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Background: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), a group of food processing byproducts, have been implicated in the development of various diseases. However, the relationship between circulating AGEs and sleep disorders remains uncertain. Methods: This cross-sectional study elucidated the association of plasma AGEs with sleep disorders among 1732 Chinese adults who participated in the initial visit (2019–2020) of the Tongji–Shenzhen Cohort (TJSZC). Sleep behavior was assessed using self-reported questionnaires and precise accelerometers. Plasma levels of AGEs, including Nε-(Carboxymethyl)lysine (CML), Nε-(Carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL), and Nδ-(5-hydro-5-methyl-4-imidazolone-2-yl)-ornithine (MG-H1), were quantified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Results: In logistic regression, per IQR increment in individual AGEs was associated with an increased odds ratio of short sleep duration (CML: 1.11 [1.00, 1.23]; CEL: 1.16, [1.04, 1.30]), poor sleep quality (CML: 1.33 [1.10, 1.60]; CEL: 1.53, [1.17, 2.00]; MG-H1: 1.61 [1.25, 2.07]), excessive daytime sleepiness (CML: 1.33 [1.11, 1.60]; MG-H1: 1.39 [1.09, 1.77]), and insomnia (CML: 1.29 [1.05, 1.59]). Furthermore, in weighted quantile sum regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression analyses, elevated overall exposure levels of plasma AGEs were associated with an increased risk of sleep disorders, including short sleep duration, poor sleep quality, excessive daytime sleepiness, and insomnia, with CML being identified as the leading contributor. Insufficient vegetable intake and higher dietary fat intake was associated with an increase in plasma CEL. Conclusions: These findings support a significant association between plasma AGEs and sleep disorders, indicating that AGEs may adversely influence sleep health and reducing the intake of AGEs may facilitate preventing and ameliorating sleep disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Hypothyroidism, characterized by reduced thyroid hormone levels, and endometrial cancer, a prevalent gynecological malignancy, have been suggested to have a potential association in previous observational studies. However, the causal relationship between them remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the causal relationship between hypothyroidism and endometrial cancer using a bilateral Mendelian randomization approach. Methods: A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study was conducted using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies to identify genetic variants associated with hypothyroidism and endometrial cancer. The inverse variance weighting method was used as the main analysis, and sensitivity analyses were conducted to validate the MR results. Results: The results of our analysis did not support a causal effect of hypothyroidism (OR: 0.93, p=0.08) or autoimmune hypothyroidism (OR: 0.98, p=0.39) on endometrial cancer risk. In the reverse MR analysis, we did not find a significant causal effect of endometrial cancer on hypothyroidism (OR: 0.96, p=0.75) or autoimmune hypothyroidism (OR: 0.92, p=0.50). Based on subgroup analysis by pathological subtypes of endometrial cancer, the above findings were further substantiated (all p-value >0.05). Conclusions: Our Mendelian randomization analysis suggests a lack of causal association between hypothyroidism and endometrial cancer. To gain a deeper understanding of this association, it is essential to conduct large-scale randomized controlled trials in the future to validate our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the whisker structure of a harbor seal is applied to the lip and the trailing edge of a turbine cooling blade with a pressure-side cutback. Four cases are studied in this article, including a prototype, a whisker trailing edge, a PP (The lip's peak and the trailing edge's peak are designed at the same blade height) case, and a PV (The lip's peak and the trailing edge's valley are designed at the same blade height) case. The DDES method is used to simulate the flow and thermal mixing process in the cascade. The coolant mass flow ratios ( c m ) of 0.5% and 1% at an outlet Mach number of 0.9 are simulated. The PP case can achieve the best aerodynamic performance, which reduces the thermodynamic energy loss coefficient of the prototype by 0.98% and 0.99% at c m = 0.5% and c m = 1%, respectively. The PP case and the PV case increase the lowest spanwise average adiabatic film cooling effectiveness on the cutback surface from 0.5 to 0.7 at c m = 0.5%. The film cooling effectiveness of the PP case and the PV case can remain close to 1 over the entire cutback surface at c m = 1%. The PP case transforms the trailing edge shedding vortices on the pressure side into hairpin vortices. The whisker lip suppresses the lip vortex and alters the closed separation bubble on the cutback surface, causing the coolant to converge toward Section 1. The convergence of coolant is more helpful for the PP case to control the pressure side shedding vortex, resulting in a lower thermodynamic energy loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the whisker structure of a harbor seal is utilized on the trailing edge of a high-pressure turbine stage to control the interaction between the wake and the blade. The paper investigates two cases: a prototype high-pressure turbine stage, and a biomimetic turbine stage where the vane and blade trailing edges are modified to mimic the whisker structure. The flow in the prototype and the biomimetic turbine stage is simulated using the delayed detached-eddy simulation (DDES) method. Results show that fluid behind the whisker trailing edge converges to the valley region. The whisker trailing edge transforms the Karman vortices into hairpin vortices, narrowing the wake area of the vane. A narrower wake area delays the interaction between the wake core area and the blade. The prototype vane's pressure-side and suction-side shedding vortices interact with the leading edge of the blade, resulting in large pressure fluctuations. The whisker trailing edge weakens the impact of the wake on the blade's leading edge, significantly reducing the amplitude of pressure fluctuation at the blade's leading edge. Meanwhile, the whisker trailing edge minimizes the adhesion of the small vortices on the blade, suppressing the high-frequency pressure pulsation at the blade's leading edge. Moreover, the breaking of the Karman vortex suppresses the rotational velocity field in the blade passage. The suppression of the rotational velocity field of the shedding vortex reduces the velocity fluctuations in the blade's near-wall region and boundary layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is to investigate the varied effects of China's free trade zone (FTZ) strategy on agricultural trade and its underlying mechanisms. This work utilizes the propensity score matching–staggered difference-in-differences (PSM–Staggered DID) approach and synthetic control method (SCM) as its analysis methods. This study analyzes trade volume data between China and various countries alongside diverse economic indicators spanning from 1995 to 2020. The data sources include CEPII_BACI, the China Free Trade Zone Services website, the Penn World Tables, and the CEPII database. The novelty of this work lies in exploring the multidimensional heterogeneity of agricultural product trade effects in FTZs and their underlying mechanisms and extending the application of causal inference methods to the assessment of FTZs' trade effects. Empirical analysis indicates that the establishment of FTZs with partner countries has contributed to the growth of China's agricultural trade. The effects of agricultural trade resulting from China's FTZ strategy exhibit multidimensional heterogeneity in the aspects of agreement terms, years, product categories, and network positions. Specifically, when it comes to the agreement terms, FTZs negotiated by China with broader scope, deeper terms, and stronger constraints have a more significant impact on agricultural trade due to the establishment of FTZs; in terms of years, the agricultural trade effects have gradually expanded over time; in terms of product categories, China has expanded its imports of primary agricultural products and semiprocessed agricultural products from partner countries, thus augmenting its exports of horticultural agricultural products and processed agricultural products. In terms of network positions, China, as a hub country, has greater agricultural trade effects than partner countries after the establishment of the FTZs. Finally, the paper proposes policy recommendations for optimizing the implementation strategy of FTZs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important means of farmland policy, whether land transfer can promote agricultural green transformation is worthy of further study; however, related research is relatively rare. Based on the inter-provincial panel data from 2005 to 2020, this paper examines the influence of land transfer on agricultural green transformation and its underlying mechanism by using a two-way fixed effect model and an intermediary effect model. This study reveals significant findings as follows: (1) Land transfer substantially promotes agricultural green transformation. (2) Energy consumption is a major contributor to the growth of agricultural carbon emissions; however, land transfer can mitigate this by reducing energy consumption. (3) Land transfer can promote agricultural green transformation by fostering agricultural technology progress. (4) Further analysis reveals that land transfer in economically developed areas and the southeastern side of the "Hu-Huanyong Line" significantly enhances agricultural green transformation. Based on these findings, this paper suggests promoting land transfer while considering regional differences. Additionally, attention should be directed towards reducing energy consumption and encouraging agricultural technology's progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated development of agriculture and tourism is an effective driving force to boost farmers' income. We utilize a quasi-natural experiment design to test how such integrated development