The grouted connection (GC) of the offshore wind turbine (OWT) jacket foundation mainly bears axial loads, the wind and wave load in the working environment make the structure prone to fatigue ...problems. The construction environment of the OWT foundation is relatively harsh, so there will be vertical and horizontal errors during the construction process. In this paper, the fatigue test of 9 specimens were designed to analyze the influence of vertical and horizontal errors, water ingression and other factors on the axial fatigue performance of the GC section. The static ultimate bearing capacity test was carried out to determine the load ranges of the fatigue test. Results of fatigue tests indicate that the fatigue performance of the GC considerably degenerates with the load eccentricity, especially at the end sections of the inner and outer tubes. Water ingression has a significant negative influence on the fatigue performance of the GC section. The presence of water contributes to the propagation and development of cracks in the grout layer. Load range, vertical and horizontal errors and grout material have negligible effect on the fatigue performance of the structure.
•Fatigue test of grouted connections under axial loading with constructional errors.•Effects of load range, load eccentricity, water ingression, constructional errors and grout material were investigated.•The water ingression speed is measured during the test to assess the grout damage.•The fatigue performance of the grouted connection significantly deteriorates with increasing load eccentricity.•Water presence promotes crack propagation and development of the grout layer.
Tellurene is a new 2D nonlayered material, which have obvious structural differences in both horizontal and vertical directions compared to layered materials. However, photonic devices related to its ...nonlinear optical characteristics are currently less studied. Herein, ultrathin 2D tellurene nanosheets were harvested from bulk tellurium crystals by liquid-phase exfoliation method. The low saturable intensity (1.06 MW/cm 2 ) and the high modulation depth (35.64%) of tellurene nanosheets were characterized by two-arm detection technology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to utilize tellurene-microfiber as a saturable absorber, and achieved a picosecond passive mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser. Stable picosecond pulses were generated at 1558.8 nm with a pulse duration of 1.03 ps. This work highlights the promise of 2D tellurene in short pulse lasers and will promote the applications of 2D nonlayered materials in ultrafast photonics.
The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants and "anatomical escape" characteristics threaten the effectiveness of current coronavirus disease 2019 ...(COVID-19) vaccines. There is an urgent need to understand the immunological mechanism of broad-spectrum respiratory tract protection to guide broader vaccines development. Here we investigate immune responses induced by an NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored intranasal COVID-19 vaccine (dNS1-RBD) which provides broad-spectrum protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants in hamsters. Intranasal delivery of dNS1-RBD induces innate immunity, trained immunity and tissue-resident memory T cells covering the upper and lower respiratory tract. It restrains the inflammatory response by suppressing early phase viral load post SARS-CoV-2 challenge and attenuating pro-inflammatory cytokine (Il6, Il1b, and Ifng) levels, thereby reducing excess immune-induced tissue injury compared with the control group. By inducing local cellular immunity and trained immunity, intranasal delivery of NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored vaccine represents a broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccine strategy to reduce disease burden.
The emergence of novel and efficient antibody maintenance approaches has provided more options for post-induction treatment of advanced follicular lymphoma (FL), and further comparisons are required ...to determine the most clinically beneficial regimen. The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the maintenance or consolidation strategy.
The authors performed two independent searches in PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane library databases, Scopus, and Embase for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating maintenance or consolidation therapy in untreated FL patients. Extracted data included the clinical characteristics, treatment regimen, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and adverse effects. They then pooled the data and used a Bayesian random-effects model to combine direct comparisons with indirect evidence.
The authors screened 1515 records and identified 13 eligible RCTs that assessed nine different regimens in 5681 advanced FL patients. Reconstructed individual survival data presented that obinutuzumab had the highest effect sizes and certainty of the evidence for PFS (hazard ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.79) and tolerability compared with observation. However, no benefit was observed in patients according to the OS, regardless of which regimen was taken. Considering other regimens, although an extended course of rituximab maintenance and consolidation therapies presented PFS benefits compared with standard rituximab maintenance, they were also associated with higher toxicity.
Although obinutuzumab and rituximab maintenance treatment improved PFS significantly, its clinical benefit requires further validation in larger populations. Furthermore, because few trials informed each treatment comparison, research is needed to refine the understanding of this complex and rapidly evolving treatment landscape.
