American silk moth, Antheraea polyphemus Cramer 1775 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), native to North America, has potential significance in sericulture for food consumption and silk production. To date, the phylogenetic relationship and divergence time of A. polyphemus with its Asian relatives remain unknown. To end these issues, two mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of A. polyphemus from the USA and Canada respectively were determined. The mitogenomes of A. polyphemus from the USA and Canada were 15,346 and 15,345 bp in size, respectively, with only two transitions and five indels. The two mitogenomes both encoded typical mitochondrial 37 genes. No tandem repeat elements were identified in the A+T-rich region of A. polyphemus. The mitogenome-based phylogenetic analyses supported the placement of A. polyphemus within the genus Antheraea, and revealed the presence of two clades for eight Antheraea species used: one included A. polyphemus, A. assamensis Helfer, A. formosana Sonan and the other contained A. mylitta Drury, A. frithi Bouvier, A. yamamai Guérin-Méneville, A. proylei Jolly, and A. pernyi Guérin-Méneville. Mitogenome-based divergence time estimation further suggested that the dispersal of A. polyphemus from Asia into North America might have occurred during the Miocene Epoch (18.18 million years ago) across the Berling land bridge. This study reports the mitogenome of A. polyphemus that provides new insights into the phylogenetic relationship among Antheraea species and the origin of A. polyphemus.

Milk fat is a crucial component for evaluating the production performance and nutritional value of goat milk. Previous research indicated that the composition of ruminal microbiota plays a significant role in regulating milk fat percentage in ruminants. Thus, this study aimed to identify key ruminal microorganisms and blood metabolites relevant to milk fat synthesis in dairy goats as a mean to explore their role in regulating milk fat synthesis. Sixty clinically healthy Xinong Saanen dairy goats at mid-lactation and of similar body weight, and similar milk yield were used in a feeding study for 15 days. Based on daily milk yield of dairy goats and the results of milk component determination on the 1st and 8th days, five goats with the highest milk fat content (H group) and five goats with the lowest milk fat content (L group) were selected for further analysis. Before the morning feeding on the 15th day of the experiment, samples of milk, blood and ruminal fluid were collected for analyses of components, volatile fatty acids, microbiota and metabolites. Results revealed that acetate content in the rumen of H group was greater compared with L group. H group had abundant beneficial bacteria including Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005, Saccharofermentans, Ruminococcaceae-UCG-002 and Prevotellaceae_UCG-3, which were important for plant cellulose and hemicellulose degradation and immune regulation. Metabolomics analysis revealed H group had greater relative concentrations of 4-acetamidobutanoic acid and azelaic acid in serum, and had lower relative concentrations of Arginyl-Alanine, SM(d18:1/12:0) and DL-Tryptophan. These altered metabolites are involved in the sphingolipid signaling pathway, arginine and proline metabolism. Overall, this study identified key ruminal microorganisms and serum metabolites associated with milk fat synthesis in dairy goats. These findings offer insights for enhancing the quality of goat milk and contribute to a better understanding of the regulatory mechanisms involved in milk fat synthesis in dairy goats.

One of the most devastating and costly consequences of CM is that it persists across generations. Yet, we know little about whether there is intergenerational continuity of diverse dimensions of CM exposure (e.g., chronicity, multi-subtype) or unique patterns of exposure. This is a critical gap, given evidence that different forms of CM confer unique consequences. To enhance our understanding of intergenerational continuity of CM, the current study applied a multidimensional framework to be the first to investigate whether unique forms of CM exposure (characterized by the subtypes and whether multi-type exposure occurred) exhibited homotypic/heterotypic patterns of intergenerational continuity. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify patterns of CM exposure in mothers and their offspring (aged 8–13) who were part of a high-risk, economically disadvantaged sample of maltreated and nonmaltreated youth (N = 1240). Four distinct classes of CM exposure were identified in both mothers (“Single-Subtype without Sexual Abuse”; “Sexual Abuse”, “Multi-Subtype Exposure”; and “No Maltreatment”) and offspring (“No Maltreatment”; “Single Type-Neglect”; “Single Type-Abuse”; and “Chronic, Multi-type”). Patterns of homotypic and heterotypic intergenerational continuity were identified, with a pattern of multi-type exposure emerging as an enduring form of exposure across generations. Implications for preventive interventions are discussed. Intergenerational continuity of multidimensional patterns of child maltreatment exposure: A person-centered approach

Although active flow control based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has been demonstrated extensively in numerical environments, practical implementation of real-time DRL control in experiments remains challenging, largely because of the critical time requirement imposed on data acquisition and neural-network computation. In this study, a high-speed field-programmable gate array (FPGA) -based experimental DRL (FeDRL) control framework is developed, capable of achieving a control frequency of 1–10 kHz, two orders higher than that of the existing CPU-based framework (10 Hz). The feasibility of the FeDRL framework is tested in a rather challenging case of supersonic backward-facing step flow at Mach 2, with an array of plasma synthetic jets and a hot-wire acting as the actuator and sensor, respectively. The closed-loop control law is represented by a radial basis function network and optimised by a classical value-based algorithm (i.e. deep Q-network). Results show that, with only ten seconds of training, the agent is able to find a satisfying control law that increases the mixing in the shear layer by 21.2 %. Such a high training efficiency has never been reported in previous experiments (typical time cost: hours).

