n-changing population of Rydberg states by low-energy electron-Rydberg collisions.

Inelastic n-changing collisions play an important role in the evolution of Rydberg atoms into ultracold plasmas. However, for the initially intermediate n (n ∼ 40) Rydberg states, these collisions can hardly be observed due to the low electron temperature in ultracold plasmas. In this work, we designed an experimental scheme to facilitate collisions between free electrons at 1.5 eV and intermediate n Rydberg atoms. Using the field ionization technique, we measured the state distributions resulting from the evolution of initially cold rubidium atoms in the 45P3/2 Rydberg state. The experimentally obtained probability of inelastic collisions excitation agrees well with the Monte Carlo simulation results. In addition, our experimental results indicate that the n-changing population induced by hot electrons is significant for lower nP Rydberg states. Our work plays a significant role in calculating the rates of electron-ion three-body recombination in ultracold plasmas.

First report of Root rot in Cerasus subhirtella Caused by Fusarium solani and Fusarium oxysporum in China.

Cerasus subhirtella (Miq.) Sok. is a widely used ornamental tree in urban areas around China and has a high ornamental value. From 2018 to 2020, a root rot disease was observed in C. subhirtella in Meitan County, Weng'an County, and Guiyang city of Guizhou, China (106.71 E, 26.57 N). Diseased C. subhirtella trees exhibited wilting with leaf chlorosis accompanied by brown to black root discoloration. In an area of 100 ha in total, with disease incidence ranging from 60 to 80%. Six symptomatic plants with root rot were randomly collected from three locations where disease symptoms were observed for pathogen isolation. Fifty fragments of diseased roots (5×5mm) were disinfected in 3% sodium hypochlorite for 30 s and 75% alcohol for 60 s, rinsed three times in sterile distilled water, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA; BoWei, Shanghai), and incubated at 28 °C in the dark for 7 days. Eighteen isolates were purified by single spore culturing. Typical Fusarium spp. colonies were obtained from all root samples. On PDA, the colonies showed white and the hyphae were dense, while the colony of isolate YH15 showed pale yellow on the back, radial growth and produced chlamydospores. The macrospores (YH15) were straight to subarcuate, measured 15.3 to 25.1 × 2.5 to 6.2 µm (n=50). The microconidia (YH26) were ellipsoid to ovoid, measured 8.6 to 12.7 × 1.6 to 5.1 µm (n=50). These morphological characteristics were consistent with Fusarium spp., as described recently in Vitullo et al. (2014). To confirm the morphological diagnosis, genomic DNA from the isolates was extracted. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) (White et al, 1990) region of rDNA and a ß-tubulin (Varga et al, 2011) gene fragment were amplified with the primers ITS1/ITS4 and Bt2a/Bt2b, respectively, and were subsequently sequenced. Maximum likelihood analysis was carried out using MEGA 11.0. BLAST analysis revealed that the ITS and ß-tubulin sequences of isolate YH15 were 100% homologous with F. oxysporum, and the isolate YH26 had a 99.69~100% homology with F. solani. Sequences of isolate YH15 and YH26 were deposited in GenBank (ITS: OQ363005 and OQ363049; ß-tubulin: OQ398187 and OQ398180). The isolate YH15 was thus identified as F. oxysporum by the morphological characteristics and sequences analysis, and the isolate YH26 was identified as F. solani. A reconstructed phylogenetic tree also confirmed their phylogenetic position. The healthy 2-year-old C. subhirtella plants grown in autoclaved acid yellow soil were used for the pathogenicity tests. Then, 50 mL of conidial suspension (2.0×105 conidia/mL, in medium) of 7-day-old isolates YH15 and YH26 were gently applied to the soil in each of the 10 pots as the treatment. A sterilized fungal culture matrix (PDB; BoWei, Shanghai) was applied to each of 10 pots as a control. All pots (30 cm high, 25 cm upper diameter, 15 cm base diameter) were placed in a greenhouse (25 °C, 12 h photoperiod). After 30 days of inoculation, all plants inoculated with the isolates showed wilting symptoms, and the roots showed light-brown to dark-brown lesions. No symptoms were observed in the controls. The pathogen was reisolated from all symptomatic roots and identified as F. oxysporum and F. solani as described above. The pathogenicity test was repeated twice with similar results. Although this fungus was previously reported to cause root disease in many hosts (Li et al., 2020; Gibert et al., 2022), this is the first report of F. oxysporum and F. solani causing root rot in C. subhirtella in China.

