ABSTRACT
Information on the association between tea drinking and semen quality is limited. Little is reported on whether tea drinking is benefit to sperm quality. This cross-sectional and longitudinal study was conducted between April 2017 and July 2018. Participants were healthy men who were screened as potential sperm donors recruited at the Hubei Province Human Sperm Bank of China. A structured questionnaires containing sociodemographic information, daily habits, sperm collection-related information was completed for each participant at interview. Repeated semen samples were taken to examine the sperm parameters, including sperm volume, sperm concentration, sperm count, progressive motility, and total motility. A total of 1385 men with 6466 sperm samples were included in this study. Two groups were compared: tea drinking men (389, 28.1%) and non-tea drinking men (996, 71.9%). Compared with subjects who never drink tea, the analyses showed that sperm concentration and total sperm count were higher in tea-consuming subjects. A 10-year period or more duration of tea drinking significantly increased semen concentrations by 16.27% (P < 0.05). Sperm concentration was increased in subjects with a frequency of tea drinking of 3 days or more per week (P < 0.05) or, among men who were occasional alcohol drinkers, when tea concentration was weak (P < 0.05). No evidence of trend effects (P for trend > 0.05) or interaction effects (P for interaction > 0.05) between tea consumption and sperm quality, respectively. Our findings provide evidence that tea drinking may improve male reproductive health. Long-term, frequent, weak tea drinking tends to increase sperm quality among men with low BMI or health-related behaviors like smoking or alcohol intake.
Subject(s)
Semen Analysis , Semen , China , Cross-Sectional Studies , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Sperm Count , TeaABSTRACT
Pseudobronchial crista-like change is an unusual type of inflammatory granulation tissue hyperplasia in the endobronchial membrane caused by chronic retention of bronchial foreign bodies. Here, we report a case of pseudobronchial crista-like change in a 4-year-old boy who required admission for intermittent cough for >10 days and wheezing for 2 days. The main manifestation was persistent and non-healing lobar pneumonia. Initial electronic bronchoscopy showed cristae at the distal left main bronchus, which was misdiagnosed as bronchial opening stenosis. Repeat electronic bronchoscopy was performed after standard antibiotic treatment proved ineffective. Foreign bodies were observed at the opening of the basal branch of the left lower lobe. The left main bronchial cristae were clamped. The cristae appeared to be a pseudobronchial crista-like change caused by long-term retention of bronchial foreign bodies. After CT-confirmation of no abnormal blood supply at the cristae, the bronchial foreign bodies were removed, and the distal cristae of the left main bronchus were cut-off by laser, followed by balloon dilatation. To our knowledge, no similar cases have been reported so far in our review of domestic and foreign literature. Insufficient clinical understanding of Pseudobronchial Crista-like Change increase the risk of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. Detailed exploration and careful identification under bronchoscopy are helpful for the timely diagnosis and treatment of Pseudobronchial Crista-like Change.
ABSTRACT
Based on a long-term simulated acid rain experiment, soil N2O emission fluxes were measured using static chambers and the gas chromatography method in a coniferous and broadleaved mixed forest and a monsoon evergreen broadleaved forest in southern China. During the five-year observation periods (2014-2018), soil N2O emission fluxes in the two forests showed obvious seasonal variation. The soil N2O emission fluxes in wet season were significantly higher than that in dry season, with a large annual variation. Due to the decreases of precipitation, soil N2O emission fluxes of the two forests in 2017 and 2018 were generally low. Soil N2O emission flux was positively correlated with soil temperature and soil moisture. In the monsoon evergreen broadleaved forest, soil N2O emission flux in the control plot was 12.6 µg N2O·m-2·h-1. Soil N2O emission fluxes under the pH 3.5 and pH 3.0 treatments increased by 42.9% and 61.1%, respectively. Soil N2O emission was significantly increased under simulated acid rain in the monsoon evergreen broadleaved forest. Acid rain promoted soil N2O emission in the coniferous and broadleaved mixed forest, but without significant difference among the treatments. Under the scenario of increasing acid rain, soil N2O emission fluxes in typical subtropical southern China forests would increase, and the magnitude of such increase was different among forest types.
Subject(s)
Acid Rain , Soil , China , Forests , Nitrous Oxide/analysisABSTRACT
The typical conductive polymer of PEDOT:PSS has recently attracted intensive attention in thermoelectric conversion because of its low cost and low thermal conductivity as well as high electrical conductivity. However, compared to inorganic counterparts, the relatively poor thermoelectric performance of PEDOT:PSS has greatly limited its development and high-tech applications. Here, we report a dramatic enhancement in the thermoelectric performance of PEDOT:PSS by constructing unique composite films with graphene quantum dots (GQDs). At room temperature, the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of PEDOT:PSS/GQDs reached to 7172 S/m and 14.6 µV/K, respectively, which are 30.99% and 113.2% higher than those of pristine PEDOT:PSS. As a result, the power factor of the optimized PEDOT:PSS/GQDs composite is 550% higher than that of pristine PEDOT:PSS. These significant improvements are attributed to the ordered alignment of PEDOT chains on the surface of GQDs, originated from the strong interfacial interaction between PEDOT:PSS and GQDs and the separation of PEDOT and PSS phases. This study evidently provides a promising route for PEDOT:PSS applied in high-efficiency thermoelectric conversion.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate whether vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) influences apolipoprotein M (ApoM) expression and pre-ß-high-density lipoprotin (HDL) formation, and whether forkhead box A2 (Foxa2) and Nur77 are involved in this process. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analyzed the serum VEGF concentrations of 264 adults who underwent a medical checkup and found that VEGF concentration was positively correlated with serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), and ApoB concentrations, but was negatively correlated with serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and ApoM concentrations. We further investigated the effects of VEGF on ApoM expression and pre-ß-HDL formation, and the mechanisms responsible, in HepG2 cells and mouse primary hepatocytes. VEGF markedly downregulated ApoM expression and pre-ß-HDL formation. At the same time, expression of Foxa2 was also inhibited, whereas expression of Nur77 was increased by treatment with VEGF. Furthermore, small interfering (si) RNA knockdown of Foxa2 made the downregulation of VEGF on ApoM expression and pre-ß-HDL formation even more obvious. In addition, siRNA knockdown of Nur77 significantly compensated for the inhibitory effect of VEGF on Foxa2 expression, whereas the Nur77 agonist cytosporone B led to the downregulation of Foxa2 expression more significantly than VEGF. Moreover, overexpression of a Nur77 transgene in C57BL/6 mice resulted in decreased serum ApoM and pre-ß-HDL levels, whereas si-Nur77-treated mice displayed upregulated serum ApoM and pre-ß-HDL levels. CONCLUSION: These results provide evidence that VEGF may first downregulate expression of Foxa2 by enhancing Nur77 activity and then decrease expression of ApoM and pre-ß-HDL formation. Therefore, our study may be useful in understanding the critical effect of VEGF in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
