Before the Omicron variant ran amok inside China in November 2022, the Chinese central government’s dynamic zero-COVID policy effectively contained the spread of the coronavirus and its variants during multiple waves of outbreaks. However, it was not without cost. This study examines the impacts of stringent lockdown interventions on urban residents’ mental health during the initial outbreak of the Omicron variant in the spring of 2022. Using survey data from 522 respondents within the same neighbourhood and a spatial quasi-experimental design, the results show that strict lockdown interventions are significantly related to higher levels of psychological distress after controlling for observed confounders and that lockdown interventions have further spillover effects on mental health for residents in adjacent residential compounds who are otherwise free. Moreover, the results show that the lack of material supplies and medical care plays a more salient role in explaining lockdown effects on psychological distress than residents’ social interaction and trust levels of COVID-19 policy. Policy and intervention implications are also discussed.

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 studies the sustainability of plastrons on superhydrophobic (SHPo) surfaces made of longitudinal micro-trenches covered by nano-grass with the main interest on hydrodynamic friction drag reduction in high-speed flows of open water, which represent the operating conditions of common watercraft. After revising the shear-driven drainage model to address the air diffusion for SHPo surfaces, the existing theories are combined to reveal the trends of how the immersion depth, air saturation level and shear stress affect the maximum attainable plastron length. Deviations from the theories by the dynamic effect at the two ends of the trench, the interfacial contaminations and turbulent fluctuation are also discussed. A combinatorial series of well-defined SHPo trench surfaces (4 cm × 7 cm in size with varying trench widths, depths, lengths and roughnesses) is microfabricated and attached underneath a 4 m long motorboat on seawater in turbulent flows up to 7.2 m s−1 (shear rate ∼83 000 s−1 and friction Reynolds number ∼5500). Because the plastron can provide a substantial slip only while its air–water interfaces are pinned (or only slightly depinned) at the trench top, two underwater cameras are employed to differentiate the pinned (and slightly depinned) interfaces from the depinned (and no) interfaces. In addition to achieving pinned plastrons on 6 cm long trenches aligned to high-speed flows in open water, the experimental results corroborate the theoretical estimations, supporting the design of SHPo surfaces for field applications.

According to the public data collected from the Health Commission of Gansu Province, China, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic during the summer epidemic cycle in 2022, the epidemiological analysis showed that the pandemic spread stability and the symptom rate (the number of confirmed cases divided by the sum of the number of asymptomatic cases and the number of confirmed cases) of COVID-19 were different among 3 main epidemic regions, Lanzhou, Linxia, and Gannan; both the symptom rate and the daily instantaneous symptom rate (daily number of confirmed cases divided by the sum of daily number of asymptomatic cases and daily number of confirmed cases) in Lanzhou were substantially higher than those in Linxia and Gannan. The difference in the food sources due to the high difference of the population ethnic composition in the 3 regions was probably the main driver for the difference of the symptom rates among the 3 regions. This work provides potential values for prevention and control of COVID-19 in different regions.

We report high-precision K isotopes, apatite U–Pb ages, whole-rock elements and Sr–Nd isotopes for the Saima nephelite syenite in the North China Craton. Trace-element and Sr–Nd–Hf–O isotope data indicate the presence of subducting sediments in the source region, while K isotopic compositions show a narrow range between –0.54 ‰ and –0.28 ‰, with an average of –0.41 ± 0.06 ‰, identical to the value of the asthenosphere. The nearly identical K isotopic compositions are low probability events compared with the K isotopic compositions of island arc lavas reported previously (–1.55 ‰ to +0.2 ‰). Although crustal contamination is consistent with the Sr–Nd–K isotopic data, alternatively we propose that the isotopic data also reconcile with the interaction between cratonic roots and the underlying convective asthenosphere, if this interaction is over prolonged periods of time. Numerical simulations successfully reproduced the observed data, if the metasomatism of the lithospheric mantle root, the source of the Saima alkaline rocks, occurred 500 Ma ago. Our study reveals that the isotopic compositions of fast-diffusion components in a lithospheric mantle metasomatized by ancient subducting melts can be effectively homogenized by convective asthenosphere through diffusion over a long time interval.

