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Background: The blood donors tested reactive (R) for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) but were missed by routine nucleic acid test (NAT), which can be resulted by the infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) with extremely low viral load. This phenomenon remains a strict threat to blood transfusion in China.Objectives: We aimed to investigate and analyze the molecular characteristics of HBV among blood donors that detected as HBsAg reactive (R) in single ELISA Reagent. Methods: The blood donations were detected as HBsAg R in one ELISA kit, using two kinds of ELISA reagents. These samples with non-reactive (NR) results by NAT were collected and tested for HBsAg by Abbott chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CLIA) with neutralization test, the level of HBsAg were further detected by Roche electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA). The viral basic core promoter (BCP) and pre-core (PC) and S regions were also amplified by nested-PCRs. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) for viral load determination and individual donation NAT of Roche reagent were adopted simultaneously. HBsAg was confirmed by the results of CLIA, ECLIA, nested-PCR, qPCR, and ID-NAT.Results: Of 100,252 donations, 38 and 41 were identified as HBsAg reactive only in WanTai and DiaSorin ELISA kit respectively, after blood screening using WanTai and DiaSorin ELISA assays. 79 (0.077%, 79/100,252) blood samples with ELISA R-NR and NAT NR results were enrolled in the study. Of which, 17 (21.5%,17/79) were confirmed as HBsAg positive. Of 14 cases genotyped, genotype B were 78.6% (11/14), C and D was observed in 2 (14.2%, 2/14) and 1 sample (7.1%, 1/14), respectively. Mutations in the S gene such as Y100C, Y103I, G145R, and L175S were found, which can affect the detection of HBsAg. A high-frequency mutation, T1719G (93.3%), was detected in BCP/PC and would reduce the replication of the virus. Conclusion: A small part of blood samples with HBsAg ELISA R-NR and NAT NR results were confirmed as HBV infection, viral nucleic acids were found in most of those samples through the in-house NAT methods. It is necessary to apply more sensitive and specific assays for the detection of HBV infection among blood donors.

BACKGROUND: Due to the low incidence of concurrent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and syphilis infection identified during the window period, little is known about the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment efficacy at very early stages.METHODS: One longitudinal study was conducted in a 42-year-old blood donor who was concurrently infected with syphilis and HIV. This blood donor was treated with a penicillin-based regimen and early antiretroviral therapy (ART). Immunological and NAT methods were comparatively analyzed.RESULTS: A regular male donor who had two occasions of high-risk sexual behaviors 41 and 35 days before donation(DBD) donated whole blood at the Shenzhen Blood Center. Antiretroviral therapy was initiated at the 28th day after donation (DAD), and syphilis treatment was received at the 49th DAD. Microbiological analysis using a 4th generation anti-HIV ELISA and CLIA indicated a positive signal at the 6th DAD. All NAT tests for HIV RNA were reactive except the minipool (MP) NAT of six pooled samples at 117th DAD. The HIV viral load declined more than 4-log in copies per milliliter over 3 months, until reaching non-detectable levels at 246th DAD. Nevertheless, HIV-1 DNA was still detectable at 403rd DAD. Among all methods utilized, anti-TP ELISA detected syphilis infection at the earliest time. Toluidine red unheated serum test (TRUST) was negative around the 80th DAD.CONCLUSION: Concurrent infection with Syphilis and HIV during window period did not significantly change the sensitivity of reagents in detection nor alter the therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of both pathogens.

In recent decades, tissue engineering techniques have attracted much attention in the construction of 3D tissues or organs. However, even though precise control of cell locations in 3D has been achieved, the organized cell locations are easily destroyed because of the cell migration during the cell culture period. In human body, basement membranes (BMs) maintain the precise cell locations in 3D (compartmentalization). Constructing artificial BMs that mimic the structure and biofunctions of natural BMs remains a major challenge. Here, a nanometer-sized artificial BM through layer-by-layer assembly of collagen type IV (Col-IV) and laminin (LM), chosen because they are the main components of natural BMs, is reported. This multilayered Col-IV/LM nanofilm imitates natural BM structure closely, showing controllable and similar components, thickness, and fibrous network. The Col-IV/LM nanofilms have high cell adhesion properties and maintain the spreading morphology effectively. Furthermore, the barrier effect of preventing cell migration but permitting effective cell–cell crosstalk between fibroblasts and endothelial cells demonstrates the ability of Col-IV/LM nanofilms for cell compartmentalization in 3D tissues, providing more reliable tissue models for evaluating drug efficacy, nanotoxicology, and implantation.

Solvothermal method is a very common synthetic method in the preparation of catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of H2O decomposition. Since a certain surfactant can be added to the solvothermal solvent, the crystal particle growth process can be changed to obtain catalysts with different morphologies. We synthesized a series of nickel-manganese oxides (NiMnO) by adding different amounts of Polyethylene glycol (PEG) using the solvothermal method. Structure characterizations exhibit that NiMnO catalyst prepared with different PEG additions have different morphologies. The NiMnO catalyst prepared by adding 3 g of PEG possesses abundant petal-like scales, it brings a large specific surface area, high reaction efficiency, and has the best electrocatalytic activity in alkaline media.

