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BackgroundThe world is experiencing an unprecedented challenge due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, it is unclear whether people’s lifestyles will change as a result. ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to explore perceived lifestyle changes after the outbreak of COVID-19 and their association with subjective well-being (SWB) among the general population in Mainland China. MethodsAn online survey was conducted in May 2020. Lifestyle behaviors including leisure-time physical exercise, leisure-time screen time, and dietary intake were self-reported. SWB was measured using the General Wellbeing Schedule (GWS). Other covariates including sociodemographic factors, self-rated physical health, perceived social support, and loneliness were also assessed by a structured questionnaire. A multivariate ordinal regression method was used to analyze the association between SWB and lifestyle behaviors as well as perceived lifestyle changes. ResultsA total of 1033 participants aged between 18 and 60 years were included in this study. The mean GWS score was 71.7 points. About 70% of the respondents reported spending more time looking at screens, whereas about 30% reported an increased frequency of vegetable and fruit intake after the outbreak of COVID-19. Inactive physical exercise (odds ratio [OR] 1.16, 95% CI 1.02-1.48), infrequent vegetable intake (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.10-1.90), infrequent fruit intake (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.01-1.70), and often skipping breakfast (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.08-1.91) were associated with lower SWB after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, self-rated physical health, perceived social support, and loneliness. Moreover, participants who perceived a decrease in the frequency of vegetable, fruit, and breakfast intake were more likely to report lower SWB. ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic may have positive and negative impacts on different aspects of lifestyle behaviors. Both unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and negative lifestyle changes were associated with lower SWB. These findings provide scientific evidence that can inform lifestyle guidelines and public mental health interventions during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Pentatrichomonas hominis, a flagellated parasitic protozoan, predominantly infects the mammalian digestive tract, often causing symptoms such as abdominal pain and diarrhea. However, studies investigating its pathogenicity are limited, and the mechanisms underlying P. hominis-induced diarrhea remain unclear. Establishing an in vitro cell model for P. hominis infection is imperative. This study investigated the interaction between P. hominis and IPEC-J2 cells and its impact on parasite growth, adhesion, morphology, and cell viability. Co-cultivation of P. hominis with IPEC-J2 cells resulted in exponential growth of the parasite, with peak densities reaching approximately 4.8 × 105 cells/mL and 1.2 × 106 cells/mL at 48 h for initial inoculation concentrations of 104 cells/mL and 105 cells/mL, respectively. The adhesion rate of P. hominis to IPEC-J2 cells reached a maximum of 93.82% and 86.57% at 24 h for initial inoculation concentrations of 104 cells/mL and 105 cells/mL, respectively. Morphological changes in IPEC-J2 cells co-cultivated with P. hominis were observed, manifesting as elongated and irregular shapes. The viability of IPEC-J2 cells exhibited a decreasing trend with increasing P. hominis concentration and co-cultivation time. Additionally, the mRNA expression levels of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α were upregulated, whereas those of CAT and CuZn-SOD were downregulated. These findings provide quantitative evidence that P. hominis can promote its growth by adhering to IPEC-J2 cells, inducing morphological changes, reducing cell viability, and triggering inflammatory responses. Further in vivo studies are warranted to confirm these results and enhance our understanding of P. hominis infection.

