Urinary concentrations of bisphenol A and its alternatives: Potential predictors of and associations with antral follicle count among women from an infertility clinic in Northern China.

BACKGROUND: Experimental studies have suggested exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and its alternatives, such as bisphenol F (BPF) and bisphenol S (BPS), may exert adverse effects on ovarian reserve, but human evidence is limited. Moreover, the potential predictors of exposure to bisphenols among women seeking infertility treatment have not been reported. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether individual or mixture of BPA, BPF, and BPS were related to antral follicle count (AFC), and further identify the predictors of exposure to bisphenols among women seeking assisted reproductive treatment. METHODS: A total of 111 women from a reproductive center in Shenyang, China were enrolled in this study from September 2020 to February 2021. The concentrations of urinary BPA, BPF, and BPS were measured using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadruple mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). AFC was measured by two infertility physicians through transvaginal ultrasonography on the 2-5 days of a natural cycle. Demographic characteristics, dietary habits, and lifestyles were obtained by questionnaires. The associations between individual and mixture of urinary bisphenols concentrations (BPA, BPF, and BPS) and AFC were assessed by the Poisson regression models and the quantile-based g-computation (QGC) model, respectively. The potential predictors of exposure to bisphenols were identified by the multivariate linear regression models. RESULTS: After adjusting for confounders, elevated urinary concentrations of BPA, BPF and BPS were associated with reduced AFC (ß = -0.016; 95%CI: -0.025, -0.006 in BPA; ß = -0.017; 95%CI: -0.029, -0.004 in BPF; ß = -0.128; 95%CI: -0.197, -0.060 in BPS). A quantile increase in the bisphenols mixture was negatively associated with AFC (ß = -0.101; 95%CI: -0.173, -0.030). Intake of fried food had higher urinary concentrations of BPF, BPS, and total bisphenols (∑BPs) than women who did not eat, and age was related to increased urinary BPF concentrations. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicated that exposure to individual BPA, BPF, BPS and bisphenol mixtures were associated with impaired ovarian reserve. Furthermore, the intake of fried food, as identified in this study, could serve as an important bisphenols exposure route for reproductive-aged women.

Differential Impairment Mechanism of Sperm Production via Induction of miR-34c-Activated Apoptosis and Spermatogenesis Pathway in Diet-Induced Obesity and Resistant Mice and GC-1 Spg Cells.

Male reproductive dysfunction is a clinical disease, with a large number of cases being idiopathic. Reproductive disorders have been found in obese (diet-induced obesity and diet-induced obesity-resistant) mice, but the mechanism behind the male reproductive dysfunction between them may be different. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible role and mechanism of miR-34c on sperm production in high-fat-diet-induced obesity-resistant (DIO-R) mice and GC-1 spg cells, which may differ from those in high-fat-diet-induced obesity (DIO) mice. In vivo and in vitro experiments were performed. C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet for 10 weeks to establish the DIO and DIO-R mouse model. GC-1 spg cells were used to verify the mechanism of miR-34c on sperm production. During in vivo experiments, sperm production damage was found in both DIO and DIO-R male mice. Compared to the control mice, significantly decreased levels of testosterone, LH, activities of acrosome enzyme (ACE), HAse, and activating transcription factor 1 (ATF1) were found in both DIO and DIO-R male mice (p < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the ratio of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2)/bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) in the DIO group was significantly decreased, and the expression level of cleaved caspase-3 was significantly increased (p < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the Bcl-2 protein expression level in the testes of the DIO-R group significantly decreased (p < 0.05). However, the Bax expression level increased. Thus, the Bcl-2/Bax ratio significantly decreased (p < 0.01); however, the factor-related apoptosis (Fas), Fas ligand (FasLG), cleaved caspase-8, caspase-8, cleaved caspase-3, and caspase-3 protein expression levels significantly increased (p < 0.05). Compared with the DIO group, in DIO-R mice, the activities of ACE, ATF1, Bcl-2, and Bcl-2/Bax's spermatogenesis protein expression decreased, while the apoptosis-promoting protein expression significantly increased (p < 0.05). During the in vitro experiment, the late and early apoptotic ratio in the miR-34c over-expression group increased. MiR-34c over-expression enhanced the expression of apoptosis-related proteins Fas/FasLG and Bax/Bcl-2 while inhibiting the expression of ATF1 and the sperm-associated protein in GC-1 spg cells. DIO and DIO-R could harm sperm production. DIO-R could impair sperm production by inducing the miR-34c-activated apoptosis and spermatogenesis pathway, which may be different from that of DIO.

