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1. The Wulong goose is a Chinese breed and a source of high-quality meat and eggs. A characteristic of the Wulong goose is that a proportion of the birds do not have eyelids, known as the Huoyon trait. 2. Wulong geese exhibiting the Huoyan trait at embryonic stages of 9 days (E9), 12 days (E12) and 14 days (E14) were selected alongside those with normal eyelids for comprehensive transcriptome sequencing. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) and functional enrichment analyses were performed and finally, eight DEG were chosen to verify the accuracy of qPCR sequencing. 3. Overall, 466, 962 and 550 DEG were obtained from the three control groups, D9 vs. N9, D12 vs. N12 and D14 vs. N14, respectively, by differential analysis (p < 0.05). CDKN1C, CRH, CROCC and TYSND1 were significantly expressed in the three groups. Enrichment analysis revealed the enrichment of CROCC and TYSND1 in pathways of cell cycle process, endocytosis, microtubule-based process, microtubule organising centre organisation, protein processing and protein maturation. CDKN1C and CRH were enriched in the cell cycle and cAMP signalling pathway. 4. Some collagen family genes were detected among the DEGs, including COL3A1, COL4A5, COL4A2 and COL4A1. FREM1 and FREM2 genes were detected in both Huoyan and normal eyelids. There was a significant difference (p < 0.01) in FREM1 expression between ED9 and ED14 in female embryos, but this difference was not observed in male embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decreased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) levels contribute to various pathologies such as ageing, diabetes, heart failure and ischemia–reperfusion injury (IRI). Nicotinamide riboside (NR) has emerged as a promising therapeutic NAD+ precursor due to efficient NAD+ elevation and was recently shown to be the only agent able to reduce cardiac IRI in models employing clinically relevant anesthesia. However, through which metabolic pathway(s) NR mediates IRI protection remains unknown. Furthermore, the influence of insulin, a known modulator of cardioprotective efficacy, on the protective effects of NR has not been investigated. Here, we used the isolated mouse heart allowing cardiac metabolic control to investigate: (1) whether NR can protect the isolated heart against IRI, (2) the metabolic pathways underlying NR-mediated protection, and (3) whether insulin abrogates NR protection. NR protection against cardiac IRI and effects on metabolic pathways employing metabolomics for determination of changes in metabolic intermediates, and 13C-glucose fluxomics for determination of metabolic pathway activities (glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) and mitochondrial/tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle) activities), were examined in isolated C57BL/6N mouse hearts perfused with either (a) glucose + fatty acids (FA) ("mild glycolysis group"), (b) lactate + pyruvate + FA ("no glycolysis group"), or (c) glucose + FA + insulin ("high glycolysis group"). NR increased cardiac NAD+ in all three metabolic groups. In glucose + FA perfused hearts, NR reduced IR injury, increased glycolytic intermediate phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), TCA intermediate succinate and PPP intermediates ribose-5P (R5P) / sedoheptulose-7P (S7P), and was associated with activated glycolysis, without changes in TCA cycle or PPP activities. In the "no glycolysis" hearts, NR protection was lost, whereas NR still increased S7P. In the insulin hearts, glycolysis was largely accelerated, and NR protection abrogated. NR still increased PPP intermediates, with now high 13C-labeling of S7P, but NR was unable to increase metabolic pathway activities, including glycolysis. Protection by NR against IRI is only present in hearts with low glycolysis, and is associated with activation of glycolysis. When activation of glycolysis was prevented, through either examining "no glycolysis" hearts or "high glycolysis" hearts, NR protection was abolished. The data suggest that NR's acute cardioprotective effects are mediated through glycolysis activation and are lost in the presence of insulin because of already elevated glycolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the phase-resolved spectral results of the first Galactic pulsating ultraluminous X-ray source (PULX) Swift J0243.6+6124, modeling its 2017–2018 outburst peak using data collected by the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT). The broad energy coverage of Insight-HXMT allows us to obtain a more accurate spectral continuum to reduce the coupling of broad iron line profiles with other components. We use three different continuum spectrum models but obtain similar iron line results. For the first time, we detect the pulse characteristics of the broad iron line in a PULX. The variation in the width and intensity of this iron line with σ ∼ 1.2–1.5 keV has a phase offset of about 0.25 from the pulse phase. We suggest that the uneven irradiation of the thick inner disk by the accretion column produces the modulated variation of the broad iron line. In addition, the nonpulsed narrow line is suggested to come from the outer disk region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a major neurological condition that occurs following acute or chronic liver failure. There are two types of HE: acute (Type A) and chronic (Type C). The acute form leads to rapid coma and death due to increased intracranial pressure, while neurobehavioral abnormalities potentially characterize the chronic form. There is currently no available treatment to regress or cure HE. This may be due to various factors, of which age and sex are the most important to consider when treating patients with HE. Accordingly, we examined whether sex and age play a role in the development of HE. We found that drug-induced (thioacetamide, TAA) brain edema was more severe in aged males than in young males or young/aged female rats. Furthermore, adding alcohol to the young male or young/aged female rats aggravated the brain edema. Regarding the behavioral changes, TAA-induced deficits were less pronounced in young and aged females than in aged males, whereas in the chronic type, young and aged males showed no behavioral changes when alcohol was infused along with TAA despite the severe brain edema and death that occurred. These findings suggest that aged males and young/aged females are more prone to developing brain edema in the presence of one or more liver toxins. Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a neurological condition linked to liver failure. Acute HE (Type A) occurs with acute liver failure, while chronic HE (Type C) is tied to cirrhosis and portal hypertension. HE treatments lag due to gaps in understanding its development by gender and age. We studied how sex and age impact HE and its severity with combined liver toxins. Our findings indicate that drug-induced (thioacetamide, TAA) brain edema was more severe in aged males than in young males or young/aged female rats. However, adding alcohol (ethanol, EtOH) worsens TAA's brain edema in both young and aged females, with females experiencing a more severe effect than males. These patterns also apply to Type A HE induced by azoxymethane (AZO) in mice. Similarly, TAA-induced behavioral deficits in Type C HE were milder in young and aged females than in males. Conversely, EtOH and TAA in young/aged males led to severe brain edema and fatality without noticeable behavioral changes. TAA metabolism was slower in aged males than in young or middle-aged rats. When TAA-treated aged male rats received EtOH, there was a slow and sustained plasma level of thioacetamide sulfoxide (TASO). This suggests that with EtOH, TAA-induced HE is more severe in aged males. TAA metabolism was similar in young, middle-aged, and aged female rats. However, with EtOH, young and aged females experience more severe drug-induced HE as compared to middle-aged adult rats. These findings strongly suggest that gender and age play a role in the severity of HE development and that the presence of one or more liver toxins may aggravate the severity of the disease progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To resolve high-precision deformation from low-quality speckle images, a high-order time-domain digital image correlation algorithm is proposed. This algorithm is based on the nonlinear optical flow equation for low-quality speckle images collected in extreme testing environments. A subpixel displacement image containing Gaussian white noise is established by using the simulated speckle method. The displacement of the high-order time-domain digital image correlation algorithm is solved by the least squares iteration method, and the test accuracy of the proposed algorithm is analyzed. The results show that the nonlinear optical flow equation can describe the time continuity of pixel gray level changes before and after deformation. The proposed algorithm can also analyze the velocity and acceleration term of deformation. The high-order time-domain digital image correlation algorithm is insensitive to the change in image grayscale and has high measurement accuracy. Therefore, this method can solve the problem of resolving high-precision deformation from low-quality speckle images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of kinetic‐scale flux ropes (KSFRs) is closely related to magnetic reconnection. Both flux ropes and reconnection sites are detected in the magnetosheath and can impact the dynamics upstream of the magnetopause. In this study, using the Magnetospheric Multiscale satellite, 12,623 KSFRs with a scale <20 RCi are statistically studied in the Earth's dayside magnetosheath. It is found that they are mostly generated near the bow shock (BS), and propagate downstream in the magnetosheath. Their quantity significantly increases as the scale decreases, consistent with a flux rope coalescence model. Moreover, the solar wind parameters can control the occurrence rate of KSFRs. They are more easily generated at high Mach number, large proton density, and weak magnetic field strength of the solar wind, similar to the conditions that favor BS reconnection. Our study shows a close connection between KSFR generation and BS reconnection. Plain Language Summary: Kinetic‐scale flux ropes (KSFRs) exist widely in near‐earth space and play an important role in mass transport, energy conversion, and dissipation during magnetic field reconnection. The KSFR in the magnetosheath can be generated by reconnection in three regions: the magnetopause, the magnetosheath, and the BS. The spatial distribution of KSFRs can indirectly reflect the reconnection situation in the magnetosheath. We use various methods to select the KSFRs and study their spatial distribution and generation in the magnetosheath. Our results show that BS reconnection plays an important role in generating the KSFR in the magnetosheath. Key Points: Kinetic‐scale flux ropes observed in the magnetosheath are primarily generated near the bow shock (BS) and travel to downstream magnetosheathThe quantity of flux ropes significantly increases as their scale decreases, which is in accordance with the FR coalescence modelThe occurrence of flux ropes is influenced by solar wind parameters, and could strongly correlate with BS reconnection [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the urate-lowering effect and potential drug targets of antihypertensive agent allisartan isoproxil (ALI) and its bioactive metabolite EXP3174, we developed an acute hyperuricemic zebrafish model using potassium oxonate and xanthine sodium salt. Losartan potassium served as the positive control (reference drug). In this model, ALI and losartan potassium exerted a greater urate-lowering effect than EXP3174 indicating that the latter is not the critical substance for elimination of uric acid. The quantitative real-time PCR showed that ALI upregulates the expression of intestinal urate transporters genes ABCG2, PDZK1, and SLC2A9 (p<0.01). Thus, we can suggest that this substance promotes uric acid excretion mainly by interacting with intestinal urate transporters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a radial basis function differential quadrature-based physics-informed neural network (RBFDQ-PINN) is proposed to simulate steady incompressible flows. The conventional physics-informed neural network (PINN) makes use of the physical equation as a constraint to ensure that the solution satisfies the physical law and the automatic differentiation (AD) method to calculate derivatives at collocation points. Although the AD-PINN is expedient in evaluating derivatives at arbitrary points, it is time-consuming with higher-order derivatives and may lead to nonphysical solutions with sparse samples. Alternatively, the finite difference (FD) method can facilitate the calculation of derivatives, but the FD-PINN will increase the computational cost when handling random point distributions, especially with higher-order discretization schemes. To address these issues, the radial basis function differential quadrature (RBFDQ) method is incorporated into the PINN to replace the AD method for the calculation of derivatives. The RBFDQ method equips with high efficiency in the calculation of high-order derivatives as compared with the AD method and great flexibility in the distribution of mesh points as compared with the FD method. As a result, the proposed RBFDQ-PINN is not only more efficient and accurate but also applicable to irregular geometries. To demonstrate its effectiveness, the RBFDQ-PINN is tested in sample problems such as the lid-driven cavity flow, the channel flow over a backward-facing step, and the flow around a circular cylinder. Numerical results reveal that the RBFDQ-PINN achieves satisfactory accuracy without any labeled collocation points, whereas the AD-PINN struggles to solve some cases, especially for high Reynolds number flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road rage during driving have an essential impact on driving safety. With the aim of effectively identifying road rage in truck drivers, a driver anger scale (DAS) for truck drivers is developed based on the feature of truck drivers, and 400 valid questionnaires are collected from professional truck drivers. Next, by means of a K-means++ algorithm, truck drivers are divided into two types: high and low road rage. Finally, a road rage recognition model is established based on a random forest (RF) algorithm, the interpretable machine learning framework SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) is introduced to extract the important influencing factors of road rage, and the features of road rage in truck drivers are further explored. The results show that the recognition accuracy of road rage based on the RF model is 76.3%, the recall rate is 92.5%, and the F1-score is 83.6%. Compared with decision tree (DT), support vector machine (SVM) and K-nearest neighbor (KNN), the recognition performance of the RF road rage recognition model is more reliable and stable. The important influencing variables on road rage are the driving environment, driving duration, driving experience, and violation frequency. The degree of road rage in