following: “What are the clinical performances in terms of survival, success and prosthetic complications of zirconia-based ISFCDPs?”.The following inclusion/exclusion criteria were set up:-Human clinical studies ;-Articles evaluating the clinical outcomes of zirconia-based implant-supported full-arch rehabilitations or comparing zirconia to other restorative materials;-Articles published in English.-Exclusion criteria:-Animal studies;-Case reports;-Articles published in languages other than English.Inclusion criteria:The two groups of reviewers conducted a double Medline search through PubMed on literature published up to December 2022. No starting year was chosen in order to include as many results as possible.Group 1 (CC/VM/FG) conducted the research using the following keywords: “prosthetics, dentistry, zirconia, implant supported NOT zirconia implants”, obtaining 220 results.Group 2 (AB/FA/SR) conducted the research using the keywords “implant, full arch rehabilitation, zirconia”, obtaining 30 results.In the two groups, each member performed the search by themselves and then compared it with other members of the same group, deleting duplicates.Then, the results of both research groups were compared, and the duplicates were eliminated.Finally, a total of 248 articles were selected for title screening.After the title screening, performed by both groups of reviewers, the results were compared and discussed. Finally, 37 articles were selected for abstract reading. After the abstract reading, 17 articles were excluded, and 20 articles were considered eligible for full-text reading. Following the full-text reading, the results were discussed among the reviewers. Two articles did not meet the inclusion criteria, and 18 articles were finally included in this review. All the included articles were published between 2010 and 2021.The main results of the studies included in this review are visible in The first study included, by Larsson C. et al. , was a pOliva J. et al.  reportedIn the third included article by Papaspyridakos P. and Lal K. , the autThe authors observed a 100% survival rate up to 4-year follow-up and a ceramic chipping rate of 31.25%, mostly minor (3 out of 4 patients) and requiring only polishing or restoration with composite resin. Only one case of porcelain fracture required laboratory repair. The authors identified three risk factors associated with porcelain chipping: patients’ parafunctional activities, the absence of a nightguard, and the presence of another ISFCDP as an antagonist.Pozzi and colleagues  reportedIn the fifth included article, Limmer and colleagues  conducteIn another retrospective clinical study  conducteVenezia P. and colleagues  performeIn the retrospective study by Tartaglia G.M. and colleagues , the autIn the retrospective study performed by Rojas Vizcaya F. , 10 patiPapaspyridakos P. et al.  designedIn another retrospective study, Gonzalez J. and Triplett R.  includedBox V. et al.  publisheIn a prospective study, Caramês J. et al.  recruiteBarootchi et al. , in a reAnother retrospective study from Capparè P. and colleagues , in 2020Diéguez-Pereira M. et al. , in 2020Pozzi A. et al.  publisheTirone F. et al. , in 2021-Monolithic form, where no additional ceramic is added and esthetics are provided by the zirconia itself and glazes applied by the technician;-Veneered with highly esthetic glass ceramic by creating a cutback in the monolithic structure, either functional  or non-functional  ,32.Porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) has been used for years for implant-supported rehabilitations and can still be considered the “gold standard” for this kind of restoration due to its history of excellent results and performance over time ,31. In rOther solutions include milling a monolithic zirconia framework on which full coverage glass ceramic crowns are then luted.Unfortunately, zirconia is not exempt from mechanical complications such as chipping or delamination of the ceramic veneering, if present, and fracture of the framework if not properly designed .According to the Group 2 ITI Consensus Report for Prosthodontics and Implant Dentistry (2018) , zirconiAt the present time, a growing number of studies reporting the use of zirconia in ISFCDPs can be found in the literature, but the number of treated patients is still scarce, and the follow-up times are often short .In addition, most if not all the studies included in this review do not clearly explain which kind of zirconia is used. Since 3YTZP, 5YTZP, and other types of zirconia have different esthetic and mechanical properties, the absence of a specification on which type of zirconia has been used for the restoration in the selected manuscripts should be considered a source of bias.One of the most common complications of full-zirconia rehabilitations with ceramic veneering is the chipping of the ceramic layer .In 2018, the ITI Consensus Report stated that “implant-supported monolithic zirconia prostheses may be a future option with more supporting evidence” . In a reAccording to the articles included in this review, the survival rate of full-arch zirconia rehabilitations  varies from 88% to 100% with a follow-up period ranging from 1 to 7 years.Regarding the