Minority Stress and Leukocyte Gene Expression In Sexual Minority Men Living With Treated HIV Infection

Sexual minority (i.e., non-heterosexual) individuals experience poorer mental and physical health, accounted for in part by the additional burden of sexual minority stress occurring from being situated in a culture favoring heteronormativity. Informed by previous research, the purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between sexual minority stress and leukocyte gene expression related to inflammation, cancer, immune function, and cardiovascular function. Sexual minority men living with HIV who were on anti-retroviral medication, had viral load \u3c 200 copies/mL, and had biologically confirmed, recent methamphetamine use completed minority stress measures and submitted blood samples for RNA sequencing on leukocytes. Differential gene expression and pathway analyses were conducted comparing those with clinically elevated minority stress (n = 18) and those who did not meet the clinical cutoff (n = 20), covarying reactive urine toxicology results for very recent stimulant use. In total, 90 differentially expressed genes and 138 gene set pathways evidencing 2-directional perturbation were observed at false discovery rate (FDR) \u3c 0.10. Of these, 41 of the differentially expressed genes and 35 of the 2-directionally perturbed pathways were identified as functionally related to hypothesized mechanisms of inflammation, cancer, immune function, and cardiovascular function. The neuroactive-ligand receptor pathway (implicated in cancer development) was identified using signaling pathway impact analysis. Our results suggest several potential biological pathways for future work investigating the relationship between sexual minority stress and health

The Role of Gender and Personality Traits in Using Lexical Cohesion Devices in Oral Interactions

In this paper, we studied lexical cohesion devices to define the role of gender and personality traits on using them in the speeches of the second grade students in elementary school. We have used survey method in questionnaire part and descriptive analysis in analyzing the obtained data. The number of students in our statical sample was 100, which was divided into 4 groups (each group was 25 students) according to gender and personality variables. The sample was chosen by cluster random sampling method. The students were divided into introverted and extroverted groups by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). In order to collect data, the researches took part in classrooms during the school year, and recorded the students’ voices.  Then their voices were transcribed to extract the used lexical cohesion. In data analysis, we used Wilcoxon math-pairs and Man Whitney U test according to the type of samples. The main purpose of this paper was to come to this conclusion that a general and bipolar judgment about the role of gender and personality traits in the studies of speech, especially in the study of using cohesion devices in discourses, is not true. So, this study, hesitated the general outcomes of some researches such as Hall who believed introverted students have more progress than extroverted in school, and Premuzic& Furham who believed extroverted students are more successful than introverted in class activities. Keywords: gender, introversion, extroversion, cohesion devices, interactio

Antibacterial properties of mussel-inspired polydopamine coatings prepared by a simple two-step shaking-assisted method

A simple two-step, shaking-assisted polydopamine (PDA) coating technique was used to impart polypropylene (PP) mesh with antimicrobial properties. In this modified method, a relatively large concentration of dopamine (20 mg ml−1) was first used to create a stable PDA primer layer, while the second step utilized a significantly lower concentration of dopamine (2 mg ml−1) to promote the formation and deposition of large aggregates of PDA nanoparticles. Gentle shaking (70 rpm) was employed to increase the deposition of PDA nanoparticle aggregates and the formation of a thicker PDA coating with nano-scaled surface roughness (RMS = 110 nm and Ra = 82 nm). Cyclic voltammetry experiment confirmed that the PDA coating remained redox active, despite extensive oxidative cross-linking. When the PDA-coated mesh was hydrated in phosphate saline buffer (pH 7.4), it was activated to generate 200 μM hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for over 48 h. The sustained release of low doses of H2O2 was antibacterial against both gram-positive (Staphylococcus epidermidis) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. PDA coating achieved 100% reduction (LRV ~3.15) when incubated against E. coli and 98.9% reduction (LRV ~1.97) against S. epi in 24 h

Mechanical characteristics of groundnut shell particle reinforced polylactide nano fibre

ABSTRACT The PLA-groundnut shell solution is electrospun to produce nanocomposite fibre. The spinneret containing the composite solution was placed 24.7 cm away from the aluminium collector, tilted at an angle of 30 °, and the solution flow rate kept at 1 mL/min. Groundnut Shell particle (GSP) weight fraction used was varied from 3 - 8 wt. %. Particle reinforced nanofibres were formed on the collector from the composite solution at 26 kV. These nanofibres were subjected to tensile test and the result indicates that at 6 wt. % untreated GSP reinforced fibre possessed the best tensile stiffness of 24.62 MPa. This corresponds to 2.201 % increase in Modulus of Elasticity over the unreinforced PLA (1.07 MPa). The 7 wt. % treated GSP fibre showed the least stiffness (0.33 MPa), which is 69 % reduction over that of unreinforced fibre. PLA fibre reinforced with 5 wt. % untreated GSP displayed best blend of properties over the unreinforced with increase of 286 % (4.43 x 10-4 HB), 1,502 % (1.07 MPa), 286 % (0.22 MPa), 6.8 % (0.05 J) and 1,081 % (~ 0.15 MPa) in hardness, stiffness, UTS, energy at break and stress at break respectively. However, ductility decreased by ~33.3 % when compared to the unreinforced (18.27). The 5 wt. % untreated GSP PLA reinforced fibre showed the highest UTS (0.855 MPa). The micrographs showed beads on reinforced fibres, while the virgin PLA showed no beads

