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Abstract Background Deoxynivalenol (DON), one of the most prevalent mycotoxins, has been found to cause fetal growth retardation in animals. However, limited evidence exists regarding its effects on pregnant women. Methods Maternal urinary concentration of total DON (tDON) and free DON (fDON) in the second trimester was measured using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Provisional daily intake (PDI) of DON was calculated based on tDON concentration. Linear and logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between DON exposure levels and birth weight, birth length, and the risk of small for gestational age (SGA). Results Among 1538 subjects, the median concentrations of tDON and fDON were 12.1 ng/mL and 5.1 ng/mL, respectively. The PDI values revealed that the median DON intake was 0.7 µg/kg bw, and 35.9% of the total population exceeded the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) of 1 µg/kg bw. Compared with the lowest tertile, birth weight decreased by 81.11 g (95% CI: -127.00, -35.23) for tDON (P-trend

Diabetic vascular complications can affect both microvascular and macrovascular. Diabetic microvascular complications, such as diabetic nephropathy, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic neuropathy, and diabetic cardiomyopathy, are believed to be caused by oxidative stress. The Nox family of NADPH oxidases is a significant source of reactive oxygen species and plays a crucial role in regulating redox signaling, particularly in response to high glucose and diabetes mellitus. This review aims to provide an overview of the current knowledge about the role of Nox4 and its regulatory mechanisms in diabetic microangiopathies. Especially, the latest novel advances in the upregulation of Nox4 that aggravate various cell types within diabetic kidney disease will be highlighted. Interestingly, this review also presents the mechanisms by which Nox4 regulates diabetic microangiopathy from novel perspectives such as epigenetics. Besides, we emphasize Nox4 as a therapeutic target for treating microvascular complications of diabetes and summarize drugs, inhibitors, and dietary components targeting Nox4 as important therapeutic measures in preventing and treating diabetic microangiopathy. Additionally, this review also sums up the evidence related to Nox4 and diabetic macroangiopathy.

Abstract Background Progesterone is widely used to improve the adverse pregnancy outcomes related to vaginal bleeding during early pregnancy. However, the evidence of its effectiveness is equivocal. Methods Six thousand six hundred fifteen mother-infant pairs from Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort (TMCHC) were involved in the study. Information on vaginal bleeding, progesterone administration in early pregnancy were obtained at enrolment. Birth outcomes were obtained from the hospital notes. Body weight of the infants at 12 months of age was collected by telephone interview. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to estimate the effect of vaginal bleeding and progesterone administration in early pregnancy on birth outcomes and weight status of infants at 12 months of age. Results 21.4% (1418/6615) participants experienced bleeding in early pregnancy, and 47.5% (674/1418) of them were treated with progesterone. There were no significant associations between progesterone supplementation in early pregnancy and offspring outcomes. Compared to women without bleeding or any therapy, women with bleeding and progesterone therapy experienced increased risk of preterm (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.21–2.52), and delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.07–1.98) or low birth weight (LBW) (OR 2.10, 95% CI 1.25–3.51) neonate, and offspring of them had an increased risk of weight for age z-score (WAZ)

ObjectiveThis study aims to summarize the clinical characteristics of one teenager with autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS) type III C + D to improve the understanding of APS III C + D and its effect of thyroid function.MethodsThis article reported the clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations, treatment methods, and outcomes of an adolescent with anemia admitted to the Pediatrics Department of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital in July 2020 and reviewed the literature.ResultsA girl, aged 13 years and 1 month, was admitted to the hospital due to anemia for more than 4 years and episodic abdominal pain for 1 week. Four years ago, the girl went to a local hospital for “vitiligo”, and a routine blood test revealed anemia. The lowest hemoglobin (HGB) was 61 g/L, and the blood test revealed iron deficiency anemia. She had no menstrual cramps for 2 months. Urine routine showed protein 3+∼4+ and 258 red blood cells (RBCs)/high-power field. Urine protein was 3,380 mg/24 h. Free thyroxine was low, thyroid-stimulating hormone was >100 uIU/ml, thyroid peroxidase antibody was >1,000 IU/ml, and thyroglobulin antibody and thyrotropin receptor antibody were negative. Pituitary magnetic resonance imaging showed a mass in the sellar region with a uniform signal and a maximum height of about 15.8 mm. The result of the antinuclear antibody was 1:80 homogeneous type, and anti-dsDNA and anticardiolipin antibodies IgA and IgM were slightly higher. Thyroxine and iron were given for 1 month, menstruation resumed, and urine protein and RBC count decreased. After 5 months of treatment, free thyroid function, HGB, RBCs in urine, and pituitary returned to normal. Later, a renal biopsy showed changes in focal proliferative glomerulonephritis, and the girl was diagnosed with lupus glomerulonephritis type III. After 3 days of shock therapy with methylprednisolone, prednisone, mycophenolate mofetil, and other treatments were administrated for 1 year. At the time of writing, urine protein was 280 mg/24 h.ConclusionCo-occurrence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis, vitiligo, anemia, pituitary hyperplasia, and lupus nephritis is rare. It is very important to pay attention to the screening of thyroid function.

