Evaluation of sub-chronic toxicity of melamine via systematic or oral delivery in adult zebrafish based on behavioral endpoints.

Melamine-tainted products have been found in the market and raised issues about food safety. Recent studies done in rodents and humans demonstrated the toxicities of melamine, especially in causing kidney damage and bladder stone formation. However, very few studies assessed its behavior toxicity in organisms, including fish. Therefore, in this study, the researchers aim to determine whether sub-chronic exposure to melamine via oral and systematic administration could induce behavioral abnormality in zebrafish. After 14 days of systematic exposure to melamine at doses of 0.1 and 10 ppm levels, zebrafish were subjected to multiple behavioral assays. Results from both exposure routes showed that melamine indeed slightly increased fish locomotion and altered their exploratory behaviors in the novel tank assay. Furthermore, tightened shoaling formation was also displayed by the treated fish in the waterborne exposure group. However, melamine exposure did not cause any obvious alterations in fish behaviors during other behavioral tests. In addition, in comparison with previously published data on the behavior toxicities of several solvents in zebrafish, our phenomic analysis suggests the relatively low behavior toxicities of melamine via either systematic exposure or oral administration to zebrafish compared to those solvents. Nevertheless, our data indicate that the potential neurotoxicity of chronic low-dose melamine should not be ignored.

Iron status and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A Mendelian randomization study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the association of genetically determined iron status with the risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) using two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. METHODS: We applied single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated at genome-wide significance with iron status proxied by serum iron, ferritin, transferrin, and transferrin saturation from the Genetics of Iron status Consortium (N = 48 793), in a genome-wide association study of 1664 NAFLD cases and 400 055 controls from the United Kingdom Biobank. A SNP associated with multiple markers of iron status was only applied to one marker with the strongest association in the main analysis. Their effects on NAFLD were calculated using inverse variance weighting after excluding SNPs associated with alkaline phosphatase and lipid metabolism. RESULTS: The risk for NAFLD is negatively associated with genetically predicted serum transferrin level with a 20% reduction in NAFLD risk per SD (0.65g/L) increase in transferrin (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66-0.97), and trending positive association with transferrin saturation (odds ratio [OR], 1.50; 95% CI, 0.96-2.35) but it was not associated with serum iron (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.63-1.29) and ferritin (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 0.54-3.30). CONCLUSIONS: MR analysis provided evidence that genetically predicted higher serum transferrin, indicating lower iron status, may be protective against NAFLD, whereas higher transferrin saturation, indicating higher iron status, might increase the risk for NAFLD and its pathogenesis.

On becoming socially anxious: Toddlers' attention bias to fearful faces.

Early attention bias to threat-related negative emotions may lead children to overestimate dangers in social situations. This study examined its emergence and how it might develop in tandem with a known predictor namely temperamental shyness for toddlers' fear of strangers in 168 Chinese toddlers. Measurable individual differences in such attention bias to fearful faces were found and remained stable from age 12 to 18 months. When shown photos of paired happy versus fearful or happy versus angry faces, toddlers initially gazed more and had longer initial fixation and total fixation at fearful faces compared with happy faces consistently. However, they initially gazed more at happy faces compared with angry faces consistently and had a longer total fixation at angry faces only at 18 months. Stranger anxiety at 12 months predicted attention bias to fearful faces at 18 months. Temperamentally shyer 12-month-olds went on to show stronger attention bias to fearful faces at 18 months, and their fear of strangers also increased more from 12 to 18 months. Together with prior research suggesting attention bias to angry or fearful faces foretelling social anxiety, the present findings point to likely positive feedback loops among attention bias to fearful faces, temperamental shyness, and stranger anxiety in early childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of experience in parenting beliefs of British and Italian women during pregnancy.

