The epidemiological and burden characteristics of nutritional deficiencies (ND) have been evolving, and it is crucial to identify geographical disparities and emerging trends. This study aimed to analyse the global, regional and national trends in the burden of ND over the past 30 years. Data were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 database for the period 1990–2019. The study examined the incidence rates and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) of ND at various levels. Globally, the incidence rate of ND decreased from 2226·2 per 100 000 in 2019 to 2096·3 per 100 000 in the same year, indicating a decline of 5·8 %. The average annual percentage change (AAPC) was −0·21 (–0·31, −0·11). Similarly, DALY, prevalence and mortality rates of ND exhibited significant declines (AAPC = −3·21 (–3·45, −2·96), AAPC = −0·53 (–0·55, −0·51) and AAPC = −4·97 (–5·75, −4·19), respectively). The incidence rate of ND varied based on age group, sex, cause and geographical area. Moreover, a negative association was observed between incidence and the sociodemographic index. At the regional level, the South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa regions had the highest incidence rates of ND. In conclusion, the global incidence rate of ND showed a mixed pattern, while the DALY rate consistently declined. Additionally, prevalence and mortality rates of ND decreased between 1990 and 2019.

Objective. This study aimed to investigate the molecular regulatory mechanisms underpinning Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Methods. Using microarray data, differentially expressed long noncoding RNAs (DELs) and DMD-related differentially expressed mRNAs (DEMs) were screened based on the comparative toxicogenomics database, using a cutoff of |log2 fold change| > 1 and false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05. Then, protein-protein interaction (PPI), coexpression network of lncRNA-mRNA, and DMD-related lncRNA-mRNA pathway networks were constructed, and functional analyses of the genes in the network were performed. Finally, the proportions of immune cells infiltrating the muscle tissues in DMD were analyzed, and the correlation between the immune cells and expression of the DELs/DEMs was studied. Results. A total of 46 DELs and 313 DMD-related DEMs were identified. The PPI network revealed STAT1, VEGFA, and CCL2 to be the top three hub genes. The DMD-related lncRNA-mRNA pathway network comprising two pathways, nine DELs, and nine DMD-related DEMs showed that PYCARD, RIPK2, and CASP1 were significantly enriched in the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, whereas MAP2K2, LUM, RPS6, PDCD4, TWIST1, and HIF1A were significantly enriched with proteoglycans in cancers. The nine DELs in this network were DBET, MBNL1-AS1, MIR29B2CHG, CCDC18-AS1, FAM111A-DT, GAS5, LINC01290, ATP2B1-AS1, and PSMB8-AS1. Conclusion. The nine DMD-related DEMs and DELs identified in this study may play important roles in the occurrence and progression of DMD through the two pathways of the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway and proteoglycans in cancers.

Knowledge graphs have become a common approach for knowledge representation. Yet, the application of graph methodology is elusive due to the sheer number and complexity of knowledge sources. In addition, semantic incompatibilities hinder efforts to harmonize and integrate across these diverse sources. As part of The Biomedical Translator Consortium, we have developed a knowledge graph–based question-answering system designed to augment human reasoning and accelerate translational scientific discovery: the Translator system. We have applied the Translator system to answer biomedical questions in the context of a broad array of diseases and syndromes, including Fanconi anemia, primary ciliary dyskinesia, multiple sclerosis, and others. A variety of collaborative approaches have been used to research and develop the Translator system. One recent approach involved the establishment of a monthly “Question-of-the-Month (QotM) Challenge” series. Herein, we describe the structure of the QotM Challenge; the six challenges that have been conducted to date on drug-induced liver injury, cannabidiol toxicity, coronavirus infection, diabetes, psoriatic arthritis, and ATP1A3-related phenotypes; the scientific insights that have been gleaned during the challenges; and the technical issues that were identified over the course of the challenges and that can now be addressed to foster further development of the prototype Translator system. We close with a discussion on Large Language Models such as ChatGPT and highlight differences between those models and the Translator system.

