Background
Sexual and reproductive health literacy (SRHL) refers to the ability to access, understand, appraise, and apply information for decision-making related to sexual and reproductive health. ...The low level of SRHL in adolescents increases their sexually risky behaviors and endangers sexual health. Although early adolescence is a critical development period for forming initial views on sexuality and is often a time for attempting risky behaviors, studies on SRHL for early adolescents are fairly limited in Las PDR. As an initial step for the development of a global health project between Lao PDR and South Korea, this study assessed the level of SRHL and the differences in gender among early adolescents in Lao PDR.
Methods
Participants were 235 students conveniently recruited from one junior high school each in two provinces in Lao PDR. SRHL was measured using the 39-item Teen Pregnancy Health Literacy scale consisting of 4 subscales of finding, understanding, appraisal, and application. The scores were classified into inadequate, problematic, sufficient, and excellent using the SRHL index formula. The mean differences in gender were compared using t-test.
Results
The mean of the SRHL scores of the participants was 19.07 (±10.57). The mean score was significantly lower for girls, at 17.67 (±11.22) than for boys, at 21.37 (±9.05) (p = .006). Significant differences were further identified in all four sub-domains of SRHL: finding (p = .025), understanding (p = .005), appraisal (p = .041), and application (p = .029). The majority of participants (91.7%) were categorized as having an 'inadequate' or 'problematic' level of SRHL.
Conclusions
The level of SRHL among most early adolescents was found to be inadequate. The level of SRHL among girls was much lower than that among boys. The findings suggest a gender-specific approach to developing health education programs to improve SRHL among early adolescents and prevent future sexually risky behaviors in Lao PDR.
Key messages
Most of the early adolescents who participated in this study were categorized as having an inadequate or problematic level of SRHL.
This study suggests a gender-specific approach to develop and implement interventions to improve adolescents' SRHL, particularly in lower-middle-income countries, to ultimately enhance sexual health.
Aim To investigate the value of hepatic extracellular volume fractions (fECVs) measured using routine liver computed tomography (CT) evaluating liver fibrosis (LF). Materials and methods A total of ...60 patients (male:female ratio, 39:21; mean age, 42.4 years) histologically diagnosed with LF underwent routine liver CT. Absolute enhancement (in Hounsfield units) of the liver parenchyma (Eliver ) and aorta (Eaorta ) 3 minutes after contrast medium administration was calculated using precontrast and equilibrium phase scans. The fECV was calculated using the following equation: fECV (%)=Eliver × (100 − haematocrit %)/Eaorta . Correlation between fECV and LF stage was evaluated using the Spearman correlation coefficient. The fECVs were compared between each stage of LF. The diagnostic performance of fECV was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results The difference among the groups was statistically significant ( p <0.05). The fECVs were significantly different ( p <0.05) between F0 versus F4, F1 versus F4, and F2 versus F4. The fECVs showed a significant correlation with pathological LF staging ( r =0.468, p =0.001). The sensitivity and specificity were 0.76 and 0.68 for severe LF (F≥3); and 0.89 and 0.63 for cirrhosis (F=4). The areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) for F≥3 and F=4 were 0.757 and 0.775, respectively. Conclusions Calculation of fECV during routine contrast-enhanced liver CT may provide a non-invasive means of assessing LF.
Abstract High-frequency electromagnetic fluctuations and edge-coherent modes (ECMs) have been detected by Doppler reflectometry (DR) in the pedestal region of the Experimental Advanced ...Superconducting Tokamak. The frequency of the electromagnetic fluctuations was proportional to the Alfvén velocity and localized in the ellipticity-induced Alfvén eigenmodes (EAEs) gap in the Alfvén continuum. Therefore, the fluctuations are presumed to be EAE. The DR measurements of poloidal flow fluctuations show that EAEs and ECMs have amplitude envelopes that are localized near the bottom of the radial electric field well. Simultaneous EAE and ECM activity generates sidebands at f E A E ± f E C M , the strengths of the upper and lower sidebands are unequal, with the upper sideband being stronger. This is consistent with the theoretical prediction of Chen et al . Compared with ECM-only discharges, the inclusion of EAEs leads to an increase in D α intensity, thus indicating enhanced outward particle transport.
TGF-β is a key modulator in the regulation of cell proliferation and migration, and is also involved in the process of cancer development and progression. Previous studies have indicated that TGF-β ...responsiveness is determined by TGF-β receptor partitioning between lipid raft/caveolae-mediated and clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Lipid raft/caveolae-mediated endocytosis facilitates TGF-β degradation and thus suppressing TGF-β responsiveness. By contrast, clathrin-mediated endocytosis results in Smad2/3-dependent endosomal signaling, thereby promoting TGF-β responsiveness. Because betulinic acid shares a similar chemical structure with cholesterol and has been reported to insert into the plasma membrane, we speculate that betulinic acid changes the fluidity of the plasma membrane and modulates the signaling pathway associated with membrane microdomains. We propose that betulinic acid modulates TGF-β responsiveness by changing the partitioning of TGF-β receptor between lipid-raft/caveolae and non-caveolae microdomain on plasma membrane.
We employed sucrose-density gradient ultracentrifugation and confocal microscopy to determine membrane localization of TGF-β receptors and used a luciferase assay to examine the effects of betulinic acid in TGF-β-stimulated promoter activation. In addition, we perform western blotting to test TGF-β-induced Smad2 phosphorylation and fibronectin production.
