Growth in the immediate postnatal period for extremely low birth weight (ELBW, birth weight < 1000 g) infants is an important topic in neonatal medicine. The goal is to ensure adequate postnatal growth and to minimize complications resulting from suboptimal growth. Past efforts have focused on postnatal nutrition as well as on minimizing comorbidities. It has not been systematically assessed whether antenatal factors play a role in postnatal growth. In this report, we conducted a retrospective study on 91 maternal–neonatal pairs. We prospectively collected maternal and neonatal demographic data, neonatal nutrition in the first 7 days of life and after enteral nutrition is fully established, comorbidity data, as well as weight data from birth to 50 weeks corrected gestational age. We developed a linear mixed-effects model to examine the role of placental insufficiency, as defined by fetal Doppler studies, in postnatal weight z-score trajectory over time in the ELBW population. We relied on Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) for model selection. Interestingly, the selected model included a quadratic term of time and a placental insufficiency-by-time interaction term. In a covariate analysis, AIC and BIC both favored a model that included calories intake in the first 7 days of life and the total duration of antibiotics as fixed-effects, but not their interaction terms with time. Overall, we demonstrated for the first time that placental insufficiency, an antenatal factor, is a major determinant of postnatal weight trajectory in the ELBW population. Prospective studies are warranted to confirm our findings.

Findings of epidemiological studies regarding the association between carrot consumption and lung cancer risk remain inconsistent. The present study aimed to summarise the current epidemiological evidence concerning carrot intake and lung cancer risk with a meta-analysis. We conducted a meta-analysis of case–control and prospective cohort studies, and searched PubMed and Embase databases from their inception to April 2018 without restriction by language. We also reviewed reference lists from included articles. Prospective cohort or case–control studies reporting OR or relative risk with the corresponding 95 % CI of the risk lung cancer for the highest compared with the lowest category of carrot intake. A total of eighteen eligible studies (seventeen case–control studies and one prospective cohort study) were included, involving 202 969 individuals and 5517 patients with lung cancer. The pooled OR of eighteen studies for lung cancer was 0·58 (95 % CI 0·45, 0·74) by comparing the highest category with the lowest category of carrot consumption. Based on subgroup analyses for the types of lung cancer, we pooled that squamous cell carcinoma (OR 0·52, 95 % CI 0·19, 1·45), small-cell carcinoma (OR 0·43, 95 % CI 0·12, 1·59), adenocarcinoma (OR 0·34, 95 % CI 0·15, 0·79), large-cell carcinoma (OR 0·40, 95 % CI 0·10, 1·57), squamous and small-cell carcinoma (OR 0·85, 95 % CI 0·45, 1·62), adenocarcinoma and large-cell carcinoma (OR 0·20, 95 % CI 0·02, 1·70) and mixed types (OR 0·61, 95 % CI 0·46, 0·81). Exclusion of any single study did not materially alter the pooled OR. Integrated epidemiological evidence from observational studies supported the hypothesis that carrot consumption may decrease the risk of lung cancer, especially for adenocarcinoma.

The progressive ordering of a single crystal of Ni4Mo by isothermal ageing at 650°C (transformation temperature = 868°C) has been studied by x-ray line broadening techniques using the Warren- Averbach method employing computer techniques. The long-range-order parameter, antiphase domain size, and internal strains were measured as a function of ordering time and compared with those previously obtained at 700°C. The activation energies for domain growth and ordering were found to be 91 kcal/mole and 44.5 kcal/mole respectively. The rms strain developed during ordering was found to be dependent on the degree of tetragonality of the structure.

The Richtmyer–Meshkov instability on a three-dimensional single-mode light/heavy interface is experimentally studied in a converging shock tube. The converging shock tube has a slender test section so that the non-uniform feature of the shocked flow is amply exhibited in a long testing time. A deceleration phenomenon is evident in the unperturbed interface subjected to a converging shock. The single-mode interface presents three-dimensional characteristics because of its minimum surface feature, which leads to the stratified evolution of the shocked interface. For the symmetry interface, it is quantitatively found that the perturbation amplitude experiences a rapid growth to a maximum value after shock compression and finally drops quickly before the reshock. This quick reduction of the interface amplitude is ascribed to a significant Rayleigh–Taylor stabilization effect caused by the deceleration of the light/heavy interface. The long-term effect of the Rayleigh–Taylor stabilization even leads to a phase inversion on the interface before the reshock when the initial interface has sufficiently small perturbations. It is also found that the amplitude growth is strongly suppressed by the three-dimensional effect, which facilitates the occurrence of the phase inversion.

