Iodine is an essential nutrient that may change the occurrence of autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT). Apoptosis and DNA methylation participate in the pathogenesis and destructive mechanism of AIT. We detected the methylation and the expression of mRNA of intrinsic apoptosis-associated genes (YWHAG, ING4, BRSK2 and GJA1) to identify the potential interactions between the levels of methylation in these genes and different levels of iodine. 176 adult patients with AIT in Shandong Province, China, were included. The MethylTargetTM assay was used to verify the levels of methylation. We used PCR to detect the mRNA levels of the candidate genes. Interactions between methylation levels of the candidate genes and iodine levels were evaluated with multiplicative and addictive interaction models and GMDR. In the AIT group, YWHAG_1 and six CpG sites and BRSK2_1 and eight CpG sites were hypermethylated, whereas ING4_1 and one CpG site were hypomethylated. A negative correlation was found between methylation levels of YWHAG and mRNA expression. The combination of iodine fortification, YWHAG_1 hypermethylation and BRSK2_1 hypermethylation was significantly associated with elevated AIT risk. A four-locus model (YWHAG_1 × ING4_1 × BRSK2_1 × iodine level) was found to be the best model of the gene–environment interactions. We identified abnormal changes in the methylation status of YWHAG, ING4 and BRSK2 in patients with AIT in different iodine levels. Iodine fortification not only affected the methylation levels of YWHAG and BRSK2 but also interacted with the methylation levels of these genes and may ultimately increase the risk of AIT.

This paper focuses on the vanishing limit problem for the three-dimensional incompressible Phan-Thien–Tanner (PTT) system, which is commonly used to describe the dynamic properties of polymeric fluids. Our purpose is to show the relation of the PTT system to the well-known Oldroyd-B system (with or without damping mechanism). The suitable a priori estimates and global existence of strong solutions are established for the PTT system with small initial data. Taking advantage of uniform energy and decay estimates for the PTT system with respect to time $t$ and coefficients $a$ and $b$, then allows us to justify in particular the vanishing limit for all time. More precisely, we prove that the solution $(u,\,\tau )$ of PTT system with $0\leq b\leq Ca$ converges globally in time to some limit $(\widetilde {u},\,\widetilde {\tau })$ in a suitable Sobolev space when $a$ and $b$ go to zero simultaneously (or, only $b$ goes to zero). We may check that $(\widetilde {u},\,\widetilde {\tau })$ is indeed a global solution of the corresponding Oldroyd-B system. In addition, a rate of convergence involving explicit norm will be obtained. As a byproduct, similar results are also true for the local a priori estimates in large norm.

The rearrangement of drainage basins provides critical insight into crustal deformation and geodynamic mechanisms. Near the southeastern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau, the Dadu River abruptly shifts from south- to east-flowing, providing important implications for regional tectonogeomorphic development since the mid-Pleistocene. South of the bend, the headwaters of the Anning River occupy an unusually wide valley. Field investigations show that large quantities of fluvial/lacustrine sediments are widespread along the Dadu and Anning rivers and are exposed at their drainage divide. Detrital zircon U-Pb age patterns confirm that these fluvial/lacustrine sediments are the remnants of the paleo-Dadu River, which strongly suggests that the paleo-Dadu River originally flowed southward into the Anning River. The cosmogenic nuclide burial ages of the lacustrine sediments along the Dadu and Anning rivers suggest deposition of these sediments from separate dammed lakes ca. 1.2 Ma ago, ca. 0.6 Ma ago, and ca. 0.9 Ma ago from north to south, respectively. Provenance and burial-age studies indicate that reorganization of the Dadu drainage occurred within the last 0.6 Ma. We propose that this drainage reorganization in southeastern Tibet resulted from progressive convergence between the India and Eurasian plates during the Pleistocene.