Urinary bisphenol A and S are associated with diminished ovarian reserve in women from an infertility clinic in Northern China.

Bisphenol A (BPA) has been demonstrated to cause ovarian toxicity including disruption of steroidogenesis and inhibition of follicle growth. Still, human evidence is lacking on its analogs such as bisphenol F (BPF) and bisphenol S (BPS). In this study, we aimed to investigate the associations between exposure to BPA, BPF, and BPS with ovarian reserve in women of childbearing age. We recruited 111 women from an infertility clinic in Shenyang, North China between September 2020 and February 2021. Anti-müllerian hormone (AMH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and estradiol (E2) were measured as indicators of ovarian reserve. Urinary BPA, BPF, and BPS concentrations were quantified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadruple mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Linear and logistic regression models were applied to assess the associations between urinary BPA, BPF, and BPS levels and indicators of ovarian reserve and DOR, respectively. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) models were further utilized to explore potential non-linear associations. Our results showed that urinary BPS concentrations were negatively associated with AMH (ß = - 0.287, 95 %CI: - 0.505, - 0.070, P = 0.010) and this inverse relationship was further confirmed in the RCS model. In addition, higher levels of BPA and BPS exposure were associated with increased DOR risk (BPA: OR = 7.112, 95 %CI: 1.247, 40.588, P = 0.027; BPS: OR = 6.851, 95 %CI: 1.241, 37.818, P = 0.027). No significant associations of BPF exposure with ovarian reserve. Our findings implied that higher BPA and BPS exposure may be related to decreased ovarian reserve.

Prediction and analysis of COVID-19 daily new cases and cumulative cases: times series forecasting and machine learning models.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 poses a severe threat to global human health, especially the USA, Brazil, and India cases continue to increase dynamically, which has a far-reaching impact on people's health, social activities, and the local economic situation. METHODS: The study proposed the ARIMA, SARIMA and Prophet models to predict daily new cases and cumulative confirmed cases in the USA, Brazil and India over the next 30 days based on the COVID-19 new confirmed cases and cumulative confirmed cases data set(May 1, 2020, and November 30, 2021) published by the official WHO, Three models were implemented in the R 4.1.1 software with forecast and prophet package. The performance of different models was evaluated by using root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). RESULTS: Through the fitting and prediction of daily new case data, we reveal that the Prophet model has more advantages in the prediction of the COVID-19 of the USA, which could compose data components and capture periodic characteristics when the data changes significantly, while SARIMA is more likely to appear over-fitting in the USA. And the SARIMA model captured a seven-day period hidden in daily COVID-19 new cases from 3 countries. While in the prediction of new cumulative cases, the ARIMA model has a better ability to fit and predict the data with a positive growth trend in different countries(Brazil and India). CONCLUSIONS: This study can shed light on understanding the outbreak trends and give an insight into the epidemiological control of these regions. Further, the prediction of the Prophet model showed sufficient accuracy in the daily COVID-19 new cases of the USA. The ARIMA model is suitable for predicting Brazil and India, which can help take precautions and policy formulation for this epidemic in other countries.

Modulating Built-In Electric Field via Variable Oxygen Affinity for Robust Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Neutral Media.

Work function strongly impacts the surficial charge distribution, especially for metal-support electrocatalysts when a built-in electric field (BEF) is constructed. Therefore, studying the correlation between work function and BEF is crucial for understanding the intrinsic reaction mechanism. Herein, we present a Pt@CoOx electrocatalyst with a large work function difference (ΔΦ) and strong BEF, which shows outstanding hydrogen evolution activity in a neutral medium with a 4.5-fold mass activity higher than 20 % Pt/C. Both experimental and theoretical results confirm the interfacial charge redistribution induced by the strong BEF, thus subtly optimizing hydrogen and hydroxide adsorption energy. This work not only provides fresh insights into the neutral hydrogen evolution mechanism but also proposes new design principles toward efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen production in a neutral medium.

