The roles of serum vitamin D and tobacco smoke exposure in insomnia: a cross-sectional study of adults in the United States

AimTobacco smoke exposure and vitamin D (VD) status were both associated with insomnia. However, the combined effect of smoking and VD on insomnia has not been discussed. This study aimed to explore the role of VD in the association between tobacco smoke exposure and insomnia.MethodsData on adults were extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) database in 2005–2008 for this cross-sectional study. Weighted univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to explore the associations between serum cotinine, serum VD, and insomnia. A surface diagram was drawn to reflect the effect of VD on the association between serum cotinine and insomnia. In addition, the potential regulating effect of VD in subgroups of smoking status was also performed. The evaluation index was odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsAmong the eligible participants, 1,766 had insomnia. After adjusting for covariates, we found that elevated serum cotinine levels were associated with higher odds of insomnia [OR = 1.55, 95% CI: (1.22, 1.97)]. However, the relationship between serum VD level and insomnia was not significant (P = 0.553). Higher serum cotinine levels were also associated with higher odds of insomnia [OR = 1.52, 95% CI: (1.17, 1.98)] when serum VD level was <75 nmol/L; however, this relationship became non-significant when serum VD concentration was elevated (P = 0.088). Additionally, the potential regulating effect of VD was also found in adults who were not smoking.ConclusionVD may play a potential regulative role in the association between tobacco smoke exposure and insomnia. Further studies are needed to clarify the causal relationships between VD, tobacco smoke exposure, and insomnia

Synergistic interactions in W/O microemulsions containing imidazolium based C12mimBr and sodium lauryl sulfate

The physicochemical properties and synergistic effects of W/O microemulsion systems containing imidazolium based surfactant, 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (C12mimBr)-sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)/ alcohol/alkane/ 5% NaCl solution at different molar ratios of water-to-surfactant (ω0) are studied. The W/O microemulsions are formed at the molar fractions of SLS-to-C12mimBr+SLS (XSLS) ranges of 0.0-0.3 and 0.7-1.0. The synergism between C12mimBr and SLS can be seen from the values of (mole fraction of alcohol in the oil phase), (mole fraction of alcohol in the interfacial layer) and  (the standard free energy change of transferring alcohol from the continuous oil phase to the interfacial layer). The increase in the values of  and , and the decrease in  values with ω0 is attributed to the increasing hydrophilicity of the microemulsions. By increasing the carbon chain lengths of the alcohol molecules, or by increasing the salt concentrations, the values of  and  decrease, whereas that of  increases for the W/O microemulsions containing the mixed surfactants. On the other hand, the effect of the alkane carbon chain lengths is exactly the opposite of the effect of the alcohol carbon chain lengths on the these parameters

Flexible quasi-three-dimensional terahertz electric metamaterials,

Abstract: We fabricate quasi-three-dimensional terahertz electric metamaterials by stacking multiple single-layer planar metamaterials fabricated on thin, flexible polyimide substrates. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is used to characterize their transmission properties, with which we obtain the frequency dependent complex effective dielectric functions. Increasing the number of layers reduces the resonant transmission minimum, while the extracted effective dielectric functions are independent on the number of layers. The results reveal that the real portions of the dielectric functions only show positive values, however, decreasing the thickness of the polyimide substrates, and thereby the spacing between the adjacent split-ring resonator layers, enables negative electric response

Diagnostic evaluation of assays for detection of antibodies against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in pigs exposed to different PEDV strains

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has caused economic losses in the Americas, Asia and Europe in recent years. Reliable serological assays are essential for epidemiological studies and vaccine evaluation. The objective of this study was to compare the ability of five enzymelinked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) to detect antibodies against different PEDV strains in pig serum. A total of 732 serum samples from North American or European pigs were tested. Samples included experimental samples from pigs infected with classical (G1a PEDV) or variant genogroup 1 PEDV (G1b PEDV), pandemic genogroup 2 PEDV (G2b PEDV) or noninfected controls. Field samples from herds with confirmed or unknown PEDV exposure were also used. Three indirect ELISAs based on G2b antigens (ELISAs 1, 2 and 3), a competitive ELISA based on the G2b antigen (ELISA 4) and a competitive ELISA based on the G1a antigen (ELISA 5) were compared. Overall, the tests had a moderate agreement (κ = 0.61). G1a PEDV infected pigs were earliest detected by ELISA 3, G1b PEDV infected pigs were earliest detected by ELISAs 4 and 5 and the performance of all tests was similar for the G2b PEDV group. ELISA 1 showed the overall lowest detection on experimentally and field derived samples. Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity with a 95% probability interval were estimated to be 68.2% (62.1 – 74.4%) and 97.5% (95.2 – 99.0%) for ELISA 1, 73.7% (71.5 – 79.6%) and 98.4% (96.6 – 99.5%) for ELISA 2, 86.2% (81.1 – 90.6%) and 91.6% (87.7 – 94.8%) for ELISA 3, 78.3% (72.8 – 83.5%) and 99.7% (98.2 – 100%) for ELISA 4, and 93.5% (90.3 – 96.0%) and 91.2% (83.8 – 97.9%) for ELISA 5. Differences in detection among assays seem to be more related to intrinsic factors of an assay than to the PEDV antigen used

Analysis of Multiresolution Characteristics of Complex Continuous Wave Signal Modulated by Pseudocode Family

In this study, a new type of Continuous Wave (CW) signal modulated by pseudocode family is designed, solving the problem of more quantity of warhead dynamic fragments, larger speed variation, larger distribution and more difficult resolution during the measurement of warhead dynamic fragments. This signal has thumbtack ambiguity function and multiresolution characteristics. It can meet the measurement needs very well. Herein, correlation properties and ambiguity function characteristics of this signal are analyzed. Moreover, the signal’s limitations are reported. Recommendations pertaining to signal selection, number option, and usage are presented. The analysis results show that this signal can be used for dynamic fragments measurement of warhead. This signal is also of great importance to improve complex waveform design and radar performance