SARS-CoV-2 rapidly spreads among humans via social networks, with social mixing and network characteristics potentially facilitating transmission. However, limited data on topological structural features has hindered in-depth studies. Existing research is based on snapshot analyses, preventing temporal investigations of network changes. Comparing network characteristics over time offers additional insights into transmission dynamics. We examined confirmed COVID-19 patients from an eastern Chinese province, analyzing social mixing and network characteristics using transmission network topology before and after widespread interventions. Between the two time periods, the percentage of singleton networks increased from 38.9$ \% $ to 62.8$ \% $$ (p<0.001) $; the average shortest path length decreased from 1.53 to 1.14 $ (p<0.001) $; the average betweenness reduced from 0.65 to 0.11$ (p<0.001) $; the average cluster size dropped from 4.05 to 2.72 $ (p=0.004) $; and the out-degree had a slight but nonsignificant decline from 0.75 to 0.63 $ (p=0.099). $ Results show that nonpharmaceutical interventions effectively disrupted transmission networks, preventing further disease spread. Additionally, we found that the networks’ dynamic structure provided more information than solely examining infection curves after applying descriptive and agent-based modeling approaches. In summary, we investigated social mixing and network characteristics of COVID-19 patients during different pandemic stages, revealing transmission network heterogeneities.

In this paper, the feasibility of a high laser damage threshold liquid crystal spatial light modulator based on gallium nitride (GaN) transparent conductive electrodes is proved. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) is measured, and a high LIDT reflective optically addressed liquid crystal light valve (OALCLV) based on GaN is designed and fabricated. The proper work mode of the OALCLV is determined; the OALCLV obtained a maximum reflectivity of about 55% and an on–off ratio of 55:1, and an image response is demonstrated.

Due to the lack of research between the inner layers in the structure of colonic mucous and the metabolism of fatty acid in the constipation model, we aim to determine the changes in the mucous phenotype of the colonic glycocalyx and the microbial community structure following treatment with Rhubarb extract in our research. The constipation and treatment models are generated using adult male C57BL/6N mice. We perform light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to detect a Muc2-rich inner mucus layer attached to mice colon under different conditions. In addition, 16S rDNA sequencing is performed to examine the intestinal flora. According to TEM images, we demonstrate that Rhubarb can promote mucin secretion and find direct evidence of dendritic structure-linked mucus structures with its assembly into a lamellar network in a pore size distribution in the isolated colon section. Moreover, the diversity of intestinal flora has noticeable changes in constipated mice. The present study characterizes a dendritic structure and persistent cross-links have significant changes accompanied by the alteration of intestinal flora in feces in models of constipation and pretreatment with Rhubarb extract.

Mounting evidence suggests that the first few months of life are critical for the development of obesity. The relationships between the timing of solid food introduction and the risk of childhood obesity have been examined previously; however, evidence for the association of timing of infant formula introduction remains scarce. This study aimed to examine whether the timing of infant formula introduction is associated with growth z-scores and overweight at ages 1 and 3 years. This study included 5733 full-term (≥ 37 gestational weeks) and normal birth weight (≥ 2500 and < 4000 g) children in the Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study, a prospective cohort study with data collected at 6 weeks, 6, 12 and 36 months. Compared with infant formula introduction at 0–3 months, introduction at 4–6 months was associated with the lower BMI, weight-for-age and weight-for-length z-scores at 1 and 3 years old. Also, introduction at 4–6 months was associated with the lower odds of at-risk of overweight at age 1 (adjusted OR 0·72, 95 % CI 0·55, 0·94) and 3 years (adjusted OR 0·50, 95 % CI 0·30, 0·85). Introduction at 4–6 months also decreased the odds of overweight at age 1 year (adjusted OR 0·42, 95 % CI 0·21, 0·84) but not at age 3 years. Based on our findings, compared with introduction within the first 3 months, introduction at 4–6 months has a reduction on later high BMI risk and at-risk of overweight. However, these results need to be replicated in other well-designed studies before more firm recommendations can be made.

