This study aims to evaluate the impact of low-carbohydrate diet, balanced dietary guidance and pharmacotherapy on weight loss among individuals with overweight or obesity over a period of 3 months. The study involves 339 individuals with overweight or obesity and received weight loss treatment at the Department of Clinical Nutrition at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023. The primary outcome is the percentage weight loss. Among the studied patients, the majority chose low-carbohydrate diet as their primary treatment (168 (49·56 %)), followed by balanced dietary guidance (139 (41·00 %)) and pharmacotherapy (32 (9·44 %)). The total percentage weight loss for patients who were followed up for 1 month, 2 months and 3 months was 4·98 (3·04, 6·29) %, 7·93 (5·42, 7·93) % and 10·71 (7·74, 13·83) %, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified low-carbohydrate diet as an independent factor associated with percentage weight loss of ≥ 3 % and ≥ 5 % at 1 month (OR = 0·461, P < 0·05; OR = 0·349, P < 0·001). The results showed that a low-carbohydrate diet was an effective weight loss strategy in the short term. However, its long-term effects were comparable to those observed with balanced dietary guidance and pharmacotherapy.

We present a systematic study on the effects of small aspect ratios $\varGamma$ on heat transport in liquid metal convection with a Prandtl number of $Pr=0.029$. The study covers $1/20\le \varGamma \le 1$ experimentally and $1/50\le \varGamma \le 1$ numerically, and a Rayleigh number $Ra$ range of $4\times 10^3 \le Ra \le 7\times 10^{9}$. It is found experimentally that the local effective heat transport scaling exponent $\gamma$ changes with both $Ra$ and $\varGamma$, attaining a $\varGamma$-dependent maximum value before transition-to-turbulence and approaches $\gamma =0.25$ in the turbulence state as $Ra$ increases. Just above the onset of convection, Shishkina (Phys. Rev. Fluids, vol 6, 2021, 090502) derived a length scale $\ell =H/(1+1.49\varGamma ^{-2})^{1/3}$. Our numerical study shows $Ra_{\ell }$, i.e. $Ra$ based on $\ell$, serves as a proper control parameter for heat transport above the onset with $Nu-1=0.018(1+0.34/\varGamma ^2)(Ra/Ra_{c,\varGamma }-1)$. Here $Ra_{c,\varGamma }$ represents the $\varGamma$-dependent critical $Ra$ for the onset of convection and $Nu$ is the Nusselt number. In the turbulent state, for a general scaling law of $Nu-1\sim Ra^\alpha$, we propose a length scale $\ell = H/(1+1.49\varGamma ^{-2})^{1/[3(1-\alpha )]}$. In the case of turbulent liquid metal convection with $\alpha =1/4$, our measurement shows that the heat transport will become weakly dependent on $\varGamma$ with $Ra_{\ell }\equiv Ra/(1+1.49\varGamma ^{-2})^{4/3} \ge 7\times 10^5$. Finally, once the flow becomes time-dependent, the growth rate of $Nu$ with $Ra$ declines compared with the linear growth rate in the convection state. A hysteresis is observed in a $\varGamma =1/3$ cell when the flow becomes time-dependent. Measurements of the large-scale circulation suggest the hysteresis is caused by the system switching from a single-roll-mode to a double-roll-mode in an oscillation state.

Using thermal convection in liquid metal, we show that strong spatial confinement not only delays the onset Rayleigh number $Ra_c$ of Rayleigh–Bénard instability but also postpones the various flow-state transitions. The $Ra_c$ and the transition to fully developed turbulence Rayleigh number $Ra_f$ depend on the aspect ratio $\varGamma$ with $Ra_c\sim \varGamma ^{-4.05}$ and $Ra_f\sim \varGamma ^{-3.01}$, implying that the stabilization effects caused by the strong spatial confinement are weaker on the transition to fully developed turbulence when compared with that on the onset. When the flow state is characterized by the supercritical Rayleigh number $Ra/Ra_{c}$ ($Ra$ is the Rayleigh number), our study shows that the transition to fully developed turbulence in strongly confined geometries is advanced. For example, while the flow becomes fully developed turbulence at $Ra\approx 200Ra_c$ in a $\varGamma =1$ cell, the same transition in a $\varGamma =1/20$ cell only requires $Ra\approx 3Ra_c$. Direct numerical simulation and linear stability analysis show that in the strongly confined regime, multiple vertically stacked roll structures appear just above the onset of convection. With an increase of the driving strength, the flow switches between different-roll states stochastically, resulting in no well-defined large-scale coherent flow. Owing to this new mechanism that only exists in systems with $\varGamma <1$, the flow becomes turbulent in a much earlier stage. These findings shed new light on how turbulence is generated in strongly confined geometries.

