Despite global efforts to end tuberculosis (TB), the goal of preventing catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) due to TB remains unmet. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Guizhou Province, Southwest China. Data were collected from the Hospital Information System and a survey of TB patients who had completed standardized antituberculosis treatment between January and March 2021. Among the 2 283 participants, the average total expenditure and out-of-pocket expenditure were $1 506.6 (median = $760.5) and $683.6 (median = $437.8), respectively. Health insurance reimbursement reduced CHE by 16.8%, with a contribution rate of 24.9%, and the concentration index changed from -0.070 prereimbursement to -0.099 postreimbursement. However, the contribution of health insurance varied significantly across different economic strata, with contribution rates of 6.4% for the lowest economic group and 53.1% for the highest group. For patients from lower socioeconomic strata, health insurance contributed 10.7% to CHE in the prediagnostic phase and 23.5% during treatment. While social health insurance alleviated the financial burden for TB patients, it did not provide sufficient protection for those in lower economic strata or during the prediagnostic stage. This study underscores the need for more effective and equitable subsidy policies for TB patients .

The seminal Bolgiano–Obukhov (BO) theory established the fundamental framework for turbulent mixing and energy transfer in stably stratified fluids. However, the presence of BO scalings remains debatable despite their being observed in stably stratified atmospheric layers and convective turbulence. In this study, we performed precise temperature measurements with 51 high-resolution loggers above the seafloor for 46 h on the continental shelf of the northern South China Sea. The temperature observation exhibits three layers with increasing distance from the seafloor: the bottom mixed layer (BML), the mixing zone and the internal wave zone. A BO-like scaling $\alpha =-1.34\pm 0.10$ is observed in the temperature spectrum when the BML is in a weakly stable stratified ($N\sim 0.0018$ rad s$^{-1}$) and strongly sheared ($Ri\sim 0.0027$) condition, whereas in the unstably stratified convective turbulence of the BML, the scaling $\alpha =-1.76\pm 0.10$ clearly deviated from the BO theory but approached the classical $-$5/3 scaling in isotropic turbulence. This suggests that the convective turbulence is not the promise of BO scaling. In the mixing zone, where internal waves alternately interact with the BML, the scaling follows the Kolmogorov scaling. In the internal wave zone, the scaling $\alpha =-2.12 \pm 0.15$ is observed in the turbulence range and possible mechanisms are provided.

Schistosomiasis, a parasite infectious disease caused by Schistosoma japonicum, often leads to egg granuloma and fibrosis due to the inflammatory reaction triggered by egg antigens released in the host liver. This study focuses on the role of the egg antigens CP1412 protein of S. japonicum (SjCP1412) with RNase activity in promoting liver fibrosis. In this study, the recombinant egg ribonuclease SjCP1412, which had RNase activity, was successfully prepared. By analysing the serum of the population, it has been proven that the anti-SjCP1412 IgG in the serum of patients with advanced schistosomiasis was moderately correlated with liver fibrosis, and SjCP1412 may be an important antigen associated with liver fibrosis in schistosomiasis. In vitro, the rSjCP1412 protein induced the human liver cancer cell line Hep G2 and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells apoptosis and necrosis and the release of proinflammatory damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). In mice infected with schistosomes, rSjCP1412 immunization or antibody neutralization of SjCP1412 activity significantly reduced cell apoptosis and necroptosis in liver tissue, thereby reducing inflammation and liver fibrosis. In summary, the SjCP1412 protein plays a crucial role in promoting liver fibrosis during schistosomiasis through mediating the liver cells apoptosis and necroptosis to release DAMPs inducing an inflammatory reaction. Blocking SjCP1412 activity could inhibit its proapoptotic and necrotic effects and alleviate hepatic fibrosis. These findings suggest that SjCP1412 may be served as a promising drug target for managing liver fibrosis in schistosomiasis japonica.

