Few population studies have sufficient follow-up period to examine early-life exposures with later life diseases. A critical question is whether involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke from conception to adulthood increases the risk of cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) in midlife. In the Collaborative Perinatal Project, serum-validated maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSP) was assessed in the 1960s. At a mean age of 39 years, 1623 offspring were followed-up for the age at first physician-diagnoses of any CMDs, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, or hyperlipidemia. Detailed information on their exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in childhood and adolescence was collected with a validated questionnaire. Cox regression was used to examine associations of in utero exposure to MSP and exposure to ETS from birth to 18 years with lifetime incidence of CMD, adjusting for potential confounders. We calculated midlife cumulative incidences of hyperlipidemia (25.2%), hypertension (14.9%), diabetes (3.9%), and heart disease (1.5%). Lifetime risk of hypertension increased by the 2nd -trimester exposure to MSP (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.29, 95% confidence interval: 1.01–1.65), ETS in childhood (1.11, 0.99–1.23) and adolescence (1.22, 1.04–1.44). Lifetime risk of diabetes increased by joint exposures to MSP and ETS in childhood (1.23, 1.01–1.50) or adolescence (1.47, 1.02–2.10). These associations were stronger in males than females, in never-daily smokers than lifetime ever smokers. In conclusion, early-life involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke increases midlife risk of hypertension and diabetes in midlife.

Due to the environmental problems derived from the use of common surfactants as modifiers for clay mineral adsorbents to mitigate mycotoxin contamination of animal feeds, finding non-toxic modifiers to prepare safe and efficient adsorbents is necessary. The objective of the present study was, therefore, to modify acidified palygorskite with polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) to obtain antibacterial polyhexamethylene biguanide/palygorskite (PHMB/Plg) composites for the removal of zearalenone, a common mycotoxin. The PHMB/Plg composites were characterized and analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and isothermal nitrogen adsorption analysis. The adsorption properties of the composites with respect to zearalenone and their antibacterial activity with respect to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were studied. The results indicated that the hydrophobicity of palygorskite was enhanced after modification with PHMB, which could effectively improve the adsorption property of palygorskite toward the nonpolar zearalenone molecules. The adsorption capacity of PHMB/Plg increased with increasing amounts of polyhexamethylene biguanide and increasing pH. The adsorption data were described well by pseudo-second order kinetics and by the Langmuir adsorption model. The maximum adsorption capacity was 2777 μg/g. When the amount of PHMB added increased to 15 wt.%, the composites obtained exhibited good antibacterial performance, and the minimum inhibitory concentrations for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were both at 2.5 mg/mL.

Brick-red deposits with palygorskite (Pal) as the main ingredient are widely distributed in nature, but these have not been deployed at a large scale in industry because of their inherent deep colors. In the present study, the brick-red Pal deposit was treated hydrothermally in various reaction media including water, a urea solution, and a thiourea solution. The effects of these processes on the structure, physicochemical features, and color of Pal were studied intensively to understand the structure and composition of the brick-red Pal deposit and to lay a theoretical foundation for the extension of its industrial application. The changes in structural features after hydrothermal treatment were studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, and Mössbauer spectroscopy techniques. The results indicated that the color of brick-red Pal did not change after hydrothermal treatment in water or in a urea solution, and the color changed to gray-white after treatment in the thiourea solution. The rod-like crystal morphology of Pal was retained throughout the experiments and no significant change in the main associated minerals, including feldspar, muscovite, and quartz, was observed after hydrothermal treatment. The dissolution of associated hematite (α-Fe2O3 and the reduction of Fe(III) species are the main reason for the change of Pal from brick-red to gray-white.

The poor environmental stability of natural anthocyanin hinders its usefulness in various functional applications. The objectives of the present study were to enhance the environmental stability of anthocyanin extracted from Lycium ruthenicum by mixing it with montmorillonite to form an organic/inorganic hybrid pigment, and then to synthesize allochroic biodegradable composite films by incorporating the hybrid pigment into sodium alginate and test them for potential applications in food testing and packaging. The results of X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and use of the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method and zeta potential demonstrated that anthocyanin was both adsorbed on the surface and intercalated into the interlayer of montmorillonite via host–guest interaction, and the hybrid pigments obtained allowed good, reversible, acid/base behavior after exposure to HCl and NH3 atmospheres. The composite films containing hybrid pigments had good mechanical properties due to the uniform dispersion of the pigments in a sodium alginate substrate and the formation of hydrogen bonds between them. Interestingly, the composite films also exhibited reversible acidichromism. The as-prepared hybrid pigments in composite films could, therefore, serve simultaneously as a reinforced material and as a smart coloring agent for a polymer substrate.

