Background
Previous studies have shown that poor family environments are related to more sleep problems; however, little is known about how family irregularity in early life affects the development ...of sleep problems over childhood using objective sleep measures. The current study tests the hypothesis that early family irregularity contributes to the development of sleep problems.
Methods
This population‐based study comprises 5,443 children from the Generation R Study. Family irregularity was measured with seven maternal‐reported questions on family routines when children were 2 and 4 years old. Mothers reported on sleep problems at child age 3, 6, and 10 years, whereas children completed questionnaires on sleep problems at age 10. Additionally, we used tri‐axial wrist accelerometers for five nights in 851 children (mean age 11.7 years) to assess sleep objectively.
Results
Family irregularity was associated with more mother‐ and child‐reported sleep problems at ages 3, 6, and 10 years as well as with a shorter sleep duration and later objective sleep onset, but not with sleep efficiency or waking time. The association between family irregularity and multi‐informant subjective sleep problems at age 10 years was mediated by mother‐reported child psychopathology at age 6 years.
Conclusions
Our findings show a long‐term robust association of preschool family irregularity with more sleep problems during childhood as well as shorter sleep duration and later sleep onset as measured objectively with actigraphy. In part, these sleep problems were associated with family irregularity by way of child psychopathology. These findings suggest that interventions improving preschool family irregularity, which are targeted to reduce child psychopathology, may also impact the development of sleep problems beneficially.
Abstract In recent years, an increasing number of studies reporting on meniscal root tears have been published. While the meniscus and its ligamentous meniscal attachments have been studied before, ...little is known about the transitional zone between these two structures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to mechanically and morphologically characterize the transitional zone between meniscus and its meniscal attachments. Dumbbell-shaped specimens were obtained from the transitional zone between meniscus and its meniscal attachments of 6 knee joints. Samples were divided into tibial and central layers of the anterior lateral (AL), anterior medial (AM), posterior lateral (PL) and posterior medial (PM) transitional region. Testing was performed to obtain the dissipated energy during hysteresis as well as the linear modulus ( Elin ), the maximum strain ( εmax ), the maximum engineering stress ( σmax,eng ) and location of rupture during tensile test to failure. Two additional knee joints were used to investigate morphological differences between meniscus, transitional zone and meniscal attachments in 8 µm transverse slices. The central layer of the AL, AM and PL dissipated up to 48% less energy than the tibial layer. Elin was highest in the tibial layer of the PM with 107.4±61.1 MPa and lowest in the central layer of the PL with 56.0±20.5 MPa. The maximum strain was higher in the central layer than in the tibial layer at the AL, AM, and PL locations. The average σmax,eng was 12.7±9.9 MPa over all location and layers. 78% of the samples ruptured during tensile test to failure in the transitional zone. The morphological evaluation showed a smooth transitional zone with a transitional curve which was either linear or bell-shaped. The strength found in the transitional zone was lower than in the meniscus and the meniscal attachments, which corresponds well to clinical findings.
Aims. We perform a comprehensive study of the total mass distribution of the galaxy cluster RXC J2248.7−4431 (z = 0.348) with a set of high-precision strong lensing models, which take advantage of ...extensive spectroscopic information on many multiply lensed systems. In the effort to understand and quantify inherent systematics in parametric strong lensing modelling, we explore a collection of 22 models in which we use different samples of multiple image families, different parametrizations of the mass distribution and cosmological parameters. Methods. As input information for the strong lensing models, we use the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) imaging data and spectroscopic follow-up observations, with the VIsible Multi-Object Spectrograph (VIMOS) and Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), to identify and characterize bona fide multiple image families and measure their redshifts down to mF814W ≃ 26. A total of 16 background sources, over the redshift range 1.0−6.1, are multiply lensed into 47 images, 24 of which are spectroscopically confirmed and belong to ten individual sources. These also include a multiply lensed Lyman-α blob at z = 3.118. The cluster total mass distribution and underlying cosmology in the models are optimized by matching the observed positions of the multiple images on the lens plane. Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques are used to quantify errors and covariances of the best-fit parameters. Results. We show that with a careful selection of a large sample of spectroscopically confirmed multiple images, the best-fit model can reproduce their observed positions with a rms scatter of 0.̋3 in a fixed flat ΛCDM cosmology, whereas the lack of spectroscopic information or the use of inaccurate photometric redshifts can lead to biases in the values of the model parameters. We find that the best-fit parametrization for the cluster total mass distribution is composed of an elliptical pseudo-isothermal mass distribution with a significant core for the overall cluster halo and truncated pseudo-isothermal mass profiles for the cluster galaxies. We show that by adding bona fide photometric-selected multiple images to the sample of spectroscopic families, one can slightly improve constraints on the model parameters. In particular, we find that the degeneracy between the lens total mass distribution and the underlying geometry of the Universe, which is probed via angular diameter distance ratios between the lens and sources and the observer and sources, can be partially removed. Allowing cosmological parameters to vary together with the cluster parameters, we find (at 68% confidence level) Ωm = 0.25+ 0.13-0.16 and w = −1.07+ 0.16-0.42 for a flat ΛCDM model, and Ωm = 0.31+ 0.12-0.13 and ΩΛ = 0.38+ 0.38-0.27 for a Universe with w = −1 and free curvature. Finally, using toy models mimicking the overall configuration of multiple images and cluster total mass distribution, we estimate the impact of the line-of-sight mass structure on the positional rms to be 0.̋3 ± 0. We argue that the apparent sensitivity of our lensing model to cosmography is due to the combination of the regular potential shape of RXC J2248, a large number of bona fide multiple images out to z = 6.1, and a relatively modest presence of intervening large-scale structure, as revealed by our spectroscopic survey.
