Diabetes during Pregnancy: A Maternal Disease Complicating the Course of Pregnancy with Long-Term Deleterious Effects on the Offspring. A Clinical Review

In spite of the huge progress in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, we are still in the situation that both pregestational (PGDM) and gestational diabetes (GDM) impose an additional risk to the embryo, fetus, and course of pregnancy. PGDM may increase the rate of congenital malformations, especially cardiac, nervous system, musculoskeletal system, and limbs. PGDM may interfere with fetal growth, often causing macrosomia, but in the presence of severe maternal complications, especially nephropathy, it may inhibit fetal growth. PGDM may also induce a variety of perinatal complications such as stillbirth and perinatal death, cardiomyopathy, respiratory morbidity, and perinatal asphyxia. GDM that generally develops in the second half of pregnancy induces similar but generally less severe complications. Their severity is higher with earlier onset of GDM and inversely correlated with the degree of glycemic control. Early initiation of GDM might even cause some increase in the rate of congenital malformations. Both PGDM and GDM may cause various motor and behavioral neurodevelopmental problems, including an increased incidence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most complications are reduced in incidence and severity with the improvement in diabetic control. Mechanisms of diabetic-induced damage in pregnancy are related to maternal and fetal hyperglycemia, enhanced oxidative stress, epigenetic changes, and other, less defined, pathogenic mechanisms.     

Adaptation of an automotive dialogue system to users’ expertise and evaluation of the system

Spoken dialogue systems (SDSs) can be used to operate devices, e.g. in the automotive environment. People using these systems usually have different levels of experience. However, most systems do not take this into account. In this paper, we present a method to build a dialogue system in an automotive environment that automatically adapts to the user’s experience with the system. We implemented the adaptation in a prototype and carried out exhaustive tests. Our usability tests show that adaptation increases both user performance and user satisfaction. We describe the tests that were performed, and the methods used to assess the test results. One of these methods is a modification of PARADISE, a framework for evaluating the performance of SDSs [Walker MA, Litman DJ, Kamm CA, Abella A (Comput Speech Lang 12(3):317–347, 1998)]. We discuss its drawbacks for the evaluation of SDSs like ours, the modifications we have carried out, and the test results.

Pleiotropic,Unique and Shared Responses Elicited by IL-6 Family Cytokines in Human Vascular Endothelial Cells

Vascular endothelial cells express glycoprotein 130 (gp130), which is utilized as a signaling receptor by cytokines in the interleukin-6 (IL-6) family. Several IL-6 family cytokines can be found in the circulatory system during physiological or pathological conditions, and may influence endothelial function and response. This study evaluated and compared the cellular and molecular responses induced by IL-6 family cytokines in human endothelial cells. A proteomic analysis showed that IL-6 family cytokines induce the release of a range of proteins from endothelial cells, such as C-C motif chemokine ligand 23, hepatocyte growth factor, and IL-6. Pathway analysis indicated that gp130-signaling in endothelial cells regulates several functions related to angiogenesis and immune cell recruitment. The present investigation also disclosed differences and similarities between different IL-6 family cytokines in their ability to induce protein release and regulate gene expression and intracellular signaling, in regards to which oncostatin M showed the most pronounced effect. Further, this study showed that soluble gp130 preferentially blocks trans-signaling-induced responses, but does not affect responses induced by classic signaling. In conclusion, IL-6 family cytokines induce both specific and overlapping molecular responses in endothelial cells, and regulate genes and proteins involved in angiogenesis and immune cell recruitment.     

海绵负载纳米Al2O3复合吸附剂去除水中硒研究

研究制备了海绵负载纳米Al2O3微球的复合吸附剂(NAS),并用于对Se(Ⅳ)和Se(Ⅵ)的吸附。结果表明,合成的纳米Al2O3微球(NAO)的平均尺寸为200~400 nm,在海绵上负载NAO会使其分散性更好。当NAO负载量分别为80 mg/g和60 mg/g时,NAS对Se(Ⅳ)和Se(Ⅵ)的吸附性能为佳,分别需要60、120 min达到平衡,适应pH为2~5;两者均符合准2级动力学模型;NAS对Se(Ⅳ)、Se(Ⅵ)的最大吸附容量分别为137.2、143.9 mg/g,能很好地与Freundlich模型拟合,说明NAS表面不均匀,且属于多层吸附。经过2次的循环,对Se(Ⅳ)和Se(Ⅵ)的去除率有所降低,但均仍保持在一定的水平,说明NAS可再生循环利用。NAS作为一种新型吸附剂去除水中Se具有较好的应用前景。     

Protective effect of estrogens and catecholestrogens against peroxidative membrane damagein vitro

