Previous nutritional studies have shown that insulin regulation is different between DT and A strains of gibel carp. As leptin plays a pivotal role in the effects of insulin, we hypothesized that leptin regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism would differ between the two strains. To test our hypothesis, recombinant human leptin was injected into two strains. The results showed that leptin activated PI3K-AKT, AMPK-ACC, and JAK2-STAT signaling pathways in both strains. Hypoglycemia induced by leptin might be due to higher glucose uptake by the liver and muscles together with enhanced glycolytic potential and reduced gluconeogenic potential. Decreased lipogenesis and up-regulated fatty acid oxidation were induced by leptin. In terms of genotype, the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway was more strongly activated by leptin in the muscle tissue of the A strain, as reflected by the heightened phosphorylation of AKT. Furthermore, glycogen content, glycolytic enzyme activity, and gluconeogenic capability were higher in the A strain than the DT strain. Strain A had higher levels of fatty acid synthesis and lipolytic capacity in the liver than the DT strain, but the opposite was true in white muscle. Regarding leptin-genotype interactions, the DT strain displayed stronger regulation of glucose metabolism in the liver by leptin as compared to the A strain. Moreover, a more active JAK2-STAT signaling pathway accompanied by enhanced inhibition of fatty acid synthesis by leptin was observed in the DT strain. Overall, the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism by leptin differed between the two strains, as expected.

A magnetic field configuration of an island divertor for a quasi-axisymmetric stellarator (CFQS) is proposed. The configuration incorporates large islands surrounding the core confinement region. The interface between the core region and the peripheral region of the island divertor is a clear magnetic separatrix similar to a tokamak divertor. The structure of divertor magnetic field lines is very regular without stochasticity and the connection length is sufficiently long for good divertor performance. Such a divertor configuration is produced in the magnetic field configuration for the CFQS device, which is now under construction in China.

A highly active catalyst of cerium–tungsten–titanium mixed oxide was synthesized by introducing Ce4+ and H2O2 in the base sample of Ce20W10Ti100Oz–Ce3+. As a consequence, the NH3-SCR activity of Ce20W10Ti100Oz–Ce3+ is significantly improved as the additives of Ce4+ and H2O2 enlarge the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area by refining its pore size. Meanwhile, the introduction of Ce4+ increases the Lewis acid sites of Ce20W10Ti100Oz–Ce3+ and decreases its low-temperature Brønsted acid sites. The further addition of H2O2 improves the Brønsted acid sites and dispersion of cerium/tungsten species, and thereby enhances the concentrations of the adsorbed oxygen (Oα) and the adsorbed oxygen $\lpar {\rm {O}^{\prime}}_{\rm \alpha} \rpar$ due to the activation of chemisorbed water on the surface of the catalyst. The addition of Ce4+ and H2O2 shows a synergistic promotional effect, which is due to the largest BET surface area and the highest concentrations of Oα or/and ${\rm {O}^{\prime}}_{\rm \alpha}$ . Ce20W10Ti100Oz–Ce3+:Ce4+ = 17.5:2.5 + H2O2 exhibits the highest catalytic activity compared with the conventional ones (Fig. 5).

