The random distributed-feedback fiber laser (RFL) is a new approach to obtain a high-power stable supercontinuum (SC) source. To consider both structure simplification and high-power SC output, an innovative structure achieving a kilowatt-level SC output in a single-stage RFL with a half-open cavity is demonstrated in this paper. It consists of a fiber oscillator, a piece of long passive fiber and a broadband coupler, among which the broadband coupler acting as a feedback device is crucial in SC generation. When the system has no feedback, the backward output power is up to 298 W under the pump power of 1185 W. When the feedback is introduced before the pump laser, the backward power loss can be reduced and the pump can be fully utilized, which could promote forward output power and conversion efficiency significantly. Under the maximum pump power of 1847 W, a 1300 W SC with spectrum ranging from 887 to 1920 nm and SC conversion efficiency of 66% is obtained. To the best of our knowledge, it is the simplest structure used for high-power SC generation, and both the generated SC output power and the conversion efficiency are highest in the scheme of the half-opened RFL output SC.

We report a Yb-doped all-fiber laser system generating burst-mode pulses with high energy and high peak power at a GHz intra-burst repetition rate. To acquire the uniform burst envelope, a double-pre-compensation structure with an arbitrary waveform laser diode driver and an acoustic optical modulator is utilized for the first time. The synchronous pumping is utilized for the system to reduce the burst repetition rate to 100 Hz and suppress the amplified spontaneous emission effect. By adjusting the gain of every stage, uniform envelopes with different output energies can be easily obtained. The intra-burst repetition rate can be tuned from 0.5 to 10 GHz actively modulated by an electro-optic modulator. Optimized by timing control of eight channels of analog signal and amplified by seven stages of Yb-doped fiber amplifier, the pulse energy achieves 13.3 mJ at 0.5 ns intra-burst pulse duration, and the maximum peak power reaches approximately 3.6 MW at 48 ps intra-burst pulse duration. To the best of our knowledge, for reported burst-mode all-fiber lasers, this is a record for output energy and peak power with nanosecond-level burst duration, and the widest tuning range of the intra-burst repetition rate. In particular, this flexibly tunable burst-mode laser system can be directly applied to generate high-power frequency-tunable microwaves.

We propose a 2.1 μm high-energy dissipative soliton resonant (DSR) fiber laser system based on a mode-locked seed laser and dual-stage amplifiers. In the seed laser, the nonlinear amplifying loop mirror technique is employed to realize mode-locking. The utilization of an in-band pump scheme and long gain fiber enables effectively exciting 2.1 μm pulses. A section of ultra-high numerical aperture fiber (UHNAF) with normal dispersion and high nonlinearity and an output coupler with a large coupling ratio are used to achieve a high-energy DSR system. By optimizing the UHNAF length to 55 m, a 2103.7 nm, 88.1 nJ DSR laser with a 3-dB spectral bandwidth of 0.48 nm and a pulse width of 17.1 ns is obtained under a proper intracavity polarization state and pump power. The output power and conversion efficiency are 0.233 W and 4.57%, respectively, both an order of magnitude higher than those of previously reported holmium-doped DSR seed lasers. Thanks to the high output power and nanosecond pulse width of the seed laser, the average power of the DSR laser is linearly scaled up to 50.4 W via a dual-stage master oscillator power amplifier system. The 3-dB spectral bandwidth broadens slightly to 0.52 nm, and no distortion occurs in the amplified pulse waveform. The corresponding pulse energy reaches 19.1 μJ, which is the highest pulse energy in a holmium-doped mode-locked fiber laser system to the best of our knowledge. Such a 2.1 μm, high-energy DSR laser with relatively wide pulse width has prospective applications in mid-infrared nonlinear frequency conversion.

We report the demonstration of a mid-infrared (MIR) supercontinuum (SC) laser delivering a record-breaking average output power of more than 40 W with a long-wavelength edge up to 3.5 μm. The all-fiberized configuration was composed of a thulium-doped fiber amplifier system emitting a broadband spectrum covering 1.9–2.6 μm with pulse repetition rate of 3 MHz, and a short piece of germania fiber. A 41.9 W MIR SC with a whole spectrum of 1.9–3.5 μm was generated in a piece of 0.2-m-long germania fiber, with a power conversion efficiency of 71.4%. For an even shorter germania fiber (0.1 m), an SC with even higher output power of 44.9 W (corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 76.5%) was obtained, but the energy conversion toward the long-wavelength region was slightly limited. A continuous operation for 1 hour with output power of 32.6 W showed outstanding power stability (root mean square 0.17%) of the obtained SC laser. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, this work demonstrates the feasibility of germania fiber on generating a 40-W level MIR SC with high efficiency and excellent power stability, paving the way to real applications requiring high power and high reliability of MIR SC lasers.