The manuscript substantiates the structural and electronic properties of covalent triazine frameworks (CTF)/As van der Waals heterostructures (vdWh) employing the standard first-principles calculation method. The numerical results designate that the CTF/As vdWh has robust crystal structures, a type-II band alignment (BA), and an indirect bandgap of 1.44 eV. The calculated results demonstrate that the strain could lead to interesting indirect-direct semiconductor transitions, while the external electric field could give rise to type-II to type-I BA and semiconductor-metal transitions. The underlined outcomes present the workability of CTF/As vdWhs in unprecedented high-performance optoelectronic equipment.

IntroductionTrace element metabolism disorders are often secondary to disorders of glucose metabolism in diabetes. Although 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] could ameliorate abnormal glucose metabolism in the development of diabetes, the effect on trace element metabolism is unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of 1,25(OH)2D3 on urinary excretions of trace elements in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats.MethodsAt 6 weeks of age, male ZDF (n = 40) rats were subdivided into four groups: diabetic model (ZDF), low-dose (ZDF + VL, 2 μg/kg⋅bw), middle-dose (ZDF + VM, 8 μg/kg⋅bw) and high-dose (ZDF + VH, 16 μg/kg⋅bw) 1,25(OH)2D3 groups. Another 10 Zucker lean (ZL) rats served as a control group. All rats were given vitamin D deficient Purina #5008 chow and the intervention groups were given the corresponding dose of 1,25(OH)2D3 by gavage on alternate days for 7 weeks. Microalbuminuria (MALB) and urinary creatinine concentration were detected by a biochemical autoanalyzer. Urine trace element concentrations were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and were corrected by urinary creatinine.ResultsThroughout the intervention phase, MALB, UACR and urinary creatinine levels in the ZDF group were significantly higher than those in the ZL group, and showed a gradual increase with the prolongation of the intervention time. These changes were reversed in a dose-dependent manner after 1,25(OH)2D3 intervention (P < 0.05). Correspondingly, most of the urinary trace element excretions in the ZDF rats were significantly increased compared with the ZL group, and 1,25(OH)2D3 intervention significantly reduced the urinary copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se) and molybdenum (Mo) levels in the ZDF rats (P < 0.05), especially in the medium and high dose groups.Conclusion1,25(OH)2D3 had improvement effects on urinary Cu, Zn, Se, and Mo excretions in ZDF rats, suggesting that it may be related to the reduction of diabetic renal impairment and renal oxidative damage.

ABSTRACT Syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (HM) plays a vital role in the anaerobic digestion of protein-rich feedstocks such as food wastes. However, current knowledge of the biodiversity and genetic potential of the involved microbial participants, especially syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB), is limited due to the low abundance of these microorganisms and challenges in their isolation. The intent of this study was to enrich and identify potential SAOB. Therefore, we conducted continuous acetate feeding under high ammonia concentrations using two separate inoculum consortia of microorganisms that originated from full-scale mesophilic food waste digesters, which lasted for more than 200 days. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomic analyses, we observed a convergence of the experimental microbial communities during the enrichment regarding taxonomic composition and metabolic functional composition. Stable carbon isotope analyses of biogas indicated that SAO-HM was the dominant methanogenic pathway during the enrichment process. The hydrogenotrophic methanogen Methanoculleus dominated the archaeal community. The enriched SAO community featured high biodiversity and metabolic functional redundancy. By analyzing the metagenome-assembled genomes, the known SAOB Syntrophaceticus schinkii and six uncultured populations were identified to have the genetic potential to perform SAO through the conventional reversed Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, while another six bacteria were found to encode the reversed Wood-Ljungdahl pathway combined with a glycine cleavage system as novel SAOB candidates. These results showed that the food waste anaerobic digesters harbor diverse SAOB and highlighted the importance of the glycine cleavage system for acetate oxidation. IMPORTANCE Syntrophic acetate oxidation to CO2 and H2, together with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, contributes to much of the carbon flux in the anaerobic digestion of organic wastes, especially at high ammonia concentrations. A deep understanding of the biodiversity, metabolic genetic potential, and ecology of the SAO community can help to improve biomethane production from wastes for clean energy production. Here, we enriched the SAO-HM functional guild obtained from full-scale food waste anaerobic digesters and recorded dynamic changes in community taxonomic composition and functional profiles. By reconstructing the metabolic pathways, diverse known and novel bacterial members were found to have SAO potential via the reversed Wood-Ljungdahl (WL) pathway alone, or via the reversed WL pathway with a glycine cleavage system (WLP-GCS), and those catalyzing WLP-GCS showed higher microbial abundance. This study revealed the biodiversity and metabolic functional redundancy of SAOB in full-scale anaerobic digester systems and provided inspiration for further genome-centric studies.