A novel curved surface nanowire target is proposed to improve the cutoff energy of accelerated protons via target normal sheath acceleration. The interaction of a laser of intensity $1.37\times 10^{20}\ {\rm W}\ {\rm cm}^{-2}$ with a curved surface nanowire target is studied by two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The numerical results indicate that the sheath electric field at the target rear side is significantly enhanced by this simple target design, compared with using the planar nanowire target. The transverse motion of hot electrons is effectively confined and the energy density of electrons is naturally increased. A series of simulations with various target parameters is carried out to investigate the performance of this novel target. This tailored target may provide implications for generating high-quality proton beams in experiments.

To meet the increasing communication demands, the satellites need to be equipped with the high-accuracy and large-aperture antennas. One of the effective methods to construct the modular antennas with ultra-high accuracy and ultra-large aperture is on-orbit assembly technology. During the on-orbit assembly missions, the assembly error is a key factor to affect the surface accuracy of the modular antennas. This paper studies the node design of each module and the assembly error analysis of the modular antennas. A design method of the module nodes is presented with consideration of the assembly gap between two modules. Meanwhile, a soft connection mechanism is designed to ensure the mobility among the assembly modules. To investigate the transmission law of the assembly errors, an analytical model of assembly error is derived based on the exponential product method. In order to establish the deformation surface with rotation and displacement assembly errors, an error ball concept is proposed by the analytical model. To decrease the assembly errors, the actuators are installed among some modules. Moreover, an adjustment method is proposed to obtain the adjustment amounts of actuators. Finally, the correctness of analytical model and the effectiveness of the adjustment method are demonstrated by the numerical simulations.

High-performance electrodes with outstanding catalysts play a vital role in the commercial application of direct ethanol fuel cells. In the present study, a supported catalyst with controllable Pd loading, prepared using a facile impregnation method with sepiolite as a carrier, was synthesized and tested for electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol. Physical characterization revealed the pore structure and large specific surface area of the sepiolite, which provided excellent conditions for the loading of nanometal clusters. The Pd-sepiolite had greater electrocatalytic ethanol activity and anti-intermediate product poisoning performance than a metallic Pd disc electrode under alkaline conditions. Under these experimental conditions, the electrochemical activity in terms of ethanol oxidation increased significantly with increasing Pd loading. Considering both the activity and stability of the electrodes, 23 wt.% Pd loading on sepiolite was selected with a coating amount of 140 μg cm–2 on glassy carbon. Factors such as ethanol/potassium hydroxide concentration, scanning rate and temperature had direct impacts on peak current densities as well as on reaction kinetics as depicted by Tafel plots. The electrochemical impedance test showed that Pd intercalation could improve significantly the conductivity of sepiolite and reduce the electron-transfer resistance in the electrocatalytic process. Thus, Pd-loaded sepiolite is a simple and effective catalyst for direct ethanol fuel cells.

Many protected areas worldwide have been established to protect the last natural refuges of flagship animal species. However, long-established protected areas do not always match the current distributions of target species under changing environmental conditions. Here we present a case study of the Asian elephant Elephas maximus in Xishuangbanna, south-west China, to evaluate whether the established protected areas match the species’ current distribution and to identify key habitat patches for Asian elephant conservation. Our results show that currently only 24.5% of the predicted Asian elephant distribution in Xishuangbanna is located within Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, which was established for elephant conservation. Based on the predicted Asian elephant distribution, we identified the most important habitat patches for elephant conservation in Xishuangbanna. The three most important patches were outside Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve and together they contained 43.3% of the estimated food resources for Asian elephants in all patches in Xishuangbanna. Thus, we identified a spatial mismatch between immobile protected areas and mobile animals. We recommend the inclusion of the three identified key habitat patches in a new national park currently being planned by the Chinese authorities for the conservation of the Asian elephant.