truck drivers in a daytime driving environment is significantly higher than that at night. Driving experience is significantly negatively correlated with road rage, and truck drivers who are prone to fatigue driving and have a high frequency of traffic violations have a higher degree of road rage. These findings provide important insights into managing road rage among truck drivers, helping to develop effective strategies to reduce road rage and to enhance road transport safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a huge challenge in both classical and quantum physics to solve analytically the equation of motion in a strongly anharmonic confinement. For an isolated nanoring, we propose a continuous and bounded potential model, which patches up the disadvantages of the usual square-well and parabolic potentials. A fully nonlinear and nonperturbative approach is developed to solve analytically the equation of motion, from which various frequency shifts and dynamic displacements are exactly derived by an order-by-order self-consistent method. A series of new energy levels and new energy states are found, indicating an alternative magnetic response mechanism. In nominally identical rings, especially, we observe a diamagnetic-paramagnetic transition in the period-halving Φ0/2-current with Φ0 the flux quantum and a large increase in the Φ0-current at least one order of magnitude, which explain well the experimental observations. This work opens a new way to solve the strong or weak nonlinear problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examined the effects of proximity-induced interactions such as Rashba spin-orbit coupling and effective Zeeman fields (EZFs) on the optical spectrum of n -type and p -type monolayer (ML)-MoS 2. The optical conductivity is evaluated using the standard Kubo formula under random-phase approximation by including the effective electron–electron interaction. It has been found that there exist two absorption peaks in n -type ML-MoS 2 and two knife shaped absorptions in p -type ML-MoS 2 , which are contributed by the inter-subband spin-flip electronic transitions within conduction and valence bands at valleys K and K ′ with a lifted valley degeneracy. The optical absorptions in n -type and p -type ML-MoS 2 occur in THz and infrared radiation regimes and the position, height, and shape of them can be effectively tuned by Rashba parameter, EZF parameters, and carrier density. The interesting theoretical predictions in this study would be helpful for the experimental observation of the optical absorption in infrared to THz bandwidths contributed by inter-subband spin-flip electronic transitions in a lifted valley degeneracy monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides system. The obtained results indicate that ML-MoS 2 with the platform of proximity interactions make it a promising infrared and THz material for optics and optoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to better understand mechanisms of bias against formerly incarcerated and ethnically minoritized job applicants as well as the interactive effects of those two identities. In a sample of 358 hiring managers in the United States, the 2 (incarceration history) x 4 (ethnicity) experiment will manipulate incarceration history and ethnicity through job application materials, and measure hireability, and perception of job applicants along dimensions of sociability/warmth, competence, and morality. We will use a moderated mediation model to test hypotheses regarding a main effect of prior incarceration and an interaction effect of incarceration history and ethnicity on judgments of hireability, as well as whether such effects are mediated through perception of job applicants. We expect results to inform both research and practice related to employment practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct alloying of chromium by chromite attracts a lot of interest for its superiority in energy-saving and process simplification. The knowledge of chromium alloying by reduction of FeCr2O4, the main component of chromite, is a key to understanding the mechanism of chromium alloying from chromite. The effect of melt composition (carbon and chromium addition) and temperature on the reduction of FeCr2O4 by carbon-containing iron melt was studied. The higher the carbon content was in the melt, the higher chromium recovery was obtained. Similarly, the higher temperature is favorable for the reduction of FeCr2O4. The reduction of FeCr2O4 was impeded by chromium addition due to the lower activity of carbon resulting from the strong attraction between carbon and chromium. The kinetics of FeCr2O4 reduction by carbon dissolving in iron melt was investigated, and the results indicated that the controlling step was the chemical reaction at the FeCr2O4/melt interface at 1823K. The calculated activation energy for the chemical reaction was 392.82 kJ/mol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ALDH4A1, a member of the aldehyde dehydrogenase superfamily, is a key enzyme in the mitochondrial proline metabolism pathway. Recent studies have shown that mutations in aldh4a1 lead to reduced fertility and reproductive premature aging of male nematodes. However, the effect of ALDH4A1 on fertility of male mice has not been studied. In this study, we used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to construct a knockout mouse model of Aldh4a1 for the first time to explore the effect of this gene on the reproduction of male mice. The results showed that compared with WT male mice, Aldh4a1–/– male mice were fertile, had normal spermatogenesis but defect in sperm maturation in the epididymis documented by impaired motility, increased morphological abnormalities and increased spontaneous acrosome reaction. In addition, transmission electron microscopy showed vacuoles in the sperm mitochondria, and fracture in the neck of sperms and vacuoles in these mice. These results revealed that ALDH4A1 plays a vital role in the structure of sperm flagellum and the process of sperm maturation in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The self-assembly reaction of the bis-Schiff base N,N′-bis(4-Bromosalicylidene)-1,3-pentanediamine (H2L) with nickel chloride and sodium azide in methanol afforded a new phenolate and end-on azide bridged trinuclear nickel complex [Ni3L2(μ1,1-N3)2(CH3OH)2]2CH3OH (1). The reaction of H2L with copper acetate produced a new phenolate and acetate bridged trinuclear copper complex [Cu3L2(CH3COO)2] (2). The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The crystal structures of the complexes have been determined by X-ray crystallography. In complex 1, the Ni atoms are in octahedral coordination, while in complex 2, the Cu atoms are in square pyramidal and octahedral coordination. The Schiff base ligand coordinates to the metal atoms through the two phenolate O and two imine N atoms. The antimicrobial activities of the complexes were assayed and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies explored the intersection between the COVID‐19 pandemic and the continuing fight for racial justice. The pandemic has exacerbated existing racial inequalities in the United States in terms of public health and economic outcomes, and it is well‐established that individuals higher in racial bias are less likely to support social safety net programs such as those meant to improve public health and reduce poverty. This is particularly true among individuals who perceive racial minorities as overbenefitting from safety net programs. Accordingly, the primary focus of the current studies was to examine whether framing the pandemic