Parabronema skrjabini is one of the most harmful nematodes to camels and is responsible for economic losses in animal husbandry industry. There is an urgent need for in-depth studies of potential vectors of the nematode due to its scant regarding information. As previous studies indicated that flies may be the vectors of P. skrjabini, we captured flies in the main camel-producing areas of Inner Mongolia. After autopsy of the specimens of two species of horn flies, we observed the morphology of the suspected nematode larvae found in them. Internal transcribed spacer ribosomal-DNA gene sequences were considered the best candidate to confirm the species of the larvae found. Our results showed that the homology compared with P. skrjabini was 99.5% in GenBank. Subsequently, we preliminarily identified two species of horn flies through morphological observation and then sequenced the mitochondrial-DNA-gene cytochrome oxidase subunit I obtained from two species of horn flies, with 100 and 99.2% similarity to sequences deposited in GenBank, respectively. Thus, we identified Haematobia titillans and Haematobia irritans and provided evidence for their potential role as vectors of parabronemosis. Our study provides reference for future research on the life history of the nematode and the vectors of parabronemosis.

Diet has direct and indirect effects on health through inflammation and the gut microbiome. We investigated total dietary inflammatory potential via the literature-derived index (Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII®)) with gut microbiota diversity, composition and function. In cancer-free patient volunteers initially approached at colonoscopy and healthy volunteers recruited from the medical centre community, we assessed 16S ribosomal DNA in all subjects who provided dietary assessments and stool samples (n 101) and the gut metagenome in a subset of patients with residual fasting blood samples (n 34). Associations of energy-adjusted DII scores with microbial diversity and composition were examined using linear regression, permutational multivariate ANOVA and linear discriminant analysis. Spearman correlation was used to evaluate associations of species and pathways with DII and circulating inflammatory markers. Across DII levels, α- and β-diversity did not significantly differ; however, Ruminococcus torques, Eubacterium nodatum, Acidaminococcus intestini and Clostridium leptum were more abundant in the most pro-inflammatory diet group, while Akkermansia muciniphila was enriched in the most anti-inflammatory diet group. With adjustment for age and BMI, R. torques, E. nodatum and A. intestini remained significantly associated with a more pro-inflammatory diet. In the metagenomic and fasting blood subset, A. intestini was correlated with circulating plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, a pro-inflammatory marker (rho = 0·40), but no associations remained significant upon correction for multiple testing. An index reflecting overall inflammatory potential of the diet was associated with specific microbes, but not overall diversity of the gut microbiome in our study. Findings from this preliminary study warrant further research in larger samples and prospective cohorts.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China, spread rapidly throughout China and gradually to some countries abroad. How is the development of an epidemic controlled? Early diagnosis is one of the important contents in prevention and control. COVID-19 patients with early mild pneumonia often lack typical evidence to make a definitive diagnosis. Based on the analysis of the cases of 4 patients, this article finds that early diagnosis requires a combination of epidemiology, clinical manifestations, imaging, and etiology, with particular emphasis on epidemiology history and chest computed tomography (CT) manifestations.

Diet modifies the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), and inconclusive evidence suggests that yogurt may protect against CRC. We analysed the data collected from two separate colonoscopy-based case–control studies. The Tennessee Colorectal Polyp Study (TCPS) and Johns Hopkins Biofilm Study included 5446 and 1061 participants, respectively, diagnosed with hyperplastic polyp (HP), sessile serrated polyp, adenomatous polyp (AP) or without any polyps. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to derive OR and 95 % CI to evaluate comparisons between cases and polyp-free controls and case–case comparisons between different polyp types. We evaluated the association between frequency of yogurt intake and probiotic use with the diagnosis of colorectal polyps. In the TCPS, daily yogurt intake v. no/rare intake was associated with decreased odds of HP (OR 0·54; 95 % CI 0·31, 0·95) and weekly yogurt intake was associated with decreased odds of AP among women (OR 0·73; 95 % CI 0·55, 0·98). In the Biofilm Study, both weekly yogurt intake and probiotic use were associated with a non-significant reduction in odds of overall AP (OR 0·75; 95 % CI 0·54, 1·04) and (OR 0·72; 95 % CI 0·49, 1·06) in comparison with no use, respectively. In summary, yogurt intake may be associated with decreased odds of HP and AP and probiotic use may be associated with decreased odds of AP. Further prospective studies are needed to verify these associations.

Innovation contributes to a firm's long-term competitive advantages but also involves significant risk and uncertainty. As agency theory predicts, CEOs are self-interested and risk-averse, and thus are reluctant to engage in innovation investments. However, the extent to which CEOs are self-interested and the mechanisms through which self-interested CEOs affect firm innovation have not been empirically tested. To fill this gap, we propose that CEOs possess a mix of both self-preserving and other-regarding motives, and build a mediation model in which CEO values affect firm innovation via firms’ long-term orientation. Based on a three-phase (from 2014 to 2016) survey of 436 Chinese manufacturing firms, we find that CEOs with high self-regarding values reduce innovation efforts and performance by damaging a firm's long-term orientation. Moreover, CEO tenure, CEO duality, and environmental uncertainty weaken the relationship between CEO values and firm innovation via long-term orientation. Our study enriches the innovation literature by extending the basic assumptions of agency theory and by providing empirical evidence to determine whether and how self-regarded CEOs affect firm innovation.

