The interaction of helminth infections with type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been a major area of research in the past few years. This paper, therefore, focuses on the systematic review of the effects of helminthic infections on metabolism and immune regulation related to T2D, with mechanisms through which both direct and indirect effects are mediated. Specifically, the possible therapeutic role of helminths in T2D management, probably mediated through the modulation of host metabolic pathways and immune responses, is of special interest. This paper discusses the current possibilities for translating helminth therapy from basic laboratory research to clinical application, as well as existing and future challenges. Although preliminary studies suggest the potential for helminth therapy for T2D patients, their safety and efficacy still need to be confirmed by larger-scale clinical studies.

This study explored mental workload recognition methods for carrier-based aircraft pilots utilising multiple sensor physiological signal fusion and portable devices. A simulation carrier-based aircraft flight experiment was designed, and subjective mental workload scores and electroencephalogram (EEG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals from six pilot cadets were collected using NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and portable devices. The subjective scores of the pilots in three flight phases were used to label the data into three mental workload levels. Features from the physiological signals were extracted, and the interrelations between mental workload and physiological indicators were evaluated. Machine learning and deep learning algorithms were used to classify the pilots’ mental workload. The performances of the single-modal method and multimodal fusion methods were investigated. The results showed that the multimodal fusion methods outperformed the single-modal methods, achieving higher accuracy, precision, recall and F1 score. Among all the classifiers, the random forest classifier with feature-level fusion obtained the best results, with an accuracy of 97.69%, precision of 98.08%, recall of 96.98% and F1 score of 97.44%. The findings of this study demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method, offering insights into mental workload management and the enhancement of flight safety for carrier-based aircraft pilots.

Indirect calorimetry (IC) is regarded as the benchmark for measuring resting energy expenditure (REE)(1) but validity and reliability in adults with overweight or obesity have not been systematically appraised(2). The aim of our research was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of IC for REE in adults with overweight or obesity. A rapid systematic review was conducted. PubMed and Web of Science were searched to December 2023. Eligible studies measured REE by IC in adults with overweight or obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 or mean BMI > 30 kg/m2) reporting validity and/or reliability. Studies were selected using Covidence and critically appraised using the CASP diagnostic study checklist. From n = 4022 records, n = 21 studies utilising n = 13 different IC devices were included (n = 10 reported concurrent validity, n = 7 reported predictive validity, n = 7 reported reliability). A hand-held IC had poor validity and inconsistent reliability (n = 6 studies). Standard desktop-based ICs (n = 9 devices) were examined by across n = 18 studies; most demonstrated high validity, predictive ability, and good to excellent reliability. An IC accelerometer showed weak validity (n = 1 study); a body composition-based IC showed strong validity (n = 1 study); and a whole-room IC demonstrated excellent reliability (n = 1 study). Standard desktop-based IC demonstrated the most consistent validity, predictive ability, and reliability for REE in adults with overweight or obesity. Hand-held IC may have limited validity and reliability. Accelerometer, body composition-based, and whole-room IC devices require further evaluation. Inconsistent findings are attributed to differing methodologies and reference standards. Further research is needed to examine the diagnostic accuracy of IC in adults with overweight and obesity.

The viruses associated with bats have generated significant concern; however, there is limited knowledge regarding the endoparasites that affect these mammals. This study involved the collection of seven nematode specimens (three males and four females) from the intestines of Hipposideros armiger in Shaoguan City, Guangdong, China. Next-generation sequencing was employed to obtain the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome, which was determined to be 14,130 base pairs in length. The mitochondrial genome comprised 12 protein-coding genes, 21 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and an AT-rich non-coding region. Phylogenetic analyses based on mtDNA sequences indicated that the nematode forms a sister clade to Nematodirus, exhibiting only 74% nucleotide identity. In contrast, the nuclear ITS1 gene demonstrated a high degree of nucleotide identity (98.6%–98.8%) with Durettenema guangdongense. Consequently, the parasitic nematode identified from H. armiger is likely to belong to the genus Durettenema and has been designated as Durettenema sp. 888. Furthermore, an epidemiological investigation revealed the presence of the parasitic nematode infections in H. armiger collected from Guangdong, Guangxi, and Guizhou Provinces. Given the widespread distribution of H. armiger and their tendency to inhabit areas in close proximity to human dwellings, the influence of parasite prevalence on bat population numbers and potential for human and domestic animal transmission of this pathogen warrants further investigation.

