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Polyphosphazene derivatives are gaining popularity due to their eco-friendly character and high content of flame-retardant components. Herein, a polyphosphazene derivative (PZAF) microsphere was successfully synthesized utilizing an in-situ template approach, which was then employed as an additive flame retardant in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to improve the fire safety. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that PZAF promoted the pyrolysis of PET in advance to generate a stable char layer that protects the matrix from heat, consequently increasing char residues. With addition of 10 wt% PZAF, the PET nanocomposites obtained a V-0 grade in vertical combustion test and its LOI value increased from 24.2 vol% to 32.1 vol%. Moreover, the peak heat release and carbon monoxide production decreased by 46.6% and 50.6%, respectively. This was because the phosphonic acid fragments and pyridine ring compounds produced by the PZAF pyrolysis encouraged the development of a robust char layer. Meanwhile, the •PO radicals generated by the pyrolysis of PZAF could capture free radicals in the gas phase, ultimately ending the chain reaction of combustion. Also, mechanical properties of the PET nanocomposites were noticeably enhanced by the addition of 3 or 5 wt% PZAF.

To impart durable flame retardant property to cotton fabric, a kind of multilayered hybrid film based on environmentally friendly phytic acid, sepiolite, polyaspartic acid, and Fe3+ were deposited on the surface of cotton fabric by layer-by-layer and spraying method to form a dense protective layer. Compared with cotton fabric, hybrid film coated cotton showed excellent flame retardant property and low fire hazard, which can be demonstrated by vertical flame test, limiting oxygen index (LOI) and cone calorimeter test. After-flame time and after-glow time of hybrid film coated cotton is 1 s and 1 s, respectively. LOI value of hybrid film coated cotton increased by 44.4% compared with control sample. Cone calorimeter test revealed a total heat release rate reduction of 52.6% and peak heat release rate reduction of 73.6% for hybrid film coated cotton fabric. This work demonstrates that the hybrid film composed of phytic acid, sepiolite, polyaspartic acid, and Fe3+ could improve the durable flame retardant property of cotton fabric.

A kind of organic/inorganic composite material composed of waterborne polyurethane and sepiolite was prepared in this work. Sepiolite was organically modified by three kinds of silane coupling agents, and then compounded with waterborne polyurethane through layer-by-layer method in order to prepare composite materials. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) show the crystal and chemistry structure of sepiolite samples, and confirmed the preparation of organic sepiolite. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed the surface microstructure and elemental content of sepiolite and organic sepiolite, and was consistent with the XRD results. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) examination of waterborne polyurethane composites surfaces showed that sepiolite particles were regularly dispersed in the waterborne polyurethane matrix. Thermal resistance of waterborne polyurethane composites was determined by thermogravimetry analyzer (TG) and derivative thermogravimetry analyzer (DTG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gas chromatography (GC), and mass chromatography (MS). Mechanical behavior was examined by tensile strength tester, showed higher break strength than that of the control waterborne polyurethane. Therefore, organically modified sepiolite was considered to be a kind of wonderful inorganic material that could be used to improve the thermal stability and mechanical property of polymer.

To understand clearly the mechanism of H5N6 transmission, the role of a live poultry feeding and trading network should be explored deeply. However, there is little data to show the network in an area. In this study, we performed a field epidemiological investigation to collect the numbers of farms, wholesale markets, and live poultry retail markets, and the numbers of purchased (from where) and sold (to where) live birds in Changsha City, China in 2014. We also collected samples from the network in the city from January 2014 to March 2015, including the LPMs visited by the patient known to be infected with A(H5N6) virus, and sequenced the genomes of 10 A(H5N6) viral strains isolated from these environmental samples, to determine the source of virus that infected the patient reported in Changsha. Additionally, we collected and analyzed A(H5N6) virus genome sequence isolated from humans, poultry, and LPMs registered in National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI; NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA) 14, to determine the source of other human infections with A(H5N6) virus reported in China. Changsha City in China has a large live poultry feeding and trading network (LPFTN) which had 665 farms, 5 wholesale markets, and 223 live poultry retail markets in 2014. The network covered nine provinces and purchased and sold more than 150000 live birds every day. About 840 environmental samples collected from the LPFTN network from January 2014 to March 2015. About 8.45% (71/840) environmental samples were shown to be positive for N6 and 10 full genome sequences of H5N6 virus were analyzed. We performed phylogenetic analyses and virus characterization, which demonstrated that the H5N6 viral strains isolated from Chinese patients were closely related to those isolated from the poultry and environmental samples obtained from the LPFTN network. This indicates that the network with a large volume of live poultry provides a platform for the transmission of H5N6, and provides an infectious pool which makes the people in high risk.ImportanceAvian influenza A(H5N6) virus is an emerging threat to public health. With several human cases reported in recent years, it has become a dominant avian influenza virus (AIV) subtype in China. Live poultry feeding and trading network (LPFTN) contributes to the presence of novel AIV. By a field epidemiological investigation in the complex LPFTN in Changsha, we demonstrated that the H5N6 viral strains isolated from Chinese patients were closely related to those isolated from the poultry and environmental samples obtained from the network, suggesting the LPFTN with a large volume of live poultry provides a platform for the transmission of H5N6 and creates an infectious pool which makes people in high risk. Considering the wide circulation and dynamic reassortment of this highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N6 virus, it should be carefully monitored in poultry and humans due to the pandemic potential.

