Looking on the bright side reduces worry in pregnancy: Training interpretations in pregnant women

Background Recent evidence suggests that anxiety is more common than depression in the perinatal period, however there are few interventions available to treat perinatal anxiety. Targeting specific processes that maintain anxiety, such as worry, may be one potentially promising way to reduce anxiety in this period. Given evidence that negative interpretation bias maintains worry, we tested whether interpretation bias could be modified, and whether this in turn would lead to less negative thought (i.e., worry) intrusions, in pregnant women with high levels of worry. Method Participants (N = 49, at least 16 weeks gestation) were randomly assigned to either an interpretation modification condition (CBM-I) which involved training in accessing positive meanings of emotionally ambiguous scenarios, or an active control condition in which the scenarios remained ambiguous and unresolved. Results Relative to the control condition, participants in the CBM-I condition generated significantly more positive interpretations and experienced significantly less negative thought intrusions. Conclusions Our findings indicate that worry is a modifiable risk factor during pregnancy, and that it is possible to induce a positive interpretation bias in pregnant women experiencing high levels of worry. Although preliminary, our findings speak to exciting clinical possibilities for the treatment of worry and the prevention of perinatal anxiety.

MODIFICAÇÃO SUPERFICIAL EM ÓXIDO DE NIÓBIO PARA A PRODUÇÃO DE HIDROGÊNIO

RESUMONa separação fotocatalítica da água podem ser utilizados semicondutores como catalisadores da reação de desprendimento de hidrogênio, sendo que a atividade fotocatalítica do semicondutor depende da área superficial e de sua cristalinidade. Nesse contexto, o Nb2O5 diferencia-se como catalisador, uma vez que seu intervalo de band gap situa-se entre os intervalos das reações de oxirredução da água e pode ser obtido na forma porosa e cristalina. Com isso, o objetivo deste trabalho é verificar a influência da modificação superficial de Nb2O5, obtido por anodização, para a produção de hidrogênio por meio de fotocatálise. Para tanto, amostras de nióbio foram anodizadas em 0,3 M ácido oxálico + HF, com densidade de corrente de 12,73 mA/cm2 por 300 s, e analisadas morfologicamente, quanto à condutividade elétrica e por meio de curvas de polarização catódicas. Os resultados mostraram que a melhor condição de modificação superficial para catalisar a reação de desprendimento de hidrogênio por fotocatálise foi da amostra anodizada até ocorrência de sparking, a qual apresentou características de óxido cristalino.Palavras-chave: Anodização. Nióbio. Fotocatálise. ABSTRACTIn photocatalytic separation of water semiconductors can be used as catalysts of the hydrogen release reaction, and the photocatalytic activity of the semiconductor depends on its surface area and its crystallinity. In this context, Nb2O5 differs as a catalyst, since its band gap is between the ranges of water redox reactions and can be obtained in porous and crystalline form. Thus, the objective of this work is to verify the influence of surface modification of Nb2O5, obtained by anodization, for hydrogen production through photocatalysis. For this purpose, niobium samples were anodized in 0.3 M oxalic acid + HF, with current density of 12.73 mA / cm2 for 300 s, and analyzed morphologically for electrical conductivity and cathodic polarization curves. The results showed that the best surface modification condition to catalyze the hydrogen detachment reaction by photocatalysis was from the anodized sample until sparking, which presented crystalline oxide characteristics.Keywords: Anodizing. Niobium. Photocatalysis.

Significant improvement of sperm motility parameters through surface modification with Nano Diamond particles

The employment of Nanotechnology as a valuable tool could be beneficial to patients and also offer new alternatives for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Surface modification by nanoparticles leads to the alteration of surface characteristics (e.g. roughness, elasticity, and surface charge). These alterations affect sperm behavior especially its motility since sperms exhibit wall following behavior and surface accumulation. Moreover, surface modification is an attempt towards mimicking the complex in vivo environment of the female tract (highly folded and ciliated) with continually changing surface topology and also its functions. In this paper, we present the results of investigating the interactions between sperm cells and surface modified substrates using Nano diamond particles. A combinational and low-cost method was used for modification. The results show that the sperm motility parameters are significantly improved from 5 to 85%. Also, the results indicate that in optimized surface modification condition, the sperms swim faster and straighter and the surface facilitates the swimming due to the inherent characteristics of ND particles. Taken together, the replacement of normal with modified surfaces in fertility-aid microfluidic devices can enhance their efficiency and further improve their outcomes.