success rates, all the studies included in this review showed great heterogeneity in the definition and subsequent reporting of restorations’ success rates. In addition, some articles did not specify the definition of prosthetic success rates. Some authors defined prosthetic success as the total absence of prosthetic complications (even minor complications such as screw loosening or ceramic chipping requiring only polishing), while others considered the cases prosthetic successes even if some minor complications occurred. We reported, if present, the percentages of prosthetic success expressed by the authors in their work; however, in many cases, they cannot be compared.The heterogeneity in prosthetic designs for full-arch fixed restorations made of monolithic zirconia is highlighted by the results of the present narrative review: The plethora of designs, such as completely monolithic zirconia, functional or non-functional cutback veneered zirconia, retrievable crown prostheses with a zirconia framework, etc., hinder the capability of researchers to properly evaluate the performance of such rehabilitations.We believe that a unique definition of ISFCDPs’ success should be evaluated, considering that a restoration requiring no replacement or laboratory repair and fulfilling patients’ expectations in terms of esthetic and functional aspects should be considered successful. This needs to be carried out by presenting a clear and repeatable procedure and comparing different factors that were not considered in many of the included studies, such as patient type (high or low masticatory forces), parafunction (bruxism), opposing arch materials, number and orientation of supporting implant fixtures, and methods of design and production.According to this narrative review of the literature, the use of zirconia for ISFCDPs showed good clinical results with high survival rates (88–100%). The major complication  was, in most cases, easily restorable directly by the clinicians, with no necessity for laboratory repair. It is worth noting, however, that the authors found no randomized clinical trials comparing the clinical performances of different types of ISFCDPs made of zirconia or comparing zirconia to different materials. Most of the studies included in the review, however, have a small number of cases; thus, the evidence in this review might be influenced by biases found in the selected studies and should be accepted with caution. To design an adequate randomized clinical trial, a repeatable and clear procedure for the rehabilitation project, implant placement, and prosthetic design should be introduced.In conclusion, more research needs to be conducted regarding zirconia-based ISFCDPs to assess whether this material can be used in all cases or only in specific clinical situations.


With the continuous improvement of living standards, the preferences of consumers are shifting to rice varieties with high eating and cooking quality (ECQ). Milled rice is mainly composed of starch, protein, and oil, which constitute the physicochemical basis of rice taste quality. This review summarizes the relationship between rice ECQ and its intrinsic ingredients, and also briefly introduces the effects of nitrogen fertilizer management on rice ECQ. Rice varieties with higher AC usually have more long branches of amylopectin, which leach less when cooking, leading to higher hardness, lower stickinesss, and less panelist preference. High PC impedes starch pasting, and it may be hard for heat and moisture to enter the rice interior, ultimately resulting in worse rice eating quality. Rice with higher lipid content had a brighter luster and better eating quality, and starch lipids in rice have a greater impact on rice eating quality than non-starch lipids. The application of nitrogen fertilizer can enhance rice yield, but it also decreases the ECQ of rice. CRNF has been widely used in cereal crops such as maize, wheat, and rice as a novel, environmentally friendly, and effective fertilizer, and could increase rice quality to a certain extent compared with conventional urea. This review shows a benefit to finding more reasonable nitrogen fertilizer management that can be used to regulate the physical and chemical indicators of rice grains in production and to improve the taste quality of rice without affecting yield. Rice is one of the principal staple foods that feeds more than 50% of the world’s population . The culRice is the major source of nutrition, which can meet the daily need for calorie and protein of over two billion people in the world . Reports−1 [Rice is the essential food crop in China, and over 60% of China’s population take rice as their major food ,13. From−1 . In the −1 .Rice is the only main cereal which is consumed mainly in whole grain after being cooked . As a maRice consumers in varied countries and regions, especially those in countries where rice is the staple food, have intense and often diverse preferences in sensory (taste) characteristics of rice. Generally speaking, the Japanese prefer sticky rice with short grain, which is often utilized to make sushi. In Pakistan, India, and the Middle East, on the contrary, Basmati rice is popular because of its fragrance as well as