Previous studies revealed that consuming spicy food reduced mortality from CVD and lowered stroke risk. However, no studies reported the relationship between spicy food consumption, stroke types and dose–response. This study aimed to further explore the association between the frequency of spicy food intake and the risk of stroke in a large prospective cohort study. In this study, 50 174 participants aged 30–79 years were recruited. Spicy food consumption data were collected via a baseline survey questionnaire. Outcomes were incidence of any stroke, ischaemic stroke (IS) and haemorrhagic stroke (HS). Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models estimated the association between the consumption of spicy food and incident stroke. Restricted cubic spline analysis was used to examine the dose–response relationship. During the median 10·7-year follow-up, 3967 strokes were recorded, including 3494 IS and 516 HS. Compared with those who never/rarely consumed spicy food, those who consumed spicy food monthly, 1–2 d/week and 3–5 d/week had hazard ratio (HR) of 0·914 (95 % CI 0·841, 0·995), 0·869 (95 % CI 0·758, 0·995) and 0·826 (95 % CI 0·714, 0·956) for overall stroke, respectively. For IS, the corresponding HR) were 0·909 (95 % CI 0·832, 0·994), 0·831 (95 % CI 0·718, 0·962) and 0·813 (95 % CI 0·696, 0·951), respectively. This protective effect showed a U-shaped dose–response relationship. For obese participants, consuming spicy food ≥ 3 d/week was negatively associated with the risk of IS. We found the consumption of spicy food was negatively associated with the risk of IS and had a U-shaped dose–response relationship with risk of IS. Individuals who consumed spicy food 3–5 d/week had a significantly lowest risk of IS.

Derrida perhaps most interests Chinese Marxist scholars through his way of separating the spirit of Marx from the ‘‘specter’’ of Marx. All those things interpreted by Derrida as ‘‘specters’’ are mainly practiced in China after 1949. Since China’s historical transition began in 1978 those ‘‘specters’’ considered by Derrida include the challenge of economic reform, and economic globalization, and could also include public ownership which has been replaced by multiple owner-ship or stock ownership, as well as allocation according to contribution which has been replaced by allocation according to contribution combined with allocation according to capital investment. The predictable result is that income equality in theory or in practice has now given way to great income difference. These phenomena are opposite to those ‘‘specters’’ of Marx, and they are the targets of the critical spirit of Marx. When Derrida name those things as ‘‘specters’’ presumably this means they could never be actualized. So when those things actually disappeared again, people would like to accept the supposition that they are only ‘‘specters’’ and could not be objectified, while what actually could be practiced is the critical spirit of Marx. It is just the paradox of the ‘‘specters’’ and the spirit of Marx in the actual situation of China that brings it about that Derrida’s deconstructive method interests some Chinese Marxist scholars, especially the younger ones. In order to understand Derrida’s appeal in China better, we need to look at the general situation of Western Marxism in China.

Laser-induced damage threshold is the main limitation for fused silica optics in high-power laser applications. The existence of various defects near the surface is the key factor for the degradation of the threshold. In this work, the photoluminescence spectra at different regions of the damaged and recovered fused silica samples are recorded to analyze the correlation between photoluminescence of surface defects and laser-induced damage threshold. The experimental data concluded the inverse proportional correlation between fluorescence and laser-induced damage threshold value. The weak photoluminescence is the guarantee of the high laser-induced damage threshold, and then the higher local Si nanocluster concentration corresponds with the higher laser-induced damage threshold value for the fused silica optics after CO2 laser treatment. The investigation reveals that photoluminescence measurement can be employed to check the quality of pristine fused silica and evaluate the tendency of the laser-induced damage threshold value. The current results are helpful for understanding the evolution of interaction from CO2 laser treatment and fused silica optics and can provide the guide of process technology for the high quality of fused silica optics.

