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Background: Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been linked to adverse pulmonary effects. However, the impact of low-level environmental PAH exposure on lung function in early adulthood remains uncertain. Objectives: To evaluate the associations between urinary PAH metabolites and lung function parameters in young adults. Methods: Urinary metabolites of pyrene, phenanthrene, an

Although some neighborhood environmental factors have been found to affect depressive symptoms, few studies have focused on the impact of living in a hilly environment, i.e., land slope, on depressive symptoms among rural older adults. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate whether a land slope is associated with depressive symptoms among older adults living in rural areas. Data were coll

BACKGROUND: Poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy in adolescents living with HIV is a global challenge. One of the key strategies to improve adherence is believed to be the use of digital adherence tools. However, evidence is limited in this area. Our objective was to investigate the effectiveness of mobile phone text message reminders in improving ART adherence for adolescents.METHODS: The pre

The realization of unique scientific phenomena in two-dimensional nanomaterials (2DNMs) has led to their applications in several electronic fields; making it imperative to understand the conduction mechanism of charge carriers in such systems. Though several studies have been conducted on 2DNMs with pristine crystallinity, the inevitable presence of defects in the crystals requires careful conside

Background and Purpose: Clinicians will increasingly encounter adult patients who were born preterm and will need to understand their long-term sequelae. Adult survivors of preterm birth have been reported to have increased risks of hypertension and other stroke risk factors. However, their stroke risks have seldom been examined and the findings are discrepant, possibly due to small sample sizes,

Objective: To study how the choice of the first assisted reproductive technology treatment type affects the cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) in couples with high sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI). Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: University-affiliated fertility clinic. Patient(s): A total of 2,713 infertile couples who underwent assisted reproductive technology treatment between 2007

Small birds are hot creatures with an average body temperature of 40° Centigrade, and so must burn energy at a formidable rate to stay warm. This becomes quite the challenge in winter when birds are 40-50 degrees warmer than outside for extended periods, even in comparatively mild regions such as Scotland. Thus, the little bird in winter must spend most of the day either feeding or searching for f

Objective: Invasive treatment of intermittent claudication (IC) is commonly performed, despite limited evidence of its cost effectiveness. IC symptoms are mainly caused by atherosclerotic lesions in the superficial femoral artery (SFA), and endovascular treatment is performed frequently. The aim of this study was to investigate its cost effectiveness vs. non-invasive treatment. Methods: One hundre

Time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy (TR-PEEM) belongs to a class of experimental techniquescombining the spatial resolution of electron-based microscopy with the time resolution of ultrafast opticalspectroscopy. This combination provides insight into fundamental processes on the nanometer spatial andfemto/picosecond time scale, such as charge carrier transport in semiconductors or coll

The ignition of Quantum Cascade Lasers can occur from a state of oscillating field domains. Here, the interplay between lasing and the kinetics of traveling domain boundaries provides complex oscillation scenarios. We analyze our numerical findings in detail for a device operating at terahertz frequencies and manifest chaotic evolution by positive Lyapunov exponents. This shows that these importan

The existence of a miscibility gap limits the range of solid compositions which are possible to achieve under near-equilibrium growth conditions. Circumventing the miscibility gap is of paramount importance for device fabrication. We propose that one of the suppression mechanisms is the nucleus surface energy and explain how the surface energy influences the miscibility gap during nucleation from

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the heat and mass transport characteristics in microchannel reactors with non-uniform catalyst distributions. Design/methodology/approach: A two-dimensional model is developed to study the heat and mass transport characteristics in microchannel reactors. The heat and mass transport processes in the microchannel reactors with non-uniform catalyst

OBJECTIVE: To clarify, using an extended adoption design, the sources of parent-offspring transmission for anxiety disorder (AD) and its major subforms and their familial cross-generational relationship with major depression (MD). METHODS: Offspring (born 1960-1992) and their parents, from six family types (intact, not-lived-with biological father or mother, lived-with step-father or step-mother,

PURPOSE: To evaluate vertical acceleration, vector magnitude, non-wear time, valid day classifications and valid period classifications, in the data processing phase when using the ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer in non-ambulant children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP).MATERIAL AND METHODS: Accelerometer data retrieved from 33 non-ambulant children and adolescents (4-17 years) with CP, were

Objectives: We aimed to explore the association between various physiological factors and pyelonephritis in parous women. Methods: Swedish nationwide registers were used to identify 1,073,467 parous women aged 15-50 years. The study period began in 1997 and ended in 2018, or at the first incidence of pyelonephritis, death, or emigration. Cox proportional hazards methods were used to determine haza

Kallikreins are a family of serine proteases with a range of tissue-specific and essential proteolytic functions. Among the best studied are the prostate tissue-specific KLK2 and KLK3 genes and their secreted protease products, human kallikrein 2, hk2, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Members of the so-called classic kallikreins, these highly active trypsin-like serine proteases play establish

Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of death in both men and women. However, risk factors seem to differ for men and women and significant gaps in sex-specific knowledge exist. Mitochondria are critical for cardiomyocytes and in this study, we investigated the role of baseline mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) in HF incidence in middle-aged women and its possible role in the association b