High fibre intake is associated with reduced mortality risk in both general and chronic kidney disease populations. However, in dialysis patients, such data are limited. Therefore, the association between dietary fibre intake (DFI) and the risk of all-cause and CVD mortality was examined in this study. A total of 1044 maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) patients from eight outpatient dialysis centres in China were included in this study. Data on DFI were collected using 24-h dietary recalls for 3 d in a week and were normalised to actual dry weight. The study outcomes included all-cause and CVD mortality. Over a median of 46 months of follow-up, 354 deaths were recorded, of which 210 (59 %) were due to CVD. On assessing DFI as tertiles, the CVD mortality risk was significantly lower in patients in tertiles 2–3 (≥0·13 g/kg per d; hazard ratio (HR) 0·71; 95 % CI 0·51, 0·97) compared with those in tertile 1 (<0·13 g/kg per d). A similar but non-significant trend was found for the association between DFI (tertiles 2–3 v. tertile 1; HR 0·83; 95 % CI 0·64, 1·07) and all-cause mortality. In summary, higher DFI was associated with lower CVD mortality risk among Chinese MHD patients. This study emphasises the significance of DFI in MHD patients and provides information that is critical for the improvement of dietary guidelines for dialysis patients.

The razor clam, Sinonovacula constricta, contains high levels of long-chain PUFA (LC-PUFA), which are critical for human health. In addition, S. constricta is the first marine mollusc demonstrated to possess Δ6 fatty acyl desaturase (Fad) and complete LC-PUFA biosynthetic ability, providing a good representative to investigate the molecular mechanism of sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBP) in regulating Δ6 Fad for LC-PUFA biosynthesis in marine molluscs. Herein, S. constricta SREBP and Δ6 Fad promoter were cloned and characterised. Subsequently, dual luciferase and electrophoretic mobility shift assays were conducted to explore the SREBP binding elements in the core regulatory region of S. constricta Δ6 Fad promoter. Results showed that S. constricta SREBP had a very conservative basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper motif, while S. constricta Δ6 Fad promoter exhibited very poor identity with teleost Fads2 promoters, indicating their differentiation during evolution. A 454 bp region harbouring a core sequence in S. constricta Δ6 Fad promoter was predicted to be essential for the transcriptional activation by SREBP. This was the first report on the regulatory mechanism of LC-PUFA biosynthesis in marine molluscs, which would facilitate optimising the LC-PUFA biosynthetic pathway of bivalves in further studies.

The surface topology of biomaterial has a definite effect on the growth behavior of nerve cells for peripheral nerve regeneration. In this study, the silk fibroin (SF) film with different anisotropic microgroove/ridge was constructed by micropatterning technology. The effects of topologies width on the directional growth of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons were evaluated. The results showed that the topological structure of the SF film with higher SF concentration was more clear and complete. The microtopography of the SF film with a concentration of 15% and a groove width of around 30 μm could effectively guide the directional growth of the nerve fibers of DRG. And nerve fibers could obviously form nerve fiber bundles which may have a certain pavement effect on the recovery of nerve function. The study indicated that the SF film with a specific width of the topological structure may have potential applications in the field of directional nerve regeneration.

Maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) is the use of a machine to filter wastes, salts and fluid from blood for at least 3 months to prolong the life of patients with advanced kidney failure. Although low dietary energy intake (DEI) has been observed in MHD patients, few studies have related DEI to the risk of mortality. To explore this relationship, a study included 1039 MHD patients from eight centres was conducted. DEI was assessed by three 24-h diet recalls and was normalised to ideal body weight (IBW). All-cause mortality and CVD mortality were the primary and secondary outcomes, respectively. During a median follow-up of 28 months, a U-shaped relationship was observed between DEI and all-cause or CVD mortality. The risk of all-cause mortality decreased significantly with the increase of DEI in participants with DEI <167·4 kJ/kg IBW per d (hazard ratio (HR) 0·98; 95 % CI 0·96, 1·00) and increased significantly with the increase of DEI in those with DEI ≥167·4 kJ/kg IBW per d (HR 1·12; 95 % CI 1·04, 1·20). Similarly, the risk of CVD mortality decreased with the increase of DEI in participants with DEI <152·7 kJ/kg IBW per d (HR 0·96; 95 % CI 0·93, 0·99) and increased with the increase of DEI in participants with DEI ≥152·7 kJ/kg IBW per d (HR 1·11; 95 % CI 1·04, 1·18). In summary, there was a U-shaped association between DEI and all-cause or CVD mortality, with a turning point at about 167·4 and 152·7 kJ/kg IBW per d, respectively, in MHD patients.

