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As implementers, public officials have historically enjoyed substantial influence in the public policy process, but little attention has been paid to the effect of psychological elements on their attitudes towards implementing policy instruments. The authors argue that from a behavioural public administration perspective, public officials’ attitudes towards implementing certain policy instruments are not rational, but instead biased. Using two survey experiments on 1,024 Chinese public officials, this study examines the cognitive and motivational bias of public officials’ attitudes towards implementing policy instruments. The findings indicate that when public officials are presented with risk information in a negative framing, they are more reluctant to implement indirect policy instruments than direct ones, and this phenomenon becomes more pronounced when their public interest orientation is activated, rather than their personal interest orientation. The findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of the effect of psychological biases on public officials’ attitudes towards policy implementation.
The relationship of a diet low in fibre with mortality has not been evaluated. This study aims to assess the burden of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD) attributable to a diet low in fibre globally from 1990 to 2019.
Design:
All data were from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019, in which the mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALY) and years lived with disability (YLD) were estimated with Bayesian geospatial regression using data at global, regional and country level acquired from an extensively systematic review.
Setting:
All data sourced from the GBD Study 2019.
Participants:
All age groups for both sexes.
Results:
The age-standardised mortality rates (ASMR) declined in most GBD regions; however, in Southern sub-Saharan Africa, the ASMR increased from 4·07 (95 % uncertainty interval (UI) (2·08, 6·34)) to 4·60 (95 % UI (2·59, 6·90)), and in Central sub-Saharan Africa, the ASMR increased from 7·46 (95 % UI (3·64, 11·90)) to 9·34 (95 % UI (4·69, 15·25)). Uptrends were observed in the age-standardised YLD rates attributable to a diet low in fibre in a number of GBD regions. The burden caused by diabetes mellitus increased in Central Asia, Southern sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe.
Conclusions:
The burdens of disease attributable to a diet low in fibre in Southern sub-Saharan Africa and Central sub-Saharan Africa and the age-standardised YLD rates in a number of GBD regions increased from 1990 to 2019. Therefore, greater efforts are needed to reduce the disease burden caused by a diet low in fibre.
The association between dietary Cu intake and mortality risk remains uncertain. We aimed to investigate the relationship of dietary Cu intake with all-cause mortality among Chinese adults. A total of 17 310 participants from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, a national ongoing open cohort of Chinese participants, were included in the analysis. Dietary intake was measured by three consecutive 24-h dietary recalls in combination with a weighing inventory over the same 3 d. The average intakes of the 3-d dietary macronutrients and micronutrients were calculated. The study outcome was all-cause mortality. During a median follow-up of 9·0 years, 1324 (7·6 %) participants died. After adjusting for sex, age, BMI, ever alcohol drinking, ever smoking, education levels, occupations, urban or rural residents, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and the intakes of fat, protein and carbohydrate, the association between dietary Cu intake and all-cause mortality followed a J-shape (Pfor nonlinearity = 0·047). When dietary Cu intake was assessed as quartiles, compared with those in the first quartile (<1·60 mg/d), the adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were 0·87 (95 % CI (0·71, 1·07)), 0·98 (95 % CI (0·79, 1·21)) and 1·49 (95 % CI (1·19, 1·86)), respectively, in participants in the second (1·60–<1·83 mg/d), third (1·83–<2·09 mg/d) and fourth (≥2·09 mg/d) quartiles. A series of subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses showed similar results. Overall, our findings emphasised the importance of maintaining optimal dietary Cu intake levels for prevention of premature death.
