Mckinneytate9321

00D; OR 2.32; 95% CI 1.36-3.94; P = 0.002), and anisometropia (≥ 2.00D; OR 3.21; 95% CI 1.36-7.55; P = 0.008). Other risk factors for strabismus included maternal smoking during pregnancy (OR 4.21; 95% CI 1.80-9.81; P = 0.001), family history of strabismus (OR 6.36; 95% CI 2.78-14.50, P  35 years; OR 1.65; CI 1.09-2.49, P = 0.018). The prevalence of strabismus among children aged 6-8 years in Hong Kong is 3.11%. Refractive errors, family history of strabismus and maternal smoking history during pregnancy are risk factors. Early correction of refractive errors and avoidance of maternal smoking during pregnancy are potentially helpful in preventing strabismus.The developmental patterns of many organisms are orchestrated by the diffusion of factors. Here, we report a novel pattern on plant stems that appears to be controlled by inhibitor diffusion. Prickles on rose stems appear to be randomly distributed, but we deciphered spatial patterns of prickles on Rosa hybrida cv. 'Red Queen' stem. The prickles primarily emerged at 90 to 135 degrees from the spiral phyllotaxis that connected leaf primordia. We proposed a simple mathematical model that explained the emergence of the spatial patterns and reproduced the prickle density distribution on rose stems. We confirmed the model can reproduce the observed prickle patterning on stems of other plant species using other model parameters. These results indicated that the spatial patterns of prickles on stems of different plant species are organized by similar systems. Rose cultivation by humans has a long history. However, prickle development is still unclear and this is the first report of prickle spatial pattern with a mathematical model. Comprehensive analysis of the spatial pattern, genome, and metabolomics of other plant species may lead to novel insights for prickle development.Carbon xerogels (CXs) were synthesized by polycondensation of resorcinol and formaldehyde, followed by thermal annealing, and subjected to hydrothermal oxidation. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges were filled with CXs and tested for extraction of metaflumizone and other seven environmental micropollutants (acetamiprid, atrazine, isoproturon, methiocarb, carbamazepine, diclofenac, and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) before chromatographic analysis. The recoveries obtained with the pristine CX were low for most analytes, except for metaflumizone (69 ± 5%). Moreover, it was concluded that the adsorption/desorption process of the micropollutants performed better on CXs with a less acidic surface (i.e., pristine CX). Thus, cartridges were prepared with pristine CX and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a multi-layer configuration. This reusable cartridge was able to simultaneously extract the eight micropollutants and was used to validate an analytical methodology based on SPE followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A widespread occurrence of 6/8 target compounds was observed in surface water collected in rivers supplying three drinking water treatment plants and in the resulting drinking water at the endpoint of each distribution system. Therefore, the first study employing CXs and MWCNTs as sorbent in multi-layer SPE cartridges is herein reported as a proof of concept for determination of multi-class water micropollutants.Other than in animal models of human disease, little functional imaging has been performed in most of the animal world. The aim of this study was to explore the functional anatomy of the European round back slug (Arionidae) and leopard slug (Limacidae) and to establish an imaging protocol for comparative species study. Radionuclide images with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) were obtained after injections of standard clinical radiopharmaceuticals 99mtechnetium dicarboxypropane diphosphonate (bone scintigraphy), 99mtechnetium mercaptoacetyltriglycine (kidney function), 99mtechnetium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (kidney function), 99mtechnetium pertechnetate (mediated by the sodium-iodide symporter), 99mtechnetium sestamibi (cardiac scintigraphy) or 18F-fluoro-deoxyglucose (glucose metabolism) in combination with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) for uptake anatomic definition. Images were compared with anatomic drawings for the Arionidae species. Additionally, organ uptake data was determined for a description of slug functional anatomy in comparison to human tracer biodistribution patterns identifying the heart, the open circulatory anatomy, calcified shell remnant, renal structure (nephridium), liver (digestive gland) and intestine. The results show the detailed functional anatomy of Arionidae and Limacidae, and describe an in vivo whole-body imaging procedure for invertebrate species.Antibacterial potential of Limonene against Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) pathogens was studied and mechanism explored. Microscopic techniques viz. Fluorescent Microscopy (FM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) indicated membrane disruption, cellular leakage and cell death of Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells when treated with limonene. Leakage of intracellular proteins, lipids and nucleic acid confirmed membrane damage and disruption of cell permeability barrier. Further, release of intracellular ATP, also suggested disruption of membrane barrier. Interaction of limonene with DNA revealed its capability in unwinding of plasmid, which could eventually inhibit DNA transcription and translation. Differential expression of various proteins and enzymes involved in transport, respiration, metabolism, chemotaxis, protein synthesis confirmed the mechanistic role of limonene on their functions. Limonene thus can be a potential candidate in drug development.Rhamnan sulphate (RS), a sulphated polysaccharide from Monostroma nitidum, possesses several biological properties that help in treating diseases such as viral infection, thrombosis, and obesity. In the present study, we first administered RS (0.25 mg/g food volume) orally to high-fat diet-treated mice for 4 weeks. RS increased the faecal volume and calorie excretion with decreased plasma lipids, which was in accordance with the results of our previous zebrafish study. Notably, as the excretion amount by RS increased in the mice, we hypothesised that RS could decrease the chance of constipation in mice and also in human subjects because RS is considered as a dietary fibre. We administrated RS (100 mg/day) to subjects with low defaecation frequencies (3-5 times/week) for 2 weeks in double-blind placebo-controlled manner. As a result, RS administration significantly increased the frequency of dejection without any side effects, although no effect was observed on the body weight and blood lipids. Moreover, we performed 16s rRNA-seq analysis of the gut microbiota in these subjects. Metagenomics profiling using PICRUSt revealed functional alternation of the KEGG pathways, which could be involved in the therapeutic effect of RS for constipation.Metagenomic and traditional paleolimnological approaches are suitable to infer past biological and environmental changes, however, they are often applied independently, especially in tropical regions. We combined both approaches to investigate Holocene Prokaryote and Eukaryote diversity and microbial metabolic pathways in ancient Lake Chalco, Mexico. Here, we report on diversity among a large number of lineages (36,722 OTUs) and functional diversity (27,636,243 non-clustered predicted proteins, and 6,144 annotated protein-family genes). The most abundant domain is Bacteria (81%), followed by Archaea (15%) and Eukarya (3%). We also determined the diversity of protein families and their relationship to metabolic pathways. The early Holocene (> 11,000 cal years BP) lake was characterized by cool, freshwater conditions, which later became warmer and hyposaline (11,000-6,000 cal years BP). We found high abundances of cyanobacteria, and fungi groups associated with mature forests in these sediments. Bacteria and Archaea include mainly anaerobes and extremophiles that are involved in the sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon cycles. We found evidence for early human impacts, including landscape modifications and lake eutrophication, which began ~ 6,000 cal years BP. Subsaline, temperate conditions were inferred for the past 5,000 years. Finally, we found nitrogen-fixing bacteria and protein-family genes that are linked to contaminated environments, as well as several fungal pathogens of crops in near-surface sediments.The prevalence of asthma is considerably high among women of childbearing age. Most asthmatic women also often have other atopic disorders. Therefore, the differentiation between patients with atopic diseases without asthma and asthmatics with coexisting diseases is essential to avoid underdiagnosis of asthma and to design strategies to reduce symptom severity and improve quality of life of patients. Hence, we aimed for the first time to conduct an analysis of volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath of women of childbearing age as a new approach to discriminate between asthmatics with other coexisting atopic diseases and non-asthmatics (with or without atopic diseases), which could be a helpful tool for more accurate asthma detection and monitoring using a noninvasive technique in the near future. In this study, exhaled air samples of 336 women (training set (n = 211) and validation set (n = 125)) were collected and analyzed by thermal desorption coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. ASCA (ANOVA (analysis of variance) simultaneous component analysis) and LASSO + LS (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator + logistic regression) were employed for data analysis. Fifteen statistically significant models (p-value  less then  0.05 in permutation tests) that discriminated asthma with other coexisting atopic diseases in women of childbearing age were generated. Acetone, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol and a tetrahydroisoquinoline derivative were selected as discriminants of asthma with other coexisting atopic diseases. In addition, carbon disulfide, a tetrahydroisoquinoline derivative, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol and decane discriminated asthma disease among patients with other atopic disorders. Results of this study indicate that refined metabolomic analysis of exhaled breath allows asthma with other coexisting atopic diseases discrimination in women of reproductive age.Ageing is a major risk factor for many conditions including cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Pharmaceutical interventions that slow down ageing and delay the onset of age-related diseases are a growing research area. The aim of this study was to build a machine learning model based on the data of the DrugAge database to predict whether a chemical compound will extend the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans. Five predictive models were built using the random forest algorithm with molecular fingerprints and/or molecular descriptors as features. The best performing classifier, built using molecular descriptors, achieved an area under the curve score (AUC) of 0.815 for classifying the compounds in the test set. signaling pathway The features of the model were ranked using the Gini importance measure of the random forest algorithm. The top 30 features included descriptors related to atom and bond counts, topological and partial charge properties. The model was applied to predict the class of compounds in an external database, consisting of 1738 small-molecules.