In recent years, obesity is a growing pandemic in the world and has likely contributed to increasing the incidence of obesity-related diseases. Fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) is the first gene discovered which has a close connection with fat. Recent studies suggested that FTO gene has played an important role in the molecular mechanisms of many diseases. Obesity is considered to be a hereditary disease and can evoke many kinds of diseases, including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cancer, etc., whose exact possible molecular mechanisms responsible for the effect of FTO on obesity and obesity-related diseases remain largely unknown. In this review, we comprehensively discuss the correlation between FTO gene and obesity, cancer, PCOS, T2DM, as well as the molecular mechanism involved in these diseases.

Using the KIDScoreTM D3 (KID3) scoring system, day 3 embryos observed by time-lapse imaging (TLI) were scored to explore the predictive value of the KID scoring system on the developmental potential of embryos. The kinetic parameters of 477 normal fertilized embryos from 77 patients who underwent TLI in our hospital from January 2019 to June 2020 were evaluated by KID3, and the embryos were divided into five groups according to the scores for retrospective analysis of blastocyst formation. Additionally, the high-quality blastocyst formation rate, pregnancy rate and early abortion rate were analyzed via KID3 and traditional morphological assessments, and comparisons of differences among different ages were also performed. In the KID3 estimate, the blastocyst or high-quality blastocyst formation rate in the score 5 group was markedly higher than that in the score 1–4 groups. Blastocyst or high-quality blastocyst formation rates in the A group (the results of two evaluation tools indicated they were excellent embryos) and the B group (KID3: excellent embryos, traditional evaluation: not excellent embryos) were evidently increased in comparison with the C or D group (KID3: not excellent embryos, traditional evaluation: excellent embryo or not, respectively). Furthermore, the percentages of score 5 embryos, blastocyst and high-quality blastocyst formation rates for patients ≥ 35 years old were markedly decreased compared with those for patients < 34 years old, while the trends of nondiploid cleavage, multinucleation and asymmetric division were the opposite. Collectively, the KID3 scoring system may be a promising predictive tool for screening embryos with better developmental potential.

Recent progress in using real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning has motivated the exploration of its application due to its high accuracy and efficiency. However, poorly-observed satellite data will cause unfixed ambiguities and markedly biased solutions. A novel partial ambiguity resolution method, named the irrespective of integer ambiguity resolution (IIAR) model, is proposed and applied to improve the reliability of ambiguity resolution. The proposed method contains initial ambiguity resolution and irrespective of integer ambiguity processes. The initial ambiguity resolution process applies an iterative partial ambiguity resolution method to obtain an approximate solution. The irrespective of integer ambiguity process transforms the approximate solution to a high-precision solution. Experiments show that the approximate solution is unreliable when the initial ambiguity resolution process has small redundancy, and the proposed method can obtain better results for those cases. The IIAR method showed about a 40% improvement of multi-GNSS ambiguity success rate and about a 25% improvement of standard deviation. Therefore, these results show that the proposed IIAR method can improve the results of multi-GNSS RTK positioning significantly.

We aimed to examine whether baseline neutrophil counts affected the risk of new-onset proteinuria in hypertensive patients, and, if so, whether folic acid treatment is particularly effective in proteinuria prevention in such a setting. A total of 8208 eligible participants without proteinuria at baseline were analysed from the renal substudy of the China Stroke Primary Prevention Trial. Participants were randomised to receive a double-blind daily treatment of 10 mg of enalapril and 0·8 mg of folic acid (n 4101) or 10 mg of enalapril only (n 4107). The primary outcome was new-onset proteinuria, defined as a urine dipstick reading of ≥1+ at the exit visit. The mean age of the participants was 59·5 (sd, 7·4) years, 3088 (37·6 %) of the participants were male. The median treatment duration was 4·4 years. In the enalapril-only group, a significantly higher risk of new-onset proteinuria was found among participants with higher neutrophil counts (quintile 5; ≥4·8 × 109/l, OR 1·44; 95 % CI 1·00, 2·06), compared with those in quintiles 1–4. For those with enalapril and folic acid treatment, compared with the enalapril-only group, the new-onset proteinuria risk was reduced from 5·2 to 2·8 % (OR 0·49; 95 % CI 0·29, 0·82) among participants with higher neutrophil counts (≥4·8 × 109/l), whereas there was no significant effect among those with neutrophil counts <4·8 × 109/l. In summary, among hypertensive patients, those with higher neutrophil counts had increased risk of new-onset proteinuria, and this risk was reduced by 51 % with folic acid treatment.

