Background: Efgartigimod, a human immunoglobulin (Ig)G1 antibody Fc fragment, blocks the neonatal Fc receptor, reducing IgGs involved in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a rare, progressive, immune-mediated disease that can lead to irreversible disability. The multi-stage, double-blinded, placebo-controlled ADHERE (NCT04281472) trial assessed efgartigimod PH20 SC in participants with CIDP. Methods: Participants with active CIDP received open-label, weekly efgartigimod PH20 SC 1000 mg during ≤12-week run-in (stage-A). Responders were randomized (1:1) to weekly efgartigimod or placebo for ≤48 weeks (stage-B). This posthoc analysis evaluated changes from run-in baseline (study enrollment) to stage-B last assessment and items of the Inflammatory Rasch-built Overall Disability Scale (I-RODS). Results: Of 322 participants who entered stage-A, 221 were randomized and treated in stage-B, and 191/221 had data for run-in baseline and post–stage-B timepoints. Mean (SE) I-RODS change at stage-B last assessment vs run-in baseline was 5.7 (1.88) and -4.9 (1.82) in participants randomized to efgartigimod and placebo, respectively. 37/97 (38.1%) and 24/92 (26.1%) participants randomized to efgartigimod and placebo, respectively, experienced ≥4-point improvements in I-RODS score. Efgartigimod-treated participants improved ≥1 point in I-RODS items of clinical interest. Conclusions: Participants who received efgartigimod in stage-B experienced improvements in I-RODS score from study enrollment to stage-B last assessment.

The linear collisionless plasma response to a zonal-density perturbation in quasisymmetric stellarators is studied, including the geodesic-acoustic-mode oscillations and the Rosenbluth–Hinton residual flow. While the geodesic-acoustic-mode oscillations in quasiaxisymmetric configurations are similar to tokamaks, they become non-existent in quasi-helically symmetric configurations when the effective safety factor in helical-angle coordinates is small. Compared with concentric-circular tokamaks, the Rosenbluth–Hinton residual is also found to be multiplied by a geometric factor $\mathcal {C}$ that arises from the flux-surface-averaged classical polarization. Using the near-axis-expansion framework, we derive an analytic expression for $\mathcal {C}$, which varies significantly among different configurations. These analytic results are compared with numerical simulation results from the global gyrokinetic particle-in-cell code GTC, and good agreement with the theoretical Rosenbluth–Hinton residual level is achieved when the quasisymmetry error is small enough.

The high-altitude balloon proposed in this paper is a long-life balloon carrying a payload through a cable that flies at 20km altitude in near space. A dynamic model of the system, including the thermodynamics of the buoyancy body coupled with a hanging model of the pod, is developed using the Newton–Euler method. The buoyancy body consists of a helium balloon and a ballonet. A differential pressure difference-based altitude adjustment is achieved by tracking the pressure difference at the target altitude. A dynamic simulation of the buoyancy body with a slung pod in autonomous vertical takeoff and altitude regulation processes is presented. The internal thermodynamic variations and pressure differential of the buoyancy body are given. The air mass exchange and blower flow control of the ballonet are validated. The altitude holding error is analysed. The maximum pull force that the cable can withstand is calculated, and the maximum attitude angles of the pod during the ascending and descending processes are depicted. Simulation results provide basic knowledge for the structural design and payload installation of pods.

Background: Efgartigimod, a human immunoglobulin G (IgG)1 antibody Fc fragment, blocks the neonatal Fc receptor, decreasing IgG recycling and reducing pathogenic IgG autoantibody levels. ADHERE assessed the efficacy and safety of efgartigimod PH20 subcutaneous (SC; co-formulated with recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20) in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). Methods: ADHERE enrolled participants with CIDP (treatment naive or on standard treatments withdrawn during run-in period) and consisted of open-label Stage A (efgartigimod PH20 SC once weekly [QW]), and randomized (1:1) Stage B (efgartigimod or placebo QW). Primary outcomes were clinical improvement (assessed with aINCAT, I-RODS, or mean grip strength; Stage A) and time to first aINCAT score deterioration (relapse; Stage B). Secondary outcomes included treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) incidence. Results: 322 participants entered Stage A. 214 (66.5%) were considered responders, randomized, and treated in Stage B. Efgartigimod significantly reduced the risk of relapse (HR: 0.394; 95% CI: 0.25–0.61) versus placebo (p=0.000039). Reduced risk of relapse occurred in participants receiving corticosteroids, intravenous or SC immunoglobulin, or no treatment before study entry. Most TEAEs were mild to moderate; 3 deaths occurred, none related to efgartigimod. Conclusions: Participants treated with efgartigimod PH20 SC maintained a clinical response and remained relapse-free longer than those treated with placebo.