As the cousin of phosphorene, antimonene, i.e., two-dimensional Sb monolayer, aroused an intensive attention to its physical performance in recent years. In this paper, few-layer antimonene (FLA) ...nanosheets with thickness of 3∼6 nm were prepared by liquid phase exfoliation (LPE). The saturated absorption properties were measured using the Z-scan method. The single-and dual-wavelength mode-locked fiber lasers were demonstrated using erbium-doped fiber as a gain medium based on the antimonene saturable absorber. For the single-wavelength pattern, the pulse width of fundamental frequency was 1.73 ns with a frequency of 2.16 MHz. The maximal output power was 7.28 mW, corresponding to the maximal peak power of 1.92 W. In addition, the shortest pulse width of 953 ps was achieved with the high-order mode-locked laser. For the dual-wavelength laser, the two synchronous wavelengths at steady operation were 1561.3 and 1562.7 nm. The difference frequency of these two wavelengths (0.17 × 10 12 Hz) belongs to the terahertz waveband, which provides a powerful light source for the development of terahertz. Our results demonstrated that antimonene was an excellent nonlinear absorption material in mode-locked fiber laser and broadened this application in optics.
Roads are the link between geographic space and human socio-economic activities, promoting local economic development, and simultaneously causing various negative effects, such as segmentation, ...interference, destruction, degradation, and pollution. In China, the construction of roads is rapid, which might affect wildlife movement, landscape pattern, and land use change, thereby, affecting the conservation of heritage sites. In the present study, the minimum cumulative resistance model, along with geographic information system technology, was adopted to compute the ecological corridor for wildlife movement between the source patches and to analyze ecological corridor changes under two conditions (road presence/absence) at two time points in Kanas, nominated as a World Natural Heritage site. The relationships between the ecological corridor changes and various factors, including the cutting index of the ‘road-effect zones’, terrain, and road geometric characteristics, were examined using the geographical detector model to identify the influencing factors and mechanisms of the corridor changes, in order to rationally simulate the potential ecological corridors. In addition, the detached and fragmented ecological patches can be connected to effectively protect the biodiversity, biological habitats, and species, which are important means to achieve regional sustainable development and ecological construction.
Highly sensitive, real-time and label-free sensing of liquid flow in microfluidic environments remains challenging. Here, by growing high-quality graphene directly on a glass substrate, we designed a ...microfluidic-integrated graphene-based flow sensor (GFS) capable of detecting complex, weak, and transient flow velocity and pressure signals in a microfluidic environment. This device was used to study weak and transient liquid flows, especially blood flow, which is closely related to heart and artery functions. By simulating cardiac peristalsis and arterial flow using peristaltic pumps and microfluidic systems, we monitored simulated arterial blood flow. This ultrasensitive graphene-based flow sensor accurately detected a flow velocity limit as low as 0.7 mm/s, a pumping frequency range of 0.04 Hz to 2.5 Hz, and a pressure range from 0.6 kPa to 14 kPa. By measuring the blood flow velocities and pressures, pathological blood flow signals were distinguished and captured by the corresponding flow velocities or pressures, which can reflect vascular occlusion and heart functions. This sensor may be used for the real-time and label-free monitoring of patients' basic vital signs using their blood flow and provide a possible new method for the care of critically ill patients.
Although insulin therapy achieves effective glycemic control, it may aggravate hyperinsulinemia. Nonetheless the benefits of insulin as first-line treatment for women with GDM are controversial. This ...work aimed to investigate the effect of insulin on maternal GDM.
This retrospective cohort study recruited 708 women with GDM of whom 616 underwent lifestyle intervention and 92 were prescribed insulin therapy. Differences in variables between the two groups were analyzed by univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. Propensity score matching was used to control for age, pre-pregnancy BMI, time and BP at GDM diagnosis, and family history of diabetes and hypertension. Paired sample test was applied to evaluate the changes in BP after intervention in the two groups of women.
