Objective
To investigate the association between serum total cholesterol (TC) and suicide using a large general population cohort with long follow‐up times.
Method
Analyses included 16 341 men and 28 ...905 women aged 40–69 from the Japan Public Health Center‐based Prospective Study followed from 1990 to 2012. TC levels were defined per clinical guidelines: low (<4.66 mmol/l 180 mg/dl), normal (4.66–5.70 mmol/l 180–220 mg/dl), and high (≥5.70 mmol/l 220 mg/dl). Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to determine hazard ratios (HR) and confidence intervals (CI) for suicide according to TC level. Mean follow‐up time was 19 years for men and 20 years for women.
Results
There were 185 suicides (men: 107; women: 78) during follow‐up. Compared to women with normal TC, women with high TC had a significantly increased risk of suicide (HR = 1.90, 95% CI, 1.13–3.19). Incremental increases (0.26 mmol/l 10 mg/dl) of low‐density lipoprotein (HR = 1.11, 95% CI, 1.02–1.21) and non‐high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HR = 1.09, 95% CI, 1.01–1.18) were also associated with increased risk of suicide in women.
There was no association between TC levels, or lipid fractions, and suicide in men.
Conclusion
High TC levels may be associated with an increased risk of suicide in women.
We present a minimalistic and flexible single-beam instrumentation based on sensitive tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) and its use in structural analysis of highly scattering ...pharmaceutical solids. By utilising a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) for sensing of molecular oxygen dispersed in tablets, we address structural properties such as porosity. Experiments involve working with unknown path lengths, severe backscattering and diffuse light. These unusual experimental conditions has led to the use of the term gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy (GASMAS). By employing fully digital wavelength modulation spectroscopy and coherent sampling, system sensitivity in ambient air experiments reaches the 10
-7
range. Oxygen absorption exhibited by our tablets, being influenced by both sample porosity and scattering, was in the range 8×10
-5
to 2×10
-3
, and corresponds to 2–50 mm of path length through ambient air (L
eq
). The day-to-day reproducibility was on average 1.8% (0.3 mm L
eq
), being limited by mechanical positioning. This is the first time sub-millimetre sensitivity is reached in GASMAS. We also demonstrate measurements on gas transport on a 1-s time scale. By employing pulsed illumination and time-correlated single-photon counting, we reveal that GASMAS exhibits excellent correlation with time-domain photon migration. In addition, we introduce an optical measure of porosity by relating oxygen absorption to average photon time-of-flight. Finally, the simplicity, robustness and low cost of this novel TDLAS instrumentation provide industrial potential.
Non-participants to psychosocial studies have been shown to have higher mortality, and mortality differs between partial and complete responders to psychosocial questionnaires. Yet, there is very ...little information available directly linking survey response status with completing suicide.
The study population consisted of the participants of the Japanese Public Health Center-based prospective study. Ninety-nine thousand four hundred thirty-nine subjects who returned the 10-year follow-up questionnaire and 31 754 individuals who did not return the questionnaire were included in our analyses. The risk of dying by suicide according to response status was estimated by Cox regression models.
There were 358 suicides during 1 128 831 person-years of follow-up (mean follow-up time: 8.6 years). Of those who returned the questionnaire, 53.9% were full responders, 42.8% were partial non-responders, and 3.3% were complete non-responders. The risk of suicide was increased for both complete non-responders hazard ratio (HR) = 1.84, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.51, 6.64 and partial non-responders (HR = 1.36, 95% CI, 0.999, 1.84) to the questionnaire as a whole. The adjusting variables explained around 40% of the risk for complete non-responders whereas they did not explain the increased risk of suicide for partial non-responders. The risk of dying by suicide was significantly increased for partial non-responders to the subscale on coping (HR = 1.36, 95% CI, 1.01, 1.85) and for complete non-responders to questions on sleep (HR = 2.07, 95% CI, 1.03, 4.16).
Partial and complete non-responders have increased suicide risk compared with full responders. More than one non-responder category should therefore be considered when interpreting data pertaining to psychosocial questionnaires in longitudinal studies.
