The effects of prenatal maternal depressive symptoms on pain scores in the early postpartum period.

Depression aggravates chronic pain. Currently, there is little information about the relationship between prenatal maternal depressive symptoms and pain scores in the early postpartum period of caesarean section. This investigation is to explore the prevalence of prenatal maternal depressive symptoms and their effects on pain scores in the early postpartum period of caesarean section. We performed depression scores and pain scores on 764 women after admission to the hospital and at 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after caesarean section. Up to 29.7% of women experienced positive depressive symptoms, and they had much higher pain scores in the early postpartum period of caesarean section. Pregnant women with positive depressive symptoms require further interventions and mental healthcare in order to relieve their pain in the early postpartum period.

Interface modification of the InGaN/GaN quantum wells: the strain pre-relief effect.

Interface modification by inserting an ultrathin low-temperature GaN layer prior to the growth of high-temperature GaN barriers followed by an annealing process was employed to improve the properties of the InGaN/GaN quantum wells. By detailed studies and comparisons of the surface morphology, photoluminescence and the surface compositions of the InGaN/GaN quantum wells at different growth stages with and without the interface modification, we find that with the interface modification the surface morphology was significantly improved with better smoothness, and smaller and shallower pits of lower density compared with that without interface modification; further, the indium aggregation and phase separation were suppressed. The physical phenomena are attributed to the 'strain pre-relief effect' by the formation of quasi-dots (approximately 20 nm in diameter) prior to temperature ramping and growth of high-temperature GaN barriers. Furthermore, the ultrathin low-temperature GaN layers have a good protection property as confirmed by PL and XPS measurements.

Effects of flux enhancing polymer on the characteristics of sludge in membrane bioreactor process.

A newly developed membrane performance enhancer (MPE) was used to prevent membrane fouling in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) process. It transpired that 1,000 mg/l of MPE reduced polysaccharide levels from 41 mg/I to 21 mg/I on average under the experimental condition. Repeated experiments also confirmed that 50-1,000 mg/l of MPE could reduce membrane fouling significantly and increase the intervals between membrane cleanings. Depending on MPE dosages and experimental conditions, trans-membrane pressure (TMP) increase was suppressed for 20-30 days, while baseline TMP surged within a few days. In addition, MPE allowed MBR operation even at 50,000 mg/l of total solid and reduced permeate COD. However, no evidence of toxicity for sludge was found from respiratory works.