Dietary antioxidant indices (DAI) may be potentially associated with relative telomere length (RTL) of leucocytes. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between DAI and RTL. A cross-sectional study involving 1656 participants was conducted. A generalised linear regression model and a restricted cubic spline model were used to assess the correlation of DAI and its components with RTL. Generalised linear regression analysis revealed that DAI (β = 0·005, P = 0·002) and the intake of its constituents vitamin C (β = 0·043, P = 0·027), vitamin E (β = 0·088, P < 0·001), Se (β = 0·075, P = 0·003), and Zn (β = 0·075, P = 0·023) were significantly and positively correlated with RTL. Sex-stratified analysis showed that DAI (β = 0·006, P = 0·005) and its constituents vitamin E (β = 0·083, P = 0·012), Se (β = 0·093, P = 0·006), and Zn (β = 0·092, P = 0·034) were significantly and positively correlated with RTL among females. Meanwhile, among males, only vitamin E intake (β = 0·089, P = 0·013) was significantly and positively associated with RTL. Restricted cubic spline analysis revealed linear positive associations between DAI and its constituents’ (vitamin E, Se and Zn) intake and RTL in the total population. Sex-stratified analysis revealed a linear positive correlation between DAI and its constituents’ (vitamin E, Se and Zn) intake and RTL in females. Our study found a significant positive correlation between DAI and RTL, with sex differences.

This paper focuses on the linear evolution of Mack instability modes in a hypersonic boundary layer over a flat plate that is partially coated by a compliant section. The compliant section is a thin, flexible membrane covering on a porous wall consisting of micro holes. The instability pressure could induce a vibration of the membrane, leading to a feedback to the boundary-layer fluids through the transverse velocity fluctuation. Such a process is formulated by an admittance boundary condition for the boundary-layer perturbation, which is dependent on the thickness and tension of the membrane, the properties of the porous wall, and the frequency of the Mack-mode perturbation. Using this admittance condition, the impact of the compliant coating on the Mack growth rate is studied systematically by solving the compressible Orr–Sommerfeld equations. It is found that the compliant coating could suppress the Mack instability with a frequency band in the neighbourhood of the most unstable frequency, and the stabilising frequency band widens as the membrane thickness and tension decrease, indicating a more favourable effect of a softer membrane. For a Mack mode with a specified dimensional frequency – since its dimensionless frequency, normalised by the local boundary-layer thickness and oncoming velocity, increases as it propagates downstream – the second-mode frequency band usually appears in downstream locations, and so does the stabilising effect of the membrane. Thus it is favourable to apply a compliant panel at a downstream region. In this situation, the solid–compliant junction could produce an additional scattering effect on the evolution of the Mack mode due to the sudden change of its boundary condition. The scattering effect is quantified by a transmission coefficient defined by the equivalent amplitude of the compliant-wall perturbation to the solid-wall perturbation, which can be obtained by the harmonic linearised Navier–Stokes (HLNS) approach. If the admittance is weak, then the transmission coefficient can also be predicted by an analytical solution based on the residue theorem. It is found that most of the second modes are suppressed by the scattering effect as long as the argument of the admittance is in the interval $[150^\circ, 210^\circ ]$, agreeing with most of the physical situation. The analytical predictions agree well with the HLNS calculations when the modulus of the admittance is less than $O(0.1)$.

In this paper, we present a systematic study of the nonlinear evolution of the travelling Mack modes in a Mach 3 supersonic boundary layer over a rotating cone with a $7^{\circ }$ half-apex angle using the nonlinear parabolic stability equation (NPSE). To quantify the effect of cone rotation, six cases with different rotation rates are considered, and from the same streamwise position, a pair of oblique Mack modes with the same frequency but opposite circumferential wavenumbers are introduced as the initial perturbations for NPSE calculations. As the angular rotation rate $\varOmega$ increases such that $\bar \varOmega$ (defined as the ratio of the rotation speed of the cone to the streamwise velocity at the boundary-layer edge) varies from 0 to $O(1)$, three distinguished nonlinear regimes appear, namely the oblique-mode breakdown, the generalised fundamental resonance and the centrifugal-instability-induced transition. For each regime, the mechanisms for the amplifications of the streak mode and the harmonic travelling waves are explained in detail, and the dominant role of the streak mode in triggering the breakdown of the laminar flow is particularly highlighted. Additionally, from the linear stability theory, the dominant travelling mode undergoes the greatest amplification for a moderate $\varOmega$, which, according to the $e^N$ transition-prediction method, indicates premature transition to turbulence. However, this is in contrast to the NPSE results, in which a delay of the transition onset is observed for a moderate $\varOmega$. Such a disagreement is attributed to the different nonlinear regimes appearing for different rotation rates. Therefore, the traditional transition-prediction method based on the linear instability should be carefully employed if multiple nonlinear regimes may appear.

