The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a major destructive insect pest of coffee, which impacts the coffee crops negatively. As a draft genome has been completed for this insect, most molecular studies on gene transcriptional levels under different experimental conditions will be conducted using real-time reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reactions (RT-qPCR). However, the lack of suitable internal reference genes will affect the accuracy of RT-qPCR results. In this study, the expression stability of nine candidate reference genes was evaluated under different developmental stages, temperature stress, and Beauveria bassiana infection. Data analyses were completed by four commonly used programs, BestKeeper, NormFinder, geNorm, and RefFinder. The result showed that RPL3 and EF1α combination were recommended as the most stable reference genes for developmental stages. EF1α and RPS3a combination were the top two stable reference genes for B. bassiana infection. RPS3a and RPL3 combination performed as the optimal reference genes both in temperature stress and all samples. Our results should provide a good foundation for the expression profile analyses of target genes in the future, especially for molecular studies on insect genetic development, temperature adaptability, and immune mechanism to entomogenous fungi in H. hampei.

Excessive iodine can lead to goiters. However, the relationship between the water iodine concentration (WIC) and goiter rate (GR) is unclear. This study aims to explore the factors that influence children’s GR in areas with high WIC and analyse the threshold value of the GR increase associated with the WIC. According to the monitoring of the areas with high WIC in China in 2018–2020, a total of 54 050 children in eight high water iodine provinces were chosen. Drinking water, urine and edible salt samples of children were collected. The thyroid volume (Tvol) was measured. A generalised additive model (GAM) was used to analyse the relationship between the WIC and GR in children. Among the 54 050 children in areas with high WIC, the overall GR was 3·34 %, the median of water iodine concentration was 127·0 µg/l, the median of urinary iodine concentration was 318 µg/l and the non-iodised salt coverage rate (NISCR) was 63·51 %. According to the GAM analysis results, water iodine and urinary iodine are factors that influence the Tvol and GR, while the NISCR affects only the GR. When the WIC was more than 420 µg/l or the urinary iodine concentration was more than 800 µg/l, the GR increased rapidly. When the NISCR reached more than 85 %, the GR was the lowest. Thus, in areas with high WIC, WIC more than 420 µg/l may increase the risk of goiter, and the NISCR should be increased to over 85 % to avoid goiters in children.

Sarcopenia is a core contributor to several health consequences, including falls, fractures, physical limitations and disability. The pathophysiological processes of sarcopenia may be counteracted with the proper diet, delaying sarcopenia onset. Dietary pattern analysis is a whole diet approach used to investigate the relationship between diet and sarcopenia. Here, we aimed to investigate this relationship in an elderly Chinese population. A cross-sectional study with 2423 participants aged more than 60 years was performed. Sarcopenia was defined based on the guidelines of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia, composed of low muscle mass plus low grip strength and/or low gait speed. Dietary data were collected using a FFQ that included questions on 100 food items along with their specified serving sizes. Three dietary patterns were derived by factor analysis: sweet pattern, vegetable pattern and animal food pattern. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 16·1 %. The higher vegetable pattern score and animal food pattern score were related to lower prevalence of sarcopenia (Ptrend = 0·006 and < 0·001, respectively); the multivariate-adjusted OR of the prevalence of sarcopenia in the highest v. lowest quartiles were 0·54 (95 % CI 0·34, 0·86) and 0·50 (95 % CI 0·33, 0·74), separately. The sweet pattern score was not significantly related to the prevalence of sarcopenia. The present study showed that vegetable pattern and animal food pattern were related to a lower prevalence of sarcopenia in Chinese older adults. Further studies are required to clarify these findings.

Spodoptera litura is an important pest that causes significant economic damage to numerous crops worldwide. Sex pheromones (SPs) mediate sexual communication in S. litura and show a characteristic degree of rhythmic activity, occurring mainly during the scotophase; however, the specific regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we employed a genome-wide analysis to identify eight candidate circadian clock genes in S. litura. Sequence characteristics and expression patterns were analyzed. Our results demonstrated that some circadian clock genes might regulate the biosynthesis and perception of SPs by regulating the rhythmic expression of SP biosynthesis-related genes and SP perception-related genes. Interestingly, all potential genes exhibited peak expression in the scotophase, consistent with the SP could mediate courtship and mating behavior in S. litura. Our findings are helpful in elucidating the molecular mechanism by which circadian clock genes regulate sexual communication in S. litura.