Ensuring compliance with complex industry standards and regulations during the design and implementation phases of construction projects is a significant challenge in the building information modeling (BIM) domain. Traditional manual compliance checking methods are inefficient and error-prone, failing to meet modern engineering demands. Natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning methods have improved efficiency and accuracy in rule interpretation and compliance checking. However, these methods still require extensive manual feature engineering, large, annotated datasets, and significant computational resources. Large language models (LLMs) provide robust language understanding with minimal labeled data due to their pre-training and few-shot learning capabilities. However, their application in the AEC field is still limited by the need for fine-tuning for specific tasks, handling complex texts with nested clauses and conditional statements. This study introduces an innovative automated compliance checking framework that integrates LLM, deep learning models, and ontology knowledge models. The use of LLM is motivated by its few-shot learning capability, which significantly reduces the need for large, annotated datasets required by previous methods. Deep learning is employed to preliminarily classify regulatory texts, which further enhances the accuracy of structured information extraction by the LLM compared to directly feeding raw data into the LLM. This novel combination of deep learning and LLM significantly enhances the efficiency and accuracy of compliance checks by automating the processing of regulatory texts and reducing manual intervention. This approach is crucial for architects, engineers, project managers, and regulators, providing a scalable and adaptable solution for automated compliance in the construction industry with broad application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The expression levels of 10 candidate reference genes were investigated in Trichomonas gallinae under various stress conditions. • The most stable reference gene was identified as tubulin beta chain (TUBB), while TUBG and GAPDH demonstrated poor stability. • Evaluation of reference gene stability using the TgaAtg8 gene, demonstrating consistent expression profiles with TUBB. Trichomonas gallinae , a globally distributed protozoan parasite, significantly affects the pigeon-breeding industry. T. gallinae infection mainly causes yellow ulcerative nodules on the upper respiratory tract and crop mucosa of pigeons, impeding normal breathing and feeding and ultimately causing death. Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) is a crucial technique for gene-expression analysis in molecular biology. Reference-gene selection for normalization is critical for ensuring this technique's accuracy. However, no systematic screening or validation of T. gallinae reference genes has been reported. This study quantified the transcript levels of ten candidate reference genes in T. gallinae isolates with different genotypes and culture conditions using qPCR. Using the geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper algorithms, we assessed these reference genes' stabilities and ranked them using RankAggreg analysis. The most stable reference gene was tubulin beta chain (TUBB), while the widely used reference genes TUBG and GAPDH demonstrated poor stability. Additionally, we evaluated these candidate reference genes' stabilities using the T. gallinae TgaAtg8 gene. On using TUBB as a reference gene, TgaAtg8′s expression profiles in T. gallinae isolates with different genotypes remained relatively consistent under various culture conditions. Conversely, using ACTB as a reference gene distorted the data. These findings provide valuable reference-gene-selection guidance for functional gene research and gene-expression analysis in T. gallinae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Both glucose and albumin are associated with chronic inflammation, which plays a vital role in post-contrast acute kidney injury (PC-AKI). To explore the relationship between random glucose to albumin ratio (RAR) and the incidence of PC-AKI after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)., Patients and Methods: STEMI patients who underwent PCI were consecutively enrolled from January, 01, 2010 to February, 28, 2020. All patients were categorized into T1, T2, and T3 groups, respectively, based on RAR value (RAR < 3.377; 3.377 ≤ RAR ≤ 4.579; RAR > 4.579). The primary outcome was the incidence of PC-AKI, and the incidence of major adverse clinical events (MACE) was the second endpoint. The association between RAR and PC-AKI was assessed by multivariable logistic regression analysis., Results: A total of 2,924 patients with STEMI undergoing PCI were finally included. The incidence of PC-AKI increased with the increasing tertile of RAR (3.2% vs 4.8% vs 10.6%, P<0.001). Multivariable regression analysis demonstrated that RAR (as a continuous variable) was associated with the incidence of PC-AKI (adjusted odds ratio (OR) =1.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) =1.04 - 1.16, P<0.001) and in-hospital MACE (OR=1.07, 95% CI=1.02 - 1.14, P=0.012); RAR, as a categorical variable, was significantly associated with PC-AKI (T3 vs. T1, OR=1.70, 95% CI=1.08 - 2.67, P=0.021) and in-hospital MACE (T3 vs. T1, OR=1.63, 95% CI=1.02 - 2.60, P=0.041) in multivariable regression analyses. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that RAR exhibited a predictive value for PC-AKI (area under the curve (AUC)=0.666, 95% CI=0.625 - 0.708), and in-hospital MACE (AUC= 0.662, 95% CI =0.619 - 0.706)., Conclusions: The high value of RAR was significantly associated with the increasing risk of PC-AKI and in-hospital MACE after PCI in STEMI patients, and RAR offers a good predictive value for those outcomes., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Lai, Gu, Lin, He, Dai, Duan, Liu and He.)

