Aging plays a crucial role in the mechanisms of the impacts of genetic and environmental factors on blood pressure and serum lipids. However, to our knowledge, how the influence of genetic and environmental factors on the correlation between blood pressure and serum lipids changes with age remains to be determined. In this study, data from the Chinese National Twin Registry (CNTR) were used. Resting blood pressure, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), and fasting serum lipids, including total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides (TGs) were measured in 2378 participants (1189 twin pairs). Univariate and bivariate structural equation models examined the genetic and environmental influences on blood pressure and serum lipids among three age groups. All phenotypes showed moderate to high heritability (0.37–0.59) and moderate unique environmental variance (0.30–0.44). The heritability of all phenotypes showed a decreasing trend with age. Among all phenotypes, SBP and DBP showed a significant monotonic decreasing trend. For phenotype-phenotype pairs, the phenotypic correlation (Rph) of each pair ranged from −0.04 to 0.23, and the additive genetic correlation (Ra) ranged from 0.00 to 0.36. For TC&SBP, TC&DBP, TG&SBP and TGs&DBP, both the Rph and Ra declined with age, and the Ra difference between the young group and the older adult group is statistically significant (p < .05). The unique environmental correlation (Re) of each pair did not follow any pattern with age and remained relatively stable with age. In summary, we observed that the heritability of blood pressure was affected by age. Moreover, blood pressure and serum lipids shared common genetic backgrounds, and age had an impact on the phenotypic correlation and genetic correlations.

Emergent bilinguals (EBs) who are exposed to societal language at school but use another language at home may experience difficulties in mastering the societal language, especially those at risk for language and reading disabilities. Learning phonologically specific new words that discriminate between phonemes may foster phonological awareness and word reading. This study examined the effectiveness of a lexical specificity intervention program that targeted phoneme discrimination in EBs at risk for reading disabilities. EBs who scored below the 25th percentile on the screening measures were selected and randomly assigned to one of two conditions: at-risk intervention or at-risk control. Of the 76 EBs in the at-risk group, 40 were randomly assigned to receive the intervention. A group of 51 typically developing EBs who did not meet the risk criteria were selected as typical controls. The pre- and post-tests include phoneme discrimination, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, fluency, and decoding. The at-risk intervention group showed improvement on the phoneme discrimination task after the intervention and outperformed the at-risk control group but not the typical control group. In addition, growth was observed during both the training and testing sessions of the intervention. The lexical specificity intervention could be a good resource to enhance a key precursor to literacy development for at-risk EBs.

The study of the sobriety of Scott spaces has got a relatively long history in domain theory. Lawson and Hoffmann independently proved that the Scott space of every continuous directed complete poset (usually called domain) is sober. Johnstone constructed the first directed complete poset whose Scott space is non-sober. Soon after, Isbell gave a complete lattice with a non-sober Scott space. Based on Isbell’s example, Xu, Xi, and Zhao showed that there is even a complete Heyting algebra whose Scott space is non-sober. Achim Jung then asked whether every countable complete lattice has a sober Scott space. The main aim of this paper is to answer Jung’s problem by constructing a countable complete lattice whose Scott space is non-sober. This lattice is then modified to obtain a countable distributive complete lattice with a non-sober Scott space. In addition, we prove that the topology of the product space $\Sigma P\times \Sigma Q$ coincides with the Scott topology of the product poset $P\times Q$ if the set Id(P) and Id(Q) of all incremental ideals of posets P and Q are both countable. Based on this, it is deduced that a directed complete poset P has a sober Scott space, if Id(P) is countable and $\Sigma P$ is coherent and well filtered. In particular, every complete lattice L with Id(L) countable has a sober Scott space.

In this paper, we explore potential surplus modelling improvements by investigating how well the available models describe an insurance risk process. To this end, we obtain and analyse a real-life data set that is provided by an anonymous insurer. Based on our analysis, we discover that both the purchasing process and the corresponding claim process have seasonal fluctuations. Some special events, such as public holidays, also have impact on these processes. In the existing literature, the seasonality is often stressed in the claim process, while the cash inflow usually assumes simple forms. We further suggest a possible way of modelling the dependence between these two processes. A preliminary analysis of the impact of these patterns on the surplus process is also conducted. As a result, we propose a surplus process model which utilises a non-homogeneous Poisson process for premium counts and a Cox process for claim counts that reflect the specific features of the data.

