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Employing the method of fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design (Fuzzy-RDD) with 12220 valid sample data from 2,444 enterprises and with data duration covering from February to June 2020, this paper studied the effectiveness of supporting policies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 in China The study found that the policies which were implemented are beneficial for wholesale enterprises recovery However, they are not beneficial for manufacturing, transportation and information transmission industries Suggestions were put forward to the government about how to improve the support policies’ effectiveness for SMEs

Improving the development of science and technology through innovation is the core of a country's economic development. This study employed the two-stage meta-frontier dynamic network DEA model to explore the innovation efficiency from the R&D resources to charges received for the use of intellectual property and high-technology exports in 34 high-income and 23 middle-income countries from 2013 to 2017. We calculated the overall efficiency scores and the technology gap ratios of each country and the scores of input and output variables in the research and development (R&D) stage and marketing stage. The results showed that the average overall efficiency scores of middle-income countries were higher than those of high-income countries from 2013 to 2015, but the five-year total score of high-income countries was higher. The R&D efficiency scores were higher in middle-income countries, while the marketing efficiency scores were higher in high-income countries. In the R&D stage, the scores of all input and output variables were higher in middle-income countries but in the marketing stage, the scores of the output variables in high-income countries were obviously higher. High-quality institution can help improve the innovation efficiency in both high-income and middle-income countries. The efficiency improvements are higher in high-income countries during the R&D stage and higher in middle-income countries during the marketing stage. Therefore, both high-income and middle-income countries should strengthen institutional construction in order to improve the efficiency of innovation. And the researches in middle-income countries should pay more attention to local practical issues and their solutions.

Aim: In other respiratory infectious diseases, obesity may be associated with a poor outcome. For coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the association between obesity and severity or prognosis requires further analysis. Methods: This was a retrospective, single-center study. Hospitalized patients were recruited in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from January 2, 2020 to February 20, 2020. The data of body mass index (BMI) was obtained from follow-up of surviving patients. According to BMI, normal weight was defined as 18.5-23.9 kg/m2, overweight as 24.0-27.9 kg/m2 and obesity as > 28.0 kg/m2. Results: A total of 463 patients were enrolled, of which 242 (52.3%) patients were in the normal weight group; 179 (38.7%) were in the overweight group; and 42 (9.1%) were in the obesity group. Compared to the normal group, obese patients were more likely to have a higher heart rate; lower finger oxygen saturation; higher levels of white blood cells, neutrophil counts, basophil counts, intravenous glucose, triacylglycerol, uric acid, alanine aminotransferase, creatine kinase-MB, CD19+ cell counts and percentage; and lower levels of monocyte percentage, high density lipoprotein and CD3+ cell percentage. In addition, the proportions of hypertension (21.5% vs. 42.6%) and severe+critical illness (47.8 vs. 81.0 %) were significantly higher in the obesity group than those in normal group. However, no significant differences were observed between the normal and obesity groups in critical illness, organ damage and defined endpoint (mechanical ventilation or intensive care unit). Multiple logistic regression showed that obesity increased the risk of developing severe+critical illness (Odd ratio 3.586, 95% CI 1.550-8.298, P=0.003) in patients with COVID-19, and did not affect the risk of critical illness, organ damage and endpoints. Overweight did not affect the risk of severity, organ damage or endpoint in patients with COVID-19. Conclusion: Obesity may be a risk factor for developing severity in patients with COVID-19.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of human mortality. Cytokines play crucial roles in the development of cardiovascular disease. Interleukin (IL)-6 family members are a series of cytokines, including IL-6, IL-11, IL-30, IL-31, OSM, LIF, CNTF, CT-1, CT-2, and CLC, that regulate multiple biological effects. Experimental and clinical evidence shows that IL-6 family members are closely related to cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, aortic dissection, cardiac fibrosis, and cardiomyopathy. This review mainly discusses the role of IL-6 family members in cardiovascular disease for the sake of identifying possible intervention targets for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases with high disability and mortality rates. In the elderly population, the incidence of cardiovascular disease is increasing annually. Between 1990 and 2016, the age-standardised prevalence of CVD in China significantly increased by 14.7%, and the number of cardiovascular disease deaths increased from 2.51 million to 3.97 million. Much research has indicated that cardiovascular disease is closely related to inflammation, immunity, injury and repair. Chemokines, which induce directed chemotaxis of reactive cells, are divided into four subfamilies: CXC, CC, CX3C, and XC. As cytokines, CXC chemokines are similarly involved in inflammation, immunity, injury, and repair and play a role in many cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, cardiac ischaemia-reperfusion injury, hypertension, aortic aneurysm, cardiac fibrosis, postcardiac rejection, and atrial fibrillation. Here, we explored the relationship between the chemokine CXC subset and cardiovascular disease and its mechanism of action with the goal of further understanding the onset of cardiovascular disease.

