This study aimed to investigate the optimal frozen embryo transfer (FET) strategy for recurrent implantation failure (RIF) patients with three consecutive failed cleaved embryo implantations and no blastocyst preservation. This retrospective analysis was divided into three groups based on the FET strategy: thawed day 3 embryo transfer (D3 FET group); and extended culture of frozen–thawed day 3 embryos to day 5 blastocysts transfer (D3–D5 FET group); thawed blastocyst transfer (D5 FET group). Transplant cycle data were compared between the three groups. In total, 43.8% of vitrified–thawed cleavage embryos developed into blastocysts. Analysis of the three transplantation strategies showed that, compared with the D3 FET group, D3–D5 had a significantly better hCG-positivity rate and live-birth rate (P < 0.05). Pregnancy outcomes in the D3–D5 FET group and D5 FET group were similar regarding hCG-positivity rate, implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, and live-birth rate. Our findings propose two potentially valuable transfer strategies for patients experiencing repeated implantation failures. The D3–D5 FET approach presents a greater potential for selecting promising embryos in cases without blastocyst preservation; however, this strategy does entail the risk of cycle cancellation. Conversely, in instances where blastocyst preservation is an option, prioritizing consideration of the D5 FET strategy is recommended.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an initial increase in the incidence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) from clinical cultures in South-East Asia hospitals, which was unsustained as the pandemic progressed. Conversely, there was a decrease in CRE incidence from surveillance cultures and overall combined incidence. Further studies are needed for future pandemic preparedness.

The third-order law links energy transfer rates in the inertial range of magneto- hydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence with third-order structure functions. Anisotropy, a typical property in the solar wind, challenges the applicability of the third-order law with the isotropic assumption. To shed light on the energy transfer process in the presence of anisotropy, we conducted direct numerical simulations of forced MHD turbulence with normal and hyper-viscosity under various strengths of the external magnetic field ($B_0$), and calculated three forms of third-order structure function with or without averaging of the azimuthal or polar angles with respect to $B_0$ direction. Correspondingly, three estimated energy transfer rates were obtained. The result shows that the peak of normalized third-order structure function occurs at larger scales closer to the $B_0$ direction, and the maximum of longitudinal transfer rates shifts away from the $B_0$ direction at larger $B_0$. Compared with normal viscous cases, hyper-viscous cases can attain better separated inertial range, thus facilitating the estimation of the energy cascade rates. We find that the widespread use of the isotropic form of the third-order law in estimating the energy transfer rates is questionable in some cases, especially when the anisotropy arising from the mean magnetic field is inevitable. In contrast, the direction-averaged third-order structure function properly accounts for the effect of anisotropy and predicts the energy transfer rates and inertial range accurately, even at very high $B_0$. With limited statistics, the third-order structure function shows a stronger dependence on averaging of azimuthal angles than the time, especially for high $B_0$ cases. These findings provide insights into the anisotropic effect on the estimation of energy transfer rates.

The present work aims at clarifying the effects of a solid boundary on the salt fingers in the wall-bounded double diffusive convection turbulence driven by the salinity and temperature differences between the top and bottom plates. The fluid properties are the same as the seawater, and two-dimensional direct numerical simulations are conducted over a wide range of the thermal and salinity Rayleigh numbers which measure the strength of driving salinity difference and stabilising temperature difference. We find that the bulk density ratio $\varLambda _b$, defined by the mean temperature and salinity gradients at the bulk, controls the flow morphology. As $\varLambda _b$ exceeds unity, the bulk flow shifts from wide convection rolls to slender salt fingers. Two different regimes are further identified for the cases of salt-finger type. One is the confined salt-finger regime where the characteristic height of salt fingers is comparable to the bulk height and the influences of the solid boundary are noticeable. The other is the free salt-finger regime where the salt fingers are much shorter than the bulk height. In this latter regime, the transport properties versus $\varLambda _b$ are in quantitative agreement with those obtained in the fully periodic domain (e.g. Traxler et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 677, 2011, pp. 530–553). For a limited range of density ratio at the highest salinity Rayleigh number considered here, multiple states can be obtained from different initial conditions. The large-scale secondary instability and spontaneous formation of staircase from finger layers are not observed in the current study.

