We aimed to investigate the association between plasma retinol and incident cancer among Chinese hypertensive adults. We conducted a nested case–control study, including 231 patients with incident cancer and 231 matched controls during a median 4·5-year follow-up of the China Stroke Primary Prevention Trial. There was a significant, inverse association between retinol levels and digestive system cancer (per 10 μg/dl increases: OR 0·79; 95 % CI 0·69, 0·91). When compared with participants in the first quartile of retinol (< 52·3 μg/dl), a significantly lower cancer risk was found in participants in quartile 2–4 ( ≥ 52·3 μg/dl: OR 0·31; 95 % CI 0·13, 0·71). However, there was a U-shaped association between retinol levels and non-digestive system cancers where the risk of cancers decreased (although not significantly) with each increment of plasma retinol (per 10 μg/dl increases: OR 0·89; 95 % CI 0·60, 1·31) in participants with retinol < 68·2 μg/dl, and then increased significantly with retinol (per 10 μg/dl increase: OR 1·65; 95 % CI 1·12, 2·44) in participants with retinol ≥ 68·2 μg/dl. In conclusion, there was a significant inverse dose–response association between plasma retinol and the risk of digestive system cancers. However, a U-shaped association was observed between plasma retinol and the risk of non-digestive cancers (with a turning point approximately 68·2 μg/dl).

Differences in pipe wall microstructure at various positions throughout the wall thickness of high strength aluminum alloy thick-wall pipes produced by reverse hot extrusion were investigated. The microstructures of the inner wall (IW), outer wall (OW), and half wall (HW) were compared. Further, heterogeneity in the mechanical properties of the pipe throughout the wall thickness was also investigated. Results revealed that the volume fraction of precipitation was highest at the HW position because of the higher Zn and Mg contents. Further, approximately 26% of grains were recrystallized in the OW position due to the greater strain during extrusion, while the recrystallization fractions of the IW and HW positions were 13% and 21%, respectively. The effects of precipitation strengthening and deformation strengthening contribute to the highest ultimate tensile strength and Vickers hardness of the HW position, and to the higher elongation of the IW and OW positions.

Neural electrodes have been widely used to monitor neural signals and/or deliver electrical stimulation in the brain. Currently, biodegradable and biocompatible materials have been actively investigated to create temporary electrodes that could degrade after serving their functions for neural recording and stimulation from days to months. The new class of biodegradable electrodes eliminate the necessity of secondary surgery for electrode removal. In this study, we created biodegradable, biocompatible, and implantable magnesium (Mg)-based microelectrodes for in vivo neural recording for the first time. Specifically, conductive poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) was first deposited onto Mg microwire substrates by electrochemical deposition, and a biodegradable insulating polymer was subsequently sprayed onto the surface of electrodes. The tip of electrodes was designed to be conductive for neural recording and stimulation, while the rest of electrodes was insulated with a polymer that is biocompatible with neural tissue. The impedance of Mg-based microelectrodes and their performance during neural recording in the auditory cortex of a mouse were studied. The results first demonstrated the capability of Mg-based microelectrodes for in vivo recording of multi-unit stimulus-evoked activity in the brain.

The relationship between serum Mg and blood cell counts in Chinese adult diabetes or central obesity was assessed by investigating 8163 subjects with China Health and Nutrition Survey (mean age 59⋅6 years, 54⋅9 % men). Participants were classified according to blood Mg (below 0⋅65 mmol/l, or 0⋅66–0⋅94 mmol/l or above 0⋅95 mmol/l), type 2 diabetes (yes/no) and central obesity (yes/no). Leucocytes, erythrocytes, platelets (PLT), Hb and glycated Hb (HbA1c) were determined using standardised methods and conditions. HbAc1, leucocytes and PLT were significantly higher among subjects with central obesity than without central obesity (P < 0⋅05). A significant increase for Hb, erythrocytes, PLT, but not leucocytes, across progressive Mg groups was observed in subjects without diabetes (P < 0⋅05). Hb, erythrocytes and HbAc1 were significantly higher among subjects with higher Mg than in subjects with lower Mg with diabetes (P < 0⋅05). Central obesity disturbed the positive association between PLT count and serum Mg. Type 2 diabetes caused metabolism disorder in serum Mg, blood sugar and blood cell count. Hb, erythrocytes and PLT, but not leucocytes, are positively correlated with serum Mg, but this association is somehow disturbed by type 2 diabetes or central obesity.