We investigate whether chief financial officers (CFOs) serving on U.S. corporate boards benefit shareholders in M&A transactions. We find that acquisitions made by firms with CFOs on boards have significantly better acquirer announcement returns. This is due to the CFO director’s ability to select targets with better strategic and financial fit. CFO board membership can create shareholder value if there are effective governance regimes restraining managerial entrenchment and CFOs’ interests are closely aligned with those of shareholders through equity ownership. Furthermore, sitting on boards enables CFOs to secure more and cheaper financing for their acquisitions.

Water droplets containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for coronavirus 2019 transmission, were introduced into a controlled-temperature and -humidity chamber. The SARS-CoV-2 virus with green fluorescent protein tag in droplets was used to infect Caco-2 cells, with viability assessed through flow cytometry and microscopic counting. Whereas temperature fluctuations within typical indoor ranges (20°C–30°C) had minimal impact, we observed a notable decrease in infection rate as the surrounding air’s relative humidity increased. By investigating humidity levels between 20% and 70%, we identified a threshold of ≥40% relative humidity as most effective in diminishing SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. We also found that damage of the viral proteins under high relative humidity may be responsible for the decrease in their activity. This outcome supports previous research demonstrating a rise in the concentration of reactive oxygen species within water droplets with elevated relative humidity.

Humic acid (HA) can cause environmental pollution, due to which, its removal from aqueous solutions has become an increasingly important issue. Although bentonite has an affinity for HA, the adsorption capacity of raw bentonite is still poor. As a commonly used organic modifier, 3-aminopropyltriethoxyorganosilane (APTES) exhibits excellent flocculation capability for HA. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of the addition of 3-aminopropyltriethoxyorganosilane (APTES) to raw bentonite to increase the adsorption of HA from aqueous solution. The experimental results showed that, when the solid-to-liquid ratio was 1:1, the amino-modified bentonite exhibited the highest adsorption capacity (qmax = 272.23 mg g-1). The adsorption affinity of amino-modified bentonite was mainly determined by the number of amino groups loaded onto its surface. The adsorption of HA on amino-modified bentonite occurred through electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding. These findings demonstrate the excellent potential of amino-modified bentonite in effectively remediating HA pollution.

As frontline workers, pharmacists often face significant work stress, especially in psychiatric settings. A multicenter cross-sectional design was conducted in 41 psychiatric hospitals. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale–21 (DASS-21) was used to measure the mental health of 636 pharmacists. We also collected demographic data and work-related variables. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was 20.60%, 22.96% and 8.96%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression showed that several common factors were associated with depression, anxiety and stress, including professional identity (odds ratio [OR] = 0.132, 0.381 and 0.352) and verbal violence (OR = 2.068, 2.615 and 2.490). Those who were satisfied with their job were less likely to develop depression (OR = 0.234) or anxiety (OR = 0.328). We found specific factors associated with mental health. Older age (OR = 1.038) and perceived negative impact (OR = 2.398) of COVID-19 on medical work were associated with anxiety, and those with frontline experience with COVID-19 patients (OR = 2.306) were more likely to experience stress. More than one-fifth of pharmacists in psychiatric hospitals experienced symptoms of depression or anxiety during the pandemic, highlighting the need for policy change to improve workplace conditions and psychological well-being for this professional group.

By combining the technique of energy selective surface and frequency selective rasorber, an energy selective rasorber is proposed, which performs selective energy protection in the low communication frequency band (0.8–2 GHz) and wave-absorbing property in the high-frequency band (6–18 GHz). The design consists of two layers, of which the bottom one contains a lumped diode structure for energy selection function in the transmission band, while together with the top layer, they perform a wideband wave absorbing function. The simulated and measured results agree well with each other, and both show good absorption in 6–18 GHz and energy-selective property around 1.86 GHz. That is, when the incident power changes from −30 to 14 dBm, the reflection coefficient changes from below −22 dB to above −2 dB, while the transmission coefficient changes from above −3 dB to below −17 dB.

The relationship between erythrocyte membrane n-3 PUFA and breast cancer risk is controversial. We aimed to examine the associations of erythrocyte membrane n-3 PUFA with odds of breast cancer among Chinese women by using a relatively large sample size. A case–control study was conducted including 853 newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed breast cancer cases and 892 frequency-matched controls (5-year interval). Erythrocyte membrane n-3 PUFA were measured by GC. Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline were used to quantify the association between erythrocyte membrane n-3 PUFA and odds of breast cancer. Erythrocyte membrane α-linolenic acid (ALA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and total n-3 PUFA were inversely and non-linearly associated with odds of breast cancer. The OR values (95 % CI), comparing the highest with the lowest quartile (Q), were 0·57 (0·43, 0·76), 0·43 (0·32, 0·58) and 0·36 (0·27, 0·49) for ALA, DPA and total n-3 PUFA, respectively. Erythrocyte membrane EPA and DHA were linearly and inversely associated with odds of breast cancer ((EPA: ORQ4 v. Q1 (95 % CI) = 0·59 (0·45, 0·79); DHA: ORQ4 v. Q1 (95 % CI) = 0·50 (0·37, 0·67)). The inverse associations were observed between ALA and odds of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, and between DHA and oestrogen receptor+ breast cancer. This study showed that erythrocyte membrane total and individual n-3 PUFA were inversely associated with odds of breast cancer. Other factors, such as menopause and hormone receptor status, may warrant further investigation when examining the association between n-3 PUFA and odds of breast cancer.