As a propulsion system for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, the gas-driven fan propulsion system has received some attention in recent years due to its simple mechanical structure and good performance. During the operation of the propulsion system, the core turbofan exhaust is directed to the tip turbine to drive the ducted fan to obtain thrust, and the louvered vector exhaust device is used to achieve lift/thrust switching. However, due to the linkage characteristics of the guide vanes of the exhaust device, the exhaust area will gradually change with the deflection of the guide vanes. This may cause uncertain effects on the system. Besides, considering the development cost of the propulsion system, it is necessary to clarify whether the core turbofan needs to be redesigned based on the characteristics of the system. Further, the transitional performance (VTOL to flight) of the propulsion system also needs to be studied. To this end, this study established an overall model of the gas-driven fan propulsion system combined with the characteristics of the core turbofan to analyze these problems. The results indicate that the louvered vector exhaust device can well match the gas-driven fan propulsion system. And when the propulsion system is composed, the gas-driven fan will not significantly affect the operation characteristics of the core turbofan. Besides, the preliminary analysis shows that the gas-driven fan propulsion system can meet the power requirements of the transition state of the fixed-wing VTOL aircraft. And the characteristics of the propulsion system may make the take-off thrust-weight ratio requirement of the fixed-wing VTOL aircraft be as low as 1.1.

Background: Control measures during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak may have limited the spread of infectious diseases. This study aimed to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on the spread of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in China. Methods: A mathematical model was established to fit the reported data of HFMD in six selected cities in mainland China from 2015 to 2020. The absolute difference (AD) and relative difference (RD) between the reported incidence in 2020, and simulated maximum, minimum, or median incidence of HFMD in 2015-2019 were calculated. Findings: The incidence and Reff of HFMD have decreased in six selected cities since the outbreak of COVID-19, and in the second half of 2020, the incidence and R eff of HFMD have rebounded. The results show that the total attack rate (TAR) in 2020 was lower than the maximum, minimum, and median TAR fitted in previous years in six selected cities (except Changsha city). For the maximum, median, minimum fitted TAR, the range of RD (%) is 42·20-99·20%, 36·35-98·41% 48·35-96·23% (except Changsha city) respectively. Interpretation: Based on the incidence data of six cities from 2015 to 2019, the SEIAR model demonstrated a significant effect on the incidence of HFMD. During the period of COVID-19, the incidence and R eff of HFMD decreased, the prevention and control measures taken during the period of COVID-19, such as school suspension, home quarantine, closing all kinds of leisure places, wearing masks, advocating frequent hand washing, etc., have not only effectively suppressed the spread of COVID-19 epidemic, but also have significantly contributed to the containment of HFMD transmission. Funding Statement: This study was partly supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-005834). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has spread worldwide and led to high disease burden around the world. This study aimed to explore the key parameters of SARS-CoV-2 infection and to assess the effectiveness of interventions to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A susceptible—exposed—infectious—asymptomatic—recovered (SEIAR) model was developed for the assessment. The information of each confirmed case and asymptomatic infection was collected from Ningbo Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to calculate the key parameters of the model in Ningbo City, China. A total of 157 confirmed COVID-19 cases (including 51 imported cases and 106 secondary cases) and 30 asymptomatic infections were reported in Ningbo City. The proportion of asymptomatic infections had an increasing trend. The proportion of elder people in the asymptomatic infections was lower than younger people, and the difference was statistically significant (Fisher’s Exact Test, P = 0.034). There were 22 clusters associated with 167 SARS-CoV-2 infections, among which 29 cases were asymptomatic infections, accounting for 17.37%. We found that the secondary attack rate (SAR) of asymptomatic infections was almost the same as that of symptomatic cases, and no statistical significance was observed (χ2 = 0.052, P = 0.819) by Kruskal–Wallis test. The effective reproduction number (Reff) was 1.43, which revealed that the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 was moderate. If the interventions had not been strengthened, the duration of the outbreak would have lasted about 16 months with a simulated attack rate of 44.15%. The total attack rate (TAR) and duration of the outbreak would increase along with the increasing delay of intervention. SARS-CoV-2 had moderate transmissibility in Ningbo City, China. The proportion of asymptomatic infections had an increase trend. Asymptomatic infections had the same transmissibility as symptomatic infections. The integrated interventions were implemented at different stages during the outbreak, which turned out to be exceedingly effective in China.

