The Association between women’s choice of birth setting and their use of CAM during labor and birth.

Purpose: Contemporary maternity care often means women are able to choose a number of settings for their birth including hospitals, birth centers, and community settings. There is also evidence that many women utilised complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) during pregnancy and birth. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between women’s choice of birth setting and their use of CAM during labor and birth. Methods: Longitudinal data from a sub-study of women (n = 2445) from the nationally-representative Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health (ALSWH) was analyzed for relationships between women’s birth setting (hospital, birth center, or community) and their demographics, attitudes towards maternity care (including CAM), and use of CAM during pregnancy and birth. Results: The characteristics associated with women’s choice of birth setting include some demographic features such as employment status, health care subsidy, and level of education. Women’s birth setting choice was also linked to a preference for CAM practitioner by women birthing in birth centers and community settings. In contrast, women birthing in hospitals held more positive views towards obstetric care. There was a higher use of CAM during pregnancy by women birthing in birth centers and community but this was not consistent across all CAMs investigated. Naturopaths, herbal medicines, homeopathy and flower essences were more commonly used by women birthing in community compared with those in a birth center. There was also a higher rate of CAM use for intrapartum pain management for women birthing outside of a hospital setting, although women attending a birth center were more likely than those birthing in community to use pharmacological pain management techniques. Conclusion: There are characteristic differences between women birthing in different birth settings which seems to be influenced as much by preference for maternity care and interest in CAM use as it is by demographics

Liquid hydrogen storage tank virtual crashworthiness design exploration for civil aircraft

Civil aviation industry is researching for alternative fuel energy sources to substitute current hydrocarbon-based aviation fuels. Carbon free emissions flights could be achieved with fuels like Hydrogen either through combustion or via electricity producing fuel cells. It is of great importance to explore the airframe designs to house Hydrogen in its cryogenic liquified state. The objective of the study herein was to provide a conceptual qualitative analysis related to the crashworthiness behaviour of civil aircraft carrying liquid Hydrogen fuel storage tanks. The design parameters of interest were the storage tank location in the airframe, the structural energy absorption following crash landing scenarios and the structural deformation of the structure surrounding the tanks, penetrating the survival space of the occupants. Several structural design arrangements were proposed and compared. Simulation results indicated that the optimal location for the fuel storage greatly depends on the actual aircraft layout as well as on the future civil aircraft airworthiness requirements that are still under development for that type of fuel energy source

Distribution of adipose tissue: Quantification and relationship with hepatic steatosis and vascular profiles of type 2 diabetic patients with metabolic syndrome

AimAs the distribution of fat is increasingly related to cardiovascular events, we examined whether or not abdominal-fat quantification using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) software is reliable, and whether or not it is related to clinical markers of fat distribution as well as to metabolic and vascular status. Methods We recorded the anthropometric measurements of 34 obese type 2 diabetic patients with metabolic syndrome. The patients were enrolled to evaluate their abdominal (visceral and subcutaneous) adipose tissue by single-slice L3–L4 MRI. Manual and automated analyses were compared. The relationships between anthropometric measurements, biological markers and intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery were also assessed. Results We validated the automated software to quantify abdominal-fat deposition with MRI compared with manual measurements (r2 = 0.95). The waist-to-hip-circumference ratio (WHR) was the only clinical parameter that correlated with the proportion and quantity of visceral and subcutaneous abdominal-adipose tissue evaluated by MRI (r = 0.60). In addition, fat repartition as evaluated by WHR was related to hepatic steatosis parameters (ferritin and ALAT) and to intima-media thickness, whereas simple waist circumference was not a determinant in these obese patients. We also showed that the adiponectin-to-leptin ratio was related to adipose tissue distribution. Conclusion Distribution of abdominal fat, as evaluated by MRI, can be reflected by clinical determination of the WHR. Differences in regional accumulations of abdominal fat may be specifically related to variations in the risks of steatosis and vascular rigidity among obese type 2 diabetic patients

Nutritive value of palm kernel meal in diets for growing rabbits

The aim of this work was to determine the nutritive value of palm kernel meal (PKM) in diets for growing rabbits. In Experiment 1, 20 New Zealand × Californian growing rabbits 50 d-old were used to determine energy, crude protein, fibre and fat digestibility of PKM. The nutritive value was estimated by the difference method using a basal diet and another diet made by substituting 200 g/kg of basal diet with PKM. Energy, crude protein, ether extract and neutral detergent fibre of PKM digestibilities were, respectively, 0.549 (±0.056, SE), 0.541 (±0.069), 0.850 (±0.048) and 0.430 (±0.101), and the digestible energy concentration was 10.9 MJ/kg (±1.03) DM. In Experiment 2, 412 rabbits were allocated at random to the two experimental diets to measure growing performance. Inclusion of 200 g PKM/kg in the diet did not affect feed or digestible energy intake but decreased slightly (by around 5%) average daily gain (P = 0.003) and feed efficiency (P < 0.001). Neither mortality nor Clostridium perfringens counts in soft faeces were affected by type of diet. Palm kernel meal can be considered a palatable source of fibre, protein and fat for rabbits and can substitute significant amounts of other fibrous ingredients in the diet without adverse effects on growth performance

