Mythimna separata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an omnivorous pest that poses a great threat to food security. Insect antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small peptides that are important effector molecules of innate immunity. Here, we investigated the role of the AMP cecropin B in the growth, development, and immunity of M. separata. The gene encoding M. separata cecropin B (MscecropinB) was cloned. The expression of MscecropinB was determined in different developmental stages and tissues of M. separata. It was highest in the prepupal stage, followed by the pupal stage. Among larval stages, the highest expression was observed in the fourth instar. Tissue expression analysis of fourth instar larvae showed that MscecropinB was highly expressed in the fat body and haemolymph. An increase in population density led to upregulation of MscecropinB expression. MscecropinB expression was also upregulated by the infection of third and fourth instar M. separata with Beauveria bassiana or Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). RNA interference (RNAi) targeting MscecropinB inhibited the emergence rate and fecundity of M. separata, and resulted in an increased sensitivity to B. bassiana and Bt. The mortality of M. separata larvae was significantly higher in pathogen plus RNAi-treated M. separata than in controls treated with pathogens only. Our findings indicate that MscecropinB functions in the eclosion and fecundity of M. separata and plays an important role in resistance to infection by B. bassiana and Bt.

The large-aperture pulse compression grating (PCG) is a critical component in generating an ultra-high-intensity, ultra-short-pulse laser; however, the size of the PCG manufactured by transmission holographic exposure is limited to large-scale high-quality materials. The reflective method is a potential way for solving the size limitation, but there is still no successful precedent due to the lack of scientific specifications and advanced processing technology of exposure mirrors. In this paper, an analytical model is developed to clarify the specifications of components, and advanced processing technology is adopted to control the spatial frequency errors. Hereafter, we have successfully fabricated a multilayer dielectric grating of 200 mm × 150 mm by using an off-axis reflective exposure system with Φ300 mm. This demonstration proves that PCGs can be manufactured by using the reflection holographic exposure method and shows the potential for manufacturing the meter-level gratings used in 100 petawatt class high-power lasers.

A wideband tunable balanced phase shifter is achieved by utilizing varactor-loaded coupled lines (VLCLs)-embedded multistage branch-line structure. The tunable phase shift with low in-band phase deviation is attributed to the regulation in phase shift of the VLCLs and the horizontal microstrip lines in series. The wideband differential-mode (DM) impedance matching and common-mode (CM) suppression are due to multiple DM transmission poles and CM transmission zeros, which are brought about by the cascade of VLCLs and a microstrip line with short-circuited stubs in the DM-equivalent circuit and open-circuited stubs in the CM-equivalent circuit, respectively. Compared with the state-of-the-art tunable balanced phase shifters, the proposed design not only has the advantages of wide operating bandwidth (BW) with low in-band phase deviation but also has low insertion loss and easily fabricated structure. Theoretical analysis and design procedure were conducted, resulting in a prototype covering the frequency of 1.8 GHz. This prototype offers a tunable phase shift capability ranging from 0° to 90°. The prototype exhibits an operating BW of 45%, with a maximum phase deviation of ±6°. It also achieves a 10 dB DM return loss and CM suppression, while maintaining a maximum insertion loss of 2.5 dB.

Rodents and shrews are major reservoirs of various pathogens that are related to zoonotic infectious diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate co-infections of zoonotic pathogens in rodents and shrews trapped in four provinces of China. We sampled different rodent and shrew communities within and around human settlements in four provinces of China and characterised several important zoonotic viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens by PCR methods and phylogenetic analysis. A total of 864 rodents and shrews belonging to 24 and 13 species from RODENTIA and EULIPOTYPHLA orders were captured, respectively. For viral pathogens, two species of hantavirus (Hantaan orthohantavirus and Caobang orthohantavirus) were identified in 3.47% of rodents and shrews. The overall prevalence of Bartonella spp., Anaplasmataceae, Babesia spp., Leptospira spp., Spotted fever group Rickettsiae, Borrelia spp., and Coxiella burnetii were 31.25%, 8.91%, 4.17%, 3.94%, 3.59%, 3.47%, and 0.58%, respectively. Furthermore, the highest co-infection status of three pathogens was observed among Bartonella spp., Leptospira spp., and Anaplasmataceae with a co-infection rate of 0.46%. Our results suggested that species distribution and co-infections of zoonotic pathogens were prevalent in rodents and shrews, highlighting the necessity of active surveillance for zoonotic pathogens in wild mammals in wider regions.

