While some studies have suggested that moderate alcohol consumption may be beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) prevention(1), the role of competing events have not been considered and may lead to misinterpretation of the magnitude of the risk between alcohol intake and RA incidence. We aimed to investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and RA incidence when the competing risk of death is accounted for in the survival analysis.

Data from the UK Women’s Cohort Study (UKWCS), a prospective cohort study of 35,372 middleaged women established between 1995 and 1998, was used for the analyses(2). Alcohol intake was assessed at baseline by asking for the number of specified units of each type of alcoholic beverage (beer, wine, sherry, and spirits) consumed per week. Cases who developed RA were identified through linkage with Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) up to March 2019 (International Classification of Diseases, ICD-10 code M05-M06). Data linkage with the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) allowed cause of death to be identified using ICD codes (9th/10th version). We used directed acyclic graphs, competing risk regression modelling, and subgroup analyses to examine the effect of alcohol intake on RA incidence.

Among 29,830 women linked to the HES data (666,857 person-years), 255 cases of rheumatoid arthritis were identified, with a median follow-up of 22.5 years. After adjustment for confounders, in both competing risk regression and cox proportional hazards models, regular drinking was associated with a reduced risk of RA. In the competing risk model, with occasional drinkers (less than 1 serving of alcohol per week) as the reference, the subhazard ratios (SHRs) for non-drinkers were: SHR, 0.67, 95% CI: 0.43-1.07; regular drinkers: SHR, 0.70, 95% CI: 0.53−0.94. Every additional unit of alcohol per week was associated with a 3% lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis (SHR (95% CI): 0.97(0.96−0.99)). BMI modified the linear associations between alcohol intake and risk of RA(Pinteraction=0.01). The incidence of RA in participants with a BMI < 30 kg/m2 (227 cases, 27,015 participants) was 2% lower for each additional serving of alcohol consumed per week (0.98(0.96−0.99)),no statistically significant effect was seen for alcohol in those with a BMI 30+kg/m2, though numbers were smaller in this group.

Soluble Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (sICAM-1) has emerged as an inflammatory biomarker of many essential functions. We investigated the level of sICAM-1 influenced by Clonorchis sinensis (C. sinensis) co-infection in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients to explore the degree of liver tissue inflammation and liver function damage after co-infection. The study included data from patients with C. sinensis mono-infection (n=27), hepatitis B virus (HBV) mono-infection (n=32), C. sinensis and HBV co-infection (n=24), post-hepatitis B liver cirrhosis (n=18), post-hepatitis B liver cirrhosis co-infected with C. sinensis (n=16), and healthy controls (n=39). The level of sICAM-1 was measured with specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Compared to the healthy control group, all the experimental groups had significantly higher serum sICAM-1 levels. The levels of sICAM-1 in co-infected groups were significantly higher compared to the mono-infection groups and were positively correlated with the levels of glutamate aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). Our research findings confirmed that co-infection could exacerbate liver tissue inflammation and liver function damage in patients, could raise the sICAM-1 level, and may lead to the chronicity of HBV infection. These results provide clues for pathological mechanism study and formulating treatment plans.

This study presents observations of coherent modes (CMs) in a spherical tokamak using a microwave interferometer near the midplane. The CMs within the 30–60 kHz frequency range were observed during electron cyclotron resonance heating only, and the frequency of the CMs increased proportionally with the square root of the electron temperature near $R = 0.7m$. Generally, these modes displayed bursting and chirping signatures with strong density rise and fall. Their appearance indicated an increase in the intensity of hard x rays, suggesting a deterioration in energetic electron confinement. Furthermore, the effect of CMs on the intensity of energetic electron-driven whistler waves was observed. They decreased when CMs were present and gradually increased with the decrease in CM intensity. The CMs may influence the intensity of whistler waves by affecting the energetic electron confinement.

This study presents novel findings on stochastic electron heating via a random electron cyclotron wave (ECW) in a spherical tokamak. Hard x ray measurements demonstrate the time evolution of hard x ray counts at different energy bands, consistent with predictions from the stochastic heating model. The ECW heating rate shows a positive correlation with applied power, confirming the effectiveness of stochastic heating. Remarkably, the ECW-driven plasma current remains insensitive to ECW incidence angle, consistent with model predictions. The observed stochastic heating of electrons offers potential for exploring innovative non-inductive current drive modes in spherical tokamaks. This research contributes to the understanding of plasma behaviour and motivates the development of new models for non-inductive current drive in fusion devices.

To meet the increasing communication demands, the satellites need to be equipped with the high-accuracy and large-aperture antennas. One of the effective methods to construct the modular antennas with ultra-high accuracy and ultra-large aperture is on-orbit assembly technology. During the on-orbit assembly missions, the assembly error is a key factor to affect the surface accuracy of the modular antennas. This paper studies the node design of each module and the assembly error analysis of the modular antennas. A design method of the module nodes is presented with consideration of the assembly gap between two modules. Meanwhile, a soft connection mechanism is designed to ensure the mobility among the assembly modules. To investigate the transmission law of the assembly errors, an analytical model of assembly error is derived based on the exponential product method. In order to establish the deformation surface with rotation and displacement assembly errors, an error ball concept is proposed by the analytical model. To decrease the assembly errors, the actuators are installed among some modules. Moreover, an adjustment method is proposed to obtain the adjustment amounts of actuators. Finally, the correctness of analytical model and the effectiveness of the adjustment method are demonstrated by the numerical simulations.

