Pregnant driver-associated motor vehicle crashes in North Carolina, 2001–2008

Background

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of maternal injury-related mortality during pregnancy in the United States, yet pregnant women remain an understudied population in motor vehicle safety research.

Methods

We estimated the risk of being a pregnant driver in a crash among 878,546 pregnant women, 16–46 years, who reached the 20th week of pregnancy in North Carolina (NC) from 2001 to 2008. We also examined the circumstances surrounding the crash events. Pregnant drivers in crashes were identified by probabilistic linkage of live birth and fetal death records and state motor vehicle crash reports.

Results

During the 8-year study period, the estimated risk of being a driver in a crash was 12.6 per 1000 pregnant women. Pregnant women at highest risk of being drivers in serious crashes were 18–24 years old (4.5 per 1000; 95% confidence interval, CI,4.3, 4.7), non-Hispanic black (4.8 per 1000; 95% CI = 4.5, 5.1), had high school diplomas only (4.5 per 1000; 95% CI = 4.2, 4.7) or some college (4.1 per 1000; 95% CI = 3.9, 4.4), were unmarried (4.7 per 1000; 95% CI = 4.4, 4.9), or tobacco users (4.5 per 1000; 95% CI = 4.1, 5.0). A high proportion of crashes occurred between 20 and 27 weeks of pregnancy (45%) and a lower proportion of crashes involved unbelted pregnant drivers (1%) or airbag deployment (10%). Forty percent of crashes resulted in driver injuries.

Conclusions

NC has a relatively high pregnant driver crash risk among the four U.S. states that have linked vital records and crash reports to examine pregnancy-associated crashes. Crash risks were especially elevated among pregnant women who were young, non-Hispanic black, unmarried, or used tobacco. Additional research is needed to quantify pregnant women's driving frequency and patterns.     

Improving the Compostability of Natural Fiber-Reinforced Thermoset Composites with a Tertiary Oil Phase

Although fiberglass-reinforced composites play important roles in many industrial applications, the non-biodegradability of the fibers poses some environmental concerns. In this study, bamboo, cotton and hemp are used as natural reinforcing fibers for polyester and epoxy composites. A tertiary oil phase is also added to the matrix and its effect on material biodegradability is characterized. Results show that material biodegradability is increased up to 100% under controlled composting conditions with oil addition. Polyester biodegrades more effectively than epoxy under both macroscopic and microscopic mechanisms. Mechanical strengths of the polyester composites are also found to correlate strongly with material biodegradability.     

Rapid Quantitative Determination of Squalene in Shark Liver Oils by Raman and IR Spectroscopy

Squalene is sourced predominantly from shark liver oils and to a lesser extent from plants such as olives. It is used for the production of surfactants, dyes, sunscreen, and cosmetics. The economic value of shark liver oil is directly related to the squalene content, which in turn is highly variable and species‐dependent. Presented here is a validated gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry analysis method for the quantitation of squalene in shark liver oils, with an accuracy of 99.0 %, precision of 0.23 % (standard deviation), and linearity of >0.999. The method has been used to measure the squalene concentration of 16 commercial shark liver oils. These reference squalene concentrations were related to infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of the same oils using partial least squares regression. The resultant models were suitable for the rapid quantitation of squalene in shark liver oils, with cross‐validation r² values of >0.98 and root mean square errors of validation of ≤4.3 % w/w. Independent test set validation of these models found mean absolute deviations of the 4.9 and 1.0 % w/w for the IR and Raman models, respectively. Both techniques were more accurate than results obtained by an industrial refractive index analysis method, which is used for rapid, cheap quantitation of squalene in shark liver oils. In particular, the Raman partial least squares regression was suited to quantitative squalene analysis. The intense and highly characteristic Raman bands of squalene made quantitative analysis possible irrespective of the lipid matrix.     