This paper investigates streaks and Görtler vortices in a boundary layer over a flat or concave wall in a contracting or expanding stream, which provides a favourable or adverse pressure gradient, respectively. We consider first the excitation of streaks and Görtler vortices by free stream vortical disturbances (FSVD), and their nonlinear evolution. The focus is on FSVD with sufficiently long wavelength, to which the boundary layer is most receptive. The formulation is directed at the general case where the Görtler number $G_{\Lambda }$ (based on the spanwise length scale $\Lambda$ of FSVD) is of order one, and the FSVD is strong enough that the induced vortices acquire an $O(1)$ streamwise velocity in the region where the boundary layer thickness becomes comparable with $\Lambda,$ and the vortices are governed by the nonlinear boundary region equations (NBRE). An important effect of a pressure gradient is that the oncoming FSVD are distorted by the non-uniform inviscid flow outside the boundary layer through convection and stretching. This process is accounted for by using the rapid distortion theory. The impact of the distorting FSVD is analysed to provide the appropriate initial and boundary conditions, which form, along with the NBRE, the appropriate initial boundary value problem describing the excitation and nonlinear evolution of the vortices. Numerical results show that an adverse/favourable pressure gradient cause the Görtler vortices to saturate earlier/later, but at a lower/higher amplitude than that in the case of zero-pressure-gradient. On the other hand, for the same pressure gradient and at low levels of FSVD, the vortices saturate earlier and at a higher amplitude as $G_{\Lambda }$ increases. Raising FSVD intensity reduces the effects of the pressure gradient and curvature. At a high FSVD level of 14 %, the curvature has no impact on the vortices, while the pressure gradient only influences the saturation intensity. The unsteadiness of FSVD is found to reduce the boundary layer response significantly at FSVD levels, but that effect weakens as the turbulence level increases. A secondary instability analysis of the vortices is performed for moderate adverse and favourable pressure gradients. Three families of unstable modes have been identified, which may become dominant depending on the frequency and streamwise location. In the presence of an adverse pressure gradient, the secondary instability occurs earlier, but the unstable modes appear in a smaller band of frequency, and have smaller growth rates. The opposite is true for a favourable pressure gradient. The present theoretical framework, which accounts for the influence of the curvature, turbulence level and pressure gradient, allows for a detailed and integrated description of the key transition processes, and represents a useful step towards predicting the pretransitional flow and transition itself of the boundary layer over a blade in turbomachinery.

This study aimed to identify clinical features for prognosing mortality risk using machine-learning methods in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A retrospective study of the inpatients with COVID-19 admitted from 15 January to 15 March 2020 in Wuhan is reported. The data of symptoms, comorbidity, demographic, vital sign, CT scans results and laboratory test results on admission were collected. Machine-learning methods (Random Forest and XGboost) were used to rank clinical features for mortality risk. Multivariate logistic regression models were applied to identify clinical features with statistical significance. The predictors of mortality were lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein (CRP) and age based on 500 bootstrapped samples. A multivariate logistic regression model was formed to predict mortality 292 in-sample patients with area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) of 0.9521, which was better than CURB-65 (AUROC of 0.8501) and the machine-learning-based model (AUROC of 0.4530). An out-sample data set of 13 patients was further tested to show our model (AUROC of 0.6061) was also better than CURB-65 (AUROC of 0.4608) and the machine-learning-based model (AUROC of 0.2292). LDH, CRP and age can be used to identify severe patients with COVID-19 on hospital admission.

This Research Reflection short review presents an overview of the effects of heat stress on dairy cattle udder health and discusses existing heat stress mitigation strategies for a better understanding and identification of appropriate abatement plans for future stress management. Due to high ambient temperatures with high relative humidity in summer, dairy cows respond by changes of physical, biochemical and biological pathways to neutralize heat stress resulting in decreased production performance and poorer immunity resulting in an increased incidence of intramammary infections (IMI) and a higher somatic cell count (SCC). In vitro studies on bovine polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) suggested that heat stress reduces the phagocytosis capacity and oxidative burst of PMN and alters the expression of apoptotic genes and miRNA which, together with having a negative effect on the immune system, may explain the increased susceptibility to IMI. Although there are limited data regarding the incidence rate of clinical mastitis in many countries or regions, knowledge of SCC at the cow or bulk tank level helps encourage farmers to improve herd health and to develop strategies for infection prevention and cure. Therefore, more research into bulk tank SCC and clinical mastitis rates is needed to explain the effect of heat stress on dairy cow udder health and functions that could be influenced by abatement plans.

