High prevalence of long COVID symptoms has emerged as a significant public health concern. This study investigated the associations between three doses of COVID-19 vaccines and the presence of any and ≥3 types of long COVID symptoms among people with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Hong Kong, China. This is a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional online survey among Hong Kong adult residents conducted between June and August 2022. This analysis was based on a sub-sample of 1,542 participants with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection during the fifth wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong (December 2021 to April 2022). Among the participants, 40.9% and 16.1% self-reported having any and ≥3 types of long COVID symptoms, respectively. After adjusting for significant variables related to sociodemographic characteristics, health conditions and lifestyles, and SARS-CoV-2 infection, receiving at least three doses of COVID-19 vaccines was associated with lower odds of reporting any long COVID symptoms comparing to receiving two doses (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.54, 0.87, P = .002). Three doses of inactivated and mRNA vaccines had similar protective effects against long COVID symptoms. It is important to strengthen the coverage of COVID-19 vaccination booster doses, even in the post-pandemic era.

Escherichia albertii is an emerging foodborne enteropathogen associated with infectious diarrhoea in humans. In February 2023, an outbreak of acute gastroenteric cases was reported in a junior high school located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China. Twenty-two investigated patients presented diarrhoea (22/22, 100%), abdominal pain (21/22, 95.5%), nausea (6/22, 27.3%), and vomiting (3/22, 13.6%). E. albertii strains were successfully isolated from anal swabs collected from six patients. Each isolate was classified as sequence type ST2686, harboured eae-β gene, and carried both cdtB-I and cdtB-II subtypes, being serotyped as EAOg32:EAHg4 serotype. A comprehensive whole-genome phylogenetic analysis revealed that the six isolates formed a distinct cluster, separate from other strains. These isolates exhibited minimal genetic variation, differing from one another by 0 to 1 single nucleotide polymorphism, suggesting a common origin from a single clone. To the best of our knowledge, this represented the first reported outbreak of gastroenteritis attributed to E. albertii outside of Japan on a global scale.

Salt solutions have complex effects on the swelling characteristics of compacted bentonite; these effects are caused by the inhibitory action of salinity and the ion-exchange reaction between the solution and bentonite. In order to characterize the swelling properties of compacted bentonite in a salt solution, swelling deformation tests were carried out for Gao-Miao-Zi (GMZ) bentonite specimens in NaCl and CaCl2 solutions. Swelling characteristics decreased with increasing salt concentration. Swelling strains in NaCl solution were larger than those in CaCl2 solution, even though the ionic concentration of 1.0 mol/L (M) NaCl solution is larger than that of 0.5 M CaCl2. According to the exchangeable cations tests, cation exchange was different for specimens immersed in different salt solutions. The swelling fractal model was used to predict the swelling strains of compacted bentonite in a concentrated salt solution. In this model, the effective stress incorporating osmotic suction was applied to take the effect of salinity into consideration, and the swelling coefficient, K, was employed to describe the swelling properties affected by the variation in exchangeable cations. In the model, fractal dimension was measured by nitrogen adsorption, and the salt solution had little effect on fractal dimension. K was estimated by the diffuse double layer (DDL) model for osmotic swelling in distilled water. Comparison of fractal model estimations with experimental data demonstrated that the new model performed well in predicting swelling characteristics affected by a salt solution.

The objective of this study was to understand and measure epigenetic changes associated with the occurrence of CHDs by utilizing the discordant monozygotic twin model. A unique set of monozygotic twins discordant for double-outlet right ventricles (DORVs) was used for this multiomics study. The cardiac and muscle tissue samples from the twins were subjected to whole genome sequencing, whole genome bisulfite sequencing, RNA-sequencing and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Sporadic DORV cases and control fetuses were used for validation. Global hypomethylation status was observed in heart tissue samples from the affected twins. Among 36,228 differentially methylated regions (DMRs), 1097 DMRs involving 1039 genes were located in promoter regions. A total of 419 genes, and lncRNA–mRNA pairs involved 30 genes, and 62 proteins were significantly differentially expressed. Multiple omics integrative analysis revealed that five genes, including BGN, COL1A1, COL3A1, FBLN5, and FLAN, and three pathways, including ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion and TGF-β signaling pathway, exhibited differences at all three levels. This study demonstrates a multiomics profile of discordant twins and explores the possible mechanism of DORV development. Global hypomethylation might be associated with the risk of CHDs. Specific genes and specific pathways, particularly those involving ECM–receptor interaction, focal adhesion and TGF–β signaling, might be involved in the occurrence of CHDs.

