Serum anti-Müllerian hormone as a predictor of polycystic ovarian syndrome among women of reproductive age

BackgroundPolycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) affects up to one-fifth of women of reproductive age and causes anovulatory subfertility. Some studies have recommended that an anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) level greater than 3.8–5 ng/mL can be used for diagnosing PCOS. This study aims to analyse serum AMH levels among PCOS women of reproductive age to use AMH as a biomarker predictor along with other Rotterdam criteria.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, a total of 98 women visiting the fertility center of a private hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, were screened. Data were obtained from 51 PCOS newly diagnosed women aged 28.24 years (SD ± 4.84 years) meeting at least two of the Rotterdam criteria and specific inclusion criteria. Baseline variables, menstrual cycle length, ovarian morphology on ultrasound, hirsutism, sex hormones, gonadotropin, and serum AMH levels were analysed during the follicular phase (1–5 days) of the menstrual cycle. Serum AMH was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.ResultsA high serum AMH level (7.23 ± 4.67 ng/ml) was recorded with normal sex hormone levels. Women with oligo-/amenorrhea had a significant mean difference for luteinizing hormone (p = 0.02) and AMH levels (p = 0.03) when compared with women of normal menstrual cycle length. PCOS women with high AMH levels (≥ 3.9 ng/ml) showed a significant difference in ovarian morphology (p < 0.05) when compared with the normal AMH group.ConclusionsAn elevated serum AMH level can be used as a strong predictor to reflect the certainty of PCOS diagnosis among women of reproductive age when study concurrently with the other Rotterdam criteria

Comparison of physical activity levels and dietary habits between women with polycystic ovarian syndrome and healthy controls of reproductive age: A case-control study

BackgroundPolycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a reproductive hormonal anomaly prevalent among women of reproductive age, with an alarmingly high prevalence of 52% among Pakistani women. This study aims to compare the daily physical activity and dietary habits of women with PCOS with age-matched healthy controls living in Lahore, Pakistan.MethodsA case–control study design was used to collect data from a private hospital situated in Lahore, Pakistan. Data was collected from 115 participants of reproductive age (18–45 years) using a researcher-administered questionnaire. Demographic variables, reproductive characteristics, anthropometric measurements, and seven days of physical activity levels using the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ-Short version) and seven days of dietary intake using the food frequency questionnaire (7 days-FFQ) were used to measure the dietary habits of the participants. Mosby’s Nutritac v4.0 software was used to estimate the macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals present in dietary intake. The glycaemic index and glycaemic load were calculated to compare the quality and quantity of carbohydrate consumption between the two groups.ResultsThe 49 PCOS cases, newly identified using the Rotterdam criteria, mean age 24.63 years (SD ± 4.76), and 66 healthy controls, mean age 23.24 years (SD ± 5.45), were compared. A significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) was found for reproductive characteristics, daily physical activity, and polyunsaturated fat and vitamin intake between the two groups. A binary logistic regression analysis showed that food with a low glycaemic index (GI ≤ 40) reduced the odds of PCOS occurrence by OR = 1.94. Similarly, food nutrients with a low glycaemic load (GL ≤ 10) can reduce PCOS occurrence by OR = 1.60.ConclusionThe daily physical activity levels and dietary habits of women of reproductive age can influence their reproductive characteristics and polycystic ovarian morphology. A diet with a low glycaemic load and index can produce beneficial reproductive health effects among women of reproductive age.<br/

Oral health perceptions and practices of caregivers at children’s religious schools and foster care centers: a qualitative exploratory study in Lahore, Pakistan

BackgroundOral diseases are one of the major public health problems worldwide and affect the population of all age groups. This qualitative study aimed to explore the perceptions and practices of caregivers at care centres and boarding religious schools responsible for managing children’s oral health.MethodsA qualitative ethnomethodological approach was used to collect data from the caregivers at the children’s religious schools and foster care centres. A purposive sampling technique was used to conduct focus group discussions comprising 4–7 caregivers from five foster care centres and religious schools located in Lahore, Pakistan.An interview guide was developed based on results from previous studies. An inductive approach was used to analyse data on broader oral health concepts to generate themes in this qualitative research. A three-step thematic analysis was applied to develop codes that were merged to generate categories and to conclude into themes from the transcribed data. Five focus group discussions were conducted at two foster care centres (FG1 &amp; FG2) and three religious schools (FG3, FG4 &amp; FG5). Foster care centres had children of both gender within the same premises; however, religious schools had segregated settings.ResultsThe following four themes emerged from the thematic analysis: development of the desired living environment and responsibilities of the caregivers, preexisting traditional personal knowledge of the caregivers determine children’s oral health, use of religio-cultural driven and convenience-based oral hygiene practices, and ethnomedicine, spiritual healing, and self-medication. Development and the existing living environment of the foster care centres and religious schools appeared important to manage the matters of the boarding children.ConclusionsThis qualitative study concludes that the oral health of the children at foster care centres and at religious schools depends upon the personal reasoning and pre-existing religio-cultural knowledge of the caregivers rather than on specialized oral health-oriented approaches. The foster care centres are more involved in supervising the children to maintain oral hygiene and oral health compared to religious schools.<br/

Review of Graphene Technology and Its Applications for Electronic Devices

Graphene has amazing abilities due to its unique band structure characteristics defining its enhanced electrical capabilities for a material with the highest characteristic mobility known to exist at room temperature. The high mobility of graphene occurs due to electron delocalization and weak electron–phonon interaction, making graphene an ideal material for electrical applications requiring high mobility and fast response times. In this review, we cover graphene’s integration into infrared (IR) devices, electro-optic (EO) devices, and field effect transistors (FETs) for radio frequency (RF) applications. The benefits of utilizing graphene for each case are discussed, along with examples showing the current state-of-the-art solutions for these applications