Cryptosporidium spp. are important pathogens with some species causing diarrhoea in humans and animals. Sheep are one of the most common potential hosts for various Cryptosporidium spp. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium in sheep globally was evaluated from published information including molecular data via meta-analysis. In total, 126 datasets from 41 countries were included for final quantitative analysis. Sheep aged <3 months had a significantly higher prevalence (27.8%; 3284/11 938) than those at the age of 3–12 and >12 months. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium in sheep with diarrhoea of 35.4% (844/1915) was higher than in sheep that did not show diarrhoea (11.3%; 176/1691). Fourteen Cryptosporidium species/genotypes were detected in sheep globally. The proportion of subgenotype family XIIa of Cryptosporidium ubiquitum was 90.0% (216/240); the proportions of subgenotypes IIdA20G1 and IIaA15G2R1 of Cryptosporidium parvum were 15.4% (62/402) and 19.7% (79/402). The results indicate that C. parvum is the dominant species in Europe while Cryptosporidium xiaoi is the dominant species in Oceania, Asia and Africa and C. ubiquitum is the dominant species in North America and South America. Subgenotype family IIa of C. parvum is particularly widespread among sheep worldwide. The results highlight the role of sheep as a reservoir host for zoonotic cryptosporidia and the need for further study of prevalence, transmission and control of this pathogen in sheep.
Family functioning is associated with anxiety and depression. Perinatal depression and anxiety are common and influence the well-being of women, partners and their offspring. However, little is known about differences in associations between family functioning and mood symptoms in women and their partners in early pregnancy.
Aims
Investigating differences in associations between family functioning and anxious and depressive symptoms in women and their partners in early pregnancy.
Method
In total, 171 woman–partner pairs were enrolled. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item scale (GAD-7) and Family Assessment Device (FAD) were performed. Correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were applied to investigate the associations.
Results
In pregnant women, all the subscale scores on the FAD were correlated with total scores on the EPDS and GAD-7 (all P < 0.05), whereas only the Roles subscale showed a predicting effect in regression models (P < 0.01). In partners, all the subscale scores on the FAD were related to total scores on the PHQ-9 (all P < 0.05), whereas only the Problem Solving subscale showed a predicting effect (P = 0.029).
Conclusions
Our findings indicate that family functioning in the domain of roles is associated with anxious and depressive symptoms in pregnant women and functioning in the domain of problem solving is associated with depressive symptoms in partners. Clinicians should pay special attention to roles and problem solving when assessing mood symptoms in pregnant women and their partners. This study also provides a basis for family health education in early pregnancy.
We report the experimental results of the commissioning phase in the 10 PW laser beamline of the Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility (SULF). The peak power reaches 2.4 PW on target without the last amplifying during the experiment. The laser energy of 72 ± 9 J is directed to a focal spot of approximately 6 μm diameter (full width at half maximum) in 30 fs pulse duration, yielding a focused peak intensity around 2.0 × 1021 W/cm2. The first laser-proton acceleration experiment is performed using plain copper and plastic targets. High-energy proton beams with maximum cut-off energy up to 62.5 MeV are achieved using copper foils at the optimum target thickness of 4 μm via target normal sheath acceleration. For plastic targets of tens of nanometers thick, the proton cut-off energy is approximately 20 MeV, showing ring-like or filamented density distributions. These experimental results reflect the capabilities of the SULF-10 PW beamline, for example, both ultrahigh intensity and relatively good beam contrast. Further optimization for these key parameters is underway, where peak laser intensities of 1022–1023 W/cm2 are anticipated to support various experiments on extreme field physics.
Persistent psychological distress associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been well documented. This study aimed to identify pre-COVID brain functional connectome that predicts pandemic-related distress symptoms among young adults.
Methods
Baseline neuroimaging studies and assessment of general distress using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale were performed with 100 healthy individuals prior to wide recognition of the health risks associated with the emergence of COVID-19. They were recontacted for the Impact of Event Scale-Revised and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist in the period of community-level outbreaks, and for follow-up distress evaluation again 1 year later. We employed the network-based statistic approach to identify connectome that predicted the increase of distress based on 136-region-parcellation with assigned network membership. Predictive performance of connectome features and causal relations were examined by cross-validation and mediation analyses.
