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Conventional cellulose diacetate filter tips of cigarette (CDFTC) are poor filtration performance of toxic compounds. However, environmentally benign filter tips can be made by replacing cellulose diacetate fibers with various types of natural fibers. In the present work, the blocking and filtering effect of natural fibers such as cotton and wool was examined with regards to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present cigarette smoke. Using various techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Fluorescence detection, the blocking and filtering mechanisms were investigated in detail. The results showed that compared with CDFTC, the filter tips made from natural fibers (cotton or wool) were investigated superior at filtering out toxic particles, which is mainly due to the natural twist or crimp along with their longitudinal directions. The efficiency of PHAs removal by the cotton and wool fibers reached 71.0% (with absorption of up to 71.0 µg cig−1) and 60.5% (with absorption of up to 60.5 µg cig−1), respectively. Compared with the Zhongnanhai filter tip used in this study (54.0%), the filtration efficiency of the cotton and wool fibers was increased by 17.0% and 6.5%, respectively.

PurposeThis study aimed to develop and test the validity and reliability of the Knowledge, Attitudes, Practise, and Experience regarding Infection Prevention and Control-associated Questionnaire for environmental service workers.DesignThis study was a development and validation study of a questionnaire using multiple methods, including literature review, questionnaire survey, and Delphi technique.MethodsPhase I of the study entailed the development of items through an extensive literature review and two round Delphi process with 15 experts specialised in infection prevention and control, environmental service worker management, or scale construction to examine the content validity of the questionnaire. Phase II involved administering the questionnaire to a convenience sample of 1,176 environmental service workers from the public hospital from 13 provinces in China to evaluate its construct validity and reliability.FindingsIn the two rounds of Delphi consultation, the recovery rate were 93.75 and 100%. Moreover, the expert authority coefficient was 0.93, and the coordination coefficients of expert opinions in the first round were as follows: correlation of 0.204 and importance of 0.249 for the first-level index; correlation of 0.128 and importance of 0.142 for the secondary index. In round two, the coordination coefficients of expert opinions were as follows: correlation of 0.221 and importance of 0.221 for the first-level indicators; correlation of 0.096 and importance of 0.101 for the secondary index. The results for the index were P < 0.05 for the two rounds. The pilot survey shows the instrument was excellent content validity (S-CVI/Ave = 0.989). The overall internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's α = 0.967). The questionnaire ultimately comprised four first-level indices (knowledge, attitudes, practise, and experience) and 49 second-level indices.ConclusionThe Questionnaire demonstrated good reliability and validity and is effective in measuring levels of infection prevention and control-related knowledge, attitudes, practise, and experience among environmental service workers. It will provide a tool for future national investigations of the current infection prevention and control situation among environmental service workers. Future research should explore determinants of environmental service workers' knowledge, attitudes, practise, and experience and associations between infection prevention and control knowledge, attitudes, practises, and experience.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune-mediated disease characterized by complicated neuropsychiatric symptoms and the detection of cerebrospinal fluid antibodies against the GluN1 subunit of the NMDAR. With the proposed clinical method, more anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients have been discovered since its first report. However, anti-NMDAR encephalitis overlapping with multiple sclerosis (MS) is rare. Herein we report a male patient with anti-NMDAR encephalitis who developed MS in mainland China. Furthermore, we summarized the characteristics of patients who were diagnosed with overlapping MS and anti-NMDAR encephalitis in previous studies. Additionally, we pioneered the use of mycophenolate mofetil in immunosuppressive therapy, providing a novel therapeutic alternative for overlapping anti-NMDAR encephalitis and MS.

The re-mined face using top coal caving system is the most applicable method for recovering the remaining reserves of a previous partially-mined thick coal seam. However, this mining method may encounter the problems of low recovery and unpredicted geological conditions. A numerical model is developed using PFC2D for studying the movement of top coal mass and development of coal-rock mass interface at a longwall top coal caving re-mined face. The re-mined face advances in the lower seam below the upper solid coal pillar, previous entries and gob. A theoretical analysis according to the unsteady flow model is developed to calculate the proper time duration of caving operation. The results showed that the top coal to be recovered through the caving window before the initiation of caving operation is a partial spheroid-shaped geometry. The boundary between the coal and rock mass then develops to a funnel-shaped coal-roof interface as the caving operation continues. The top coal recovery is 98.1%, 77.1% and 70.5% for caving operations below the solid coal, entries and gob area in the upper seam, respectively. The proper timing of caving and interval of caving operation is important for obtaining a high coal recovery. Good agreement is achieved between the proposed model and the improved Boundary-Release model for short of B-R model. The study in this work may provide reference for the safety and efficiency of the extraction of the longwall top coal caving re-mined face.

To reveal the influence mechanism of the drying process of immersed coal on the spontaneous combustion characteristics, we measured the pore structure of coal with low-field nuclear magnetic resonance and conducted the temperature-programmed spontaneous combustion experiment. The results showed that the pore volume content of the pores with pore sizes of less than 100 nm was significantly reduced. The diameter range of 100–1000 nm was gradually generated after 8 h of coal drying, and the proportion of large pores and cracks larger than 1000 nm increased significantly during the drying process of the immersed coal. The oxygen consumption rate and the heat release rate were significantly affected by the degree of dryness and the temperature of coal samples in the temperature-programmed process. The turning point temperature was 140°C; below the turning point temperature, the raw coal had the fastest oxygen consumption and maximum heat release. When the coal temperature was higher than 140°C, the oxygen consumption rate and the heat release rate of the coal sample that was dried for 24 h were higher than those for the raw coal, followed by the samples that were dried for 8 h and dried for 48 h. The main reason is that the water content of the coal sample decreases to 11.4% and the porosity increases to 16.5% after drying for 24 h, while the proportion of pores or cracks larger than 1000 nm increases significantly to 87.17%, the largest increase range and the pore connectivity will reach the maximum.

This study presents a newly developed piezoelectric drive mechanism for the purpose of designing, analyzing, and testing a micro-positioning platform driven by piezoelectric actuators. The platform incorporates a piezoelectric ceramic actuator and a flexible hinge drive and features a symmetrical two-stage lever (STSL) amplification mechanism and a parallelogram output structure. The implementation of this design has led to notable enhancements in the dynamic properties of the platform, thereby eliminating the undesired parasitic displacement of the mechanism. An analytical model describing the fully elastic deformation of the platform is established, which is further verified by finite element simulation. Finally, the static and dynamic performances of the platform are comprehensively evaluated through experiments. A closed-loop control strategy is adopted to eliminate the nonlinear hysteresis phenomenon of the piezoceramic actuator (PEA). The experimental results show that the piezoelectric micro-actuator platform has a motion range of 97.84 μm × 98.03 μm; the output coupling displacement error is less than 1%; the resolutions of the two axes are 8.1 nm and 8 nm, respectively; and the x-axis and y-axis trajectory tracking errors are both 0.6%. The piezoelectric micromotion platform has good dynamic properties, precision, and stability. The design has a wide application potential in the field of micro-positioning.

Arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) are frequently emitted from various sources into environment, but microbial responses to their combined toxicity have not been systematically investigated. In this study, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was exposed to two levels of arsenate (As (V), 50, 500 μg/L), Pb (II) (500, 5000 μg/L) and their mixture (50 μg/L As (V) + 500 μg/L Pb (II); 500 μg/L As (V) + 5000 μg/L Pb (II)). The growth of C. reinhardtii was inhibited more remarkably by As (V) than by Pb (II). The As stress was alleviated by Pb in the 50 μg/L As (V) + 500 μg/L Pb (II) treatment, but was enhanced upon the 500 μg/L As (V) + 5000 μg/L Pb (II) exposure, with more pronounced changes in a number of physiological parameters of the algal cells. Proteomic results showed that 71 differently expressed proteins (DEPs) in the treatment of 50 μg/L As (V) + 500 μg/L Pb (II), and 167 DEPs were identified in that of 500 μg/L As (V) + 5000 μg/L Pb (II). These proteins were involved in energy metabolism, photosynthetic carbon fixation, reactive oxygen scavenging and defense, and amino acid synthesis. Taken together, these physiological and proteomic data demonstrated that C. reinhardtii could resist the As (V) and Pb (II) combined treatments through extracellular complexation and intracellular pathways.

Abstract To study the adsorption characteristics of CO, CO2, N2, O2, and their binary-components in lignite coal, reveal the influence of CO2 or N2 injection and air leakage on the desorption of CO in goafs, a lignite model (C206H206N2O44) was established, and the supercell structure was optimized under temperatures of 288.15–318.15 K for molecular simulation. Based on molecular dynamics, the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo method was used to simulate the adsorption characteristics and the Langmuir equation was used to fit the adsorption isotherms of gases. The results show that for single-components, the order of adsorption capacity is CO2 > CO > O2 > N2. For binary-components, the competitive adsorption capacities of CO2 and CO are approximate. In the low-pressure zone, the competitive adsorption capacity of CO2 is stronger than that of CO, and the CO is stronger than N2 or O2. From the simulation, it can be seen that CO2, N2 or O2 will occupy adsorption sites, causing CO desorption. Therefore, to prevent the desorption of the original CO in the goaf, it is not suitable to use CO2 or N2 injection for fire prevention, and the air leakage at the working faces need to be controlled.

Abstract Background To evaluate the interaction of depression and anxiety with the development of recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Methods A nested case–control study involving 2558 participants was conducted with data from the prospective Miscarriage Woman Cohort study between 2017 and 2019 in the province of Gansu, China. The questionnaire data, self-rating anxiety scale and self-rating depression scale were collected after each participant’s first miscarriage. Information on RPL outcomes was obtained from the medical records within the subsequent 2 years. All patients diagosed RPL were recruited as cases whilst a randomly selected group of women with only one miscarriage in the past were recruited as controls. The logistic regression and the interaction effects between anxiety and depression and RPL were analysed. Results The prevalence of anxiety (n = 325, 28.7% vs. n = 278, 19.5%) and depression symptoms (n = 550, 48.6% vs. n = 589, 41.3%) for the 1132 RPL cases were higher than 1426 non-RPL controls (P

Peripartal cows often experience negative energy balance, and are therefore prone to suffering from metabolic diseases such as hyperketonemia, which causes financial losses in dairy farms. This study aimed to investigate the effect of green tea polyphenol (GTP) supplementation during the periparturient period on production performance, oxidative stress and immunometabolism in dairy cows with hyperketonemia. One hundred Holstein cows were assigned to GTP (0.2 g/kg DM; n = 50) or control (without GTP; n = 50) group based on body weight, previous milk yield, and parity on d 15 before expected parturition. Subsequently, 10 cows with hyperketonemia were selected from each group, according to blood β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) concentration between 1.2 and 2.9 mmol/L from 2 to 3 d postpartum. All cows were fed a close-up diet and a lactation diet with or without GTP supply from 15 d prepartum until 30 d postpartum. Milk and blood samples were obtained from 20 cows selected with hyperketonemia on 10, 20, and 30 d postpartum. Compared with control cows, greater milk yield and lower somatic cell count were observed in GTP cows. The GTP group had lower concentrations of BHBA, free fatty acids, cholesterol, triglyceride, reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde, and hydrogen peroxide, greater concentrations of glucose, lower activities of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and glutamyl transpeptidase, alongside greater activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and total antioxidant capacity. Additionally, GTP supplementation up-regulated concentrations of interleukin-6 and interleukin-10, but down-regulated concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, interleukin-2, interleukin-8, and interferon-γ in plasma. Greater concentrations of plasma immunoglobulin G were also detected in the GTP group. Overall, the data suggested that GTP supplementation from 15 d prepartum to 30 d postpartum improved the milk yield and health status in cows with hyperketonemia during early lactation.

Proper selection of adjuvant applications is an important strategy to enhance herbicide efficacy and reduce active ingredient input especially under adverse environmental conditions. In this study, a two-factor split-plot-design experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of two adjuvants on the efficacy of topramezone on the grassy weed species giant foxtail (Setaria faberi Herrm.) and the broadleaved weed species velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medik.) under three different temperature conditions. The two tested adjuvants were methylated seed oil (MSO) and organosilicone. Three temperature levels, 35/30°C, 25/20°C, and 15/10°C (day/night), were used in the laboratory and greenhouse experiment. Plant chlorophyll fluorescence measurements shortly after herbicide application and classic whole-plant bioassay methods were used to evaluate the herbicide efficacy among the different treatments. Results indicated that the maximum quantum efficiency (Fv/Fm) of the top leaf of the weeds treated with topramezone mixed with MSO was significantly lower than that of the weeds treated with topramezone mixed with organosilicone and without an adjuvant at 2–3 days after treatment under all three temperature levels. The herbicide response of the plants treated with topramezone mixed with organosilicone and topramezone alone was not significantly different. These results corresponded well with the results of the classic whole-plant test. MSO has been shown to be good at enhancing the efficacy of topramezone on these weed species under all three temperature conditions. The measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence is a promising technique for evaluating the effects of adjuvants on the efficacy of herbicides shortly after herbicide treatment.

Transient liquid phase sintering can successfully fabricate reliable high-temperature solder joints at a relatively low joining temperature by forming intermetallic compounds. In this work, microstructure, shear properties and corrosion resistance of Cu/Cu-In/Cu solder joints prepared by TLPS process were investigated. The shear strength of the Cu-In solder joints significantly increased during the initial aging period and then slightly decreased due to the increase of pores after continuous 24 h aging. The corresponding microstructure is that part of the Cu2In in the Cu-In solder joints transforms to Cu7In3 in the meanwhile. After continuous aging, the interfacial microstructure remained stable and contributed to good shear strength that exceeds 20 MPa after 96 h aging at 250 °C and 350 °C, which was 20.8 MPa and 23.4 MPa, respectively. Regarding corrosion resistance, the Cu-In interfacial layer (−0.24 V) has similar corrosion resistance to Cu substrate (−0.22 V) and shows superior to the commonly used Sn63Pb37 solder (-0.40 V) and Sn95.5Ag3.8Cu0.7 solder (−0.42 V).