Betulinic acid induces translocation of TGF-β receptors from lipid raft/caveolae to non-caveolae microdomains without changing total level of TGF-β receptors. The betulinic acid-induced TGF-β receptors translocation is rapid and correlate with the TGF-β-induced PAI-1 reporter gene activation and growth inhibition in Mv1Lu cells.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
ABSTRACT
We report on the Insight-HXMT observations of the new black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070 during its 2018 outburst. Detailed spectral analysis via the continuum fitting method shows an ...evolution of the inferred spin during its high soft sate. Moreover, the hardness ratio, the non-thermal luminosity and the reflection fraction also undergo an evolution, exactly coincident to the period when the inferred spin transition takes place. The unphysical evolution of the spin is attributed to the evolution of the inner disc, which is caused by the collapse of a hot corona due to condensation mechanism or may be related to the deceleration of a jet-like corona. The studies of the inner disc radius and the relation between the disc luminosity and the inner disc radius suggest that, only at a particular epoch, did the inner edge of the disc reach the innermost stable circular orbit and the spin measurement is reliable. We then constrain the spin of MAXI J1820 + 070 to be $a_*=0.2^{+0.2}_{-0.3}$. Such a slowly spinning black hole possessing a strong jet suggests that its jet activity is driven mainly by the accretion disc rather than by the black hole spin.
We have measured the column-averaged atmospheric CO2 mixing ratio to a variety of cloud tops by using an airborne pulsed multi-wavelength integrated-path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar. ...Airborne measurements were made at altitudes up to 13 km during the 2011, 2013 and 2014 NASA Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) science campaigns flown in the United States West and Midwest and were compared to those from an in situ sensor. Analysis of the lidar backscatter profiles shows the average cloud top reflectance was approx. 5% for the CO2 measurement at 1572.335 nm except to cirrus clouds, which had lower reflectance. The energies for 1 micro-s wide laser pulses reflected from cloud tops were sufficient to allow clear identification of CO2 absorption line shape and then to allow retrievals of atmospheric column CO2 from the aircraft to cloud tops more than 90% of the time. Retrievals from the CO2 measurements to cloud tops had minimal bias but larger standard deviations when compared to those made to the ground, depending on cloud top roughness and reflectance. The measurements show this new capability helps resolve CO2 horizontal and vertical gradients in the atmosphere. When used with nearby full-column measurements to ground, the CO2 measurements to cloud tops can be used to estimate the partial-column CO2 concentration below clouds, which should lead to better estimates of surface carbon sources and sinks. This additional capability of the range-resolved CO2 IPDA lidar technique provides a new benefit for studying the carbon cycle in future airborne and space-based CO2 missions.
•Fine grinding yeast cell wall (YCW) stimulated immunoglobulins secretion.•Fine grinding YCW improved intestinal oxidative status.•Particle size mediated the immune and antioxidant function of YCW.
...The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of yeast cell wall (YCW) powder processed to different particle sizes on the growth performance, serum metabolites, immunity and antioxidant status of broilers. A total of 144 one-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chicks were allocated into 3 dietary treatments consisting of 6 replicates with 8 chicks per replicate, and received a basal diet and basal diet supplemented with either 1g/kg coarse or fine grinding YCW powder until 42 days of age, respectively. Treatments did not affect growth performance of broilers. Compared with the control group, total cholesterol content in serum (P=0.032) and bursa weight (P=0.019) was increased by the inclusion of YCW at 42day. Fine rather than coarse grinding YCW powder increased ileal secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA, P=0.040) and immunoglobulin G (IgG, P=0.019) content at 21day. Additionally, birds fed diets containing fine grinding YCW showed increased ileal total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity (P=0.049) at 21day whereas decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation at 42day (P=0.021), respectively. In conclusion, the ability to improve immune function and intestinal oxidative status of broilers was more pronounced in fine grinding YCW powder.
The batch experiment and high resolution EXAFS technique with bent crystal analyzer were combined to study Eu(III) retention
mechanisms on
-MnO
as a function of various environmental factors. The ...results indicated that the sorption of Eu(III)
onto
-MnO
was obviously dependent on pH but independent of ionic strength, suggesting the formation of inner-sphere
surface complexes. Results of high resolution EXAFS analysis showed that Eu was surrounded by 8 ± 1 O atoms in the first shell at
≈ 2.40 Å for all sorption samples. A second shell of Mn atoms at
≈ 3.78 Å was
observed for all sorption samples, which was associated with the formation of a bidendate inner-sphere complex with chemical bonding
edge sharing to MnO
-octahedron. This study shows the utility of high resolution EXAFS technique with bent crystal
analyzer to discriminate the fluorescence peak of Eu(III) from that of manganese hydroxides, whose fluorescence peaks are too close in
energy to be discriminated by the conventional EXAFS technique with a low resolving solid-state detector. Both the macroscopic
interaction data and the molecular level evidence of Eu(III) surface speciation at the oxide-water interface should be factored into
better evaluation of Eu(III) and related radionuclide mobility in the natural environment.
The fourth KSTAR campaign in 2011 concentrated on active edge-localized mode (ELM) control by various methods such as non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations, supersonic molecular beam injection ...(SMBI), vertical jogs of the plasma column and edge electron heating. The segmented in-vessel control coil (IVCC) system is capable of applying n 2 perturbed field with different phasing among top, middle and bottom coils. Application of an n = 1 perturbed field showed a desirable ELM suppression result. Fast vertical jogs of the plasma column achieved ELM pace-making and ELMs locked to 50 Hz vertical jogs were observed with a high probability of phase locking. A newly installed SMBI system was used for ELM control and the state of mitigated ELMs was sustained by the optimized repetitive SMBI pulse for a few tens of ELM periods. A change in ELM behaviour was seen due to edge electron heating although the effect of ECH launch needs supplementary analyses. The ECEI images of suppressed/mitigated ELM states showed apparent differences when compared with natural ELMy states. Further analyses are ongoing to explain the observed ELM control results.
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