The antioxidant effects of natural estrogens (estrone E₁; 17β-estradiol), synthetic estrogens (17α-ethynylestradiol, EE₂; mestranol, MES; diethylstilbestrol, DES) and catechle-strogens (2-hydroxyestradiol; 4-hydroxyestradiol 4-OHE₂) on lipid peroxidation induced by different means in rat liver microsomes were investigated. The extent of lipid peroxidation was determined by measuring thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. Prooxidants included Fe³⁺/ADP/reduced NADPH, Fe²⁺/ascorbate,tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BOOH) and 2,2′-azobis (2-amidinopropane) (AAPH). Estrogens and catecholestrogens decreased lipid peroxidation in all four systems tested. In the iron/ascorbate model it was shown that (i)-OHE₂ and DES had analogous patterns of inhibition, irrespective of the presence of NADPH or the functional integrity of the microsómes, and (ii) the antioxidant activities of E₁, EE₂ and MES were dependent on the assay conditions with the activity being markedley higher when estrogen metabolism was favored. When peroxidation was initiated by the peroxyl radical generator AAPH, the inhibitory effects observed were least pronounced. Our data also showed that, in each of the systems, all inhibitors displayed the same order of inhibitory potency with DES and catecholestrogens being the most potent antioxidants under all experimental conditions used. The present results confirm earlier findings and point toward a link between estrogen metabolism and estrogen antioxidant activity. The data also indicate that estrogens and catecholestrogens interact with the peroxidative process at different levels with their interactions with iron or the metal-derived species being the most important modes of inhibition.     

A longitudinal observational study of the dynamics of Mycoplasma bovis antibodies in naturally exposed and diseased dairy cows

Mycoplasma bovis is an important pathogen causing disease and substantial economic losses in cattle. However, knowledge of the dynamics of antibody responses in individual cows in the face of an outbreak is currently extremely limited. The use of commercial antibody tests to support clinical decision-making and for surveillance purposes is therefore challenging. Our objective was to describe the dynamics of M. bovis antibody responses in 4 Danish dairy herds experiencing an acute outbreak of M. bovis-associated disease, and to compare the antibody dynamics between dairy cows with different disease manifestations. A total of 120 cows were examined using a standardized clinical protocol and categorized into 4 disease groups: “mastitis,” “systemic,” “nonspecific,” and “none.” Paired blood and milk samples were collected and tested using a commercial M. bovis antibody–detecting ELISA. Plots of raw data and generalized additive mixed models with cow and herd as random effects were used to describe serum and milk antibody dynamics relative to the estimated time of onset of clinical disease. Cows with mastitis had high optical density measurement (ODC%) of antibodies in both milk and serum at disease onset. The estimated mean ODC% in milk was below the manufacturer's cut-off for the other groups for the entire study period. The estimated mean serum ODC% in the “systemic” group was high at onset of disease and stayed above the cut-off until 65 d after disease onset. However, the lower 95% confidence interval (CI) for the mean ODC% was only above the manufacturer's cut-off between 7 and 17 d after onset of disease. The CI of the “systemic” and “none” groups did not overlap at any time between the day of disease onset and 65 d after disease onset, and the estimated mean ODC% for both the “nonspecific” and “none” groups were generally below the cut-off for the majority of the study period. In conclusion, the serum antibody responses were highly dynamic and showed a high level of variation between individual cows. This strongly suggests that serology is unlikely to be useful for individual diagnosis of M. bovis-associated disease in dairy cows. However, it might still be useful for herd- or group-level diagnosis. Antibodies in milk were only increased in cows with M. bovis mastitis, indicating that milk antibody measurements only have diagnostic utility for cows with mastitis.     

Development of a Hybrid Algorithm for Efficient Optimisation of Base Station Placement for Indoor Wireless Communication Systems

A new hybrid algorithm termed Reduction Estimation—Combinatorial Optimisation—Reduction Approximation is proposed to identify an optimal base station placement as a subset of a known set of potential sites to provide wireless communication services to a given set of stationary users. Both forward and reverse link signal-to-interference ratios are considered, and the performance of the proposed algorithm is reported for several representative case studies and compared with Brute Force Search and existing optimisation algorithms (including Genetic, Ngadiman and Greedy algorithms). For the cases considered, the proposed algorithm is found to be superior to the existing algorithms in that it can yield an optimal deployment (equivalent to Brute Force Search) in an acceptable time.     

Defining a complex intervention: The development of demarcation criteria for “meditation”.