Abstract The experiments were conducted on a modified two-cylinder diesel engine to investigate the effects of excess-air coefficient (λ) and intake temperature (T in ) of different blending ratios (volume ratio of gasoline in the blends) on the combustion and emission characteristics of a Partially Premixed Compression Ignition (PPCI) engine. The results show that with the increase of gasoline blending ratio, the peak in-cylinder pressure (P max ), the peak in-cylinder temperature (T max ) and the peak heat release rate (HRR max ) of four test fuels all increase first and then decrease. When gasoline volume fraction is 10%, HC and CO emissions are the lowest. In addition, intake temperature (T in ) has a significant effect on the n-butanol/gasoline PPCI engine. With the increase of T in , the in-cylinder P max and HRR max of four test fuels gradually increase, the combustion phase advances and HC and CO emissions decrease, while NOx emissions increase slightly. Furthermore, as λ increases, the P max , T max and HRR max of the four test fuels show monotonously reducing trend. At the same time, mixture concentration has basically no effect on start of combustion (CA10), the combustion duration (CD) gradually extends, and HC and CO emissions increase.

Abstract Wool fiber contains approximately 95% keratinous proteins, which is one of the most abundant sources of structural protein. However, a large amount of wool waste is underutilized. Developing appropriate approaches to recycle wool waste and produce value-added products is vital for sustainable development and reducing environmental burden. Thus, this paper reviews the mechanical methods of fabricating wool powder, including pan milling, combined wet and air-jet milling, steam explosion, freeze milling, and three-stage milling. The influencing factors of shape and size, structure, and properties are highlighted to overview of the possible controlling methods. Then, this review summarizes various chemical methods for the extraction of wool keratin, underlining the dissolution efficiency and the structure of wool keratin. Furthermore, the application of reused wool particles in textile, biosorbent, and biomaterials are also reported. Finally, several perspectives in terms of future research on the fabrication and application of wool particles are highlighted. Graphical abstract

Abstract Background Short-chain enoyl-CoA hydratase deficiency (ECHS1D), also known as ECHS1 deficiency, is a rare inborn metabolic disorder with clinical presentations characterized by Leigh syndrome (LS). Thirty-four different pathogenic mutations have been identified from over 40 patients to date. Case presentation Here, we report five Chinese patients with clinical syndromes typified as LS. Despite different initial symptoms, all patients presented developmental regression, dystonia, common radiological features such as symmetrical bilateral brain abnormalities, and similar metabolic results such as elevated plasma lactate and 2,3-dihydroxy-2-methylbutyrate. Utilizing whole-exome sequencing (WES), we identified eight distinct variants in ECHS1, with six novel variants, and the remaining two variants have been previously reported. Interestingly, one of the six novel variants, c.463G > A (p.Gly155Ser), was detected in three patients from unrelated families, suggesting a potential founder effect already described for a few mutations in LS. Incorporating both genetic analysis and medical results, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and biochemical testing, our study enriched the mutation spectrum of the ECHS1 gene and confirmed the phenotypic presentations of LS. Conclusions The severity of ECHS1 deficiency seems to vary. It was affected by both genetics and external environmental factors that lead to increased metabolism. Our study enriched the mutation spectrum of the ECHS1 gene, confirmed the phenotypic presentations, and highlighted the importance of the valine catabolic pathway in Leigh syndrome. Further studies are required to examine the potential founder mutation c.463G > A (p.Gly155Ser) and the role of ECHS1 in relevant pathways.

Two typical coatings (nickel-based and iron-based) were successfully fabricated on AISI 304 stainless steel via cold metal transfer process as alternative materials with superior wear and cavitation erosion resistance, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and electron backscattering diffraction were performed to characterize the morphologies, phase composition and crystallographic textures. Subsequently, tribology, cavitation erosion as well as corrosion tests were carried out to analyze the applicability of the coatings in various environments. Experimental results showed that the coatings exhibited few defects and an excellent metallurgical bonding with the substrate, and possessed the strong textural features. The microhardness of the coatings was ∼ 3 times higher than that of the substrate, and the microhardness of nickel-based coating was more stable than that of the iron-based one. Combining with the cumulative volume/weight loss and morphologies, the wear and cavitation erosion resistance of the coatings and substrate were compared, and failure mechanisms were proposed. It was found that the cumulative volume/weight loss of the coatings are one order of magnitude lower than that of the substrate. The combination of toughness and fine dispersed carbides had guaranteed the higher wear resistance of iron-based coating, while the formed massive phases of nickel-based coating played a significant role in the cavitation erosion and corrosion resistance.

Risk assessment is an effective method of accident prevention and is vital to actual production. To reduce the risk of mining accidents and realize green and sustainable coal mining, a coal and gas outburst risk assessment method based on the improved comprehensive weight and cloud theory is proposed. The proposed method can effectively solve problems of fuzziness and randomness, index weight deviation, and correlation between indexes in risk assessment, as well as improve the accuracy and rationality of assessment. Nine influencing factors that correspond to coal seam occurrence and geological characteristics, coal seam physical characteristics, and gas occurrence characteristics are selected to establish the risk assessment index system of coal and gas outburst. Using the improved group G1 method and improved CRITIC method to obtain the subjective and objective weights, the ideal point method is used to obtain the comprehensive weight. Using the normal cloud model of cloud theory and the comprehensive weight to assess engineering examples 1–2, the No. 3 coal seam of a mine in Shanxi, and the 2 1 coal seam of a mine in Henan, the risk grade of coal and gas outburst is determined and then compared with the assessment results obtained from the engineering examples and the actual situations of the above mentioned coal seams. The results show that the coal and gas outburst risks of engineering examples 1–2, No. 3 coal seam, and 2 1 coal seam are of grades IV, IV, II, and IV, respectively. The No. 3 coal seam and 2 1 coal seam belong to lower and higher risk categories, respectively. The assessment results are consistent with the actual situation of the coal seams, thereby confirming the rationality and accuracy of the proposed method. This study expands the methods of coal and gas outburst risk assessment and facilitates the formulation of effective preventive measures.

The effective thermal conductivity (ETC) model of loose residual coal in goaf is a method to study the heat transfer law of spontaneous combustion in goaf. In order to study the effect of coal particle size and ambient temperature on heat transfer, coal samples of different sizes were taken from the FuSheng (FS) mine, and the void fraction, the thermal conductivity (TC) of the residual coal under different ambient temperature were tested. Additionally, four types of ETC models of loose residual coal in goaf were obtained and the average relative errors of the TC were analyzed. The results showed that the void fraction, the coal particle size and ambient temperature have different effects on the spontaneous combustion of the residual coal. The effect of coal sample size on the heat transfer is 100 times that of the ambient temperature. The changes in the ETC and average relative error of the different models were consistent. The heat transfer in the spontaneous combustion of residual coal has a direct relationship with the spatial distribution and heat transfer modes of the loose residual coal in the goaf.

