Phosphorylation of STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) is critical for its nuclear import and transcriptional activity. Although a shorter STAT3β spliceform was initially ...described as a negative regulator of STAT3α, gene knockout studies have revealed that both forms play critical roles. We have expressed STAT3α and STAT3β at comparable levels to facilitate a direct comparison of their functional effects, and have shown their different cytokine-stimulated kinetics of phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. Notably, the sustained nuclear translocation and phosphorylation of STAT3β following cytokine exposure contrasted with a transient nuclear translocation and phosphorylation of STAT3α. Importantly, co-expression of the spliceforms revealed that STAT3β enhanced and prolonged the phosphorylation and nuclear retention of STAT3α, but a STAT3β R609L mutant, with a disrupted SH2 (Src homology 2) domain, was not tyrosine phosphorylated following cytokine stimulation and could not cross-regulate STAT3α. The physiological importance of prolonged phosphorylation and nuclear retention was indicated by transcriptome profiling of STAT3(-/-) cells expressing either STAT3α or STAT3β, revealing the complexity of genes that are up- and down-regulated by the STAT3 spliceforms, including a distinct set of STAT3β-specific genes regulated under basal conditions and after cytokine stimulation. These results highlight STAT3β as a significant transcriptional regulator in its own right, with additional actions to cross-regulate STAT3α phosphorylation and nuclear retention after cytokine stimulation.
Insomnia is common during pregnancy but the prevalence and risk factors of insomnia in Chinese women during pregnancy is not well studied. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of insomnia and ...its risk factors in Chinese women during pregnancy.
In this cross sectional study, 436 Chinese pregnant women with Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) ≥ 8 were clinically assessed using the insomnia criteria based on the combination of DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-4th Edition) and ICD-10 (International Classification of Dieases, 10th Edition). Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep Scale (DBAS), Pregnancy Pressure Scale (PPS), Perceived physical discomfort level and number, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and a general socio-demographic questionnaire were administered.
The results showed that about 20% of the pregnant women met the strict diagnosis criteria of insomnia. Independent-samples t-test revealed that several risk factors were correlated with the group with insomnia (N = 84) compared to the group without insomnia (N = 352). Binary Logistic regression analysis found that more significant bed partner influence (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.03–3.60), depressive symptoms (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.00–1.14), daytime sleepiness (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01–1.14), subjective somatic discomfort (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.11–4.65), kinds of somatic discomfort (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.03–1.27) and later gestation (OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01–1.09) were significantly associated with insomnia.
In this cohort of Chinese pregnant women, about a fifth of women suffered from clinically significant insomnia. Measures to prevent the adverse effects of insomnia should be provided to pregnant women with depressive symptoms, Sleep disturbance of the bed partner, excessive daytime sleepiness and somatic discomfort, especially late in gestation.
•In Chinese pregnant women, about a fifth of women met strict clinical diagnosis of insomnia.•Insomnia were significantly associated with partner influence, depression, daytime sleepiness, somatic discomfort and the late gestation.•Further explorations are warranted to develop optimal psychosocial and physical interventions to reduce insomnia in pregnant women.
This paper presents a theoretical and finite element (FE) investigation of the scattering characteristics of the fundamental anti-symmetric (A0) Lamb wave at delaminations in a quasi-isotropic (QI) ...composite laminate. Analytical models based on the Mindlin plate theory and Born approximation are presented to predict the A0 Lamb wave scattering at a delamination, which is modelled as an inhomogeneity, in an equivalent isotropic model of the QI composite laminate. The results are compared with FE predictions, in which the delamination is modelled as a volume split. The equivalent isotropic model and QI composite laminate are used to investigate the feasibility of the common theoretical approach of modelling the delamination as the inhomogeneity. A good correlation is observed between the theoretical solutions and FE results in the forward scattering amplitudes, but there exists a larger discrepancy in the backward scattering amplitudes. The FE results also show that the fibre direction of the outer laminae has a pronounced influence on the forward and backward scattering amplitudes, which is not predicted by the analytical models.
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