Reintroductions aim to re-establish a viable population within the indigenous range of living organisms, especially of threatened species. The population of the Asian Crested Ibis Nipponia nippon, a well-known ‘Endangered’ bird species, has increased over 100 times since wild populations were rediscovered in 1981, and several reintroduction projects were subsequently carried out in its former range. An experimental release of the Asian Crested Ibis was conducted in Qianhu National Wetland Park located in the southern part of the Loess Plateau, China. It is vitally important to monitor released birds (at least their survival and breeding), to inform subsequent releases in other suitable sites. During extensive post-release monitoring, data on capture-recapture and reproductive status were obtained using banding, radiotelemetry, and field observations. Using the Cormack-Jolly-Seber (C-J-S) model, the average annual survival rates were estimated to be 0.569 (95% CI: 0.353–0.762) for released individuals and 0.643 (95% CI: 0.038–0.987) for all individuals. From 2014 to 2018, a total of 14 breeding pairs produced 28 eggs and 10 fledglings with successful reproduction of the second generation. The mean clutch size was 2.07 ± 0.25 (n = 29), and the breeding success was 34.5%. Predation and poor habitat quality have been shown to be the main factors affecting the reintroduced population at establishment stage. Some management suggestions at the metapopulation and ecosystem levels, including further release, predator control and habitat improvement, have been proposed.

To investigate the cumulative effects of maternal supplementation with nucleotides in the form of uridine (UR) on fatty acid and amino acid constituents of neonatal piglets, fifty-two sows in late gestation were assigned randomly into the control (CON) group (fed a basal diet) or UR group (fed a basal diet with 150 g/t UR). Samples of neonates were collected during farrowing. Results showed that supplementing with UR in sows’ diet significantly decreased the birth mortality of pigs (P = 0·05), and increased serum total cholesterol, HDL and LDL of neonatal piglets (P < 0·05). Moreover, the amino acid profile of serum and liver of neonatal piglets was affected by the addition of UR in sows’ diets (P < 0·05). Furthermore, an up-regulation of mRNA expression of energy metabolism-related genes, including fatty acid elongase 5, fatty acid desaturase 1, hormone-sensitive lipase and cholesterol-7a-hydroxylase, was observed in the liver of neonates from the UR group. Additionally, a decrease in placental gene expression of excitatory amino acid transporters 2, excitatory amino acid transporter 3 and neutral AA transporter 1 in the UR group was concurrently observed (P < 0·05), and higher protein expression of phosphorylated protein kinase B, raptor, PPARα and PPARγ in placenta from the UR group was also observed (P < 0·05). Together, these results showed that maternal UR supplementation could regulate placental nutrient transport, largely in response to an alteration of mTORC1–PPAR signalling, thus regulating the nutrition metabolism of neonatal piglets and improving reproductive performance.

Findings for the roles of dairy products, Ca and vitamin D on ovarian cancer risk remain controversial. We aimed to assess these associations by using an updated meta-analysis. Five electronic databases (e.g. PubMed and Embase) were searched from inception to 24 December 2019. Pooled relative risks (RR) with 95 % CI were calculated. A total of twenty-nine case–control or cohort studies were included. For comparisons of the highest v. lowest intakes, higher whole milk intake was associated with increased ovarian cancer risk (RR 1·35; 95 % CI 1·15, 1·59), whereas decreased risks were observed for higher intakes of low-fat milk (RR 0·84; 95 % CI 0·73, 0·96), dietary Ca (RR 0·71; 95 % CI 0·60, 0·84) and dietary vitamin D (RR 0·80; 95 % CI 0·67, 0·95). Additionally, for every 100 g/d increment, increased ovarian cancer risks were found for total dairy products (RR 1·03; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·04) and for whole milk (RR 1·07; 95 % CI 1·03, 1·11); however, decreased risks were found for 100 g/d increased intakes of low-fat milk (RR 0·95; 95 % CI 0·91, 0·99), cheese (RR 0·87; 95 % CI 0·76, 0·98), dietary Ca (RR 0·96; 95 % CI 0·95, 0·98), total Ca (RR 0·98; 95 % CI 0·97, 0·99), dietary vitamin D (RR 0·92; 95 % CI 0·87, 0·97) and increased levels of circulating vitamin D (RR 0·84; 95 % CI 0·72, 0·97). These results show that whole milk intake might contribute to a higher ovarian cancer risk, whereas low-fat milk, dietary Ca and dietary vitamin D might reduce the risk.