The synergetic effects of surface smoothing exhibited during the inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) of free-standing polycrystalline diamonds (PCDs) were investigated. Changing the assistive gas types generated variable surface oxidation states and chemical environments that resulted in different etching rates and surface morphologies. The main reaction bond mechanism (C–O) during ICP-RIE and the ratio of C–O–C/O–C=O associated with the existence of a uniform smooth surface with root mean square (RMS) roughness of 2.36 nm were observed. An optimal process for PCD smoothing at high etching rate (4.6 μm/min) was achieved as follows: 10% gas additions of CHF3 in O2 plasma at radio frequency power of 400 W. The further etched ultra-smooth surface with RMS roughness <0.5 nm at etching rate of 0.23 μm/min that being produced by transferring this optimum recipe on single crystal diamonds with surface patterns confirmed the effectiveness of the fast smoothing approach and its feasibility for diamond surface patterning.

The notion of mutation pairs of subcategories in an n-abelian category is defined in this paper. Let ${\cal D} \subseteq {\cal Z}$ be subcategories of an n-abelian category ${\cal A}$ . Then the quotient category ${\cal Z}/{\cal D}$ carries naturally an (n + 2) -angulated structure whenever $ ({\cal Z},{\cal Z}) $ forms a ${\cal D} \subseteq {\cal Z}$ -mutation pair and ${\cal Z}$ is extension-closed. Moreover, we introduce strongly functorially finite subcategories of n-abelian categories and show that the corresponding quotient categories are one-sided (n + 2)-angulated categories. Finally, we study homological finiteness of subcategories in a mutation pair.

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics, risk factors and outcomes of adult patients with candidaemia caused by C. albicans vs. non-albicans Candida spp. (NAC). All adult hospitalised cases of candidaemia (2012–2017) at a tertiary hospital in Shenyang were included in the retrospective study, and a total of 180 episodes were analysed. C. parapsilosis was the most frequently isolated species (38.3%), followed by C. albicans (35.6%), C. glabrata (13.9%), C. tropicalis (10%) and others (2.2%). As initial antifungal therapy, 75.0%, 3.9%, 5.6% and 2.2% of patients received fluconazole, caspofungin, micafungin and voriconazole, respectively. Multivariate analyses revealed that total parenteral nutrition was associated with an increased risk of NAC bloodstream infections (BSI) (OR 2.535, 95% CI (1.066–6.026)) vs. C. albicans BSI. Additionally, the presence of a urinary catheter was associated with an increased risk of C. albicans BSI (OR 2.295 (1.129–4.666)) vs. NAC BSI. Moreover, ICU stay (OR 4.013 (1.476–10.906)), renal failure (OR 3.24 (1.084–9.683)), thrombocytopaenia (OR 7.171 (2.152–23.892)) and C. albicans (OR 3.629 (1.352–9.743)) were independent risk factors for candidaemia-related 30-day mortality, while recent cancer surgery was associated with reduced mortality risk (OR 26.479 (2.550–274.918)). All these factors may provide useful information to select initial empirical antifungal agents.

Risk factors and prevalence of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) diseases were retrospectively evaluated in 1208 suspected pulmonary TB patients seeking care at the Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University between July 2018 and December 2018. Further analysis of 390 culture-positive cases demonstrated that 358 (358/390, 91.8%) were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), 24 (24/390, 6.2%) with NTM and eight (8/390, 2.0%) with both MTB and NTM. M. intracellulare was the most prevalent NTM isolated (16/24, 66.7%), followed by M. abscessus (3/24), M. kansasii (2/24), M. avium (1/24), M. szulgai (1/24) and M. fortuitum (1/24). The difference between NTM and TB case rates for the ⩾65-year-old age group significantly exceeded the difference for the reference group (patients aged 25–44 years) (OR (95% CI): 4.63 (1.03–20.90)). Pulmonary NTM diseases incidence positively correlated with prior TB history (OR (95% CI): 12.92 (3.24–31.82)). Moreover, pulmonary NTM patients were significantly more likely to exhibit underlying bronchiectasis than pulmonary TB patients (OR (95% CI): 18.89 (7.54–47.88)). In conclusion, approximately one-tenth of culture-positive suspected pulmonary TB patients are infected with NTM (most frequently M. intracellulare) in Zhejiang Province, China. The elderly and those with bronchiectasis or a history of TB are at the greatest risk of contracting pulmonary NTM disease.

In traditional Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms based on Extended Kalman Filtering (EKF-SLAM), the uncertainty of state estimation will increase rapidly with the development of the exploration process and the increase of map area. Likewise, the computational complexity of the EKF-SLAM is proportional to the square of the number of feature points contained in the state variables in a single filtering process. A new SLAM algorithm combining the local submaps and the body-fixed coordinates of the rover is presented in this paper. The algorithm can reduce the computational complexity and enhance computational speed in consideration of the processing capability of the onboard computer. Due to the introduction of local submaps, the algorithm represented in this paper is able to reduce the number of feature points contained in the state variables in each single filtering process. Therefore, the algorithm could reduce the computational complexity and improve the computational speed. In addition, rover body-fixed SLAM could improve the navigation accuracy of a rover and decrease the cumulative linearization error by coordinates transformation during the update process, which is shown in the simulation results.