In this study, aluminium fluoride trihydrate (AlF3⋅3H2O) was used to inhibit the sintering of calcined coal-series kaolin (CCSK). In addition, the oil absorption properties of CCSK were studied. The particle-size distribution, specific surface area and porosity of the samples were investigated as a function of calcination temperature and the addition of AlF3⋅3H2O. Moreover, the ability of AlF3⋅3H2O to improve the oil absorption of CCSK was explored. The morphology, structure and phase composition of the specimens were investigated using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The phase transition during heating of the samples was studied using thermogravimetric analysis. The preparation with 10 wt.% AlF3⋅3H2O had the optimal sintering inhibition effect on CCSK at 1000°C. The release of SiF4 gas during heating and the formation of mullite whiskers on the particle surface caused by AlF3⋅3H2O moderated the formation of molten-phase liquid bridges between particles and inhibited sintering of the raw material powder. Furthermore, the formation of submicron mullite whiskers on the surface of the CCSK particles enhanced the oil-absorption properties of the sample significantly.

According to the public data collected from the Health Commission of Gansu Province, China, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic during the summer epidemic cycle in 2022, the epidemiological analysis showed that the pandemic spread stability and the symptom rate (the number of confirmed cases divided by the sum of the number of asymptomatic cases and the number of confirmed cases) of COVID-19 were different among 3 main epidemic regions, Lanzhou, Linxia, and Gannan; both the symptom rate and the daily instantaneous symptom rate (daily number of confirmed cases divided by the sum of daily number of asymptomatic cases and daily number of confirmed cases) in Lanzhou were substantially higher than those in Linxia and Gannan. The difference in the food sources due to the high difference of the population ethnic composition in the 3 regions was probably the main driver for the difference of the symptom rates among the 3 regions. This work provides potential values for prevention and control of COVID-19 in different regions.

We first establish a lower bound on the size and spectral radius of a graph G to guarantee that G contains a fractional perfect matching. Then, we determine an upper bound on the distance spectral radius of a graph G to ensure that G has a fractional perfect matching. Furthermore, we construct some extremal graphs to show all the bounds are best possible.

In this study, a toroidal quartz ( $20\overline{2}3$ ) crystal is designed for monochromatic X-ray imaging at 72.3°. The designed crystal produces excellent images of a laser-produced plasma emitting He-like Ti X-rays at 4.75 keV. Based on the simulations, the imaging resolutions of the spherical and toroidal crystals in the sagittal direction are found to be 15 and 5 μm, respectively. Moreover, the simulation results show that a higher resolution image of the source can be obtained by using a toroidal crystal. An X-ray backlight imaging experiment is conducted using 4.75 keV He-like Ti X-rays, a 3 × 3 metal grid, an imaging plate and a toroidal quartz crystal with a lattice constant of 2d = 0.2749 nm. The meridional and sagittal radii of the toroidal α-quartz crystal are 295.6 and 268.5 mm, respectively. A highly resolved image of the microgrid, with a spatial resolution of 10 μm, is obtained in the experiment. By using similar toroidal crystal designs, the application of a spatially resolved spectrometer with high-resolution X-ray imaging ability is capable of providing imaging data with the same magnification ratio in the sagittal and meridional planes.

