The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed serious challenges. It is vitally important to further clarify the epidemiological characteristics of the COVID-19 outbreak for future study and prevention and control measures. Epidemiological characteristics and spatial−temporal analysis were performed based on COVID-19 cases from 21 January 2020 to 1 March 2020 in Shandong Province, and close contacts were traced to construct transmission chains. A total of 758 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported in Shandong. The sex ratio was 1.27: 1 (M: F) and the median age was 42 (interquartile range: 32–55). The high-risk clusters were identified in the central, eastern and southern regions of Shandong from 25 January 2020 to 10 February 2020. We rebuilt 54 transmission chains involving 209 cases, of which 52.2% were family clusters, and three widespread infection chains were elaborated, occurring in Jining, Zaozhuang and Liaocheng, respectively. The geographical and temporal disparity may alert public health agencies to implement specific measures in regions with different risk, and should attach importance on how to avoid household and community transmission.

Porphyromonas gingivalis has been linked to the development and progression of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and is considered to be a high-risk factor for ESCC. Currently, the commonly used methods for P. gingivalis detection are culture or DNA extraction-based, which are either time and labour intensive especially for high-throughput applications. We aimed to establish and evaluate a rapid and sensitive direct quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) protocol for the detection of P. gingivalis without DNA extraction which is suitable for large-scale epidemiological studies. Paired gingival swab samples from 192 subjects undergoing general medical examinations were analysed using two direct and one extraction-based qPCR assays for P. gingivalis. Tris-EDTA buffer-based direct qPCR (TE-direct qPCR), lysis-based direct qPCR (lysis-direct qPCR) and DNA extraction-based qPCR (kit-qPCR) were used, respectively, in 192, 132 and 60 of these samples for quantification of P. gingivalis. The sensitivity and specificity of TE-direct qPCR was 95.24% and 100% compared with lysis-direct qPCR, which was 100% and 97.30% when compared with kit-qPCR; TE-direct qPCR had an almost perfect agreement with lysis-direct qPCR (κ = 0.954) and kit-qPCR (κ = 0.965). Moreover, the assay time used for TE-direct qPCR was 1.5 h. In conclusion, the TE-direct qPCR assay is a simple and efficient method for the quantification of oral P. gingivalis and showed high sensitivity and specificity compared with routine qPCR.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of supplementing different amounts of daidzein in a diet on the growth performance, blood biochemical parameters and meat quality of finishing beef cattle. Thirty finishing Xianan steers were distributed in three groups equilibrated by weight and fed three different dietary treatments (concentrate ratio = 80%): (1) control; (2) 500 mg/kg daidzein and (3) 1000 mg/kg daidzein, respectively. Steers were slaughtered after an 80-day feeding trial. Results showed that daidzein supplementation had no effect on the final body weight, average daily gain and feed conversion rate of steers. Steers fed with 1000 mg/kg daidzein had greater dry matter intake than those fed with control diets. Compared with the control group, the 1000 mg/kg daidzein group had a higher fat thickness, lower shear force and lightness. The pH, drip loss, cooking loss, redness (a*), yellowness (b*), moisture, ash, crude protein and intramuscular fat of the Longissimus dorsi muscle were unaffected by daidzein supplementation. Compared with the control group, the 1000 mg/kg daidzein group significantly increased the serum concentrations of insulin, free fatty acid and Glutamic-pyruvic transaminase. The 500 mg/kg daidzein group significantly increased the serum concentration of tetraiodothyronine compared with the control group. Supplemental daidzein did not affect the blood antioxidant ability and blood immune parameters in serum. In conclusion, daidzein supplementation above 500 mg/day modifies feed intake and metabolic and hormonal profile, with positive and negative effects on meat quality.

With the aid of the Green's function method and complex function method, the scattering problem of SH-wave by a circular inclusion near the two symmetrically permeable interfacial cracks in the piezoelectric bi-material half -space is considered to obtain the steady state response. Firstly, by means of the image method, the essential function of Green's function is constructed, which satisfies the stress free and electric insulation conditions on the horizontal boundaries in a right-angle space including a circular inclusion and bearing a harmonic out-plane line source force on the vertical boundary. Secondly, the bi-material media is divided into two parts along the vertical boundary. According to continuity condition, the first kind of Fredholm integral equations containing undetermined anti-plane forces are established by “the conjunction method” and “the crack-division technology”, then the integral equations are reduced to the algebraic equations including finite items by effective truncation. Finally, the dynamic stress concentration factor around the edge of circular inclusion and dynamic stress intensity factor at the crack tip are calculated, then the influences of the frequency of incident wave, the length of crack, the position of the crack, the position of circular inclusion, etc. on the dynamic stress concentration factor and dynamic stress intensity factor are discussed.