A dual-band angular-stable transmissive linear to circular polarization converter based on metasurface is proposed and demonstrated in this work. The converter consists of three layers. The top and bottom layers are formed by an array of double split-ring layers. The unit cell of the central layer contains a square loop nesting a slant dipole. The split-rings create two resonances, enabling dual-band operation. The slant dipole and square loop are useful for improving the quality of circular polarization conversion. It is shown that the proposed polarization converter converts the incident linearly polarized wave into circularly polarized wave with opposite polarization modes over the frequency ranges of 8.77–10.58 and 17.59–19.88 GHz. The angular stability is up to 60° for 3 dB axial ratio. Moreover, the thickness of unit cell has a wavelength below 0.06 at the lower band. Compared with other designs in the literature, the structure bears merits of wideband response, high angular stability, and low-profile property within dual-band operational region. To validate the design, a sample prototype was designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated ones.

Rodents and shrews are major reservoirs of various pathogens that are related to zoonotic infectious diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate co-infections of zoonotic pathogens in rodents and shrews trapped in four provinces of China. We sampled different rodent and shrew communities within and around human settlements in four provinces of China and characterised several important zoonotic viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens by PCR methods and phylogenetic analysis. A total of 864 rodents and shrews belonging to 24 and 13 species from RODENTIA and EULIPOTYPHLA orders were captured, respectively. For viral pathogens, two species of hantavirus (Hantaan orthohantavirus and Caobang orthohantavirus) were identified in 3.47% of rodents and shrews. The overall prevalence of Bartonella spp., Anaplasmataceae, Babesia spp., Leptospira spp., Spotted fever group Rickettsiae, Borrelia spp., and Coxiella burnetii were 31.25%, 8.91%, 4.17%, 3.94%, 3.59%, 3.47%, and 0.58%, respectively. Furthermore, the highest co-infection status of three pathogens was observed among Bartonella spp., Leptospira spp., and Anaplasmataceae with a co-infection rate of 0.46%. Our results suggested that species distribution and co-infections of zoonotic pathogens were prevalent in rodents and shrews, highlighting the necessity of active surveillance for zoonotic pathogens in wild mammals in wider regions.

The application scopes of two different reductive perturbation methods to derive the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation and coupled KdV (CKdV) equation in two-temperature-ion dusty plasma are given by using the particle-in-cell (PIC) numerical method in the present paper. It suggests that the reductive perturbation method (RPM) is valid if the amplitude of the CKdV solitary wave is small enough. However, for the KdV solitary wave, RPM is valid not only if the amplitude of the KdV solitary wave is small enough, but also if the nonlinear coefficient of the KdV equation is not tending to zero.

Objectives: Central-line–associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) has been the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Previous studies have shown that a care bundle is effective in reducing CLABSI rates; however, the data on long-term sustainability and cost savings of bundled care are limited. Methods: From January 2011 to December 2020, a prospective surveillance was performed to monitor CLABSI at a university hospital in northern Taiwan. To reduce the CLABSI rate, a hospital-wide bundled care program for CLABSI prevention was implemented in 2013. We evaluated the long-term effect of the care bundle on CLABSI incidence and length of stay in the ICU. Results: During the study period, the overall CLABSI incidence decreased from 8.22 per 1,000 catheter days before the care bundle was implemented to 6.33 per 1,000 catheter days in 2020 (P for trend <.01). The most common pathogens causing CLABSI were gut organisms (1,420 of 2,363, 60.1%), followed by environmental organisms (734 of 2,363, 31.1%) and skin organisms (177 of 2,363, 7.5%). The decreasing trend was statistically significant in the incidence of CLABSI caused by skin organisms (P for trend < .01), but not in the incidence of CLABSI caused by environmental organisms (P for trend = .86) or gut organisms (P for trend = .06). In the multivariable analysis, implementation of this care bundle was independently associated with a decrease in the CLABSI rate (RR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.66–0.88). Compared with patients without CLABSI, patients with CLABSI had a longer average ICU length of stay (27 vs 17 days). Conclusions: A sustainable reduction in the incidence of CLABSI caused by common commensals could be achieved through a cost-saving bundled care program.

Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) is one of the rate-determining enzymes in the hydrolysis of TAG, playing a crucial role in lipid metabolism. However, the role of HSL-mediated lipolysis in systemic nutrient homoeostasis has not been intensively understood. Therefore, we used CRISPR/Cas9 technique and Hsl inhibitor (HSL-IN-1) to establish hsla-deficient (hsla-/-) and Hsl-inhibited zebrafish models, respectively. As a result, the hsla-/- zebrafish showed retarded growth and reduced oxygen consumption rate, accompanied with higher mRNA expression of the genes related to inflammation and apoptosis in liver and muscle. Furthermore, hsla-/- and HSL-IN-1-treated zebrafish both exhibited severe fat deposition, whereas their expressions of the genes related to lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation were markedly reduced. The TLC results also showed that the dysfunction of Hsl changed the whole-body lipid profile, including increasing the content of TG and decreasing the proportion of phospholipids. In addition, the systemic metabolic pattern was remodelled in hsla-/- and HSL-IN-1-treated zebrafish. The dysfunction of Hsl lowered the glycogen content in liver and muscle and enhanced the utilisation of glucose plus the expressions of glucose transporter and glycolysis genes. Besides, the whole-body protein content had significantly decreased in the hsla-/- and HSL-IN-1-treated zebrafish, accompanied with the lower activation of the mTOR pathway and enhanced protein and amino acid catabolism. Taken together, Hsl plays an essential role in energy homoeostasis, and its dysfunction would cause the disturbance of lipid catabolism but enhanced breakdown of glycogen and protein for energy compensation.

This paper examines whether changes in US presidential administration and central bank turnover during the period 1976–2016 caused regime shifts in Taylor rule deviations. Using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to construct the welfare-maximizing policy rule and deviations from the optimal rule, we find evidence that politics indeed play a key role in explaining these deviations. In addition to politics, unemployment rates and the interest rate spread significantly account for regime shifts in Taylor rule deviations.

The parasite Fasciola hepatica is an important zoonotic parasite. The development of an animal model of F. hepatica's life cycle is critical for studying the biological characteristics of the parasite in snails and mammals. Eggs of F. hepatica of bovine origin were cultured, and metacercariae were obtained after infection of Galba pervia snails. The life cycle system of F. hepatica was initiated in 2 different animals by orally infecting rabbits, SD rats and Kunming mice with the metacercariae. The animals' survival after infection, parasite migration in the animals and pathological damage to the liver were observed. We discovered that rabbits died due to acute suppurative hepatitis 60–69 days after infection, and eggs were found in the feces on day 63 of infection. The liver of SD rats showed punctate lesions on day 3 of infection, and further changes occurred as the infection progressed. However, liver repair was observed at week 9. SD rats survived for more than a year after infection and continued the F. hepatica life cycle. The liver lesions in Kunming mice after infection were similar but more severe than those in SD rats. Death was observed on the 31st post-infection day. We discovered that while rabbits, SD rats and Kunming mice can all be used as animal models of F. hepatica, SD rats are more suitable experimental animals in terms of tolerance and pathological response.

