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Background: One of the environmental factors contributing to abnormal weight changes in children may be maternal exposure to adverse environmental factors during pregnancy, which in previous studies led to inconclusive results showing both overweight or obesity and underweight in children. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of prenatal stress on the BMI status and cut-off points for the percentage of fat content. Methods: The cohort study included 254 girls and 276 boys. Information on prenatal stress was collected retrospectively with a questionnaire on objective adverse events completed by a parent/guardian of a 6–12-year-old child. We examined the body weight of children and performed an electrical bioimpedance analysis of their body composition. We assessed the BMI status according to the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) criterion and on the basis of body fat according to McCarthy criterion. Results: The results of our study show that the prenatal stress was related to increased risk of overweight (OR 2.14, 95% CI: 1.25–3.65) diagnosed on the basis of body fat cut-off points, but not when the BMI was a diagnostic criterion (OR 1.03, 95% CI: 0.58–1.83). Conclusion: The method of diagnosis based on the fat content appears to be an indicator of the occurrence of abnormalities in body composition due to prenatal stress more sensitive than that based on the BMI. Level of evidence: Level III evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case–control analytic studies.

Hydrazone-based molecular switches serve as efficient ratiometric pH-sensitive agents that can be tracked with 19F NMR/MRI and 1H NMR. Structural changes induced between pH 3 and 4 lead to signal appearance and disappearance at 1H and 19F NMR spectra allowing ratiometric pH measurements. The most pronounced are resonances of the CF3group shifted by 1.8 ppm with 19F NMR and a hydrazone proton shifted by 2 ppm with 1H NMR.

Introduction:This study attempts to assess the concentration of intracellular matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-9) before and after the treatment of depressive episodes with ECT therapy and also to correlate the concentration of this enzyme with the use of commonly used general anaesthetics.

ABSTRACTObjectivesIt is hypothesized that novel neuropeptides such as phoenixin (PNX), spexin (SPX), and kisspeptin (KISS) are involved in the pathogenesis of eating disorders. The study presented here analyzed neuropeptide concentrations during the course of anorexia nervosa (AN) and aimed to correlate those values with anthropometric and psychometric measurements.MethodsA longitudinal study was carried outin 30 AN adolescent patients and 15 age-matched healthy female controls. Selected neuroprotein serum levels were analyzed in malnourished patients (accAN) and following partial weight recovery (norAN), and these values were compared with the control group.ResultsIn accAN patients, decreased serum PNX levels were detected while SPX serum concentrations were lower in the accAN and norAN patients. No differences were observed in KISS concentrations in all studied groups.ConclusionsIn malnourished adolescent inpatients with AN, serum PNX and SPX level were decreased. The partial weight recovery normalized PNX concentrations but failed to normalize SPX levels. Therefore these two neuropeptides might be crucial for the etiology and course of the AN. The KISS levels did not change in the course of AN. The PNX levels were associated with some symptoms of eating disorders which may indicate its potential contribution in the regulation of emotions and behaviors in AN.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are related to both obesity and underweight from childhood, and that the association of ACEs with weight abnormalities is modulated by type of ACEs, sex and socioeconomic status (SES) indices. Methods: The relations between ACEs (0 vs ≥ 1), ACE accumulation and ACE type with weight status and zscores BMI were assessed in 503 children aged 6–12 years from Poznan, Poland. The effects of interaction of ACEs with sex and SES on zscores BMI were included in the analyses. Results: ACEs were significantly related to both obesity and underweight, in unadjusted analysis, and when sex and SES indices, such as size of place of residence, people per room in household, and parental education were controlled. The relation of ACEs with zscores BMI was modulated by ACE type, parental subjective assessment of economic situation of a family and parental education. ACE accumulation was not related to an increase of obesity or underweight rate, or zscores BMI. Conclusion: The study implicates the need for both obesity and underweight prevention in individuals with adverse experiences as early as in childhood. Level of evidence: III: evidence obtained from well-designed cohort study.

AbstractWith increasing consumer awareness of animal welfare, and also on humanitarian grounds, the search is on to find the possibility of using slow-growing cockerels, which are becoming an alternative for conventional broilers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate slaughter value and meat quality in two new strains of Polish Crested cockerels: CP-11 (40 birds) and CP-22 (40 birds) which were raised for 25 weeks on a finishing diet based on whole wheat and oat grain. Carcase quality parameters (carcase weight, dressing percentage, leg and breast muscle percentage) were evaluated. Moreover, breast meat parameters (pH24, cooking loss, colour, muscle fibre diameter, sensory traits, chemical composition, fatty acid profile) were determined. The results showed that CP-22 cockerels were characterised by significantly lower carcase weight (p < .05) and significantly higher dressing percentage (p < .05) compared to CP-11 cockerels. Genotype had no significant effect on breast meat quality parameters such as acidity, cooking loss, colour, as well as chemical composition of raw meat, tenderness, texture parameters, and muscle fibre size. On the other hand, breast meat from CP-22 cockerels was characterised by higher aroma desirability (p < .05) as well as higher content of nutritionally desirable fatty acids such as CLA (p < .01), GDLA (p < .01), AA (p < .01), EPA (p < .05), DPA (p < .05) and DHA (p < .01). Summarising, the obtained results indicated that the application of a similar model for the farming and feeding of surplus Polish Crested cockerels will provide a relatively large amount of meat, which can be used in traditional or alternative farming.HighlightsThe cockerels of both strains exhibited high dressing percentage, their meat had a beneficial chemical composition and delicate texture.Breast meat from CP-22 cockerels was characterised by higher aroma desirability as well as higher content of nutritionally desirable fatty acids.The use of post-production cockerels of the CP-11 and CP-22 strains of Polish crested chickens may be a good choice for organic farming or free range.

The aim of our study was to develop a novel method for nanocarriers’ preparation as a fluorine magnetic resonance imaging (19F MRI)-detectable drug delivery system. The novelty of the proposed approach is based on the application of fluorinated polyelectrolyte Nafion as a contrast agent since typical MRI contrast agents are based on paramagnetic gadolinium or ferro/superparamagnetic iron oxide compounds. An advantage of using an 19F-based tracer comes from the fact that the 19F image is detected at a different resonance frequency than the 1H image. In addition, the close to zero natural concentration of 19F nuclei in the human body makes fluorine atoms a promising MRI marker without any natural background signal. That creates the opportunity to localize and identify only exogenous fluorinated compounds with 100% specificity. The nanocarriers were formed by the deposition of polyelectrolytes on nanoemulsion droplets via the layer-by-layer technique with the saturation approach. The polyelectrolyte multilayer shell was composed of Nafion, the fluorinated ionic polymer used for labeling by 19F nuclei, and poly-l-lysine (PLL). The surface of such prepared nanocarriers was further pegylated by adsorption of pegylated polyanion, poly-l-glutamic acid (PGA). The 19F MRI-detectable hydrophobic nanocarriers with an average size of 170 nm and a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio have been developed and optimized to be used for passive tumor targeting and drug delivery.

The slaughter value of cattle and beef quality are influenced by many factors, which can generally be divided into antemortem (breed, sex, age, housing system, diet, pre-slaughter handling) and postmortem (post-slaughter processing, chilling temperature, packaging). Studies of many authors have shown that meat quality traits can be also influenced by the individual genetic background of an animal. Numerous studies have been conducted worldwide to determine the functions of various genes as well as polymorphisms with potential effects on fattening and slaughter value of cattle and on beef quality. This study reviews the most important research done on the associations of polymorphisms in the calpain, calpastatin and myostatin genes with carcass traits and beef quality. Knowledge about the genes and chromosome regions associated with desired meat quality characteristics may prove very helpful when selecting pairs for mating and estimating the breeding value of offspring, mainly because it is difficult to improve meat quality traits based on conventional selection methods due to their low heritability and polygenic regulation. Furthermore, meat quality evaluation is expensive and can only be carried out after slaughter.

In many distributed computing systems, aspects related to security are getting more and more relevant. Security is ubiquitous and could not be treated as a separated problem or a challenge. In our opinion it should be considered in the context of resource management in distributed computing environments like Grids and Clouds, e.g. scheduled computations can be much delayed because of cyber-attacks, inefficient infrastructure or users valuable and sensitive data can be stolen even in the process of correct computation. To prevent such cases there is a need to introduce new evaluation metrics for resource management that will represent the level of security of computing resources and more broadly distributed computing infrastructures. In our approach, we have introduced a new metric called reputation, which simply determines the level of reliability of computing resources from the security perspective and could be taken into account during scheduling procedures. The new reputation metric is based on various relevant parameters regarding cyber-attacks (also energy attacks), administrative activities such as security updates, bug fixes and security patches. Moreover, we have conducted various computational experiments within the Grid Scheduling Simulator environment (GSSIM) inspired by real application scenarios. Finally, our experimental studies of new resource management approaches taking into account critical security aspects are also discussed in this paper.

Epidemiological studies have shown that metformin, a first line therapeutic agent for diabetes mellitus, reduced the risk of developing various malignancies. Several preclinical studies established some possible mechanisms of its anticancer effects. The primary effect of metformin action is a decrease in cell energy status, which activates AMP-activated kinase (AMPK), a cellular metabolic sensor. This event is followed by a decrease in serum concentrations of insulin and insulin growth factor I (IGF-I), the potent mitogens for cancer cells. In addition to the indirect mode of action, metformin may exhibit direct inhibitory effect on cancer cells by targeting mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling and anabolic processes. This review gathers information on mechanisms of metformin antitumor activity, with special attention given to the impact of this antidiabetic drug on insulin/PI3K/mTOR and AMPK signaling. Furthermore, the factors required for this novel activity of metformin are discussed.

In this work we consider a problem of scheduling preemptable, independent jobs, characterized by the fact that their processing speeds depend on the amounts of a continuous, renewable resource allocated to jobs at a time. Jobs are scheduled on parallel, identical machines, with the criterion of minimization of the schedule length. Since two categories of resources occur in the problem: discrete (set of machines) and continuous, it is generally called a discrete-continuous scheduling problem. The model studied in this paper allows the total available amount of the continuous resource to vary over time, which is a practically important generalization that has not been considered yet for discrete-continuous scheduling problems. For this model we give some properties of optimal schedules on a basis of which we propose a general methodology for solving the considered class of problems. The methodology uses a two-phase approach in which, firstly, an assignment of machines to jobs is defined and, secondly, for this assignment an optimal continuous resource allocation is found by solving an appropriate mathematical programming problem. In the approach various cases are considered, following from assumptions made on the form of the processing speed functions of jobs. For each case an iterative algorithm is designed, leading to an optimal solution in a finite number of steps.

The regulative theory of temperament defines sensory sensitivity as the capacity to react to sensory stimuli of low stimulating value. Some evidence already exists indicating that dopamine has the potential to modulate different aspects of sensory sensitivity. The present study sought to identify the relationships between several polymorphisms in dopamine genes (DRD2, DRD3, DRD4, DAT1, ANKK1, SNAP-25, and COMT) and sensory sensitivity as a temperamental trait. The method used in this study was family-based. The study was run on 149 biological families with one or two children aged 3–12 (M= 6.83; SD= 1.9). Phenotypic data were obtained using the Temperament Inventory for Children. We found a significant association with rs463379, the single nucleotide polymorphism in intron 4 of dopamine transporter gene (DAT1). Furthermore, we found a significant association with haplotypes in DAT1and SNAP-25(the synaptosomal associated protein of 25 kDa) genes. The data collected suggest that variability in dopamine genes may have an impact on the development of sensory sensitivity.

The medicinal usage of silverweed herb (Anserinae herba) is primarily related to the presence of phenolic compounds. Three populations of silverweed (Potentilla anserina L.) occurring at the edges of arable fields in Podlasie area (north-eastern Poland) were compared in respect of the content and composition of phenolics. Herb collected from the investigated populations differed in the content of determined compounds. The tannin content was very low (0.81-0.91%). The total flavonoid content ranged from 0.48 to 0.60%. Phenolic acid content was much higher (1.38-2.26%). Three flavan-3-ols: (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, and (-)-epigallocatechin, four flavonol glycosides: rutoside, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, isorhamnetin-3-O-glucoside, and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside, as well as one phenolic acid (ellagic acid) were identified as a result of HPLC analysis of methan-olic extracts from the investigated raw materials. The most considerable differences between populations concerned the content of (+)-catechin (87.0-199.3 mg x 100 g-1), (-)-epigallocatechin (141.9-290.6 mg x 100 g-1), and rutoside (192.3-386.0 mg x 100 g-4) in herb.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (MR) (NMR) is commonly used for the determination of rock porosity, as well as pore size distribution (PSD) and tortuosity, required to handle hydrocarbon exploitation. Emerging technologies for NMR equipment now enable the visualization of porosity using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Currently, single‐point imaging is the most common MRI technique employed, but diffusion‐weighted imaging has been attracting the attention of geologists and geophysicists. In this study, a more advanced technique, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), is proposed for the characterization of rock core samples. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of DTI in the petrophysical characterization of rocks and discuss its strengths. As an example, a carbonate core sample was examined using DTI. The diffusion tensor (DT) was obtained and DT parameters (mean diffusivity, MD; fractional anisotropy, FA; three eigenvalues; DT components; and proton density, PD) were visualized in 2D and 3D. Each parameter was described and its utility in terms of pore space characterization was analyzed. In addition, a new parameter, principal diffusion tracts, was introduced based on the DT tractography performed in the study. The analysis is summarized in a set of DT parameters and a resultant ellipsoid that delivers complementary information about the sample's pore network microgeometry, including referential measurements of anisotropic phantoms. The applications of DTI for the determination of pore size distribution, tortuosity and conductivity are also shown. The study ends with a consideration of the potential prospects and challenges for DTI‐based examination of rock core samples. An advanced nuclear magnetic resonance technique, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), is proposed here for the characterization of rock core samples. As an example, a carbonate core sample was subjected to DTI examination, from which the diffusion tensor (DT) was obtained and DT parameters (mean diffusivity, MD; fractional anisotropy, FA; three eigenvalues; DT components and proton density, PD) were visualized in 2D and 3D. Potential examples of the practical applications of the data obtained from the DTI experiment are demonstrated. Importantly, we can now provide spatial and quantitative data which is closely related to the studied microstructure using DTI. The application of DTI for the determination of pore size distribution, tortuosity and conductivity are also shown. The study ends with a consideration of the potential prospects and challenges for the DTI‐based examination of rock core samples. Diffusion tensor imaging enables, rotationally invariant, 3D spatial quantification of diffusion in rocks, reflecting porosity featuresPrincipal diffusion tracts may reflect permeability anisotropy and correspond to the conductivity tensorDTI ellipsoid delivers a set of parameters describing the microgeometry of average or spatially resolved pores Diffusion tensor imaging enables, rotationally invariant, 3D spatial quantification of diffusion in rocks, reflecting porosity features Principal diffusion tracts may reflect permeability anisotropy and correspond to the conductivity tensor DTI ellipsoid delivers a set of parameters describing the microgeometry of average or spatially resolved pores

Transparent Nd:YAG ceramics were produced by solid.state reaction of high.purity (4N) nanometric oxides powders, i.e., Al2O3, Y2O3 and Nd2O3. After sintering, mean grain sizes of 2% Nd:YAG samples were about 20 μm and their transparency were a bit worse than that of 0.9% Nd:YAG single crystal. Two types of active elements: rods and slabs were fabricated and characterized in several diode pumping schemes. In end pumping configuration as a pump source 20.W fiber coupled laser diode operating in low duty cycle regime (1 ms pump duration/20 Hz) was deployed. In the best case, 3.7 W of output power for 18 W of absorbed pump power, M2 < 1.4 were demonstrated for uncoated ceramics Nd:YAG rod of ϕ 4×3mm size in preliminary experiments. For the ceramics of two times lower Nd dopant level above 30% slope efficiency was achieved. In case of Nd:YAG ceramic slab side pumped by 600.W laser diode stack above 12 W was demonstrated with slope efficiency of 3.5%.

In 2007-2008 the effect of nitrogen fertilization and harvest term on quality of two carrot cultivars was investigated. The field experiment was carried out in Żelazna Experimental Station of Warsaw University of Life Sciences. Karotan F1and Trafford F1cultivars, commonly grown for juice industry, were the objects of the experiment. Carrot seeds were sown at the beginning of May. Nitrogen fertilization was applied in five rates, ranged from 0 to 120 kg·ha-1and in two terms — before sowing and in the middle of growing season. Roots were harvested in three terms: mid-September, mid-October and the first decade of November. After harvest there were determined: nitrates (NO3) content in carrot roots and juice, soluble solids, colour parameters of juice in CIE L*a*b*system. The dose and the term of nitrogen fertilization influenced nitrates content in carrots, and the highest NO3concentration was found in carrots fertilized with 120 kg·ha-1of N before sowing. Karotan showed higher nitrates accumulation than Trafford. The content of nitrates in the roots was markedly higher than in carrot juice. Nitrates content in carrots decreased with delaying of harvest time, in opposite to soluble solids content. Soluble solids content and colour parameters of carrot juice were not affected by nitrogen fertilization, but the lowest L*, a*and b*values were observed at the last term of harvest.

The foundations and characteristics of models and methods used in diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, with particular reference to in vivo brain imaging, are reviewed.The first section introduces Fick's laws, propagators, and the relationship between tissue microstructure and the statistical properties of diffusion of water molecules. The second section introduces the diffusion‐weighted signal in terms of diffusion of magnetization (Bloch–Torrey equation) and of spin‐bearing particles (cumulant expansion). The third section is dedicated to the rank‐2 tensor model, the bb‐matrix, and the derivation of indexes of anisotropy and shape. The fourth section introduces diffusion in multiple compartments: Gaussian mixture models, relationship between fiber layout, displacement probability and diffusivity, and effect of the b‐value. The fifth section is devoted to higher‐order generalizations of the tensor model: singular value decompositions (SVD), representation of angular diffusivity patterns and derivation of generalized anisotropy (GA) and scaled entropy (SE), and modeling of non‐Gaussian diffusion by means of series expansion of Fick's laws. The sixth section covers spherical harmonic decomposition (SHD) and determination of fiber orientation by means of spherical deconvolution. The seventh section presents the Fourier relationship between signal and displacement probability (Q‐space imaging, QSI, or diffusion‐spectrum imaging, DSI), and reconstruction of orientation‐distribution functions (ODF) by means of the Funk–Radon transform (Q‐ball imaging, QBI). © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 30A: 278–307, 2007.

A problem of scheduling jobs on parallel, identical machines under an additional continuous resource to minimize the makespan is considered. Jobs are non-preemtable and independent and all are available at the start of the process. The total amount of the continuous resource available at a time is limited and the resource is a renewable one. Each job simultaneously requires for its processing a machine and an amount (unknown in advance) of the continuous resource. The processing rate of a job depends on the amount of the resource allotted to this job at a time. The problem is to find a sequence of jobs on machines and, simultaneously, a continuous resource allocation which minimize the makespan. A heuristic approach to allocating the continuous resource is proposed. A tabu search algorithm to solve the considered problem is presented and the results for the algorithms with exact and heuristic procedures for allocating the continuous resource are compared on the basis of some computational experiments. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Results of the measurements of proton spinlattice relaxation time Ti are presented for lyotropic liquid-crystalline system Arkopal 9/D2O, as a function of temperature, at resonant frequency 26.5 MHz. Two-exponential relaxation function was found and activation energies for molecular motion were calculated.

The nucleoid sedimentation assay was used to study hydralazine‐induced DNA structural changes and repair in the fibroblasts cultured in vitro. The drug induced a dose dependent loss in negative DNA supercoiling due to the physical breakage of the DNA. Relaxation of supercoiled DNA resulted in the nucleoids sedimenting with lower velocities than those of undamaged control cultures. Repair incubation of the cells did not cause the restoration of DNA supercoiling to control level. Unsuccessful repair of DNA damaged by hydralazine may result in maintaining the damaged DNA in the cell which could have immunologic consequences.

A long-term capacity expansion planning of a water supply and wastewater treatment system is considered. The criteria used to evaluate the development plans are expansion and operating costs of water intakes and treatment plants, reliability of water supply, and environmental quality. The constraints imposed on the model concern maximum capacities of intakes, treatment plants and network links, as well as the user's demands in particular periods of the twenty-year planning horizon. The planning problem is formulated as a multicriteria linear program with decision variables being flows of water delivered to users from intakes and/or recycling treatment plants in particular periods. Such data as cost coefficients, maximum capacities and the user's demands are uncertain and we propose two ways of modelling this uncertainty. The first way consists in using probabilistic description of uncertain parameters by approximate density functions. Under this assumption, the probabilistic multicriteria linear programming problem is transformed to a set of deterministic ones. The second way consists in representing uncertain parameters by fuzzy numbers. Assuming aspiration levels for particular criteria to be fuzzy and using a measure of the separation of two fuzzy numbers, the original problem is transformed into a multicriteria linear fractional program. Both problems are solved using an interactive technique involving a linear programming procedure in the calculation phase.

The leaching activity of five batches of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, strain F26-77, cultivated under various conditions, towards elemental sulphur, ferrous ions, pyrite, covellite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite was studied. The activities of sulphite oxidase, thiosulphate oxidase and rhodanese were determined in crude, cell-free bacterial extracts. The effectiveness of leaching was directly correlated with the enzymic activity of the cultures. The results suggest that the activities of the enzymes metabolizing sulphur and its inorganic compounds in Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, or bacterial leaching activity on sulphur and sulphides, rather than the rate of oxidation of ferrous ions, should be taken as the criterion of usefulness for the leaching of sulphide minerals.

We present a general methodology for solving a wide class of project control problems, when project activities are described by dynamic equations relating their processing speeds to amounts of resources allotted.