Chronic inflammation exerts pleiotropic effects in the aetiology and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glucosamine is widely used in many countries and may have anti-inflammatory properties. We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD risk and explore whether such association could be modified by smoking in the UK Biobank cohort, which recruited more than half a million participants aged 40–69 years from across the UK between 2006 and 2010. Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for potential confounding factors were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) as well as 95 % CI for the risk of incident COPD. During a median follow-up of 8·96 years (interquartile range 8·29–9·53 years), 9016 new-onset events of COPD were documented. We found that the regular use of glucosamine was associated with a significantly lower risk of incident COPD with multivariable adjusted HR of 0·80 (95 % CI, 0·75, 0·85; P < 0·001). When subgroup analyses were performed by smoking status, the adjusted HR for the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD were 0·84 (0·73, 0·96), 0·84 (0·77, 0·92) and 0·71 (0·62, 0·80) among never smokers, former smokers and current smokers, respectively. No significant interaction was observed between glucosamine use and smoking status (P for interaction = 0·078). Incident COPD could be reduced by 14 % to 84 % through a combination of regular glucosamine use and smoking cessation.

Engineered biomaterials provide unique functions to overcome the bottlenecks seen in biomedicine. Hence, a technique for rapid and routine tests of collagen is required, in which the test items commonly include molecular weight, crosslinking degree, purity, and sterilization induced structural change. Among them, the crosslinking degree mainly influences collagen properties. In this study, second harmonic generation (SHG) and coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy are used in combination to explore the collagen structure at molecular and macromolecular scales. These measured parameters are applied for the classification and quantification among the different collagen scaffolds, which were verified by other conventional methods. It is demonstrated that the crosslinking status can be analyzed from SHG images and presented as the coherency of collagen organization that is correlated with the mechanical properties. Also, the comparative analyses of SHG signal and relative CARS signal of amide III band at 1,240 cm−1 to δCH2 band at 1,450 cm−1 of these samples provide information regarding the variation of the molecular structure during a crosslinking process, thus serving as nonlinear optical signatures to indicate a successful crosslinking.

From 21 January 2020 to 9 February 2020, three family clusters involving 31 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 were identified in Wenzhou, China. The epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the family cluster patients were analysed and compared with those of 43 contemporaneous sporadic cases. The three index cases transmitted the infection to 28 family members 2–10 days before illness onset. Overall, 28 of the 41 sporadic cases and three of 31 patients in the family clusters came back from Wuhan (65.12 vs. 9.68%, P< 0.001). In terms of epidemiological characters and clinical symptoms, no significant differences were observed between the family cluster and sporadic cases. However, the lymphocyte counts of sporadic cases were significantly lower than those of family cluster cases ((1.32 ± 0.55) × 109/l vs. (1.63 ± 0.70) × 109/l, P = 0.037), and the proportion of hypoalbuminaemia was higher in sporadic cases (18/43, 41.86%) than in the family clusters (6/31, 19.35%) (P < 0.05). Within the family cluster, the second- and third-generation cases had milder clinical manifestations, without severe conditions, compared with the index and first-generation cases, indicating that the virulence gradually decreased following passage through generations within the family clusters. Close surveillance, timely recognition and isolation of the suspected or latent patient is crucial in preventing family cluster infection.

Indoor positioning systems have received increasing attention for supporting location-based services in indoor environments. Wi-Fi based indoor localisation has become attractive due to its extensive distribution and low cost properties. IEEE 802.11-2016 now includes a Wi-Fi Fine Time Measurement (FTM) protocol which can be used for Wi-Fi ranging between intelligent terminal and Wi-Fi access point. This paper introduces a framework of Wi-Fi FTM data acquisition and processing that can be used for indoor localisation. We analyse the main factors that affect the accuracy of Wi-Fi ranging and propose a calibration, filtering and modelling algorithm that can effectively reduce the ranging error caused by clock deviation, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) and multipath propagation. Experimental results show that the proposed calibration and filtering method is able to achieve metre-level ranging accuracy in case of line-of-sight by using large bandwidth. Estimation results also show that the proposed Wi-Fi ranging model provides an accurate ranging performance in NLOS and multipath contained indoor environment; the final positioning error is less than 2·2 m with a stable output frequency of 3 Hz.

