The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs). We aimed to identify the factors associated with depression among HCWs during the pandemic. We conducted literature search using eight electronic databases up to July 27 2022. Observational studies with more than 200 participants investigating correlates of depression in HCWs after COVID-19 outbreak were included. We used fixed- and random-effects models to pool odds ratios (ORs) across studies, and Cochran's chi-squared test and I2 statistics to assess study heterogeneity. Publication bias was evaluated by funnel plots. Thirty-five studies involving 44,362 HCWs met the inclusion criteria. Female (OR=1.50, 95% CI [1.23,1.84]), single (OR=1.36, 95% CI [1.21,1.54]), nurse (OR=1.69, 95% CI [1.28,2.25]), history of mental diseases (OR=2.53, 95% CI [1.78,3.58]), frontline (OR=1.79, 95% CI [1.38,2.32]), health anxiety due to COVID-19 (OR=1.88, 95% CI [1.29,2.76]), working in isolation wards (OR=1.98, 95% CI [1.38,2.84]), and insufficient personal protective equipment (OR=1.49, 95% CI [1.33,1.67]) were associated with increased risk of depression. Instead, HCWs with a positive professional prospect (OR=0.34, 95% CI [0.24,0.49]) were less likely to be depressed. This meta-analysis provides up-to-date evidence on the factors linked to depression among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the persistent threats posed by COVID-19, early screening is crucial for the intervention and prevention of depression in HCWs.

During the Neolithic and Bronze Age, goods and ideas moved between Central Asia and the Chinese Central Plain via north-western China. While the crops, animals and technologies exchanged are well documented, the local and social bases of these interactions are poorly known. Here, the authors use petrographic analysis of ceramic sherds from Gansu Province, China, to document the local production of pottery vessels and their circulation between sites. Individual vessel forms are associated with multiple paste recipes indicating the production of similar products by different communities of practice. It is argued the circulation of these vessels forged inter-community relationships. In aggregate, these local networks underpinned longer-distance exchange between Central and East Asia.

There is a pressing need for studies of large sample sizes and variable age ranges to delineate the mechanism underlying reduced visual attention to biological motion in autism. Here we focused on the basic movement of the eyes or mouth in guiding attention. The stimuli face blinked continuously or moved the mouth silently. In a large sample (145 autistic and 132 non-autistic participants) ranging from 3 to 17 years old, we assessed whether autistic participants showed reduced visual attention to basic movement of the eyes or mouth using a free-viewing eye-tracking task. We found that, like non-autistic participants, autistic participants increased their eye-looking time when viewing the blinking face and increased mouth-looking time when viewing the mouth-moving face. Furthermore, these effects were stable across ages, suggesting the presence of a developmentally stable attentional capture by basic face movements in both groups. We also found that autistic participants looked less at basic face movement than non-autistic participants. Our results suggest that autistic children and adolescents could modulate their visual attention to the basic face movements, but their modulation effect is weaker than non-autistic participants. These results further our understanding of the mechanism underlying visual attention-to-face movement in autistic people.