Methomyl is a broad-spectrum carbamate insecticide that has a variety of toxic effects on humans and animals. However, there have been no studies on the toxicity of methomyl in female mammalian oocytes. This study investigated the toxic effects of environmental oestrogen methomyl exposure on mouse oocyte maturation and its possible mechanisms. Our results indicated that methomyl exposure inhibited polar body extrusion in mouse oocytes. Compared with that in the control group, in the methomyl treatment group, superoxide anion free radicals in oocytes were significantly increased. In addition, the mitochondrial membrane potential of metaphase II stage oocytes in the methomyl treatment group was significantly decreased, resulting in reduced mouse oocyte quality. After 8.5 h of exposure to methomyl, metaphase I stage mouse oocytes displayed an abnormal spindle morphology. mRNA expression of the pro-apoptotic genes Bax and Caspase-3 in methomyl-treated oocytes increased, which confirmed the apoptosis. Collectively, our results indicated that mouse oocyte maturation is defective after methomyl treatment at least through disruption of spindle morphology, mitochondrial function and by induction of oxidative stress.

The provenance and tectonic setting of the Lower–Middle Triassic clastic sediments from the Napo basin, South China, have been examined here using detrital modes, whole-rock geochemistry and detrital zircon U–Pb ages. Field investigations indicate that these sediments consist of fan delta, slope and turbidity fan facies with dominantly southward palaeocurrent directions. Detrital modes and geochemical characteristics of the clastic rocks indicate that they were derived from mixed magmatic arc and Palaeozoic successions in a continental island arc setting, with no significant sediment recycling. The U–Pb age spectra of sandstone detrital zircons from different stratigraphic positions are similar, with one major group (300–230 Ma), two subordinate groups (400–320 Ma and 480–420 Ma, respectively) and two scattered groups (1200–800 Ma and 2000–1700 Ma, respectively). Thus, we consider that the north late Permian – Middle Triassic volcanic rocks and the uplifted Palaeozoic sedimentary/volcanic sequences constituted the predominant sources. The detritus derived from the late Permian Emeishan mafic rocks is subordinate and limited. The pre-Devonian zircons are likely sedimentary-recycled or magmatic-captured instead of directly derived from the early Palaeozoic orogen (e.g. Yunkai massif) and Neoproterozoic Jiangnan orogen because of the topographic barrier of a magmatic arc and carbonate platform. Considering the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the volcanic arc and ophiolite, we suggest that the Triassic Napo basin was a fore-arc basin within a continental island arc setting, which developed in response to the northward subduction of the Babu–Cao Bang branch ocean beneath the South China Block.

Narrowband microwave generation with tuneable frequency is demonstrated by illuminating a photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) with a burst-mode fibre laser. The whole system is composed of a high-power linearly polarized burst-mode pulsed fibre laser and a linear-state PCSS. To obtain a high-performance microwave signal, a desired envelope of burst is necessary and a pulse pre-compensation technique is adopted to avoid envelope distortion induced by the gain-saturation effect. Resulting from the technique, homogenous peak power distribution in each burst is ensured. The maximum energy of the laser burst pulse reaches 200 μJ with a burst duration of 100 ns at the average power of 10 W, corresponding to a peak power of 4 kW. When the PCSS is illuminated by the burst-mode fibre laser, narrowband microwave generation with tuneable frequency (0.80–1.12 GHz) is obtained with a power up to 300 W. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first demonstration of frequency-tuneable narrowband microwave generation based on a fibre laser. The high-power burst-mode fibre laser reported here has great potential for generating high-power arbitrary microwave signals for a great deal of applicable demands such as smart adaptive radar and intelligent high-power microwave systems.

We aimed to examine whether baseline neutrophil counts affected the risk of new-onset proteinuria in hypertensive patients, and, if so, whether folic acid treatment is particularly effective in proteinuria prevention in such a setting. A total of 8208 eligible participants without proteinuria at baseline were analysed from the renal substudy of the China Stroke Primary Prevention Trial. Participants were randomised to receive a double-blind daily treatment of 10 mg of enalapril and 0·8 mg of folic acid (n 4101) or 10 mg of enalapril only (n 4107). The primary outcome was new-onset proteinuria, defined as a urine dipstick reading of ≥1+ at the exit visit. The mean age of the participants was 59·5 (sd, 7·4) years, 3088 (37·6 %) of the participants were male. The median treatment duration was 4·4 years. In the enalapril-only group, a significantly higher risk of new-onset proteinuria was found among participants with higher neutrophil counts (quintile 5; ≥4·8 × 109/l, OR 1·44; 95 % CI 1·00, 2·06), compared with those in quintiles 1–4. For those with enalapril and folic acid treatment, compared with the enalapril-only group, the new-onset proteinuria risk was reduced from 5·2 to 2·8 % (OR 0·49; 95 % CI 0·29, 0·82) among participants with higher neutrophil counts (≥4·8 × 109/l), whereas there was no significant effect among those with neutrophil counts <4·8 × 109/l. In summary, among hypertensive patients, those with higher neutrophil counts had increased risk of new-onset proteinuria, and this risk was reduced by 51 % with folic acid treatment.

