This study aimed to investigate the intake of dairy products during pregnancy in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and its impacts on neonatal birth weight and pregnancy outcomes. A total of 386 women with GDM during the second trimester pregnancy participated in this prospective cohort study. We evaluated dairy products intake through Food Frequency Questionnaire. Pregnancy outcomes were obtained from the delivery data. Participants were divided into insufficient and sufficient intake of milk and dairy products group (<300 g/day and ≥300 g/day, respectively). The average intake of dairy products during the second trimester pregnancy in women with GDM was 317.8±179.5 g/day, and the total energy intake was 1635.4±708.7 kcal/day. However, 76.68% of them did not meet the recommended total energy intake of women with GDM. After adjusting for confounding factors, women with GDM who consumed ≥300 g/day of dairy products had an average reduction in birth weight of 93.1 g compared to women who consumed <300 g/day of dairy products (95% CI: -171.343, -14.927). Women with GDM in sufficient intake group was also associated with lower risk of macrosomia (95% CI: 0.043, 0.695) and cesarean section (95% CI: 0.387, 0.933), and not related to low birth weight infant (95% CI: 0.617, 14.502) and preterm birth (95% CI: 0.186, 1.510) when compared with participants in insufficient intake group. Under the premise of insufficient total energy intake, the intake of dairy products during the second trimester pregnancy in women with GDM might be related to the decrease of neonatal birth weight.

The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci is a cryptic species complex in which one member, Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) has invaded globally. After invading large countries like Australia, China, and the USA, MEAM1 spread rapidly across each country. In contrast, our analysis of MEAM1 in India showed a very different pattern. Despite the detection of MEAM1 being contemporaneous with invasions in Australia, the USA, and China, MEAM1 has not spread widely and instead remains restricted to the southern regions. An assessment of Indian MEAM1 genetic diversity showed a level of diversity equivalent to that found in its presumed home range and significantly higher than that expected across the invaded range. The high level of diversity and restricted distribution raises the prospect that its home range extends into India. Similarly, while the levels of diversity in Australia and the USA conformed to that expected for the invaded range, China did not. It suggests that China may also be part of its home range. We also observed that diversity across the invaded range was primarily accounted for by a single haplotype, Hap1, which accounted for 79.8% of all records. It was only the invasion of Hap1 that enabled outbreaks to occur and MEAM1’s discovery.

The manipulation of the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability growth at a heavy–light interface via successive shocks is theoretically analysed and experimentally realized in a specific shock-tube facility. An analytical model is developed to forecast the interface evolution before and after the second shock impact, and the possibilities for the amplitude evolution pattern are systematically discussed. Based on the model, the parameter conditions for each scenario are designed, and all possibilities are experimentally realized by altering the time interval between two shock impacts. These findings may enhance the understanding of how successive shocks influence hydrodynamic instabilities in practical applications.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, it has posed a great crisis to the health and economy of the world. The objective is to provide a simple deep-learning approach for predicting, modelling, and evaluating the time evolutions of the COVID-19 epidemic. The Dove Swarm Search (DSS) algorithm is integrated with the echo state network (ESN) to optimize the weight. The ESN-DSS model is constructed to predict the evolution of the COVID-19 time series. Specifically, the self-driven ESN-DSS is created to form a closed feedback loop by replacing the input with the output. The prediction results, which involve COVID-19 temporal evolutions of multiple countries worldwide, indicate the excellent prediction performances of our model compared with several artificial intelligence prediction methods from the literature (e.g., recurrent neural network, long short-term memory, gated recurrent units, variational auto encoder) at the same time scale. Moreover, the model parameters of the self-driven ESN-DSS are determined which acts as a significant impact on the prediction performance. As a result, the network parameters are adjusted to improve the prediction accuracy. The prediction results can be used as proposals to help governments and medical institutions formulate pertinent precautionary measures to prevent further spread. In addition, this study is not only limited to COVID-19 time series forecasting but also applicable to other nonlinear time series prediction problems.