Background Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes an immense disease burden. Although public health countermeasures effectively controlled the epidemic in China, non-pharmaceutical interventions can neither be maintained indefinitely nor conveniently implemented globally. Vaccination is mainly used to prevent COVID-19, and most current antiviral treatment evaluations focus on clinical efficacy. Therefore, we conducted population-based simulations to assess antiviral treatment effectiveness among different age groups based on its clinical efficacy. Methods We collected COVID-19 data of Wuhan City from published literature and established a database (from 2 December 2019 to 16 March 2020). We developed an age-specific model to evaluate the effectiveness of antiviral treatment in patients with COVID-19. Efficacy was divided into three types: (1) viral activity reduction, reflected as transmission rate decrease [reduction was set as v (0–0.8) to simulate hypothetical antiviral treatments]; (2) reduction in the duration time from symptom onset to patient recovery/removal, reflected as a 1/γ decrease (reduction was set as 1–3 days to simulate hypothetical or real-life antiviral treatments, and the time of asymptomatic was reduced by the same proportion); (3) fatality rate reduction in severely ill patients (fc) [reduction (z) was set as 0.3 to simulate real-life antiviral treatments]. The population was divided into four age groups (groups 1, 2, 3 and 4), which included those aged ≤ 14; 15–44; 45–64; and ≥ 65 years, respectively. Evaluation indices were based on outbreak duration, cumulative number of cases, total attack rate (TAR), peak date, number of peak cases, and case fatality rate (f). Results Comparing the simulation results of combination and single medication therapy s, all four age groups showed better results with combination medication. When 1/γ = 2 and v = 0.4, age group 2 had the highest TAR reduction rate (98.48%, 56.01–0.85%). When 1/γ = 2, z = 0.3, and v = 0.1, age group 1 had the highest reduction rate of f (83.08%, 0.71–0.12%). Conclusions Antiviral treatments are more effective in COVID-19 transmission control than in mortality reduction. Overall, antiviral treatments were more effective in younger age groups, while older age groups showed higher COVID-19 prevalence and mortality. Therefore, physicians should pay more attention to prevention of viral spread and patients deaths when providing antiviral treatments to patients of older age groups.

Common flame retardants, such as halogen-based materials, are being phased-out owing to their harmful environmental and health effects. We prepared poly-(cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) (PZS) microspheres, nanotubes, capsicum-like nanotubes, and branched nanotubes as flame retardants. An increase in reaction temperature changed the morphology from nanotubes to microspheres. A PZS shape had a positive effect on the flame retardancy of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The PZS with a capsicum-like nanotube morphology had the best flame retardancy, and the PET limiting oxygen index increased from 25.2% to 34.4%. The flame retardancy capability was followed by PZS microspheres (33.1%), branched nanotubes (32.8%), and nanotubes (32.5%). The capsicum-like nanotubes promote the formation of highly dense and continuous carbon layers, and they release a non-combustible gas (CO2). This study confirms polyphosphazene-based flame retardants as viable and environmentally-friendly alternatives to common flame retardants. It also presents a novel and facile design and synthesis of morphology-controlled nanomaterials with enhanced flame retardant properties.

Background: There is still a relatively serious disease burden of infectious diseases and the warning time for different infectious diseases before implementation of interventions is important. The logistic differential equation models can be used for predicting early warning of infectious diseases, the aim of this study is to compare the disease fitting effect of the logistic differential equation (LDE) model and the generalised logistic differential equation (GLDE) model, using the two models to calculate the early warning signals of different types of infectious diseases and to solve for disease early warning schedules throughout the year. Methods: Collecting the incidence of 22 infectious diseases in Jilin Province, China. The LDE and GLDE models were used to calculate the recommended warning week (RWW), the epidemic acceleration week (EAW) and warning removed week (WRW) for acute infectious diseases with seasonality, respectively. Results: Five diseases were selected for analysis based on screening principles: hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), shigellosis, mumps, Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), and scarlet fever. The GLDE model fitted the above diseases better (0.80 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.94, P < 0. 005) than the LDE model. The estimated warning durations (per year) of the LDE model for the above diseases were: weeks 12-23 and 40-50; weeks 20-36; weeks 15-24 and 43-52; weeks 26-34; and weeks 16-25 and 41-50. While the durations of early warning (per year) estimated by the GLDE model were: weeks 7-24 and 36-51; weeks 13-37; weeks 11-26 and 39-54; weeks 23-35; and weeks 12-26 and 40-50. Conclusions: Compared to the LDE model, the GLDE model provides a better fit to the actual disease incidence data. The RWW appeared to be earlier when estimated with the GLDE model than the LDE model. In addition, the WRW estimated with the GLDE model were more lagged and had a longer warning time.