There was no significant difference in mode of delivery, newborn weight or incidence of macrosomia between women prescribed insulin and those who adopted lifestyle modifications. Insulin therapy was associated with a slight increase in maternal weight compared with the lifestyle intervention group and was attributed to short-term treatment (about 12 weeks). In addition, insulin therapy remarkably increased maternal blood pressure, an effect that persisted after matching age, pre-pregnancy BMI, time and BP at GDM diagnosis, and family history of diabetes and hypertension. Between commencing insulin therapy and delivery, systolic blood pressure significantly increased by 6mmHg (P = 0.015) and diastolic blood pressure by 9 mmHg (P < 0.001). Increase in BP was significantly higher in the insulin group compared with the lifestyle intervention group (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis with enter selection confirmed that insulin therapy was closely correlated with development of gestational hypertension (GH).
This work suggested that short-term insulin therapy for GDM was associated with a slight increase in maternal weight but a significant risk of increasing maternal blood pressure.
L.F. Fu, A.K. Monro & Y.G. Wei, a new species from Guangxi, China is described and illustrated. Morphologically,
is most similar to
from which it differs by having smaller size of leaf laminae, fewer ...and smaller staminate peduncle bracts, longer pistillate peduncle bracts and a larger achene. This result is supported by the molecular evidence. The phylogenetic position of the new species within
is evaluated using three DNA regions, ITS,
and
, for 107 taxa of
s.l. (including
). Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) analyses each recovered the same strongly supported tree topologies, indicating that
is a member of the core
clade and sister to
. Along with the phylogenetic studies, plastid genome and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences of the new species are assembled and annotated. The plastid genome is 150,398 bp in length and comprises two inverted repeats (IRs) of 24,688 bp separated by a large single-copy of 83,919 bp and a small single-copy of 17,103 bp. A total of 113 functional genes are recovered, comprising 79 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. The rDNA is 5,804 bp in length and comprised the 18S ribosomal RNA partial sequence (1,809 bp), internal transcribed spacer 1 (213 bp), 5.8S ribosomal RNA (164 bp), internal transcribed spacer 2 (248 bp) and 26S ribosomal RNA partial sequence (3,370 bp). In addition, the chromosome number of
is observed to be 2
= 26, suggesting that the species is diploid. Given a consistent relationship between ploidy level and reproductive system in
, the new species is also considered to be sexually reproducing. Our assessment of the extinction threat for
is that it is Endangered (EN) according to the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Abstract Background This study aimed to assess whether the Haptoglobin (Hp) genotype influences the relationship between hemoglobin (Hb) levels and the development of gestational diabetes mellitus ...(GDM). Additionally, it sought to evaluate the interaction and joint association of Hb levels and Hp genotype with GDM risk. Methods This retrospective study involved 358 women with GDM and 1324 women with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). Peripheral blood leukocytes were collected from 360 individuals at 14–16 weeks’ gestation for Hp genotyping. GDM was diagnosed between 24–28 weeks’ gestation. Interactive moderating effect, joint analysis, and mediation analysis were performed to evaluate the crosslink of Hb levels and Hp genotype with GDM risk. Results Women who developed GDM had significantly higher Hb levels throughout pregnancy compared to those with NGT. Increase first-trimester Hb concentration was associated with a progressive rise in GDM incidence, glucose levels, glycosylated hemoglobin levels, Homeostasis Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) values, cesarean delivery rates, and composite neonatal outcomes. Spline regression showed a significant linear association of GDM incidence with continuous first-trimester Hb level when the latter exceeded 122 g/L. Increased first-trimester Hb concentration was an independent risk factor for GDM development after adjusting for potential confounding factors in both the overall population and a matched case-control group. The Hp2–2 genotype was more prevalent among pregnant women with GDM when first-trimester Hb exceeded 122 g/L. Significant multiplicative and additive interactions were identified between Hb levels and Hp genotype for GDM risk, adjusted for age and pre-pregnancy BMI. The odds ratio (OR) for GDM development increased incrementally when stratified by Hb levels and Hp genotype. Moreover, first-trimester Hb level partially mediated the association between Hp genotype and GDM risk. Conclusion Increased first-trimester Hb levels were closely associated with the development of GDM and adverse pregnancy outcomes, with this association moderated by the Hp2–2 genotype.
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