A new near-infrared direct acceleration mechanism driven by Laguerre–Gaussian laser is proposed to stably accelerate and concentrate electron slice both in longitudinal and transversal directions in vacuum. Three-dimensional simulations show that a 2-μm circularly polarized ${\mathrm{LG}}_p^l$ (p = 0, l = 1, σz = −1) laser can directly manipulate attosecond electron slices in additional dimensions (angular directions) and give them annular structures and angular momentums. These annular vortex attosecond electron slices are expected to have some novel applications such as in the collimation of antiprotons in conventional linear accelerators, edge-enhancement electron imaging, structured X-ray generation, and analysis and manipulation of nanomaterials.

With the development of China’s economy, China’s aviation market has expanded, and related industries have also developed rapidly. For the long-term development of the industry, many countries and enterprises began to make demand forecasts with different levels for the product market. The same is true for China’s civil aircraft-related industries. There are a variety of predictive models, but not all of them are appropriate for the prediction of civil aircraft market demand. This paper introduces a variety of modelling methods for forecasting models, including time series forecasting models and causal analysis forecasting models. The contribution of our work is the adoption of a new coefficient determination method to establish a variable-weight combination forecasting model, which greatly improves the forecasting accuracy. In addition, we also propose a new and more stable prediction model, the chain prediction model. Simulation prediction is carried out for each model in this work. Through the analysis and comparison of the prediction results, we conclude that the prediction effects of the variable weight combination prediction model and the chain prediction model are superior to those of other single prediction models. The chain prediction model in particular has better performance in medium- and long-term prediction, compared with the other prediction models. Finally, the model is applied to predict the demand of Chinese civil aircraft in the next 20 years, which confirms that the Chinese civil aircraft market will expand in the future.

An acute gastroenteritis (AGE) outbreak caused by a norovirus occurred at a hospital in Shanghai, China, was studied for molecular epidemiology, host susceptibility and serological roles. Rectal and environmental swabs, paired serum samples and saliva specimens were collected. Pathogens were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. Histo-blood group antigens (HBGA) phenotypes of saliva samples and their binding to norovirus protruding proteins were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The HBGA-binding interfaces and the surrounding region were analysed by the MegAlign program of DNAstar 7.1. Twenty-seven individuals in two care units were attacked with AGE at attack rates of 9.02 and 11.68%. Eighteen (78.2%) symptomatic and five (38.4%) asymptomatic individuals were GII.6/b norovirus positive. Saliva-based HBGA phenotyping showed that all symptomatic and asymptomatic cases belonged to A, B, AB or O secretors. Only four (16.7%) out of the 24 tested serum samples showed low blockade activity against HBGA-norovirus binding at the acute phase, whereas 11 (45.8%) samples at the convalescence stage showed seroconversion of such blockade. Specific blockade antibody in the population played an essential role in this norovirus epidemic. A wide HBGA-binding spectrum of GII.6 supports a need for continuous health attention and surveillance in different settings.

Beef cattle are often fed high-concentrate diet (HCD) to achieve high growth rate. However, HCD feeding is strongly associated with metabolic disorders. Mild acid treatment of grains in HCD with 1% hydrochloric acid (HA) followed by neutralization with sodium bicarbonate (SB) might modify rumen fermentation patterns and microbiota, thereby decreasing the negative effects of HCD. This study was thus aimed to investigate the effects of treatment of corn with 1% HA and subsequent neutralization with SB on rumen fermentation and microbiota, inflammatory response and growth performance in beef cattle fed HCD. Eighteen beef cattle were randomly allocated to three groups and each group was fed different diets: low-concentrate diet (LCD) (concentrate : forage = 40 : 60), HCD (concentrate : forage = 60 : 40) or HCD based on treated corn (HCDT) with the same concentrate to forage ratio as the HCD. The corn in the HCDT was steeped in 1% HA (wt/wt) for 48 h and neutralized with SB after HA treatment. The animal trial lasted for 42 days with an adaptation period of 7 days. At the end of the trial, rumen fluid samples were collected for measuring ruminal pH values, short-chain fatty acids, endotoxin (or lipopolysaccharide, LPS) and bacterial microbiota. Plasma samples were collected at the end of the trial to determine the concentrations of plasma LPS, proinflammatory cytokines and acute phase proteins (APPs). The results showed that compared with the LCD, feeding the HCD had better growth performance due to a shift in the ruminal fermentation pattern from acetate towards propionate, butyrate and valerate. However, the HCD decreased ruminal pH and increased ruminal LPS release and the concentrations of plasma proinflammatory cytokines and APPs. Furthermore, feeding the HCD reduced bacterial richness and diversity in the rumen. Treatment of corn increased resistant starch (RS) content. Compared with the HCD, feeding the HCDT reduced ruminal LPS and improved ruminal bacterial microbiota, resulting in decreased inflammation and improved growth performance. In conclusion, although the HCD had better growth performance than the LCD, feeding the HCD promoted the pH reduction and the LPS release in the rumen, disturbed the ruminal bacterial stability and increased inflammatory response. Treatment of corn with HA in combination with subsequent SB neutralization increased the RS content and helped counter the negative effects of feeding HCD to beef steers.