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Objectives: To provide current estimates of alcohol and drug use among pregnant women attending antenatal care lectures in preparation for childbirth in Stockholm, Sweden., Study Design: A cross-sectional study. Data was collected anonymously among women attending lectures in preparation for childbirth., Main Outcome Measures: The prevalence of alcohol and illicit and non-medical prescription drug use among pregnant women attending antenatal care lectures in preparation for childbirth., Results: Nine hundred and thirty-six pregnant women attending lectures in preparation for childbirth participated. Among those answering all questions about alcohol use during pregnancy, 4.2 percent reported use (95% confidence interval (CI), 3.0-5.7%) and among those answering all questions about illicit or non-medical prescription drug use during pregnancy, 0.5 percent reported such use (95% CI, 0.1-1.3%). The prevalences of binge drinking during pregnancy and alcohol and drug use before pregnancy are presented. Comparisons of anonymously and non-anonymously collected data are included., Conclusions: Approximately one in 25 women reported using alcohol and approximately one in 200 reported using illicit or non-medical prescription drugs while pregnant. Alcohol use during pregnancy may have decreased in Stockholm, Sweden., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of potentially traumatic events (PTEs), fear of childbirth (FOC), and support for it as well as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among pregnant women attending maternal care in Stockholm, Sweden., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Pregnant women attending lectures in preparation for childbirth at the major hospitals in Stockholm were asked to complete questionnaires anonymously. Main outcome measures were the prevalence of PTEs, FOC, support for FOC and PTSD., Results: One thousand one hundred fifty-seven women in late pregnancy attending lectures in preparation for childbirth at hospitals in Stockholm, Sweden, were asked to participate, 945 chose to participate, resulting in a response rate of 81.7 percent. Most pregnant women, 78.5 percent (95% confidence interval (CI) 75.6-81.3), reported having experienced at least one PTE. The prevalence of having experienced different types of violence is presented. FOC was found among 28.8 percent (95% CI 25.7-32.0) of pregnant women, while only 10.9 percent (95% CI 10.5-11.2) received support for FOC. The prevalence of current PTSD was 4.1 percent (95% CI 2.8-5.8)., Conclusions: The majority of pregnant women had experienced PTEs, and experiences of violence were common, as was FOC. Approximately one in 25 women attending general maternal care in Stockholm, Sweden, was estimated to have current PTSD. This highlights the need to prevent violence, find pregnant women suffering from FOC or PTSD, to develop an evidence-based treatment for FOC and to provide such treatment for PTSD., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Receptor-mediated endocytosis is responsible for protein reabsorption in the proximal tubules. For albumin this process involves at least 2 interacting receptors, megalin and cubilin. Albumin is not usually present in the urine, indicating a highly efficient tubular reuptake under physiological conditions. However, early appearance of albuminuria may mean that the tubular system is overwhelmed by large quantities of albumin or that the function is impaired., Methods: To better understand the physiological role of megalin and cubilin in human renal disease, renal biopsies from 15 patients with a range of albuminuria and 3 healthy living donors were analyzed for proximal tubular expression of megalin and cubilin using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and semiquantitative immune-electron microscopy. Their expression in proteinuric zebrafish was also studied., Results: Megalin and cubilin were expressed in brush border and cytoplasmic vesicles. Patients with microalbuminuric IgA nephropathy and thin membrane disease had significantly higher megalin in proximal tubules, whereas those with macro- or nephrotic-range albuminuria had unchanged levels. Cubilin expression was significantly higher in all patients. In a proteinuric zebrafish nphs2 knockdown model, we found a dose-dependent increase in the expression of tubular megalin and cubilin in response to tubular protein uptake., Discussion: Megalin and cubilin show different expression patterns in different human diseases, which indicates that the 2 tubular proteins differently cooperate in cleaning up plasma proteins in kidney tubules.

The widespread use of motor oil makes it a notable risk factor to cause scattered contamination in soil. The monitoring of microbial community dynamics can serve as a comprehensive tool to assess the ecological impact of contaminants and their disappearance in the ecosystem. Hence, a field study was conducted to monitor the ecological impact of used motor oil under different perennial cropping systems (fodder galega, brome grass, galega-brome grass mixture and bare fallow) in a boreal climate zone. Length heterogeneity PCR characterized a successional pattern in bacterial community following oil contamination over a four-year bioremediation period. Soil pH and electrical conductivity were associated with the shifts in bacterial community composition. Crops had no detectable effect on bacterial community composition or complexity. However, the legume fodder galega increased soil microbial biomass, expressed as soil total DNA. Oil contamination induced an abrupt change in bacterial community composition at the early stage, yet the effect did not last as long as the oil in soil. The successional variation in bacterial community composition can serve as a sensitive ecological indicator of oil contamination and remediation in situ., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Soil contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons is a global problem. Phytoremediation by plants and their associated microorganisms is a cost-effective strategy to degrade soil contaminants. In boreal regions the cool climate limits the efficiency of phytoremediation. The planting of oil-tolerant perennial crops, especially legumes, in oil-contaminated soil holds promise for great economic benefits for bioenergy and bio-fertilizer production while accelerating the oil degradation process. We established a multi-year field experiment to study the ecological and agronomic feasibility of phytoremediation by a legume (fodder galega) and a grass (smooth brome) in a boreal climate. In 40 months, soil oil content decreased by 73%-92%, depending on the crop type. The oil degradation followed first-order kinetics with the reduction rates decreasing as follows: bare fallow > galega-brome grass mixture > brome grass > galega. Surprisingly, the presence of oil enhanced crop dry matter and nitrogen yield, particularly in the fourth year. The unfertilized galega-brome grass mixture out-yielded the N-fertilized pure grass swards over years by an average of 33%. Thus, a perennial legume-grass mixture is both ecologically and agronomically sustainable as a cropping system to alleviate soil contamination in the boreal zone, with considerable potential for bioenergy and bio-fertilizer production., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aims to characterize the estrogen receptor (er) in sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus) and determine the temporal effects of 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2) on erα and vitellogenin (vtg) gene expression in males. Two partial cDNA sequences (erα and erβ1) are presented showing conserved structural features with ers of other species. Transcript levels for both ers were low in control fish but EE2 exposure (11 ng/L, for 29 days) increased both to a pattern similar to vitellogenic females. The relative expression of three vtg genes (vtga, vtgb and vtgc) along with erα was determined in control and male fish exposed to EE2 (11 ng/L) at multiple time-points over 29 days. All four transcripts were significantly induced due to exposure and expression rose during the time course with distinct temporal patterns and vtga reached a substantially higher level at the end of the time course coinciding with rapid elevation in erα expression., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The aims of the present study were to investigate the diabetes nurse specialists (DNS) practice according to the local diabetic guideline, to study the DNSs' opinion of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) and prescription of test-strips, to investigate the patients' opinions and habits when using SMBG. Users of SMBG (n=533 patients') and all DNSs (n=25) were telephone interviewed. Only a few DNSs used local guidelines, the majority had their own prescribing strategy of SMBG. In conclusion, DNSs were aware of the guidelines but did not use them to support their decision regarding the reasons for prescribing SMBG or not. For diabetes patients, reassurance was the most important issue in having access to SMBG, despite the fact that one-third retested but did not change their behaviour and nearly 15% contacted their DNS for advice., (Copyright © 2013 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation is the main route for sustainable input of nitrogen into ecosystems. Nitrogen fixation in agriculture can be improved by inoculation of legume crops with suitable rhizobia. Knowledge of the biodiversity of rhizobia and of local populations is important for the design of successful inoculation strategies. Soybeans are major nitrogen-fixing crops in many parts of the world. Bradyrhizobial inoculants for soybean are very diverse, yet classification and characterization of strains have long been difficult. Recent genetic characterization methods permit more reliable identification and will improve our knowledge of local populations. Forage legumes form another group of agronomically important legumes. Research and extension policies valorizing rhizobial germplasm diversity and preservation, farmer training for proper inoculant use and legal enforcement of commercial inoculant quality have proved a successful approach to promoting the use of forage legumes while enhancing biological N(2) fixation. It is worth noting that taxonomically important strains may not necessarily be important reference strains for other uses such as legume inoculation and genomics due to specialization of the different fields. This article points out both current knowledge and gaps remaining to be filled for further interaction and improvement of a rhizobial commons., ((c) 2010. Published by Elsevier SAS.)

Sinorhizobium arboris and S. kostiense are rhizobia that nodulate the tropical leguminous trees Acacia senegal and Prosopis chilensis. The lipochito-oligosaccharidic signalling molecules (LCOs) of S. arboris HAMBI 2361 and S. kostiense HAMBI 2362 were analyzed by mass spectrometry. The major LCOs produced by the strains were shown to be pentameric, acylated with common fatty acids, N-methylated, O-6-carbamoylated and partially sulfated, as are the LCOs characterized to date for other Acacia-nodulating rhizobia. Besides the major LCOs the two strains produced (i) tetrameric LCOs, (ii) LCOs acylated with fatty acids other than those commonly found, (iii) LCOs with only an acyl substituent and (iv) noncarbamoylated LCOs. Production of LCOs (i) to (iii) are novel among Acacia-nodulating rhizobia. The roles of the different structural characteristics of LCOs in the rhizobium-A. senegal symbiosis are discussed. Specific structural features of the LCOs are proposed to be important in the selection of effective nitrogen-fixing rhizobia by A. senegal.

Bikunin is a chondroitin-sulphate containing serum protein with a Stokes-Einstein radius and a negative net charge close to those of serum albumin. The plasma half life of bikunin is about 10 minutes, and approximately half of its clearance occurs in the kidneys. The quantitative role of glomerular filtration in the renal clearance of this protein has not been determined. To assess the glomerular permeability of bikunin we used isolated rat kidneys that were perfused with an albumin solution. The metabolic activities of the tubuli were inhibited by low temperature (8 degrees C). The clearances of radiolabeled bikunin and albumin were repeatedly determined under identical conditions. The fractional clearance of bikunin was found to be 80 times higher than that of albumin: 15% +/- 1% versus 0.18% +/- 0.02%. This value for bikunin can fully account for its renal clearance in vivo. It has previously been shown that uncharged flexible solutes, such as dextrans, have higher renal clearances than globular molecules with similar radii. The high glomerular permeability of bikunin is therefore probably due to its elongated and flexible configuration. Moreover, the observed clearance value of the anionic molecule bikunin is close to that of a neutral flexible dextran of similar size, indicating that the charge of bikunin is of little importance for its glomerular permeability.

A blood group A active hexaglycosylceramide with a type 1 carbohydrate chain was identified in the plasma of an A1 Le(a-b-) secretor. The analysis was done on the total non-acid glycosphingolipid fraction using mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, and anti-A antibody immunostaining on thin-layer chromatograms.

Methylxanthines, such as caffeine and theophylline, potentiate the rotation behaviour induced by dopamine receptor agonists in rats with unilateral lesions of the nigro-striatal pathway. In the present study we have examined the possibility that interaction with central adenosine mechanisms could influence rotation behaviour. Under in vitro conditions adenosine and N6-phenylisopropyl-adenosine (PIA) stimulate cyclic AMP accumulation. This effect was enhanced by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor rolipram, but blocked by alkylxanthines such as caffeine, theophylline and, particularly, 8-phenyl-theophylline. Rotation behaviour induced by apomorphine (0.05 mg/kg), was inhibited by PIA and rolipram and by a low dose of the adenosine deaminase inhibitor EHNA (2 mg/kg). By contrast, theophylline and 8-phenyl-theophylline caused a potentiation. The former drug stimulated rotation behaviour per se, while the latter did not. 8-Phenyl-theophylline entered the brain poorly and its concentration in brain it was less than 1/10 of theophylline. It is concluded that theophylline does not potentiate rotation behaviour secondarily to inhibition of phosphodiesterase. Antagonism of endogenous adenosine may partly explain the effect of methylxanthines. Possibly, some as yet unknown mechanism may also contribute to the effects of xanthine-derivatives on rotation behaviour.