A principal components approach to parent-to-newborn body composition associations in South India

Background: size at birth is influenced by environmental factors, like maternal nutrition and parity, and by genes. Birth weight is a composite measure, encompassing bone, fat and lean mass. These may have different determinants. The main purpose of this paper was to use anthropometry and principal components analysis (PCA) to describe maternal and newborn body composition, and associations between them, in an Indian population. We also compared maternal and paternal measurements (body mass index (BMI) and height) as predictors of newborn body composition.Methods: weight, height, head and mid-arm circumferences, skinfold thicknesses and external pelvic diameters were measured at 30 ± 2 weeks gestation in 571 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of the Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, Mysore, India. Paternal height and weight were also measured. At birth, detailed neonatal anthropometry was performed. Unrotated and varimax rotated PCA was applied to the maternal and neonatal measurements.Results: rotated PCA reduced maternal measurements to 4 independent components (fat, pelvis, height and muscle) and neonatal measurements to 3 components (trunk+head, fat, and leg length). An SD increase in maternal fat was associated with a 0.16 SD increase (?) in neonatal fat (p < 0.001, adjusted for gestation, maternal parity, newborn sex and socio-economic status). Maternal pelvis, height and (for male babies) muscle predicted neonatal trunk+head (? = 0. 09 SD; p = 0.017, ? = 0.12 SD; p = 0.006 and ? = 0.27 SD; p < 0.001). In the mother-baby and father-baby comparison, maternal BMI predicted neonatal fat (? = 0.20 SD; p < 0.001) and neonatal trunk+head (? = 0.15 SD; p = 0.001). Both maternal (? = 0.12 SD; p = 0.002) and paternal height (? = 0.09 SD; p = 0.030) predicted neonatal trunk+head but the associations became weak and statistically non-significant in multivariate analysis. Only paternal height predicted neonatal leg length (? = 0.15 SD; p = 0.003).Conclusion: principal components analysis is a useful method to describe neonatal body composition and its determinants. Newborn adiposity is related to maternal nutritional status and parity, while newborn length is genetically determined. Further research is needed to understand mechanisms linking maternal pelvic size to fetal growth and the determinants and implications of the components (trunk v leg length) of fetal skeletal growt

Aging in a topological spin glass

We have examined the nonconventional spin glass phase of the 2-dimensional kagome antiferromagnet (H_3 O) Fe_3 (SO_4)_2 (OH)_6 by means of ac and dc magnetic measurements. The frequency dependence of the ac susceptibility peak is characteristic of a critical slowing down at Tg ~ 18K. At fixed temperature below Tg, aging effects are found which obey the same scaling law as in spin glasses or polymers. However, in clear contrast with conventional spin glasses, aging is remarkably insensitive to temperature changes. This particular type of dynamics is discussed in relation with theoretical predictions for highly frustrated non-disordered systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

An overview and prospective on Al and Al-ion battery technologies

Aluminum batteries are considered compelling electrochemical energy storage systems because of the natural abundance of aluminum, the high charge storage capacity of aluminum of 2980 mA h g−1/8046 mA h cm−3, and the sufficiently low redox potential of Al3+/Al. Several electrochemical storage technologies based on aluminum have been proposed so far. This review classifies the types of reported Al-batteries into two main groups: aqueous (Al-ion, and Al-air) and non-aqueous (aluminum graphite dual-ion, Al-organic dual-ion, Al-ion, and Al-sulfur). Specific focus is given to Al electrolyte chemistry based on chloroaluminate melts, deep eutectic solvents, polymers, and “chlorine-free” formulations

One-pot thiol–amine bioconjugation to maleimides: simultaneous stabilisation and dual functionalisation

Maleimide chemistry is widely used in the site-selective modification of proteins. However, hydrolysis of the resultant thiosuccinimides is required to provide robust stability to the bioconjugates. Herein, we present an alternative approach that affords simultaneous stabilisation and dual functionalisation in a one pot fashion. By consecutive conjugation of a thiol and an amine to dibromomaleimides, we show that aminothiomaleimides can be generated extremely efficiently. Furthermore, the amine serves to deactivate the electrophilicity of the maleimide, precluding further reactivity and hence generating stable conjugates. We have applied this conjugation strategy to peptides and proteins to generate stabilised trifunctional conjugates. We propose that this stabilisation-dual modification strategy could have widespread use in the generation of diverse conjugates

Magnetic moments of W 5d in Ca2CrWO6 and Sr2CrWO6 double perovskites

We have investigated the magnetic moment of the W ion in the ferrimagnetic double perovskites Sr2CrWO6 and Ca2CrWO6 by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the W L(2,3) edges. In both compounds a finite negative spin and positive orbital magnetic moment was detected. The experimental results are in good agreement with band-structure calculations for (Sr/Ca)2CrWO6 using the full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method. It is remarkable, that the magnetic ordering temperature, TC, is correlated with the magnetic moment at the 'non-magnetic' W atom.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Correlation effects in total energy of transition metals and related properties

We present an accurate implementation of total energy calculations into the local density approximation plus dynamical mean-field theory (LDA+DMFT) method. The electronic structure problem is solved through the full potential linear Muffin-Tin Orbital (FP-LMTO) and Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (FP-KKR) methods with a perturbative solver for the effective impurity suitable for moderately correlated systems. We have tested the method in detail for the case of Ni and investigated the sensitivity of the results to the computational scheme and to the complete self-consistency. It is demonstrated that the LDA+DMFT method can resolve a long-standing controversy between the LDA/GGA density functional approach and experiment for equilibrium lattice constant and bulk modulus of Mn.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Aging and memory effects in beta-hydrochinone-clathrate

The out-of-equilibrium low-frequency complex susceptibility of the orientational glass methanol(73%)-beta-hydrochinone-clathrate is studied using temperature-stop protocols in aging experiments . Although the material does not have a sharp glass transition aging effects including rejuvenation and memory are found at low temperatures. However, they turn out to be much weaker, however, than in conventional magnetic spin glasses.Comment: 5 pages RevTeX, 6 eps-figures include

Electronic structure investigation of Ti3AlC2, Ti3SiC2, and Ti3GeC2 by soft-X-ray emission spectroscopy

The electronic structures of epitaxially grown films of Ti3AlC2, Ti3SiC2 and Ti3GeC2 have been investigated by bulk-sensitive soft X-ray emission spectroscopy. The measured high-resolution Ti L, C K, Al L, Si L and Ge M emission spectra are compared with ab initio density-functional theory including core-to-valence dipole matrix elements. A qualitative agreement between experiment and theory is obtained. A weak covalent Ti-Al bond is manifested by a pronounced shoulder in the Ti L-emission of Ti3AlC2. As Al is replaced with Si or Ge, the shoulder disappears. For the buried Al and Si-layers, strongly hybridized spectral shapes are detected in Ti3AlC2 and Ti3SiC2, respectively. As a result of relaxation of the crystal structure and the increased charge-transfer from Ti to C, the Ti-C bonding is strengthened. The differences between the electronic structures are discussed in relation to the bonding in the nanolaminates and the corresponding change of materials properties.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Functional outcomes in the Cleft Care UK study - Part 3:Oral health and audiology

OBJECTIVES: To compare oral health and hearing outcomes from the Clinical Standards Advisory Group (CSAG, 1998) and the Cleft Care UK (CCUK, 2013) studies. SETTING AND SAMPLE POPULATION: Two UK-based cross-sectional studies of 5-year-olds born with non-syndromic unilateral cleft lip and palate undertaken 15 years apart. CSAG children were treated in a dispersed model of care with low-volume operators. CCUK children were treated in a centralized, high volume operator system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Oral health data were collected using a standardized proforma. Hearing was assessed using pure tone audiometry and middle ear status by otoscopy and tympanometry. ENT and hearing history were collected from medical notes and parental report. RESULTS: Oral health was assessed in 264 of 268 children (98.5%). The mean dmft was 2.3, 48% were caries free, and 44.7% had untreated caries. There was no evidence this had changed since the CSAG survey. Oral hygiene was generally good, 96% were enrolled with a dentist. Audiology was assessed in 227 of 268 children (84.7%). Forty-three per cent of children received at least one set of grommets--a 17.6% reduction compared to CSAG. Abnormal middle ear status was apparent in 50.7% of children. There was no change in hearing levels, but more children with hearing loss were managed with hearing aids. CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes for dental caries and hearing were no better in CCUK than in CSAG, although there was reduced use of grommets and increased use of hearing aids. The service specifications and recommendations should be scrutinized and implemented