Let X be a compact Kähler manifold, and let $L \rightarrow X$ be a holomorphic line bundle equipped with a singular metric h such that the curvature $\mathrm {i}\Theta _{L,h}\geqslant 0$ in the sense of currents. The main result of this paper is the vanishing of $H^n(X,\mathcal {O}(\Omega ^p_X\otimes L)\otimes \mathcal {I}(h))$ for $p\geqslant n-\operatorname {nd}(L,h)+1$, which generalizes Bogomolov’s vanishing theorem and Watanabe’s result.

The multi-colour complete light curves and low-resolution spectra of two short period eclipsing Am binaries V404 Aur and GW Gem are presented. The stellar atmospheric parameters of the primary stars were derived through the spectra fitting. The observed and TESS-based light curves of them were analysed by using the Wilson-Devinney code. The photometric solutions suggest that both V404 Aur and GW Gem are semi-detached systems with the secondary component filling its critical Roche Lobe, while the former should be a marginal contact binary. The $O-C$ analysis found that the period of V404 Aur is decreasing at a rate of $dP/dt=-1.06(\pm0.01)\times 10^{-7}\,\mathrm{d}\,\mathrm{ yr}^{-1}$, while the period of GW Gem is increasing at $dP/dt=+2.41(\pm0.01)\times 10^{-8} \mathrm{d}\,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. The period decrease of V404 Aur may mainly be caused by the combined effects of the angular momentum loss (AML) via an enhanced stellar wind of the more evolved secondary star and mass transfer between two components. The period increase of GW Gem supports the mass transfer from the secondary to the primary. Both targets may be in the broken contact stage predicted by the thermal relaxation oscillations theory and will eventually evolve to the contact stage. We have collected about 54 well-known eclipsing Am binaries with absolute parameters from the literature. The relations of these parameters are summarised. There are some components that have a higher degree of evolution. The majority of their hydrogen shell may have been stripped away and the stellar internal layer exposed. The accretion processes from such evolved components may be very important for the formation of Am peculiarity in binaries.

In this work, the Riemann–Hilbert (RH) problem is employed to study the multiple high-order pole solutions of the cubic Camassa–Holm (cCH) equation with the term characterizing the effect of linear dispersion under zero boundary conditions and nonzero boundary conditions. Under the reflectionless situation, we generalize the residue theorem and obtain the multiple high-order pole solutions of cCH equation by solving an algebraic system. During the process of establishing the solution of RH problem, to simplify the calculations involving the implicitly expressed of variables (x, t) in the solution, we introduce a new scale (y, t) to ensure the solution of RH problem is explicitly expressed with respect to it. Finally, the exact solutions are obtained for cases involving one high-order pole and N high-order poles.

We consider linear-fractional branching processes (one-type and two-type) with immigration in varying environments. For $n\ge0$, let $Z_n$ count the number of individuals of the nth generation, which excludes the immigrant who enters the system at time n. We call n a regeneration time if $Z_n=0$. For both the one-type and two-type cases, we give criteria for the finiteness or infiniteness of the number of regeneration times. We then construct some concrete examples to exhibit the strange phenomena caused by the so-called varying environments. For example, it may happen that the process is extinct, but there are only finitely many regeneration times. We also study the asymptotics of the number of regeneration times of the model in the example.

The proton–boron ${}^{11}{\text{B}}\left( {p,\alpha } \right)2\alpha $ reaction (p-11B) is an interesting alternative to the D-T reaction ${\text{D}}\left( {{\text{T}},{\text{n}}} \right)\alpha $ for fusion energy, since the primary reaction channel is aneutronic and all reaction partners are stable isotopes. We measured the α production yield using protons in the 120–260 keV energy range impinging onto a hydrogen–boron-mixed target, and for the first time present experimental evidence of an increase of α-particle yield relative to a pure boron target. The measured enhancement factor is approximately 30%. The experiment results indicate a higher reactivity, and that may lower the condition for p-11B fusion ignition.

This experiment aimed to investigate the impacts of tributyrin (TB) dietary supplementation on serum biochemical indices and meat quality characteristics of longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) muscle of lambs after weaning. Thirty healthy Small-Tailed Han female lambs (27.5 ± 4.1 kg; mean ± standard deviation) were randomly assigned to five treatments: basal diet (1) without TB, (2) with 0.5 g/kg TB, (3) with 1.0 g/kg TB, (4) with 2.0 g/kg TB or (5) with 4.0 g/kg TB. Each treatment consisted of six lambs, and the lambs were weaned on d 90 and were raised until d 165. Results showed that supplementing TB significantly promoted serum immunoglobulin concentrations of lambs such as immunoglobulins G, A and M. Besides, TB significantly increased muscle ether extract content, intermuscular fat length, pH value and redness but decreased lightness, drip loss and shear force. In addition, TB significantly elevated inosine-5ʹ-phosphate content and upregulated the relative expressions of genes related to lipid metabolism such as SREBP-1C, SCD, PPARγ, FAS and LPL. The mostly important, TB significantly enhanced essential amino acids (EAAs) and conjugated linoleic acids contents of the LTL muscle, despite it decreased total unsaturated fatty acids level. In conclusion, supplementing TB not only could promote the healthy status of weaned lambs via promoting serum immunity but also may improve nutritional quality of LTL muscle by improving EAA and conjugated linoleic acid contents.

