Sichuan cuisine was previously fitted into the Chinese Heart-Healthy Diet (CHH) trial to verify the antihypertensive effect. Whether the modified Sichuan diet lessens cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not fully explored. We aimed to estimate the effects of the Sichuan version of CHH diet (CHH diet-SC) on the 10-year risk of CVD and vascular age. A single-blinded randomised controlled feeding trial was conducted. General CVD prediction model was used in manners of intention-to-treat and per-protocol set. After a 7-d run-in period, fifty-three participants with pre- and grade I hypertension from local communities were randomised and provided with either CHH diet-SC (n 27) or a control diet (n 26) for 4 weeks. Mean absolute and relative estimated CVD risks were reduced by 4·5 % and 27·9 % in the CHH diet-SC group, and the between-group relative risk reduction was 19·5 % (P < 0·001) using linear mixed-effects models. The sensitivity analysis with datasets and models showed consistent results, and pre-specified factors were not associated with the intervention effects. The vascular age of CHH-SC group was theoretically 4·4 years younger than that of the control group after intervention. Compared with a typical diet, adopting the CHH diet-SC over 1 month significantly reduced 10-year CVD risks and vascular ages among local adults with mild hypertension.

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.

Iodine is a vital trace element in the human body and is associated with several important coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors. We aimed to explore the correlation between urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and CAD. Data from 15 793 US adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003–2018) were analysed. We conducted multivariable logistic regression models and fitted smoothing curves to study the correlation between UIC and CAD. Furthermore, we performed subgroup analysis to investigate possible effect modifiers between them. We found a J-shaped association between UIC and CAD, with an inflection point at Lg UIC = 2·65 μg/l. This result indicated a neutral association (OR 0·89; 95 % CI 0·68, 1·16) between UIC and CAD as Lg UIC < 2·65 μg/l, but the per natural Lg [UIC] increment was OR 2·29; 95 % CI 1·53, 3·43 as Lg UIC ≥ 2·65 μg/l. An interaction between diabetes and UIC might exist. The increase in UIC results in an increase in CAD prevalence (OR 1·84, 95 % CI 1·32, 2·58) in diabetes but results in little to no difference in non-diabetes (OR 0·98, 95 % CI 0·77, 1·25). The J-shaped correlation between UIC and CAD and the interaction between diabetes and UIC should be confirmed in a prospective study with a series of UIC measurements. If excessive iodine precedes CAD, then this new finding could guide clinical practice and prevent iodine deficiency from being overcorrected.

Straightplasma channels are widely used to guide relativistic intense laser pulses over several Rayleigh lengths for laser wakefield acceleration. Recently, a curved plasma channel with gradually varied curvature was suggested to guide a fresh intense laser pulse and merge it into a straight channel for staged wakefield acceleration [Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 154801 (2018)]. In this work, we report the generation of such a curved plasma channel from a discharged capillary. Both longitudinal and transverse density distributions of the plasma inside the channel were diagnosed by analyzing the discharging spectroscopy. Effects of the gas-filling mode, back pressure and discharging voltage on the plasma density distribution inside the specially designed capillary are studied. Experiments show that a longitudinally uniform and transversely parabolic plasma channel with a maximum channel depth of 47.5 μm and length of 3 cm can be produced, which is temporally stable enough for laser guiding. Using such a plasma channel, a laser pulse with duration of 30 fs has been successfully guided along the channel with the propagation direction bent by 10.4°.

In this paper, the acoustic resonance mechanism for different axisymmetric screech modes of the underexpanded jets that impinge on an inclined plate is investigated experimentally. The ideally expanded Mach number of jets ($M_j$) ranges from 1.05 to 1.56. The nozzle-to-plate distance at the jet axis and the impingement angle are respectively set as 5.0$D$ and $30^{\circ }$, where $D$ is the nozzle exit diameter. The acoustic results show that the $M_j$ range for the A2 screech mode of impinging jets is broader than that of underexpanded free jets, and a new axisymmetric screech mode A3 appears. With the increase of $M_j$, the effect of the impinging plate on the shock cell structures of jets becomes obvious gradually, and the second suboptimal peaks are evident in the axial wavenumber spectra of mean shock structures. The coherent flow structures at screech frequencies are extracted from time-resolved schlieren images via the spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD). The axial wavenumber spectra of the selected SPOD modes suggest that the A1, A2 and A3 screech modes are respectively closed by the guided jet modes that are energized by the interactions between the Kelvin–Helmholtz wavepacket and the first three shock wavenumber peaks. The upstream- and downstream-propagating waves that constitute the screech feedback loop are analysed by applying wavenumber filters to the wavenumber spectra of SPOD modes. The frequencies of these three screech modes can be predicted by the phase constraints between the nozzle exit and the rear edge of the third shock cell. For the A3 mode, the inclined plate invades the third shock cell with the increase of $M_j$, and the phase constraint cannot be satisfied at the lower side of the jets, which leads the A3 mode to fade away. The present results suggest that external boundaries can modulate the frequency and mode of jet screech by changing the axial spacings of shock cells.

