Temporal variations of dietary habits in a high-risk area for upper gastrointestinal cancers: A population-based study from Northern Iran

Background: Nutrition transition is a global health problem, especially in developing countries. It is known as an important factor for development of different types of health conditions including cancers. Objectives: We aimed to assess the pattern of nutrition transition in a high-risk area for upper gastrointestinal cancers in Northern Iran during the last decade. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on households of Golestan province, Iran. Data on household food consumption between 2001 and 2010 were obtained from the Statistical Center of Iran. The proportions of households with medium/high consumption of main foods were calculated for each year. Joint point software was used for assessing trends. Annual percent changes (APCs) and 95CIs were calculated. Results: In total, 12,060 households were recruited. The APCs (95CI) of the proportion of households medium/high consumption of cereals, vegetables, legumes, fish, dairy products and meats were -3.1 (-4.1 to -2.2), -2.9 (-3.8 to -2.1), -2.3 (-3.2 to -1.4), -2.8 (-3.3 to -2.4), -1.9 (-3.0 to -0.9) and 2.7 (1.2 to 4.3), respectively. Conclusions: We found significant increase in meat consumption among our population between 2001 and 2010. Our results also suggested significant decreasing trend in consumption of so-called healthy foods including, plant foods, fish, and dairy products. Regarding its correlation with health conditions including cancers, nutrition transition should be considered as a priority in health policy making in our region as well as other high-risk populations. It is recommended to conduct community level interventions to increase consumption of plant foods, fish, and dairy products

Post-aragonite phases of CaCO3_{3} at lower mantle pressures

The stability, structure and properties of carbonate minerals at lower mantle conditions has significant impact on our understanding of the global carbon cycle and the composition of the interior of the Earth. In recent years, there has been significant interest in the behavior of carbonates at lower mantle conditions, specifically in their carbon hybridization, which has relevance for the storage of carbon within the deep mantle. Using high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction in a diamond anvil cell coupled with direct laser heating of CaCO$_{3}$ using a CO$_{2}$ laser, we identify a crystalline phase of the material above 40 GPa $-$ corresponding to a lower mantle depth of around 1,000 km $-$ which has first been predicted by \textit{ab initio} structure predictions. The observed $sp^{2}$ carbon hybridized species at 40 GPa is monoclinic with $P2_{1}/c$ symmetry and is stable up to 50 GPa, above which it transforms into a structure which cannot be indexed by existing known phases. A combination of \textit{ab initio} random structure search (AIRSS) and quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA) calculations are used to re-explore the relative phase stabilities of the rich phase diagram of CaCO$_{3}$. Nudged elastic band (NEB) calculations are used to investigate the reaction mechanisms between relevant crystal phases of CaCO$_{3}$ and we postulate that the mineral is capable of undergoing $sp^{2}$-$sp^{3}$ hybridization change purely in the $P2_{1}/c$ structure $-$ forgoing the accepted post-aragonite $Pmmn$ structure.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

An electrochemical study of acrylate bone adhesive permeability and selectivity change during in vitro ageing: a model approach to the study of biomaterials and membrane barriers

This study assessed the solute permeability of a family of UV and moisture cured acrylates-based adhesives during in vitro ageing in pH 7.4 buffer. Acrylates have a potential role in bone fracture fixation, but their inability to allow microsolute exchange between the fractured bone surfaces may contribute to ineffective healing. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry were used to determine the diffusion coefficients for various electrochemically active probe molecules (O2, H2O2, acetaminophen, catechol, uric acid and ascorbic acid) at proprietary acrylic, urethane – acrylate and cyanoacrylate adhesives. All adhesives proved to be impermeable for up to 9 days ageing, following which a near-exponential increase in permeability resulted for all solutes. At 18 days, the diffusion coefficients were in the range of 10-5 cm2s-1 for O2 and H2O2 and 10-6 cm2s-1 for the organic solutes; no transport selectivity was seen between the latter. Adhesive joint strength showed a direct, inverse, correlation with permeability, with the more hydrophilic cyanoacrylates showing the greatest loss of strength. Adhesive permeabilisation does not appear to be compatible with the retention of bonding strength, but it serves as a new non-destructive predictor of adhesion strength change during ageing and practical use

Aflatoxin contamination of wheat flour and the risk of esophageal cancer in a high risk area in Iran

Background: Golestan province in northeastern Iran has been known as a high-risk area for esophageal cancer (EC). This study was conducted to assess aflatoxin (AF) contamination of wheat flour (WF) samples in high and low EC-risk areas of Golestan province. Methods: Four WF samples were collected randomly from each of 25 active silos throughout the province in 2009. The levels of AFs were measured using the High-performance liquid chromatography method. Using the data of EC rates obtained from Golestan population-based cancer registry, the province was divided into high and low risk areas for EC. Student t-test and multivariate regression analysis were used to compare the levels of aflatoxins as well as the condition of silos between the two areas. Results: One hundred WF samples were collected. The mean levels of total aflatoxin and aflatoxin B1 was 1.99 and 0.53ngg-1, respectively. The levels of total AF (p=0.03), AFG2 (p=0.02) and AFB1 (p=0.003) were significantly higher in samples obtained from high risk area. Multivariate regression analysis showed that humidity of silo was the most important source of difference between silos of the two areas (p=0.04). Conclusion: We found a positive relationship between AF level of WF samples and the risk of EC. So, AF contamination may be a possible risk factor for EC in our region. We also found that humidity of silos was the most important determinant of AF contamination of WF. Intensive control of silos conditions including humidity and temperature are needed especially in high EC-risk areas. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Prevalence of Pretransition Disordering in the Rutile-to-Cacl2 Phase Transition of Geo2

