Previous studies revealed that consuming spicy food reduced mortality from CVD and lowered stroke risk. However, no studies reported the relationship between spicy food consumption, stroke types and dose–response. This study aimed to further explore the association between the frequency of spicy food intake and the risk of stroke in a large prospective cohort study. In this study, 50 174 participants aged 30–79 years were recruited. Spicy food consumption data were collected via a baseline survey questionnaire. Outcomes were incidence of any stroke, ischaemic stroke (IS) and haemorrhagic stroke (HS). Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models estimated the association between the consumption of spicy food and incident stroke. Restricted cubic spline analysis was used to examine the dose–response relationship. During the median 10·7-year follow-up, 3967 strokes were recorded, including 3494 IS and 516 HS. Compared with those who never/rarely consumed spicy food, those who consumed spicy food monthly, 1–2 d/week and 3–5 d/week had hazard ratio (HR) of 0·914 (95 % CI 0·841, 0·995), 0·869 (95 % CI 0·758, 0·995) and 0·826 (95 % CI 0·714, 0·956) for overall stroke, respectively. For IS, the corresponding HR) were 0·909 (95 % CI 0·832, 0·994), 0·831 (95 % CI 0·718, 0·962) and 0·813 (95 % CI 0·696, 0·951), respectively. This protective effect showed a U-shaped dose–response relationship. For obese participants, consuming spicy food ≥ 3 d/week was negatively associated with the risk of IS. We found the consumption of spicy food was negatively associated with the risk of IS and had a U-shaped dose–response relationship with risk of IS. Individuals who consumed spicy food 3–5 d/week had a significantly lowest risk of IS.

Buckminsterfullerene (C60) is one of the most important carbon-based nanoparticles (CNPs). Industrial-scale production of C60 has reached the level of tons; release to the environment has been confirmed (Tremblay, 2002; Qiao et al., 2007). The present study was devoted to study of the effect of clay minerals on the migration process of C60. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to study the interaction of CNPS with clay minerals through study of the adsorption of C60 on various surfaces of kaolinite and pyrophyllite in vacuum and aqueous environments. Two kinds of surfaces, hydrophobic siloxane surfaces and hydrophilic hydroxyl surfaces, were investigated. C60 is mainly adsorbed onto the vacancy of the six-membered ring, composed of SiO4 tetrahedra or AlO6 octahedra, on clay-mineral surfaces. A single adsorption layer consisting of C60 molecules with an ordered hexagonal arrangement is presented for all surfaces in vacuum. In aqueous environments, however, the monolayer appears on the siloxane surfaces only, while a cluster of C60 molecules is formed on the hydroxyl surfaces. Free energies prove that the attachment of two C60 molecules is stronger than the adsorption of C60 onto the hydroxyl surface in water, which is the reason for unfavorable formation of C60 monolayer. On the other hand, the adsorption free energy is more negative on the hydrophobic siloxane surface, explaining the monolayer formation. The existence of water, which forms hydration layers on the surfaces of clay minerals, produces energy barriers, and reduces the adsorption affinity to some extent. Because clay minerals act as geosorbents in the environment, the present study is significant in terms of understanding the migration and fate of CNPS in nature.

This study aims to understand the epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the paediatric population during the outbreak of the Omicron variant in Shanghai. We retrospectively analysed the population-based epidemiological characteristics and clinical outcome of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in children in Minhang District, Shanghai, based on the citywide surveillance system during the outbreak period in 2022 (March to May). During this time, a total of 63,969 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were notified in Minhang District, out of which 4,652 (7.3%) were children and adolescents <18 years. The incidence rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children was 153 per 10,000. Of all paediatric cases, 50% reported to be clinically symptomatic within 1–3 days after PCR confirmation by parents or themselves, with 36.3% and 18.9% of paediatric cases reporting fever and cough. Also, 58.4% of paediatric cases had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 52.1% had received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination. Our findings are informative for the implementation of appropriate measures to protect children from the threat of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Binary evolution can produce different blue-straggler binaries, for example, blue stragglers with a bright, red component, or with a faint, blue component. In globular clusters, these blue-straggler binaries are generally observed as a single star, because two components can not be distinguished. Therefore, these blue-straggler binaries can be located in different regions of the color-magnitude diagram of globular clusters, e.g. blue sequence and red sequence observed in M30. We suggest that binary evolution can contribute to the blue stragglers in both of the sequences. Some blue stragglers in the blue sequence may have a faint white dwarf companion, while the red sequence includes some binaries experiencing mass transfer. It should be noted that the red sequence may also have other binaries, for example, the binaries just finished the mass transfer, and the binaries including a blue straggler (the accretors) that have evolved away from the blue sequence.

