Loss Of Intensity Research Articles

Unveiling the mechanisms of aroma metabolism in selenium-treated broccoli through transcriptome sequencing analyses

The current study aimed to investigate the impacts of selenium (Se) treatment on the volatile aroma compounds of broccoli heads, and to understand the underlying mechanisms of aroma substances metabolism. To accomplish this, the dynamic changes of ethylene release rate, respiratory intensity, weight loss rate, and volatile compounds were determined in broccoli heads treated with a 2 mg L−1 sodium selenite solution for 50 days. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was conducted on samples taken at 10, 20 and 40 days to uncover the molecular mechanisms of the synthesis and metabolism of aroma substances in broccoli heads. The results showed that Se treatment decreased the release rate of ethylene, respiratory intensity, and weight loss rate. Additionally, an increase in the content of volatile aroma compounds in broccoli heads treated with Se was observed through GC-IMS technique. Aldehydes, esters, and alcohols were found to constitute the majority of these volatile aroma compounds. RNA-seq analysis identified 56,130 transcripts and revealed 524, 1943, and 2274 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the Se10d vs. CK10d, Se20d vs. CK20d, and Se40d vs. CK40d groups, respectively. These expression transcripts of volatile aroma substance metabolism were found to be enriched in related pathways, including glycolysis, pyruvate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, transcription factors, and aromatic amino acid metabolism. In conclusion, this study not only enhances our understanding of selenium's mechanism of action but also has implications for the application of selenium in vegetable preservation.

Tunable emission color and anti-thermal-quenching behaviors in niobates for high-sensitive optical thermometry

Non-contact remote optical thermometers as a significant technique have been extensively developed. However, it is still a challenge to design new Bismuth-doped phosphor materials with tunable spectra for high-sensitive optical temperature sensors. Herein, a novel YxLu1-xNbO4:Bi3+ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) phosphor is constructed by the isomorphic end components LuNbO4 and YNbO4. Owing to the modification of crystal field strength around Bi3+ ions, the emission positions controllably shifted from 475 to 462 nm with the increase of Y3+ ions concentrations. Besides, systematic luminescence modifying from blue to red across the white light region could be achieved via the design of Bi3+→Eu3+ energy transfer (ET). Intriguingly, an anti-thermal-quenching behavior of Eu3+ ion originating from the ET is found in Y0.8Lu0.2NbO4:Bi3+, Eu3+ (YLNO:Bi3+, Eu3+) phosphors, while Bi3+ ion presents a great emission intensity loss with only retaining 46.8% at 383 K. Based on the disparate thermal responses, the fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) of Eu3+ to Bi3+ demonstrates excellent thermometry properties from 303 to 503 K. The maximum absolute sensitivity (Sa) and relative sensitivity (Sr) reach 0.318 K−1 (@328 K) and 1.62%K−1 (@393 K). In addition, the thermochromic performance of the resultant phosphors could be applied to qualitatively estimate the surrounding temperature. The spectral adjustability and high-sensitive of the developed phosphors highlight their multiplicity of applications in non-contact temperature measurement and white LED.

The Prevalence of Hearing Aid Use in Children With Single-Sided Sensorineural Deafness in Oxfordshire

The Prevalence of Hearing Aid Use in Children With Single-Sided Sensorineural Deafness in Oxfordshire

Multiple-beam grating interferometry and its general Airy formulae

Multiple-beam grating interferometry, a hybrid of the multiple-beam interference and grating interferometry, is introduced and conducted by building a Littrow-type cavity with a diffraction grating. Based on multi-beam interference and grating interferometry, mathematical derivation reveals that the fringes of the multi-beam grating interferometry follow a general form of Airy formulae, while the period of which is additively determined by phases from grating pitches and laser wavelength. Two crucial parameters, peak transmission and finesse describing brightness and sharpness of fringes, are defined and investigated, whose results reveal that fringe shape of multiple-beam grating interferometry is determined by amplitude coefficients of two surfaces forming the cavity and could be explained by multiple beam interference with intensity loss. Consistency of simulation and experiment results are proved and analyzed. Multiple-beam grating interferometry is promising for in-plane and multi-dimensional displacement measurements and might inspire novel enhancement for sensors and instruments based on Fabry-Pérot interferometry.

Intensity Loss of ZnO Coated on Fiber Optic

Macrobends are optical fiber structures suitable for detecting motion changes. This structure has been developed using single-mode fibers and a combination of single-mode and multimode fibers called hetero-core. In this study, a new macrobending structure was designed and developed by adding a nano-ZnO element to the fiber optic core based on Revolution 4.0. The addition of nanomaterial elements involves an etching process that uses harmful chemicals or high-cost laser technology. Therefore, hetero-core was applied in this study to replace the etching process. The ZnO-coated fiber optics with 10 (ZnO1), 20 (ZnO2), and 30 (ZnO3) times of dip coating were developed using the dip-coating method and characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Sensitivity measurement was conducted with glued optical fiber in the form of bending using a tape with a bending dimension of 2.5 cm × 1.5 cm and a wavelength of 1,550 nm. Morphological characterization using SEM proves that nanoparticles are attached to the optical fiber, and the EDX characterization confirms that the nanoparticles are ZnO elements. Optical fiber sensor sensitivity using core sizes 9, 50–9–50, 50–9–50 (ZnO1), 50–9–50 (ZnO2), and 50–9–50 (ZnO3) achieved sensitivity values of 0.91, 1.61, 2.98, 3.34, and 3.51, respectively. This study successfully produced ZnO-coated optical fiber sensors with a hetero-core structure without performing the etching process and successfully increased the sensitivity of the sensors.

Aircraft landing gear system with magnetorheological shock strut: Performance evaluation via drop test

This work presents a magnetorheological (MR) damper applicable to the landing gear system in the aircraft. The proposed MR landing gear (MRLG) is modeled as a two degrees of freedom (2-DOF) system for the drop performance evaluation. A mathematical model of the governing equations is then formulated considering a flow path whose pressure depends on the major and minor losses. The flow path of MR fluid is composed of annular orifice and bypass as the required damping force for compression and extension is much different, and relief valve operates in conformity with the motion direction of the piston rod. An entry region is added to guarantee precise controllability of the field-dependent damping force. In addition, the magnetic intensity and total loss coefficient are estimated using magnetic analysis and computational fluid dynamics tools, respectively. It is demonstrated from the drop test based on the Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 23 that the shock struct efficiency (SSE) of the proposed MRLG can be increased from 42% at zero current to 84% at 1 A, and the agreement between simulation and experimental results is excellent showing similar pneumatic force, strut force, and jerk behavior which validates the accuracy of the proposed model.

Effects of the Rainfall Intensity and Slope Gradient on Soil Erosion and Nitrogen Loss on the Sloping Fields of Miyun Reservoir.

Environmental loss is primarily caused by soil, water, and nutrient loss, and runoff is associated with nutrient transport and sediment loss. Most existing studies have focused on one influencing factor, namely slope gradient or rainfall intensity, for slope erosion and nutrient loss, but the joint effects of the two factors have rarely been researched. In this context, the impact of slope gradients (0°, 5°, 10°, and 15°) and rainfall intensities (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 mm/h) on soil erosion and nutrient loss on the sloping fields of Miyun Reservoir were explored using the indoor artificial rainfall simulation testing system. Based on the results of the study, the variation of runoff coefficient with slope gradient was not noticeable for rainfall intensities <40 mm/h; however, for rainfall intensities >40 mm/h, the increased range of runoff coefficient doubled, and the increase was the fastest under 0° among the four slope gradients. The slope surface runoff depth and runoff rate showed positive correlations with the rainfall intensity (r = 0.875, p < 0.01) and a negative correlation with the slope gradient. In addition, the cumulative sediment yield was positively related to the slope gradient and rainfall intensity (r > 0.464, p < 0.05). Moreover, the slope surface runoff-associated and sediment-associated loss rates of total nitrogen (TN) rose as the rainfall intensity or slope gradient increased, and significant linear positive correlations were found between the runoff-associated TN loss rate (NLr) and the runoff intensity and between the sediment-associated NLr and the erosion intensity. In addition, there were positive linear correlations between slope runoff-associated or sediment-associated TN loss volumes and rainfall intensity, surface runoff, and sediment loss volumes, which were highly remarkable. The slope gradient had a significant positive correlation with the slope surface runoff-associated TN loss at 0.05 (r = 0.452) and a significant positive correlation with the sediment-associated TN loss at the level of 0.01 (r = 0.591). The rainfall intensity exhibited extremely positive correlations with the slope surface runoff-associated and sediment-associated TN loss at 0.01 (r = 0.717 and 0.629) Slope gradients have less effect on nitrogen loss on sloped fields than rainfall intensity, mainly because rainfall intensity affects runoff depth. Based on the findings of this study, Miyun Reservoir may be able to improve nitrogen loss prevention and control.