Rabbits play an important role in people’s lives due to their high nutritional value and high-quality hair that can be used as raw material for textiles. Furthermore, rabbits are an important animal model for human disease, as genome-edited animals are particularly valuable for studying gene functions and pathogenesis. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is an important technique for producing genome-edited animals and it has great value in saving endangered species and in clone stem cell therapy. However, the low efficiency of SCNT limits its application, with the selection of suitable rabbit oocytes being crucial to its success. In the present study, we collected oocytes from ovarian follicles and stained them with 26 μM brilliant cresyl blue (BCB). We then matured the oocytes in vitro and used them for SCNT. Comparison of the BCB-positive oocytes with BCB-negative oocytes and the control group showed that the BCB-positive group had a significantly higher maturation rate (81.4% vs. 48.9% and 65.3% for the negative and control groups, respectively), cleavage rate (86.6% vs. 67.9% and 77.9%), blastocyst rate (30.5% vs. 12.8% and 19.6%), total number of blastocysts (90±7.5 vs. 65.3±6.3 and 67.5±5.7), and inner cell mass (ICM)/ trophectoderm (TE) index (42.3±4.2 vs. 30.2±2.1 and 33.9±5.1) (P<0.05). The BCB-positive group had a significantly lower apoptosis index (2.1±0.6 vs. 8.2±0.9 and 6.7±1.1 for the negative and control groups, respectively) (P<0.05). These findings demonstrate that BCB-positive oocytes have a higher maturation ability and developmental competence in vitro, indicating that BCB staining is a reliable method for selecting oocytes to enhance the efficiency of SCNT.

A bottom-feed omni-directional CP (circularly polarized) antenna array is proposed in this letter. The antenna array is composed of four elements (two printed ZPS (zero-phase-shift) line loops and two half-wavelength dipoles). The four elements are fed with the same phase and amplitude. The ZPS line loops provide the horizontal polarization while the dipoles provide the vertical polarization. Therefore, omni-directional circular polarization is formed in the far field. The feeding network consists of a 1–4 T-shaped power divider formed by parallel strip lines. In order to balance the amplitude of the feeding coaxial cable, the structure is used in the bottom to transfer parallel strip line to micro-strip line. Besides, the loops and the dipoles are placed on the different side of the network to guarantee the omni-directional radiation property. The measured impedance bandwidth of the fabricated antenna is 0.13 GHz (2.40–2.53 GHz) and the measured maximum CP gain at 2.45 GHz is 4.8 dBic.

The effective charge of an element is a parameter characterizing the electromigration effect, which can determine the reliability of interconnection in electronic technologies. In this work, machine learning approaches were employed to model the effective charge (z*) as a linear function of physically meaningful elemental properties. Average fivefold (leave-out-alloy-group) cross-validation yielded root-mean-square-error divided by whole data set standard deviation (RMSE/σ) values of 0.37 ± 0.01 (0.22 ± 0.18), respectively, and R2 values of 0.86. Extrapolation to z* of totally new alloys showed limited but potentially useful predictive ability. The model was used in predicting z* for technologically relevant host–impurity pairs.

The modification of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) as fillers is very effective at improving the performance of polymers. A novel modification of HNTs through grafting dodecylamine onto their surfaces was conducted here. Owing to the improvement in dispersibility of HNTs in polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the mechanical properties and wear resistance (in particular) of the dodecylamine-modified HNT-filled PTFE composite were enhanced significantly.

In dense networks, the tremendous computational complexity and communication overhead of cooperative localisation are the two main bottlenecks that limit practical application. In this study, we introduce a bootstrap percolation scheme into Gaussian message passing-based cooperative localisation for precise positioning, aimed at reducing the system overhead. Considering the uncertainty information and geometric distribution of neighbours, an approximate collinear detection criterion is proposed to detect the possible flip ambiguities in cooperative localisation. According to the detection result and our connection constraint, agents are divided into three categories and are approximated by different distribution families. A message passing rule is designed to control the propagation direction from high precision to low precision, thereby mitigating potential error propagation. Additionally, a layer-by-layer positioning mechanism is established where the agents are located gradually. Analytical and simulation results indicate that when the ranging standard deviation is 0·2 m, 89·3% of the agent nodes can be located within 0·4 m using the proposed algorithm. Compared with the Hybrid Sum-Product Algorithm over A Wireless Network (H-SPAWN), this ratio is increased by 8·4% and the computational complexity is reduced by 72%.

Wearable electrochromic devices are considered as the essential components for the development of smart clothing with the intelligent sensing, actuating, and displaying functions. In this study, the electrochromic composite flexible membranes of polyaniline (PANI) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) were fabricated by in situ polymerization of aniline monomer in the presence of RGO dispersion. The effects of RGO concentration on the morphology, chemical structure, crystallinity, and electrochromic behavior of the composite membranes were studied. Our experimental results show that the conductivity of PANI/RGO composite membrane increases with the increasing of RGO concentration from 0.1 to 0.25 wt%, and the highest conductivity is 3.57 S/cm. An improved electrochemical performance with good electrochromic cycle characteristic of the PANI/RGO composite can be obtained, which shows a wide color range from green to black compared with the PANI membrane that ranging from green to dark blue. This research provides a systematical investigation of flexible PANI-based electrochromic membrane, which has the potential application in the field of wearable electrochromic devices in the future.