in terms of its disproportionate impact on minorities would reduce support for pandemic mitigation policies. In addition, we examine whether such effects were mediated through psychological mechanisms of moral outrage and perceptions of realistic and symbolic threat, and moderated by participants' racial bias. Participants' belief in a just world was included as a covariate given its established role in predicting many related social outcomes. Results suggested that racial framing interacts with participants' racial bias to affect policy support indirectly through multiple mechanisms. Broad implications regarding the relationship between racial bias and public support for a strong social safety net are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) can transform data into the space of the fractional order domain, where fractional order can be used to search for the maximum value of fault. Instantaneous spectrum estimation is an important method to analyze non-stationary signals. Through it, the transient characteristics of these signals can be obtained in both time and frequency domain. A new fault diagnosis method for rolling bearing is proposed by combining instantaneous spectrum estimation with FRFT. Firstly, the optimal order of fractional Fourier transform is determined using the principle of maximum kurtosis coefficient. Then the 2-D fractional domain power spectrum under the selected fractional order is obtained using the rotation property of fractional Fourier transform. Furthermore, the energy intensity of each frequency component in the fractional domain is achieved by integrating the time-frequency spectrum along the time axis, and is applied to the fault diagnosis. The simulated signal and some actual bearing fault data are processed to verify the effectiveness with Renyi entropy introduced as an evaluation parameter. Experimental results show that the new algorithm has higher time-frequency resolution. Especially, there is a good aggregation for weak fault signals. The proposed method can obtain more accurate characteristic frequency identification and provide a new alternative for fault diagnosis of rolling bearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes an efficient surrogate-assisted design optimization method based on a multicriteria optimal Latin hypercube design (LHD) for multi-objective optimization of a surface-mounted permanent-magnet vernier machine (SPMVM). An improved iterated local search (ILS) method is proposed to optimize the spatial distribution uniformity and orthogonality of LHDs so that the data feature over the wide ranges of optimization variables can be captured more efficiently. Using the optimal LHD, a highly generalizable surrogate model can be trained with fewer samples, thus greatly reducing the required number of finite element analysis (FEA) cases and improving the optimization efficiency. A prototype corresponding to the optimal design is built and measured to validate the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the effects of fluoxetine on the restoration of functional independence in patients after acute cerebral infarction (ACI) and the factors influencing the prognosis. Patients and methods: This was a retrospective study including 196 ACI patients treated from May 2018 to September 2020. They were divided into control and experimental groups (N = 98 in each group) using a random number table. The control group was treated with routine medication and the experimental group was given also fluoxetine for 60 days. Meanwhile, both groups were subjected to rehabilitation training. Their neurological function, depression, limb motor function and activities of daily living (ADL) were assessed using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD), Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) and Barthel index, respectively. The independent risk factors for poor prognosis of ACI patients were analyzed. Results: After treatment, the FMA and ADL scores rose significantly, while the NIHSS and HAMD scores declined in both groups compared with those before treatment (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the experimental group had significantly improved treatment outcomes as well as motor and neurological functions (P < 0.05). Infarction volume, baseline NIHSS score, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, leukoaraiosis, hyperuricemia and infection were independent risk factors for poor prognosis (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Fluoxetine can significantly improve the treatment outcomes as well as the motor and neurological functions of patients with ACI. Large infarction volume, high baseline NIHSS score, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, leukoaraiosis, hyperuricemia and infection increase the risk of poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aberrant driving behavior can induce vehicle crashes. In order to recognize and evaluate driving behavior for improving the driving performance, real-vehicle experiments were conducted in Banan District of Chongqing, China. First, the built-in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensor is called through Acceleration, a smartphone application, to collect the data of vehicle driving status. Euler rotation matrix, Fourier transform and low-pass Butterworth filter are used to preprocess collected data. Then, the characteristic variables of driving behavior are selected and their thresholds are calculated to check and filter the samples. A total of 250 samples were selected. Besides, the index set of characteristic variables is established and its dimension is reduced by correlation analysis. Finally, cubic Support Vector Machine (cubic SVM), fine k-Nearest Neighbor (fine kNN) and Gaussian Naïve Bayes (Gaussian NB) classifiers are used to predict and identify driving behavior, and an evaluation mechanism is established based on ride comfort to reflect the aberrant degree of driving behavior. The results show that all 3 classifiers can recognize the sudden deceleration (SD) well and min Fl equal to 93%. But, as for sharp turning (ST), the effect is slightly worse. Cubic SVM has the best training and recognition effect and the overall precision and Fl are higher than fine kNN and Gaussian NB. Sudden deceleration while sharp turning (SDST) has the lowest score and the most aberrant degree. The findings of this study provide a method basis for analyzing and improving driving behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In synchrotron radiation computed tomography (SR-CT) of mechanical loading process, accurate reconstruction of finite angle projection information shielded by mechanical loading devices is a bottleneck problem. Objective: For accurate characterization, an experimental strategy for in situ SR-CT mechanical loading test was proposed in this manuscript, which was called "finite angle CT reconstruction method based on tilted sampling information recovery" or TSIR-CT. Methods: Effectively recovering the information lost in finite angle CT is a fundamental solution. From the new perspective of the frequency domain, the tilt sampled projection information was utilized to recover the missing angle information. Results: A series of numerical reconstruction experiments were carried out to verify the new method. It was indicated that the reconstruction results of TSIR-CT method have been improved quantitatively comparing with filtered back projection (FBP) and algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) method. For the 506th layer from top end of the 3D test model, the standardized covariance criterion for evaluating similarity