North Korea is a unique regime that has not followed the ‘mono-transition’ path (economic reform under modified one-party rule) of other surviving communist regimes (China, Vietnam, Cuba) in the post-Cold War era. Debates over North Korea's unique features (reluctance in economic reform, absence of political modification, international troublemaking) have generated two contending interpretations. The mainstream interpretation attributes North Korea's uniqueness to its regime's highly rigid political system (‘monolithic leadership system’). For the alternative interpretation, structural pressures and political calculus have driven the monolithic regime towards economic reform (‘marketization from above’), making it more convergent with the ‘mono-transition’ regimes, at least in the economic aspect. In support of the latter interpretation, this article will delve further into three contentious issues that represent the most common doubts about the advance of marketization in North Korea. First, how can the regime reconcile marketization with the interests of its ‘core constituencies’? Second, since ‘crony socialism’ exists, how does it influence distribution and productive activity? Third, how does marketization advance in view of the persistence of monolithic rule? In so doing, it will show how the sources of economic reform (structural factors and political calculus) have enabled the marketization constraints to be overcome.

A bimetallic metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)-templated strategy was developed to fabricate mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons with improved photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity, and the formation mechanism of these mesoporous polyhedrons was discussed in detail. Incorporating Cd atoms, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface areas of mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons were significantly increased (271 m2/g), providing more exposed active sites compared with ZnS. In addition, suitable conduction band potential (< −0.55 eV) of the mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons was also beneficial for the photocatalysis. Impressively, by the co-effects of mesoporous structure and modified conduction band, the mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons exhibited better photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution than most reported photocatalysts without noble metals. The maximum hydrogen evolution rate of the CSZ3 reached 4.10 mmol/(h g) under visible-light irradiation and without any cocatalyst condition. This facile strategy for the construction of mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons provided a deep insight to fabricate other metal sulfides for a variety of photochemical applications.

CrFeNiTix (x = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6 molar ratio) compositionally complex alloys were fabricated by vacuum arc melting to investigate the microstructure, hardness, and compressive properties. The results revealed that CrFeNiTix alloys consisted of the principal face-centered cubic (FCC) phase and body-centered cubic (BCC) solid solution, with an amount of (Ni, Ti)-rich hexagonal close-packed phase. CrFeNiTix alloys exhibited the typical dendrite. Ti0.2 and Ti0.3 alloys were composed of FCC and BCC solid solutions in the dendrite, as well as ε (Ni3Ti) and R (Ni2.67Ti1.33) phases in the inter-dendrite, simultaneously. For Ti0.4, Ti0.5, and Ti0.6 alloys, (Fe, Cr)-rich solid solution separated out and ε phase transformed into R phase gradually. Meanwhile, TEM analysis indicated that Ti0.4 alloy matrix consisted of the principal FCC phase containing (Ni, Ti)-rich intragranular nanoprecipitates. The hardness values of CrFeNiTix alloys were increased with the addition of Ti content and the high compressive strength of CrFeNiTix alloys was maintained, which was attributed to the solid solution strengthening and precipitation hardening.