The present study was conducted to test the hypothesis that dietary supplementation with a nano chitosan–zinc complex (CP–Zn, 100 mg/kg Zn) could alleviate weaning stress in piglets challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88 by improving growth performance and intestinal antioxidant capacity. The in vivo effects of CP–Zn on growth performance variables (including gastrointestinal digestion and absorption functions and the levels of key proteins related to muscle growth) and the antioxidant capacity of the small intestine (SI) were evaluated in seventy-two weaned piglets. The porcine jejunal epithelial cell line IPEC-J2 was used to further investigate the antioxidant mechanism of CP–Zn in vitro. The results showed that CP–Zn supplementation increased the jejunal villus height and decreased the diarrhoea rate in weaned piglets. CP–Zn supplementation also improved growth performance (average daily gain and average daily feed intake), increased the activity of carbohydrate digestion-related enzymes (amylase, maltase, sucrase and lactase) and the mRNA expression levels of nutrient transporters (Na+-dependent glucose transporter 1, glucose transporter type 2, peptide transporter 1 and excitatory amino acid carrier 1) in the jejunum and up-regulated the expression levels of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway-related proteins (insulin receptor substrate 1, phospho-mTOR and phospho-p70S6K) in muscle. In addition, CP–Zn supplementation increased glutathione content, enhanced total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) activity, and reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the jejunum. Furthermore, CP–Zn decreased the content of MDA and reactive oxygen species, enhanced the activity of T-SOD and GSH-px and up-regulated the expression levels of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway-related proteins (Nrf2, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 and haeme oxygenase 1) in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated IPEC-J2 cells. Collectively, these findings indicate that CP–Zn supplementation can improve growth performance and the antioxidant capacity of the SI in piglets, thus alleviating weaning stress.

Three-dimensional graphene (3D-GN)/Cu/Fe3O4 composite support materials were synthesized by a modified chemical reduction method using graphene oxide precursor. A 3D-GN/Cu/Fe3O4 biosensor was prepared by coating the electrode with laccase. The electrochemical properties of the biosensor were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry using potassium ferricyanide, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution, and bisphenol A (BPA) solution. The current response of 3D-GN/Cu/Fe3O4 biosensors presents a remarkable sensitivity based on CV. The linear range of BPA is 7.2–18 μM using differential pulse voltammetry in PBS solution (pH = 4.0). A linear fitting equation of the laccase biosensor was observed for the current response as a function of BPA concentration. The detection limit was decreased to 1.7 μM. The detection approach herein turns out to be highly sensitive, has a wide linear range, and exhibits excellent stability.

Annexin A2 (ANXA2) is reported to be associated with cancer development. To investigate the roles ANXA2 plays during the development of cancer, the RNAi method was used to inhibit the ANXA2 expression in caco2 (human colorectal cancer cell line) and SMMC7721 (human hepatocarcinoma cell line) cells. The results showed that when the expression of ANXA2 was efficiently inhibited, the growth and motility of both cell lines were significantly decreased, and the development of the motility relevant microstructures, such as pseudopodia, filopodia, and the polymerization of microfilaments and microtubules were obviously inhibited. The cancer cell apoptosis was enhanced without obvious significance. The possible regulating pathway in the process was also predicted and discussed. Our results suggested that ANXA2 plays important roles in maintaining the malignancy of colorectal and hepatic cancer by enhancing the cell proliferation, motility, and development of the motility associated microstructures of cancer cells based on a possible complicated signal pathway.

Compared with end pumping fiber combiner, one of the advantages for side pumping combiner is the unlimited pumping points, which means multi-point or cascaded side pumping can be realized. However, the loss mechanism of the cascaded structure is rarely discussed. In this paper, we present the numerical and experimental investigation about the loss mechanism of a two-stage-cascaded side pumping combiner based on tapered-fused technique. The influence of loss mechanism on the coupling efficiency and thermal load of the fiber coating is analyzed according to simulations and experiments with different tapering ratios for the first stage. Based on the analysis, a cascaded component with total pump coupling efficiency of 96.4% handling a pump power of 1088 W is achieved by employing 1018 nm fiber laser as the pump source. Future work to further improve the performance of a cascaded side pumping combiner is discussed and prospected.

