Effects of ambient temperature and relative humidity on preterm birth during early pregnancy and before parturition in China from 2010 to 2018: a population-based large-sample cohort study

BackgroundThe progression of global warming and increase in instances of extreme weather have received considerable attention. We conducted a cohort study on women of childbearing age in Yunnan Province, examined the association between ambient temperature and humidity on preterm birth and evaluated the effects of extreme weather during early pregnancy and before parturition on preterm birth.MethodsWe conducted a population-based cohort study on women of childbearing age 18–49 years who participated in National Free Preconception Health Examination Project (NFPHEP) in Yunnan Province from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2018. Meteorological data, namely daily average temperature (°C) and daily average relative humidity (%), were obtained from China National Meteorological Information Center. Four exposure windows were explored: 1 week of pregnancy, 4 weeks of pregnancy, 4 weeks before delivery, and 1 week before delivery. We used a Cox proportional hazards model and adjusted the potential risk factors for preterm birth to obtain the effects of exposure to temperature and humidity on preterm birth among the stages of pregnancy.ResultsAt 1 week of pregnancy and at 4 weeks of pregnancy, the association between temperature and preterm birth was U-shaped. The correlation between relative humidity and the risk of preterm birth was n-type at 1 week of pregnancy. The correlation between preterm birth and temperature and relative humidity at 4 weeks before delivery and at 1 week before delivery is J-shaped. Low temperature and low humidity were protective factors against preterm birth, whereas high temperature and high humidity were risk factors for preterm birth.The effects of high temperature and extremely high temperature were the strongest at 4 weeks before delivery, with HRs of 1.417 (95% CI: 1.362–1.474) and 1.627 (95% CI: 1.537–1.722), respectively. The effects of extremely low humidity and low humidity were strongest at 1 week before delivery, with HRs of 0.681 (95% CI: 0.609–0.761) and 0.696 (95% CI: 0.627–0.771), respectively.ConclusionTemperature and relative humidity affect preterm birth differently for each pregnancy stage. The effects of meteorological factors on pregnancy outcomes such as premature birth should not be ignored

Identification and characterization of CBL and CIPK gene families in canola (Brassica napus L.)

BACKGROUND: Canola (Brassica napus L.) is one of the most important oil-producing crops in China and worldwide. The yield and quality of canola is frequently threatened by environmental stresses including drought, cold and high salinity. Calcium is a ubiquitous intracellular secondary messenger in plants. Calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs) are Ca(2+) sensors and regulate a group of Ser/Thr protein kinases called CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs). Although the CBL-CIPK network has been demonstrated to play crucial roles in plant development and responses to various environmental stresses in Arabidopsis, little is known about their function in canola. RESULTS: In the present study, we identified seven CBL and 23 CIPK genes from canola by database mining and cloning of cDNA sequences of six CBLs and 17 CIPKs. Phylogenetic analysis of CBL and CIPK gene families across a variety of species suggested genome duplication and diversification. The subcellular localization of three BnaCBLs and two BnaCIPKs were determined using green fluorescence protein (GFP) as the reporter. We also demonstrated interactions between six BnaCBLs and 17 BnaCIPKs using yeast two-hybrid assay, and a subset of interactions were further confirmed by bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC). Furthermore, the expression levels of six selected BnaCBL and 12 BnaCIPK genes in response to salt, drought, cold, heat, ABA, methyl viologen (MV) and low potassium were examined by quantitative RT-PCR and these CBL or CIPK genes were found to respond to multiple stimuli, suggesting that the canola CBL-CIPK network may be a point of convergence for several different signaling pathways. We also performed a comparison of interaction patterns and expression profiles of CBL and CIPK in Arabidospsis, canola and rice, to examine the differences between orthologs, highlighting the importance of studying CBL-CIPK in canola as a prerequisite for improvement of this crop. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that CBL and CIPK family members may form a dynamic complex to respond to different abiotic or hormone signaling. Our comparative analyses of the CBL-CIPK network between canola, Arabidopsis and rice highlight functional differences and the necessity to study CBL-CIPK gene functions in canola. Our data constitute a valuable resource for CBL and CPK genomics

