Maternal gestational weight gain (GWG) is an important determinant of infant birth weight, and having adequate total GWG has been widely recommended. However, the association of timing of GWG with birth weight remains controversial. We aimed to evaluate this association, especially among women with adequate total GWG. In a prospective cohort study, pregnant women’s weight was routinely measured during pregnancy, and their GWG was calculated for the ten intervals: the first 13, 14–18, 19–23, 24–28, 29–30, 31–32, 33–34, 35–36, 37–38 and 39–40 weeks. Birth weight was measured, and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and large-for-gestational-age were assessed. Generalized linear and Poisson models were used to evaluate the associations of GWG with birth weight and its outcomes after multivariate adjustment, respectively. Of the 5049 women, increased GWG in the first 30 weeks was associated with increased birth weight for male infants, and increased GWG in the first 28 weeks was associated with increased birth weight for females. Among 1713 women with adequate total GWG, increased GWG percent between 14 and 23 weeks was associated with increased birth weight. Moreover, inadequate GWG between 14 and 23 weeks, compared with the adequate GWG, was associated with an increased risk of SGA (43 (13·7 %) v. 42 (7·2 %); relative risk 1·83, 95 % CI 1·21, 2·76). Timing of GWG may influence infant birth weight differentially, and women with inadequate GWG between 14 and 23 weeks may be at higher risk of delivering SGA infants, despite having adequate total GWG.

The selection of high-quality sperms is critical to intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which accounts for 70–80% of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. So far, sperm screening is usually performed manually by clinicians. However, the performance of manual screening is limited in its objectivity, consistency, and efficiency. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a fast and noninvasive three-stage method to characterize morphology of freely swimming human sperms in bright-field microscopy images using deep learning models. Specifically, we use an object detection model to identify sperm heads, a classification model to select in-focus images, and a segmentation model to extract geometry of sperm heads and vacuoles. The models achieve an F1-score of 0.951 in sperm head detection, a z-position estimation error within ±1.5 μm in in-focus image selection, and a Dice score of 0.948 in sperm head segmentation, respectively. Customized lightweight architectures are used for the models to achieve real-time analysis of 200 frames per second. Comprehensive morphological parameters are calculated from sperm head geometry extracted by image segmentation. Overall, our method provides a reliable and efficient tool to assist clinicians in selecting high-quality sperms for successful IVF. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of deep learning in real-time analysis of live bright-field microscopy images.

We aimed to investigate the relationship between the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and nutritional parameters in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. In this cross-sectional study, 187 non-dialysis CKD patients were enrolled. Daily dietary energy intake (DEI) and daily dietary protein intake (DPI) were assessed by 3-d dietary records. Protein-energy wasting (PEW) was defined as Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) class B and C. Spearman correlation analysis, logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed. The median NLR was 2·51 (1·83, 3·83). Patients with CKD stage 5 had the highest NLR level. A total of 19·3 % (n 36) of patients suffered from PEW. The NLR was positively correlated with SGA and serum P, and the NLR was negatively correlated with BMI, waist and hip circumference, triceps skinfold thickness, mid-arm muscle circumference, DPI and Hb. Multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted for DPI, DEI, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, uric acid and Hb showed that a high NLR was an independent risk factor for PEW (OR = 1·393, 95 % CI 1·078, 1·800, P = 0·011). ROC analysis showed that an NLR ≥ 2·62 had the ability to identify PEW among CKD patients, with a sensitivity of 77·8 %, a specificity of 62·3 % and an AUC of 0·71 (95 % CI 0·63, 0·81, P < 0·001). The NLR was closely associated with nutritional status. NLR may be an indicator of PEW in CKD patients.

The high overall plant-based diet index (PDI) is considered to protect against type 2 diabetes in the general population. However, whether the PDI affects gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk among pregnant women is still unclear. We evaluated the association between PDI and GDM risk based on a Chinese large prospective cohort – the Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort. Dietary data were collected at 13–28 weeks of pregnancy by a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. The PDI was obtained by assigning plant food groups positive scores while assigning animal food groups reverse scores. GDM was diagnosed by a 75 g 2-h oral glucose tolerance test at 24–28 weeks of gestation. Logistic regression models were fitted to estimate OR of GDM, with associated 95 % CI, comparing women in different PDI quartiles. Among the total 2099 participants, 169 (8·1 %) were diagnosed with GDM. The PDI ranged from 21·0 to 52·0 with a median of 36·0 (interquartile range (IQR) 33·0–39·0). After adjusting for social-demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors etc., the participants with the highest quartile of PDI were associated with 57 % reduced odds of GDM compared with women in the lowest quartile of PDI (adjusted OR 0·43; 95 % CI 0·24, 0·77; P for trend = 0·005). An IQR increment in PDI was associated with 29 % decreased odds of GDM (adjusted OR 0·71; 95 % CI 0·56, 0·90). Findings suggest that adopting a plant-based diet during pregnancy could reduce GDM risk among Chinese women, which may be valuable for dietary counselling during pregnancy.