This study aimed to investigate the causal effect of dietary habits on COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalisation and severity. We used data from a large-scale diet dataset and the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative to estimate causal relationships using Mendelian randomisation. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the main analysis. For COVID-19 susceptibility, IVW estimates indicated that milk (OR: 0·82; 95 % CI (0·68, 0·98); P = 0·032), unsalted peanut (OR: 0·53; 95 % CI (0·35, 0·82); P = 0·004), beef (OR: 0·59; 95 % CI (0·41, 0·84); P = 0·004), pork (OR: 0·63; 95 % CI (0·42, 0·93); P = 0·022) and processed meat (OR: 0·76; 95 % CI (0·63, 0·92); P = 0·005) were causally associated with reduced COVID-19 susceptibility, while coffee (OR: 1·23; 95 % CI (1·04, 1·45); P = 0·017) and tea (OR: 1·17; 95 % CI (1·05, 1·31); P = 0·006) were causally associated with increased risk. For COVID-19 hospitalisation, beef (OR: 0·51; 95 % CI (0·26, 0·98); P = 0·042) showed negative correlations, while tea (OR: 1·54; 95 % CI (1·16, 2·04); P = 0·003), dried fruit (OR: 2·08; 95 % CI (1·37, 3·15); P = 0·001) and red wine (OR: 2·35; 95 % CI (1·29, 4·27); P = 0·005) showed positive correlations. For COVID-19 severity, coffee (OR: 2·16; 95 % CI (1·25, 3·76); P = 0·006), dried fruit (OR: 1·98; 95 % CI (1·16, 3·37); P = 0·012) and red wine (OR: 2·84; 95 % CI (1·21, 6·68); P = 0·017) showed an increased risk. These findings were confirmed to be robust through sensitivity analyses. Our findings established a causal relationship between dietary habits and COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalisation and severity.

We report a systematic experimental study of the mean temperature profile $\theta (\delta z)$ and temperature variance profile $\eta (\delta z)$ across a stable and immiscible liquid–liquid (water–FC770) interface formed in two-layer turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection. The measured $\theta (\delta z)$ and $\eta (\delta z)$ as a function of distance $\delta z$ away from the interface for different Rayleigh numbers are found to have the scaling forms $\theta (\delta z/\lambda )$ and $\eta (\delta z/\lambda )$, respectively, with varying thermal boundary layer (BL) thickness $\lambda$. By a careful comparison with the simultaneously measured BL profiles near a solid conducting surface, we find that the measured $\theta (\delta z)$ and $\eta (\delta z)$ near the liquid interface can be well described by the BL equations for a solid wall, so long as a thermal slip length $\ell _T$ is introduced to account for the convective heat flux passing through the liquid interface. Direct numerical simulation results further confirm that the turbulent thermal diffusivity $\kappa _t$ near a stable liquid interface has a complete cubic form, $\kappa _t(\xi )/\kappa \sim (\xi +\xi _0)^3$, where $\kappa$ is the molecular thermal diffusivity of the convecting fluid, $\xi =\delta z/\lambda$ is the normalized distance away from the liquid interface and $\xi _0$ is the normalized slip length associated with $\ell _T$.

Routine coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) screening found 1 asymptomatic COVID-19 patient. An emergency sampling team was organized consisting of 1200 health-care workers, and a total of 3.2228 million COVID-19 samples had been collected and detected. This study summarizes the on-site management experience in large-scale COVID-19 nucleic acid testing from various aspects: staff preparation, materials preparation, site layout, logistics support, and information system support. Suggestions are put forward for the deficiencies and parts needing improvement. Such deficiencies included some sampling sites were not properly chosen, different areas were unclearly marked off from each other, and some site moving lines were confounding; how to communicate with the street service workers who had little professional knowledge on the epidemic spread or the working principles of the workflow and site layout; and the way to resolve conflicts on site.

We report a direct numerical simulation (DNS) study of the mean velocity and temperature profiles in turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection (RBC) at low Prandtl numbers ($Pr$). The numerical study is conducted in a vertical thin disk with $Pr$ varied in the range $0.17\leq Pr\leq 4.4$ and the Rayleigh number ($Ra$) varied in the range $5\times 10^8\leq Ra \leq 1\times 10^{10}$. By varying $Pr$ from 4.4 to 0.17, we find a sharp change of flow patterns for the large-scale circulation (LSC) from a rigid-body rotation to a near-wall turbulent jet. We numerically examine the mean velocity equation in the bulk region and find that the mean horizontal velocity profile $u(z)$ can be determined by a balance equation between the mean convection and turbulent diffusion with a constant turbulent viscosity $\nu _t$. This balance equation admits a self-similarity jet solution, which fits the DNS data well. In the boundary-layer region, we find that both the mean temperature profile $T(z)$ and $u(z)$ can be determined by a balance equation between the molecular diffusion and turbulent diffusion. Within the viscous boundary layer, both $u(z)$ and $T(z)$ can be solved analytically and the analytical results agree well with the DNS data. Our careful characterisation of the mean velocity and temperature profiles in low-$Pr$ RBC provides a further understanding of the intricate interplay between the LSC, plume emission and boundary-layer dynamics, and pinpoints the physical mechanism for the emergence of a pronounced LSC in low-$Pr$ RBC.