Background: To identify and safeguard the ureters of patients with deep infiltrating endometriosis or complex pelvic adhesion (obliterated cul-de-sac) using indocyanine green (ICG) during laparoscopic surgery. Methods: Stepwise surgical demonstration using narrated video footage. The stepwise procedures were: (1) Explore the abdominal cavity, resect pelvic adhesions, remove the right ovarian endometrioma cysts, and open the peritoneum to locate the fluorescence. (2) Place bilateral 5-Fr ureteral catheters through the cystoscope, inject ICG retrogradely, and clip the catheter to retain the ICG. (3) Identify the course of ureters and perform ureterolysis with real-time visualization under Near-infrared fluorescence. Resect the para-ureteral endometriosis and other pelvic endometriosis. Results: The patient was discharged on the 4th postoperative day with satisfactory surgical effect and without any complications. Conclusions: For complex gynecologic surgeries whereby ureterolysis might be challenging, ICG fluorescence imaging could be used to quickly identify the course of the ureter, prevent ureteral injury and reduce the risks of perioperative and postoperative complications. This case demonstrates that intraureteral ICG provided quick visualization of the ureter and allowed surgeons to safely perform ureterolysis. The proposed technique could be considered in complex gynecological cancer, pelvic floor disorder or endometriosis surgery.

Ecosystem conditions at the regional level are critical factors for environmental management, public awareness, and land use decision making. Regional ecosystem conditions may be examined from the perspectives of ecosystem health, vulnerability, and security, as well as other conceptual frameworks. Vigor, organization, and resilience (VOR) and pressure–stress–response (PSR) are two commonly adopted conceptual models for indicator selection and organization. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is primarily used to determine model weights and indicator combinations. Although there have been many successful efforts in assessing regional ecosystems, they remain affected by a lack of spatially explicit data, weak integration of natural and human dimensions, and uncertain data quality and analyses. In the future, regional ecosystem condition assessments may be advanced by incorporating recent improvements in spatial big data and machine learning to create more operative indicators based on Earth observations and social metrics. The collaboration between ecologists, remote sensing scientists, data analysts, and scientists in other relevant disciplines is critical for the success of future assessments.

Backgroundβ-Ureidopropionase deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disease affecting the last step of pyrimidine degradation. Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome is a rare inherited disorder caused by genetic defects in mitochondrial DNA.Case PresentationOne 8-year-old boy presented with dizziness, vomiting, and convulsions. The gas chromatography–mass spectrometry results suggested β-ureidopropionase deficiency. The whole-exome sequencing results revealed homozygous missense variant c.977G>A (p.R326Q) in UPB1. However, the patient presented with persistent hyperlactacidemia and metabolic acidosis, which did not correspond to the classic features of β-ureidopropionase deficiency. Combined with the manifestations of developmental delay, poor academic performance, and poor sports stamina, whole-mitochondrial-genome sequencing was performed. The results exhibited the variant m.3243A>G of MT-TL1 gene. The level of heterogeneity was 65% in the patient and 17.8% in his mother. Eventually, the final diagnosis of β-ureidopropionase deficiency combined with MELAS syndrome was made.ConclusionThe report about β-ureidopropionase deficiency caused by a nuclear gene variant and MELAS syndrome caused by a mitochondrial gene variant coexisting in the same patient enriches the clinical study of these two rare diseases.

BackgroundThe serine active site-containing protein 1 (SERAC1) biallelic variant usually causes MEGDEL syndrome, clinically characterized by increased excretion of 3-methylglutaconic in the urine, muscle hypotonia, sensorineural deafness, and Leigh-like lesions on brain MRI scans. In this study, we present a case from a Chinese family with disordered metabolism and dystonia owing to SERAC1 variants; the clinical phenotypes of the proband were different from those of MEGDEL syndrome but were similar to those juvenile-onset complicated hereditary spastic paraplegia. Thus, in this study, we aimed to confirm the relationship between SERAC1 variants and complicated hereditary spastic paraplegia.MethodsMRI and laboratory tests, including gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), were carried out for the proband. Whole-exome sequencing was used to detect the candidate SERAC1 variants. Variants were verified using Sanger sequencing. Various software programs (PolyPhen-2, MutationTaster, PROVEAN, and SIFT) were used to predict the pathogenicity of novel variants.ResultsBrain MRI scans showed a symmetric flake abnormal signal shadow in the bilateral basal ganglia in T2-weighted image (T2WI) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) analyses. The excretion of 3-methylglutaconic acid was found to be increased in our GC/MS analysis. Whole-exome sequencing showed novel compound heterozygous variants, including a novel c.1495A>G (p.Met499Val) variant in exon 14 of SERAC1 inherited from the father and a novel c.721_722delAG (p.Leu242fs) variant in exon 8 inherited from the mother. The pathogenicity prediction results showed that these two variants were deleterious.ConclusionsThis study presented a patient with complicated hereditary spastic paraplegia caused by SERAC1 variants. These findings expand the number of known SERAC1 variants and the phenotypic spectrum associated with SERAC1 deficiency. This study may contribute to counseling and prevention of hereditary diseases through prenatal.

Polysaccharides supply energy for various metabolic processes in cells. However, their roles in the arsenate (As(V)) resistance in microalgae remain largely unknown. Here, we explored the synthesis and transformation of polysaccharides in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii upon various levels of As(V) stress, using a number of physiological indexes along with transmission electron microscopic (TEM) and proteomic analyses. When exposed to low concentration of As(V) (0–20 μg/L), C. reinhardtii accumulated starch and produced more extracellular polysaccharides. At 50 μg/L As(V) treatment, starch accumulation gradually shifted to polysaccharides decomposition in the algal cells. Under higher As(V) concentration (500 μg/L), significantly more proteins in fatty acid metabolic pathway were differentially expressed, indicating that cells redirected carbon flux and transformed lipids into polysaccharides. The findings of this study demonstrate that polysaccharides may be critically involved in the As(V) resistance of C. reinhardtii.

Oxidative stress (OS) is one of the main limiting factors affecting the length of lactation and milk quality in dairy cows. For high-producing dairy cows, the OS of mammary glands is a serious problem. Green tea polyphenols (GTP), found mainly in tea, are a combination of many phenols. GTP have a good effect on antioxidation, inflammation resistance, obesity, fat cell metabolism improvement, and lowering of blood lipid. Therefore, we studied the role of GTP on OS in dairy cows and further investigated whether GTP alleviates oxidative damage of bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs) induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and its underlying molecular mechanism. In this study, 500 μM of H2O2 for 12 h incubation was chosen as the condition of the OS model of BMECs. In addition, the present results found that treatment with GTP alleviated the oxidative damage induced by H2O2 [the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and catalase (CAT) were significantly increased, and the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-isoprostaglandin (8-iso-PG), 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), and protein carbonyl (PC) and caspase-3 and caspase-9 activities were significantly reduced]. These effects are related to the activation of the erythrocyte-derived nuclear factor 2-like protein 2 (NFE2L2) signaling pathway and the inactivation of the caspase/Bcl-2 apoptotic pathway. When NFE2L2 short interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to downregulate the expression of NFE2L2 in cultured BMECs, NFE2L2-siRNA transfection abolished the protective effect of GTP on H2O2-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and apoptosis. In addition, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibition test further proved that GTP relieved H2O2-induced oxidative damage by activating the NFE2L2 signaling pathway, which was achieved by activating the extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathway. Overall, the results indicate that GTP has a beneficial effect on the redox balance of BMECs. In addition, GTP might be a latent antioxidant in vivo, which can be administered to ruminants during stressful periods such as the perinatal period.