Grape proanthocyanidins (GPCs) are a family of naturally derived polyphenols that have aroused interest in the poultry industry due to their versatile role in animal health. This study was conducted to investigate the potential benefits and appropriate dosages of GPCs on growth performance, jejunum morphology, plasma antioxidant capacity and the biochemical indices of broiler chicks. A total of 280 newly hatched male Cobb 500 broiler chicks were randomly allocated into four treatments of seven replicates each, and were fed a wheat–soybean meal-type diet with or without (control group), 7.5, 15 or 30 mg/kg of GPCs. Results show that dietary GPCs decrease the feed conversion ratio and average daily gain from day 21 to day 42, increase breast muscle yield by day 42 and improve jejunum morphology between day 21 and day 42. Chicks fed 7.5 and 15 mg/kg of GPCs show increased breast muscle yield and exhibit improved jejunum morphologies than birds in the control group. Dietary GPCs fed at a level of 15 mg/kg markedly increased total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity between day 21 and day 42, whereas a supplement of GPCs at 7.5 mg/kg significantly increased T-SOD activity and decreased lipid peroxidation malondialdehyde content by day 42. A supplement of 30 mg/kg of GPCs has no effect on antioxidant status but adversely affects the blood biochemical indices, as evidenced by increased creatinine content, increased alkaline phosphatase by day 21 and increased alanine aminotransferase by day 42 in plasma. GPC levels caused quadratic effect on growth, jejunum morphology and plasma antioxidant capacity. The predicted optimal GPC levels for best plasma antioxidant capacity at 42 days was 13 to 15 mg/kg, for best feed efficiency during grower phase was 16 mg/kg, for best jejunum morphology at 42 days was 17 mg/kg. In conclusion, GPCs (fed at a level of 13 to 17 mg/kg) have the potential to be a promising feed additive for broiler chicks.

With the aid of the Green's function method and complex function method, the scattering problem of SH-wave by a cylindrical inclusion and a semi-cylindrical hollow in the bi-material half space is considered to obtain the steady state response. Firstly, by the means of the image method, the essential solution of displacement field as well as Green's function is constructed which satisfies the stress free on the horizontal boundary in a right-angle space including a cylindrical inclusion and a semi-cylindrical hollow and bearing a harmonic out-plane line source force at any point on the vertical boundary. Secondly, the bi-material half space is divided into two parts along the vertical interface, and the first kind of Fredholm integral equations containing undetermined anti-plane forces at the linking section is established by “the conjunction method” and “the crack-division method”, the integral equations are reduced to the algebraic equations consisting of finite items by effective truncation. Finally, dynamic stress concentration factor around the edge of cylindrical inclusion and dynamic stress intensity factor at crack tip are calculated, and the influences of effect of interface and different combination of material parameters, etc. on dynamic stress concentration factor and dynamic stress intensity factor are discussed.

A two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation is carried out to study the focusing effects of the long proton beam propagating in background plasmas. It is found that the smooth beam, with the long length and the small density gradient profile, is focused to high density. The sharp beam, with long length and the large density gradient profile, is modulated into many high density and periodic short beam pulses due to the wakefield induced by the beam. In addition, increasing the plasma density and adopting the non-uniform plasmas are the effective ways to reduce the wakefield.

Human cystic echinococcosis (CE) is known to be endemic in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), China; however, there is relatively little data from hospital records or community prevalence studies, and the situation regarding occurrence of human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is unclear. Here we review the available reports about human echinococcosis in the seven prefectures of TAR. In addition, two pilot studies by mass screening using ultrasound (with serology) were undertaken (2006/7) in Dangxiong County of Lhasa Prefecture (north central TAR) and Dingqing County of Changdu Prefecture (eastern TAR). In Dangxiong County a prevalence of 9.9% (55/557) for human CE was obtained but no human AE cases were detected. By contrast, in Dingqing County (N= 232 persons screened), 11 CE cases (4.7%) and 12 AE cases (5.2%) (including one mixed CE and AE case) were diagnosed by ultrasound. Hospital records and published reports indicated that CE cases were recorded in all of seven prefectures in Tibet Autonomous Region, and AE cases in four prefectures. Incidence rates of human CE were estimated to range from 1.9 to 155 per 100,000 across the seven prefectures of TAR, with a regional incidence of 45.1 per 100,000. Incidence of AE was estimated to be between 0.6 and 2.8 cases per 100,000. Overall for TAR, human AE prevalence appeared relatively low; however, the pilot mass screening in Dingqing in eastern TAR indicated that human AE disease is a potential public health problem, possibly similar to that already well described in Tibetan communities bordering TAR in north-west Sichuan and south-west Qinghai provinces.

