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The aim of this study was to determine whether vitamin D supplementation and maintaining vitamin D sufficiency are associated with changes in inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) and vitamin D deficiency. A total of 413 participants with symptomatic knee OA and vitamin D deficiency were enrolled in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial and received 1·25 mg vitamin D3 or placebo monthly for 24 months across two sites. In this post hoc analysis, 200 participants from one site (ninety-four from the placebo group and 106 from the vitamin D group; mean age 63·1 (sd 7·3) years, 53·3 % women) were randomly selected for measurement of serum levels of inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers at baseline and 24 months using immunoassays. In addition, participants were classified into two groups according to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels at months 3 and 24: (1) not consistently sufficient (25(OH)D≤50 nmol/l at either month 3 or 24, n 61), and (2) consistently sufficient (25(OH)D>50 nmol/l at both months 3 and 24, n 139). Compared with placebo, vitamin D supplementation had no significant effect on change in serum high-sensitive C-reactive protein, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, leptin, adiponectin, resistin, adipsin and apelin. Being consistently vitamin D sufficient over 2 years was also not associated with changes in these biomarkers compared with not being consistently sufficient. Vitamin D supplementation and maintaining vitamin D sufficiency did not alter serum levels of inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers over 2 years in knee OA patients who were vitamin D insufficient, suggesting that they may not affect systemic inflammation in knee OA patients.

Catalysts play essential roles in the chemical vapor deposition of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). In this article, we summarize studies on catalysts for the structure-controlled growth and mass production of SWCNTs, discussing the main progress and the remaining challenges.

Tomographic particle image velocimetry (TPIV) measurement with six high-resolution charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras is conducted to investigate flow structures over a finite circular cylinder with an aspect ratio of 2 ( $h/d=2$ ). This short wall-mounted cylinder is fully immersed in a thick turbulent boundary layer ( $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}/h=1.025$ ). Focus is placed on the three-dimensional instantaneous vortex structures and their dynamic characteristics in the wake flow fields. Based on the present results, a refined topological model of the mean wake field behind the finite circular cylinder is proposed, where the spatial locations of the typical vortex structures and their interactions are described in more detail. Among the reported typical vortex structures (i.e. the horseshoe, tip, base, trailing and arch vortex), emphasis is laid on discussion of the tip and arch vortex. The instantaneous 3D M-shape arch vortex and an alternating large-scale streamwise vortex are first found in the present experiment, and their developments are also discussed. Therefore, it is suggested that the instantaneous finite-cylinder wake is dominated by the arch vortex system and the large-scale streamwise vortices. Moreover, in the instantaneous volumetric flow fields, both the antisymmetric and the symmetric wake behaviours are observed. With proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis, the dynamic characteristics of the wake field are clarified. Different from the flow around an infinite cylinder without control, the third and fourth POD modes are characterized by low-frequency symmetric shedding. The low-frequency feature shown in the second mode pair is observed and associated with the occurrence of instantaneous symmetric 3D wake behaviour triggered by the low-aspect-ratio effect and the extension of the separated shear layer. The low frequency seems be attributed to the flapping phenomenon, i.e. oscillation of the recirculation in the backward-facing step flow. It is found that the flapping motion has a modulating effect on the occurrence of the antisymmetric shedding vortex and thus the large-scale streamwise vortex.

This telescope was designed for determining the trigonometric parallaxes of faint stars. The otpical configuration is a Ritchey-Chrétien system and has only a f/10 Cassegrain focus for photographic work.

The mounting is a combination of fork and yoke frame which can reduce the flexure due to gravity. A high speed digital servo-system was adopted for controlling and driving the telescope. At present some photographs of Comet Halley have been obtained.

The 1.56m astrometric telescope (Fig. 1) is designed mainly for determining trigonometric parallaxes of faint stars.

In order to keep the design as simple as possible, the telescope has only a Ritchey-Chretien focus and will accomodate plates 200 × 200 mm. We also plan to design several pieces of auxiliary equipment such as a medium dispersion grating spectrograph, a photometer, a reducing camera, and an electrographic camera, all of which are in the second stage of engineering. The whole project consists of four parts.