To understand the role of experience in parenting beliefs about caring for infants, we examined the parenting beliefs of pregnant women who were expecting their first child with those of pregnant women who already had at least one other child. A culturally diverse sample of 550 British and Italian women completed self-report measures evaluating their beliefs about the value of attunement and structure in caregiving, parenting self-efficacy, and home chaos. Psychometric evaluation confirmed the two-factor structure of the Baby Care Questionnaire (BCQ) for measuring attunement and structure but did not support configural invariance across the different samples. Beliefs about attunement and structure were related to parenting experience: pregnant women who already had at least one other child reported stronger beliefs in attunement, whereas pregnant women expecting their first child reported stronger beliefs in structure. Regression analyses revealed that the associations between parenting beliefs and experience remained when controlling for country, age, and education. Despite the limitations imposed by the lack of configural invariance, this cross-sectional, cross-cultural study constitutes an important first step in examining the relations between parenting experience and parenting beliefs during pregnancy.

Para comprender el papel de la experiencia en las creencias de crianza sobre el cuidado de los infantes, examinamos las creencias de crianza de mujeres embarazadas que esperaban su primer niño con aquellas de mujeres embarazadas que ya tenían por lo menos otro niño. Un grupo muestra culturalmente diverso de quinientas cincuenta mujeres británicas e italianas completó medidas auto reportadas de evaluación de sus creencias acerca del valor de la coordinación armónica y la estructura en cuanto al cuidado, la auto efectividad de la crianza, así como el caos en casa. La evaluación sicométrica confirmó la estructura de dos factores del Cuestionario de Cuidado del Bebé (BCQ: Winstanley y Gattis, 2013) para medir la coordinación armónica y la estructura, pero no apoyó la invariabilidad configuracional a través de los diferentes grupos muestra. Las creencias acerca de la coordinación armónica y la estructura se relacionaron con la experiencia de la crianza: las mujeres embarazadas que ya tenían por lo menos otro niño reportaron creencias más fuertes en cuanto a la coordinación armónica, mientras que las mujeres embarazadas que esperaban su primer niño reportaron creencias más fuertes en cuanto a la estructura. Los análisis de regresión revelaron que las asociaciones entre las creencias de crianza y la experiencia se mantenían siendo las mismas cuando se usaron los controles referentes a país, edad y educación. A pesar de las limitaciones impuestas por la falta de la invariabilidad configuracional, este estudio interseccional constituye un importante paso en el examen de las relaciones entre la experiencia de crianza y las creencias sobre la crianza durante el embarazo.

Afin de comprendre le rôle de l'expérience dans les croyances de parentalité sur la manière de prendre soin des bébés, nous avons examiné les croyances de parentalité de femmes enceintes qui attendaient leur premier enfant avec celles de femmes enceintes ayant déjà eu au moins un enfant. Un échantillon culturellement divers de cinq cent cinquante femmes britanniques et italiennes ont rempli des mesures auto-rapportées évaluant leurs croyances concernant la valeur de l'harmonisation et de la structure dans les soins à l'enfant, l'auto-efficacité de parentalité, et le chaos à domicile. L'évaluation psychométrique a confirmé la structure à deux facteurs du Questionnaire du Soin au Bébé (abrégé BCQ en anglais; Winstanley & Gattis, 2013) pour la mesure de l'harmonisation et de la structure mais n'a pas soutenu l'invariance de configuration au travers des différents échantillons. Les croyances sur l'harmonisation et la structure étaient liées à l'expérience de parentalité: les femmes enceintes qui avaient déjà eu un enfant ont fait état de croyances plus fortes dans l'harmonisation, alors que les femmes enceintes attendant leur premier enfant ont fait état de croyances plus fortes dans la structure. Des analyses de régression ont révélé que les liens entre les croyances de parentalité et l'expérience demeuraient quand on contrôlait pour le pays, l'âge et l'éducation. En dépit des limitations imposées par le manque d'invariance de configuration, cette étude transversale et multiculturelle constitue une étape importante dans l'examen des relations entre l'expérience de parentalité et les croyances de parentalité durant la grossesse.

