Anemia Prevalence among Pregnant Women and Birth Weight in Five Areas in China

Objectives: To investigate the current prevalence of anemia among pregnant women in different areas of China and the association with birth weight and educational level. Methods: A total of 6,413 women aged 24-37 in the third trimester of pregnancy from five areas were randomly selected from all gravidas who gave birth in the hospitals from 1999 to 2003. Blood hemoglobin concentration (Hb) was measured by the cyanomethemoglobin method; Hb <110 g/l was considered as anemia. Results: The overall prevalence of anemia was 58.6%, ranging from 48.1 to 70.5% in the five areas. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of anemia between women who have mental jobs and those who have physical jobs (52.3 vs. 61.1%, p <0.01). The prevalence of anemia depended on the level of education: with 52.9, 62.4 and 66.5%, for college, secondary school and primary education, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.005). Results showed that higher birth weight was associated with Hb concentrations ranging from 90 to 140 g/l, whereas lower birth weight occurred below 80 g/l and above 140 g/l Hb. Conclusions: The prevalence of anemia in Chinese pregnant women was high both in rural areas and towns. Area of residence, education level and type of job influenced the prevalence of anemia. Low maternal Hb concentrations influenced birth weight

Analysis of functional properties of Lactobacillus acidophilus

Metabolites from Lactobacillus acidophilus were analysed. The results showed that Lactobacillus acidophilus Ind-1 and Lactobacillus acidophilus Lakcid produced respectively 12.73 g and 13.33 g lactic acid l¿1 after incubating in skim milk at 37 °C for 36 h; and 2.229 unit and 1.808 unit ß-galactosidase l¿1 in an MRS medium. The proteolytic activity of Lactobacillus acidophilus was high and the content of 17 free amino acids in the fermented milk of Lactobacillus acidophilus Ind-1 and Lactobacillus acidophilus Lakcid was 394.4 mg l¿1 and 563.2 mg l¿1, respectively. Meantime, Lactobacillus acidophilus reduced cholesterol level in an MRS medium supplemented with cholesterol. Furthermore, Lactobacillus acidophilus Ind-1 and Lactobacillus acidophilus Lakcid showed antimicrobial activity against Bacillus anthracis and Escherichia col

Correlates of School Children's Handwashing: A Study in Tibetan Primary Schools

Hand hygiene, including handwashing by children, has been reported to contribute to the prevention of various infectious conditions. This study aims to explore the correlates of handwashing behavior among 1690 fourth to sixth grade primary school students in 19 Tibetan primary schools (Golog, Qinghai, China). The theory of reasoned action (TRA) was applied. Data was collected by questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis showed that students’ attitude (β = 0.22, 95% CI 0.13–0.31) and subjective norms in terms of compliance to teachers’, parents’ and peers’ suggestions to wash hands (β = 0.09, 95% CI 0.01–0.18) were directly associated with students’ handwashing behavior. Students’ knowledge (β = 0.04, 95% CI 0.03–0.07) had an indirect association with handwashing behavior, mediated by students’ attitudes and subjective norms. Subjective norms (β = 0.12, 95% CI 0.07–0.17) were also indirectly correlated with handwashing through students’ attitudes. Therefore, our study supported the theory of reasoned action through our findings that students’ attitude and knowledge, and also attitudes from teachers, parents and peers were correlated with student handwashing behavior. Students reported higher level of compliance to teachers than to their parents and classmates. Based on this information, we recommend teacher-involved participatory hygiene education to promote students’ handwashing behaviors in areas at high risk for infectious diseases that can be prevented by handwashing

Pulsars as Fantastic Objects and Probes

Pulsars are fantastic objects, which show the extreme states of matters and plasma physics not understood yet. Pulsars can be used as probes for the detection of interstellar medium and even the gravitational waves. Here I review the basic facts of pulsars which should attract students to choose pulsar studies as their future projects.Comment: Invited Lecture on the "First Kodai-Trieste Workshop on Plasma Astrophysics", Kodaikanal Obs, India. Aug.27-Sept.7th, 2007. In: "Turbulence, Dynamos, Accretion Disks, Pulsars and Collective Plasma Processes". Get a copy from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4020-8867-

A deep learning system accurately classifies primary and metastatic cancers using passenger mutation patterns.

