Overnutrition during before and pregnancy can cause maternal obesity and raise the risk of maternal metabolic diseases during pregnancy, and in offspring. Lentinus edodes may prevent or reduce obesity. This study aimed to to assess Lentinus edodes fermented products effects on insulin sensitivity, glucose and lipid metabolism in maternal and offspring, and explore its action mechanism. A model of overnutrition during pregnancy and lactation was developed using a 60 % kcal high-fat diet in C57BL6/J female mice. Fermented Lentinus edodes (FLE) was added to the diet at concentrations of 1 %, 3 %, and 5 %. The results demonstrated that FLE to the gestation diet significantly reduced serum insulin levels and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in pregnant mice. FLE can regulate maternal lipid metabolism and reduce fat deposition. Meanwhile, the hepatic phosphoinositide-3-kinase-protein kinase (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway was significantly activated in the maternal mice. There is a significant negative correlation between maternal FLE supplementation doses and offspring body fat percentage and visceral fat content. Furthermore, FLE supplementation significantly increased offspring weaning litter weight, significantly reduced fasting glucose level, serum insulin level, HOMA-IR and serum glucose level, significantly activated liver PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in offspring, and upregulated the expression of liver lipolytic genes adipose triglyceride lipase, hormone-sensitive lipase and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 mRNA. Overall, FLE supplementation can regulate maternal lipid metabolism and reduce fat deposition during pregnancy and lactation, and it may improve insulin sensitivity in pregnant mothers and offspring at weaning through activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is economically one of the most threatening pests in tomato cultivation, which not only causes direct damage but also transmits many viruses. Breeding whitefly-resistant tomato varieties is a promising and environmentally friendly method to control whitefly populations in the field. Accumulating evidence from tomato and other model systems demonstrates that flavonoids contribute to plant resistance to herbivorous insects. Previously, we found that high flavonoid-producing tomato line deterred whitefly oviposition and settling behaviours, and was more resistant to whiteflies compared to the near-isogenic low flavonoid-producing tomato line. The objective of the current work is to describe in detail different aspects of the interaction between the whitefly and two tomato lines, including biochemical processes involved. Electrical penetration graph recordings showed that high flavonoid-producing tomato reduced whitefly probing and phloem-feeding efficiency. We also studied constitutive and induced plant defence responses and found that whitefly induced stronger reactive oxygen species accumulation through NADPH oxidase in high flavonoid-producing tomato than in low flavonoid-producing tomato. Moreover, whitefly feeding induced the expression of callose synthase genes and resulted in callose deposition in the sieve elements in high flavonoid-producing tomato but not in low flavonoid-producing tomato. As a consequence, whitefly feeding on high flavonoid-producing tomato significantly decreased uptake of phloem and reduced its performance when compared to low flavonoid-producing tomato. These results indicate that high flavonoid-producing tomato provides phloem-based resistance against whitefly infestation and that the breeding of such resistance in new varieties could enhance whitefly management.

This paper provides an overview of the current status of ultrafast and ultra-intense lasers with peak powers exceeding 100 TW and examines the research activities in high-energy-density physics within China. Currently, 10 high-intensity lasers with powers over 100 TW are operational, and about 10 additional lasers are being constructed at various institutes and universities. These facilities operate either independently or are combined with one another, thereby offering substantial support for both Chinese and international research and development efforts in high-energy-density physics.

Machine learning has already shown promising potential in tiled-aperture coherent beam combining (CBC) to achieve versatile advanced applications. By sampling the spatially separated laser array before the combiner and detuning the optical path delays, deep learning techniques are incorporated into filled-aperture CBC to achieve single-step phase control. The neural network is trained with far-field diffractive patterns at the defocus plane to establish one-to-one phase-intensity mapping, and the phase prediction accuracy is significantly enhanced thanks to the strategies of sin-cos loss function and two-layer output of the phase vector that are adopted to resolve the phase discontinuity issue. The results indicate that the trained network can predict phases with improved accuracy, and phase-locking of nine-channel filled-aperture CBC has been numerically demonstrated in a single step with a residual phase of λ/70. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that machine learning has been made feasible in filled-aperture CBC laser systems.

