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.

In strong-field physics experiments with ultraintense lasers, a single-shot cross-correlator (SSCC) is essential for fast optimization of the pulse contrast and meaningful comparison with theory for each pulse shot. To simultaneously characterize an ultrashort pulse and its long pedestal, the SSCC device must have both a high resolution and a large temporal window. However, the resolution and window in all kinds of single-shot measurement contradict each other in principle. Here we propose and demonstrate a novel SSCC device with two separate measurement channels: channel-1 for the large-window pedestal measurement has a moderate resolution but a large window, while channel-2 for the ultrashort pulse measurement has a small window but a high resolution; this allows the accurate characterization of the pulse contrast in a single shot. A two-channel SSCC device with a 200-fs resolution and 114-ps window has been developed and tested for its application in ultraintense lasers at 800 nm.

Robots with human-like appearances and structures are usually well accepted in the human–robot interaction. However, compared with human-like appearances and structures, the human-like motion plays a much more critical role in improving the efficiency and safety of the human–robot interaction. This paper develops a human-like motion planner based on human arm motion patterns (HAMPs) to fulfill the human–robot object handover tasks. First, a handover task is divided into two sub-tasks, that is, pick-up and delivery, and HAMPs are extracted for these two sub-tasks separately. The resulting HAMPs are analyzed, and a method is proposed to select HAMPs that can represent the characteristics of the human arm motion. Then the factors affecting the duration of the movement primitives are analyzed, and the relationship between the duration of the movement primitives and these factors is determined. Based on the selected HAMP and the computed duration of the movement primitives, a human-like motion planning framework is developed to generate the human-like motion for the robotic arms. Finally, this motion planner is verified by the human–robot handover experiments using a KUKA IIWA robot. It shows that the resulting trajectories can correctly reflect the relative relationship between the joints in the human arm motion and are very close to the recorded human arm trajectories. Furthermore, the proposed motion planning method is compared with the motion planning method based on minimum total potential energy. The results show that the proposed method can generate more human-like motion.

The sedimentary characteristics and preservation potential of lacustrine carbonates provide fundamental information on climate change. The lacustrine carbonate deposition in the Eocene Dongying Depression was investigated using a combination of mineralogical, petrological and geochemical analyses. Micritic calcite/dolomite, granular calcite, columnar calcite, calcareous shell fragments and reworked detrital calcite were identified. Varying patterns of carbonates (VPC) including lithofacies, geochemical indicators and carbonate distribution were revealed in the Dongying Depression: (i) carbonates hardly precipitate in the nearshore area (average 12 wt %); (ii) carbonate content is high (average 53 wt %) in the shallow lake and (iii) gradually decreases to reach a minimum (average 24 wt %) in the deeper part of the lake. Comparison of VPC in four Holocene lakes (the Qinghai Lake and Barkol Lake in China, Oro Lake in Canada and Montcortès Lake in Spain) with the Dongying Depression suggests that four distinct lake stages were developed, namely the terrigenous clastic/gypsum-rich, carbonate-rich, carbonate-decreasing and carbonate-poor stages. A depositional model of lacustrine carbonates influenced by detrital influx, climate, palaeoproductivity and salinity is developed. This study contributes to the understanding of the genetic mechanisms of lacustrine carbonate deposition to reconstruct environmental changes.

Schistosomiasis has been subjected to extensive control efforts in the People's Republic of China (China) which aims to eliminate the disease by 2030. We describe baseline results of a longitudinal cohort study undertaken in the Dongting and Poyang lakes areas of central China designed to determine the prevalence of Schistosoma japonicum in humans, animals (goats and bovines) and Oncomelania snails utilizing molecular diagnostics procedures. Data from the Chinese National Schistosomiasis Control Programme (CNSCP) were compared with the molecular results obtained.

Sixteen villages from Hunan and Jiangxi provinces were surveyed; animals were only found in Hunan. The prevalence of schistosomiasis in humans was 1.8% in Jiangxi and 8.0% in Hunan determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), while 18.3% of animals were positive by digital droplet PCR. The CNSCP data indicated that all villages harboured S. japonicum-infected individuals, detected serologically by indirect haemagglutination assay (IHA), but very few, if any, of these were subsequently positive by Kato-Katz (KK).

Based on the outcome of the IHA and KK results, the CNSCP incorporates targeted human praziquantel chemotherapy but this approach can miss some infections as evidenced by the results reported here. Sensitive molecular diagnostics can play a key role in the elimination of schistosomiasis in China and inform control measures allowing for a more systematic approach to treatment.