Several studies have suggested that higher carotenoid levels may be beneficial for atherosclerosis patients, but few studies have examined this relationship in the Chinese population. This cross-sectional study examined the association between the levels of carotenoids in diet and serum and carotid intima–media thickness (IMT) in Chinese adults aged 50–75 years in Guangzhou, China. Dietary intake was assessed using a FFQ. HPLC was used to assay the serum concentrations of α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein+zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin and lycopene. The IMT at the common carotid artery (CCA) and bifurcation of the carotid artery was measured by B-mode ultrasound. A total of 3707 and 2947 participants were included in the analyses of dietary and serum carotenoids. After adjustment for demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle factors, all the serum carotenoids levels except lycopene were found to be inversely associated with the IMT at the CCA and bifurcation (P trend<0·001 to 0·013) in both men and women. The absolute mean differences in the IMT between the subjects in the extreme quartiles of serum carotenoid levels were 0·034 mm (α-carotene), 0·037 mm (β-carotene), 0·032 mm (lutein+zeaxanthin), 0·030 mm (β-cryptoxanthin), 0·015 mm (lycopene) and 0·035 mm (total carotenoids) at the CCA; the corresponding values were 0·025, 0·053 0·043, 0·050, 0·011 and 0·042 mm at the bifurcation. The favourable associations were also observed between dietary carotenoids (except lycopene) and the CCA IMT. In conclusion, elevated carotenoid levels in diet and serum are associated with lower carotid IMT values (particular at the CCA) in Chinese adults.

Barium-rich silicates were recently found in the lower Cambrian black shale sequence of Anhui Province, South China. The Ba silicates can be divided into Ba-poor K-feldspar, Ba-rich K-feldspar and cymrite, on the basis of occurrence and composition. The Ba-poor K-feldspar have low BaO contents (<1.00 wt.%) and occur as sporadic grains in mudstone. In contrast, the Ba-rich K-feldspar have higher BaO contents (1.36–20.51 wt.%) and occur mainly as rims around grains of Ba-poor K-feldspar in mudstone, as void fillings in dolostone, and as grains dispersed in chert. The cymrite is observed only in chert and occurs as dispersed euhedral tabular crystals. Analyses of the Ba-poor K-feldspar and Ba-rich K-feldspar provide compositions that total <100 wt.% and show non-stoichiometry characterized by (Na + K + Ba + Ca)apfu less than 1.00 and (Al + Si)apfu slightly higher than 4.00. Raman and infrared (IR) spectroscopy has revealed the presence of ${\rm NH}_{\rm 4}^{\rm +} $ and H2O in the Ba-rich K-feldspar, which accounts for the unusual composition of these feldspars. We suggest that the formation processes of the Ba-poor K-feldspar, Ba-rich K-feldspar and cymrite were closely associated with multi-stage hydrothermal fluids enriched in Ba and NH4, consistent with an extensional tectonic setting during the early Cambrian. The Ba-poor K-feldspars might have formed through interactions between pre-existing K-feldspars and hydrothermal fluids. The Ba-rich K-feldspars in mudstone and dolostone formed mainly by precipitation from hydrothermal fluids that infiltrated the sediments, and we suggest the Ba-rich K-feldspars and cymrite in the chert are of exhalative hydrothermal origin.

We examined the in vitro developmental competence of parthenogenetic activation (PA) oocytes activated by an electric pulse (EP) and treated with various concentrations of AZD5438 for 4 h. Treatment with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h significantly improved the blastocyst formation rate of PA oocytes in comparison with 0, 20, or 50 µM AZD5438 treatment (46.4% vs. 34.5%, 32.3%, and 24.0%, respectively; P < 0.05). The blastocyst formation rate was higher in the group treated with AZD5438 for 4 h than in the groups treated with AZD5438 for 2 or 6 h (42.8% vs. 38.6% and 37.2%, respectively; P > 0.05). Furthermore, 66.67% of blastocysts derived from these AZD5438-treated PA oocytes had a diploid karyotype. The blastocyst formation rate of PA and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos was similar between oocytes activated by an EP and treated with 2 mM 6-dimethylaminopurine for 4 h and those activated by an EP and treated with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h (11.11% vs. 13.40%, P > 0.05). In addition, the level of maturation-promoting factor (MPF) was significantly decreased in oocytes activated by an EP and treated with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h. Finally, the mRNA expression levels of apoptosis-related genes (Bax and Bcl-2) and pluripotency-related genes (Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2) were checked by RT-PCR; however, there were no differences between the AZD5438-treated and non-treated control groups. Our results demonstrate that porcine oocyte activation via an EP in combination with AZD5438 treatment can lead to a high blastocyst formation rate in PA and SCNT experiments.

This study makes the first attempt to accelerate the singular boundary method (SBM) by the precorrected-FFT (PFFT) for large-scale three-dimensional potential problems. The SBM with the GMRES solver requires computational complexity, where N is the number of the unknowns. To speed up the SBM, the PFFT is employed to accelerate the SBM matrix-vector multiplication at each iteration step of the GMRES. Consequently, the computational complexity can be reduced to . Several numerical examples are presented to validate the developed PFFT accelerated SBM (PFFT-SBM) scheme, and the results are compared with those of the SBM without the PFFT and the analytical solutions. It is clearly found that the present PFFT-SBM is very efficient and suitable for 3D large-scale potential problems.