In this paper, we propose an effective method to compensate for the performance degradation of optically addressed spatial light modulators (OASLMs). The thermal deposition problem usually leads to the on-off ratio reduction of amplitude OASLM, so it is difficult to achieve better results in high-power laser systems. Through the analysis of the laser-induced temperature rise model and the liquid crystal layer voltage model, it is found that reducing the driving voltage of the liquid crystal light valve and increasing the driving current of the optical writing module can compensate for the decrease of on–off ratio caused by temperature rise. This is the result of effectively utilizing the photoconductive effect of Bi12SiO20 (BSO) crystal. The experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed method and increase the laser withstand power of amplitude-only OASLM by about a factor of 2.5.

Maternal supraphysiological estradiol (E2) environment during pregnancy leads to adverse perinatal outcomes. However, the influence of oocyte exposure to high E2 levels on perinatal outcomes remains unknown. Thus, a retrospective cohort study was conducted to explore the effect of high E2 level induced by controlled ovarian stimulation (COH) on further outcomes after frozen embryo transfer (FET). The study included all FET cycles (n = 10,581) between 2014 and 2017. All cycles were categorized into three groups according to the E2 level on the day of the human Chorionic Gonadotropin trigger. Odds ratios (ORs) and their confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate the association between E2 level during COH and pregnancy outcomes and subsequent neonatal outcomes. From our findings, higher E2 level was associated with lower percentage of chemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, and live birth as well as increased frequency of early miscarriage. Preterm births were more common among singletons in women with higher E2 level during COH (aOR1 = 1.93, 95% CI: 1.22–3.06; aOR2 = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.33–3.06). Incidence of small for gestational age (SGA) was more common in both singletons (aOR1 = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.30–3.11; aOR2 = 2.51, 95% CI: 1.69–3.74) and multiples (aOR1 = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.03–2.45; aOR2 = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.05–3.84) among women with relatively higher E2 level. No association was found between high E2 level during COH and the percentage of macrosomia or large for gestational age. In summary, oocyte exposure to high E2 level during COH should be brought to our attention, since the pregnancy rate decreasing and the risk of preterm birth and SGA increasing following FET.

Annexin A2 (ANXA2) is reported to be associated with cancer development. To investigate the roles ANXA2 plays during the development of cancer, the RNAi method was used to inhibit the ANXA2 expression in caco2 (human colorectal cancer cell line) and SMMC7721 (human hepatocarcinoma cell line) cells. The results showed that when the expression of ANXA2 was efficiently inhibited, the growth and motility of both cell lines were significantly decreased, and the development of the motility relevant microstructures, such as pseudopodia, filopodia, and the polymerization of microfilaments and microtubules were obviously inhibited. The cancer cell apoptosis was enhanced without obvious significance. The possible regulating pathway in the process was also predicted and discussed. Our results suggested that ANXA2 plays important roles in maintaining the malignancy of colorectal and hepatic cancer by enhancing the cell proliferation, motility, and development of the motility associated microstructures of cancer cells based on a possible complicated signal pathway.

In order to improve the damage threshold and enlarge the aperture of a laser beam shaper, photolithographic patterning technology is adopted to design a new type of liquid crystal binary mask. The inherent conductive metal layer of commercial liquid crystal electro-optical spatial light modulators is replaced by azobenzene-based photoalignment layers patterned by noncontact photolithography. Using the azobenzene-based photoalignment layer, a liquid crystal binary mask for beam shaping is fabricated. In addition, the shaping ability, damage threshold, write/erase flexibility and stability of the liquid crystal binary mask are tested. Using a 1 Hz near-IR (1064 nm) laser, the multiple-shot nanosecond damage threshold of the liquid crystal mask is measured to be higher than $15~\text{J}/\text{cm}^{2}$. The damage threshold of the azobenzene-based photoalignment layer is higher than $50~\text{J}/\text{cm}^{2}$ under the same testing conditions.