We present an experimental study of Rayleigh–Bénard convection using liquid metal alloy gallium-indium-tin as the working fluid with a Prandtl number of $Pr=0.029$. The flow state and the heat transport were measured in a Rayleigh number range of $1.2\times 10^{4} \le Ra \le 1.3\times 10^{7}$. The temperature fluctuation at the cell centre is used as a proxy for the flow state. It is found that, as $Ra$ increases from the lower end of the parameter range, the flow evolves from a convection state to an oscillation state, a chaotic state and finally a turbulent state for $Ra>10^5$. The study suggests that the large-scale circulation in the turbulent state is a residual of the cell structure near the onset of convection, which is in contrast with the case of $Pr\sim 1$, where the cell structure is transiently replaced by high order flow modes before the emergence of the large-scale circulation in the turbulent state. The evolution of the flow state is also reflected by the heat transport characterised by the Nusselt number $Nu$ and the probability density function (p.d.f.) of the temperature fluctuation at the cell centre. It is found that the effective local heat transport scaling exponent $\gamma$, i.e. $Nu\sim Ra^{\gamma }$, changes continuously from $\gamma =0.49$ at $Ra\sim 10^4$ to $\gamma =0.25$ for $Ra>10^6$. Meanwhile, the p.d.f. at the cell centre gradually evolves from a Gaussian-like shape before the transition to turbulence to an exponential-like shape in the turbulent state. For $Ra>10^6$, the flow shows self-similar behaviour, which is revealed by the universal shape of the p.d.f. of the temperature fluctuation at the cell centre and a $Nu=0.19Ra^{0.25}$ scaling for the heat transport.

This study examined the influences of coated folic acid (CFA) and coated riboflavin (CRF) on bull performance, nutrients digestion and ruminal fermentation. Forty-eight Angus bulls based on a randomised block and 2 × 2 factorial design were assigned to four treatments. The CFA of 0 or 6 mg of folic acid/kg DM was supplemented in diets with CRF 0 or 60 mg riboflavin (RF)/kg DM. Supplementation of CRF in diets with CFA had greater increase in daily weight gain and feed efficiency than in diets without CFA. Supplementation with CFA or CRF enhanced digestibility of DM, organic matter, crude protein, neutral-detergent fibre and non-fibre carbohydrate. Ruminal pH and ammonia N content decreased and total volatile fatty acids concentration and acetate to propionate ratio elevated for CFA or CRF addition. Supplement of CFA or CRF increased the activities of fibrolytic enzymes and the numbers of total bacteria, protozoa, fungi, dominant fibrolytic bacteria and Prevotella ruminicola. The activities of α-amylase, protease and pectinase and the numbers of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens and Ruminobacter amylophilus were increased by CFA but were unaffected by CRF. Blood concentration of folate elevated and homocysteine decreased for CFA addition. The CRF supplementation elevated blood concentrations of folate and RF. These findings suggested that CFA or CRF inclusion had facilitating effects on performance and ruminal fermentation, and combined addition of CFA and CRF had greater increase in performance than CFA or CRF addition alone in bulls.

Root-lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.) are a group of economically important pathogens that have caused serious economic losses in many crops. In 2019, root-lesion nematodes were recovered from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) root samples collected from Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China (PRC). Extracted nematodes were disinfected, and one individual female was cultured on a carrot disc for propagation at 25 °C by parthenogenesis and designated the SC isolate. Afterwards, the isolate was identified on the basis of morphometric and molecular markers. Both morphometric characters and molecular analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region gene (ITS) of ribosomal DNA, the D2-D3 expansion region of the 28S rDNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtDNA-COI) gene revealed that the species of root-lesion nematode was Pratylenchus scribneri. The Bayesian tree inferred from the ITS rDNA, 28S rDNA and mtDNA-COI gene sequences also showed that this isolate formed a highly supported clade with other P. scribneri isolates. The pathogenicity of the root-lesion nematode SC isolate on tomato was assessed, showing that tomato was a suitable host for P. scribneri. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. scribneri on tomato in Sichuan Province, PRC. These are also the first molecular data obtained from P. scribneri on tomato in the PRC, and the pathogenicity of P. scribneri to tomato was studied for the first time. This study provides scientific data for the detection, identification and control of tomato root-lesion nematode disease.