This article explores the discursive functioning of education policies, bringing into consideration community perspectives regarding policy enactment in contemporary China. With the intention of building upon ongoing discussions surrounding both the conceptions and purposes of policy sociology, we critically analyse policies directly related to the education of migrant children living in and around China's largest urban centres, with a specific focus on those implemented in Beijing. We emphasize two important aspects that previous studies of China's education policies have tended to underplay given their focus on social-economic perspectives. The first argument is that education policies have an underlying agenda that extends beyond that of simply addressing the educational needs of migrant children – evidenced through the discursive functions of policy texts. The second argument is related and seeks to raise questions about who is best served by these policies and for whom these policies are intended.

Freshwater habitats in China are potentially suitable for invasive alien turtle species and, consequently, raising turtles in aquaculture facilities and the trade in turtles this supplies pose risks to habitats and native wetland communities when exotic turtles escape or are released deliberately. Online trade (e-commerce) is making an increasing contribution to turtle sales in China, seemingly driving demand and thus potentially exacerbating the risk of release. We document the scale and spatial pattern of online sales of non-native turtles over 90 days on China's Taobao.com e-commerce site. The majority of sales were in the ecologically sensitive middle and lower Yangtze river basin (82.35% of > 840,000 slider turtles Trachemys scripta elegans, and 68.26% of > 100,000 snapping turtles, Chelydridae spp.). These species are native to the Americas. Concurrently, over 2008–2018, we found 104 mentions of feral turtle issues listed on Baidu News where, among the 53 prefectures mentioned, issues with invasive turtle populations also focused predominantly in the middle and lower Yangtze river basin. Although circumstantial, this association suggests that the substantial online sale of alien turtles could be having detrimental effects in China's Yangtze river basin. It is important to safeguard these wetland habitats, which are of global importance, by improving policies for detecting and regulating invasive alien turtle issues and by warning consumers about the ecological hazard of their purchases.

The interaction of the Palaeo-Pacific and Palaeo-Asian Oceans is an enigmatic issue as their temporal and spatial features are controversial. To address this issue, we present a systematic study of large volumes of early Permian volcanic rocks and intrusions developed in the East Tianshan. The represented samples of basaltic andesites and rhyolites yield zircon crystallization ages of 285.1 ± 5.9 Ma and 275.3 ± 1.8 Ma, respectively. The basalts have normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB) and arc-related geochemical signatures with high TiO2 contents, negative Rb, Th, U, Nb and Ta anomalies and positive Eu anomalies. Basaltic andesites and andesites have arc-related geochemical characteristics with moderate TiO2 contents and relatively negative Nb, Ta and Ti anomalies, together with slightly negative to positive Eu anomalies. The rhyolites show an affinity with A2-type granite with high SiO2, K2O + Na2O, Fe/Mg, Ga, Zr, Nb, Y, HFSE, REE and Y/Nb levels (>1.2). These geochemical data suggest that the rocks formed in a supra-subduction zone. The presence of high ϵNd(t) values of +4.6 to +8.2 and low (87Sr/86Sr) i (0.70342–0.70591) values indicates that the volcanic rocks originated from a depleted mantle. We propose that oblique subduction with slabs breaking off gave rise to transtension and to the emplacement of large volumes of mantle-derived melts in the early Permian in the East Tianshan, serving as an important record of the subduction zone of the Palaeo-Pacific Ocean.

The Chinese National Twin Registry (CNTR), initiated in 2001, has now become the largest twin registry in Asia. From 2015 to 2018, the CNTR continued to receive Chinese government funding and had recruited 61,566 twin-pairs by 2019 to study twins discordant for specific exposures such as environmental factors, and twins discordant for disease outcomes or measures of morbidity. Omic data, including genetics, genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics, and gut microbiome will be tested. The integration of omics and digital technologies in public health will advance our understanding of precision public health. This review introduces the updates of the CNTR, including study design, sample size, biobank, zygosity assessment, advances in research and future systems epidemiologic research.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of glucose, soya oil or glutamine on jejunal morphology, protein metabolism and protein expression of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signalling pathway in jejunal villus or crypt compartment of piglets. Forty-two 21 d-weaned piglets were randomly allotted to one of the three isoenergetic diets formulated with glucose, soya oil or glutamine for 28 d. On day 14 or 28, the proteins in crypt enterocytes were analysed with isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification and proteins involved in mTORC1 signalling pathway in villus or crypt compartment cells were determined by Western blotting. Our results showed no significant differences (P > 0·05) in jejunal morphology among the three treatments on day 14 or 28. The differentially expressed proteins mainly took part in a few network pathways, including antimicrobial or inflammatory response, cell death and survival, digestive system development and function and carbohydrate metabolism. On day 14 or 28, there were higher protein expression of eukaryotic initiation factor-4E binding protein-1 in jejunal crypt compartment of piglets supplemented with glucose or glutamine compared with soya oil. On day 28, higher protein expression of phosphor-mTOR in crypt compartment was observed in piglets supplemented with glucose compared with the soya oil. In conclusion, the isoenergetic glucose, soya oil or glutamine did not affect the jejunal morphology of piglets; however, they had different effects on the protein metabolism in crypt compartment. Compared with soya oil, glucose or glutamine may be better energy supplies for enterocytes in jejunal crypt compartment.