Arginine kinase (AK) is an important regulation factor of energy metabolism in invertebrate. An arginine kinase gene, named HaAK, was identified to be differentially expressed between Cry1Ac-susceptible (96S) and Cry1Ac-resistant (Bt-R) Helicoverpa armigera larvae using cDNA-amplification fragment length polymorphism analysis. The full-length open reading frame sequence of HaAK gene with 1068 bp was isolated from H. armigera. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay revealed that HaAK gene is specifically expressed in multiple tissues and at larval developmental stages. The peak expression level of HaAK was detected in the midgut of the fifth-instar larvae. Moreover, the expression of HaAK was obviously down-regulated in Bt-R larvae. We further constructed a dsRNA vector directly targeting HaAK and employed RNAi technology to control the larvae. The feeding bioassays showed that minute quantities of dsRNA could greatly increase the larval mortality and delay the larval pupation. Silencing of HaAK significantly retarded the larval development, indicating that HaAK is a potential target for RNA interference-based pest management.

A high molecular weight protein (HMWP) was isolated and purified from sow milk, and some of its biochemical characteristics and biological functions were identified. The origin of HMWP was also investigated. The molecular weight of HMWP was determined to be about 115 000 and 114 800 by SDS-PAGE and gel filtration, respectively. The sequence of 10 amino acids in N-terminal of HMWP was Ala-Leu-Val-Gln-Ser-Cys-Leu-Asn-Leu-Val. The sequence was blasted against GenBank. No protein showed significant similarity with this sequence suggesting the HMWP may be novel. The result of liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) also proved HMWP could be a novel protein. By amino acid assay, HMWP was rich in glutamate (including glutamine), cysteine, glycine, aspartic acid (including asparagines) and proline. The content of hydrophobic amino acids (Ala, Val, Leu, Ile, Met, Phe and Pro) was lower at 18.59% of the total amino acids suggesting HMWP has high solubility in water. Western blots of lectins were used to identify the kinds of carbohydrate residues attached to HMWP qualitatively. The result showed that HMWP was a kind of glycoprotein containing N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuNAc), mannose (Man) and/or N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). By isoelectric focusing, HMWP pI was found to be 5.1. Compared with milk fat globule membrane protein (MFGMP) isolated from the sow milk in SDS-PAGE, MFGMP did not contain HMWP. HMWP was assumed to be a secretory milk protein. HMWP was not found in bovine, goat, rabbit or human milk in SDS-PAGE gel suggesting HMWP may be unique to sow milk. By Western blot, HMWP could be detected in sow milk, not in sow serum, which suggests it is synthesized and secreted by the mammary gland. HMWP concentrations in sows milk were the lowest in the first day of lactation, rose significantly during lactation 1 to 7 days. The HMWP content of sows milk remained relatively constant ((1.95±0.13) g/l) during lactation 7 to 20 days. HMWP significantly inhibited Escherichia coli in a dose related manner in vitro. Overall, HMWP could be a novel sow milk protein with implications for the mammary gland and the piglet.

The summer and autumn migrations of the brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) were observed in Southern China with a millimetric scanning entomological radar and a searchlight trap supplemented with capture in field cages, field surveys, and dissections of females. Nilaparvata lugens took off at dusk and dawn in summer, but in autumn there was sometimes only a dusk take-off. The variation of the area density of the radar targets indicated that flight durations were about 9–10 h. In summer, planthopper-size targets generally flew below 1800 m above ground level (AGL), although some insects reached 2000 m AGL; in autumn, they flew lower, generally below 1100 m although some insects reached 1700 m AGL. Multiple layer concentrations were seen every night in both summer and autumn. The depths of these layers in autumn were less than in summer. Nilaparvata lugens flew in strong winds; wind shear may be the main factor causing them to accumulate and form dense layers at certain heights. Nilaparvata lugens emigrating in summer from the vicinity of the radar site in the Northeastern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and carried by the prevailing southwesterly wind, would have travelled northeastwards and reached Northern Hunan Province. In autumn, with the prevailing northeasterly wind, emigrants would have reached overwintering areas (south of 21°N).

