Abstract
Background
Recent studies suggest that the incidence of small for gestational age (SGA) birth related to maternal depression, but the mechanism is unclear. The aim of this study was to ...explore the changes of promoter methylation in the placenta which may be involved in the relationship between prenatal depression and SGA.
Methods
Three hundred forty-five pregnant women were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. Perinatal emotion and sleep quality in the second and third trimesters were assessed using self-rating depression scale, self-rating anxiety scale, and Pittsburgh sleep quality index. According to the exposure (depressed emotion of mother) and outcome (SGA), the placentas were divided into four groups. Methylation of the promoter regions of the placental CRH, HSD11β2, SLA16A10, DIO3, and MTNR1B genes was determined using next generation sequencing based on bisulfite sequencing PCR.
Results
There were 97 (28.1%) and 95 (27.5%) pregnant women who had depression in the second trimester and third trimester, respectively. Thirty-five pregnant women had an SGA birth. The incidence of SGA births in this prospective cohort was 10.1%. The risk factors of SGA birth were low BMI of pregnancy women (RR = 0.71, 95%CI = 0.54 ~ 0.92), hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP, RR = 4.7, 95%CI = 1.18 ~ 18.72), and maternal depression in the second trimester (RR = 3.71, 95%CI = 1.31 ~ 12.16). We found that the CRH and HSD11β2 methylation levels were higher in the depression group than those in the non-depression group. Methylation levels of DIO3 were higher in SGA group than that in the non-SGA group. Higher methylation levels of CRH correlated with higher methylation levels of DIO3 in the placenta.
Conclusions
Maternal depression in the second trimester may lead to the changes of methylation levels in the promoter region of CRH and HSD11β2 gene, while the changes of methylation of DIO3 in subsequent could related to SGA. This study suggests that maternal depressed emotion during pregnancy may result in SGA due to the epigenetic changes of placenta.
Due to significant cost advantages, wind energy penetrated the energy mix of most large countries much faster than solar PV did until the recent decade. However, Japan has been almost one-sidedly ...leaning toward the more expensive solar PV. For using solar PV electricity, the Japanese consumers are also paying sizably higher tariffs than those in other countries, especially after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 that led to the sudden suspension of all nuclear power plants. Japan's energy transition towards renewables is accordingly largely single legged, rather than more balanced to take advantage of both wind turbines and solar PV. This article explains the puzzle on why renewable energy development in Japan has created such a wide distance from more economically optimal situations. We focus on the initiation, formation and impacts of the solar lobby that comprises bureaucracies, politicians, solar PV manufacturers, and independent power producers. Policy implications are drawn for Japan and other countries on the importance of controlling political lobby to achieve less costly energy transition.
•Japan's energy transition focuses much more on expensive solar PV but not on wind.•We examine Japan's solar lobby to explain the deviation away from economic optimum.•Solar lobby evolved dynamically to pivot on different interest groups over time.•The development of solar lobby (vs. Wind lobby) showed path dependency.•Political lobby should be effectively addressed for better energy transition.
Effective governance is crucial for developing various renewable energies, especially in their early stages. After the spectacular growth of onshore wind in the past decade, offshore wind is ...attracting an increasing amount of attention globally. As an archipelago and facing electricity shortage after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, Japan has been accelerating its pace of developing offshore wind. However, the Japanese government encounters the challenge of adapting its old institution to the new governance demand. This research analyzes the evolution of offshore wind policies and evaluates the progress of inter-ministerial collaboration in Japan. It is found that from the initial potential surveys to the final setting of offshore wind feed-in tariff, the relations between relevant agencies were more characterized by inter-ministerial competitions than collaborations. The deeply rooted traditional sectionalism continues to affect the development of offshore wind and may slow down the progress of energy transition in Japan.
Black carbon mitigation has received increasing attention for its potential contribution to both climate change mitigation and air pollution control. Although different bottom-up models concerned ...with unit mitigation costs of various technologies allow the assessment of alternative policies for optimized cost-effectiveness, the lack of adequate data often forced many reluctant explicit and implicit assumptions that deviate away from actual situations of rural residential energy consumption in developing countries, where most black carbon emissions occur. To gauge the theory-practice gap in black carbon mitigation – the unit cost differences that lie between what is estimated in the theory and what is practically achieved on the ground – this study conducted an extensive field survey and analysis of nine mitigation technologies in rural China, covering both northern and southern regions with different residential energy consumption patterns. With a special focus on two temporal characteristics of those technologies – lifetimes and annual utilization rates, this study quantitatively measured the unit cost gaps and explain the technical as well as sociopolitical mechanisms behind. Structural and behavioral barriers, which have affected the technologies’ performance, are discussed together with policy implications to narrow those gaps.
•Black carbon mitigation technologies could cost more in practice than in theory.•We quantify the theory-practice unit cost gaps in rural China.•First-hand rural household survey was conducted on residential energy consumption.•Two temporal factors, lifetimes and annual utilization rates, led to the gaps.•Sociopolitical mechanisms are discussed for understanding and narrowing the gaps.
Abstract
Background
Esophagogastroduodenoscopy is very useful in diagnosing and treating upper gastrointestinal mucosal disorders, but too much foam and water in stomach decrease its diagnostic ...efficiency. Simethicone administration can help remove excessive foam.
Aims
To determine the optimal simethicone administration strategies in a comparative randomized controlled clinical trial.