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented an unprecedented challenge to the health-care system across the world. The current study aims to identify the determinants of illness severity of COVID-19 based on ordinal responses. A retrospective cohort of COVID-19 patients from four hospitals in three provinces in China was established, and 598 patients were included from 1 January to 8 March 2020, and divided into moderate, severe and critical illness group. Relative variables were retrieved from electronic medical records. The univariate and multivariate ordinal logistic regression models were fitted to identify the independent predictors of illness severity. The cohort included 400 (66.89%) moderate cases, 85 (14.21%) severe and 113 (18.90%) critical cases, of whom 79 died during hospitalisation as of 28 April. Patients in the age group of 70+ years (OR = 3.419, 95% CI: 1.596–7.323), age of 40–69 years (OR = 1.586, 95% CI: 0.824–3.053), hypertension (OR = 3.372, 95% CI: 2.185–5.202), ALT >50 μ/l (OR = 3.304, 95% CI: 2.107–5.180), cTnI >0.04 ng/ml (OR = 7.464, 95% CI: 4.292–12.980), myohaemoglobin>48.8 ng/ml (OR = 2.214, 95% CI: 1.42–3.453) had greater risk of developing worse severity of illness. The interval between illness onset and diagnosis (OR = 1.056, 95% CI: 1.012–1.101) and interval between illness onset and admission (OR = 1.048, 95% CI: 1.009–1.087) were independent significant predictors of illness severity. Patients of critical illness suffered from inferior survival, as compared with patients in the severe group (HR = 14.309, 95% CI: 5.585–36.659) and in the moderate group (HR = 41.021, 95% CI: 17.588–95.678). Our findings highlight that the identified determinants may help to predict the risk of developing more severe illness among COVID-19 patients and contribute to optimising arrangement of health resources.

Hubei province in China has had the most confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and has reported sustained transmission of the disease. Although Lu'an city is adjacent to Hubei province, its community transmission was blocked at the early stage, and the impact of the epidemic was limited. Therefore, we summarised the overall characteristics of the entire epidemic course in Lu'an to help cities with a few imported cases better contain the epidemic. A total of 69 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 11 asymptomatic carriers were identified in Lu'an during the epidemic from 12 January to 21 February 2020. Fifty-two (65.0%) cases were male, and the median age was 40 years. On admission, 56.5% of cases had a fever as the initial symptom, and pneumonia was present in 89.9% of cases. The mean serial interval and the mean duration of hospitalisation were 6.5 days (95% CI: 4.8–8.2) and 18.2 days (95% CI: 16.8–19.5), respectively. A total of 16 clusters involving 60 cases (17 first-generation cases and 43 secondary cases) were reported during the epidemic. We observed that only 18.9% (7/37) index cases resulted in community transmission during the epidemic in Lu'an, indicating that the scale of the epidemic was limited to a low level in Lu'an city. An asymptomatic carrier caused the largest cluster, involving 13 cases. Spread of COVID-19 by asymptomatic carriers represents an enormous challenge for countries responding to the pandemic.

Data on average iodine requirements for the Chinese population are limited following implementation of long-term universal salt iodisation. We explored the minimum iodine requirements of young adults in China using a balance experiment and the ‘iodine overflow’ hypothesis proposed by our team. Sixty healthy young adults were enrolled to consume a sequential experimental diet containing low, medium and high levels of iodine (about 20, 40 and 60 μg/d, respectively). Each dose was consumed for 4 d, and daily iodine intake, excretion and retention were assessed. All participants were in negative iodine balance throughout the study. Iodine intake, excretion and retention differed among the three iodine levels (P < 0·01 for all groups). The zero-iodine balance derived from a random effect model indicated a mean iodine intake of 102 μg/d, but poor correlation coefficients between observed and predicted iodine excretion (r 0·538 for μg/d data) and retention (r 0·304 for μg/d data). As iodine intake increased from medium to high, all of the increased iodine was excreted (‘overflow’) through urine and faeces by males, and 89·5 % was excreted by females. Although the high iodine level (63·4 μg/d) might be adequate in males, the corresponding level of 61·6 μg/d in females did not meet optimal requirements. Our findings indicate that a daily iodine intake of approximately half the current recommended nutrient intake (120 μg/d) may satisfy the minimum iodine requirements of young male adults in China, while a similar level is insufficient for females based on the ‘iodine overflow’ hypothesis.