We present a theoretical study of mode evolution in high-power distributed side-coupled cladding-pumped (DSCCP) fiber amplifiers. A semi-analytical model taking the side-pumping schemes, transverse mode competition, and stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering into consideration has been built, which can model the static and dynamic mode evolution in high-power DSCCP fiber amplifiers. The mode evolution behavior has been investigated with variation of the fiber amplifier parameters, such as the pump power distribution, the length of the DSCCP fiber, the averaged coupling coefficient, the number of the pump cores and the arrangement of the pump cores. Interestingly, it revealed that static mode evolution induced by transverse mode competition is different from the dynamic evolution induced by stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering. This shows that the high-order mode experiences a slightly higher gain in DSCCP fiber amplifiers, but the mode instability thresholds for DSCCP fiber amplifiers are higher than those for their end-coupled counterparts. By increasing the pump core number and reducing the averaged coupling coefficient, the mode instability threshold can be increased, which indicates that DSCCP fibers can provide additional mitigation strategies of dynamic mode instability.

A kind of tapered segmented cladding fiber (T-SCF) with large mode area (LMA) is proposed, and the mode and amplification characteristics of T-SCFs with concave, linear, and convex tapered structures are investigated based on finite-element method (FEM) and few-mode steady-state rate equation. Simulation results indicate that the concave tapered structure can introduce high loss for high-order modes (HOMs) that is advantageous to achieve single-mode operation, whereas the convex tapered structure provides large effective mode area that can help to mitigate nonlinear effects. Meanwhile, the small-to-large amplification scheme shows further advantages on stripping off HOMs, and the large-to-small amplification scheme decreases the heat load density induced by the high-power pump. Moreover, single-mode propagation performance, effective mode area, and heat load density of the T-SCF are superior to those of tapered step index fiber (T-SIF). These theoretical model and numerical results can provide instructive suggestions for designing high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers.

A 1178 J near diffraction limited 527 nm laser is realized in a complete closed-loop adaptive optics (AO) controlled off-axis multi-pass amplification laser system. Generated from a fiber laser and amplified by the pre-amplifier and the main amplifier, a 1053 nm laser beam with the energy of 1900 J is obtained and converted into a 527 nm laser beam by a KDP crystal with 62% conversion efficiency, 1178 J and beam quality of 7.93 times the diffraction limit (DL). By using a complete closed-loop AO configuration, the static and dynamic wavefront distortions of the laser system are measured and compensated. After correction, the diameter of the circle enclosing 80% energy is improved remarkably from 7.93DL to 1.29DL. The focal spot is highly concentrated and the 1178 J, 527 nm near diffraction limited laser is achieved.

The clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 were analysed to determine the factors influencing the prognosis and virus shedding time to facilitate early detection of disease progression. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationships among prognosis, clinical characteristics and laboratory indexes. The predictive value of this model was assessed with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, calibration and internal validation. The viral shedding duration was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method, and the prognostic factors were analysed by univariate log-rank analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model. A retrospective study was carried out with patients with COVID-19 in Tianjin, China. A total of 185 patients were included, 27 (14.59%) of whom were severely ill at the time of discharge and three (1.6%) of whom died. Our findings demonstrate that patients with an advanced age, diabetes, a low PaO2/FiO2 value and delayed treatment should be carefully monitored for disease progression to reduce the incidence of severe disease. Hypoproteinaemia and the fever duration warrant special attention. Timely interventions in symptomatic patients and a time from symptom onset to treatment <4 days can shorten the duration of viral shedding.

Wooden columns surmounted by bracket sets are a key element of the great buildings of Imperial China and have received a tremendous amount of attention from scholars and architectural professionals. This article revisits the question of their symbolic function during the Han dynasty (206 bce–ce 220). In addition to their structural role, column and bracket sets fulfilled important social and cultural needs related to the representation of celestial and spiritual qualities. Understood variously as pillars of heaven, gates of heaven, the constellations, Kunlun Mountain and celestial plants, column and bracket sets engendered a rich iconography that served to bond architecture closely to the heavens.