The effects of monolaurin (ML) on the health of piglets infected with porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) have not been fully understood. This study aimed to investigate its role in blood biochemical profile, intestinal barrier function, antioxidant function and the expression of antiviral genes in piglets infected with PEDV. Thirty-two piglets were randomly divided into four groups: control group, ML group, PEDV group and ML + PEDV group. Piglets were orally administrated with ML at a dose of 100 mg/kg·BW for 7 d before PEDV infection. Results showed that PEDV infection significantly decreased D-xylose content and increased intestinal fatty acid-binding protein content, indicating that PEDV infection destroyed intestinal barrier and absorption function. While it could be repaired by ML administration. Moreover, ML administration significantly decreased plasma blood urea nitrogen and total protein content upon PEDV infection. These results suggested ML may increase protein utilisation efficiency. ML administration significantly decreased the number of large unstained cells and Hb and increased the number of leucocytes and eosinophils in the blood of PEDV-infected piglets, indicating ML could improve the immune defense function of the body. In the presence of PEDV infection, ML administration significantly increased superoxide dismutase and catalase activities in blood and colon, respectively, indicating ML could improve antioxidant capacity. Besides, ML administration reversed the expression of ISG15, IFIT3 and IL-29 throughout the small intestine and Mx1 in jejunum and ileum, indicating the body was in recovery from PEDV infection. This study suggests that ML could be used as a kind of feed additive to promote swine health upon PEDV infection.

Breast cancer is a high-risk disease with a high mortality rate among women. Chemotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of breast cancer. However, chemotherapy eventually results in tumours that are resistant to drugs. In recent years, many studies have revealed that the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling is crucial for the emergence and growth of breast tumours as well as the development of drug resistance. Additionally, drugs that target this pathway can reverse drug resistance in breast cancer therapy. Traditional Chinese medicine has the properties of multi-target and tenderness. Therefore, integrating traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine into chemotherapy provides a new strategy for reversing the drug resistance of breast tumours. This paper mainly reviews the possible mechanism of Wnt/β-catenin in promoting the process of breast tumour drug resistance, and the progress of alkaloids extracted from traditional Chinese medicine in the targeting of this pathway in order to reverse the drug resistance of breast cancer.

In this paper, we study the local receptivity of the inviscid Mack modes in hypersonic boundary layers induced by the interaction between a surface heating or cooling source (HCS) and a freestream acoustic wave. The asymptotic analysis reveals that among the three distinguished layers, i.e. the main, wall and Stokes layers, the leading-order receptivity is attributed to the interaction of the HCS-induced mean-flow distortion and the acoustic signature in the wall layer; the second-order contribution appears in the Stokes layer; the third-order contribution appears in both the main and wall layers. Interestingly, at a moderate Reynolds number, the third-order contribution to the receptivity efficiency may be quantitatively greater than the second-order one, but this does not lead to breakdown of this asymptotic theory. Assuming the HCS intensity to be sufficiently weak, the asymptotic predictions are made for four representative cases involving different Mach numbers and wall temperatures, which are compared with the results obtained by the finite-Reynolds-number theory based on either the extended compressible Orr–Sommerfeld equations or the harmonic linearised Navier–Stokes (HLNS) calculations. Taking into account the first three orders of the receptivity efficiency, the asymptotic predictions are confirmed to be sufficiently accurate even when the Reynolds number is a few thousands, and the agreement with the finite-Reynolds-number calculations is better when the wall temperature of the base flow approaches the adiabatic wall temperature. The HLNS calculations are also conducted for moderate HCS intensities. It is found that the nonlinearity does not affect the receptivity coefficient much even when the temperature distortion of the HCS reaches $80\,\%$ of the temperature at the wall.