l-Carnitine is essential for mitochondrial β-oxidation and has been used as a lipid-lowering feed additive in humans and farmed animals. d-Carnitine is an optical isomer of l-carnitine and dl-carnitine has been widely used in animal feeds. However, the functional differences between l- and d-carnitine are difficult to study because of the endogenous l-carnitine background. In the present study, we developed a low-carnitine Nile tilapia model by treating fish with a carnitine synthesis inhibitor, and used this model to investigate the functional differences between l- and d-carnitine in nutrient metabolism in fish. l- or d-carnitine (0·4 g/kg diet) was fed to the low-carnitine tilapia for 6 weeks. l-Carnitine feeding increased the acyl-carnitine concentration from 3522 to 10 822 ng/g and alleviated the lipid deposition from 15·89 to 11·97 % in the liver of low-carnitine tilapia. However, as compared with l-carnitine group, d-carnitine feeding reduced the acyl-carnitine concentration from 10 822 to 5482 ng/g, and increased lipid deposition from 11·97 to 20·21 % and the mRNA expression of the genes involved in β-oxidation and detoxification in the liver. d-Carnitine feeding also induced hepatic inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis. A metabolomic investigation further showed that d-carnitine feeding increased glycolysis, protein metabolism and activity of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, l-carnitine can be physiologically utilised in fish, whereas d-carnitine is metabolised as a xenobiotic and induces lipotoxicity. d-Carnitine-fed fish demonstrates increases in peroxisomal β-oxidation, glycolysis and amino acid degradation to maintain energy homeostasis. Therefore, d-carnitine is not recommended for use in farmed animals.

The regeneration of human tissues with complex anatomy such as gastrointestinal (GI) tract remains greatly challenging since it requires appropriate cell microenvironments with well-defined structural and biochemical cues. In this investigation, bilayer scaffolds consisting of different polymer nanofibers with orthogonal fiber orientations were prepared, in which vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) were encapsulated separately. The bilayer scaffolds have similar architecture to the anatomy of the GI tract and can achieve dual releases of VEGF and PDGF in sequential and sustained manners, which hold promise as appropriate cell microenvironments for promoting the regeneration of the GI tract.

For wave loads on cylinders constituting a long but finite array in the presence of incident waves, variations in the magnitude of the load with the non-dimensional wavenumber exhibit interesting features. Towering spikes and nearby secondary peaks (troughs) associated with trapped modes have been studied extensively. Larger non-trapped regions other than these two are termed Region III in this study. Studies of Region III are rare. We find that fluctuations in Region III are regular; the horizontal distance between two adjacent local maximum/minimum points, termed fluctuation spacing, is constant and does not change with non-dimensional wavenumbers. Fluctuation spacing is related only to the total number of cylinders in the array, identification serial number of the cylinder concerned and wave incidence angle. Based on the interaction theory and constructive/destructive interference, we demonstrate that the fluctuation characteristics can be predicted using simple analytical formulae. The formulae for predicting fluctuation spacing and the abscissae of every peak and trough in Region III are proposed. We reveal the intrinsic mechanism of the fluctuation phenomenon. When the diffraction waves emitted from the cylinders at the ends of the array and the cylinder concerned interfere constructively/destructively, peaks/troughs are formed. The fluctuation phenomenon in Region III is related to solutions of inhomogeneous equations. By contrast, spikes and secondary peaks are associated with solutions of the eigenvalue problem. This study of Region III complements existing understanding of the characteristics of the magnitude of wave load. The engineering significances of the results are discussed as well.

Multifunctional scaffolds with dual release of small molecular drugs and biomacromolecules have potential in many applications such as cancer postoperative care, which require appropriate administration of anticancer drugs and biomacromolecules in a spatiotemporal manner. Herein, a systematic investigation into the dual release of anticancer drugs and biomacromolecules from the bicomponent nanofibrous scaffolds is performed. Their release behavior is affected by different fabrication techniques and different polymers used. We show that the bicomponent scaffold fabricated by dual-source dual-power emulsion electrospinning enables dual release of anticancer drugs and biomacromolecules in a controlled manner, holding promise for combinational cancer postoperative care.