Haemonchus contortus, a highly pathogenic gastrointestinal nematode, significantly impacts small ruminant production, causing substantial economic losses in sheep and goat farming. This study examined the genetic diversity and population structure of 171 H. contortus isolates collected from the abomasa of sheep slaughtered across 8 distinct regions in Xinjiang, China. Using sequence analysis, phylogenetic reconstruction and population genetic analyses of the mitochondrial nad4 gene, we identified 163 haplotypes, with haplotype diversity ranging from 0.995 to 1.000 and nucleotide diversity from 0.02007 to 0.03145. The Tacheng population displayed the highest nucleotide diversity. Analysis of molecular variance revealed that 91.83% of genetic variation occurred within populations, with minimal differentiation among them (Fst: −0.01296 to 0.04274). Neutrality tests (Tajima’s D and Fu’s Fs) indicated no recent population bottlenecks. Phylogenetic and haplotype network analyses showed no distinct geographic clustering, suggesting extensive gene flow, likely facilitated by host movement. These findings provide critical insights into the genetic structure of H. contortus in Xinjiang, informing strategies for managing anthelmintic resistance and controlling this economically significant parasite.

The existing intelligent optimization algorithms face challenges related to premature convergence in the synthesis of array antennas, resulting in low solution accuracy and a tendency to get stuck in local optima. In this paper, a logistic chaos and spiral flight dandelion optimizer (LSDO) algorithm is applied to sparse antenna array synthesis with constraints. To optimize the positions of the array elements and reduce sidelobe levels, the logistic chaotic mapping is employed for population initialization, which generates a diverse and uniformly distributed initial population. Additionally, the dandelion optimizer (DO) algorithms utilize a spiral flight strategy to enhance local exploitation capability and escape from the local optimum of the sidelobe level. For algorithm performance, numerical experimental results show the stability and robustness of the LSDO algorithm. For the optimization of planar sparse arrays, the LSDO algorithm significantly outperforms conventional optimization methods, achieving a peak sidelobe level (PSLL) reduction of 15.5% for DO, 9% for PSO, and 14.56% for IWO. These results confirm the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm.

Previous studies highlighted the health benefits of coffee and tea, but they only focused on the comparisons between different consumptions. Consequently, the association estimate lacked a clear interpretation, as the substitution of beverages and distribution of doses were not explicitly prescribed. We focused on the ‘relative association’ to ascertain the optimal consumption strategy (including total intake and optimal allocation strategy) for coffee, tea and plain water associated with decreased mortality. Self-reported coffee, tea and plain water intake were used from the UK Biobank. Within a compositional data analysis framework, a multivariate Cox model was used to assess the relative associations after adjusting for a range of potential confounders. The lower mortality risk was observed with at least approximately 7–8 drinks/d of total consumption. When the total intake > 4 drinks/d, substituting plain water with coffee or tea was linked to reduced mortality; nevertheless, the benefit was not seen for ≤ 4 drinks/d. Besides, a balanced consumption of coffee and tea (roughly a ratio of 2:3) associated with the lowest hazard ratios of 0·55 (95 % CI 0·47, 0·64) for all-cause mortality, 0·59 (95 % CI 0·48, 0·72) for cancer mortality, 0·69 (95 % CI 0·49, 0·99) for CVD mortality, 0·28 (95 % CI 0·15, 0·52) for respiratory disease mortality and 0·35 (95 % CI 0·15, 0·82) for digestive disease mortality than other combinations. These results highlight the importance of the rational combination of coffee, tea and plain water, with particular emphasis on ensuring adequate total intake, offering more comprehensive and explicit guidance for individuals.

Saccharum barberi is regarded as a sugarcane germ plasm resource of potential value. Tissue culture serves multiple purposes in breeding-related research for sugarcane. The response to tissue culture varies considerably among sugarcane genotypes; however, the influence of genetic differences on the tissue culture performance of S. barberi had not been previously investigated. This study evaluated the genotypic variation in tissue culture response among six accessions of S. barberi. Seven parameters were assessed to determine the tissue culture performance: callus induction frequency (CIF), embryogenic callus ratio, embryogenic callus induction frequency, callus regeneration frequency, callus regeneration coefficient, overall regeneration frequency (ORF) and overall regeneration coefficient (ORC). Significant variations (P < 0.05) were observed among the S. barberi genotypes for all parameters. The broad-sense heritability ranged from 80.77% to 93.10%, indicating that genetic differences were the primary source of genotypic variation. ORF exhibited the highest diversity among the parameters, with a genotypic coefficient of variation up to 70.06%. Pansahi was identified as the most amenable genotype to tissue culture, demonstrating superior performance in both callus induction and plant regeneration. CIFs at different induction periods were strongly positively correlated with both ORF and ORC, particularly during the first week, suggesting that CIF may serve as a promising early predictor of overall regeneration competence. This study is the first to report the effect of genotypic variation on callus induction and plant regeneration of S. barberi, and the findings will be valuable for future research involving tissue culture in this species.

