Relationship between Dietary Intake and Reproductive Hormones in Premenopausal Vegetarian and Nonvegetarian Seventh-day Adventist Women

There is evidence that specific nutrients may modify hormonal balance and contribute to breast cancer etiology. To investigate the relationship between dietary nutrients and plasma reproductive hormones and to determine hormone-nutrient interrelationships, we measured plasma estrogens, androgens. progesterone and prolactin levels in 10 premenopausal Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) vegetarian and 10 premenopausal SDA nonvegetarian women. Over three days in each of three consecutive months. diet records and fasting midluteal blood samples were collected. The nonvegetarians consumed significantly more protein, total and saturated fats, oleic and linoleic acids, and cholesterol than did the vegetarians. Hormonal status of the two groups did not differ significantly. However, for nonvegetarians, prolactin levels were positively correlated with dietary energy, protein, total fat, saturated fat, and oleic acid. Prolactin has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Consequently, our findings of a relationship between dietary nutrients and prolactin levels suggest the possibility that breast cancer risk may be modified through dietary intervention. Further study of the influence of specific dietary nutrients on the basal level of prolactin secretion is warranted

Femoral nerve palsy following Girdlestone resection arthroplasty: An observational cadaveric study

BACKGROUND When patients with a failed hip arthroplasty are unsuitable for reimplantation, Girdlestone resection arthroplasty (GRA) is a viable treatment option. We report on a patient who was treated with a GRA due to a periprosthetic infection. We discovered partial paralysis of the quadriceps muscle in this patient. We investigated the femoral nerve anatomy, particularly the nerve entry points, to better understand this phenomenon. AIM To reveal the femoral nerve anatomy with respect to severe proximal migration after GRA. METHODS Eight cadaveric hemipelves were investigated. The branches of the femoral nerve were dissected and traced distally. The GRA was performed by the direct anterior approach. Axial stress to the lower extremity was applied, and the relative movement of the femur was recorded. The femoral nerve and its entry points were assessed. RESULTS GRA led to a 3.8 cm shift of the femur in vertical direction, a 1.8 cm shift in the dorsal direction, and a 2.3 cm shift in the lateral direction. A 36.5° external shift was observed. This caused stress to the lateral division of the femoral nerve. We observed migration of the femoral nerve entry point at the following locations: (1) Vastus medialis (5.3 mm); (2) The medial part of the vastus intermedius (5.4 mm); (3) The lateral part of the vastus intermedius (16.3 mm); (4) Rectus femoris (23.1 mm); (5) Tensor vastus intermedius (30.8 mm); and (6) Vastus lateralis (28.8 mm). CONCLUSION Migration of the femur after GRA altered the anatomy of the femoral nerve. Stress occurred at the lateral nerve division leading to poor functional results

Model for random hydrolysis and end degradation of linear polysaccharides: application to the thermal treatment of mannan in solution

The kinetics for homogeneous hydrolysis of mannan was studied in a batch reactor at temps. from 160 to 220 Deg. A formate buffer ensured a pH of 3.8-4.0, measured at 25 Deg. Samples were analyzed for oligosaccharides at a d.p. of ?6 and also for the total amt. of mannose after acid hydrolysis. A math. model with 2 reactions, i.e., (1) random hydrolysis of the glucosidic bonds; and (2) degrdn. of the reducing end of the mol., describes accurately the time course of oligosaccharides. Optimized rate consts. follow closely an Arrhenius relationship, with the degrdn. having a higher activation energy (140 kJ/mol) than the hydrolysis (113 kJ/mol). The math. model has the advantage that prodn. of small mols. is independent of the initial chain-length distribution, as long as the av. initial chain length is some 5 times longer than the largest species measured. It can be applied to 1st-order depolymn. of other linear polymers with 1 link type in order to det. reaction rate consts. or make predictions about mol. wt. distribution on the base of known reaction rate consts. [on SciFinder (R)

I bet you feel safe! assessing cyclists’ subjective safety by objective scores

Feeling safe is a major issue for cyclists, and some potential cyclists are still deterred from using the bicycle because they feel too unsafe. Assessing the subjective safety of existing cycling infrastructures and locations can be done by questionnaires that show pictures of infrastructures and ask participants for their safety ratings. However, future cycling infrastructures should also be evaluated as safe even before they are implemented. Therefore, it is desirable to have a method that is able to predict safety from infrastructural information. This study aims to propose two different ways for such a method and to test both ways in a use case. We first developed two scores, namely the Repertory Grid (RG) Score and the FixMyBerlin (FMB) Score, which predict subjective safety from objective environmental information but use different data bases and different methodologies. In a second step, we validated these scores by comparing them to questionnaire ratings that evaluated cyclists’ subjective safety at 20 locations in the city of Braunschweig, Germany. Finally, we compared the two scores as well as the questionnaire ratings with objective safety measures, namely crash statistics, at the respective locations. The results show that the RG Score has a moderate agreement and the FMB Score has a fair agreement with the questionnaire ratings. All methods agree on the overall safety evaluation of various cycling facilities. However, the RG Score showed less variance in the safety ratings, whereas the FMB Score rated most locations more unsafe than the participants in the questionnaire. Interestingly, neither the scores nor the questionnaire ratings could sufficiently deduce the occurrence of a crash at one of the locations. The findings strengthen the importance of subjective safety as a construct independent of objective safety. Furthermore, they provide insights into aspects of subjective safety that can easily be measured by objective scores, and into aspects that are important for cyclists but were not yet covered by the scores. This study, therefore, provides a basis for future considerations and future evaluation methods to assess the subjective safety of cyclists

Estimates on the Possible Annual Seismicity of Venus

There is a growing consensus that Venus is seismically active, although its level of seismicity could be very different from that of Earth due to the lack of plate tectonics. Here, we estimate upper and lower bounds on the expected annual seismicity of Venus by scaling the seismicity of the Earth. We consider different scaling factors for different tectonic settings and account for the lower seismogenic thickness of Venus. We find that 95–296 venusquakes equal to or bigger than moment magnitude (Mw) 4 per year are expected for an inactive Venus, where the global seismicity rate is assumed to be similar to that of continental intraplate seismicity on Earth. For the active Venus scenarios, we assume that the coronae, fold belts, and rifts of Venus are currently seismically active. This results in 1,161–3,609 venusquakes ≥Mw4 annually as a realistic lower bound and 5,715–17,773 venusquakes ≥Mw4 per year as a maximum upper bound for an active Venus

220 fs Er-Yb:glass laser mode-locked by a broadband low-loss Si/Ge saturable absorber

We demonstrate femtosecond performance of an ultra-broadband high-index-contrast saturable Bragg reflector consisting of a silicon/silicon-dioxide/germanium structure that is fully compatible with CMOS processing. This device offers a reflectivity bandwidth of over 700 nm and sub-picosecond recovery time of the saturable loss. It is used to achieve mode-locking of an Er-Yb:glass laser centered at 1540 nm, generating 220 fs pulses, with the broadest output spectrum to date

EFFECTS AND INTERACTIONS OF DELAYED SIDE-TONE AND AUDITORY FLUTTER

Abstract not availabl