Food insecurity (FIS) is a critical public health issue, particularly among older adults. This study investigates the association between FIS with diet quality and anthropometric indices in the US older adults. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using NHANES data from 2017 to 2020, involving 2592 participants aged ≥ 60 years. FIS was assessed using the USDA Household Food Security Survey Module. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2020 and adherence to Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) score. Anthropometric measures were calculated following standardised protocols. Multivariable logistic regression models, adjusted for demographic, socio-economic and behavioural factors examined the association between FIS and the higher quartile and tertile of anthropometric and diet quality indices, respectively. Of the participants, 27·4 % experienced FIS. FIS participants were younger and had lower education and income levels compared with FS individuals (P < 0·05). In the adjusted model, FIS was associated with lower adherence to both the Mediterranean Diet (OR: 0·48, 95 % CI: 0·31, 0·67) and HEI-2020 (OR: 0·61, 95 % CI: 0·37, 0·84), indicating poorer diet quality in older adults. In adjusted analyses, FIS was significantly associated with higher A Body Shape Index quartiles (Q3: OR: 1·44, 95 % CI: 1·06, 1·95; Q4: OR: 1·46, 95 % CI: 1·07, 2·01), the waist-to-hip ratio (Q4: OR: 1·44, 95 % CI: 1·01, 2·06) and the Conicity index (Q4: OR: 1·36, 95 % CI: 1·02, 1·81). FIS in older adults is associated with unfavourable diet quality and body composition patterns, particularly central obesity measures. Addressing FIS may mitigate health risks related to obesity and its complications.

In this paper, a novel special structure derived from the double-slider mechanism is presented and apply it to the design of a parallel mechanism, endowing the designed parallel mechanism with reconfigurable characteristics. First, a comprehensive analysis of the motion modes of the double-slider mechanism is carried out. By ingeniously varying the slider structure of the double-slider mechanism, a special structure capable of three distinct motion modes is obtained. This special structure is then integrated into the 3UPU parallel mechanism. As a result, the redesigned 3UPU parallel mechanism exhibits reconfigurability and can seamlessly switch among the three motion modes. Subsequently, the inverse kinematics, workspace, and singular pose of the parallel mechanism in these three modes are meticulously analyzed. Moreover, the Jacobian matrix is utilized to evaluate its flexibility and load-bearing performance. The analysis reveals that in different motion modes, all performance indicators of the mechanism are remarkable, indicating a promising application prospect. Finally, a prototype is fabricated using 3D printing technology to further validate the effectiveness of the proposed special structure. Additionally, its versatility is further explored and analyzed in-depth.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of low-carbohydrate diet, balanced dietary guidance and pharmacotherapy on weight loss among individuals with overweight or obesity over a period of 3 months. The study involves 339 individuals with overweight or obesity and received weight loss treatment at the Department of Clinical Nutrition at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023. The primary outcome is the percentage weight loss. Among the studied patients, the majority chose low-carbohydrate diet as their primary treatment (168 (49·56 %)), followed by balanced dietary guidance (139 (41·00 %)) and pharmacotherapy (32 (9·44 %)). The total percentage weight loss for patients who were followed up for 1 month, 2 months and 3 months was 4·98 (3·04, 6·29) %, 7·93 (5·42, 7·93) % and 10·71 (7·74, 13·83) %, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified low-carbohydrate diet as an independent factor associated with percentage weight loss of ≥ 3 % and ≥ 5 % at 1 month (OR = 0·461, P < 0·05; OR = 0·349, P < 0·001). The results showed that a low-carbohydrate diet was an effective weight loss strategy in the short term. However, its long-term effects were comparable to those observed with balanced dietary guidance and pharmacotherapy.

A fixed-time control strategy based on adaptive event-triggered communication and force estimators is proposed for a class of teleoperation systems with time-varying delays and limited bandwidth. Two force estimators are designed to estimate the operator force and environment force instead of force sensors. With the position, velocity, force estimate signals, and triggering error, an adaptive event-triggered scheme is designed, which automatically adjusts the triggering thresholds to reduce the access frequency of the communication network. With the state information transmitted at the moment of event triggering while considering the time-varying delays, a fixed-time sliding mode controller is designed to achieve the position and force tracking. The stability of the system and the convergence of tracking error within a fixed time are mathematically proved. Experimental results indicate that the control strategy can significantly reduce the information transmission, enhance the bandwidth utilization, and ensure the convergence of tracking error within a fixed time for teleoperation systems.