Species of the genus Corynosoma (Acanthocephala: Polymorphida) mainly parasitize marine mammals and rarely marine birds, and are of veterinary and medical importance due to causing corynosomiasis in wildlife and humans. However, the current knowledge of the mitochondrial genomes and mitogenomic phylogeny of this group remains very insufficient. In the present study, the complete mitochondrial genomes of C. bullosum (von Linstow, 1892) and C. evae Zdzitowiecki, 1984 were sequenced and annotated for the first time. Both mitogenomes comprise 12 protein-coding genes (missing atp8), 22 tRNA genes, and 2 ribosomal RNAs (rrnS and rrnL), plus 2 non-coding regions (NCR1 and NCR2). Corynosoma bullosum has the largest mitogenome (14,879 bp) of any polymorphid species reported so far, while C. evae has the smallest (13,947 bp), except for Sphaerirostris lanceoides (Petrochenko, 1949). Comparative mitogenomic analysis also revealed the presence of distinct discrepancies in A + T content and gene rearrangement across the families Polymorphidae, Centrorhynchidae, and Plagiorhynchidae. Moreover, phylogenetic analyses based on the concatenated amino acid sequences of 12 protein-coding genes strongly supported the monophyly of the order Polymorphida and a close affinity between the families Polymorphidae and Centrorhynchidae in Polymorphida. The present mitogenomic phylogeny provides additional evidence for a sister relationship between the genera Corynosoma and Bolbosoma and demonstrated that C. evae has a closer relationship with C. villosum than C. bullosum in the genus Corynosoma.

The Hele-Shaw–Cahn–Hilliard model, coupled with phase separation, is numerically simulated to demonstrate the formation of anomalous fingering patterns in a radial displacement of a partially miscible binary-fluid system. The composition of injected fluid is set to be less viscous than the displaced fluid and within the spinodal or metastable phase-separated region, in which the second derivative of the free energy is negative or positive, respectively. Because of phase separation, concentration evolves non-monotonically between the injected and displaced fluids. The simulations reveal four areas of the concentration distribution between the fluids: the inner core; the low-concentration grooves/high-concentration ridges; the isolated fluid fragments or droplets; the mixing zone. The grooves/ridges and the fragments/droplets, which are the unique features of phase separation, form in the spinodal and metastable regions. Four typical types of patterns are categorized: core separation (CS); fingering separation (FS); separation fingering (SF); lollipop fingering, in the order of the dominance of phase separation, respectively. For the patterns of CS and FS, isolated fluid fragments or droplets around the inner core are the main features. Fingering formation is better maintained with droplets in the SF pattern if the phase separation is relatively weaker than viscous fingering (VF). Even continuous fingers are well preserved in the case of dominant VF; phase separation results in lollipop-shaped fingers. The evolving trend of the patterns is in line with the experiments. These patterns are summarized in a pattern diagram, mainly by the magnitude of the second derivative of the free energy profile.

The axisymmetric nozzle mechanism is the core part for thrust vectoring of aero engine, which contains complex rigid-flexible coupled multibody system with joints clearance and significantly reduces the efficiency in modeling and calculation, therefore the kinematics and dynamics analysis of axisymmetric vectoring nozzle mechanism based on deep neural network is proposed. The deep neural network model of the axisymmetric vector nozzle is established according to the limited training data from the physical dynamic model and then used to predict the kinematics and dynamics response of the axisymmetric vector nozzle. This study analyses the effects of joint clearance on the kinematics and dynamics of the axisymmetric vector nozzle mechanism by a data-driven model. It is found that the angular acceleration of the expanding blade and the driving force are mostly affected by joint clearance followed by the angle, angular velocity and position of the expanding blade. Larger joint clearance results in more pronounced fluctuations of the dynamic response of the mechanism, which is due to the greater relative velocity and contact force between the bushing and the pin. Since axisymmetric vector nozzles are highly complex nonlinear systems, traditional numerical methods of dynamics are extremely time-consuming. Our work indicates that the data-driven approach greatly reduces the computational cost while maintaining accuracy, and can be used for rapid evaluation and iterative computation of complex multibody dynamics of engine nozzle mechanism.

