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Background: To align with the 2030 vision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure 90% of girls receive the HPV vaccine before turning 15, Bangladesh has recently started the (HPV) vaccine campaign nationwide. Therefore, our study aimed to assess the level of its acceptance among parents of eligible daughters in Bangladesh., Methods: This nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted among the self-identified parents of daughters in the age group of 9-15 years between June 28 and August 2, 2023. A total of 2,151 parents were conveniently selected from all eight divisions of Bangladesh. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. The Health Belief Model was used to appraise respondents' beliefs concerning HPV and its vaccination. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with a corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI), and a p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. R Studio (Version 2023.09.0+463) was used as an interface for data analysis, while R (the programming language) was used for statistical computations., Results: The mean age of the study participants was 38.18 (±5.86) years. The overall acceptance rate of the HPV vaccine was 86.61% (95%CI: 85.09-88.02). The vaccine acceptance level was positively associated with all the domains of the HBM (p<0.001), except in the perceived barrier domain (p = 0.489). After adjustment for other factors, it was found that higher age was associated with a decreased acceptance (AOR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.89-0.95). The urban residents exhibited 42% lower odds of vaccine acceptance than rural (AOR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.36-0.92). Similarly, participants of the middle-income group had 44% lower odds than the lower-income group (AOR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.32-0.97)., Conclusion: Our study found a reasonably good level of acceptance of the HPV vaccine among the parents of eligible daughters. Multiple factors such as younger age, urban residence, belonging to the middle income group, history of regular routine health check-ups, knowledge of cervical cancer, positive perception about benefits of the vaccine, and positive cues to actions were associated with HPV vaccine acceptance., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Hawlader et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Objective: This study identified metabolite modules associated with adiposity and body fat distribution in childhood using gold-standard measurements., Methods: We used cross-sectional data from 329 children at mid-childhood (age 5.3 ± 0.3 years; BMI 15.7 ± 1.5 kg/m 2 ) from the Genetics of Glucose regulation in Gestation and Growth (Gen3G), a prospective pre-birth cohort. We quantified 1038 plasma metabolites and measured body composition using the gold-standard dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), in addition to skinfold, waist circumference, and BMI. We applied weighted-correlation network analysis to identify a network of highly correlated metabolite modules. Spearman's partial correlations were applied to determine the associations of adiposity with metabolite modules and individual metabolites with false discovery rate (FDR) correction., Results: We identified a 'green' module of 120 metabolites, primarily comprised of lipids (mostly sphingomyelins and phosphatidylcholine), that showed positive correlations (all FDR p < 0.05) with DXA estimates of total and truncal fat (ρ adjusted  = 0.11-0.19), skinfold measures (ρ adjusted  = 0.09-0.26), and BMI and waist circumference (ρ adjusted  = 0.15 and 0.18, respectively). These correlations were similar when stratified by sex. Within this module, sphingomyelin (d18:2/14:0, d18:1/14:1)*, a sphingomyelin sub-specie that is an important component of cell membranes, showed the strongest associations., Conclusions: A module of metabolites was associated with adiposity measures in childhood., (© 2024 World Obesity Federation.)

Nowadays, water pollution generated from textile effluents is one of the major problems for the human race and ecology. Hence, development of sustainable strategies to lower the water pollution level has become a burning need. In this regard, the present study focuses on the preparation of nano catalyst NiFe 2 O 4 to catalyze the chemical reactions on industrial organic dyes for their fast cleansing from water. By sol-gel auto-combustion technique, NiFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles were synthesized and exposed to thermal process at temperatures of 400, 600, and 800 °C. Highly crystalline phase with spinel cubic structured NiFe 2 O 4 was formed with a crystal size of 18.71 nm, which was confirmed by XRD analysis. The FTIR spectra showed two fundamental absorption bands in the range 597.80-412.59 cm -1 , which are the characteristics of tetrahedral M - O and octahedral M - O bond in NiFe 2 O 4 . The surface morphology of calcined NiFe 2 O 4 was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The nanoparticle size analyzer exhibited that the synthesized NiFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles had an average particle size of ∼ 291.3 nm. Three stage decomposition patterns were observed for NiFe 2 O 4 , which was analyzed by a temperature programmed STA. Zeta potential analyzer showed that the synthesized sample S1 and S2 were stable in the dispersion medium. Also, NiFe 2 O 4 exhibited optical band gap energies for direct band transitions within the visible spectrum measured to be 1.43-1.45 eV, rendering them effective as photocatalysts under sunlight. The samples showed magnetic measurements by VSM with saturation magnetization, coercivity, remnant magnetization value of 66.81 emu/g, 4.13 Oe and 12.94 emu/g, respectively. The synthesized photocatalyst, NiFe 2 O 4 , at 400 °C, significantly degraded three toxic organic pollutants-Methylene blue, Rhodamine B, and Congo Red-under visible light through 'Photo-Fenton' reaction mechanisms. Among the three dyes, Methylene Blue exhibited the highest degradation percentage with a rate constant of 0.0149 min -1 and followed pseudo-first-order kinetic model., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

ZNHIT3 (zinc finger HIT type containing protein 3) is an evolutionarily conserved protein required for ribosome biogenesis by mediating the assembly of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) of class C/D into ribonucleoprotein complexes (snoRNPs). Missense mutations in the gene encoding ZNHIT3 protein have been previously reported to cause PEHO syndrome, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder typically presenting after birth. We discuss here the case of two fetuses from a single family who presented with isolated hydrops during the early second trimester of pregnancy, resulting in intrauterine demise. Autopsy revealed no associated malformation. Through whole-genome quartet analysis, we identified two novel variants within the ZNHIT3 gene, both inherited from healthy parents and occurring as compound heterozygotes in both fetuses. The c.40T>C p.Cys14Arg variant originated from the father, while the c.251&#95;254delAAGA variant was of maternal origin. Analysis of the variants in human cell culture models reveals that both variants reduce cell growth, albeit to different extents, and impact the protein's stability and function in distinct ways. The c.251&#95;254delAAGA results in production of a stable form of ZNHIT3 that lacks a domain required for mediating snoRNP biogenesis, whereas the c.40T>C p.Cys14Arg variation behaves similarly to the previously described PEHO-associated ZNHIT3 variants that destabilize the protein. Interestingly, both variations lead to a marked decrease in specific box C/D snoRNA levels, reduced rRNA levels and cellular translation. Analysis of rRNA methylation pattern in fetus samples reveals distinct sites of hypo 2'-O-methylation. RNA-seq analysis of undifferentiated and differentiated SHSY5Y cells transfected with the ZNHIT3 variants reveals differential expression of a set of genes, many of which are associated with developmental processes and RNA binding compared to cells expressing wild-type ZNHIT3. In summary, this work extends the phenotype of PEHO syndrome to include antenatal manifestations and describe the molecular defects induced by two novel ZNHIT3 variants., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors report no competing interests.

The etiology of lung cancer in never-smokers remains elusive, despite 15% of lung cancer cases in men and 53% in women worldwide being unrelated to smoking. Here, we aimed to enhance our understanding of lung cancer pathogenesis among never-smokers using untargeted metabolomics. This nested case-control study included 395 never-smoking women who developed lung cancer and 395 matched never-smoking cancer-free women from the prospective Shanghai Women's Health Study with 15,353 metabolic features quantified in pre-diagnostic plasma using liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry. Recognizing that metabolites often correlate and seldom act independently in biological processes, we utilized a weighted correlation network analysis to agnostically construct 28 network modules of correlated metabolites. Using conditional logistic regression models, we assessed the associations for both metabolic network modules and individual metabolic features with lung cancer, accounting for multiple testing using a false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.20. We identified a network module of 121 features inversely associated with all lung cancer (p = .001, FDR = 0.028) and lung adenocarcinoma (p = .002, FDR = 0.056), where lyso-glycerophospholipids played a key role driving these associations. Another module of 440 features was inversely associated with lung adenocarcinoma (p = .014, FDR = 0.196). Individual metabolites within these network modules were enriched in biological pathways linked to oxidative stress, and energy metabolism. These pathways have been implicated in previous metabolomics studies involving populations exposed to known lung cancer risk factors such as traffic-related air pollution and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Our results suggest that untargeted plasma metabolomics could provide novel insights into the etiology and risk factors of lung cancer among never-smokers., (© 2024 UICC. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)

