The present prospective study examined the association between maternal consumption of dairy products, calcium, and vitamin D during pregnancy and the risk of wheeze and eczema in the infants aged ...16-24 months. Subjects were 763 Japanese mother-child pairs. Data on maternal intake during pregnancy were assessed with a diet history questionnaire. Symptoms of wheeze and eczema were based on criteria of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Higher maternal intake of total dairy products, milk, cheese and calcium during pregnancy was significantly related to a decreased risk of infantile wheeze, but not eczema (adjusted ORs (95% CI) between extreme quartiles were 0.45 (0.25-0.79), 0.50 (0.28-0.87), 0.51 (0.31-0.85), and 0.57 (0.32-0.99), respectively). When maternal vitamin D consumption during pregnancy was categorised into two groups using a cut-off point at the 25th percentile, children whose mothers had consumed > or =4.309 microg x day(-1) had a significantly reduced risk of wheeze and eczema (adjusted ORs (95% CI) were 0.64 (0.43-0.97) and 0.63 (0.41-0.98), respectively). Higher consumption of calcium and dairy foods other than yoghurt during pregnancy may reduce the risk of infantile wheeze. Higher vitamin D intake during pregnancy may be protective against childhood wheeze and eczema.
Electron correlation in a quantum many-body state appears as peculiar scattering behaviour at its boundary, symbolic of which is Andreev reflection at a metal-superconductor interface. Despite being ...fundamental in nature, dictated by the charge conservation law, however, the process has had no analogues outside the realm of superconductivity so far. Here, we report the observation of an Andreev-like process originating from a topological quantum many-body effect instead of superconductivity. A narrow junction between fractional and integer quantum Hall states shows a two-terminal conductance exceeding that of the constituent fractional state. This remarkable behaviour, while theoretically predicted more than two decades ago but not detected to date, can be interpreted as Andreev reflection of fractionally charged quasiparticles. The observed fractional quantum Hall Andreev reflection provides a fundamental picture that captures microscopic charge dynamics at the boundaries of topological quantum many-body states.
This investigation evaluates the lubricities of Trihexyltetradecylphosphonium dicyanamide and Trihexyltetradecylphosphonium tricyanomethanide and discusses the tribo-decomposition behavior using ...quadrupole mass spectrometer (Q-MS). This investigation focused on the ability of these ionic liquids to be used as novel lubricant oils and lubricant additives. Both ionic liquids exhibited better lubricities compared to conventional ionic liquids. Q-MS analysis indicated that both ionic liquids underwent tribo-decomposition on worn surfaces. The substances derived from cation were identified immediately after the friction test was initiated. Tribo-film was composed with cations and anions and the surface analysis undertaken following the friction tests found it to be rich in anions. This study indicates that these ionic liquids may be suitable for application as lubricant additives.
•Evaluation of the lubricities and tribo-decomposition of the ionic liquids composed of phosphonium-cation and cyano-anion.•The anion components remained on the worn surface. On the other hand, cation components decomposed on there.•XPS analysis showed that the tribofilm had both cations and anions and was rich in anions.•These ionic liquids exhibited higher friction reduction effect than conventional ionic liquids.•This investigation showed the potential of these ionic liquids as novel lubricants and lubricant additives.
III-V semiconductors have been intensively studied with the goal of realizing metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) with high mobility, a high on-off ratio, and low power ...consumption as next-generation transistors designed to replace current Si technology. Of these semiconductors, a narrow band-gap semiconductor InAs has strong Rashba spin-orbit interaction, thus making it advantageous in terms of both high field-effect transistor (FET) performance and efficient spin control. Here we report a high-performance InAs nanowire MOSFET with a gate-all-around (GAA) structure, where we simultaneously control the spin precession using the Rashba interaction. Our FET has a high on-off ratio (10
~10
) and a high field-effect mobility (1200 cm
/Vs) and both values are comparable to those of previously reported nanowire FETs. Simultaneously, GAA geometry combined with high- κ dielectric enables the creation of a large and uniform coaxial electric field (>10
V/m), thereby achieving highly controllable Rashba coupling (1 × 10
eVm within a gate-voltage swing of 1 V), i.e. an operation voltage one order of magnitude smaller than those of back-gated nanowire MOSFETs. Our demonstration of high FET performance and spin controllability offers a new way of realizing low-power consumption nanoscale spin MOSFETs.
Charge ordering (CO) is a phenomenon in which electrons in solids crystallize into a periodic pattern of charge-rich and charge-poor sites owing to strong electron correlations. This usually results ...in long-range order. In geometrically frustrated systems, however, a glassy electronic state without long-range CO has been observed. We found that a charge-ordered organic material with an isosceles triangular lattice shows charge dynamics associated with crystallization and vitrification of electrons, which can be understood in the context of an energy landscape arising from the degeneracy of various CO patterns. The dynamics suggest that the same nucleation and growth processes that characterize conventional glass-forming liquids guide the crystallization of electrons. These similarities may provide insight into our understanding of the liquid-glass transition.
We have investigated the dielectric response in an antiferromagnetic dimer-Mott insulator beta '-(BEDT-TTF) sub(2) ICI sub(2) with square dimer lattice, compared to a spin liquid candidate Kappa ...-(BEDT-TTF) sub(2) Cu sub(2) (CN) sub(3). Temperature dependence of the dielectric constant shows a peak structure obeying Curie-Weiss law with a strong frequency dependence. We found an anisotropic glassy ferroelectricity by pyrocurrent measurements, which suggests the charge disproportionation resulting in an electric dipole in a dimer. Each ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic transition temperature is closely related to the antiferromagnetic interaction energy and a freezing temperature of dipole dynamics in a dimer, respectively. These correspondences suggest the possible charge-spin coupled degrees of freedom in the system.