Background Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) remains a concern for blood safety. The detection of HTLV has not yet been applied for routine blood screening in China, even though lots of HTLV positive cases have been reported in southeastern China. However, data on the prevalence of HTLV infection among blood donors is limited. Objective The objective was to investigate the prevalence of HTLV among blood donors in three representative blood centers in China and evaluate the feasibility of chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) for blood screening. Methods From November 2018 to March 2019, blood plasma samples collected from Hebei, Changsha and Shenzhen blood centers were screening for HTLV-1/2 antibody using Lumipulse G HTLV-I/II Immunoreaction Cartridges set (CLIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), followed with confirmatory test using INNO-LIA HTLV I/II. Results A total of 59929 blood donations were collected and screened for HTLV-1/2. The reactive rate of CLIA and ELISA among donations in Shenzhen blood center (0.0943%, 27/28621) was higher than Hebei (0.0248%, 4/16144) and Changsha (0.0198%, 3/15164) ( P

Objectives: China has a history of striving to achieve health equity, including efforts to prevent and control infectious diseases. However, to date, there is no comprehensive assessment of inequalities in chronic diseases in China. Methods: Data for this study were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted from 2011 to 2016. A total of 50,244 Chinese adults aged 45 years and older were included (16,128 in 2011, 16,646 in 2013, and 17,470 in 2015). Principal component analysis was used to construct the socioeconomic status indicator. We calculated concentration indices and corresponding CIs for 14 chronic diseases and comorbidities. We then estimated the Kendall rank correlation coefficient for inequalities and GDP per capita among provinces. Results: For 10 of the 14 chronic diseases, prevalence rates were higher for the poorest tertiles than for the richest tertiles. The concentration indices of dyslipidaemia, diabetes or high blood sugar, and cancer or malignant tumour were, respectively, 0.1256 (95% confidence interval, 0.1052–0.151), 0.098 (0.0704–0.1244), and 0.1305 (0.0528–0.215) in 2015–2016, which indicated pro-rich inequality. Health inequality for chronic lung diseases and eight other diseases grew markedly from 2011 to 2016. Overall, health inequality was lower for urban residents (−0.035 in 2011–2012, −0.036 in 2013–2014, and −0.05 in 2015–2016) than rural residents (−0.053, −0.064, and −0.08, respectively), and inequality was twice as high among women (−0.051, −0.05, and −0.072, respectively) than among men (−0.023, −0.02, and −0.032, respectively). Provinces that were ranked higher for GDP per capita were also ranked higher in the degree to which disease prevalence was higher in people with lower income (Kendall’s τ=−0.2328, p=0.015; Kendall’s τ=−0.3545, p=0.0077; Kendall’s τ=−0.2646, p=0.0079, respectively). Conclusions: Pro-poor health inequalities for many diseases in China are large and widening. Policies associated with health equity, including free public health services and community health programmes, are needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Hamiltonian diagonalization is at the heart of understanding physical properties and practical applications of quantum systems. It is highly desired to design quantum algorithms that can speedup Hamiltonian diagonalization, especially those can be implemented on near-term quantum devices. In this work, we propose a variational algorithm for Hamiltonians diagonalization (VQHD) of quantum systems, which explores the important physical properties, such as temperature, locality and correlation, of the system. The key idea is that the thermal states of the system encode the information of eigenvalues and eigenstates of the system Hamiltonian. To obtain the full spectrum of the Hamiltonian, we use a quantum imaginary time evolution algorithm with high temperature, which prepares a thermal state with a small correlation length. With Trotterization, this then allows us to implement each step of imaginary time evolution by a local unitary transformation on only a small number of sites. Diagonalizing these thermal states hence leads to a full knowledge of the Hamiltonian eigensystem. We apply our algorithm to diagonalize local Hamiltonians and return results with high precision. Our VQHD algorithm sheds new light on the applications of near-term quantum computers., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is promising to show quantum advantage on near-term noisy-intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers. One central problem of VQE is the effect of noise, especially the physical noise on realistic quantum computers. We study systematically the effect of noise for the VQE algorithm, by performing numerical simulations with various local noise models, including the amplitude damping, dephasing, and depolarizing noise. We show that the ground state energy will deviate from the exact value as the noise probability increase and normally noise will accumulate as the circuit depth increase. We build a noise model to capture the noise in a real quantum computer. Our numerical simulation is consistent with the quantum experiment results on IBM Quantum computers through Cloud. Our work sheds new light on the practical research of noisy VQE. The deep understanding of the noise effect of VQE may help to develop quantum error mitigation techniques on near team quantum computers., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

We suggest that a family of Ni-based compounds, which contain [Ni2M2O]2− (M = chalcogen) layers with an antiperovskite structure constructed by mixed-anion Ni complexes, NiM4O2, can be potential high temperature superconductors (high-Tc) upon doping or applying pressure. The layer structures have been formed in many other transitional metal compounds such as La2B2Se2O3 (B = Mn, Fe, Co). For the Ni-based compounds, we predict that the parental compounds host collinear antiferromagnetic states similar to those in iron-based high temperature superconductors. The electronic physics near Fermi energy is controlled by two e g d-orbitals with completely independent in-plane kinematics. We predict that the superconductivity in this family is characterized by strong competition between extended s-wave and d-wave pairing symmetries.