High-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) contribute to dough elasticity and bread baking quality in wheat. In this study, wheat varieties were classified based on their HMW-GS composition into three groups: 1Dx5 (5 + 10, Gaoyou 8901, Xinmai 28, Xinmai 19, Xinmai 26 and Jinbaoyin), 1Dx2 (2 + 12, Zhoumai 24, Xinmai 9 and Yumai) and 1Dx4 (4 + 12, Aikang 58). Sequence analysis showed that 1Dx-GY8901, 1Dx-XM28, 1Dx-XM19 and 1Dx-XM26 were similar to the 1Dx5 gene and clustered on the same branch, while 1Dx-AK58, 1Dx-ZM24, 1Dx-JBY, 1Dx-YM, 1Dx-XM9 and 1Dx-JBY were more similar to the 1Dx2 gene and clustered on the same branch with 1Dx.2.2. There was a mutation of Ser to Cys at position S2, for an extra Cys in the repeat regions of 1Dx-XM19, 1Dx-XM26, 1Dx-XM28 and 1Dx-GY8901. The wheat HMW-GS genes exhibited similar percentages of α-helix, extended strand, β-turn and random coil structure, with ranges of 13.33–13.59, 4.77–5.78, 7.08–9.18 and 72.3–73.94%, respectively. Sequence conservation and the composition of HMW-GS subunits were also analysed for a series of strong gluten wheat varieties, Xinmai 9 (1, 7 + 8, 2 + 12), Xinmai 19 (1, 7 + 9, 5 + 10), Xinmai 26 (1, 7 + 8, 5 + 10) and Xinmai 28 (1, 7 + 9, 5 + 10). The results of this work should facilitate future breeding efforts and provide the theoretical basis for wheat quality improvement.

The mitochondrial genome provides important information for phylogenetic analysis and an understanding of evolutionary origin. In this study, the mitochondrial genomes of Ilisha elongata and Setipinna tenuifilis were sequenced, which are typical circular vertebrate mitochondrial genomes composed of 16,770 and 16,805 bp, respectively. The mitogenomes of I. elongata and S. tenuifilis include 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA), two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and one control region (CR). Both two species' genome compositions were highly A + T biased and exhibited positive AT-skews and negative GC-skews. The genetic distance and Ka/Ks ratio analyses indicated that 13 PCGs were affected by purifying selection and the selection pressures were different from certain deep-sea fishes, which were most likely due to the difference in their living environment. Results of phylogenetic analysis support close relationships among Chirocentridae, Denticipitidae, Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Pristigasteridae based on the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of 13 PCGs. Within Clupeoidei, I. elongata and S. tenuifilis were most closely related to the family Pristigasteridae and Engraulidae, respectively. These results will help to better understand the evolutionary position of Clupeiformes and provide a reference for further phylogenetic research on Clupeiformes species.

Sepsis is a clinical syndrome characterised by a severe disorder of pathophysiology caused by infection of pathogenic micro-organisms. The addition of antioxidant micronutrient therapies such as thiamine to sepsis treatment remains controversial. This study explored the effect of thiamine on the prognosis of patients with sepsis. This study was a retrospective study involving patients with sepsis from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV. Patients were divided into two groups, the thiamine received group (TR) and the thiamine unreceived group (TUR), according to whether they were supplemented with thiamin via intravenous while in the intensive care unit (ICU). The primary outcome was ICU mortality. The association between thiamine and outcome was analysed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model, propensity score matching (PSM), generalised boosted model-based inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and doubly robust estimation. A total of 11 553 sepsis patients were enrolled in this study. After controlling for potential confounders using Cox regression models, the TR group had a statistically significantly lower ICU mortality risk than the TUR group. The hazard ratio of ICU mortality for the TR group was 0·80 (95 % CI 0·70, 0·93). We obtained the same results after using PSM, IPTW and doubly robust estimation. Supplementation with thiamine has a beneficial effect on the prognosis of patients with sepsis. More randomised controlled trials are needed to confirm the effectiveness of thiamine supplementation in the treatment of sepsis.