To cite this article: Miyake Y, Sasaki S, Tanaka K, Hirota Y. Consumption of vegetables, fruit, and antioxidants during pregnancy and wheeze and eczema in infants. Allergy 2010; 65: 758-765. Two ...previous cohort studies showed inverse relationships between maternal vitamin E and zinc intake during pregnancy and the risk of wheeze and/or asthma in the offspring. We investigated the association between maternal intake of vegetables, fruit, and selected antioxidants during pregnancy and the risk of wheeze and eczema in the offspring aged 16-24 months. Subjects were 763 Japanese mother-child pairs. Data on maternal intake during pregnancy were assessed with a diet history questionnaire. Data on symptoms of wheeze and eczema were based on criteria of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Higher maternal intake of green and yellow vegetables, citrus fruit, and β-carotene during pregnancy was significantly associated with a reduced risk of eczema, but not wheeze, in the offspring {adjusted odds ratios (ORs) between extreme quartiles 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 0.41 (0.24-0.71), 0.53 (0.30-0.93), and 0.52 (0.30-0.89), respectively}. Maternal vitamin E consumption during pregnancy was significantly inversely related to the risk of infantile wheeze, but not eczema adjusted OR (95% CI) = 0.54 (0.32-0.90). No statistically significant exposure-response associations were observed between maternal intake of total vegetables, vegetables other than green and yellow vegetables, total fruit, apples, α-carotene, vitamin C, or zinc and the risk of wheeze or eczema in the children. Higher maternal consumption of green and yellow vegetables, citrus fruit, and β-carotene during pregnancy may be protective against the development of eczema in the offspring. Higher maternal vitamin E intake during pregnancy may reduce the risk of infantile wheeze.
Summary
Calf mortality is a major problem affecting cattle production. To identify genetic variants associated with calf mortality in Japanese Black cattle, we evaluated calf mortality as a ...categorical trait using a threshold model and conducted a GWAS. We identified two SNPs between 32 549 297 and 32 606 924 bp on bovine chromosome 9 that were significantly associated with calf mortality from 61 to 180 days after birth. The SNP showing the highest association was localized at a region 624 bp downstream of exon 4 of the anti‐silencing function 1A histone chaperone gene (ASF1A) that promotes DNA damage repair, and the null mice, which exhibit pre‐ and postnatal lethality. This association was also detected using the breeding value of 334 sires. The frequency of the risk allele in Japanese Black cattle from locations across Japan was 0.013; although the frequency of ASF1A risk allele was low, it is widespread in the Japanese Black cattle population. Thus, it may be necessary to routinely monitor the cattle population for the presence of this allele.
Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which possess self-renewing properties and multipotency, into a periodontal defect is thought to be a useful option for periodontal tissue ...regeneration. However, developing more reliable and predictable implantation techniques is still needed. Recently, we generated clumps of an MSC/extracellular matrix (ECM) complex (C-MSC), which consisted of cells and self-produced ECM. C-MSCs can regulate their cellular functions in vitro and can be grafted into a defect site, without any artificial scaffold, to induce bone regeneration. Accordingly, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of C-MSC transplantation on periodontal tissue regeneration in beagle dogs. Seven beagle dogs were employed to generate a premolar class III furcation defect model. MSCs isolated from dog ilium were seeded at a density of 7.0 × 104 cells/well into 24-well plates and cultured in growth medium supplemented with 50 µg/mL ascorbic acid for 4 d. To obtain C-MSCs, confluent cells were scratched using a micropipette tip and were then torn off as a cellular sheet. The sheet was rolled up to make round clumps of cells. C-MSCs were maintained in growth medium or osteoinductive medium (OIM) for 5 or 10 d. The biological properties of C-MSCs were evaluated in vitro, and their periodontal tissue regenerative activity was tested by using a dog class III furcation defect model. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that type I collagen fabricated the form of C-MSCs. OIM markedly elevated calcium deposition in C-MSCs at day 10, suggesting its osteogenic differentiation capacity. Both C-MSCs and C-MSCs cultured with OIM transplantation without an artificial scaffold into the dog furcation defect induced periodontal tissue regeneration successfully compared with no graft, whereas osteogenic-differentiated C-MSCs led to rapid alveolar bone regeneration. These findings suggested that the use of C-MSCs refined by self-produced ECM may represent a novel predictable periodontal tissue regenerative therapy.
A global lunar topographic map with a spatial resolution of finer than 0.5 degree has been derived using data from the laser altimeter (LALT) on board the Japanese lunar explorer Selenological and ...Engineering Explorer (SELENE or Kaguya). In comparison with the previous Unified Lunar Control Network (ULCN 2005) model, the new map reveals unbiased lunar topography for scales finer than a few hundred kilometers. Spherical harmonic analysis of global topographic data for the Moon, Earth, Mars, and Venus suggests that isostatic compensation is the prevailing lithospheric support mechanism at large scales. However, simple rigid support is suggested to dominate for the Moon, Venus, and Mars for smaller scales, which may indicate a drier lithosphere than on Earth, especially for the Moon and Venus.