Transplanting single seedlings rather than seedlings in clumps has been increasingly attractive in hybrid rice production in China due to reduced seed requirements and higher grain yield. This study was conducted to determine grain yield and nitrogen (N) utilization in response to reductions in the N rate in hybrid rice under single-seedling transplanting. Field experiments were done in 2015 and 2016 on a moderate to high fertility soil at the Experimental Farm of Hunan Agricultural University, China. The hybrid rice cultivar Liangyoupeijiu (LYPJ) was used in 2015, and two hybrid cultivars LYPJ and Xiangliangyou 900 were used the next year. In each year, the rice plants transplanted with a single seedling per hill were grown with three N rates, including the usual N rate (150 kg ha–1) and two reduced N rates (120 and 90 kg ha–1). Grain yield, yield attributes, and N uptake and use efficiency were determined for each N rate. Significant reduction in grain yield was observed in only one of three cultivar-year combinations when N rate was reduced by 20% (from 150 to 120 kg ha–1), and the magnitude of yield reduction was only 4%. Although significant reduction in grain yield was observed in two of the three cultivar-year combinations when N rate reduced by 40% (to 90 kg ha–1), the highest yield reduction was only 7%. Yield attributes were generally changed slightly when N rate was reduced by 20%, while compensation among yield attributes and N utilization characteristics could explain why a 40% reduction in N rate did not result in substantial yield loss. Partial factor productivity of applied N (PFPN) was increased by 21–24% and 56–63% with 20% and 40% reductions in the N rate, respectively. The higher PFPN with a reduced N rate was attributed to higher recovery efficiency of applied N (REN) or to both higher REN and internal N use efficiency. Our study suggests that reducing N rate does not necessarily result in yield loss due to compensation among yield components and increased N use efficiency in hybrid rice transplanted as single seedlings under moderate to high soil fertility conditions.

The dielectric properties and tunability with external magnetic and electric fields for LuFe2-xMnxO4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) are systematically studied. It was found that the dielectric loss, the ferrimagnetic Curie temperature, and the conductivity reduce with increasing Mn doping. One of the most important results is that the room temperature dielectric tunability with low magnetic and electric fields can be achieved in these samples. The analysis demonstrates that the electron transfer between Fe2+ and Fe3+ is efficiently suppressed with Mn doping and thus results in the decreases of the leaky conductivity and the dielectric loss. Furthermore, from the studies on the combination of impedance and modulus complex planes for the samples with different electrodes, the tunability is found to be more closely related to the extrinsic effect than the intrinsic bulk effect.

A 3MV multi-element accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) has been installed in Xi'an, China, and preliminary tests have been completed. The results of both background and precision tests for 4 nuclides are 3.1 × 10–16, 0.2% (14C); 1.8 × 10–14, 1.4% (10Be); 2.3 × 10–15, 1.14% (26Al); and 2.0 × 10–14, 1.75% (129I). The unique features of this facility are the newly developed ion source accepting solid and CO2 samples; the specially designed low-energy injector, including a “beam blanking unit” and “Q-snout”; the acceleration tube structure with the combined magnetic and electrostatic suppression; and the function of the slit stabilization in the post-acceleration system. These features are discussed in terms of the end-user's point of view.

The in situ reduction method was used to prepare nanocrystalline PbSe in a poly(acrylic acid-co-styrene) matrix. Metal precursor-doped polymer film was treated with selenium and reducing reagent (NaBH4) in ethylenediamine, leading to the formation of assemblies of crystalline semiconductive PbSe in polymer. The preparation was done at room temperature and ambient pressure. X-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, infrared, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectra were used to characterize the as-prepared materials. The key factor for successful preparation of this composite was also discussed.