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The switch from using only trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to sequential schedules combining inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) for polio vaccination will cause changes to mucosal immunity against polio in infants, which plays an important role in preventing the poliovirus spread. Here, we analyzed mucosal immunity against poliovirus in the intestine during different sequential vaccination schedules. We conducted clinical trials in Guangxi Province, China on 1,200 2-month-old infants who were randomly assigned to one of three vaccination schedule groups: IPV-bOPV-bOPV, IPV-IPV-tOPV, and IPV-IPV-bOPV, with vaccine doses administered at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age. Stool samples were collected from 10% of participants in each group before administration of the second vaccine doses and at 1, 2, and 4 weeks after the administrations of the second and third vaccine doses. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) in the stool samples was measured to analyze the mucosal immune response in the intestine. Because of the absence of poliovirus type 2 in bOPV, the vaccination schedule of IPV-IPV-bOPV did not sufficiently raise intestinal mucosal immunity against poliovirus type 2, although some cross-immunity was seen. The level of intestinal mucosal immunity was related to shedding status; shedders could produce intestinal mucosa IgA more quickly. The intestinal mucosal immunity level was not related to serum neutralizing antibody level. In the combined sequential vaccination schedule of IPV and bOPV, the risk of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) may be increased owing to insufficient intestinal mucosal immunity against poliovirus type 2.

Background In order to test the predictive effect of the XGBoost model in the machine learning algorithm for early lung cancer diagnosis and the importance of amino acid and carnitine indicators in affecting the occurrence of lung cancer, this study used data from 848 patients with lung cancer and benign lung nodules. Results The study selected 49 serum amino acid and carnitine indexes, as well as age and gender demographic indexes of subjects from a hospital in Dalian City, Liaoning Province. After screening with stepwise regression algorithm, 16 indicators were included.Draw the ROC curve of 5 models, comparing the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score of the lung cancer prediction model with the nomogram and the machine learning algorithm, the optimal model (XGBoost) was obtained, and the feature importance ranking was obtained using the XGBoost model.In the method of screening indicators, the index modeling accuracy after screening using the stepwise regression algorithm was the highest, which was 75.29%, and the AUC value was 0.81. In the model performance comparison, the accuracy of the nomogram is 68.24%, and the AUC value is 0.74. Among the machine learning models, the XGBoost algorithm has the best performance, with an accuracy rate of 75.29% and an ROC value of 0.81. In the model feature importance score results, the top three important features were ornithine, valine and palmitoylcarnitine. Conclusions The combined use of nomogram and machine learning model(XGBoost) not only improves the accuracy of the lung cancer prediction model, but also makes the understanding of the results more intuitive and convenient for doctors and patients.

The public sector requires job crafting from employees so that they can better cope with overdemanding jobs due to layer upon layer of public management reforms. Simultaneously, however, red tape and austerity constrain job autonomy. This study therefore tests how job crafting can be fostered in public organizations by studying social resources at work and, specifically, empowering leadership and social support. Multilevel analyses based on survey data from 1,059 nurses in 67 public elderly care organizations in Flanders, Belgium, show that empowering leadership and social support contribute to job crafting and, simultaneously, strengthen each other’s contribution. Additional analyses showed that empowering leadership, social support, as well as their interaction have differential relations vis-à-vis the different dimensions of job crafting. The implications for public management are discussed.