Background: The aetiology of lung cancer among individuals who never smoked remains elusive, despite 15% of lung cancer cases in men and 53% in women worldwide being unrelated to smoking. Epigenetic alterations, particularly DNA methylation (DNAm) changes, have emerged as potential drivers. Yet, few prospective epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS), primarily focusing on peripheral blood DNAm with limited representation of never smokers, have been conducted., Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study of 80 never-smoking incident lung cancer cases and 83 never-smoking controls within the Shanghai Women's Health Study and Shanghai Men's Health Study. DNAm was measured in prediagnostic oral rinse samples using Illumina MethylationEPIC array. Initially, we conducted an EWAS to identify differentially methylated positions (DMPs) associated with lung cancer in the discovery sample of 101 subjects. The top 50 DMPs were further evaluated in a replication sample of 62 subjects, and results were pooled using fixed-effect meta-analysis., Results: Our study identified three DMPs significantly associated with lung cancer at the epigenome-wide significance level of p<8.22×10 -8 . These DMPs were identified as cg09198866 ( MYH9 ; TXN2 ), cg01411366 ( SLC9A10 ) and cg12787323. Furthermore, examination of the top 1000 DMPs indicated significant enrichment in epithelial regulatory regions and their involvement in small GTPase-mediated signal transduction pathways. Additionally, GrimAge acceleration was identified as a risk factor for lung cancer (OR=1.19 per year; 95% CI 1.06 to 1.34)., Conclusions: While replication in a larger sample size is necessary, our findings suggest that DNAm patterns in prediagnostic oral rinse samples could provide novel insights into the underlying mechanisms of lung cancer in never smokers., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Healthy dietary patterns, such as the alternate Mediterranean diet and alternate Healthy Eating Index, benefit cardiometabolic health. However, several food components of these dietary patterns are primary sources of environmental chemicals. Here, using data from a racially and ethnically diverse US cohort, we show that healthy dietary pattern scores were positively associated with plasma chemical exposure in pregnancy, particularly for the alternate Mediterranean diet and alternate Healthy Eating Index with polychlorinated biphenyls and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. The associations appeared stronger among Asian and Pacific Islanders. These findings suggest that optimizing the benefits of a healthy diet requires concerted regulatory efforts aimed at lowering environmental chemical exposure., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Copper doped magnesium ferrite, Mg 1 - x Cu x Fe 2 O 4 (x = 0.0-1.0) nanomaterials were synthesized via. sol-gel method sintered at 600 °C for 2 h. The synthesized materials were characterized using modern sophisticated techniques viz. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy, Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Vibrating sample magnetometer, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra and Impedance analyzer. XRD analysis revealed that all the samples were single phase cubic spinel structure with Fd3m space group and investigated the change in structural parameters with copper concentration. The average crystallite size in the range of 11-23 nm and lattice parameters decrease with increasing Cu doping, due to the cationic distribution and ionic radius. The SEM images show the agglomeration of the particles with spherical like shape and elemental percentage were obtained from EDX. The saturation magnetization showed an increasing trend with increasing Cu concentration at a certain level and then decreases due to the rearrangement of cations at tetrahedral and octahedral sites. The Coercivity, Retentivity and magnetic crystalline anisotropy increase with changing dopant concentration. The magnetic measurements showed enhanced saturation magnetization at certain level (28.96emu/gm) and increase in coercivity up to 1102 Oe with changing dopant concentration. The estimated band gap energy is found to increase with Cu content. The dielectric constant, dielectric loss and impedance show normal behavior of ferrite. The frequency dependent dielectric constant decrease and tan delta shows a relaxation behavior at low frequencies. The synthesized nano Mg-Cu nanoparticles will be applied as humidity sensor, gas sensor, microwave devices and photocatalyst., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

In this work, the transformation of waste iron cans to gamma iron oxide (γ-Fe 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles following acid leaching precipitation method along with their structural, surface chemistry, and magnetic properties was studied. Highly magnetic iron-based nanomaterials, maghemite with high saturation magnetization have been synthesized through an acid leaching technique by carefully tuning of pH and calcination temperature. The phase composition and crystal structure, surface morphology, surface chemistry, and surface composition of the synthesized γ-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles were explored by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The XRD results confirm the cubic spinel structure having crystallite size 26.90-52.15 nm. The XPS study reveals the presence of Fe, O element and the binding energy of Fe (710.31 and 724.48 eV) confirms the formation of γ-Fe 2 O 3 as well. By dynamic light scattering (DLS) method and zeta potential analyzer, the particle size distribution and stability of the systems were investigated. The magnetic behavior of the synthesized γ-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles were studied using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) which confirmed the ferrimagnetic particles with saturation magnetization of 54.94 emu/g. The resultant maghemite nanoparticles will be used in photocatalysts and humidity sensing. The net impact of the work stated here is based on the principle of converting waste into useful nanomaterials. Finally, it was concluded that our results can give insights into the design of the synthesis procedure from the precursor to the high-quality gamma iron oxide nanoparticles with high saturation magnetization for different potential applications which are inexpensive and very simple., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Vaccination against Human papillomavirus (HPV) is recommended to avoid HPV infections and its associated diseases, including cervical cancer. However, there is no awareness study among Bangladeshi population. Hence, this nationwide study was conducted to explore HPV vaccine awareness and its determinants among parents of eligible adolescent girls., Methods: This study was conducted among the parents of daughters aged 9-15 years from 42 out of 64 randomly selected districts of Bangladesh between June 28 to August 2, 2023. A multistage sampling method was used to enroll 2151 study participants from all eight divisions of Bangladesh. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for face-to-face interviews in this study. The statistical software Stata (Version 17) was used for statistical analyses., Results: The average age of the participants was 38.18 (±5.86) years. Only 22.32 % of the participants were aware of the HPV vaccine. Every additional year of age increased the likelihood of being aware of the HPV vaccine by 3 % (AOR: 1.03; 95%CI: 1.00-1.06). Participants residing in the urban area had 3.56 times higher odds of awareness than rural and semi-urban people. Businessmen and housewives had 60 % (AOR: 0.40; 95 % CI: 0.22-0.69) and 77 % (AOR: 0.23; 95 % CI: 0.16-0.33) lower odds in comparison to job holders. The lower-income group exhibited significantly higher odds of awareness (AOR: 0.25, 95%CI: 0.16-0.39) compared to the middle and the higher-income group. Participants who never went through routine health check-ups had 77 % lower odds of being aware than those who availed of regular routine check-ups (AOR: 0.23; 95%CI: 0.16-0.34)., Conclusion: Awareness of the HPV vaccine among the general population of Bangladesh is very low. Age, residence, occupation, monthly income, and routine medical check-ups were associated with HPV vaccine awareness. A nationwide awareness campaign would increase this awareness level among the Bangladeshi population, especially among the parents of daughters., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Background: We characterized age at diagnosis and estimated sex differences for lung cancer and its histological subtypes among individuals who never smoke., Methods: We analyzed the distribution of age at lung cancer diagnosis in 33,793 individuals across 8 cohort studies and two national registries from East Asia, the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). Student's t-tests were used to assess the study population differences (Δ years) in age at diagnosis comparing females and males who never smoke across subgroups defined by race/ethnicity, geographic location, and histological subtypes., Results: We found that among Chinese individuals diagnosed with lung cancer who never smoke, females were diagnosed with lung cancer younger than males in the Taiwan Cancer Registry (n = 29,832) (Δ years = -2.2 (95% confidence interval (CI):-2.5, -1.9), in Shanghai (n = 1049) (Δ years = -1.6 (95% CI:-2.9, -0.3), and in Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente Hawai'i in the US (n = 82) (Δ years = -11.3 (95% CI: -17.7, -4.9). While there was a suggestion of similar patterns in African American and non-Hispanic White individuals. the estimated differences were not consistent across studies and were not statistically significant., Conclusions: We found evidence of sex differences for age at lung cancer diagnosis among individuals who never smoke., (© 2024. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

Objective: PDZ-binding kinase (PBK) has been reported as a poor prognostic factor and is a promising molecular target for anticancer therapeutics. Here, we aimed to investigate the effect of specific PBK inhibitor OTS514 on the survival of OSCC cells., Methods: Four OSCC cell lines (HSC-2, HSC-3, SAS, and OSC-19) were used to examine the effect of OTS514 on cell survival and apoptosis. DNA microarray analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of OTS514 on gene expression in OSCC cells. Gene set enrichment analysis was performed to identify molecular signatures related to the antiproliferative effect of OTS514., Results: OTS514 decreased the cell survival of OSCC cells dose-dependently, and administration of OTS514 readily suppressed the HSC-2-derived tumor growth in immunodeficient mice. Treatment with OTS514 significantly increased the number of apoptotic cells and caspase-3/7 activity. Importantly, OTS514 suppressed the expression of E2F target genes with a marked decrease in protein levels of E2F1, a transcriptional factor. Moreover, TP53 knockdown attenuated OTS514-induced apoptosis., Conclusion: OTS514 suppressed the proliferation of OSCC cells by downregulating the expression of E2F target genes and induced apoptosis by mediating the p53 signaling pathway. These results highlight the clinical application of PBK inhibitors in the development of molecular-targeted therapeutics against OSCC., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

There has been a great deal of research on cell division and its mechanisms; however, its processes still have many unknowns. To find novel proteins that regulate cell division, we performed the screening using siRNAs and/or the expression plasmid of the target genes and identified leucine zipper protein 1 (LUZP1). Recent studies have shown that LUZP1 interacts with various proteins and stabilizes the actin cytoskeleton; however, the function of LUZP1 in mitosis is not known. In this study, we found that LUZP1 colocalized with the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) at the centromere in metaphase and at the central spindle in anaphase and that these LUZP1 localizations were regulated by CPC activity and kinesin family member 20A (KIF20A). Mass spectrometry analysis identified that LUZP1 interacted with death-associated protein kinase 3 (DAPK3), one regulator of the cleavage furrow ingression in cytokinesis. In addition, we found that LUZP1 also interacted with myosin light chain 9 (MYL9), a substrate of DAPK3, and comprehensively inhibited MYL9 phosphorylation by DAPK3. In line with a known role for MYL9 in the actin-myosin contraction, LUZP1 suppression accelerated the constriction velocity at the division plane in our time-lapse analysis. Our study indicates that LUZP1 is a novel regulator for cytokinesis that regulates the constriction velocity of the contractile ring., (© 2023 The Authors. The FEBS Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Federation of European Biochemical Societies.)