Prenatal anxiety and the associated factors among Chinese pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic--a smartphone questionnaire survey study.

BACKGROUNDS: The uncertainty of the pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) brought about tremendous psychological harm for pregnant women, causing their high rates of prenatal anxiety. The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and symptoms of pregnant status are highly linked with prenatal anxiety. Whereas, self-efficacy and support from family and friends could attenuate the development of prenatal anxiety. Thus, the purpose of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of prenatal anxiety and its influence factors among pregnant women during the pandemic of COVID-19 in Shenyang, China. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with face-to-face interview between April 24, 2020 and May 3, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic was applied among pregnant women in Shenyang Women's and Children's Hospital. Chi-square tests were calculated to determine the differences in prenatal anxiety among categorical variables. Multivariable logistic regression was employed to investigate the risk factors of prenatal anxiety. RESULTS: The percentage of prenatal anxiety (GAD-7 score ≥ 7) among pregnant women during the pandemic of COVID-19 was 34/304 (11.18%). Logistic regression indicated that vomiting (OR 4.454, 95% CI 1.113-17.821) and feeling susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 2.966, 95% CI 1.151-7.642) increased the odds of prenatal anxiety. Satisfaction with medical care (OR 0.303, 95% CI 0.113-0.813) and self-efficacy (OR 0.253, 95% CI 0.100-0.639) decreased the odds of prenatal anxiety. High monthly income (OR 0.246, 95% CI 0.078 ~ 0.780) reduced the chances of suffering from prenatal anxiety. CONCLUSION: The pregnant women in China exerted a higher prevalence of prenatal anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic than that without COVID-19 pandemic. Effective management on symptoms of pregnant status should be delivered to relieve prenatal anxiety for the pregnant women. Furthermore, interventions on self-efficacy enhancement and high-quality medical prenatal care should be provided to prevent from the susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 infection and reduce prenatal anxiety.

Circ-Foxo3 is positively associated with the Foxo3 gene and leads to better prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia patients.

BACKGROUND: The Foxo3 gene, belonging to the forkhead family, is one of the classes of transcription factors characterized by a forkhead DNA-binding domain, which usually considered being a cancer suppressor gene. Circ-Foxo3 is a circular structure which connects the 3'end to the 5'end. Scholars detected that circ-Foxo3 could compete with Foxo3 for binding to some miRNAs. METHODS: In this study, we will test the expression of Foxo3 and circ-Foxo3 in de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients to explore the relationship between Foxo3 gene and circ-Foxo3. All the de novo AML samples and normal control samples was measured by real-time quantitative PCR. A receiver operating characteristic curve was conducted to differentiate AML patients from control people. Association of Foxo3 expression and overall survival was conducted by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. RESULTS: We found that the expression of Foxo3 gene in de novo patients was significantly lower than control samples (P = 0.009). Meanwhile, circ-Foxo3 also expressed lower in de novo AML patients than in control samples (P = 0.040). In different classifications, this trend could be observed more remarkably. In non-M3 patients, the Foxo3 high patients' survival time was longer than Foxo3 low patients (P = 0.002). Besides, in non-favorable risk groups, patients with low expression of Foxo3 had longer survival time than Foxo3 high patients (P = 0.004). Furthermore, in normal Karyotypic patients, the overall survival time of patients with high-expressed Foxo3 was significantly longer than those with low expression (P = 0.034). Besides, Pearson analysis was also conducted between these two genes in AML patients. Results revealed that they were positively correlated (R = 0.63, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we found that low expression of circ-Foxo3 and Foxo3 were frequent in AML patients, and patients with high expression of Foxo3 often had a trend of better prognosis.