Production of NMSBA from NMST Catalyzed by Co/Mn/Br and HPW@C Modified with ZnCl2 Solution

Abstract2-nitro-4-methylsulfonylbenzoic acid (NMSBA) can be produced by oxidizing 2-nitro-4-methylsulfonyltoluene (NMST) with air catalyzed by Co/Mn/Br and phosphotungstic acid(HPW) loaded on activated carbon. This paper reports that the catalytic ability of the HPW@C catalyst in the oxidation of NMST to NMSBA can be improved by treating the activated carbon with ZnCl2solution. The best modification condition with ZnCl2solution is impregnating the carbon sample in 0.1 mol/L solution for 6 h followed by calcination at 600 °C for 4 h. The increase of the surface area and the acidic groups on the carbon surface enhances the catalytic ability of the HPW@C catalyst. The mesopores play an important role in the catalytic oxidation of NMST to NMSBA.

Scale exhaustivity and the Modification Condition

This paper pursues a Vector Space Semantics (VSS) analysis of evaluative and extreme adjectives in absolute and comparative constructions, with a particular emphasis on the licensing of measure phrases (MPs) in these environments. I show that the Modification Condition (Winter 2005), which restricts the distribution of MPs with locative/directional PPs and dimensional adjectives, can be extended to account for MP licensing with evaluative and extreme adjectives as well. Importantly, the non-satisfaction of the Modification Condition is entailed when a set of vectors does not exhaust the range of possible values on a particular scale. This observation thus allows us to link a long-standing generalization that scale exhaustivity and MP licensing are crucially related (Bierwisch 1989) with the formal denotational properties of certain linguistic expressions.

Investigation on Dyeing Performances of the Modified Cotton Fabric with Quaternary Ammonium Salt as Modifier

In this paper the different kind of quaternary ammonium salt was applied to modify the cotton fabric and then the modified cotton fabric was dyed under low salt condition. The effect of modifier structure, modifier concentration, modification time and temperature on the dyeing performances of the modified cotton fabric was investigated. The results indicated that the optimal modification condition was that the modifier was Octadecyl dimethyl hydroxyethyl quaternary ammonium nitrate, modifier concentration was 40 g/L, modification time was 40 min, modification temperature was 60 °C and the salt concentration was 25% of the conventional dosage. The K/S value, soaping fastness and breaking strength of the modified cotton fabric under low salt condition was the same level as the conventional dyeing process.

Scale exhaustivity and the Modification Condition

This paper pursues a Vector Space Semantics (VSS) analysis of evaluative and extreme adjectives in absolute and comparative constructions, with a particular emphasis on the licensing of measure phrases (MPs) in these environments. I show that the Modification Condition (Winter 2005), which restricts the distribution of MPs with locative/directional PPs and dimensional adjectives, can be extended to account for MP licensing with evaluative and extreme adjectives as well. Importantly, the non-satisfaction of the Modification Condition is entailed when a set of vectors does not exhaust the range of possible values on a particular scale. This observation thus allows us to link a long-standing generalization that scale exhaustivity and MP licensing are crucially related (Bierwisch 1989) with the formal denotational properties of certain linguistic expressions.

Study on Arsenic Removal Efficiency and Mechanism of Titanium Modified Manganese Ore

Natural manganese ore is a kind of arsenic removal mineral. It is low-cost and widely available. In order to enhance its removal efficiency and adsorption quantity of arsenic, this paper adopted TiCl4 to modify natural manganese ore and optimized the conditions of modification. The results showed that the best modification condition was: TiCl4 at a concentration of 10 mg•L-1, dipping time of 18h, pH 3.05, reaction time of 60 min; under these conditions, the removal rates of As (Ⅲ) and As (Ⅴ) respectively reached 94.87% and 99.31%, much higher compared with natural manganese ore (82.95% and 77.93%). The saturated adsorption quantity of As (Ⅲ) and As (Ⅴ) reached 3.48 mg•g-1 and 3.27 mg•g-1, each increasing 1.25 mg•g-1 and 1.21 mg•g-1. The adsorption of As (Ⅲ) by modified manganese ore fits the Freundlich adsorption isotherm, while As (Ⅴ) fits the Langmuir adsorption isotherm best.