Miscarriage is one of the most common complications in pregnancy. There is emerging evidence that psychological impact following miscarriage is not unusual. Understanding the magnitude of psychological morbidity is important in the management of miscarriage. The main objective of this study was to compare the mean Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score between women with miscarriage and women with successful pregnancy and to determine the sociodemographic factor and clinical characteristic that are associated with anxiety and depression. A descriptive case control study was conducted in a teaching hospital, over a period of 12-months (from October 2014 till September 2015). A total of 65 women were recruited with 32 women as the study group (miscarriage) and another 33 women as the control group (women with successful pregnancy). Mean HADS-anxiety score was higher in the study group compared to control group although it was not statistically significant (6.53 ± 3.427 vs 5.73 ± 2.875, p=0.309). Mean HADS-depression score was higher in the control group (4.34 ± 2.695 vs 4.45 ± 3.073, p=0.878). Women with maternal age more than 35 years and history of previous miscarriage had a higher tendency of anxiety and depression with higher mean HADS score. There was no association between other sociodemographic data and clinical characteristic with risk of anxiety and depression. As conclusion, there was no significant difference in women with miscarriage as compared to those with successful pregnancies, although older women with history of miscarriage had a preponderance to both disorders.
Keywords: anxiety, depression, miscarriage, morbidity, psychological
The nucleotide sequence of the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) gene of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) viscerotropic-velogenic strain AF2240 was determined by direct RNA sequencing and by sequencing RT-PCR products. It encodes a single open reading frame of 581 amino acids with a calculated Mr of 63.8 kDa. The predicted sequence contains five asparagine glycosylation sites. Comparison of the AF2240 HN protein sequence with 13 other previously published sequences showed 88% homology. This HN protein is unique because it lacked the Arg 403 residue which is present in all of the other strains and cannot be grouped under the proposed three size classes of HN proteins in NDV.
The nucleotide sequence of the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) glycoprotein gene of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) variant strain V4(UPM) was determined by direct genomic RNA sequencing and confirmed by cycle sequencing. The gene comprises 1996 nucleotides encoding a 615 amino acid protein of size 67.4 kDa. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of this strain were compared with those of the parent strain V4(QUE). There are 16 nucleotide substitutions on V4(UPM), eight of which are silent mutations and another eliminated a potential Asn-linked glycosylation site in V4(UPM). In addition, an Arg (403) residue was shown to be absent in the variant strain. This deletion is thought to be significant because of its location in a highly conserved region of the HN protein.
Glycolipid, found commonly in membranes, is also a liquid crystal material which can self-assemble without the presence of a solvent. Here, the dielectric and conductivity properties of three synthetic glycolipid thin films in different thermotropic liquid crystal phases were investigated over a frequency and temperature range of (10(-2)-10(6) Hz) and (303-463 K), respectively. The observed relaxation processes distinguish between the different phases (smectic A, columnar/hexagonal, and bicontinuous cubic Q) and the glycolipid molecular structures. Large dielectric responses were observed in the columnar and bicontinuous cubic phases of the longer branched alkyl chain glycolipids. Glycolipids with the shortest branched alkyl chain experience the most restricted self-assembly dynamic process over the broad temperature range studied compared to the longer ones. A high frequency dielectric absorption (Process I) was observed in all samples. This is related to the dynamics of the hydrogen bond network from the sugar group. An additional low-frequency mechanism (Process II) with a large dielectric strength was observed due to the internal dynamics of the self-assembly organization. Phase sensitive domain heterogeneity in the bicontinuous cubic phase was related to the diffusion of charge carriers. The microscopic features of charge hopping were modelled using the random walk scheme, and two charge carrier hopping lengths were estimated for two glycolipid systems. For Process I, the hopping length is comparable to the hydrogen bond and is related to the dynamics of the hydrogen bond network. Additionally, that for Process II is comparable to the bilayer spacing, hence confirming that this low-frequency mechanism is associated with the internal dynamics within the phase.
The molecular dynamics of a synthetic branched chain glycolipid, 2-decyl-tetradecyl-β-d-maltoside (C14-10G2), in the dry assemblage of smectic and columnar liquid crystal phases has been studied by dielectric spectroscopy as a function of frequency and temperature during the cooling process. Strong relaxation modes were observed corresponding to the tilted smectic and columnar phases, respectively. At low frequency (∼900 Hz to 1 kHz) in the smectic phase, Process I* was observed due to the tilted sugar bilayer structure. The process continued in the columnar phase (Process I) with an abrupt dynamic change due to phase transition in the frequency range of ∼1.3 kHz to 22 kHz. An additional process (Process II) was observed in the columnar phase with a broader relaxation in the frequency range of ∼10 Hz to 1 kHz. A bias field dependence study was performed in the columnar phase and we found that the relaxation strength rapidly decreased with increased applied dc bias field. This relaxation originates from a collective motion of polar groups within the columns. The results of dielectric spectroscopy were supported by a molecular dynamics simulation study to identify the origin of the relaxation processes, which could be related to the chirality and hydrogen bonds of the sugar lipid.