Negative attitudes related to violence against women: gender and ethnic differences among youth living in Serbia

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify to what extent negative attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women are present among young women and men living in Serbia, in Roma and non-Roma settlements. METHODS: We used the data from the 2010 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted in Serbia, for the respondents who were 15-24 years old. Regression analyses were used to examine the association between judgmental attitudes, socio-demographic factors and life satisfaction. RESULTS: In Roma settlements, 34.8% of men and 23.6% of women believed that under certain circumstances men are justified to be violent towards wives, while among non-Roma it was 5.6 and 4.0%, respectively. These negative attitudes were significantly associated with lower educational level, lower socio-economic status and being married. In multivariate model, in both Roma and non-Roma population women who were not married were less judgmental, while the richest Roma men were least judgmental (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.18-0.87). CONCLUSIONS: Violence prevention activities have to be focused on promoting gender equality among youth in vulnerable population groups such as Roma, especially through social support, strengthening their education and employment

Reconstructing charge-carrier dynamics in porous silicon membranes from time-resolved interferometric measurements

We performed interferometric time-resolved simultaneous reflectance and transmittance measurements to investigate the carrier dynamics in pump-probe experiments on thin porous silicon membranes. The experimental data was analysed by using a method built on the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation and the Drude model, allowing us to reconstruct the excited carriers’ non-uniform distribution in space and its evolution in time. The analysis revealed that the carrier dynamics in porous silicon, with ~50% porosity and native oxide chemistry, is governed by the Shockley-Read-Hall recombination process with a characteristic time constant of 375 picoseconds, whereas diffusion makes an insignificant contribution as it is suppressed by the high rate of scattering

Cervical Mucus Properties Stratify Risk for Preterm Birth

Background: Ascending infection from the colonized vagina to the normally sterile intrauterine cavity is a well-documented cause of preterm birth. The primary physical barrier to microbial ascension is the cervical canal, which is filled with a dense and protective mucus plug. Despite its central role in separating the vaginal from the intrauterine tract, the barrier properties of cervical mucus have not been studied in preterm birth. Methods and Findings: To study the protective function of the cervical mucus in preterm birth we performed a pilot case-control study to measure the viscoelasticity and permeability properties of mucus obtained from pregnant women at high-risk and low-risk for preterm birth. Using extensional and shear rheology we found that cervical mucus from women at high-risk for preterm birth was more extensible and forms significantly weaker gels compared to cervical mucus from women at low-risk of preterm birth. Moreover, permeability measurements using fluorescent microbeads show that high-risk mucus was more permeable compared with low-risk mucus. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that critical biophysical barrier properties of cervical mucus in women at high-risk for preterm birth are compromised compared to women with healthy pregnancy. We hypothesize that impaired barrier properties of cervical mucus could contribute to increased rates of intrauterine infection seen in women with preterm birth. We furthermore suggest that a robust association of spinnbarkeit and preterm birth could be an effectively exploited biomarker for preterm birth prediction.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Charles E. Reed Faculty Initiative FundBurroughs Wellcome Fund (Preterm Birth Research Grant)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Progra

A computational model of lipopolysaccharide-induced nuclear factor kappa B activation:a key signalling pathway in infection-induced preterm labour

Preterm birth is the single biggest cause of significant neonatal morbidity and mortality, and the incidence is rising. Development of new therapies to treat and prevent preterm labour is seriously hampered by incomplete understanding of the molecular mechanisms that initiate labour at term and preterm. Computational modelling provides a new opportunity to improve this understanding. It is a useful tool in (i) identifying gaps in knowledge and informing future research, and (ii) providing the basis for an in silico model of parturition in which novel drugs to prevent or treat preterm labour can be "tested". Despite their merits, computational models are rarely used to study the molecular events initiating labour. Here, we present the first attempt to generate a dynamic kinetic model that has relevance to the molecular mechanisms of preterm labour. Using published data, we model an important candidate signalling pathway in infection-induced preterm labour: that of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -induced activation of Nuclear Factor kappa B. This is the first model of this pathway to explicitly include molecular interactions upstream of Nuclear Factor kappa B activation. We produced a formalised graphical depiction of the pathway and built a kinetic model based on ordinary differential equations. The kinetic model accurately reproduced published in vitro time course plots of Lipopolysaccharide-induced Nuclear Factor kappa B activation in mouse embryo fibroblasts. In this preliminary work we have provided proof of concept that it is possible to build computational models of signalling pathways that are relevant to the regulation of labour, and suggest that models that are validated with wet-lab experiments have the potential to greatly benefit the field

Micromechanical Properties of Injection-Molded Starch–Wood Particle Composites

The micromechanical properties of injection molded starch–wood particle composites were investigated as a function of particle content and humidity conditions. The composite materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. The microhardness of the composites was shown to increase notably with the concentration of the wood particles. In addition,creep behavior under the indenter and temperature dependence were evaluated in terms of the independent contribution of the starch matrix and the wood microparticles to the hardness value. The influence of drying time on the density and weight uptake of the injection-molded composites was highlighted. The results revealed the role of the mechanism of water evaporation, showing that the dependence of water uptake and temperature was greater for the starch–wood composites than for the pure starch sample. Experiments performed during the drying process at 70°C indicated that the wood in the starch composites did not prevent water loss from the samples.Peer reviewe