Intergenerational Metabolomic Analysis of Mothers with a History of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Their Offspring

Shared metabolomic patterns at delivery have been suggested to underlie the mother-to-child transmission of adverse metabolic health. This study aimed to investigate whether mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their offspring show similar metabolomic patterns several years postpartum. Targeted metabolomics (including 137 metabolites) was performed in plasma samples obtained during an oral glucose tolerance test from 48 mothers with GDM and their offspring at a cross-sectional study visit 8 years after delivery. Partial Pearson’s correlations between the area under the curve (AUC) of maternal and offspring metabolites were calculated, yielding so-called Gaussian graphical models. Spearman’s correlations were applied to investigate correlations of body mass index (BMI), Matsuda insulin sensitivity index (ISI-M), dietary intake, and physical activity between generations, and correlations of metabolite AUCs with lifestyle variables. This study revealed that BMI, ISI-M, and the AUC of six metabolites (carnitine, taurine, proline, SM(-OH) C14:1, creatinine, and PC ae C34:3) were significantly correlated between mothers and offspring several years postpartum. Intergenerational metabolite correlations were independent of shared BMI, ISI-M, age, sex, and all other metabolites. Furthermore, creatinine was correlated with physical activity in mothers. This study suggests that there is long-term metabolic programming in the offspring of mothers with GDM and informs us about targets that could be addressed by future intervention studies.     

Prototype implementation of an assembly system for tissue engineered constructs

In the course of the research described in this paper a prototype assembly system for the automated fabrication of customized, biodegradable bone implants for tissue engineering applications has been developed. This work is part of a collaborative effort between the Handling Laboratory (hLab) of Fachhochschule Vorarlberg and the Bone Tissue Engineering Center (BETC) of Carnegie Mellon University. Bone implants are built up using thin layers of highly porous, biodegradable polymer scaffold materials. These layers can be seeded with cells prior to assembly. The main focus of this work is robotic handling of the prefabricated polymer layers. Additional components that are addressed include the cutting of contoured polymer layers from sheetstock and the assembly of the 21/2 dimensional layers to form 3D bone implants. Cutting tests have been performed to assess different cutting technologies. Assembly tests with mechanical connectors and fibrin adhesive have also been conducted. These components are integrated within a robot cell to demonstrate overall system feasibility.     

Visualization and quantification of the mechanical deformation induced by an electrical field in poly(ethylene naphthalene 2,6‐dicarboxylate) (PEN) films

An optical nondestructive strain measurement technique was performed to analyze the mechanical deformation induced by an electrical field within the insulating materials. Poly(ethylene naphthalene 2,6‐dicarboxylate) (PEN) films were then subjected to constant electrical fields right up to their electrical breakdown. The experimental technique made it possible to follow the various stages of the mechanical behavior of PEN in real time. The final breakdown occurred in the observation zone and the related mechanical deformation was captured. A “margarita” structure was observed with a hole at the center. The experimental results indicated that the level of the induced‐mechanical deformations depended on the local environment. We defined two different zones representing the inside and the outside of the damaged area. The induced‐deformations were larger in the damaged zone. It was also observed that deformations increased when the sample had a lower degree of crystallinity. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Recognizing, assessing, and intervening with problems of professional competence.

Working collaboratively, psychologist educators and trainers at the doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral levels; credentialers; practitioners; and students offer 8 proposals for psychologists to consider in recognizing, assessing, and intervening with problems of professional competence in students and practicing professionals. In the proposals, the authors address the following topics: definitions and categories; preparing the system; self-assessment; remediation; diversity; communication across various levels of the system; confidentiality; and ethical, regulatory, and legal underpinnings. They also propose future directions for the assessment of problems in professional competence in both students and practicing psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrical and optical properties of oxygen doped GaN grown by MOCVD using N2O

Oxygen doped GaN has been grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using N₂O as oxygen dopant source. The layers were deposited on 2″ sapphire substrates from trimethylgallium and especially dried ammonia using nitrogen (N₂) as carrier gas. Prior to the growth of the films, an AIN nucleation layer with a thickness of about 300? was grown using trimethylaluminum. The films were deposited at 1085°C at a growth rate of 1.0 μm/h and showed a specular, mirrorlike surface. Not intentionally doped layers have high resistivity (>20 kW/square). The gas phase concentration of the N₂O was varied between 25 and 400 ppm with respect to the total gas volume. The doped layers were n-type with carrier concentrations in the range of 4×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ to 4×10¹⁸ cm⁻³ as measured by Hall effect. The observed carrier concentration increased with increasing N₂O concentration. Low temperature photoluminescence experiments performed on the doped layers revealed besides free A and B exciton emission an exciton bound to a shallow donor. With increasing N₂O concentration in the gas phase, the intensity of the donor bound exciton increased relative to that of the free excitons. These observations indicate that oxygen behaves as a shallow donor in GaN. This interpretation is supported by covalent radius and electronegativity arguments.     

The impact of CHP generation on CO2 emissions

The combined generation of heat and power (cogeneration) is praised by many as a technique for reducing the emissions of CO₂ in industrialized nations. This is generally true but not always. In this article we discuss the impact of some major variables on the CO₂ emission reduction capacity of cogeneration. Two sets of variables are predominant: the characteristics of the CHP process and the composition of the electricity generation sector. We highlight the interaction between the two sets of variables with the help of diagrams.