In recent years, a Trigonorhinus sp. (Coleoptera) has caused serious damage to Caragana liouana Zhao Y. Chang and Yakovlev, a major ecological restoration shrub in China. Here, we survey the occurrence and damage pattern of Trigonorhinus sp. and its galls and compare the growth of affected and unaffected plants. Trigonorhinus sp. larvae usually infest the main trunk and lateral branches of the plant, causing the affected branches to become partially swollen and verrucose. Galls develop in stages depending on whether eggs are laid in May or July and proceed in sequence over three years from egg-laying to formation, expansion, dormancy, maturity, dormancy, maturity, and death. Galls inhibit plant development to some extent. On average, six (at least one, and no more than 18; standard error of the mean = 3) larvae occupy each gall, and the number of larvae within a gall did not significantly affect gall size. Gall size significantly affected branch dieback, and large-diameter infested branches had larger galls. This study clarifies the growth dynamics of Trigonorhinus sp. galls and provides a basis for further research into the growth mechanism of the species’ galls.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the clinical characteristics of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) PCR re-positivity after recovering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Patients (n = 1391) from Guangzhou, China, who had recovered from COVID-19 were recruited between 7 September 2021 and 11 March 2022. Data on epidemiology, symptoms, laboratory test results and treatment were analysed. In this study, 42.7% of recovered patients had re-positive result. Most re-positive patients were asymptomatic, did not have severe comorbidities, and were not contagious. The re-positivity rate was 39%, 46%, 11% and 25% in patients who had received inactivated, mRNA, adenovirus vector and recombinant subunit vaccines, respectively. Seven independent risk factors for testing re-positive were identified, and a predictive model was constructed using these variables. The predictors of re-positivity were COVID-19 vaccination status, previous SARs-CoV-12 infection prior to the most recent episode, renal function, SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibody levels and white blood cell count. The predictive model could benefit the control of the spread of COVID-19.

Recently, Scholten and Read (2014) found new violations of dominance in intertemporal choice. Although adding a small receipt before a delayed payment or adding a small delayed receipt after an immediate receipt makes the prospect objectively better, it decreases the preference for that prospect (better is worse). Conversely, although adding a small payment before a delayed receipt or adding a small delayed payment after an immediate payment makes the prospect objectively worse, it increases the preference for that prospect (worse is better). Scholten and Read explained these violations in terms of a preference for improvement. However, to produce violations such as these, we find that the temporal sequences need not be constructed as Scholten and Read suggested. In this study, adding a small receipt before a dated receipt (thus constructed as improving) or adding a receipt after a dated payment (thus constructed as improving) decreases preferences for those prospects. Conversely, adding a small payment after a dated receipt (thus constructed as deteriorating) or adding a small payment before a delayed payment (thus constructed as deteriorating) increases preferences for those prospects.

The northern Alxa region is located in the central segment of the southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Many controversies and deficiencies still exist regarding the magma source characteristics, petrogenesis and tectonic regimes during the late Palaeozoic – early Mesozoic period within this region. This study presents whole-rock compositions and zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopic data for three early Mesozoic I- and A-type granitic plutons occurring in the northern Alxa region. The Haerchaoenji and Chahanhada I-type granitoids yielded zircon 206Pb–238U ages of 245 ± 5 Ma and 245 ± 2 Ma, respectively. The variable positive zircon ϵHf(t) values between +1.8 and +11.8, with young TDM ages of 425–837 Ma, indicate that these I-type granitoids were mainly derived from juvenile crustal materials. The Wulantaolegai pluton has a zircon 206Pb–238U age of 237 ± 2 Ma and is classified as having high-K calc-alkaline A-type affinity. Furthermore, the positive zircon ϵHf(t) values of the Wulantaolegai granite range from +3.3 to +8.7 with young TDM ages of 545–778 Ma, suggesting the involvement of a juvenile crustal source as well. Furthermore, the major-element compositions of the Chahanhada and Wulantaolegai granites suggest the input of metasedimentary components. Geochemically, the Haerchaoenji and Chahanhada I-type granitoids show an arc affinity, while the Wulantaolegai granite exhibits a post-collisional affinity. However, with regional data, we suggest that the Haerchaoenji and Chahanhada I-type granitoids were also emplaced in a post-collisional setting, and the arc affinity was probably inherited from recycled subduction-related materials. These lines of evidence obtained in this study enable us to argue that the Palaeo-Asian Ocean in the central segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt closed before Middle Triassic time.

The treatment of water containing heavy metals has attracted increasing attention because the ingestion of such water poses risks to human health. Due to their relatively large specific surface areas and surface charges, clay minerals play a significant role in the adsorption of heavy metals in water. However, the major factors that influence the adsorption rates of clay minerals are not well understood, and thus methods to predict the sorption of heavy metals by clay minerals are lacking. A method that can identify the most appropriate clay minerals for removal of a given heavy metal, based on the predicted sorption of the clay minerals, is required. This paper presents a widely applicable deep learning neural network approach that yielded excellent predictions of the influence of the sorption ratio on the adsorption of heavy metals by clay minerals. The neural network model was based on datasets of heavy-metal parameters that are available generally. It yielded highly accurate predictions of the adsorption rate based on training data from the dataset and was able to account for a wide range of input parameters. A Pearson sensitivity analysis was used to determine the contributions of individual input parameters to the adsorption rates predicted by the neural network. This newly developed method can predict the major factors influencing heavy-metal adsorption rates. The model described here could be applied in a wide range of scenarios.