Charge gap in the one--dimensional dimerized Hubbard model at quarter-filling

We propose a quantitative estimate of the charge gap that opens in the one-dimensional dimerized Hubbard model at quarter-filling due to dimerization, which makes the system effectively half--filled, and to repulsion, which induces umklapp scattering processes. Our estimate is expected to be valid for any value of the repulsion and of the parameter describing the dimerization. It is based on analytical results obtained in various limits (weak coupling, strong coupling, large dimerization) and on numerical results obtained by exact diagonalization of small clusters. We consider two models of dimerization: alternating hopping integrals and alternating on--site energies. The former should be appropriate for the Bechgaard salts, the latter for compounds where the stacks are made of alternating $TMTSF$ and $TMTTF$ molecules. % $(TMTSF)_2 X$ and $(TMTTF)_2 X$ ($X$ denotes $ClO_4$, $PF_6$, $Br$...).Comment: 33 pages, RevTeX 3.0, figures on reques

Effect of different weaning age (21, 28 or 35 days) on production, growth and certain parameters of the digestive tract in rabbits

The effect of different weaning ages, that is, 21 (G21), 28 (G28) or 35 (G35) days, on growth and certain parameters of the digestive tract was examined in rabbits to assess the risk of early weaning attributable to the less-developed digestive system. On days 35 and 42, G35 rabbits had 10% to 14% and 10% higher BW, respectively ( P,0.05), than those weaned at days 21 and 28. In the 4th week of life, early weaned animals had 75% higher feed intake than G28 and G35 rabbits ( P,0.05). The relative weight of the liver increased by 62% between 21 and 28 days of age, and thereafter it decreased by 76% between 35 and 42 days of age ( P,0.05), with G21 rabbits having 29% higher weight compared with G35 animals on day 35 ( P,0.05). The relative weight of the whole gastrointestinal (GI) tract increased by 49% and 22% after weaning in G21 and G28 rabbits, respectively ( P,0.05). On day 28, the relative weight of the GI tract was 19% higher in G21 than in G28 rabbits, whereas on day 35 G21 and G28 animals had a 12% heavier GI tract compared with G35 rabbits ( P,0.05). Age influenced the ratio of stomach, small intestine and caecum within the GI tract; however, no effect of different weaning age was demonstrated. The pH value of the stomach and caecum decreased from 5.7 to 1.6 and from 7.1 to 6.3, respectively, whereas that of the small intestine increased from 6.8 to 8.4 ( P,0.05); the differences between groups were not statistically significant. Strictly anaerobic culturable bacteria were present in the caecum in high amounts (108), already at 14 days of age; no significant difference attributable to weaning age was demonstrable. The concentration of total volatile fatty acids (tVFA) was higher in G21 than in G28 and G35 throughout the experimental period ( P,0.05). The proportion of acetic and butyric acid within tVFA increased, whereas that of propionic acid decreased, resulting in a C3 : C4 ratio decreasing with age. Early weaning (G21) resulted in higher butyric acid and lower propionic acid proportions on day 28 ( P,0.05). No interaction between age and treatment was found, except in relative weight of the GI tract and caecal content. In conclusion, early weaning did not cause considerable changes in the digestive physiological parameters measured, but it resulted in 10% lower growth in rabbits

Arabidopsis thaliana phytaspase: identification and peculiar properties

Phytaspases are plant cell death-related proteases of the subtilisin-like protease family that possess an unusual aspartate cleavage specificity. Although phytaspase activity is widespread in plants, phytaspase of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. has escaped detection and identification thus far. Here, we show that a single gene (At4 g10540) out of 56 A. thaliana subtilisin-like protease genes encodes a phytaspase. The recombinant phytaspase was overproduced in Nicotiana benthamiana Domin leaves, isolated, and its substrate specificity and properties were characterised. At pH 5.5, at physiological mildly acidic reaction conditions, the Arabidopsis phytaspase was shown to be strictly Asp-specific. The strongly preferred cleavage motifs of the enzyme out of a panel of synthetic peptide substrates were YVAD and IETD, while the VEID-based substrate preferred by the tobacco and rice phytaspases was almost completely resistant to hydrolysis. At neutral pH, however, the Arabidopsis phytaspase could hydrolyse peptide substrates after two additional amino acid residues, His and Phe, in addition to Asp. This observation may indicate that the repertoire of Arabidopsis phytaspase targets could possibly be regulated by the conditions of the cellular environment. Similar to tobacco and rice phytaspases, the Arabidopsis enzyme was shown to accumulate in the apoplast of epidermal leaf cells. However, in stomatal cells Arabidopsis phytaspase was observed inside the cells, possibly co-localising with vacuole. Our study thus demonstrates that the Arabidopsis phytaspase possesses both important similarities with and distinctions from the already known phytaspases, and is likely to be the most divergent member of the phytaspase family

Liposomes as a model for the biological membrane : studies on daunorubicin bilayer interaction

In this study the interaction of the antitumoral drug daunorubicin with egg phosphatidylcholine (EPC) liposomes, used as a cell membrane model, was quantified by determination of the partition coefficient (Kp). The liposome/aqueous-phase Kp of daunorubicin was determined by derivative spectrophotometry and measurement of the zeta-potential. Mathematical models were used to fit the experimental data, enabling determination of Kp. In the partition of daunorubicin within the membrane both superficial electrostatic and inner hydrophobic interactions seem to be involved. The results are affected by the two types of interaction since spectrophotometry measures mainly hydrophobic interactions, while zeta-potential is affected by both interpenetration of amphiphilic charged molecules in the bilayer and superficial electrostatic interaction. Moreover, the degree of the partition of daunorubicin with the membrane changes with the drug concentration, due mainly to saturation factors. Derivative spectrophotometry and zeta-potential variation results, together with the broad range of concentrations studied, revealed the different types of interactions involved. The mathematical formalism applied also allowed quantification of the number of lipid molecules associated with one drug molecule