Varicella is a highly infectious contagious disease, and Chongqing is one of the high incidence areas in China. To understand the epidemic regularity and predict the epidemic trend of varicella is of great significance to the risk analysis and health resource allocation in the health sector. First, we used the ‘STL’ function to decompose the incidence of varicella to understand its trend and seasonality. Second, we established SARIMA model for linear fitting, and then took the residual of the SARIMA model as the sample to fit the LS-SVM model, to explain the non-linearity of the residuals. The monthly varicella incidence peaks in April to June and October to December. Mixed model was compared to SARIMA model, the prediction error of the hybrid model was smaller, and the RMSE and MAPE values of the hybrid model were 0.7525 and 0.0647, respectively, the mixed model had a better prediction effect. Based on the study, the incidence of varicella in Chongqing has an obvious seasonal trend, and a hybrid model can also predict the incidence of varicella well. Thus, hybrid model analysis is a feasible and simple method to predict varicella in Chongqing.

Toxoplasma gondii can infect almost all warm-blooded vertebrates with pathogensis being largely influenced by the host immune status. As important epidemiological hosts, rodents are globally distributed and are also commonly found infected with haemoflagellates, such as those in the genus Trypanosoma. We here address whether and how co-infection with trypanosomes can influence T. gondii infection in laboratory models. Rats of five strains, co-infected with T. lewisi and mice of four strains, co-infected with T. musculi, were found to be more or less susceptible to T. gondii infection, respectively, with corresponding increased or decreased brain cyst burdens. Downregulation of iNOS expression and decreased NO production or reverse were observed in the peritoneal macrophages of rats or mice, infected with trypanosomes, respectively. Trypanosoma lewisi and T. musculi can modulate host immune responses, either by enhancement or suppression and influence the outcome of Toxoplasma infection.

We present the experimental optimization of electrons in the several hundred keV energy range originated from laser-irradiated wire targets. Accelerated by a femtosecond laser pulse, an electron pulse emitted from the wire target was collimated immediately along the wire to a filter unit for the manipulation of energy and spatial distributions. It is shown in simulation that with a pair of magnets as the filter unit, the optimized electrons could serve as a compact and tunable electron source. The proposed system was demonstrated in a proof-of-principle experiment where we attained 1 fC bunch charge with transverse coherence length approaching 1 nm based on a 0.2 TW laser platform. This indicates the scheme as a promising candidate for single-shot electron diffraction.

Energy chirp compensation of the electron bunch (e-bunch) in a laser wakefield accelerator, which is caused by the phase space rotation in the gradient wakefield, has been applied in many schemes for low energy spread e-bunch generation. We report the experimental observation of energy chirp compensation of the e-bunch in a nonlinear laser wakefield accelerator with a negligible beam loading effect. By adjusting the acceleration length using a wedge-roof block, the chirp compensation of the accelerated e-bunch was observed via an electron spectrometer. Apart from this, some significant parameters for the compensation process, such as the longitudinal dispersion and wakefield slope at the bunch position, were also estimated. A detailed comparison between experiment and simulation shows good agreement of the wakefield and bunch parameters. These results give a clear demonstration of the longitudinal characteristics of the wakefield in a plasma and the bunch dynamics, which are important for better control of a compact laser wakefield accelerator.

In this study, we investigate a new simple scheme using a planar undulator (PU) together with a properly dispersed electron beam ($e$ beam) with a large energy spread (${\sim}1\%$) to enhance the free-electron laser (FEL) gain. For a dispersed $e$ beam in a PU, the resonant condition is satisfied for the center electrons, while the frequency detuning increases for the off-center electrons, inhibiting the growth of the radiation. The PU can act as a filter for selecting the electrons near the beam center to achieve the radiation. Although only the center electrons contribute, the radiation can be enhanced significantly owing to the high-peak current of the beam. Theoretical analysis and simulation results indicate that this method can be used for the improvement of the radiation performance, which has great significance for short-wavelength FEL applications.

Here we report our recent prediction of the solar cycle 25 based on a newly developed scheme, which is used to investigate the predictability of the solar cycle over one cycle. The scheme is a combination of the empirical properties of solar cycles and a surface flux transport model to get the possible axial dipole moment evolution at a few years before cycle minimum, by which to get the subsequent cycle strength based on the correlation between the axial dipole moment at cycle minimum and the subsequent cycle strength. We apply this scheme to predict the large-scale field evolution since 2018 onwards. The results show that the northern polar field will keep on increasing, while the southern polar field almost keeps flat by the end of cycle 24. This leads to the cycle 25 strength of 125 ± 32, which is about 10% stronger than cycle 24 according to the mean value.

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.

