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Studies demonstrate that the apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I (ApoB/apoA-I) ratio predicts cardiovascular risk better than any of the cholesterol indexes. A number of factors that define the metabolic syndrome (MS) differ across African-American and European-American ethnicities. We assessed relationship of the apoB/apoA-I ratio to MS and coronary artery disease (CAD) in 224 African-Americans and 304 European-Americans. The MS was defined by the revised NCEP-ATP III criteria and CAD was assessed as ≥50% stenosis or a continuous cardiovascular score (0–75). European-Americans had higher apoB/apoA-I ratio compared with African-Americans (1.15 vs. 1.07, P=0.008). The apoB/apoA-I ratio was associated with presence of the MS in both European-Americans (OR=5.9; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.53–13.57; P<0.001) and African-Americans (OR=8.3; 95% CI, 3.52–19.25; P<0.001), and was higher in subjects with MS compared to those without MS (1.21 vs. 1.04, P<0.001 for European-Americans and 1.20 vs. 0.94, P<0.001 for African-Americans). There was a stepwise increase in the prevalence of MS across apoB/apoA-I ratio tertiles in both ethnic groups (χ2=13.1, P<0.001 for European-Americans and χ2=19.6, P<0.001 for African-Americans). In multiple regression analyses, the apoB/apoA-I ratio independently predicted CAD in African-Americans (β=0.242, P=0.011). The cardiovascular score was significantly increased across apoB/apoA-I ratio tertiles in European-American subjects with MS (P=0.001), whereas this association was seen in African-American subjects without MS (P=0.023). In conclusion, the apoB/apoA-I ratio differed across ethnicities and was associated with presence of the MS in both groups. Among African-Americans, elevated apoB/apoA-I ratio independently predicted higher risk for CAD.

Ramie is a plant whose fibers are used in fabrics. Ramie films are prepared by hot pressing and studied with transmission Mueller-matrix ellipsometry, which provides a complete description of polarizing and depolarizing sample properties. Symmetries of the Mueller matrices imply that the ramie films are linearly birefringent and act as waveplates. The linear birefringence is quantified by the differential decomposition of the Mueller matrices and the materials birefringence is found to be of the order of 0.05-0.08 with small dispersion in the visible spectral range. The films exhibit depolarization, which is quantified in terms of the depolarization index and varies from 0.9 in the infrared to 0.25 in the ultraviolet range. The deep understanding of ramie films polarization properties will pave the way for applications in optical and photonic devices. ; Funding Agencies|Conacyt MexicoConsejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) [2018-000007-01EXTV-00169]; Carl Tryggers Foundation; Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation; European Research Council Advanced GrantEuropean Research Council (ERC) [742733]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation through the Wallenberg Wood Science Center at KTH Royal Institute of Technology; Wood NanoTech; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]

Industries, governments and consumers increasingly request sustainable resources and greener routes for the integration of advanced functional nanocomposites in products and devices. Among renewable biopolymers, cellulose deserves special consideration since it is the most abundant one. While inorganic nanoparticles add functional properties to a nanocomposite, a flexible and porous cellulosic support will facilitate the interaction of the nanoparticles with the surroundings, their handling and recycling. A significant challenge is to develop high strength, flexible nanobiocomposites controlling the nanoparticle properties, their volume fraction and their topographic distribution within the scaffold. A new concept is presented here for multifunctional laminates where layers consist of bacterial cellulose fibrils decorated by inorganic nanoparticles. Each layer can provide a specific function using a different nanoparticle. As model systems, we have selected two metals (Au, Ag) and two semiconductors (TiO2 and Fe2O3). Energy-efficient microwave-assisted synthetic routes have been used to in situ nucleate and grow the inorganic nanocrystals on the cellulose fibrils. Then, functionalized bacterial cellulose films can be arranged as laminates in a millefeuille construct simply by layering and drying the wet films at 60 °C. After drying, they perform as a single integrated and thicker film. Structural, functional and mechanical integrity of the laminates have been investigated. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to compute the surface adhesion energy between two cellulose fibrils and the results are discussed in light of the experimental peel-off data for the separation of the layers in the laminate. ; Peer reviewed