BackgroundNutrition and health knowledge play a crucial role in promoting healthy dietary behaviors, and have been found to be related to sociodemographic characteristics. However, the existing evidence is limited and inconsistent. We aimed to evaluate the awareness level of nutrition and health knowledge and its influencing factors among Wuhan residents, and to provide scientific basis for carrying out targeted nutrition education programmes.MethodsBy stratified random sampling, residents aged 18–64 in Wuhan were selected for self-administered questionnaire survey. We adopted the structured questionnaire to investigate respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, nutrition and health knowledge, and the way to acquire knowledge. Among them, nutrition and health knowledge includes the following four parts: dietary guidelines recommendations, food and nutrients, nutrition and disease prevention, and nutrition skills. Chi-square tests were used to analyze the associations between total awareness rate and sociodemographic characteristics. Multiple linear regression models were used to analyze the influencing factors of nutrition and health awareness.ResultsA total of 33,436 valid questionnaires were obtained, with a response rate of 97.8%. The total awareness rate was 20.4%, with the highest in nutrition and disease prevention (72.7%) and the lowest in nutrition skills (46.3%). Responders aged 35–44 (23.3%), females (22.8%), educational workers (24.8%), obtaining a master's degree or above (34.1%), living in downtown area (23.1%), and without a history of chronic disease (24.6%) were more likely to have higher awareness rates (all p < 0.001). The multiple linear regression models showed that age, gender, education level, occupation, residential address, and the history of chronic disease were the potential factors affecting individual nutrition awareness.ConclusionThe total awareness rate of nutrition and health knowledge among Wuhan residents was not optimistic. Besides, our findings suggested that sociodemographic characteristics are closely related to nutrition awareness, which may provide important clues for carried out nutrition education campaigns.

Liver cancer is the sixth most frequently diagnosed cancer and the third dominant cause of cancer death worldwide. Ferroptosis is characterized as an iron-dependent form of regulated cell death, with accumulation of lipid peroxides to lethal amounts. Evidences have showed that ferroptosis is closely associated with HCC, but the mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this review, we mainly summarize the roles of several typical molecules as well as radiotherapy in regulating the ferroptosis process in HCC. Chances are that this review may help address specific issues in the treatment of HCC.

BackgroundGrowing evidence suggests that dietary acid load plays an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes. However, prospective studies on the relationship between dietary acid load and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are limited in the pregnant population. This study aimed to investigate the effect of dietary acid load during early pregnancy on the risk of GDM in Chinese pregnant women.MethodsA total of 1,327 pregnant women were enrolled from an ongoing prospective study of the Tongji Birth cohort (TJBC) in Wuhan, China. Dietary intake was assessed before 20 weeks using a 74-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The dietary acid load was estimated using potential renal acid load (PRAL), net endogenous acid production (NEAP), and animal protein to potassium ratio (A:P ratio). A 75g 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed at 24-28 gestational weeks to diagnose GDM.ResultsThe mean (standard deviation) values for PRAL score, NEAP score, and A:P ratio were 0.8 ± 11.3 mEq/day, 45.3 ± 16.5 mEq/day, and 9.8 ± 6.0, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation of dietary acid load with the intake of red meat, poultry, fish, and eggs, and a negative correlation with the intake of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes (all P < 0.05). Compared to the lowest tertile, the highest tertile of dietary acid load, including PRAL score (odds ratio [OR]: 2.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.38–3.71, P-trend = 0.002), NEAP score (OR: 2.02, 95% CI = 1.25–3.27, P-trend = 0.009), and A:P ratio (2.08, 95% CI = 1.30–3.31, P-trend = 0.005), significantly increased the risk of GDM. In addition, the dietary acid load was also significantly associated with an increase in 1-h and 2-h post-load blood glucose concentrations (all P-trend < 0.05).ConclusionWe found a significant positive association between dietary acid load during early pregnancy and the risk of GDM in a Chinese population, suggesting that the reduction of food sources of dietary acid load may be an effective strategy for preventing the risk of GDM.