The article aims to estimate and forecast the transmissibility of shigellosis and explore the association of meteorological factors with shigellosis. The mathematical model named Susceptible–Exposed–Symptomatic/Asymptomatic–Recovered–Water/Food (SEIARW) was used to explore the feature of shigellosis transmission based on the data of Wuhan City, China, from 2005 to 2017. The study applied effective reproduction number (Reff) to estimate the transmissibility. Daily meteorological data from 2008 to 2017 were used to determine Spearman's correlation with reported new cases and Reff. The SEIARW model fit the data well (χ2 = 0.00046, p > 0.999). The simulation results showed that the reservoir-to-person transmission of the shigellosis route has been interrupted. The Reff would be reduced to a transmission threshold of 1.00 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82–1.19) in 2035. Reducing the infectious period to 11.25 days would also decrease the value of Reff to 0.99. There was a significant correlation between new cases of shigellosis and atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind speed and sun hours per day. The correlation coefficients, although statistically significant, were very low (

Introduction Vaccination booster shots are completely necessary for controlling breakthrough infections of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in China. The study aims to estimate effectiveness of booster vaccines for high-risk populations (HRPs). Methods A vaccinated Susceptible-Exposed-Symptomatic-Asymptomatic-Recovered/Removed (SEIAR) model was developed to simulate scenarios of effective reproduction number (Reff) from 4 to 6. Total number of infectious and asymptomatic cases were used to evaluated vaccination effectiveness. Results Our model showed that we could not prevent outbreaks when covering 80% of HRPs with booster unless Reff=4.0 or the booster vaccine had efficacy against infectivity and susceptibility of more than 90%. The results were consistent when the outcome index was confirmed cases or asymptomatic cases. Conclusions An ideal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) booster vaccination strategy for HRPs would be expected to reach the initial goal to control the transmission of the Delta variant in China. Accordingly, the recommendation for the COVID-19 booster vaccine should be implemented in HRPs who are already vaccinated and could prevent transmission to other groups.

Background: The disease burden of hepatitis E remains high. We used a new method (richness, diversity, evenness, and similarity analyses) to classify cities according to the occupational classification of hepatitis E patients across regions in China and compared the results of cluster analysis.Methods: Data on reported hepatitis E cases from 2008 to 2018 were collected from 24 cities (9 in Jilin Province, 13 in Jiangsu Province, Xiamen City, and Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture). Traditional statistical methods were used to describe the epidemiological characteristics of hepatitis E patients, while the new method and cluster analysis were used to classify the cities by analyzing the occupational composition across regions.Results: The prevalence of hepatitis E in eastern China (Jiangsu Province) was similar to that in the south (Xiamen City) and southwest of China (Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture), but higher than that in the north (Jilin Province). The age of hepatitis E patients was concentrated between 41 and 60 years, and the sex ratio ranged from 1:1.6 to 1:3.4. Farming was the most highly prevalent occupation; other sub-prevalent occupations included retirement, housework and unemployment. The incidence of occupations among migrant workers, medical staff, teachers, and students was moderate. There were several occupational types with few or no records, such as catering industry, caregivers and babysitters, diaspora children, childcare, herders, and fishing (boat) people. The occupational similarity of hepatitis E was high among economically developed cities, such as Nanjing, Wuxi, Baicheng, and Xiamen, while the similarity was small among cities with large economic disparities, such as Nanjing and Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture. A comparison of the classification results revealed more similarities and some differences when using these two methods.Conclusion: In China, the factors with the greatest influence on the prevalence of hepatitis E are living in the south, farming as an occupation, being middle-aged or elderly, and being male. The 24 cities we studied were highly diverse and moderately similar in terms of the occupational distribution of patients with hepatitis E. We confirmed the validity of the new method on in classifying cities according to their occupational composition by comparing it with the clustering method.

