Maternal fish and shellfish intake and pregnancy outcomes: A prospective cohort study in Brittany, France

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recommendations about risks and benefits of seafood intake during pregnancy have been published in the last decade, but the specific health effects of the different categories of seafood remain unknown. Fish and shellfish may differ according to their fatty acid content and their concentration of chemical pollutants and toxins. Not taking these particularities into account may result in underestimating of both the positive and negative effects of seafood on birth outcomes and partly explains inconsistent results on the subject.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the PELAGIE cohort study, including 2398 pregnant women from Brittany, we fit multiple linear and logistic regression models to examine associations of fish (salt-water fish only) and shellfish intake before pregnancy with length of gestation, birthweight, and risks of preterm births, low birthweight or small-for-gestational-age (SGA) babies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When fish and shellfish consumptions were considered simultaneously, we observed a decrease in the risk of SGA birth with increasing frequency of fish intake: OR = 0.57 (95%CI: 0.31 to 1.05) for women eating fish twice a week or more compared with those eating it less than once a month. The risk of SGA birth was significantly higher among women eating shellfish twice a week or more than among those eating it less than once a month: OR = 2.14 (95%CI: 1.13 to 4.07). Each additional monthly meal including fish was significantly related to an increase in gestational length of 0.02 week (95%CI: 0.002 to 0.035). No association was observed with birthweight or preterm birth.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that different categories of seafood may be differently associated with birth outcomes, fish consumption with increased length of gestation and shellfish consumption with decreased fetal growth.</p

Large perturbations in CO2 flux and subsequent chemosynthesis are induced in agricultural soil by the addition of elemental sulfur

The microbial contribution to soil organic matter has been shown to be much larger than previously thought and thus it plays a major role in carbon cycling. Among soil microorganisms, chemoautotrophs can fix CO2 without sunlight and can glean energy through the oxidation of reduced elements such as sulfur. Here we show that the addition of sulfur to soil results in an initial surge in production of CO2 through microbial respiration, followed by an order of magnitude increase in the capture of carbon from the atmosphere as elemental sulfur is oxidised to sulfate. Thiobacillus spp., take advantage of specific conditions to become the dominant chemoautotrophic group that consumes CO2. We discern the direct incorporation of atmospheric carbon into soil carbohydrate, protein and aliphatic compounds and differentiate these from existing biomass. These results suggest that chemoautotrophs can play a large role in carbon cycling and that this carbon is heavily influenced by land management practises

Effects of Alloy Disorder on Schottky-Barrier Heights

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://journals.aps.org

A dusty pinwheel nebula around the massive star WR 104

Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are luminous massive blue stars thought to be immediate precursors to the supernova terminating their brief lives. The existence of dust shells around such stars has been enigmatic since their discovery some 30 years ago; the intense radiation field from the star should be inimical to dust survival. Although dust-creation models, including those involving interacting stellar winds from a companion star, have been put forward, high-resolution observations are required to understand this phenomena. Here we present resolved images of the dust outflow around Wolf-Rayet WR 104, obtained with novel imaging techniques, revealing detail on scales corresponding to about 40 AU at the star. Our maps show that the dust forms a spatially confined stream following precisely a linear (or Archimedian) spiral trajectory. Images taken at two separate epochs show a clear rotation with a period of 220 +/- 30 days. Taken together, these findings prove that a binary star is responsible for the creation of the circumstellar dust, while the spiral plume makes WR 104 the prototype of a new class of circumstellar nebulae unique to interacting wind systems.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, Appearing in Nature (1999 April 08

Vacuum Ambiguity in de Sitter Space at Strong Coupling

It is well known that in the weak coupling regime, quantum field theories in de Sitter space do not have a unique vacuum, but a class of vacua parametrized by a complex parameter $\alpha$, i.e., the so-called $\alpha$-vacua. In this article, using gauge/gravity duality, we calculate the symmetric two-point function of strongly coupled ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on $dS_3$. We find that there is a class of de Sitter invariant vacua, parametrized by a set of complex parameters $\{\alpha_{\nu}\}$.Comment: 17 pages in JHEP style, references adde

Spontaneous Stratification in Granular Mixtures

Granular materials size segregate when exposed to external periodic perturbations such as vibrations. Moreover, mixtures of grains of different sizes spontaneously segregate in the absence of external perturbations: when a mixture is simply poured onto a pile, the large grains are more likely to be found near the base, while the small grains are more likely to be near the top. Here, we report a spontaneous phenomenon arising when we pour a mixture between two vertical plates: the mixture spontaneously stratifies into alternating layers of small and large grains whenever the large grains are rougher than the small grains. In contrast, we find only spontaneous segregation when the large grains are more rounded than the small grains. The stratification is related to the occurrence of avalanches; during each avalanche the grains comprising the avalanche spontaneously stratify into a pair of layers through a "kink" mechanism, with the small grains forming a sublayer underneath the layer of large grains.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, http://polymer.bu.edu/~hmakse/Home.htm