To research the problem of abnormal transmission, experiments were conducted under the conditions of the BMW F18 model. The real-time signal mutation value of PT-CAN was measured by the IBIM synthetic testing box, and the cause of abnormal transmission on the data bus was identified by the value of the signal mutation. Experiments compared and analyzed the signal waveform of PT-CAN under the conditions of normal data transmission, CAN_H to ground loaded with different resistance, CAN_H to battery loaded with different resistance, CAN_L to ground loaded with different resistance, CAN_L to battery loaded with different resistance, between CAN_H and L loaded with different resistance, when CAN_H or L was disconnected, and when CAN_H and L were interchanged. Experimental results indicate that abnormal data transmission may cause abnormal signal waveform of PT-CAN bus, and the different PT-CAN signal clutter has certain different forms and reasons. Experimental results were effective for the identification of abnormal data transmission.

This paper clarifies the effects of the fluid parameters of flow velocity, impact angle and sand impact frequency on the erosion-enhanced corrosion of 90/10 copper–nickel alloy by combining computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, wire beam electrode (WBE) technology and electrochemical measurements. The results show that under the conditions without sand particles, erosion-enhanced corrosion is dominated by the impact angle and the flow velocity at lower (

Lymantria dispar (Linnaeus, 1758), which is commonly known as spongy moth, with two subspecies, is found in Asia: Lymantria dispar asiatica and Lymantria dispar japonica, collectively referred to as the Asian spongy moth (ASM). The subspecies Lymantria dispar dispar occurs in Europe and is commonly known as the European spongy moth (ESM). The ASM is on the quarantine list of many countries because it induces greater economic losses than the ESM. Accurate identification is essential to prevent the invasion of ASM into new areas. Although several techniques for identifying ASMs have been developed, the recent discovery of complex patterns of genetic variation among ASMs in China as well as new subspecies in some areas has necessitated the development of new, improved identification techniques, as previously developed techniques are unable to accurately identify ASMs from all regions in China. Here, we demonstrate the efficacy of an improved technique for the identification of the ASM using ASM-specific primers, which were designed based on cytochrome oxidase I sequences from samples obtained from all sites where ASMs have been documented to occur in China. We show that these primers are effective for identifying a single ASM at all life stages and from all ASM populations in China, and the minimum detectable concentration of genomic DNA was 30 pg. The inclusion of other Lymantria samples in our analysis confirmed the high specificity of the primers. Our improved technique allows the spread of ASMs to be monitored in real time and will help mitigate the spread of ASMs to other areas.

Introduction: Combined malonic and methylmalonic aciduria (CMAMMA) is a rare metabolic disease caused by biallelic variants in ACSF3 gene. The clinical phenotype is highly heterogeneous in this disorder, ranging from asymptomatic to severe symptoms. No cases with CMAMMA were reported in China.Materials and Methods: In this study, three Chinese pediatric patients were diagnosed with CMAMMA unexpectedly while being treated for other ailments. To better characterize CMAMMA in a Chinese population, we made a multidimensional analysis with detailed clinical phenotype, semi-quantitative detection of urine organic acid, and analysis of ACSF3 gene variants.Results: The clinical presentation of these patients is quite different; their main complaints were anemia, jaundice, or abnormal urine test, respectively. They showed no symptoms of the classic methylmalonic academia, but urine organic acid analysis showed elevated malonic acid and methylmalonic acid in all the patients repeatedly. Variants were found at four sites in ACSF3 gene. Patient 1 carried the compound heterogeneous variant c.689G> A (p.Trp230*)/c.1456G> A (p.Ala486Thr). A compound heterozygous variant c.473C> T (p.Pro158Leu)/c.1456G> A (p.Ala486Thr) was identified in patient 2. Patient 3 harbored a novel homozygous variant c.1447A> G (p.Lys483Glu).Conclusions: Three Chinese patients were diagnosed with CMAMMA caused by ACSF3 variants. Their clinical course revealed that CMAMMA can be a benign condition that does not affect individual growth and development, but severe clinical phenotype may appear when other triggers exist. This study systematically elaborates CMAMMA in a Chinese population for the first time, broadens the spectrum of gene variant, and provides a strong basis for the etiological study of this disorder.

With the deep integration of cyber physical production systems in the era of Industry 4.0, smart workshop dramatically increases the amount of data collected by smart device. A key factor in achieving smart manufacturing is to use data analysis methods for evaluating the equipment reliability and for supporting the predictive maintenance of equipment. Based on these insights, this paper proposes a deep learning-based approach that uses time series data for equipment reliability analysis. First, a framework of the TensorFlow-enabled deep neural networks (DNN) model for equipment reliability analysis is presented. Secondly, using time series equipment data, an evaluation strategy of equipment reliability based on deep learning is proposed. Finally, the reliability of a cylinder, an important part of the small trolley in automobile assembly line, is evaluated in a case study. Compared with the traditional reliability analysis method such as PCA and HMM, the prediction results show a significant improvement in prediction accuracy. This work contributes to promoting artificial intelligence algorithms for realizing highly efficient manufacturing.

As a gasoline surrogate fuel, the physical and chemical properties of toluene reference fuel (TRF) are relatively simple and stable, and the TRF chemical kinetic mechanism may be used in simulating combustion processes of gasoline. However, simulations using detailed or semi-detailed mechanisms have been limited due to the computational complexity and long computational time. For the construction of the reduced mechanism, the directed relation graph with error propagation (DRGEP) method is used to wipe out insignificant components efficiently, followed by the use of the quasi-steady state assumption (QSSA) method to separate quasi-steady-state (QSS) species from the kinetic ODEs. In addition, some elementary reactions involving the formation and destruction of H and phenyl methyl radicals are subjected to sensitivity analysis and some kinetic parameters of the relevant elementary reactions are revised. As a result, a reduced mechanism involving 234 reactions and 60 species is developed. Comparing the experimental records with the analog data by utilizing the reduced mechanism, good agreement can be obtained when ignition delay time (τ), laminar flame speed (SL) and molar fraction of vital species are measured. Moreover, the mechanism may predict SL more accurately under lean mixture (equivalence ratio φ < 1.0) conditions. The reduced mechanism is small and reliable in performance, which can commendably reproduce the combustion characteristics of gasoline surrogate.

