Chronic inflammation exerts pleiotropic effects in the aetiology and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glucosamine is widely used in many countries and may have anti-inflammatory properties. We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD risk and explore whether such association could be modified by smoking in the UK Biobank cohort, which recruited more than half a million participants aged 40–69 years from across the UK between 2006 and 2010. Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for potential confounding factors were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) as well as 95 % CI for the risk of incident COPD. During a median follow-up of 8·96 years (interquartile range 8·29–9·53 years), 9016 new-onset events of COPD were documented. We found that the regular use of glucosamine was associated with a significantly lower risk of incident COPD with multivariable adjusted HR of 0·80 (95 % CI, 0·75, 0·85; P < 0·001). When subgroup analyses were performed by smoking status, the adjusted HR for the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD were 0·84 (0·73, 0·96), 0·84 (0·77, 0·92) and 0·71 (0·62, 0·80) among never smokers, former smokers and current smokers, respectively. No significant interaction was observed between glucosamine use and smoking status (P for interaction = 0·078). Incident COPD could be reduced by 14 % to 84 % through a combination of regular glucosamine use and smoking cessation.

Few studies have explored the relationship between dietary patterns and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Evidence from non-Western areas is particularly lacking. In the present study, we aimed to examine the associations between dietary patterns and the risk of GDM in a Chinese population. A total of 3063 pregnant Chinese women from an ongoing prospective cohort study were included. Data on dietary intake were collected using a FFQ at 24–27 weeks of gestation. GDM was diagnosed using a 75 g, 2 h oral glucose tolerance test. Dietary patterns were determined by principal components factor analysis. A log-binomial regression model was used to examine the associations between dietary pattern and the risk of GDM. The analysis identified four dietary patterns: vegetable pattern; protein-rich pattern; prudent pattern; sweets and seafood pattern. Multivariate analysis showed that the highest tertile of the vegetable pattern was associated with a decreased risk of GDM (relative risk (RR) 0·79, 95 % CI 0·64, 0·97), compared with the lowest tertile, whereas the highest tertile of the sweets and seafood pattern was associated with an increased risk of GDM (RR 1·23, 95 % CI 1·02, 1·49). No significant association was found for either the protein-rich or the prudent pattern. The protective effect of a high vegetable pattern score was more evident among women who had a family history of diabetes (P for interaction = 0·022). These findings suggest that the vegetable pattern was associated with a decreased risk of GDM, while the sweets and seafood pattern was associated with an increased risk of GDM. These findings may be useful in dietary counselling during pregnancy.

We review the present status and future prospects of fast ignition (FI) research of the theoretical group at the IAPCM (Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing) as a part of the inertial confinement fusion project. Since the approval of the FI project at the IAPCM, we have devoted our efforts to improving the integrated codes for FI and designing advanced targets together with the experimental group. Recent FI experiments [K. U. Akli et al., Phys. Rev. E 86, 065402 (2012)] showed that the petawatt laser beam energy was not efficiently converted into the compressed core because of the beam divergence of relativistic electron beams. The coupling efficiency can be improved in three ways: (1) using a cone–wire-in-shell advanced target to enhance the transport efficiency, (2) using external magnetic fields to collimate fast electrons, and (3) reducing the prepulse level of the petawatt laser beam. The integrated codes for FI, named ICFI, including a radiation hydrodynamic code, a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation code, and a hybrid fluid–PIC code, have been developed to design this advanced target at the IAPCM. The Shenguang-II upgraded laser facility has been constructed for FI research; it consists of eight beams (in total $24~ {\rm kJ}/3\omega $, 3 ns) for implosion compression, and a heating laser beam (0.5–1 kJ, 3–5 ps) for generating the relativistic electron beam. A fully integrated FI experiment is scheduled for the 2014 project.

We have constructed a Main galaxy subsample of 67777 galaxies with redshifts in the range 0.08 ≤ z ≤ 0.12 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3. Using cluster analysis, two isolated Main galaxy samples were extracted from this subsample. The two isolated Main galaxy samples identified at different radii have the same properties. Additionally, we find fewer early-type galaxies in isolated Main galaxy samples than in a close double galaxy sample.

The ability of silver (Ag)-containing borate bioactive glass (BG) coatings to improve the biocompatibility and antibacterial properties of titanium (Ti) implants was investigated in vitro and in vivo in a rabbit tibial fracture model. Dense coatings of borate BG (thickness ≈ 20 μm) containing 0, 0.75, and 1.0 wt% Ag2O were prepared by depositing a layer of particles on Ti plates, followed by sintering at 900 °C. The as-prepared coatings had an adhesive strength of 10 ± 1 MPa, and when immersed in an aqueous phosphate (K2HPO4) solution, the coatings converted to hydroxyapatite, releasing Ag+ ions continuously for over 4 wk. After implantation of BG-coated Ti constructs in a rabbit tibial fracture model and of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-induced osteomyelitis, the BG coating doped with 1.0 wt% Ag2O was most effective for the simultaneous eradication of the infection and fracture fixation. Implants coated with Ag-containing BG coatings could provide an approach for reducing implant-related bone infection.