A series of self-assembled WO3–BiVO4 nanostructured thin films with 17, 25, 50, 67, and 100 mol% WO3 were grown on the (001) yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrate by pulsed laser deposition method. The microstructures including crystalline phases, epitaxial relationship, interface structures, and chemical composition distributions were investigated by a combination of various electron microscopy techniques including scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. The monoclinic BiVO4 formed the matrix, in which WO3 nanopillars were embedded with specific epitaxial relationships. In BiVO4-rich sample, orthorhombic Bi2WO6 was formed. However, metastable hexagonal WO3 phase and orthorhombic WO3 phase coexisted in other composite samples. The thin amorphous layer at the film/substrate interface indicated that the mismatch strain between films and substrate is released. The hydrostatic tensile strain due to thermal expansion mismatch between BiVO4 and WO3 as well as the diffusion of Bi into the WO3 stabilized the metastable h-WO3. A WO3–BiVO4 pseudobinary phase diagram was proposed based on the magnitude of the thermal expansion mismatch and the distance of Bi diffusion, which can be applied to design the microstructures of WO3–BiVO4 heterojunctions and optimize their photoelectrochemical properties.

For a self-similar or self-affine iterated function system (IFS), let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$ be the self-similar or self-affine measure and $K$ be the self-similar or self-affine set. Assume that the IFS satisfies the weak separation condition and $K$ is totally disconnected; then, by using the technique of neighborhood decomposition, we prove that there is a neighborhood $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FA}$ of the identity map Id such that $\sup \{\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(g(K)\cap K):g\in \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FA}\setminus \{\text{Id}\}\}<1$.

In this study the influence of cell tilting on flow dynamics and heat transport is explored experimentally within a rectangular cell (aspect ratios ${\it\Gamma}_{x}=1$ and ${\it\Gamma}_{y}=0.25$). The measurements are carried out over a wide range of tilt angles ($0\leqslant {\it\beta}\leqslant {\rm\pi}/2\ \text{rad}$) at a constant Prandtl number ($\mathit{Pr}\simeq 6.3$) and Rayleigh number ($\mathit{Ra}\simeq 4.42\times 10^{9}$). The velocity measurements reveal that the large-scale circulation (LSC) is sensitive to the symmetry of the system. In the level case, the high-velocity band of the LSC concentrates at about a quarter of the cell width from the boundary. As the cell is slightly tilted (${\it\beta}\simeq 0.04\ \text{rad}$), the position of the high-velocity band quickly moves towards the boundary. With increasing ${\it\beta}$, the LSC changes gradually from oblique ellipse-like to square-like, and other more complicated patterns. Oscillations have been found in the temperature and velocity fields for almost all ${\it\beta}$, and are strongest at around ${\it\beta}\simeq 0.48\ \text{rad}$. As ${\it\beta}$ increases, the Reynolds number ($\mathit{Re}$) initially also increases, until it reaches its maximum at the transition angle ${\it\beta}=0.15\ \text{rad}$, after which it gradually decreases. The cell tilting causes a pronounced reduction of the Nusselt number ($\mathit{Nu}$). As ${\it\beta}$ increases from 0 to 0.15, 1.05 and ${\rm\pi}/2\ \text{rad}$, the reduction of $\mathit{Nu}$ is approximately 1.4 %, 5 % and 18 %, respectively. Over the ranges of $0\leqslant {\it\beta}\leqslant 0.15\ \text{rad}$, $0.15\leqslant {\it\beta}\leqslant 1.05\ \text{rad}$ and $1.05\leqslant {\it\beta}\leqslant {\rm\pi}/2\ \text{rad}$, the decay slopes are $8.57\times 10^{-2}$, $3.27\times 10^{-2}$ and $0.24\ \text{rad}^{-1}$, respectively.

In the present study, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the ability of leucine supplementation to increase the muscle protein fraction synthetic rate and to augment lean body mass or leg lean mass in elderly patients. A literature search was conducted on Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE and Google Scholar databases up to 31 December 2013 for clinical trials that investigated the administration of leucine as a nutrient that affects muscle protein metabolism and muscle mass in elderly subjects. The included studies were randomised controlled trials. The primary outcome for the meta-analysis was the protein fractional synthetic rate. Secondary outcomes included lean body mass and leg lean mass. A total of nine studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that the muscle protein fractional synthetic rate after intervention significantly increased in the leucine group compared with the control group (pooled standardised difference in mean changes 1·08, 95 % CI 0·50, 1·67; P< 0·001). No difference was found between the groups in relation to lean body mass (pooled standardised difference in mean changes 0·18, 95 % CI − 0·18, 0·54; P= 0·318) or leg lean mass (pooled standardised difference in mean changes 0·006, 95 % CI − 0·32, 0·44; P= 0·756). These findings suggest that leucine supplementation is useful to address the age-related decline in muscle mass in elderly individuals, as it increases the muscle protein fractional synthetic rate.