Systemic nicotine enhances burst firing of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area and dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens, mainly via stimulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in ...the ventral tegmental area. Given that both the neuronal activity of mesolimbic dopamine neurons and terminal dopamine release are regulated by excitatory amino acid inputs to the ventral tegmental area and that nicotine facilitates glutamatergic transmission in brain, we investigated the putative role of ionotropic glutamate receptors within the ventral tegmental area for the effects of nicotine on dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens using microdialysis, with one probe implanted in the ventral tegmental area for drug application and another in the ipsilateral nucleus accumbens for measuring dopamine, in awake rats. Systemic nicotine (0.5
mg/kg, s.c.) and infusion of nicotine (1.0
mM) into the ventral tegmental area increased dopamine output in the nucleus accumbens. Intrategmental infusion of
α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (0.1
mM) or
N-methyl-
d-aspartate (0.3
mM) increased accumbal dopamine release; these effects were antagonized by concomitant infusion of a selective antagonist at
N-methyl-
d-aspartate receptors, 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (0.3
mM), and non-
N-methyl-
d-aspartate receptors, 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (0.3
mM), respectively. Infusion of either antagonist (0.3 or 1.0
mM) into the ventral tegmental area did not affect basal dopamine levels, whereas infusion of 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid, but not 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione, starting 40
min before nicotine injection dose-dependently attenuated the nicotine-induced increase in accumbal dopamine release. Concurrent intrategmental infusion of 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid and nicotine decreased nicotine-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens.
These results indicate that the stimulatory action of nicotine on the mesolimbic dopamine system is to a considerable extent mediated via stimulation of
N-methyl-
d-aspartate receptors within the ventral tegmental area.
More than 2,000 genome-wide barley single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were developed by resequencing unigene fragments from eight diverse accessions. The average genome-wide SNP frequency ...observed in 877 unigenes was 1 SNP per 200 bp. However, SNP frequency was highly variable with the least number of SNP and SNP haplotypes observed within European cultivated germplasm reflecting effects of breeding history on genetic diversity. More than 300 SNP loci were mapped genetically in three experimental mapping populations which allowed the construction of an integrated SNP map incorporating a large number of RFLP, AFLP and SSR markers (1,237 loci in total). The genes used for SNP discovery were selected based on their transcriptional response to a variety of abiotic stresses. A set of known barley abiotic stress QTL was positioned on the linkage map, while the available sequence and gene expression information facilitated the identification of genes potentially associated with these traits. Comparison of the sequenced SNP loci to the rice genome sequence identified several regions of highly conserved gene order providing a framework for marker saturation in barley genomic regions of interest. The integration of genome-wide SNP and expression data with available genetic and phenotypic information will facilitate the identification of gene function in barley and other non-model organisms.
Controlled growth of nanowires is an important, emerging research field with many applications in, for example, electronics, photonics, and life sciences. Nanowires of zinc blende crystal structure, ...grown in the B direction, which is the favoured direction of growth, usually have a large number of twin-plane defects. Such defects limit the performance of optoelectronic nanowire-based devices. To investigate this defect formation, we examine GaP nanowires grown by metal-organic vapour-phase epitaxy. We show that the nanowire segments between the twin planes are of octahedral shape and are terminated by {111} facets, resulting in a microfaceting of the nanowires. We discuss these findings in a nucleation context, where we present an idea on how the twin planes form. This investigation contributes to the understanding of defect formation in nanowires. One future prospect of such knowledge is to determine strategies on how to control the crystallinity of nanowires.
► New test results on cruciform specimen, root failure in a multi-axial stress state. ► Two load levels and three specimen configurations giving different τ/σ ratios. ► No obvious dependence on the ...τ/σ ratios could be found. ► Evaluated models seem to be able to predict the fatigue life of the test specimen.