Cell encapsulation systems must ensure the diffusion of molecules to avoid the formation of necrotic cores. The architectural design of hydrogels, the gold standard tissue engineering strategy, is thus limited to a microsize range. To overcome such a limitation, liquefied microcapsules encapsulating cells and microparticles are proposed. Microcapsules with controlled sizes with average diameters of 608.5 ± 122.3 µm are produced at high rates by electrohydrodynamic atomization, and arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid (RGD) domains are introduced in the multilayered membrane. While cells and microparticles interact toward the production of confined microaggregates, on the outside cell-mediated macroaggregates are formed due to the aggregation of microcapsules. The concept of simultaneous aggregation is herein termed as 3D+3D bottom-up tissue engineering. Microcapsules are cultured alone (microcapsule1 ) or on top of 2D cell beds composed of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) alone (microcapsule2 ) or cocultured with fibroblasts (microcapsule3 ). Microcapsules are able to support cell encapsulation shown by LiveDead, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulphofenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS), and dsDNA assays. Only microcapsule3 are able to form macroaggregates, as shown by F-actin immunofluorescence. The bioactive 3D system also presented alkaline phosphatase activity, thus allowing osteogenic differentiation. Upon implantation using the chick chorioallontoic membrane (CAM) model, microcapsules recruit a similar number of vessels with alike geometric parameters in comparison with CAMs supplemented with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). published

Cell encapsulation systems must ensure the diffusion of molecules to avoid the formation of necrotic cores. The architectural design of hydrogels, the gold standard tissue engineering strategy, is thus limited to a microsize range. To overcome such a limitation, liquefied microcapsules encapsulating cells and microparticles are proposed. Microcapsules with controlled sizes with average diameters of 608.5 ± 122.3 µm are produced at high rates by electrohydrodynamic atomization, and arginyl–glycyl–aspartic acid (RGD) domains are introduced in the multilayered membrane. While cells and microparticles interact toward the production of confined microaggregates, on the outside cell-mediated macroaggregates are formed due to the aggregation of microcapsules. The concept of simultaneous aggregation is herein termed as 3D+3D bottom-up tissue engineering. Microcapsules are cultured alone (microcapsule1) or on top of 2D cell beds composed of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) alone (microcapsule2) or cocultured with fibroblasts (microcapsule3). Microcapsules are able to support cell encapsulation shown by LiveDead, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulphofenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS), and dsDNA assays. Only microcapsule3are able to form macroaggregates, as shown by F-actin immunofluorescence. The bioactive 3D system also presented alkaline phosphatase activity, thus allowing osteogenic differentiation. Upon implantation using the chick chorioallontoic membrane (CAM) model, microcapsules recruit a similar number of vessels with alike geometric parameters in comparison with CAMs supplemented with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).

Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the major concerns for the safety of blood transfusion in high-prevalent countries such as in China. Prior studies outside of China have shown hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) false-reactive rate of 0.02% to 0.04%. Similarly, false-negative HBsAg and HBV DNA results may occur in infected donors. Our study analyzed HBsAg enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-reactive but NAT-negative donations in Shenzhen Blood Center, China. Study design and methods HBsAg ELISA-positive/NAT-negative plasma samples identified from screening 101,025 donations during 2017-2018 were analyzed by molecular and serologic tests including neutralization, chemiluminescence immunoassays, and various HBV DNA amplification assays. Molecular characterizations of HBsAg-positive/NAT-negative samples were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and nested PCR amplification of the basic core and precore promotor regions (295 base pairs) and HBsAg (S) region (496 base pairs). Results Screening of 101,025 eligible blood donations identified 157 (0.16%, 95% confidence interval, 0.13%-0.18%) HBsAg ELISA-positive/NAT-negative plasma samples; of those, 71 (45.2%) were HBsAg confirmed positive by further HBsAg testing and DNA positive by molecular tests with increased sensitivity. Of the 71, all but one was antibody to hepatitis B core antigen reactive without antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen, yielding one recent (window-period) HBV infection. Of the remaining donations, 80 (51%) were not considered as HBV-infected donors, and 6 (3.8%) were interpreted as indeterminate since HBsAg results were discordant with unconfirmed HBV DNA results. In the 71 confirmed positives, HBsAg levels ranged from 0.05 to 400 IU/mL and HBV DNA from 6 to 2654 IU/mL; however, the correlation between the two was weak (R2 = 0.24). Conclusion Fewer than half of HBsAg ELISA-positive/NAT-negative samples were confirmed as HBsAg positive. Our study demonstrates that in highly HBV-endemic countries, assays with high sensitivity and specificity may be required.