Physicochemical and functional properties of chitosan-based edible film incorporated with Sargassum pallidum polysaccharide nanoparticles

The blending of different matrixes and the addition of functional factors may challenge the compatibility of edible films, thus affecting their basic properties. In this study, a novel nano-polysaccharide based edible film (nSPP/CH) was developed by blending Sargassum pallidum polysaccharide nanoparticles (nSPP) with chitosan (CH). The compatibility, physicochemical, and fruit preservation properties of nSPP/CH were investigated. The results indicated that compared with native polysaccharide-based edible films, nSPP/CH exhibited thinner thickness, higher tensile strength, and greater elastic modulus. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed good compatibility between nSPP and CH through internal forces to form a stable structure. Moreover, nSPP/CH showed a good cherry preservation ability to cherries by inhibiting the respiration intensity and weight loss rate of cherries. Furthermore, the addition of thymol could improve the surface hydrophobicity and antimicrobial effect of nSPP/CH. However, the mechanical properties and water vapor permeability of nSPP/CH incorporated with thymol were decreased. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed that the nano-polysaccharide encapsulated thymol through cavity structure was conducive to the dispersion of thymol and enhanced the compatibility of film matrixes, thus decreasing the water vapor permeability of edible film. These results suggest that nSPP/CH incorporated with thymol might be expected to be a new kind of natural green edible film to extend the shelf life of fruits.

Dif-Fusion: Towards High Color Fidelity in Infrared and Visible Image Fusion with Diffusion Models.

Color plays an important role in human visual perception, reflecting the spectrum of objects. However, the existing infrared and visible image fusion methods rarely explore how to handle multi-spectral/channel data directly and achieve high color fidelity. This paper addresses the above issue by proposing a novel method with diffusion models, termed as Dif-Fusion, to generate the distribution of the multi-channel input data, which increases the ability of multi-source information aggregation and the fidelity of colors. In specific, instead of converting multi-channel images into single-channel data in existing fusion methods, we create the multi-channel data distribution with a denoising network in a latent space with forward and reverse diffusion process. Then, we use the the denoising network to extract the multi-channel diffusion features with both visible and infrared information. Finally, we feed the multi-channel diffusion features to the multi-channel fusion module to directly generate the three-channel fused image. To retain the texture and intensity information, we propose multi-channel gradient loss and intensity loss. Along with the current evaluation metrics for measuring texture and intensity fidelity, we introduce Delta E as a new evaluation metric to quantify color fidelity. Extensive experiments indicate that our method is more effective than other state-of-the-art image fusion methods, especially in color fidelity. The source code is available at https://github.com/GeoVectorMatrix/Dif-Fusion.

A novel scatterplot-based method to detect copy number variation (CNV).

Objective: Most methods to detect copy number variation (CNV) have high false positive rates, especially for small CNVs and in real-life samples from clinical studies. In this study, we explored a novel scatterplot-based method to detect CNVs in microarray samples. Methods: Illumina SNP microarray data from 13,254 individuals were analyzed with scatterplots and by PennCNV. The data were analyzed without the prior exclusion of low-quality samples. For CNV scatterplot visualization, the median signal intensity of all SNPs located within a CNV region was plotted against the median signal intensity of the flanking genomic region. Since CNV causes loss or gain of signal intensities, carriers of different CNV alleles pop up in clusters. Moreover, SNPs within a deletion are not heterozygous, whereas heterozygous SNPs within a duplication show typical 1:2 signal distribution between the alleles. Scatterplot-based CNV calls were compared with standard results of PennCNV analysis. All discordant calls as well as a random selection of 100 concordant calls were individually analyzed by visual inspection after noise-reduction. Results: An algorithm for the automated scatterplot visualization of CNVs was developed and used to analyze six known CNV regions. Use of scatterplots and PennCNV yielded 1019 concordant and 108 discordant CNV calls. All concordant calls were evaluated as true CNV-findings. Among the 108 discordant calls, 7 were false positive findings by the scatterplot method, 80 were PennCNV false positives, and 21 were true CNVs detected by the scatterplot method, but missed by PennCNV (i.e., false negative findings). Conclusion: CNV visualization by scatterplots allows for a reliable and rapid detection of CNVs in large studies. This novel method may thus be used both to confirm the results of genome-wide CNV detection software and to identify known CNVs in hitherto untyped samples.

