Performance of microstrip patch antenna for single and array element with and without EBG

In this paper, a compact single patch antenna and microstrip array antenna with EBG structures at 6 GHzhave been compained. A surface wave effect is often considered undesirable, since it increased the side lobes, and decreased the antenna gain and effeciency. This problem can be solved by utilizing EBG to suppress of such waves. Above the antenna substrate, the mushroom-like EBG were proposed. The side lobes have been improved from −6.8 dB to −16.5 dB, and better directivity was achieved from 5.77 dBi to 10 dBi and the efficiency improved from (80%) to 95% by using EBG with rectangular antenna. Additionally, the array antenna radiation pattern with EBG was improved to −23.5 dB, and the directivity and effeciency have been improved to 14.3 dBi and to 91.5 respctively. These antenna structures have a great eventuality for use in C band application

Fetal, developmental, and parental influences on childhood systolic blood pressure in 600 sib pairs: the Uppsala Family study.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the contribution of maternal and paternal factors to the inverse association between birth weight and later blood pressure in human offspring. A study of within- and between-family associations of birth weight with blood pressure, which collected data on both parents, would address this gap in our knowledge. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study examined families composed of mother, father, and 2 full sibs delivered between 38 and 41 weeks' gestation within 36 months of each other. A total of 1967 families meeting our inclusion criteria were contacted and 602 were examined (children 5 to 14 years old, 1998 to 2000). Birth weight and gestational age were available from obstetric records. Systolic blood pressure in childhood was inversely associated with birth weight within families (-2.3 mm Hg/kg, 95% CI -4.4 to -0.3) after adjustment for gestational age, sex, height, and weight at examination. The between-family effect (-1.5 mm Hg/kg, -3.1 to 0.0) was strengthened on adjustment for maternal and paternal height and weight, whereas adjustment for paternal and maternal systolic blood pressure at examination independently attenuated the effect. CONCLUSIONS: The existence of an inverse association of birth weight with systolic blood pressure within families (adjusted for height and weight at examination) demonstrates that factors that vary between pregnancies in the same woman (including fetal genotype) can influence the later blood pressure of offspring. We conclude that this apparent fetal programming effect on blood pressure will not be eliminated solely by interventions aimed at modifying growth and cumulative nutritional status from conception through childhood or other fixed characteristics of future mothers

Comparison between optical readable and open-ended weighed food records

BACKGROUND: A simplified optically readable food record (ORFR) was developed and compared with an open-ended weighed record (WR). OBJECTIVE: To compare intake of nutrients and foods using a seven-day ORFR with intake estimated using a seven-day WR. The results from each method were validated against 24-h urinary nitrogen excretion and energy intake (EI)/estimated basal metabolic rate (BMR) cut-off values. DESIGN: The study comprised 73 free-living, healthy 70-year-old Swedish men. Dietary data were collected during seven consecutive days, starting either with WR or ORFR. RESULTS: Average intakes of energy and several nutrients were significantly lower when estimated using ORFR than when using WR. However, when adjusted for nutrient density, only a few nutrients were still lower with ORFR. Spearman correlation coefficients between the two methods regarding intakes of energy and energy-yielding nutrients were moderate to high, i.e. 0.4-0.6, while figures for most micro-nutrients were in the range 0.3-0.5. A large proportion of subjects under-reported their EIs, a higher proportion doing so when using ORFR. Protein intake obtained using ORFR was 31% lower than the values calculated from the 24-h urine nitrogen excretion, and 22% lower than those obtained from WR. Average intakes of milk, cheese and other milk products as well as coffee, tea and alcohol were significantly higher when estimated using ORFR than when using WR, while intakes of vegetables, meat and meat products, fish, bread and cereal products as well as number of sweet foods were significantly lower with ORFR. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these results, adjustments of some portion sizes in ORFR are suggested. In view of the advantages of ORFR with respect to lower response burden and rapid processing of data, such adjustments would make ORFR a suitable dietary assessment tool for use in dietary surveys, including larger resource-demanding epidemiological investigations