Based on 187 galaxy clusters identified from the photometric redshifts of galaxies in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field(Wen & Han 2011), cluster galaxies brighter than MV = -20.5 are classified into four categories according to their best-fitting templates of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) provided by Ilbert et al. (2009): early-type (including elliptical and lenticular) galaxies (E+S0), spiral galaxies (S), irregular galaxies (Irr), and starbursts (SB). The fractions of these four SED types are presented as the functions of redshift in Figure 1. Fraction of each category varies remarkably with cluster redshift: fractions of normal galaxies (E+S0+S+Irr) tend to decrease with redshift, whilst the starburst proportion tends to increase with redshift. For the normal galaxies, there exists a sequence for the decreasing slopes of morphological fractions. Majority of the galaxies in high-redshift clusters (z > 1.0) are experiencing strong star-formation activities, which leads to a very high proportion of starburst.

It is well known that c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) plays pivotal roles in various mitotic events, but its function in mammalian oocyte meiosis remains unknown. In this study, we found that no specific JNK2 signal was detected in germinal vesicle stage. JNK2 was associated with the spindles especially the spindle poles and cytoplasmic microtubule organizing centers at prometaphase I, metaphase I, and metaphase II stages. JNK2 became diffusely distributed and associated with the midbody at telophase I stage. Injection of myc-tagged JNK2α1 mRNA into oocytes also revealed its localization on spindle poles. The association of JNK2 with spindle poles was further confirmed by colocalization with the centrosomal proteins, γ-tubulin and Plk1. Nocodazole treatment showed that JNK2 may interact with Plk1 to regulate the spindle assembly. Then we investigated the possible function of JNK2 by JNK2 antibody microinjection and JNK specific inhibitor SP600125 treatment. These two manipulations caused abnormal spindle formation and decreased the rate of first polar body (PB1) extrusion. In addition, inhibition of JNK2 resulted in impaired localization of Plk1. Taken together, our results suggest that JNK2 plays an important role in spindle assembly and PB1 extrusion during mouse oocyte meiotic maturation.

Bacillus cereus can produce α-amylase, which has important industrial production value and can endure high temperatures. The enzymatic characteristics of two α-amylases from B. cereus (B905 and B904) were studied. The results showed that both preserved their activity at 90–100°C. Their thermal stability and enzymatic activity did not depend on Ca2+. However, their protein molecular weights were obviously different. The structural genes of amy905 and amy904 were cloned successfully using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and expressed in Escherichia coli. The amy904 and amy905 genes were 1362 bp and 1761 bp long and their protein molecular weights were about 55 kDa and 68 kDa, respectively.

Simple sequence repeats (SSR) and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) molecular markers were used to assess the genetic diversity of 80 isolates of Phytophthora infestans in potato (Solanum tuberosum) from Fujian, Heilongjiang, Hebei and Inner Mongolia Provinces in China. Polymorphism was identified by 13 SSR primers and 14 RAPD primers in the isolates of P. infestans in potato. A total of 76 bands were amplified by SSRs, with the percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) being 78.9% and the similarity coefficient ranging between 0.00 and 0.42. A total of 189 bands were amplified by RAPDs, with the percentage of polymorphic bands being 95.2% and the similarity coefficient ranging between 0.04 and 0.66. Analysis of genetic diversity showed that there exists higher genetic variation in the Fujian population in comparison to the populations of Heilongjiang, Hebei and Inner Mongolia. Nei's genetic identity analysis indicates that the genetic similarity between populations of Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia is the highest and that between Fujian and Hebei is the lowest. A cluster analysis revealed that isolates from Fujian, in the south of China, are distantly related to those from Heilongjiang, Hebei and Inner Mongolia in the north, and the Fujian population is distributed among more groups than the other three, exhibiting a higher genetic diversity.