Maternal overnutrition-induced fetal programming predisposes offspring to cardiovascular health issues throughout life. Understanding how these adverse cardiovascular effects are regulated at the maternal–fetal crosstalk will provide insight into the mechanisms of these cardiovascular diseases, which will help in further identifying potential targets for intervention. Here, we uncover a role of oxidative stress caused by prenatal overnutrition in governing cardiac damage. Mice exposed to maternal obesity showed remarkable pathological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy (pmale < 0.001, Cohen’s dmale = 1.77; pfemale < 0.001, Cohen’s dfemale = 1.94), increased collagen content (pmale < 0.001, Cohen’s dmale = 2.13; pfemale < 0.001, Cohen’s dfemale = 2.71), and increased levels of transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) (pmale < 0.001, Cohen’s dmale = 3.02; pfemale < 0.001, Cohen’s dfemale = 4.52), as well as left ventricular dysfunction in adulthood. To cope with increased oxidative stress in the myocardial tissue of offspring from obese mothers, we sought to decrease the effect of oxidative stress and prevent the development of these cardiovascular conditions with use of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine during pregnancy. As predicted, after treatment with the antioxidant, there was greatly mitigated cardiomyocyte hypertrophy (pmale < 0.001, Cohen’s dmale = 1.31; pfemale < 0.001, Cohen’s dfemale = 0.82) and cardiac fibrosis, including decreased composition of collagen fibers (pmale < 0.01, Cohen’s dmale = 1.45; pfemale < 0.05, Cohen’s dfemale = 1.23) and reduced levels of TGF-β (pmale < 0.05, Cohen’s dmale = 1.83; pfemale < 0.01, Cohen’s dfemale = 3.81). We also observed improved left ventricle contractile function together with the alleviation of enhanced oxidative stress in the myocardial tissue of offspring. Collectively, these results established a crucial role of oxidative stress in prenatal overnutrition-associated ventricular remodeling and cardiac dysfunction. Our findings provided an important target for intervention of cardiovascular disease in overnutrition-related fetal programming.

Viruses completely rely on the energy and metabolic systems of host cells for life activities. Viral infections usually lead to cytopathic effects and host diseases. To date, there are still no specific clinical vaccines or drugs against most viral infections. Therefore, understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of viral infections is of great significance to prevent and treat viral diseases. A variety of viral infections are related to the p38 MAPK signalling pathway, and p38 is an important host factor in virus-infected cells. Here, we introduce the different signalling pathways of p38 activation and then summarise how different viruses induce p38 phosphorylation. Finally, we provide a general summary of the effect of p38 activation on virus replication. Our review provides integrated data on p38 activation and viral infections and describes the potential application of targeting p38 as an antiviral strategy.

Chronic inflammation exerts pleiotropic effects in the aetiology and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glucosamine is widely used in many countries and may have anti-inflammatory properties. We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD risk and explore whether such association could be modified by smoking in the UK Biobank cohort, which recruited more than half a million participants aged 40–69 years from across the UK between 2006 and 2010. Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for potential confounding factors were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) as well as 95 % CI for the risk of incident COPD. During a median follow-up of 8·96 years (interquartile range 8·29–9·53 years), 9016 new-onset events of COPD were documented. We found that the regular use of glucosamine was associated with a significantly lower risk of incident COPD with multivariable adjusted HR of 0·80 (95 % CI, 0·75, 0·85; P < 0·001). When subgroup analyses were performed by smoking status, the adjusted HR for the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD were 0·84 (0·73, 0·96), 0·84 (0·77, 0·92) and 0·71 (0·62, 0·80) among never smokers, former smokers and current smokers, respectively. No significant interaction was observed between glucosamine use and smoking status (Pfor interaction = 0·078). Incident COPD could be reduced by 14 % to 84 % through a combination of regular glucosamine use and smoking cessation.

Inflammation is a central mechanism in metabolic disorders associated with morbidity and mortality and dietary factors can modulate inflammation. We aimed to prospectively investigate the association between an empirically developed, food-based dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) score and the risk of overall and cause-specific mortality, using data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2014. EDIP score was derived by entering thirty-nine predefined commonly consumed food groups into the reduced rank regression models followed by stepwise linear regression, which was most predictive of two plasma inflammation biomarkers including C-reactive protein and leucocyte count among 25 500 US adults. This score was further validated in a testing set of 9466 adults. Deaths from baseline until 31 December 2015 were identified through record linkage to the National Death Index. During a median follow-up of 7·8 years among 40 074 participants, we documented 4904 deaths. Compared with participants in the lowest quintile of EDIP score, those in the highest quintile had a higher risk of overall death (hazard ratio (HR) = 1·19, 95 % CI 1·08, 1·32, Ptrend = 0·002), and deaths from cancer (HR = 1·41, 95 % CI 1·14, 1·74, Ptrend = 0·017) and CVD (HR = 1·22, 95 % CI 0·98, 1·53, Ptrend = 0·211). When stratified by age, the association of EDIP with overall mortality was stronger among individuals under 65 years of age (Pinteraction = 0·001). Diets with a higher inflammatory potential were associated with increased risk of overall and cancer-specific mortality. Interventions to reduce the adverse effect of pro-inflammatory diets may potentially promote health and longevity.