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2, an introduction and reports on twelve research projects.National Institutes of Health Grant R01 DC00117National Institutes of Health Grant R01 DC02032National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Grant 2 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant 2 R01 DC00270National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC-5-2107National Institutes of Health Grant 2 R01 DC00100U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N61339-96-K-0002U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N61339-96-K-0003U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-97-1-0635U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-97-1-0655U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Subcontract 40167U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-96-1-0379U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-96-1-0202National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 NS33778Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Innovative Minimally Invasive Therapy Research Fellowship Gran

Tactual Display of Consonant Voicing to Supplement Lipreading

Thesis Supervisor: Nathaniel I. Durlach, Senior Research Scientist. Thesis Supervisor: Charlotte M. Reed, Senior Research Scientist.This research is concerned with the development of tactual displays to supplement the information available through lipreading. Because voicing carries a high informational load in speech and is not well transmitted through lipreading, the efforts are focused on providing tactual displays of voicing to supplement the information available on the lips of the talker. This research includes exploration of 1) signal-processing schemes to extract information about voicing from the acoustic speech signal, 2) methods of displaying this information through a multi-finger tactual display, and 3) perceptual evaluations of voicing reception through the tactual display alone (T), lipreading alone (L), and the combined condition (L+T). Signal processing for the extraction of voicing information used amplitude-envelope signals derived from filtered bands of speech (i.e., envelopes derived from a lowpass-filtered band at 350 Hz and from a highpass-filtered band at 3000 Hz). Acoustic measurements made on the envelope signals of a set of 16 initial consonants represented through multiple tokens of C1VC2 syllables indicate that the onset-timing difference between the low- and high-frequency envelopes (EOA: envelope-onset asynchrony) provides a reliable and robust cue for distinguishing voiced from voiceless consonants. This acoustic cue was presented through a two-finger tactual display such that the envelope of the high-frequency band was used to modulate a 250-Hz carrier signal delivered to the index finger (250-I) and the envelope of the low-frequency band was used to modulate a 50-Hz carrier delivered to the thumb (50T). The temporal-onset order threshold for these two signals, measured with roving signal amplitude and duration, averaged 34 msec, sufficiently small for use of the EOA cue. Perceptual evaluations of the tactual display of EOA with speech signal indicated: 1) that the cue was highly effective for discrimination of pairs of voicing contrasts; 2) that the identification of 16 consonants was improved by roughly 15 percentage points with the addition of the tactual cue over L alone; and 3) that no improvements in L+T over L were observed for reception of words in sentences, indicating the need for further training on this tas

effects of delay of motion parallax in virtual environments

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 31-32).by Hanfeng Yuan.S.M

Experimental and kinetic modeling study of laminar coflow diffusion methane flames doped with 2-butanol

In order to understand the interactions between 2-butanol and hydrocarbon fuels in combustion chemistry, experimental and kinetic modeling investigations were performed to study laminar coflow diffusion methane flames doped with two inlet mole fractions of 2-butanol (1.95% and 3.90%) in this work. Mole fractions of flame species along the flame centerline, particularly unsaturated C2–C5 hydrocarbons, C6–C16 aromatics and some free radicals, were measured using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry. A detailed kinetic model was developed to simulate the fuel decomposition and the formation of benzene and PAHs in the investigated flames. The simulated results can reproduce the observed effects of 2-butanol addition. The reaction pathway analysis reveals that resonantly stabilized radicals, such as propargyl, cyclopentadienyl, phenyl, and benzyl radicals, are major precursors of indene and naphthalene. With the increasing inlet mole fraction of 2-butanol, the formation of these resonantly stabilized radicals increases significantly. PAHs with more carbon atoms, including acenaphthylene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and fluoranthene, are dominantly derived from indenyl and naphthyl radicals