STUDY ON PERMEABILITY OF CUNNINGHAMIA LANCEOLATA BASED ON STEAM TREATMENT AND FREEZE TREATMENT

In order to improve the permeability of Cunninghamia lanceolata,the weight gain rate of C. lanceolatawas taken as index. The effect of time, temperature and water content on the weight gain rate of impregnated wood was analyzed by frozen and steaming treatment. By comparing the weight gain rate under different modification methods, the optimal modification process was determined.The results indicate that the optimum parameters of C. lanceolatawere saturated water content (-25°C and 8 h) at this time, the three-day gain rate of silica sol impregnated at normal temperature and pressure was 15.058%. AfterC. lanceolatais pre-treated by superheated steam, the weight gain rate of C. lanceolata, which in oven-dried specimen (120°C and 3h) contents was the highest, at this time, the three-day gain rate of silica sol impregnated at normal temperature and pressure was 15.291%.By comparing the results of pre-freezing withthe results of superheated steam treatmentof C. lanceolata,the latter will increase thepermeability of C. lanceolatabetter. Thereforesuperheated steam treatment should be chosen as an effective method for the pretreatment.

A Good Way to Reduce Screening for Retinopathy of Prematurity: Development of the ROP Model in a China Preterm Population

Importance: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a preventable cause of blindness in children. Without treatment, more than 45% of eyes may suffer permanent vision loss. Current ROP screening guidelines, which include a range of birth weights (BWs) and gestational ages (GAs), may require screening many low-risk preemies who might develop severe ROP.Method: All high-risk infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from 2017 to 2021 were included in this retrospective cohort study. Each of the 27 candidate risk factors was evaluated in univariate analysis and adjusted for known risk factors (i.e., GA and BW). The significant results were analyzed in a backward selection multivariate logistic regression model. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and a nomogram were drawn.Results: The study included 2,040 infants who underwent ROP screening. The weight gain rate [OR, 2.65; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.49–1.21 ≤ 12 g/d vs. > 18 g/d; P = 0.001], blood transfusion (OR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.14–3.64; P = 0.017), invasive mechanical ventilation (OR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.15–2.66; P = 0.009) and N-terminal segment of pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) ≥ 25,000 ng/L (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.00–2.28; P = 0.048) were four new statistically independent risk factors in addition to GA and BW. The area under the curve (AUC) of the final multivariate model was 0.90 (95% CI, 0.88–0.92; P < 0.001).Conclusions and Relevance: These findings add to our understanding of ROP screening because they include all eligible infants rather than only high-risk infants, as in previous studies. Under the control of BW and GA, low weight gain rate, increased number of blood transfusion, invasive mechanical ventilation and NT-proBNP ≥ 25,000 ng/L were “new” statistically independent risk factors for ROP. The ROP risk can be calculated manually or represented by a nomogram for clinical use.

Examining the Effection of Second-and Third-trimester Rate of Gestational Weight Gain on Perinatal Outcomes Among Chinese Twin Gestations Based on the Provisional Guidelines: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: This paper investigated how second and third trimester gestational weight gain relates toperinatal outcomes among normal weight women with twin pregnancies in Fujian, China. Methods: A retrospective study on the medical records of 931 normal weight twin pregant women was conducted in Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital from 2014 to 2018.The 2nd and 3rd trimester weekly weight gain rate were calculated and categorized women as gaining below, within, or above the 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended rates . The association between trimester-specific weight gain rate and perinatal outcome was performed by traditional regression analysis among groups.Results:A total of 931 pregnant women and 1862 neonates were included for analysis. 25.9% ,19.8% and 54.3%% of women had less than, greater than and within the recommended rates of gain in the 2nd and 3rd trimester, respectively. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that greater than recommended rates of weight gain in 2nd trimester decreased the risks of preeclampsia (adjusted OR:0.458,95% CI:0.255~0.824). Less than recommended rates of weight gain in 3rd trimester increased the risk of premature delivery（adjusted OR=1.926,95%CI:1.403~2.644）, gestational diabetes mellitus (adjusted OR = 2.052,95%CI:1.417~2.972), intrahepatic cholestasis syndrome (adjusted OR = 3.016,95%CI:1.057~8.606), premature rupture of the membrane (adjusted OR = 1.722,95%CI:1.180~2.512) and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (adjusted OR = 5.135,95%CI:1.701~15.498) and decreased the risk of cesarean section (adjusted OR = 0.587,95%CI:0.385~0.893) .In addition, greater than recommended rates of weight gain in 3rd trimester was associated with increased risks in premature delivery (adjusted OR=1.818,95%CI:1.307~2.527), and gestational hypertension (adjusted OR=2.098,95%CI:1.018~4.324) as well as preeclampsia(adjusted OR:2.029, 95%CI:1.331~3.093). The stratified analysis of weight gain in 3rd trimester showed that there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes compared to weight gain rate groups in 2nd trimester.Conclusions: While this study showed gestational weight gain rate less than or greater than in 3rd trimester were associated with some adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes, further studies of prospective and multi-center researches are required to explore alternate ranges of gestational weight gain rate in twin pregnancies.