In this study, the length scaling for the boundary layer separation induced by two incident shock waves is experimentally and analytically investigated. The experiments are performed in a Mach 2.73 flow. A double-wedge shock generator with two deflection angles ($\alpha _1$ and $\alpha _2$) is employed to generate two incident shock waves. Two deflection angle combinations with an identical total deflection angle are adopted: ($\alpha _1 = 7^\circ$, $\alpha _2 = 5^\circ$) and ($\alpha _1 = 5^\circ$, $\alpha _2 = 7^\circ$). For each deflection angle combination, the flow features of the dual-incident shock wave–turbulent boundary layer interactions (dual-ISWTBLIs) under five shock wave distance conditions are examined via schlieren photography, wall-pressure measurements and surface oil-flow visualisation. The experimental results show that the separation point moves downstream with increasing shock wave distance ($d$). For the dual-ISWTBLIs exhibiting a coupling separation state, the upstream interaction length ($L_{int}$) of the separation region approximately linearly decreases with increasing $d$, and the decrease rate of $L_{int}$ with $d$ increases with the second deflection angle under the condition of an identical total deflection angle. Based on control volume analysis of mass and momentum conservations, the relation between $L_{int}$ and $d$ is analytically determined to be approximately linear for the dual-ISWTBLIs with a coupling separation region, and the slope of the linear relation obtained analytically agrees well with that obtained experimentally. Furthermore, a prediction method for $L_{int}$ of the dual-ISWTBLIs with a coupling separation region is proposed, and the relative error of the predicted $L_{int}$ in comparison with the experimental result is $\sim$10 %.

Objectives: Following a cluster of COVID-19 cases in a Singapore public hospital in April 2021, the local health authority mandated the use of N95 respirators in all inpatient wards. This increased the demand for N95 mask fit-testing to ensure that healthcare workers were donning respirators that fit their facial characteristics and hence provided protection through a good facial seal. The demand for fit-testing during the pandemic highlighted the scarcity of manpower and ergonomics concern, such as carpel tunnel syndrome experienced in long hours of qualitative fit-testing sessions. We evaluated the operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and difference in passing rate after the introduction of the quantitative method. Methods: Conventional qualitative fit-testing was conducted using manual pumping of a challenge agent, enabling the user to determine the fit of the respirator. The quantitative fit-testing protocol used a condensation particle counter (CPC) to measure the concentration of particles inside the mask and the atmosphere to determine the fit of respirator. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)–approved minimum fit factor of 100 was used as the criterion for a successful N95 respirator fit. Tubes used during quantitative fit-testing were reprocessed using thermal disinfection. Results: Quantitative mask fit-testing provided an objective numerical measure to assess adequate fit of N95 respirator, which provided users with confidence in the respirator fit. It addressed a manpower limitation issue because it did not require qualified trainers to conduct the test, and automation also prevented any potential occupational hazard from repeated actions required in qualitative fit-testing. An increase in the passing rate for N95 fit-testing from 94.5% to 95.5% was observed. However, the high cost of equipment, annual recalibration, and consumables must be considered. Conclusions: Quantitative N95 fit-testing, when adopted with careful consideration of its cost, is an approach to consider for hospital-wide fit-testing.