Taeniasis and cysticercosis, which are caused by Taenia saginata, Taenia solium and Taenia asiatica, are zoonotic parasitic infections with a significant disease burden worldwide. There is consensus amongst experts that T. saginata is a common tapeworm that causes taeniasis in humans as opposed to cysticercosis. This case study of a middle-aged Tibetan man conducted in 2021 challenges the prevailing notion that T. saginata exclusively causes taeniasis and not cysticercosis by documenting symptoms and laboratory studies related to both taeniasis and multiple cysticercosis. The patient's medical record with the symptoms of taeniasis and cysticercosis was reviewed, and the tapeworm's proglottids and cyst were identified from the patient by morphological evaluation, DNA amplification and sequencing. The patient frequently experienced severe headaches and vomiting. Both routine blood screenings and testing for antibodies against the most common parasites were normal. After anthelmintic treatment, an adult tapeworm was found in feces, and medical imaging examinations suggested multiple focal nodules in the brain and muscles of the patient. The morphological and molecular diagnosis of the proglottids revealed the Cestoda was T. saginata. Despite the challenges presented by the cyst's morphology, the molecular analysis suggested that it was most likely T. saginata. This case study suggests that T. saginata infection in humans has the potential to cause human cysticercosis. However, such a conclusion needs to be vetted by accurate genome-wide analysis in patients with T. saginata taeniasis associated with cysts. Such studies shall provide new insights into the pathogenicity of T. saginata.

A deep ice core was drilled at Dome A, Antarctic Plateau, East Antarctica, which started with the installation of a casing in January 2012 and reached 800.8 m in January 2017. To date, a total of 337 successful ice-core drilling runs have been conducted, including 118 runs to drill the pilot hole. The total drilling time was 52 days, of which eight days were required for drilling down and reaming the pilot hole, and 44 days for deep ice coring. The average penetration depths of individual runs were 1 and 3.1 m for the pilot hole drilling and deep ice coring, respectively. The quality of the ice cores was imperfect in the brittle zone (650−800 m). Some of the troubles encountered are discussed for reference, such as armoured cable knotting, screws falling into the hole bottom, and damaged parts, among others.

Real-time and accurate fault detection and isolation is very important to ensure the reliability and precision of integrated inertial navigation and global navigation satellite systems. In this paper, the detection performance of a residual chi-square method is analysed, and on this basis an improved method of fault detection is proposed. The local test based on a standardised residual is introduced to detect and identify faulty measurements directly. Differing from the traditional method, two appropriate thresholds are selected to calculate the weight factor of each measurement, and the gain matrix is adjusted adaptively to reduce the influence of the undetected faulty measurement. The sliding window test, which uses past measurements, is also added to further improve the fault detection performance for small faults when the local test based on current measurements cannot judge whether a fault has occurred or not. Several simulations are conducted to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the improved method has better fault detection performance than the traditional detection method, especially for small faults, and can improve the reliability and precision of the navigation system effectively.

Excessive intake of high-energy diets is an important cause of most obesity. The intervention of rats with high-fat diet can replicate the ideal animal model for studying the occurrence of human nutritional obesity. Proteomics and bioinformatics analyses can help us to systematically and comprehensively study the effect of high-fat diet on rat liver. In the present study, 4056 proteins were identified in rat liver by using tandem mass tag. A total of 198 proteins were significantly changed, of which 103 were significantly up-regulated and ninety-five were significantly down-regulated. These significant differentially expressed proteins are primarily involved in lipid metabolism and glucose metabolism processes. The intake of a high-fat diet forces the body to maintain physiological balance by regulating these key protein spots to inhibit fatty acid synthesis, promote fatty acid oxidation and accelerate fatty acid degradation. The present study enriches our understanding of metabolic disorders induced by high-fat diets at the protein level.

A priori attitude information can improve the success rate and reliability of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) multi-antennae attitude determination. However, a priori attitude information is nonlinear, and integrating a priori information into the objective function rigorously will increase the complexity of an ambiguity domain search, such as the Multivariate Constrained-Least-squares Ambiguity Decorrelation Adjustment (MC-LAMBDA) method. In this paper, a new method based on attitude domain search is presented to make use of the a priori attitude angle information with high efficiency. First, the a priori information of pitch and roll is integrated into the search process to derive the analytic search step for attitude angle, and the integer candidates are determined by traversal search in the three-dimensional attitude domain. Then, the objective function is parameterised with Euler angles, and a non-iterative approximate method is utilised to simplify the iterative computation in calculating objective function values. Experimental results reveal that compared to the MC-LAMBDA method, our new method has the same success rate and reliability, but higher efficiency in making use of a priori attitude information.