Pre-treatment of Calotropis gigantea fibers with functional plasticizing and toughening auxiliary agents

Calotropis gigantea ( C. gigantea) has not yet been utilized in the textile industry due to its poor spinning capability. Here, we demonstrate the use of a functional auxiliary agent to improve the spinning possibility of C. gigantea fibers. Firstly, a functional plasticizing and toughening auxiliary agent (PTAA) with concentrations of 6%, 9%, and 12% (w/w) were sprayed on C. gigantea fibers, which were then dried at various drying temperatures for different drying periods. The physical properties, secondary structure, crystallization, and weight gain rate were examined before and after the processing treatment, and compared to another two commonly used commercial auxiliary agents, namely waterborne polyurethane and wook lubricating oil. The maximum breaking strength was achieved when the optimum concentration of the PTAA was 9 wt.%, the optimum drying temperature was 80℃, and the optimum time was 1 h. The C. gigantea fiber treated by the PTAA had better spinning possibility compared to the fibers treated by the other two commercial auxiliary agents in terms of weight gain rate ( p < 0.001), initial modulus ( p < 0.05), and reduced crystallinity (35.6%). The results showed that PTAA treatment is an effective way to improve the spinning possibility of C. gigantea fibers. The development of our new auxiliary agent and understanding of its effects on improving the spinning possibility of C. gigantea fibers could facilitate the development of C. gigantea fibers as a lignocellulosic raw material for applications in industrial textiles.

Detection of Artificially Water-Injected Frozen Octopus minor (Sasaki) Using Dielectric Properties

A few importers of marine products have practiced the fraud of artificially injecting water into Octopus minor for increasing their weights prior to the freezing process. These rampant practices have recently become a serious social issue and threaten public health. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the detection method for artificially water-injected frozen Octopus minor. This study was conducted to develop the nondestructive method for verifying adulterated Octopus minor by measuring dielectric properties using the coaxial probe method. Regardless of weight and measurement locations, a significant difference between ε values from normal octopuses was not observed. The ε values of Octopus minor were decreased in the microwave frequency range between 500 and 3000 MHz. The ε values of water-injected octopuses also showed similar trend with normal octopuses; however, the dielectric loss factor (ε″) values of adulterated octopuses were much lower than normal octopuses. After thawing normal, adulterated, and imported frozen Octopus minor, the ε values measured at the trunk part from these octopuses were compared and statistically analyzed. The ε″ values from normal frozen octopus were significantly different from adulterated and imported frozen octopuses. In addition, the ε″ values from the adulterated frozen octopus group that weight gain rate was less than 20% was significantly different from other adulterated octopus groups with higher weight gain rate than 20%. The ε″ values from adulterated frozen octopus groups with the range of weight gain rate between 20 and 30% were quite similar to imported frozen octopuses. Therefore, it was found that the measurement of ε″ values from Octopus minor has a great possibility to distinguish normal frozen octopuses and artificially water-injected frozen octopuses.

Effects of different durations of fasting/re-feeding bouts on growth, biochemical and histological changes in the digestive tract of Gansu golden trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

This study was conducted to explore the outcomes of starvation/re-feeding techniques on growth performance, liver antioxidant activities, and histological changes of the gastrointestinal organs of Gansu golden trout. A total of 225 juveniles were divided into 5 treatment groups; the control group (N₀) was routinely fed every day while the other groups (N₇, N₁₄, N₂₁, and N₂₈) were starved for 7, 14, 21, and 28 days, respectively and after the starvation session, each group was re-fed for 28 days. Compensatory growth was statistically recorded in N₁₄. Weight gain rate and feeding ratio were the highest in the N₁₄ group, while specific growth rate and feeding conversion ratio showed significant increases in the fish groups exposed to longer starvation periods. Liver antioxidant activities showed a significant increase and decrease in malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase levels in N₂₁ and N₂₈, respectively, which returned to normal levels after re-feeding. Stomach, intestine, and liver showed histological alterations in all groups and the severity was correlated with the fasting periods. Those changes were restored to a certain degree after feeding was resumed. The compensation by group N₁₄ presents potential for economic usefulness of the fasting/re-feeding strategy in Gansu golden trout.

Comparing the metabolic fates of BALB/c mice maintained on cafeteria-style diets with differential nutritive values

Cafeteria (CAF) diet-fed rodents are shown to provide a robust model of metabolic syndrome and human obesity. The carbohydrate/fat-rich food-items provided to the CAF-diet-model more closely approximate the ultra-processed human diet. However, most of the previous studies applied the commercially available rodent chow-diet for the comparative analyses and labeled it as a healthy-diet. The presented work aims to extend the knowledge on CAF-diet model by exposing the mice to human foods with different nutritional values. Our major goal was to study the metabolic fates of mice maintained on human food-items, which depending upon on their macronutrient compositions are categorized as healthy or unhealthy. BALB/c mice were randomly allocated to one of the three dietary intervention groups, standard chow diet; high-sugar/high-fat-cafeteria (HSHF-CAF) diet; or low-sugar/low-fat-cafeteria (LSLF-CAF) diet, for 5 weeks. The differences in multiple metabolic parameters (including food-/energy /macronutrient-intake, body-weight gain rate, organ-to-body weight ratios, plasma lipid profiles, adipocyte physiology, lipid deposition in metabolic tissues and ectopic fat storage in heart and kidney) were compared among the three intervention groups. We did not observe hyperphagia in mice maintained on CAF-diets. Nonetheless, the CAF-diet-fed mice displayed increased weight-gain-rate, adiposity, and adipocyte hypertrophy when compared to the chow-fed mice. However, the mice maintained on the two cafeteria-style diets displayed similar metabolic profiles, with HSHF-CAF-group displaying slightly higher weight-gain-rate. The HSHF-CAF-and LSLF-CAF-diet induced comparable adiposity in BALB/c mice. Further studies, with longer dietary intervention periods, are required to elucidate the effects of differential CAF-diets on the metabolic health of mice.

Effect of melatonin different time administration on the development of diet-induced obesity in rats

In recent years much attention has been paid for study of the melatonin use possibilities for improving obesity comorbidities. The aim of our study was to determine the influence of melatonin different time treatment on body weight changes of dietinduced obesity in rats. The administration by gavage of melatonin in dose 30 mg/kg for 7 weeks had the potential to decrease visceral fat weight, Lee index (both after morning and evening treatment) and body weight gain rate (only after evening dose).