Glacier surface albedo dominates glacier energy balance, thus strongly affecting the glacier mass balance. Glaciers in the Western Nyainqentanglha Mountains (WNM) experienced large mass losses in the past two decades, but long-term changes of glacier albedo and its drivers are less understood. In this study, we retrieved glacier albedo with MODIS reflectance data to characterize the spatiotemporal variability of albedo from 2001 to 2020. Air temperature, rainfall, snowfall and deposition of light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) were evaluated as potential drivers of the observed variability in glacier albedo. The results showed that: (1) the glacier albedo experienced large inter-annual fluctuations, with the mean albedo being 0.552 ± 0.002 and a clear decreasing trend of 0.0443 ± 2 × 10−4 dec−1 in the WNM. The fastest decline was observed in autumn and in the vicinity of the equilibrium line altitude, indicating an extended melt season and an expansion of the ablation region to higher elevation; (2) local meteorology and LAIs deposition are the main drivers of glacier albedo change, but their effects on seasonal albedos are different due to different glacier processes. Both air temperature and the balance between liquid and solid precipitation affect summer and autumn albedos due to glacier ablation. Air temperature is the main driver of spring and winter albedos due to sublimation and metamorphism of snow, while snowfall carried by westerlies has limited influence on these two seasonal albedos due to less snowfall. LAIs mainly affect spring albedo due to high concentration coupled with the southerly wind in spring. These findings highlight the significance of changes in glacier albedo and the key role of local meteorology and LAIs deposition in determining such changes, which play an important role in glaciological and cryosphere processes.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Self-monitoring (SM) improves adherence to low-fat low-calorie (LFLC) diet for weight management. Ketogenic diet (KD) is a promising alternative to LFLC, however, it is unclear whether SM improves KD adherence. We examined the association between SM and KD adherence during the first 12 weeks of a 6-month technology-assisted lifestyle intervention. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We included 30 (50.8 ± 12.4 years, 70% female) overweight/obese (body mass index: 37.1 ± 7.2 kg/m2) participants in the analysis. They received personalized KD goals with very low-carbohydrate (22–62 g/d), moderate protein (52 -87 g/d), and high-fat (115 - 219g/d) and calorie intake goals (1338–2554 kcal/d). Additionally, participants performed daily diet, exercise, and weight SM. Adherence to KD was measured by (1) self-monitored dietary intake, and (2) percent of days in ketosis state (blood ketone≥0.5 mmol/L) captured by a fingerstick blood ketone meter. SM frequency was defined as percent of days participant logged food intake, wore fitness tracker, and weighed body weight. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to examine the correlation between SM in diet, exercise, and weight with KD adherence. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Percentage of days participants SM for diet, exercise, and weight was 58.4 ± 32.2%, 66.4 ± 30.9%, and 59.0 ± 32.6%, respectively. Correlational analysis more frequent diet SM was positively correlated with more days in ketosis (r = 0.58, p = 0.003), higher fat intake (r = 0.68, p = 0.0001), and higher calorie intake (r = 0.67, p = 0.002) within the fat and calorie goals set; more frequent weight SM was positively correlated with more days in ketosis (r = 0.48, p = 0.02), higher fat intake (r = 0.45, p = 0.023), and higher calorie intake (r = 0.44, p = 0.027). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: We found that diet and weight SM were positively associated with fat and calorie intake, as well as days in ketosis. Given the reported promising effect of KD on weight loss and the challenges of adhering to KD, our findings suggested that promoting SM on diet and weight might be a promising avenue for improving KD adherence leading to successful weight loss.

In recent years, obesity is a growing pandemic in the world and has likely contributed to increasing the incidence of obesity-related diseases. Fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) is the first gene discovered which has a close connection with fat. Recent studies suggested that FTO gene has played an important role in the molecular mechanisms of many diseases. Obesity is considered to be a hereditary disease and can evoke many kinds of diseases, including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cancer, etc., whose exact possible molecular mechanisms responsible for the effect of FTO on obesity and obesity-related diseases remain largely unknown. In this review, we comprehensively discuss the correlation between FTO gene and obesity, cancer, PCOS, T2DM, as well as the molecular mechanism involved in these diseases.

The plant Camellia fascicularis, belonging to family Theaceae, has high ornamental and medicinal value, and rare gene resources for genetic improvement of Camellia crops, but is currently threatened with extinction because of the unique and extremely small wild populations. Molecular markers have clarified the wild plant species’ genetic diversity structure, new gene resources and relationship with crops. This will be beneficial for conservation of these valuable crop-related wild species and crop improvement. In this study, we identified 95,979 microsatellite loci from 155,011 transcriptome unigenes, and developed 14 polymorphic expressed sequence tag-derived simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) microsatellite markers for C. fascicularis. The number of alleles (Na) per locus was 2–8 with a mean of 4.86. The genetic diversity of 40 individuals from four natural populations of C. fascicularis was analysed using these polymorphic markers. The number of alleles (Na) for EST-SSR ranged from 2 to 5, with the expected heterozygosities (He) and observed heterozygosities (Ho) in all loci ranging from 0.183 to 0.683, and from 0.201 to 0.700, respectively, implying a rich genetic variation present in wild C. fascicularis populations. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis among four populations, using the 14 EST-SSR markers developed in this study, grouped 40 individuals into three groups, which coincide with their geographic distribution. These results showed that 14 EST-SSR markers are available for the analysis of genetic variation in C. fascicularis populations and genetic improvement of new Camellias cultivars by interspecific hybridization, and are beneficial for conservation of the endangered species.

China's environmental crackdowns under Xi Jinping have led to a sweeping shutdown of private enterprises. To circumvent this, enterprises have developed different survival strategies including direct lobbying to government officials and indirect lobbying through business associations. Based on comparative case studies of environmental lobbying in Chinese cities, our research finds that larger enterprises, enjoying more economic leverage, tend to lobby directly using their own political connections to sway environmental enforcement. By contrast, smaller enterprises are excluded from these clientelist networks and have to lobby through business associations, the effectiveness of which hinges on the support of large enterprises. Therefore, we argue that although the Chinese government's increasingly stringent environmental policies have shrunk the lobbying (and living) space for private enterprises, the existence of environmental clientelism protects economically powerful and politically connected private enterprises but sacrifices the others in the implementation of environmental policies.