A new species of Moniliformis, M. tupaia n. sp. is described using integrated morphological methods (light and scanning electron microscopy) and molecular techniques (sequencing and analysing the nuclear 18S, ITS, 28S regions and mitochondrial cox1 and cox2 genes), based on specimens collected from the intestine of the northern tree shrew Tupaia belangeri chinensis Anderson (Scandentia: Tupaiidae) in China. Phylogenetic analyses show that M. tupaia n. sp. is a sister to M. moniliformis in the genus Moniliformis, and also challenge the systematic status of Nephridiacanthus major. Moniliformis tupaia n. sp. represents the third Moniliformis species reported from China.

Species of Baylisascaris (Nematoda: Ascarididae) are of great veterinary and zoonotic significance, owing to cause Baylisascariosis or Baylisascariasis in wildlife, captive animals and humans. However, the phylogenetic relationships of the current 10 Baylisascaris species remain unclear. Moreover, our current knowledge of the detailed morphology and morphometrics of the important zoonotic species B. procyonis is still insufficient. The taxonomical status of B. procyonis and B. columnaris remains under debate. In the present study, the detailed morphology of B. procyonis was studied using light and scanning electron microscopy based on newly collected specimens from the raccoon Procyon lotor (Linnaeus) in China. The results of the ASAP analysis and Bayesian inference (BI) using the 28S, ITS, cox1 and cox2 genetic markers did not support that B. procyonis and B. columnaris represent two distinct species. Integrative morphological and molecular assessment challenged the validity of B. procyonis, and suggested that B. procyonis seems to represent a synonym of B. columnaris. Molecular phylogenetic results indicated that the species of Baylisascaris were grouped into 4 clades according to their host specificity. The present study provided new insights into the taxonomic status of B. procyonis and preliminarily clarified the phylogenetic relationships of Baylisascaris species.

Acanthocephalans of the order Polymorphida mainly parasitic in birds and mammals, are of veterinary, medical and economic importance. However, the evolutionary relationships of its 3 families (Centrorhynchidae, Polymorphidae and Plagiorhynchidae) remain under debate. Additionally, some species of Polymorphida (i.e. Bolbosoma spp. and Corynosoma spp.) are recognized as zoonotic parasites, associated with human acanthocephaliasis, but the mitochondrial genomes for representatives of Bolbosoma and Corynosoma have not been reported so far. In the present study, the complete mitochondrial genomes B. nipponicum and C. villosum (Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae) are reported for the first time, which are 14 296 and 14 241 bp in length, respectively, and both contain 36 genes [including 12 PCGs, 22 tRNA genes and 2 rRNA genes] and 2 non-coding regions (NCR1 and NCR2). The gene arrangement of some tRNAs in the mitogenomes of B. nipponicum and C. villosum differs from that found in all other acanthocephalans, except Polymorphus minutus. Phylogenetic results based on concatenated amino acid (AA) sequences of the 12 protein-coding genes (PCGs) strongly supported that the family Polymorphidae is a sister to the Centrorhynchidae rather than the Plagiorhynchidae, and also confirmed the sister relationship of the genera Bolbosoma and Corynosoma in the Polymorphidae based on the mitogenomic data for the first time. Our present findings further clarified the phylogenetic relationships of the 3 families Plagiorhynchidae, Centrorhynchidae and Polymorphidae, enriched the mitogenome data of the phylum Acanthocephala (especially the order Polymorphida), and provided the resource of genetic data for diagnosing these 2 pathogenic parasites of human acanthocephaliasis.

