The impact of diet on the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and CVD has been investigated widely, but few studies have investigated the association between dietary patterns (DP) and the predicted CVD, derived from reduced rank regression (RRR). The objectives of this study were to derive DP using RRR and principal component analysis (PCA) and investigate their associations with the MetS and estimated 10-year atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD). We used the baseline dataset from the Xinjiang multi-ethnic cohort study in China, collected from June 2018 to May 2019. A total of 14 982 subjects aged 35–74 years from Urumqi, Huo Cheng and Mo Yu were included in the analysis. The 10-year ASCVD risk was estimated using the Chinese ASCVD risk equations. The associations of DP with the MetS and 10-year ASCVD were determined using multivariable logistic regression models. In Urumqi and Mo Yu, the increased RRR DP score was associated with a higher OR of having the MetS and with a higher OR of elevated 10-year ASCVD risk. However, only the first DP determined by PCA in Urumqi was inversely associated with the MetS and elevated 10-year ASCVD risk. The prevalence of the MetS and elevated ASCVD risk in urban population is higher than that in rural areas. Our results may help nutritionists develop more targeted dietary strategies to prevent the MetS and ASCVD in different regions in China.

Compared with commercial polyolefin membranes, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane prepared by electrostatic spinning has higher porosity, electrolyte uptake, thermal stability, and lithium-ion conductivity, etc. However, poor mechanical performance has largely limited the application of electrospun PAN separators. In this study, PAN/polyimide (PI) composite membrane is prepared by electrostatic spinning to improve the mechanical and electrochemical performances. Scanning electron microscopy, thermal analysis method, and electrochemical methods were used for evaluation of the electrospun composite membrane. The results show that the composite membrane possesses good thermal stability and exhibits better mechanical performance than pristine PAN membrane (increasing by 1.1 times in tension strength). The addition of PI can increase porosity and fluid absorption rate obviously. In addition, the composite membrane has high ionic conductivity (18.77 × 10−4 S/cm), wide electrochemical window (about 4.0 V), and excellent cycling performance. It can retain a discharge specific capacity of 153 mA h/g even after 50 cycles at 0.5 C. The electrospun PAN/PI membrane may be a promising candidate for lithium-ion battery separators.

We examined the in vitro developmental competence of parthenogenetic activation (PA) oocytes activated by an electric pulse (EP) and treated with various concentrations of AZD5438 for 4 h. Treatment with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h significantly improved the blastocyst formation rate of PA oocytes in comparison with 0, 20, or 50 µM AZD5438 treatment (46.4% vs. 34.5%, 32.3%, and 24.0%, respectively; P < 0.05). The blastocyst formation rate was higher in the group treated with AZD5438 for 4 h than in the groups treated with AZD5438 for 2 or 6 h (42.8% vs. 38.6% and 37.2%, respectively; P > 0.05). Furthermore, 66.67% of blastocysts derived from these AZD5438-treated PA oocytes had a diploid karyotype. The blastocyst formation rate of PA and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos was similar between oocytes activated by an EP and treated with 2 mM 6-dimethylaminopurine for 4 h and those activated by an EP and treated with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h (11.11% vs. 13.40%, P > 0.05). In addition, the level of maturation-promoting factor (MPF) was significantly decreased in oocytes activated by an EP and treated with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h. Finally, the mRNA expression levels of apoptosis-related genes (Bax and Bcl-2) and pluripotency-related genes (Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2) were checked by RT-PCR; however, there were no differences between the AZD5438-treated and non-treated control groups. Our results demonstrate that porcine oocyte activation via an EP in combination with AZD5438 treatment can lead to a high blastocyst formation rate in PA and SCNT experiments.

Dilatometric studies of C–Mn hypoeutectoid steel with an as-cast structure were carried out to study the effects of the heating or cooling rate, heating and cooling process on phase transformation, and the thermal expansion coefficient. As the heating or cooling rate (Vc) increased, the characteristic temperatures of Ac1, Acp, and Ac3 also rose, while Ar3, Ar1, and Arp fell. In addition, the phase transformation temperature range (Ac3–Ac1) rose, while (Ar3–Arp) fell as the heating or cooling rate increased. At the same time, the maximum thermal expansion coefficients│αT│ between the heating and cooling processes during phase transformation showed significant differences, and the difference (│ΔαT│) in the maximum │αT│ between these processes increased along with the heating or cooling rate, and this is because of the different phase transformation rates, with regard to the change from austenite to ferrite on cooling and ferrite to austenite on heating. During the heating process, the phase transformation rate of ferrite to austenite first decreases and then increases as the temperature rises, and the phase transformation rate of austenite to ferrite first increases and then decreases during the cooling process. The evolution of carbon and substitutional alloying elements (Si and Mn) in austenite during heating and cooling is also analyzed in this work.