Globular clusters (GCs) have multiple stellar populations, which show star-to-star abundance variations and multiple sequences (or spreads) in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams. It is explained by multiple generations of star-formation in GCs. However, the observed evidence of ongoing star-formation was not found within any clusters. Here we present a binary interactions scenario for the formation of multiple stellar populations in GCs, where GC stars were born in a single burst of star formation, but some of them are members of binary systems. Binary interactions can produce peculiar stars, e.g. the merged stars and the accretor stars. They are more massive than normal single stars in the same evolutionary stage, and they are rapidly rotating stars at the moment of their formation. Rotationally induced mixing can cause the variations of their surface chemical composition. This results in the single-generation GCs showing abundance anomalies.

Using Eggletons code the evolution of cataclysmic variables (CVs) is investigated. CVs might suffer the loss of mass and angular momentum during their evolution, we present the models of CVs with mass loss and angular momentum loss (AML) due to gravitation wave radiation (GR) and/or magnetic braking (MB). It is found that the loss of mass and angular momentum has significant influence on the evolution of CVs, and that the change of the star structure or their atmosphere properties is a possible mechanism which underlies a sudden change in the rate of AML owing to MB.

We discuss the effect of binary interactions on the tracers of star formation rate (including L1500, L2800, LHα, L[OII] and LFIR) at different metallicities (0.0001–0.03).

Let ℨ be a complete set of Sylow subgroups of a finite group G; that is to say for each prime p dividing the order of G, ℨ contains one and only one Sylow p-subgroup of G. A subgroup H of G is said to be ℨ-permutable in G if H permutes with every member of ℨ. In this paper we characterise the structure of finite groups G with the assumption that (1) all the subgroups of Gp ∈ ℨ are ℨ-permutable in G, for all prime p ∈ π(G), or (2) all the subgroups of Gp ∩ F*(G) are ℨ-permutable in G, for all Gp ∈ ℨ and p ∈ π(G), where F*(G) is the generalised Fitting subgroup of G.

W UMa systems can be found everywhere in the Galaxy. They can be used as a distance tracer. Therefore, W UMa systems are very important to investigate the structure of the Galaxy. The distance to W UMa systems in globular clusters (GCs) is determined using a period–color–luminosity relation. It is found that the mean distance (ra) of W UMa systems is consistent with their host cluster distances (rGC) deduced from their intrinsic distance moduli if rGC ≤ 10 kpc. There is a significant difference between ra and rGC for rGC ≥ 10 kpc. We discuss the reasons causing this deviation.

We summarize and discuss our recent works on the structure and evolution of low-mass W UMa-type contact binary stars. Three conclusions are given as followings: (1) The energy transfer is taken place in the radiative region of common envelope of W UMa systems; (2) The magnetic activity level of W UMa systems is weaker than that of non-contact binaries or rapid-rotating single stars; (3) The evolutionary outcome of W UMa systems might be the rapid-rotating single stars, and an average lifetime is derived to be about 7 Gyr for W UMa systems.

The properties of W UMa binary stars are studied based on the well-determined physical parameters of 132 W UMa systems. It is found that the energy transfer rate has a maximum value at q ~ 0.58. The relation between the energy transfer rate and the temperature deviation is also investigated, and the temperature of the secondary component is related to the energy transfer rate.