An international internet survey of the experiences of 1,714 mothers with a late stillbirth: The STARS cohort study

Background: Stillbirth occurring after 28 weeks gestation affects between 1.5-4.5 per 1,000 births in high-income countries. The majority of stillbirths in this setting occur in women without risk factors. In addition, many established risk factors such as nulliparity and maternal age are not amenable to modification during pregnancy. Identification of other risk factors which could be amenable to change in pregnancy should be a priority in stillbirth prevention research. Therefore, this study aimed to utilise an online survey asking women who had a stillbirth about their pregnancy in order to identify any common symptoms and experiences. Methods: A web-based survey. Results: A total of 1,714 women who had experienced a stillbirth >3 weeks prior to enrolment completed the survey. Common experiences identified were: perception of changes in fetal movement (63 % of respondents), reports of a "gut instinct" that something was wrong (68 %), and perceived time of death occurring overnight (56 %). A quarter of participants believed that their baby's death was due to a cord issue and another 18 % indicated that they did not know the reason why their baby died. In many cases (55 %) the mother believed the cause of death was different to that told by clinicians. Conclusions: This study confirms the association between altered fetal movements and stillbirth and highlights novel associations that merit closer scrutiny including a maternal gut instinct that something was wrong. The potential importance of maternal sleep is highlighted by the finding of more than half the mothers believing their baby died during the night. This study supports the importance of listening to mothers' concerns and symptoms during pregnancy and highlights the need for thorough investigation of stillbirth and appropriate explanation being given to parents

Evaluating QBF Solvers: Quantifier Alternations Matter

We present an experimental study of the effects of quantifier alternations on the evaluation of quantified Boolean formula (QBF) solvers. The number of quantifier alternations in a QBF in prenex conjunctive normal form (PCNF) is directly related to the theoretical hardness of the respective QBF satisfiability problem in the polynomial hierarchy. We show empirically that the performance of solvers based on different solving paradigms substantially varies depending on the numbers of alternations in PCNFs. In related theoretical work, quantifier alternations have become the focus of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of various QBF proof systems implemented in solvers. Our results motivate the development of methods to evaluate orthogonal solving paradigms by taking quantifier alternations into account. This is necessary to showcase the broad range of existing QBF solving paradigms for practical QBF applications. Moreover, we highlight the potential of combining different approaches and QBF proof systems in solvers.Comment: preprint of a paper to be published at CP 2018, LNCS, Springer, including appendi

Children struggle beyond preschool-age in a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task

Children until the age of five are only able to reverse an ambiguous figure when they are informed about the second interpretation. In two experiments, we examined whether children’s difficulties would extend to a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task. Children (Experiment 1: 66 3- to 5-year olds; Experiment 2: 54 4- to 9-year olds) and adult controls saw line drawings of animals gradually morph—through well-known ambiguous figures—into other animals. Results show a relatively late developing ability to recognize the target animal, with difficulties extending beyond preschool-age. This delay can neither be explained with improvements in theory of mind, inhibitory control, nor individual differences in eye movements. Even the best achieving children only started to approach adult level performance at the age of 9, suggesting a fundamentally different processing style in children and adults

Protein disulphide isomerase-mediated grafting of cysteine-containing peptides onto over-bleached hair

The ability of Protein disulphide isomerase (PDI) to promote the grafting of two cysteine-containing peptides onto hair was investigated in order to develop an alternative treatment for over-bleached hair. The studied peptides were designed based on human keratin and human lung surfactant proteins and were linked to a fluorescent dye to facilitate visualisation of the grafting process and to assess hair penetration. The ability of the peptides to restore mechanical and thermal properties lost by repeated bleaching treatments was also studied. After eight bleaching treatments, hair samples displayed 42% less mechanical resistance, coupled with a decrease in α-helix denaturation enthalpies and temperatures. Hair surface damage following bleaching was visualized by scanning electron microscopy. Addition of PDI to the treatment formulations promoted peptide attachment to the hair via disulphide bonds, facilitating their penetration into the hair cortex, as observed by fluorescence microscopy. The proposed peptide treatment resulted in an increase in α-helix denaturation enthalpy in over-bleached hair, as well as an increase in both Young's modulus and tensile strength. Thus, mechanical and thermal properties were improved after the peptide treatment in the presence of PDI; suggesting that the formulations presented in this work are promising candidates for hair-care applications

Identification of Degraded Land in the Canary Islands; Tests and Reviews

Degraded Land is an area that either by natural causes (fires, floods, storms or volcanic eruptions) or more by direct or indirect causes of human action, has been altered or modified from its natural state. Restoration is an activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem. It can be defined as the set of actions taken in order to reverse or reduce the damage caused in the territory. In the case of the Canary Islands there is a high possibility for the territory to suffer processes that degrade the environment, given that the islands are very fragile ecosystems. Added to this they are territories isolated from the continent, which complicates the process of restoring them. In this paper, the different types of common degraded areas in the Canary Islands are identified, as well as the proposed solutions for remediation, such as afforestation of agricultural land or landfill closure and restoration

Biocompatibility and Bone Formation of Flexible, Cotton Wool-like PLGA/Calcium Phosphate Nanocomposites in Sheep