Abstract Background The prevalence of central obesity is constantly increasing, and visceral fat is associated with increased production of inflammatory factors and metabolic risk factors. Lutein might retard the development of metabolic disease through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Furthermore, epidemiological studies have associated higher dietary intake and serum levels of lutein with decreased adiposity. However, few randomised controlled trials have shown the effects of lutein supplementation on inflammatory biomarkers and metabolic risk factors, especially in adults with central obesity. Methods This study will be conducted as a double-blind, parallel placebo-controlled clinical trial in which 120 people who have central obesity, are 18 to 60 years old and are willing to provide informed consent will be randomly assigned to the intervention or placebo group in a 1:1 ratio according to sex, age and waist circumference. The intervention group will receive 10 mg daily lutein supplementation for 12 weeks to explore the effect of lutein supplementation on serum lutein, glycaemic and lipid profiles, inflammatory factors and body composition. Two populations (intention-to-treat population and per-protocol population) will be used in the data analyses. Discussion Our findings from this trial will contribute to the knowledge of the association between lutein supplementation and inflammatory biomarkers and metabolic risk factors in people with central obesity and will offer a possibility for the prevention of inflammatory diseases. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR1800018098. Registered on 30 August 2018.

The associations among maternal diet, birth weight, and gestational weight gain are still inconclusive. This study aimed to investigate the associations between maternal dietary patterns and birth weight, and further explore whether GWG mediates these associations. A total of 3,334 pregnant women who completed a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire from the Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort were included. Dietary patterns were extracted by using principal component analysis. Regression models and mediation analyses were performed to explore the associations between dietary patterns and birth weight and the effects of GWG on these associations. Five dietary patterns were identified: “Beans-vegetables,” “Fish-meat-eggs,” “Nuts-whole grains,” “Organ-poultry-seafood” and “Rice-wheat-fruits.” Only women following the “Beans-vegetables” pattern had heavier newborns (β = 47.39; 95% CI: 12.25, 82.54). Women following the “Beans-vegetables” pattern had significantly lower GWG (β = −0.7; 95% CI: −1.15, −0.25) and had a 16% lower risk of excessive GWG and 11% higher odd of adequate GWG. The association between the “Beans-vegetables” pattern and birth weight was negatively mediated by GWG. A dietary pattern enriched in beans and vegetables is beneficial for effectively controlling GWG and increasing birth weight. GWG serves.Clinical Trial Registry: This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03099837).

Objectives Plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) has been implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to assess the relationship of dietary antioxidant vitamins intake with tHcy levels in middle-aged and older adults with hypertension.Design A cross-sectional study.Setting The survey was conducted in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen.Participants A total of 1465 middle-aged and older adults with hypertension were included between July and September of 2013.Measurements Hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHcy) was defined as tHcy ≥15 µmol/L. Some dietary antioxidant vitamins (vitamin C (VC) and vitamin E (VE), carotenes, retinol, lutein) intake was estimated using the Food Frequency Questionnaire. Sociodemographic and potential covariates were evaluated through questionnaires, anthropometric measurements and blood tests. The association between dietary intakes of antioxidant vitamins and tHcy concentration were evaluated by multiple linear regression analyses after napierian logarithm transformed. Multiple logistic regression models were further used to determine ORs and 95% CIs.Results The β (95% CIs) of VC intake and tHcy was −0.050 (−0.084 to –0.016). Compared with the lowest quartile in the fully adjusted model, the ORs (95% CIs) for HHcy levels across quartiles of dietary VC intake were 0.82 (0.57 to 1.16), 0.49 (0.33 to 0.74) and 0.40 (0.22 to 0.74) (p for trend=0.001). The β (95% CIs) of retinol intake and tHcy was −0.021 (−0.041 to –0.002) and the ORs (95% CIs) in the third quartile of retinol intake was 0.61 (0.42 to 0.86), while the effect for the highest quartile was not significant (p for trend=0.951). No significant association was observed between dietary VE, carotenes and lutein intake and HHcy.Conclusions A linear inverse association between dietary VC intake and HHcy prevalence, and an L-shaped association between dietary retinol intake and HHcy prevalence were found in Chinese middle-aged and older adults with hypertension.