Maternal syphilis not only seriously affects the quality of life of pregnant women themselves but also may cause various adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs). This study aimed to analyse the association between the related factors and APOs in maternal syphilis. 7,030 pregnant women infected with syphilis in Henan Province between January 2016 and December 2022 were selected as participants. Information on their demographic and clinical characteristics, treatment status, and pregnancy outcomes was collected. Multivariate logistic regression models and chi-squared automatic interaction detector (CHAID) decision tree models were used to analyse the factors associated with APOs. The multivariate logistic regression results showed that the syphilis infection history (OR = 1.207, 95% CI, 1.035–1.409), the occurrence of abnormality during pregnancy (OR = 5.001, 95% CI, 4.203–5.951), not receiving standard treatment (OR = 1.370, 95% CI, 1.095–1.716), not receiving any treatment (OR = 1.313, 95% CI, 1.105–1.559), and a titre ≥1:8 at diagnosis (OR = 1.350, 95%CI, 1.079–1.690) and before delivery (OR = 1.985, 95%CI, 1.463–2.694) were risk factors. A total of six influencing factors of APOs in syphilis-infected women were screened using the CHAID decision tree model. Integrated prevention measures such as early screening, scientific eugenics assessment, and standard syphilis treatment are of great significance in reducing the incidence of APOs for pregnant women infected with syphilis.

X-ray powder diffraction data, unit-cell parameters, and space group for N,N-dimethyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-amine, C9H11N3, are reported [a = 11.379(3) Å, b = 10.227(5) Å, c = 7.151(1) Å, α = 90°, β = 90°, γ = 90°, unit-cell volume V = 832.318 Å3, Z = 4, ρcal = 1.286 g cm−3, and space group P21212]. All measured lines were indexed and were consistent with the P21212 space group. No detectable impurities were observed.

β-Glucan has been reported for its health benefits on blood lipids in hypercholesterolaemic individuals for years. However, people have paid little attention to the effects of β-glucan in populations with mild hypercholesterolaemia as well as the various delivering matrices. Our objective was to perform a meta-analysis to analyse the effects of β-glucan with different delivering matrices in mildly hypercholesterolaemic individuals. After conducting a comprehensive search in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane Library, a total of twenty-one randomised controlled trials involving 1120 participants were identified to measure the pooled effect. The overall results indicated that consuming a dose of ≥3 g/d of β-glucan for at least 3 weeks could significantly reduce total cholesterol (TC) (−0·27 mmol/l, 95 % CI −0·33, −0·21, P < 0·001) and LDL-cholesterol (−0·26 mmol/l, 95% CI −0·32, −0·20, P < 0·001) compared with the control group in mildly hypercholesterolaemic individuals, while no significant difference was observed in TAG (−0·03 mmol/l, 95% CI −0·11, 0·06, P = 0·521) and HDL-cholesterol (0·01 mmol/l, 95% CI −0·03, 0·04, P = 0·777). There was evidence for modest unexplained heterogeneity in the meta-analysis. In conclusion, β-glucan can significantly reduce risk factors like TC and LDL-cholesterol for CVD in mildly hypercholesterolaemic individuals; furthermore, it appears that the effects of food matrices with both ‘solid products’ and ‘liquid products’ where β-glucan was incorporated into were ranked as the best way to exert its beneficial properties, while ‘liquid’ and ‘solid’ products were ranked as the second and third positions, respectively.

Meditation is a type of mental training commonly applied in clinical settings and also practiced for general well-being. Brain functional connectivity (FC) patterns associated with meditation have revealed its brain mechanisms. However, the variety of FC methods applied has made it difficult to identify brain communication patterns associated with meditation. Here we carried out a coordinate-based meta-analysis to get preliminary evidence of meditation effects on changing brain network interactions. Fourteen seed-based, voxel-wise FC studies reported in 13 publications were reviewed; 10 studies with seeds in the default mode network (DMN) were meta-analyzed. Seed coordinates and the effect sizes in statistically significant regions were extracted, based on 170 subjects in meditation groups and 163 subjects in control groups. Seed-based d-mapping was used to analyze meditation versus control FC differences with DMN seeds. Meditation was associated with increased connectivity within DMN and between DMN and somatomotor network and with decreased connectivity between DMN and frontoparietal network (FPN) as well as ventral attention network (VAN). The pattern of decreased within-DMN FC and increased between-network FC (FPN and DAN with DMN) was more robust in highly experienced meditators compared to less experienced individuals. The identified neural network interactions may also promote meditation’s effectiveness in clinical interventions for treating physical and mental disorders.