Conjugated polymers have emerged as potential candidates for thermal-energy harvesting. Their flexible and lightweight nature, as well as scalable processing, make them geometrically versatile for a large variety of applications, including powering wearable electronics that are not available for traditional inorganic materials. However, the long-range structural disorder greatly hinders their electrical conduction, and this far outweighs the induced low thermal conductivity; therefore, the thermoelectric performance needs to be significantly improved to fulfill the requirements of efficient devices. Composites and hybrid thermoelectric materials have been developed to capitalize on the individual strengths of conducting polymers and other components, including carbon nanotubes, graphene, and inorganic nanomaterials. In this article, we present recent advances in conjugated polymers, the associated hybrid thermoelectric composites, and the latest breakthroughs in the development of inorganic–organic hybrid superlattices.

A detailed history of volcanism covering the last 2840 years is reconstructed from the top 100.42 m of a 109.91 m ice core from Dome A (DA2005 ice core), East Antarctica. Using two known volcanic stratigraphic markers, the mean accumulation rate during the period AD 1260-1964 is found to be 23.2 mmw.e. a-1, consistent with the previously reported accumulation rate at Dome A. This mean accumulation rate is used to date the entire core. Volcanic eruptions in the period 840 BC-AD1998 are detected as outstanding sulphate events. Seventy-eight eruptions are identified, with a mean of 2.7 eruptions per century. Comparisons with previous Antarctic ice-core volcanic records are made to assess the quality of this new DA2005 record. In terms of dates for volcanic events, the DA2005 record is in good agreement with previous records in the second millennium ad (ad 1000-1998). A series of volcanic signatures found in both the DA2005 record and several other Antarctic ice-core records in the first millennium ad (ad 1-1000) appear to validate the DA2005 record during this time period. For the older periods, direct comparisons are difficult between the DA2005 record and other Antarctic ice-core records due to the lack of well-dated stratigraphic horizons.

The Chinese First Deep Ice-Core Drilling Project DK-1 has commenced at Kunlun station in the Dome A region, the highest plateau in Antarctica. During the first season, within the 28th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) 2011/12 the pilot hole was drilled and reamed in order to install a 100 m deep fiberglass casing. In the next season, 29th CHINARE 2012/13, the deep ice-core drilling system was installed, and all the auxiliary equipment was connected and commissioned. After filling the hole with drilling fluid (n-butyl acetate), three runs of ‘wet’ ice-core drilling were carried out and a depth of 131.24 m was reached. Drilling to the bedrock at the target depth of ∼3100 m is planned to be completed during a further four seasons. We describe the work in progress and the status of equipment for the Dome A drilling project.

The BiOBr/Ag3PO4 composites were fabricated by a facile in situ deposition of Ag3PO4 nanoparticles on the BiOBr microsheets and analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, high resolution transmission electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance absorption spectra, Fourier transform infrared, Raman, photoluminescence (PL), and photoelectrochemical techniques. The photocatalytic performances of as-prepared samples were investigated and compared through degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) solution. The results suggested that 30 wt% amount of BiOBr in the composites possessed the highest photocatalytic activity. The remarkably improved photocatalytic performances of BiOBr/Ag3PO4 composites could be ascribed to the efficient separation of electron–hole pairs, due to suitable energy band potentials between BiOBr and Ag3PO4. Furthermore, the photoelectrochemical and PL tests verified the separation and transfer efficiency of charges was promoted.