This paper investigates the long-run nexus between wealth inequality and aggregate output using a DSGE model in which wealth inequality endogenously affects individual entrepreneurship incentives, thereby influencing aggregate output. Our model passes the indirect inference test against the UK data from 1870 to 2015. We find that shocks to aggregate TFP, entrepreneurial barriers, government grant support and general government spending played significant roles in shaping historical inequality dynamics in the UK. Directly removing entrepreneurial barriers or indirectly providing government grant support to the private sector such as through inclusive loan subsidies are effective means of reducing inequality and stimulating output growth.

The ubiquitous marine radiocarbon reservoir effect (MRE) constrains the construction of reliable chronologies for marine sediments and the further comparison of paleoclimate records. Different reference values were suggested from various archives. However, it remains unclear how climate and MREs interact. Here we studied two pre-bomb corals from the Hainan Island and Xisha Island in the northern South China Sea (SCS), to examine the relationship between MRE and regional climate change. We find that the MRE from east of Hainan Island is mainly modulated by the Southern Asian Summer Monsoon-induced precipitation (with 11.4% contributed to seawater), rather than wind induced upwelling. In contrast, in the relatively open seawater of Xisha Island, the MRE is dominated by the East Asian Winter Monsoon, with relatively more negative (lower) ΔR values associated with high wind speeds, implying horizontal transport of seawater. The average SCS ΔR value relative to the Marine20 curve is –161±39 14C years. Our finding highlights the essential role of monsoon in regulating the MRE in the northern SCS, in particularly the tight bond between east Asian winter monsoon and regional MRE.

In this paper, we simulate the process of two-dimensional axisymmetric fluid–structure coupling of a droplet impacting on a flexible disk. The effects of dimensionless disk stiffness (K = 0.1–1000), Weber number (We = 1–500) and contact angle (θ = 130° and 60°) on the dynamics of the droplet impacting on the flexible disk are analysed. The results indicate that there are five typical impact modes for a hydrophobic surface (θ = 130°) and four typical impact modes for a hydrophilic surface (θ = 60°) within the range of considered parameters. The analysis of spreading factor reveals that a part of the energy is transferred to the substrate, which is manifested as a weakening of the droplet spreading, when the substrate deforms downwards due to the droplet impact; the squeezing of the droplet causes a tendency to flow from the centre of the droplet to the edge, which is manifested as an enhancement of the droplet spreading, when the substrate recovers from the downward deformation. The effect of the substrate flexibility on the maximum spreading factor depends on the competition of the two mechanisms above. Based on this, a modified scaling law of βmax has been proposed by introducing the effective Weber number (Wem). The analysis of impact force demonstrates that the peak of the impact force is related to the deflection of the flexible substrate which is different from that of a rigid wall; and three typical processes of impact force variation have been summarised. In addition, unlike the rigid substrate scenario, there is an energy interaction between the droplet and the flexible substrate after impact occurs, which is classified as three typical energy transformation processes.

As a natural clay mineral, halloysite (Hal) possesses a distinctive nanotubular morphology and surface reactivity. Hal calcined at 750°C (Hal750°C; 0.0, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0 wt.%) was used to replace ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS; 50.0, 49.5, 49.0, 48.0, 47.0, 46.0 wt.%) and fly ash (FA; 50.0, 49.5, 49.0, 48.0, 47.0, 46.0 wt.%) for the preparation of geopolymer in this study. The effects of the replacement ratio of Hal750°C on setting time, compressive strength, flexural strength, chemical composition and microstructure of the geopolymer were investigated. The results indicated that Hal750°C did not significantly alter the setting time. The active SiO2 and Al2O3 generated from Hal750°C participated in the geopolymerization, forming additional geopolymer gel phases (calcium (aluminate) silica hydrate and sodium aluminosilicate hydrate), improving the 28 day compressive strength of the geopolymers. When the amount of Hal750°C was 2.0 wt.%, the 28 day compressive strength of the ternary (GGBFS-FA-Hal750°C-based) geopolymer was 72.9 MPa, 34.8% higher than that of the geopolymer without the addition of Hal750°C. The special nanotubular morphology of residual Hal750°C mainly acted like reinforcing fibres, supplementing the flexural strength of the geopolymer. However, excessive Hal750°C addition (>4.0 wt.%) reduced compressive and flexural strength values due to the low degrees of geopolymerization and the porous microstructure in the ternary geopolymer. These findings demonstrate that the appropriate addition of Hal750°C improved the compressive strength of geopolymers prepared using GGBFS/FA, which provides essential data for future research and supports the utilization of low-value Hal-containing clays in geopolymer preparation.