We examined the in vitro developmental competence of parthenogenetic activation (PA) oocytes activated by an electric pulse (EP) and treated with various concentrations of AZD5438 for 4 h. Treatment with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h significantly improved the blastocyst formation rate of PA oocytes in comparison with 0, 20, or 50 µM AZD5438 treatment (46.4% vs. 34.5%, 32.3%, and 24.0%, respectively; P < 0.05). The blastocyst formation rate was higher in the group treated with AZD5438 for 4 h than in the groups treated with AZD5438 for 2 or 6 h (42.8% vs. 38.6% and 37.2%, respectively; P > 0.05). Furthermore, 66.67% of blastocysts derived from these AZD5438-treated PA oocytes had a diploid karyotype. The blastocyst formation rate of PA and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos was similar between oocytes activated by an EP and treated with 2 mM 6-dimethylaminopurine for 4 h and those activated by an EP and treated with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h (11.11% vs. 13.40%, P > 0.05). In addition, the level of maturation-promoting factor (MPF) was significantly decreased in oocytes activated by an EP and treated with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h. Finally, the mRNA expression levels of apoptosis-related genes (Bax and Bcl-2) and pluripotency-related genes (Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2) were checked by RT-PCR; however, there were no differences between the AZD5438-treated and non-treated control groups. Our results demonstrate that porcine oocyte activation via an EP in combination with AZD5438 treatment can lead to a high blastocyst formation rate in PA and SCNT experiments.

Change mode and effects analysis (CMEA) is a powerful technique for measuring product flexibility toward future changes and diminishing the cost of redesign as well as shortening time to market. As a systematic methodology, it provides an in-depth view for the investigation of potential changes, causes, and effects in designs, products, and processes. Traditional CMEA determines the risk priorities of change modes by using change potential number, which requires the risk factors of design flexibility, occurrence, and readiness to be precisely evaluated. However, this is not always possible in real applications due to the uncertainty and subjectivity involved in the early design stages. It has been criticized much for its deficiencies in criteria weighting of the risk factors, change potential number calculation, and risk priorities determination of the change modes. This paper presents a systematic evaluation approach for determining a more rational rank of change modes by combining with the entropy weight method, rough number, and grey relational analysis. In this study, the entropy weight method is adopted to calculate the relative importance of risk factors. Rough number is presented to aggregate individual weights and preferences, and to manipulate the vagueness in the evaluation process. Then a rough number enhanced grey relational analysis is proposed to evaluate the risk ranking of change modes. Finally, a practical example is put forward to validate the performance of the proposed method. The result shows that the proposed change mode evaluation method can effectively overcome the shortcomings of traditional CMEA and strengthen the objectivity of product flexibility measurement.

A series CeO2/Al2O3 catalysts was modified with rare earth element (La, Nd, Sm, Gd, and Tm) using extrusion method. The catalytic activities of the obtained catalysts were measured for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH3 to screen suitable addition of rare earth element. These samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption (N2-BET), NH3 temperature-programmed desorption analyses (NH3-TPD), H2 temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR), Raman spectra, pyridine adsorption Fourier-transform infrared (Py-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Results showed that the CeO2/Al2O3 exhibited excellent performance in resisting reactant poisoning caused by vapor and sulfur and the highest catalytic activity (98.35%) at 360 °C when the added Tm/Ce molar ratio is 0.10. The surface acidity of CeO2/Al2O3 catalyst would be enhanced with the addition of rare earth ions. Consequently, rare earth ion was beneficial to catalytic activity at low temperatures and corresponded to similar law. Analysis revealed that the higher number of acid sites and the more Ce3+ were conductive to obtain the excellent NH3-SCR activity.

A series of oxidation experiments were carried out on these novel γ/γ′-strengthened cobalt-based alloys of the systems Co–9Al–10W and Co–9Al–10W–0.02X (X = La, Ce, Dy, Y) at 900 °C. The appropriate amounts’ addition of rare earth elements leads to improved oxidation properties at 900 °C, especially La elements show the best oxidation resistance (129.008 mg/cm2). However, the base Co–9Al–10W alloy shows the worst oxidation performance (151.544 mg/cm2). Multilayer oxide layers formed during the oxidation process, the outer were mainly CoO and Co3O4 oxides, and the middle layer contained complex oxides (containing Co, Al, and W). The inner layer consists of little discontinuous oxides, included few Al2O3 oxides. There existed a different crack width and the base alloy had the widest crack. Moreover, there exists a phase transformation (γ/γ′ to γ/Co3W) at the interface between oxide film and substrate.