Methods
Adult outpatients with indications for esophagogastroduodenoscopy were enrolled and randomly divided into group 1 (simethicone solution intake 20–30 min before procedure,
n
= 110), group 2 (simethicone solution intake 31–60 min before procedure,
n
= 92), and group 3 (simethicone solution intake > 60 min before procedure). Primary and secondary outcomes were procedure time and the patients’ satisfaction after the examination. All symptoms like abdominal pain and distension were recorded.
Results
No statistically significant differences were found on the patients’ demographic and clinical features and mean examination time (all
P
values > 0.05). The distribution of patients with different endoscopic and pathological diagnosis was comparable among three groups, respectively (
P
= 0.607;
P
= 0.289). However, the proportion of patients with Gastric Cleanness Grade A was most in group 2 (
n
= 73, 79.3%), and patient proportion with Gastric Cleanness Grade C was most found in group 1 (
n
= 72, 65.5%), which was greatly different (
P
< 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference on the satisfaction scores immediately 6 (3–8) vs. 6 (1–10) vs. 6 (1-9),
P
= 0.533; 2 h after 10 (8–10) vs. 10 (10–10) vs. 10 (8-10),
P
= 0.463.
Conclusion
Simethicone solution intake 31–60 min before esophagogastroduodenoscopy can help obtain the best gastric cleanness, which is recommended in clinical practice (registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03776916 on December 13, 2018).
Cost-effective and user-friendly quantitation at points-of-need plays an important role in food safety inspection, environmental monitoring, and biomedical analysis. This study reports a stand-alone ...smartphone-based fluorospectrophotometer (the SBS) installed with a custom-designed application (the SBS-App) for on-site quantitation of pesticide using a ratiometric sensing scheme. The SBS can collect fluorescence emission spectra in the wavelength range of 380-760 nm within 5 s. A ratiometric fluorescence probe is facilely prepared by directly mixing the blue-emissive carbon nanodots (the Fe3+-specific fluorometric indicator) and red-emissive quantum dots (the internal standard) at a ratio of 11.6 (w/w). Based on the acetylcholinesterase/choline oxidase dual enzyme-mediated cascade catalytic reactions of Fe2+/Fe3+ transformation, a ratiometric fluorescence sensing scheme is developed. The practicability of the SBS is validated by on-site quantitation of chlorpyrifos in apple and cabbage with a comparable accuracy to the GC-MS method, offering a scalable solution to establish a cost-effective surveillance system for pesticide pollution.
Display omitted
•The SBS is developed for the on-site collection of fluorescence spectra•The SBS-App is programmed for spectrum reconstruction and quantitative analysis•A ratiometric fluorescence sensing scheme is designed for chlorpyrifos quantitation
Environmental science; Applied sciences
Propofol sedation has been applied during esophagogastroduodenoscopy procedures, but whether topical pharyngeal anesthesia should be administered at the same time has rarely been reported. Our study ...examined the role of topical pharyngeal anesthesia in sedated endoscopies in a randomized controlled double-blinded clinical trial. A total of 626 patients who underwent sedated esophagogastroduodenoscopy were randomized into the experimental group (n = 313) or the control group (n = 313). The discomfort score, immediately and one day after the procedure, was not statistically significant 7.2 (5-9) vs. 7.5 (6-9), P = 0.210; 2.3 (0-3) vs. 2.6 (0-4), P = 0.095, respectively. Two patients in the experimental group and three patients in the control group needed oral medication for pharyngeal discomfort (P = 0.354). The satisfaction score was 9.2 (8-10) in the experimental group and 8.9 (7-10) in the control group (P = 0.778). Lidocaine topical pharyngeal anesthesia in propofol-sedated esophagogastroduodenoscopy did not further reduce the pharyngeal discomfort or improve the satisfaction. This clinical trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03070379).
A yeast strain MJ2 that was found to produce a higher amount of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was isolated from the surface of kiwi. Phylogenetic analysis based on the ITS sequence and morphological, ...biochemical studies indicated that it may belong to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Under optimum conditions in Czapek’s broth medium with 0.5 % monosodium glutamate, it produced GABA at a concentration of 5.823 g/L after 48 h. A full-length glutamate decarboxylase gene (Scgad) was cloned by PCR amplification. The open reading frame (ORF) of the Scgad gene was composed of 1,755 nucleotides and encoded a protein (585 amino acids) with a predicted molecular weight of 65.897 kDa. The deduced amino acids sequence of Scgad shows 100 %, 65 % and 62 % similarity with S. cerevisiae, Candida glabrata and Kluyveromyces lactis GAD in the polypeptide level, respectively. The Scgad gene was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells, and the expression was confirmed by Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis. The results suggested that the S. cerevisiae GAD (ScGAD) was successfully encoded in E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells. Furthermore, the enzyme activity of ScGAD encoded in E. coli BL21 (DE3) had been significantly enhanced using artificial neural network linked with genetic algorithm (ANN-GA) method.
The paper mainly explains a fast detection algorithm of sine wave phase difference applied to embedded equipment and applies the algorithm to practical engineering. It samples and compares the data ...in the actual environment, gives the deviation between the calculation result of the algorithm and the theoretical value under different conditions, different parameters, and different sampling rates, and analyzes and compares the calculation results. The data of the experimental results provide a basis for the subsequent algorithm research. The design of the algorithm provides a new solution for the calculation of the phase difference algorithm in the field of communication.
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