Abstract Background To evaluate the effect of oral Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) administration on recovery of hand functions in senior patients diagnosed with an acute distal radius fracture. Methods This clinical trial is double-blind and placebo-controlled, in which 293 senior patients with distal radius fracture were initially enrolled. After exclusion, 264 eligible patients were randomly assigned to receive oral placebo or LcS daily for a period of 3 months after the fracture. Treatment outcomes were Michigan Hand Questionnaire (MHQ) score, radial deviation and inclination, and ulnar deviation and variance, all of which were monitored and measured every month. Results Throughout the length of this study, MHQ score, radial deviation and inclination, and ulnar deviation and variance of patients on oral LcS displayed a significantly faster improvement in comparison to those receiving placebo, over the 3-month intervention period. Conclusion Oral administration of LcS dramatically accelerated hand function recovery in senior patients with distal radius fracture.

This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of fermented bamboo powder (FBP) on the growth performance, serum biochemical parameters, immunoglobulins and inflammatory cytokines, and fecal microbial composition of growing–finishing pigs. A total of 108 barrows (initial body weight, 56.30 ± 0.55 kg) were randomly allocated to three dietary treatments in a 75 d trial, including a control (CON) diet and two FBP supplementation diets. The CON diet was formulated to three-phase diets according to the body weight of pigs, and the FBP diets were formulated used 5.00% (FBP1) or 10.00% (FBP2) FBP to replace the wheat bran in the CON diet, respectively. The results showed that there were no influences on growth performances between the CON diet and FBP addition diets, whereas the 5% FBP addition decreased the feed:gain of pigs compared to the pigs fed the FBP2 diet from d 0–75 (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the FBP addition increased the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) content in serum (linear, p < 0.05), and pigs fed the FBP1 diet had greater HDLC and IgA contents in serum than those in the pigs fed the CON diet (p < 0.05). Microbial analysis showed that the FBP addition diets decreased the abundance of Spirochaetes, and the FBP2 diet increased the abundance of Firmicutes more than the CON diet (p < 0.05). In addition, the pigs fed the FBP2 diet increased the abundance of uncultured_bacterium_f_Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005, Prevotellaceae_UCG-003, Lachnospiraceae_XPB1014_group, and Lactobacillus more than the CON group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the FBP supplementation to the diet had no negative effects on the growth performance and exerted beneficial effects on promoting serum biochemical and immune indices, as well as modulating the fecal microbiota of pigs. Therefore, these results showed that the fermented bamboo powder could be one potential fiber-rich ingredient for growing–finishing pigs, and that the recommended addition proportion in the growing–finishing pigs’ diet is 5%.

As an index gas of spontaneous combustion, C2H4 has been used in several coal mines, but its adsorption on residual coal during the process from generation to sampling has an impact on evaluation. The molecular structure models of lignite and anthracite were constructed through molecular mechanics and dynamics, and the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo systems were used to simulate the adsorption of C2H4 and other common gases on lignite and anthracite at temperatures of 288.15–318.15 K. The order of adsorption capacity was CO2 > C2H4 > O2 > N2 in the lignite and anthracite molecular models within the low-pressure zone. When the pressure increases, the adsorption capacity of O2 and N2 exceeded that of C2H4. The C2H4 and CO2 have similar and concentrated adsorption sites, and it is easier to reach the limit adsorption capacity; O2 and N2 have similar adsorption sites, the number of sites is much more than that of C2H4 and CO2, and their limit adsorption capacities are larger than those of C2H4 and CO2. When C2H4 is monitored in a goaf, its concentration is not quite accurate because of the adsorption of residual coal, which is different from the detected temperature of the C2H4 concentration obtained from the experiment. This is of great significance to further experiments and more on-site data statistics to fix the problem for coal mines.

ABSTRACT: The high stocking density is a major stress factor that adversely affects the health and performance of poultry. Therefore, the object of this study was conducted to explore whether dietary 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D3) could improve gut health of laying hens reared under high stocking density. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used in this 16-week study, in which 800 45-week-old Lohmann laying hens were allocated into two levels of dietary 25-OH-D3 levels (0 and 69 µg/kg) and two rates of stocking densities [506 (low density, LD) and 338 (high density, HD) cm2/hen]. Compared with the layers with LD, the layers with HD had lower crypt depth in duodenum (P(Density) < 0.05), lower short chain fatty acid (propionic and butyric acid) contents in cecum (P(Density) < 0.05), and lower mRNA expression of intestinal barrier associated protein (claudin-1, mucin-1 and mucin-2). Exposed layer to HD also led to lower intestinal antioxidative capacity [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and higher malondialdehyde (MDA) content] in small intestine (P(Density) < 0.05), lower bacterial abundance of Bacteroidetes (phylum), Spirochaetes (phylum) and Bacteroides (genus; P(Density) < 0.05), higher bacterial enrichment of Lactobacillaceae (genus) and Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio (P(Density) < 0.05) in cecum. Dietary 25-OH-D3 increased the villus height in duodenum and jejunum (P(25-OH-D3) < 0.05), decreased Chao 1 and ACE indexes in cecum (P(25-OH-D3) < 0.05), and it also up-regulated the mRNA expression of claudin-1, mucin-1 and mucin-2 (P(25-OH-D3) < 0.05). Layers treated with 25-OH-D3 led to an enhanced antioxidative enzyme activity of CAT (P(25-OH-D3) < 0.05). Additionally, the effect of 25-OH-D3 reversed the effect of HD on T-AOC and MDA content (P(Interaction) < 0.05). In HD layers, 25-OH-D3 administration decreased the enrichment of Bacteroidetes (phylum), increased Firmicutes (phylum), and Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio (P(Interaction) < 0.05). These results suggest that supplementing 25-OH-D3 in diets may elevate gut health through the improvement of intestinal barrier function, antioxidant capacity and cecal microbiota composition in laying hens with high stocking density.

In this paper, a systematic experimental and kinetic model investigation was conducted over Cu-SSZ-13 catalyst to study the DeNOx efficiency and N 2 O formation for selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH 3 (NH 3 -SCR). The kinetic model was developed for various reactions to take place in the NH 3 -SCR system, including NH 3 adsorption/desorption, NH 3 oxidation, NO oxidation, standard SCR, fast SCR, slow SCR and N 2 O formation reactions. In addition, the reaction of N 2 O formation from NH 3 non-selective oxidation was taken into account. All the experiments were performed in a flow reactor with a feed stream near to the real application of diesel engine vehicles exhaust. The current model can satisfactorily predict the steady state conversion rate of various species at the reactor outlet and the effect of gas hourly space velocities and ammonia nitrogen ratio on N 2 O formation. The results show that the kinetic model can simulate the reaction process of the Cu-SSZ-13 catalyst well. This is significant for the optimization of NH 3 -SCR system for achieving the higher DeNOx efficiency and the lower N 2 O emission.

