Gomezcurran9431

that activated water can enhance the germination of mung beans along with sprout yield but has limited capacity when applied alone as a seed disinfection method.

The study aims to investigate positive and negative social interactions as predictors of maternal self-efficacy and to examine the mediating role of postpartum fatigue.

Participants included 450 Arab and Jewish mothers of healthy one-month-old infants who visited 14 well-baby care clinics located in northern Israel. The study used a prospective longitudinal cohort design. Participants completed the first questionnaire and agreed to a follow-up phone interview three months later. Both ethnic groups had a response rate of 90% for the follow-up interview. The questionnaire included six scales that measured socioeconomic status and demographics, obstetric characteristics, social networks and support, negative social interactions, fatigue and maternal self-efficacy (MSE). The phone interview was a shorter version of the written questionnaire focusing on MSE and fatigue. Maternal self-efficacy four month after birth was examined with social support, negative interactions and fatigue, using multiple linear regresocial interactions, fatigue and maternal self-efficacy can be useful in providing appropriate care that includes information and parental support. Health professionals working with postpartum women must assess degree of postpartum fatigue and negative postpartum social interactions as well as social support during the postpartum period.

To investigate the influence of apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene polymorphism on regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rScO

) and quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG) at the early phase of adult traumatic brain injury (TBI).

clinical data of TBI patients who were admitted to the neurosurgery intensive care unit (NICU) were retrospectively evaluated and studied, and data of healthy volunteers were recruited as control. The APOE genotypes were genotyped by quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR). The rScO

and brainelectricalactivityof all the participants involved in this research were measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and QEEG respectively.

The average rScO

of TBI patients was significantly lower than that of the normal controls (P<0.0001). And the EEG of the TBI patients has showed more irregular slow-wave activities than that of the normal controls. Furthermore, the above changes were more significant in the APOE ε4 carriers in the early stage of TBI patients.

The APOE ε4 allele may be associated with poor rScO

and more slow-wave activities at the early stage of TBI.

To clarify the effect of APOE gene polymorphism on the condition of patients with TBI may be helpful for the design and management of individualized treatment programs.

To clarify the effect of APOE gene polymorphism on the condition of patients with TBI may be helpful for the design and management of individualized treatment programs.Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the main treatment for advanced prostate cancer (PCa) but resistance results in progression to terminal castrate resistant PCa (CRPC), where there is an unmet therapeutic need. Aberrant intracellular calcium (Cai2+) is known to promote neoplastic transformation and treatment resistance. Protoporphyrin IX chemical There is growing evidence that voltage gated calcium channel (VGCC) expression is increased in cancer, particularly CACNA1D/CaV1.3 in CRPC. The aim of this study was to investigate if increased CaV1.3 drives resistance to ADT and determine its associated impact on Cai2+ and cancer biology. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that CACNA1D gene expression is increased in ADT treated PCa patients. This was corroborated in both in vivo LNCaP xenograft mouse and in vitro PCa cell line models, which demonstrated a significant increase in CaV1.3 protein expression following ADT with bicalutamide. Expression was found to be of a shortened 170kDa CaV1.3 isoform associated with plasma and intracellular membranes, which failed to induce calcium influx following membrane depolarisation. Instead, under ADT CaV1.3 mediated a rise in basal cytosolic calcium and an increase in store operated calcium entry (SOCE). This mechanism was found to promote the proliferation and survival of ADT resistant CRPC cells. Overall, this study demonstrates for the first time in PCa that under ADT specific CaV1.3 isoforms promote an upregulation of SOCE which contributes to treatment resistance and CRPC biology. Thus, this novel oncochannel represents a target for therapeutic development to improve PCa patient outcomes.

The computation of the projections of a digital image - modelled as a superposition of square pixels - is essential in several algorithms in computed tomography, and also in many machine vision applications. Projections of digital images are computed through the ray-driven approach. Current pixel-driven methods, though simpler, involve interpolation kernels in the projection-domain - not based on the exact Radon transform (RT) of a square.

A new analytical formula - for the line-integral of the unit pixel - simpler than that published previously, is derived. The formula allows easy, pixel-driven computation of the RT of a digital image based on the pixel model i.e., Riemann-sum approximation to the line integral. The method naturally allows pixel-driven backprojection, based on the same (pixel) model. The approach is extended to computing projections over divergent (fan-) beams, and its application as a generalized version of the traditional Hough transform, is discussed.

The Radon transform of the unit-sum approximation, which is exact in the case of the common pixel-based image model. Pixel-driven approach is amenable to parallel, and also region-of-interest computation. The method is useful in CT as well as machine vision applications.

Both exposure to toxic elements and hypertension (HT) are a global health problem. We planned to examine the associations between some toxic elements in urine, and blood pressure (BP) and its diurnal changes in adolescents.