To study the role of H i content in galaxy interactions, we select galaxy pairs and control galaxies from the SDSS-IV MaNGA IFU survey, adopting kinematic asymmetry as a new effective indicator to describe the merger stage. With archival data from the HI-MaNGA survey and new observations from the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), we investigate the differences in H i gas fraction (fH i), star formation rate (SFR), and H i star formation efficiency (SFEH i) between pairs and controls. Our results suggest that on average the H i gas fraction of major-merger pairs is marginally decreased by ∼ 15% relative to isolated galaxies, and paired galaxies during pericentric passage show weakly decreased fH i (−0.10 ± 0.05 dex), significantly enhanced SFR (0.42 ± 0.11 dex), and SFEH i (0.48 ± 0.12 dex). We propose the marginally detected H i depletion may originate from the gas consumption in fueling the enhanced H2 reservoir of galaxy pairs.

Poor utilisation efficiency of carbohydrate always leads to metabolic phenotypes in fish. The intestinal microbiota plays an important role in carbohydrate degradation. Whether the intestinal bacteria could alleviate high-carbohydrate diet (HCD)-induced metabolic phenotypes in fish remains unknown. Here, a strain affiliated to Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was isolated from the intestine of Nile tilapia. A basal diet (CON), HCD or HCD supplemented with B. amy SS1 (HCB) was used to feed fish for 10 weeks. The beneficial effects of B. amy SS1 on weight gain and protein accumulation were observed. Fasting glucose and lipid deposition were decreased in the HCB group compared with the HCD group. High-throughput sequencing showed that the abundance of acetate-producing bacteria was increased in the HCB group relative to the HCD group. Gas chromatographic analysis indicated that the concentration of intestinal acetate was increased dramatically in the HCB group compared with that in the HCD group. Glucagon-like peptide-1 was also increased in the intestine and serum of the HCB group. Thus, fish were fed with HCD, HCD supplemented with sodium acetate at 900 mg/kg (HLA), 1800 mg/kg (HMA) or 3600 mg/kg (HHA) diet for 8 weeks, and the HMA and HHA groups mirrored the effects of B. amy SS1. This study revealed that B. amy SS1 could alleviate the metabolic phenotypes caused by HCD by enriching acetate-producing bacteria in fish intestines. Regulating the intestinal microbiota and their metabolites might represent a powerful strategy for fish nutrition modulation and health maintenance in future.

In this paper, the generation of relativistic electron mirrors (REMs) and the reflection of an ultra-short laser off this mirrors are discussed, applying two-dimensional particle-in-cell (2D-PIC) simulations. REMs with ultra-high acceleration and expanding velocity can be produced from a solid nanofoil illuminated normally by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulse with a sharp rising edge. Chirped attosecond pulse can be produced through the reflection of a counter-propagating probe laser off the accelerating REM. In the electron moving frame, the plasma frequency of the REM keeps decreasing due to its rapidly expanding. The laser frequency, on the contrary, keeps increasing due to the acceleration of REM and the relativistic Doppler shift from the lab frame to the electron moving frame. Within an ultra-short time interval, the two frequencies will be equal in the electron moving frame, which leads the resonance between laser and REM. The reflected radiation near this interval and the corresponding spectra will be amplified due to the resonance. Through adjusting the arriving time of the probe laser, certain part of the reflected field could be selectively amplified or depressed, leading to the selectively adjusting of the corresponding spectra.