This essay reflects the journey of two business scholars, Stephen X. Zhang and Jiyao Chen, who ventured into mental health research during the COVID-19 pandemic. We experienced first-hand how health sciences have operated their publication systems in ways that uphold scientific standing while addressing real-world problems. In doing so, we found the publishing expectations and norms in health and medical sciences to be vastly different from those in management. This essay further discusses aspects such as the preference for evidence over theory, the relationship with basic sciences, diverse evaluation criteria, encouragement of exploration and replication, timeliness, and democratization and inclusivity of scholarship as concrete steps of responsible research.

In this article, we present direct numerical simulation results for the expansion of spherical cap bubbles attached to a rigid wall due to a sudden drop in the ambient pressure. The critical pressure drop beyond which the bubble growth becomes unstable is found to match well with the predictions from classical theory of heterogeneous nucleation imposing a quasi-static bubble evolution. When the pressure drop is significantly higher than the critical value, a liquid microlayer appears between the bubble and the wall. In this regime, the interface outside the microlayer grows at an asymptotic velocity that can be predicted from the Rayleigh–Plesset equation, while the contact line evolves with another asymptotic velocity that scales with a visco-capillary velocity that obeys the Cox–Voinov law. In general, three distinctive regions can be distinguished: the region very close to the contact line where dynamics is governed by visco-capillary effects, an intermediate region controlled by inertio-viscous effects away from the contact line yet inside the viscous boundary layer, and the region outside the boundary layer dominated by inertial effects. The microlayer forms in a regime where the capillary effects are confined in a region much smaller than the viscous boundary layer thickness. In this regime, the global capillary number takes values much larger then the critical capillary number for bubble nucleation, and the microlayer height is controlled by viscous effects and not surface tension.

The status of the genera Euparagonimus Chen, 1963 and Pagumogonimus Chen, 1963 relative to Paragonimus Braun, 1899 was investigated using DNA sequences from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (CO1) gene (partial) and the nuclear ribosomal DNA second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2). In the phylogenetic trees constructed, the genus Pagumogonimus is clearly not monophyletic and therefore not a natural taxon. Indeed, the type species of Pagumogonimus,P. skrjabini from China, is very closely related to Paragonimus miyazakii from Japan. The status of Euparagonimus is less obvious. Euparagonimus cenocopiosus lies distant from other lungflukes included in the analysis. It can be placed as sister to Paragonimus in some analyses and falls within the genus in others. A recently published morphological study placed E. cenocopiosus within the genus Paragonimus and probably this is where it should remain.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Dietary fiber has been used in other clinical populations to improve mineral disorders, but there is limited data in chronic kidney disease, despite the high prevalence of mineral and bone disorder (known as CKD-MBD). Our objective was to evaluate the effect of dietary fiber based on viscosity and fermentability on CKD-MBD outcomes. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: 22-week-old male CKD rats (mild-to-moderate CKD) were randomly assigned to receive one of four fiber treatments (10% w/w each) based on fermentability and viscosity: 1) Cellulose (-fermentability, -viscosity), 2) Inulin (+fermentability, -viscosity), 3) Psyllium husk (-fermentability, +viscosity), or 4) Pectin (+ fermentability, +viscosity). Treatments lasted 10 weeks, and rats were euthanized at 32 weeks of age (kidney failure). Rats were placed in metabolic cages for 3 consecutive days the last week before euthanasia for mineral balance. At euthanasia, blood, tibia, heart, and aorta were collected for CKD-MBD assessment. Additional tissues collected included kidneys and all intestinal segments. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Our preliminary data indicates that weight trajectories and survival were similar between treatment groups. At 33 weeks of age, kidney weight index (an indirect measurement of kidney function as this animal model develops polycystic kidneys) was lower in the psyllium-treated rats compared to all of the other treatments. Plasma phosphorus was lower with Psyllium and Pectin compared to Cellulose-treated rats. Left ventricular mass index was lower in the Inulin, Psyllium, and Pectin-treated rats compared to the Cellulose-treated rats. Ongoing tissue analyses include biochemical markers of mineral and bone metabolism (parathyroid hormone, fibroblast growth factor-23, and phosphorus balance), bone parameters (dynamic histomorphometry and microCT), and cardiovascular calcification. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our preliminary data indicate that dietary fiber based on fermentability and viscosity impacts CKD-MBD outcomes and may be an innovative, low-cost intervention that can be trialed in people with CKD for the prevention and treatment of CKD-MBD.