[Patient's Personal Data Protection Awareness: A Survey of Clinical Nurses].

BACKGROUND: The aim of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) is to regulate the collection, processing, and use of personal information; to avoid the infringement of personal rights; and to promote the reasonable use of personal information. Clinical nurses are frontline patient caregivers, and they are the most likely to have access to patients' personal information. If these nurses do not clearly understand the PDPA, they may violate the law and affect patients' rights. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge level of clinical nurses regarding the PDPA and related factors, with the findings intended to serve as a reference for continuing education. METHODS: A cross-sectional research design was adopted. A purposive sample of nurses working at a regional hospital in southern Taiwan was selected. A self-administered survey incorporating the self-developed Nurses Knowledge Scale for Patient Personal Data Protection Act (NKSPPDPA) was used to collect data from May to June 2017. RESULTS: A total of 269 valid responses were received (return rate: 89.67%). The mean score on the NKSPPDPA was 68.80 out of a total-possible 100 points. Knowledge related to patient privacy and penalties was relatively low. Moreover, working department, job title, and participation in PDPA-related on-the-job education were found to be significant predictors of NKSPPDPA score, while years of experience was found to have a low correlation only. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that clinical nurses have knowledge gaps regarding PDPA, especially in terms of privacy and penalties. Nurses should participate in continuing education to address these knowledge gaps.

Autonomous Water Quality Monitoring and Water Surface Cleaning for Unmanned Surface Vehicle.

Water is one of the most precious resources. However, industrial development has made water pollution a critical problem today and thus water quality monitoring and surface cleaning are essential for water resource protection. In this study, we have used the sensor fusion technology as a basis to develop a multi-function unmanned surface vehicle (MF-USV) for obstacle avoidance, water-quality monitoring, and water surface cleaning. The MF-USV comprises a USV control unit, a locomotion module, a positioning module, an obstacle avoidance module, a water quality monitoring system, a water surface cleaning system, a communication module, a power module, and a remote human-machine interface. We equip the MF-USV with the following functions: (1) autonomous obstacle detection, avoidance, and navigation positioning, (2) water quality monitoring, sampling, and positioning, (3) water surface detection and cleaning, and (4) remote navigation control and real-time information display. The experimental results verified that when the floating garbage located in the visual angle ranged from -30° to 30° on the front of the MF-USV and the distances between the floating garbage and the MF-USV were 40 and 70 cm, the success rates of floating garbage detection are all 100%. When the distance between the floating garbage and the MF-USV was 130 cm and the floating garbage was located on the left side (15°~30°), left front side (0°~15°), front side (0°), right front side (0°~15°), and the right side (15°~30°), the success rates of the floating garbage collection were 70%, 92%, 95%, 95%, and 75%, respectively. Finally, the experimental results also verified that the applications of the MF-USV and relevant algorithms to obstacle avoidance, water quality monitoring, and water surface cleaning were effective.

Sleep Duration and Adiposity in Children and Adults: Observational and Mendelian Randomization Studies.

OBJECTIVE: This study used two complementary designs, an observational and a Mendelian randomization (MR) study, to assess whether sleep duration causes adiposity in children and adults. METHODS: In Hong Kong's "Children of 1997" birth cohort, the adjusted cross-sectional associations of sleep duration with BMI z score and obesity and overweight were assessed at ~11 years of age. Generalized estimating equations were also used to examine longitudinal associations of sleep duration at ~11 years with annual BMI z score and obesity and overweight at about 11 to 16 years of age. Using MR, this study assessed the association of genetically predicted sleep duration, based on 54 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, applied to genetic studies of adiposity in children (n = 35,668), men (n = 152,893), and women (n = 171,977). RESULTS: Longer sleep was cross-sectionally associated with lower BMI z score at ~11 years of age (-0.13 per category, 95% CI: -0.22 to -0.04) and at about 11 to 16 years of age longitudinally in girls (-0.39, 95% CI: -0.66 to -0.13). Using MR, sleep duration was inversely associated with BMI in children (-0.29 SD per hour, 95% CI: -0.54 to -0.04), but was not clearly associated with BMI in adults, particularly for women. CONCLUSIONS: A small beneficial effect of sleep on BMI in children cannot be ruled out.