InSb-based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonic applications.

Sb-related III-V compounds have recently gained great research interest owing to their excellent optical and electrical characteristics, which provide many possibilities in photonics and electronics. This study investigated the application of InSb films in ultrafast photonics. An InSb film was fabricated on the tapered zone of a microfiber, and its saturation intensity, modulation depth, and non-saturable loss were determined as 119.8 MW cm-2, 23.5%, and 27.3%, respectively. The structure of the electronic band and density of states of InSb were theoretically calculated. Notably, mode-locked and Q-switched fiber lasers were realised by incorporating the InSb-microfiber device into two different Er-doped fiber cavities. In the Q-switching state, the narrowest pulse duration was measured as 1.756 μs with a maximum single-pulse energy of 221.95 nJ and a signal-to-noise ratio of 60 dB. In the mode-locking operation, ultrafast lasers with a high signal-to-noise ratio (70 dB), a pulse width as narrow as 265 fs and a repetition rate of 49.51 MHz were acquired. Besides, the second-harmonic mode-locked state was built with an output power of 13.22 mW. In comparison with the reported laser performance with 2D materials as saturable absorbers, the InSb-based mode-locked and Q-switched fiber lasers proposed herein exhibit better comprehensive performance.

Generation of Q-switched pulses based on GaSb saturable absorber in an Er-doped fiber laser

In this study, we report the use of GaSb as a saturable absorber (SA) material in an Er-doped fiber (EDF) laser. The GaSb-based SA is prepared through the magnetron sputtering deposition technology, wherein a thin GaSb film is deposited on a microfiber. The modulation depth, saturable intensity, and non-saturable loss of the SA are determined to be 5.45 %, 37.3 MW/cm2, and 29.12 %, respectively. Under the Q-switching working state, the repetition frequeny is tuned from 73.15 to 93.7 kHz, and the pulse duration is changed from 5.17 to 2.33 μs at a pumping power of 310 to 500 mW. The highest average output power is 21.8 mW, which corresponds to a single pulse energy of 233.67 nJ. The generated laser pulses are in a stable state with a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 65 dB. These results confirm the potential of GaSb as a successful saturable absorber candiatiate for building pulsed fiber lasers and in ultrafast optics applications.

Energy performance evaluation of an axial-flow pump as turbine under conventional and reverse operating modes based on an energy loss intensity model

As a low-cost scheme for small-scale hydropower generation, pump as turbines (PATs) are used at different hydrosites around the world. Nevertheless, a big number of recently conducted studies on PAT performance have mainly focused on the centrifugal type, despite the fact that the axial-flow type has a comparatively large flow capacity, thus disposing of higher power density. Therefore, this article seeks to investigate the flow dynamics of an axial-flow PAT and associated energy loss characteristics, under both pump and turbine operating modes. It adopts the numerical simulation method and uses entropy production theory to propose an energy loss intensity model in the cylindrical coordinate system, which quantitatively gives the spatial variation pattern for energy losses in pump and turbine operating modes. In addition, the correlation between energy loss and flow instability is deeply analyzed, where the energy characteristics in pump and turbine modes are quantitatively evaluated. It is shown that the energy loss within the impeller and the guide vane flow fields, for both operating modes, is mainly because of the turbulent entropy production. The proportion of direct entropy production and wall entropy production is found to be relatively small. The velocity gradient, flow vorticity, turbulence intensity, and energy losses within the flow passages of the axial-flow PAT have been closely related. However, owing to the difference in PAT operating modes, there is a significant difference in the location of energy losses. The unstable flow phenomena, such as the impact at the blade inlet, flow deviation at the blade outlet, flow separation, back-flow, and vortex, are the main reasons for entropy production. This study serves as a reference for the design, optimization, and application of axial-flow PATs.