The social-sexual environment is well known for its influence on the survival of organisms by modulating their reproductive output. However, whether it affects survival indirectly through a variety of cues without physical contact and its influence relative to direct interaction remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated both the indirect and direct influences of the social-sexual environment on the survival and reproduction of the mite Tyrophagus curvipenis (Acari: Acaridae). The results demonstrated no apparent influence of conspecific cues on the survival of mites, but the survival and reproduction of mated female mites significantly changed, with the females mated with males having a significantly shortened lifespan and increased lifetime fecundity. For males, no significant difference was observed across treatments in their survival and lifespan. These findings indicate that direct interaction with the opposite sex has a much more profound influence on mites than indirect interaction and highlight the urgent need to expand research on how conspecific cues modulate the performance of organisms with more species to clarify their impacts across taxa.

As a member of the Scathophagidae family, Scathophaga stercoraria (S. stercoraria) is widely distributed globally and is closely associated with animal feces. It is also a species of great interest to many scientific studies. However, its phylogenetic relationships are poorly understood. In this study, S. stercoraria was found in plateau pikas for the first time. The potential cause of its presence in the plateau pikas was discussed and it was speculated that the presence of S. stercoraria was related to the yak feces. In addition, 2 nuclear genes (18SrDNA and 28SrDNA), 1 mitochondrial gene (COI), and the complete mitochondrial genome of S. stercoraria were sequenced. Phylogenetic trees constructed based on 13 Protein coding genes (13PCGs), 18S and 28S rDNA showed that S. stercoraria is closely related to the Calliphoridae family; phylogenetic results based on COI suggest that within the family Scathophagidae, S. stercoraria is more closely related to the genus Leptopa, Micropselapha, Parallelomma and Americina. Divergence times estimated using the COI gene suggest that the divergence formation of the genus Scathophaga is closely related to changes in biogeographic scenarios and potentially driven by a combination of uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and dramatic climate changes. These results provide valuable information for further studies on the phylogeny and differentiation of the Scathophaga genus in the future.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is a large group of mycobacteria other than the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Mycobacterium leprae. Epidemiological investigations have found that the incidence of NTM infections is increasing in China, and it is naturally resistant to many antibiotics. Therefore, studies of NTM species in clinical isolates are useful for understanding the epidemiology of NTM infections. The present study aimed to investigate the incidence of NTM infections and types of NTM species. Of the 420 samples collected, 285 were positive for M. tuberculosis, 62 samples were negative, and the remaining 73 samples contained NTM, including 35 (8.3%) only NTM and 38 (9%) mixed (M. tuberculosis and NTM). The most prevalent NTM species were Mycobacterium intracellulare (30.1%), followed by Mycobacterium abscessus (15%) and M. triviale (12%). M. gordonae infection was detected in 9.5% of total NTM-positive cases. Moreover, this study reports the presence of Mycobacterium nonchromogenicum infection and a high prevalence of M. triviale for the first time in Henan. M. intracellulare is the most prevalent, accompanied by some emerging NTM species, including M. nonchromogenicum and a high prevalence of M. triviale in Henan Province. Monitoring NTM transmission and epidemiology could enhance mycobacteriosis management in future.

This multi-method longitudinal study sought to investigate linkage in parental neuroendocrine functioning – indicated by cortisol – over two measurement occasions. In addition, we examined how parental cortisol linkage may operate as an intermediate factor in the cascade of contextual risks and parenting. Participants were 235 families with a young child (Mage = 33.56, 36.00 years for mothers and fathers respectively), who were followed for two annual measurement occasions. Parental cortisol linkage was measured around a laboratory conflict discussion task at both measurement occasions (i.e., pre-discussion, 20- and 40-minute post-discussion for each measurement occasion). Maternal and paternal parenting behavior was observed during a parent-child discipline discussion task. Findings indicated similar levels of cortisol linkage between parents over the two measurement occasions. Furthermore, cortisol linkage between parents operated as an intermediate factor between contextual risks and more compromised parenting behavior. That is, greater contextual risks, indicated by greater neighborhood risk and interparental conflict, were linked to greater cortisol linkage between parents over time, which was in turn linked to greater authoritarian parenting during parent-child interaction. Findings highlighted the importance of understanding physiological-linkage processes with respect to the impact of contextual risks on family functioning and may have crucial implications for clinical work.

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.