was increased from 0.8400 of FBP and 0.9148 of ART to 0.9357, respectively. Finally, this new method was validated using actual SR-CT data and demonstrated effective improvement of reconstruction quality. Conclusions: This new method is suitable for in situ SR-CT mechanical loading test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports tensile and compressive test results of bolted glubam (glued laminated bamboo) connections. The tensile tests were carried out with two types of specimens designed for tensile loadings in the longitudinal and transverse directions in relevance to the orientations of the bidirectional bamboo strips (fibers). In each direction, the specimens were further divided into nine groups according to different combination conditions of end and edge spacings. Compressive tests were executed for three groups of bolted glubam connections, with varying thickness of the main board and bolting conditions. The tensile experiments show that the failure of the specimens is strongly influenced by the loading directions. Recommended end distance and side distance are provided, whereas the load carrying capacity is analyzed. Based on the compressive testing results, failure modes and load displacement relationships are analyzed, in which the yield bearing capacity is shown to be close to that given by the equations in existing design specifications for timber structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel asymmetric interior permanent magnet (AIPM) machine is proposed in this paper for electric vehicle application. It has a skewed V-shape permanent magnet (PM) cavity, two PMs with different dimensions and an additional flux barrier outside the V-shape cavity in each pole. This asymmetric rotor topology can inherently utilize the magnetic-field-shifting (MFS) effect to reduce the current angle difference between the maximum PM and reluctance torque components, thereby enhancing the maximum synthetic torque with the same PM usage. The influences of cavity positions in the proposed AIPM and an existing AIPM with extra flux barrier inside the V-shape cavity are investigated and compared using finite element analysis. It is found that the proposed structure with outside flux barrier has higher average torque than the one with inside flux barrier. Both AIPM topologies are designed with the same stator, rotor diameter, and PM usage as the conventional V-shape IPM benchmark for Prius 2010. Electromagnetic, mechanical and steady-state thermal performance of three machines are compared. The results confirm that the proposed AIPM machine can achieve significant torque enhancement due to utilizing MFS effect, compared with the existing AIPM and the IPM benchmark. Finally, a small prototype of the proposed AIPM machine is designed, manufactured and tested to validate the FE analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butyrate is a bioactive molecule produced by the intestinal flora and plays a major role in a variety of inflammatory diseases. Increasing evidence indicates that butyrate can regulate the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis (AS). Coincidentally, it reduces hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia, which are major risk factors of AS. However, the mechanism by which butyrate regulates the development of AS remains unclear. In this article, we review the effect of butyrate treatment on AS with a focus on the mechanisms of butyrate‐mediated modulation of several atherosclerotic processes. These include the improvement of monocyte–endothelial interactions, macrophage lipid accumulation, smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration, and lymphocyte differentiation and function. The existing research indicates that butyrate treatment may be a potentially effective strategy for the prevention of AS. Identity and underlying mechanisms of the molecular pathways of these interactions should be explored in the future to counter AS effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs plays important role in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (CIR). However, the role of miR-26b-5p in CIR injury remains unclear. PC12 cells were treated with oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) for 0 h, 2 h, 4 h, 6 h, and then reoxygenated for 24 h to construct an in vitro I/R model. Then, miR-26b-5p mimic, small interfering RNA of KLF10 and KLF10 overexpression plasmid were transfected into cells respectively for mechanism study. Our results showed that miR-26b-5p was downregulated in OGD/R-induced PC12 cells. After overexpression of miR-26b-5p, cell proliferation ability was enhanced, apoptosis, ROS and inflammatory mediators were inhibited. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that miR-26b-5p was directly bound to the 3' UTR of KLF10, and downregulated the expression of KLF10. KLF10 was upregulated in OGD/R cells, and transfection with si-KLF10 promoted cell proliferation and reduced apoptosis, NO concentration and inflammatory factor secretion. Moreover, pcDNA-KLF10 reversed the inhibitory effects of miR-26b-5p mimic on apoptosis, NO content and inflammatory factor secretion, as well as the downregulation of N-myc and PTEN expression. Meanwhile, I/R rat models were constructed and divided into sham operation group (femoral artery isolation only), model group (middle cerebral artery occlusion model of rats was prepared by thread embolization), treatment group (200 µL of miR-26b-5p mimic was injected into the brain of model rats). We observed that the infarct size of brain tissue was reduced, KLF10 expression was downregulated, and apoptosis and inflammatory response were reduced. These results suggest that miR-26b-5p had protective effects on CIRI and it may be a potential treatment target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi-static tests in bending of thin-walled beams with different material design forms and weak link locations have been carried out, and their deformation mode and force responses are investigated by numerical simulations. The influence of some factors, including fiber direction, stacking sequence, and making holes in different positions, on the energy absorption of thin-walled CFRP beams is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although general principles related to vaccination hesitancy have been well researched, reports on reluctance to be vaccinated for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States are somewhat surprising, given the disease's substantive disruption of everyday life. However, the landscape in which people are making COVID-19 vaccination decisions has recently evolved with releases of encouraging vaccine-related data and changes to official messaging about the virus. Therefore, this study sought to identify factors associated with reported likelihood to get vaccinated for COVID-19 among US adults in late January 2021. We used the Prolific online research panel to survey a nationally representative sample of 1017 US adults. Respondents were asked about their behavioral intentions toward COVID-19 vaccination, trust in science, perceptions related to COVID-19, and selected sociodemographic factors. We computed associations between those 11 independent variables and likelihood to get vaccinated for COVID-19 using multiple linear regression. Around 73.9% of respondents indicated at least some likelihood to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Trust in science and perceived seriousness of COVID-19 were positively associated with intention to get vaccinated, and identifying as Black or African American was negatively associated with intention to get