3-Hydroxyisobutyryl-CoA hydrolase (HIBCH, NM_014362.3) gene mutation can cause HIBCH deficiency, leading to Leigh/Leigh-like disease. To date, few case series have investigated the relationship between metabolites and clinical phenotypes or the effects of treatment, although 34 patients with HIBCH mutations from 27 families have been reported. The purpose of this study was to analyze the phenotypic spectrum, follow-up results, metabolites, and genotypes of patients with HIBCH deficiency presenting with Leigh/Leigh-like syndrome and explore specific metabolites related to disease diagnosis and prognosis through retrospective and longitudinal studies. Applying next-generation sequencing, we identified eight patients with HIBCH mutations from our cohort of 181 cases of genetically diagnosed Leigh/Leigh-like syndrome. Six novel HIBCH mutations were identified: c.977T>G [p.Leu326Arg], c.1036G>T [p.Val346Phe], c.750+1G>A, c.810-2A>C, c.469C>T [p.Arg157*], and c.236delC [p.Pro79Leufs*5]. The Newcastle Pediatric Mitochondrial Disease Scale (NPMDS) was employed to assess disease progression and clinical outcomes. The non-invasive approach of metabolite analysis showed that levels of some were associated with clinical phenotype severity. Five (5/7) patients presented with elevated C4-OH in dried blood spots, and the level was probably correlated with the NPMDS scores during the peak disease phase. 2,3-Dihydroxy-2-methylbutyrate in urine was elevated in six (6/7) patients and elevated S-(2-caboxypropyl)cysteamine in urine was found in three patients (3/3). The median age at initial presentation was 13 months (8–18 months), and the median follow-up was 2.3 years (range 1.3–7.2 years). We summarized and compared with all reported patients with HIBCH mutations. The most prominent clinical manifestations were developmental regression/delay, hypotonia, encephalopathy, and feeding difficulties. We administered drug and dietary treatment. During follow-up, five patients responded positively to treatment with a significant decrease in NPMDS scores. Our research is the largest case series of patients with HIBCH mutations.

This study aims to investigate the influence of adding Lonicera japonica (L. japonica) and Radix Puerariae crude extracts and their mixture to the diet of finishing pigs on their fecal microbes and nutrient apparent digestibility. A total of 72 healthy Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire crossbred barrows without significant differences in body weight (93 ± 2 kg) were selected and randomly divided into four groups (18 in each group). Three replicate pens per group (six pigs per pen) were used, and two pigs were evaluated for each pen. The groups were fed the following diets: control group (CON), basic diet; chlorogenic acid group (CGA group), basic diet + 1 kg/ton L. japonica crude extract; Pueraria flavonoid group (PF group), basic diet + 1 kg/ton Radix Puerariae crude extract; and mix group (Mix group), basic diet + 0.5 kg/ton L. japonica crude extract + 0.5 kg/ton Radix Puerariae crude extract. The following results were obtained: (1) At the phylum level, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Spirochaetes, Proteobacteria, Fibrobaeteres, and Kiritimatiellaeota were the main components of the fecal microbiota (top 5); the relative abundance of bacteria from phyla Firmicutes significantly increased in the Mix group than in the CON group (p < 0.05). At the genus level, Treponema_2, Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, uncultured_bacterium_f_Lachnospiraceae, uncultured_bacterium_f_Prevotellaceae, and Prevotellaceae_NK3B31_group were the main components of the fecal microbiota (top 5); the relative abundance of bacteria from genus Lactobacillus significantly increased in the Mix group than in the CON group (p < 0.05). Chao1 and Ace counts were significantly higher in group CGA than in the CON group and group Mix (p < 0.05). The alpha and beta diversities and the relative abundance of fecal microbes were higher in all test groups than in the CON group. (2) The protein digestibility was significantly higher in the CGA and PF groups than in the CON group, and the TP digestibility was significantly higher in the CGA than in the CON and Mix groups (p < 0.05). In conclusion, Lonicera japonica and Radix Puerariae crude extract supplementation in the diet significantly changed fecal microbiota and improved the protein and TP digestibility of finishing pigs.

This cross-sectional study compared the physical fitness and mental health status of 140 school-age children who participated in sport-specific training with 180 age-matched peers. All the participants were grouped by sport-specific training frequencies in extracurricular time into the following: (i) high sports training frequency group (HFG): training three to five times per week (n = 77, mean [SD] age: 9.60 [0.12] years); (ii) low sports training frequency group (LFG): training once per week (n = 63, mean [SD] age: 9.88 [0.14] years); and (iii) control group (CG): maintaining routine life (n = 180, mean (SD) age: 9.77(0.09) years). Physical fitness status, including body composition (body mass index), endurance (vital capacity; 50 × 8 round trip), speed and agility (50 m sprint), flexibility (sit-and-reach), coordination (1-min rope skipping), and core strength (1-min sit-ups) as well as mental health status was measured. Overall, the results showed that Grade 3 to 4 HFG students showed better total physical fitness scores than the LFG and CG students. Grade 2 and 5 participants in the three groups showed no significant difference in the total physical fitness score. Children in HFG performed better in several PF indicators (i.e., cardiopulmonary function, flexibility, core strength, and coordination) than those in LFG and CG, and children in LFG got a higher score than those in CG on a testing item of 1-min rope skipping. The mental health test results showed that HFG performed better than LFG and CG. The results indicated that participating in sport-specific training 3–5 times per week was beneficial for children’s physical and mental health. Additionally, there was a weak and negative correlation between physical fitness and mental health in LFG and CG, while no correlation was found between physical fitness and mental health in HFG.

The gastrointestinal microbiota plays a pivotal role in maintaining animal health, immunity and reproductive performances. However, literature about the relationship between microbiota and reproductive performance is limited. The aim of the present study was to determine differences in the intestinal microbiota of broiler breeders with different egg laying rate. A total of 200 AA+ parent broiler breeders (41-week-old) were separated into two groups according to their different egg laying rate [average egg laying rate group (AR: 78.57 ± 0.20%) and high egg laying rate group (HR: 90.79 ± 0.43%). Feed conversion ratio (FCR), ovary cell apoptosis rate (ApoCR) and relative abdominal fat weight were lower (p = 0.01), while the hatchability rate of qualified egg was higher (p = 0.04) in HR group than that in AR group. Phascolarctobacterium abundance were lower (p = 0.012) in ileum of HR birds. Romboutsia (genus) in ileum was negatively related to the feed efficiency (r = −0.58, p < 0.05), Firmicutes (phylum) and Lactobacillus (genus) abundances in cecum were positively related to the egg laying rate (ELR) (r = 0.35 and 0.48, p < 0.05), feed efficiency (r = 0.42 and 0.43, p < 0.05), while Spirochaetes (phylum) and Sphaerochaeta (genus) abundances in cecum were negatively related to the ELR (r = −0.43 and −0.70, p < 0.05), feed efficiency (r = 0.54 and 0.48, p < 0.05), and positively related to ApoCR (r = 0.46 and 0.47, p < 0.05). Our results suggested that microbiota, such as Firmicutes (phylum) and Lactobacillus (genus) have positive relationship, while Spirochaetes (phylum) and Romboutsia (genus) abundances exert negative relationship with broiler breeders' reproductive performances.