We investigated phenotypic leucocyte telomere length (LTL), genetically predicted LTL (gTL), and lung cancer risk among 371 890 participants, including 2829 incident cases, from the UK Biobank. Using multivariable Cox regression, we found dose-response relationships between longer phenotypic LTL (p-trend continuous =2.6×10 -5 ), longer gTL predicted using a polygenic score with 130 genetic instruments (p-trend continuous =4.2×10 -10 ), and overall lung cancer risk, particularly for adenocarcinoma. The associations were prominent among never smokers. Mendelian Randomization analyses supported causal associations between longer telomere length and lung cancer (HR per 1 SD gTL =1.87, 95% CI: 1.49 to 2.36, p=4.0×10 -7 ), particularly adenocarcinoma (HR per 1 SD gTL =2.45, 95%CI: 1.69 to 3.57, p=6.5×10 -6 )., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: the aim of this study was to identify plasma metabolomic markers of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary patterns in pregnant women. Methods: This study included 186 women who had both dietary intake and metabolome measured from a nested case-control study within the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies-Singletons cohort (FGS). Dietary intakes were ascertained at 8-13 gestational weeks (GW) using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and DASH scores were calculated based on eight food and nutrient components. Fasting plasma samples were collected at 15-26 GW and untargeted metabolomic profiling was performed. Multivariable linear regression models were used to examine the association of individual metabolites with the DASH score. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was used to select a panel of metabolites jointly associated with the DASH score. Results: Of the total 460 known metabolites, 92 were individually associated with DASH score in linear regressions, 25 were selected as a panel by LASSO regressions, and 18 were identified by both methods. Among the top 18 metabolites, there were 11 lipids and lipid-like molecules (i.e., TG (49:1), TG (52:2), PC (31:0), PC (35:3), PC (36:4) C, PC (36:5) B, PC (38:4) B, PC (42:6), SM (d32:0), gamma-tocopherol, and dodecanoic acid), 5 organic acids and derivatives (i.e., asparagine, beta-alanine, glycine, taurine, and hydroxycarbamate), 1 organic oxygen compound (i.e., xylitol), and 1 organoheterocyclic compound (i.e., maleimide). Conclusions: our study identified plasma metabolomic markers for DASH dietary patterns in pregnant women, with most of being lipids and lipid-like molecules.

Grass puffer is a semilunar-synchronized spawner: spawning occurs on beaches only for several days of spring tide around new moon (lunar age 0) and full moon (lunar age 15) every 2 weeks from spring to early summer. To investigate the role of kisspeptin and gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) in the semilunar-synchronized spawning, lunar age-dependent expression of the genes encoding kisspeptin ( kiss2 ), kisspeptin receptor ( kissr2 ), GnIH ( gnih ), GnIH receptor ( gnihr ), gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) ( gnrh1 ), and three gonadotropin (GTH) subunits ( gpa , fshb , lhb ) was examined in the male grass puffer, which was kept in an aquarium under natural light condition in a lunar month during the spawning period. In the brain, both kiss2 and kissr2 showed lunar variations with a peak at lunar age 10, while both gnih and gnihr showed semilunar variations with two peaks at lunar age 0 and 20. On the other hand, gnrh1 showed semilunar variation with two peaks at lunar age 0 and 15. In the pituitary, kiss2 , kissr2 , gnih , and gnihr showed similar variations to those shown in the brain. The fshb and lhb mRNA levels showed semilunar variations with two peaks at lunar age 0 and 15. The present study shows lunar and semilunar oscillations of kiss2 / kissr2 and gnih / gnihr expressions, respectively, with their peaks around spring tide in the brain and pituitary along with the semilunar expressions of gnrh1 and the pituitary GTH subunit genes. These results suggest that the lunar age-dependent expressions of the kisspeptin, GnIH, and their receptor genes may be primarily important in the control of the precisely timed semilunar spawning of the grass puffer.

5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase-related kinase 5 (ARK5) is involved in mitochondrial ATP production and associated with poor prognosis of multiple myeloma (MM). However, the molecular mechanisms of ARK5 in MM remain largely unknown. This study examined the pathogenic role of ARK5 in mitochondria by using genetically modified isogenic cell clones with or without ARK5 in human myeloma cell lines, KMS-11 and Sachi, which overexpress ARK5. The biallelic knockout of ARK5 (ARK5-KO) inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, and migration with increased apoptosis. Mitochondrial fusion was enhanced in ARK5-KO cells, unlike in ARK5 wild-type (ARK5-WT) cells, which exhibited increased mitochondrial fission. Furthermore, ARK5-KO cells demonstrated a lower phosphorylated dynamin-related protein 1 at serine 616, higher protein expression of mitofusin-1 (MFN1) and MFN2, optic atrophy 1 with a lower level of ATP, and higher levels of lactate and reactive oxygen species than ARK5-WT cells. Our findings suggest that ARK5-enhanced myeloma cells can survive associated mitochondrial fission and activity. This study first revealed the relationship between ARK5 and mitochondrial morphological dynamics. Thus, our outcomes show novel aspects of mitochondrial biology of ARK5, which can afford a more advanced treatment approach for unfavorable MM expressing ARK5., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The complex relationship between measured leukocyte telomere length (LTL), genetically predicted LTL (gTL), and carcinogenesis is exemplified by lung cancer. We previously reported associations between longer pre-diagnostic LTL, gTL, and increased lung cancer risk among European and East Asian populations. However, we had limited statistical power to examine the associations among never smokers by gender and histology., Methods: To investigate further, we conducted nested case-control analyses on an expanded sample of never smokers from the prospective Shanghai Women's Health Studies (798 cases and 792 controls) and Shanghai Men's Health Studies (161 cases and 162 controls). We broke the case-control matching and used multivariable unconditional logistic regression models to estimate the ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of incident lung cancer and adenocarcinoma (LUAD), in relation to LTL measured using quantitative PCR and gTL determined using a polygenic score. In addition, we conducted Mendelian randomization (MR) using MR-PRESSO., Results: We found striking dose-response relationships between longer LTL and gTL, and increased lung cancer risk among never-smoking women (P trendLTL = 4×10-6; P trendgTL = 3×10-4). Similarly, among never-smoking men, longer measured LTL was associated with over triple the risk compared with those with the shortest (OR, 3.48; 95% CI, 1.85-6.57). The overall results were similar for LUAD among women and men. MR analyses supported causal associations with LUAD among women (OR1 SD gTL, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.03-1.37; P = 0.03)., Conclusions: Longer pre-diagnostic LTL is associated with increased lung cancer risk among never smokers., Impact: Our findings firmly support the role of longer telomeres in lung carcinogenesis., (©2023 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Background: Maternal lipidomic profiling offers promise for characterizing lipid metabolites during pregnancy, but longitudinal data are limited. This study aimed to examine associations of longitudinal lipidomic profiles during pregnancy with multiple neonatal anthropometry using data from a multiracial cohort., Methods: We measured untargeted plasma lipidome profiles among 321 pregnant women from the NICHD Fetal Growth Study-Singletons using plasma samples collected longitudinally during four study visits at gestational weeks (GW) 10-14, 15-26, 23-31, and 33-39, respectively. We evaluated individual lipidomic metabolites at each study visit in association with neonatal anthropometry. We also evaluated the associations longitudinally by constructing lipid networks using weighted correlation network analysis and common networks using consensus network analysis across four visits using linear mixed-effects models with the adjustment of false discover rate., Findings: Multiple triglycerides (TG) were positively associated with birth weight (BW), BW Z-score, length and head circumference, while some cholesteryl ester (CE), phosphatidylcholine (PC), sphingomyelines (SM), phosphatidylethanolamines (PE), and lysophosphatidylcholines (LPC 20:3) families were inversely associated with BW, length, abdominal and head circumference at different GWs. Longitudinal trajectories of TG, PC, and glucosylcermides (GlcCer) were associated with BW, and CE (18:2) with BW z-score, length, and sum of skinfolds (SS), while some PC and PE were significantly associated with abdominal and head circumference. Modules of TG at GW 10-14 and 15-26 mainly were associated with BW. At GW 33-39, two networks of LPC (20:3) and of PC, TG, and CE, showed inverse associations with abdominal circumference. Distinct trajectories within two consensus modules with changes in TG, CE, PC, and LPC showed significant differences in BW and length., Interpretation: The results demonstrated that longitudinal changes of TGs during early- and mid-pregnancy and changes of PC, LPC, and CE during late-pregnancy were significantly associated with neonatal anthropometry., Funding: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development intramural funding., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests None., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