Background: It is much valuable to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention and control in the non-pharmacological intervention phase of the pandemic across countries and identify useful experiences that could be generalized worldwide.Methods: In this study, we developed a susceptible–exposure–infectious–asymptomatic–removed (SEIAR) model to fit the daily reported COVID-19 cases in 160 countries. The time-varying reproduction number (Rt) that was estimated through fitting the mathematical model was adopted to quantify the transmissibility. We defined a synthetic index (IAC) based on the value of Rt to reflect the national capability to control COVID-19.Results: The goodness-of-fit tests showed that the SEIAR model fitted the data of the 160 countries well. At the beginning of the epidemic, the values of Rt of countries in the European region were generally higher than those in other regions. Among the 160 countries included in the study, all European countries had the ability to control the COVID-19 epidemic. The Western Pacific Region did best in continuous control of the epidemic, with a total of 73.76% of countries that can continuously control the COVID-19 epidemic, while only 43.63% of the countries in the European Region continuously controlled the epidemic, followed by the Region of Americas with 52.53% of countries, the Southeast Asian Region with 48% of countries, the African Region with 46.81% of countries, and the Eastern Mediterranean Region with 40.48% of countries.Conclusion: Large variations in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic existed across countries. The world could benefit from the experience of some countries that demonstrated the highest containment capabilities.

Our objective was to describe the epidemiological features of an outbreak of norovirus infection in a health school in Guangdong province, China, to identify the cause of such a large scale outbreak of norovirus among older students, to simulate the transmission dynamics, and to evaluate the effect of intervention measures of GII.17 [P17] genotype norovirus infection. We identified all cases during the outbreak. Descriptive epidemiological, analytical epidemiological and hygiene survey methods were used to described the outbreak epidemic course and identify the cause of the outbreak of norovirus infection. We also used dynamical model to simulate the transmission dynamics of norovirus infection and evaluate the effect of intervention measures. Norovirus genotyping was assigned to the newly obtained strains, with a maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis conducted. There were 360 cases of 42 classes in five grades with a 12.99% attack rate. Proportionally, more students were in contact with sick students and vomit in the suspected case group than the control group (χ2 = 5.535, P = 0.019 and χ2 = 5.549, P = 0.019, respectively). The basic reproduction number was 8.32 before and 0.49 after the intervention. Dynamical modeling showed that if the isolation rate was higher or case isolation began earlier, the total attack rate would decrease. Molecular characterization identified the GII.17 [P17] genotype in all stains obtained from the health school, which were clustered with high support in the phylogenetic tree. This was an outbreak of norovirus infection caused by contact transmission. The main reasons for the spread of the epidemic were the later control time, irregular treatment of vomit and no case isolation. The transmission dynamics of contact transmission was high, more efficient control measures should be employed.

Despite the adoption of a national immunization program in China, the incidence of mumps remains high. This study aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics, including the time, region, occupation, and age, of mumps in Wuhan from 2005 to 2018 and to evaluate its transmissibility. In this study, the susceptible–exposed–infectious–asymptomatic–recovered (SEIAR) model fitted the actual incidence data of mumps. The effective reproduction number (Rt) was used to evaluate and compare the transmission capacity in different areas. From 2005 to 2018, there were 36,415 cases. The incidence of mumps was highest among people aged 5–10 years (460.02 per 100,000). The SEIAR model fitted the reported mumps data well (P < 0.01). The median transmissibility (Rt) was 1.04 (range = 0–2.50). There were two peak spreads every year (from March to May and from October to December). The Rt peak always appeared in the first 2 months of the peak incidence rate. The peak time of the epidemic spread of mumps was 1–2 months earlier than the peak incidence rate. The prevention and control measures of vaccination for children aged 5–10 years should be taken before the peak transmission capacity each year, 2 months before the peak of the outbreak, to reduce the spread of mumps.

Yichang is a city in central China in the Hubei Province. This study aimed to estimate the dynamics of the transmissibility of hepatitis C using a mathematical model and predict the transmissibility of hepatitis C in 2030. Data of hepatitis C cases from 13 counties or districts (cities) in Yichang from 2008 to 2016 were collected. A susceptible-infectious-chronic-recovered (SICR) model was developed to fit the data. The transmissibility of hepatitis C at the counties or districts was calculated based on new infections (including infected or chronically infected cases) reported monthly in the city caused by one infectious individual (MNI). The trend of the MNI was fitted and predicted using 11 models, with the coefficient of determination (R2 ) was being used to test the goodness of fit of these models. A total of 3065 cases of hepatitis C were reported in Yichang from 2008 to 2016. The median MNI of Yichang was 0.0768. According to the fitting results and analysis, the trend of transmissibility of hepatitis C in Yichang City conforms with the logarithmic (R2 = 0.918, p