The status of the genera Euparagonimus Chen, 1963 and Pagumogonimus Chen, 1963 relative to Paragonimus Braun, 1899 was investigated using DNA sequences from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (CO1) gene (partial) and the nuclear ribosomal DNA second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2). In the phylogenetic trees constructed, the genus Pagumogonimus is clearly not monophyletic and therefore not a natural taxon. Indeed, the type species of Pagumogonimus,P. skrjabini from China, is very closely related to Paragonimus miyazakii from Japan. The status of Euparagonimus is less obvious. Euparagonimus cenocopiosus lies distant from other lungflukes included in the analysis. It can be placed as sister to Paragonimus in some analyses and falls within the genus in others. A recently published morphological study placed E. cenocopiosus within the genus Paragonimus and probably this is where it should remain.

‘Recurrence’ of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has triggered numerous discussions of scholars at home and abroad. A total of 44 recurrent cases of COVID-19 and 32 control cases admitted from 11 February to 29 March 2020 to Guanggu Campus of Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology were enrolled in this study. All the 44 recurrent cases were classified as mild to moderate when the patients were admitted for the second time. The gender and mean age in both cases (recurrent and control) were similar. At least one concomitant disease was observed in 52.27% recurrent cases and 34.38% control cases. The most prevalent comorbidity among them was hypertension. Fever and cough being the most prevalent clinical symptoms in both cases. On comparing both the cases, recurrent cases had markedly elevated concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P = 0.020) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P = 0.007). Moreover, subgroup analysis showed mild to moderate abnormal concentrations of ALT and AST in recurrent cases. The elevated concentrations of ALT and AST may be recognised as predictive markers for the risk of ‘recurrence’ of COVID-19, which may provide insights into the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the future.

This work examines the μ(I) relation that describes the effective friction coefficient μ of a dense granular flow as a function of flow inertial number I, at the center of a rotating drum from its flow onset to steady state using DEM. We want to see how the internal friction coefficient of an accelerating flow may be predicted so that the associated tangential stress can be estimated with the proper knowledge of the normal stress. Under the three investigated drum speeds (3, 4.5 and 6 rpm), the bulk normal stress, σn(y), is found to be a consistent linear depth profile throughout the flow development with a slope degraded from the hydrostatic value, Ph(y), due to lateral wall friction. With the discovery of a non-constant depth-decaying effective wall friction coefficient, we derive analytically a wall-degradation factor K(h) to give σn(y)= K(h)Ph(y). The depth profile of tangential stress, however, varies in time from a concave shape upon acceleration, τa(y), to a more linear trend at the steady state, τss(y). Hence, the μa-Ia profile (with μa=τ/σn) upon flow acceleration offsets from the steady μss(Iss) relation. A pseudo-steady acceleration modification number, ΔI, is proposed to shift the inertial number in the acceleration phase to I* = Ia+ΔI so that the μa-I* data converge to μss(Iss). This finding shall allow us to predict a transient tangential stress by τa(y) = μss(I*)K(y)Ph(y) using the well-accepted knowledge of steady flow rheology, hydrostatic pressure, and the currently developed wall-degradation factor.

