Adolescents’ perceptions of digital media’s potential to elicit jealousy, conflict and monitoring behaviors within romantic relationships

Understanding the role of digital media in adolescents’ romantic relationships is essential to the prevention of digital dating violence. This study focuses on adolescents’ perceptions of the impact of digital media on jealousy, conflict, and control within their romantic relationships. Twelve focus group interviews were conducted, among 55 secondary school students (ngirls = 28; 51% girls) between the ages of 15 and 18 years (Mage = 16.60 years; SD age = 1.21), in the Dutch-speaking community of Belgium. The respondents identified several sources of jealousy within their romantic relationships, such as online pictures of the romantic partner with others and online messaging with others. Adolescents identified several ways in which romantic partners would react when experiencing feelings of jealousy, such as contacting the person they saw as a threat or looking up the other person’s social media profiles. Along with feelings of jealousy, respondents described several monitoring behaviors, such as reading each other’s e-mails or accessing each other’s social media accounts. Adolescents also articulated several ways that they curated their social media to avoid conflict and jealousy within their romantic relationships. For instance, they adapted their social media behavior by avoiding the posting of certain pictures, or by ceasing to comment on certain content of others. The discussion section includes suggestions for future research and implications for practice, such as the need to incorporate information about e-safety into sexual and relational education and the need to have discussions with adolescents, about healthy boundaries for communication within their friendships and romantic relationships.</jats:p

IMPROVING AIR QUALITY IN HANOI, VIETNAM : STUDY OF FINE AND COARSE PARTICLES

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Postharvest loss in the supply chain for vegetables – The case of chili and tomato in Viet Nam

AVRDC Publication 06-685Christian Genova II, Katinka Weinberger, Hoang Bang An, Dang Dinh Dam, Nguyen Thi Tan Loc, Le Nhu Thinh, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thu

Maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy is associated with risk of low birth weight: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis

Background: Considerable controversy exists regarding the relation between maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and risk of low birth weight (birth weight <2,500 g). We aim to assess this association using a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Methods: Potential articles were identified by searching MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases through 17 July 2013. Two authors independently extracted information on study design, participant characteristics and estimates of associations. Random-effects models were used to derive the summary relative risks (RRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Dose–response relationships were assessed using generalized least-squares trend estimation. Results: In our meta-analysis, we included 13 prospective studies: 9 with low birth weight as a binary outcome variable (90,747 participants and 6,303 cases) and 6 with birth weight as a continuous outcome variable (10,015 participants; 2 studies reported both types of outcomes). Compared with the reference category with no or very low caffeine intake, the RR (95% CI) of low birth weight was 1.13 (1.06 to 1.21; I2 0.0%) for low intake (50 to 149 mg/day), 1.38 (1.18 to 1.62; I2 31.9%) for moderate intake (150 to 349 mg/day), and 1.60 (1.24 to 2.08; I2 65.8%) for high intake (≥350 mg/day). In the dose–response analysis, each 100-mg/day increment in maternal caffeine intake (around one cup of coffee) was associated with 13% (RR 1.13, 1.06 to 1.21) higher risk of low birth weight. The association persisted in strata defined according to various study characteristics. Moderate (−33 g, 95% CI −63 to −4; I2 0.3%) and high (−69 g, 95% CI −102 to −35; I2 0.0%) caffeine intakes were also associated with a significantly lower birth weight as compared with the reference category. Conclusions: Higher maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of delivering low birth weight infants. These findings support recommendations to restrict caffeine intake during pregnancy to low levels. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-014-0174-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Chemical diversity of essential oils of rhizomes of six species of Zingiberaceae family

In this study, the essential oils from the rhizomes of six species belonging to the Zingiberaceae family, including Zingiber zerumbet, Curcuma pierreana, Globba macrocarpa, Alpinia conchigera, Stahlianthus campanulatus and Amomum sp., collected in Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve were isolated using hydrodistillation, and their constituents were identified via Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. A total of 91 constituents have been identified from essential oils. These compounds were classified into 4 clusters by Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis. The principal constituents of the essential oils isolated from four species, C. pierreana, S. campanulatus, A. conchigera, and Z. zerumbet contained camphene (18.82%), α-copaene (11.75%), p-xylene (21.86%), and α-santalene (17.91%), which were significantly different from those in previous reports. Furthermore, this study revealed the chemical constituents of essential oils of G. macrocarpa and Amomum sp. for the first time. Accordingly, artemisia triene (22.21%), β-pinene (13.57%), 4,6,8-trimethylazulene (11.1%), 2-tert-butylquinoline (9.86%), β-patchoulene (7.06%), α-elemene (6.93%), and β-ocimene (6.0%) were the major compounds in essential oils of G. macrocarpa rhizomes whereas the oil of Amomum sp. was found to be rich in 2-carene (21.82%), fenchyl acetate (14.26%), 3-carene (8.28%), bornyl acetate (7.7%), and D-limonene (7.13%)