Clinical trials indicated that PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors significantly improve the survival rate of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and induce immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Thus, the molecular and immune characteristics during PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor therapy are worth investigating further. We report the case of a 62-year-old male patient diagnosed with stage IIIA squamous cell lung carcinoma (SQCC) who responded to neoadjuvant and adjuvant nivolumab combined chemotherapy but died from anastomosis leakage or/and irAEs. In the pretreatment tumor biopsy, PD-L1 expression was negative and a few T cells, NK cells, and macrophages had infiltrated the tumor. Wild-type EGFR/STK11, mutant TP53, microsatellite stability, and low tumor mutational burden were also found at baseline. After neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy, the tumor was significantly reduced, PD-L1 expression levels were increased by 50%, and more CD8+ and CD8+ PD-1+ T cells had infiltrated the resected tumor tissue. Immune-related lung injury occurred during adjuvant immunochemotherapy, and serum levels of C-reactive protein, IL-13, IL-4, eotaxin, VEGF-A, IL-8, and IFN-gamma were increased. This case demonstrates a squamous cell lung carcinoma patient who responded to neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy that reshaped the tumor immune environment from “cold” to “hot.” Unfortunately, the patient eventually died from anastomosis leakage or/and irAEs during adjuvant immunochemotherapy.

Background: Antimony (Sb) has been associated with type 2 diabetes in previous studies. However, the role of Sb in the incidence of Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) remains unclear. Objectives: We investigated the association between Sb exposure during early pregnancy and the risk of GDM. Methods: We performed a prospective study of 2093 pregnant women from the Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort (TMCHC). Sb concentrations were measured in urine samples during early pregnancy by ICP-MS. The association between urinary Sb concentration and GDM incidence was assessed using robust Poisson regression model after adjustment for confounders. Results: The 95th percentile value of creatinine-corrected Sb (CC-Sb) concentration in the urine of all pregnant women was 1.33 μg/g. The CC-Sb concentrations were significantly higher in women with GDM than those without GDM (median value: 0.49 μg/g vs. 0.38 μg/g, p = 0.001). After adjustment for potential confounders, for each one natural logarithmic unit increase in Sb concentration, there was 29% [adjusted relative risk (RR) = 1.29; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.57] increase in the risk of GDM. Women in the highest tertile for CC-Sb had a 1.92-fold (95% CI: 1.42, 2.60) higher risk of GDM compared with women in the lowest tertile (p-value for trend

We present the observation of an autoionization of cesium 37D5/2 Rydberg atoms in ultracold gases and analyze the autoionization mechanism. The autoionization process is investigated by varying the delay time tD and Rydberg atomic density. The dependence of ionization signals on Rydberg density shows that the Rydberg density has an effect on not only the initial ion signals but also the evolution of the Rydberg atoms. The results reveal that the initial ionization of 37D5/2 Rydberg atoms is mostly attributed to the blackbody radiation (BBR)-induced photoionization, and the BBR-induced transitions to the nearby Rydberg states that lead to further ionization. Our work plays a significant role in investigating the collision between Rydberg atoms and many-body physics.

The present study investigated the physiological and biochemical characteristics of Enterobacter cloacae HG-1 isolated from saline-alkali soil. We further studied the effect of this strain on the salt tolerance of wheat and on the community structure of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in rhizosphere soil. We determined that the investigated strain had high nitrogen fixation activity and produced iron carriers, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid deaminase, and plant hormones. The metabolites of this strain contained 2,3-butanediol, [R-(R*, R*)], 2-heptanone, and other growth-promoting and antibacterial substances. The strain was also highly salt-tolerant (10% NaCl). After the inoculation of wheat with the HG-1 strain, we recorded increases in root length, plant height, fresh weight, and dry weight of 19.15%, 18.83%, 16.67%, and 17.96%, respectively, compared with uninoculated plants (P < 0.05). Compared with the leaves of uninoculated plants, the proline concentration in the leaves of inoculated plants increased by 12.43% (P < 0.05), the malondialdehyde level decreased by 27.26% (P < 0.05), K+ increased by 20.69%, Ca2+ increased by 57.53% and Na+ decreased by 31.43% (all P