CRISPR/Cas9 is a powerful genome editing system that has remarkably facilitated gene knockout and targeted knock-in. To accelerate the practical use of CRISPR/Cas9, however, it remains crucial to improve the efficiency, precision, and specificity of genome editing, particularly targeted knock-in, achieved with this system. To improve genome editing efficiency, researchers should first have a molecular assay that allows sensitive monitoring of genome editing events with simple procedures. In the current study, we demonstrate that genome editing events occurring in L1CAM, an X-chromosome gene encoding a cell surface protein, can be readily monitored using flow cytometry (FCM) in multiple human cell lines including neuroblastoma cell lines. The abrogation of L1CAM was efficiently achieved using Cas9 nucleases which disrupt exons encoding the L1CAM extracellular domain, and was easily detected by FCM using anti-L1CAM antibodies. Notably, L1CAM-abrogated cells could be quantified by FCM in four days after transfection with a Cas9 nuclease, which is much faster than an established assay based on the PIGA gene. In addition, the L1CAM-based assay allowed us to measure the efficiency of targeted knock-in (correction of L1CAM mutations) accomplished through different strategies, including a Cas9 nuclease-mediated method, tandem paired nicking, and prime editing. Our L1CAM-based assay using FCM enables rapid and sensitive quantification of genome editing efficiencies and will thereby help researchers improve genome editing technologies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Hasan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Generally, zinc stannate (ZnSnO 3 ) is a fascinating ternary oxide compound, which has attracted significant attention in the field of materials science due to its unique properties such high sensitivity, large specific area, non-toxic nature, and good compatibility. Furthermore, in terms of both its structure and properties, it is the most appealing category of nanoparticles. The chemical stability of ZnSnO 3 under normal conditions contributes to its applicability in various fields. To date, its potential as a luminescent and photovoltaic material and application in supercapacitors, batteries, solar cells, biosensors, gas sensors, and catalysts have been extensively studied. Additionally, the efficient energy storage capacity of ZnSnO 3 makes it a promising candidate for the development of energy storage systems. This review focuses on the notable progress in the structural features of ZnSnO 3 nanocomposites, including the synthetic processes employed for the fabrication of various ZnSnO 3 nanocomposites, their intrinsic characteristics, and their present-day uses. Specifically, we highlight the recent progress in ZnSnO 3 -based nanomaterials, composites, and doped materials for their utilization in Li-ion batteries, photocatalysis, gas sensors, and energy storage and conversion devices. The further exploration and understanding of the properties of ZnSnO 3 will undoubtedly lead to its broader implementation and contribute to the advancement of next-generation materials and devices., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Black rice ( Oryza sativa L.) is a rich source of phenolics and anthocyanins. It was aimed to investigate the effect of different extraction methods such as conventional solvent extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) on antioxidant activity and phenolic profiling of black rice free, esterified, and bound phenolics fractions. Spectrophotometric methods were used to evaluate antioxidant activity and HPTLC was used for phenolics profiling. The highest content of % yield, total anthocyanin (TAC), total phenolic (TPC), and total flavonoid (TFC) contents were detected in MAE. It was also observed that antioxidant activity based on DPPH, ABTS, superoxide radical-scavenging and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays showed highest activity in MAE. Eight phenolic compounds were identified and quantified by a validated HPTLC method. MAE showed most abundant phenolic compounds. A significant positive correlation was established between % yield, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content ( p  < 0.05) where a significant negative correlation was established between % yield, TPC, and TFC with IC 50 of antioxidant activity ( p  < 0.05). Diverse phenolic contents and antioxidant activity were studied with different forms of phenolics with the different extraction methods. It designates that the extraction techniques had effects on the bioactive compounds as well biological properties., (© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed a danger to global public health because of the unprecedented physical, mental, social, and environmental impact affecting quality of life (QoL). The study aimed to find the changes in QoL among COVID-19 recovered individuals and explore the determinants of change more than 1 year after recovery in low-resource settings., Methods: COVID-19 patients from all eight divisions of Bangladesh who were confirmed positive by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction from June 2020 to November 2020 and who subsequently recovered were followed up twice, once immediately after recovery and again 1 year after the first follow-up. The follow-up study was conducted from November 2021 to January 2022 among 2438 individuals using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF). After excluding 48 deaths, 95 were rejected to participate, 618 were inaccessible, and there were 45 cases of incomplete data. Descriptive statistics, paired-sample analyses, generalized estimating equation (GEE) analysis, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to test the mean difference in participants' QoL scores between the two interviews., Results: Most participants (n = 1710, 70.1%) were male, and one-fourth (24.4%) were older than 46. The average physical domain score decreased significantly from baseline to follow-up, and the average scores in psychological, social, and environmental domains increased significantly at follow-up (P < 0.05). By the GEE equation approach, after adjusting for other factors, we found that older age groups (P < 0.001), being female (P < 0.001), having hospital admission during COVID-19 illness (P < 0.001), and having three or more chronic diseases (P < 0.001), were significantly associated with lower physical and psychological QoL scores. Higher age and female sex [adjusted odd ratio (aOR) = 1.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0-1.6] were associated with reduced social domain scores on multivariable logistic regression analysis. Urban or semi-urban people were 49% less likely (aOR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.4-0.7) and 32% less likely (aOR = 0.7, 95% CI 0.5-0.9) to have a reduced QoL score in the psychological domain and the social domain respectively, than rural people. Higher-income people were more likely to experience a decrease in QoL scores in physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains. Married people were 1.8 times more likely (aOR = 1.8, 95% CI 1.3-2.4) to have a decreased social QoL score. In the second interview, people admitted to hospitals during their COVID-19 infection showed a 1.3 times higher chance (aOR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.6) of a decreased environmental QoL score. Almost 13% of participants developed one or more chronic diseases between the first and second interviews. Moreover, 7.9% suffered from reinfection by COVID-19 during this 1-year time., Conclusions: The present study found that the QoL of COVID-19 recovered people improved 1 year after recovery, particularly in psychological, social, and environmental domains. However, age, sex, the severity of COVID-19, smoking habits, and comorbidities were significantly negatively associated with QoL. Events of reinfection and the emergence of chronic disease were independent determinants of the decline in QoL scores in psychological, social, and physical domains, respectively. Strong policies to prevent and minimize smoking must be implemented in Bangladesh, and we must monitor and manage chronic diseases in people who have recovered from COVID-19., (© 2023. National Institute of Parasitic Diseases.)

Household air pollution (HAP) from indoor combustion of solid fuel is a global health burden that has been linked to multiple diseases including lung cancer. In Xuanwei, China, lung cancer rate for non-smoking women is among the highest in the world and largely attributed to high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are produced from combustion of smoky (bituminous) coal. Alu retroelements, repetitive mobile DNA sequences that can somatically multiply and promote genomic instability have been associated with risk of lung cancer and diesel engine exhaust exposure. We conducted analyses for 160 non-smoking women in an exposure assessment study in Xuanwei, China with a repeat sample from 49 subjects. Quantitative PCR was used to measure Alu repeat copy number relative to albumin gene copy number (Alu/ALB ratio). Associations between clusters derived from predicted levels of 43 HAP constituents, 5-methylchrysene (5-MC), a PAH previously associated with lung cancer in Xuanwei and was selected a priori for analysis, and Alu repeats were analyzed using generalized estimating equations. A cluster of 31 PAHs reflecting current exposure was associated with increased Alu copy number (β:0.03 per standard deviation change; 95% confidence interval (CI):0.01,0.04; P-value = 2E-04). One compound within this cluster, 5-MC, was also associated with increased Alu copy number (P-value = 0.02). Our findings suggest that exposure to PAHs due to indoor smoky coal combustion may contribute to genomic instability. Additionally, our study provides further support for 5-MC as a prominent carcinogenic component of smoky coal emissions. Further studies are needed to replicate our findings., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Household air pollution (HAP) from indoor combustion of solid fuel is a global health burden linked to lung cancer. In Xuanwei, China, lung cancer rate for nonsmoking women is among the highest in the world and largely attributed to high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are produced from combustion of smoky (bituminous) coal used for cooking and heating. Epigenetic age acceleration (EAA), a DNA methylation-based biomarker of aging, has been shown to be highly correlated with biological processes underlying the susceptibility of age-related diseases. We aim to assess the association between HAP exposure and EAA., Methods: We analyzed data from 106 never-smoking women from Xuanwei, China. Information on fuel type was collected using a questionnaire, and validated exposure models were used to predict levels of 43 HAP constituents. Exposure clusters were identified using hierarchical clustering. EAA was derived for five epigenetic clocks defined as the residuals resulting from regressing each clock on chronological age. We used generalized estimating equations to test associations between exposure clusters derived from predicted levels of HAP exposure, ambient 5-methylchrysene (5-MC), a PAH previously found to be associated with risk of lung cancer, and EAA, while accounting for repeated-measurements and confounders., Results: We observed an increase in GrimAge EAA for clusters with 31 and 33 PAHs reflecting current (β = 0.77 y per standard deviation (SD) increase, 95 % CI:0.36,1.19) and childhood (β = 0.92 y per SD, 95 % CI:0.40,1.45) exposure, respectively. 5-MC (ng/m 3 -year) was found to be associated with GrimAge EAA for current (β = 0.15 y, 95 % CI:0.05,0.25) and childhood (β = 0.30 y, 95 % CI:0.13,0.47) exposure., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that exposure to PAHs from indoor smoky coal combustion, particularly 5-MC, is associated with GrimAge EAA, a biomarker of mortality., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Environmental exposures often produce reactive electrophiles in vivo, leading to oxidative stress, which plays a major role in carcinogenesis. These electrophiles frequently form adducts with human albumin, which can be measured to assess in vivo oxidative stress. Here, we aimed to examine the associations between circulatory albumin adducts and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common adult myeloid leukemia that showed consistent associations with environmental exposures. We conducted a nested case-control study of 52 incident AML cases and 103 controls matched on age, sex and race within two prospective cohorts: the CLUE and PLCO studies. We measured 42 untargeted albumin adducts in prediagnostic samples using liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Circulatory albumin adducts were associated with AML in conditional logistic regression models. For instance, higher levels of Cys34 disulfide adduct of the S-γ-glutamylcysteine, a precursor of the essential antioxidant, glutathione were associated with a lower risk of AML (odds ratios [95% confidence intervals]) for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tertiles were 1.0, 0.65 (0.31-1.36) and 0.31 (0.12-0.80), respectively (P-trend = .01). These associations were largely driven by effects present among cases diagnosed at or above the median follow-up time of 5.5 years. In conclusion, applying a novel approach to characterize exposures in the prediagnostic samples, we found evidence supporting the notion that oxidative stress may play a role in the pathogenesis of AML. Our findings offer insight into AML etiology and may be relevant in identifying novel therapeutic targets., (© 2023 UICC. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)

