Lifestyle interventions to prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes in women at high risk for gestational diabetes mellitus: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To examine the effects of lifestyle interventions, including dietary guidance, health education and weight management, on pregnancy outcomes in women at high risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods: Our study included 251 women at high risk of GDM and 128 randomized to lifestyle interventions (dietary guidance, health education, and weight management); One hundred and twenty-three people were randomly assigned to a control group (regular pregnancy check-ups). Counts between groups were compared using either chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Results: Compared with the control group, the risk of GDM was reduced by 46.9% (16.4% vs 30.9%, P = 0.007) and the risk of pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) was reduced by 74.2% (2.3% vs 8.9%, P = 0.034) in the intervention group. There were no significant differences in macrosomia, cesarean section, or preterm birth (P >0.05). Conclusion: The lifestyle intervention in this study helped pregnant women to better understand knowledge related to pregnancy, reduce stress and anxiety, and increase intake of adequate prenatal nutrition. This intervention prevented metabolic abnormalities that may occur due to inadequate nutrient intake during pregnancy. In addition, it helped women to control weight gain, maintain appropriate weight gain during pregnancy, and reduce the risk of excessive or insufficient weight gain, ultimately lowering the incidence of GDM and PIH. This highlights the importance of early screening and intervention for high-risk pregnant women. Clinical Trial Registration: https://www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR2300073766.

Long non­coding RNA LINC01006 exhibits oncogenic properties in cervical cancer by functioning as a molecular sponge for microRNA­28­5p and increasing PAK2 expression.

As previously reported, long intergenic non­protein­coding RNA 1006 (LINC01006) plays crucial roles in prostate, pancreatic and gastric cancers. However, whether it plays important roles in cervical cancer remains unclear. The present study thus aimed to determine the precise role of LINC01006 in cervical cancer and elucidate its regulatory mechanisms. The expression of LINC01006 in cervical cancer was examined by reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Cell proliferation assay, flow cytometric analysis, Transwell migration and invasion assays, and tumor xenograft model experiments were performed to elucidate the roles of LINC01006 in cervical cancer. Bioinformatics analysis, luciferase reporter assay, RNA immunoprecipitation and rescue experiments were performed for mechanistic analyses. The expression of LINC01006 was found to be upregulated in cervical cancer and to be associated with a poor prognosis. The absence of LINC01006 inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells, whereas it promoted cell apoptosis in vitro. The downregulation of LINC01006 impeded tumor growth in vivo. LINC01006 was verified as an endogenous 'sponge' that competed for microRNA­28­5p (miR­28­5p), which resulted in the upregulation of the miR­28­5p target P21­activated kinase 2 (PAK2). Rescue experiments revealed that the suppression of miR­28­5p expression or the overexpression of PAK2 abrogated the effects of LINC01006 downregulation on malignant cellular functions in cervical cancer. On the whole, the present study demonstrates that LINC01006 exhibits tumor­promoting functions in cervical cancer via the regulation of the miR­28­5p/PAK2 axis. These findings may provide the basis for the identification of LINC01006­targeted clinical therapy.

Risk factors predict frequent hospitalization in patients with acute exacerbation of COPD.