FusionGRAM: An Infrared and Visible Image Fusion Framework Based on Gradient Residual and Attention Mechanism

Infrared and visible images are fused to obtain a high-quality visible image with salient infrared targets that can be used in other vision tasks. The fusion strategy is a key to achieving efficient image fusion. The strategies currently used in deep-learning-based image fusion methods are based on manual computation and are unlearnable, limiting further improvements in infrared and visible image fusion. In this article, FusionGRAM, a novel end-to-end infrared and visible image fusion framework, is proposed. It adaptively fuses visible detailed information and infrared thermal information. The framework is fully convolutional, and the parameters of each part can be learned. The proposed method applied dense connections with an attention mechanism and gradient residual, thereby improving the network’s ability to obtain critical information during feature extraction. Furthermore, pixel intensity loss and detail loss functions were used to train FusionGRAM. Fused features were reconstructed using four convolution layers to obtain an informative fused image. Ablation experiments and comparisons on public datasets showed that FusionGRAM outperformed current state-of-the-art fusion methods in subjective and objective evaluations.

MAGAN: Multiattention Generative Adversarial Network for Infrared and Visible Image Fusion

Deep learning has been widely used in infrared and visible image fusion owing to its strong feature extraction and generalization capabilities. However, it is difficult to directly extract specific image features from different modal images. Therefore, according to the characteristics of infrared and visible images, this paper proposes a multi-attention generative adversarial network (MAGAN) for infrared and visible image fusion, which is composed of a multi- attention generator and two multi-attention discriminators. The multi-attention generator gradually realizes the extraction and fusion of image features by constructing two modules: a triple-path feature pre-fusion module (TFPM) and a feature emphasis fusion module (FEFM). The two multi-attention discriminators are constructed to ensure that the fused images retain the salient targets and the texture information from the source images. In MAGAN, an intensity attention and a texture attention are designed to extract the specific features of the source images to retain more intensity and texture information in the fused image. In addition, a saliency target intensity loss is defined to ensure that the fused images obtain more accurate salient information from infrared images. Experimental results on two public datasets show that the proposed MAGAN outperforms some state-of-the-art models in terms of visual effects and quantitative metrics.

Limited energy migration and circumscribed multiphonon relaxation produced non-concentration quenching in a novel dazzling red-emitting phosphor.

White LED applications are still constrained by extremely efficient narrow band red emitting phosphors. Meanwhile, the concentration quenching induced by energy migration is the main reason that limits the emission intensity of a red emitting phosphor. Therefore, developing a novel red emitting material with energy migration limitations seems necessary. Here, we proposed and realized the non-concentration quenching doping of Eu3+ ions in a Sr9Y2-2xW4O24:xEu3+ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) phosphor for the first time by means of host preferential selection. By clearly investigating the crystal structure and luminescence kinetics, the long-distance between the nearby Eu3+ ions and the low phonon energy are the main reasons that suppress the energy migration and the cross-relaxation among Eu3+ ions. These advantages result in a high internal (90.47%) and external quantum efficiency (42.1%) of Sr9Eu2W4O24. With the help of the Judd-Ofelt theory and the large value of oscillator strength Ω2, Eu3+ ions are verified to occupy the non-symmetric lattice site with high color purity (94.4%). In addition, only 5.2% emission intensity loss at 140 °C can guarantee its application in LED devices. Moreover, the SYWO:Eu3+ phosphor has high thermal tolerance, high color stability, excellent moisture resistance and superior physical/chemical stability, and thus has broad practical spectral application prospects. The prepared WLED shows superior performance, and the calculated NTSC values are as high as 101.8% and 104.7%, respectively. For comparison, the optical performances of the Sr9Y2W4O24:Eu3+ phosphor outperform those of the standard commercial red phosphors, Y2O3:Eu3+ and Y2O2S:Eu3+, and almost match that of K2MnF6. These results may pave the way for fresh approaches to the study of high-performance Eu3+-activated phosphors.

Characterization of a smog chamber for studying formation of gas-phase products and secondary organic aerosol

Smog chambers provide a potent approach to explore the secondary organic aerosol formation under varied conditions. This study describes the construction and characterization of a new smog chamber facility for studying the formation mechanisms of gas-phase products and secondary organic aerosol from the photooxidation of volatile organic compounds. The chamber is a 5.4 m3 Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) Teflon reactor with the potential to perform photooxidation experiments at controlled temperature and relative humidity. Detailed characterizations were conducted for evaluation of stability of environmental parameters, mixing time, background contamination, light intensity, and wall losses of gases and particles. The photolysis rate of NO2 (JNO2) ranged from (1.02−3.32) ×10−3 sec−1, comparable to the average JNO2 in ambient environment. The wall loss rates for NO, NO2, and O3 were 0.47 × 10−4, 0.37 × 10−4, and 1.17 × 10−4 min−1, while wall loss of toluene was obsoletely found in a 6 hr test. The particle number wall loss rates are (0.01−2.46) ×10−3 min−1 for 40−350 nm with an average lifetime of more than one day. A series of toluene photooxidation experiments were carried out in absence of NOx under dry conditions. The results of the simulation experiments demonstrated that the chamber is well designed to simulate photolysis progress in the atmosphere.

On the Fabrication and Characterization of Polymer-Based Waveguide Probes for Use in Future Optical Cochlear Implants.

Improved hearing restoration by cochlear implants (CI) is expected by optical cochlear implants (oCI) exciting optogenetically modified spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) via an optical pulse generated outside the cochlea. The pulse is guided to the SGNs inside the cochlea via flexible polymer-based waveguide probes. The fabrication of these waveguide probes is realized by using 6" wafer-level micromachining processes, including lithography processes such as spin-coating cladding layers and a waveguide layer in between and etch processes for structuring the waveguide layer. Further adhesion layers and metal layers for laser diode (LD) bonding and light-outcoupling structures are also integrated in this waveguide process flow. Optical microscope and SEM images revealed that the majority of the waveguides are sufficiently smooth to guide light with low intensity loss. By coupling light into the waveguides and detecting the outcoupled light from the waveguide, we distinguished intensity losses caused by bending the waveguide and outcoupling. The probes were used in first modules called single-beam guides (SBGs) based on a waveguide probe, a ball lens and an LD. Finally, these SBGs were tested in animal models for proof-of-concept implantation experiments.

Labyrinthine Fluid Signal Intensity on T2-Weighted MR Imaging in Patients With Vestibular Schwannomas Undergoing Proton Radiotherapy: A Longitudinal Assessment.

In vestibular schwannoma patients, a loss of signal intensity (SI) on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been reported within the ipsilateral labyrinth. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the occurrence and course of this intensity loss in relation to proton radiotherapy and its possible association with hearing loss. Retrospective chart review. Tertiary referral center. Patients who received proton therapy for a vestibular schwannoma and underwent at least two high-resolution T2-weighted cisternographic sequence (constructive interference in steady state/fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition/DRIVE) MRIs and audiometry assessments. Relative T2 SIs from the vestibules and basal/apical cochlear turns of the labyrinth, bilaterally. Ninety-five MRI scans from 34 patients were included. The apical turn of the ipsilateral cochlea showed a lower mean cochlear SI than on the contralateral side (±3.5 versus 5.0). The mean relative cochlear SI did not significantly change after proton radiotherapy. The ipsilateral vestibule showed a higher SI than the cochlea. The relative mean cochlear SI was not directly correlated to (the degree of) hearing loss before or after proton radiotherapy, nor did it predict future hearing loss. The relative mean cochlear SI on cisternographic T2-MRI in vestibular schwannoma patients is diminished on the treated side, when compared with the ipsilateral vestibule and the contralateral cochlea/vestibule. The SI of the ipsilateral cochlea does not further decrease after proton radiotherapy and seems to be related to the tumor rather than the therapy. The diminished cochlear SI does not correlate with subsequent loss of hearing.

Lower HLA-G levels in extravillous trophoblasts of human term placenta in gestational diabetes mellitus than in normal controls

The non-classical human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecule HLA-G is widely known to play a major role in feto-maternal tolerance. We tested the hypothesis that HLA-G expression is altered in placentas of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in a specific pattern that depends on fetal sex. HLA-G expression was analysed in a total of 80 placentas (40 placentas from women with GDM and 40 healthy controls) by immunohistochemistry using the semi-quantitative immunoreactive score (IRS). Double immunofluorescence staining identified the cells expressing HLA-G in the decidua and allowed evaluation of the expression pattern. We found a significant (p < 0.001) reduction of HLA-G expression in extravillous cytotrophoblasts (EVTs) in the placentas of women with GDM as compared to the healthy controls and were able to demonstrate that this downregulation was not due to a loss of cell number, but to a loss of expression intensity. A special change in the cell pattern of EVTs was observed, with these cells showing an obvious decrease in HLA-G expression on their cell surface. No significant differences according to fetal sex were found. These data show a possible association between decreased HLA-G expression and presence of GDM and provide new insights into altered placental function in women with GDM.