Dislocations are line defects in crystalline materials. The Peierls-Nabarro models are hybrid models that incorporate atomic structure of dislocation core into continuum framework. In this paper, we present a numerical method for a generalized Peierls-Nabarro model for curved dislocations, based on the fast multipole method and the iterative grid redistribution. The fast multipole method enables the calculation of the long-range elastic interaction within operations that scale linearly with the total number of grid points. The iterative grid redistribution places more mesh nodes in the regions around the dislocations than in the rest of the domain, thus increases the accuracy and efficiency. This numerical scheme improves the available numerical methods in the literature in which the long-range elastic interactions are calculated directly from summations in the physical domains; and is more flexible to handle problems with general boundary conditions compared with the previous FFT based method which applies only under periodic boundary conditions. Numerical examples using this method on the core structures of dislocations in Al and Cu and in epitaxial thin films are presented.

Commission 22 (Meteors, Meteorites and Interplanetary Dust) was established at the first IAU General Assembly held in Rome in 1922, with William Frederick Denning as its first President. Denning was an accountant by profession, but as an amateur astronomer he contributed extensively to meteor science. Commission 22 thus established a pattern that has continued to this day that non-professional astronomers were welcomed and valued and could play a significant role in its affairs. The field of meteors, meteorites and interplanetary dust has played a disproportional role in the astronomical perception of the general public through the majestic displays of our annual meteor showers. Those in the field deployed many techniques uncommon in other fields of astronomy, studying the “vermin of space”, the small solid bodies that pervade interplanetary space and impact Earth's atmosphere, the surface of the Moon, and that of our satellites in orbit. Over time, the field has tackled a wide array of problems, from predicting the encounter with meteoroid streams, to the origin of our meteorites and the nature of the zodiacal cloud. Commission 22 has played an important role in organizing the field through dedicated meetings, a data centre, and working groups that developed professional-amateur relationships and that organized the nomenclature of meteor showers. The contribution of Commission 22 to the field is perhaps most readily seen in the work of the presidents that followed in the footsteps of Denning.

The IAU Division C Commission 55, Communicating Astronomy with the Public, played an active role in Union affairs within Division C, Education, Outreach and Heritage. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) vested considerable responsibility for its public outreach efforts in Commission 55 (C55), Communicating Astronomy with the Public. This article briefly recounts the origin and history of C55 over the past decade, and describes the work of C55 until it became Division C Commission C.C2 in 2015. As stated on our website, http://www.communicatingastronomy.org, C55 was founded on the principle that “it is the responsibility of every practising astronomer to play some role in explaining the interest and value of science to our real employers, the taxpayers of the world.” While this was true a decade ago, when the Working Group that eventually became C55 first took shape, it is even more true today, when funding for the astronomical sciences (and science more generally) is under threat on nearly every continent.

This triennium has seen progress in a number of directions related to Commission 20 objectives. Foremost, the growth in the number of astrometric observations of small solar system bodies continues to accelerate and the total number of measurements recorded by the Minor Planet Center now exceeds 135 million. Currently the Pan-STARRS project and the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) dominate detection and discovery efforts, while the NEO-WISE space mission contributes infrared detections valuable for understanding the size distribution of populations. Looking forward, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is now funded and in construction on Cerro Pachon in Chile. LSST has the potential to revolutionize the field by conducting a multi-color, ten-year, all-sky survey with a limiting magnitude ~24.5 in the r-band. Survey operations are set to begin in 2022.

We determined the prevalence and seasonality of infections by Fasciola of goats and bovine species (cattle and water buffalo) in Hubei and Anhui provinces of China. Faecal samples were collected at 2- to 3-month intervals from 200 goats in Hubei province and from 152 bovine species in Anhui province. All faecal samples were examined for the presence of parasites. We determined the nucleotide sequences of the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of 39 Fasciola worms from Anhui province. The prevalence of Fasciola infection in goats ranged between 3.5 and 37.0%, with mean eggs per gram (EPG) ranging between 29.0 and 166.0. Prevalence and EPG exhibited downward trends over time with significant differences. The prevalence of Fasciola infection in cattle ranged between 13.3 and 46.2% (mean EPG, 36.4–100.0), and that of water buffalo ranged between 10.3 and 35.4% (mean EPG, 25.0–89.6), with a higher prevalence of infection and EPG from June to October compared with December to March. Analysis of ITS-1 and ITS-2 sequences revealed that F. hepatica and F. gigantica were present in all bovine species of Anhui province and that F. gigantica mainly infected water buffalo. This is the first demonstration of Fasciola infection in Hubei province and detection of F. hepatica and F. gigantica in Anhui province. The present study of Hubei province shows that mass treatment of livestock with closantel sodium injections in April and August/September controlled Fasciola infection effectively.