This study presents an arsenic concentration time series from 1964–2009 at Dome Argus, Antarctica. The data show a very large increase in arsenic concentration from the mid-1980s to the late-1990s (by a factor of~22) compared with the values before the mid-1980s. This increase is likely to be related to the increased copper smelting in South America. Arsenic concentration then decreased in the late-1990s, most probably as a result of environmental regulations in South America. The sudden increase in arsenic concentration observed at Dome Argus coincides with similar increases observed at Dome Fuji and in Antarctica Ice Core-6 (IC-6) at the same time, suggesting that arsenic pollution during the period from the mid-1980s to the late-1990s was a regional phenomenon in Antarctica. Investigations of arsenic concentrations at these three Antarctic locations show that, during this time, regional arsenic distribution followed dust transport pathways associated with general climate models with South America as a major source region for the half of Antarctica facing the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Beyond the traditional phase conversion or biphase mixing hybrid, we developed the dilute magnesium-doped wollastonite inks and three-dimensional (3D) printing approaches to fabricate the ultrahigh strength bioceramic porous scaffolds. The mechanical strength (>120 MPa) of the porous bioceramics was an order of magnitude higher than the pure wollastonite and other stoichiometric Ca–Mg silicate porous bioceramics. This abnormal but expected improvement in strength in bioceramic scaffolds is equivalent or even superior to the mechanical requirement in load-bearing bone defects. The breakthrough is totally unexpected, and it quickly opens the door for the 3D printing bioceramics manufacture and large-area segmental bone defect repair applications.

In 2007–08, seismologists began deploying passive seismic stations over much of the Antarctic ice sheet. These stations routinely log their position by navigation-grade global positioning system (GPS) receivers. This location data can be used to track the stations situated on moving ice. For stations along the traverse from Zhongshan station to Dome A in East Antarctica and at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide the estimated velocities of the ice surface based on positions recorded by navigation-grade GPS are consistent with those obtained by high-accuracy geodetic GPS. Most of the estimated velocities have an angle difference of <28° with the steepest downhill vector of the ice surface slope at the stations. These results indicate that navigation-grade GPS measurements over several months provide reliable information on ice sheet movement of ≥1 m yr-1. With an uncertainty of ~0.3–1 m yr-1, this method is able to resolve both very slow ice velocities near Dome A and velocities of >100 m yr-1 on Thwaites Glacier. Information on ice velocity at three locations for which no data from satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar are available have also been provided using this method.

In recent years, an extensive collection of Toxoplasma gondii samples have been typed using a set of 10 PCR-RFLP genetic markers. Here we summarize the data reported until the end of 2012. A total of 1457 samples were typed into 189 genotypes. Overall, only a few genotypes dominate in the northern hemisphere, which is in stark contrast to the southern hemisphere where hundreds of genotypes coexist with none being notably dominant. PCR-RFLP genotype #1 (Type II clonal), #2 (Type III), #3 (Type II variant) and #10 (Type I) are identified globally. Genotypes #2 and #3 dominate in Africa, genotypes #9 (Chinese 1) and #10 are prevalent in Asia, genotypes #1, #2 and #3 are prevalent in Europe, genotypes #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5 dominate in North America (#4 and #5 are collectively known as Type 12). In Central and South America, there is no clear dominance of any genotype even though a few have relatively higher frequencies. Statistical analysis indicates significant differences among populations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and Central and South America, with only Europe and North America exhibiting similar diversity. Collectively, the results revealed distinct population structures and geographical patterns of diversity in T. gondii.

In order to achieve waste heat recovery using thermoelectric systems, thermoelectric materials showing high conversion efficiency over wide temperature range and high resistance against oxidation are indispensable. A silicide material with good n-type thermoelectric properties and oxidation resistance has been discovered. The composition and crystal structure of the silicide are found out Mn3Si4Al2 (abbreviated as 342 phase) and hexagonal CrSi2 structure, respectively. Element substitution of Mn with 3d transition metals is succeeded. Enhancement of Seebeck coefficient is observed in a Cr-substituted sample. The maximum dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT is 0.3 at 573 K in air for the Mn2.7Cr0.3Si4Al2 sample. Electrical resistivity of the Mn3Si4Al2 bulk sample holds constant value for 48 h at 873 K in air. This is due to formation of oxide passive layer on the surface of the bulk sample. The 342 phase is a promising n-type material with a good oxidation resistance in the middle temperature range of 500-800 K.