Background: Curcumin, as a lipid-lowering drug, has been reported to be effective in the treatment of breast cancer. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms have not been completely investigated. Methods: MTT assay was used to determine the effect of curcumin on survival rate of MCF-7 cells. The effects of curcumin on tumor growth were observed in animal models of breast cancer. The positive reactions of Caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18 were detected by immunohistochemistry. LC3, p62, CTSB, ASC, Pro-Caspase-1, GSDMD, NLRP3, Caspase-1, GSDMD-N, IL-1β and IL-18 were determined by Western blot in vitro and vivo. The release of extracellular IL-1β and IL-18 was determined by ELISA. LDH release was measured. The expression level of CTSB in cytoplasm were determined by immunofluorescence assay. Cell proliferation, cell migration and tube formation assays were used to determine the abilities of cells. In this study, NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor MCC950, cathepsin B inhibitor CA-074 ME and autophagy inhibitor 3-MA were used to act on cells to investigate the role of NLRP3 inflammasome, cathepsin B and autophagy in curcumin-induced pyroptosis of MCF-7 breast cancer cells.Results: In mouse model of breast cancer, we observed that curcumin treatment significantly induced cell autophagy and pyroptosis. In human breast cancer MCF-7 cells, we found that curcumin induced pyroptotic cell death was dependent on the activation of NLRP3/Caspase-1/GSDMD signaling pathway, which was CTSB-dependent. In addition, curcumin-induced cell autophagy caused lysosomal rupture and CTSB release. Furthermore, NLRP3 inhibitor (MCC950) significantly suppressed curcumin-induced pyroptosis, as well as CTSB inhibitor (CA074 Me) and autophagy inhibitor (3-MA). Besides, we also found that curcumin suppressed cell proliferation, cell migration and tube formation, which could be reversed by inhibitors. Conclusions: In summary, our results demonstrated that curcumin induced MCF-7 cell pyroptosis by the activation of autophagy/CTSB/NLRP3/Caspase-1/GSDMD signaling pathway. These findings offer novel insights into the potential molecular mechanisms of curcumin in treatment of breast cancer.

Background: Light-flavor liquor, with ethyl acetate as the main aroma component, is regarded as one of the four basic types in china. The traditional solid-state fermentation has a long period and a complicated process, but the content of esters and acids in liquid fermentation is not as good as that in solid-state fermentation. In this study, according to the methods of solid fermentation and liquid fermentation, the semi-solid fermentation of light-flavor liquor was simulated with optimized fermentation conditions, using corn and sorghum as brewing materials (corn: sorghum=7: 3). Furthermore, the bacterial and fungal community were investigated by high-throughput sequencing. Results: The physical and chemical results showed that the content of reducing sugar, alcohol and ethyl acetate first increased and then decreased, while the contents of reducing sugar, alcohol and ethyl acetate reached the peak at 1 d, 11 d and 20 d, respectively. The Illumina MiSeq Sequencing results showed that Lactobacillaceae and Leuconostocaceae were the dominant bacteria on the family level. Moreover, Pediococcus and Weissella were the main bacteria on the genera level. Meanwhile, 4 fungal phyla were identified with Ascomycota (83.6-99.99%) as the dominant phyla. There were 5 species of fungi with the relative abundance over 1.00%, with Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomycopsis fibuligera were the main species. From the 3rd day, the relative abundance of Saccharomycopsis fibuligera decreased rapidly to 2.4%, while Saccharomyces cerevisiae (up to 99.2%) became the absolute dominant fungus species. The results of Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that starch and reducing sugar had a significant influence on Pediococcus. Saccharomycopsis fibuligera was most affected by starch. In addition, Saccharomyces cerevisiae was most affected by alcohol. Conclusions: Saccharomycopsis fibuligera and Pediococcus were positively correlated to starch and reducing sugar, highlighting their important roles in the starch saccharification. Saccharomyces cerevisiae contributed to the glycolysis and esterification，because they were positively correlated to alcohol and total acid. Nevertheless, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as the dominant fungus, had maintained a high abundance during the whole fermentation. This study could provide new insights to design new processes for semi-solid fermentation and improve the quality and controllability of liquor production.

An outbreak of COVID-19 has spread worldwide, and it is urgent to evaluate risk factors associated with severe cases. We aimed to identify risk factors for severe patients with COVID-19. A total of 52 patients with COVID-19 admitted to Henan Provincial People’s Hospital were enrolled in this study, and patients’ information was extracted from electronic medical records. The severity of symptoms of COVID-19 was divided into “mild” and “severe.” Univariate analysis was used to select potential risk factors. A risk model was constructed using multivariable logistic regression analysis. Advanced age (OR = 1.098, 95% CI = 1.020-1.183) and number of comorbidities (OR = 6.067, 95% CI = 1.078-34.143) were significant risk factors for severe patients with COVID-19. The comorbidities included hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and past surgical history. A risk score was developed based on this model, and the developed risk prediction model had good discriminative power and was well-calibrated. This study indicates that advanced age and comorbidities are risk factors for severe patients with COVID-19. More attention should be paid to high-risk patients during hospitalization.

