Many components in diet have regulated oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction and even balance estrogen levels. Because these factors are closely associated with depressive symptoms in postmenopausal women, it is considered that dietary factors are able to prevent and control depressive symptoms. On the other hand, dietary pattern that considers the correlations and synergies between foods and nutrients, is expected to have a greater impact on disease risk. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether dietary patterns are associated with depressive symptoms in Chinese postmenopausal women.

A cross-sectional study of 2051 postmenopausal women (mean age: 58.8±7.4 years) was conducted in Tianjin, China. Dietary consumption was assessed by a valid self-administered food frequency questionnaire. Principal component analysis was used to derive three major dietary patterns: “healthy”, “sweets” and “Traditional Tianjin” from 88 food items. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, and cut-off point of 48 indicating serious depressive symptoms. The associations between quartile of dietary patterns and depressive symptoms were assessed by using multiple logistic regression analysis.

The multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of having depressive symptoms for increasing quartile of dietary patterns were as follows: “healthy”, 1.00, 0.79(0.49–1.28), 0.62(0.37–1.04), and 0.57(0.33–0.97); “sweets”,1.00, 0.75(0.42–1.3), 1.08(0.64–1.81) and 1.66(1.03–2.71); “Traditional Tianjin”, 1.00, 1.02(0.58–1.79), 0.96 (0.54–1.71) and 2.53(1.58–4.16), respectively.

The present study demonstrated that a healthy dietary pattern was inversely associated with depressive symptoms. On the contrary, greater adherence to sweets and Traditional Tianjin dietary patterns were associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms.

Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (s.s.), Echinococcus multilocularis and Echinococcus canadensis are the common causes of human echinococcosis in China. An accurate species identification tool for human echinococcosis is needed as the treatments and prognosis are different among species. The present work demonstrates a method for the simultaneous detection of these three Echinococcus species based on multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR). Specific primers of this mPCR were designed based on the mitochondrial genes and determined by extensive tests. The method can successfully detect either separated or mixed target species, and generate expected amplicons of distinct size for each species. Sensitivity of the method was tested by serially diluted DNA, showing a detection threshold as less as 0.32 pg for both E. granulosus s.s. and E. canadensis, and 1.6 pg for E. multilocularis. Specificity assessed against 18 other parasites was found to be 100% except weakly cross-react with E. shiquicus. The assay was additionally applied to 69 echinococcosis patients and 38 healthy persons, confirming the high reliability of the method. Thus, the mPCR described here has high application potential for clinical identification purposes, and can further provide a useful tool for evaluation of serology and imaging method.

Existing data on folate status and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis are scarce. We prospectively examined whether serum folate concentrations at diagnosis were associated with liver cancer-specific survival (LCSS) and overall survival (OS) among 982 patients with newly diagnosed, previously untreated HCC, who were enrolled in the Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort (GLCC) study between September 2013 and February 2017. Serum folate concentrations were measured using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI by sex-specific quartile of serum folate. Compared with patients in the third quartile of serum folate, patients in the lowest quartile had significantly inferior LCSS (HR = 1·48; 95 % CI 1·05, 2·09) and OS (HR = 1·43; 95 % CI 1·03, 1·99) after adjustment for non-clinical and clinical prognostic factors. The associations were not significantly modified by sex, age at diagnosis, alcohol drinking status and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage. However, there were statistically significant interactions on both multiplicative and additive scale between serum folate and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels or smoking status and the associations of lower serum folate with worse LCSS and OS were only evident among patients with CRP > 3·0 mg/l or current smokers. An inverse association with LCSS were also observed among patients with liver damage score ≥3. These results suggest that lower serum folate concentrations at diagnosis are independently associated with worse HCC survival, most prominently among patients with systemic inflammation and current smokers. A future trial of folate supplementation seems to be promising in HCC patients with lower folate status.