Results
The connectome features that predicted emergence of distress after COVID contained 70 neural connections. Most within-network connections were located in the default mode network (DMN), and affective network-DMN and dorsal attention network-DMN links largely constituted between-network pairs. The hippocampus emerged as the most critical hub region. Predictive models of the connectome remained robust in cross-validation. Mediation analyses demonstrated that COVID-related posttraumatic stress partially explained the correlation of connectome to the development of general distress.
Conclusions
Brain functional connectome may fingerprint individuals with vulnerability to psychological distress associated with the COVID pandemic. Individuals with brain neuromarkers may benefit from the corresponding interventions to reduce the risk or severity of distress related to fear of COVID-related challenges.
We report a generation of energetic protons by the interaction of a high-energy electron driving beam with an underdense plasma slab. After an interaction period of approximately 4000 fs, a proton beam with maximum energy greater than 250 MeV can be achieved by applying a driving beam with energy 1.0 GeV to a 200 $\mathrm {\mu }$m plasma slab. Our two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations also show that the proton acceleration process can be divided into two stages. In the first stage, a strong positive longitudinal electric field appears near the rear boundary of the plasma slab after the driving beam has passed through it. This acceleration process is similar to the target normal sheath acceleration scheme by the interaction between intense pulsed laser with overdense plasma targets. In the second stage, the accelerated protons experience a long-range acceleration process with a two-stream instability between the high-energy driving beam and the proton beam. Further analyses show that this accelerated proton beam is equipped with the property of good collimation and high energy. This scheme presents a new way for proton or ion acceleration on some special occasions.
Widely distributed Mid-Neoproterozoic mafic rocks of the Qilian – Qaidam – East Kunlun region record the tectonic evolution of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. This study presents whole-rock geochemistry, zircon U–Pb geochronology and Hf isotopes for the Xialanuoer gabbros of the central South Qilian Belt (SQB). Zircon laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) U–Pb dating indicates that the gabbros were emplaced at ca. 738 Ma, indicating they are contemporaneous with mafic magmatism elsewhere in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The gabbros have low SiO2, Cr and Ni contents and Mg# values, are relatively enriched in light rare-earth elements (LREEs) and depleted in high-field-strength elements (HFSEs; e.g. Nb and Ta), have no positive Zr or Hf anomalies and have relatively high Nb/Ta but low Nb/La ratios. These data indicate that the Xialanuoer gabbros formed from calc-alkaline basaltic magmas that were originally generated by the partial melting of an enriched mantle of type-I (EMI-type) enriched region of the lithospheric mantle, underwent little to no crustal contamination prior to their emplacement, and have within-plate basalt geochemical affinities. Combining these data with the presence of widespread contemporaneous continental rift-related magmatism and sedimentation in the North Qilian, Central Qilian, South Qilian, Quanji, North Qaidam and East Kunlun regions suggests that the northeastern Tibetan Plateau underwent Mid-Neoproterozoic continental rifting, which also affected other Rodinian blocks (e.g. Tarim, South China, Australia, North America and Southern Africa).
This study is performed to figure out how the presence of diabetes affects the infection, progression and prognosis of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and the effective therapy that can treat the diabetes-complicated patients with COVID-19. A multicentre study was performed in four hospitals. COVID-19 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) or hyperglycaemia were compared with those without these conditions and matched by propensity score matching for their clinical progress and outcome. Totally, 2444 confirmed COVID-19 patients were recruited, from whom 336 had DM. Compared to 1344 non-DM patients with age and sex matched, DM-COVID-19 patients had significantly higher rates of intensive care unit entrance (12.43% vs. 6.58%, P = 0.014), kidney failure (9.20% vs. 4.05%, P = 0.027) and mortality (25.00% vs. 18.15%, P < 0.001). Age and sex-stratified comparison revealed increased susceptibility to COVID-19 only from females with DM. For either non-DM or DM group, hyperglycaemia was associated with adverse outcomes, featured by higher rates of severe pneumonia and mortality, in comparison with non-hyperglycaemia. This was accompanied by significantly altered laboratory indicators including lymphocyte and neutrophil percentage, C-reactive protein and urea nitrogen level, all with correlation coefficients >0.35. Both diabetes and hyperglycaemia were independently associated with adverse prognosis of COVID-19, with hazard ratios of 10.41 and 3.58, respectively.