The formation and evolution of large-scale deposits generated by mass movement are often closely related to tectonic and climatic conditions. Investigating deposits under the influence of complex geological conditions can aid in reconstructing paleoenvironmental characteristics and fluvial geomorphic evolution. The First Bend of the Yangtze River (FBYR), located in the Jinsha River basin in southwest China, represents a significant section characterized by abundant allochthonous deposits. We conducted a detailed investigation of the Hongwen allochthonous deposit (HAD) and the river sediments in the First Bend. Through terrain interpretation, dating, and paleoenvironmental analysis, the HAD was determined to be a complex deposit with multiple sources and stages (46.4–33.5 ka), formed under the combined influence of tectonic activity and climate. Three mass-movement events occurred during the interglacial stage of the last glacial period or its transitional period, coinciding with the rapid uplift stage of the Tibetan Plateau since the late Pleistocene. Prominent features of this period include significant rainfall and tectonic activities. By dating fluvial sediments and examining the evolution of the HAD, we revealed a river incision rate of 2.30 mm/yr for the Jinsha River, providing a basis for analyzing periodic river cutting and the development pattern of surface processes.

The coupling of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) and Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI), referred to as RM-KHI, on a shock-accelerated inclined single-mode air–SF$_6$ interface is studied through shock-tube experiments, focusing on the evolution of the perturbation distributed along the inclined interface. To clearly capture the linear (overall linear to nonlinear) evolution of RM-KHI, a series of experiments with a weak (relatively strong) incident shock is conducted. For each series of experiments, various $\theta _{i}$ (angle between incident shock and equilibrium position of the initial interface) are considered. The nonlinear flow features manifest earlier and develop faster when $\theta _{i}$ is larger and/or shock is stronger. In addition, the interface with $\theta _{i}>0^{\circ }$ evolves obliquely along its equilibrium position under the effect of KHI. RMI dominates the early-time amplitude evolution regardless of $\theta _{i}$ and shock intensity, which arises from the discrepancy in the evolution laws between RMI and KHI. KHI promotes the post-early-stage amplitude growth and its contribution is related positively to $\theta _{i}$. An evident exponential-like amplitude evolution behaviour emerges in RM-KHI with a relatively strong shock and large $\theta _{i}$. The linear model proposed by Mikaelian (Phys. Fluids, vol. 6, 1994, pp. 1943–1945) is valid for RM-KHI within the linear period. In contrast, the adaptive vortex model (Sohn et al., Phys. Rev. E, vol. 82, 2010, p. 046711) can effectively predict both the interface morphology and overall amplitude evolutions from the linear to nonlinear regimes.

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 potential threshold for dietary energy intake (DEI) that might prevent protein-energy wasting (PEW) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is uncertain. The subjects were non-dialysis CKD patients aged ≥ 14 years who were hospitalised from September 2019 to July 2022. PEW was measured by subjective global assessment. DEI and dietary protein intake (DPI) were obtained by 3-d diet recalls. Patients were divided into adequate DEI group and inadequate DEI group according to DEI ≥ 30 or < 30 kcal/kg/d. Logistic regression analysis and restricted cubic spline were used in this study. We enrolled 409 patients, with 53·8 % had hypertension and 18·6 % had diabetes. The DEI and DPI were 27·63 (sd 5·79) kcal/kg/d and 1·00 (0·90, 1·20) g/kg/d, respectively. 69·2 % of participants are in the inadequate DEI group. Malnutrition occurred in 18·6 % of patients. Comparing with patients in the adequate DEI group, those in the inadequate DEI group had significantly lower total lymphocyte count, serum cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol and a higher prevalence of PEW. For every 1 kcal/kg/d increase in DEI, the incidence of PEW was reduced by 12·0 % (OR: 0·880, 95 % CI: 0·830, 0·933, P < 0·001). There was a nonlinear curve relationship between DEI and PEW (overall P < 0·001), and DEI ≥ 27·6 kcal/kg/d may have a preventive effect on PEW in CKD. Low DPI was also significantly associated with malnutrition, but not when DEI was adequate. Decreased energy intake may be a more important factor of PEW in CKD than protein intake.

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.

This paper retrospectively analysed the prevalence of macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MRMP) in some parts of China. Between January 2013 and December 2019, we collected 4,145 respiratory samples, including pharyngeal swabs and alveolar lavage fluid. The highest PCR-positive rate of M. pneumoniae was 74.5% in Beijing, the highest resistance rate was 100% in Shanghai, and Gansu was the lowest with 20%. The highest PCR-positive rate of M. pneumoniae was 74.5% in 2013, and the highest MRMP was 97.4% in 2019; the PCR-positive rate of M. pneumoniae for adults in Beijing was 17.9% and the MRMP was 10.48%. Among the children diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), the PCR-positive and macrolide-resistant rates of M. pneumoniae were both higher in the severe ones. A2063G in domain V of 23S rRNA was the major macrolide-resistant mutation, accounting for more than 90%. The MIC values of all MRMP to erythromycin and azithromycin were ≥ 64 μg/ml, and the MICs of tetracycline and levofloxacin were ≤ 0.5 μg/ml and ≤ 1 μg/ml, respectively. The macrolide resistance varied in different regions and years. Among inpatients, the macrolide-resistant rate was higher in severe pneumonia. A2063G was the common mutation, and we found no resistance to tetracycline and levofloxacin.