The meat quality of chicken is an important factor affecting the consumer’s health. It was hypothesized that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) could be effectively deposited in chicken, by incorporating antioxidation of soybean isoflavone (SI), which led to improved quality of chicken meat for good health of human beings. Effects of partial or complete dietary substitution of lard (LA) with linseed oil (LO), with or without SI on growth performance, biochemical indicators, meat quality, fatty acid profiles, lipid-related health indicators and gene expression of breast muscle were examined in chickens. A total of 900 males were fed a corn–soybean meal diet supplemented with 4% LA, 2% LA + 2% LO and 4% LO and the latter two including 30 mg SI/kg (2% LA + 2% LO + SI and 4% LO + SI) from 29 to 66 days of age; each of the five dietary treatments included six replicates of 30 birds. Compared with the 4% LA diet, dietary 4% LO significantly increased the feed efficiency and had no negative effect on objective indices related to meat quality; LO significantly decreased plasma triglycerides and total cholesterol (TCH); abdominal fat percentage was significantly decreased in birds fed the 4% LO and 4% LO + SI diets. Chickens with LO diets resulted in higher contents of α-linolenic acid (C18:3n-3), EPA (C20:5n-3) and total n-3 PUFA, together with a lower content of palmitic acid (C16:0), lignoceric acid (C24:0), saturated fatty acids and n-6:n-3 ratio in breast muscle compared to 4% LA diet (P < 0.05); they also significantly decreased atherogenic index, thrombogenic index and increased the hypocholesterolemic to hypercholesterolemic ratio. Adding SI to the LO diets enhanced the contents of EPA and DHA (C22:6n-3), plasma total superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione (GSH)/oxidized glutathione and muscle GSH content, while decreased plasma total triglyceride and TCH and malondialdehyde content in plasma and breast muscle compared to its absence (P < 0.05). Expression in breast muscle of fatty acid desaturase 1 (FADS1), FADS2, elongase 2 (ELOVL2) and ELOVL5 genes were significantly higher with the LO diets including SI than with the 4% LA diet. Significant interactions existed between LO level and inclusion of SI on EPA and TCH contents. These findings indicate that diet supplemented with LO combined with SI is an effective alternative when optimizing the nutritional value of chicken meat for human consumers.

Impaired working memory (WM) is among the best-established findings in schizophrenia. Nevertheless, functional neuroimaging studies on WM yielded inconsistent results. Disrupted functional integration in the WM network may explain neural inefficiency more precisely. This so-called ‘dysconnectivity’-hypothesis of schizophrenia focuses on abnormal synaptic plasticity.

In a step towards pathophysiologically informed diagnostic classification schemes, the recent introduction of “generative embedding” procedures to neuroimaging offers the combination of neurobiologically interpretable generative models (e.g. DCMs) and support vector machines (SVM) for diagnostic classification.

This fMRI study in 41 schizophrenia patients and 42 healthy controls presents four major results:

1. 1) Across controls and patients, prefrontal activation is modulated by WM performance resulting in an inverted U-curve.

2. 2) DCM of the prefrontal-parietal WM network demonstrated that WM-dependent prefrontal to parietal connectivity is reduced in all patients independent of WM performance.

3. 3) Classification in a supervised setting using generative embedding yielded 78% accuracy. Using model-based clustering in an unsupervised fashion performed almost equally well (71% accuracy).

4. 4) Subclustering schizophrenia patients revealed three distinct subgroups of patients. These subgroups exhibited different profiles of prefrontal-parietal connectivity and, critically, were found to differ significantly in clinical symptoms.

This study reveals putative mechanisms underlying prefrontal inefficiency and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, providing direct experimental evidence for the dysconnectivity hypothesis. A novel model-based clustering approach revealed three distinct subgroups of patients with unique connectivity profiles and significant differences in clinical ratings. This translational approach may help to identify specific factors underlying the variability of treatment responses and to develop subgroup-specific treatment approaches.

In this contribution, we use heavy ion irradiation and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy to demonstrate that defects can be used to tailor the optical properties of two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Sonicated MoS2 flakes were deposited onto Si/SiO2 substrate and subjected to 3 MeV Au2+ ion irradiation at room temperature to fluences ranging from 1 × 1012 to 1 × 1016 cm−2. We demonstrate that irradiation-induced defects can control optical excitations in the inner core shell of MoS2 by binding A1s- and B1s-excitons, and correlate the exciton peaks to the specific defects introduced with irradiation. The systematic increase of ion fluence produced different defect densities in MoS2, which were estimated using B/A exciton ratios and progressively increased with ion fluence. We show that up to the fluences of 1 × 1014 cm−2, the MoS2 lattice remains crystalline and defect densities can be controlled, whereas at higher fluences (≥1 × 1015 cm−2), the large number of introduced defects distorts the excitonic structure of the material. In addition to controlling excitons, defects were used to split bound and free trions, and we demonstrate that at higher fluences (1 × 1015 cm−2), both free and bound trions can be observed in the same PL spectrum. Most importantly, the lifetimes of these states exceed trion and exciton lifetimes in pristine MoS2, and PL spectra of irradiated MoS2 remains unchanged weeks after irradiation experiments. Thus, this work demonstrated the feasibility of engineering novel optical behaviors in low-dimensional materials using heavy ion irradiation. The insights gained from this study will aid in understanding the many-body interactions in low-dimensional materials and may ultimately be used to develop novel materials for optoelectronic applications.