This paper explores the impacts of stock market volatility on stock-bond and stock-gold correlations and compares the effectiveness of bonds with gold hedging the stock market risk. We propose an extensive DCC-MIDAS model, which takes the changes in stock market volatility as exogenously predetermined and accounts for its asymmetric impacts. The results show strong evidence that stock market volatility significantly and asymmetrically affects stock-bond and stock-gold correlations in different ways. Moreover, we prove that government bonds are more effective than gold in hedging stock return volatility, especially in the period of stock market turbulence. Our results suggest that government bonds are overall a better hedge for stock investors.

This paper examines whether and how ownership structure affects the trade credit policies in small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) using a sample obtained from a survey of Chinese enterprises. Specifically, we examine how ownership concentration affects SMEs’ use of trade credit through influencing the availability of bank credit. We also examine whether the ownership of the ultimate controller influences the effect of ownership structure on trade credit. The results show that there is a significant negative relation between bank credit and trade credit when most of the firms’ shares are controlled by a dominant shareholder, indicating that concentrated ownership may lower firms’ ability to access bank credit, and SMEs use trade credit as a substitute for unavailable bank credit. The results also show that the effect of ownership concentration on the aforementioned relation is significant in private and state-controlled SMEs but not in foreign-controlled SMEs. Overall, our results suggest that ownership structure plays an important role in determining SMEs’ trade credit policies.

Chinese Baijiu is principally produced through a spontaneous fermentation process, which involves complex microorganism communities. Among them, yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are important communities. The study examined the isolated strains from fermented grains of Baijiu regarding their activity of &alpha, amylase and glucoamylase, ethanol tolerance, glucose utilization, as well as metabolite production in the process of laboratory-scale sorghum-based fermentation. Selected strains (Saccharomycopsis fibuligera 12, Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3, and Pediococcus acidilactici 4) were blended in different combinations. The influence of selected strains on the metabolic variation in different semi-solid fermentations was investigated by gas chromatography&ndash, mass spectrometry (GC&ndash, MS) accompanied by multivariate statistical analysis. According to the principal component analysis (PCA), the metabolites produced varied in different mixtures of pure cultures. S. fibuligera produced various enzymes, particularly &alpha, amylase and glucoamylase, and exhibited a better performance compared with other species regarding the ability to convert starch to soluble sugars and positively affect the production process of volatile compounds. S. cerevisiae had a high fermentation capacity, thereby contributing to substrates utilization. Lactic acid bacteria had a good ability to produce lactic acid. This study attaches importance to the special functions of S. fibuligera, S. cerevisiae, and P. acidilactici in Chinese Baijiu making, and investigates their metabolic characteristics in the process of lab-scale semi-solid fermentation.

Feed-in tariff (FIT) is a broadly used policy instrument around the world, in which the payment level is always designed to decline gradually in order to track and encourage technological improvement in renewable energy. However, the potential adverse effects of tariff degression on renewable energy research and development (R&D) investment have not been sufficiently addressed. In this paper, we explore the impact of FIT payment degression on renewable energy R&D investment and analyze the efficient FIT payment structure for R&D investment. We form a modeling framework that captures the dynamics of FIT payment levels and the inventor's strategic reactions to tariff changes. In this framework, we model the inventor's optimal R&D investment decisions based on the canonical real option approach and simulate the impact of FIT payment degression on R&D investment and the efficient FIT payment structure under different R&D characteristics using the case of the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry. Our results emphasize the adverse effect of tariff degression on the commercial value of new renewable technology and hence the inventor's incentive in R&D investment, especially when facing more technical uncertainty and financial constraints. Our model could help policymakers to design an efficient FIT payment structure through which the cost of the FIT program is restricted to a minimum level but without influencing the inventor's R&D investment decisions.

