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No abstract is provided for this article.

No abstract is provided for this article.

To investigate the occurrence of oligo-amenorrhoea and hirsutism, infertility and metabolic morbidity among first-degree relatives of women with and without self-reported oligo-amenorrhoea and hirsutism.Nested case-control study. SETTING, POPULATION AND METHODS: A postal questionnaire about symptoms of oligo-amenorrhoea and hirsutism was sent to all women of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n = 5889). From this population were randomly selected 98 women with both symptoms and 163 without symptoms. A further questionnaire on the occurrence of oligo-amenorrhoea, hirsutism, infertility, early balding and metabolic morbidity in their relatives was sent to this subpopulation.We obtained data on 183 relatives of 43 women with symptoms and 412 relatives of 86 symptomless women. Compared with relatives of symptomless women, mothers of women with symptoms suffered significantly more often from hirsutism and menstrual disorders, and sisters more often from hirsutism and infertility, and had fewer children and were more often childless. There was an increased prevalence of diabetes in the sisters and of hypertension in the fathers of women with symptoms.These results strengthen earlier findings of significantly increased metabolic and reproductive morbidity in the relatives of women with symptoms of PCOS.

Abstract This study uses mutants of human carbonic anhydrase (HCAII) to examine how changes in the organization of water within a binding pocket can alter the thermodynamics of protein–ligand association. Results from calorimetric, crystallographic, and theoretical analyses suggest that most mutations strengthen networks of water‐mediated hydrogen bonds and reduce binding affinity by increasing the enthalpic cost and, to a lesser extent, the entropic benefit of rearranging those networks during binding. The organization of water within a binding pocket can thus determine whether the hydrophobic interactions in which it engages are enthalpy‐driven or entropy‐driven. Our findings highlight a possible asymmetry in protein–ligand association by suggesting that, within the confines of the binding pocket of HCAII, binding events associated with enthalpically favorable rearrangements of water are stronger than those associated with entropically favorable ones.

Background: Few studies have investigated the impact of dietary patterns that reflect existing eating habits on the risk of all-cause or cause-specific mortality. Objective: To prospectively examine the relation between major dietary patterns and the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality among women of the Nurses’ Health Study. Methods: The participants included 72,113 women aged 35 to 55 years without a history of cancer, myocardial infarction, angina, coronary artery surgery, stroke, or diabetes at baseline. Dietary patterns were derived by factor analysis using information from five repeated, validated food frequency questionnaires that were administrated at baseline and every 2 to 4 years during the follow-up period (1984–2002). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to adjust for covariates including age, cigarette smoking, physical activity, body mass index, and further suspected risk factors. Results: Two major dietary patterns were identified. High prudent pattern scores represented high intakes of vegetables, fruit, legumes, fish, poultry, and whole grains, whereas high western pattern scores represented high intakes of red meat, processed meat, refined grains, french fries, condiments, and sweets and desserts. During 18 years of follow-up (633,516 person-years), we ascertained 6,011 deaths, including 3,139 cancer deaths and 1,154 cardiovascular deaths. After adjustment for potential confounders, the prudent diet was inversely associated with all-cause mortality (relative risk [RR] = 0.83 for highest versus lowest quintile, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.76 – 0.90, p for trend < 0.0001) and cardiovascular mortality (RR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.60 – 0.87, p for trend = 0.0007), but not with cancer mortality (RR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.88 –1.11, p for trend = 0.87). The western pattern was directly associated with all-cause mortality (RR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.11–1.32, p for trend < 0.0001), cardiovascular mortality (RR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.00 –1.48, p for trend = 0.01), and cancer mortality (RR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.02–1.29, p for trend = 0.004). Conclusions: These data provide evidence that a high prudent pattern score and a low western pattern score may reduce the risk of total and cause-specific mortality.

Our data suggest that high consumption of BCAAs is associated with an increased risk of T2D.

This paper examines the factors that influence the quality of nanostructures fabricated by sectioning thin films with an ultramicrotome ("nanoskiving"). It surveys different materials (metals, ceramics, semiconductors, and conjugated polymers), deposition techniques (evaporation, sputter deposition, electroless deposition, chemical-vapor deposition, solution-phase synthesis, and spin-coating), and geometries (nanowires or two-dimensional arrays of rings and crescents). It then correlates the extent of fragmentation of the nanostructures with the composition of the thin films, the methods used to deposit them, and the parameters used for sectioning. There are four major conclusions. (i) Films of soft and compliant metals (those that have bulk values of hardness less than or equal to those of palladium, or ≤500 MPa) tend to remain intact upon sectioning, whereas hard and stiff metals (those that have values of hardness greater than or equal to those of platinum, or ≥500 MPa) tend to fragment. (ii) All conjugated polymers tested form intact nanostructures. (iii) The extent of fragmentation is lowest when the direction of cutting is perpendicular to the exposed edge of the embedded film. (iv) The speed of cutting−from 0.1 to 8 mm/s−has no effect on the frequency of defects. Defects generated during sectioning include scoring from defects in the knife, delamination of the film from the matrix, and compression of the matrix. The materials tested were: aluminum, titanium, nickel, copper, palladium, silver, platinum, gold, lead, bismuth, germanium, silicon dioxide (SiO2), alumina (Al2O3), tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), lead sulfide nanocrystals, the semiconducting polymers poly(2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV), poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), and poly(benzimidazobenzophenanthroline ladder) (BBL), and the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS).

Background: Women who developed gestational diabetes (GDM) are at an increased risk for hypertension, compared with parous women without GDM. The role of diet in the progression to hypertension among this highly susceptible population is unknown. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study among 3,818 women with a history of GDM in the Nurses’ Health Study II, as a part of the ongoing Diabetes & Women’s Health Study. These women were followed from 1991 until 2011. Incident hypertension was identified by self-report with a previously validated questionnaire. Adherence scores for the 2010 Alternative Health Eating Index (AHEI-2010), the Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMed) and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) were computed for each participant; higher scores indicate better diet quality. Cox proportional hazard models were used adjusting for major risk factors for hypertension, including dietary and lifestyle factors, medical history, reproductive factors and medications. Results: We documented 1,069 incident hypertension cases during a median of 18.5 years follow-up. After multivariate adjustment, the AHEI-2010, and DASH scores were significantly and inversely associated with risk of hypertension. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) comparing the extreme quartiles (highest vs. lowest) was 0.78 (0.63-0.96, P for linear trend=0.02) for AHEI-2010, 0.77 (0.62-0.96, P for trend=0.02) for DASH score and 0.80 (0.65-0.99, P for trend=0.06) for aMed score. Conclusion: After GDM, adherence to a healthful dietary pattern was related to a lower risk of developing hypertension.