Innovative Strain Sensing for Detection of Exterior Wall Tile Lesion: Smart Skin Sensory System.

Tiles are commonly used to cover the exteriors of buildings in Taiwan. However, older buildings in Taiwan encounter the problem of tiles falling off due to natural deterioration, which is unsightly, and more importantly, a threat to public safety. Nevertheless, no current method exists that can effectively detect flaws in building tiles in real time. This study combined the fields of civil engineering and automatic control to reduce risks caused by falling tiles by improving real-time detection of at-risk areas. Micro-resistance was combined with fuzzy theory as the logical foundation for evaluating tile status. String-type strain gauges were adopted as sensors to design a smart skin sensory system that could measure signs of deterioration in tile surface lesions. The design was found to be feasible. In the future, it can be further developed for facile real-time assessment of tile status.

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Ischemic Heart Disease Risk: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has angiogenic and possibly proatherosclerotic properties. Observationally it is positively associated with cardiovascular disease, although these observations could be confounded or due to reverse causation. We assessed ischemic heart disease (IHD) risk by genetically predicted VEGF, ie, using Mendelian randomization. METHODS AND RESULTS: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) predicting VEGF level, at genome-wide significance, were applied to the CARDIoGRAMplusC4D 1000 Genomes-based genome-wide association study IHD case (n=60 801)-control (n=123 504) study. We obtained unconfounded estimates using instrumental variable analysis by combining the Wald estimates for each SNP using inverse variance weighting and Mendelian randomization-Egger regression. Based on 9 SNPs independently predicting VEGF (rs1740073 [C6orf223], rs2375981 [KCNV2], rs2639990 [ZADH2], rs4782371 [ZFPM1], rs6921438 [LOC100132354], rs7043199 [VLDLR-AS1], rs10761741 [JMJD1C], rs6993770 [ZFPM2], and rs114694170 [MEF2C]), VEGF was unrelated to IHD (odds ratio 0.99 per log-transformed pg/mL, 95%CI 0.96-1.02) using inverse variance weighting. However, Mendelian randomization-Egger regression suggested an inverse relation of VEGF with IHD (odds ratio 0.95, 95%CI 0.91-0.99), although the association was not evident after excluding the lead SNP (rs6921438) or additionally excluding the pleiotropic SNP (rs6993770). CONCLUSIONS: Our study does not provide strong evidence for a positive effect of VEGF on IHD but does not rule out the possibility that some specific types of VEGF, for which genetic predictors have not yet been identified, might play a role.

A Portable Array-Type Optical Fiber Sensing Instrument for Real-Time Gas Detection.

A novel optical fiber array-type of sensing instrument with temperature compensation for real-time detection was developed to measure oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ammonia simultaneously. The proposed instrument is multi-sensing array integrated with real-time measurement module for portable applications. The sensing optical fibers were etched and polished before coating to increase sensitivities. The ammonia and temperature sensors were each composed of a dye-coated single-mode fiber with constructing a fiber Bragg grating and a long-period filter grating for detecting light intensity. Both carbon dioxide and oxygen sensing structures use multimode fibers where 1-hydroxy-3,6,8-pyrene trisulfonic acid trisodium salt is coated for carbon dioxide sensing and Tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) dichlororuthenium(II) hexahydrate and Tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(II) chloride are coated for oxygen sensing. Gas-induced fluorescent light intensity variation was applied to detect gas concentration. The portable gas sensing array was set up by integrating with photo-electronic measurement modules and a human-machine interface to detect gases in real time. The measured data have been processed using piecewise-linear method. The sensitivity of the oxygen sensor were 1.54%/V and 9.62%/V for concentrations less than 1.5% and for concentrations between 1.5% and 6%, respectively. The sensitivity of the carbon dioxide sensor were 8.33%/V and 9.62%/V for concentrations less than 2% and for concentrations between 2% and 5%, respectively. For the ammonia sensor, the sensitivity was 27.78%/V, while ammonia concentration was less than 2%.