In this paper, we introduce the notion of planar two-center Stark–Zeeman systems and define four $J^{+}$ -like invariants for their periodic orbits. The construction is based on a previous construction for a planar one-center Stark–Zeeman system in [K. Cieliebak, U. Frauenfelder and O. van Koert. Periodic orbits in the restricted three-body problem and Arnold’s $J^+$ -invariant. Regul. Chaotic Dyn. 22(4) (2017), 408–434] as well as Levi-Civita and Birkhoff regularizations. We analyze the relationship among these invariants and show that they are largely independent, based on a new construction called interior connected sum.

A novel wide 3-dB axial ratio (AR) circularly polarized 2 × 2 array antenna is proposed in this paper. The spindle-shaped coupling cavity with tilted waveguide is capable of generating circular polarization waves from incident linear waves, which improves the AR bandwidth (ARBW) of the antenna. With this structure, a similar amplitude of the two orthogonal transmitted wave components and a stable phase difference of nearly 90° can be generated. The circularly polarized antenna proposed herein has been fabricated. According to the measurement results, the operating bandwidth from 5.32 to 6.13 GHz is <−10 dB. In addition, the measured ARBW, which is below 3 dB, can cover the range of 5.41–6.02 GHz. The maximum gain of the antenna can attain 15.65 dBi, and the efficiency is better than 80%.

Based on the measurements conducted over the landfast sea ice in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica during the sea-ice growth season in 2016, various parameterization schemes in the high-resolution thermodynamic snow/ice model HIGHTSI are evaluated. The parameterization scheme of turbulent fluxes produces the largest errors compared with the parameterization schemes for other surface heat fluxes. However, the sea-ice thickness simulation is most sensitive to the differences in upward longwave radiation at the surface. In addition, the sea-ice thickness simulation during the growth season is highly sensitive to the oceanic heat flux, and a new oceanic heat flux parameterization scheme based on the bulk method is proposed. The new parameterization scheme is tested in a second year, and it significantly improves the model performance relative to the standard configuration when compared against observations. Finally, the seasonal variation in the heat budget and its influence on the sea-ice thickness variation are analyzed. The net shortwave radiation, sensible heat flux and conductive heat flux (the net longwave radiation and latent heat flux) are found to be the surface heat sources (heat sinks) during the growth season. The larger conductive heat flux and the smaller oceanic heat flux can intensify the growth of sea ice.

Routine coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) screening found 1 asymptomatic COVID-19 patient. An emergency sampling team was organized consisting of 1200 health-care workers, and a total of 3.2228 million COVID-19 samples had been collected and detected. This study summarizes the on-site management experience in large-scale COVID-19 nucleic acid testing from various aspects: staff preparation, materials preparation, site layout, logistics support, and information system support. Suggestions are put forward for the deficiencies and parts needing improvement. Such deficiencies included some sampling sites were not properly chosen, different areas were unclearly marked off from each other, and some site moving lines were confounding; how to communicate with the street service workers who had little professional knowledge on the epidemic spread or the working principles of the workflow and site layout; and the way to resolve conflicts on site.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of RFRP-3 synchronized with photoperiods on regulating the seasonal reproduction of striped hamsters. The striped hamsters were raised separately under long-day (LD; 16 h light/8 h dark), medium-day (MD; 12 h light/12 h dark) or short-day (SD; 8 h light/16 h dark) conditions for 8 weeks. RFRP-3 and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) mRNA levels in the hypothalamus, testis or ovaries in three groups were detected using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Melatonin (MLT), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations in serum were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The correlation between RFRP-3 and GnRH mRNA and FSH and LH concentrations was also analyzed. MLT negatively regulated the expression of RFRP-3. Significant differences for RFRP-3 mRNA existed in the three groups, which positively correlated with the GnRH and the FSH and LH concentrations. RFRP-3 mRNA levels in the hypothalamus were significantly higher than those in ovaries or testis. RFRP-3 levels in the hypothalamus were significantly lower in female than in male under SD conditions, while those in ovaries were significantly higher than those in testes under LD conditions. MLT decreased RFRP neuron activity, and RFRP-3 regulated the reproduction of striped hamsters.