A genome guided evaluation of the Lab4 probiotic consortium

In this study, we present the draft genome sequences of the Lab4 probiotic consortium using whole genome sequencing. Draft genome sequences were retrieved and deposited for each of the organisms; PRJNA559984 for B. bifidum CUL20, PRJNA482335 for Lactobacillus acidophilus CUL60, PRJNA482434 for Lactobacillus acid. Probiogenomic in silico analyses confirmed existing taxonomies and identified the presence putative gene sequences that were functionally related to the performance of each organism during in vitro assessments of bile and acid tolerability, adherence to enterocytes and susceptibility to antibiotics. Predictions of genomic stability identified no significant risk of horizontal gene transfer in any of the Lab4 strains and the absence of both antibiotic resistance and virulence genes. These observations were supported by the outcomes of acute phase and repeat dose tolerability studies in Wistar rats where challenge with high doses of Lab4 did not result in any mortalities, clinical/histopathological abnormalities nor indications of systemic toxicity. Detection of increased numbers of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria in the faeces of supplemented rats implied an ability to survive transit through the gastrointestinal tract and/or impact upon the intestinal microbiota composition. In summary, this study provides in silico, in vitro and in vivo support for probiotic functionality and the safety of the Lab4 consortium

A telephone survey of cancer awareness among frontline staff: informing training needs

Background: Studies have shown limited awareness about cancer risk factors among hospital-based staff. Less is known about general cancer awareness among community frontline National Health Service and social care staff. Methods: A cross-sectional computer-assisted telephone survey of 4664 frontline community-based health and social care staff in North West England. Results: A total of 671 out of 4664 (14.4%) potentially eligible subjects agreed to take part. Over 92% of staff recognised most warning signs, except an unexplained pain (88.8%, n=596), cough or hoarseness (86.9%, n=583) and a sore that does not heal (77.3%, n=519). The bowel cancer-screening programme was recognised by 61.8% (n=415) of staff. Most staff agreed that smoking and passive smoking ‘increased the chance of getting cancer.’ Fewer agreed about getting sunburnt more than once as a child (78.0%, n=523), being overweight (73.5%, n=493), drinking more than one unit of alcohol per day (50.2%, n=337) or doing less than 30 min of moderate physical exercise five times a week (41.1%, n=276). Conclusion: Cancer awareness is generally good among frontline staff, but important gaps exist, which might be improved by targeted education and training and through developing clearer messages about cancer risk factors

Reinstatement of "germinal epithelium" of the ovary

BACKGROUND: The existing dogma that the former term ovarian "germinal epithelium" resulted from a mistaken belief that it could give rise to new germ cells is now strongly challenged. DISCUSSION: Two years ago, a research group of the University of Tennessee led by Antonin Bukovsky successfully demonstrated the oogenic process from the human ovarian covering epithelium now commonly called the ovarian surface epithelium. They showed the new oocyte with zona pellucida and granulosa cells, both originated from the surface epithelium arising from mesenchymal cells in the tunica albuginea, and stressed that the human ovary could form primary follicles throughout the reproductive period. This gives a big impact not only to the field of reproductive medicine, but also to the oncologic area. The surface epithelium is regarded as the major source of ovarian cancers, and most of the neoplasms exhibit the histology resembling müllerian epithelia. Since the differentiating capability of the surface epithelium has now expanded, the histologic range of the neoplasms in this category may extend to include both germ cell tumors and sex cord-stromal cell tumors. SUMMARY: Since the oogenic capability of ovarian surface cells has been proven, it is now believed that the oocytes can originate from them. The term "germinal epithelium", hence, might reasonably be reinstated

Shallow water methane-derived authigenic carbonate mounds at the Codling Fault Zone, western Irish Sea

Methane-derived authigenic carbonate (MDAC) mound features at the Codling Fault Zone (CFZ), located in shallow waters (50–120 m) of the western Irish Sea were investigated and provide a comparison to deep sea MDAC settings. Carbonates consisted of aragonite as the major mineral phase, with δ13C depletion to −50‰ and δ18O enrichment to ~ 2‰. These isotope signatures, together with the co-precipitation of framboidal pyrite confirm that anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is an important process mediating methane release to thewater column and the atmosphere in this region. 18O-enrichment could be a result ofMDAC precipitation with seawater in colder than present day conditions, or precipitation with 18O-enriched water transported from deep petroleum sources. The 13C depletion of bulk carbonate and sampled gas(−70‰) suggests a biogenic source, but significant mixing of thermogenic gas and depletion of the original isotope signature cannot be ruled out. Active seepage was recorded from one mound and together with extensive areas of reduced sediment, confirms that seepage is ongoing. The mounds appear to be composed of stacked pavements that are largely covered by sand and extensively eroded. The CFZ mounds are colonized by abundant Sabellaria polychaetes and possible Nemertesia hydroids, which benefit indirectly from available hard substrate. In contrast to deep sea MDAC settings where seep-related macrofauna are commonly reported, seep-specialist fauna appear to be lacking at the CFZ. In addition, unlike MDAC in deep waters where organic carbon input from photosynthesis is limited, lipid biomarkers and isotope signatures related to marine planktonic production (e.g. sterols, alkanols) were most abundant. Evidence for microbes involved in AOM was limited from samples taken; possibly due to this dilution effect from organic matter derived from the photic zone, and will require further investigation