Direct numerical simulations (DNSs) are performed to investigate the roughness effects on the statistical properties and the large-scale coherent structures in the turbulent channel flow over three-dimensional sinusoidal rough walls. The outer-layer similarities of mean streamwise velocity and Reynolds stresses are examined by systematically varying the roughness Reynolds number $k^{+}$ and the ratio of the roughness height to the half-channel height $k / \delta$. The energy transfer mechanism of turbulent motions in the presence of roughness elements with different sizes is explored through spectral analysis of the transport equation of the two-point velocity correlation and the scale-energy path display of the generalized Kolmogorov equation. The results show that, with increasing $k^+$, the downward shift of the mean streamwise velocity profile in the logarithmic region increases and the peak intensities of turbulent Reynolds stresses decrease. At an intermediate Reynolds number ($Re_{\tau }= 1080$), the length scale and intensity of the large-scale coherent structures increase for a small roughness ($k^{+}=10$), which leads to failure of the outer-layer similarity in rough-wall turbulence, and decrease for a large roughness ($k^{+}=60$), as compared with the smooth-wall case. The existence of the small roughness ($k^{+}=10$) enhances the mechanism of inverse energy cascade from the inner-layer small-scale structures to the outer-layer large-scale structures. Correspondingly, the self-sustaining processes of the outer-layer large-scale coherent structures, including turbulent production, interscale transport, pressure transport and spatial turbulent transport, are all enhanced, whereas the large roughness ($k^{+}=60$) weakens the energy transfer between the inner and outer regions.

Zn is an important trace element involved in various biochemical processes in aquatic species. An 8-week rearing trial was thus conducted to investigate the effects of Zn on juvenile largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) by feeding seven diets, respectively, supplemented with no Zn (Con), 60 and 120 mg/kg inorganic Zn (Sul60 and Sul120), and 30, 60, 90 and 120 mg/kg organic Zn (Bio30, Bio60, Bio90 and Bio120). Sul120 and Bio120 groups showed significantly higher weight gain and specific growth rate than Con group, with Bio60 group obtaining the lowest viscerosomatic index and hepatosomatic index. 60 or 90 mg/kg organic Zn significantly facilitated whole body Zn retention. Up-regulation of hepatic superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities and decline of malondialdehyde contents indicated augmented antioxidant capacities by organic Zn. Zn treatment also lowered plasma aminotransferase levels while promoting acid phosphatase activity and hepatic transcription levels of alp1, acp1 and lyz-c than deprivation of Zn. The alterations in whole body and liver crude lipid and plasma TAG contents illustrated the regulatory effect of Zn on lipid metabolism, which could be possibly attributed to the changes in hepatic expressions of acc1, pparγ, atgl and cpt1. These findings demonstrated the capabilities of Zn in potentiating growth and morphological performance, antioxidant capacity, immunity as well as regulating lipid metabolism in M. salmoides. Organic Zn could perform comparable effects at same or lower supplementation levels than inorganic Zn, suggesting its higher efficiency. 60 mg/kg supplementation of organic Zn could effectively cover the requirements of M. salmoides.

Childhood maltreatment has been suggested to have an adverse impact on neurodevelopment, including microstructural brain abnormalities. Existing neuroimaging findings remain inconsistent and heterogeneous. We aim to explore the most prominent and robust cortical thickness (CTh) and gray matter volume (GMV) alterations associated with childhood maltreatment. A systematic search on relevant studies was conducted through September 2022. The whole-brain coordinate-based meta-analysis (CBMA) on CTh and GMV studies were conducted using the seed-based d mapping (SDM) software. Meta-regression analysis was subsequently applied to investigate potential associations between clinical variables and structural changes. A total of 45 studies were eligible for inclusion, including 11 datasets on CTh and 39 datasets on GMV, consisting of 2550 participants exposed to childhood maltreatment and 3739 unexposed comparison subjects. Individuals with childhood maltreatment exhibited overlapped deficits in the median cingulate/paracingulate gyri simultaneously revealed by both CTh and GM studies. Regional cortical thinning in the right anterior cingulate/paracingulate gyri and the left middle frontal gyrus, as well as GMV reductions in the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was also identified. No greater regions were found for either CTh or GMV. In addition, several neural morphology changes were associated with the average age of the maltreated individuals. The median cingulate/paracingulate gyri morphology might serve as the most robust neuroimaging feature of childhood maltreatment. The effects of early-life trauma on the human brain predominantly involved in cognitive functions, socio-affective functioning and stress regulation. This current meta-analysis enhanced the understanding of neuropathological changes induced by childhood maltreatment.