Screening Mesenchymal Stem Cell Attachment and Differentiation on Porous Silicon Gradients

The profound effects that nanoscale surface topography exerts on cell behavior are highly relevant to the development of advanced biomaterials and to advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Here, an asymmetric anodization procedure is used to produce n‐type porous silicon (pSi) gradients with pore sizes ranging from tens to hundreds of nanometers in diameter and changes in the ridge nanoroughness from a few to tens nanometers. Rat mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs) adhere poorly at the regions with small pore size but high ridge roughness. Cell adhesion is increased gradually towards the large pore size but low ridge roughness end of the pSi gradients. Surface topography influences cell differentiation, but not cell proliferation. Osteogenesis of rMSCs is enhanced by porous topography with a ridge roughness lower than 10 nm, while adipogenesis of rMSCs is enhanced on the entire pSi gradient compared with flat Si substrates. The results demonstrate that the gradient format allows in‐depth screening of surface parameters that are important for the control of mammalian cell behavior, thereby advancing the development of new and improved biomaterials for orthopaedic and tissue engineering applications.     

Copy number variation of PRAMEY across breeds and its association with male fertility in Holstein sires

Multi-copy gene families are especially prevalent in the male-specific region (MSY) of the mammalian Y chromosome. Copy number variations (CNV) of these Y-linked gene families have been shown to affect human and animal fertility. The PRAMEY (Preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma, Y-linked) gene family is a newly identified, bovid-specific Y-linked gene family, which codes for a cancer/testis antigen that is expressed predominantly in testis and various tumors. The PRAMEY gene family is believed to play an important role in spermatogenesis and male fertility in cattle. The objective of this study was to investigate the CNV of PRAMEY within and across breeds and to determine whether CNV was associated with reproductive traits in Holstein bulls. A quantitative real-time PCR method was applied to measure the copy number of PRAMEY among 460 bulls using a Y-linked single copy gene, DDX3Y (DEAD box polypeptide 3, Y-linked), as a reference. The median copy number of PRAMEY was 13, ranging from 2 to 31. Significant variations in PRAMEY copy number were observed among 15 breeds investigated. Holstein bulls had the lowest median copy number (12), whereas Limousin bulls possessed the highest median copy number (26). Furthermore, bulls in the taurine lineage (13) had a significantly lower median copy number than those bulls in the indicine lineage (20). Association analysis revealed that PRAMEY copy number was correlated negatively with scrotal circumference (SC), relative scrotal circumference (RLSC), percentage of normal sperm (PNS), and nonreturn rate (NRR), but had no significant association with postthaw motility (PTM), incubated motility (IM), percentage of intact acrosome (PIA), sire conception rate (SCR), or relative breeding efficiency (RBE). The data from this study indicate that CNV of the PRAMEY gene family is associated with male reproductive traits and may serve as a valuable marker for sire fertility selection at an early age in cattle.     

Lipid stability during the frozen storage of fillets from silver catfish exposed in vivo to the essential oil of Lippia alba (Mill.) NE Brown

BACKGROUND: Lippia alba is effective in sedating and reducing stress to fish during transportation. Because some in vitro studies have demonstrated the antioxidant activity of L. alba, we hypothesized that its use in vivo could result in antioxidant effects post mortem. Therefore, in this study we evaluated whether the essential oil of L. alba (EO) used as sedative for fish transport would increase the lipid stability of fillets from silver catfish during frozen storage. RESULTS: The exposure to the EO in vivo did not affect conjugated diene values. However, EO (30 and 40 µL L^?1) delayed the peak formation of peroxides (from the third to the sixth month of storage) and thiobarbituric reactive substances (from the ninth to the twelfth month of storage) when compared to control fillets. After exposure to 40 µL L^?1 EO the free fatty acid content was higher than for control at the start of fillet storage, with no differences among groups thereafter. CONCLUSION: The essential oil of L. alba used as sedative in the water to transport silver catfish can delay lipid oxidation of fillets during frozen storage. Thus L. alba may be a promising source of natural active compounds for use in aquaculture and the food industry. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Evaluation of several methods of extraction of oil from a Jordanian oil shale

A Jordanian oil shale from the El Lajjun deposit has been reacted with N₂, H₂ and CO in the presence and absence of water in the temperature range 300–425 °C. The effect of adding Fe, Cu, Ni, Sn and NaAlO₂ as potential catalysts to some of these reactions has been studied but none led to improved oil yields. Most of the organic material in the oil shale was converted to asphaltene at 355 °C, but the oil yield was low at this temperature. At 425 °C nearly all the organic product was in the form of oil.