Effect of l-arginine, asymmetric dimethylarginine, and symmetric dimethylarginine on ischemic heart disease risk: A Mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND: l-arginine is a commonly consumed dietary conditional essential amino acid found in food items and supplements, which is closely related to asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA). l-arginine is thought to increase nitric oxide and be cardioprotective, whereas ADMA and SDMA may inhibit nitric oxide synthesis and increase cardiovascular disease risk. Unexpectedly, l-arginine increased mortality in a small trial. To clarify the effects of these potential targets of intervention, we assessed the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) by genetically determined l-arginine, ADMA, and SDMA. METHODS: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) contributing to l-arginine, ADMA, and SDMA, at genome-wide significance, were applied to the CARDIoGRAMplusC4D 1000 Genomes-based genome-wide association study IHD case (n=60,801, ~70% myocardial infarction)-control (n=123,504) study. We obtained unconfounded estimates using instrumental variable analysis by combining the Wald estimators for each SNP, taking into account any correlation between SNPs using weighted generalized linear regression. RESULTS: Higher l-arginine was associated with higher risk of IHD (odds ratio [OR] 1.18 per SD increase, 95% CI 1.03-1.36) and of myocardial infarction (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.10-1.51), based on 2 SNPs from MED23. Symmetric dimethylarginine had an OR of 1.07 per SD (95% CI 0.99-1.17) for IHD based on 5 SNPs from AGXT2. Asymmetric dimethylarginine had and OR of 1.08 per SD (95% CI 0.99-1.19) for IHD based on 4 SNPs from DDAH1. CONCLUSION: l-arginine could possibly cause IHD. Given that l-arginine occurs in many common dietary items, investigation of its health effect is required.

A social diffusion model with an application on election simulation.

Issues about opinion diffusion have been studied for decades. It has so far no empirical approach to model the interflow and formation of crowd's opinion in elections due to two reasons. First, unlike the spread of information or flu, individuals have their intrinsic attitudes to election candidates in advance. Second, opinions are generally simply assumed as single values in most diffusion models. However, in this case, an opinion should represent preference toward multiple candidates. Previously done models thus may not intuitively interpret such scenario. This work is to design a diffusion model which is capable of managing the aforementioned scenario. To demonstrate the usefulness of our model, we simulate the diffusion on the network built based on a publicly available bibliography dataset. We compare the proposed model with other well-known models such as independent cascade. It turns out that our model consistently outperforms other models. We additionally investigate electoral issues with our model simulator.

Analysis of building envelope insulation performance utilizing integrated temperature and humidity sensors.

A major cause of high energy consumption for air conditioning in indoor spaces is the thermal storage characteristics of a building's envelope concrete material; therefore, the physiological signals (temperature and humidity) within concrete structures are an important reference for building energy management. The current approach to measuring temperature and humidity within concrete structures (i.e., thermocouples and fiber optics) is limited by problems of wiring requirements, discontinuous monitoring, and high costs. This study uses radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) combined with temperature and humidity sensors (T/H sensors) for the design of a smart temperature and humidity information material (STHIM) that automatically, regularly, and continuously converts temperature and humidity signals within concrete and transmits them by radio frequency (RF) to the Building Physiology Information System (BPIS). This provides a new approach to measurement that incorporates direct measurement, wireless communication, and real-time continuous monitoring to assist building designers and users in making energy management decisions and judgments.