Some studies have found a significant relationship between birth weight (BW) and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in adulthood, but results were inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to characterize the association between BW and the risk of CHD in adults. Among 144 papers detected by our search, 27 papers provided data on the relationship between BW and CHD, of which 23 papers considered BW as a continuous variable, and 14 articles considered BW as a categorical variable for this meta-analysis. Based on 23 papers, the mean weighted estimate for the association between BW and the combined outcome of non-fatal and fatal CHD was 0.83 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.80–0.86] per kilogram of BW (P<0.0001). Low birth weight (LBW<2500 g) was associated with increased risk of CHD [odds ratio (OR), 1.19; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11–1.27] compared with subjects with BW⩾2500 g. LBW, as compared with normal BW (2500–4000 g), was associated with increased risk of CHD (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.08–1.25). High birth weight (HBW⩾4000 g) was associated with decreased risk of CHD (OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.81–0.98) compared with subjects with BW<4000 g. In addition, there was an indication (not quite significant) that HBW was associated with a lower risk of CHD (OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.79–1.01), as compared with normal BW. No significant evidence of publication bias was present. These results suggest that LBW is significantly associated with increased risk of CHD and a 1 kg higher BW is associated with a 10–20% lower risk of CHD.

In this paper, we report a simple method for preparing p-type ZnO thin films by thermal oxidization of Zn3N2 thin films. The Zn3N2 films were grown on fused silica substrates by using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition from a Zn(C2H5)2 and NH3 gas mixture. The Zn3N2 film with a cubic antibixbyite structure transformed to ZnO:N with a hexagonal structure as the annealing temperature reached 500 °C. When the annealing temperature reached 700 °C, a high-quality p-type ZnO film with a carrier density of 4.16 × 1017 cm−3 was obtained, for which the film showed a strong near-band-edge emission at 3.30 eV without deep-level emission, and the full width at half-maximum of the photoluminescence spectrum was 120 meV at room temperature. The origin of the ultraviolet band was the overlap of free exciton and the bound exciton. The N concentration was as high as 1021 cm−3, which could be controlled by adjusting the parameters of the annealing processes.

A series experiments were conducted and reported here on how to employ quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) as a highly mass sensitive sensor to study a-Si film and Si nanocrystals oxidation under ambient oxygen. An experimental calibration procedure has been developed to prevent problems with QCM systems during routine study. With the help of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique, one can purposely deposit a thin layer of a heavy element as an insitu calibrant which can be analyzed by RBS quantitatively for QCM. The errors resulted from manufacture's sensor, non-repeatable sensor mounting and handling, temperature cycling history from run to run and so on will be effectively eliminated. Our preliminary results indicate that the oxidation process of a-Si thin films has two stages. A fast oxidation associated with surface and near surface oxidation followed by a slow oxidation. The former is depends on the oxygen vapor pressure in the chamber and the later is oxygen diffusion controlled process.

Pulsed laser ablation has been used to produce silicon nanocrystals. Variation of the laser fluence, backing gas type and pressure result in nanocrystals with controllable size distributions. Properties of nanocrystals produced with this method also depend on the distance of the nanocrystal from the center of the laser plume. Correlated atomic force microscopy and in-situ micro-Raman measurements confirm that particle size decreases as distance from the plume center increases. Silicon peaks in the micro raman spectra taken at increasing distance from plume center show considerable differences in both center energy and width. Confocal micro raman spectra from thicker (> 10 micron) samples show little variation with depth, in contrast with porous silicon samples.

The fundamental studies of metallic nanoparticles embedded in various host materials have been made. The host-guest interaction causes the shapes of embedded nanoparticles, and the surface plasmon resonances of the metallic nanoparticles are affected by the host materials. The control of the surface plasmon resonance condition is a challenging question. We will discuss the interface effect of the systems where gold nanoparticles were fabricated between materials of MgO and SiO2.

The patterned nc-Si/a-SiNx:H superlattices were fabricated by using laser interference crystallization method and investigated with atomic force microscope (AFM), micro-Raman spectroscope, cross-section transmission electron microscope (TEM) and high resolution electron microscope (HREM). We found that after laser irradiation, self-assembled Si nanocrystallites (nc-Si) are formed within the initial a-Si:H sublayers, moreover, in the plane parallel to the surface of the films, these nc-Si orderly distribute in the certain regions with the same periodicity of 2.0 µm as phase shifting mask grating. Based on the structural analyses, the crystallization mechanism and the origin of the self-assembled phenomena are briefly discussed.

This contribution will focus on conflicts of treaties in public international law. The following question will be addressed: which of two treaties should be given priority according to public international law in the case of a conflict between those two treaties?

A CdSxSe1−x semiconductor doped sodium zinc borosilicate glass has been made and investigated by Raman, linear absorption, and photoluminescence measurements. The glass color changes from colorless through yellow and orange to red after annealing at 625 C with increasing annealing time. The average size of Cd(S,Se) quantum dots in glass has been determined by low-frequency Raman scattering in the order of several nanometers and increases with annealing time. The resonant Raman spectra from colored glasses show the longitudinal optical phonons of CdSe and CdS-like modes in alloy microcrystals, at 204 cm−1 and 284 cm−1, respectively. The stoichiometric composition of CdSxSe1−x nano-particles, x, determined by Raman scattering, is about 0.3. The photoluminescence spectra of colored glass samples show two emission bands, which are attributed to the electron-hole recombination and emission from trap centers of surface states, respectively.