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.

We propose a 2.1 μm high-energy dissipative soliton resonant (DSR) fiber laser system based on a mode-locked seed laser and dual-stage amplifiers. In the seed laser, the nonlinear amplifying loop mirror technique is employed to realize mode-locking. The utilization of an in-band pump scheme and long gain fiber enables effectively exciting 2.1 μm pulses. A section of ultra-high numerical aperture fiber (UHNAF) with normal dispersion and high nonlinearity and an output coupler with a large coupling ratio are used to achieve a high-energy DSR system. By optimizing the UHNAF length to 55 m, a 2103.7 nm, 88.1 nJ DSR laser with a 3-dB spectral bandwidth of 0.48 nm and a pulse width of 17.1 ns is obtained under a proper intracavity polarization state and pump power. The output power and conversion efficiency are 0.233 W and 4.57%, respectively, both an order of magnitude higher than those of previously reported holmium-doped DSR seed lasers. Thanks to the high output power and nanosecond pulse width of the seed laser, the average power of the DSR laser is linearly scaled up to 50.4 W via a dual-stage master oscillator power amplifier system. The 3-dB spectral bandwidth broadens slightly to 0.52 nm, and no distortion occurs in the amplified pulse waveform. The corresponding pulse energy reaches 19.1 μJ, which is the highest pulse energy in a holmium-doped mode-locked fiber laser system to the best of our knowledge. Such a 2.1 μm, high-energy DSR laser with relatively wide pulse width has prospective applications in mid-infrared nonlinear frequency conversion.

Path planning is a key research issue in the field of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. In practical applications, multi-objective path planning is usually required for multi-UAVs, so this paper proposes the improved balanced artificial bee colony (IB-ABC) algorithm to optimize multi-objective path planning. The algorithm adopts the ABC algorithm that emphasizes the global search capability, which is based on iterative feedback information. It uses single-element points, multi-element points, and iteration constraints to optimize the strategies of employed bees, follower bees, and scout bees, respectively. In terms of time and priority, simulation experiments prove that the IB-ABC algorithm can balance local and global search capabilities, accelerate the speed of convergence, and realize multi-UAV path planning in complex mountain environments.

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.

This study is designed to explore the association between dietary betaine intake and risk of all-cause and cardiovascular death in patients with coronary artery diseases (CAD). In this cohort study, 1292 patients with CAD were followed up for a median of 9·2 years. Baseline dietary betaine intake was collected using a paper-based semi-quantitative FFQ and assessed according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) database and the data of betaine in common foods. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to analyse the association between dietary betaine intake and risks of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. During the follow-up periods, 259 deaths recorded in 1292 participants, of which 167 died of CVD. Patients in the highest tertile of dietary betaine intake had a lower risk of all-cause (P = 0·007) and cardiovascular death (P < 0·001) than those in the lowest tertile after adjusting for age and sex, traditional cardiovascular risk factors and other potential confounders. After further adjusting for plasma methionine metabolites and vitamins, hazard ratio across tertiles of dietary betaine intake were 1·00, 0·84 and 0·72 for all-cause mortality (P for trend = 0·124), and 1·00, 0·77 and 0·55 for cardiovascular mortality (P for trend = 0·021). Higher dietary betaine intake was associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular death after fully adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, other potential confounders and plasma methionine metabolites and vitamins. However, the association between dietary betaine intake and risk of all-cause mortality was not statistically significant after further adjusting for plasma methionine metabolites and vitamins.

With the rapid development of the national economy, the demand for electricity is also growing. Thermal power generation accounts for the highest proportion of power generation, and coal is the most commonly used combustion material. The massive combustion of coal has led to serious environmental pollution. It is significant to improve energy conversion efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions effectively. In this paper, an extreme learning machine model based on improved Kalman particle swarm optimization (ELM-IKPSO) is proposed to establish the boiler combustion model. The proposed modeling method is applied to the combustion modeling process of a 300 MWe pulverized coal boiler. The simulation results show that compared with the same type of modeling method, ELM-IKPSO can better predict the boiler thermal efficiency and NOx emission concentration and also show better generalization performance. Finally, multi-objective optimization is carried out on the established model, and a set of mutually non-dominated boiler combustion solutions is obtained.