Data_Sheet_1_Maternal Secondhand Smoke Exposure Enhances Macrosomia Risk Among Pregnant Women Exposed to PM2.5: A New Interaction of Two Air Pollutants in a Nationwide Cohort.PDF

Background: Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is one of the most common outdoor air pollutants, and secondhand smoking (SHS) is an important source of inhalable indoor air pollution. Previous studies were controversial and inconsistent about PM2.5 and SHS air pollutants on neonatal birth weight outcomes, and no studies assessed the potential interactive effects between PM2.5 and SHS on birth weight outcomes.Purpose: To investigate the interaction between gestational PM2.5 and SHS air pollution exposure on the risk of macrosomia among pregnant women and examine the modifying effect of SHS exposure on the association of PM2.5 air pollution and birth weight outcomes during pregnancy.Methods: Research data were derived from the National Free Preconception Health Examination Project (NFPHEP), which lasted 3 years from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2012. At least 240,000 Chinese women from 220 counties were enrolled in this project. PM2.5 exposure concentration was obtained using a hindcast model specific for historical PM2.5 estimation from satellite-retrieved aerosol optic depth. Different interaction models about air pollution exposure on birth weight outcomes were established, according to the adjustment of different confounding factors and different pregnancy stages. The establishment of interaction models was based on multivariable logistic regression, and the main confounding factors were maternal age at delivery and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) of participants. SHS subgroups analysis was conducted to further confirm the results of interaction models.Results: In total, 197,877 participants were included in our study. In the full-adjusted interaction model, maternal exposure to PM2.5 was associated with an increased risk of macrosomia in whole, the first-, second-, and third trimesters of pregnancy (p 2.5 and SHS on the risk of macrosomia in the whole (interaction p 0.050) or third trimester (interaction p > 0.050) of pregnancy. The higher frequency of SHS exposure prompted the stronger interaction between the two air pollutants in the whole pregnancy and the first-trimester pregnancy.Conclusions: In the whole and first-trimester pregnancy, maternal exposure to SHS during pregnancy enhanced the risk of macrosomia among pregnant women exposed to PM2.5 air pollutants, and the interaction became stronger with the higher frequency of SHS exposure.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Are two beneficial mutations (p.Q249R and 90-bp Indel) within the ovine BMPRIB gene associated with growth traits?.zip

BackgroundThe problem of achieving economic efficiency in sheep breeding can be largely solved by increasing sheep productivity. Recently, the BMPRIB gene has been revealed by GWAS as a potential candidate gene for sheep body morphometric traits. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether genetic polymorphisms (p.Q249R SNP and 90-bp deletion) in the BMPRIB gene are associated with sheep growth traits.MethodsPCR-based genotyping was performed on 1,875 sheep, including 1,191 Guiqian semi-fine wool (GQSFW), 560 Luxi Blackhead (LXBH), 55 Lanzhou fat-tailed (LZFT), and 69 Weining (WN) sheep. Genotype–phenotype association was assessed using the independent samples t-test and ANOVA. The significance level was set at αoriginal ResultsAfter the Bonferroni correction, it was found that individuals with FecB+/FecB+ genotypes of the p.Q249R had significantly better growth traits in LXBH ewe lambs, including the body length, chest width, paunch girth, cannon circumference, and hip width (PConclusionOur findings align with the experimental observations from GWAS, which identified the BMPRIB gene as a potential candidate gene for body measurement traits. These findings not only confirm the previous study's results but also expand on them. Therefore, further investigations regarding the impact of BMPRIB polymorphisms on growth traits are necessary in other sheep breeds.</p

Facile Assembly of Hybrid Micro-Supercapacitors for a Sunlight-Powered Energy Storage System