Importance: Research suggests that increased mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) is associated with increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); however, no studies to date have evaluated whether the mitochondrial DNA fraction with breaks (mtDNAfb) is associated with risk of NHL., Objective: To evaluate the association of mtDNAfb with NHL risk., Design, Setting, and Participants: This nested case-control study, which used prospectively collected samples as part of baseline enrollment (from 1985 through 1988) of 29 133 men who smoked for the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study conducted in southwest Finland, included 107 incident NHL cases and 107 controls (matched on date of birth ±5 years). Analyses were conducted from January to September 2022., Exposure: High-throughput real-time polymerase chain reaction assays quantifying mtDNAfb., Main Outcomes and Measures: Incident NHL cases were identified in the ATBC Study through April 30, 2002, using the Finnish Cancer Registry and the Register of Causes of Death. The mtDNAfb was quantified and categorized based on the median, tertile, and quartile distributions among controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were estimated using conditional logistic regression models to assess the associations between categorized mtDNAfb and future risk of NHL, controlling for age, body mass index, number of cigarettes smoked per day, number of pack-years, and mtDNAcn., Results: A total of 29 133 men (median [IQR] age, 57.2 [52.6-62.5] years) participated in ATBC Study. Higher mtDNAfb was associated with an increased risk of NHL (median OR, 2.89; 95% CI, 1.40-5.93) in a dose-dependent manner (quartile 2 vs 1 OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.43-3.40; quartile 3 vs 1 OR, 3.58; 95% CI, 1.39-9.24; quartile 4 vs 1 OR, 3.42; 95% CI, 1.30- 8.99; P = .004 for trend)., Conclusions and Relevance: This study's findings suggest that increased mtDNAfb is associated with an increased future risk of NHL. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings, particularly among women and nonsmokers.

Malignant mesothelioma (MMe) is a rare but aggressive malignancy. Although the molecular genetics of MMe is known, including BRCA1-associated protein-1 (BAP1) gene alterations, the prognosis of MMe patients remains poor. Here, we generated BAP1 knockout (BAP1-KO) human mesothelial cell clones to develop molecular-targeted therapeutics based on genetic alterations in MMe. cDNA microarray and quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses revealed high expression of a calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II subunit delta (CAMK2D) gene in the BAP1-KO cells. CAMK2D was highly expressed in 70% of the human MMe tissues (56/80) and correlated with the loss of BAP1 expression, making it a potential diagnostic and therapeutic target for BAP1-deficient MMe. We screened an anticancer drugs library using BAP1-KO cells and successfully identified a CaMKII inhibitor, KN-93, which displayed a more potent and selective antiproliferative effect against BAP1-deficient cells than cisplatin or pemetrexed. KN-93 significantly suppressed the tumor growth in mice xenografted with BAP1-deficient MMe cells. This study is the first to provide a potential molecular-targeted therapeutic approach for BAP1-deficient MMe., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: The global outbreak of COVID-19 has created unprecedented havoc among health care workers, resulting in significant psychological strains like insomnia. This study aimed to analyze insomnia prevalence and job stressors among Bangladeshi health care workers in COVID-19 units., Methodology: We conducted this cross-sectional study to assess insomnia severity from January to March 2021 among 454 health care workers working in multiple hospitals in Dhaka city with active COVID-dedicated units. We selected 25 hospitals conveniently. We used a structured questionnaire for face-to-face interviews containing sociodemographic variables and job stressors. The severity of insomnia was measured by the Insomnia Severity Scale (ISS). The scale has seven items to evaluate the rate of insomnia, which was categorized as the absence of Insomnia (0-7); sub-threshold Insomnia (8-14); moderate clinical Insomnia (15-21); and severe clinical Insomnia (22-28). To identify clinical insomnia, a cut-off value of 15 was decided primarily. A cut-off score of 15 was initially proposed for identifying clinical insomnia. We performed a chi-square test and adjusted logistic regression to explore the association of different independent variables with clinically significant insomnia using the software SPSS version 25.0., Results: 61.5% of our study participants were females. 44.9% were doctors, 33.9% were nurses, and 21.1% were other health care workers. Insomnia was more dominant among doctors and nurses (16.2% and 13.6%, respectively) than others (4.2%). We found clinically significant insomnia was associated with several job stressors (p < 0.05). In binary logistic regression, having sick leave (OR = 0.248, 95% CI = 0.116, 0.532) and being entitled to risk allowance (OR = 0.367, 95% CI = 0.124.1.081) showed lower odds of developing Insomnia. Previously diagnosed with COVID-19-positive health care workers had an OR of 2.596 (95% CI = 1.248, 5.399), pointing at negative experiences influencing insomnia. In addition, we observed that any training on risk and hazard increased the chances of suffering from Insomnia (OR = 1.923, 95% CI = 0.934, 3.958)., Conclusion: It is evident from the findings that the volatile existence and ambiguity of COVID-19 have induced significant adverse psychological effects and subsequently directed our HCWs toward disturbed sleep and insomnia. The study recommends the imperativeness to formulate and implement collaborative interventions to help HCWs cope with this crisis and mitigate the mental stresses they experience during the pandemic., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: We previously found that occupational exposure to diesel engine exhaust (DEE) was associated with alterations to 19 biomarkers that potentially reflect the mechanisms of carcinogenesis. Whether DEE is associated with biological alterations at concentrations under existing or recommended occupational exposure limits (OELs) is unclear., Methods: In a cross-sectional study of 54 factory workers exposed long-term to DEE and 55 unexposed controls, we reanalysed the 19 previously identified biomarkers. Multivariable linear regression was used to compare biomarker levels between DEE-exposed versus unexposed subjects and to assess elemental carbon (EC) exposure-response relationships, adjusted for age and smoking status. We analysed each biomarker at EC concentrations below the US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) OEL (<106 µg/m 3 ), below the European Union (EU) OEL (<50 µg/m 3 ) and below the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommendation (<20 µg/m 3 )., Results: Below the MSHA OEL, 17 biomarkers were altered between DEE-exposed workers and unexposed controls. Below the EU OEL, DEE-exposed workers had elevated lymphocytes (p=9E-03, false discovery rate (FDR)=0.04), CD4+ count (p=0.02, FDR=0.05), CD8+ count (p=5E-03, FDR=0.03) and miR-92a-3p (p=0.02, FDR=0.05), and nasal turbinate gene expression (first principal component: p=1E-06, FDR=2E-05), as well as decreased C-reactive protein (p=0.02, FDR=0.05), macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (p=0.04, FDR=0.09), miR-423-3p (p=0.04, FDR=0.09) and miR-122-5p (p=2E-03, FDR=0.02). Even at EC concentrations under the ACGIH recommendation, we found some evidence of exposure-response relationships for miR-423-3p (p trend =0.01, FDR=0.19) and gene expression (p trend =0.02, FDR=0.19)., Conclusions: DEE exposure under existing or recommended OELs may be associated with biomarkers reflective of cancer-related processes, including inflammatory/immune response., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: We prospectively evaluated plasma amino acids (AAs) in early pregnancy and midpregnancy and their interplay with phospholipid fatty acids (FAs) in association with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk., Research Design and Methods: From a longitudinal pregnancy cohort of 2,802 individuals, concentrations of 24 plasma AAs at 10-14 and 15-26 gestational weeks (GW) were assessed among 107 GDM case subjects and 214 non-GDM control subjects. We estimated adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI for the associations of plasma AAs and the joint associations of plasma AAs and phospholipid FAs with GDM risk, adjusting for risk factors including age, prepregnancy BMI, and family history of diabetes., Results: Glycine at 10-14 GW was inversely associated with GDM (adjusted OR [95% CI] per SD increment: 0.55 [0.39-0.79]). Alanine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid at 10-14 GW were positively associated with GDM (1.43 [1.08-1.88], 1.41 [1.11-1.80], and 1.39 [0.98-1.98]). At 15-26 GW, findings for glycine, alanine, aspartic acid, and the glutamine-to-glutamic acid ratio were consistent with the directions observed at 10-14 GW. Isoleucine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine were positively associated with GDM (1.64 [1.19-2.27], 1.15 [0.87-1.53], and 1.56 [1.16-2.09]). All P values for linear trend were <0.05. Several AAs and phospholipid FAs were significantly and jointly associated with GDM. For instance, the lowest risk was observed among women with higher glycine and lower even-chain saturated FAs at 10-14 GW (adjusted OR [95% CI] 0.15 [0.06, 0.37])., Conclusions: Plasma AAs may be implicated in GDM development starting in early pregnancy. Associations of AAs with GDM may be enhanced in the copresence of phospholipid FA profile., (© 2023 by the American Diabetes Association.)