We prove that for two connected sets $E,F\subset \mathbb {R}^2$ with cardinalities greater than $1$ , if one of E and F is compact and not a line segment, then the arithmetic sum $E+F$ has nonempty interior. This improves a recent result of Banakh et al. [‘The continuity of additive and convex functions which are upper bounded on non-flat continua in $\mathbb {R}^n$ ’, Topol. Methods Nonlinear Anal. 54(1)(2019), 247–256] in dimension two by relaxing their assumption that E and F are both compact.

Recently, the collisionless pitch-angle scattering for relativistic runaway electrons (REs) in toroidal geometries such as tokamaks was discovered through a full orbit simulation approach (Liu et al., Nucl. Fusion, vol. 56, 2016, p. 064002), and it was then theoretically investigated that a new expression for the magnetic moment, including the second-order corrections, could essentially reproduce the so-called collisionless pitch-angle scattering process (Liu et al., Nucl. Fusion, vol. 58, 2018, p. 106018). In this paper, with synchrotron radiation, extensive numerical verification of the validity of the high-order guiding-centre theory is given for simulations involving REs by incorporating such an expression for the magnetic moment into our particle tracing code. A high-order guiding-centre simulation approach with synchrotron radiation (HGSA) is applied. Synchrotron radiation plays an essential role in the life cycle of REs. The energy of REs first increases and then becomes saturated until the electric field acceleration is balanced by the radiation dissipation. Unfortunately, the process cannot be simulated accurately with the standard guiding-centre model, i.e. the first-order guiding-centre model. Remarkably, it is found that the HGSA can effectively produce the fundamental process of REs. Since the time scale of the energy saturation of REs is close to seconds, the computational cost becomes significant. In order to save costs, it is necessary to estimate the time of energy saturation. An analytical estimate is derived for the time it takes for synchrotron drag to balance an accelerating electric field and the provided formula has been numerically verified. Test calculations reveal that HGSA is favourable for exploiting the dynamics of REs in tokamak plasmas.

Microtubule-severing proteins (MTSPs) play important roles in mitosis and interphase. However, to the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have evaluated the role of MTSPs in female meiosis in mammals. It was found that FIGNL1, a member of MTSPs, was predominantly expressed in mouse oocytes and distributed at the spindle poles during meiosis in the present study. FIGNL1 was co-localized and interacted with γ-tubulin, an important component of the microtubule tissue centre (MTOC). Fignl1 knockdown by specific small interfering RNA caused spindle defects characterized by an abnormal length:width ratio and decreased microtubule density, which consequently led to aberrant chromosome arrangement, oocyte maturation and fertilization obstacles. In conclusion, the present results suggested that FIGNL1 may be an essential factor in oocyte maturation by influencing the meiosis process via the formation of spindles.

Since embryonic stem cells (ESCs) were first identified, significant progress has been achieved. However, the establishment of buffalo ESCs (bESCs) is still unclear. This study was undertaken to explore the effect of the blastocyst stage on the isolation of bESCs. Firstly, our results indicated that the pluripotent genes were mainly expressed at the early stages of blastocyst, and the attachment and colony formation rates of bESCs derived from expanded blastocyst and hatched blastocyst were significantly higher than early blastocyst and blastocyst. In the meantime, bESCs showed positive alkaline phosphatase activity and expressed genes like OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, c-MYC, CDH1, KLF4, and TBX3. Immunofluorescence also confirmed the expression of OCT4, SOX2. Embryoid bodies expressing three marker genes were generated from the differentiation experiment, and fibroblast, epithelial, and neuron-like cells were induced. Moreover, naive-related genes KLF4, TBX3, primed-related genes FGF5, ACTA2 were expressed in the cells, but not REX-1. Immunofluorescence and western blot confirmed the FGF5 expression. Furthermore, bESCs could maintain pluripotency with the signal of LIF and bFGF. In summary, our results indicated that expanded blastocyst and hatched blastocyst are more suitable for bESCs isolation.