Background: A growing number of epidemiologic studies have estimated associations between type 2 diabetes mellitus and exposure to metals. However, studies on the associations of internal assessments of metal exposure and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are limited in scope and have inconsistent outcomes. Objectives: This investigation aimed to explore the associations between urinary nickel (Ni), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), antimony (Sb), cobalt (Co), or vanadium (V) in early pregnancy and the subsequent risk of GDM in Chinese pregnant women. Methods: The study population included 2090 women with singleton pregnancy from the Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort (TMCHC). Urine samples were collected before 20 gestational weeks, and an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was conducted at 24–28 gestational weeks to diagnose GDM. The concentrations of urinary metals were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and were corrected for urinary creatinine. The associations between the risk of GDM and urinary metals were assessed using Poisson regression with a robust error variance with generalized estimating equations (GEE) models and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). Results: A total of 241 participants (11.53%) were diagnosed with GDM. Five metals (Ni, As, Sb, Co, and V) were found significantly and positively associated with GDM based on single-metal models. In multiple-metal models, for each unit increase of ln-transformed urinary Ni or Sb, the risk of GDM increased 18% [relative risk (RR):1.18, 95%confidence interval (CI): 1.00, 1.38 or RR: 1.18, 95%CI: 1.00, 1.39, respectively]. The BKMR analysis revealed a statistically significant and positive joint effect of the six metals on the risk of GDM, when the urinary levels of the six metals were all above the 55th percentile, compared to the median levels. The effect of metal Ni was significant when the concentrations of the other metals were all fixed at their 25th percentile, and metal Sb displayed a significant and positive effect when all the other metals were fixed at 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that increased concentrations of urinary Ni in early pregnancy are associated with an elevated risk of GDM, either evaluated individually or as a metal mixture. All six metals mixed exposure was positively associated with the risk of GDM, while Sb and Ni were demonstrated more important effects than the other four metals in the mixture. Keywords: GDM, Urinary metals, Single-metal models, Multiple-metal models, BKMR models

Abstract Background The relation between infant feeding and growth has been extensively evaluated, but studies examining the volume of formula milk consumption on infant growth are limited. This study aimed to examine the effects of early feeding of larger volumes of formula on growth and risk of overweight in later infancy. Methods In total, 1093 infants were studied prospectively. Milk records collected at 3 mo of age were used to define the following 3 feeding groups: breast milk feeding (BM, no formula), lower-volume formula milk feeding (LFM, 2 SD) at the age of 12 mo. Conclusion Feeding higher volumes of formula in early infancy is associated with greater body weight and overweight in later infancy.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a kind of Fusarium toxin that can cause a variety of toxic effects. Oxidative stress and DNA damage play a critical role in the toxicity of DON. However, previous studies focused more on acute toxicity in vivo/vitro models and lacked subchronic toxicity study in vivo. The potentially harmful effect of DON given at doses comparable to the daily human consumption in target organs, especially the liver, which is the main detoxification organ of DON, is also still not fully understood. Otherwise, Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has also reduced cell damage under the DON condition according to our previous study. Therefore, we used a rodent model that mimicked daily human exposure to DON and further explored its mechanism of toxic effects on liver tissue and Hepa 1–6 cell line. We also used adeno-associated virus (AAV)-modified HO-1 expressing by tail vein injection and constructed lentivirus-Hepa 1–6 cell line for mimicking HO-1 protective ability under the DON condition. The main results showed that both 30 d and 90 d exposures of DON could cause low-grade inflammatory infiltration around hepatic centrilobular veins. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) and 8-hydroxy-2 deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) increased during DON exposure, indicating oxidation stress and DNA damage. Significantly, AAV-mediated liver-specific overexpression of HO-1 reduced DON-induced liver damage and indirectly protected the abilities of antioxidant enzyme/DNA damage repair system, while AAV-mediated silence of HO-1 produced the opposite effect. In addition, we found that overexpression of HO-1 could enhance autophagy and combined it with an antioxidant enzyme/DNA damage repair system to inhibit DON-induced hepatocyte damage. Altogether, these data suggest that HO-1 reduces the oxidative stress and DNA damage caused by DON sub-chronic exposure through maintaining DNA repair, antioxidant activity, as well as autophagy.

An ensemble of excited atoms can synchronize emission of light collectively in a process known as superradiance when its characteristic size is smaller than the wavelength of emitted photons. The underlying superradiance depends strongly on electromagnetic (photon) fields surrounding the atomic ensemble. High mode densities of microwave photons from 300 K blackbody radiation (BBR) significantly enhance decay rates of Rydberg states to neighbouring states, enabling superradiance that is not possible with bare vacuum induced spontaneous decay. Here we report observations of the superradiance of ultracold Rydberg atoms embedded in a bath of room-temperature photons. The temporal evolution of the Rydberg | nD ⟩ to |( n + 1) P ⟩ superradiant decay of Cs atoms ( n the principal quantum number) is measured directly in free space. Theoretical simulations confirm the BBR enhanced superradiance in large Rydberg ensembles. We demonstrate that the van der Waals interactions between Rydberg atoms change the superradiant dynamics and modify the scaling of the superradiance. In the presence of static electric fields, we find that the superradiance becomes slow, potentially due to many-body interaction induced dephasing. Our study provides insights into many-body dynamics of interacting atoms coupled to thermal BBR, and might open a route to the design of blackbody thermometry at microwave frequencies via collective, dissipative photon-atom interactions.