Frequent freezing injury greatly influences winter wheat production; thus, effective prevention and a command of agricultural production are vital. The freezing injury monitoring method integrated with ‘3S’ (geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning system (GPS) and remote sensing (RS)) technology has an unparalleled advantage. Using HuanJing (HJ)-1A/1B satellite images of a winter wheat field in Shanxi Province, China plus a field survey, crop types and winter wheat planting area were identified through repeated visual interpretations of image information and spatial analyses conducted in GIS. Six vegetation indices were extracted from processed HJ-1A/1B satellite images to determine whether the winter wheat suffered from freezing injury and its degree of severity and recovery, using change vector analysis (CVA), the freeze injury representative vegetation index and the combination of the two methods, respectively. Accuracy of the freezing damage classification results was verified by determining the impact of freezing damage on yield and quantitative analysis. The CVA and the change of normalized difference vegetation index (ΔNDVI) monitoring results were different so a comprehensive analysis of the combination of CVA and ΔNDVI was performed. The area with serious freezing injury covered 0.9% of the total study area, followed by the area of no freezing injury (3.5%), moderate freezing injury (10.2%) and light freezing injury (85.4%). Of the moderate and serious freezing injury areas, 0.2% did not recover; 1.2% of the no freezing injury and light freezing injury areas showed optimal recovery, 15.6% of the light freezing injury and moderate freezing injury areas showed poor recovery, and the remaining areas exhibited general recovery.
In this paper we employ a Gaussian-type heat kernel estimate to establish Krylov’s estimate and Khasminskii’s estimate for the Euler–Maruyama (EM) algorithm. For applications, by taking Zvonkin’s transformation into account, we investigate the convergence rate of the EM algorithm for a class of multidimensional stochastic differential equations (SDEs) with low regular drifts, which need not be piecewise Lipschitz.
We report on experimental observation of non-laminar proton acceleration modulated by a strong magnetic field in laser irradiating micrometer aluminum targets. The results illustrate the coexistence of ring-like and filamentation structures. We implement the knife edge method into the radiochromic film detector to map the accelerated beams, measuring a source size of 30–110 μm for protons of more than 5 MeV. The diagnosis reveals that the ring-like profile originates from low-energy protons far off the axis whereas the filamentation is from the near-axis high-energy protons, exhibiting non-laminar features. Particle-in-cell simulations reproduced the experimental results, showing that the short-term magnetic turbulence via Weibel instability and the long-term quasi-static annular magnetic field by the streaming electric current account for the measured beam profile. Our work provides direct mapping of laser-driven proton sources in the space-energy domain and reveals the non-laminar beam evolution at featured time scales.
A compact four-element ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with dual polarization and dual-notched capabilities was developed and fabricated. The MIMO antenna is composed of four orthogonally placed half-cutting UWB antenna elements. This orthogonal placement improves the isolation. Furthermore, an L-shaped slot and a continuous bending slot are etched to realize the band-rejection function in the WiMAX and WLAN bands. The result shows that the antenna achieved operating bands of 2.9–16.5 GHz (140.2%, S11 < −10 dB), fully covering the UWB (3.1–10.6 GHz). The port isolation is greater than 23 dB in the frequency band of interest, excluding two rejected bands. Moreover, the MIMO antenna has excellent diversity performance, such as a low envelope correlation coefficient (<0.004), high diversity gain (approximately 10 dB), and good omnidirectional radiation characteristics.