Avian coccidiosis, a parasitic disease prevalent in poultry, is caused by Eimeria species and leads to significant economic losses. The use of attenuated live oocyst vaccines has been adopted as an alternative to the use of anticoccidial drugs. However, the accurate detection and differentiation of vaccine strains from virulent ones remain challenging. Therefore, this study presents a novel TaqMan polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection method that offers enhanced sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility compared with traditional PCR techniques. Through whole-genome resequencing and bioinformatics analysis, we identified a molecular marker gene, Em&#95;marker6, with a unique 21-base pair deletion specific to the Eimeria maxima attenuated vaccine strain. Optimized primers and probes targeting this marker enabled rapid quantification cycle value achievement and high fluorescence intensity. The standard curve's slope of -3.540 and correlation coefficient of 0.9971 confirmed precise quantification capabilities. The TaqMan PCR method detected as few as 30 plasmid DNA copies and 50 oocysts per reaction, outperforming traditional PCR techniques by an order of magnitude. No cross-reactivity was observed with other E. maxima wide-type strains or common intestinal pathogens, ensuring the exclusive detection of the E. maxima EMPY vaccine strain. Weekly testing over 3 weeks demonstrated minimal variability, indicating robust consistency in the method's application. Testing on 61 clinical samples revealed a 57.38% positivity rate for E. maxima species and 13.11% for the vaccine strain. The Em&#95;marker6 gene exhibited genetic stability across multiple generations, confirming the detection method's robust stability for the attenuated E. maxima vaccine strain. This study significantly advances the field of avian coccidiosis research and control by providing a valuable tool for monitoring vaccine purity and preventing inadvertent infections in vaccinated flocks, aligning with global efforts to curb antibiotic use in animal feed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Jin, Cai, Liao, Qi, Li, Lv, Lin, Hu, Song, Zhu, Chen, Yin, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang and Sun.)

To explore alternative approaches to the CO 2 reduction to formate and provide an insight into the spin state effect on the CO 2 reduction, we theoretically designed a kind of low-valence iron(I) model complex, whose doublet, quartet, and sextet states are denoted as 2 Fe(I) , 4 Fe(I) , and 6 Fe(I) , respectively. This complex is featured with an iron(I) center, which bonds to a 1,2-ethanediamine (en) and a 2-hydroxy-biphenyl group. Reaction mechanisms for the CO 2 reduction to formate catalyzed by this iron(I) model complex were explored using density functional theory (DFT) computations. Studies showed that the univalent iron(I) compound can efficiently fix and activate a CO 2 molecule, whereas its oxidized forms with trivalent iron(III) or bivalent iron(II) cannot activate CO 2 . For the iron(I) compound, it was found that the lowest spin state 2 Fe(I) is the most favorable for the CO 2 reduction as the reactions barriers involving 2 Fe(I) , 4 Fe(I) , and 6 Fe(I) are 25.6, 37.2, and 35.9 kcal/mol, respectively. Yet, a photosensitizer-free visible-light-mediated high-low spin shift from 4 Fe(I) and 6 Fe(I) to 2 Fe(I) is likely through the reverse intersystem crossing (RIC) because the 4 Fe(I) and 6 Fe(I) compounds have strong absorption in the visible-light range. Notably, the synergistic interaction between the hydrogen bonding from the auxiliary hydroxyl group in the 2-hydroxy-biphenyl moiety to CO 2 and an intermediate five-membered ring promotes the proton transfer, leading to the formation of the -COOH moiety from CO 2 and the Fe-O bond. With the addition of H 2 , one H 2 molecule is split by the Fe-O bond and thus serves as H atom sources for both the CO 2 reduction and the recovery of the auxiliary hydroxyl group. The present theoretical study provides a novel solution for the challenging CO 2 reduction, which calls for further experimental verifications., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Most recently, Wiberg and Rablen examined a few substituted methanes and identified the polar effect, which is associated with the atomic charge at the central carbon, as a possible factor for bond energy changes while the exact role of the hyperconjugation effect is unsettled. In this work, we revisited a series of substituted methanes CH 4- n X n ( n = 0-4, X= F, Cl, CN, OCH 3 ) by explicitly computing the intramolecular electron delocalization energies using the simplest variant of ab initio valence bond (VB) theory, namely the block-localized wave function (BLW) method. This BLW method is designated to derive electron-localized states where intramolecular electron delocalization is "turned off". Computations show that the deactivation of the intramolecular electron delocalization in these molecules only slightly increases the charge (i.e., reduces the atomic population) at the central carbon in all systems. This seems consistent with the polar effect therein as proposed by Wiberg and Rablen. But apart from the stabilizing polar effect, there should be steric (including both Pauli and electrostatic) repulsion among the substituent groups. This is evidenced by the stretched C-X bonds in CX 4 compared with the same bonds in H 3 CX (X = Cl, CN) when the specific n X' → σ CH/CX * orbital interactions are "turned off", though there is indeed notable polar effect in fluoromethanes considering fluorine is the most electronegative atom. By focusing on one C-X' bond, we show that its involved orbital interactions enhance the bond strength from H 3 C-F' (by 11.6 kcal/mol) to F 3 C-F' (by 18.7 kcal/mol) but weaken from H 3 C-CN' (by 11.6 kcal/mol) to (CN) 3 C-CN' (by 9.3 kcal/mol).