Background: Metabolomic changes during pregnancy have been suggested to underlie the etiology of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, research on metabolites during preconception is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate distinctive metabolites during the preconception phase between GDM and non-GDM controls in a nested case-control study in Singapore., Methods: Within a Singapore preconception cohort, we included 33 Chinese pregnant women diagnosed with GDM according to the IADPSG criteria between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation. We then matched them with 33 non-GDM Chinese women by age and pre-pregnancy body mass index (ppBMI) within the same cohort. We performed a non-targeted metabolomics approach using fasting serum samples collected within 12 months prior to conception. We used generalized linear mixed model to identify metabolites associated with GDM at preconception after adjusting for maternal age and ppBMI. After annotation and multiple testing, we explored the additional predictive value of novel signatures of preconception metabolites in terms of GDM diagnosis., Results: A total of 57 metabolites were significantly associated with GDM, and eight phosphatidylethanolamines were annotated using HMDB. After multiple testing corrections and sensitivity analysis, phosphatidylethanolamines 36:4 (mean difference β: 0.07; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.11) and 38:6 (β: 0.06; 0.004, 0.11) remained significantly higher in GDM subjects, compared with non-GDM controls. With all preconception signals of phosphatidylethanolamines in addition to traditional risk factors (e.g., maternal age and ppBMI), the predictive value measured by area under the curve (AUC) increased from 0.620 to 0.843., Conclusions: Our data identified distinctive signatures of GDM-associated preconception phosphatidylethanolamines, which is of potential value to understand the etiology of GDM as early as in the preconception phase. Future studies with larger sample sizes among alternative populations are warranted to validate the associations of these signatures of metabolites and their predictive value in GDM., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

M-type strontium hexaferrite (SrM) were successfully synthesized from Sr 2+ and Fe 3+ precursor salt through co-precipitation technique. Different higher sintering temperatures (800-1000 °C) were used to get the desired SrM with variation of Fe 3+ /Sr 2+ mole ratio as well. The characterization of SrM and its properties were investigated using modern instrumental techniques viz. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Vibrating Sample Magnetometer, UV-Visible NIR Spectrometer, Impedance Analyzer and Thermal Conductivity Meter. The phase of the synthesized SrM were confirmed by comparing the XRD patterns with the standard ICDD data and Reitvelt Refinement for the SrM having Fe 3+ /Sr 2+ ratio 10 and SrM with distinct annealing temperature were performed. The structural parameters, particle size (75 nm-318 nm) and shape of the as prepared samples were changed with calcination temperature as well as mole ratio. The saturation magnetization (73.77-24.27 emu/g), coercivity (3732.28-642.10 Oe) and remanant magnetization (39.15-8.86 emu/g) were varied with calcination temperature and composition. The dielectric properties, optical properties and thermophysical properties were measured for the SrM keeping Fe 3+ /Sr 2+ ratio 10 calcined at 1000 °C. The synthesized SrM can be applied in magnetic recording media and as photocatalyst due to its low coercivity (2764.48 Oe), high saturation magnetization (73.77 emu/g) and low band gap energy (Eg-2.04 eV) respectively., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Background: We previously showed that exposure to 5-methylchrysene (5MC) and other methylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) best explains lung cancer risks in a case-control study among non-smoking women using smoky coal in China. Time-related factors (e.g., age at exposure) and non-linear relations were not explored., Objective: We investigated the relation between coal-derived air pollutants and lung cancer mortality using data from a large retrospective cohort., Methods: Participants were smoky (bituminous) or smokeless (anthracite) coal users from a cohort of 42,420 subjects from four communes in XuanWei. Follow-up was from 1976 to 2011, during which 4,827 deaths from lung-cancer occurred. Exposures were predicted for 43 different pollutants. Exposure clusters were identified using hierarchical clustering. Cox regression was used to estimate exposure-response relations for 5MC, while effect modification by age at exposure was investigated for cluster prototypes. A Bayesian penalized multi-pollutant model was fitted on a nested case-control sample, with more restricted models fitted to investigate non-linear exposure-response relations., Results: We confirmed the strong exposure-response relation for 5MC (Hazard Ratio [95% Confidence Interval] = 2.5 [2.4, 2.6] per standard-deviation (SD)). We identified four pollutant clusters, with all but two PAHs in a single cluster. Exposure to PAHs in the large cluster was associated with a higher lung cancer mortality rate (HR [95%CI] = 2.4 [2.2, 2.6] per SD), while exposure accrued before 18 years of age appeared more important than adulthood exposures. Results from the multi-pollutant model identified anthanthrene (ANT) and benzo(a)chrysene (BaC) as risk factors. 5MC remained strongly associated with lung cancer in models that included ANT and BaC and also benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)., Conclusion: We confirmed the link between PAH exposures and lung cancer in smoky coal users and found exposures before age 18 to be especially important. We found some evidence for the carcinogen 5MC and non-carcinogens ANT and BaC., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Diesel engine exhaust (DEE) is an established lung carcinogen, but the biological mechanisms of diesel-induced lung carcinogenesis are not well understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that play a potentially important role in regulating gene expression related to lung cancer. We conducted a cross-sectional molecular epidemiology study to evaluate whether serum levels of miRNAs are altered in healthy workers occupationally exposed to DEE compared to unexposed controls. We conducted a two-stage study, first measuring 405 miRNAs in a pilot study of six DEE-exposed workers exposed and six controls. In the second stage, 44 selected miRNAs were measured using the Fireplex circulating miRNA assay that profiles miRNAs directly from biofluids of 45 workers exposed to a range of DEE (Elemental Carbon (EC), median, range: 47.7, 6.1-79.7 μg/m 3 ) and 46 controls. The relationship between exposure to DEE and EC with miRNA levels was analyzed using linear regression adjusted for potential confounders. Serum levels of four miRNAs were significantly lower (miR-191-5p, miR-93-5p, miR-423-3p, miR-122-5p) and one miRNA was significantly higher (miR-92a-3p) in DEE exposed workers compared to controls. Of these miRNAs, miR-191-5p (p trend  = .001, FDR = 0.04) and miR-93-5p (p trend  = .009, FDR = 0.18) showed evidence of an inverse exposure-response with increasing EC levels. Our findings suggest that occupational exposure to DEE may affect circulating miRNAs implicated in biological processes related to carcinogenesis, including immune function., (© 2023 Environmental Mutagen Society. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)