Polyploid mouse embryos are important models for understanding the mechanisms of cleavage and preimplantation development in mammals. In this study, hexaploid (6n) mouse embryos were produced by the electrofusion of blastomeres from diploid (2n) and tetraploid (4n) embryos at the 2-cell stage. Furthermore, the developmental pattern of hexaploid embryos was evaluated by blastocyst rate, cell number, karyotype analysis, cytoskeleton staining and Oct-4 immunofluorescence. The results showed that 72.7% of the hexaploid embryos were able to develop to the blastocyst stage, which is a lower number than that found with normal diploid embryos (98.0%, p < 0.05). The cell number in hexaploid blastocyst was 12.3 ± 2.0, which was less than that found in diploid or tetraploid blastocysts (41.2 ± 7.2; 18.4 ± 3.5). Karyotype analysis confirmed that the number of chromosomes in hexaploid embryos was 120. β-Tubulin and Oct-4 immunofluorescence indicated that the hexaploid blastocysts were nearly lacking inner cell mass (ICM), but some blastomeres did show Oct-4-positive expression.

The period from March to mid April, when oriental armyworm Mythimna separata (Walker) moths migrate from South China to Central China over several nights, is an important window of time in annual armyworm population increase. The presence of nectar sources along the pathway of the migratory population is a prerequisite for moths to reach target habitats and lay eggs. Using flowering periods and geographic distributions, the major spring nectar plants suitable for M. separata moths were identified from among 102 species/varieties of apicultural nectar plants. The nectar plants proposed as important to M. separata include milk vetch Astragalus sinicus L., rape Brassica napa L. and six other species. Spearman's rank correlation analyses were conducted between the annual population size of M. separata and the acreages of milk vetch and rape in the daily stopover areas for migrating populations of M. separata during 1950–1979. The Spearman's coefficient between milk vetch and M. separata was 0.6259 and the correlation was highly significant (P<0.001). Further regression analysis with data from 1950–1979 and from 1980–1992 also revealed a close relationship between annual acreage of damaged crops/wheat and acreage of milk vetch. These results strongly suggest that the unprecedented enlargement in the geographic distribution of milk vetch from Central China into South China was the key factor in the frequent severe oriental armyworm outbreaks that occurred during 1966–1977. This is thought to be the first report in the world that reveals the key role of nectar sources in long distance, regional scale, migration of moths. The argument for the key role of milk vetch is supported by the simultaneous decline in the level of damage inflicted by M. separata and the acreage of milk vetch after 1980.

Medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs) belong to the group of microbial polyesters. The key enzyme for mcl-PHA biosynthesis is type II PHA synthase. The gene phaC2 encoding type II PHA synthase was placed under the control of psbA-pro and psbA-ter of rice (Oryza sativa) to construct a phaC2 cassette, which was ligated with the screening marker gene aadA cassette (prrn–aadA–TpsbA-ter). These recombined fragments were cloned between the plastid rbcL and accD genes for targeting to the large single copy region of the chloroplast genome. A chloroplast transformation vector, pTC2, was constructed and introduced into the tobacco (Nicotiana tobacum) chloroplast genome by particle bombardment. PCR and Southern blot analysis confirmed stable integration of phaC2 into the chloroplast genomes of T0 and T1 transgenic plants, and T1 transgenic plants exhibited homoplasmy. The expression of phaC2 at transcription level was detected by reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Recombinant transgenes in the tobacco chloroplast genome were maternally inherited and were not transmitted via pollen when out-crossed with untransformed female plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the stable transformation of phaC2 encoding type II PHA synthase in tobacco via chloroplast genetic engineering.

During an investigation of mycoparasitic fungi on sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in China, a new fungal species was consistently encountered and isolated from natural soils taken from soybean fields of Shandong and Jiangsu Provinces. The fungus is featured by its sphaeroid conidia with 1–2 transverse septa, but mostly (>65%) with only one septum at the base. It resembles Monacrosporium indicum, M. sphaeroides and M. sinense, but can be distinguished from the first two species by lack of basal hila and large vacuoles on its conidia, respectively, and from M. sinense by its typically two-celled and broadly turbinate to napiform conidia. Colonization frequencies on S. sclerotiorum sclerotia by the new species were 10% and 33.3% in the two field soils, respectively, when the sclerotia were introduced into soils and coincubated at 22–24 °C for 4 wk. Reinoculation tests by placing surface-sterilized sclerotia onto the tested isolate colony for 2 wk and then surface-sterilized again resulted in 23.3% sclerotia colonized. Microscopic observations indicated that the fungus coiled around hyphae of Rhizoctonia solani and grew along and appressed to hyphae of Fusarium solani f.sp. pisi, S. sclerotiorum and Phytophthora cactorum when dual-cultured in slides. Tests on agar plates demonstrated that the fungus formed adhesive networks and was an active predator of Panagrellus redivivus. This study indicated the diverse mechanisms for the fungus to survive in soil. For expression of its mycoparasitic and nematode-trapping capacities, the fungus is named as Monacrosporium janus.