A comparative analysis of growth and nutritional quality of the hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus ♀ × Epinephelus lanceolatus ♂) in a simulated pond system and a recirculating aquaculture system

Groupers, as a popular economic fish species, are now more frequently cultured in land-based facilities, however, traditional pond-farming methods are plagued by frequent disease outbreaks, unstable economic benefits, and environmental pollution. To explore a new farming mode for a grouper, an 80-day cultivation experiment was conducted using both a simulated pond system (SPS) and a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). The research aims to evaluate the growth performance, health (pathogenic bacteria, intestinal microbiota), off-flavor compounds (geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol), and nutritional component (amino acids, fatty acid composition and content) of a hybrid grouper (Pinephelus fuscoguttatus ♀ × Epinephelus lanceolatus ♂) under different aquaculture systems. The results showed that the hybrid grouper in a RAS exhibited better growth performance; the concentration of Vibrio in the fish tissue in the RAS was significantly lower than that in the SPS. Moreover, the content of fresh amino acids in the RAS was significantly higher, and the levels of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-6PUFAs) were significantly higher in the RAS. This finding indicates the superior flavor and nutritional value of the grouper. These results prove that the RAS is suitable for the widespread cultivation of grouper

Dehydration of core/shell fruits

Dehydrated core/shell fruits, such as jujubes, raisins and plums, show very complex buckles and wrinkles on their exocarp. It is a challenging task to model such complicated patterns and their evolution in a virtual environment even for professional animators. This paper presents a unified physically-based approach to simulate the morphological transformation for the core/shell fruits in the dehydration process. A finite element method (FEM), which is based on the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient into an elastic part and a dehydrated part, is adopted to model the morphological evolution. In the method, the dehydration pattern can be conveniently controlled through physically prescribed parameters according to the geometry and material of the real fruits. The effects of the parameters on the final dehydrated surface patterns are investigated and summarized in detail. Experiments on jujubes, wolfberries, raisins and plums are given, which demonstrate the efficacy of the method

Changes on the conformational and functional properties of soybean protein isolate induced by quercetin

The conformational changes and functional properties of SPI induced by quercetin was investigated via fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and molecular docking. A decrease in the fluorescence intensity and a blue shift in the maximum wavelength were observed due to the binding process with fluorescent residues. The analysis of Stern-Volmer equation showed that the fluorescence quenching induced by quercetin took the form of static quenching, and the binding stoichiometry between SPI and quercetin was 1:1. The values of ΔH and ΔS were both positive illustrating that hydrophobic interaction was the primary binding force between quercetin and SPI. Results of FTIR and CD indicated that the binding with quercetin changed the secondary structure of SPI, resulting in a partially unfolded and more flexible structure. SDS-PAGE confirmed there was no covalent interaction between the two constituents. Molecular docking demonstrated that there were stable configurations and high matching degrees in both 11S and 7S proteins with quercetin via hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions. Meanwhile, modification by quercetin enhanced the foaming and emulsifying capacities of SPI. These findings might provide theory reference for elucidation the mechanism of polyphenols-proteins interaction and development of related food additive products in future

Durvalumab Plus Carboplatin/Paclitaxel Followed by Maintenance Durvalumab With or Without Olaparib as First-Line Treatment for Advanced Endometrial Cancer: The Phase III DUO-E Trial

PURPOSE Immunotherapy and chemotherapy combinations have shown activity in endometrial cancer, with greater benefit in mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient (dMMR) than MMR-proficient (pMMR) disease. Adding a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor may improve outcomes, especially in pMMR disease. METHODS This phase III, global, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial randomly assigned eligible patients with newly diagnosed advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer 1:1:1 to: carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab placebo followed by placebo maintenance (control arm); carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab plus olaparib placebo (durvalumab arm); or carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab plus olaparib (durvalumab + olaparib arm). The primary end points were progression-free survival (PFS) in the durvalumab arm versus control and the durvalumab + olaparib arm versus control. RESULTS Seven hundred eighteen patients were randomly assigned. In the intention-to-treat population, statistically significant PFS benefit was observed in the durvalumab (hazard ratio [HR], 0.71 [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.89]; P = .003) and durvalumab + olaparib arms (HR, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.43 to 0.69]; P < .0001) versus control. Prespecified, exploratory subgroup analyses showed PFS benefit in dMMR (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.42 [95% CI, 0.22 to 0.80]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control], 0.41 [95% CI, 0.21 to 0.75]) and pMMR subgroups (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.77 [95% CI, 0.60 to 0.97]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control] 0.57; [95% CI, 0.44 to 0.73]); and in PD-L1-positive subgroups (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.63 [95% CI, 0.48 to 0.83]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control], 0.42 [95% CI, 0.31 to 0.57]). Interim overall survival results (maturity approximately 28%) were supportive of the primary outcomes (durvalumab v control: HR, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.56 to 1.07]; P = .120; durvalumab + olaparib v control: HR, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.42 to 0.83]; P = .003). The safety profiles of the experimental arms were generally consistent with individual agents. CONCLUSION Carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab with or without olaparib demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful PFS benefit in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer

Analysis on the Characteristics and Cause of a Compound Pollution Process in Changsha in 2017

Using the conventional meteorological observations, the air Air quality monitoring data, the L-band wind-profiling radar data, the NECP reanalysis data, and the simulation results of the HYSPLIT4 model, the compound pollution process from November 2 to 5, 2017 in Changsha is comprehensively analyzed in this study, including the sources and transport paths of pollutions, the Meteorological conditions and atmospheric boundary layer characteristics. The results showed that the process of air pollution in Changsha is a compound pollution process with high concentration of O3 and fine PM2.5 coexisting. It reached serious pollution from 08:00 to 11 : 00 on 4, PM2.5 was 269.3 ug·m−3 at 09:00 on 4 November. The characteristics of the two phases of this pollution process were clearly different. The first phase was mainly result of accumulation of local pollutants, and the second one was mainly result of outside resource. The maximum wind were light breezein on this pollution process, gentle breeze mainly occurred in the second stage of pollution, and the maximum wind velocity was 4.4m/s. It appearred multi-layer inversion usually, temperature stratification was stabled, and the inversion layer thickness reached the maximum value 909m at 20:00 on 3 November. The boundary layer convergenced and ascented movement, horizontal transport, vertical wind field distribution and atmospheric layer provided the favorable conditions for the air pollution process. The results showed that short-range transport of pollutants is the maily reason based on the HYSPLIT4 model, the northeast airflow was dominant at 100-1000m height. The vary of wind profile data and CO and SO2 emission ratio showed that the different pollution characteristics of two phases, the maximum ratio was more than 100. It has an important indicator for weather forecast in Changsha

A Numerical Study of the Forces on Two Tandem Cylinders Exerted by Internal Solitary Waves

A three-dimensional numerical wave flume is employed to investigate the forces exerted by internal solitary waves (ISWs) on a pair of circular cylinders in tandem arrangement, using large-eddy simulation (LES) model. The effect of the centre-to-centre distance (L) ranging from 1.5 to 5 diameters (D) is studied for various ISWs amplitudes (ηa) in the two-layer fluid system. Vertical-averaged vorticity distribution and vertical-averaged pressure gradient distribution in each layer are presented to investigate the different hydrodynamic interference between cylinders and the ISWs forces on each cylinder at various L. Furthermore, the force behaviors of the two cylinders are also compared with that of an isolated cylinder in the same environment. The interaction between the two piles occurs in both layers, and it is found that, for 1.5≤L/D<3.5, strong mutual interference appears between two cylinders; for 3.5≤L/D<5, the two cylinders continue to influence each other in a weak-interference state; for L/D≥5, the interaction gradually decreases into a noninteracting state. This paper tries to provide some references to structural arrangement of double-cylinder structure and grouped-cylinder structure in stratified flow environment

A nonlinear finite element model for the stress analysis of soft solids with a growing mass

AbstractThe paper presents a new finite element (FE) model for the stress analysis of soft solids with a growing mass based on the work of Lubarda and Hoger (2002). Contrary to the traditional numerical methods emphasizing on the influence of growth on constitutive equations, an equivalent body force is firstly detected, which is resulted from the linearization of the nonlinear equation and acts as the driver for material growth in the numerical aspect. In the algorithm, only minor correction on the traditional tangent modulus is needed to take the growth effects into consideration and its objectivity could be guaranteed comparing with the traditional method. To solve the resulted equation in time domain, both explicit and implicit integration algorithms are developed, where the growth tensor is updated as an internal variable of Gauss point. The explicit updating scheme shows higher efficiency, while the implicit one seems to be more robust and accurate. The algorithm validation and its good performance are demonstrated by several two-dimensional examples, including free growth, constrained growth and stress dependent growth

Relationship between Hyperuricemia and Haar-Like Features on Tongue Images

Objective. To investigate differences in tongue images of subjects with and without hyperuricemia. Materials and Methods. This population-based case-control study was performed in 2012-2013. We collected data from 46 case subjects with hyperuricemia and 46 control subjects, including results of biochemical examinations and tongue images. Symmetrical Haar-like features based on integral images were extracted from tongue images. T-tests were performed to determine the ability of extracted features to distinguish between the case and control groups. We first selected features using the common criterion P<0.05, then conducted further examination of feature characteristics and feature selection using means and standard deviations of distributions in the case and control groups. Results. A total of 115,683 features were selected using the criterion P<0.05. The maximum area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of these features was 0.877. The sensitivity of the feature with the maximum AUC value was 0.800 and specificity was 0.826 when the Youden index was maximized. Features that performed well were concentrated in the tongue root region. Conclusions. Symmetrical Haar-like features enabled discrimination of subjects with and without hyperuricemia in our sample. The locations of these discriminative features were in agreement with the interpretation of tongue appearance in traditional Chinese and Western medicine