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Background: Diet may alter the configuration of gut microbiota, but the impact of prenatal and postnatal nutritional interventions on infant gut microbiota has not been investigated.Objective: We evaluated whether providing lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNSs) to mother-infant dyads promotes a more diverse and mature infant gut microbiota, compared to maternal supplementation with multiple micronutrients (MMN) or iron and folic acid (IFA).Methods: We enrolled 869 pregnant women in a randomized trial in Malawi. There were 3 study groups, with women receiving 1 MMN capsule daily during pregnancy and 6 mo postpartum, or 1 LNS sachet (20 g) daily during pregnancy and 6 mo postpartum, or 1 IFA capsule daily (during pregnancy) then a placebo daily (postpartum). Infants in the LNS group received LNS from 6 to 18 mo; infants in the other groups did not receive supplements. The infants' fecal microbiota were characterized by PCR amplification and sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene (variable region 4). The primary outcomes were microbiota α diversity and maturation [as microbiota-for-age z score (MAZ)]. Specific associations of taxa with intervention were established with indicator species analysis (ISA).Results: Primary outcomes did not differ between IFA and MMN groups, so these groups were combined (IFA + MMN). Mean ± SD α diversity was higher in the LNS group at 18 mo for Shannon index [3.01 ± 0.57 (LNS) compared with 2.91 ± 0.60 (IFA + MMN), P = 0.032] and Pielou's evenness index [0.61 ± 0.08 (LNS) compared with 0.60 ± 0.09 (IFA + MMN), P = 0.043]; no significant differences were observed at 1, 6, 12, or 30 mo. MAZ and β diversity did not differ at any age. We found 10 and 3 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) positively associated with LNS and IFA + MMN, respectively; however, these associations became nonsignificant following false discovery rate correction at 10%.Conclusions: Prenatal and postnatal LNS intake promoted infant gut microbiota diversity at 18 mo, after 12 mo of child supplementation, but did not alter microbiota maturation. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01239693. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strengthening of basal slip could enhance formability of magnesium by decreasing the ratio of pyramidal to basal critical resolved shear stress (P/B CRSS ratio). Here solute strengthening of basal slip is predicted for a wide range of solutes as a function of temperature and solute concentration at experimental strain rates using a recently-developed parameter-free model. The model is simplified by approximating the solute/dislocation interaction energy as the sum of a misfit strain contribution and a stacking fault interaction term, with the dislocation stress field estimated using a Peierls-Nabarro-type model of the basal edge dislocation. The approach is validated against DFT results for both Al and Zn solutes, and the predicted strengths agree well with experiments. The model is then applied to predict basal strengthening of many other solutes versus temperature, with key parameters tabulated for general future use. Comparisons to experimental data on 0.5 at% Dy and 1.0 at% Y versus temperature show moderate agreement, and the predicted effects of deviatoric misfit strains are shown to be small. An analytic formula is developed to predict strengthening as a function of solute misfit volume and stacking fault energies, enabling rapid assessment for many solutes and their combinations because. the model naturally extends to multiple solutes. Predictions are made for a range of existing ternary and higher alloys. Overall, the analysis and models here provide an accurate and easy formulation for estimating basal solute strengthening in dilute multicomponent Mg alloys and thus estimating the P/B CRSS ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A special spray model is applied to study the spray behavior with high injection pressure and micro-hole nozzle. To reveal the cavitation in diesel nozzle and its influence on spray and atomization, the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model is adopted to detect the cavitation, and then the special spray model coupling the cavitation is build. From research results, three important conclusions can be drawn. Firstly, the cavitation flow can raise the effective velocity at the nozzle exit and such effect become even more obvious with higher injection pressure, e.g.180 MPa. Secondly, the applied spray model is in good agreement with the spray characteristics and images obtained from the EFS8400 spray test platform. Thirdly, the cavitation with high injection pressure and micro-hole nozzle can increase the spray cone angle and reduce the spray penetration; the cavitation intensity has a great impact on the spray velocity field and vorticity intensity, especially at the initial spray field under the condition of high injection pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental illness is highly prevalent among adults in the United States, with almost 1 in 5 adults living with some degree of mental illness. Given most of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) procedures are inherently anxiety-generating, the authors sought to determine the burden of psychiatric illness in the population seeking care at an outpatient OMS unit of the University of Cincinnati. The authors hypothesized that psychiatric diagnoses would be common in this population. This is an ongoing retrospective cohort study. Study subjects were identified by searching CPT codes through electronic health records to identify all patients older than 15 years of age who underwent any oral and maxillofacial surgery outpatient procedure in 2018 (January 1 to December 21). Data on demographics, ASA status, presence of psychiatric diagnosis according to DSM-5, type of procedure, and complications were collected by performing a retrospective chart review. A total of 4616 patients were identified for the chosen timeframe. All the duplicates (387 patients) were removed; 252 patients were further removed as they did not meet the inclusion criteria (no procedure performed, < 15 years old). That left a dataset of 3977 patients. So far, complete data extraction has been conducted for 1300 patients who were chosen randomly. Data extraction was conducted by 5 students who were all trained on the procedures for data extraction. Descriptive analysis was conducted and prevalence rates were calculated. Out of total of 1300 patients who were reviewed, 60.9% (792) were females and 39.1% (508) were males. Age range was from 15 to 98 years with a mean age of 34.2 years; 45.2% (588) were Caucasian, 39% (507) were African-American, 0.7% (9) were Asian, 3.1% (40) were Hispanic, 3.3% (43) were other races, and 8.7% (113) were of unknown race; 32.1% (418) of patients were classified as ASA I, 55.6% (723) were ASA II, 11.2% (145) were ASA 3, and 1.1% (14) were ASA IV. Among the total reviewed population through OMS vision, 305 patients were found to have reported psychiatric diagnosis. Further review of medical history of the remaining patients was performed through Epic, and 26 more patients were found to have reported psychiatric diagnosis. A total of 25.5% (331) of patients were found to have a pre-existing psychiatric diagnosis. Out of these patients, 62 had neurogenic disorders, 29 had schizophrenia spectrum disorders, 56 had bipolar disorders, 218 had anxiety and depressive disorders, 82 had substance use and addictive disorders, 5 had personality disorders, and 7 had other disorders. A total of 102 patients had multiple psychiatric diagnosis. Among the 1300 procedures completed, 11.8% (153) of patients experienced postoperative complications and, among these, 24.9% (38) had psychiatric diagnoses. The review shows that psychiatric illnesses are common among the oral and maxillofacial surgery population. This population is also likely to have more complications. The ongoing record review would shed more light in this arena when complete. Prognostic implications of preoperative psychiatric disorders on surgical outcome should be demonstrated prospectively in intervention studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To present the neuroradiological and clinical findings of fourth-ventricular meningiomas to increase awareness of this entity. Materials and methods: The computed tomography (CT; n =5), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; n =9) features and clinical presentations of 10 patients with pathologically documented fourth-ventricular meningiomas were retrospectively analysed. Results: All tumours appeared as well-demarcated masses in the fourth ventricle at CT and MRI. The tumour shape was round in eight cases (80%) and irregular in two cases (20%). The CT images of five cases showed predominantly isoattenuation in three cases and high attenuation in two cases, with a mean attenuation value of 52HU. In addition, calcifications were seen in three cases. At MRI, nine masses were isointense (n =6) or hypointense (n =3) to grey matter on T1-weighted images and mildly hyperintense (n =4), isointense (n =3), hypointense (n =1), and of mixed signal intensity (n =1) on T2-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images. Signal voids were visible in two cases. Enhancement after injection of contrast material was marked homogeneous (n =5) or heterogeneous (n =5) on CT or T1-weighted images. Three tumours had mild peritumoural oedema. Three tumours were associated with obstructive hydrocephalus. The pathological subtype of the 10 meningiomas was fibromatous (n =5), atypical (n =2), and one each of transitional, psammomatous, and clear-cell type. Conclusion: Although fourth-ventricular meningioma is quite rare, it should be considered in differential diagnosis of neoplasms within the fourth ventricle. The relatively typical radiological appearance, combined the age and sex of patients, can suggest the diagnosis of fourth-ventricular meningioma. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) with high safety characteristic usually have high viscosity and melting point, which is adverse for the application of RTIL-based electrolytes in Li-ion batteries. In this investigation, a promising RTIL, i.e. PP13TFSI consisting of N-methyl-N-propylpiperidinium (PP13) cation and bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TFSI) anion is synthesized. The effect of the content of Li salt in the electrolytes containing PP13TFSI and LiTFSI on the ionic conductivity and cell performance is investigated. The electrolyte of 0.3molkg−1 LiTFSI/PP13TFSI is recommended for its higher lithium transference number and discharge capacity in the LiCoO2/Li cell than other electrolytes. In addition, it is found that, by introducing 20% diethyl carbonate (DEC) as a co-solvent into pure RTIL electrolyte, the rate capability and low-temperature performance of the LiCoO2/Li cells are improved obviously, without sacrificing its safety characteristics. It suggests that a component with low viscosity and melting point, i.e. DEC, is necessary to effectively overcome the shortcomings of RTIL for the application in Li-ion batteries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Tau hyperphosphorylation precedes neuritic lesion formation in Alzheimer's disease, suggesting it participates in the tau fibrillization reaction pathway. Candidate tau protein kinases include members of the casein kinase 1 (CK1) family of phosphotransferases, which are highly overexpressed in Alzheimer's disease brain and colocalize with neuritic and granulovacuolar lesions. Here we characterized the contribution of one CK1 isoform, Ckiδ, to the phosphorylation of tau at residues Ser202/Thr205 and Ser396/Ser404 in human embryonic kidney 293 cells using immunodetection and fluorescence microscopy. Treatment of cells with membrane permeable CK1 inhibitor 3-[(2,3,6-trimethoxyphenyl)methylidenyl]-indolin-2-one (IC261) lowered occupancy of Ser396/ Ser404 phosphorylation sites by >70% at saturation, suggesting that endogenous CK1 was the major source of basal phosphorylation activity at these sites. Overexpression of Ckiδ increased CK1 enzyme activity and further raised tau phosphorylation at residues Ser202/ Thr205 and Ser396/Ser404 in situ. Inhibitor IC261 reversed tau hyperphosphorylation induced by Ckiδ overexpression. Co-immunoprecipitation assays showed direct association of tau and Ckiδ in situ, consistent with tau being a Ckiδ substrate. Ckiδ overexpression also produced a decrease in the fraction of bulk tau bound to detergent-insoluble microtubules. These results suggest that Ckiδ phosphorylates tau at sites that modulate tau/ microtubule binding, and that the expression pattern of Ckiδ in Alzheimer's disease is consistent with it playing an important role in tau aggregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To gather and compare related clinical studies, and to investigate the accuracy and reliability of deep learning in detecting orthopaedic fractures.Materials and Methods: This study is a retrospective combination and interpretation of prospectively acquired data. Articles from PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane library databases, and reference lists of the qualified articles were retrieved. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed using a random effective model. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were obtained by a random model. This work was managed from October 2018 to March 2020.Results: Fourteen studies were included in this systematic review and nine were synthesized in the meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for the whole group (17 trials, 5,434 images) were 0.87 and 0.91, respectively. The AUC was 0.95. Eight trials (1,574 images) were included in the long-bone group, which contained seven studies. The pooled sensitivity was 0.96 and specificity was 0.94. The AUC was 0.99. Heterogeneity existed in the four pooled results of the whole group and the pooled specificity of the long-bone group.Conclusions: Deep learning is reliable in fracture diagnosis and has high diagnostic accuracy, which is similar to that of general physicians and is unlikely to produce a large number of false diagnoses; however, the ability of deep learning to localize the fracture needs more attention and testing. Deep learning can be extremely helpful with pre-classification of clinical diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling (pCASL) imaging in grading and differentiating histological subtypes of meningiomas.Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images and pCASL were acquired with a 3 T MRI system before surgery in 125 consecutive patients with suspected meningiomas. Finally, the perfusion parameters were collected from 84 grade I and 23 grade II meningiomas. On the pCASL perfusion map, the mean absolute cerebral blood flow (CBF) values from the meningioma (CBFtumour), peritumoural oedema (CBFPTO), white matter of contralateral centrum semi-ovale (CBFwm) and normal grey matter (CBFgm) were calculated. Additionally, the associations of these perfusion parameters with the value of ki-67 index were analysed.Results: The CBFwm value correlated negatively with the largest diameter of the tumour, which limited its usage as a reference for ratio calculation. The CBFtumour values of grade II and grade I meningiomas did not differ significantly: 137.36±71.85 ml/min/100 g versus 123.58±135.80 ml/min/100 g (p=0.641). The CBFPTO value was higher for grade II meningioma as than for grade I meningiomas: 30.30±15.56 ml/min/100 g versus 22.33±9.87 ml/min/100 g (p=0.037). The CBFtumour value was highest in angiomatous meningioma and lowest in fibrous meningioma, thus enabling the differentiation of subtypes of meningioma. The CBFtumour value did not correlate with the ki-67 index of meningioma.Conclusion: The CBFPTO value, rather than the CBFtumour value, from pCASL imaging may serve as a key factor in distinguishing different grades of meningiomas. Moreover, angiomatous meningiomas and fibrous meningiomas can be identified by CBFtumour value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Quinpirole-sensitized rats were tested on a discrete-trials 40-s peak-interval procedure using lever pressing as the instrumental response. Although there was no evidence of rhythmical activity in lever pressing, periodic output was observed in a secondary response (food-cup entries) during the inter-trial interval following the delivery of reinforcement on fixed-interval trials, but not during unreinforced probe trials. This repetitive pattern of behavior with a 40-s period points to the primacy of reinforcement as a time marker and an increased tendency to synchronize to noisy and sparse periodic input as a result of reduced inhibitory control in cortico-striatal circuits following chronic quinpirole administration. Parallels between quinpirole-induced rhythmical behavior and the repetitive motor habits frequently observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effect of activation temperature on Li-ion batteries with flame-retarded electrolytes containing 5wt.% dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP) and trimethyl phosphate (TMP) is investigated respectively. It is found that activation at elevated temperature promotes the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interface layer on the graphite electrode, which may significantly suppress the reductive decomposition of DMMP and TMP and avoid graphite exfoliation. But fierce oxidation of the electrolytes on the LiCoO2 electrode at elevated temperature is harmful to the cell performance. A procedure of so-called altered temperature activation (ATA) is adopted for LiCoO2/graphite full-cells. It can compromise the contradictive effects on the separate electrodes at the elevated temperature. High capacity and good rate capability are obtained for the cells with the flame-retarded electrolytes, especially for the TMP-containing electrolyte. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aim: To establish the value of time-resolved contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (TR-MRA) in identifying transverse sinus (TS) thrombosis in patients with a unilaterally absent TS signal on phase-contrast (PC) magnetic resonance venography (MRV).Materials and Methods: Forty-five patients who were suspected of TS thrombosis clinically with a unilaterally absent TS signal on PC MRV were evaluated using TR-MRA. The image quality was compared between PC MRV and TR-MRA via calculating signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of the normal TS. Images obtained by PC MRV and TR-MRA were assessed independently by two neuroradiologists regarding whether the absent signal was thrombosis or hypoplastic TS. Then a consultant neurologist made the final diagnosis based on all available clinical, laboratory, and radiological results (delivered by a consultant neuroradiologist via computed tomography [CT]/CT venography, magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]/MRV or digital subtraction angiography [DSA]), which was set as the reference standard. The accuracy of the radiological diagnosis from both techniques was assessed.Results: For image quality, the SNRs and CNRs of TR-MRA were 452.14 and 440.92, respectively, significantly higher than that of PC MRV (both p<0.001). The interobserver agreement of TR-MRA in identifying TS thrombosis from hypoplastic TS was excellent (κ = 0.951; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.902-1), much higher than PC MRV (κ = 0.526; 95% CI, 0.389-0.663). Consensus of assessment based on TR-MRA was highly consistent with the reference standard (100% sensitivity, 96.67% specificity) and superior to PC MRV (60% sensitivity, 90% specificity).Conclusion: TR-MRA is better than PC MRV for visualising TS and distinguishing thrombosis from congenitally atretic TS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]