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a well-known chemotherapeutic drug for most malgnencies including breast cancer and leukemia whilst the usage of DOX is limited owing to its cardiotoxicity. The present study analyzed the effects of crocin on doxorubicin’s cardiotoxic efect in rat myocardium and searched their mechanistic interaction in the pathogenesis of DOX-induced myocardial toxicity. Forty rats were divided into four groups; (a) control (received normal saline as a dose of 1 ml/kg by ip for 15 days), (b) Crocin (received crocin as a dose of 40 mg/kg/24h by ip for 15 days), (c) DOX (received DOX as a dose of 2 mg/kg/48h by ip in six injection, cumulative dose 12 mg/kg), and (d) DOX+Crocin (received DOX as a dose of 2 mg/kg/48h by ip in six injection and crocin as a dose of 40 mg/kg/24h ip for 15 days). According to the present study, DOX administration caused significant increases in lipid indices (triglyseride, low-dencity lipoproteins and very low-dencity lipoproteins) as well as cardiac markers (Creatine kinase-muscle/brain and Cardiac Troponin I). Morever, DOX caused significant increases in oxidative stress parameters (malondialdehyde and total oxidant status) as well as decreases in antioxidant defense systems (glutathione, superoxide dismutase, catalase and total antioxidant status). The present study also demonstrated that co-administration of crocin with DOX significantly ameliorated the lipid profile and biochemical parameters in rats receiving DOX. The results were supported by histopathological and immunohistochemical evaluations. Taken together, our results reveal that crocin might be a cardioprotective agent in DOX treated patients for cancer.

Background Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease that is regionally distributed in Asia, with high fatality. Constructing the transmission model of SFTS could help provide clues for disease control and fill the gap in research on SFTS models. Methods We built an SFTS transmission dynamics model based on the susceptible–exposed–infectious–asymptomatic–recovered (SEIAR) model and the epidemiological characteristics of SFTS in Jiangsu Province. This model was used to evaluate the effect by cutting off different transmission routes and taking different interventions into account, to offer clues for disease prevention and control. Results The transmission model fits the reported data well with a minimum R2 value of 0.29 and a maximum value of 0.80, P Conclusions The model we have built can be used to simulate the transmission of SFTS to help inform disease control. It is noteworthy that cutting off the environment-to-humans transmission route in the model had the greatest effect on SFTS prevention and control. Graphical Abstract

Background During the period of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, strong intervention measures, such as lockdown, travel restriction, and suspension of work and production, may have curbed the spread of other infectious diseases, including natural focal diseases. In this study, we aimed to study the impact of COVID-19 prevention and control measures on the reported incidence of natural focal diseases (brucellosis, malaria, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome [HFRS], dengue, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome [SFTS], rabies, tsutsugamushi and Japanese encephalitis [JE]). Methods The data on daily COVID-19 confirmed cases and natural focal disease cases were collected from Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Jiangsu Provincial CDC). We described and compared the difference between the incidence in 2020 and the incidence in 2015–2019 in four aspects: trend in reported incidence, age, sex, and urban and rural distribution. An autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) (p, d, q) × (P, D, Q)s model was adopted for natural focal diseases, malaria and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), and an ARIMA (p, d, q) model was adopted for dengue. Nonparametric tests were used to compare the reported and the predicted incidence in 2020, the incidence in 2020 and the previous 4 years, and the difference between the duration from illness onset date to diagnosed date (DID) in 2020 and in the previous 4 years. The determination coefficient (R2) was used to evaluate the goodness of fit of the model simulation. Results Natural focal diseases in Jiangsu Province showed a long-term seasonal trend. The reported incidence of natural focal diseases, malaria and dengue in 2020 was lower than the predicted incidence, and the difference was statistically significant (P P P Conclusions Interventions for COVID-19 may help control the epidemics of natural focal diseases in Jiangsu Province. The reported incidence of natural focal diseases, especially malaria and dengue, decreased during the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. COVID-19 prevention and control measures had the greatest impact on the reported incidence of natural focal diseases in males and people in the 20–60-year age group. Graphical Abstract