vaccinated. Other factors were moderately, weakly, or not at all associated with intention. Building trust in science and truthfully emphasizing the seriousness of catching COVID-19 should be further researched for their potential to support campaigns to encourage COVID-19 vaccination. Data continue to suggest the importance of dialogue with Black communities about COVID-19 vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The coordinate transformation is to uniquely generate the intersection on both cylindrical and spherical geometric surface. • The computational efficiency of the 2-D intersection algorithm is retained in the supermeshing process. • A unified supermesh generation method is presented for planar, cylindrical, and spherical non-conformal interfaces. • The use of the 2-D intersection algorithm lowers the computational cost and involves a low code complexity. • The spherical sliding mesh technique has the potential to help realize the dynamics simulation of maneuvering structure. Aimed at decreasing the complexity of calculating the intersection of a pair of overlapped interfaces, this paper presents an efficient unified strategy to generate a supermesh for planar, cylindrical, and spherical non-conformal interfaces uniquely, which retains the computational efficiency of a 2-D intersection algorithm. The coordinate transformations for both the cylindrical and spherical interfaces are considered because the nodes of both types of interfaces can be described by two variable coordinates and a constant coordinate. The coordinate transformation of the spherical interfaces is performed by combining the Gnomonic projection and notion of rigid rotation. This task is incorporated in the local-supermeshing approach to generate the supermesh, which is employed as an auxiliary mesh to realize one-to-one addressing between the cells on both sides of the interfaces. Tests are performed to determine the pure geometric error of the supermeshing approach, and the results show the method does not induce additional geometric error. Besides, the accuracy and conservation of the fluxes when applying the supermeshing approach in a particular solver are studied. The results of the full-cycle unsteady simulation of internal combustion engine indicate the feasibility to applying the proposed method to realistic numerical problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron temperature is measured from time resolved hairpin resonator probe measurements in a pulsed capacitively coupled argon plasma at 400 mTorr. Effective collision frequency is related to the electron energy distribution via the effective conductivity and closes a system of equations that allow electron temperature to be determined. Results generally show good agreement with expected behavior and unfiltered time-resolved optical emission measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This technical note reports the results from a pilot testing program on the flexural behavior of cross-laminated bamboo and timber (CLBT) beams. The testing parameters include the combinations of two types of timbers, spruce-pine-fir (SPF) and poplar, as inner layers as well as two types of glubam, thin- and thick-strip glubam, as surface layers. The simply supported specimens were tested in flatwise and sidewise setups with three-point loading. The test results show that the CLBT beams exhibited an elastobrittle behavior and had adequate load-carrying capacity. The bending stiffness and capacity calculated from the test results were between those calculated by the two prediction models, i.e., a relative slip assumption model and a plane assumption model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantized vortices appear in physical systems from superfluids and superconductors to liquid crystals and high energy physics. Unlike their scalar cousins, superfluids with complex internal structure can exhibit rich dynamics of decay and even fractional vorticity. Here, we experimentally and theoretically explore the creation and time evolution of vortex lines in the polar magnetic phase of a trapped spin-1 87Rb Bose–Einstein condensate. A process of phase-imprinting a nonsingular vortex, its decay into a pair of singular spinor vortices, and a rapid exchange of magnetic phases creates a pair of three-dimensional, singular singly-quantized vortex lines with core regions that are filled with atoms in the ferromagnetic phase. Atomic interactions guide the subsequent vortex dynamics, leading to core structures that suggest the decay of the singly-quantized vortices into half-quantum vortices. Superfluid vortices are important in many diverse systems, including spinor Bose-Einstein condensates. Here, the experimental and theoretical analysis of the creation and time evolution of vortices in the polar phase of a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate is presented, showing the evolution of single-quantum vortices towards half-quantum ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stigmatization, hostility, and violence towards the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community have increased sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to conduct research to promote understanding of the effects of such stigmatization on the AAPI community. Accordingly, the present study used a combined minority stress and integrated threat framework to examine whether factors related to AAPI identity would moderate the relationship between stigmatization/threat associated with AAPI identity and increased psychological distress and behavioral vigilance. AAPI individuals were recruited online from both Turk Prime and Reddit and completed measures of perceived stigmatization; integrated threat; depression, anxiety, and stress; and behavioral vigilance. Perceptions of stigmatization and threat predicted relevant outcomes both as individual predictors and in multivariate analyses. However, factors relating to the strength of AAPI identification did not moderate the effects of stigmatization and threat on psychological distress and behavioral vigilance, which is a result that failed to support this aspect of the broader conceptual model on which this project was based. Instead, these proposed moderators were themselves predicted by stigmatization and threat variables. The implications of these findings for effective interventions to alleviate the negative consequences of anti-Asian stigmatization are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of early transplantation of the faecal microbiota from Tibetan pigs on the gut development of dextran sulphate sodium- (DSS-) challenged piglets. In total, 24 3-day-old DLY piglets were divided into four groups (n = 6 per group); a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement was used, which included faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) (from Tibetan pigs) and DSS challenge. The whole trial lasted for 55 days. DSS infusion increased the intestinal density, serum diamine oxidase (DAO) activity, and colonic Escherichia coli count (P < 0.05), and decreased the Lactobacillus spp. count and mRNA abundances of epidermal growth factor (EGF), glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), occludin, mucin 2 (MUC2), regeneration protein IIIγ (RegIIIγ), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the colon (P < 0.05). FMT increased the Lactobacillus spp. count and mRNA abundances of GLP-2, RegIIIγ, and IL-10 in the colon (P < 0.05), and decreased the intestinal density, serum DAO activity, and colonic E. coli number (P < 0.05). In addition, in DSS-challenged piglets, FMT decreased the disease activity