promotes the comprehensive rural revitalization. By adopting a panel dataset of 72 counties within Guangxi province from 2005 to 2020 and a PSM-DID method, we attempt to explore the effect of the integrated development of agriculture and tourism on farmers' income growth. The empirical results support our hypothesis that the integrated development of agriculture and tourism can effectively promote farmers' income growth and its regional heterogeneity with respect to tourism resource endowment and economic development level. We further discuss the transmission mechanism of the integrated development of agriculture and tourism and reveal that the agricultural technology level and agricultural production efficiency have mediating effects on improving farmers' income growth. However, a masking effect exists between the integrated development of agriculture and tourism and the level of non-agricultural employment. The possible reason is that industrial and commercial capital investment has crowded out the welfare originally belonging to the wage income and only allowed farmers to obtain the one-time land rent income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agri-ecological policy and human capital are important factors affecting agricultural green technology progress (AGTP), but the related research is relatively insufficient. This paper contributes to existing research through new insights on the effect of agri-ecological policy on AGTP, using human capital as a moderating variable. We use the Super-efficiency SBM-DEA model to measure AGTP in 30 provinces of China during 2000–2019, and use a two-way fixed effects model to analyze the nonlinear effect of agri-ecological policy on AGTP and the moderating role of human capital. The results show that there is a "U"-shaped relationship between agri-ecological policy and AGTP, where human capital plays a positive moderating role. Intermediate human capital and advanced human capital can significantly moderate the impact of agri-ecological policy on AGTP, while the moderating role of primary human capital is not significant. The "U"-shaped relationship between agri-ecological policy and AGTP involves some heterogeneity based on differences in grain function and the two sides of the Hu Huanyong line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental information disclosure is a concrete practice for enterprises to actively implement the concept of green and sustainable development, which has great significance for enterprises to gain long-term competitive advantages. The academic world has widely discussed the relationship between environmental information disclosure and the economic performance of enterprises, but how the heterogeneity of environmental information disclosure methods affects the enterprise value has not been explored. This paper aims to answer two questions: (1) what is the impact of Ecomark and ESG on enterprise value? and (2) how does the interaction between Ecomark and ESG influence enterprise value? Utilizing the listed Japanese electrical equipment manufacturing enterprises dataset from 2008 to 2021, we employed the fixed panel linear regression model to confirm the relationship between Ecomark and ESG in enterprise value, and further used a moderating effect model to verify the existence of the crowd-out effect of ESG performance on Ecomark through enterprise value. In addition, a robustness check scheme was designed and performed to test the model settings, outliers and endogeneity issues. The main findings show that the obtaining of Ecomark certification and good ESG performance can help to improve enterprise value, but they may be altered regarding the heterogeneity of environmental information disclosure methods, further causing differences in enterprises' time and economic cost burdens. Such differences increase the attractiveness of ESGs to investors, thereby crowding out the impact of Ecomark on enterprise value. Our conclusion reveals the mechanism of the heterogeneity of environmental information disclosure methods towards enterprise value, which offers a valuable reference for investors to evaluate enterprise value and paves the way for enterprise decision-makers and authorities to optimize their environmental information disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meiotic defects cause abnormal chromosome segregation leading to aneuploidy in mammalian oocytes. Chromosome segregation is particularly error‐prone in human oocytes, but the mechanisms behind such errors remain unclear. To explain the frequent chromosome segregation errors, recent investigations have identified multiple meiotic defects and explained how these defects occur in female meiosis. In particular, we review the causes of cohesin exhaustion, leaky spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), inherently unstable meiotic spindle, fragmented kinetochores or centromeres, abnormal aurora kinases (AURK), and clinical genetic variants in human oocytes. We mainly focus on meiotic defects in human oocytes, but also refer to the potential defects of female meiosis in mouse models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]