We present a precise measurement of the hyperfine structure of cesium 7 S 1 / 2 excited state by employing electromagnetically induced spectroscopy (EIS) with a cesium three-level cascade ( 6 S 1 / 2 − 6 P 3 / 2 − 7 S 1 / 2 ) atom in a room temperature vapor cell. A probe laser, λ p = 852 nm, was coupled to a transition | 6 S 1 / 2 〉 → | 6 P 3 / 2 〉 , related frequency locked to the resonance hyperfine transition of | 6 S 1 / 2 〉 → | 6 P 3 / 2 〉 with a Fabry−Perot (FP) cavity and an electro-optic modulator (EOM). A coupling laser, λ c = 1470 nm, drove the | 6 P 3 / 2 〉 → | 7 S 1 / 2 〉 transition with the frequency scanned over the | 6 P 3 / 2 〉 → | 7 S 1 / 2 〉 transition line. The hyperfine level interval was extracted to be 2183.61 ± 0.50 MHz by analyzing EIS spectroscopy. The optical−optical double-resonance (OODR) spectroscopy is also presented for comparison, with the corresponding value of the hyperfine level interval being 2183.48 MHz ± 0.04 MHz, and the measured hyperfine splitting of excited 7 S 1 / 2 state is shown to be in excellent agreement with the previous work.

An electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) of a cascade-three-level atom involving Rydberg level in a room-temperature cell, formed with a cesium 6S 1 / 2-6P 3 / 2-66 S 1 / 2 scheme, is employed to detect the Autler-Townes (AT) splitting resulted with a 15.21-GHz microwave field coupling the 66 S 1 / 2 → 65 P 1 / 2 transition. Microwave field induced AT splitting, f A T, is characterized by the distance of peak-to-peak of an EIT-AT spectrum. The f A T dependence on the microwave Rabi frequency, Ω M W , demonstrates two regions, the strong-coupling linear region, f A T ≈ Ω M W and the weak-coupling nonlinear region, f A T ≲ Ω M W. The f A T dependencies on the probe and coupling Rabi frequency are also investigated. Using small probe- and coupling-laser, the Rabi frequency is found to enlarge the linear regime and decrease the uncertainty of the microwave field measurements. The measurements agree with the calculations based on a four-level atomic model.

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and Autler–Townes splitting (ATS) are two similar yet distinct phenomena that modify the transmission of a weak probe field through an absorption medium in the presence of a coupling field, featured in a variety of three-level atomic systems. In many applications it is important to distinguish EIT from ATS splitting. We present EIT and ATS spectra in a three-level cascade system, involving cold cesium atoms in the $35{S}_{1/2}$ Rydberg state. The EIT linewidth, γ _EIT , defined as the full width at half maximum of the transparency window, and the ATS splitting, γ _ATS , defined as the peak-to-peak distance between AT absorption peaks, are used to delineate the EIT and ATS regimes and to characterize the transition between the regimes. In the cold-atom medium, in the weak-coupler (EIT) regime γ _EIT ≈ A + B ( ${{\rm{\Omega }}}_{c}^{2}$ + ${{\rm{\Omega }}}_{p}^{2})/{{\rm{\Gamma }}}_{{eg}}$ , where Ω _c and Ω _p are the coupler and probe Rabi frequencies, Γ _eg is the spontaneous decay rate of the intermediate 6P _3/2 level, and parameters A and B that depend on the laser linewidth. We explore the transition into the strong-coupler (ATS) regime, which is characterized by the relation γ _ATS ≈ Ω _c . The experiments are in agreement with numerical solutions of the Master equation. Our analysis accounts for non-ideal conditions that exist in typical realizations of Rydberg-EIT, including laser-frequency jitter, Doppler mismatch of the utilized two-color Rydberg EIT system, and strong probe fields. The obtained criteria to distinguish cold-atom EIT from ATS are readily accessible and applicable in practical implementations.