Low Expression of FUS1 Is Negatively Correlated with miR-378 and May Predict Adverse Prognoses in Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

FUS1 is a tumor suppressor gene that has been found to be frequently lost in a variety of solid tumors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression status of the FUS1 gene in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), as well as its clinical significance. We further explored the correlation between the expression of FUS1 and miR-378 in AML. We detected expression of the FUS1 transcript in bone marrow mononuclear cells from 23 controls and 158 newly diagnosed AML patients by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Downregulated FUS1 expression was found in 139 out of 158 (87.97%) AML cases; this rate was significantly lower than that in all 23 controls (p = 0.012). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the FUS1 transcript level could discriminate AML patients from controls effectively (area under the ROC curve = 0.663). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that non-M3-AML patients with a low FUS1 expression had a shorter overall survival (p = 0.049) and leukemia-free survival (p = 0.051) than those with a high FUS1 expression. Furthermore, we studied the correlation between the expression of FUS1 and miR-378 in 53 newly diagnosed AML patients. We found that the correlation coefficient was -0.346, which showed that FUS1 and miR-378 were negatively correlated in AML patients (p = 0.011). These results indicate that the low expression of FUS1 is a common molecular event in AML.

Trends in obesity, overweight, and malnutrition among children and adolescents in Shenyang, China in 2010 and 2014: a multiple cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence, characteristics, and trends in obesity, overweight, and malnutrition among children and adolescents in 2010 and 2014 in Shenyang, China was described. METHODS: This was a multiple cross-sectional study using data from the 2010 and 2014 National Survey on Students' Constitution and Health. A total of 31,031 children and adolescents were included in this survey. Differences in the percentages of obesity, overweight, and malnutrition by age, gender, and living region in 2010 and 2014 were compared using the χ2 test. Stepwise logistic regression was performed to select potential covariates for the dependent variable (overweight, obesity, or malnutrition). RESULTS: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in 2010 was 8.99% and 13.72%, respectively, and 12.64% and 14.06% in 2014, respectively. The prevalence of malnutrition was 10.68% and 10.69% in 2010, and 2014, respectively. In 2010 and 2014, boys and girls 7-11 years of age had higher rates of obesity than other age groups (P < 0.01). The prevalence of obesity and overweight was significantly higher in the urban residents compared to the rural residents, and was also significantly higher in boys than girls (P < 0.01); however, the prevalence of malnutrition was significantly lower in boys than girls (P < 0.01). Compared to 2010, the prevalence of obesity in 2014 increased significantly in boys and girls, and urban and rural residents (P < 0.05), but the prevalence of malnutrition did not change. The prevalence of obesity, overweight, and malnutrition was associated with gender, age, and living region by univariate logistic regressions. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of obesity and overweight has continuously risen since 2010, and there is a low-age trend of obesity and overweight among children and adolescents in Shenyang, China. The increasing rate of obesity and overweight was faster in rural than urban areas. Malnutrition did not significantly decrease during the 4-year period from 2010-2014.

High expression of OCT4 is frequent and may cause undesirable treatment outcomes in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

In recent years, many researches have shown that OCT4 is overexpressed in both germ cell tumors and somatic cancers. Meanwhile, OCT4 has relationship with poor prognosis in a lot of solid tumors, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, gastric cancer, and esophageal cancer. In our study, we investigated the expression status of OCT4 and its clinical significance in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) using real-time quantitative PCR. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve reveals that the level of OCT4 expression could be available for a potential diagnostic biomarker for differentiating AML from controls with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.915 (95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.837-0.992; P < 0.001). At the cutoff value of 0.56, the sensitivity and the specificity are 75.9 and 81.2 %, respectively. The amount of white blood cell (WBC) of patients with high OCT4 expression is higher than that of patients with low OCT4 expression (18.2 × 10(9) versus 2.7 × 10(9) L(-1), P = 0.001). Among those patients who are less than 70 years old, patients with OCT4 high expression have significantly shorter overall survival (OS) than those without OCT4 high expression (P = 0.048). These findings suggest that OCT4 high expression is a common event and may have an adverse impact on prognosis in AML.

Decreased Treg cells induced by bisphenol A is associated with up-regulation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway and Foxp3 DNA methylation in spleen of adolescent mice.