We present density split statistics, a framework that studies lensing and counts-in-cells as a function of foreground galaxy density, thereby providing a large-scale measurement of both 2-point and ...3-point statistics. Our method extends our earlier work on trough lensing and is summarized as follows: given a foreground (low redshift) population of galaxies, we divide the sky into subareas of equal size but distinct galaxy density. We then measure lensing around uniformly spaced points separately in each of these subareas, as well as counts-in-cells statistics (CiC). The lensing signals trace the matter density contrast around regions of fixed galaxy density. Through the CiC measurements this can be related to the density profile around regions of fixed matter density. Together, these measurements constitute a powerful probe of cosmology, the skewness of the density field and the connection of galaxies and matter. In this paper we show how to model both the density split lensing signal and CiC from basic ingredients: a non-linear power spectrum, clustering hierarchy coefficients from perturbation theory and a parametric model for galaxy bias and shot-noise. Using N-body simulations, we demonstrate that this model is sufficiently accurate for a cosmological analysis on year 1 data from the Dark Energy Survey.
Because the literature relating to the influence of degeneration on the viscoelasticity and tissue composition of human lateral menisci remains contradictory or completely lacking, the aim of this ...study was to fill these gaps by comprehensively characterising the biomechanical properties of menisci with regard to the degree of degeneration.
Meniscal tissue from 24 patients undergoing a total knee replacement was collected and the degeneration of each region classified according to Pauli et al. For biomechanical characterisation, compression and tensile tests were performed. Additionally, the water content was determined and infrared (IR) spectroscopy was applied to detect changes in the structural composition, particularly of the proteoglycan and collagen content.
With an increasing degree of degeneration, a significant decrease of the equilibrium modulus was detected, while simultaneously the water content and the hydraulic permeability significantly increased. However, the tensile modulus displayed a tendency to decrease with increasing degeneration, which might be due to the significantly decreasing amount of collagen content identified by the IR measurements.
The findings of the current study may contribute to the understanding of meniscus degeneration, showing that degenerative processes appear to mainly worsen viscoelastic properties of the inner circumference by disrupting the collagen integrity.
Metals are the most used materials as orthopaedic or dental implants due to their excellent mechanical properties. Stainless steel is one of the most commonly used materials based on its excellent ...mechanical properties and low costs compared with other metals, e.g. titanium alloys. In developing countries it is still one of the most used materials for temporary devices like bone plates and fixation screws and for permanent orthopaedic implants. However, stainless steel does not have good anticorrosive and bioactive surface properties in physiological media in comparison to other metals: stainless steel is not able to create a natural bonding with bone and might release corrosion products that could finally end in the removal of the implant. A promising approach to avoid those effects is to protect the implant with a functional coating, which additionally may have antibacterial properties. In this work, three kinds of bioactive glass particles (silicate, borosilicate and copper-doped borosilicate) were added as a second phase to a hybrid organic-inorganic silica based sol-gel made coating, with the aim of improving the surface properties of stainless steel as implant material. Chemical composition of the particles and coatings as well as the bioactive and anti-corrosive behaviour of the generated coating systems were analysed by Fourier Transformed Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and by electrochemical tests. After 14 days of immersion in simulated body fluid solution, the particles contained in the coatings presented a slow dissolution, generating phosphate-rich deposits (first insight of bioactivity) and enhancing the electrochemical response.
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•Sol gel coatings with silicate and borosilicate glass particles are deposited on 316 L.•Borosilicate glass with and without Cu showed anti-bacterial and anti-corrosive behaviour.•Coated systems promote phosphate-rich compounds deposition after 14 days in fluids.
We investigated whether T cell-recruiting bispecific anti-CD3/GD2 antibody NG-CU might be an alternative to therapeutic anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) ch14.18, mediating complement-dependent ...cytotoxicity (CDC) and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) through natural killer (NK) cells for immunotherapy in high-risk/relapsed neuroblastoma after autologous/allogeneic stem cell transplantation (auto/alloSCT). Different antibody concentrations and effector-to-target ratios (
E:T
) were evaluated using xCELLigence RTCA system, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (healthy donors and patients after alloSCT), and neuroblastoma cell lines (LS/LAN-1). Mean specific lysis of LS cells utilizing PBMCs from healthy donors and ch14.18 (1 µg/ml) was 40/66/75% after 12/24/48 h compared to 66/93/100% in the presence of NG-CU (100 ng/ml). NG-CU showed enhanced cytotoxicity compared to ch14.18, even at lower concentrations and
E
:
T
ratios, and completely eradicated LS cells after 72 h. To decipher the influence of effector cell subsets on lysis, different ratios of T and NK cells were tested. At a ratio of 1:1, ch14.18 was more effective than NG-CU. Using patient PBMCs taken at different time points posttransplant, significant lysis with both constructs was detectable depending on percentages and total numbers of T and NK cells; in the early posttransplant phase, NK cells were predominant and ch14.18 was superior, whereas later on, T cells represented the majority of immune cells and NG-CU was more effective. Our study highlights the importance of analyzing effector cell subsets in patients before initiating antibody-based therapy. Consequently, we propose an adjusted administration of both antibody constructs, considering the state of posttransplant immune recovery, to optimize anti-tumor activity.