its elongated and dry grains when cooked . JasmineRice ECQ is a vital factor determining the acceptance of consumers and its economic value in the export markets . In thisECQ refers to the comprehensive estimation of the shape, color, smell, taste, palatability, and sensory characteristics after cooking . To a ceA great number of studies have confirmed that the AC is one of the major elements determining the ECQs of rice . It was GC reflects the hardening degree of cooked rice when it is cooled. It is inversely correlated with amylose , and hasGT is considered to be the temperature at which starch particles transition from an ordered state to a chaotic state ,35. In gIn addition to AC, the profile features of RVA are used to describe the properties of rice starch due to the fact that its determination simulates the process of heating and cooling of real rice cooking, which can reflect the difference in starch quality between varied rice varieties more sensitively . SeveralSensory evaluation and instrumental evaluation are the conventional methods for evaluating rice eating quality, and both of them are studied in cooked rice .The traditional measurement of eating quality mainly depends on human sensory tests. A trained sensory panel will give a sensory profile of cooked rice samples after watching, smelling, and tasting . As showThe rice taste analyzer designed in Japan is an accurate, convenient, and efficient tool to evaluate rice cooking and eating characteristics . It convRice ECQ mainly depends on its intrinsic ingredients . Rice grThe proportion of starch in milled rice is about 90% . As the The molecular structure of native rice starch influences the sensory properties of cooked rice , such asAGPlar, AGPis, AGPsma; multiple genes generated by different splicing modes, genes that encoding starch synthase, including GBSSII, SSI, SSIIa, SSIIb, SSIIc, SSIIIa, SSIIIb, SSIVa, SSIVb, and Wx; genes that encode debranching enzymes ISA, PUL; and genes that encode starch branching enzymes SBE1, SBE3, SBE4 [Wx gene is the major decisive factor of AC and performs a determining role in rice ECQ [Wx alleles have been reported, such as Wx, lvWx, inWx, aWx, bWx, mw/laWx, op/hpWx, mpWx, and mqWx [lvWx and aWx alleles; nevertheless, the lvWx allele was recognized as the ancestor type of the Wx gene, conducing to a higher AC level than that of the aWx allele [Wx alleles, mpWx, mqWx, and op/hpWx conduce to a very low AC level (8–12%); mw/laWx results in a low AC (about 14%); bWx also leads to a low AC (about 15%); inWx contributes to a medium AC (about 20%) [lvWx allele tends to have larger AC than rice carrying other Wx alleles [bWx  is a low-amylose allele along with soft texture [aWx allele (mainly distributed in indica cultivars) has a higher AC as well as a firmer cooked rice texture. The AC of aWx was significantly higher than that of bWx. In terms of RVA parameters, SBV, CPV, and HPV were higher in rice carrying aWx than those in rice with bWx, while BDV and PKV were lower in rice with allele aWx than those in rice carrying bWx [aWx allele were slightly lower than those carrying the bWx allele, which suggested that Wx was at least a secondary factor affecting the GT. Compared with rice with the aWx and bWx alleles, rice carrying the allele lvWx had higher AC but softer GC [SSIIa is the major gene controlling rice GT, and Umemoto et al. located the SSIIa gene at the ALK site of the short arm of rice chromosome 6 [SSIIa and SSIIIa derived from a non-semi waxy parent showed a trend of increasing AC. wjSSIIa allele could enhance the BDV, CPV, HPV, and PKV, while reducing the SBV and CSV. In regard to the wjSSIIIa allele, the opposite was true [jSSI allele engendered fewer short amylopectin chains (DP 8–12) than the iSSI allele [Wx and SSIIa genes have great interaction effects on starch physicochemical characteristics. Huang et al. demonstrated that in transgenic rice, the expression of Wx was declined with SSIIa expression inhibited by RNAi, suggesting that there was an interaction between SSIIa and Wx expression [bWx/jSSI) was significantly higher than Nip (bWx/iSSI), and gains from waxy rice had a similar taste value [SSIV-2, ISA, and SBE3 are secondary genes that influenced GT additively [The biosynthesis of rice starch involves numerous enzymes, including GBSSI, SSS, AGPase, DBE, and SBE ,89,90. EE3, SBE4 ,92,93. Trice ECQ . So far,and Wxmq ,96,97,98a allele . With reout 20%) . Feng et alleles . The all texture . The Wxaying Wxb . In regaofter GC . Starch mosome 6 . The allwas true . Luo et i allele . Wx and pression . When cote value . In addiditively .−1 [Although there is a positive correlation between amylose content and cooked rice hardness, the physical characteristics of Chinese cooked rice are primarily affected by its PC. The structure and content of starch decide the overall stiffness of cooked rice, while protein determines rice surface hardness . Protein−1 ,108. Gra−1 . Rice PC−1 ,112,113.