The seminal Bolgiano–Obukhov (BO) theory established the fundamental framework for turbulent mixing and energy transfer in stably stratified fluids. However, the presence of BO scalings remains debatable despite their being observed in stably stratified atmospheric layers and convective turbulence. In this study, we performed precise temperature measurements with 51 high-resolution loggers above the seafloor for 46 h on the continental shelf of the northern South China Sea. The temperature observation exhibits three layers with increasing distance from the seafloor: the bottom mixed layer (BML), the mixing zone and the internal wave zone. A BO-like scaling $\alpha =-1.34\pm 0.10$ is observed in the temperature spectrum when the BML is in a weakly stable stratified ($N\sim 0.0018$ rad s$^{-1}$) and strongly sheared ($Ri\sim 0.0027$) condition, whereas in the unstably stratified convective turbulence of the BML, the scaling $\alpha =-1.76\pm 0.10$ clearly deviated from the BO theory but approached the classical $-$5/3 scaling in isotropic turbulence. This suggests that the convective turbulence is not the promise of BO scaling. In the mixing zone, where internal waves alternately interact with the BML, the scaling follows the Kolmogorov scaling. In the internal wave zone, the scaling $\alpha =-2.12 \pm 0.15$ is observed in the turbulence range and possible mechanisms are provided.

With the over-use of tetracycline (TC) and its ultimate accumulation in aquatic systems, the demand for TC removal from contaminated water is increasing due to its severe threat to public health. Clay minerals have attracted great attention as low-cost adsorbents for controlling water pollution. The objective of the present study was to measure the adsorption behavior and mechanisms of TC on allophane, a nanosized clay mineral with a hollow spherical structure; to highlight the advantage of the allophane nanostructure, a further objective was to compare allophane with halloysite and montmorillonite, which have nanostructures that differ from allophane. Structural features and surface physicochemical properties were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), zeta potential, N2-physisorption, and acid–base titration. The adsorption data showed that TC adsorption followed the pseudo-second order and Langmuir models. The adsorption was pH dependent, as all three clay minerals performed better under neutral to weakly alkaline conditions and maintained high adsorption performance in the presence of co-existing Na+/K+/Ca2+/Mg2+ cations. Regeneration of the adsorbent was excellent, with efficiencies exceeding 75% after five recycles. By comparison, allophane always exhibited the greatest adsorption capacity, up to 796 mg g–1 at ~pH 9. The TC adsorption on allophane and halloysite was dominated by inner-sphere complexation, together with a small amount of electrostatic adsorption, while that on montmorillonite involved mainly interlayer cation exchange. The findings provide insights into the effects of nanostructures of clay minerals on their TC adsorption performance and highlight the huge potential of allophane as an efficient and inexpensive adsorbent for TC removal.

Folate metabolism is involved in the development and progression of various cancers. We investigated the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in folate-metabolising genes and their interactions with serum folate concentrations with overall survival (OS) and liver cancer-specific survival (LCSS) of newly diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. We detected the genotypes of six SNP in three genes related to folate metabolism: methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase reductase (MTRR) and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase (MTR). Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI. This analysis included 970 HCC patients with genotypes of six SNP, and 864 of them had serum folate measurements. During a median follow-up of 722 d, 393 deaths occurred, with 360 attributed to HCC. In the fully-adjusted models, the MTRR rs1801394 polymorphism was significantly associated with OS in additive (per G allele: HR = 0·84, 95 % CI: 0·71, 0·99), co-dominant (AG v. AA: HR = 0·77; 95 % CI: 0·62, 0·96) and dominant (AG + GG v. AA: HR = 0·78; 95 % CI: 0·63, 0·96) models. Carrying increasing numbers of protective alleles was linked to better LCSS (HR10–12 v. 2–6 = 0·70; 95 % CI: 0·49, 1·00) and OS (HR10–12 v. 2–6 = 0·67; 95 % CI: 0·47, 0·95). Furthermore, we observed significant interactions on both multiplicative and additive scales between serum folate levels and MTRR rs1801394 polymorphism. Carrying the variant G allele of the MTRR rs1801394 is associated with better HCC prognosis and may enhance the favourable association between higher serum folate levels and improved survival among HCC patients.