The land cover of the Sanjiang Plain has changed dramatically since the 1950s. Although previous studies have analysed its spatiotemporal dynamics at long time intervals, a near real-time and accurate representation of the interannual evolution of cropping patterns in this region is of far-reaching importance for rationally allocating agricultural resources and ensuring food security. Based on the 30 m and 10 m land cover datasets in 2015 and 2017–2019, the current study used Landsat-8 satellite data in 2014, 2016 and 2020 to identify paddy rice and dryland crops using a decision tree classification approach and constructed the annual cropland datasets of the Sanjiang Plain from 2014 to 2020. The results show that the overall classification accuracies of crop datasets exceeded 95%, and the Kappa coefficients were higher than 0.92. The average annual accuracies of users and producers were 93% and 94% for rice fields and 97% and 95% for dryland crops, respectively. During the 7 years, the total area of paddy fields and dryland crops decreased by 5% and 8%. However, with minor positive and negative variation between years. 24.2% of paddy rice and 42% of dryland crops has been cultivated under 4 years. The centres of gravity for both crops mainly aggregated in the central counties with the migration direction and magnitude varying interannually. The current study emphasizes the importance of establishing annual high-resolution crop datasets to track the detailed spatio-temporal trajectories of cropping patterns that are essential to support sustainable cropland management and agricultural development.

Overall diet quality during pregnancy has played an important role on maternal glucose metabolism. However, evidence based on the adherence to the dietary guideline is limited, especially for Asian populations. We aimed to examine the association between adherence to the Chinese dietary guideline measured by the Diet Balance Index for Pregnancy (DBI-P) and maternal glucose metabolism, including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) status, fasting and 2-h plasma glucose. Data were obtained from the baseline survey of the Yuexiu birth cohort. We recruited 942 pregnant women at 20–28 weeks of gestation in 2017–2018. Dietary intakes during the past month were collected using a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. The scores of DBI-P were calculated to assess dietary quality. Lower absolute values of the scores indicate higher adherence to the Chinese dietary guidelines. All participants underwent a 75 g of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Multiple linear regression and logistic regression were conducted. The Benjamini–Hochberg method was used to adjust multiple comparisons across DBI-P food components. The value of high bound score indicator, reflecting excessive total food intake, was positively associated with OGTT-2h glucose levels (β = 0·037, P = 0·029). After adjustment for multiple comparisons, the score of animal food intake was positively associated with OGTT-2 h glucose levels (β = 0·045, P = 0·045) and risk of GDM (OR = 1·105, P = 0·030). In conclusion, excessive total food intake was associated with higher postprandial glucose in pregnant women. Lower compliance with the dietary guideline for animal food was associated with both higher postprandial glucose and increased risk of GDM during pregnancy.

Soft magnetic robots have attracted tremendous interest owning to their controllability and manoeuvrability, demonstrating great prospects in a number of industrial areas. However, further explorations on the locomotion and corresponding deformation of magnetic robots with complex configurations are still challenging. In the present study, we analyse a series of soft magnetic robots with various geometric shapes under the action of the magnetic field. First, we prepared the matrix material for the robot, that is, the mixture of silicone and magnetic particles. Next, we fabricated a triangular robot whose locomotion speed and warping speed are approximately 1.5 and 9 mm/s, respectively. We then surveyed the generalised types of robots with other shapes, where the movement, grabbing, closure and flipping behaviours were fully demonstrated. The experiments show that the arching speed and grabbing speed of the cross-shaped robot are around 4.8 and 3.5 mm/s, the crawling speed of the pentagram-shaped robot is 3.5 mm/s, the pentahedron-shaped robot can finish its closure motion in 1 s and the arch-shaped robot can flip forward and backward in 0.5 s. The numerical simulation based on the finite element method has been compared with the experimental results, and they are in excellent agreement. The results are beneficial to engineer soft robots under the multi-fields, which can broaden the eyes on inventing intellectual devices and equipment.