To precisely control the application of methyl fluoride (CH3F) for analysis of methanogenic pathways, the influence of 0-10% CH3F on bacterial and archaeal communities in a thermophilic methanogenic sludge was investigated. The results suggested that CH3F acts specifically on acetoclastic methanogenesis. The inhibitory effect stabilized at an initial concentration of 3-5%, with around 90% of the total methanogenic activity being suppressed, and a characteristic of hydrogenotrophic pathway in isotope fractionation was demonstrated under this condition. However, extended exposure (12 days) to high concentrations of CH3F (>3%) altered the bacterial community structure significantly, resulting in increased diversity and decreased evenness, which can be related to acetate oxidation and CH3F degradation. Bacterial clone library analysis showed that syntrophic acetate oxidizing bacteria Thermacetogenium phaeum were highly enriched under the suppression of 10% CH3F. However, the methanogenic community did not change obviously. Thus, excessive usage of CH3F over the long term can change the composition of the bacterial community. Therefore, data from studies involving the use of CH3F as an acetoclast inhibitor should be interpreted with care. Conversely, CH3F has been suggested as a factor to stimulate the enrichment of syntrophic acetate oxidizing bacteria.

Circulating concentrations of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) have been recently reported to be elevated in several chronic disorders. However, no study has ever examined the association between circulating HO-1 concentrations and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).581 cases with newly-diagnosed T2DM (New-T2DM) and 611 comparison controls were recruited in this two-phase case-control study, comprising 420 cases and 429 controls collected in the first phase study and 161 cases and 182 controls in the second phase replication study. Analyses, using both separated data and combined data from the two-phase studies, show that plasma HO-1 concentrations were significantly increased in New-T2DM cases compared to controls (P

It is difficult to find spoofing traffic attack information for a wireless communication network, which leads to poor performance of spoofing traffic attack identification. Therefore, a spoofing traffic attack recognition algorithm for wireless communication networks based on improved machine learning has been designed. The process of network traffic classification and several common network cheating traffic attacks are analyzed. A chaotic algorithm is used to search and collect wireless communication network data, and Min-Max and z-score are used to standardize the collected data. The risk assessment function of wireless communication network spoofing traffic attack is constructed, and the spoofing traffic attack is preliminarily determined according to the function. The convolutional neural network in machine learning is improved, and the preliminary judgment results are input into the improved convolutional neural network to identify the attack behavior. The experimental results show that the recall rate of this method for wireless communication network spoofing traffic attacks can reach 90.08 % at the highest level, and the identification process takes only 1,763 ms at the lowest level. It can control the false positive rate of attacks below 4.68 % and the false positive rate below 2.00 %, and the identification effect of spoofing traffic attacks is good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult to mine association rules between multi-source heterogeneous network nodes, which leads to the high false detection rate, node location error, and location overhead of multi-source heterogeneous network abnormal nodes. Therefore, this article proposes a new abnormal node location algorithm in multi-source heterogeneous network based on association rules. The algorithm of sliding windows multiple value pattern tree is used to extract the association of multi-source heterogeneous network data and realize the mining of association rules between multi-source heterogeneous network nodes. The association rule mining results are preprocessed, and the multi-source heterogeneous network abnormal node location model is built using the multidimensional scaling algorithm and the low rank matrix decomposition model. The model is solved to obtain the multi-source heterogeneous network abnormal node location results. The experimental results show that the false detection rate of abnormal nodes in the proposed algorithm is always below 4.6 %, the maximum node location error is only 2.1 mm, and the average location overhead is 55.1 ms, which can achieve the goal of fast and accurate location of abnormal nodes in multi-source heterogeneous networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Evidence on the associations of low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) during pregnancy with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been limited and inconsistent. Objective: We aimed to prospectively evaluate the risk of GDM associated with the LCD considering the quality of macronutrients. Methods: All participants were from a prospective cohort in Wuhan, China. The overall, healthy LCD (emphasizing low-quality carbohydrates, plant protein, and unsaturated fat), and unhealthy LCD (emphasizing high-quality carbohydrates, animal protein, and saturated fat) scores were calculated according to the percentage of energy intake from carbohydrates, protein, and fat. GDM was screened by a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test between 24 and 28 weeks. Poisson regression models were used to calculate relative risks (RRs) and 95% CIs. Results: Of 2337 pregnant women, 257 (11.0%) were diagnosed with GDM. Overall LCD score was not associated with risk of GDM, but the healthy and unhealthy LCD scores were associated with the risk of GDM. The multivariable-adjusted RRs (95% CI) were 0.68 (0.49-0.94) and 1.52 (1.11-2.08) for healthy and unhealthy LCD scores comparing the highest with the lowest quartile. Substituting high-quality carbohydrates for low-quality carbohydrates and animal protein, and substituting unsaturated fat for saturated fat, were associated with a 13% to 29% lower risk of GDM. Conclusion: A healthy LCD during pregnancy characterized by high-quality carbohydrates, plant protein, and unsaturated fat was associated with a lower risk of GDM, whereas an unhealthy LCD consisting of low-quality carbohydrates, animal protein, and saturated fat was associated with a higher risk of GDM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]