The ability to tailor a material\u27s electronic properties using density driven disordering has emerged as a powerful route to materials design. The observation of anomalous structural and electronic behavior in the rutile to CaCl2 phase transition in SnO2 led to the prediction that such behavior is inherent to all oxides experiencing such a phase transition sequence [Smith et al., J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 10, 5351 (2019)1948-718510.1021/acs.jpclett.9b01633]. Here, the ultrawide band gap semiconductor GeO2 is confirmed to exhibit anomalous behavior during the rutile to CaCl2 phase transition. A phase pure rutile GeO2 sample synthesized under high-pressure, high-temperature conditions is probed using synchrotron diffraction and x-ray and optical spectroscopy under high pressure conditions. Density functional theory calculations show that the enthalpic barrier to displacing an oxygen along the B1g librational mode decreases with pressure leading up to the rutile to CaCl2 phase transition. The band structure of the distorted state shows that such oxygen displacements form small polarons

Knowledge, practice and acceptability of HPV vaccine by mothers of adolescent girls in Ilorin, Nigeria

Background: Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted cause of carcinoma of the cervix. An important determinant of the success of a primary preventive strategy like HPV vaccination is the knowledge and willingness of parents to vaccinate adolescents before sexual debut. Materials and methods of study: A cross sectional descriptive survey of mothers of girls in 8 secondary schools in Ilorin was carried out from February to April 2015. Schools were selected using multi staged sampling. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed with Chi Square and ANOVA. Results: There were 470 questionnaires returned for analysis out of 600, giving a response rate of 78.3%. One hundred and sixty-one (34.3%) knew HPV to be sexually transmitted infection and 40.4% knew it was the cause of cervical cancer. While 35.1% were aware of HPV vaccine, only 1.9% had ever vaccinated their children.Less than half (44.9%) were willing to vaccinate their children. Women with good knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer were more willing to vaccinate their children than women with poor knowledge (P <0.001). Conclusion: There is poor knowledge of HPV and practice of vaccination among mothers in llorin. Willingness of mothers to vaccinate their daughters is suboptimal. Mother’s knowledge is an important determinant of HPV vaccination of adolescents

T cell–derived interleukin (IL)-21 promotes brain injury following stroke in mice

T lymphocytes are key contributors to the acute phase of cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury, but the relevant T cell–derived mediators of tissue injury remain unknown. Using a mouse model of transient focal brain ischemia, we report that IL-21 is highly up-regulated in the injured mouse brain after cerebral ischemia. IL-21–deficient mice have smaller infarcts, improved neurological function, and reduced lymphocyte accumulation in the brain within 24 h of reperfusion. Intracellular cytokine staining and adoptive transfer experiments revealed that brain-infiltrating CD4+ T cells are the predominant IL-21 source. Mice treated with decoy IL-21 receptor Fc fusion protein are protected from reperfusion injury. In postmortem human brain tissue, IL-21 localized to perivascular CD4+ T cells in the area surrounding acute stroke lesions, suggesting that IL-21–mediated brain injury may be relevant to human stroke

Static and vibration analysis of functionally graded beams using refined shear deformation theory

Static and vibration analysis of functionally graded beams using refined shear deformation theory is presented. The developed theory, which does not require shear correction factor, accounts for shear deformation effect and coupling coming from the material anisotropy. Governing equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton's principle. The resulting coupling is referred to as triply coupled axial-flexural response. A two-noded Hermite-cubic element with five degree-of-freedom per node is developed to solve the problem. Numerical results are obtained for functionally graded beams with simply-supported, cantilever-free and clamped-clamped boundary conditions to investigate effects of the power-law exponent and modulus ratio on the displacements, natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes

An efficient algorithm to calculate intrinsic thermoelectric parameters based on Landauer approach

The Landauer approach provides a conceptually simple way to calculate the intrinsic thermoelectric (TE) parameters of materials from the ballistic to the diffusive transport regime. This method relies on the calculation of the number of propagating modes and the scattering rate for each mode. The modes are calculated from the energy dispersion (E(k)) of the materials which require heavy computation and often supply energy relation on sparse momentum (k) grids. Here an efficient method to calculate the distribution of modes (DOM) from a given E(k) relationship is presented. The main features of this algorithm are, (i) its ability to work on sparse dispersion data, and (ii) creation of an energy grid for the DOM that is almost independent of the dispersion data therefore allowing for efficient and fast calculation of TE parameters. The inclusion of scattering effects is also straight forward. The effect of k-grid sparsity on the compute time for DOM and on the sensitivity of the calculated TE results are provided. The algorithm calculates the TE parameters within 5% accuracy when the K-grid sparsity is increased up to 60% for all the dimensions (3D, 2D and 1D). The time taken for the DOM calculation is strongly influenced by the transverse K density (K perpendicular to transport direction) but is almost independent of the transport K density (along the transport direction). The DOM and TE results from the algorithm are bench-marked with, (i) analytical calculations for parabolic bands, and (ii) realistic electronic and phonon results for $Bi_{2}Te_{3}$.Comment: 16 Figures, 3 Tables, submitted to Journal of Computational electronic