Neocinnamomum plants are evergreen shrubs or small trees belonging to the Neocinnamomeae tribe of the Lauraceae family. Their seeds are rich in fatty acids, and their leaves are often used in traditional Chinese medicine. Presently, only a few studies have been performed on Neocinnamomum plants; therefore, the genome-based phylogeny among Neocinnamomum species has not been determined, which limits the germplasm innovation of this genus. In this study, by the Illumina (next-generation sequencing) and third-generation sequencing technologies, the whole genomes of seven Neocinnamomum species samples were sequenced, their nuclear DNA (nrDNA) sequences were assembled and characterized, and their phylogeny was reconstructed. The results revealed four hypervariable regions (i.e. transcribed spacer regions) in the nrDNA sequences, among which the highest degree of variation was observed in the external transcribed spacer (ETS) region localized behind the 26S gene. A total of 27 insertions/deletions and 184 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, both localized mainly in the ETS and internal transcribed spacer regions, were identified. Phylogenetic trees were constructed based on the nrDNA sequences using the maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods with Caryodaphnopsis henryi as the outgroup. The ML tree divided the seven Neocinnamomum species into four clades. Clade I consisted of Neocinnamomum caudatum var. macrocarpum and Neocinnamomum caudatum, clade II included Neocinnamomum delavayi and Neocinnamomum mekongense, clade III included Neocinnamomum fargesii and a branch species of N. delavayi and clade IV included Neocinnamomum lecomtei, constituting a monophyletic and basal group. The BI tree shared the same topological structure as the ML tree, and all the support values of the BI tree were one except for that of one Neocinnamomum species (0.98). The results of this study provide new evidence regarding the phylogenetic evolution of the Neocinnamomum plants.

The sediments of closed-basin lakes on the margin of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) are valuable archives of past changes in hydroclimate and dust activity and thus potentially can help us to understand future climate changes. We present high-resolution, well-dated records of the grain size and carbonate mineralogy from Lake Bayanchagan, northern China, spanning the last 11.5 ka. Grain-size endmember (EM) analysis distinguished four EMs, each linked to different sediment transport processes. EM1 (0.4–0.6 μm) and EM3 (14–102 μm) reflect the strength of regional dust activity, whereas EM2 (1.3–31 μm) represents variations in local hydrodynamic conditions related to lake-level changes and EM4 (68–500 μm) is associated with local dust activity. Our results show that a high lake level and weakened dust activity occurred during 10–5.8 ka, as indicated by increased EM2 and decreased EM3, respectively. After 5.8 ka, EM2 decreased as the three other EMs increased, and dolomite appeared in the sediments while calcite decreased—indicating both a decline in lake level and strengthened dust activity. The fluctuations in lake level and dust activity are in good agreement with precipitation variations reconstructed from other records, which are in turn correlated to movement of the EASM rainfall belt, in response to temperature changes.

In the context of China's rising global role, the question of where its academia is moving to becomes a matter of concern. Embedded in the literature on academic (de)colonization and intellectual pluralism, research was conducted by Chinese educational scholars on the status quo of educational studies on and in mainland China within the world system of knowledge production. We report its major findings in order to respond to continuing struggles within the contemporary Chinese academic society and between global “centres” and “peripheries.” Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with both overseas ethnic Chinese and non-Chinese education researchers, as well as bibliographic and content analyses among relevant academic publications, its findings indicate the growing but still limited global impact of educational studies on/in China especially theoretically and epistemologically, tensions between “centres” and “peripheries” within the world knowledge system, as well as tensions between internationalization and local knowledge. Suggestions for future directions have been concluded based on empirical data.

Typical unconventional gas/liquid plays of China were studied using field-emission/focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for clay mineralogy and microstructural development. The SEM microstructural investigations of clay-rich shale and mudstone reservoirs provided significant information about clay mineral type, size, distribution and aggregates, which allows for interpretations regarding porosity preservation and petrophysical variability. The major clay-hosted porosity types are interparticle clay pores, intraparticle clay pores and aggregate pores. Interparticle clay pores occur in open spaces of the clay aggregates and include four subtypes: (1) elongated pores, (2) packed pores, (3) jagged pores and (4) card-house pores. Intraparticle clay pores are present within clay particles and have mostly secondary origin. These pores are diagenesis dependent and are restricted to secondary illite particles during the transformation of clay minerals from smectite to illite. Intraparticle clay pores constitute only isolated porosity and could not contribute to hydrocarbon molecule storage and migration. Aggregate pores were predominantly encountered in association with organic–clay and pyrite–clay aggregates. In places, organic–pyrite–clay aggregates can also display polymerization, but they do not contribute significantly to overall porosity and permeability. Combining SEM morphological analyses with the software ImageJ is critical in clay microstructure and porosity analyses via semi-quantitative characterization of the 3D pore surface, 2D pore profile, pore quantity, pore size, areal porosity, etc. These visual and semi-quantitative results highlight the significance of jagged pores and pyrite–clay aggregate pores in shale gas/liquid reservoirs because they may be important facilitators of gas storage and transmission.