The southern Great Xing’an Range (SGXR), located in the eastern segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), is one of the most economically important Cu–Mo–Fe–Sn–Pb–Zn–Ag metallogenic provinces in China. The newly discovered Panjiaduan Cu–Pb–Zn deposit (9.3 Mt; at 1.36% Cu, 2.90% Pb, 3.80% Zn and 38.12 g/t Ag), located in the SE segment of the SGXR, is primarily hosted in fracture zones in volcanic rocks and granodiorite of the Manitu Formation. Four paragenetic stages of metallic mineralization are identified: (I) quartz-pyrite-arsenopyrite; (II) quartz-polymetallic sulphide; (III) quartz-galena-sphalerite-argentite; and (IV) quartz-calcite-minor sulphide. The hydrothermal quartz contains three types of primary fluid inclusion (FIs): vapour-rich two-phase liquid-vapour (LV-type), liquid-rich two-phase liquid-vapour (VL-type) and three-phase liquid-vapour-solid FIs (SL-type). Stages I and II contain all types with homogenization temperatures (Th) of 324–386 °C and 276–334 °C as well as salinities of 0.7–38.0 wt% and 0.9–34.7 wt%, respectively, whereas stage III is composed of VL- and LV-type FIs with Th of 210–269 °C and salinities of 0.5–7.2 wt%. Only VL-type FIs occur in stage IV, with Th of 139–185 °C and salinities of 1.6–4.2 wt%. The δ18OH2O and δD values vary from −15.7 to 2.6‰ and −132.7 to −110.2‰, respectively, indicating predominant meteoric water with an initial magmatic source. The He–Ar isotopic compositions of the pyrite inclusions from the Panjiaduan Cu–Pb–Zn veins suggest that fluids were derived from the crust.

Chinese morphological awareness is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct but there is a lack of understanding of how its dimensions are related. Latent change score modeling was used to examine the bivariate relationships of two facets of oral morphological awareness, namely morpheme and structure awareness in Chinese children in grades one through three. Two hundred and three children in China completed morpheme (homonym awareness) and structure awareness (lexical compounding) tasks across the three grades (M = 6.66, SD = .30 at the first time point). Results indicated that growth in structure awareness was predicted in part by previous levels of morpheme awareness, suggesting that morpheme awareness leads the growth of structure awareness. Educational implications are discussed.

As the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues around the world, understanding the transmission characteristics of COVID-19 is vital for prevention and control. We conducted the first study aiming to estimate and compare the relative risk of secondary attack rates (SARs) of COVID-19 in different contact environments. Until 26 July 2021, epidemiological studies and cluster epidemic reports of COVID-19 were retrieved from SCI, Embase, PubMed, CNKI, Wanfang and CBM in English and Chinese, respectively. Relative risks (RRs) were estimated in pairwise comparisons of SARs between different contact environments using the frequentist NMA framework, and the ranking of risks in these environments was calculated using the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA). Subgroup analysis was performed by regions. Thirty-two studies with 68 260 participants were identified. Compared with meal or gathering, transportation (RR 10.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.43–77.85), medical care (RR 11.68, 95% CI 1.58–86.61) and work or study places (RR 10.15, 95% CI 1.40–73.38) had lower risk ratios for SARs. Overall, the SUCRA rankings from the highest to the lowest were household (95.3%), meal or gathering (81.4%), public places (58.9%), daily conversation (50.1%), transportation (30.8%), medical care (18.2%) and work or study places (15.3%). Household SARs were significantly higher than other environments in the subgroup of mainland China and sensitive analysis without small sample studies (<100). In light of the risks, stratified personal protection and public health measures need to be in place accordingly, so as close contacts categorising and management.

Flavonoids are a group of phenolic secondary metabolites in plants that have important physiological, ecological and economic value. In this study, using the desert plant Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch. as the sample material, the content and components of the total flavonoids in its seeds at seven different developmental stages were determined. In addition, the genes involved in flavonoid metabolism were identified by full-length transcriptome sequencing (third-generation sequencing technology based on PacBio RS II). Their expression levels were analysed by RNA-seq short reading sequencing, to reveal the patterns and regulation mechanisms of flavonoid accumulation during seed development. The key results were as follows: the content of total flavonoids in mature seeds was 15.05 mg g−1, including five subclasses: flavonols, chalcones, flavones, flavanones and proanthocyanidins, among which flavonols accounted for 45.78%. The period of rapid accumulation of flavonoids was 40–70 d following anthesis. The high expression of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL) and UDP-glucose:flavonoids 3-o-glucosyltransferase (UF3GT) promoted the accumulation of total flavonoids, while the high expression of flavonoids 3′-hydroxylase (F3′H) and flavonols synthase (FLS) made flavanols the main component. Transcription factors such as the MYB-bHLH-WDR (MBW) complex and Selenium-binding protein (SBP) directly regulated the structural genes of flavonoid metabolism, while C2H2-type zinc finger (C2H2), Zinc-finger transcription factor (GATA), Dehydration-responsive element binding (DREB), Global Transcription factor Group E protein (GTE), Trihelix DNA-binding factors (Trihelix) and Phytochrome-interacting factor (PIF) indirectly promoted the synthesis of flavonoids through hormones such as brassinoidsteroids (BRs) and abscisic acid (ABA). These results provided valuable resources for the application of related genes in genetics and breeding.

