Background The study examined the profile of stress in mothers and fathers of preschool children with autism, Down syndrome and typically developing children. A further aim was to assess the ...association between parenting stress and coping style.
Methods A total of 162 parents were examined using Holroyd's 66‐item short form of Questionnaire of Resources and Stress for Families with Chronically Ill or Handicapped Members and the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations by Endler and Parker.
Results and Conclusions The results indicated a higher level of stress in parents of children with autism. Additionally, an interaction effect was revealed between child diagnostic group and parent's gender for two scales of parenting stress: dependency and management and limits of family opportunities. Mothers of children with autism scored higher than fathers in parental stress; no such differences were found in the group of parents of children with Down syndrome and typically developing children. It was also found that parents of children with autism differed from parents of typically developing children in social diversion coping. Emotion‐oriented coping was the predictor for parental stress in the samples of parents of children with autism and Down syndrome, and task‐oriented coping was the predictor of parental stress in the sample of parents of typically developing children. The results strongly supported earlier findings on parenting stress in parents of children with autism. They also shed interesting light on the relationship between coping styles and parental stress.
Glacier retreat is an eminent consequence of exacerbating climate change. In the Svalbard archipelago, most of the glaciers are discharging fresh and turbid waters directly to the sea, substantially ...impacting the coastal Arctic marine ecosystems. This study attempted to characterise the environmental conditions (hydrography, turbidity, marine aggregates) in the glacial-influenced waters and relate them to the abundance and species composition of protists and zooplankton. The study was conducted in the summer of 2016 in two Svalbard fjords (Wijdefjorden and Rijpfjorden) as well as in coastal waters close to glacier terminations on two islands (Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya). Well-recognised gradients in seawater salinity, turbidity, and particle aggregates that spread from glacier fronts towards open waters were not directly associated with the corresponding horizontal gradients in plankton communities. However, the studied environmental parameters explained the high overall variability in protists and zooplankton abundance (70 and 62% of explained variation, respectively). Different vertical distribution patterns and composition of plankton and marine aggregates were observed between fjords compared to open sea island locations suggesting different origin and transport of pelagic organisms and aggregate suspensions among study locations. The results do not support the hypothesis of synchronised horizontal change in environmental and biological components, which indicates that the relation between glacier meltwaters and plankton dynamics is a derivative of complex interactions driven by several physical and ecological processes that occur at different spatiotemporal scales. Nevertheless, this investigation provides new data pertaining to particle and plankton concentrations and structure in coastal waters near glaciers, which is essential for further understanding of the future coastal Arctic ecosystems functioning under rapid glacier retreat caused by climate change.
•Marine-terminating glaciers produce strong environmental gradients in Svalbard waters.•Climate-induced coastal water darkening will create hindered conditions for plankton.•The response of plankton to glacier discharge is not straightforward.•Various spatiotemporal scales result in different bio-physical interactions.•Composition of plankton and aggregates differs between fjords and shelfs of islands.
The use of anthracyclines such as doxorubicin (DOX) has improved outcome in cancer patients, yet associated risks of cardiomyopathy have limited their clinical application. DOX-associated ...cardiotoxicity is frequently irreversible and typically progresses to heart failure (HF) but our understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying this and essential for development of cardioprotective strategies remains largely obscure. As microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play potent regulatory roles in both cardiovascular disease and cancer, we investigated miRNA changes in DOX-induced HF and the alteration of cellular processes downstream. Myocardial miRNA profiling was performed after DOX-induced injury, either via acute application to isolated cardiomyocytes or via chronic exposure in vivo, and compared with miRNA profiles from remodeled hearts following myocardial infarction. The miR-30 family was downregulated in all three models. We describe here that miR-30 act regulating the β-adrenergic pathway, where preferential β1- and β2-adrenoceptor (β1AR and β2AR) direct inhibition is combined with Giα-2 targeting for fine-tuning. Importantly, we show that miR-30 also target the pro-apoptotic gene BNIP3L/NIX. In aggregate, we demonstrate that high miR-30 levels are protective against DOX toxicity and correlate this in turn with lower reactive oxygen species generation. In addition, we identify GATA-6 as a mediator of DOX-associated reductions in miR-30 expression. In conclusion, we describe that DOX causes acute and sustained miR-30 downregulation in cardiomyocytes via GATA-6. miR-30 overexpression protects cardiac cells from DOX-induced apoptosis, and its maintenance represents a potential cardioprotective and anti-tumorigenic strategy for anthracyclines.
Oxidation of water or wastewaters with classical oxidants such as chloramine, chlorine dioxide, ozone or permanganate may lead to formation of carcinogenic N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), when ...dimethylamine (DMA) is present as water pollution. This study shows that peroxydisulfate (PDS) could be considered as relatively ‘safe’ oxidant as PDS partly destroys dimethylamine without formation of NDMA. Prior to use, peroxydisulfate was activated. Metal ions Fe
+2
, UV radiation and metal oxides CuO were compared as activator compounds to understand their efficiency in PDS systems (radical and non-radical) for oxidation of DMA. The amount of nitrate formed as the result of nitrogen oxidation, as well as formaldehyde (FA), formed as the result of methyl groups oxidation, was monitored as an indicator of DMA degradation. Application studies conducted on natural water showed that activated peroxydisulfate can effectively protect against the undesirable NDMA formation.
We derive the filtering equation for Markovian systems undergoing homodyne measurement in the situation where the output processes being monitored are squeezed. The filtering theory applies to case ...where the system is driven by Fock noise (that is, quantum input processes in a coherent state) and where the output is mixed with a squeezed signal. It also applies to the case of a system driven by squeezed noise, but here there is a physical restriction to emission/absorption coupling only. For the special case of a cavity mode where the dynamics is linear, we are able to derive explicitly the filtered estimate
π
t
(
a
) for the mode annihilator a based on the homodyne quadrature observations up to time
t
.'
Different silicide/PTFE compositions were processed via an SHS route. A variety of novel crystalline nanomaterials was produced, including SiC nanofibers, 1-D morphologies of other carbides and ...fluorides, as well as their respective micro- and nanocrystallites.
•Different silicide/PTFE compositions were processed via the SHS route.•A variety of novel crystalline nanomaterials was produced.•SiC nanofibers were efficiently grown.
Combustion synthesis (SHS, self-sustainable high-temperature synthesis), carried out in a modified calorimetric bomb, is a fast, efficient, self-sustainable, and one-step production method of new ...nanomaterials. Among them, SiC nanowires and their bundles are one of the most interesting due to their properties and a variety of possible applications. However, as the growth process occurs probably partially under non-equilibrium conditions, its control and monitoring are rather difficult. Furthermore, the synthesis is very sensitive to any change of process variables, so that the growth mechanism knowledge is essential for the optimization of the synthesis. To overcome those drawbacks, the in-situ diagnostics of combustion is proposed. It is based on the photo-registration of an optical signal (light emitted and observed via polycarbonate observation port). From full HD 25frames/s with resolution 1920×1080, one may calculate the relative signal intensity, its time evolution and find the reaction fingerprint. The validation of experimental protocol consisted in confirmation of results reproducibility, crucial in case of the nonlinear process, within different calculation algorithms and registration conditions.
•A new method for diagnostics of the nanostructure growth process has been proposed.•Normalized intensity of thresholded combustion images helped us to obtain reaction fingerprint.•SiC nanofibres were efficiently grown using the SHS method.
PDF