A series of metal oxides (MnFeOx, MnCrOx, MnTiOx, and MnFeTiOx) supported on attapulgite (ATP) were synthesized by coprecipitation for the low-temperature selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx with NH3. Then, they were subjected to appropriate characterizations for their properties (XRD, TEM, BET, XPS, etc.). The catalytic activity of MnFeTiOx/ATP catalyst was over 95% NOx conversion within a wide temperature window between of 175 and 300 °C, and 88% N2 selectivity. Moreover, MnFeTiOx/ATP presented excellent potassium resistance relative to the traditional V–W–Ti catalyst, and its denitration performance was significantly improved. The NOx conversion rate could be restored to nearly 90% at 210 °C after removing potassium via washing of K–MnFeTiOx/ATP. In addition, the MnFeTiOx/ATP showed better SO2 resistance and stability than the traditional V–W–Ti catalyst. Therefore, the MnFeTiOx/ATP catalyst has been proved to have broad prospects in NH3-SCR.

Metal–resin interpenetrating phase composites (IPCs) have been produced by spontaneously infiltrating unsaturated polyester resin into porous stainless steel fibrous preforms under vacuum conditions. The compressive behaviors of the IPCs were investigated and the fractures were examined. The compressive strength and elastic modulus increase with increasing fiber fraction. The structures, compressive behaviors, and energy absorption capacities of the IPCs exhibit anisotropy. A higher compressive strength, lower elastic modulus, and lower energy absorption efficiency are observed in the through-thickness direction. The energy absorption efficiency slightly decreases with increasing fiber fraction in a certain range rather than monotonically increasing or decreasing. The energy absorption efficiency in the in-plane direction is superior to that in the through-thickness direction. Finer fibers improve the strength and elastic modulus but have little influence on the energy absorption efficiency. Resin collapse, fiber necking, and debonding are the main failure types observed in the composites.

The power scaling on mid-infrared Raman fibre lasers (RFLs) is in demand for applications in health, environment and security. In this paper, we present the simulated laser behaviours of the tellurite glass RFLs pumped by 300-W Tm-doped fibre lasers (TDFLs) at $2~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ for the first time. By combining the advantages of the TDFLs and tellurite fibre, the output power at $2.35~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ has reached over hundreds of watts by first-order Raman shift. Moreover, the cascaded RFLs have been demonstrated with a wavelength extension greater than $3~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ and output power of tens of watts. To maximize the output power and the slope efficiency of the RFLs, we further analyse the interaction between the Raman gain and cavity loss, which are determined by fibre length and output reflectance of the laser cavity.

To track multiple ships and estimate the feature parameters of multiple emitters on board using electronic intelligence satellites under clutter interference, a long and random revisit time, and other complex conditions, a novel tracking algorithm using both kinematic (position and velocity) and feature information based on an improved Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) approach is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the characteristics of multi-ship tracking with multiple emitters using satellite electronic information are analysed, and a new model of an emitter is built as an extended target in geographical coordinates. Secondly, a pre-processing of measurements is utilised via hierarchical clustering using the location and feature information of emitters. Thirdly, feature information is incorporated into the MHT framework using Jensen-Shannon divergence distance and fuzzy C-means clustering to calculate track scores. Finally, we present the prediction and update of target states, especially the update of feature parameters, to realise joint kinematic and feature tracking of ships. The results of the simulation show that the proposed method has much better tracking performance than the standard MHT algorithm.