High-power femtosecond lasers beyond $5~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ are attractive for strong-field physics with mid-infrared (IR) fields but are difficult to scale up. In optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) at mid-IR wavelengths, a nonlinear crystal is vital, and its transmittance, dispersion, nonlinear coefficient and size determine the achievable power and wavelength. OPCPA beyond $5~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ routinely relies on semiconductor crystals because common oxide crystals are not transparent in this spectral range. However, the small size and low damage threshold of semiconductor crystals fundamentally limit the peak power to gigawatts. In this paper, we design a terawatt-class OPCPA system at $5.2~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ based on a new kind of oxide crystal of $\text{La}_{3}\text{Ga}_{5.5}\text{Nb}_{0.5}\text{O}_{14}$ (LGN). The extended transparent range, high damage threshold, superior phase-matching characteristics and large size of LGN enable the generation of 0.13 TW seven-cycle pulses at $5.2~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$. This design fully relies on the state-of-the-art OPCPA technology of an octave-spanning ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser and a thin-disk Yb:YAG laser, offering the performance characteristics of high power, a high repetition rate and a stable carrier–envelope phase.

Establishment of cellular polarity is one of the key events during oocyte maturation. Inscuteable (Insc) has been identified as a key regulator of cell polarity during asymmetric division in Drosophila. However, the function of its evolutionarily conserved mammalian homologue, mInscuteable (mInsc), in mouse meiotic maturation is not clear. In this study, we investigated the roles of mInsc in mouse oocyte maturation. mInsc was detected at all stages of oocyte maturation. The protein level of mInsc was slightly higher at the germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) stage and remained constant during mouse oocyte maturation. The subcellular localization of mInsc overlapped with spindle microtubules. Disruption of microtubules and microfilaments caused changes in the localization of mInsc. Depletion or overexpression of mInsc significantly decreased the maturation rates of mouse oocytes. Depletion of mInsc significantly affected asymmetric division, spindle assembly, alignments of chromosomes and actin cap formation. Taken together, our results demonstrated that mInsc regulates meiotic spindle organization during mouse meiotic maturation.

The trace elements in quartz, Al and Ti, contain considerable information about mineral genesis, and determining their concentrations is of great importance in geology. Electron probe microanalysis has the advantages of non-destructive testing and high spatial resolution; however, it is a challenge to improve the accuracy and precision of trace element detection using this method. The important factors affecting accuracy include the fragility of quartz lattices at high beam currents and the methods used to determine the background. In this paper, the peaks of Al-Kα and Ti-Kα, and their backgrounds, were found to exhibit intensity variations at high beam currents and small beam diameters; therefore, it is necessary to select a large beam diameter (up to 20 µm) to avoid variations in intensity at high currents (500 nA). For background determination of Al, a multipoint background method is proposed to determine the background value, which greatly improves the accuracy of the results. For Ti, the choice of background measurement does not affect the result. In addition, it is verified that the background obtained from other quartz samples can be used as the background of an unknown quartz sample, which reduces the analysis time and minimizes sample damage.

Pulse contrast is a crucial parameter of high peak-power lasers since the prepulse noise may disturb laser–plasma interactions. Contrast measurement is thus a prerequisite to tackle the contrast challenge in high peak-power lasers. This paper presents the progress review of single-shot cross-correlator (SSCC) for real-time contrast characterization. We begin with the key technologies that enable an SSCC to simultaneously possess high dynamic range ($10^{10}$), large temporal window (50–70 ps) and high fidelity. We also summarize the instrumentation of SSCC prototypes and their applications on five sets of petawatt laser facilities in China. Finally, we discuss how to extend contrast measurements from time domain to spatiotemporal domain. Real-time and high-dynamic-range contrast measurements, provided by SSCC, can not only characterize various complex noises in high peak-power lasers but also guide the system optimization.

In situ X-raydiffraction measurements on almandine, (Fe0.86Mg0.07Mn0.07)3Al2Si3O12, were performed using a heating diamond-anvil cell instrument with synchrotron radiation at Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facilityup to 27.7 GPa and 533 K. The pressure-volume-temperature data were fitted to a third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. The isothermal bulk modulus of K0 = 177±2 GPa, a temperature derivative of the bulk modulus of (∂K/∂T)P= –0.032±0.016 GPaK–1 and a thermal expansion coefficient (α0) of (3.1±0.7)×10–5 K–1 were obtained. This is the first time that the temperature derivative of the bulk modulus of almandine has been determined at high pressure and high temperature. Combining these results with previous results, the compositional dependence of the bulk modulus, thermal expansion, and temperature derivative of the bulk modulus are discussed.