Background Hepatitis E, an acute zoonotic disease caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV), has a relatively high burden in developing countries. The current research model on hepatitis E mainly uses experimental animal models (such as pigs, chickens, and rabbits) to explain the transmission of HEV. Few studies have developed a multi-host and multi-route transmission dynamic model (MHMRTDM) to explore the transmission feature of HEV. Hence, this study aimed to explore its transmission and evaluate the effectiveness of intervention using the dataset of Jiangsu Province. Methods We developed a dataset comprising all reported HEV cases in Jiangsu Province from 2005 to 2018. The MHMRTDM was developed according to the natural history of HEV cases among humans and pigs and the multi-transmission routes such as person-to-person, pig-to-person, and environment-to-person. We estimated the key parameter of the transmission using the principle of least root mean square to fit the curve of the MHMRTDM to the reported data. We developed models with single or combined countermeasures to assess the effectiveness of interventions, which include vaccination, shortening the infectious period, and cutting transmission routes. The indicator, total attack rate (TAR), was adopted to assess the effectiveness. Results From 2005 to 2018, 44 923 hepatitis E cases were reported in Jiangsu Province. The model fits the data well (R2 = 0.655, P TAR by 98.11%, followed by vaccination (reducing the TAR by 76.25% when the vaccination coefficient is 100%) and shortening the infectious period (reducing the TAR by 50.05% when the infectious period is shortened to 15 days). Conclusions HEV could be controlled by interrupting the pig-to-person route, shortening the infectious period, and vaccination. Among these interventions, the most effective was interrupting the pig-to-person route. Graphic Abstract

In this study, a kind of inorganic composite flame retardant (Sep@Fe2O3) was prepared by combining solution deposition and calcination methods using sepiolite microfiber material as carrier. This inorganic compound flame retardant was combined with waterborne polyurethane (WPU) through layer-by-layer method to prepare WPU composites. The SEM and EDS, TEM, and XRD were used to characterize the microscopic morphology and crystal structure of WPU composites. Thermogravimetric analysis tests confirmed the good thermal stability of WPU/Sep@Fe2O3 composites; at the temperature of 600°C, the carbon residual percentage of WPU/Sep, WPU/Fe2O3, and WPU/Sep@Fe2O3 composites is 7.3%, 12.2%, and 13.4%, respectively, higher than that of WPU (1.4%). Vertical combustion tests proved better flame-retardant property of WPU/Sep@Fe2O3 composite-coated cotton than noncoated cotton. The microcalorimeter test proved that the PHRR of WPU/Sep@Fe2O3 composites decreased by 61% compared with that of WPU. In addition, after combining with Sep@Fe2O3, the breaking strength of WPU increased by 35%.

Background: With the strength intervention of China, the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had a great control effect. The measures may influence the development and progression of others infectious diseases.Method: The data of daily coronavirus virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) confirmed cases from January 3, 2020 to April 30, 2020 and natural focal disease cases from January, 2005 to April, 2020 were collected from Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Jiangsu Provincial CDC). We describe and compare the data of natural focal diseases from January to April, 2020 with the same months from 2015 to 2019 in the four aspects: trend of incidence, regional, age and sex distribution. Nonparametric tests were used to analyzed to the difference between the duration from onset of illness to date of diagnosis of natural focal diseases and the same period of the previous year. Results: The incidence of malaria in February (0.9 per 10,000,000 people), March (0.3 per 10,000,000 people) and April (0.1 per 10,000,000 people) 2020 less than the lower limit for range of February (1.6-4.5 per 10,000,000 people), March (0.8-3.3 per 10,000,000 people) and April (1.0-2.9 per 10,000,000 people) from 2015 to 2019 respectively. The incidence of brucellosis in February was 0.9 (per 10,000,000 people), less than the lower limit for the range from 2015 to 2019 (1.6-4.5 per 10,000,000 people). The incidence of hemorrhagic fever (HF) in March was 1.0 (per 10,000,000 people), less than the lower limit for the range from 2015 to 2019 (1.4-2.6 per 10,000,000 people). However, the incidence of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SEFT) in March was 0.3 (per 10,000,000 people), higher than the upper limit for the range from 2015 to 2019 (0.0-0.1 per 10,000,000 people). Furthermore, we respectively observed the incidence with various degree of reduction in male, 20-60 years old and both rural and urban areas. Conclusions: In Jiangsu province, the incidence of natural focal diseases decreased during the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, especially malaria, HF and SEFT. The impact of interventions were felt most by male individuals within the age group of 20-50 years. The interventions for COVID-19 may control the epidemics of natural focal diseases.