Spatiotemporal Patterns and Equity Analysis of Premature Mortality Due to Ischemic Heart Disease Attributable to PM2.5 Exposure in China: 2007-2022.

Long-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, particularly ischemic heart disease (IHD). Current assessments of the health effects related to PM2.5 exposure are limited by sparse ground monitoring stations and applicable disease research cohorts, making accurate health effect evaluations challenging. Using satellite-observed aerosol optical depth (AOD) data and the XGBoost-PM25 model, we obtained 1 km scale PM2.5 exposure levels across China. We quantified the premature mortality caused by PM2.5-exposure-induced IHD using the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM) and baseline mortality data. Furthermore, we employed the Gini coefficient, a measure from economics to quantify inequality, to evaluate the distribution differences in health impacts due to PM2.5 exposure under varying socioeconomic conditions. The results indicate that PM2.5 concentrations in China are higher in the central and eastern regions. From 2007 to 2022, the national overall level showed a decreasing trend, dropping from 47.41 µg/m3 to 25.16 µg/m3. The number of premature deaths attributable to PM2.5 exposure increased from 819 thousand in 2007 to 870 thousand in 2022, with fluctuations in certain regions. This increase is linked to population growth and aging because PM2.5 levels have decreased. The results also indicate disparities in premature mortality from IHD among different economic groups in China from 2007 to 2022, with middle-income groups having a higher cumulative proportion of IHD-related premature deaths compared with high- and low-income groups. Despite narrowing GDP gaps across regions from 2007 to 2022, IHD consistently "favored" the middle-income groups. The highest Gini coefficient was observed in the Northwest (0.035), and the lowest was in the South (0.019). Targeted policy interventions are essential to establish a more equitable atmospheric environment.

Comparison of safety and effectiveness of different sheaths in ablation of focal atrial tachycardia: a retrospective study.

Background: A novel visualized steerable sheath, referred to as the Vizigo sheath, has been utilized in clinical interventions. The objective of this study was to evaluate and contrast the efficacy and safety of the Vizigo sheath with other sheaths in the catheter ablation (CA) for focal atrial tachycardia (FAT). Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on consecutive patients with CA for FAT from March 2019 to February 2022. Objectives were to assess the impact of the Vizigo sheath on acute and long-term ablation success rates, procedural and fluoroscopy times, and contact force (CF). Results: A total of 164 patients, mean age 50±15 years, 97 (59.1%) women, underwent CA of FAT using the Vizigo sheath (N=42), non-visualized steerable sheath (N=36), or other conventional sheath (N=86). Age, sex, body mass index (BMI), presence of hypertension, heart failure, and diabetes mellitus were not significantly different among the three groups. The acute success rate of 94.0% was similar among the three groups. Over a follow-up of 14±2 months, the Vizigo sheath was associated with superior arrhythmia-free survival (88.1%) when compared to non-visualized steerable (69.4%; P=0.04) and other conventional (72.1%, P=0.046) sheaths. Procedural duration, number of ablation lesions, and ablation times were similar among the three groups. However, the Vizigo sheath was associated with lower fluoroscopy times (e.g., 145 vs. 250 s with Vizigo versus non-visualized steerable sheaths, P=0.03) and higher CF (e.g., average CF 12.0 versus 8.0 g with Vizigo versus non-visualized steerable sheaths, P=0.003). Conclusions: The application of Vizigo sheath can improve the long-term success rate of FAT and reduce the radiation exposure of patients and medical staff in our single-center limited sample study. More research may be needed in the future to confirm our findings.