Coastal eutrophication and hypoxia remain a persistent environmental crisis despite the great efforts to reduce nutrient loading and mitigate associated environmental damages. Symptoms of this crisis have appeared to spread rapidly, reaching developing countries in Asia with emergences in Southern America and Africa. The pace of changes and the underlying drivers remain not so clear. To address the gap, we review the up-to-date status and mechanisms of eutrophication and hypoxia in global coastal oceans, upon which we examine the trajectories of changes over the 40 years or longer in six model coastal systems with varying socio-economic development statuses and different levels and histories of eutrophication. Although these coastal systems share common features of eutrophication, site-specific characteristics are also substantial, depending on the regional environmental setting and level of social-economic development along with policy implementation and management. Nevertheless, ecosystem recovery generally needs greater reduction in pressures compared to that initiated degradation and becomes less feasible to achieve past norms with a longer time anthropogenic pressures on the ecosystems. While the qualitative causality between drivers and consequences is well established, quantitative attribution of these drivers to eutrophication and hypoxia remains difficult especially when we consider the social economic drivers because the changes in coastal ecosystems are subject to multiple influences and the cause–effect relationship is often non-linear. Such relationships are further complicated by climate changes that have been accelerating over the past few decades. The knowledge gaps that limit our quantitative and mechanistic understanding of the human-coastal ocean nexus are identified, which is essential for science-based policy making. Recognizing lessons from past management practices, we advocate for a better, more efficient indexing system of coastal eutrophication and an advanced regional earth system modeling framework with optimal modules of human dimensions to facilitate the development and evaluation of effective policy and restoration actions.

The opening of equity markets to foreign investment by developing countries appears to generate an enormously large positive growth effect (see Bekaert, Harvey, and Lundblad (2005), Journal of Financial Economics 77, 3–55) in spite of a relatively small role of such markets for financing investment in most economies. We propose a spillover channel from equity market opening to lower costs of bank loans, which helps to explain this puzzle. From analyzing bank loan data associated with China’s introduction of the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors program, we find significant support for this channel. Furthermore, we show that a reduction in the risk premium in loans is an important mechanism.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection led to 66% liver deaths world-wide in year 2015. Thirty-seven per cent of these deaths were the result of chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although early diagnosis of HCC improves survival, early detection is rare. Methylation of HBV DNA including covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) is more often encountered in HCC cases than those in CHB and cirrhosis. Three typical CpG islands within the HBV genome are the common sites for methylation. The HBV cccDNA methylation affects the viral replication and protein expression in the course of infection and may associate with the disease pathogenesis and HCC development. We review the current findings in HBV DNA methylation that provide insights into its role in HCC diagnosis.

Due to the lack of research between the inner layers in the structure of colonic mucous and the metabolism of fatty acid in the constipation model, we aim to determine the changes in the mucous phenotype of the colonic glycocalyx and the microbial community structure following treatment with Rhubarb extract in our research. The constipation and treatment models are generated using adult male C57BL/6N mice. We perform light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to detect a Muc2-rich inner mucus layer attached to mice colon under different conditions. In addition, 16S rDNA sequencing is performed to examine the intestinal flora. According to TEM images, we demonstrate that Rhubarb can promote mucin secretion and find direct evidence of dendritic structure-linked mucus structures with its assembly into a lamellar network in a pore size distribution in the isolated colon section. Moreover, the diversity of intestinal flora has noticeable changes in constipated mice. The present study characterizes a dendritic structure and persistent cross-links have significant changes accompanied by the alteration of intestinal flora in feces in models of constipation and pretreatment with Rhubarb extract.

In this paper, effects of discharge parameters and modulation frequency on the signal of laser-induced fluorescence measurements of ion velocity distribution functions are investigated in the LIF Test Source. A maximum modulation frequency is found for each given set of parameters, beyond which the signal gradually declines. Meanwhile, this maximum modulation frequency occurred consistently at ~1/10 of the theoretical frequency limit and photon counts received by a photomultiplier tube, which indicates that as modulation frequency and the associated per-pulse-excitation-event count decrease, the transition from the macroscopic statistical signal to the microscopic probabilistic signal is a gradual process.