−1 . When gr−1 ,115. Li −1 . Protein−1 . Moreove−1 . High PC−1 . Protein−1 ,121, and−1 . Meanwhi−1 . Asimi e−1 . The PC −1 . Rice ou−1 . Additio−1 . Hence, SSPs constitute a large proportion of grain proteins in rice . There aProtein in rice gains can interact with starch to form a network structure, resulting in increased starch solubility and swelling, decreased TV and PKV, enhanced SBV and PaT, containment of starch gelatinization, and declined viscosity of rice after cooking . The genLipid is one of the three major essential nutritional ingredients in rice grains, with milled and brown rice having 0.8% and 3% lipid contents, respectively ,142. AltLipids are usually be divided into two categories, non-starch lipids and starch lipids (bound lipids), according to whether they bound with starch or not. Non-starch lipids including glycerophospholipids  and glycerolipids (triglyceride and diglyceride) are mainly present in the oil bodies of embryo and the aleurone layer, while starch lipids bound with starch particles exist in the rice endosperm ,154. StaLipids are resolved by lipase into FA and glycerin. Most of the FA ingredients are high-quality UFAs, accounting for about 75% of rice total FAs. They not only have great nutritional value, but also are closely related to the ECQ of rice ,163,164.In addition to intrinsic ingredients, the eating quality of rice is also greatly affected by nitrogen fertilizer . In geneThe changes in starch structure and protein distribution significantly affect rice eating quality. With the enhancement of nitrogen rate, the mean diameter of starch volume was lower; the average chain length of amylopectin was longer; and the starch relative crystallinity was higher. The above changes in starch structure caused increased starch solubility, expansion power, and gelatinization enthalpy, and resulted in reduced pasting viscosity, retrogradation enthalpy, and retrogradation percentage, thereby contributing to enhanced stickiness and hardness of rice and decreased taste value . NitrogeAlthough nitrogen application decreases rice eating quality, some types of nitrogen fertilizers can increase the quality to a certain extent compared with conventional urea. In recent years, CRNF has been widely used in cereal crops such as maize, wheat, and rice as a novel, environmentally friendly, and effective fertilizer . It can The quality of rice is crucial for its commercial value. With the improvement of people’s living standards, new requirements have been put forward for rice ECQ. High quality rice varieties need to have good ECQ on the premise of high yield. For a long time, rice production has focused on increasing yield, and the research on the rice quality has started relatively late, especially in terms of ECQ. Among the multiple indicators used to measure rice quality, ECQ is the most complex. Generally, artificial taste or indirect traits such as AC, PC, and RVA values are used to evaluate rice ECQ. Starch is the most important component in rice, accounting for about 90% of milled rice. Therefore, the content, structure, and distribution of starch are closely related to rice ECQ. Protein is the second most abundant component in rice, and more and more studies have shown that protein has a significant impact on grain water absorption and starch gelatinization during the cooking process. Lipid is one of the three basic nutritional components in rice. Although lipid content in rice is low, it significantly regulates the elasticity, viscosity, and texture of rice. Hence, in evaluating rice ECQ, one cannot solely rely on a single indicator or method. We should start from the physical and chemical foundation of rice itself, combine the results from artificial taste and various testing instruments, and consider the preferences of people in different regions to evaluate the ECQ of rice more scientifically and systematically.Rice ECQ is mainly influenced by factors such as genetics, environmental factors, and cultivation measures. Nitrogen application is an important agronomic measure in rice production and has an impact on the formation of rice quality, especially when it is applied after the heading stage. Further exploration of the responses of rice physicochemical indicators and ECQ to nitrogen fertilizer is of great significance for revealing the physicochemical mechanisms underlying the formation of rice ECQ and the mechanisms by which nitrogen regulates rice ECQ. Recent studies have shown that rice yield and ECQ are extremely sensitive to different nitrogen regulation practices. Nitrogen fertilizer affects the growth and development of rice and regulates rice physiological and biochemical metabolism, which not only affects the content of various physical and chemical substances in mature grains, but also has a significant impact on the structure and distribution of each physical and chemical substance in the grains. It is generally believed that the application of nitrogen fertilizer can reduce rice ECQ, but the physiological mechanisms of quality deterioration in different rice varieties after nitrogen application may not be the same. This provides us with a new idea that the combination of suitable varieties and matching fertilizers may not significantly affect rice ECQ while increasing yield. Therefore, in the future work of promoting varieties and popularizing cultivation measures, matching varieties and fertilizer management as a whole is a new strategy to achieve both high yield and good ECQ in rice production.