Use of Urinary Pregnanediol 3-glucuronide to Confirm Ovulation

Objective Urinary hormonal markers may assist in increasing the efficacy of Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABM). This study uses urinary pregnanediol-3a-glucuronide (PDG) testing to more accurately identify the infertile phase of the menstrual cycle in the setting of FABM. Methods Secondary analysis of an observational and simulation study, multicentre, European study. The study includes 107 women and tracks daily first morning urine (FMU), observed the changes in cervical mucus discharge, and ultrasonography to identify the day of ovulation over 326 menstrual cycles. The following three scenarios were tested: (A) use of the daily pregnandiol-3a-glucuronide (PDG) test alone; (B) use of the PDG test after the first positive urine luteinizing hormone (LH) kit result; (C) use of the PDG test after the disappearance of fertile type mucus. Two models were used: (1) one day of PDG positivity; or (2) waiting for three days of PDG positivity before declaring infertility. Results After the first positivity of a LH test or the end of fertile mucus, three consecutive days of PDG testing over a threshold of 5 μg/mL resulted in a 100% specificity for ovulation confirmation. They were respectively associated an identification of an average of 6.1 and 7.6 recognized infertile days. Conclusions The results demonstrate a clinical scenario with 100% specificity for ovulation confirmation and provide the theoretical background for a future development of a competitive lateral flow assay for the detection of PDG in the urine

Carrying the Nation on Fragile Shoulders: Female Textile Workers in a Modernizing Japan

During the period from the early Meiji era to the end of the Second World War in which Imperial Japan sought to modernize the nation’s economy by investing heavily in mechanized labor industries, cotton and silk textile manufacturing was the lead sector in this industrialization process. One of the most distinctive features of this vitally important industry was that Japanese women, mostly of relatively young ages and from rural communities across the country, constituted the majority of the workers employed in textile factories. Throughout this era, the treatment of this predominantly female workforce on the part of both textile companies and the imperial government was informed by traditional beliefs regarding women’s ascribed roles within Japanese society, exhibited in recruiting process, restrictive management practices, and educational initiatives that manufacturers imposed on workers. Despite government actions reforms to this industry later on in this time period, these gendered beliefs continued to prevail in shaping this relationship between textile employers and their female employees

“Strike Up” and Mobilize the Band: Musical Activities in the United States Military During World War II

After the United States’ entry into the Second World War, music was one of the most prominent forms of art and popular entertainment to be repurposed by the federal government as part of the mobilization for war. The military implemented numerous music programs produced and consumed by a wide range of service personnel. These activities functioned as a means of building morale among military and civilian audiences, both on the domestic home front and in foreign nations, and disseminating an image of American culture that reinforced a set of values integral to the war effort. In order to present this argument, I will analyze the various motivations behind the measures undertaken by both the military and other government agencies, most notably the Office of Wartime Information (OWI), to expand and develop musical activities for military and civilian applications. I will then shift perspectives towards investigating how military personnel themselves undertook these duties and the roles in the war effort that they perceived for themselves as musicians

Residual stress characterization of single and triple-pass autogenously welded stainless steel pipes

Using neutron diffraction the components of the residual stress field have been determined in the region near a mid-length groove in two identical austenitic stainless pipes in which weld beads had been laid down. One pipe sample had a single pass, and the second a triple pass, autogenous weld deposited around the groove circumference. The results show the effect on the stress field of the additional weld deposited and are compared to the results of Finite Element Modelling. The hoop stress component is found to be generally tensile, and greater in the triple pass weldment than in the single pass weldment. The hoop stresses reach peak values of around 400 MPa in tension. X-ray measurements of the residual stress components on the near inner surface of the pipe weldments are also presented, and show tensile stresses in both pipes, with a higher magnitude in the three-pass weldment

Plant community structure mediates potential methane production and potential iron reduction in wetland mesocosms.

Abstract Wetlands are the largest natural source of methane to the atmosphere, but factors controlling methane emissions from wetlands are a major source of uncertainty in greenhouse gas budgets and projections of future climate change. We conducted a controlled outdoor mesocosm experiment to assess the effects of plant community structure (functional group richness and composition) on potential methane production and potential iron reduction in freshwater emergent marshes. Four plant functional groups (facultative annuals, obligate annuals, reeds, and tussocks) were arranged in a full-factorial design and additional mesocosms were assigned as no-plant controls. Soil samples from the top 10 cm were collected three times during the growing season to determine potential methane production and potential iron reduction (in unamended soils and in soils amended with 200 mM formate). These data were compared to soil organic matter, soil pH, and previously published data on above and belowground plant biomass. We found that functional group richness was less important than the presence of specific functional groups (reeds or tussocks) in mediating potential iron reduction. In our mesocosms, where oxidized iron was abundant and electron donors were limiting, iron reducing bacteria outcompeted methanogens, keeping methane production barely detectable in unamended lab incubations. When the possibility of re-oxidizing iron was eliminated via anaerobic incubations and the electron donor limitation was removed by adding formate, potential methane production increased and followed the same patterns as potential iron reduction. Our findings suggest that in the absence of abundant oxidized iron and/or the presence of abundant electron donors, wetlands dominated by either reeds or tussocks may have increased methane production compared to wetlands dominated by annuals. Depending on functional traits such as plant transport and rhizospheric oxygenation capacities, this could potentially lead to increased methane emissions in some wetlands. Additional research examining the role these plant functional groups play in other aspects of methane dynamics will be useful given the importance of methane as a greenhouse gas

Affective Forecasting and Mood Disorder Symptoms: How Clinical Symptoms Relate to the Prediction of Future Emotions

The ability to accurately predict future feelings and emotions, termed affective forecasting, is an important skill as it has a significant impact on the decisions individuals make throughout daily life. Previous research has suggested that depression and anxiety symptoms may be linked to biases in affective forecasting. Here, we hypothesized that greater symptom severity of depression and anxiety would be associated with increased predictions and experiences of negative affect in response to negative stimuli and decreased predictions and experiences of positive affect in response to positive stimuli among a random sample of undergraduate college students. Participants read descriptions of 20 affective pictures which varied in terms of their normative valence and arousal. Based on the provided descriptions, participants rated their predicted affective reaction to each picture in terms of valence and arousal, as well as the extent to which they predicted they’d experience a number of specific emotions while viewing each picture. One week later, participants viewed the pictures and rated their experienced affect and emotion to each. Results revealed that individuals with greater depression or anxiety symptom severity: predicted (but did not experience) more negative affect for negative stimuli and experienced (but did not predict) less positive affect for positive stimuli. In addition, individuals with greater anxiety symptom severity tended to overestimate the extent to which they would feel activated in response to negative stimuli. Taken together, our findings suggest that depression and anxiety symptoms may negatively influence the ability for an individual to make accurate affective forecasts