PRIMMO study protocol : a phase II study combining PD-1 blockade, radiation and immunomodulation to tackle cervical and uterine cancer

Background: Immunotherapeutic approaches have revolutionized oncological practice but are less evaluated in gynecological malignancies. PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in gynecological cancers showed objective responses in 13-17% of patients. This could be due to immunosuppressive effects exerted by gynecological tumors on the microenvironment and an altered tumor vasculature.In other malignancies, combining checkpoint blockade with radiation delivers benefit that is believed to be due to the abscopal effect. Addition of immune modulation agents has also shown to enhance immune checkpoint blockade efficacy. Therefore we designed a regimen consisting of PD-1 blockade combined with radiation, and different immune/environmental-targeting compounds: repurposed drugs, metronomic chemotherapy and a food supplement.We hypothesize that these will synergistically modulate the tumor microenvironment and induce and sustain an anti-tumor immune response, resulting in tumor regression. Methods: PRIMMO is a multi-center, open-label, non-randomized, 3-cohort phase 2 study with safety run-in in patients with recurrent/refractory cervical carcinoma, endometrial carcinoma or uterine sarcoma.Treatment consists of daily intake of vitamin D, lansoprazole, aspirin, cyclophosphamide and curcumin, starting 2weeks before the first pembrolizumab dose. Pembrolizumab is administered 3-weekly for a total of 6cycles. Radiation (3x8Gy) is given on days 1, 3 and 5 of the first pembrolizumab dose.The safety run-in consists of 6 patients. In total, 18 and 25 evaluable patients for cervical and endometrial carcinoma respectively are foreseen to enroll. No sample size is determined for uterine sarcoma due to its rarity.The primary objective is objective response rate at week 26 according to immune-related response criteria.Secondary objectives include safety, objective response rate at week 26 according to RECIST v1.1, best overall response, progression-free survival, overall survival and quality of life.Exploratory, translational research aims to evaluate immune biomarkers, extracellular vesicles, cell death biomarkers and the gut microbiome. Discussion: In this study, a combination of PD-1 blockade, radiation and immune/environmental-targeting compounds is tested, aiming to tackle the tumor microenvironment and induce anti-tumor immunity. Translational research is performed to discover biomarkers related to the mode of action of the combination. Trial registration: EU Clinical Trials Register: EudraCT 2016-001569-97, registered on 19-6-2017. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03192059, registered on 19-6-2017

Chemical profiles and biological activities of acetone extracts of nine Annonaceae plants

This study investigated the chemical components and bioactivities of acetone leaf extracts of nine Annonaceae plants collected in the Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve, Vietnam. A total of 182 constituents were identified, with linolenic acid, diaeudesmin, germacrene D, 1-octadecenoic acid, 8-(3-octyl-2-oxiranyl)-1-octanol, oleic acid, and phenylmethyl ester being the major compounds. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts was evaluated using a disc diffusion assay. Eight of the nine extracts, except for the Mitrephora thorelii extract, showed an inhibition effect against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was determined using DPPH assay, and the cytotoxic activity was deter mined using SRB assay. The results showed that the acetone extracts of Artabotrys hexapetalus, Uvularia grandiflora, Polyalthia luensis, Xylopia pierrei, Sphaerocoryne affinis, Desmos cochinchinensis, Uvaria littoralis, Mitrephora thorelii, and Goniothalamus touranensis had significant activity with IC50 for the DPPH radical scavenging activity ranging from 18.56 to 702.33 μg/mL, and the IC50 for the cytotoxic effects ranged from 5.39 to 251.77 μg/mL. Overall, the results obtained provide experimental evidence for the potential use of these plants in medicine and other related fields