It has been suggested that added sugar intake is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, previous studies only focused on sugar-sweetened beverages; the evidence for associations with total added sugars and their sources is scarce. This study aimed to examine the associations of total added sugars, their physical forms (liquid v. solid) and food sources with risk of NAFLD among adults in Tianjin, China. We used data from 15 538 participants, free of NAFLD, other liver diseases, CVD, cancer or diabetes at baseline (2013–2018 years). Added sugar intake was estimated from a validated 100-item FFQ. NAFLD was diagnosed by ultrasonography after exclusion of other causes of liver diseases. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95 % CI for NAFLD risk with added sugar intake. During a median follow-up of 4·2 years, 3476 incident NAFLD cases were documented. After adjusting for age, sex, BMI and its change from baseline to follow-up, lifestyle factors, personal and family medical history and overall diet quality, the multivariable HR of NAFLD risk were 1·18 (95 % CI 1·06, 1·32) for total added sugars, 1·20 (95 % CI 1·08, 1·33) for liquid added sugars and 0·96 (95 % CI 0·86, 1·07) for solid added sugars when comparing the highest quartiles of intake with the lowest quartiles of intake. In this prospective cohort of Chinese adults, higher intakes of total added sugars and liquid added sugars, but not solid added sugars, were associated with a higher risk of NAFLD.

Because of the high photon flux, the Crab nebula pulsar is widely used as the observation target for X-ray pulsar-based navigation. The built profile of the Crab pulsar will change over time, however, which means that the pre-calibrated template cannot be used for the long term. In this paper, a novel pulsar-based template-independent navigation method is proposed. The detected phase propagation model is given as a term of position of the vehicle, taking the orbital motion into account. A different method of time-of-arrival process between the recovered profiles is introduced. With the aid of orbital transition matrix, a measurement model is derived to be a term of velocity error of the vehicle varying with time. The state errors of the vehicle are transformed into velocity errors by performing multi-segment observations to achieve the navigation system observability. The navigation equations of the system are then established and can be solved directly. Some simulations are performed to verify the method and suggest that the proposed method is feasible, effective and easy to implement. The precise orbit information of the vehicle can be determined. The state estimation accuracy is basically consistent with the traditional filtering algorithms, and the computational cost is still very low.

This paper examines the economic implications of the tariff increases by the United States and by China during the Trump era trade dispute and the gains from their potential removal. The increases were dramatic, with the US raising tariffs on industrial products by a factor of six – with particularly large tariff increases on intermediate and capital goods – and China increasing its tariffs on US agricultural products more than five-fold. These changes distort trade and production decisions in both countries and undercut the global trading system. They resulted in substantial economic losses to each country, with import volumes reduced by 4.9% in China and 4.5% in the USA, and bilateral trade patterns were massively distorted. Their cost to the United States rose at the end of 2021, when the import expansion provisions of the Trump era Phase One Agreement expired. Negotiating the abolition of these costly and disruptive tariffs would generate substantial real income gains for both countries and help lower US consumer prices.

The aim of this study was to explore the status of thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin antibody (TGAb) in three areas with differing water iodine concentrations; and to discuss the relationships between these two thyroid antibodies and thyroid diseases in the three areas. We investigated 2503 adults from three areas. Urinary iodine concentrations, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), TPOAb, TGAb and thyroid volume (TV) were measured, and thyroid ultrasonography was performed. The positivity rates of TGAb(+), TPOAb(+) and TGAb(+) and TPOAb(+) or TGAb(+) were significantly higher in iodine fortification (IF) areas than iodine adequate (IA) areas (all P < 0·05). In IF and iodine excess areas, the positivity rates of TPOAb(+), TGAb(+) and TPOAb(+) or TGAb(+) significantly increased with age (all P for trend < 0·05). The levels of TSH, TV and the prevalence of overt hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism and goitre were significantly elevated in the thyroid antibody-positive groups in the three areas, but the FT3 was diminished (all P < 0·010). Positivity for TPOAb and TGAb was associated with an increased risk of subclinical hypothyroidism in the three areas. In areas with different median water iodine, positivity for both TPOAb and TGAb was associated with elevated TSH values. Notably, with the increased levels of TPOAb, the frequency of abnormally elevated TSH increased dramatically in the three areas.