Introduction: Bloodborne pathogens’ exposures are defined as injuries to contaminated sharps and exposures to patients’ blood or body fluids continue to present risks to healthcare workers (HCWs). This study was conducted to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of sharps injuries and evaluate the effectiveness of prevention strategies in an Academic Medical Centre (AMC) in Singapore. Method: This retrospective study was conducted at a 1,700 bedded AMC. The data was retrieved from the hospital’s electronic incident reporting system over a five-year period between 2019 and 2023 at Singapore General Hospital. Results: There are a total of 719 bloodborne pathogens’ exposures incidents. The highest incidence of bloodborne pathogens’ exposures was reported among doctors (3.5 incidents per 1000 healthcare workers per month), followed by nurses (1.4), allied health (0.4) and ancillary staff (0.3) during the 5- year period. Intraoperative procedures (IOP) 198 (27.5%) see the most frequent incidents followed by minor procedures 112(15.6%), splash incidents 91 (12.7%), blood taking 87(12.1%), IVIM (8.3%). The highest incidents among IOP were associated with use of suture needles. Approximately 2.9%, 2.3% and 0.7% of the source patients were carriers for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV respectively. No seroconversion occurred among all injured HCWs. The overall sharps injury incidence has improved from 21.5 to 11.2 per 1000 healthcare workers per year following targeted preventive measures implementation. Conclusion: A comprehensive bloodborne pathogen exposures programme greatly helps to improve and mitigate the risk of exposures where key preventive measures are identified, followed by timely implementation of appropriate post-exposure management.

A dual-beam platform is developed for all-optical Thomson/Compton scattering, with versatile parameter tuning capabilities including electron energy, radiation energy, radiation polarization, etc. By integrating this platform with a 200 TW Ti:sapphire laser system, we demonstrate the generation of inverse Compton scattering X-/gamma-rays with tunable energies ranging from tens of keV to MeV. The polarization of X-/gamma-rays is manipulated by adjusting the polarization of the scattering laser. In the near future, by combining this platform with multi-PW laser facilities, our goal is to explore the transition from nonlinear Thomson scattering to nonlinear Compton scattering, ultimately verifying theories related to strong-field quantum electrodynamics effects induced by extreme scattering.

This paper presents an investigation of the secondary saturation characteristics of a HfTe2 saturable absorber. Pulse energies of 5.85 and 7.4 mJ were demonstrated with a high-order Hermite–Gaussian (HG) laser and a vortex laser, respectively, using alexandrite as the gain medium. To the best of our knowledge, these are the highest pulse energies directly generated with HG and vortex lasers. To broaden the applications of high-energy pulsed HG and vortex lasers, wavelength tuning in the region of 40 nm was achieved using an etalon.

This paper provides an overview of the current status of ultrafast and ultra-intense lasers with peak powers exceeding 100 TW and examines the research activities in high-energy-density physics within China. Currently, 10 high-intensity lasers with powers over 100 TW are operational, and about 10 additional lasers are being constructed at various institutes and universities. These facilities operate either independently or are combined with one another, thereby offering substantial support for both Chinese and international research and development efforts in high-energy-density physics.

Temperature is the most significant abiotic factor that affects the growth and behaviour of insects. However, the mechanism by which the olfactory system senses thermal stimulus and combines temperature and chemical signals to trigger certain behavioural outputs is unclear. This study aimed to clarify the mechanism by which environmental temperature affects olfactory perception in Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae). We used quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and western blotting to analyse the expression of AcerOr1 and AcerOr2. We also used electroantennography (EAG) assays to detect bee antennal responses to odorants at different temperatures. The results revealed that the mRNA expression of AcerOr1 and AcerOr2 was significantly influenced by temperature. These genes exhibited both increases and decreases in expression over time, with the most significant differential observed at 25 °C. Protein expression was similarly affected at 2 hours after different temperature treatments. Electroantennography responses from the antennae revealed that six odorant volatiles – N-(4-ethylphenyl)-2-((4-ethyl-5-(3-pyridinyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetamide (VUAA1), linolenic acid, eugenol, hexyl acetate, 1-nonanol, and lauroleic acid – had the most dramatic effect at 25 °C. The results indicate that environmental factors affecting the expression of AcerOr1 and AcerOr2 modulate olfactory recognition behaviour in A. cerana cerana, suggesting that changes in environmental temperature can affect bees’ olfactory preferences.

Machine learning has already shown promising potential in tiled-aperture coherent beam combining (CBC) to achieve versatile advanced applications. By sampling the spatially separated laser array before the combiner and detuning the optical path delays, deep learning techniques are incorporated into filled-aperture CBC to achieve single-step phase control. The neural network is trained with far-field diffractive patterns at the defocus plane to establish one-to-one phase-intensity mapping, and the phase prediction accuracy is significantly enhanced thanks to the strategies of sin-cos loss function and two-layer output of the phase vector that are adopted to resolve the phase discontinuity issue. The results indicate that the trained network can predict phases with improved accuracy, and phase-locking of nine-channel filled-aperture CBC has been numerically demonstrated in a single step with a residual phase of λ/70. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that machine learning has been made feasible in filled-aperture CBC laser systems.

Barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv.] is a dominant weed species occurring in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields across China. Metamifop, a common herbicide, is frequently applied to control E. crus-galli and other grassy weeds in rice fields. Herein, HS01, an E. crus-galli population suspected to be resistant (R) to metamifop, was collected from Hanshan County in Anhui Province, China. Whole-plant dose–response testing revealed that, compared with the susceptible (S) population FD03, HS01 had developed high-level resistance to metamifop with a resistance index (RI) of 11.76 and showed cross-resistance to cyhalofop-butyl (RI = 9.33), fenoxaprop-P-ethyl (RI = 5.80) and clethodim (RI = 3.24). Gene sequencing revealed a Cys-2088-Arg mutation in the ACCase 1,5 allele of all the R plants, while ACCase gene overexpression was not involved in the resistance. Molecular docking indicated that the less-negative binding energies might be the main reason for the resistance of HS01 to acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase)-inhibiting herbicides. A derived cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (dCAPS) method was developed for the rapid identification of the Cys-to-Arg mutation in the ACCase gene at codon position 2088 in E. crus-galli. Additionally, pretreatment with the cytochrome P450 inhibitor piperonyl butoxide or the glutathione S-transferase inhibitor 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzoxadiazole had no significant effects (P > 0.05) on the resistance of HS01 to metamifop. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a Cys-2088-Arg mutation in E. crus-galli ACCase that confers cross-resistance to ACCase-inhibiting herbicides.

The Early-Middle Jurassic impression/compression macroflora and the palynoflora from the Qaidam Basin in the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau have been well studied; however, fossil wood from this region has not been previously documented systematically. Here, we describe an anatomically well-preserved fossil wood specimen from the Lower Jurassic Huoshaoshan Formation at the Dameigou section in northern Qinghai Province, northwestern China. This fossil exhibits typical Metapodocarpoxylon Dupéron-Laudoueneix et Pons anatomy with usually araucarian radial tracheid pits and variable cross-field pits, representing a new record for Metapodocarpoxylon in the Qaidam Basin. This discovery indicates that trees with this type of wood anatomy were not confined to northern Gondwana but also grew in more northerly regions in Laurasia. The wood displays distinct growth rings, with abundant, well-formed earlywood and narrow latewood. This observation, along with previous interpretations based on macroflora, palynoflora and sedimentological data, suggests that a warm and humid climate with mild seasonality prevailed in the region during the Early Jurassic.

In this paper, the model of bisexual branching processes affected by viral infectivity and with random control functions in independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) random environments is established and the Markov property is given firstly. Then the relations of the probability generating functions of this model are studied, and some sufficient conditions for process extinction under common mating functions are presented. Finally, the limiting behaviors of the considered model after proper normalization, such as the sufficient conditions for the convergence in L1 and L2 and almost everywhere convergence, are investigated under the condition that the random control functions are super additive.

This study aims to explore the dynamics of leadership reconfiguration within emergent state-owned enterprises (SOEs), i.e., privately owned enterprises (POEs) that have been acquired by SOEs. From an institutional logic perspective, we argue that the emergence of these SOEs reflects a process in which POEs, previously dominated by market logic, incorporate state logic and transition to a hybrid form. However, this process presents a paradox for emergent SOEs: while a greater extent of reconfiguration of leadership helps them gain greater legitimacy in front of state-related institutional referents, it also results in greater conflicts between members adhering to different logics. To address this paradox, we theorize on the differences in the reconfigurations of the board and top management team (TMT) by respectively connecting their functions to institutional control and agency, two typical forms of institutional power. Our analysis reveals that emergent SOEs tend to experience reconfiguration more in the board while less in TMT. Furthermore, we find that these main effects are moderated by the industrial state-ownership density and acquirees' preacquisition political connections. Our study contributes to the SOE and M&A literature by highlighting the uniqueness of emergent SOEs arising from POE-to-SOE acquisitions. Additionally, we propose a strategy to reconcile legitimation and internal stabilizations during logic hybridizations, thereby contributing to the institutional logic literature.

With increased global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals and degraded observation environments, the correctness of ambiguity resolution is disturbed, causing unexpected real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning solutions. This paper presents an improved fault detection and exclusion (FDE) method based on the generalized least squares (GLS) model. The correlated GLS model is constructed by regarding double-differencing (DD) integer ambiguities as the known parameters. Meanwhile, the validity of residuals as crucial components of fault detection could be enhanced by the iterative re-weighted least squares (IRLS) method rather than the least squares (LS) without robustness. A static test with artificial faults and a dynamic test with natural faults were carried out, respectively. By analyzing test statistics of the enhanced FDE algorithm and comparing its positioning errors with those from the classical LS, it is shown that our method can provide high-precision and high-reliability RTK solutions facing wrong DD fixed ambiguities due to observation faults.