An analysis of farmers' perception of the new cooperative medical system in Liaoning Province, China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Since 2003, the number of pilot areas of the New Rural Cooperative Medical System (NRCMS) has increased in rural China. And the major efforts have been concentrated on the enrollment of prospective members. In this study, we examined the satisfaction of the rural residents with the NRCMS as well as factors affecting their attitudes towards the NRCMS.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data for this study were collected from a survey involving twenty counties in Liaoning Province. Interviews and focus groups were conducted between 10^thJanuary and 20^thAugust 2008. A total of 2,780 people aged 18-72 were randomly selected and interviewed. Data were evaluated by nonparametric tests and ordinal regression models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>71.6% of the study subjects were satisfied with the NRCMS. Single factor analysis showed that attitudes towards the NRCMS were influenced by gender, age, marital status, and self-rated health status. In the ordinal regression analysis, gender, age, and self-rated health status affect satisfaction (P < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We found that a considerable proportion of farmers were satisfied with the NRCMS. Gender, age, and self-rated health status had significant effects on farmers' attitudes towards the NRCMS. The Chinese Central Government attempted to adopt active measures in the future to continuously improve the NRCMS, including initiating educational programs, building new medical facilities and increasing financial investment.</p

GPVI and GPIbα Mediate Staphylococcal Superantigen-Like Protein 5 (SSL5) Induced Platelet Activation and Direct toward Glycans as Potential Inhibitors

Background Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a common pathogen capable of causing life-threatening infections. Staphylococcal superantigen-like protein 5 (SSL5) has recently been shown to bind to platelet glycoproteins and induce platelet activation. This study investigates further the interaction between SSL5 and platelet glycoproteins. Moreover, using a glycan discovery approach, we aim to identify potential glycans to therapeutically target this interaction and prevent SSL5-induced effects. Methodology/Principal Findings In addition to platelet activation experiments, flow cytometry, immunoprecipitation, surface plasmon resonance and a glycan binding array, were used to identify specific SSL5 binding regions and mediators. We independently confirm SSL5 to interact with platelets via GPIbα and identify the sulphated-tyrosine residues as an important region for SSL5 binding. We also identify the novel direct interaction between SSL5 and the platelet collagen receptor GPVI. Together, these receptors offer one mechanistic explanation for the unique functional influences SSL5 exerts on platelets. A role for specific families of platelet glycans in mediating SSL5-platelet interactions was also discovered and used to identify and demonstrate effectiveness of potential glycan based inhibitors in vitro. Conclusions/Significance These findings further elucidate the functional interactions between SSL5 and platelets, including the novel finding of a role for the GPVI receptor. We demonstrate efficacy of possible glycan-based approaches to inhibit the SSL5-induced platelet activation. Our data warrant further work to prove SSL5-platelet effects in viv

Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in ZZ-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at s=\sqrt{s}=13 TeV

Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against a $Z$ boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 $< p_{\textrm{T}} < 100$ GeV and in the pseudorapidity range $2.5 < \eta < 4$. The data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb$^{-1}$. Triple differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-013.html (LHCb public pages

Study of the B−→Λc+Λˉc−K−B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-} decay

The decay $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ is studied in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment. In the $\Lambda_{c}^+ K^{-}$ system, the $\Xi_{c}(2930)^{0}$ state observed at the BaBar and Belle experiments is resolved into two narrower states, $\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}$ and $\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}$, whose masses and widths are measured to be $$m(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = 2924.5 \pm 0.4 \pm 1.1 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ m(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = 2938.5 \pm 0.9 \pm 2.3 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = \phantom{000}4.8 \pm 0.9 \pm 1.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},\\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = \phantom{00}11.0 \pm 1.9 \pm 7.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},$$ where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The results are consistent with a previous LHCb measurement using a prompt $\Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ sample. Evidence of a new $\Xi_{c}(2880)^{0}$ state is found with a local significance of $3.8\,\sigma$, whose mass and width are measured to be $2881.8 \pm 3.1 \pm 8.5\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $12.4 \pm 5.3 \pm 5.8 \,\mathrm{MeV}$, respectively. In addition, evidence of a new decay mode $\Xi_{c}(2790)^{0} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ is found with a significance of $3.7\,\sigma$. The relative branching fraction of $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ with respect to the $B^{-} \to D^{+} D^{-} K^{-}$ decay is measured to be $2.36 \pm 0.11 \pm 0.22 \pm 0.25$, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third originates from the branching fractions of charm hadron decays.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-028.html (LHCb public pages

Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions R(D∗)\mathcal{R}(D^{*}) and R(D0)\mathcal{R}(D^{0})

The ratios of branching fractions $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})\equiv\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})\equiv\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ are measured, assuming isospin symmetry, using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb${ }^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The tau lepton is identified in the decay mode $\tau^{-}\to\mu^{-}\nu_{\tau}\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$. The measured values are $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})=0.281\pm0.018\pm0.024$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})=0.441\pm0.060\pm0.066$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The correlation between these measurements is $\rho=-0.43$. Results are consistent with the current average of these quantities and are at a combined 1.9 standard deviations from the predictions based on lepton flavor universality in the Standard Model.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-039.html (LHCb public pages

Species-level identification of the blowfly Chrysomya megacephala and other Diptera in China by DNA barcoding

The blowfly Chrysomya megacephala, or oriental latrine fly, is the most common human-associated fly of the oriental and Australasian regions. C. megacephala is of particular interest for its use in forensic entomology and because it is a disease vector. The larvae are economically important as feed for livestock and in traditional Chinese medicine. Identification of adults is straightforward, but larvae and fragments of adults are difficult to identify. We collected C. megacephala, its allies Chrysomya pinguis and Protophormia terraenovae, as well as flies from 11 other species from 52 locations around China, then sequenced 658 base pairs of the COI barcode region from 645 flies of all 14 species, including 208 C. megacephala, as the basis of a COI barcode library for flies in China. While C. megacephala and its closest relative C. pinguis are closely related (mean K2P divergence of 0.022), these species are completely non-overlapping in their barcode divergences, thus demonstrating the utility of the COI barcode region for the identification of C. megacephala. We combined the 208 C. megacephala sequences from China with 98 others from public databases and show that worldwide COI barcode diversity is low, with 70% of all individuals belonging to one of three haplotypes that differ by one or two substitutions from each other, reflecting recent anthropogenic dispersal from its native range in Eurasia.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

A formal re-description of the cockroach Hebardina concinna anchored on DNA Barcodes confirms wing polymorphism and identifies morphological characters for field identification.

BACKGROUND: Hebardina concinna is a domestic pest and potential vector of pathogens throughout East and Southeast Asia, yet identification of this species has been difficult due to a lack of diagnostic morphological characters, and to uncertainty in the relationship between macroptyrous (long-winged) and brachypterous (small-winged) morphotypes. In insects male genital structures are typically species-specific and are frequently used to identify species. However, male genital structures in H. concinna had not previously been described, in part due to difficulty in identifying conspecifics. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We collected 15 putative H. concinna individuals, from Chinese populations, of both wing morphotypes and both sexes and then generated mitochondrial COI (the standard barcode region) and COII sequences from five of these individuals. These confirmed that both morphotypes of both sexes are the same species. We then dissected male genitalia and compared genital structures from macropterous and brachypterous individuals, which we showed to be identical, and present here for the first time a detailed description of H. concinna male genital structures. We also present a complete re-description of the morphological characters of this species, including both wing morphs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This work describes a practical application of DNA barcoding to confirm that putatively polymorphic insects are conspecific and then to identify species-specific characters that can be used in the field to identify individuals and to obviate the delay and cost of returning samples to a laboratory for DNA sequencing

Synchrotron X-ray micro-computed tomography imaging of 3D re-entrant micro lattice during in situ micro compression experimental process

3D re-entrant mechanical metamaterials were designed and fabricated with P mu LSE (Projection Micro Litho Stereo Exposure) 3D printing technique, synchrotron X-Ray tomography 3D imaging and in situ mechanical experi-ments were performed for characterizing additive manufacturing (AM) process induced internal defects, corre-sponding relations between defects and mechanical behaviors of harvested 3D re-entrant lattice samples were explored through experiments and simulations comparisons. Firstly, in situ micro compression mechanical test device was designed and constructed for in situ synchrotron X-Ray 3D tomography mechanical experiments; Af-terwards, interrupted in situ compression tests were performed for investigating the effects of manufacturing process induced defects on the deformation behaviors of 3D re-entrant lattice metamaterials, and finite element (FE) modeling was performed and compared with experimental results for understanding the mechanical behav-iors of as-fabricated 3D re-entrant lattice metamaterials. (c) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd