Big Fraction Research Articles

Study on socio-economic status and farming practices of fish farmers in Pachrauta Municipality, Bara, Nepal

An interview-based questionnaire survey was done in 2021 to assess the socio-economic conditions, farming practices adopted, and problems faced by fish farmers and to analyze the cost and benefits of fish farming in the Fish super zone area of Pachrauta Municipality, Bara district. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 60 respondents for the study and the information collected was analyzed and processed by MS-Excel and SPSS. The majority of respondents were male, belonged to the age group of 25–36 years, and had a secondary level of school education. The mean total land holding size was found to be 3.65 ± 2.57 bigha with a total pond area of 1.38 ± 1.08 bigha and a small minority (18 %) practiced contract farming. Most of the farmers were found to have experience of 6–11 years (40 %). The farming system was polyculture and mostly Intensive (60 %). While the use of modern equipment was low (25 %), the majority of farmers (>90 %) practiced regular drying and liming of ponds. Mid-April to Mid-July was the most preferred time of stocking and the big fraction of feed used was locally prepared (70 %). Fertilizer use and Multiple harvesting were also common. Fish farming in the study area was found to fetch an average annual income of 0.95 million NRs. The major problems faced by farmers were Expensive feed (0.67), Lack of quality seeds (0.60), and Lack of proper marketing channels (0.55). Despite the constraints, Economic analysis revealed fish production in the study area as a profitable business with a BC ratio of 2.20 and a high gross margin value (Rs. 1330341.6 per hectare).

On the polarization of the non-prompt contribution to inclusive J/ψ production in pp collisions

Of the J/ψ mesons (inclusively) produced in pp collisions, a big fraction results from B decays, increasing with transverse momentum and exceeding 50% for pT> 20 GeV. These events must be subtracted in measurements of the polarization of prompt J/ψ mesons. While several studies have addressed the ψ(2S) and χc impact on the determination of the polarization of the directly-produced J/ψ mesons, the theoretical and experimental knowledge of the non-prompt polarization is very poor. Furthermore, non-prompt J/ψ polarization measurements can provide interesting information on quarkonium hadroproduction, complementing the studies of prompt production. We review the method of measuring the polarization of non-prompt J/ψ mesons (produced in decays of unreconstructed B mesons and detected in the dilepton channel), in conditions typical of LHC experiments studying J/ψ production. Realistic model-independent scenarios are validated with data from experiments studying e+e− → Υ(4S) interactions, converted to the high-momentum regime using B differential cross sections measured at the LHC. The non-prompt J/ψ polarization measurements are seen to remain dependent on the event selection criteria, even after correcting for the dilepton acceptance and efficiencies. This implies that reproducible definitions of all relevant analysis choices must be reported with the polarization result, for rigorous comparisons with other measurements and/or theoretical calculations. We also discuss how the non-prompt J/ψ polarization significantly depends on the relative importance of two complementary B → J/ψ decay topologies, two-body (reasonably dominated by singlet production) and multi-body (including octet contributions), providing, hence, valuable information for studies of the charmonium formation mechanisms.

How ethical are my millennials? A qualitative study

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to probe millennials on their perceptions towards consumer ethics and to generate new insights in the realm of consumer behaviour. Millennials constitute a big fraction of the total consumer base with immense buying power. Therefore, the exploration of the ethical perspective of millennials is of vital importance for organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies a grounded theory approach to explore the subjective experiences of consumers and draws insights from the data following an interpretivist epistemology.FindingsThe findings revealed five prominent themes that throw light on the consumer’s ethical orientations. The findings extend Hunt Vettel’s theoretical framework and ethical relativism.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is limited by the small sample of millennials studied.Practical implicationsThe paper advances the Hunt Vittel theoretical framework of ethics and provides insights into the deontological and teleological evaluations of millennials while making ethical decisions. The study adds to the existing research on millennials materialism and ethical orientation. The organizations get an insight into the ethical perceptions of millennials. The findings reinforce the consumer’s perceived importance of adoption of green practices by the organizations. The organization’s investment in green practices precipitate a favourable image of the organization among the millennials.Originality/valueLiterature in ethics is replete with studies adopting positivist methodologies. This paper is unique as it shuns the methodological bias and adopts a grounded theory approach to study new age digitally savvy millennial consumers.

Energy Values of Corn and Rice Bran and Energy Levels for Ducks – Basis in Establishing Energy Requirement for Improved Philippine Mallard Duck

New breeds of Philippine Mallard Ducks (PMD) were developed to ensure the availability of outstanding stocks for egg production. Maximizing the potentials of these new breeds can be achieved with sound nutrition. Energy is considered the most important and occupy big fraction in the diet of duck as it influences feed intake and proportion of other nutrients in the diet. Optimaldietary energy levels for the new breeds of PMD is yet to be established.. Determining the energy values of common and locally abundant basal feeds such as corn and rice bran for PMDwill serve as a basis in the inclusion of these feeds to duck’s diet. Ducks are considered more efficient in maximizing the energy values of corn (CO) and rice bran (RB) despite of the large proportion of non-starch polysaccharides of RB compared to chickens. Dietary energy levels have not been established for PMD unlike in Pekin ducks (PD) and some indigenous or country ducks. Fast growing PD tend to require a denser energy ranging from 3008 to 3284 kcal/kg compared to 2700 to 2950 kcal/kg for indigenous breeds and khaki Campbell (KC) for optimal performance. It has been found out that the PMD is closely more related to KC than PD. Hence, the possibility of requiring a lower dietary energy than PD. The determination of energy values of CO and RB for PMD and establishment of optimal dietary energy level will facilitate the formulation of PMD specific diet. Thus, this condensed information will serve as concrete viewpoints in understanding bioenergetic dynamics of PMD.

Experimental study of the combustion of single carbon particles in the atmospheres О2/Н2О and O2/N2O

A research method of single carbon particles combustion process has been developed using high-speed filming. A new experimental device has been designed and built, easy to setup and run, which makes it possible to measure the combustion time of a fuel particle lying at the bottom of the reactor and blown by a gas flow. An experimental research of combustion processes of graphite particles was carried out in О2/N2 and О2/Н2О atmospheres using following parameters: fractional range 0,16-2 mm particles, the temperature in the reaction zone was 900-1150°C, the concentration of oxygen in the mixture was 43-100 %. The studies were carried out at gas flow rates that do not affect the combustion rate of the particle, with a completely sufficient amount of oxygen in terms of balance for complete combustion, based on the initial mass of the particle. The experimental results show the effect of water vapor concentration in the mixture at a specific combustion rate. It has been shown that replacing the inert gas in an oxidizing atmosphere with H2O leads to the process intensification and increases relative reactive capacity of fuel. There relative reactivity of graphite to be up to 19% higher in the О2/Н2О environment than in the О2/N2 atmospheres. The influence of concentration of O2 on the pit is the liquidity of combustion in the oxidative sum of O2/H2O is of a small linear nature and is especially strongly manifested at fractions less than 0.3 mm. On big fractions (> 1 mm) it is very faintly visible

Meta-GWAS of amyloid burden endophenotype combining PET and CSF results.

It is well known that Alzheimer's disease (AD) has a strong genetic component. Even though it is a highly heritable disease, a big fraction of AD heritability remains to be elucidated. Genetic analysis of endophenotypes tightly linked to the disease might help to identify or confirm AD genetic risk factors. GWAS results Amyloid β (Aβ42) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or positron emission tomography (PET) measures were combined in a single meta-analysis. Six independent GWAS were run using a generalized linear model with four principal components and status as a covariate (PLINK software). The datasets had data for two different amyloid endophenotypes: CSF-Aβ42 levels from ADNI, Marqués de Valdecilla Hospital (Santander) and Fundació ACE (N= 1051); or PET-SUVR (amyloid global standardized uptake ratio) from ADNI and Fundació ACE (N= 607). GWAS results were meta-analysed using the sample size weighted method (METAL software). To reduce false positive findings, only genetic signals with opposite effect direction in PET and CSF endophenotypes were considered. Finally, we tried to replicate previously known genes for AD (de Rojas et al., MedRxiv 2019). After selecting SNPs with opposite effect on CSF and PET associations (N= 325051), we only observed genome wide significance in APOE locus (rs429358, P-value= 2.202×10-48) in the meta-GWAS. We also observed several suggestive signals in chromosomes 3, 5 and 6 (rs72977014, rs13164192 and rs4960198); further studies are needed to add evidence of AD association. Finally, relative to known AD genes we were able to replicate CR1 (rs4844610, P-value= 0.045) signal. By combining data from both β-amyloid endophenotypes (CSF and PET) we were able to replicate some well-known AD genes indicating that this approach could be a useful strategy to identify novel variants increasing the knowledge of AD genetic architecture.

Global Advances in Tomato Virome Research: Current Status and the Impact of High-Throughput Sequencing.

Viruses cause a big fraction of economically important diseases in major crops, including tomato. In the past decade (2011–2020), many emerging or re-emerging tomato-infecting viruses were reported worldwide. In this period, 45 novel viral species were identified in tomato, 14 of which were discovered using high-throughput sequencing (HTS). In this review, we first discuss the role of HTS in these discoveries and its general impact on tomato virome research. We observed that the rate of tomato virus discovery is accelerating in the past few years due to the use of HTS. However, the extent of the post-discovery characterization of viruses is lagging behind and is greater for economically devastating viruses, such as the recently emerged tomato brown rugose fruit virus. Moreover, many known viruses still cause significant economic damages to tomato production. The review of databases and literature revealed at least 312 virus, satellite virus, or viroid species (in 22 families and 39 genera) associated with tomato, which is likely the highest number recorded for any plant. Among those, here, we summarize the current knowledge on the biology, global distribution, and epidemiology of the most important species. Increasing knowledge on tomato virome and employment of HTS to also study viromes of surrounding wild plants and environmental samples are bringing new insights into the understanding of epidemiology and ecology of tomato-infecting viruses and can, in the future, facilitate virus disease forecasting and prevention of virus disease outbreaks in tomato.

Recent Advancement in Topical Drug Delivery for Psoriasis: Clinical Pertinence and Potential Market.

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated chronic skin inflammation. This disease can be associated with several manifestations like red flakes, silver scales, patches, plaques, and silvery-white squams. Approximately 70% of the patients treated with topical dosage forms have a mild-to-moderate form of psoriasis, whereas a moderate-to-severe form of psoriasis is treated with systemic, photo, and biological therapies. Considering the big fraction that topicals cover, we present the current market potential, clinical relevance, and recent advances in the topical delivery of the drug for psoriasis. Though we witnessed several advancements in the recent few decades, delivering new immunomodulatory and biological molecules for topical psoriatic treatment have been proven to be efficient and safe options for the large percentage of patients for whom systemic therapy is not indicated. This article enumerates the promising topical dosage forms at present under assessment for their clinical pertinence. The competency of conventional topicals to reach and transform the world market is enumerated in terms of their success rate after proving the clinical pertinence against psoriasis. However, the entrance of novel drug delivery systems based on advanced topical products in the global market is highly anticipated as they have immense potential to impact the psoriasis treatment in the near future.

AN AYURVEDIC APPROACH IN THE MANAGEMENT OF HYPERTHYROIDISM

AYUSH healthcare providers are contributing a good spectrum of health care system to India and rendering relief to the health seekers of the rural as well urban area. India has very long time tradition of the use of this system. Ayurvedic system of healthcare is a big fraction of AYUSH healthcare that originated as well as developed in India. Hyperthyroidism is a chronic, hormonal disorder that may affect almost all tissues and organs. Hyperthyroidism has been managed optimally with modern drugs since long but it may produce various untoward effects on long usage. The aim of this review is to study the literature regarding herbal drugs that have been commonly used in Hyperthyroidism or similar symptoms. The modern as well as Ayurvedic literature was reviewed to explore herbal drugs pertaining to pharmacological effects and therapeutic benefits for hyperthyroidism. The present article is an effort to highlight the role of a plants particularly used in hyperactive thyroid gland, which have multifaceted pharmacological actions and therapeutic potential. This review may also be used for designing various clinical studies to serve the usefulness of plants in similar hormonal disorders.

Heavily Armed Ancestors: CRISPR Immunity and Applications in Archaea with a Comparative Analysis of CRISPR Types in Sulfolobales.

Prokaryotes are constantly coping with attacks by viruses in their natural environments and therefore have evolved an impressive array of defense systems. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is an adaptive immune system found in the majority of archaea and about half of bacteria which stores pieces of infecting viral DNA as spacers in genomic CRISPR arrays to reuse them for specific virus destruction upon a second wave of infection. In detail, small CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) are transcribed from CRISPR arrays and incorporated into type-specific CRISPR effector complexes which further degrade foreign nucleic acids complementary to the crRNA. This review gives an overview of CRISPR immunity to newcomers in the field and an update on CRISPR literature in archaea by comparing the functional mechanisms and abundances of the diverse CRISPR types. A bigger fraction is dedicated to the versatile and prevalent CRISPR type III systems, as tremendous progress has been made recently using archaeal models in discerning the controlled molecular mechanisms of their unique tripartite mode of action including RNA interference, DNA interference and the unique cyclic-oligoadenylate signaling that induces promiscuous RNA shredding by CARF-domain ribonucleases. The second half of the review spotlights CRISPR in archaea outlining seminal in vivo and in vitro studies in model organisms of the euryarchaeal and crenarchaeal phyla, including the application of CRISPR-Cas for genome editing and gene silencing. In the last section, a special focus is laid on members of the crenarchaeal hyperthermophilic order Sulfolobales by presenting a thorough comparative analysis about the distribution and abundance of CRISPR-Cas systems, including arrays and spacers as well as CRISPR-accessory proteins in all 53 genomes available to date. Interestingly, we find that CRISPR type III and the DNA-degrading CRISPR type I complexes co-exist in more than two thirds of these genomes. Furthermore, we identified ring nuclease candidates in all but two genomes and found that they generally co-exist with the above-mentioned CARF domain ribonucleases Csx1/Csm6. These observations, together with published literature allowed us to draft a working model of how CRISPR-Cas systems and accessory proteins cross talk to establish native CRISPR anti-virus immunity in a Sulfolobales cell.

Detection of gaseous dimethylamine using vocus proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The newly developed Vocus proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Vocus PTR-TOF) is able to simultaneously detect hundreds of gaseous compounds including a big fraction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with outstanding mass resolution and sensitivity. Here, we present an application of Vocus PTR-TOF to monitor gaseous dimethylamine (DMA). The sensitivity towards DMA was improved by tuning the voltage settings of the segmented quadrupole following the molecular ion reactor to obtain a suitable ion transmission window. With the assistance of a permeation tube calibration method, the sensitivity of Vocus PTR-TOF for DMA detection was 2.68 cps pptv−1 at a TOF extraction frequency of 16 kHz and the detection limit was 1.44 pptv at 3σ of the background signal for a 1 min integration time. Laboratory experiments at a series of controlled relative humidity (RH) show that RH of the sample had little influences on the measurement of DMA. Vocus PTR-TOF with this hardware setup was deployed from December 2018 to January 2019 at Wangdu, Hebei Province, China. The temporal profile of C2-amines with a high time resolution was obtained, while the detection of VOCs remained successful. Such simultaneous measurements of these compounds are meaningful as these compounds are all relevant to aerosol nucleation and growth. Our results indicate that Vocus PTR-TOF can be a powerful tool in both field and laboratory studies for new particle formation research.

Particle Number Emissions of a Diesel Vehicle during and between Regeneration Events

All modern diesel vehicles in Europe are equipped with diesel particulate filters (DPFs) and their particle number (PN) emissions at the tailpipe are close to ambient air levels. After the Dieselgate scandal for high NOx emissions of diesel vehicles on the road, the high PN emissions during regeneration events are on the focus. The PN emissions of a diesel vehicle on the road and in the laboratory with or without regeneration events were measured using systems with evaporation tubes and catalytic strippers and counters with lower sizes of 23, 10 and 4 nm. The tests showed significant PN levels only during engine cold starts with a big fraction of sub-23 nm particles during the first minute. After the first seconds the sub-23 nm fraction was negligible. Urea injection at the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for NOx system did not affect the PN levels and the sub-23 nm fraction. The emissions during regeneration events were higher than the PN limit, but rapidly decreased 2-3 orders of magnitude below the limit after the regeneration. Artificially high sub-10 nm levels were seen during the regeneration (volatile artifact) at the system with the evaporation tube. The regenerations were forced every 100–350 km and the overall emissions including the regeneration events were two to four times lower than the current laboratory PN limit. The results of this study confirmed the efficiency of DPFs under laboratory and on-road driving conditions.

Oligosaccharides from Palm Kernel Cake Enhances Adherence Inhibition and Intracellular Clearance of Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis In Vitro.

Salmonella enterica serovar (ser.) Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) is a foodborne pathogen often associated with contaminated poultry products. This study evaluated the anti-adherence and intracellular clearance capability of oligosaccharides extracted from palm kernel cake (PKC), a by-product of the palm oil industry, and compared its efficacy with commercial prebiotics— fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and mannanoligosaccharide (MOS)—against S. Enteritidis in vitro. Based on the degree of polymerization (DP), PKC oligosaccharides were further divided into ‘Small’ (DP ≤ 6) and ‘Big’ (DP > 6) fractions. Results showed that the Small and Big PKC fractions were able to reduce (p < 0.05) S. Enteritidis adherence to Cancer coli-2 (Caco-2) cells at 0.1 mg/ mL while MOS and FOS showed significant reduction at 1.0 mg/mL and 10.0 mg/mL, respectively. In terms of S. Enteritidis clearance, oligosaccharide-treated macrophages showed better S. Enteritidis clearance over time at 50 µg/mL for Small, Big and MOS, while FOS required a concentration of 500 µg/mL for a similar effect. This data highlights that oligosaccharides from PKC, particularly those of lower DP, were more effective than MOS and FOS at reducing S. Enteritidis adherence and enhancing S. Enteritidis clearance in a cell culture model.

Albumin excretion rate among patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Background:Chronic microvascular complications consist of diabetic nephropathy (DN), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and diabetic neuropathy. Diabetic nephropathy is assessed through albuminuria, and diabetic retinopathy is assessed through fundoscopy. Several studies have assessed the albuminuria in diabetic retinopathy but have found inconclusive results. This study aims to investigate the albumin excretion rate in patients with diabetic retinopathy.Methods:A cross sectional design was applied in this study. The diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus was determined based on the anamnesis and laboratory examinations. The study was conducted at Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital and Hasanuddin University Hospital in Makassar during November 2018 until April 2019. The stages of diabetic retinopathy were based on funduscopic examinations. In addition, the blood pressure, BMI, albumin excretion rate, lipid profile, and HbA1C were also examined. Chi Square and Kappa tests were performed in the statistical analysis.Results:120 subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus were observed. Of the total subjects, the number of females within the age of 36-79 years made up the biggest fraction. There was a significant relation between hypertension comorbidity with the albumin excretion rate and grading diabetic retinopathy where the A3 and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) percentages were higher in the hypertension group at 68.8% and 54.5%. There was also a significant correlation between incidence of albuminuria with diabetic retinopathy. Particularly, proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) remained associated with albuminuria, while non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) was related to non-albuminuria.Conclusion:Albuminuria incidence confirms association with diabetic retinopathy grading.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE TYPE, STRUCTURE AND CONDITION OF ROAD COATING ON THE OPERATING PROPERTIES OF HORIZONTAL ROAD MARKING

The factors that influence on functional durability of the road marking, in particular, the type, quality, condition and surface structure of the road surface are considered in the article. The durability of the road marking will be significantly reduced on asphalt pavement with low quality bitumen or with a high content of bitumen in the mixture. As a result of bitumen fogging, the road marking loses its performance, especially affecting luminance and retroreflectivity. The degree of pavement wear also affects the durability. Old, fragile pavement is unable to retain the road marking for a long time, so its service life will be extremely low. The wear of road marking on the cement pavement is higher than on the asphalt pavement. This is due to the peculiarities of the interaction of pavements of different chemical nature with the road marking materials. The article presents the results of studies of the effect of pavement with different roughness and different types on the properties of retroreflectivity. It is established that on the road sections with pavement having a rough surface treatment, retroreflectivity is reduced by 2-3 times in comparison with the asphalt pavement with a smooth surface. Also, the results of the studies showed that the wear of the road marking lines on the surface with high roughness after 3 months of operation is almost 2 times higher than the degree of road marking wear on the smooth surface. On cement pavement the decrease of retroreflectivity occurs more intensively during the first months of operation. The areas with cement pavement wear faster than on those with smooth asphalt pavement, but not as intensively as the areas with surface treatment. To ensure the durability of road marking on asphalt pavement with treated surface treatment and of cement pavement in comparison with the road marking on asphalt pavement with natural roughness, it is necessary to give preference to the road marking materials with higher viscosity (cold and hot plastics) or increase application of paint amount by 50-60 %, as well as increase the specific use of glass beads and of bigger fractions. Keywords: road marking, wear, surface treatment, retroreflectivity, paint, roughness.

Aspen Plus simulation of optimal biogas production in anaerobic digestion process

The demanding uses of fossil fuels and their associated environmental footprints are driving researches into renewable energy productions from organic resources and waste. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an environment-friendly and cost-effective method to produce biogas from biomass. This biogas can be used in power generation, heating systems and in a combined heat and power (CHP) system. Nevertheless, biogas produced from AD contains a big fraction of CO2 and less methane purity. Aspen Plus simulation model was developed for the AD process to produce biogas, highlighting the economical potentials and environmental benefits. Four steps of AD including hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis with eight reactions were simulated based on the respective stoichiometries. Optimization has involved the search to identify optimum feed flow rate and operating pressure to produce the maximum amount of pure methane. The obtained results showed that optimum feed rate was 0.36 l/day and operating pressure of 3 bar with hydrogen flow of 180 l/day. By using these optimum conditions, maximum amount of methane with high purity was achieved. Otherwise, through biomass natural decomposition, the methane would escape to the atmosphere as one of those significant greenhouse gases.

Contribution of soil erosion to PAHs in surface water in China

In China, the total annual atmospheric emission of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) reach up to approximate 100 thousand tons, part of which is preserved in soils. In this study, the contribution of soil erosion to PAHs in surface water nationwide was quantified. The results indicate that a major portion of the annual PAHs emission is lost from soils via rainfall erosivity and subsequently transported to the ocean. The national annual flux of PAHs from soil to surface water by the natural physical forces of water measures up to ~70 thousand tons, which accounts for ~62% of the annual emission of PAHs with 19% entering the sea directly. In general, both the soil erosion intensity and flux of PAHs for the regions located in the Southeast of China are over those in the Northwest of China, with the regions being divided into two different parts by the famous geographic “Hu Huanyong line”, reflecting the intensive impact of human activities on environmental degradation. Comparative analysis suggested that there must be a big fraction of PAHs lost during transmission due to the river sedimentation and lake dispersion. This study closes a major gap in the national budget of PAHs and provides critical information in the context of regional environment risk assessment.

Smoking during pregnancy in Finland - Trends in the MATEX cohort.

Aims: In Finland, smoking rates in the general population are decreasing due to increased awareness of the adverse effects and tightened tobacco legislation. However, previous studies have shown that smoking in pregnant Finnish women remained as high as in the general Finnish female population at around 15% in 2010. Our aim was to describe temporal and spatial trends in smoking behaviour, and determinants of changes in smoking behaviour between first and second pregnancy. Methods: Self-reported smoking from the Finnish Medical Birth Register covered the years 1991-2015 (N=1,435,009). The association of maternal age and socioeconomic status with smoking rate was analysed. Spatial trends were assessed at municipality level. Results: The overall smoking rate during early pregnancy remained fairly stable at around 15% from 1991 to 2015, but increased in teenage and young women below 25 years of age. The mean smoking rate (36%) was higher in these age groups than in older pregnant women (11%). Through the study period the smoking rate remained higher in blue collar workers compared with higher socioeconomic groups. Between the first and second child, on average only 4% of women started to smoke and 41% quitted. Smoking rates developed less favourably in Eastern Finland. Conclusions: The observed increase in smoking rate during pregnancy in teenage and young women is concerning. Pregnancy is a trigger point for smoking cessation in a big fraction of pregnant women. More studies are needed to explain the opposite trends of smoking rates in Northern and Western Finland compared with Eastern Finland.

Evidence of Enhanced Carrier Collection in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Grain Boundaries: Correlation with Microstructure.

Solar cells containing a polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber outperform the ones containing a monocrystalline absorber, showing a record efficiency of 22.9%. However, the grain boundaries (GBs) are very often considered to be partly responsible for the enhanced recombination activity in the cell and thus cannot explain the registered record efficiency. Therefore, in the present work, we resolve this conundrum by performing correlative electron beam-induced current-electron backscatter diffraction investigations on more than 700 grain boundaries and demonstrating that 58% of the grain boundaries exhibit an enhanced carrier collection compared to the grain interior. Enhanced carrier collection thus indicates that GBs are beneficial for the device performance. Moreover, 27% of the grain boundaries are neutral and 15% are recombination-active. Correlation with microstructure shows that most of the ∑3 GBs are neutral, whereas the random high-angle grain boundaries are either beneficial or detrimental. Enhanced carrier collection observed for a big fraction of high-angle grain boundaries supports the "type-inversion" model and hence the downward band bending at GBs. The decrease in current collection observed at one of the high-angle grain boundaries is explained by Cu being enriched at this GB and hence by the upward shift of the valence band maximum.

Isolation of Proteins which Interact with Phospholipase A2 (IIA) from Human Serum after Myocardial Infarction. Flavonoids from Bidens tripartita Extract as Phospholipase A2 Inhibitors

The aim of the work was to isolate proteins which interact with phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from human serum after myocardial infarction. During this study, the effect of flavonoid inhibitors from the extract of Bidens Tripartita was examined. First, the paper describes phytochemical characterisation of compounds found in the plant Bidens tripartita. Plant material was harvested at different vegetation stages, and extracts of each were studied for presence of flavonoids by methods such as spectrophotometry and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Six different flavonoids were identified in extracts. The largest amount of phenolic compounds (mainly rutin and quercetin) was found in the intensive growth vegetation stage, and antioxidant activity corresponds with this result. The conducted analysis shows the dependence of phytochemical composition on the vegetation stage when the plant was collected. These results support the use of bur marigold extracts in pharmaceutical or food industry as a potential source of natural inhibitors of PLA2. Biochemistry analysis using the pull-down method shows that 7 proteins which bind sPLA2 were found in healthy blood serum and after myocardial infarction. The biggest fraction was albumins. According to the variant of the sample, different proteins are bound to PLA2. The data of the pull-down analysis correspond with phytochemical analysis, i.e., they support the presence of natural inhibitors of PLA2 in Bidens tripartita extract.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.72.4.16494