Background Blood donor plasma samples were detected by the Ultrio Plus NAT system for HBV, HCV and HIV-1 in Shenzhen blood center, China. Reactive samples underwent further discriminatory testing of a single virus by the same methodology. A large number of cases of non-discriminated reactive (NDR) donors were found, leaving potential risk of transmitting HBV if not deferrals. This study identified those non-discriminated samples. Methods The NDR plasma samples from blood donation screening were detected and classified by additional molecular and serological tests. Molecular characterizations of DNA+ NDR were determined by sequencing analysis. Results A number of 259 (0.21%) NDR plasma samples from screening of 123,280 eligible blood donors were detected, which presented a higher rate (91.1%) of anti-HBc reactivity and nearly half (46.7%) of HBV DNA+ that classified as occult HBV infection (OBI). Most OBI strains were wild-type HBV, but some substitutions V168A, S174 N, V177A, Q129R/L/H, G145A/R in S region of genotype B (OBIB) and T47K/V/A, P49H/L, Q101R/H/K, S174 N, L175S, V177A, T118 M/R/K, G145R/A/K/E, R160K/N in S region of genotype C (OBIC) strains were identified in high frequency. Conclusion Nearly half of NDR blood samples were identified as OBI, in which a number of important mutations were detected. NDR donation might have potential risk for HBV transmission, but need to be further investigated.

A graphene microfiber (GF) modified with ultrafine Cu

We study the vortex bound states in three dimensional (3D) superconducting Dirac semimetals with time reversal symmetry. Assuming two Dirac points on the kz-axis and bulk s-wave superconductivity, with a quantum vortex line parallel to the z-direction, we find that the superconducting vortex line has a robust quasi-1D nodal phase. The nodal phase stems from the symmetry protected Dirac points in the normal state bands, and it can be characterized by a topological index (\nu; n) at kz = 0 and kz = \pi, where \nu is the Z2 topological invariant for a 0D class-D system and n is the Z topological invariant for a 0D class-A system according to the Altland- Zirnbauer classification. Based on the topological index, we find that vortex end Majorana zero mode can coexist with the quasi-1D nodal phase in certain kinds of Dirac semimetals. The influence of the symmetry breaking perturbations on the quasi-1D nodal phase is also analyzed. Finally, we discuss the possible material realization of such nodal vortex line state.

Quantum mechanics is inherently probabilistic in light of Born's rule. Using quantum circuits as probabilistic generative models for classical data exploits their superior expressibility and efficient direct sampling ability. However, training of quantum circuits can be more challenging compared to classical neural networks due to lack of efficient differentiable learning algorithm. We devise an adversarial quantum-classical hybrid training scheme via coupling a quantum circuit generator and a classical neural network discriminator together. After training, the quantum circuit generative model can infer missing data with quadratic speed up via amplitude amplification. We numerically simulate the learning and inference of generative adversarial quantum circuit using the prototypical Bars-and-Stripes dataset. Generative adversarial quantum circuits is a fresh approach to machine learning which may enjoy the practically useful quantum advantage on near-term quantum devices., 7 pages, 6 figures

Here we report silver nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide (AgNPs/rGO) nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile approach based on four green reductants using silver nitrate (AgNO3) and graphene oxide (GO) as a precursor. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) have been employed to investigate morphological characteristics and exfoliation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets. The structure of AgNPs/rGO was determined by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electrical conductive adhesives (ECAs) were prepared by mixing the micro silver flakes, AgNPs/rGO nanocomposites and epoxy together. To achieve the best electrical conductance, the optimal average size of the silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in AgNPs/rGO composites is found to be about 20.7 nm. The results show that the resistivity of ECAs consisting of the AgNPs/rGO nanocomposites (0.2 wt% AgNPs/rGO and 69.8 wt% silver flake) was decreased compared with control sample (ECAs filled with 70 wt% silver flake). In particular, the resistivity of ECA filled with glucose-AgNPs/rGO (A-AgNPs/rGO) is 8.76 × 10−5 Ω cm. In summary, A-AgNPs/rGO was determined to be a promising candidate filler for conductivity improvement of ECAs.

BACKGROUND This multicenter study was performed to evaluate the efficiency of a multiplex individual-donation nucleic acid amplification technology (ID-NAT) and discriminatory testing algorithm for detecting hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Chinese blood donors. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 1,205,796 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-nonreactive donations from 10 blood centers were tested by ID-NAT using the Ultrio assay. Multiplex Ultrio-reactive donations were tested in the discriminatory tests as well as in quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and in supplemental electrochemiluminescence immunoassays for HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs), hepatitis B e antigen, and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc). Meanwhile, a control group of 4317 Ultrio-nonreactive donations was tested for anti-HBc and anti-HBs. RESULTS Of all donations, 2033 (0.17%) were reactive in the multiplex Ultrio assay. Among 1776 further tested samples, 548 (30.9%) were HBV discriminatory assay (dHBV)-reactive, while 1214 (68.4%) were nonreactive. Of 472 Ultrio+ and dHBV+ samples 86.2% were qPCR positive compared to 15.0% in 1046 Ultrio+ and dHBV– samples. The proportion of anti-HBc+ and anti-HBs– (potentially infectious) donations was higher in 409 Ultrio+ and dHBV+ than in 1028 Ultrio+ and dHBV– samples (51.3% vs. 31.1%, p

Deep learning for face identification-verification application has been proven to be fruitful. Human faces constituted the main information for human identification besides gait, body silhouette, etc. Deep learning for forensic face identification could provide quantitative indexes for face similarity measurement between the questioned and the known human faces in cases, which had the advantage of result objectivity without expert experience influences. We studied the deep learning based face representation for forensic verification of human images. Its application strategies and technical limitations were discussed. We proposed a “winner-take-all” strategy in the case of the forensic identification of human images in videos. We expected the theories and techniques for forensic identification of human images in which both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were included and expert judgment and automatic identification methods were coexisted.

