Imbalanced macronutrient intakes can induce impairment of endothelial and vascular function, and further lead to metabolic and cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about the influence of ...such diets on endothelial and vascular dysfunction in pregnant women, even though high-fat diet is a known risk for pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia.
We aimed to assess the association between maternal macronutrient intakes (protein, fat and carbohydrates), dietary quality and retinal microvascular changes in a multi-ethnic Asian mother-offspring cohort.
Pregnant women (n = 614) with singleton pregnancies were recruited during their first trimester from June 2009 to Sep 2010. Maternal diet quality and macronutrient intakes, expressed as a percentage of total energy during pregnancy, were ascertained using 24 hr recalls and 3 d food diaries at 26-28 weeks gestation. Retinal examination was completed at the same clinic visit. Dietary quality was assessed and scored using the Health Eating Index in Asian Pregnant women (HEI-AP), while macronutrients intakes ware expressed as percentages of total energy and further log transformed for analysis. Associations were examined cross-sectionally by substitution models with the use of multiple linear regression.
In adjusted model, each 20 points decrease in HEI-AP score was associated with a significant increase of 1.70 μm (p<0.05) in retinal venular calibre. Each 0.1 log increase in percentage of total fat intake was associated with a significant increment of 1.84 μm (p<0.05) in retinal venular caliber. Additionally, each 0.1 log increase in percentage of mono-unsaturated fat intake was associated with an increment of 1.84 μm (p<0.01) in retinal venular caliber.
In this cross-sectional study, we found that women with higher fat and lower protein intakes, and lower diet quality tended to have wider retinal venular caliber, which is suggestive of suboptimal microvasculature.
Knowledge of virulence and immunogenicity is important for development of live-attenuated dengue vaccines. We previously reported that an infectious clone-derived dengue type 4 virus (DENV-4) ...passaged in MRC-5 cells acquired a Glu345Lys (E-E345K) substitution in the E protein domain III (E-DIII). The same cloned DENV-4 was found to yield a single E-Glu327Gly (E-E327G) mutation after passage in FRhL cells and cause the loss of immunogenicity in rhesus monkeys. Here, we used site-directed mutagenesis to generate the E-E345K and E-E327G mutants from DENV-4 and DENV-4Δ30 infectious clones and propagated in Vero or MRC-5 cells. The E-E345K mutations were consistently presented in viruses recovered from MRC-5 cells, but not Vero cells. Recombinant E-DIII proteins of E345K and E327G increased heparin binding correlated with the reduced infectivity by heparin treatment in cell cultures. Different from the E-E327G mutant viruses to lose the immunogencity in rhesus monkeys, the E-E345K mutant viruses were able to induce neutralizing antibodies in rhesus monkeys with an almost a 10-fold lower level of viremia as compared to the wild type virus. Monkeys immunized with the E-E345K mutant virus were completely protected with no detectable viremia after live virus challenges with the wild type DENV-4. These results suggest that the E-E345K mutant virus propagated in MRC-5 cells may have potential for the use in live-attenuated DENV vaccine development.
The structural and electronic properties of the M
13
Pt
42
(M = Al, Ga, In, Mg, Ca, Sr) clusters, in which the core–shell icosahedral M
13
substructures are non-transition metal (TM) elements, are ...investigated by using first-principles method. Our calculations show that Mg
13
Pt
42
, Al
13
Pt
42
, Ga
13
Pt
42
acted as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts is stable while considering both the core–shell interaction energy (E
cs
) and the potential energy (U
diss
). By analyzing the partial density of state, we find that it is more favorable to form
p
–
d
hybridization than to form
d
–
d
hybridization when
p
-block element cores interact with Pt shell. The absorption energies of O atom show that the adsorption energy of surface is closely related to the charge that the surface gains. Our work may find out new Pt-alloy catalysts for enhancing the ORR activity.