Fatigue endurance assessments of welded details are normally carried out by calculating the relevant stress acting on the detail and identifying a relevant fatigue class (or detail category) with its associated S–N curve. The fatigue strength of most structural details incorporated in design codes has been obtained from fatigue tests conducted under uni-axial loading conditions, which normally result in a uni-axial stress state in the detail. Many of the structural details that exist in fatigue-loaded structures experience some kind of multi-axial loading condition. The subject of the fatigue strength of welded details under multi-axial loads has been the topic of numerous research projects in recent years. The vast majority of these projects were, however, devoted to cracking in the base metal (i.e. toe cracking). Very little has been done with reference to the cracking of fillet welds in combined loading situations (i.e. root cracking). This paper presents new test results from cruciform specimens, in which weld failure initiated at the root in a multi-axial stress state. The tests have been performed at two different load levels and on three different specimen configurations giving different τ/σ ratios. This permitted an examination of the effect of the shear to normal stress ratio on the fatigue strength of fillet welds. The results of these tests, together with other relevant tests reported in the literature, are then evaluated in relation to the design models proposed in three design standards: Eurocode, IIW and DNV. No obvious dependence on the τ/σ ratios could be found. The evaluated models all appear to be able to predict the fatigue life of a cruciform weld failing from the root under combined shear and normal stress.
We have recently shown that the stimulatory effect of nicotine on dopamine output in the nucleus accumbens is largely dependent upon an enhanced glutamate transmission via
N-methyl-
d-aspartate ...receptors, possibly through stimulation of nicotinic receptors localized presynaptically on glutamatergic afferents in the ventral tegmental area. Given that nicotinic α7 receptors have been proposed to be involved in presynaptic regulation of glutamate release, we investigated whether α7 receptors underlie such a mechanism in the ventral tegmental area. For this purpose, by utilizing microdialysis we measured dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens in response to systemic nicotine, with, or without, concomitant infusion into the ventral tegmental area of the selective α7 receptor antagonist methyllycaconitine. To test also whether α7 nicotinic receptor antagonism within the ventral tegmental area affected a natural reward-mediated increase in dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens, we employed a model of schedule-induced feeding. Intrategmental administration of methyl-lycaconitine decreased both the nicotine-induced and the food-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens.
We suggest that α7 nicotinic receptors in the ventral tegmental area are involved in the acute effect of nicotine on dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and conclude that the mechanism, by which nicotine stimulates the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, may be an essential constituent of the natural reward-related circuits in brain.
Differential display was used to isolate cDNA clones showing differential expression in response to ABA, drought and cold in barley seedling shoots. One drought-regulated cDNA clone (DD12) was ...further analyzed and found to encode a branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase (HvBCAT-1). A genomic clone was isolated by probing the Morex BAC library with the cDNA clone DD12 and the structure of Hvbcat-1 was elucidated. The coding region is interrupted by six introns and contains a predicted mitochondrial transit peptide. Hvbcat1 was mapped to chromosome 4H. A comparison was made to rice and Arabidopsis genes to identify conserved structural patterns. Complementation of a yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) double knockout strain revealed that HvBCAT-1 can function as the mitochondrial (catabolic) BCATs in vivo. Transcript levels of Hvbcat-1, increased in response to drought stress. As the first enzyme in the branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolic pathway, HvBCAT-1 might have a role in the degradation of BCAA. Degradation of BCAA could serve as a detoxification mechanism that maintains the pool of free branched-chain amino acids at low and non toxic levels, under drought stress conditions.
Motivation: Genomic DNA was hybridized to oligonucleotide microarrays to identify single-feature polymorphisms (SFP) for Arabidopsis, which has a genome size of ∼130 Mb. However, that method does not ...work well for organisms such as barley, with a much larger 5200 Mb genome. In the present study, we demonstrate SFP detection using a small number of replicate datasets and complex RNA as a surrogate for barley DNA. To identify single probes defining SFPs in the data, we developed a method using robustified projection pursuit (RPP). This method first evaluates, for each probe set, the overall differentiation of signal intensities between two genotypes and then measures the contribution of the individual probes within the probe set to the overall differentiation. Results: RNA from whole seedlings with and without dehydration stress provided ‘present’ calls for ∼75% of probe sets. Using triplicated data, among the 5% of ‘present’ probe sets identified as most likely to contain at least one SFP probe, at least 80% are correctly predicted. This was determined by direct sequencing of PCR amplicons derived from barley genomic DNA. Using a 5 percentile cutoff, we defined 2007 SFP probes contained in 1684 probe sets by combining three parental genotype comparisons: Steptoe versus Morex, Morex versus Barke and Oregon Wolfe Barley Dominant versus Recessive. Availability: The algorithm is available upon request from the corresponding author. Contact: xinping.cui@ucr.edu Supplementary Information: http://faculty.ucr.edu/~xpcui
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