Seed coat colour in adzuki bean is an important quality trait and closely associated with anthocyanin metabolism pathways. To further understand the inheritance of seed coat colour pattern, the inheritance between multiple seed coat colours and ivory seed were analysed using F1:2, F2:3 and F3:4 populations derived from five bi-parental crosses. The differences between ivory and red mottle on ivory are controlled by a single recessive R locus and RI locus, respectively. Green, light brown and golden are all dominant to red and governed by two loci. The B (brown) locus shows dominant epistasis over T locus. The R (red) locus was recessive epistasis to B (black), T (light brown), G (golden), GR (green) and RI (red mottle on ivory) loci. The new insight into the strong recessive epistasis of the R locus will be important for gene mapping and cloning, candidate gene functional validation and quality improvement in adzuki bean.

Background: Blood cultures are a fundamental tool in the diagnosis of infections, but they can lead to clinical confusion and waste resources when they yield false results. To optimize blood-culture orders at our institution, we developed an evidence-based clinical guideline (Fig. 1) to be used by frontline providers on nonneutropenic hospitalized adult inpatients. We retrospectively reviewed charts of patients with positive blood cultures to evaluate whether frontline providers and infectious diseases (ID) attending physicians were able to consistently interpret the guidelines to determine whether blood cultures were drawn appropriately. Methods: In total, 95 nonneutropenic adults with an initial positive blood culture collected while on an inpatient unit were identified through a query of the electronic medical record from January 2021 through June 2022. Patients with polymicrobial bacteremia and bacteremia due to Enterococcus, Streptococcus, and gram-positive rods were excluded. Moreover, 4 medical resident physicians reviewed all patients and 2 ID attending physicians reviewed one-quarter of cases; all were blinded to the culture results. Blood cultures were determined to be either appropriately or inappropriately performed based on our institution’s guideline. The free-marginal multirater κ statistics with 95% CIs were calculated to evaluate interrater agreement. Results: Baseline patient demographics are shown in Table 1. Immune compromise without neutropenia was noted in 21 of 95 patients. Most patients were at high risk for bacteremia (72%) per our institutional guideline, most of whom were septic (67.7%). Low risk for bacteremia was found in only 12.3% of reviews. Medical resident physicians, ID attending physicians, and all reviewers combined agreed on whether blood cultures were drawn appropriately or inappropriately (84.2%, 92%, and 86.4% agreement rates, respectively). The free-marginal κ statistic was highest for ID attending physicians (0.84; 95% CI, 0.62–0.78), followed by attending physicians and resident physicians combined (0.73; 95% CI, 0.56–0.90), and resident physicians alone (0.68; 95% CI, 0.58–0.78). In the 21 patients with immune compromise, the agreement rates on blood culture appropriateness remained high among all reviewers, resident physicians, and ID attending physicians were 86.6%, 90.5%, and 95%, respectively. Conclusions: In our retrospective study of nonneutropenic hospitalized adult inpatients, frontline providers and ID attending physicians interpreted blood-culture guidelines consistently, largely agreeing on which patients had cultures drawn appropriately. Agreement among ID attending physicians was excellent and remained substantial among medical resident physicians. Guidelines on the appropriate use of blood cultures are vital to limiting unnecessarily collected cultures, which can lead to extended length of stay and increase cost across hospital systems. Further analyses on the clinical impact of this guideline are ongoing.

Disclosures: None

Accurate tracking and reconstruction of surgical scenes is a critical enabling technology toward autonomous robotic surgery. In endoscopic examinations, computer vision has provided assistance in many aspects, such as aiding in diagnosis or scene reconstruction. Estimation of camera motion and scene reconstruction from intra-abdominal images are challenging due to irregular illumination and weak texture of endoscopic images. Current surgical 3D perception algorithms for camera and object pose estimation rely on geometric information (e.g., points, lines, and surfaces) obtained from optical images. Unfortunately, standard hand-crafted local features for pose estimation usually do not perform well in laparoscopic environments. In this paper, a novel self-supervised Surgical Perception Stereo Visual Odometer (SPSVO) framework is proposed to accurately estimate endoscopic pose and better assist surgeons in locating and diagnosing lesions. The proposed SPSVO system combines a self-learning feature extraction method and a self-supervised matching procedure to overcome the adverse effects of irregular illumination in endoscopic images. The framework of the proposed SPSVO includes image pre-processing, feature extraction, stereo matching, feature tracking, keyframe selection, and pose graph optimization. The SPSVO can simultaneously associate the appearance of extracted feature points and textural information for fast and accurate feature tracking. A nonlinear pose graph optimization method is adopted to facilitate the backend process. The effectiveness of the proposed SPSVO framework is demonstrated on a public endoscopic dataset, with the obtained root mean square error of trajectory tracking reaching 0.278 to 0.690 mm. The computation speed of the proposed SPSVO system can reach 71ms per frame.