Given the global water challenges, solar-driven steam generation has become a renewed topic recently as an energy-efficient way for clean water production. Here, a hybrid plasmonic structure consisting of a top layer of TiN nanoparticles (NPs) and a bottom layer of mesoporous anodized alumina membrane (AAM) was rationally designed and fabricated. The top TiN NPs with broadband light absorption acted as a plasmonic heating layer, which converted the absorbed light to heat efficiently for interfacial water heating. The AAM acted as the mechanical support layer, guaranteeing the heat isolation and continuous water replenishment. With optimized thickness of the TiN top layer, a solar steam generation efficiency of 87.7% was achieved in this study. This efficiency is comparable or even higher than prior studies. The current work proves the capability of the TiN NPs as an alternative photothermal material.

MicroRNA (miR)-29b plays a crucial role during somatic cell reprogramming. The aim of the current study was to explore the effects of miR-29b on the developmental competence of bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos, as well as the underlying mechanisms of action. The expression level of miR-29b was lower in bovine SCNT embryos at the pronuclear, 8-cell, and blastocyst stages compared with in vitro fertilized embryos. In addition, miR-29b regulates the expression of DNA methyltransferases (Dnmt3a/3b and Dnmt1) in bovine SCNT embryos. We further investigated SCNT embryo developmental competence and found that miR-29b overexpression during bovine SCNT embryonic development does not improve developmental potency and downregulation inhibits developmental potency. Nevertheless, the quality of bovine SCNT embryos at the blastocyst stage improved significantly. The expression of pluripotency factors and cellular proliferation were significantly higher in blastocysts from the miR-29b overexpression group than the control and downregulation groups. In addition, outgrowth potential in blastocysts after miR-29b overexpression was also significantly greater in the miR-29b overexpression group than in the control and downregulation groups. Taken together, these results demonstrated that miR-29b plays an important role in bovine SCNT embryo development.

The Chinese Communist Party government has been forcefully promoting its jihua shengyu (planned fertility) program, known as the “one-child policy,” for more than three decades. A distinctive authoritarian model of population governance has been developed. A pertinent question to be asked is whether China’s one-child policy and the authoritarian model of population governance have a future. The answer must be no; they do not. Although there are many demographic, economic, and social rationales for terminating the one-child policy, the most fundamental reason for opposing its continuation is drawn from ethics. The key ethical rationale offered for the policy is that it promotes the common social good, not only for China and the Chinese people but for the whole human family. The major irony associated with this apparently convincing justification is that, although designed to improve living standards and help relieve poverty and underdevelopment, the one-child policy and the application of the authoritarian model have instead caused massive suffering to Chinese people, especially women, and made them victims of state violence. A lesson from China—one learned at the cost of individual and social suffering on an enormous scale—is that an essential prerequisite for the pursuit of the common good is the creation of adequate constraints on state power.

Bioethics and Defense offers information and commentary on ethical issues arising at the interface between healthcare and warfare. For submissions, contact Griffin Trotter at trotter@slu.edu.

A real-time fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was established to detect Streptococcus suis serotype 2. Primers and Taqman probe were designed according to cps2I (capsular polysaccharide 2I) gene using bio-software Primer Express2.0 and Oligo6.0. An 81 bp DNA fragment was amplified from S. suis serotype 2 genomic DNA, and the PCR product was cloned into pMD18-T vector and confirmed by DNA sequencing. The real-time fluorescent PCR amplification curve on a Lightcycler® showed that the method is accurate and specific for S. suis serotype 2 amplification, whereas reference bacteria S. suis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella sp., Listeria monocytogenes strains and a blank control were all negative. Tenfold serial dilutions of S. suis serotype 2 were used to measure the sensitivity of real-time fluorescent PCR: ten copies of bacteria could be detected in one PCR reaction and only 30 min were required for a single test. To examine the stability of the real-time fluorescent PCR, the positive control was detected at two different times. The threshold cycle (Ct) values showed no statistical differences (P>0.05). Thus, this method was stable and repeatable. These results indicate that this real-time fluorescent PCR technique could be applied for epidemic supervision in entry–exit inspection and quarantine.

Since the early 1970s, despite popular opposition, to control the rapid growth of population the Chinese government has been carrying out the strictest and most comprehensive family planning policy in the world. In addition to contraceptive methods and sterilization, artificial abortion—both surgical and nonsurgical—has been used as an important measure of birth control under the policy. Many women have been required, persuaded, and even forced by the authorities to abort fetuses no matter how much they want to give birth.