Adenocarcinoma (AC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) are two major histological subtypes of lung cancer. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have made considerable advances in the understanding ...of lung cancer susceptibility. Obvious heterogeneity has been observed between different histological subtypes of lung cancer, but genetic determinants in specific to lung SqCC have not been systematically investigated. Here, we performed the GWAS analysis specifically for lung SqCC in 833 SqCC cases and 3,094 controls followed by a two-stage replication in additional 2,223 lung SqCC cases and 6,409 controls from Chinese populations. We found that rs12296850 in SLC17A8-NR1H4 gene region at12q23.1 was significantly associated with risk of lung SqCC at genome-wide significance level additive model: odds ratio (OR) = 0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.72-0.84, P = 1.19×10(-10). Subjects carrying AG or GG genotype had a 26% (OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.67-0.81) or 32% (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.56-0.83) decreased risk of lung SqCC, respectively, as compared with AA genotype. However, we did not observe significant association between rs12296850 and risk of lung AC in a total of 4,368 cases with lung AC and 9,486 controls (OR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.90-1.02, P = 0.173). These results indicate that genetic variations on chromosome 12q23.1 may specifically contribute to lung SqCC susceptibility in Chinese population.
Silicon (Si) materials are promising anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their high theoretical capacity and low discharge potential. Nevertheless, their actual use is seriously restricted ...by their low conductivity and huge volumetric change. Developing a Si/C composite with a yolk-shell structure is an effective method to overcome the issues including the low electrical conductivity and poor cycling stability caused by Si. In this work, a facile one-pot sol-gel approach is developed to synthesize a Si/C yolk-shell composite in the presence of cost-effective resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as precursors. In this structure, Si nanoparticles (NPs, ∼80–100 nm) are well encapsulated in a ∼12 nm thick hollow carbon shell (HC). There is a 60 nm-thick void space between the silicon core and outer carbon layer. The as-prepared Si@HC sample showed a high charge capacity of 1807.4 mA h g−1 and retained 999.5 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 beyond 100 cycles. Furthermore, this material exhibited a reversible capacity of 500 mA h g−1 after 2000 cycles at 1 A g−1.
•The Si@SiO2@RF core-shell precursor can be synthesized by a one-step sol-gel approach.•The size of the thickness of the carbon shell can be adjusted conveniently.•Si@HC anodes exhibit high reversible capacities as well as excellent cycle stability.
Presently, the commercial applications of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) in Li-ion batteries (LIBs) is still limited. Here, a novel large-scale feasible poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) incorporating ...poly(vinylidene fluoride)-co-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP)/SiO2 membrane is prepared by a simple solution casting method. Then, the dry membrane is directly swollen by LiPF6-carbonate based electrolyte to obtain a rigid-flexible coupling GPE. The solubility of PVAc into electrolyte is greatly alleviated due to the intermolecular complexation between PVAc and PVDF-HFP. This PVAc/PVDF-HFP/SiO2 based GPE enables LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM523)/mesocarbon microbeads (MCMB) full cell with excellent cycling stability and rate capability. Based on conventional hot calendar “Bellcore” technology, a NCM523/MCMB pouch cell prototype using this GPE is successfully fabricated, demonstrating both excellent flexibility and high tolerance to mechanical abuse. By saving the complicated pore-regulating procedure, the design concept of rigid-flexible coupling GPE will provide new perspective on the promotion of conventional hot calendar “Bellcore” technology.
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•A rigid-flexible coupling PVAc/PVDF-HFP/SiO2 based GPE is successfully prepared.•This GPE enables a LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2/MCMB full cell with excellent performances.•Li + conductivity of GPE has significant impacts on the interfacial components.•A high safety and flexible pouch cell using this GPE is successfully fabricated.
Lead‐free halide perovskites have triggered interest in the field of optoelectronics and photocatalysis because of their low toxicity, and tunable optical and charge‐carrier properties. From an ...application point of view, it is desirable to develop stable multifunctional lead‐free halide perovskites. We have developed a series of Cs2PtxSn1−xCl6 perovskites (0≤x≤1) with high stability, which show switchable photoluminescence and photocatalytic functions by varying the amount of Pt4+ substitution. A Cs2PtxSn1−xCl6 solid solution with a dominant proportion of Pt4+ shows broadband photoluminescence with a lifetime on the microsecond timescale. A Cs2PtxSn1−xCl6 solid solution with a small amount of Pt4+ substitution exhibits photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. An optical spectroscopy study reveals that the switch between photoluminescence and photocatalysis functions is controlled by sub‐band gap states. Our finding provides a new way to develop lead‐free multifunctional halide perovskites with high stability.
A series of Cs2PtxSn1−xCl6 perovskites with high water stability demonstrate switchable photoluminescence and photocatalytic functions on variation of the amount of platinum. With low platinum contents, the photocatalytic function is activated and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution is achieved in water, whereas with high platinum contents the photoluminescence function is achieved.
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