Background In East Asia, individuals systematically vaccinated at birth to hepatitis B virus (HBV) are an increasing part of the blood donor population. Their environment presents a high risk of contact with HBV. HBV vaccine efficacy and potential safety risk carried by vaccinated donors were examined. Study Design and Methods A total of 2028 vaccinated blood donors were recruited in 2012 and 2013 and tested for serologic (hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg], antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen [anti-HBs], and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen [anti-HBc]) and molecular (HBV DNA) markers of HBV. HBsAg, anti-HBs, and viral load were quantified. Results Donors 18 to 21 years systematically vaccinated at birth and 22 to 25 years and older donors had both 30.0% negative serology and 1.8% anti-HBc only but the latter group carried significantly higher prevalence of anti-HBc (p

Background China has a history of promoting measures to achieve equity in health, including efforts to encourage the prevention and control of infectious diseases. However, there are no comprehensive assessments of health inequality for chronic diseases in China. This study aimed to estimate health inequalities for chronic diseases in China and to investigate health system factors that might be correlated with these inequalities. Methods Data for this study were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study from 2011 to 2016. A total of 50 244 middle-aged and older Chinese adults, aged 45 years and older, were included (16 128 in 2011, 16 646 in 2013, and 17 470 in 2015). Principal component analysis was used to obtain a comprehensive index of socioeconomic status. We calculated concentration indices and corresponding CIs for 14 chronic diseases and comorbidities. We then estimated the Kendall rank correlation coefficient for inequalities and GDP per capita among provinces. Findings For ten of the 14 chronic diseases (hypertension, chronic lung disease, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, stomach and other digestive diseases, emotional or psychiatric problems, memory-related disorders, arthritis or rheumatism, and asthma), prevalences were higher for the poorest tertiles than the richest tertiles. The concentration indices of dyslipidaemia (0·1256 [95% CI 0·1052–0·151]), diabetes or high blood sugar (0·098 [0·0704–0·1244]), and cancer or malignant tumour (0·1305 [0·0528–0·215]) in 2015–2016 were indicative of higher prevalence in people with higher income. Health inequality for chronic lung diseases and eight other diseases grew markedly from 2011 to 2016. Overall, health inequality was lower for urban residents (−0·035 in 2011–2012, −0·036 in 2013–2014, and −0·05 in 2015–2016) than rural residents (−0·053, −0·064, −0·08), and healthy inequality was twice as high among women (−0·051, −0·05, −0·072) than among men (−0·023, −0·02, −0·032). There was a significant inverse association between per capita GDP among provinces and the concentration indices of dyslipidaemia (Kendall's τ=−0·2328, p=0·015), kidney disease (τ=−0·3545, p=0·0077), and asthma (τ=−0·2646, p=0·0079). Interpretation For many chronic diseases in China, prevalences are higher for people with lower income, and this health inequality is considerable and growing. Policies associated with health equity need to be facilitated to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Funding This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81402761), the Foundation Research Project of Jiangsu Province (BK20140361), and the Suzhou Xiangcheng district people's livelihood science and technology project (XJ201655, XJ201706).

ObjectivesThis study aimed to examine the urban–rural disparity in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the Chinese elderly and to explore the mediating roles of socioeconomic status (SES) and frequency of contact with children in the relationship between urban/rural areas and HRQoL.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study for 2015–2016, involving 12 369 Chinese aged 45 years and over. HRQoL of respondents was measured by three-level EuroQol five dimensions (EQ-5D-3L). SES, based on principal components analysis, was combined by the individual possessions of durable consumer goods and houses. Frequency of contact with children was derived from the responses to whether they live with children and how often they contact with them. Mediation analyses were performed to examine the mediating effects of SES and frequency of contact in the relationship between urban/rural areas and HRQoL.ResultsUrban respondents had higher scores of HRQoL than rural respondents (pConclusionsThere was a significant difference in HRQoL between urban and rural middle-aged and elderly participants, which was partially mediated by urban–rural disparities in SES and frequency of contact with children. Higher SES and frequency of contact with children contributed to higher health status in the Chinese elderly.

Electrically conductive adhesive based on epoxy and conductive materials, which have been considered as the new promising material for electronic packaging because of the advantages of low processing temperature, fine pitch interconnect and environmentally friendly. The silver nanoparticle based on graphene have been used in the electrically conductive adhesive as a result of the excellent electrical material. The number of effective conductive paths were improved after doping silver nanoparticle based on graphene into epoxy. So silver nanoparticle based on graphene was prepared in situ hydrothermal method via silver-ammonia solution and graphene oxide as initial solution without other supported reagents. Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were applied to analyze the morphologies and structures of silver nanoparticle based on graphene. Then electrically conductive adhesive was prepared by mixing silver nanoparticle based on graphene, silver flakes and epoxy together. The electrical properties of electrically conductive adhesive were tested by four-point probe method after cured at 150 °C for 2 h. The result shows that silver nanoparticles were dispersed on the surface of graphene layers uniformly and the average diameter of nanosilver particles is 80 nm. The electrical properties of electrically conductive adhesive was 7.0×10−4 Ω·cm when the nanosilver based on graphene reached 0.2 %, which compared with electrically conductive adhesive (1.1×10−3 Ω·cm) without nanosilver based on graphene was improved.

Electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) is used to fix components in the process of chip bonding and surface in the assembly point glue, to form conductive or thermal connection as well as to improve reliability in the packing process of flip chip and Chip Scale Package (CSP), and even to protect components after the completion of assembly. ECAs with the excellent electrical conductivity performance are developed based on hybrid of graphene nanosheets-silver nanowires (GNs-AgNWs) and silver flakes. First, the contral sample only filled with silvers flakes is determined. Then, GNs-AgNWs hybrid nanomaterial was fabricated by a facile ultra sound-assisted method. The AgNWs with graphene have a synergistic effect in improving the electrical conductivity performance. As-prepared hybrid ECA with a low content of 0.5 % of GNs-AgNWs and 69.5 % of silver flakes are higher electrical conductivity performance than those of the control sample. Finally, the hybrid ECA with the optimal formulation will be a promising for application.

Temporal and spatial changes in delta(13) C and delta 15 N of particulate organic matter (POM) and Hemiculter leucisculus were studied in the Yangtze River of China. Isotopic signatures of POM showed seasonal variations, which was assumed to be associated with allochthonous organic input and autochthonous phytoplankton growth. delta C-13 of H. leucisculus was 1.1 % higher than that of POM, which suggested that the food source of H. leucisculus was mostly from the POM. A mass balance model indicated the trophic position of H. leucisculus in the food web of Yangtze River was estimated to be 2.0 - 2.1, indicating that this fish mainly feeds on planktonic organic matter, which agreed with previous gut content analysis.

Most major Chinese blood centres look for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and perform nucleic acid testing to screen blood for hepatitis B virus infection. The search for antibodies to the core of hepatitis B virus (anti-HBc) has not been implemented because it would lead to a high rate of discarded blood units. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of occult HBV infection among anti-HBc-positive qualified blood donors in southern China.We tested anti-HBc-positive blood donations negative for HBsAg and HBV DNA by standard NAT from Shenzhen for the presence of HBV DNA by sensitive nested and quantitative polymerase chain reactions. Anti-HBs titres were quantified. HBV DNA-positive donors were traced and followed-up.Of the 1,033 qualified donors, 47.4% (95% CI: 44.4 to 50.5%) carried anti-HBc as evidence of exposure to HBV. The rate of anti-HBc positivity increased steadily with age, ranging from 32.6% in the age group30 years to 69.8% in the age group50 years (p0.001). Of the 1,033 donors, 777 (75.2%; 95% CI: 72.4 to 77.8%) carried anti-HBs (10 IU/L). HBV DNA was detected in 14 donors who were anti-HBc-positive, HBsAg-negative and negative by routine NAT. Seven of those 14 specimens had an anti-HBs titre above 100 mIU/mL. The prevalence of OBI in anti-HBc-positive qualified blood donors was 2.86% (95% CI: 1.57 to 4.75%). Eight of the 14 OBI cases were genotype B and one was genotype C; 7/14 cases were followed-up, one case converted to anti-HBe. HBV DNA became undetectable in all follow-up samples.A small proportion of anti-HBc-positive qualified donors carry HBV DNA after HBsAg and NAT screening. This finding suggests the possibility of HBV transmission from asymptomatic donors, especially in areas of high HBV prevalence. More sensitive NAT rather than anti-HBc testing should be considered to improve blood safety.

Rapid development in electronic products in recent years leads to an increasing demand for electrical conductive adhesives (ECAs) with large electrical conductivity and environmentally friendly. Therefore, how to increase its electrical property meanwhile its other properties can not be affected and even can be enhanced has become the focus of attention. In this study, we chose a green and mild reducing agent glucose, which was synthesised AgNPs/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites based on one-pot method in aqueous solution. The ECAs were prepared by mixing AgNPs/rGO, silver flakes and epoxy. Then we measured the bulk resistivity of ECAs after curing it at 150 °C for two hours. The results showed that when the total amount of the conductive filler maintained at 70 wt%, the mass fraction of AgNPs/rGO reached 0.2 wt%, and the bulk resistivity (8.76×10−5 Ω·cm) was lower than that of filled pure silver flake (1.11×10−4 Ω·cm).