The excessive use of plastic, especially polystyrene (PS), has caused serious environmental pollution. The efficient utilization of plastics and the conversion of plastics into value-added carbon materials are the concerns of researchers. Herein, we propose novel “pyrolysis–deposition” method to convert one popular plastic substance, PS, into ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs). During the synthesis process, PS is pyrolyzed into small organic gases under high temperature, which is then adsorbed through capillary adsorption into the mesoporous of SBA-15 in the presence of catalyst. The obtained OMCs have high specific surface area, uniform pore size, and ordered pore structure. The OMCs exhibit specific capacitance of 118 F/g at a current density of 0.2 A/g and electrochemical stability of 87.2% at a current density of 2 A/g after 5000 cycles. The pyrolysis–deposition strategy provides a new idea to convert waste plastics into high-performance carbon materials for electrochemical applications.

Minimally invasive surgery is a developing direction of modern medicine. With the successful development of controllable capsule endoscopies, capsule robots are very popular in the field of gastrointestinal medicine. At present, the study of intestinal robots is aimed at the pipeline environment of a single-phase liquid flow. But there exist food residues (i.e. solid particles) or liquid foods in the actual intestine, so intestinal fluid should be liquid–solid or liquid–liquid two-phase mixed fluid. For inner spiral capsule robots with different internal diameters and outer spiral capsule robots, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, the operational performance indicators (i.e. axial thrust force, circumferential resisting moment and maximum pressure to pipeline wall) of spiral capsule robots are numerically calculated in the liquid–solid or liquid–liquid two-phase mixed fluid. By the orthogonal experimental optimization method, the optimum design of spiral capsule robots is obtained in the liquid–solid mixed fluid. The experimental verification has been also carried out. The results show that in the liquid–solid two-phase fluid, the axial thrust force and circumferential resisting moment of the spiral capsule robots decrease with the increase of the size or concentration of solid particles. In the same liquid–solid or liquid–liquid mixed fluid, the operational performance indicators of outer spiral robots are much higher than those of inner spiral robots, and the operational performance indicators of inner spiral robots with bigger internal diameters are higher than those with smaller internal diameters. Adding solid particles of high concentration in the pipeline containing liquid will reduce the drive performance of spiral capsule robots, but adding another liquid of high viscosity will improve the drive performance of spiral capsule robots.

Fermented soybean meal (FSM), which has lower anti-nutritional factors and higher active enzyme, probiotic and oligosaccharide contents than its unfermented form, has been reported to improve the feeding value of soybean meal, and hence, the growth performance of piglets. However, whether FSM can affect the bacterial and metabolites in the large intestine of piglets remains unknown. This study supplemented wet-FSM (WFSM) or dry-FSM (DFSM) (5% dry matter basis) in the diet of piglets and investigated its effects on carbon and nitrogen metabolism in the piglets’ large intestines. A total of 75 41-day-old Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire piglets with an initial BW of 13.14±0.22 kg were used in a 4-week feeding trial. Our results showed that the average daily gain of piglets in the WFSM and DFSM groups increased by 27.08% and 14.58% and that the feed conversion ratio improved by 18.18% and 7.27%, respectively, compared with the control group. Data from the prediction gene function of Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) based on 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing showed that carbohydrate metabolism function families in the WFSM and DFSM groups increased by 3.46% and 2.68% and that the amino acid metabolism function families decreased by 1.74% and 0.82%, respectively, compared with the control group. These results were consistent with those of other metabolism studies, which showed that dietary supplementation with WFSM and DFSM increased the level of carbohydrate-related metabolites (e.g. 4-aminobutanoate, 5-aminopentanoate, lactic acid, mannitol, threitol and β-alanine) and decreased the levels of those related to protein catabolism (e.g. 1,3-diaminopropane, creatine, glycine and inosine). In conclusion, supplementation with the two forms of FSM improved growth performance, increased metabolites of carbohydrate and reduced metabolites of protein in the large intestine of piglets, and WFSM exhibited a stronger effect than DFSM.

The metamorphic responses of mussel (Mytilus coruscus) larvae to pharmacological agents affecting G proteins and the adenylate cyclase/cyclic AMP (AC/cAMP) pathway were examined in the laboratory. The G protein activators guanosine 5′-[β,γ-imido]triphosphate trisodium salt hydrate and guanosine 5′-[γ-thio]triphosphate tetralithium salt only induced larval metamorphosis in continuous exposure assays, and the G protein inhibitor guanosine 5′-[β-thio]diphosphate trilithium salt did not exhibit inducing activity. The non-specific phosphodiesterase inhibitor theophylline and the cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase IV inhibitor 4-(3-Butoxy-4-methoxybenzyl)imidazolidin-2-one exhibited inducing activity, while the non-specific phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-Isobutyl-1-methylxanthine only showed inducing activity at 10−4 M in continuous exposure assays. The cyclic nucleotide analogue N6,2′-O-Dibutyryladenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate sodium salt did not exhibit significant inducing activity. Both the adenylate cyclase activator forskolin and the adenylate cyclase inhibitor nitroimidazole exhibited inducing activity at 10−4 to 10−3 M concentrations in continuous exposure assays. Among these tested agents, the adenylate cyclase inhibitor (±)-miconazole nitrate salt showed the most promising inducing effect. The present results indicate that G protein-coupled receptors and signal transduction by AC/cAMP pathway could mediate metamorphosis of larvae in this species.

