IntroductionSuicide is a major public health concern and a leading cause of death around the world. How religion influences the risk of completed suicide in different settings across the world requires clarification in order to best inform suicide prevention strategies.MethodsA meta-analysis using search results from Pubmed and Web of Science databases was conducted following PRISMA protocol and using the keywords “religion” or “religious” or “religiosity” or “spiritual” or “spirituality” plus “suicide” or “suicidality” or “suicide attempt”. Random and fixed effects models were used to generate pooled ORs and I2 values. Sub-analyses were conducted among the following categories: young age (<45yo), older age (≥45yo), western culture, eastern culture, and religious homogeneity.ResultsNine studies that altogether evaluated 2339 suicide cases and 5252 comparison participants met all selection criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis suggested an overall protective effect of religiosity from completed suicide with a pooled OR of 0.38 (95% CI: 0.21–0.71) and I2 of 91%. Sub-analyses similarly revealed significant protective effects for studies performed in western cultures (OR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.18–0.46), areas with religious homogeneity (OR = 0.18, 95% CI: 0.13–0.26), and among older populations (OR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.21–0.84). High heterogeneity of our meta-analysis was attributed to three studies in which the methods varied from the other six.ConclusionReligion plays a protective role against suicide in a majority of settings where suicide research is conducted. However, this effect varies based on the cultural and religious context. Therefore, public health professionals need to strongly consider the current social and religious atmosphere of a given population when designing suicide prevention strategies.
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were green and sustainable bio‐electrochemical reactors for simultaneous wastewater treatment and electricity harvest from organic wastes. However, exoelectrogens, such as Shewanella and Geobacter being widely studied in MFCs, could only use a limited spectrum of carbon sources. To expand the carbon source range being used in MFCs, we herein rationally designed a glucose‐fed fungus‐bacteria microbial consortium including a fermenter (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in which the ethanol pathway was knocked out and the lactic acid biosynthesis pathway from Bovin was introduced into S. cerevisiae, and an exoelectrogen (Shewanella oneidensis MR‐1). We optimized the co‐culturing conditions of the microbial consortium to achieve an optimal coordination between carbon source metabolism of the fermenter and extracellular electron transfer of the exoelectrogen, such that lactate, the metabolic product of glucose by the recombinant S. cerevisiae, was continuously supplied to S. oneidensis in a constant level until glucose exhaustion. This metabolic coordination between the fermenter and the exoelectrogen enabled bioelectricity production in a glucose‐fed MFC. Furthermore, a porin protein encoded by oprF gene from Pseudomonas aeruginosa was incorporated into the outer membrane of S. oneidensis to enhance membrane permeability and its hydrophobicity, which in turn facilitated its biofilm formation and power generation. The glucose‐fed MFC inoculated with the recombinant S. cerevisiae‐recombinant S. oneidensis generated a maximum power density of 123.4 mW/m2, significantly higher than that of recombinant S. cerevisiae‐wild‐type S. oneidensis (71.5 mW/m2). Our design strategy of synthetic microbial consortia was highly scalable to empower the possibility of a wide range of carbon sources being used in MFCs, e.g., xylose, cellulosic biomass, and recalcitrant wastes. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 1830–1838, 2017
Hydrogel as three-dimensional (3D) substrate has been employed in miniaturized high throughput protein detection platforms to increase the number of effective antibodies and signal augmentation. However, the high water content of the hydrogel can dilute samples and create barrier to mass transfer, limiting hydrogel height to several microns in most platforms. Moreover, these platforms cannot achieve widespread use in common laboratories as they usually rely heavily on expensive robotic liquid handlers and custom-built components. Here we developed a ready-to-use, easy to store and handle, versatile and multiplex-able 3D scaffold-based immunoassay chip (3D immunoChip) possible for high throughput protein quantification using bench-top equipment in common laboratories. Sample dilution, mass transfer, signal scattering and storage problems can be avoided by using dry scaffolds that regain transparency upon rehydration. When combined with hydrophilic-hydrophobic patterned reagent loading slides, manual high throughput handling of samples can be achieved. As these micro-scaffolds are patterned without barriers in between, simultaneous and effortless washing of all the reaction zones is possible in a Petri dish. Such features aid the 3D immunoChip in saving up to 100 times reagent and about 6 times labour. The 3D immunoChip is able to detect albumin (ALB), as a model analyte, from 5 ng mL(-1) to 1000 ng mL(-1), making it comparable to the commercialized ELISA kit based on a 96-well plate (0.22-400 ng mL(-1)). This thus enables the 3D immunoChip to directly detect ALB secreted by HepaRG cells cultured in a 3D cell culture array chip for high throughput drug hepatotoxicity evaluation, which could potentially accelerate drug screening.
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