Despite theoretical accounts asserting the importance of children for the wellbeing of individuals as they age, research evidence suggests that children may be inconsequential when it comes to loneliness. Yet, there is reason to expect some subgroups may be more vulnerable to the impact of childlessness than others and this may also differ depending on the type of loneliness being assessed. This paper addresses the relationship between childlessness and social and emotional loneliness in middle and later life, including differential vulnerability associated with age, gender and marital/partner status. The study drew on data from three waves (2007, 2012 and 2018) of the Canadian General Social Survey for a nationally representative sample of adults aged 45 and older (N = 49,892). In general, childlessness assumed greater importance with regard to social than emotional loneliness. Women reported lower levels of social loneliness in conjunction with childlessness than men. Further, childlessness was associated with higher levels of overall and social loneliness among older than middle-aged adults. Fewer interactions were evident between marital/partner status and childlessness. Among women specifically, those who were co-habiting, separated/divorced or never married reported lower levels of social loneliness than their married counterparts. In contrast, childlessness was linked to greater emotional loneliness only among separated/divorced men and widowed women. Overall, our results suggest that having children available does matter for feelings of loneliness in middle and later life but that the relationship varies and is contingent on the social contexts (age, gender, marital/partner status) and the type of loneliness (social, emotional) involved.

Low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LWM-GSs) play a crucial role in determining wheat flour processing quality. In this work, 35 novel LMW-GS genes (32 active and three pseudogenes) from three Aegilops umbellulata (2n = 2x = 14, UU) accessions were amplified by allelic-specific PCR. We found that all LMW-GS genes had the same primary structure shared by other known LMW-GSs. Thirty-two active genes encode 31 typical LMW-m-type subunits. The MZ424050 possessed nine cysteine residues with an extra cysteine residue located in the last amino acid residue of the conserved C-terminal III, which could benefit the formation of larger glutenin polymers, and therefore may have positive effects on dough properties. We have found extensive variations which were mainly resulted from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions and deletions (InDels) among the LMW-GS genes in Ae. umbellulata. Our results demonstrated that Ae. umbellulata is an important source of LMW-GS variants and the potential value of the novel LMW-GS alleles for wheat quality improvement.

We have grown intermetallic ErPd2Si2 single crystals employing laser diodes with the floating-zone method. The temperature dependence of the unit-cell parameters was determined using synchrotron and in-house X-ray powder diffraction measurements from 20 to 500 K. The diffraction patterns fit well with the tetragonal I4/mmm space group (No. 139) with two chemical formulae within the unit cell. The synchrotron powder diffraction study shows that the refined unit-cell parameters are a = 4.10320(2) Å, c = 9.88393(5) Å at 298 K and a = 4.11737(2) Å, c = 9.88143(5) Å at 500 K, resulting in the unit-cell volume V = 166.408(1) Å3 (298 K) and 167.517(2) Å3 (500 K). In the whole studied temperature range, no structural phase transition was observed. Upon cooling, the unit-cell parameters a and c are shortened and elongated, respectively.

This paper focuses on a 2D magnetohydrodynamic system with only horizontal dissipation in the domain $\Omega = \mathbb {T}\times \mathbb {R}$ with $\mathbb {T}=[0,\,1]$ being a periodic box. The goal here is to understand the stability problem on perturbations near the background magnetic field $(1,\,0)$. Due to the lack of vertical dissipation, this stability problem is difficult. This paper solves the desired stability problem by simultaneously exploiting two smoothing and stabilizing mechanisms: the enhanced dissipation due to the coupling between the velocity and the magnetic fields, and the strong Poincaré type inequalities for the oscillation part of the solution, namely the difference between the solution and its horizontal average. In addition, the oscillation part of the solution is shown to converge exponentially to zero in $H^{1}$ as $t\to \infty$. As a consequence, the solution converges to its horizontal average asymptotically.