Tea can improve the progression of some metabolic diseases through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, but its impact on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is still controversial. The aim of this paper is to identify the relationship between tea and NAFLD by Mendelian randomisation (MR) and complete clinical validation using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database. MR used data from Genome Wide Association Study, with inverse-variance weighted (IVW) as principal analytical methods. The reliability of the results was verified by a series of sensitivity and heterogeneity tests. Subsequently, clinical validation was conducted using NHANES (2005–2018), involving 22 257 participants, grouped by the type of tea. Green tea drinkers were categorised into four groups (Q1–Q4) by quartiles of green tea intake, from lowest to highest (similar for black tea drinkers and other tea drinkers). Models were constructed by logistic regression to estimate the role of tea consumption (Q1–4) on NAFLD. Finally, using fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) to evaluate the severity of hepatic fibrosis, the effect of tea consumption (Q1–4) on the degree of hepatic fibrosis was investigated by linear regression. IVW method (OR = 0·43, 95 % CI: 0·21, 0·85, P = 0·01) and weighted median method (OR = 0·35, 95 % CI: 0·14, 0·91, P = 0·03) revealed there was a causal relationship between tea and NAFLD. An array of sensitivity analyses validated the reliability of results. Analysis of NHANES indicated tea drinker present a slightly lower prevalence of NAFLD than non-tea drinker (green tea drinkers: 47·6 %, black tea drinkers: 46·3 %, other tea drinker: 43·2 %, non-tea drinkers: 48·1 %, P < 0·05). After adjusting for confounders, compared with the lowest black tea consumption (Q1), the population with the highest black tea consumption (Q4) was independently related to lower presence of NAFLD (Q4: OR = 0·69, 95 % CI: 0·50, 0·93, P < 0·05), such association remained stable in the overweight subgroup. As further analysed, Q4 also displayed a significant negative correlation with the level of hepatic fibrosis in patients with NAFLD (β = –0·073, 95 % CI: –0·126, −0·020, P < 0·01).Tea reduces the morbidity of NAFLD and ameliorates hepatic fibrosis degree in those already suffering from the disease.

Female crabs enter a stage of rapid ovarian development after mating, and cholesterol is a substrate for steroid hormone synthesis. Therefore, in this experiment, an 8-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of mating treatments (mated crab and unmated crab) and three dietary cholesterol levels (0·09 %, 0·79 % and 1·40 %) on ovarian development, cholesterol metabolism and steroid hormones metabolism of adult female swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus). The results indicated that crabs fed the diet with 0·79 % cholesterol significantly increased gonadosomatic index (GSI) and vitellogenin (VTG) content than other treatments in the same mating status. Moreover, mated crabs had markedly increased GSI and VTG content in the ovary and hepatopancreas than unmated crabs. The histological observation found that exogenous vitellogenic oocytes appeared in the mated crabs, while previtellogenic oocytes and endogenous vitellogenic oocytes were the primary oocytes in unmated crabs. The transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that when fed diet with 0·79 % cholesterol, the unmated crabs contained more rough endoplasmic reticulum and mated crabs had higher yolk content than other treatments. Furthermore, mating treatment and dietary 0·79 % cholesterol level both promoted cholesterol deposition by up-regulation of the mRNA and protein expression levels of class B scavenger receptors 1 (Srb1), while stimulating the secretion of steroid hormones by up-regulation of the mRNA and protein expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (Star). Overall, the present results indicated that mating behaviour plays a leading role in promoting ovarian development, and dietary 0·79 % cholesterol level can further promote ovarian development after mating.