Soft drink consumption has become a highly controversial public health issue. Given the pattern of consumption in China, sugar-sweetened beverage is the main type of soft drink consumed. Due to containing high levels of fructose, a soft drink may have a deleterious effect on handgrip strength (HGS) due to oxidative stress, inflammation and insulin resistance. However, few studies show an association between soft drink consumption and HGS in adults. We aimed to investigate the association between soft drink consumption and longitudinal changes in HGS among a Chinese adult population. A longitudinal population-based cohort study (5-year follow-up, median: 3·66 years) was conducted in Tianjin, China. A total of 11 125 participants (56·7 % men) were enrolled. HGS was measured using a handheld digital dynamometer. Soft drink consumption (mainly sugar-containing carbonated beverages) was measured at baseline using a validated FFQ. ANCOVA was used to evaluate the association between soft drink consumption and annual change in HGS or weight-adjusted HGS. After adjusting for multiple confounding factors, the least square means (95 % CI) of annual change in HGS across soft drink consumption frequencies were −0·70 (–2·49, 1·09) for rarely drinks, −0·82 (–2·62, 0·97) for < 1 cup/week and −0·86 (–2·66, 0·93) for ≥ 1 cup/week (Pfor trend < 0·05). Likewise, a similar association was observed between soft drink consumption and annual change in weight-adjusted HGS. The results indicate that higher soft drink consumption was associated with faster HGS decline in Chinese adults.

Natural clays are often employed as substrates for heterogeneous catalysts. However, the direct use of raw clays as catalysts has received less research attention. The objective of the present study was to help fill this gap by investigating catalytic properties of raw pelagic clays (PC) collected from the Indian Ocean. The raw PC were discovered to be efficient catalysts in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in the presence of NaBH4. The effects of parameters including pH values, dosages of PC, and initial concentration of 4-NP and NaBH4 on the conversion or degradation rate of 4-NP have been investigated. The 4-NP was observed to be completely degraded within 480 s under conditions of 0.10 mM 4-NP, 25.0 mM NaBH4, and 0.20 g/L PC at an initial pH value of 7.0. The apparent rate constant was evaluated to be 27.53 × 10–3 s–1. Unlike previous pseudo-first order kinetics experiments, the induction period and degradation stages were observed to occur simultaneously during the PC catalysis. The S-shaped kinetics for 4-NP conversion was found to be perfectly matched by Fermi's function, and the enzyme-like catalysis by PC was appointed to describe the kinetics. Species of Fe(III), Mn(IV), and Mn(III) in PC were found to be essential, and were partly reduced to Fe(0) and Mn(II) by NaBH4 in our reaction, contributing to rapid conversion of 4-NP to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). The raw PC was converted to magnetic PC (m-PC) particles, which made PC particles separate easily for cycling use. This discovery would also have applications in continuous flow-fluid catalysis.

Deubiquitinases are a group of proteins that identify and digest monoubiquitin chains or polyubiquitin chains attached to substrate proteins, preventing the substrate protein from being degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Deubiquitinases regulate cellular autophagy, metabolism and oxidative stress by acting on different substrate proteins. Recent studies have revealed that deubiquitinases act as a critical regulator in various cardiac diseases, and control the onset and progression of cardiac disease through a board range of mechanism. This review summarizes the function of different deubiquitinases in cardiac disease, including cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial infarction and diabetes mellitus-related cardiac disease. Besides, this review briefly recapitulates the role of deubiquitinases modulators in cardiac disease, providing the potential therapeutic targets in the future.