A high power laser system was used to drive the ignition of inertial confinement fusion (ICF), of which the high energy, the uniform focal spot, the accurate laser waveform, and the synchronization between the laser beams are key parameters. To accomplish this, global laser characteristics control should be assured, which was the main purpose of the injection laser system. In this paper, the key technological progress involved in the improvement of the performance of the injection laser of SG-II is reported, including frequency domain control, time domain control, near-field spatial shaping, pre-amplifier technology, and the optical parametric chirped pulse amplification pump source.

An optically addressed liquid crystal modulator for wavefront control of 1053 nm laser beam is reported in this paper. Its working principle, control method and spatial phase modulation capability are mainly introduced. A new method of measuring the relationship between gray level and phase retardation is proposed. The rationality of the curve is further confirmed by designing special experiments. According to the curve, several spatial phase distributions have been realized by this home-made device. The results show that, not only the maximum phase retardation is larger than $2\unicode[STIX]{x03C0}$ for 1053 nm wavelength, but also the control accuracy is high. Compared with the liquid crystal on silicon type spatial light modulator, this kind of modulator has the advantages of generating smooth phase distribution and avoiding the black-matrix effect.

In this paper, we investigate the Dirichlet eigenvalue problems of the poly-Laplacian with any order and the quadratic polynomial operator of the Laplacian. We give some estimates for lower bounds of the sums of their first k eigenvalues.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer can be used to produce embryonic stem (ES) cells, cloned animals, and can even increase the population size of endangered animals. However, the application of this technique is limited by the low developmental rate of cloned embryos, a situation that may result from abnormal expression of some zygotic genes. In this study, sheep–sheep intra-species cloned embryos, goat–sheep inter-species cloned embryos, or sheep in vitro fertilized embryos were constructed and cultured in vitro and the developmental ability and expression of three pluripotency genes, SSEA-1, Nanog and Oct4, were examined. The results showed firstly that the developmental ability of in vitro fertilized embryos was significantly higher than that of cloned embryos. In addition, the percentage of intra-species cloned embryos that developed to morula or blastocyst stages was also significantly higher than that of the inter-species cloned embryos. Secondly, all three types of embryos expressed SSEA-1 at the 8-cell and morula stages. At the 8-cell stage, a higher percentage of in vitro fertilized embryos expressed SSEA-1 than occurred for cloned embryos. However, at the morula stage, all detected embryos could express SSEA-1. Thirdly, the three types of embryos expressed Oct4 mRNA at the morula and blastocyst stages, and embryos at the blastocyst stage expressed Nanog mRNA. The rate of expression of Oct4 and Nanog mRNA at these developmental stages was higher in in vitro fertilized embryos than in cloned embryos. These results indicated that, during early development, the failure to reactivate some pluripotency genes maybe is a reason for the low cloning efficiency found with cloned embryos.

Observational studies have indicated that soya food consumption is inversely associated with blood pressure (BP). Evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCT) on the BP-lowering effects of soya protein intake is inconclusive. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of soya protein intake in lowering BP. The PubMed database was searched for published RCT in the English language through to April 2010, which compared a soya protein diet with a control diet. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis to examine the effects of soya protein on BP. Subgroup and meta-regression analyses were performed to explore possible explanations for heterogeneity among trials. Meta-analyses of twenty-seven RCT showed a mean decrease of 2·21 mmHg (95 % CI − 4·10, − 0·33; P = 0·021) for systolic BP (SBP) and 1·44 mmHg (95 % CI − 2·56, − 0·31; P = 0·012) for diastolic BP (DBP), comparing the participants in the soya protein group with those in the control group. Soya protein consumption significantly reduced SBP and DBP in both hypertensive and normotensive subjects, and the reductions were markedly greater in hypertensive subjects. Significant and greater BP reductions were also observed in trials using carbohydrate, but not milk products, as the control diet. Meta-regression analyses further revealed a significantly inverse association between pre-treatment BP and the level of BP reductions. In conclusion, soya protein intake, compared with a control diet, significantly reduces both SBP and DBP, but the BP reductions are related to pre-treatment BP levels of subjects and the type of control diet used as comparison.