An ion beam has the unique feature of being able to deposit its main energy inside a human body to kill cancer cells or inside material. However, conventional ion accelerators tend to be huge in size and cost. In this paper, a future intense-laser ion accelerator is discussed to make the laser-based ion accelerator compact and controllable. The issues in the laser ion accelerator include the energy efficiency from the laser to the ions, the ion beam collimation, the ion energy spectrum control, the ion beam bunching, and the ion particle energy control. In the study, each component is designed to control the ion beam quality by particle simulations. The energy efficiency from the laser to ions is improved by using a solid target with a fine sub-wavelength structure or a near-critical-density gas plasma. The ion beam collimation is performed by holes behind the solid target or a multi-layered solid target. The control of the ion energy spectrum and the ion particle energy, and the ion beam bunching are successfully realized by a multi-stage laser–target interaction.

Round spermatid injection (ROSI) into mammalian oocytes can result in the development of viable embryos and offspring. One current limitation to this technique is the identification of suitable round spermatids. In the current paper, round spermatids were selected from testicular cells with phase contrast microscopy (PCM) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and ROSI was performed in two strains of mice. The rates of fertilization, embryonic development and offspring achieved were the same in all strains. Significantly, round spermatids selected by PCM and FACS were effectively used to rescue the infertile Pten-null mouse. The current results indicate that FACS selection of round spermatids can not only provide high-purity and viable round spermatids for use in ROSI, but also has no harmful effects on the developmental capacity of subsequently fertilized embryos. It was concluded that round spermatids selected by FACS are useful for mouse strain rederivation and rescue of infertile males; ROSI should be considered as a powerful addition to the armamentarium of assisted reproduction techniques applicable in the mouse.

This paper presents a novel metamaterial constructed with wires, spheres and hollow slabs (WSHS), which simultaneously exhibits negative permittivity and permeability. An electromagnetic wave simulation is performed based on the proposed metamaterial and shows that a negative refractive index is achieved for this metamaterial. Adjusting the lattice constant of the unit cell is an easy way to manipulate the frequency of negative index of this structure. A left-hand material prism is designed composed of metamaterial unit cells and the simulation on the proposed prism proves the left-hand behavior of the designed metamaterial.

Two flares occurred simultaneously in active region NOAA 9433 on 2001 April 25. The GOES X-ray fluxes show only one peak during the two flares. The negative magnetic polarities in the two flaring regions exhibited a clockwise rotation motion around the positive polarities, which can be seen from the evolution of the SOHO/MDI magnetograms. Through analyzing the potential fields extrapolated from the MDI magnetogram, we find that there is a channel strode by a group of magnetic field lines connecting the two flaring regions.

Large quasicrystals up to ∼10 μm in size with a volume fraction of ∼30% have been identified in a nitrogen gas-atomized marginal glass-forming alloy Al85Ni5Y6Co2Fe2 by detailed transmission electron microscopy. The formation of the large quasicrystal (Q) phase is discussed through the configuration of the valence electrons of its constituent elements, and the thermodynamic and kinetic factors associated with the solidification of this marginal glass-forming alloy during gas atomization. The finding leads to an important inference that marginal glass-forming alloys could be ideal systems for the formation of bulk quasicrystals under appropriate kinetic conditions. The Q phase is stable up to ∼500 °C and decomposes thereafter. The activation energy for the decomposition of the Q phase is similar to the self-diffusion of Al. Two new intermetallic phases associated with the formation and decomposition of the Q phase have also been identified and characterized.

OH- absorption bands of lithium tantalate crystals have been measured at room temperature, and the bands shape depending on the crystal composition has been observed. OH- absorption bands are fitted with three Lorentzian peaks by varying position, halfwidth, and area. Nearly constant peak positions (3461, 3475 and 3486 cm-1) for all samples are obtained. Hydrogenation is also performed to the crystals and its influence on the decomposed peaks (position, halfwidth and area) is investigated. The results show the fitting parameters of peaks have different values for crystals with different hydrogen concentration, which is interpreted by the different sites occupied by H+ in terms of the modified model about the location of Li-vacancy in the lattice. Additionally, it is shown that the halfwidth of peak at 3461 cm-1 remain unchanged regardless of hydrogen concentration, which make this parameter more suitable than other ones to determine the composition of LiTaO3 crystals. The quantitative relationship between the halfwidth of peak at 3461 cm-1 and the crystal composition is also presented.