The common view time transfer and two-way time and frequency transfer methods are currently the main means for achieving time synchronisation at nanosecond level. However, these methods have some limitations in real time and cost, which limit their wide applications in many fields, such as time synchronisation among base stations of the upcoming 5G network. In order to meet the requirements of nanosecond time synchronisation, a low-cost differential timing method is proposed in this paper by changing the manner of generation of traceability model parameters in GNSS navigation messages. The time deviation between GNSS system time and the timing laboratory that maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) kept by timing laboratory named k (UTC(k)) is monitored by receiving the GNSS signal in space with monitoring receivers. The new traceability model parameters are generated with the monitored time deviations and then broadcast to users through the GNSS navigation message. The precision of the one-way timing method can be improved from tens of nanoseconds to the order of several nanoseconds with the proposed method. In addition, there are obvious advantages to carry out this method on the geostationary satellites in the BeiDou navigation satellite (BDS) constellation. The proposed method is verified on an experimental platform based on the UTC(NTSC) time frequency signal and the geostationary satellites in the BDS-3 constellation.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2 virus) has been sustained in China since December 2019, and has become a pandemic. The mental health of frontline medical staff is a concern. In this study, we aimed to identify the factors influencing medical worker anxiety in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. We conducted a cross-sectional study to estimate the prevalence of anxiety among medical staff in China from 10 February 2020 to 20 February 2020 using the Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) to assess anxiety, with the criteria of normal (⩽49), mild (50–59), moderate (60–70) and severe anxiety (⩾70). We used multivariable linear regression to determine the factors (e.g. having direct contact when treating infected patients, being a medical staff worker from Hubei province, being a suspect case) for anxiety. We also used adjusted models to confirm independent factors for anxiety after adjusting for gender, age, education and marital status. Of 512 medical staff in China, 164 (32.03%) had had direct contact treating infected patients. The prevalence of anxiety was 12.5%, with 53 workers suffering from mild (10.35%), seven workers suffering from moderate (1.36%) and four workers suffering from severe anxiety (0.78%). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, education and marital status), medical staff who had had direct contact treating infected patients experienced higher anxiety scores than those who had not had direct contact (β value = 2.33, confidence interval (CI) 0.65–4.00; P = 0.0068). A similar trend was observed in medical staff from Hubei province, compared with those from other parts of China (β value = 3.67, CI 1.44–5.89; P = 0.0013). The most important variable was suspect cases with high anxiety scores, compared to non-suspect cases (β value = 4.44, CI 1.55–7.33; P = 0.0028). In this survey of hospital medical workers during the COVID-19 outbreak in China, we found that study participants experienced anxiety symptoms, especially those who had direct clinical contact with infected patients; as did those in the worst affected areas, including Hubei province; and those who were suspect cases. Governments and healthcare authorities should proactively implement appropriate psychological intervention programmes, to prevent, alleviate or treat increased anxiety.

This study focuses on the process of the circulation deposition in the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI). The growth rate of circulation and its sources are theoretically and numerically studied to reveal the physical mechanism of the viscosity in the circulation deposition process. We derive a predicting model of the circulation rate for RMI. More importantly, all the contributing sources are separately predicted. Particularly, the viscous source, which previously lacked theoretical or numerical investigations, is efficiently predicted. The RMI problems in a large range of initial conditions are simulated with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method to verify our predicting model and further reveal the circulation deposition mechanism. The DSMC simulations provide reliable quantification of the circulation deposition (especially viscous contribution) for RMI due to its molecular nature. Our model predicts the circulation rate, baroclinic and viscous sources accurately for all the cases in comparison with the simulations. A new physical insight into the mechanism of viscosity in RMI is provided. Unlike the previous understandings that nearly all circulation deposition in RMI comes from the baroclinic source, this study reveals the hidden positive contribution of the viscous source, especially for high Mach number conditions (up to 11 % of total circulation rate). For RMI, the large viscosity gradient inside the shock waves plays a crucial role in the circulation deposition even under high Reynolds number conditions. Our study also provides exciting opportunities to further understand the viscous contribution to the vorticity dynamics in the reshocked RMI and shock wave–turbulence interactions.

Heterogeneous magnesium matrix nanocomposites (Hetero-Mg-NCs) exhibited excellent strength–toughness synergy, but their damage behavior and toughness mechanism lacked of investigation. Here, atomic force microscopy was first employed to characterize the microstructure evolution and damage behavior of the Hetero-Mg-NCs after indentation. The heterogeneous structure comprised of pure Mg areas (soft phase) and Mg nanocomposite areas (hard phase) was revealed by the electrostatic force microscopy. Furthermore, the surface morphology and cracks of the deformed area were investigated with high resolution. The results indicated the soft phase undertook most of the deformation and played an important role in capturing and blunting the crack.

