Exploring Blood Donation Challenges and Mobilization Mechanisms in North China During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.

Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted the supply of blood globally, resulting in numerous studies focusing on the challenges in maintaining blood supply, and the responses to it, in countries with a mixed blood donation model. This study explored blood donation challenges and mobilization mechanisms in North China, which employs a non-remunerative donation model, during the COVID-19 pandemic's first wave. Materials and Methods: A qualitative approach was adopted to investigate blood donation practices in Chengde from April to June 2020. Data were collected from eight blood donors, six potential donors, three blood donation station leaders, and two government officials, through semi-structured interviews. Results: The major challenge for blood supply was decreased blood donations, owing to lockdown restrictions, and individual and familial apprehensions. Mobilization mechanisms included bureaucratic and ideological mobilization. However, although group blood donation alleviates the pressure on supply chains during emergencies, it is detrimental to the cultivation of civic engagement in the long run. Conclusion: This study contributes to the understanding of how countries with uncompensated blood donation models respond to public health emergencies. It suggests that striking a balance between the society's and the state's perception of blood donation would allow the state to incorporate the different "voices" of society, and devise an inclusive blood donation policy.

Combined Flow Control Strategy Investigation for Corner Separation and Mid-Span Boundary Layer Separation in a High-Turning Compressor Cascade.

To comprehensively control the corner separation and mid-span boundary layer (BL) separation, this study proposed and evaluated two new flow control configurations. One is a slotted configuration composed of blade-end and whole-span slots, and the other is a combined configuration with end-wall BL suction and whole-span slot. Additionally, the adaptability of the combined configuration to the lower blade solidity (c/t) condition was verified. The results indicate that both the slotted configuration and combined configuration can eliminate the mid-span BL separation, but a better reduction in the corner separation can be observed in the combined configuration. The two configurations can remove the concentrated shedding vortex and reduce the passage vortex (PV) for the datum cascade, but the wall vortex (WV) will be generated. By contrast, the combined configuration has weaker WV and PV than the slotted configuration, which contributes to further reducing the corner separation. In the combined configuration with a c/t of 1.66 and 1.36, the total pressure loss is reduced by 38.4% and 42.1%, respectively, on average, while the averaged static pressure rise coefficient is increased by 16.2% and 17.6%, respectively. This is advantageous for enhancing the working stability and pressure diffusion capacity for compressors. Besides this, the combined configuration with lower c/t can achieve a stronger pressure diffusion capacity and smaller loss than the higher c/t datum cascade. Therefore, the combined configuration is advantageous to the improvement of the aero-engine thrust-to-weight ratio through decreasing the compressor single-stage blade number.

A potential role for SMAD9 in goose follicular selection through regulation of mRNA levels of luteinizing hormone receptor.

The egg production of poultry depends on follicular development and selection. Nonetheless, the mechanism underlying the priority of selecting of hierarchical follicles is completely unknown. SMAD9 is one of the important transcription factors in the BMP/SMAD pathway and is involved in goose follicular initiation. To identify its potential role in determination of the goose follicle hierarchy, we used BMP type I receptor inhibitor LDN-193189 both in vivo and in vitro and found that SMAD9 mRNA expression decreased in the presence of LDN-193189. While the level of SMAD9 mRNA decreased after treatment with LDN-193189, we found that the egg production (7.08 eggs per bird per year) of the animals increased, estradiol (E2) levels significantly increased, but the levels of progesterone (P4) remained unchanged. We also detected a significant increase in luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) mRNA expression, but no change in follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) mRNA amounts. The in vitro experimental results indicated that SMAD9 knockdown by RNA interference noticeably reduced E2 and P4 biosynthesis and FSHR and LHR mRNA expression in goose granulosa cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay of goose granulosa cells revealed that phospho-SMAD9 bound to the LHR promoter and possibly regulated its transcriptional activity. These findings revealed that SMAD9 is differentially expressed in goose follicles, and acts as a key player in the control over goose follicular selection.

The effects of mouse ovarian granulosa cell function and related gene expression by suppressing BMP/Smad signaling pathway.

BMP I type receptor inhibitor can selectively inhibit BMP/Smad signaling pathways, mainly by inhibiting the BMP I type receptor activity to prevent phosphorylation of Smad1, Smad5 and Smad9. The aim of the present study was to explore the effects of mouse ovarian granulosa cell function and related gene expression by suppressing BMP/Smad signaling pathway with LDN-193189(A type of BMP I type receptor inhibitor). In this study, we cultivate the original generation of mouse ovarian granular cells then collect cells and cell culture medium after treatment. Cellular localization and expression of Smad9 and P-smad9 proteins was studied by immunofluorescence (IF) in the ovarian granulosa cells of mouse; Related genes mRNA and proteins expression was checked by QRT-PCR and Western blot; Detected the concentration of related hormones by using ELISA kit; finally, the growth of the cells was analyzed by plotting cell growth curve with CCK-8 assay. The results indicate that, suppression of BMP/Smad signaling pathway can inhibit the expression of LHR and FSHR, inhibit cell proliferation and decrease E2 secretion, the mechanism of action maybe reduce the expression of smad9, at the same time, we found that the feedback regulation of smad9 may affect the expression of FSHR and cell proliferation.