In this cross-sectional study, 48 adolescents who were newly diagnosed with HT and 38 adolescents with age-appropriate BP and normal physical examination were included. Anthropometric measurements, urinary toxic elements, carotid intima media thickness (cIMT), and office and 24-hour ambulatory BP measurements (ABPM) of participants were taken. Urinary elements levels were studied with ICP-MS. Elements were grouped in tertiles according to urinary levels. Logistic regression analyses were performed to show the interactions.

Urinary cadmium, mercury, lead, and arsenic were found to be at detectable level in 90.7%, 69.8%, 91.9% and 100% of the participants, respectively. Univariate analyses showed that elevated daytime systolic and/or diastolic BP was associated with urinary cadmium and mercury. No association between urinary toxic elements and nighttime BP was found. When height and body mass index z-scores adjusted for, age, gender, and all four urinary creatinine-corrected toxic elements analyzed, multiple logistic regression revealed that there was an association between mercury (high vs. low; AOR3.85) and office HT, and mercury (high vs. low; AOR6.18) and cadmium (middle vs. low; AOR 13.38) were associated with "elevated 24-hour systolic BP and/or diastolic BP", and "elevated 24-hour mean arterial BP" in ABPM.

There are complex relationships between toxic elements and BP parameters in adolescents, and more studies are needed to define the evolution of these relations.

There are complex relationships between toxic elements and BP parameters in adolescents, and more studies are needed to define the evolution of these relations.

Abnormal blood lipid levels are common in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD). Previous studies have revealed lipid-mood associations in adults with BD, but no data on this relationship is available in youth populations. This cross-sectional study examined the associations of lipid levels with mood states and symptoms in a cohort of youth with BD.

Participants were youth with BD and healthy controls (HCs) between the ages of 13-20years. We compared the levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), and TG/HDL-C ratio between 4 participant episode groups BD-euthymic (n=28), BD-depressed (n=29) BD-hypomanic/mixed (n=31), and HCs (n=89). We also examined for dimensional associations of lipids with mania and depression scores in the overall BD group and within BD episode subgroups.

TG levels were significantly higher in the BD-euthymic group (p=0.008, d=0.59) and in the BD-mixed/hypomanic group (p=0.03, d=0.44) compared to the HC group. TG/HDL-C ratio was also higher in the BD-euthymic group compared to the HC group (p=0.01, d=0.51). No dimensional associations were found between lipids and mood symptom scores in the overall BD group. However, within the BD-mixed/hypomanic subgroup, higher mania scores were associated with higher TG (β=0.42, p=0.04), TG/HDL-C ratio (β=0.59, p=0.002), and lower HDL-C (β=0.56 p=0.002).

Youth with BD demonstrate atherogenic lipid profiles. Higher atherogenic lipids were associated with hypomanic but, contrasting adult BD studies, not depressive symptoms. Future prospective studies are warranted to evaluate the temporal association between lipids and mood among youth with BD.

Youth with BD demonstrate atherogenic lipid profiles. Higher atherogenic lipids were associated with hypomanic but, contrasting adult BD studies, not depressive symptoms. Future prospective studies are warranted to evaluate the temporal association between lipids and mood among youth with BD.Food product nutritional and sensory characteristics are often deeply linked to its territory of origin; therefore, its authentication by means of elemental composition becomes crucial for traceability and fighting food fraud. This study aims to establish a fast and reproducible procedure for origin and quality assessment of Sicilian tomato fruits, including PGI "Pomodoro di Pachino", by using the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique. Measurements were performed on different parts of PGI Pachino tomatoes belonging to the same production lot. Principal Component and Cluster Analyses show that the samples cluster accordingly with the production lot, disentangling the different parts of the fruit. This procedure, which uses XRF yield elemental pattern and statistical analysis, establishes a solid basis for characterizing elemental profiles by a fast XRF in-situ campaign, supporting the traceability system. The reliability of XRF results was confirmed by comparing elemental concentrations with ICP-MS measurements, performed for comparison, and tomato literature values.Biomaterials are indispensable for tissue engineering, which plays a pivotal role in the skeletal tissue repair. However, biomaterials currently used such as animal extracts and chemically synthesized polymers display unsatisfactory bioactivity and safety. In recent years, modular protein engineering-based (MPE) biomaterials composed of polypeptides produced by molecular cloning and protein synthesis have greatly developed due to their lower batch-to-batch variation, avoidance of possible pathogens and, most importantly, sequence-tunable property. In this review, we first briefly describe the properties of different MPE biomaterials classified by the structural domains of polypeptides, and techniques to engineer the polypeptide sequence and synthesize MPE biomaterials at will. Then, we focus on the application of bio-designed MPE biomaterials in skeletal tissue engineering. Different structural domains of polypeptides are used individually or covalently fused with different bioactive motifs to generate a variety of MPE biomaterials.