β-Glucan has been reported for its health benefits on blood lipids in hypercholesterolaemic individuals for years. However, people have paid little attention to the effects of β-glucan in populations with mild hypercholesterolaemia as well as the various delivering matrices. Our objective was to perform a meta-analysis to analyse the effects of β-glucan with different delivering matrices in mildly hypercholesterolaemic individuals. After conducting a comprehensive search in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane Library, a total of twenty-one randomised controlled trials involving 1120 participants were identified to measure the pooled effect. The overall results indicated that consuming a dose of ≥3 g/d of β-glucan for at least 3 weeks could significantly reduce total cholesterol (TC) (−0·27 mmol/l, 95 % CI −0·33, −0·21, P < 0·001) and LDL-cholesterol (−0·26 mmol/l, 95% CI −0·32, −0·20, P < 0·001) compared with the control group in mildly hypercholesterolaemic individuals, while no significant difference was observed in TAG (−0·03 mmol/l, 95% CI −0·11, 0·06, P = 0·521) and HDL-cholesterol (0·01 mmol/l, 95% CI −0·03, 0·04, P = 0·777). There was evidence for modest unexplained heterogeneity in the meta-analysis. In conclusion, β-glucan can significantly reduce risk factors like TC and LDL-cholesterol for CVD in mildly hypercholesterolaemic individuals; furthermore, it appears that the effects of food matrices with both ‘solid products’ and ‘liquid products’ where β-glucan was incorporated into were ranked as the best way to exert its beneficial properties, while ‘liquid’ and ‘solid’ products were ranked as the second and third positions, respectively.

We investigate the phased evolution and variation of the South Asian monsoon and resulting weathering intensity and physical erosion in the Himalaya–Karakoram Mountains since late Pliocene time (c. 3.4 Ma) using a comprehensive approach. Neodymium and strontium isotopic compositions and single-grain zircon U–Pb age spectra reveal the sources of the deposits in the east Arabian Sea, and show a combination of sources from the Himalaya and the Karakoram–Kohistan–Ladakh Mountains, with sediments from the Indian Peninsula such as the Deccan Traps or Craton. We interpret shifts in the sediment sources to have been forced by sea-level changes that correlate with South Asian monsoon rainfall variation since late Pliocene time. We collected 908 samples from the International Ocean Discovery Program Hole U1456A, which was drilled in the east Arabian Sea. Time series of hematite content and grain size of the sediments were examined downcore. We found South Asian monsoon precipitation and weathering intensity experienced three phases from late Pliocene time. Lower monsoon precipitation, with a lower variability and strong weathering intensity, occurred during 3.4–2.4 Ma; an increased and more variable South Asian monsoon rainfall, along with strengthened but fluctuating weathering intensity, occurred at 1.8–1.1 Ma; and a reduced rainfall with lower South Asian monsoon precipitation variability and moderate weathering intensity marked the period 1.1–0.1 Ma. Maximum entropy spectral analysis and wavelet transform show that there were orbital-dominated cycles of periods c. 100 and c. 41 ka in these proxy-based time series. We propose that the monsoon, sea level, global temperature and insolation together forced the weathering and erosion in SW Asia.

The present study was designed to detect three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located on 22q11 that was thought as being of particularly importance for genetic research into schizophrenia. We recruited a total of 176 Chinese family trios of Han descent, consisting of mothers, fathers and affected offspring with schizophrenia for the genetic analysis. The transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) showed that of three SNPs, rs10314 in the 3′-untranslated region of the CLDN5 locus was associated with schizophrenia (χ2 = 4.75, P = 0.029). The other two SNPs, rs1548359 present in the CDC45L locus centromeric of rs10314 and rs739371 in the 5′-flanking region of the CLDN5 locus, did not show such an association. The global chi-square (χ2) test showed that the 3-SNP haplotype system was not associated with schizophrenia although the 1-df test for individual haplotypes showed that the rs1548359(C)-rs10314(G)-rs739371(C) haplotype was excessively non-transmitted (χ2 = 5.32, P = 0.02). Because the claudin proteins are a major component for barrier-forming tight junctions that could play a crucial role in response to changing natural, physiological and pathological conditions, the CLDN5 association with schizophrenia may be an important clue leading to look into a meeting point of genetic and environmental factors.