Insulin resistance is common in critically ill patients and seriously affects their prognosis. The anesthetic propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol) has been shown to cause insulin resistance in rats; however, the specific mechanism underlying this phenomenon remains unknown. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine the molecular mechanism through which propofol influences insulin resistance in the liver. The current study assessed the effects of propofol on the phosphorylation level of key enzymes involved in the insulin signaling pathway, as well as the glycogen content in primary mouse hepatocytes. Propofol administration was demonstrated to considerably reduce the phosphorylation levels of Akt (Ser473) and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β (Ser9) in the primary mouse hepatocytes. In addition, propofol was shown to downregulate the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway and inhibit glycogen synthesis in hepatocytes. Thus, the present results indicated that propofol induced insulin resistance in primary mouse hepatocytes. Notably, pretreatment with propofol in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-induced primary mouse hepatocytes with insulin resistance was demonstrated to alleviate the inhibitory effects of TNF-α on the PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway and glycogen synthesis. These results indicated that propofol exerts a protective effect against insulin resistance in primary mouse hepatocytes induced by TNF-α, indicating that propofol therapy may be clinically feasible to alleviate insulin resistance in critically ill patients.

The energy levels, spontaneous radiative decay rates, and electron impact collision strengths are calculated for Ni-like tantalum ions. The data refer to 107 fine-structure levels belonging to the configurations (1s22s22p6)3s23p63d10, 3s23p63d94l, 3s23p53d104l, and 3s3p63d104l (l = s, p, d, f). The collision strengths are calculated for the six electron energies: E′ = 0.002, 0.01, 0.03, 0.07, 0.15, and 0.28 in units of Z eff 2 Rydbergs with Zeff = 50.5 by using the distorted-wave approximation. The calculations are compared with other theoretical results in the literature and good agreement is found.

This multicenter study was performed to evaluate the efficiency of a multiplex individual-donation nucleic acid amplification technology (ID-NAT) and discriminatory testing algorithm for detecting hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Chinese blood donors.A total of 1,205,796 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-nonreactive donations from 10 blood centers were tested by ID-NAT using the Ultrio assay. Multiplex Ultrio-reactive donations were tested in the discriminatory tests as well as in quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and in supplemental electrochemiluminescence immunoassays for HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs), hepatitis B e antigen, and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc). Meanwhile, a control group of 4317 Ultrio-nonreactive donations was tested for anti-HBc and anti-HBs.Of all donations, 2033 (0.17%) were reactive in the multiplex Ultrio assay. Among 1776 further tested samples, 548 (30.9%) were HBV discriminatory assay (dHBV)-reactive, while 1214 (68.4%) were nonreactive. Of 472 Ultrio+ and dHBV+ samples 86.2% were qPCR positive compared to 15.0% in 1046 Ultrio+ and dHBV- samples. The proportion of anti-HBc+ and anti-HBs- (potentially infectious) donations was higher in 409 Ultrio+ and dHBV+ than in 1028 Ultrio+ and dHBV- samples (51.3% vs. 31.1%, p 0.001). The yield rate of Ultrio+, dHBV+, and qPCR+ donations was estimated at 1 in 2500, but at 1 in 1100 when all supplemental tests were taken into account assuming that 44% of detected donations by Ultrio were false reactive.A quarter of HBsAg-negative Ultrio+ and dHBV- donations in China are likely given by potentially infectious low-viral-load occult carriers. Although this has no implication for blood safety, the testing algorithm needs to be redesigned to more efficiently discriminate between true and false NAT reactivity.

Nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) of hepatitis C virus (HCV), codes for protease and helicase carrying NTPase enzymatic activities, plays a crucial role in viral replication and an ideal target for diagnosis, antiviral therapy and vaccine development. In this study, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to NS3 helicase were characterized by epitope mapping and biological function test. A total of 29 monoclonal antibodies were produced to the truncated NS3 helicase of HCV-1b (T1b-rNS3, aa1192-1459). Six mAbs recognized 8/29 16mer peptides, which contributed to identify 5 linear and 1 discontinuous putative epitope sequences. Seven mAbs reacted with HCV-2a JFH-1 infected Huh-7.5.1 cells by immunofluorescent staining, of which 2E12 and 3E5 strongly bound to the exposed linear epitope (1231)PTGSGKSTK(1239) (EP05) or core motif (1373)IPFYGKAI(1380) (EP21), respectively. Five other mAbs recognized semi-conformational or conformational epitopes of HCV helicase. MAb 2E12 binds to epitope EP05 at the ATP binding site of motif I in domain 1, while mAb 3E5 reacts with epitope EP21 close to helicase nucleotide binding region of domain 2. Epitope EP05 is totally conserved and EP21 highly conserved across HCV genotypes. These two epitope peptides reacted strongly with 59-79% chronic and weakly with 30-58% resolved HCV infected blood donors, suggesting that these epitopes were dominant in HCV infection. MAb 2E12 inhibited 50% of unwinding activity of NS3 helicase in vitro. Novel monoclonal antibodies recognize highly conserved epitopes at crucial functional sites within NS3 helicase, which may become important antibodies for diagnosis and antiviral therapy in chronic HCV infection.

Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is valuable for screening blood donors for occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and infection during the window period in countries where HBV is endemic, such as China. An “in-house” NAT (Triplex NAT) was developed for screening for HBV DNA, hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA, and the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA. Using the Triplex NAT, a head-to-head comparative clinical evaluation was carried out against the most common commercial NAT used for blood screening in China: the Procleix Tigris System. A total of 33,025 specimens which were negative for Hepatitis B surface antigen, HCV antibody and HIV-1 antibody/antigen from potential blood donors were tested for HBV DNA, HCV RNA, and HIV-1 RNA by both the in-house Triplex assay and the commercially available Procleix Tigris System. Eleven specimens were detected as HBV positive by both NATs. Twelve specimens were detected as HBV positive by the Procleix Ultrio assay and the discriminatory assays, and not the Triplex. Twenty-eight specimens were detected as HBV positive by the Triplex and not the Procleix Ultrio. This study, combined with other data obtained in China, suggest that at least 50% HBV surface antigen negative but DNA-positive blood donations would be undetected using the current commercial NATs because of their insufficient sensitivity and/or Mini-Pool formatting strategies.

A study was undertaken to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying control of HCV infection in blood donors in China. Factors including clinical information, anti-HCV reactivity (S/CO), IFN-α and IFN-γ, viral loads and genotypes were correlated with 160 index plasma samples at three statuses of 45 recovered, 76 chronic or 39 false positive anti-HCV reactive blood donors. The spontaneous recovery rate was 37.2%. Viral loads of 76 HCV plasmas ranged between 59.8IU/ml and 2.43×10 6IU/ml (median 3.67×10 4IU/ml). Genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 6 of 63 HCV strains were identified phylogenetically. Recovered donors were significantly younger (p=0.002) and had lower level IFN-γ (p=0.001) than chronically HCV infected donors. Circulating levels of IFN-α and IFN-γ were higher in those with low viral load and were low in middle or high viral load samples. The ratio of IFN-α to IFN-γ (IFN-α/γ) was significantly positively correlated with viral load (p=0.037), and viral load was inversely correlated with IFN-γ in chronic HCV infection regardless of genotype. The study revealed clearly different relationships between IFN-α and IFN-γ in relation to viral load in HCV. A novel measure of IFN-α/γ ratio could be a new approach to evaluate long term outcome of HCV infection. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.

Prevalence and characteristics of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) of genotypes B and C prevalent in China have not been extensively explored. Characterization of OBI strains obtained from Chinese blood donors was based on clinical and serological analyses, follow-up testing, and sequence analyses. Twenty-eight samples from 165,371 HBV surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative plasmas were confirmed HBsAg negative and DNA positive(HBsAg − /DNA + ), of which 22 were classified as OBIs and 6 as window period infections. The OBI incidence was 1:7,517 in blood donors, whose ages ranged between 20 and 45 years (median, 28 years). OBI donors had normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and low viral loads ranging between unquantifiable amounts and 178 IU/ml (median, 14 IU/ml). Sequences from 21 basic core promoter/precore (BCP/PC) regions, five whole genomes, and two additional pre-S/S regions from OBI strains were compared to genotypes B and C HBsAg + reference strains. Eighty-six percent (6/7) of OBI strains were genotype C. Deletions, insertions, stop codons, and substitutions were detected in 15/21 (71%) core regulatory elements of OBI strains. Critical mutations were found in the core proteins of 5/5 OBI strains in parallel with random substitutions in pre-S/S proteins from 6/7 (86%) OBI strains. Critical mutations in core regulatory elements and core proteins might affect OBI genotype B and C strain replication. That there were few S protein substitutions suggests a minor role of the host immune defenses in OBI occurrence.

Atomic data (energy levels, radiative rates, electron collision strengths, and excitation rate coefficients) of 107 fine-structure levels of the $(1{s}^{2}2{s}^{2}2{p}^{6})3{s}^{2}3{p}^{6}3{d}^{10}$, $3{s}^{2}3{p}^{6}3{d}^{9}4l$, $3{s}^{2}3{p}^{5}3{d}^{10}4l$, and $3s3{p}^{6}3{d}^{10}4l\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}(l=s,p,d,f)$ configurations of nickel-like Ta ions are calculated using the distorted-wave approximation. Coupled with these atomic data, a hydrodynamic code MED103 is used to optimize the nickel-like Ta x-ray laser at $4.48\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm}$. Using the optimized drive-pulse configuration, an experiment is conducted to generate the nickel-like Ta x-ray laser at $4.48\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm}$.

Background Neonatal hepatitis B vaccination program at birth has been implemented nationwide since 1992 in China. However, current HBV prevalence status in blood donors has not been entirely examined, which may impact HBV safety in blood donations as the vaccinees over 18 years old progressively become the majority population of blood donors. Methods In this study, 569,145 blood donors were screened for HBsAg by rapid tests and enzyme immunoassays, among them 475,538 blood samples with negative HBsAg were further screened for HBV DNA by nucleic acid testing between 2005 and 2014 at Shenzhen blood center. Results An overall 2.3 % HBsAg prevalence was found in the blood donor population during the past 10 years (2.86 % in 2005, 1.76 % in 2010, and 2.79 % in 2014, respectively). HBsAg seroconversion occurred in 0.37 % of repeat-donors. When stratified by age, the prevalence of HBsAg was found significantly higher in younger donors age 18–25 years (2.73 %) than in those 26–35 years (2.13 %), 36–45 years (2.03 %) and 46–58 years (1.71 %) (P