Background A comparative analysis of the immunogenicity and safety of different poliovirus immunization schedules in Chinese infants is imperative to guide the administration of efficient strategies for the eradication of poliomyelitis. Methods A post hoc analysis was conducted with the data from two poliovirus vaccine clinical trials involving a combined total of 2,400 infants aged 60-90 days. Trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (tOPV), bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV), Sabin strain-based inactivated poliovirus vaccine (sIPV), and conventional inactivated poliovirus vaccine (cIPV) were used in different schedules, the immunogenicity and safety of which were compared 28 days after the last of three doses. Results In a per-protocol set analysis, the tOPV-tOPV-tOPV schedule induced seroconversion in 99.1%, 98.2%, and 96.0% of the inoculated infants for poliovirus type I, II, and III, respectively. The seroconversions for poliovirus types I and III were each almost 100% after immunization with the cIPV-bOPV-bOPV, sIPV-sIPV-bOPV, cIPV-cIPV-bOPV, sIPV-sIPV-tOPV, cIPV-cIPV-tOPV, or sIPV-bOPV-bOPV schedule. However, the schedules that used one IPV dose followed by two (poliovirus type I and III) bOPV doses failed to induce high-level immunity against type II poliovirus. IPV-related schedules were associated with a slightly higher incidence of adverse events (AEs). Conclusions If the capacity of IPV can be increased, two or more doses of IPV should be administered before vaccination with bOPV in a sequential schedule to improve immunity against type II poliovirus.

Several studies already explored associations between Fc gamma receptor (FCGR) polymorphisms and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), but the results of these studies were not consistent. Consequently, we conducted a meta-analysis of relevant studies to better analyse the effects of FCGR polymorphisms on individual susceptibility to ITP. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and CNKI were searched for eligible studies. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Totally 17 studies were eligible for analyses (1200 cases and 1723 controls). Significant associations with ITP were observed for FCGR3A F158V polymorphism in dominant (P

High densified Csf/Al2O3 ceramic composites were prepared by hot-pressed sintering using α-Al2O3 powders and short carbon fibers as starting materials. Dielectric and mechanical properties of these composites were evaluated. The results show that the addition of short carbon fiber (Csf) conducting fillers renders the composites radar absorbing ability, while the hardness around 90 HRF and strength around 300 MPa are also obtained in these composites. Both the fiber content and the length can be used to optimize the dielectric property at the frequency range 8.2–12.4 GHz. The results indicate that Csf/Al2O3 composite is a promising radar absorbing material with load-bearing ability.

Alcohol abuse increases the incidence of cerebral accidents, which correlates with cerebrovascular structural changes. The present study was designed to observe the cerebrovascular remodeling of drinking rats with light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Short-term alcohol administration induced apparent amplification of perivascular spaces around small vessels in brain tissue, while long-term administration caused pathological changes of basilar arteries (BAs), including endothelial exfoliation, inner elastic lamina (IEL) fragmentation and thickening of tunica media and adventitia. In addition, the relationship between cerebrovascular remodeling and MMP-2 and MMP-9 synthesized by endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells was explored by immunohistochemistry. The two protein expression in cerebral vessels changed dynamically, peaking at 1-2 weeks after treatment, and decreasing as treatment continued. These results suggest that MMP-2 and MMP-9 may play a significant role in blood-brain barrier disruption after alcohol abuse. But the chronic changes of cerebral arteries resulted from drinking are not coincident with time course of MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression in situ.

This paper studies how the technological ecosystem extension facilitates the technology substitution in an emerging industry. Specifically, this paper has three findings: 1) the technological ecosystem with an expanded scope including supply, demand and intermediaries; 2) two type of ecosystem extension as the bottom-up and top-down ecosystem extension; 3) the determinants of sustaining the ecosystem extension. We have conducted in-depth interviews in the Chinese low-speed electric vehicle industry, which adopted the bottom-up ecosystem extension by comparing with the traditional car industry with top-down ecosystem extension to the emerging EV industry. This paper also offers managerial implications to the focal firms and policy makers to capture the emerging opportunities within an ecosystem.