Effects of Probiotic Supplementation during Pregnancy on the Future Maternal Risk of Metabolic Syndrome

Probiotics are live microorganisms that induce health benefits in the host. Taking probiotics is generally safe and well tolerated by pregnant women and their children. Consumption of probiotics can result in both prophylactic and therapeutic effects. In healthy adult humans, the gut microbiome is stable at the level of the dominant taxa: Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria, and has a higher presence of Verrucomicrobia. During pregnancy, an increase in the number of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria phyla and a decrease in the beneficial species Roseburia intestinalis and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii are observed. Pregnancy is a “window” to the mother’s future health. The aim of this paper is to review studies assessing the potentially beneficial effects of probiotics in preventing the development of diseases that appear during pregnancy, which are currently considered as risk factors for the development of metabolic syndrome, and consequently, reducing the risk of developing maternal metabolic syndrome in the future. The use of probiotics in gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia and excessive gestational weight gain is reviewed. Probiotics are a relatively new intervention that can prevent the development of these disorders during pregnancy, and thus, would reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome resulting from these disorders in the mother’s future.     

The Potential Application of Starch and Walnut Shells as Biofillers for Natural Rubber (NR) Composites

The goal of this study was application of corn starch and ground walnut shells in various amounts by weight as biofillers of natural rubber (NR) biocomposites. Additionally, ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmiCl) and (3-aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane (APTES) were used to increase the activity of biofillers and to improve the curing characteristics of NR composites. The effect of biofillers used and their modification with aminosilane or ionic liquid on the curing characteristics of NR composites and their functional properties, including crosslink density, mechanical properties in static and dynamic conditions, hardness, thermal stability and resistance to thermo-oxidative aging were investigated. Starch and ground walnut shells were classified as inactive fillers, which can be used alternatively to commercial inactive fillers, e.g., chalk. BmiCl and APTES were successfully used to support the vulcanization and to improve the dispersion of biofillers in NR elastomer matrix. Vulcanizates with starch, especially those containing APTES and BmiCl, exhibited improved tensile properties due to the higher crosslink density and homogenous dispersion of starch, which resulted from BmiCl addition. NR filled with ground walnut shells demonstrated improved resistance to thermo-oxidative aging. It resulted from lignin present in walnut shells, the components of which belong to polyphenols, that have an antioxidant activity.     

Atomically Thin Mica Flakes and Their Application as Ultrathin Insulating Substrates for Graphene

By mechanical exfoliation, it is possible to deposit atomically thin mica flakes down to single‐monolayer thickness on SiO₂/Si wafers. The optical contrast of these mica flakes on top of a SiO₂/Si substrate depends on their thickness, the illumination wavelength, and the SiO₂ substrate thickness, and can be quantitatively accounted for by a Fresnel‐law‐based model. The preparation of atomically thin insulating crystalline sheets will enable the fabrication of ultrathin, defect‐free insulating substrates, dielectric barriers, or planar electron‐tunneling junctions. Additionally, it is shown that few‐layer graphene flakes can be deposited on top of a previously transferred mica flake. Our transfer method relies on viscoelastic stamps, as used for soft lithography. A Raman spectroscopy study shows that such an all‐dry deposition technique yields cleaner and higher‐quality flakes than conventional wet‐transfer procedures based on lithographic resists.     

Synthesis and characterization of core–shell SiO2@(Er3+,Yb3+):Lu2O3

We synthesized crystalline Erbium Er³⁺ and Ytterbium Yb³⁺ codoped -Lu₂O₃ nanolayers on SiO₂ microspheres using the modified Pechini method. Two different kinds of precursors, nitrates and chlorides, have been used leading to a layer-to-layer morphology and necklaces structures, respectively. In both cases, the size of nanocrystallites constituting the optical active layer is around 5 nm. We performed X-ray powder diffraction to confirm the cubic crystalline structure of the sesquioxides layer. High resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses corroborate the crystalline nature of the layer. The optical emission of Er³⁺ in the visible range has been recorded.     

Charged polaron-enhanced circular dichroism of optically nonlinear 3-nitroaniline crystal

The circular dichroism (CD) spectra in visible range of the 3-nitroaniline (m-NA) single crystal, of its solution in chloroform, and in the KBr pellet were recorded. Neither the molecular (m or C_s) nor the crystal (mm2 or C_2v) point groups belong to the chiral groups. The DFT calculation of CD spectrum of the m-NA isolated neutral molecule confirmed its chirality. The red shifted bands in the calculated CD spectrum of m-NA radical anion (charged polaron), as compared with the neutral molecule, resemble better the spectra of solids than that of the solution. It seems that these facts corroborate qualitatively the “hop and turn” model explaining the m-NA optical nonlinearity and electric conductivity proposed in Szostak et al. [M.M. Szostak, H. Chojnacki, E. Staryga, M. D?u?niewski, G. B?k, Chem. Phys. 365 (2009) 44-52].     

Effect of the structure of polymer inclusion membranes on zn(II) transport from chloride aqueous solutions

This article presents application of polymer inclusion membranes (PIM) containing polymer matrices: cellulose triacetate (CTA) or poly(vinyl) chloride (PVC), o‐nitrophenyloctyl ether (NPOE) as a plasticizer and phosphonium ionic liquids, i.e., trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride (Cyphos IL 101), bis(2,4,4‐trimethylpentyl)phosphinate (Cyphos IL 104) and tributyltetradecylphosphonium chloride (Cyphos IL 167), as carriers for Zn(II) transport from chloride medium. Cyphos IL167 application as an ion carrier in PIMs is reported for the first time. The membrane composition is found to affect Zn(II) transport significantly. SEM and AFM images show the differences in the surface morphology of PVC and CTA based membranes. Better transport abilities of CTA membranes (Zn(II) recovery factors exceed 80%) compared with those of PVC, indicate that the structural differences between the two polymers play a crucial role for the membrane permeability. The best initial flux and permeability coefficient are obtained for the membranes with Cyphos IL 101 and Cyphos IL 104 as carriers. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42319.     

低热应变镁合金研究综述

镁和镁基合金是重要的轻量化金属材料,广泛应用于汽车、通讯、航空等领域。由于镁合金热膨胀系数较高,当应用于精密器件时易导致组装精密度降低、力学性能下降等问题。因此需要研发低热应变镁基材料,以满足此类应用的要求。本文对降低镁合金热膨胀系数的原理及方法进行综述,归纳比较了合金化、复合材料和特殊加工工艺等调整镁合金热膨胀系数的主要方法的原理,总结出高熔点元素合金化、高硬度颗粒掺杂、低热膨胀系数纤维掺杂以及热处理结合挤压加工方法等降低镁合金热膨胀系数的有效方法,并对未来该领域的研究趋势进行了展望。