The fatty acid composition of chicken’s meat is largely influenced by dietary lipids, which are often used as supplements to increase dietary caloric density. The underlying key metabolites and pathways influenced by dietary oils remain poorly known in chickens. The objective of this study was to explore the underlying metabolic mechanisms of how diets supplemented with mixed or a single oil with distinct fatty acid composition influence the fatty acid profile in breast muscle of Qingyuan chickens. Birds were fed a corn-soybean meal diet supplemented with either soybean oil (control, CON) or equal amounts of mixed edible oils (MEO; soybean oil : lard : fish oil : coconut oil = 1 : 1 : 0.5 : 0.5) from 1 to 120 days of age. Growth performance and fatty acid composition of muscle lipids were analysed. LC-MS was applied to investigate the effects of CON v. MEO diets on lipid-related metabolites in the muscle of chickens at day 120. Compared with the CON diet, chickens fed the MEO diet had a lower feed conversion ratio (P < 0.05), higher proportions of lauric acid (C12:0), myristic acid (C14:0), palmitoleic acid (C16:1n-7), oleic acid (C18:1n-9), EPA (C20:5n-3) and DHA (C22:6n-3), and a lower linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) content in breast muscle (P < 0.05). Muscle metabolome profiling showed that the most differentially abundant metabolites are phospholipids, including phosphatidylcholines (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamines (PE), which enriched the glycerophospholipid metabolism (P < 0.05). These key differentially abundant metabolites – PC (14:0/20:4), PC (18:1/14:1), PC (18:0/14:1), PC (18:0/18:4), PC (20:0/18:4), PE (22:0/P-16:0), PE (24:0/20:5), PE (22:2/P-18:1), PE (24:0/18:4) – were closely associated with the contents of C12:0, C14:0, DHA and C18:2n-6 in muscle lipids (P < 0.05). The content of glutathione metabolite was higher with MEO than CON diet (P < 0.05). Based on these results, it can be concluded that the diet supplemented with MEO reduced the feed conversion ratio, enriched the content of n-3 fatty acids and modified the related metabolites (including PC, PE and glutathione) in breast muscle of chickens.

Let $\overline{t}(n)$ be the number of overpartitions in which (i) the difference between successive parts may be odd only if the larger part is overlined and (ii) if the smallest part is odd then it is overlined. Ramanujan-type congruences for $\overline{t}(n)$ modulo small powers of $2$ and $3$ have been established. We present two infinite families of congruences modulo $5$ and $27$ for $\overline{t}(n)$, the first of which generalises a recent result of Chern and Hao [‘Congruences for two restricted overpartitions’, Proc. Math. Sci. 129 (2019), Article 31].

We investigated human understanding of different network visualizations in a large-scale online experiment. Three types of network visualizations were examined: node-link and two different sorting variants of matrix representations on a representative social network of either 20 or 50 nodes. Understanding of the network was quantified using task time and accuracy metrics on questions that were derived from an established task taxonomy. The sample size in our experiment was more than an order of magnitude larger (N = 600) than in previous research, leading to high statistical power and thus more precise estimation of detailed effects. Specifically, high statistical power allowed us to consider modern interaction capabilities as part of the evaluated visualizations, and to evaluate overall learning rates as well as ambient (implicit) learning. Findings indicate that participant understanding was best for the node-link visualization, with higher accuracy and faster task times than the two matrix visualizations. Analysis of participant learning indicated a large initial difference in task time between the node-link and matrix visualizations, with matrix performance steadily approaching that of the node-link visualization over the course of the experiment. This research is reproducible as the web-based module and results have been made available at: https://osf.io/qct84/.

We generalise a result of Chern [‘A curious identity and its applications to partitions with bounded part differences’, New Zealand J. Math. 47 (2017), 23–26] on distinct partitions with bounded difference between largest and smallest parts. The generalisation is proved both analytically and bijectively.