We describe an experimental study of the forces acting on a square cylinder (of width  $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}b$ ) which occupies 10–40 % of a channel (of width $w$ ), fixed in a free-surface channel flow. The force experienced by the obstacle depends critically on the Froude number upstream of the obstacle, ${\mathit{Fr}}_1$ (depth $h_1$ ), which sets the downstream Froude number, ${\mathit{Fr}}_2$ (depth $h_2$ ). When ${\mathit{Fr}}_1<{\mathit{Fr}}_{1c}$ , where ${\mathit{Fr}}_{1c}$ is a critical Froude number, the flow is subcritical upstream and downstream of the obstacle. The drag effect tends to decrease or increase the water depth downstream or upstream of the obstacle, respectively. The force is form drag caused by an attached wake and scales as $\overline{F_{D}}\simeq C_D \rho b u_1^2 h_1/2$ , where $C_D$ is a drag coefficient and $u_1$ is the upstream flow speed. The empirically determined drag coefficient is strongly influenced by blocking, and its variation follows the trend $C_D=C_{D0}(1+C_{D0}b/2w)^2$ , where $C_{D0}=1.9$ corresponds to the drag coefficient of a square cylinder in an unblocked turbulent flow. The r.m.s. lift force is approximately 10–40 % of the mean drag force and is generated by vortex shedding from the obstacle. When ${\mathit{Fr}}_1={\mathit{Fr}}_{1c}\, (<1)$ , the flow is choked and adjusts by generating a hydraulic jump downstream of the obstacle. The drag force scales as $\overline{F}_D\simeq C_K \rho b g (h_1^2-h_2^2)/2$ , where experimentally we find $C_K\simeq 1$ . The r.m.s. lift force is significantly smaller than the mean drag force. A consistent model is developed to explain the transitional behaviour by using a semi-empirical form of the drag force that combines form and hydrostatic components. The mean drag force scales as $\overline{F_{D}}\simeq \lambda \rho b g^{1/3} u_1^{4/3} h_1^{4/3}$ , where $\lambda $ is a function of $b/w$ and ${\mathit{Fr}}_1$ . For a choked flow, $\lambda =\lambda _c$ is a function of blocking ( $b/w$ ). For small blocking fractions, $\lambda _c= C_{D0}/2$ . In the choked flow regime, the largest contribution to the total drag force comes from the form-drag component.

Previous studies showed that monochromatic green light stimuli during embryogenesis accelerated posthatch body weight (BW) and pectoral muscle growth of broilers. In this experiment, we further investigated the morphological and molecular basis of this phenomenon. Fertile broiler eggs (Arbor Acres, n=880) were pre-weighed and randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 incubation treatment groups: (1) dark condition (control group), and (2) monochromatic green light group (560 nm). The monochromatic lighting systems sourced from light-emitting diode lamps and were equalized at the intensity of 15 lx at eggshell level. The dark condition was set as a commercial control from day 1 until hatching. After hatch, 120 male 1-day-old chicks from each group were housed under incandescent white light with an intensity of 30 lx at bird-head level. No effects of light stimuli during embryogenesis on hatching time, hatchability, hatching weight and bird mortality during the feeding trial period were observed in the present study. Compared with the dark condition, the BW, pectoral muscle weight and myofiber cross-sectional areas were significantly greater on 7-day-old chicks incubated under green light. Green light also increased the satellite cell mitotic activity of pectoral muscle on 1- and 3-day-old birds. In addition, green light upregulated MyoD, myogenin and myostatin mRNA expression in late embryos and/ or newly hatched chicks. These data suggest that stimulation with monochromatic green light during incubation promote muscle growth by enhancing proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells in late embryonic and newly hatched stages. Higher expression of myostatin may ultimately help prevent excessive proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells in birds incubated under green light.

This article illustrates how axiomatic social choice theory can be used in the evaluation of measures of group fitness for a biological hierarchy, thereby contributing to the dialogue between the philosophy of biology and social choice theory. It provides an axiomatic characterization of the ordering underlying the Michod–Viossat–Solari–Hurand–Nedelcu index of group fitness for a multicellular organism. The MVSHN index has been used to analyse the germ-soma specialization and the fitness decoupling between the cell and organism levels that takes place during the evolutionary transition to multicellularity. It is argued that some of the axioms satisfied by the MVSHN group fitness ordering are not appropriate for all stages in this transition.