Parabronema skrjabini is one of the most harmful nematodes to camels and is responsible for economic losses in animal husbandry industry. There is an urgent need for in-depth studies of potential vectors of the nematode due to its scant regarding information. As previous studies indicated that flies may be the vectors of P. skrjabini, we captured flies in the main camel-producing areas of Inner Mongolia. After autopsy of the specimens of two species of horn flies, we observed the morphology of the suspected nematode larvae found in them. Internal transcribed spacer ribosomal-DNA gene sequences were considered the best candidate to confirm the species of the larvae found. Our results showed that the homology compared with P. skrjabini was 99.5% in GenBank. Subsequently, we preliminarily identified two species of horn flies through morphological observation and then sequenced the mitochondrial-DNA-gene cytochrome oxidase subunit I obtained from two species of horn flies, with 100 and 99.2% similarity to sequences deposited in GenBank, respectively. Thus, we identified Haematobia titillans and Haematobia irritans and provided evidence for their potential role as vectors of parabronemosis. Our study provides reference for future research on the life history of the nematode and the vectors of parabronemosis.

In this paper, we review the status of the multifunctional experimental platform at the National Laboratory of High Power Laser and Physics (NLHPLP). The platform, including the SG-II laser facility, SG-II 9th beam, SG-II upgrade (SG-II UP) facility, and SG-II 5 PW facility, is operational and available for interested scientists studying inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and a broad range of high-energy-density physics. These facilities can provide important experimental capabilities by combining different pulse widths of nanosecond, picosecond, and femtosecond scales. In addition, the SG-II UP facility, consisting of a single petawatt system and an eight-beam nanosecond system, is introduced including several laser technologies that have been developed to ensure the performance of the facility. Recent developments of the SG-II 5 PW facility are also presented.

We report a combined experimental and numerical study of the effect of boundary layer (BL) fluctuations on the scaling properties of the mean temperature profile $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}(z)$ and temperature variance profile $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}(z)$ in turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a thin disk cell and an upright cylinder of aspect ratio unity. Two scaling regions are found with increasing distance $z$ away from the bottom conducting plate. In the BL region, the measured $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}(z)$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}(z)$ are found to have the scaling forms $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}(z/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF})$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}(z/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF})$, respectively, with varying thermal BL thickness $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$. The functional forms of the measured $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}(z/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF})$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}(z/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF})$ in the two convection cells agree well with the recently derived BL equations by Shishkina et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 114, 2015, 114302) and by Wang et al. (Phys. Rev. Fluids, vol. 1, 2016, 082301). In the mixing zone outside the BL region, the measured $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}(z)$ remains approximately constant, whereas the measured $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}(z)$ is found to scale with the cell height $H$ in the two convection cells and follows a power law, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}(z)\sim (z/H)^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}}$, with the obtained values of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}$ being close to $-1$. Based on the experimental and numerical findings, we derive a new equation for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}(z)$ in the mixing zone, which has a power-law solution in good agreement with the experimental and numerical results. Our work demonstrates that the effect of BL fluctuations can be adequately described by the velocity–temperature correlation functions and the new BL equations capture the essential physics.

We present a high-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method for the time domain Maxwell's equations in three-dimensional heterogeneous media. New hierarchical orthonormal basis functions on unstructured tetrahedral meshes are used for spatial discretization while Runge-Kutta methods for time discretization. A uniaxial perfectly matched layer (UPML) is employed to terminate the computational domain. Exponential convergence with respect to the order of the basis functions is observed and large parallel speedup is obtained for a plane-wave scattering model. The rapid decay of the out-going wave in the UPML is shown in a dipole radiation simulation. Moreover, the low frequency electromagnetic fields excited by a horizontal electric dipole (HED) and a vertical magnetic dipole (VMD) over a layered conductive half-space and a high frequency ground penetrating radar (GPR) detection for an underground structure are investigated, showing the high accuracy and broadband simulation capability of the proposed method.

White sponge nevus (WSN) in the oral mucosa is a rare autosomal dominant genetic disease. The involved mucosa is white or greyish, thickened, folded and spongy. The genes associated with WSN include mutant cytokeratin keratin 4 (KRT4) and keratin 13 (KRT13). In recent years, new cases of WSN and associated mutations have been reported. Here, we summarise the recent progress in our understanding of WSN, including clinical reports, genetics, animal models, treatment, pathogenic mechanisms and future directions. Gene-based diagnosis and gene therapy for WSN may become available in the near future and could provide a reference and instruction for treating other KRT-associated diseases.

Taurine has been shown to be tissue protective in many models of oxidant-induced injury. However, its protective role against retinal damage induced by photochemical stress is less well known. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether dietary taurine reduced retinal photochemical damage in Sprague–Dawley rats and to further explore the underlying molecular mechanisms of this action. Twenty rats fed AIN-93 formulation and maintained in the dark for 48 h were used as controls (n 20). Another forty rats were randomly divided into two groups and then treated with (n 20) or without 4 % taurine (n 20) for 15 d respectively. After treatment, these two groups were exposed to fluorescent light (3000 ± 200 lux and 25°C), and the protective effects of dietary taurine were then evaluated. The present results showed that dietary taurine effectively prevented retinal photochemical damage as assessed by changes of morphology. Also, the supplementation caused an increase of taurine in the retina, a decrease of malondialdehyde (P < 0·01), and elevation of superoxide dismutase (P < 0·01) and glutathione peroxidase activities in the retina (P < 0·01). Moreover, dietary taurine inhibited activator protein-1 (AP-1) (c-fos/c-jun subunits) expression (P < 0·05), up regulated NF-κB (p65) expression (P < 0·05), and decreased caspase-1 expression (P < 0·05) so as to reduce the apoptosis of photoreceptors in the retina (P < 0·05). These results suggest that dietary taurine reduced retinal damage produced by photochemical stress via antioxidant and anti-AP-1–NF-κB–caspase-1 apoptotic mechanisms in rats.

Metalorganic deposition (MOD) is an attractive process for low-cost, high-rate deposition of YBa2Cu3O7– (YBCO) films on continuous lengths of biaxially textured metallic templates for second-generation (2G) high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wires.MOD of YBCO films involves four steps:precursor synthesis, coating, decomposition, and reaction.The final films must meet stringent requirements, including high critical current, uniformity across the width and along the length of the textured substrate, and excellent mechanical properties.Achieving these properties has required the development of a metalorganic precursor that produces an intermediate BaF2-based film, which in turn is converted to a high-quality YBCO film.Understanding and controlling the deposition of the metalorganic precursor and its conversion to YBCO are critical to reproducibly manufacturing uniform, high-performance, HTS wires required for commercial applications.This article reviews the issues that must be addressed in the use of MOD for low-cost YBCO film fabrication and summarizes the performance of 2G HTS wires prepared by this manufacturing process.

YBCO films prepared from metal trifluoroacetate (TFA) precursors on oxide-buffered textured non-magnetic substrates have achieved performance levels equaling that on oxide buffered textured Ni substrates. Critical current densities of 0.7 MA/cm2 to 1.0 MA/cm2 have been achieved in 0.4 µm thick YBCO films on short-length of CeO2/YSZ/Y2O3/Ni/Ni-13wt%Cr substrates. High-quality epitaxial buffers comprising a Ni layer, Y2O3 seed, YSZ barrier and CeO2 cap layers have been deposited over meter long tapes of deformation textured Ni and Ni-13%Cr using reel-to-reel processes. High-performance TFA-based YBCO films have been deposited on 0.1 m to 0.3 m lengths of these oxide buffered substrates using reel to reel processes. Critical current densities up to 1.0 MA/cm2 have been achieved in 0.4 µm thick YBCO films on CeO2/YSZ/Y2O3/Ni substrates. Using multiple coats of the metal trifluoroacetate precursors, thicker YBCO films have been demonstrated on oxide buffered substrates. Critical currents in excess of 100A/cm-width have been achieved for 1.2 µm -1.6 µm thick YBCO films on short lengths of CeO2/YSZ/Y2O3/Ni substrates.