Functional montmorillonite can be dispersed in polymer coatings and organic species and polymers can be intercalated into the interlayer space or grafted onto the surface of the functional montmorillonite. The addition of functional montmorillonite into polymer-based coatings can significantly improve anti-corrosion, refractory, super-hydrophobicity, antibacterial activity, and absorption of solar radiation by the resulting montmorillonite/polymer coatings. Montmorillonite can be functionalized for this purpose by ion exchange, intercalation, exfoliation, or combinations of these treatments. The rigid montmorillonite layers interspersed within the polymer matrix inhibit the penetration of corrosive substances, minimize the impact of high-temperature airflow, and thereby lead to strong resistance of the coating to corrosion and fire. The combination of polymers and dispersed montmorillonite nanolayers, which are modified by metal ions, metal oxides, and hydrophobic organic species, allows the resulting  composite coating to have quite a rough surface and a much smaller surface free energy so that the montmorillonite/polymer coating possesses superhydrophobicity. The interlayer space of functional montmorillonite can also host or encapsulate antibacterial substances, phase-change materials, and solar energy-absorbing materials. Moreover, it can act as a template to make these guest species exist in a more stable and ordered state. Literature surveys suggest that future work on the functional montmorillonite/polymer coatings should be targeted at the manufacture of functional montmorillonite nanolayers by finding more suitable modifiers and tuning the dispersion and funtionalities of montmorillonite in the coatings.

Graphite phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a non-metal semiconductor material with a suitable band gap (2.7 eV) for visible photocatalysis. However, the high cost of relevant synthesis methods and poor adsorption performance have limited its practical applications. The objective of the present study was to mitigate these problems by synthesizing the g-C3N4 in the presence of exfoliated montmorillonite (Mnt). Compared with bulk montmorillonite, the specific surface area of exfoliated two-dimensional Mnt layers was significantly increased. As a result, the light transmittance of the lamella improved noticeably due to the fact that a freshly exposed surface had a large number of active reaction sites, making Mnt an excellent carrier for the photocatalyst g-C3N4. In order to improve the photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4, a series of g-C3N4/Mnt composites was prepared by a wet chemical method using Mnt nanolayers as the matrix. X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller nitrogen adsorption/desorption, transmission electron microscopy, and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were used to analyze the phase structure, the chemical bonds, the specific surface area and pore sizes, the morphology, and the light absorption characteristics of the composites, respectively. Rhodamine B (RhB) served as the target dye to test the photocatalytic degradation performance of the composites under visible light. According to the findings, the surface of the Mnt nanolayers was densely and uniformly covered by g-C3N4, forming a multi-layered stack structure. An increase of the calcination temperature improved the crystallinity of g-C3N4, leading first to densification and then to relaxation of the layered composite structure. Conversely, the band gap of the composite gradually decreased from 2.56 to 2.4 eV. Furthermore, temperature exposure changed the photocatalytic performance of the composite drastically. While the largest photocatalytic activity was observed at 610°C, it started to decrease with further heating of the composite. The complete degradation of RhB solution occurred after 2 h of visible light irradiation. The findings of the current study provide a scientific basis for the synthesis of a new generation of photocatalysts.

Soil aggregates consist of sand, silt, and clay size particles. Many of the clay size particles in soils are clay minerals, which actively influence soil behavior. The properties of clay minerals may change significantly as soil particle size decreases to the nanoscale; however, little information is available about these properties for the Ultisols in China. In the present study, the clay mineral components and structural characteristics of four particle-size fractions (i.e., <2000, 450–2000, 100–450, and 25–100 nm) of two Ultisol samples (Ult-1 and Ult-2) were investigated using elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. The molar SiO2 to Al2O3 ratios were lower in the nanoscale particle-size fraction (25–100 nm) than in the 450–2000 and <2000 nm fractions. This indicates greater desilicification and allitization of the smaller Ultisol particles. Furthermore, the Fe oxide and Al oxide contents increased and reached a maximum level in the 25–100 nm fraction of the two Ultisols. Goethite was mainly found in the 100–450 nm and 25–100 nm fractions. The dominant clay minerals in the Ultisol 25–100 nm fraction were kaolinite and illite with a small amount of a hydroxy-interlayered mineral in Ult-1 and gibbsite in Ult-2. The kaolinite crystallinity decreased as particle size decreased. The low crystallinity of the kaolinite in the A horizon 25–100 nm fraction was attributed to a reduction in the thickness of coherent scattering domains, as well as to decreases in OH groups and the dimensions of octahedral AlO6 sheets. A determination of the chemical and mineralogic properties of the different size fractions of the Ultisols is important to understand the desilicification and Al and Fe oxide enrichment mechanisms during soil formation. The significance of these results can help to reveal the nanoscale transformations of clay minerals. Analysis of clay mineral compositions in nanoparticles can provide the additional data needed to understand the adsorption and mobility of nutrients and pollutants.