Objective The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the association between enlarged right atrial area (RAA), as measured by echocardiography, and prognosis of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources To identify potential publications, a comprehensive literature search through MEDLINE, the Cochrane database and the Embase database was performed up to December 2019.Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Studies were included if they reported Cox regression based-HRs with 95% CIs for all-cause mortality or composite endpoint consisting of death and PAH-related events for echocardiography measurements of the RAA or the right atrial area index (RAAI) in patients with PAH.Data extraction and synthesis The unadjusted HR with 95% CI was extracted for the final pooled analysis. A random-effects model was used to determine the value of RAA/RAAI in the prognosis of patients with PAH. The data heterogeneity among the studies was estimated by the I2 statistic and the Cochran Q-statistic.Results Twelve studies with a total of 1085 patients with PAH were finally included in the meta-analysis. These studies had a mean follow-up time ranging from 9.2 months to 5.0 years. Their findings showed that patients with PAH with enlarged RAA/RAAI were associated with poor prognosis. The risk of all-cause mortality in patients with PAH was found to statistically increase by 50% for every 5-unit increase in RAA/RAAI (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.28 to 1.75, p

Background: Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in children. Although physical fitness as a predictor of mental health, the mechanisms underlying any association between physical fitness and anxiety in children have been understudied. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine whether an association exists between physical fitness and anxiety and to explore the roles of agility and resilience in such an association.Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated 269 children aged 7 to 12 years from three public primary schools in Shanghai (China). Physical fitness and agility were objectively measured, and resilience and anxiety were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. The moderated mediation model was examined using the SPSS PROCESS macro, in which the moderator variable was agility, and the mediator variable was resilience.Results: Physical fitness was inversely associated with anxiety. Resilience partially and indirectly mediated this association, and agility moderated the association between physical fitness and resilience. Physical fitness had a greater impact on resilience in children with higher agility levels.Conclusions: Agility moderated the mediation of resilience on the indirect, inverse association between physical fitness and anxiety; thus, incorporating methods to develop agility and resilience may lead to better outcomes for physical fitness programs designed to prevent or alleviate anxiety in children.

This paper presents an improved scheme for forward-looking sonar (FLS) visualization, including an echo acquisition method, a global threshold based on local outlier factor and a reconstruction method. Based on the model of line target in the shallow water, the paper presents an echo acquisition method with impulse response convolution and ray tracing, and considering the reverberation. Then, a transform matrix is presented for the coordinate transformation to obtain the point cloud. After that, the paper presents the global threshold based on local outlier factor (LOF) method to solving the problem of noise sensitivity in the global thresholding. Finally, the paper presents a novel reconstruction method, including the coarse step via random sample consensus (RANSC) and the refined step via Power crust. Both simulation and experimental results show that the scheme in this paper produced superior result compared with the state-of the art.

Anonymous authentication has significant contribution to privacy protection in safety message dissemination for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs); however, it suffers from heavy workload of vehicle revocation check and message signature verification, which leads to unsatisfactory timeliness and high message loss rate in heavy traffic situations. To manage these challenging problems, this paper proposes an efficient safety message authentication protocol for VANETs by combining batch group signature verification and our proposed Group Session Key (GSK). Specifically, our signature verification method for safety message can both achieve computation efficiency by reducing the number of computation operations of bilinear pairing and resist impersonation attack by using tracking key implement. GSK is associated with the forward and backward keys and is only shared among unrevoked vehicle within a group. Performance analysis and simulations demonstrate that our protocol can provide promising security against various common types of attackers and is more efficient than traditional group-signature-based authentication protocols, in terms of computation time cost, authentication delay and message loss rate.

We study the problem of structured output prediction. Some methods such as structured output support vector machines (SSVM) and conditional random fields (CRFs) are state-of-the-art in dealing with the structured data. However, these classical methods have some limits in scalability because of high memory requirements and slow training speed. Recently, the method joint kernel support estimation (JKSE) has been proposed based on one-class SVM which can be trained efficiently. However, JKSE is not as powerful as those classical methods from the point of prediction performance. To improve the performance of JKSE, we introduce privileged information into it. Learning using privileged information (LUPI) is an advanced machine learning paradigm by taking advantage of some elements of human teaching that are only available at the training stage, not at testing. Motivated by the LUPI, we propose three new models based on JKSE by considering three forms of privileged information. The resulting optimization problems are convex quadratic programming that can be easily solved. Our new models not only persist the advantage of JKSE but also improve its performance. The experimental results show the superiority of new models over the JKSE when solving object detection and multi-class classification problems.

Background The practical application of the Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment (CAMSA) has been reported in some Western countries. However, a few studies reported the application of the CAMSA in Chinese children. In addition, given that the CAMSA was designing to incorporate both movement skills and agility assessment, the value and validity of the timing component of the CAMSA are worth discussing. Methods By choosing the Illinois Agility Test, Repeated Side Step-1 m distance, and the newly designed Repeated Side Step-half of height as the benchmark, we evaluate the performance of the CAMSA, further establish the concurrent validity of the CAMSA timing components (completion time and time score). In total, 149 male children (mean age 9.0 ± 0.8 years) from public schools in Shanghai, China, participated in the study. Results The mean CAMSA completion time was 19.3 ± 5.3 (s), and mean time score was 8.7 ± 3.9 (range of 1–14) for all participants (n = 149). After adjusted the sprint speed, older age was positively associated with the performance of the CAMSA. Being overweight was not associated with the performance of the CAMSA comparing with healthy body mass children, however, being obese was negatively associated with the CAMSA timing components and total score. Children having extracurricular sports activities (e.g., athletic experiences), mostly soccer, were more likely to demonstrated better performances of the CAMSA completion time, time score and total score. However, overweight and obese, also athletic experiences were not significantly contributed to the CAMSA skill score, although the association was slight (Adj R2 = 0.13). Besides, the CAMSA completion time has a strong correlation with the IAT, r = 0.77; RSS-1MD, r = − 0.76; and RSS-HHD, r = − 0.77, p

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the main genetic cause of infant death. In >95% of the patients with SMA, the disease is caused by a single hotspot pathogenic mutation: homozygous deletion of exon 7 of the survival motor neuron 1 gene (SMN1). Recently, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR associated protein (Cas)-based assays have been developed as a promising new option for nucleic acid detection. Here, we developed a Cas14a1-based assay combined with asymmetric PCR to establish a method for detection of the homozygous deletion of SMN1 exon 7 in SMA patients. The minimum detectable concentration of genomic DNA reached 5.26 aM with our method, and the assessment of its detection performance in 33 clinical samples revealed that the results were completely consistent with those of multiple ligation-dependent probe amplification and quantitative PCR. Thus, our novel nucleic acid diagnostics combining CRISPR/Cas14a1 and asymmetric PCR not only provides specific and sensitive testing of the deletion of SMN1 exon 7, but also holds promise for an accurate detection platform of genetic diseases and pathogens in multiple sample types.