This study aimed to investigate the impacts of dietary threonine on intestinal immunity and inflammation in juvenile grass carp. Six iso-nitrogenous semi-purified diets containing graded levels of threonine (3·99–21·66 g threonine/kg) were formulated and fed to fishes for 8 weeks, and then challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila for 14 d. Results showed that, compared with optimum threonine supplementation, threonine deficiency (1) decreased the ability of fish against enteritis, intestinal lysozyme activities (except in the distal intestine), acid phosphatase activities, complement 3 (C3) and C4 contents and IgM contents (except in the proximal intestine (PI)), and it down-regulated the transcript abundances of liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide (LEAP)-2A, LEAP-2B, hepcidin, IgZ, IgM and β-defensin1 (except in the PI) (P<0·05); (2) could up-regulate intestinal pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-17D mRNA levels partly related to NF-κB signalling; (3) could down-regulate intestinal anti-inflammatory cytokine transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, TGF-β2, IL-4/13A (not IL-4/13B) and IL-10 mRNA levels partly by target of rapamycin signalling. Finally, on the basis of the specific growth rate, against the enteritis morbidity and IgM contents, the optimum threonine requirements were estimated to be 14·53 g threonine/kg diet (4·48 g threonine/100 g protein), 15.05 g threonine/kg diet (4·64 g threonine/100 g protein) and 15·17 g threonine/kg diet (4·68 g threonine/100 g protein), respectively.

Carbon–nitrogen compounds have attracted enormous attention because of their unusual physical properties and fascinating applications on various devices. Especially in two-dimension, doping of nitrogen atoms in graphene is widely believed to be an effective mechanism to improve the electronic and optoelectronic performances of graphene. In this work, using the first-principles calculations, we systematically investigate the electronic, mechanical, and optical properties of monolayer C3N, a newly synthesized two-dimensional carbon-graphene crystal. The useful results we obtained are: (i) monolayer C3N is an indirect band-gap semiconductor with the gap of 1.042 eV calculated by the accurate hybrid functional; (ii) compared with graphene, it has smaller ideal tensile strength but larger in-plane stiffness; (iii) the nonlinear effect of elasticity at large strains is more remarkable in monolayer C3N; (iv) monolayer C3N exhibits main absorption peak in visible light region and secondary peak in ultraviolet region, and the absorbing ratio between them can be effectively mediated by strain.

This cross-sectional study aimed to examine and compare prevalence and correlates of whole blood Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA between HIV-positive and HIV-negative men who have sex with men (MSM). Five hundred and four HIV-positive MSM and 504 age-matched HIV-negative MSM were recruited from an HIV counseling and testing clinic in Shanghai, China from November 2014 to November 2015 and were administered with a face-to-face questionnaire interview. Whole blood EBV DNA was tested by nested polymerase chain reaction assays on EBNA-1, EBNA-2, and LMP-1 genes. The prevalence of whole blood EBV DNA was 56·0% (95% CI 51·7–60·3%) among HIV-positive MSM and 26·0% (95% CI 22·4–30·0%) among HIV-negative MSM. Whole blood EBV DNA positivity was significantly associated with HIV infection (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3·43, 95% CI 2·58–4·57) and frequent intake of pickled, smoked, or salty food (aOR 1·71, 95% CI 1·02–2·86) in the whole sample, and with <200 cells/μl CD4 cell counts (aOR 1·79, 95% CI 1·05–3·05) and pickled, smoked, or salty food intake (aOR 3·14, 95% CI 1·39–7·08) in HIV-positive group. HIV-infected MSM are at higher risk of active EBV replication than HIV-uninfected MSM, underscoring needs of surveillance and research on EBV-related carcinogenesis in this population.

One of the most important non-destructive methods for on-site analysis of bronze artifacts is portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF). However, bronze artifacts are usually heterogeneous in composition due to, among other things, the segregation of lead, which is hard to be eliminated through annealing treatments. In the present work, Cu-Sn-Pb alloys with homogenous composition and microstructure is fabricated by powder metallurgy technique. The suitability of the standard curve using Cu-Sn-Pb alloys by powder metallurgy as the standard samples for XRF on the analysis of bronze artifacts is evaluated. It is shown that this proposed method can be transferred to portable XRF to acquire accurate on-site composition information of bronze artifacts.