The authors used a 5-round Delphi study with a panel of 7 experts in meditation research to achieve agreement on a set of criteria for a working definition of “meditation” for use in a comprehensive systematic review of the therapeutic use of meditation. Participants agreed that essential to a meditation practice is its use of (a) a defined technique, (b) logic relaxation, and (c) a self-induced state. Participants also agreed that a meditation practice may (d) involve a state of psychophysical relaxation somewhere in the process; (e) use a self-focus skill or anchor; (f) involve an altered state/mode of consciousness, mystic experience, enlightenment or suspension of logical thought processes; (g) be embedded in a religious/spiritual/philosophical context; or (h) involve an experience of mental silence. The results of this study provide insight into the challenges faced by researchers who want to demarcate meditative practices from nonmeditative practices, and they describe an approach to this problem that may prove useful for researchers trying to operationalize meditation in the context of comparative research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of the WISC–IV Spanish for a clinically referred sample of Hispanic children.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is the most commonly used intelligence test for children. Five years ago, a Spanish version of the WISC–IV was published (WISC-IV Spanish; Wechsler, 2005), but a limited amount of published information is available regarding its utility when assessing clinical samples. The current study included 107 children who were Spanish speaking and of Puerto Rican descent that had been administered the WISC–IV Spanish. They were subdivided into a clinical sample of 35 children with diagnoses of various forms of brain dysfunction (primarily learning disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and epilepsy) and a comparison group made up of 72 normal children who were part of the WISC–IV Spanish version standardization sample. Comparisons between these groups and the standardization sample were performed for the WISC–IV Spanish index and subtest scores. Results indicated that the clinical sample performed worse than the comparison samples on the Working Memory and Processing Speed Indexes, although findings varied to some extent depending on whether the clinical group was compared with the normal comparison group or the standardization sample. These findings provide support for the criterion validity of the WISC–IV Spanish when it is used to assess a clinically referred sample with brain dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Plastic deformation at a stably growing crack tip

The deformations around the tip of a straight, through-the-thickness crack in sheets of cellulose nitrate, celluloid, in tension have been studied, as well before as after the onset of stable crack growth. A tensile testing apparatus and a device for engraving a fine grid directly on the specimen sheet have been designed. The development of the plastic enclave also after the start of stable crack extension has been studied in connexion with investigations of the deformations in gross fields of size up to 30 × 40 mm² performed on a digital computer (line element length 1 or 0.5 mm, virgin crack length 80 mm). Unexpected deformations very close to the crack tip were found in the near field where line elements of length 50 µm were analyzed. A modified Dugdale model where the cohesive stresses vary linearly is examined and is applied on polyvinylehloride, PVC, specimen the thickness of which is strongly reduced near the crack tip. A method for measurement of thickness changes of the order of a few µm by tracing isohypses is described. Finally, to enable comparison with the experimental results, the elastic deformation pattern for a square mesh in the plane strain and plane stress case is obtained by a digital computer.

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Zusammenfassung Es wurden die Verformungen an der Spitze eines geraden, über die gesamte Dicke durchgehenden Risses in Spannungen unterworfenen Tafeln aus Zellulosenitrat (Zelluloïd) untersucht. Dies geschah sowohl vor als auch nach der Einstellung einer gleichmäßigen Rißfortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit. Hierzu wurde eine Zugversuchsapparatur sowie ein Verfahren zur Gravierung eines Rasters, direkt auf die Probe, entwickelt.Die Ausbildung der plastischen Enklave, auch nach Einstellung einer gleichmäßigen Rißausweitung, wurde in Verbindung mit Studien der Verformung in Grobrastern his 30 × 40 mm mittels Digitalrechnern, untersucht (Länge einer Elementarlinie l oder 0,5 mm; Originallänge des Risses 80 mm). Direkt an der Rißspitze, wo Elementarlinien mit einer Länge von 50 µm untersucht wurden, konme man unerwartete Verformungen feststellen. Es wurde ein abgewandeltes Dugdale-Modell bei dem die Kohäsionsspannungen sich linear verändern untersucht and auf Polyvinylchlorid PVC-Proben, deren Dicke sich an der Rißspitze stark reduziert, angewandt. Es wird ein Verfahren zur Messung von Änderungen der Dicke um wenige µm beschrieben. Um einen Vergleich mit den experimentellen Ergebnissen zu ermöglichen, wird zum Schluß mit Hilfe eines Digitalrechners das elastische Verformungsmodell für Quadratraster, im Falle planer Verformung and eines planen Spannungszustandes berechnet.

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Résumé On a étudié les déformations qui se produisent au voisinage de l'extrémité d'une fissure droite et traversante dans des feuilles de nitrate de cellulose (celluloid) soumises à traction, et ce avant et après établissement d'un régime stable de propagation. A cet effet, on a mis au point un équipement d'essai de traction et une technique permettant de tracer une grille directement sur l'éprouvette. Le développement d'une enclave plastique dès que l'éxtension de la fissure devient stable a été etudie en recherchant les déformations survenant dans des réseaux grossiers, allant jusqu'à 30 × 40 mm², a l'áide d'un calculateur digital (longueur d'une ligne élémentaire: 1 ou 0,5 mm, longueur de fissure initiale: 80 mm). Dans un réseau plus fin, où les lignes élémentaires avaient une longueur de 50 microns, on a analysé, au voisinage immédiat de l'éxtrémité de la fissure, des déformations inattendues.On a examiné l'ápplication d'un modèle du Dugdale modifié, où les contraintes de cohésion varient linéairement, à des éprouvettes de PVC, dont l'épaisseur subit des réductions considérables près de l'extrémité de la fissure. On décrit une méthode de mesure des variations d'épaisseur de l'órdre de quelques microns, qui est basée sur le tracé de courbes de niveaux.Enfin, pour permettre une comparaison avec les résultats expérimentaux, on a établi par un calculateur digital l'állure de la déformation élastique dans un réseau carré pour les cas d'état plan de déformation et d'état plan de tension.