The current study aimed to explore whether bisphenol A (BPA) exposure aggravated the decrease in Tregs induced by ovalbumin (OVA) in adolescent female mouse models of asthma, and whether the process was associated with mTOR-mediated signaling pathways and DNA methylation levels. A total of 40 female C57BL/6 mice at the age of four weeks were used and divided into five groups after 1 week of domestication. Each group consisted of eight mice: the control group, OVA group, OVA + BPA (0.1 µg mL-1) group, OVA + BPA (0.2 µg mL-1) group, and OVA + BPA (0.4 µg mL-1) group. Results revealed that Foxp3 protein levels decreased in the spleens of mice exposed to BPA compared to those in the OVA group. After an elevation in BPA dose, the mRNAs of methyltransferases (Dnmt1, Dnmt3a, and Dnmt3b) were gradually upregulated. The mechanism was related to the activity of TLR4/NF-κB and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathways and the enhancement of Foxp3 DNA methylation. Our results, collectively, provided a new view for studying the mechanisms underlying BPA exposure-induced immune dysfunction. Investigation of the regulatory mechanisms of DNA methylation in the abnormal Th immune response caused by BPA exposure could help reveal the causes and molecular mechanisms underlying the high incidence of allergic diseases in children in recent years.

Oxidative Stress Mediated by N6-Methyladenosine Methylation Contributes to High-Fat Diet Induced Male Reproductive Dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the mechanism of oxidative stress mediated by N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation contributing to high fat diet-induced reproductive dysfunction. RESULTS: In vivo, compared with those in the Control group, the sperm count and sperm motility decrease significantly; the testosterone, luteinizing hormone levels, hyaluronidase, acrosomal enzyme levels, and total antioxidant capacity decrease significantly; malondialdehyde increases significantly in the DIO and DIO-R groups. The expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), and NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 (NQO1) decreases significantly in the DIO and DIO-R groups; m6A levels in testis tissue in the DIO and DIO-R groups increase; the enrichment of m6A-modified Nrf2 mRNA in testis in the DIO group and DIO-R group increases significantly. Also the m6A regulatory proteins increase significantly in the DIO group and DIO-R group. In vitro, compared to palmitic acid treated cells, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level significantly decreases in STM2457, S-Adenosylhomocysteine treated cells and YTHDC2, YTHDF2 gene silence cells; however, Nrf2 expression increases in all treated cells. In addition, m6A expression decreases. CONCLUSIONS: Oxidative stress mediates by methylation of m6A may contribute to high fat diet-induced male reproductive dysfunction.

Impact of prepubertal obesity induced by high-fat diet during lactation and post-weaning on puberty initiation and neuroendocrine function in a female mouse model.

PURPOSE: To explore the effects of prepubertal obesity induced by high-fat diet during lactation and post-weaning on puberty onset and the neuroendocrine changes before puberty onset in a female mouse model, which may explain obesity in children starting early puberty. METHODS: A total of 72 female mice were assigned to the high fat diet group (HFD) and the control diet group (CONT) during lactation and post-weaning. The bodily indexes; pathological changes; and protein and gene expression levels in the hypothalamus were examined on postnatal days (P) 15, 28, and 45, respectively. RESULTS: The average vaginal opening time in HFD mice occurred significantly earlier than that in CONT mice (p < 0.05). On P15, no significant difference in the MKRN3, kisspeptin, GPR54 and GnRH level between HFD and CONT mice was noted (p > 0.05). Whereas on P28 and 45, compared to CONT mice, GnRH expression in HFD mice was significantly increased (p < 0.05); kisspeptin and GPR54 expression in HFD mice was also significantly increased (p < 0.05); but the MKRN3 level in HFD mice was significantly lower than that in CONT mice (p < 0.05). On P15, 28, and 45, compared with CONT mice, miR-30b expression in HFD mice increased (p < 0.05). Compared to P15, miR-30b, KiSS-1, GPR54 and GnRH mRNA level increased significantly, however MKRN3 decreased significantly in HFD mice on P28 and 45 (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Prepubertal obesity induced by high-fat diet during lactation and post-weaning may advance the time of pubertal initiation in female mice. The increased expression of miR-30b, kisspeptin, GPR54 and GnRH, decreased the expression of MKRN3 may explain the early onset of puberty in obese female mice.