Prolonged parturition duration has been widely demonstrated to be a risk factor for incidence of stillbirth. This study evaluated the supply of dietary fibre on the parturition duration, gut microbiota and metabolome using sows as a model. A total of 40 Yorkshire sows were randomly given diet containing normal level of dietary fibre (NDF, 17·5 % dietary fibre) or high level of dietary fibre (HDF, 33·5 % dietary fibre). Faecal microbiota profiled with 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, SCFA and metabolome in the faeces and plasma around parturition were compared between the dietary groups. Correlation analysis was conducted to further explore the potential associations between specific bacterial taxa and metabolites. Results showed that HDF diet significantly improved the parturition process as presented by the shorter parturition duration. HDF diet increased the abundance of the phyla Bacteroidetes and Synergistetes and multiple genera. Except for butyrate, SCFA levels in the faeces and plasma of sows at parturition were elevated in HDF group. The abundances of fifteen and twelve metabolites in the faeces and plasma, respectively, markedly differ between HDF and NDF sows. These metabolites are involved in energy metabolism and bacterial metabolism. Correlation analysis also showed associations between specific bacteria taxa and metabolites. Collectively, our study indicates that the improvement of parturition duration by high fibre intake in late gestation is associated with gut microbiota, production of SCFA and other metabolites, potentially serving for energy metabolism.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether and when the world can reach herd immunity and return to normal life and a strategy for accelerating vaccination programmes constitute major concerns. We employed Metropolis–Hastings sampling and an epidemic model to design experiments based on the current vaccinations administered and a more equitable vaccine allocation scenario. The results show that most high-income countries can reach herd immunity in less than 1 year, whereas low-income countries should reach this state after more than 3 years. With a more equitable vaccine allocation strategy, global herd immunity can be reached in 2021. However, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants means that an additional 83 days will be needed to reach global herd immunity and that the number of cumulative cases will increase by 113.37% in 2021. With the more equitable vaccine allocation scenario, the number of cumulative cases will increase by only 5.70% without additional vaccine doses. As SARS-CoV-2 variants arise, herd immunity could be delayed to the point that a return to normal life is theoretically impossible in 2021. Nevertheless, a more equitable global vaccine allocation strategy, such as providing rapid vaccine assistance to low-income countries/regions, can improve the prevention of COVID-19 infection even though the virus could mutate.

The joint effects of stimulus quality and semantic context in visual word recognition were examined with event-related potential (ERP) recordings. In one-character Chinese word recognition, we manipulated stimulus quality at two degradation levels (highly vs. slightly degraded) and semantic context at two priming levels (semantically related vs. unrelated). In a prime–target–probe trial flow, ERPs were recorded to the target character which was presented in either high or slight degradation and which was preceded by either a semantically related or unrelated prime character. The target character was then followed by a probe character which was either identical to or different from the target character. Subjects were instructed to make target–probe matching judgments. The ERP results demonstrated a degradation by priming interaction, with larger N400 semantic priming effects for slightly degraded targets. Moreover, the degradation effects were observed on the P200, N250, and N400. These findings provided evidence for the cascaded model of visual word recognition such that the visual processing cascaded into the semantic stage and thus interacted on the N400 amplitude. The results were compared to an earlier study with a null ERP degradation by priming interaction. The ramifications of these results for models of visual word recognition are discussed.

To investigate the association between the Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and compare the predictive value of the METS-VF for T2DM incidence with other obesity indices in Chinese people. A total of 12 237 non-T2DM participants aged over 18 years from the Rural Chinese Cohort Study of 2007–2008 were included at baseline and followed up during 2013–2014. The cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI for the association between baseline METS-VF and T2DM risk. Restricted cubic splines were used to model the association between METS-VF and T2DM risk. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analysis was used to evaluate the ability of METS-VF to predict T2DM incidence. During a median follow-up of 6·01 (95 % CI 5·09, 6·06) years, 837 cases developed T2DM. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the adjusted HR for the highest v. lowest METS-VF quartile was 5·97 (95 % CI 4·28, 8·32), with a per 1-sd increase in METS-VF positively associated with T2DM risk. Positive associations were also found in the sensitivity and subgroup analyses, respectively. A significant nonlinear dose–response association was observed between METS-VF and T2DM risk for all participants (Pnonlinearity = 0·0347). Finally, the AUC value of METS-VF for predicting T2DM was largest among six indices. The METS-VF may be a reliable and applicable predictor of T2DM incidence in Chinese people regardless of sex, age or BMI.