The safety and pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) profile of the novel CCR1 antagonist CCX354 was evaluated in double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, single‐ and multiple‐dose phase I studies ...(1–300 mg/day oral doses). CCX354 was well tolerated and displayed a linear dose–exposure profile, with half‐life approaching 7 h at the 300‐mg dose. The extent of CCR1 receptor blockade on blood monocytes, which correlated well with plasma concentrations of the drug, was assessed using fluorescently labeled CCL3 binding in whole blood from phase I subjects. High levels of receptor coverage at the 12‐h time point were achieved after a single dose of 100 mg CCX354. Preclinical studies indicate that effective blockade of inflammatory cell infiltration into tissues requires ≥90% CCR1 inhibition on blood leukocytes at all times. The comparison of the properties of CCX354 with those published for other CCR1 antagonists has informed the dose selection for ongoing clinical development of CCX354 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2011) 89 5, 726–734. doi:10.1038/clpt.2011.33
Early stage litter decomposition across biomes Larsen, Klaus Steenberg; Berg, Björn; Petraglia, Alessandro ...
Science of the total environment,
07/2018, Letnik:
628-629
Journal Article, Web Resource
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Through litter decomposition enormous amounts of carbon is emitted to the atmosphere. Numerous large-scale decomposition experiments have been conducted focusing on this fundamental soil process in ...order to understand the controls on the terrestrial carbon transfer to the atmosphere. However, previous studies were mostly based on site-specific litter and methodologies, adding major uncertainty to syntheses, comparisons and meta-analyses across different experiments and sites. In the TeaComposition initiative, the potential litter decomposition is investigated by using standardized substrates (Rooibos and Green tea) for comparison of litter mass loss at 336 sites (ranging from −9 to +26 °C MAT and from 60 to 3113 mm MAP) across different ecosystems. In this study we tested the effect of climate (temperature and moisture), litter type and land-use on early stage decomposition (3 months) across nine biomes. We show that litter quality was the predominant controlling factor in early stage litter decomposition, which explained about 65% of the variability in litter decomposition at a global scale. The effect of climate, on the other hand, was not litter specific and explained <0.5% of the variation for Green tea and 5% for Rooibos tea, and was of significance only under unfavorable decomposition conditions (i.e. xeric versus mesic environments). When the data were aggregated at the biome scale, climate played a significant role on decomposition of both litter types (explaining 64% of the variation for Green tea and 72% for Rooibos tea). No significant effect of land-use on early stage litter decomposition was noted within the temperate biome. Our results indicate that multiple drivers are affecting early stage litter mass loss with litter quality being dominant. In order to be able to quantify the relative importance of the different drivers over time, long-term studies combined with experimental trials are needed.
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•Litter quality is the key driver of initial litter decomposition at the global and regional scale.•MAT has a low explanatory power on initial litter decomposition and is litter specific.•MAP significantly affected litter decomposition but has low explanatory power.•When data were aggregated at the biome scale, climate played a significant role on decomposition.•The TeaComposition initiative is a low-cost standardized metric on litter decomposition.
During the pachytene stage of meiosis in male mammals, the X and Y chromosomes are transcriptionally silenced by Meiotic Sex Chromosome Inactivation (MSCI). MSCI is conserved in therian mammals and ...is essential for normal male fertility. Transcriptomics approaches have demonstrated that in mice, most or all protein-coding genes on the X chromosome are subject to MSCI. However, it is unclear whether X-linked non-coding RNAs behave in a similar manner. The X chromosome is enriched in microRNA (miRNA) genes, with many exhibiting testis-biased expression. Importantly, high expression levels of X-linked miRNAs (X-miRNAs) have been reported in pachytene spermatocytes, indicating that these genes may escape MSCI, and perhaps play a role in the XY-silencing process. Here we use RNA FISH to examine X-miRNA expression in the male germ line. We find that, like protein-coding X-genes, X-miRNAs are expressed prior to prophase I and are thereafter silenced during pachynema. X-miRNA silencing does not occur in mouse models with defective MSCI. Furthermore, X-miRNAs are expressed at pachynema when present as autosomally integrated transgenes. Thus, we conclude that silencing of X-miRNAs during pachynema in wild type males is MSCI-dependent. Importantly, misexpression of X-miRNAs during pachynema causes spermatogenic defects. We propose that MSCI represents a chromosomal mechanism by which X-miRNAs, and other potential X-encoded repressors, can be silenced, thereby regulating genes with critical late spermatogenic functions.
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