Associations of oxytocin with metabolic parameters in obese women of childbearing age

Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare plasma oxytocin levels in obese women of childbearing age with non-obese women of childbearing age, and to investigate the relationship between plasma oxytocin levels and metabolic parameters (including blood glucose, insulin resistance, blood lipid, and blood pressure). Material and methods: A total of 151 obese women of childbearing age and 160 non-obese women of childbearing age were enrolled in this study. Plasma oxytocin levels were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassays. Height, body weight, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin (FI), homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), total triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein-C (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein-C (HDL-C), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured in all subjects. Quantile regression analysis was used to analyse the associations of plasmaoxytocin levels with FBG, FI, HOMA-IR, TG, TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, SBP, and DBP. Results: In obese women of childbearing age, plasma oxytocin levels were lower compared with non-obese controls. After adjusting for age, quantile regression analysis showed that the plasma oxytocin levels were inversely associated with HOMA-IR at the quantile level between 0.27 and 0.79 (i.e. the HOMA-IR level of 2.11 and 3.07, respectively), the plasma oxytocin levels were inversely associated with TC after the quantile level of 0.21 (i.e. the TC level of 3.78 ), and the plasma oxytocin levels were inversely associated with LDL-C at all quantile levels of LDL-C. In addition, the plasma oxytocin levels showed a positive association with HDL-C at all quantile levels of HDL-C.No significant associations were found between the plasma oxytocin levels and FBG, FI, TG, SBP, and DBP. Conclusions: Oxytocin deficiency was common in obese women of childbearing age. Oxytocin showed negative correlation with HOMA-IR, TC, and LDL-C, while it showed positive association with HDL-C. Our findings suggest that oxytocin played an important role in inhibiting metabolic disorders associated with obesity in women of childbearing age.

Quantification of personal thermal comfort with localized airflow system based on sensitivity analysis and classification tree model

Although local air movement acts as a critical factor to enhance human thermal comfort and energy efficiency, the various factors influencing such movement have led to inconsistent publications on how to evaluate and design localised airflow systems in practice. This study aims to identify the main impacting factors for a localised airflow system and predict a cooling performance based on machine learning algorithms. Three typical localised airflow forms, i.e. an isothermal air supply (IASN), non-isothermal air supply (NIASN), and floor fan (FF), were deployed. The experiments were conducted under a variety of temperature/humidity/air velocity conditions in a well-controlled climate chamber, and a database including 1305 original samples was built. The primary results indicated that a classification tree C5.0 model showed a better prediction performance (83.99%) for a localised airflow system, with 17 input parameters in the model. Through a sensitivity analysis, 8 feature variables were quantified as having significant main effect responses on subjects’ thermal sensation votes (TSV), and three environmental factors (temperature, air velocity, and relative humidity) were identified as having the most significant effects. Using the 8 sensitive factors, the C5.0 model was modified with 82.30% accuracy for subject TSV prediction. A tree model demonstrating the decision rules in the C5.0 model was obtained, with air velocity (=0 m/s,＞0 m/s) as the first feature variable, and root node and temperature (≤28 °C,＞28 °C) as the second feature variable and leaf node, respectively. The outcomes that provide the most influential variables and a machine learning model are beneficial for evaluating personal thermal comfort at individual levels and for guiding the application of a localised airflow system in buildings

Discovering New Gauge Bosons of Electroweak Symmetry Breaking at LHC-8

We study the physics potential of the 8TeV LHC (LHC-8) to discover, during its 2012 run, a large class of extended gauge models or extra dimensional models whose low energy behavior is well represented by an SU(2)^2 x U(1) gauge structure. We analyze this class of models and find that with a combined integrated luminosity of 40-60/fb at the LHC-8, the first new Kaluza-Klein mode of the W gauge boson can be discovered up to a mass of about 370-400 GeV, when produced in association with a Z boson.Comment: PRD final version (only minor refinements showing the consistency with new LHC data), 11 pages, 5 Figs, 2 Table

Moisture in clothing and its transient influence on human thermal responses through clothing microenvironment in cold environments in winter

Air humidity produces conditions of varying moisture contents in clothing, which affects the heat and moisture transfer between human body, clothing and environment, as well as the wearers’ comfort. This study was designed to evaluate the moisture effects in clothing in cold environments. A series of wearing experiments were conducted in a climate chamber, simulating transient moisture absorption and desorption in experimental clothes. Totally 20 subjects were involved in three temperature levels (16 oC/20 oC/24 oC) and two relative humidity levels (15% RH/85% RH) during winter, with physiological measurement and subjective evaluation. The results showed that moisture in clothing under 85% RH significantly reduced subject mean skin temperatures(MST) and increased the local blood flow, due to enhanced heat loss by vapour evaporation. The initial skin wettedness was approximately 0.7 at 85% RH and stabilised at 0.33 after 90min exposure. The skin heat loss (Qskin) at 85% RH was almost twice as high as that at 15% RH under the same temperature conditions, owing to larger sensible and evaporative heat loss caused by moist clothing. The inner clothing effective temperature Teff was proposed to relate to TSV that the TSV increased by 1.12 units with an increase of 1 oC of Teff, which quantified the coupled effects of air temperature and humidity in clothing microenvironment on human thermal comfort. The findings address the negative effect of clothing absorbing a large amount of moisture, which should be considered for indoor heating temperature designs in cold-humid environments

Aleurochiton orientalis Danzig, 1966 (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), newly recorded from China, with a key to puparia of all described Aleurochiton species

The genus Aleurochiton Tullgren (1907) is here newly recorded from China as A. orientalis Danzig (1966). It was collected from Acer mono Maxim (Sapindales: Aceraceae) in Shaanxi Province, but was originally described from the Russian Far East (Southern Primor’ye) by Danzig (1966). The puparial morphology of A. orientalis is here illustrated by line art, photomicrographs and scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs. An identification key to the all five described Aleurochiton species is provided