To optimize flapping foil performance, in the current study we apply deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to plan foil non-parametric motion, as the traditional control techniques and simplified motions cannot fully model nonlinear, unsteady and high-dimensional foil–vortex interactions. Therefore, a DRL training framework is proposed based on the proximal policy optimization algorithm and the transformer architecture, where the policy is initialized from the sinusoidal expert display. We first demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed DRL-training framework, learning the coherent foil flapping motion to generate thrust. Furthermore, by adjusting reward functions and action thresholds, DRL-optimized foil trajectories can gain significant enhancement in both thrust and efficiency compared with the sinusoidal motion. Last, through visualization of wake morphology and instantaneous pressure distributions, it is found that DRL-optimized foil can adaptively adjust the phases between motion and shedding vortices to improve hydrodynamic performance. Our results give a hint of how to solve complex fluid manipulation problems using the DRL method.

Polarized electron beam production via laser wakefield acceleration in pre-polarized plasma is investigated by particle-in-cell simulations. The evolution of the electron beam polarization is studied based on the Thomas–Bargmann–Michel–Telegdi equation for the transverse and longitudinal self-injection, and the depolarization process is found to be influenced by the injection schemes. In the case of transverse self-injection, as found typically in the bubble regime, the spin precession of the accelerated electrons is mainly influenced by the wakefield. However, in the case of longitudinal injection in the quasi-1D regime (for example, F. Y. Li et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135002 (2013)), the direction of electron spin oscillates in the laser field. Since the electrons move around the laser axis, the net influence of the laser field is nearly zero and the contribution of the wakefield can be ignored. Finally, an ultra-short electron beam with polarization of $99\%$ can be obtained using longitudinal self-injection.

This paper proposes a fixed-time anti-saturation (FT-AS) control scheme with a simple control loop for the 6-Degree-of-Freedom tracking (6-DOF) control problem of spacecraft with parameter uncertainties, external disturbances and input saturation. Considering the external disturbance and parameter uncertainties, the dynamical model of the tracking error is established. The traditional methods of handling input saturation usually add anti-saturation subsystems in the control system to suppress the impact of input overshoot. However, this paper directly inputs the input overshoot into the tracking error model, thus constructing a modified lumped disturbance term that includes the influence of input overshoot. Then, a novel fixed-time disturbance observer (FT-DO) is designed to estimate and compensate for this modified lumped disturbance. Therefore, there is no need to add the anti-saturation structures in the control loop, significantly reducing the complexity of the system. Finally, an observer-based fixed-time non-singular terminal sliding mode (FT-NTSM) controller is designed to guarantee the fixed-time stability of the whole system. In this way, the convergence time of the proposed scheme does not depend on the system’s initial conditions. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed method keeps the control input within the limit while achieving high-precision tracking control of attitude and position.

The deformable wing structure can change its aerodynamic shape according to the change of flight mission and flight environment, so as to obtain better lift-drag, stability and control characteristics, which is considered as one of the future research directions of aviation technology. Considering the current technology maturity and reliability, a gradient corrugated fin is designed to realise the bending deformation of the wing. The structure of the skin is optimised to keep the skin smooth during deformation. In addition, a progressive push and pull rod is proposed to drive the wing deformation, and the fluid-structure interaction simulation is carried out for the wing deformation. At the same time, the changes of wing aerodynamic characteristics under different angles of leading and trailing edges and different push rod action schemes are analysed. Finally, a dry wind tunnel simulation test of the designed progressive flexible variable bending wing is carried out. The results of fluid-structure interaction simulation and dry wind tunnel test show that the progressive flexible variable bending wing proposed in this paper has a simple and reliable structure and remarkable deformation effect. It has advantages in increasing lift and reducing drag, ensuring high lift-drag ratio and providing wing trim moment. The deformable wing dry wind tunnel test platform designed by this method is structurally reliable, easy to operate, and can accurately reflect the influence of wing deformation on its aerodynamic force, which provides a verification means for the development of the design method and the design of practical aircraft in the future.