index (P < 0.05) and attenuated the effect of DSS challenge on the intestinal density, serum DAO activity, and colonic E. coli number (P < 0.05). These data indicated that the faecal microbiota from Tibetan pigs could attenuate the negative effect of DSS challenge on the gut development of piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Patients on dialysis were susceptible to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and were prone to severe clinical characteristics after infection; acute kidney injury was related to mortality in COVID-19 cases. Limited is known about the characteristics of COVID-19 patients with end-stage renal disease not requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT). Aim Evaluate clinical characteristics, course and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who did not require RRT and those on dialysis. Design A two-center retrospective study. Methods A total of 836 adult patients with COVID-19 (24 CKD not on dialysis; 15 dialysis-dependent CKD) were included. The study includes no patients with renal transplantation. Risk factors were explored. Results CKD not requiring RRT is an independent risk factor for in-hospital death [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 7.35 (95% CI 2.41–22.44)] and poor prognosis [aOR 3.01 (95% CI 1.23–7.33)]. Compared with COVID-19 cases without CKD, those with CKD not requiring RRT showed similar percentage of initial moderate cases (75.00% vs. 73.65%) but higher incidence of in-hospital neutrophilia (50.00% vs. 27.30%) or death (50.00% vs. 9.03%). The odds ratio of dialysis associated to mortality in CKD patients was 2.00 (95% CI 0.52–7.63), suggesting COVID-19 patients with dialysis-dependent CKD were at greater risk of in-hospital death. For COVID-19 patients with CKD not requiring RRT, statins reduced the risk of neutrophilia [OR 0.10 (95% CI 0.01–0.69)] while diuretics increased the risk of neutrophilia [OR 15.4 (95% CI 1.47–160.97)], although both showed no association to mortality. Conclusion COVID-19 patients with CKD presented high incidence of neutrophilia, poor prognosis and in-hospital death, with dialysis patients being more vulnerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A light wavelength affects both plant photomorphogenesis and stress resistance. In this study, the phenotypic plasticity (growth parameters and cuticular waxes) and physiological adaptation (photosynthetic properties and antioxidant enzyme activities) of faba bean subjected to specific LED lights, red, yellow, blue, violet, and white, were analyzed under two water conditions (normal and drought). The plants grown under red and yellow lights possessed the smaller leaf size and the higher leaf relative water content. The blue light had a positive effect on improving stomatal conductance and net photosynthetic rate of faba bean leaves, and the plants grown under the blue light also had higher antioxidant enzyme activities. The blue light also changed the dominant wax component to alkanes and significantly decreased a total wax load under the drought stress, and thus minimized the cuticle transpiration (water loss). The decreased wax deposition and the increase of C31-C33 alkanes abundance in plants grown under the yellow light also resulted in a lower leaf water loss under the drought stress. The red light increased but the violet light did not change the cuticle water loss. These results suggest that plant drought tolerance could be improved by supplementing the blue and yellow lights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The easy axis of Nd2Fe14B is known to deviate from the c-axis when the temperature decreases to under the spin reorientation point TSR, 135 K. In this work, magnetic domain evolution in Nd2Fe14B was in situ observed by using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy at variable temperatures and magnetic fields. It appears that most inverse domains shrink to stripes and disappear suddenly to achieve the saturation state under a magnetic field, and the saturation field increases with the decreasing temperature due to the increased anisotropy. Magnetic bubbles with zero topological number are formed at temperatures higher than TSR, whereas magnetic skyrmions are found at temperatures around TSR due to the spin reorientation. The tunable anisotropy and saturation magnetization at TSR are the main causes of forming magnetic skyrmions. This finding exhibits the feasibility of generating skyrmions in the ordinary rare-earth permanent magnetic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, the regulatory effects of co-transforming catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and ca-ffeoyl‑CoA O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT) isolated from Eucalyptus urophylla S. T. Blake on the biosynthesis of lignin monomers were investigated using a tobacco as a model system. Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants were separately transformed with sense EuCOMT and full-length interfering RNA of EuCCoAOMT, and co-transformed with both EuCOMT and EuCCoAOMT respectively. The target genes' expression levels, the lignin, lignin monomer and cellulose contents, and the anatomical structures of the stems in transgenic tobacco lines were determined. The expression of EuCOMT was detected, and a significant inhibition of tobacco's native CCoAOMT expression was triggered by the full-length interfering RNA of EuCCoAOMT in transgenic tobacco plants. No significant differences were observed in stem diameter at both the 5th and 7th nodes among transgenic and wild type plants, nor in the xylem cell area or cell wall thickness at the 7th node of the stem. Compared with wild-type plants, the changes in the lignin and cellulose contents in transgenic plants were less than 10%. The G-lignin content of the co-transformed transgenic plants decreased by 57.38%, resulting in a 114.94% increase in the S/G ratio. Thus, the suppression of CCoAOMT's expression substantially inhibited the synthesis of G-lignin, and the optimal directional regulatory effect on the S/G ratio was observed in plants co-regulated by EuCOMT and EuCCoAOMT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the dynamic behavior of bed-load sediments under unsteady flow conditions is experimentally investigated and discussed. A series of experiments were conducted in a 6-m-long laboratory flume with naturally shaped hydrographs, and a video technique was applied to simultaneously monitor the bed-load motion and variations in the water level. Analysis of the experimental results demonstrated that the flow unsteadiness contributes to easier entrainment of the bed load, and the effect on the bed-load behavior decreases with an increase in the hydrograph duration. A further analysis revealed that the time lag between the occurrence of the peak discharge and that of the peak sediment transport rate is related to the base flow, and the bed-shear-stress peak triggers the bed-load transport peak. An unsteadiness parameter is proposed to account for the influence of the bed-load incipient. The regression analysis indicates a strong linear relationship between the bed-load transport and the unsteadiness parameters, which can be used for the estimation of the bed-load motion in the unsteady flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary supplementation with the isoflavone, daidzein, has been shown to improve egg production in poultry. Additionally, providing Chinese herbs (CH) in the broiler diet has led to increased antioxidative enzyme activity. However, the combined effect of these dietary supplements on hen performance has not been examined. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if dietary supplementation with a mixture of daidzein and CH would alter laying performance, egg quality, and blood plasma constituents of post-peak laying hens. At 59 wk of age, Hyline brown hens (240) were randomly allocated to 2 dietary groups and fed for 16 wk. The control group received the basal diet, and a treatment group was fed the basal diet that contained 0.02% of a mixture of daidzein and CH. Egg production and weight were recorded daily and egg quality data were collected at 75 wk of age. Blood plasma antioxidant activity, hormone levels, mineral (Ca and P) content, and osteocalcin content were determined at the end of the study. The results showed that laying rate, egg mass, and shell strength were greater in the daidzein-CH mixture group than the controls (P < 0.05). The plasma glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and luteinizing hormone levels were also greater in the daidzein-CH mixture group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The results of this study reveal that supplementing diets with a daidzein-CH mixture can improve laying performance perhaps by increasing plasma antioxidant activity, luteinizing hormone levels, and mineral content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach based on reactive force fields is applied to the parametrization of potential energy surface (PES) for chemical reactions on surfaces with a benchmark system, H2/Pd(111). We show that a simple reactive force field based on the second moment approximation does not allow for obtaining reliable results of reaction dynamics for the considered system. With a more elaborate reactive force field, i.e., reactive bond order (REBO) force field, we succeeded in obtaining a reliable PES for H2/Pd(111). The accuracy of the constructed REBO force field is carefully checked through various tests including the comparison not only between energies calculated with density functional theory and those with REBO force field but also between the available results of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and those with our force field. Moreover, our REBO force field is endowed with some transferability since the force field constructed with a database containing only information on H2/Pd(111) allows for obtaining also accurate results for H2/Pd(100) and qualitatively correct results for H2/Pd(110) without any refitting. With the help of our reactive force field, the molecular dynamics simulation for the dissociation of H2 on the considered Pd surfaces is speeded up by five orders of magnitude compared to ab initio molecular dynamics method. The demonstrated reliability and the very high computational efficiency of reactive force fields open extremely attractive perspectives for studying large-scale complex reacting systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotube bundles and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. It is shown that, for an individual single-walled carbon nanotube, its thermal conductivity is both diameter and chirality dependent. In defect-free bundles and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, the phonon essentially does not transcend the bonds between the constituent walls due to the weak intertube interaction. If, however, the intertube coupling is strong, a substantial reduction in the thermal conductivity maybe implied. Such a low thermal conductivity can be found in several thermal transport experiments of carbon nanotube mats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The α -decay half-lives of neutron-deficient nuclei with Z = 80 − 118 are studied by employing the effective liquid drop model (ELDM), generalized liquid drop model (GLDM) with the fission-like mode and the cluster-like mode, Royer formula, and Denisov formula. By comparison between the calculated half-lives and the experimental ones, it is shown that the accuracy by the GLDM with the cluster-like mode is higher than those by other models and formulas. In addition, the α -decay half-lives of the unmeasured neutron-deficient nuclei with Z = 80 − 120 are predicted using the GLDM with the cluster-like mode by inputting the Weizsäcker-Skyrme-4 (WS4) Q α values. These predictions are helpful for future measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By considering the parametric variation of an individual boron particle in a boron agglomerate, the heat transfer, and the mass transfer between the boron particle agglomerate and the surroundings, an ignition and combustion model of a boron agglomerate is proposed. An experiment of a ramjet combustor using a boron-based slurry fuel is designed and operated for the purpose of validating the ramjet configuration and verifying the combustion of boron particles. Then a mathematical model for simulating a multiphase reacting flow within the combustor of a boron-based slurry fuel ramjet is established. Kerosene droplets and boron particles are injected discretely to the burner flowfield, and their trajectories are traced using the discrete phase model. The influence of the agglomerate size, bypass air mass flow rate, initial boron particle diameter, and boron particle content on the combustion efficiency of the slurry fuels is analyzed in detail. The results show that the combustion efficiency decreases with an increase in the agglomerate radius, initial boron particle diameter, and boron particle content. The combustion efficiency increases with an increase in the mass flow rate of bypass air. If the agglomerate diameter is greater than 100 μm or the bypass air mass flow rate is smaller than 50 g/s, the boron particles cannot be fully burned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genistein, a biologically active isoflavone, exists in many soy products. It is well known that genistein binds to both oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and oestrogen receptor beta (ERβ), but it has a higher affinity to ERβ. Genistein can also bind to the G protein-coupled receptor 30 (GPR30, also known as G protein-coupled oestrogen receptor 1 or GPER). Furthermore, weak oestrogenic activity has been found in genistein, but the mechanism of action remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro effects of genistein on the secretion of progesterone (P4) and oestradiol (E2) in chicken granulosa cells harvested from follicles, as well as the mRNA expression of ERs in these cells. In addition, we examined the expression of key enzymes including steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage (P450scc), and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) in the process of P4 synthesis. The results showed that genistein did not affect the viability of granulosa cells, nor was the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein changed. Among the 1-, 10-, 100-, and 1,000-nM concentrations tested, treatment with 1 nM genistein for 48 h significantly increased P4 but did not affect E2 secretion. Real-time PCR results showed that the ERβ gene expression in granulosa cells was markedly upregulated by 1 nM genistein treatment for 48 h, but there was no significant difference in ERα and GPR30 expression. Genistein also increased the gene expression of StAR, P450scc and 3β-HSD in the cultured granulosa cells. These results indicate that genistein acts directly on chicken granulosa cells to increase P4 production by upregulating the gene expression of key enzymes through binding in ERβ. It may exert positive effects on the reproduction of late-laying hens and act as an effective and safe feed additive for animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]