The electronic transport properties of Ga2As2 cluster, which is sandwiched between two semiinfinite Au (1 0 0)-3 × 3 pyramical-shaped electrodes with the Ga-Ga axis of the cluster parallel to the transport direction and the As-As axis of the cluster parallel to the transport direction, respectively, is investigated with a combination of density functional theory and the non-equilibrium Green’s function method. We have simulated the nanoscale junctions breaking process and found that the conductance of cluster decreases then increases when the contact is pulled apart in two configurations. We analyzed the difference of conductance from transmission spectra and projected density of states, and calculated the I-V characteristics of devices in this two configurations when dz = 2.0 Å. The I-V curves display a linear characteristics in the voltage range of 0 ∼ 2.2 V. The negative differential resistance appears within a small range of voltage in the junctions with As-As axis of the cluster parallel to the transport direction when bias is larger than 2.2 V.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at the Pre-Meeting Congress: Materials Research in an Aberration-Free Environment, at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 in Savannah, Georgia, USA, July 31 and August 1, 2004.

High-quality GaP, GaP@GaN and GaN@GaP nanowires were grown by a convenient vapor deposition technique. The wire-like and two-layers structures of GaP@GaN and GaN@GaP core-shell nanowires were clearly resolved using X-ray powder diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and their growth directions were identified. Photoluminescence intensity of GaP@GaN nanowires increased as temperature increased. The result was interpreted by the piezoelectric effect induced from lattice mismatch between two semiconductor layers. An unexpected peak at 386 cm-1 was found in the Raman spectra of GaN@GaP and assigned to a surface phonon mode due to the interface. Detailed synthetic conditions and possible growth mechanisms of those nanowires were proposed.

In this study we report on the correlation between the bacteriology of the middle meatusand ethmoid sinus in chronic sinusitis. When patients with chronic sinusitis underwent functional endoscopicsinus surgery (FESS), swab specimens were taken from the middle meati before surgery. After removing the ethmoid bullae, swab specimens were taken from the ethmoid sinuses. Between November 1998 and February 2001, 186 pairs of middle meatal and ethmoid sinus specimens were collected from 186 patients. No bacteria were cultured from either specimen in 32 patients. The same bacteria were cultured from both specimens in another 60 patients. The culture results differed between the middle meatal and ethmoid sinus specimens in the remaining 94 patients. There was a significant difference between culture rates of 63.4 per cent for middle meatal specimens and 76.3 per cent for the ethmoid sinus specimens. In analysing bacterial species, significantly more aerobic Gram negative bacteria were cultured from the ethmoid sinus specimens than from the middle meatalspecimens. This study shows that the bacteriology of the middle meatus was different from that of the ethmoid sinus. Therefore, the bacteriological findings in the middle meati may not reflect the real bacteriology in chronic sinusitis.

Obtaining electronic and atomic structure of material simultaneously is very important for developing the nano-technology. In this paper, we demonstrate that atomic and electronic structure of an interface can be extracted with combination of Gerchberg-Saxton indirect microscopy and electron spectroscopy imaging (ESI) technique. Basically, Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm includes two projections. Projection in the real space is a maximum entropy (ME) de-convolution process and in reciprocal space is an amplitude substitution process. It has been shown that Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm can extend the structural resolution to near 0.1nm. An application case of Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm to solve the atomic structure for 3C-polytypic SiC boundary is shown.

ESI spectrum processed by FFT interpolation, maximum entropy de-convolution and wavelet transformation allow us to extract 2-dimensional map of the sp2/sp3 with a sub-nanometer resolution. Grain boundary and interface at SiC are good candidates for this study, since the bond distance of Si-C is slightly less than 0.1nm which is not routinely resolvable using a FEG TEM and Si-L (99eV) and C-K-edges (283 eV) locate in a reasonable energy range. The resultant electronic structure can be compared with that calculated using WIEN97. An example of quantitative analysis on 2-dimensional sp3/sp2 map deduced from the C K-edge of ESI spectra acquired from 6H-SiC is given.

High resolution imaging technique is applied to systematically study the ∑ =3 NiSi2(111)/(115)Si and NiSi2(221)/(001)Si interfaces. The long-period boundaries of ∑ =3 NiSi2 (111)/(115)Si and NiSi2(221)/(001)Si have been shown to decompose into short period of symmetrical NiSi2 (111)/(111)Si and NiSi2 (112)/(112)Si atomic facets which are similar to the case of asymmetrical twin boundaries in NiSi2 crystal. This result is consistent with the computer simulation in grain boundary case that asymmetrical tilt boundaries which are generally of longer periods may facet on an atomic scale into short period symmetrical boundaries.

The domain-related atomic faceting interfaces have been found in both of.∑ =3 NiSi2(111)/(115)Si and NiSi2(221)/(001)Si interfaces. The coexistence of two domain-related atomic faceting interfaces in the ∑ =3 NiSi2(111)/(115)Si has also been observed in different area of an interface which are separated by a 1/4<111> type of dislocation associated with a ‘demi-step’. The Burgers vector and step of a dislocation required to separate two domain structures in the ∑ =3 NiSi2/Si interface can be derived from the CCSL model.