We investigated the effect of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPS) medium on porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer and bovine in vitro fertilized early blastocysts, in comparison with North Carolina State University (NCSU)-37 medium and in vitro culture (IVC)-II medium. After 2 days of culture, the diameter of the portion of the blastocyst that was extruded from the zona pellucid dramatically differed between porcine blastocysts cultured in hiPS medium and those cultured in NCSU-37 medium (221.47 ± 38.94 μm versus 481.87 ± 40.61 μm, P < 0.01). Moreover, the diameter of the portion of the blastocyst significantly differed between bovine blastocysts cultured in hiPS medium and those cultured in IVC-II medium (150.30 ± 29.49 μm versus 195.58 ± 41.59 μm, P < 0.01). Furthermore, the total number of cells per porcine and bovine blastocyst was more than two-fold higher in blastocysts cultured in hiPS medium than in those cultured in NCSU-37 medium (44.33 ± 5.28 and 143.33 ± 16.05, P < 0.01) or IVC-II medium (172.12 ± 45.08 and 604.83 ± 242.64, P < 0.01), respectively. These results indicate that hiPS medium markedly improves the quality of porcine and bovine blastocysts.

In our previous study, a novel hybrid protein combining human lysozyme (Hly) with Musca domestica cecropin (Mdc) was successfully constructed. The broad antibacterial activity against various foodborne pathogens of Mdc-hly suggests its scope as a food preservative. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antibacterial mechanism of the recombinant Mdc-hly. The damage induced by Mdc-hly on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was investigated using flow cytometry (FC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results of FC showed that Mdc-hly causes bacterial membrane permeabilization. SEM and TEM studies revealed that Mdc-hly is capable of damaging both the membrane and the wall of bacteria, resulting in efflux of essential cytoplasmic contents. Both FC and EM revealed that the effects of Mdc-hly were greater than its parental peptides. Understanding the antibacterial mechanism of Mdc-hly is of a great interest in further utilization of its use in treatment of food and in clinical environments.

Previous studies have reported that the first polar body (PB1) morphology reflects embryo development competence, but the effects of PB1 on porcine embryo development remain unknown. This study aims to determine whether the ability of porcine embryo development is related to oocytes’ PB1 in vitro. The distribution of type II cortical granules (CGs) of porcine matured oocytes in grade B PB1 is significantly greater compared with those in grades A and C PB1 (71.43% versus 52.46% and 50%; P < 0.05). The ratio of porcine parthenogenetic blastocysts and the mean cell number in each blastocyst in the group with grade B PB1 is significantly greater than that with grades A and C PB1 (30.81% vs. 19.02% and 15.15%; P < 0.05) and (36.67 versus 24.67, 28.67; P < 0.05), and no significant differences are found in the embryo cleavage for all groups (79.75%, 84.30%, and 78.18% in grades A, B, and C PB1; P > 0.05). The acetylation level of porcine embryos in the group with grade B PB1 is significantly greater compared with those in the other groups (P < 0.05), and is almost 2.5 times higher than that in grade A. Therefore, porcine oocytes with PB1 in grade B are more competitive in cytoplasmic maturation and further embryo development in vitro.

Round spermatid injection (ROSI) into mammalian oocytes can result in the development of viable embryos and offspring. One current limitation to this technique is the identification of suitable round spermatids. In the current paper, round spermatids were selected from testicular cells with phase contrast microscopy (PCM) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and ROSI was performed in two strains of mice. The rates of fertilization, embryonic development and offspring achieved were the same in all strains. Significantly, round spermatids selected by PCM and FACS were effectively used to rescue the infertile Pten-null mouse. The current results indicate that FACS selection of round spermatids can not only provide high-purity and viable round spermatids for use in ROSI, but also has no harmful effects on the developmental capacity of subsequently fertilized embryos. It was concluded that round spermatids selected by FACS are useful for mouse strain rederivation and rescue of infertile males; ROSI should be considered as a powerful addition to the armamentarium of assisted reproduction techniques applicable in the mouse.