Astronomy cloud computing environment is a cyber-Infrastructure for Astronomy Research initiated by Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO) under funding support from NDRC (National Development and Reform commission) and CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences). Based on virtualization technology, astronomy cloud computing environment was designed and implemented by China-VO team. It consists of five distributed nodes across the mainland of China. Astronomer can get compuitng and storage resource in this cloud computing environment. Through this environments, astronomer can easily search and analyze astronomical data collected by different telescopes and data centers , and avoid the large scale dataset transportation.

The effect of solution treatment (ST) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast Al–3Li–1.5Cu–0.2Zr alloy was investigated. Results showed that the volume fraction of secondary phases (Al2Cu, Al3Li) decreased obviously after ST. It was found that the strengthening of Al–3Li–1.5Cu–0.2Zr alloy was a balance of the precipitation strengthening, residual phase strengthening and fine grain strengthening. The residual phase strengthening and fine grain strengthening decreased with increasing the solution temperature and time, while precipitation strengthening increased. After ST at 560 °C for 40 h, the elongation of Al–3Li–1.5Cu–0.2Zr alloy reaches the highest value of 22.1%. In addition, the tensile properties are up to the highest values, ultimate tensile strength of 359 MPa and elongation of 3.5% after optimal ST at 560 °C for 40 h followed by aging treatment.

The effect of 0.5 wt% Mn addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast Al–2Li–2Cu–0.8Mg–0.4Zn–0.2Zr (wt%) alloy was investigated. Results showed that the grain size of Mn-containing alloy was smaller than that of Mn-free alloy in both the as-cast and solution treated state. Al20Mn3Cu2 dispersoids were formed during solution treatment in the Mn-containing alloy. After aging at 175 °C for 32 h, a large volume fraction of coherent Al3Li/Al3(Li, Zr) particles were precipitated in both Mn-free and Mn-containing alloys, while more Guinier–Preston–Bagaratsky zones were observed in the Mn-free alloy. Mn addition improved the elongation significantly, which was 1.7% for Mn-free alloy and 3.3% for the alloy with 0.5 wt% Mn addition.

The small-scale linear microphone arrays that are widely found in smartphones could be used to locate a sound source for indoor environments. After the Time Differences Of Arrival (TDOAs) in microphone pairs are estimated, a TDOA-based hybrid localisation scheme is proposed for a small-scale linear microphone array. The scheme contains two stages: the initialisation stage using the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm, and the refining solution stage using the Weighted Least-Square (WLS) algorithm or the Multi-Dimensional Scaling-based (MDS) algorithm. Simulations and field tests show that the proposed indoor localisation scheme outperforms the existing schemes, and it can achieve an average error of 0·32 metres in an 8 m by 5 m area.

During 1997–2012 we conducted a nationwide camera-trapping survey and assessed the availability of prey and habitat for the clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa in Taiwan. We surveyed 1,249 camera-trap sites over 113,636 camera-trap days, from the seashore to an altitude of 3,796 m and covering various types of vegetation. No clouded leopards were photographed during 128,394 camera-trap days, including at 209 sites in other studies, confirming the presumed extinction of clouded leopards in Taiwan. Assessment of the prey base revealed altitudinal distribution patterns of prey species and prey biomass. Areas at lower altitudes and with less human encroachment and hunting supported a higher prey biomass and more of the typical prey species of clouded leopards. Habitat analysis revealed 8,523 km2 of suitable habitat but this was reduced to 6,734 km2 when adjacent areas of human encroachment were subtracted. In the absence of hunting and large mammalian carnivores the major prey of clouded leopards in Taiwan, such as Formosan macaques Macaca cyclopis, Reeves's muntjacs Muntiacus reevesi, Formosan serow Capricornis swinhoei and sambar Rusa unicolor, could become over-abundant. Thus, it is important to address the cascading effect of the disappearance of top-down predator control. Our assessment indicated that, with proper regulation of hunting, habitat restoration and corridor improvement, it may be possible to reintroduce the clouded leopard.