Suboptimal vitamin B2 status is encountered globally. Riboflavin deficiency depresses growth and results in a fatty liver. The underlying mechanisms remain to be established and an overview of molecular alterations is lacking. We investigated hepatic proteome changes induced by riboflavin deficiency to explain its effects on growth and hepatic lipid metabolism. In all, 360 1-d-old Pekin ducks were divided into three groups of 120 birds each, with twelve replicates and ten birds per replicate. For 21 d, the ducks were fed ad libitum a control diet (CAL), a riboflavin-deficient diet (RD) or were pair-fed with the control diet to the mean daily intake of the RD group (CPF). When comparing RD with CAL and CPF, growth depression, liver enlargement, liver lipid accumulation and enhanced liver SFA (C6 : 0, C12 : 0, C16 : 0, C18 : 0) were observed. In RD, thirty-two proteins were enhanced and thirty-one diminished (>1·5-fold) compared with CAL and CPF. Selected proteins were confirmed by Western blotting. The diminished proteins are mainly involved in fatty acid β-oxidation and the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC), whereas the enhanced proteins are mainly involved in TAG and cholesterol biosynthesis. RD causes liver lipid accumulation and growth depression probably by impairing fatty acid β-oxidation and ETC. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of liver lipid metabolic disorders due to RD.

In studying Galactic open clusters based on LAMOST DR3, we deliberately selected several nearby cluster, which have relatively large projection area and reliable proper motion measurements. For each cluster, we firstly determine the typical proper motion distribution profiles in the cluster-core and the outskirt region, respectively, and perform field-star decontamination on the cluster area. We then calculate kinematic membership probability for each star in the cluster area and cross-match the highly probable members with LAMOST DR3 spectral catalog. Based on enhanced signal of cluster-member radial velocity distribution emerging from the whole field, we have also obtained reliable radial velocity membership probability for each star. Finally, we perform isochrones fitting with MCMC technique to study basic properties of these cluster, including age, metallicity, and distance modulus.

Graphene nanoribbons as a quasi-one-dimensional form of graphene has attracted intensive attention in energy related devices. Upon oxidation and cutting of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), highly dispersive graphene oxide nanoribbons (GONRs) were obtained, on which Zn2+ and Sn4+ can be homogenously deposited. The reduced graphene oxide nanoribbons (rGONRs)/Zn2SnO4 composite with a homogeneous distribution of nanoparticles on the nanoribbons have been prepared through facile in situ chemical co-reduction process. It is worth noting that the size of Zn2SnO4 particles tightly dispersed on rGONRs is about 15 nm. Benefit from the introduction of rGONRs, the specific surface area and electrode conductivity of rGONRs/Zn2SnO4 can both be effectively enhanced. The as-prepared rGONRs/Zn2SnO4 as anode material for lithium-ion batteries displays desirable electrochemical performance (727.2 mA h/g after 50 cycles at the current density of 100 mA/g), which is mainly attributed to the uniformly distributed Zn2SnO4 nanoparticles and the immobilizing and conducting effects of rGONRs.

In this paper, we focus on studying the high energy emission of GRB 160625B. The lightcurve of prompt emission is composed of three episodes: short-soft precursor, hard main burst, and possible long extended emission. The spectra of first and third episode can be fitted by a multi-color blackbody and cutoff power-law model, respectively. However, the spectrum of second episode was contributed by both multi-color blackbody and cutoff power-law. One can estimate the Lorenz factor of jet of first two episodes by invoking photosphere model as Γ0 ~ 175 and 1694, respectively. It suggests that the ejecta of this case evolved from photosphere dominated initially to internal shock later. On the other hand, the optical emission is very bright during the second episode, which is likely a prompt optical emission. Finally, a more shallower normal decay segment appeared, which is consistent with standard external shock model.

Feeding regime is an important concern for sea urchin aquaculture. However, optimal feed regimes have not been established for land-based sea urchin ventures using a formulated feed. In this study, we investigated the effects of short-term continuous and intermittent feeding regimes on food consumption, growth, gonad production and quality of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius (54.90 ± 2.28 mm of test diameter) fed a formulated feed. The results showed that (1) compared with initial conditions, all involved traits except a* (test diameter, test height, body weight, gonad weight, gonad index, gonad moisture, L* and b*) showed significant increase at the end of the experiments; (2) only the longest term feed regime tested in this trial (S2) significantly negatively affected growth and gonad production of S. intermedius fed a formulated feed; (3) there was a trend but this was not significant for inhibiting gonad development of S. intermedius in intermittent feeding regimes and there was no change in the gonad colour and sweetness; (4) S0.5 (fasting half day and then feeding half day) is the optimal intermittent feeding regime for S. intermedius fed a formulated feed. To our knowledge, the present study is the first report of finding an effective intermittent feeding regime for land-based cultured sea urchins of relatively large size, and thus has direct application potential in the field of aquaculture.