The provenance and tectonic setting of the Lower–Middle Triassic clastic sediments from the Napo basin, South China, have been examined here using detrital modes, whole-rock geochemistry and detrital zircon U–Pb ages. Field investigations indicate that these sediments consist of fan delta, slope and turbidity fan facies with dominantly southward palaeocurrent directions. Detrital modes and geochemical characteristics of the clastic rocks indicate that they were derived from mixed magmatic arc and Palaeozoic successions in a continental island arc setting, with no significant sediment recycling. The U–Pb age spectra of sandstone detrital zircons from different stratigraphic positions are similar, with one major group (300–230 Ma), two subordinate groups (400–320 Ma and 480–420 Ma, respectively) and two scattered groups (1200–800 Ma and 2000–1700 Ma, respectively). Thus, we consider that the north late Permian – Middle Triassic volcanic rocks and the uplifted Palaeozoic sedimentary/volcanic sequences constituted the predominant sources. The detritus derived from the late Permian Emeishan mafic rocks is subordinate and limited. The pre-Devonian zircons are likely sedimentary-recycled or magmatic-captured instead of directly derived from the early Palaeozoic orogen (e.g. Yunkai massif) and Neoproterozoic Jiangnan orogen because of the topographic barrier of a magmatic arc and carbonate platform. Considering the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the volcanic arc and ophiolite, we suggest that the Triassic Napo basin was a fore-arc basin within a continental island arc setting, which developed in response to the northward subduction of the Babu–Cao Bang branch ocean beneath the South China Block.

The potential relationship between service demands and remanufacturing services (RMS) is essential to make the decision of a RMS plan accurately and improve the efficiency and benefit. In the traditional association rule mining methods, a large number of candidate sets affect the mining efficiency, and the results are not easy for customers to understand. Therefore, a mining method based on binary particle swarm optimization ant colony algorithm to discover service demands and remanufacture services association rules is proposed. This method preprocesses the RMS records, converts them into a binary matrix, and uses the improved ant colony algorithm to mine the maximum frequent itemset. Because the particle swarm algorithm determines the initial pheromone concentration of the ant colony, it avoids the blindness of the ant colony, effectively enhances the searchability of the algorithm, and makes association rule mining faster and more accurate. Finally, a set of historical RMS record data of straightening machine is used to test the validity and feasibility of this method by extracting valid association rules to guide the design of RMS scheme for straightening machine parts.

TLR3 and IL-10 play a crucial role in antiviral defence. However, there is a controversy between TLR3 rs3775291 and IL-10 rs1800871 polymorphisms and the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the two single nucleotide mutations and the risk of HBV infection by meta-analysis. Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI, China Wanfang database were searched for the case-control studies on the relationship between TLR3 rs3775291 and IL-10 rs1800871 polymorphism and susceptibility to HBV, updated to June 2020. The data were analysed by Stata 15.0 software. A total of 22 articles were included. The results showed that in the analysis of IL10 rs1800871 polymorphism and the risk of HBV infection, the pooled OR was 1.21 (95% CI 1.06–1.37), 1.28 (95% CI 1.04–1.56) and 1.20 (95% CI 1.06–1.37) and 1.40 (95% CI 1.07–1.83) in the allele model (C vs. T), dominant model (CC+CT vs. TT), recessive model (CC vs. CT+TT) and homozygous model (CC vs. TT), respectively. There was no statistical significance in the heterozygote model. A subgroup analysis of the Asian population showed similar results. The analysis of TLR3 rs3775291 polymorphism and the risk of HBV showed that in the allele model (T vs. C), the pooled OR was 1.30 (95% CI 1.05–1.61). Except for the recessive model, no significances were found in other genetic models. In conclusion, TLR3 rs3775291 and IL-10 rs1800871 polymorphisms are associated with the risk of HBV. Allele C and genotype CC at IL10 rs1800871 loci, as well as allele T and genotype TT at TLR rs3775291 loci, may increase susceptibility to Hepatitis B infection.

In laser-pointing-related applications, when only the centroid of a laser spot is considered, then the position and angular errors of the laser beam are often coupled together. In this study, the decoupling of the position and angular errors is achieved from one single spot image by utilizing a neural network technique. In particular, the successful application of the neural network technique relies on novel experimental procedures, including using an appropriate small-focal-length lens and tilting the detector, to physically enlarge the contrast of different spots. This technique, with the corresponding new system design, may prove to be instructive in the future design of laser-pointing-related systems.