Obesity is often accompanied by hypertension. Although a large number of studies have confirmed that NLRP3 inhibitors can improve cardiac remodeling in mice with a normal diet, it is still unclear whether NLRP3 inhibitors can improve heart failure (HF) induced by pressure overload in obese mice. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of MCC950, a selective NLRP3 inhibitor, on HF in obese mice and its metabolic mechanism. Obese mice induced with a 10-week high-fat diet (HFD) were used in this study. After 4 weeks of HFD, transverse aortic constriction (TAC) surgery was performed to induce a HF model. MCC950 (10 mg/kg, once/day) was injected intraperitoneally from 2 weeks after TAC and continued for 4 weeks. After echocardiography examination, we harvested left ventricle tissues and performed molecular experiments. The results suggest that in obese mice, MCC950 can significantly improve cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis caused by pressure overload. MCC950 ameliorated cardiac inflammation after TAC surgery and promoted M2 macrophage infiltration in the cardiac tissue. MCC950 not only restored fatty acid uptake and utilization by regulating the expression of CD36 and CPT1β but also reduced glucose uptake and oxidation via regulating the expression of GLUT4 and p-PDH. In addition, MCC950 affected the phosphorylation of AKT and AMPK in obese mice with HF. In summary, MCC950 can alleviate HF induced by pressure overload in obese mice via improving cardiac metabolism, providing a basis for the clinical application of NLRP3 inhibitors in obese patients with HF.

The formal degree of a unipotent discrete series character of a simple linear algebraic group over a non-archimedean local field (in the sense of Lusztig [17] ), is a rational function of q evaluated at q = q , the cardinality of the residue field. The irreducible factors of this rational function are q and cyclotomic polynomials. We prove that the formal degree of a supercuspidal unipotent representation determines its Lusztig-Langlands parameter, up to twisting by weakly unramified characters. For split exceptional groups this result follows from the work of M. Reeder [28] , and for the remaining exceptional cases this is verified in [7] . In the present paper we treat the classical families. The main result of this article characterizes unramified Lusztig-Langlands parameters which support a cuspidal local system in terms of formal degrees. The result implies the uniqueness of so-called cuspidal spectral transfer morphisms (as introduced in [22] ) between unipotent affine Hecke algebras (up to twisting by unramified characters). In [23] the essential uniqueness of arbitrary unipotent spectral transfer morphisms was reduced to the cuspidal case.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the driving forces and structural changes of China as a market provider for Korea. This paper gives the answers for the following questions: How do China’s final demands trigger the growth of its imports from Korea? And what’s the impact of China’s final demands on the import in different industries? Design/methodology/approach Based on the Multi-Regional Input-Output model and World Input-Output Table database, this paper constructs the non-competitive imports input-output (IO) table of China to Korea. According to this table, we can calculate the induced imports coefficient and comprehensive induced import coefficients of China’s four final demands for imports from Korea in the 56 industries in China. Findings Among the four driving forces, the strongest one is changes in inventories and valuables. The impact of final consumption expenditure and fixed capital formation is much lower than that of changes in inventories and valuables, but they have a broader impact for the 56 industries. This paper finds out the China’s import induction of the final demands to Korea peaked in 2005 and 2010 and decreased greatly in 2014, so the position of China as market provider for Korea will no longer rise substantially, contrarily it will be in a steady state. Originality/value First, this paper constructs the non-competitive IO table to analyze the market provider issues between two countries and provides practical ways and methods for studies on the issues of imports and market provider. Second, this paper investigates the different roles of four final demands on driving force of China as market provider for Korea and the structural changes of China as a market provider for Korea among 56 industries from 2000 to 2014.

Interleukin (IL)-10 cytokine family members, including IL-10, IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, IL-24, IL-26 and the distantly related IL-28A, IL-28B, and IL-29, play critical roles in the regulation of inflammation. The occurrence and progression of cardiovascular diseases closely correlate with the regulation of inflammation, which may provide novel strategies for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In recent years, studies have focused on the association between the IL-10 cytokine family and the physiological and pathological progression of cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this review is to summarize relevant studies and clarify whether the IL-10 cytokine family contributes to the regulation of cardiovascular diseases.