Nrf2-mediated protective effect of alpha-lipoic acid on synaptic oxidative damage and inhibition of PKC/ERK/CREB pathway in bisphenol A-exposed HT-22 cells.

The harmful effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on learning and memory may involve hippocampal oxidative damage; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Antioxidants that antagonize BPA-induced neuronal oxidative damage lack research. This study aimed to develop an in vitro model using the HT-22 mouse hippocampal neuronal cell line to investigate the neurotoxic mechanism of BPA and the protective effect of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) inhibition. The results showed that ALA reduced BPA-induced reactive oxygen species and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) levels; however, inhibiting Nrf2 weakened the protective effects of ALA. BPA reduced mitochondrial complex I/III activity and ATP levels, but ALA ameliorated this damage. ALA improved the BPA-induced downregulation of the kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (keap1)/Nrf2 system, synaptic-related proteins, and the protein kinase C (PKC)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) pathway; however, the protective effects of ALA were weakened when Nrf2 was inhibited. Our results suggest that BPA causes oxidative damage to HT-22 cells by damaging mitochondrial function, nNOS, and the keap1/Nrf2 system, thereby impairing synaptic-related proteins and the PKC/ERK/CREB pathway. ALA counters BPA-induced damage via Nrf2, which may be a significant target for the protective action of ALA.

Transcriptomic evidence of hypothalamus for maternal fructose exposure induced offspring hypertension through AT1R/TLR4 pathway.

Maternal fructose exposure during pregnancy and lactation has been shown to contribute to hypertension in offspring, with long-term effects on hypothalamus development. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we used the tail-cuff method to evaluate the effects of maternal fructose drinking exposure on offspring blood pressure levels at postpartum day 21 (PND21) and postpartum day 60 (PND60). We employed Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) full-length RNA sequencing to investigate the developmental programming of the PND60 offspring's hypothalamus and confirmed the presence of the AT1R/TLR4 pathway using western blot and immunofluorescence. Our findings demonstrated that maternal fructose exposure significantly increased blood pressure in PND60 offspring but not in PND21 offspring. Additionally, we observed transcriptome-wide alterations in the hypothalamus of PND60 offspring following maternal fructose exposure. Overall, our study provides evidence that maternal fructose exposure during pregnancy and lactation may alter the transcriptome-wide of offspring hypothalamus and activate the AT1R/TLR4 pathway, leading to hypertension. These findings may have important implications for the prevention and treatment of hypertension-related diseases in offspring exposed to excessive fructose during pregnancy and lactation.

Investigation of laser-induced damage by various initiators on the subsurface of fused silica.

We develop a model that describes the effect of size distribution of nanoabsorbers on the subsurface of fused silica on laser-damage probability. Using Mie theory and heat equation, we obtain the correlation between the critical fluence and particle radius. Considering a power law distribution of nanoabsorbers, the curves of laser-damage probability are calculated based on experimental results of contents of contaminations and a fit parameter of size distribution of nanoabsorbers. This paper presents the influence of various potential candidates, jointly, on laser-induced damage.

Effect of (R)-α-lipoic acid supplementation on serum lipids and antioxidative ability in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Supplementation with antioxidants is of special interest in preventing or delaying the development and progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This investigation aimed to assess the effect of α- lipoic acid (LA) on serum lipids, serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in patients with AMD. METHODS: A total of 62 patients (50-75 years old) with early and intermediate dry form of AMD were randomly assigned to two groups, i.e. LA administration (n = 32) and placebo (n = 30). The levels of serum lipids and MDA and SOD activity were measured before and after LA and placebo intervention. RESULTS: Compared with the parameters at baseline, serum total cholesterol (CHO), triglyceride and high- and low-density lipoprotein CHO (HDL and LDL) levels were not significantly different after LA and placebo intervention. There was a slight but statistically nonsignificant decrease in serum MDA levels and a statistically significant increase in serum SOD activity after LA intervention. There were no statistically significant differences in serum MDA levels or SOD activity after placebo intervention. CONCLUSION: The apparent increase in SOD activity caused by LA supplementation indicates that LA may have a possible preventive effect in the development of AMD through an antioxidant mechanism.