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this preliminary study was to assess the in vivo performance of synthetic, cotton wool-like nanocomposites consisting of a biodegradable poly(lactide-co-glycolide) fibrous matrix and containing either calcium phosphate nanoparticles (PLGA/CaP 60:40) or silver doped CaP nanoparticles (PLGA/Ag-CaP 60:40). Besides its extraordinary in vitro bioactivity the latter biomaterial (0.4 wt% total silver concentration) provides additional antimicrobial properties for treating bone defects exposed to microorganisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Both flexible artificial bone substitutes were implanted into totally 16 epiphyseal and metaphyseal drill hole defects of long bone in sheep and followed for 8 weeks. Histological and histomorphological analyses were conducted to evaluate the biocompatibility and bone formation applying a score system. The influence of silver on the in vivo performance was further investigated. RESULTS: Semi-quantitative evaluation of histology sections showed for both implant materials an excellent biocompatibility and bone healing with no resorption in the adjacent bone. No signs of inflammation were detectable, either macroscopically or microscopically, as was evident in 5 µm plastic sections by the minimal amount of inflammatory cells. The fibrous biomaterials enabled bone formation directly in the centre of the former defect. The area fraction of new bone formation as determined histomorphometrically after 8 weeks implantation was very similar with 20.5 ± 11.2 % and 22.5 ± 9.2 % for PLGA/CaP and PLGA/Ag-CaP, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The cotton wool-like bone substitute material is easily applicable, biocompatible and might be beneficial in minimal invasive surgery for treating bone defects

Pyrite-induced hydroxyl radical formation and its effect on nucleic acids

BACKGROUND: Pyrite, the most abundant metal sulphide on Earth, is known to spontaneously form hydrogen peroxide when exposed to water. In this study the hypothesis that pyrite-induced hydrogen peroxide is transformed to hydroxyl radicals is tested. RESULTS: Using a combination of electron spin resonance (ESR) spin-trapping techniques and scavenging reactions involving nucleic acids, the formation of hydroxyl radicals in pyrite/aqueous suspensions is demonstrated. The addition of EDTA to pyrite slurries inhibits the hydrogen peroxide-to-hydroxyl radical conversion, but does not inhibit the formation of hydrogen peroxide. Given the stability of EDTA chelation with both ferrous and ferric iron, this suggests that the addition of the EDTA prevents the transformation by chelation of dissolved iron species. CONCLUSION: While the exact mechanism or mechanisms of the hydrogen peroxide-to-hydroxyl radical conversion cannot be resolved on the basis of the experiments reported in this study, it is clear that the pyrite surface promotes the reaction. The formation of hydroxyl radicals is significant because they react nearly instantaneously with most organic molecules. This suggests that the presence of pyrite in natural, engineered, or physiological aqueous systems may induce the transformation of a wide range of organic molecules. This finding has implications for the role pyrite may play in aquatic environments and raises the question whether inhalation of pyrite dust contributes to the development of lung diseases

De Novo assembly and transcriptome analysis of the mediterranean fruit fly ceratitis capitata early embryos

The agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata, also known as the Mediterranean fruit fly or Medfly, belongs to the Tephritidae family, which includes a large number of other damaging pest species. The Medfly has been the first non-drosophilid fly species which has been genetically transformed paving the way for designing geneticbased pest control strategies. Furthermore, it is an experimentally tractable model, in which transient and transgene-mediated RNAi have been successfully used. We applied Illumina sequencing to total RNA preparations of 8-10 hours old embryos of C. capitata, This developmental window corresponds to the blastoderm cellularization stage. In summary, we assembled 42,614 transcripts which cluster in 26,319 unique transcripts of which 11,045 correspond to protein coding genes; we identified several hundreds of long ncRNAs; we found an enrichment of transcripts encoding RNA binding proteins among the highly expressed transcripts, such as CcTRA-2, known to be necessary to establish and, most likely, to maintain female sex of C. capitata. Our study is the first de novo assembly performed for Ceratitis capitata based on Illumina NGS technology during embryogenesis and it adds novel data to the previously published C. capitata EST databases. We expect that it will be useful for a variety of applications such as gene cloning and phylogenetic analyses, as well as to advance genetic research and biotechnological applications in the Medfly and other related Tephritidae

Exploring Predictors of Outcome in the Psychosis Prodrome: Implications for Early Identification and Intervention

Functional disability is a key component of many psychiatric illnesses, particularly schizophrenia. Impairments in social and role functioning are linked to cognitive deficits, a core feature of psychosis. Retrospective analyses demonstrate that substantial functional decline precedes the onset of psychosis. Recent investigations reveal that individuals at clinical-high-risk (CHR) for psychosis show impairments in social relationships, work/school functioning and daily living skills. CHR youth also demonstrate a pattern of impairment across a range of cognitive domains, including social cognition, which is qualitatively similar to that of individuals with schizophrenia. While many studies have sought to elucidate predictors of clinical deterioration, specifically the development of schizophrenia, in such CHR samples, few have investigated factors relevant to psychosocial outcome. This review integrates recent findings regarding cognitive and social-cognitive predictors of outcome in CHR individuals, and proposes potential directions for future research that will contribute to targeted interventions and improved outcome for at-risk youth