Environment pollution was closely related to human health. The energy consumption is one of the important sources of environmental pollution in the development of economy. This paper used undesirable two-stage meta-frontier DDF (distance difference function) data envelopment analysis model to explore the impact of environment pollutants from energy consumption on the mortality of children and the aged, survival rate of 65 years old and health expenditure efficiency in 27 high income countries, 21 upper middle income countries, and 16 lower middle income countries from 2010 to 2014. High income countries had higher efficiency of energy and health than middle income countries in general. But whether in high income or middle income countries, the efficiency of non-renewable energy is higher than renewable energy. There was much room for both high income countries and middle income countries to improve renewable energy efficiency. Besides, middle income countries need to improve the efficiency of non-renewable energy and reduce pollutant emissions per unit of GDP. In terms of health efficiency, upper middle income countries performed worse than lower income countries. This phenomenon might indicate there was a U-shaped relationship between health efficiency and income level. Upper income countries should pay more attention to the environmental and health problems and cross the U-shaped turning point. The contribution of this article was to consider the heterogeneous performance of energy efficiency, environmental efficiency, and health efficiency under the influence of income level differences, and found that there might be a U-shaped relationship between health efficiency and income level.

Environmental protection and health issues have always been of great concern. This study employed modified Meta-Frontier Dynamic Network Data Envelopment Analysis to explore the environmental pollution effects from energy consumption on the mortality of children and adults, tuberculosis rate, survival rate, and health expenditure efficiencies in 15 old EU states and 13 new EU states from 2010 to 2014. We calculated the overall efficiency scores and technology gap ratios for each old EU and new EU states as well as the efficiencies of non-renewable energy, renewable energy, PM2.5, CO2, labor, GDP, tuberculosis, child mortality, adult mortality, health expenditure efficiency, and survival efficiency at the health stage. The average annual overall efficiencies of the old EU states are higher than that of the new EU states. Whether in terms of energy efficiencies or health efficiencies, the inputs and outputs of the old EU states are always higher than that of the new EU states. Overall, developing countries in Eastern Europe are lagging behind in terms of energy and health efficiencies. At the same time, the efficiency of child mortality is lower than that of adult mortality, and the efficiency of PM2.5 is higher than that of CO2 in both old and new EU states.

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome promotes pathological cardiac remodeling induced by pressure overload. However, the therapeutic effects of NLRP3 inhibition after cardiac remodeling remain unknown. The present study aimed to investigate whether the selective NLRP3 inhibitor, MCC950, could reverse transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced cardiac remodeling. Mice were divided into four groups based on the treatment given: sham, sham + MCC950, TAC, and TAC + MCC950. MCC950 (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneal injection, once per day) was administered from two weeks after TAC or sham surgery for four weeks. Echocardiography, histological analysis, RT-PCR, and Western blotting were performed to explore the function of MCC950 after TAC. We found that MCC950 reversed cardiac dysfunction after TAC. MCC950 attenuated cardiac hypertrophy by down-regulating calcineurin expression and inhibiting MAPK activation. Further, it also alleviated cardiac fibrosis post-TAC by inhibiting the TGF-β/Smad4 pathway, and reduced cardiac inflammation and macrophage infiltration post-TAC, including both M1 and M2 macrophages. Taken together, MCC950 can attenuate cardiac remodeling due to pressure overload by inhibiting hypertrophy, fibrosis, and inflammation. Our study provides a basis for the clinical application of NLRP3 inhibitors in the treatment of non-ischemic heart failure.

Let K be a non-archimedean local field and let G be a connected reductive K-group which splits over an unramified extension of K. We investigate supercuspidal unipotent representations of the group G(K). We establish a bijection between the set of irreducible G(K)-representations of this kind and the set of cuspidal enhanced L-parameters for G(K), which are trivial on the inertia subgroup of the Weil group of K. The bijection is characterized by a few simple equivariance properties and a comparison of formal degrees of representations with adjoint $\gamma$-factors of L-parameters. This can be regarded as a local Langlands correspondence for all supercuspidal unipotent representations. We count the ensueing L-packets, in terms of data from the affine Dynkin diagram of G. Finally, we prove that our bijection satisfies the conjecture of Hiraga, Ichino and Ikeda about the formal degrees of the representations., Comment: Version 2: minor corrections and additions, mainly in section 15