Effectiveness of Psychobiotic Bifidobacterium breve BB05 in Managing Psychosomatic Diarrhea in College Students by Regulating Gut Microbiota: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Diarrhea of college students (DCS) is a prevalent issue among college students, affecting their daily lives and academic performance. This study aims to explore the potential effect of Bifidobacterium breve BB05 supplements on the DCS. Initially, fifty healthy and fifty diarrheal students were recruited in the observational experiment and allocated into control and diarrhea groups, respectively. Subsequently, one hundred diarrheal students were newly recruited in the intervention experiment and randomly allocated into placebo and probiotic groups, both treated for 2 weeks. Questionnaires (BSS, HAMA-14, and HDRS-17) were performed to assess the students' diarrheal states and mental health at baseline and post-treatment. Fecal samples underwent 16S rRNA sequencing and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay to evaluate gut microbiota and fecal metabolite alternations. Results indicated that B. breve BB05 supplementation significantly enriched (p < 0.05) the reduced gut microbial diversity caused by diarrhea. Diarrhea resulted in notable alterations in gut microbiota composition, as exhibited by elevated Collinsella and Streptococcus, alongside substantially decreased Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, and Prevotella, while B. breve BB05 supplementation partially restored the compromised gut microbiota at both the phylum and genus levels, particularly by increasing Bifidobacterium and Roseburia (p < 0.05). Importantly, questionnaire results suggested that B. breve BB05 administration achieved superior efficacy in relieving diarrhea symptoms and the associated anxiety and depression in college students. An increased fecal concentration of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) was also observed in the probiotic group, while Acetylcholine (ACH), Epinephrine (EPI), and Noradrenaline/Norepinephrine (NANE) reduced, revealing the potential of B. breve BB05 in alleviating anxiety and depression via modulating the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Furthermore, correlation analysis suggested that the altered microbiota and fecal neurotransmitters were closely associated with the mental symptoms. These results endorse B. breve BB05 intervention as a promising and innovative approach to alleviate both diarrhea and mental health conditions among college students.

Research on care preferences for the elderly and influencing factors in Zhejiang Province: A statistical and geographical approach.

The aging of the population is becoming an increasingly severe issue. How can we develop caring services for the elderly and promote healthy aging? Investigating care preferences is an essential step in addressing this issue. A self-designed questionnaire was employed to collect data online. The impact of personal circumstances on care preferences was ascertained using the chi-squared test and multivariate logistic regression. An optimal parameters-based geographical detector was introduced to examine the influence of spatially heterogeneous regional factors on care preferences. The online survey produced 1178 valid questionnaires. Home-based elderly care was the preference of 91.9% of respondents, followed by community-based care and medical-nursing care; institutional care was the least preferred alternative. Age, education, living style, and health states of the elderly significantly influenced the preferred care option. When compared to home-based elderly care, older respondents (odds ratio [OR] = 3.776) preferred institutional care, highly educated respondents preferred community-based care (higher education: OR = 5.206; secondary education: OR = 3.049) and medical-nursing care (higher education: OR = 4.484); the elderly living alone (OR = 0.101) excluded institutional care, and the elderly living with their children excluded non-family care method of institutional care (OR = 0.031) and medical-nursing care (OR = 0.391). Regional medical resources and old-age security significantly affect the preferences of the elderly (q-statistic [q] > 0.5); local economic development significantly affects community-based care (q > 0.6); the availability of financial subsidies significantly affects home-based care and medical-nursing care (q > 0.9); and the availability of institutional resources significantly affects the preference for institutional care (q > 0.8). We found that it is necessary to improve the level of medical care given by non-family members and care facilities, vigorously develop new methods of elderly care, promote humanistic care in non-family care settings, and increase available regional medical resources, financial subsidies, and social security. This study integrates economic and social perspectives to examine and analyze retirement willingness, thereby broadening the scope of social surveys and research methodologies, and offering valuable insights with potential directive implications.