Background: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease that is regionally distributed in Asia with high fatality. Constructing the transmissibility model of SFTS could help provide clues for the intervention of disease control and fill the gap in the research of the SFTS model.Methods: Based on the Susceptible–Exposed–Infectious–Symptomatic–Recovered (SEIAR) model and combined with the epidemiological characteristics of SFTS in Jiangsu Province. An SFTS transmission dynamics model was built to evaluate the effect through cutting off the different transmission routes and taking different interventions, to offer clues for disease prevention and control, and filled the gap in research of the SFTS model. Results: For the transmission model of SFTS, the fitting effect of case data and model is great. Meanwhile, cutting off the transmission routes of the environment have the greatest effect on the prevention and control of SFTS, but isolation and shorten the course of the disease did not gain more effect.Conclusions: This study is determined that cutting off the transmission routes from the environment to humans had the greatest effect on SFTS prevention and control.

This study aimed at estimating the transmissibility of hepatitis C. The data for hepatitis C cases were collected in six districts in Xiamen City, China from 2004 to 2018. A population-mixed susceptible-infectious-chronic-recovered (SICR) model was used to fit the data and the parameters of the model were calculated. The basic reproduction number (R0) and the number of newly transmitted cases by a primary case per month (MNI) were adopted to quantitatively assess the transmissibility of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Eleven curve estimation models were employed to predict the trends of R0 and MNI in the city. The SICR model fits the reported HCV data well (P < 0.01). The median R0 of each district in Xiamen is 0.4059. R0 follows the cubic model curve, the compound curve and the power function curve. The median MNI of each district in Xiamen is 0.0020. MNI follows the cubic model curve, the compound curve and the power function curve. The transmissibility of HCV follows a decreasing trend, which reveals that under the current policy for prevention and control, there would be a high feasibility to eliminate the transmission of HCV in the city.

Background: As an emerging infectious disease, the prevention and control of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) poses a significant challenge to the development of public health in China. In this study, we aimed to explore the mechanism of the seasonal transmission characteristics of HFMD and to reveal the correlation and potential path between key meteorological factors and the transmissibility of HFMD.Methods: Combined with daily meteorological data such as average temperature, average relative humidity, average wind velocity, amount of precipitation, average air pressure, evaporation capacity, and sunshine duration, a database of HFMD incidence and meteorological factors was established. Spearman rank correlation was used to calculate the correlation between the various meteorological factors and the incidence of HFMD. The effective reproduction number (Reff) of HFMD was used as an intermediate variable to further quantify the dynamic relationship between the average temperature and Reff.Results: A total of 43,659 cases of HFMD were reported in Xiamen from 2014 to 2018. There was a significantly positive correlation between the average temperature and the incidence of HFMD (r = 0.596, p < 0.001), and a significantly negative correlation between the average air pressure and the incidence of HFMD (r = −0.511, p < 0.001). There was no correlation between the average wind velocity (r = 0.045, p > 0.05) or amount of precipitation (r = 0.043, p > 0.05) and incidence. There was a temperature threshold for HFMD's transmissibility. Owing to the seasonal transmission characteristics of HFMD in Xiamen, the temperature threshold of HFMD's transmissibility was 13.4–18.4°C and 14.5–29.3°C in spring and summer and in autumn and winter, respectively.Conclusions: HFMD's transmissibility may be affected by the average temperature; the temperature threshold range of transmissibility in autumn and winter is slightly wider than that in spring and summer. Based on our findings, we suggest that the relevant epidemic prevention departments should pay close attention to temperature changes in Xiamen to formulate timely prevention strategies before the arrival of the high-risk period.

Objective: Astaxanthin is a natural super antioxidant. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of astaxanthin rich Phaffia rhodozyma (PR) supplementation in diets on laying production performance, egg quality, antioxidant defenses and immune defenses in laying hens.Methods: A total of five hundred and twelve 60-week-old Lohmann Brown laying hens (2,243±12 g) were randomly assigned to four groups, each including 4 replicates with 32 birds per replicate. Astaxanthin rich PR was added to corn-soybean meal diets to produce experimental diets containing 0 (Control), 800 mg/kg, 1,200 mg/kg, and 1,600 mg/kg PR, respectively. The astaxanthin content in the diet was 0.96 mg/kg, 1.44 mg/kg and 1.92 mg/kg respectively.Results: Results showed that dietary PR supplementation tended to increase daily feed intake (p = 0.0512). There was no effect of astaxanthin rich PR on Haugh units, albumen height, egg shape index, eggshell strength, and eggshell thickness at weeks 6 (p>0.05). However, egg yolk color was significantly improved (p

What is already known about this topic? COVID-19 has a high transmissibility calculated by mathematical model. The dynamics of the disease and the effectiveness of intervention to control the transmission remain unclear in Jilin Province, China. What is added by this report? This is the first study to report the dynamic characteristics and to quantify the effectiveness of interventions implemented in the second outbreak of COVID-19 in Jilin Province, China. The effective reproduction number of the disease before and after May 10 was 4.00 and p