The Myanmar snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus strykeri was discovered in 2010 on the western slopes of the Gaoligong Mountains in the Irrawaddy River basin in Myanmar and subsequently in the same river basin in China, in 2011. Based on 2 years of surveying the remote and little disturbed forest of the Gaoligong Mountains National Nature Reserve in China, with outline transect sampling and infrared camera monitoring, a breeding group comprising > 70 individuals was found on the eastern slopes of the Gaoligong Mountains in the Salween River Basin. Given the Critically Endangered status of this primate (a total of < 950 individuals are estimated to remain in the wild), efforts to protect the relatively undisturbed habitat of this newly discovered population and to prevent hunting are essential for the long-term survival of this species.

Low-temperature stress is an important limiting factor to tobacco growth in early spring of south China. In this study, a low-temperature-resistant agent (LTRA) was employed to examine its ameliorating effect on the inhibition of tobacco growth triggered by low-temperature stress. Results indicated that low-temperature stress of 12 °C for 6 days reduced root number and biomass of tobacco seedling by 27.4% and 24.1%, while treatment with LTRA could recover the inhibitory effect of low-temperature stress on tobacco growth significantly. The content of ascorbic acid and the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase at low-temperature stress were 65.2%, 53.5% and 32.1% of those at normal temperature condition (26 °C), while the corresponding values with LTRA treatment were 89.2%, 88.9% and 74.2%, suggesting that LTRA treatment could enhance the activity of antioxidant enzyme and the synthesis of antioxidant compounds. Low-temperature stress increased the membrane permeability by 84.8%, while LTRA treatment recovered it by 77.4%. Furthermore, LTRA treatment contributed to increase chlorophyll synthesis and maintain the integrity of tobacco leaf structure. Effective component analysis indicated that the complex of ammonium calcium nitrate and glycine betaine was the main effective component of LTRA in maintaining membrane integrity. Its effective concentration was 1.0 g L−1. The above results suggested that LTRA could enhance the synthesis of chlorophyll, activate the activity of antioxidant enzyme, maintain the integrity of cell membrane, and thus elevate the tolerance of tobacco seedlings to low-temperature stress.

The high-energy emission from blazars and other relativistic jet sources indicates that electrons are accelerated to ultra-relativistic (GeV - TeV) energies in these systems. This paper summarizes recent results from numerical studies of two fundamentally different particle acceleration mechanisms potentially at work in relativistic jets: Magnetic-field generation and relativistic particle acceleration in relativistic shear layers, which are likely to be present in relativistic jets, is studied via Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations. Diffusive shock acceleration at relativistic shocks is investigated using Monte-Carlo simulations. The resulting magnetic-field configurations and thermal + non-thermal particle distributions are then used to predict multi-wavelength radiative (synchrotron + Compton) signatures of both acceleration scenarios. In particular, we address how anisotropic shear-layer acceleration may be able to circumvent the well-known Lorentz-factor crisis, and how the self-consistent evaluation of thermal + non-thermal particle populations in diffusive shock acceleration simulations provides tests of the bulk Comptonization model for the Big Blue Bump observed in the SEDs of several blazars.

Bacillus pasteurii was used as synthesis director for the formation of hollow cylinder and helical NiO micro/nanostructure under urea hydrolysis conditions. Bacteria were capable of precipitating nickel product from nickel solution by metabolic processes. An appropriate amount of both water and bacterial solution were required to precipitate the nickel product in good yield. The average crystallite size of NiO was 11.45 nm and lengths of the cylinder and helices were non-uniform (~2–7 µm) and were varied with bacterial body structure template. The present study demonstrates a feasibility of synthesizing bacteria-guided metal oxide crystals for various functional applications.

Hypokalemic periodic paralysis is the most common form of periodic paralysis and is characterized by attacks of muscle paralysis associated with a low serum potassium (K+) level due to an acute intracellular shifting. Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis (TPP), characterized by the triad of muscle paralysis, acute hypokalemia, and hyperthyroidism, is one cause of hypokalemic periodic paralysis. The triggering of an attack of undiagnosed TPP by β2-adrenergic bronchodilators has, to our knowledge, not been reported previously. We describe two young men who presented to the emergency department with the sudden onset of muscle paralysis after administration of inhaled β2-adrenergic bronchodilators for asthma. In both cases, the physical examination revealed an enlarged thyroid gland and symmetrical flaccid paralysis with areflexia of lower extremities. Hypokalemia with low urine K+ excretion and normal blood acid-base status was found on laboratory testing, suggestive of an intracellular shift of K+, and the patients' muscle strength recovered at serum K+ concentrations of 3.0 and 3.3 mmol/L. One patient developed hyperkalemia after a total potassium chloride supplementation of 110mmol. Thyroid function testing was diagnostic of primary hyperthyroidism due to Graves disease in both cases. These cases illustrate that β2-adrenergic bronchodilators should be considered a potential precipitant of TPP.

Acute myocardial infarction is rarely reported in children. Most of the cases are secondary to congenital anomalies or Kawasaki disease. Coronary artery total occlusion caused by fibromuscular dysplasia has never been reported in young children. Here we report a case of a 12-year-old boy with fibromuscular dysplasia, who underwent successful coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction.