Two-ways regulation of the emulsion gel properties of curdlan by dry ball milling treatment and their relationships with the microstructures, emulsification characteristics and gel properties of ball milled curdlan.

Ball milling treatment could affect the microstructures, improve the emulsification properties of curdlan (CL) and regulate the emulsion gel properties of CL based emulsion gel in two-ways. With increasing ball milling time (1 h-8 h), the particle size first decreased and then increased, the relative crystallinity decreased, and the contact angle increased. Ball milled curdlan (BMCL)-6 h showed the best emulsifying property and stability, which was the combined effects of decreased particle size and increased hydrophobic property.

Persistence and risk factors of high-risk human papillomavirus infection among HIV positive and HIV negative tanzanian women: a cohort study.

Background: High-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) persistence is the most important risk factor for cervical cancer. We have assessed the type-specific HR HPV persistence among HIV positive and HIV negative Tanzanian women and factors associated with HR HPV persistence.

Methods: In a cohort study including 4080 Tanzanian women, 3074 attended follow-up examination (up to 32 months after enrollment).

The association between human papillomavirus and cervical high-grade cytology among HIV-positive and HIV-negative Tanzanian women: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the causative agent of precancerous lesions and cervical cancer, cervical cancer being the leading cause of deaths in Tanzanian women. Early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions are important in the prevention of cervical cancer cases.

Material And Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 3390 Tanzanian women aged 25-60 years.

Antidepressant use during pregnancy and risk of congenital heart defects: A case-time-control study.

Purpose: We estimated the association between maternal antidepressant (AD) use in early pregnancy and risk of congenital heart defects.

Methods: We applied a case-time-control design with the aim of controlling for confounding from time-invariant factors and compared the results of the design to results from a cohort design in a population of 792 685 singletons born alive in Denmark during 1995-2008. In the case-time-control design, we identified children diagnosed with a congenital heart defect in the first 5 years of life (cases) and compared maternal AD use in the risk period (the first 3 months of pregnancy) and the reference period (gestational months 5-7).

Performance of careHPV, hybrid capture 2 and visual inspection with acetic acid for detection of high-grade cervical lesion in Tanzania: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: To examine the test performance of careHPV, Hybrid Capture2 (HC2) and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) for detection of cytologically diagnosed high-grade cervical lesions or cancer (HSIL+).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC), Tanzania.

Effect of pulsed electric field on structural properties and digestibility of starches with different crystalline type in solid state.

Effect of pulsed electric field (PEF) on the structural properties of representative starches with different crystalline type, wheat starch for type A, potato starch for type B, and pea starch for type C, were investigated with polarized light microscopy (PLM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), attenuated total internal reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectroscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) to understand whether PEF could be applied directly in starchy foods. The results showed that PEF could change the structure of all three types of starch, especially potato starch; the birefringence, represented by Maltese cross in polarized microscopic observation changed slightly; XRD and SSNMR spectra demonstrated PEF did not change the crystalline type of starch granules. However, relative crystallinity variations happened at some points of electric field intensity (EFI).

Intimate partner violence (IPV): The validity of an IPV screening instrument utilized among pregnant women in Tanzania and Vietnam.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global problem that affects one-third of all women. The present study aims to develop and determine the validity of a screening instrument for the detection of IPV in pregnant women in Tanzania and Vietnam and to determine the minimum number of questions needed to identify IPV.

Method: An IPV screening instrument based on eight questions was tested on 1,116 Tanzanian and 1,309 Vietnamese women who attended antenatal care before 24 gestational weeks.

Parental Rheumatoid Arthritis and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study.

Objective: Maternal rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. We assessed the potential influence of both maternal and paternal RA on the risk of ASD in offspring to disentangle the influence of genetic inheritance from other conditions potentially leading to fetal programming.

Method: The nationwide cohort study included all children born alive from 1977 to 2008 in Denmark (N = 1,917,723).

Preparation of a Carbon Doped Tissue-Mimicking Material with High Dielectric Properties for Microwave Imaging Application.

In this paper, the oil-in-gelatin based tissue-mimicking materials (TMMs) doped with carbon based materials including carbon nanotube, graphene ink or lignin were prepared. The volume percent for gelatin based mixtures and oil based mixtures were both around 50%, and the doping amounts were 2 wt %, 4 wt %, and 6 wt %. The effect of doping material and amount on the microwave dielectric properties including dielectric constant and conductivity were investigated over an ultra-wide frequency range from 2 GHz to 20 GHz.

Parental rheumatoid arthritis and childhood epilepsy: A nationwide cohort study.

Objective: To assess the influence of parental rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on risk of epilepsy.

Methods: We performed a nationwide cohort study including all singletons born in Denmark from 1977 to 2008 (n = 1,917,723) through individual linkage to nationwide Danish registries. The children were followed for an average of 16 years.

Maternal Antenatal Bereavement and Neural Tube Defect in Live-Born Offspring: A Cohort Study.

Background: Maternal emotional stress during pregnancy has previously been associated with congenital neural malformations, but most studies are based on data collected retrospectively. The objective of our study was to investigate associations between antenatal maternal bereavement due to death of a close relative and neural tube defects (NTDs) in the offspring.

Methods: We performed a register-based cohort study including all live-born children (N = 1,734,190) from 1978-2008.

Cancer risk in siblings of children with congenital malformations.

Purpose: Cancer and birth defects cluster in families more often than expected by chance, but the reasons are neither well known nor well studied.

Methods: From singletons born alive in Denmark between 1 January 1977 and 31 December 2007, we identified children who had no congenital malformations but had a full or half sibling with a congenital malformation (CM) diagnosed in the first year of life; this constituted the exposed group, while children whose siblings had no such condition constituted a reference group. We estimated cancer risks for children who had a full sibling or a half sibling with a CM using a Cox proportional hazards regression model.

Correction: Cancer Mortality in People Treated with Antidepressants before Cancer Diagnosis: a Population Based Cohort Study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Parental rheumatoid arthritis and long-term child morbidity: a nationwide cohort study.

Objective: To estimate the influence of parental rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on child morbidity.

Design: Nationwide cohort study.

Setting: Individual linkage to nationwide Danish registries.

Trends in All-Cause Mortality across Gestational Age in Days for Children Born at Term.

Background: Term birth is a gestational age from 259 days to 293 days. However trends in mortality according to gestational ages in days have not yet been described in this time period.

Methods And Findings: Based on nation-wide registries, we conducted a population-based cohort study among all children born at term in Denmark from 1997 to 2004 to estimate differences in mortality across gestational ages in days among singletons born at term.

Cancer Mortality in People Treated with Antidepressants before Cancer Diagnosis: A Population Based Cohort Study.

Background: Depression is common after a cancer diagnosis and is associated with an increased mortality, but it is unclear whether depression occurring before the cancer diagnosis affects cancer mortality. We aimed to study cancer mortality of people treated with antidepressants before cancer diagnosis.

Methods And Findings: We conducted a population based cohort study of all adults diagnosed with cancer between January 2003 and December 2010 in Denmark (N = 201,662).

Medical augmentation of labor and the risk of ADHD in offspring: a population-based study.

Background And Objective: Oxytocin for labor augmentation is widely used in obstetric care in Western countries. Two recent, smaller studies found opposing results regarding the association between prenatal exposure to oxytocin for labor augmentation and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In Denmark, oxytocin is the medication used for nearly all medical augmentations of labor, and we examined the association between medical augmentation of labor and ADHD in a large cohort study based on national register data.

Maternal preeclampsia and childhood asthma in the offspring.

Background: Preeclampsia is a possible risk factor for childhood asthma in the offspring. Our aim was to find whether preeclampsia is associated with childhood asthma. We also aimed to study whether a possible association can be explained by factors shared by siblings.

Spontaneous abortion, stillbirth and hyperthyroidism: a danish population-based study.

Objectives: Pregnancy loss in women suffering from hyperthyroidism has been described in case reports, but the risk of pregnancy loss caused by maternal hyperthyroidism in a population is unknown. We aimed to evaluate the association between maternal hyperthyroidism and pregnancy loss in a population-based cohort study.

Study Design: All pregnancies in Denmark from 1997 to 2008 leading to hospital visits (n = 1,062,862) were identified in nationwide registers together with information on maternal hyperthyroidism for up to 2 years after the pregnancy [hospital diagnosis/prescription of antithyroid drug (ATD)].

Maternal bereavement and cryptorchidism in offspring.

Background: Cryptorchidism (undescended testis) is a common anomaly with largely unexplained etiology. Animal studies have suggested maternal emotional stress as a potential risk factor, but this has not been studied in humans. We aimed to investigate whether maternal bereavement due to the death of a close relative in the antenatal period increases the occurrence of cryptorchidism in the offspring.

Trimethoprim use before pregnancy and risk of congenital malformation: reanalyzed using a case-crossover design and a case-time-control design.

Purpose: Studies on the safety of drugs used during pregnancy are necessary and important but prone to bias. Using cases as their own controls can reduce bias. We used a case-crossover design and a case-time-control design to estimate the risk of congenital malformation (CM) for children born to mothers who redeemed a trimethoprim prescription shortly before pregnancy.

Survival analysis of breast cancer subtypes in patients with spinal metastases.

Study Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 151 patients with breast cancer spinal metastases.

Objective: To investigate the influence of breast cancer subtypes on survival duration of patients with breast cancer spinal metastases, and to aid spine surgeons in selecting treatments on a more precise basis.

Summary Of Background Data: There is lack of knowledge about specific prognosis of patients with spinal metastases in various breast cancer subtypes.

Severity of birth defects after propylthiouracil exposure in early pregnancy.

Background: Propylthiouracil (PTU) used in the treatment of maternal hyperthyroidism in early pregnancy may be associated with a higher prevalence of birth defects in the face and neck region and in the urinary system but the severity of these complications remains to be elucidated.

Methods: Review of hospital-registered cases of birth defects in the face and neck region and in the urinary system after PTU exposure in early pregnancy. We obtained information on maternal redeemed prescription of PTU and child diagnosis of birth defect from nationwide registers for all children born in Denmark between 1996 and 2008 (n=817,093).

Low Birth Weight in Children Born to Mothers with Hyperthyroidism and High Birth Weight in Hypothyroidism, whereas Preterm Birth Is Common in Both Conditions: A Danish National Hospital Register Study.

Objectives: Maternal hyper- and hypothyroidism have been associated with increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, but studies have led to inconsistent results. We aimed to identify children born to mothers with a hospital-recorded diagnosis of thyroid dysfunction in Denmark and to study the association with gestational age at delivery and birth weight of the child.

Study Design: Population-based cohort study using Danish nationwide registers.

Comparison of drip, pipe and surge spring root irrigation for Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) fruit quality in the Loess plateau of China.

Loess Plateau is a typical rain-fed farming region, facing the threat of drought. Irrigation method is among the most important factors affecting jujube quality. This study investigated the response of Ziziphus jujuba Mill.