Background and Aims: Metabolomic profiling is a systematic approach to identifying biomarkers for dietary patterns. Yet, metabolomic markers for dietary patterns in pregnant individuals have not been investigated. The aim of this study was to identify plasma metabolomic markers and metabolite panels that are associated with the Mediterranean diet in pregnant individuals., Methods: This is a prospective study of 186 pregnant individuals who had both dietary intake and metabolomic profiles measured from the Fetal Growth Studies-Singletons cohort. Dietary intakes during the peri-conception/1st trimester and the second trimester were accessed at 8-13 and 16-22 weeks of gestation, respectively. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured by the alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED) score. Fasting plasma samples were collected at 16-22 weeks and untargeted metabolomics profiling was performed using the mass spectrometry-based platforms. Metabolites individually or jointly associated with aMED scores were identified using linear regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression models with adjustment for potential confounders, respectively., Results: Among 459 annotated metabolites, 64 and 41 were individually associated with the aMED scores of the diet during the peri-conception/1st trimester and during the second trimester, respectively. Fourteen metabolites were associated with the Mediterranean diet in both time windows. Most Mediterranean diet-related metabolites were lipids (e.g., acylcarnitine, cholesteryl esters (CEs), linoleic acid, long-chain triglycerides (TGs), and phosphatidylcholines (PCs), amino acids, and sugar alcohols. LASSO regressions also identified a 10 metabolite-panel that were jointly associated with aMED score of the diet during the peri-conception/1st trimester (AUC: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.91) and a 3 metabolites-panel in the 2nd trimester (AUC: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.50, 0.86)., Conclusion: We identified plasma metabolomic markers for the Mediterranean diet among pregnant individuals. Some of them have also been reported in previous studies among non-pregnant populations, whereas others are novel. The results from our study warrant replication in pregnant individuals by future studies., Clinical Trial Registration Number: This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest None to disclosure., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Circulating individual SFAs in pregnant females are critical for maternal and fetal health. However, research on identifying their modifiable factors is limited., Objectives: We aimed to examine the associations of total physical activity (PA) and types of PA with circulating individual SFAs during pregnancy in a multiracial/multiethnic cohort of pregnant females in the United States., Methods: The study included participants in a nested case-control study (n = 321) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD Fetal Growth Studies-Singleton Cohort. Sampling weights were applied, so the results represented the entire Fetal Growth Cohort. Plasma phospholipid SFAs were measured at 4 visits [10-14 (visit 1), 15-26 (visit 2), 23-31 (visit 3), and 33-39 (visit 4) weeks of gestation] throughout pregnancy. PA of the previous year at visit 1 and since the previous visit at the subsequent visits was assessed using the validated Pregnancy PA Questionnaire. Time-specific and longitudinal associations were examined using multivariable linear and generalized estimating equation models., Results: Total PA (metabolic equivalent of task-h/wk) was positively associated with circulating heptadecanoic acid (17:0) at visit 1 (β × 103: 0.07; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.11) and pentadecanoic acid (15:0) at visit 3 (β × 103: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.14) independent of sociodemographic, reproductive, pregnancy, and dietary factors. Across the 4 visits, the positive associations with total PA were consistent for pentadecanoic acid (β × 103: 0.06; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.10) and heptadecanoic acid (β × 103: 0.10; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.14). Out of the 4 PA types (i.e., sports/exercise, household/caregiving, transportation, and occupational PA) considered, the magnitude of positive associations was the largest for sports/exercise PA., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that maternal PA is positively associated with circulating pentadecanoic and heptadecanoic acids. The findings warrant confirmation by future studies.This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00912132., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition.)

Occupational exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) has been associated with alterations in B-cell activation factors and an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Here, we aimed to examine the biological processes influenced by TCE exposure to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms. This cross-sectional molecular epidemiology study included data of 1317 targeted proteins in the serum from 42 TCE exposed and 34 unexposed factory workers in Guangdong, China. We used multivariable linear regressions to identify proteins associated with TCE exposure and examined their exposure-response relationship across categories of TCE exposure (unexposed, low exposed: <10 ppm, high exposed: ≥10 ppm). We further examined pathway enrichment of TCE-related proteins to understand their biological response. Occupational exposure to TCE was associated with lower levels of tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 17 (TNFRSF17; β = -.08; p-value = .0003) and kynureninase (KYNU; β = -.10, p-value = .002). These proteins also showed a significant exposure-response relation across the unexposed, low exposed, and high exposed workers (all p-trends < .001, false discovery rate [FDR] < 0.20). Pathway analysis of TCE-related proteins showed significant enrichment (FDR < 0.05) for several inflammatory and immune pathways. TCE exposure was associated with TNFRSF17, a key B-cell maturation antigen that mediates B-cell survival and KYNU, an enzyme that plays a role in T-cell mediated immune response. Given that altered immunity is an established risk factor for NHL, our findings support the biological plausibility of linking TCE exposure with NHL., (© 2022 Environmental Mutagen Society. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)

The correct approach to treat low-risk intra thyroidal papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is still controversial. The traditional paradigm of treating all patients with thyroid cancer with total thyroidectomy, radioactive iodine and suppressive thyroid hormone therapy is no longer suitable. Many authors advocate unilateral thyroidectomy to minimize perioperative morbidity. The purpose of this study was to determine an effective treatment strategy for patients with small unilateral papillary thyroid carcinoma in a low risk group. This is a prospective study of 300 patients who were diagnosed as papillary thyroid carcinoma by preoperative FNAC or postoperative histopathology. The age of the patients' was ranged between 15 to 45 years. The criteria were: tumor ≤4cm, unilateral involvement, cytological non-aggressive subtype, absence of lymph node (LN) involvement and extra thyroidal extension (ETE) on ultrasonography (USG) and absence of clinical distant metastases. Duration of the study period was 30 years from 1989 to 2019. The study was conducted in tertiary care hospital in Bangladesh. All patients had undergone hemi thyroidectomy and followed up by a median period of 25 months (range, 6 to 166 months). Following hemithyroidectomy, among 300 patients, 267 patients (89.0%) did not show any recurrence of disease. Thirty three (33) patients (11.0%) came with locoregional recurrence of disease in clinical and USG findings without any distant metastasis. Maximum patients were between the ages 31-40 year followed by 21-30 years. Female was out number male in the ratio. Though further large scale study should require to determine the optimal treatment option for low risk PTC, but this study can lead to a result that hemi thyroidectomy is now-a-days a better surgical option for PTC even up to tumor size of ≤4cm.

We investigated whether exposure to carcinogenic diesel engine exhaust (DEE) was associated with altered adduct levels in human serum albumin (HSA) residues. Nano-liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (nLC-HRMS) was used to measure adducts of Cys34 and Lys525 residues in plasma samples from 54 diesel engine factory workers and 55 unexposed controls. An untargeted adductomics and bioinformatics pipeline was used to find signatures of Cys34/Lys525 adductome modifications. To identify adducts that were altered between DEE-exposed and unexposed participants, we used an ensemble feature selection approach that ranks and combines findings from linear regression and penalized logistic regression, then aggregates the important findings with those determined by random forest. We detected 40 Cys34 and 9 Lys525 adducts. Among these findings, we found evidence that 6 Cys34 adducts were altered between DEE-exposed and unexposed participants (i.e., 841.75, 851.76, 856.10, 860.77, 870.43, and 913.45). These adducts were biologically related to antioxidant activity., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Targeted knock-in assisted by the CRISPR/Cas9 system is an advanced technology with promising applications in various research fields including medical and agricultural sciences. However, improvements in the efficiency, precision, and specificity of targeted knock-in are prerequisites to facilitate the practical application of this technology. To improve the efficiency of targeted knock-in, it is necessary to have a molecular system that allows sensitive monitoring of targeted knock-in events with simple procedures., Methods and Results: We developed an assay, named CD55 correction assay, with which to monitor CD55 gene correction accomplished by targeted knock-in. To create the reporter clones used in this assay, we initially introduced a 7.7-kb heterozygous deletion covering CD55 exons 2-5, and then incorporated a truncating mutation within exon 4 of the remaining CD55 allele in human cell lines. The resultant reporter clones that lost the CD55 protein on the cell membrane were next transfected with Cas9 constructs along with a donor plasmid carrying wild-type CD55 exon 4. The cells were subsequently stained with fluorescence-labeled CD55 antibody and analyzed by flow cytometry to detect CD55-positive cells. These procedures allow high-throughput, quantitative detection of targeted gene correction events occurring in an endogenous human gene., Conclusions: The current study demonstrated the utility of the CD55 correction assay to sensitively quantify the efficiency of targeted knock-in. When used with the PIGA correction assay, the CD55 correction assay will help accurately determine the efficiency of targeted knock-in, precluding possible experimental biases caused by cell line-specific and locus-specific factors., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of the number of children ever born (CEB) and its associated determinants among women aged 15-49 years in Bangladesh., Study Design and Setting: We used clustered data extracted from the last two Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS 2014 and BDHS 2017-2018). A two-stage stratified sampling was used in both surveys. Mixed logistic regression modelling approach for binary responses was adapted to accommodate clustering effects via the generalised linear mixed model framework., Participants: The study is based on 15 924 ever-married women in BDHS 2017-2018 (14 119 in BDHS 2014) of Bangladesh., Results: As per the latest BDHS 2017-2018, 42.1% of reproductive women had three or more children. Age at first marriage (p<0.001, OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.666 to 0.825), age at first birth (p<0.001, OR0.54, 95% CI 0.480 to 0.607), place of residence (p<0.001, OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.712 to 0.872), exposure of media (p<0.001, OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.647 to 0.768), religion (p<0.001, OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.277 to 1.690), husband's desire more child (p<0.001, OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.428 to 1.784), women empowerment (p<0.001, OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.075 to 1.3) and wealth index (p<0.001, OR1.61, 95% CI 0.435 to 1.796) were found to be statistically significant determinants of the number of CEB among ever-married women. The number of CEB among women was negatively associated with their own educational status (p<0.001) and husbands level of education (p<0.001)., Conclusion: The CEB appears to be higher among women who were married before 18 years, Muslim, illiterate, living in rural areas, had first birth before 20 years, non-exposure of media and husband's desire for more children., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Health care workers have been facing difficulties in coping with the COVID-19 infection from the beginning. The study aimed to compare Quality of Life (QOL) among health care workers (HCWs) with and without prior COVID-19 disease., Methods: This study was conducted from July 2020 to January 2021 among 444 HCWs. We randomly interviewed 3244 participants for our earlier nationwide survey from a list of COVID-19 positive cases after their recovery, and we found 222 HCWs among the respondents. We randomly chose 222 HCWs unaffected by COVID as a comparison group from our selected hospitals. We measured QOL using World Health Organization's WHOQOL-BREF tool. Physical, psychological, environmental, and social ties were the four areas assessed on a 5-point Likert scale where a higher score suggests better QOL. Due to pandemic restrictions, we used telephonic interviews for data collection., Results: A higher QOL score was observed in HCWs with prior COVID-19 infection in all four domains than HCWs without previous COVID-19 conditions. Comorbidity was negatively associated with QOL scores of the physical (p = 0.001) and (p < 0.001) and psychological (p = 0.05, and (p < 0.05) domains for non-COVID and COVID-affected groups, respectively. Current smoking was significantly associated with lower psychological (p = 0.019) and environmental (p = 0.007) QOL scores among HCWs with prior COVID-19 infection. Hospitalization history due to COVID infection was a contributing factor for lower physical QOL scores (p = 0.048). Environmental (p = 0.016) QOL scores were significantly associated with the monthly income in the prior COVID-19 infection group, and physical scores were significantly associated (p = 0.05) with a monthly income in the non-COVID group., Conclusion: Governmental and non-governmental stakeholders should focus on potentially modifiable factors to improve health care workers' quality of life., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Oral health is a critical component of human health but is sometimes forgotten, particularly during humanitarian crises. This research aimed to ascertain the state of oral health among Rohingya refugees living in one of the largest refugee camps and evaluate their knowledge and practice of oral health. A multicenter cross-sectional survey was conducted among 477 participants from July to September 2021 using a structured questionnaire. There were 34 Rohingya camps and out of those 14 camps were accessible for data collection. The study participants were between 18-82 years residing in the refugee camps under Cox's Bazar. The majority of participants (53.88%) were female and between the ages of 25 and 45. Around 46.12% of respondents did not have basic oral health knowledge, while 53.67% were in need of dental care. Nearly half of the participants demonstrated poor oral health practices. Participants' age and educational level were positively associated with oral health knowledge (p = 0.02 and p<0.001). Furthermore, the knowledge level was positively associated with oral health practice (p = .025). Participants with a history of teeth pain and discomfort in the last 12 months were ten times more likely to seek treatment (OR = 9.93, CI: 5.591-17.64). The study indicated a growing demand for dental care among Rohingya refugees staying in Bangladesh. To reduce the severity of oral health issues, use of minimally invasive restorative procedures can be suggested in camps. New oral health promotion campaigns should be emphasized and proper education, ideally in their original language, can be beneficial., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Fish are poikilotherm and small changes in water temperature can greatly affect physiological processes including reproduction, which is regulated by complex neuroendocrine mechanisms that respond to climatic events. This review provides evidence that anomalous high and low temperature may directly affect reproduction in fish by suppressing the expression of genes in the reproductive neuroendocrine system. The grass puffer, Takifugu alboplumbeus , is an excellent animal model for studying the thermal regulation of reproduction, for they exhibit periodic spawning activities, which are synchronized with seasonal, lunar and daily cycles. In the grass puffer, the expression of the genes encoding gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) 1, kisspeptin, gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) and their receptors were markedly suppressed in the diencephalon of fish exposed to high temperature (28°C) when compared to normal temperature (21°C), followed by the decrease in the pituitary mRNA levels for follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and growth hormone (GH). On the other hand, the exposure to low temperature (14°C) also inhibited the expression of gnrh1, kiss2, gnih and their receptor genes in the brain and fshb , lhb , gh and prl in the pituitary. Taken together, it is plausible that anomalous high and low temperature may be a proximate driver of termination of reproduction by suppressing the activity of the reproductive GnRH/kisspeptin/GnIH system, possibly through direct action of temperature signals at transcription level., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zahangir, Rahman and Ando.)

Adaptive training adjusts a training task with the goal of improving learning outcomes. Adaptive training has been shown to improve human performance in attention, working memory capacity, and motor control tasks. Additionally, correlations have been observed between neural EEG spectral features (4-13 Hz) and the performance of some cognitive tasks. This relationship suggests some EEG features may be useful in adaptive training regimens. Here, we anticipated that adding a neural measure into a behavioral-based adaptive training system would improve human performance on a subsequent transfer task. We designed, developed, and conducted a between-subjects study of 44 participants comparing three training regimens: Single Item Fixed Difficulty (SIFD), Behaviorally Adaptive Training (BAT), and Combined Adaptive Training (CAT) using both behavioral and EEG measures. Results showed a statistically significant transfer task performance advantage of the CAT-based system relative to SIFD and BAT systems of 6 and 9 percentage points, respectively. Our research shows a promising pathway for designing closed-loop BCI systems based on both users' behavioral performance and neural signals for augmenting human performance., Competing Interests: AO was employed by DCS Corporation. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Rahman, Files, Oiknine, Pollard, Khooshabeh, Song and Passaro.)

The paper reports experimental research regarding the mechanical characteristics of concrete reinforced with natural cellulosic fibers like jute, sisal, sugarcane, and coconut. Each type of natural fiber, with an average of 30 mm length, was mixed with a concrete matrix in varying proportions of 0.5% to 3% mass. The tensile and compressive strength of the developed concrete samples with cellulosic fiber reinforcement gradually increased with the increasing proportion of natural cellulosic fibers up to 2%. A further increase in fiber loading fraction results in deterioration of the mechanical properties. By using jute and sisal fiber reinforcement, about 11.6% to 20.2% improvement in tensile and compressive strength, respectively, was observed compared to plain concrete, just by adding 2% of fibers in the concrete mix. Bending strength increased for the natural fiber-based concrete with up to 1.5% fiber loading. However, a decrease in bending strength was observed beyond 1.5% loading due to cracks at fiber-concrete interface. The impact performance showed gradual improvement with natural fiber loading of up to 2%. The water absorption capacity of natural cellulosic fiber reinforced concrete decreased substantially; however, it increased with the loading percent of fibers. The natural fiber reinforced concrete can be commercially used for interior or exterior pavements and flooring slabs as a sustainable construction material for the future.

Maternal blood pressure (BP) is associated with variations in fetal weight, an important determinant of neonatal and adult health. However, the association of BP-raising genetic risk with fetal weight is unknown. We tested the associations of maternal BP-raising polygenic risk scores (PRS) with estimated fetal weights (EFWs) at 13, 20, 27, and 40 weeks of gestation. This study included 622 White, 637 Black, 568 Hispanic, and 238 Asian pregnant women with genotype data from the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies. PRS of systolic (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were calculated for each participant based on summary statistics from a recent genome-wide association study. Linear regression models were used to compare mean EFW differences between the highest versus lowest tertile of PRS, adjusting for maternal age, education, parity, genetic principal components and fetal sex. Hispanics in the highest DBP PRS tertile, compared to those in the lowest, had 8.1 g (95% CI: -15.1, -1.1), 32.4 g (-58.4, -6.4) and 119.4 g (-218.1, -20.7) lower EFW at 20, 27 and 40 weeks, respectively. Similarly, Asians in the highest DBP PRS tertile had 137.2 g (-263.5, -10.8) lower EFW at week 40, and those in the highest tertile of SBP PRS had 3.2 g (-5.8, -0.7), 12.9 g (-23.5, -2.4), and 39.8 g (-76.9, -2.7) lower EFWs at 13, 20, and 27 weeks. The findings showed that pregnant women's genetic susceptibility to high BP contributes to reduced fetal growth, suggesting a potential future clinical application in perinatal health., (© 2021. This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

Diesel engine exhaust (DEE) is classified as a Group 1 human carcinogen. Using a targeted proteomics approach, we aimed to identify proteins associated with DEE and characterize these markers to understand the mechanisms of DEE-induced carcinogenicity. In this cross-sectional molecular epidemiology study, we measured elemental carbon (EC) using a personal air monitor and quantified 1317 targeted proteins in the serum using the SOMAScan assay (SOMALogic) among 19 diesel exposed factory workers and 19 unexposed controls. We used linear regressions to identify proteins associated with DEE and examined their exposure-response relationship across levels of EC using linear trend tests. We further examined pathway enrichment of DEE-related proteins using MetaCore. Occupational exposure to DEE was associated with altered levels of 22 serum proteins (permutation p < .01). Of these, 13 proteins (CXCL11, HAPLN1, FLT4, CD40LG, PES1, IGHE.IGK..IGL, TNFSF9, PGD, NAGK, CCL25, CCL4L1, PDXK, and PLA2G1B) showed an exposure-response relationship with EC (p trend < .01), with serum levels of all but PLA2G1B declining with increasing air levels of EC. For instance, C-X-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 11 (CXCL11) showed the most significant association with DEE (β = -0.25; permutation p = .00004), where mean serum levels were 4121.1, 2356.7, and 2298.8 relative fluorescent units among the unexposed, lower exposed (median, range : 56.9, 40.2-62.1 μg/m 3 EC), and higher exposed (median, range of EC: 72.9, 66.9-107.7 μg/m 3 EC) groups, respectively (p trend = .0005). Pathway analysis suggested that these proteins are enriched in pathways related to inflammation and immune regulation. Our study suggests that DEE exposure is associated with altered serum proteins, which play a role in inflammation and immune regulation., (© 2021 Environmental Mutagen Society. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)