Instrument delivery is critical part in vascular intervention surgery. Due to the soft-body structure of instruments, the relationship between manipulation commands and instrument motion is non-linear, making instrument delivery challenging and time-consuming. Reinforcement learning has the potential to learn manipulation skills and automate instrument delivery with enhanced success rates and reduced workload of physicians. However, due to the sample inefficiency when using high-dimensional images, existing reinforcement learning algorithms are limited on realistic vascular robotic systems. To alleviate this problem, this paper proposes discrete soft actor-critic with auto-encoder (DSAC-AE) that augments SAC-discrete with an auxiliary reconstruction task. The algorithm is applied with distributed sample collection and parameter update in a robot-assisted preclinical environment. Experimental results indicate that guidewire delivery can be automatically implemented after 50k sampling steps in less than 15 h, demonstrating the proposed algorithm has the great potential to learn manipulation skill for vascular robotic systems.

This paper studies the open-loop equilibrium strategies for a class of non-zero-sum reinsurance–investment stochastic differential games between two insurers with a state-dependent mean expectation in the incomplete market. Both insurers are able to purchase proportional reinsurance contracts and invest their wealth in a risk-free asset and a risky asset whose price is modeled by a general stochastic volatility model. The surplus processes of two insurers are driven by two standard Brownian motions. The objective for each insurer is to find the equilibrium investment and reinsurance strategies to balance the expected return and variance of relative terminal wealth. Incorporating the forward backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs), we derive the sufficient conditions and obtain the general solutions of equilibrium controls for two insurers. Furthermore, we apply our theoretical results to two special stochastic volatility models (Hull–White model and Heston model). Numerical examples are also provided to illustrate our results.

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.

The sequential occurrence of three layers of smooth muscle layers (SML) in human embryos and fetus is not known. Here, we investigated the process of gut SML development in human embryos and fetuses and compared the morphology of SML in fetuses and neonates. The H&E, Masson trichrome staining, and Immunohistochemistry were conducted on 6–12 gestation week human embryos and fetuses and on normal neonatal intestine. We showed that no lumen was seen in 6–7th gestation week embryonic gut, neither gut wall nor SML was developed in this period. In 8–9th gestation week embryonic and fetal gut, primitive inner circular SML (IC-SML) was identified in a narrow and discontinuous gut lumen with some vacuoles. In 10th gestation week fetal gut, the outer longitudinal SML (OL-SML) in gut wall was clearly identifiable, both the inner and outer SML expressed α-SMA. In 11–12th gestation week fetal gut, in addition to the IC-SML and OL-SML, the muscularis mucosae started to develop as revealed by α-SMA immune-reactivity beneath the developing mucosal epithelial layer. Comparing with the gut of fetuses of 11–12th week of gestation, the muscularis mucosae, IC-SML, and OL-SML of neonatal intestine displayed different morphology, including branching into glands of lamina propria in mucosa and increased thickness. In conclusions, in the human developing gut between week-8 to week-12 of gestation, the IC-SML develops and forms at week-8, followed by the formation of OL-SML at week-10, and the muscularis mucosae develops and forms last at week-12.

Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instability in convergent geometries (such as cylinders and spheres) plays a fundamental role in natural phenomena and engineering applications, e.g. supernova explosion and inertial confinement fusion. Convergent geometry refers to a system in which the interface converges and the fluids are compressed correspondingly. By applying a decomposition formula, the stretching or compression (S(C)) effect is separated from the perturbation growth as one of the main contributions, which is defined as the averaged velocity difference between two ends of the mixing zone. Starting from linear theories, the S(C) effect in planar, cylindrical and spherical geometries is derived as a function of geometrical convergence ratio, compression ratio and mixing width. Specifically, geometrical convergence stretches the mixing zone, while fluid compression compresses the mixing zone. Moreover, the contribution of geometrical convergence in the spherical geometry is more important than that in the cylindrical geometry. A series of cylindrical cases with high convergence ratio is simulated, and the growth of perturbations is compared with that of the corresponding planar cases. As a result, the theoretical results of the S(C) effect agree well with the numerical results. Furthermore, results show that the S(C) effect is a significant feature in convergent geometries. Therefore, the S(C) effect is an important part of the Bell–Plesset effect. The present work on the S(C) effect is important for further modelling of the mixing width of convergent RM instabilities.