The present study investigated the effects of dietary vitamin A on immune function in the proximal intestine (PI), mid intestine (MI) and distal intestine (DI) of young grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Fish were fed graded levels of dietary vitamin A for 10 weeks, and then a challenge test using an injection of Aeromonas hydrophila was conducted for 14 d. The results showed that, compared with the optimum vitamin A level, vitamin A deficiency significantly decreased fish growth performance, increased enteritis morbidity, decreased intestinal innate humoral immune response and aggravated intestinal inflammation. However, liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2A/B mRNA in the DI and IL-6, IL-17D, IL-10, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and TGF-β2 mRNA in the PI were not affected by vitamin A levels. Meanwhile, vitamin A deficiency disturbed inflammatory cytokines in the PI, MI and DI, which might be partly linked to p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) signalling and NF-κB canonical signalling pathway (IκB kinase β (IKKβ), IKKγ, inhibitor of κBα, NF-κB p65 and c-Rel) rather than NF-κB non-canonical signalling pathway (NF-κB p52 and IKKα). However, the signalling molecules NF-κB p65 and p38MAPK did not participate in regulating cytokines in the PI. These results suggested that vitamin A deficiency decreased fish growth and impaired intestinal immune function, and that different immune responses in the PI, MI and DI were mediated partly by NF-κB canonical signalling and p38MAPK signalling pathways. On the basis of percentage of weight gain, to protect fish against enteritis morbidity and acid phosphatase activity, the optimum dietary vitamin A levels were estimated to be 0·664, 0·707 and 0·722 mg /kg, respectively.

The present study evaluated the effects of dietary microbial phytase on the growth and gut health of hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus ♀×Oreochromis aureus ♂), focusing on the effect on intestinal histology, adhesive microbiota and expression of immune-related cytokine genes. Tilapia were fed either control diet or diet supplemented with microbial phytase (1000 U/kg). Each diet was randomly assigned to four groups of fish reared in cages (3×3×2 m). After 12 weeks of feeding, weight gain and feed conversion ratio of tilapia were not significantly improved by dietary microbial phytase supplementation. However, significantly higher level of P content in the scales, tighter and more regular intestinal mucosa folds were observed in the microbial phytase group and the microvilli density was significantly increased. The adhesive gut bacterial communities were strikingly altered by microbial phytase supplementation (0·41<similarity coefficient<0·54). Stimulated intestinal inflammation and stress status were observed in the fish fed diet supplemented with microbial phytase, as indicated by the up-regulated intestinal expressions of the cytokine genes (tnf-α and tgf-β) and hsp70. In addition, the gut microvilli height was significantly decreased in the phytase group. These results indicate that dietary microbial phytase may exert mixed effects on hybrid tilapia, and can guide our future selection of phytases as aquafeed additives – that is, eliminating those that can stimulate intestinal inflammation.

This study investigated the effects of glycinin on the growth, intestinal oxidative status, tight junction components, cytokines and apoptosis signalling factors of fish. The results showed that an 80 g/kg diet of glycinin exposure for 42 d caused poor growth performance and depressed intestinal growth and function of juvenile Jian carp (Cyprinus carpio var. Jian). Meanwhile, dietary glycinin exposure induced increases in lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation; it caused reductions in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities; and it increased MnSOD, CuZnSOD, GPx1b and GPx4a mRNA levels, suggesting an adaptive mechanism against stress in the intestines of fish. However, dietary glycinin exposure decreased both the activity and mRNA levels of nine isoforms of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) (α, μ, π, ρ, θ, κ, mGST1, mGST2 and mGST3), indicating toxicity to this enzyme activity and corresponding isoform gene expressions. In addition, glycinin exposure caused partial disruption of intestinal cell–cell tight junction components, disturbances of cytokines and induced apoptosis signalling in the distal intestines>mid intestines>proximal intestines of fish. Glycinin exposure also disturbed the mRNA levels of intestinal-related signalling factors Nrf2, Keap1a, Keap1b, eleven isoforms of protein kinase C and target of rapamycin/4E-BP. Interestingly, glutamine was observed to partially block those negative influences. In conclusion, this study indicates that dietary glycinin exposure causes intestinal oxidative damage and disruption of intestinal physical barriers and functions and reduces fish growth, but glutamine can reverse those negative effects in fish. This study provides some information on the mechanism of glycinin-induced negative effects.