[Study on characteristics of laser ablation in KTP crystal and its influence on the Raman spectroscopy].

The research and development of the KTP crystal with high threshold is of very importance for its application in high-energy laser systems. Ablation characteristics in KTP crystal as well as their influence on the Raman spectroscopy were studied by UV laser with high repetition frequency. The research results show that the laser plasma effects are the main reasons for the damage in the KTP crystal. The inverse bremsstrahlung absorption effect can increase the deposition of the laser pulse energy greatly; the ionization effect can make the crystal dislocated completely; shock wave effect can push away the mixture of melted, vaporized and ionized materials and cause cracks in the pit. Through investigation and comparison of the Raman spectroscopy before and after the laser ablation, it was found that the distribution characteristics of Raman peaks are almost the same, suggesting that the basic structures of KTP crystal do not change. But almost all the Raman characteristic peaks' R1R values have changed and the widths are broadened, which means that the crystalline degree has been decreased. The Raman peaks of TiO6 and PO4 oxygen polyhedron shift to the lower wave number, which indicates that bonding force becomes weaker and the KTP crystal can be damaged easily.

Association of waist circumference with blood pressure and familial dietary habits in preschool children: a cross-sectional study in northeastern China.

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity increases the risk of elevated blood pressure (BP) in children. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) are traditional obesity indices, but the extent to which these indices are associated with elevated BP in childhood remains debatable. Moreover, the familial dietary environment plays an important role in obesity, so it is necessary to determine the most relevant dietary factors for childhood obesity to prevent elevated BP. Our study aimed to identify the obesity indices that are most closely associated with elevated BP and then to determine the independent familial dietary factors for those obesity indices. METHOD: A total of 605 children aged 2 to 6 years, as well as their parents, were involved in this study. The weight, height, WC and BP of the children were measured. Information on familial environments was obtained by questionnaires completed by the parents. BMI, WC and WHtR were standardized into z scores, and categorical variables of these three obesity indices were defined as BMI Category, WC Category and WHtR Category. Logistic regression was used to analyse the associations between all obesity indices and elevated BP. Multivariate linear regression and logistic regression were used to determine the independent factors for obesity indices. RESULTS: The obesity indices that were most closely associated with elevated BP were WC and WC Category. Parental BMI, birth weight, eating wheat as a staple food, appetite, eating speed, snacking while watching TV, parental encouragement to eat a diverse assortment of foods and drinking milk were independently associated with WC in both males and females. The risk of abdominal obesity increased 1.375 times in males and 1.631 times in females if appetite increased one level. If eating speed increased one level, the risk of abdominal obesity increased 1.165 times in males and 0.905 times in females. Females who drank milk more than 6 times per week had a 0.546 times lower risk of abdominal obesity. CONCLUSION: WC was an anthropometric parameter more closely associated with elevated BP. In addition to genetics, some familial dietary factors involving eating preference, eating habits and parental feeding practice were independently associated with WC and abdominal obesity in preschool children.

Learning and memory impairment and transcriptomic profile in hippocampus of offspring after maternal fructose exposure during gestation and lactation.

Increased fructose intake is a global issue, especially in mothers. Maternal fructose exposure during gestation and lactation can affect learning and memory in offspring; however, the detailed mechanism is still unknown. The hippocampus is a mind locale liable for learning and memory. Here, we established a maternal high-fructose diet model by administering 13% and 40% fructose water, applied the Morris Water Maze test on postnatal day 60 offspring, and performed full-length RNA sequencing using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies platform to explore the changes in gene expression in the hippocampus. The results showed that learning and memory in offspring were negatively affected. Compared with the control group, 369 differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) were identified in the 13% fructose group, and 501 DETs were identified in the 40% fructose group. Gene Ontology enriched term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enriched pathway analyses identified several terms and pathways related to brain development and cognitive function. Furthermore, we confirmed that the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway was down-regulated and neuron degeneration was enhanced. In summary, our results indicate that maternal fructose exposure during gestation and lactation can impair learning and memory in offspring and affect brain function at the transcriptome level.