While assessing the environmental impact of nuclear power plants, researchers have focused their attention on radiocarbon (14C) owing to its high mobility in the environment and important radiological impact on human beings. The 10 MW high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTR-10) is the first pebble-bed gas-cooled test reactor in China that adopted helium as primary coolant and graphite spheres containing tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) coated particles as fuel elements. A series of experiments on the 14C source terms in HTR-10 was conducted: (1) measurement of the specific activity and distribution of typical nuclides in the irradiated graphite spheres from the core, (2) measurement of the activity concentration of 14C in the primary coolant, and (3) measurement of the amount of 14C discharged in the effluent from the stack. All experimental data on 14C available for HTR-10 were summarized and analyzed using theoretical calculations. A sensitivity study on the total porosity, open porosity, and percentage of closed pores that became open after irradiating the matrix graphite was performed to illustrate their effects on the activity concentration of 14C in the primary coolant and activity amount of 14C in various deduction routes.

Annexin A2 (ANXA2) is reported to be associated with cancer development. To investigate the roles ANXA2 plays during the development of cancer, the RNAi method was used to inhibit the ANXA2 expression in caco2 (human colorectal cancer cell line) and SMMC7721 (human hepatocarcinoma cell line) cells. The results showed that when the expression of ANXA2 was efficiently inhibited, the growth and motility of both cell lines were significantly decreased, and the development of the motility relevant microstructures, such as pseudopodia, filopodia, and the polymerization of microfilaments and microtubules were obviously inhibited. The cancer cell apoptosis was enhanced without obvious significance. The possible regulating pathway in the process was also predicted and discussed. Our results suggested that ANXA2 plays important roles in maintaining the malignancy of colorectal and hepatic cancer by enhancing the cell proliferation, motility, and development of the motility associated microstructures of cancer cells based on a possible complicated signal pathway.

Novel NiMoO4-integrated electrode materials were successfully prepared by solvothermal method using Na2MoO4·2H2O and NiSO4·6H2O as main raw materials, water, and ethanol as solvents. The morphology, phase, and structure of the as-prepared materials were characterized by SEM, XRD, Raman, and FT-IR. The electrochemical properties of the materials in supercapacitors were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, constant current charge–discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The effects of volume ratio of water to ethanol (W/E) in solvent on the properties of the product were studied. The results show that the pure phase monoclinic crystal NiMoO4 product can be obtained when the W/E is 2:1. The diameter and length are 0.1–0.3 µm and approximately 3 µm, respectively. As an active material for supercapacitor, the NiMoO4 nanorods material delivered a discharge specific capacitance of 672, 498, and 396 F/g at a current density of 4, 7, and 10 A/g, respectively. The discharge specific capacitance slightly decreased from 815 to 588 F/g with a retention of 72% after 1000 cycles at a current density of 1 A/g. With these superior capacitance properties, the novel NiMoO4 integrated electrode materials could be considered as promising material for supercapacitors.

Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT)-based lead-free materials are important for piezoelectric actuator, and several researchers have studied the effect of B-site complex ion doping on strain in (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3–SrTiO3. In this work, a paraelectric perovskite Sr(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 (SZN) with B-site complex structure was introduced into 0.80(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3–0.20SrTiO3 (BNTST) to investigate the phase structure and electrical properties as well as the field-induced strain behavior. The results showed that SZN substitution decreases the rhombohedrality 90-γ and induces the transition from dominant ferroelectric to nonergodic relaxor by shifting its TF-R to lower temperatures. Moreover, the field-induced ferroelectric domains cannot remain stable at room temperature when SZN substitution is large than 1.0 mol%. These behaviors induced the transition between nonergodic relaxor and ergodic relaxor, which contributed to its large strain and related properties. In this work, this material gave the largest bipolar strain of 0.43% and large normalized unipolar strain of 505 pm/V at the SZN content of 2 mol% under 8 kV/mm, and showed good temperature stability up to 100 °C. The above encouraging results may be helpful for further investigation of BNTST-based ternary systems in search of a potential Pb-free piezoelectric material.

Composite materials include various components with different structures, which cooperatively increase their properties and extend their application. In this study, the graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) guest material was assembled into the porous of the SiO2 aerogel, which was prepared during the gel process. By this way, the g-C3N4 could be absolutely encapsulated into the porous of the disordered porous SiO2 aerogel. The prepared g-C3N4/SiO2 composite had a loose porous structure and exhibited the much higher photocatalytic activity to the photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light. The disordered porous structure enhanced photocatalytic activity, and the degradation rate reached to 96.42% in 90 min under the irradiation of visible light, which could be attributed to its high surface area and effective electron–hole separation rate. The catalyst had the much higher stability and could be easily recycled utilization. The prepared composites could be applied to degrade organic pollutants in wastewater.