A noncomplete graph is $2$ -distance-transitive if, for $i \in \{1,2\}$ and for any two vertex pairs $(u_1,v_1)$ and $(u_2,v_2)$ with the same distance i in the graph, there exists an element of the graph automorphism group that maps $(u_1,v_1)$ to $(u_2,v_2)$ . This paper determines the family of $2$ -distance-transitive Cayley graphs over dihedral groups, and it is shown that if the girth of such a graph is not $4$ , then either it is a known $2$ -arc-transitive graph or it is isomorphic to one of the following two graphs: $ {\mathrm {K}}_{x[y]}$ , where $x\geq 3,y\geq 2$ , and $G(2,p,({p-1})/{4})$ , where p is a prime and $p \equiv 1 \ (\operatorname {mod}\, 8)$ . Then, as an application of the above result, a complete classification is achieved of the family of $2$ -geodesic-transitive Cayley graphs for dihedral groups.

Due to less light scattering and a better signal-to-noise ratio in deep imaging, two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPFM) has been widely used in biomedical photonics since its advent. However, optical aberrations degrade the performance of TPFM in terms of the signal intensity and the imaging depth and therefore restrict its application. Here, we introduce adaptive optics based on the genetic algorithm to detect the distorted wavefront of the excitation laser beam and then perform aberration correction to optimize the performance of TPFM. By using a spatial light modulator as the wavefront controller, the correction phase is obtained through a signal feedback loop and a process of natural selection. The experimental results show that the signal intensity and imaging depth of TPFM are improved after aberration correction. Finally, the method was applied to two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging, which helps to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and the accuracy of lifetime analysis. Furthermore, the method can also be implemented in other experiments, such as three-photon microscopy, light-sheet microscopy, and super-resolution microscopy.

Extensive magmatism in NE China, eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt, has produced multi-stage granitic plutons and accompanying W mineralization. The Narenwula complex in the southwestern Great Xing’an Range provides important insights into the petrogenesis, geodynamic processes and relationship with W mineralization. The complex comprises granodiorites, monzogranites and granite porphyry. Mafic microgranular enclaves are common in the granodiorites, and have similar zircon U–Pb ages as their host rocks (258.5–253.9 Ma), whereas the W-bearing granitoids yield emplacement ages of 149.8–148.1 Ma. Permian granodiorites are I-type granites that are enriched in large-ion lithophile elements and light rare earth elements, and depleted in high field strength elements and heavy rare earth elements. Both the mafic microgranular enclaves and granodiorites have nearly identical zircon Hf isotopic compositions. The results suggest that the mafic microgranular enclaves and granodiorites formed by the mixing of mafic and felsic magmas. W-bearing granitoids are highly fractionated A-type granites, enriched in Rb, Th, U and Pb, and depleted in Ba, Sr, P, Ti and Eu. They have higher W concentrations and Rb/Sr ratios, and lower Nb/Ta, Zr/Hf and K/Rb ratios than the W-barren granodiorites. These data and negative ϵHf(t) values (–6.0 to –2.1) suggest that they were derived from the partial melting of ancient lower crust and subsequently underwent extreme fractional crystallization. Based on the regional geology, we propose that the granodiorites were generated in a volcanic arc setting related to the subduction of the Palaeo-Asian Ocean, whereas the W-bearing granitoids and associated deposits formed in a post-orogenic extensional setting controlled by the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean and Palaeo-Pacific Ocean tectonic regimes.

The provenance and tectonic setting of the Lower–Middle Triassic clastic sediments from the Napo basin, South China, have been examined here using detrital modes, whole-rock geochemistry and detrital zircon U–Pb ages. Field investigations indicate that these sediments consist of fan delta, slope and turbidity fan facies with dominantly southward palaeocurrent directions. Detrital modes and geochemical characteristics of the clastic rocks indicate that they were derived from mixed magmatic arc and Palaeozoic successions in a continental island arc setting, with no significant sediment recycling. The U–Pb age spectra of sandstone detrital zircons from different stratigraphic positions are similar, with one major group (300–230 Ma), two subordinate groups (400–320 Ma and 480–420 Ma, respectively) and two scattered groups (1200–800 Ma and 2000–1700 Ma, respectively). Thus, we consider that the north late Permian – Middle Triassic volcanic rocks and the uplifted Palaeozoic sedimentary/volcanic sequences constituted the predominant sources. The detritus derived from the late Permian Emeishan mafic rocks is subordinate and limited. The pre-Devonian zircons are likely sedimentary-recycled or magmatic-captured instead of directly derived from the early Palaeozoic orogen (e.g. Yunkai massif) and Neoproterozoic Jiangnan orogen because of the topographic barrier of a magmatic arc and carbonate platform. Considering the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the volcanic arc and ophiolite, we suggest that the Triassic Napo basin was a fore-arc basin within a continental island arc setting, which developed in response to the northward subduction of the Babu–Cao Bang branch ocean beneath the South China Block.