The Impact of Low Advanced Glycation End Products Diet on Metabolic Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Several randomized clinical trials have investigated the effect of dietary advanced glycation end products (AGEs) on metabolic syndrome risk factors in adults. However, the results of these studies were conflicting. Therefore, our aim was to assess the effect of dietary AGEs on metabolic syndrome risk factors. We searched the PubMed-MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane Databases, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Embase databases for papers published up to October 2019 that investigated the effect of dietary AGEs on metabolic syndrome risk factors. From the eligible trials, 13 articles were selected for inclusion in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was determined by I2 statistics and Cochrane Q test. Pooled results from the random-effects model showed a significant reduction for insulin resistance weighted mean difference (WMD): -1.204; 95% CI: -2.057, -0.358; P = 0.006, fasting insulin (WMD: -5.472 μU/mL; 95% CI: -9.718, -1.234 μU/mL; P = 0.011), total cholesterol (WMD: -5.486 mg/dL; 95% CI: -10.222, -0.747 mg/dL; P = 0.023), and LDL (WMD: -6.263 mg/dL; 95% CI: -11.659, -0.866 mg/dL; P = 0.023) in the low-AGEs groups compared with the high-AGEs groups. There were no changes in the other components of the metabolic syndrome. The results of this review suggest that a diet with a low AGEs content has beneficial effects on insulin resistance, fasting insulin, total cholesterol, and LDL. Moreover, following a diet low in AGEs may be a helpful strategy to decrease the burden of metabolic syndrome risk factors in adults and particularly in patients with diabetes. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition

Hardness, Decay and Water Resistance of Polypropylene/Montmorillonite/Almond Shell Flour Composites

The effect of montmorillonite (MMT) loading (0, 2.5, and 5 wt%) and almond shell flour (ASF) content (30, 35, and 40 wt%) on the decay resistance, hardness, water resistance of injection molded polypropylene (PP) composites was investigated. The amount of maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene was kept constant at 2% for all formulations. White-rot (Trametes versicolor) fungal treatment was applied to the produced composites for 14 weeks according to BS 838:1961 with the Petri dishes method. The weight loss of the composites decreased with increasing MMT content. The highest hardness (66 Shore D) was noted in the undecayed control composites (40ASF60PP0MMT) while the lowest hardness (61.3 Shore D) was recorded in the decayed control composites (30ASF70PP0MMT). The water absorption of the undecayed and decayed composites decreased with increasing amount montmorillonite at 30-40 wt% content of the ASF loading level. The water absorption of the decayed composites was higher than that of the undecayed composites but their thickness swelling was lower. Based on the findings obtained from the present study, a 35/5/65/2 formulation of the ASF/MMT/PP/MAPP can be used in outdoor applications requiring a high dimensional stability

Slaughterhouse Wastewater Treatment by Combined Chemical Coagulation and Electrocoagulation Process

Slaughterhouse wastewater contains various and high amounts of organic matter (e.g., proteins, blood, fat and lard). In order to produce an effluent suitable for stream discharge, chemical coagulation and electrocoagulation techniques have been particularly explored at the laboratory pilot scale for organic compounds removal from slaughterhouse effluent. The purpose of this work was to investigate the feasibility of treating cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater by combined chemical coagulation and electrocoagulation process to achieve the required standards. The influence of the operating variables such as coagulant dose, electrical potential and reaction time on the removal efficiencies of major pollutants was determined. The rate of removal of pollutants linearly increased with increasing doses of PACl and applied voltage. COD and BOD5 removal of more than 99% was obtained by adding 100 mg/L PACl and applied voltage 40 V. The experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of chemical and electrochemical techniques for the treatment of slaughterhouse wastewaters. Consequently, combined processes are inferred to be superior to electrocoagulation alone for the removal of both organic and inorganic compounds from cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater

Association between dietary glycemic index and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

ObjectiveManaging dietary glycemic index (GI) deserves further attention in the interplay between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between dietary GI and the odds of NAFLD in patients with T2DM.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out between April 2021 and February 2022, including 200 participants with T2DM aged 18-70 years, of which 133 had NAFLD and 67 were in the non-NAFLD group. Cardiometabolic parameters were analyzed using standard biochemical kits and dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Binary logistic regression was applied to explore odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for NAFLD according to tertiles of dietary GI.ResultsHighest vs. lowest tertile (< 57 vs. > 60.89) of energy-adjusted GI was not associated with the odds of having NAFLD (OR 1.25, 95% CI = 0.6-2.57; P-trend = 0.54) in the crude model. However, there was an OR of 3.24 (95% CI = 1.03-10.15) accompanied by a significant trend (P-trend = 0.04) after full control for potential confounders (age, gender, smoking status, duration of diabetes, physical activity, waist circumference, HbA1c, triglycerides, total cholesterol, dietary intake of total carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates, fat, and protein).ConclusionHigh dietary GI is associated with increased odds of NAFLD in subjects with T2DM. However, interventional and longitudinal cohort studies are required to confirm these findings

The UCSC cancer genomics browser: update 2011

The UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser (https://genome-cancer.ucsc.edu) comprises a suite of web-based tools to integrate, visualize and analyze cancer genomics and clinical data. The browser displays whole-genome views of genome-wide experimental measurements for multiple samples alongside their associated clinical information. Multiple data sets can be viewed simultaneously as coordinated ‘heatmap tracks’ to compare across studies or different data modalities. Users can order, filter, aggregate, classify and display data interactively based on any given feature set including clinical features, annotated biological pathways and user-contributed collections of genes. Integrated standard statistical tools provide dynamic quantitative analysis within all available data sets. The browser hosts a growing body of publicly available cancer genomics data from a variety of cancer types, including data generated from the Cancer Genome Atlas project. Multiple consortiums use the browser on confidential prepublication data enabled by private installations. Many new features have been added, including the hgMicroscope tumor image viewer, hgSignature for real-time genomic signature evaluation on any browser track, and ‘PARADIGM’ pathway tracks to display integrative pathway activities. The browser is integrated with the UCSC Genome Browser; thus inheriting and integrating the Genome Browser’s rich set of human biology and genetics data that enhances the interpretability of the cancer genomics data