Herein, hybrid micro-supercapacitors (MSCs), consisting of positive CoNi layer double hydroxides (LDHs) decorated on carbon nanotubes (CoNi LDHs@CNTs) and negative CNT electrodes, were assembled by facile drop-coated and electrodeposition methods. The as-fabricated MSCs were optimized in view of electrochemical performance, and the CoNi LDHs-2@CNTs//CNT MSC exhibited a favorable performance and was thus chosen to be the candidate for MSC device package. The packaged CoNi LDHs-2@CNTs//CNT MSC demonstrated a large areal capacitance of 11.0 mF·cm–2 at a current density of 0.08 mA·cm–2, a good rate performance (56% areal capacitance retained at a higher current density of 0.4 mA·cm–2), and a favorable cycling stability and reversibility (92% of the original areal capacitance was retained after 5000 cycles). Furthermore, the MSC device recorded an energy density of 1.5 μWh·cm–2 at a power density of 42.5 μW·cm–2 and was successfully applied for the storage of energy supplied by solar cells to operate a red light-emitting diode. All these findings demonstrated the promising practical energy storage application of the as-fabricated hybrid MSC devices in the construction of sunlight-powered energy storage systems

Alignment.

<p>Alignment of part of type VI collagen alpha 1 sequence for mouse, rat and human.</p

CO6-MMP serum levels in CCl4-treated rats.

<p>CCl4 rat liver fibrosis model: (A) Serum CO6-MMP was assessed in control rats at termination (controls) as well as in CCl4-treated rats at termination (CCl4) at weeks 8, 12, 16, 20. Results shown are mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM); (B) Serum CO6-MMP in all controls pooled and CCl4 rat stratified in quartiles according to total collagen in the liver; (C) Correlations between CO6-MMP and Sirius red in (C) CCl4 rats and in (D) control rats; Asterisks indicate statistical significance as indicated by bars. (** = p<0.05; *** = p<0.001, ns = non-significant difference).</p

Assay characteristics.

<p>(A+B) ELISA run showing typical standard curves and native reactivity against (A) Human serum, plasma, (B) Rodent: Rat serum and plasma; mouse serum, plasma and urine. Native material was run undiluted, 1∶2, 1∶4, and 1∶8 as indicated (—).The signal is seen as the optical density at 450 nm, subtracting the background at 650 nm, as a function of peptide concentration; (C+D) Characterization of the CO6-MMP assay with regards to reactivity against (C) intact type VI collagen (CO6 intact), type VI collagen cleaved by MMP-2 (CO6/MMP-2), type VI collagen cleaved by MMP-9 (CO6/MMP-9), type VI collagen cleaved by fibroblast activation protein (FAP) (CO6/FAP), elongated peptide with extension of one amino acid at the neo-epitope site; (D) Intact type I collagen (CO1), type I collagen cleaved by MMP-2 (CO1/MMP-2), type I collagen cleaved by MMP-9 (CO1/MMP-9), intact type IV collagen (CO4), type IV collagen cleaved by MMP-2 (CO4/MMP-2), type IV collagen cleaved by MMP-9 (CO4/MMP-9), type IV collagen cleaved by pepsin (CO4/pepsin).</p

CO6-MMP serum levels in BDL-rats.

<p>BDL rat liver fibrosis model. Serum CO6-MMP was assessed in BDL and sham operated rats at termination. Termination time points were 2 and 4 weeks after surgery. Levels of CO6-MMP were significantly elevated in BDL rats compared to sham levels at both the two-( mean BDL 29.5 ng/mL, mean sham: 14.2 ng/mL, p = 0.0001) and four week mean BDL: 33.0 ng/ml, (mean sham: 11.8 ng/mL, p = 0.0003) termination point.</p

Inter- and intra-assay variation for the CO6-MMP assays using human serum quality control samples.

<p>The variation was calculated as the mean variation between 10 individual determinations of each sample.</p

Analyte stability in three rat- and three human serum samples in 10 freeze/thaw cycles.

<p>All data are shown as percent recovery compared to day 0 or 1 freeze/thaw cycle.</p

Type VI collagen in the liver.

<p>(A) Sirius Red photomicrographs showing the hepatic structure in rats 4 weeks after a sham operation (1), 2 weeks after BDL (2) and 4 weeks after BDL (3) (B) Immunohistochemical analysis of type VI collagen. Type VI collagen is localized around fibrotic structures. (C) Sirius Red photomicrographs showing the hepatic structure in rats 20 weeks after vehicle treatment (7), 8 weeks of CCl4 treatment (8), 12 weeks of CCl4 treatment (9), 16 weeks of CCl4 treatment (10) and 20 weeks of CCl4 treatment (11). (D) Immunohistochemical analysis of type VI collagen. Type VI collagen is localized around the fibrotic bands. Original magnification ×40.</p