Sodium and chloride are the key factors maintaining normal osmotic pressure (OSM) and volume of the extracellular fluid, and influencing the acid–base balance of body fluids. The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary Na+ and Cl− level on growth performance, excreta moisture, blood biochemical parameters, intestinal Na+–glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1) messenger RNA (mRNA), and Na+–H+ exchanger 2 (NHE2) mRNA, and to estimate the optimal dietary sodium and chlorine level for yellow-feathered chickens from 22 to 42days. A total of 900 22-day-old Lingnan yellow-feathered male chickens were randomly allotted to five treatments, each of which included six replicates of 30 chickens per floor pen. The basal control diet was based on corn and soybean meal (without added NaCl and NaHCO3). Treatments 2 to 5 consisted of the basal diet supplemented with equal weights of Na+ and Cl−, constituting 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.4% of the diets. Supplemental dietary Na+ and Cl− improved the growth performance (P<0.05). Average daily gain (ADG) showed a quadratic broken-line regression to increasing dietary Na+ and Cl− (R2=0.979, P<0.001), and reached a plateau at 0.1%. Supplemental Na+ and Cl− increased (P<0.05) serum Na+ and OSM in serum and showed a quadratic broken-line regression (R2=0.997, P=0.004) at 0.11%. However, supplemental Na+ and Cl− decreased (P<0.05) serum levels of K+, glucose (GLU) and triglyceride. Higher levels of Na+and Cl− decreased duodenal NHE2 transcripts (P<0.05), but had no effect on ileal SGLT1 transcripts. The activity of Na+ /K+-ATPase in the duodenum decreased (P<0.05) with higher levels of dietary Na+ and Cl−. In conclusion, the optimal dietary Na+ and Cl− requirements for yellow-feathered chickens in the grower phase, from 22 to 42 days of age, to optimize ADG, serum Na+, OSM, K+ and GLU were 0.10%, 0.11%, 0.11%,0.17% and 0.16%, respectively, by regression analysis.

This study aims to investigate the prevalence and genotype distribution of anal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among men with different sexual orientations with or without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted during 2016–2017 in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. Convenient sampling was used to recruit male participants from HIV voluntary counselling and testing clinics and Center for Disease Control and Prevention. A face-to-face questionnaire interview was administered and an anal-canal swab was collected for HPV genotyping. A total of 160 HIV-positive and 113 HIV-negative men participated in the study. The prevalence of any type HPV was 30.6% for heterosexual men, 74.1% for homosexual and 63.6% for bisexual men among HIV-positive participants, while the prevalence was 8.3%, 29.2% and 23.8% respectively among HIV-negatives. The most prevalent genotypes were HPV-58 (16.9%), HPV-6 (15.6%) and HPV-11 (15.0%) among HIV-positive men, and were HPV-16 (4.4%), HPV-52 (4.4%) and HPV-6 (3.5%) among HIV-negative men. Having ever had haemorrhoids and having ever seen blood on tissue after defaecation was associated with HPV infection. One-fourth of the HPV infections in this study population can be covered by the quadrivalent vaccine in market. The highly prevalent anal HPV infection among men especially HIV-infected men calls for close observation and further investigation for anal cancer prevention.

Although parasites and microbial pathogens are both detrimental to insects, little information is currently available on the mechanism involved in how parasitized hosts balance their immune responses to defend against microbial infections. We addressed this in the present study by comparing the immune response between unparasitized and parasitized pupae of the chrysomelid beetle, Octodonta nipae (Maulik), to Escherichia coli invasion. In an in vivo survival assay, a markedly reduced number of E. coli colony-forming units per microliter was detected in parasitized pupae at 12 and 24 h post-parasitism, together with decreased phagocytosis and enhanced bactericidal activity at 12 h post-parasitism. The effects that parasitism had on the mRNA expression level of selected antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of O. nipae pupae showed that nearly all transcripts of AMPs examined were highly upregulated during the early and late parasitism stages except defensin 2B, whose mRNA expression level was downregulated at 24 h post-parasitism. Further elucidation on the main maternal fluids responsible for alteration of the primary immune response against E. coli showed that ovarian fluid increased phagocytosis at 48 h post-injection. These results indicated that the enhanced degradation of E. coli in parasitized pupae resulted mainly from the elevated bactericidal activity without observing the increased transcripts of target AMPs. This study contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the immune responses of a parasitized host to bacterial infections.

Using an age-structured process-based simulation model for diamondback moth (DBM), we model the population dynamics of this major Brassica pest using the cropping practices and climate of Guangdong, China. The model simulates two interacting sub-populations (demes), each representing a short season crop. The simulated DBM abundance, and hence pest problems, depend on planting regime, crop hygiene and biological control. A continuous supply of hosts, a low proportion of crop harvested and long residue times between harvest and replanting each exacerbate pest levels. Biological control provided by a larval parasitoid can reduce pest problems, but not eliminate them when climate is suitable for DBM and under certain planting practices. The classic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) method of insecticide application, when pest threshold is reached, proved effective and halved the number of insecticide sprays when compared with the typical practice of weekly insecticide application.