Poor utilisation efficiency of carbohydrate always leads to metabolic phenotypes in fish. The intestinal microbiota plays an important role in carbohydrate degradation. Whether the intestinal bacteria could alleviate high-carbohydrate diet (HCD)-induced metabolic phenotypes in fish remains unknown. Here, a strain affiliated to Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was isolated from the intestine of Nile tilapia. A basal diet (CON), HCD or HCD supplemented with B. amy SS1 (HCB) was used to feed fish for 10 weeks. The beneficial effects of B. amy SS1 on weight gain and protein accumulation were observed. Fasting glucose and lipid deposition were decreased in the HCB group compared with the HCD group. High-throughput sequencing showed that the abundance of acetate-producing bacteria was increased in the HCB group relative to the HCD group. Gas chromatographic analysis indicated that the concentration of intestinal acetate was increased dramatically in the HCB group compared with that in the HCD group. Glucagon-like peptide-1 was also increased in the intestine and serum of the HCB group. Thus, fish were fed with HCD, HCD supplemented with sodium acetate at 900 mg/kg (HLA), 1800 mg/kg (HMA) or 3600 mg/kg (HHA) diet for 8 weeks, and the HMA and HHA groups mirrored the effects of B. amy SS1. This study revealed that B. amy SS1 could alleviate the metabolic phenotypes caused by HCD by enriching acetate-producing bacteria in fish intestines. Regulating the intestinal microbiota and their metabolites might represent a powerful strategy for fish nutrition modulation and health maintenance in future.

The TanDEM-X DEM is a valuable data source for estimating glacier mass balance. However, the accuracy of TanDEM-X elevation over glaciers can be affected by microwave penetration and phase decorrelation. To investigate the bias of TanDEM-X DEMs of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, these DEMs were subtracted from SPOT-6 DEMs obtained around the same time at two study sites. The average bias over the studied glacier areas in West Kunlun (175.0 km2) was 2.106 ± 0.012 m in April 2014, and it was 1.523 ± 0.011 m in Geladandong (228.8 km2) in October 2013. By combining backscatter coefficients and interferometric coherence maps, we found surface decorrelation and baseline decorrelation can cause obvious bias in addition to microwave penetration. If the optical/laser data and winter TanDEM-X data were used as new and historic elevation sources for mass-balance measurements over an arbitrary observation period of 10 years, the glacier mass loss rates in West Kunlun and Geladandong would be potentially underestimated by 0.218 ± 0.016 and 0.158 ± 0.011 m w.e. a−1, respectively. The impact is therefore significant, and users should carefully treat the bias of TanDEM-X DEMs when retrieving a geodetic glacier mass balance.

The mortality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) differs between countries and regions. This study aimed to clarify the clinical characteristics of imported and second-generation cases in Shaanxi. This study included 134 COVID-19 cases in Shaanxi outside Wuhan. Clinical data were compared between severe and non-severe cases. We further profiled the dynamic laboratory findings of some patients. In total, 34.3% of the 134 patients were severe cases, 11.2% had complications. As of 7 March 2020, 91.8% patients were discharged and one patient (0.7%) died. Age, lymphocyte count, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, direct bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase and hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase showed difference between severe and no-severe cases (all P < 0.05). Baseline lymphocyte count was higher in survived patients than in non-survivor case, and it increased as the condition improved, but declined sharply when death occurred. The interleukin-6 (IL-6) level displayed a downtrend in survivors, but rose very high in the death case. Pulmonary fibrosis was found on later chest computed tomography images in 51.5% of the pneumonia cases. Imported and second-generation cases outside Wuhan had a better prognosis than initial cases in Wuhan. Lymphocyte count and IL-6 level could be used for evaluating prognosis. Pulmonary fibrosis as the sequelae of COVID-19 should be taken into account.