There is a close and important relationship between environmental pollution and public health, and environmental pollution has an important impact on the public health. This study employed the two-stage meta-frontier dynamic network data envelopment analysis (TMDN-DEA) model to explore the environment pollution effects from energy consumption on the mortality of children and adult, tuberculosis rate, survival rate and health expenditure efficiencies in 28 EU countries and 53 non-EU countries from 2010 to 2014. We calculated the overall efficiency scores and the technology gap ratios of each EU and non-EU countries and the efficiencies of input and output variables in the production and health stage. The average overall efficiencies each year in EU countries are higher than in the non-EU countries. But EU countries have higher energy efficiency than non-EU countries, and non-EU countries have higher health efficiency than EU countries. The health expenditure efficiencies in the EU countries are obviously lower than those in non-EU countries. The renewable energy efficiencies are obviously higher than the non-renewable energy efficiencies, PM2.5 efficiencies are obviously higher than the CO2 efficiencies and the children&rsquo, s mortality rate efficiencies are higher than the adult&rsquo, s mortality rate efficiencies for EU countries and non-EU countries. The government management in the EU and non-EU countries should be strengthened to reduce the air pollutant and carbon dioxide emissions and raise energy transformation to the clean energy in renewable energy and improve health efficiencies in medical and health care field.

We examine the interest rate volatility spillover between the offshore and onshore Renminbi (RMB) markets. The Hong Kong inter-bank RMB offer rate (CNY HIBOR) and the Shanghai inter-bank offer rate (SHIBOR) are used, respectively, as the interest rates for the offshore and onshore RMB markets. The results of our research show that there was significant volatility spillover between the offshore and onshore RMB prior to 21 June 2013 and that direction of the spillover from the SHIBOR to the CNY HIBOR is stronger than that from CNY HIBOR to SHIBOR. However, the spillover declined in strength between 21 June 2013 and 20 April 2016. We also find that the interest rate correlations are low and unstable. Our research reveals that the offshore RMB interest rate has been an independent system that is not determined by the onshore market, and that the determination of the offshore RMB interest rate is very complicated. The Hong Kong market is increasingly playing a more important role in the determination of the RMB. This study contributes to our understanding of the interest rate determination in China and has important implications for policy makers in terms of interest rate policies in the offshore and onshore RMB markets.

Let G be a reductive p-adic group which splits over an unramified extension of the ground field. Hiraga, Ichino and Ikeda [24] conjectured that the formal degree of a square-integrable G-representation $\pi $ can be expressed in terms of the adjoint $\gamma $ -factor of the enhanced L-parameter of $\pi $ . A similar conjecture was posed for the Plancherel densities of tempered irreducible G-representations. We prove these conjectures for unipotent G-representations. We also derive explicit formulas for the involved adjoint $\gamma $ -factors.

This study has investigated the impact of foaming and expansion of municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash (BA) during alkali reaction. Furthermore, the activity enhancement of the BA has been investigated. Based on the microanalytic appearance and compressive strength of the samples, the results show that the reaction between the metallic aluminium in the BA and alkali in the activator, which produced large quantities of hydrogen, is the primary cause for both foaming and expansion. The residual organic matter and unburnt substances in the BA are the main factors that affect the activity. However, the alkali defoaming and calcination-melting pretreatments completely prevented the expansion and calcining further improved the BA activity. The alkali activated materials prepared with the BA calcined at 700 °C, granulated blast furnace slag, and slaked lime followed by alkali defoaming pretreatment produced the best mechanical properties.

Waterborne UV-curable polyurethane (WUPU)/silica nanocomposites were prepared using various types of polyol (PCL, PBA, and PCD) by phase-inversion emulsification. The PCL-WUPU nanocomposite dispersion exhibited larger particles and higher viscosity than the PBA-WUPU and PCD-WUPU nanocomposite dispersions. The TEM analysis indicated that many small silica clusters and a few big silica clusters were distributed in the PCL-WUPU matrix, whereas the silica nanoparticles and the continuous silica network were homogeneously dispersed in the PBA-WUPU and PCD-WUPU matrix, respectively. The DMA analysis demonstrated that the broadening of the tanδ peaks or breadth of segmental motion at lower or higher temperatures were observed for WUPU nanocomposite films, suggesting the different interaction between WUPU and silica. The WUPU nanocomposite films showed increased the storage modulus, Young’ modulus, and tensile strength. But for toughness, the PCL-WUPU nanocomposite film exhibited higher improvement than PBA-WUPU and PCD-WUPU due to the silica nanoparticles preferentially, but not exclusively interaction with the hard segment of WUPU. This study provides clues for exploiting silica-polyurethane interactions to control the silica nanoparticles dispersion and tune material properties without surface modification of silica nanoparticles.

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