The objective of this study is to investigate the age-related changes of and the effects of dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on muscle-fibre types in commercial pigs. We divided 25 crossbred male pigs into five age groups (7, 30, 60, 100 and 180 days) and 30 finishing pigs into two dietary groups (one fed a CLA-enriched diet and the other fed a control diet for 30 days). We analysed the composition (%) of myosin heavy-chain (MyHC) mRNA according to the absolute copies of each MyHC (I, IIa, IIb and IIx) mRNA, and the activities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) in the longissimus muscle. From days 7 to 180, the MyHC I mRNA abundance and SDH and MDH activities presented a decreasing trend, the MyHC IIb mRNA abundance presented a steady trend and the MyHC IIa and IIx mRNA abundances presented an increasing trend. On day 30, MyHC I and IIb mRNA abundances were at their lowest (P < 0.05), and the MyHC IIa and IIx mRNA abundances were at their highest (P < 0.05). In the CLA group, the MyHC I mRNA abundance and the activities of SDH and MDH were improved in the longissimus muscle, whereas pressure loss, drip loss and average back fat depth significantly decreased (P < 0.01) and shear force significantly increased (P < 0.01). Loin eye area, feed conversion rate and meat colour showed some tendency to be improved. These results indicated that more oxidative fibres might convert to glycolytic fibres with increasing age or weight, and that the early developmental stage might be a key stage for this conversion. During the finishing stage, the proportion of oxidative fibres might be increased by dietary CLA supplementation, which may contribute to the water-holding capacity of meat. The results would provide an important basis for the application of muscle-fibre types in the improvement of pork quality.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

In the present paper a novel method of manufacturing mobile emission control catalysts (MECC) is presented. The manufacturing of these novel catalysts consists of three steps: In a first processing step micron sized powders consisting of an oxide powder, typically Al2O3 or SiO2 or the like, and micron sized precious metal powders, Pt, Pd, Rh or the like, are co-fed into a DC plasma gun. Inside the gun the powders are vaporized at temperatures of approximately 25,000 K. After the powders are vaporized the vapor is rapidly quenched at rates of approximately 1,000,000 K/s. This process step yields so-called Nano on Nano Catalysts™, where nano clusters of precious metals atoms are condensed onto the nano sized oxide particles. In a second processing step these Nano on Nano Catalysts™ are dispersed in water. This step is followed by a third, and final processing step, where the Nano on Nano Catalysts™ are integrated onto the final support, i.e. the monoliths (or honeycombs), which ultimately are canned and located downstream of a vehicle’s engine. Catalysts manufactured under the above conditions are then tested against reference catalysts, both under fresh and aged conditions. Test results show that the plasma based catalysts have better light off temperatures after aging than the reference catalysts if they contain the same amount of precious metals as the reference catalyst. If the precious metal amount for the plasma based catalysts is reduced to approx. half the amount of the reference catalysts then both catalysts show approx. the same light off temperatures after aging. Above results show that with catalysts based on plasma technology one can either lower the light off temperatures while maintaining the precious metal content compared to reference catalysts, or match the performance of the reference catalysts while reducing the precious metal content to approx. 50%, compared to the reference catalysts.

The purpose of this study was to histologically and mechanically appraise the in vivo bone-bonding abilities of K2TinO2n+1 coated and uncoated Ti-15Mo-3Nb (TMN) implants. According to GB/T16886.6－1997 biological evaluation of medical devices Part 6:Tests for local effects after implantation, the two types of implants were implanted into the proximal metaphyses of Chinese white rabbits’ femurs for 12, 26 and 52 weeks and investigated by pushing out test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) attached to an energy-dispersive X-ray micro-analyzer (EDX) and light microscopy. The bone-bonding abilities of the K2TinO2n+1 biocoating /Ti-15Mo-3Nb (KBT) gradient biomaterial implants were higher than those of T implants at different periods of implantation. The K2TinO2n+1 biocoating (KB) could stimulate new bone rapid formation at the early stages of implantation. And the implants with the biocoating eventually bonded to bone directly, with no intervening soft tissue layer, that was an osseocoalescence. However, the type of bone-bonding between TMN titanium alloy implants and bone was a simple osseocoaptation. The more excellent bone-bonding ability of the KBT implants should be attributed to the superficial characteristics, the bioactivity of low potassium titanate and biostability of high potassium titanate.