In cancer, the primary tumour's organ of origin and histopathology are the strongest determinants of its clinical behaviour, but in 3% of cases a patient presents with a metastatic tumour and no obvious primary. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, we train a deep learning classifier to predict cancer type based on patterns of somatic passenger mutations detected in whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 2606 tumours representing 24 common cancer types produced by the PCAWG Consortium. Our classifier achieves an accuracy of 91% on held-out tumor samples and 88% and 83% respectively on independent primary and metastatic samples, roughly double the accuracy of trained pathologists when presented with a metastatic tumour without knowledge of the primary. Surprisingly, adding information on driver mutations reduced accuracy. Our results have clinical applicability, underscore how patterns of somatic passenger mutations encode the state of the cell of origin, and can inform future strategies to detect the source of circulating tumour DNA

Broadband Quantum Enhancement of the LIGO Detectors with Frequency-Dependent Squeezing

Quantum noise imposes a fundamental limitation on the sensitivity of interferometric gravitational-wave detectors like LIGO, manifesting as shot noise and quantum radiation pressure noise. Here, we present the first realization of frequency-dependent squeezing in full-scale gravitational-wave detectors, resulting in the reduction of both shot noise and quantum radiation pressure noise, with broadband detector enhancement from tens of hertz to several kilohertz. In the LIGO Hanford detector, squeezing reduced the detector noise amplitude by a factor of 1.6 (4.0 dB) near 1 kHz; in the Livingston detector, the noise reduction was a factor of 1.9 (5.8 dB). These improvements directly impact LIGO's scientific output for high-frequency sources (e.g., binary neutron star postmerger physics). The improved low-frequency sensitivity, which boosted the detector range by 15%-18% with respect to no squeezing, corresponds to an increase in the astrophysical detection rate of up to 65%. Frequency-dependent squeezing was enabled by the addition of a 300-meter-long filter cavity to each detector as part of the LIGO A+ upgrade

All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO

We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in two sets of data collected by the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston detectors between November 5, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010, with a total observational time of 283.0 days and 132.9 days, respectively. The search targets gravitational wave transients of duration 10-500 s in a frequency band of 40-1000 Hz, with minimal assumptions about the signal waveform, polarization, source direction, or time of occurrence. All candidate triggers were consistent with the expected background; as a result we set 90% confidence upper limits on the rate of long-duration gravitational wave transients for different types of gravitational wave signals. For signals from black hole accretion disk instabilities, we set upper limits on the source rate density between 3.4×10-5 and 9.4×10-4 Mpc-3 yr-1 at 90% confidence. These are the first results from an all-sky search for unmodeled long-duration transient gravitational waves. © 2016 American Physical Society

All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO

We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in two sets of data collected by the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston detectors between November 5, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010, with a total observational time of 283.0 days and 132.9 days, respectively. The search targets gravitational wave transients of duration 10-500 s in a frequency band of 40-1000 Hz, with minimal assumptions about the signal waveform, polarization, source direction, or time of occurrence. All candidate triggers were consistent with the expected background; as a result we set 90% confidence upper limits on the rate of long-duration gravitational wave transients for different types of gravitational wave signals. For signals from black hole accretion disk instabilities, we set upper limits on the source rate density between 3.4×10-5 and 9.4×10-4 Mpc-3 yr-1 at 90% confidence. These are the first results from an all-sky search for unmodeled long-duration transient gravitational waves. © 2016 American Physical Society

Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model

We present results from a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1, using a hidden Markov model (HMM) to track spin wandering. This search improves on previous HMM-based searches of LIGO data by using an improved frequency domain matched filter, the J-statistic, and by analyzing data from Advanced LIGO's second observing run. In the frequency range searched, from 60 to 650 Hz, we find no evidence of gravitational radiation. At 194.6 Hz, the most sensitive search frequency, we report an upper limit on gravitational wave strain (at 95% confidence) of h095%=3.47×10-25 when marginalizing over source inclination angle. This is the most sensitive search for Scorpius X-1, to date, that is specifically designed to be robust in the presence of spin wandering. © 2019 American Physical Society

Search for Tensor, Vector, and Scalar Polarizations in the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

The detection of gravitational waves with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo has enabled novel tests of general relativity, including direct study of the polarization of gravitational waves. While general relativity allows for only two tensor gravitational-wave polarizations, general metric theories can additionally predict two vector and two scalar polarizations. The polarization of gravitational waves is encoded in the spectral shape of the stochastic gravitational-wave background, formed by the superposition of cosmological and individually unresolved astrophysical sources. Using data recorded by Advanced LIGO during its first observing run, we search for a stochastic background of generically polarized gravitational waves. We find no evidence for a background of any polarization, and place the first direct bounds on the contributions of vector and scalar polarizations to the stochastic background. Under log-uniform priors for the energy in each polarization, we limit the energy densities of tensor, vector, and scalar modes at 95% credibility to Ω0T<5.58×10-8, Ω0V<6.35×10-8, and Ω0S<1.08×10-7 at a reference frequency f0=25 Hz. © 2018 American Physical Society