Purpose: COPD is a heterogeneous disease, and the available prognostic indexes are therefore limited. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with acute exacerbation leading to hospitalization. Patients and methods: This was a retrospective study of consecutive patients with COPD (meeting the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease [GOLD] diagnostic criteria) hospitalized at the Ninth Hospital of Xi'an Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University between October 2014 and September 2016. During follow-up after first hospitalization, the patients who had been rehospitalized within 1 year for acute exacerbation were grouped into the frequent exacerbation (FE) group, while the others were grouped into the infrequent exacerbation (IE) group. The baseline demographic, clinical, laboratory, pulmonary function, and imaging data were compared between the two groups. Results: Compared with the IE group, the FE group had lower forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) (P=0.005), FEV1%pred (P=0.002), maximal mid-expiratory flow (MMEF25-75%pred) (P=0.003), and ratio of carbon monoxide diffusion capacity to alveolar ventilation (DLCO/VA) (P=0.03) and higher resonant frequency (Fres; P=0.04). According to generations of bronchi, the percentage of the wall area (%WA) of lobes was found to be higher in the FE group. Emphysema index (EI), mean emphysema density (MED)whole and MEDleft lung in the FE group were significantly worse than in the IE group (P<0.05). Using logistic regression, exacerbation hospitalizations in the past year (odds ratio [OR] 14.4, 95% CI 6.1-34.0, P<0.001) and EI >10% (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.2-7.1, P=0.02) were independently associated with frequent acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) hospitalization. Conclusion: Exacerbation hospitalizations in the past year and imaging features of emphysema (EI) were independently associated with FE hospitalization.

Identifying proper agitation interval to prevent floating layers formation of corn stover and improve biogas production in anaerobic digestion.

Floating tests were conducted in anaerobic digestion with different OLR of corn stover to investigate formation of floating layers and to find proper agitation interval for preventing floating layer formation. Floating layers were formed in the early stage of no-agitation period. The daily biogas production was decreased by 81.87-87.90% in digesters with no agitation and feeding compared with digesters having agitation. Reduction of biogas production was mainly attributed to poor contact of substrate-microorganisms. Agitation intervals of 10 h, 6 h, and 2 h were found to be proper for eliminating floating layer at OLR of 1.44, 1.78 and 2.11 g(TS) L(-1) d(-1), respectively. The proper agitation interval was further validated by anaerobic experiments. It showed that proper agitation interval could not only prevent floating layer formation and achieve high biogas production but also increase energy efficiency of anaerobic digestion. The finding is useful for operating anaerobic digester with corn stover in a cost-effective way.

Reducing agitation energy-consumption by improving rheological properties of corn stover substrate in anaerobic digestion.

Rheological properties of corn stover substrate were investigated to explore agitation energy reduction potential for different total solid (TS) in anaerobic digestion. The effects of particle size and temperature on rheological properties and corresponding energy reduction were studied. The results indicated that corn stover slurry exhibited pseudo-plastic flow behavior at TS of 4.23-7.32%, and was well described by Power-law model. At TS of 4.23%, rheological properties were not obviously affected by particle size and temperature. However, when TS was increased to 7.32%, there was 10.37% shear stress reduction by size-reduction from 20 to 80-mesh, and 11.73% shear stress reduction by temperature-increase from 25 to 55 °C. PTS was advanced as variations of power consumption by TS-increase from 4.23% to 7.32%. There was 9.2% PTS-reduction by size-reduction from 20 to 80-mesh at 35 °C. Moreover, PTS-reduction of 10.3%/10 °C was achieved at 20-mesh compared with 9.0%/10 °C at 80-mesh.

Improving the mixing performances of rice straw anaerobic digestion for higher biogas production by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation.

As a lignocellulose-based substrate for anaerobic digestion, rice straw is characterized by low density, high water absorbability, and poor fluidity. Its mixing performances in digestion are completely different from traditional substrates such as animal manures. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was employed to investigate mixing performances and determine suitable stirring parameters for efficient biogas production from rice straw. The results from CFD simulation were applied in the anaerobic digestion tests to further investigate their reliability. The results indicated that the mixing performances could be improved by triple impellers with pitched blade, and complete mixing was easily achieved at the stirring rate of 80 rpm, as compared to 20-60 rpm. However, mixing could not be significantly improved when the stirring rate was further increased from 80 to 160 rpm. The simulation results agreed well with the experimental results. The determined mixing parameters could achieve the highest biogas yield of 370 mL (g TS)(-1) (729 mL (g TS(digested))(-1)) and 431 mL (g TS)(-1) (632 mL (g TS(digested))(-1)) with the shortest technical digestion time (T 80) of 46 days. The results obtained in this work could provide useful guides for the design and operation of biogas plants using rice straw as substrates.