This study assessed the molecular mechanism of EPA or DHA protection against intestinal porcine epithelial cell line 1 (IPEC-1) cell damage induced by deoxynivalenol (DON). The cells were divided into six groups, including the CON group, the EPA group, the DHA group, the DON group, the EPA + DON group and the DHA + DON group. RNA sequencing was used to investigate the potential mechanism, and qRT-PCR was employed to verify the expression of selected genes. Changes in ultrastructure were used to estimate pathological changes and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) injury in IPEC-1 cells. Transferrin receptor 1 (TFR1) was tested by ELISA. Fe2+ and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were estimated by spectrophotometry, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) was assayed by fluorospectrophotometry. RNA sequencing analysis showed that EPA and DHA had a significant effect on the expression of genes involved in ER stress and iron balance during DON-induced cell injury. The results showed that DON increased ER damage, the content of MDA and ROS, the ratio of X-box binding protein 1s (XBP-1s)/X-box binding protein 1u (XBP-1u), the concentration of Fe2+ and the activity of TFR1. However, the results also showed that EPA and DHA decreased the ratio of XBP-1s/XBP-1u to relieve DON-induced ER damage of IPEC-1 cells. Moreover, EPA and DHA (especially DHA) reversed the factors related to iron balance. It can be concluded that EPA and DHA reversed IPEC-1 cell damage induced by DON. DHA has the potential to protect IPEC-1 cells from DON-induced iron imbalance by inhibiting ER stress.
The present work was performed to analyse the association of dietary patterns with glycaemic control (Hb A1c < 7 %) in a large group of Chinese adults aged between 45 and 59 years.
Design:
Habitual dietary intakes in the preceding 12 months were assessed by well-trained interviewers using a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. Factor analysis with principal component method was used to obtain the dietary patterns, and the associations between dietary patterns and glycaemic control were determined using multivariable logistic regression models. Poor glycaemic control was defined as HbA1c ≥ 7·0.
Setting:
Despite decades of research, data on the relationship between dietary patterns and glycaemic control (HbA1c < 7 %) in China are sparse.
Participants:
A total of 1739 participants aged 45–59 years from Hangzhou were included in the final analysis.
Results:
Three dietary patterns were ascertained and labelled as traditional southern Chinese, Western and grains-vegetables patterns. After controlling of the possible confounders, participants in the highest quartile of Western pattern scores had greater OR for HbA1c ≥ 7·0 (OR = 1·05; (95 % CI 1·000, 1·095); P = 0·048) than did those in the lowest quartile. Compared with those in the lowest quartile of grains-vegetables pattern, participants in the highest quartile had lower OR for HbA1c ≥ 7·0 (OR = 0·82; (95 % CI 0·720, 0·949); P = 0·038). Besides, no significant relationship between the traditional southern Chinese pattern and HbA1c ≥ 7·0 was observed (P > 0·05).
Conclusions:
This study indicated that the Western pattern was associated with a higher risk, and the grains-vegetables pattern was associated with a lower risk for HbA1c ≥ 7·0. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm our findings.
The Jueluotage area, which is located in the southern branch of the Eastern Tianshan and northeast of the Tarim Basin, represents a vital locality for investigating intracontinental reactivation induced by the tectonic events at the Eurasian plate margin. This study applies zircon and apatite (U–Th)/He and apatite fission-track thermochronology to the Jueluotage area in the Eastern Tianshan. Our data and thermal history modelling show that the Jueluotage area experienced Triassic–Early Jurassic (˜240–180 Ma) cooling, reflecting the closure of the North Tianshan Ocean and subsequent far-field effects of collision/accretion of the Qiangtang Block and Kunlun terrane. Following this period of fast cooling, a differential exhumation process occurred between the various tectonic belts in the Jueluotage area. The Aqishan–Yamansu belt was exposed at the surface during the Triassic–Early Jurassic cooling phase and experienced subsequent burial, which continued until Early Cretaceous time when a pulse of exhumation occurred. However, the major fault zones (Kanggurtag ductile shear zone and Aqikkuduk Fault) and Central Tianshan arc have remained tectonically stable since Early Jurassic time. No Cenozoic rapid cooling was recorded by the low-temperature thermochronology results in this study, indicating that much of the Jueluotage area was exhumed to the upper crust in the late Mesozoic period.