Targeting Mitochondria in Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes (T2D), one of the most prevalent noncommunicable diseases, is often preceded by insulin resistance (IR), which underlies the inability of tissues to respond to insulin and leads to disturbed metabolic homeostasis. Mitochondria, as a central player in the cellular energy metabolism, are involved in the mechanisms of IR and T2D. Mitochondrial function is affected by insulin resistance in different tissues, among which skeletal muscle and liver have the highest impact on whole-body glucose homeostasis. This review focuses on human studies that assess mitochondrial function in liver, muscle and blood cells in the context of T2D. Furthermore, different interventions targeting mitochondria in IR and T2D are listed, with a selection of studies using respirometry as a measure of mitochondrial function, for better data comparison. Altogether, mitochondrial respiratory capacity appears to be a metabolic indicator since it decreases as the disease progresses but increases after lifestyle (exercise) and pharmacological interventions, together with the improvement in metabolic health. Finally, novel therapeutics developed to target mitochondria have potential for a more integrative therapeutic approach, treating both causative and secondary defects of diabetes.     

Bi3+ as an enhancer for down- and upconversion luminescence in ternary vanadate structures

A series of dual-mode nanomaterials based on Ba₂LaV₃O₁₁:Yb³⁺, Er³⁺, Bi³⁺, with different bismuth content were synthesized using the hydrothermal method. Various analytical methods, such as x-ray diffraction (XRD) with additional detailed Rietveld analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and laser spectroscopy have confirmed that with increasing Bi³⁺ content, phase purity, optical absorption and luminescence intensity significantly increased. Moreover, a slight luminescence color tunability was observed along with the gradual introduction of bismuth into the host structure since, among the others, the local crystal field around emitting Er³⁺ ions was changing. The use of ultraviolet and near-infrared excitation wavelengths allowed to obtain a dual mode luminescence, which extended the emission range and demonstrated the possibility of using the studied materials, e.g. in solar cells.     

Defining a complex intervention: The development of demarcation criteria for “meditation”.

The authors used a 5-round Delphi study with a panel of 7 experts in meditation research to achieve agreement on a set of criteria for a working definition of “meditation” for use in a comprehensive systematic review of the therapeutic use of meditation. Participants agreed that essential to a meditation practice is its use of (a) a defined technique, (b) logic relaxation, and (c) a self-induced state. Participants also agreed that a meditation practice may (d) involve a state of psychophysical relaxation somewhere in the process; (e) use a self-focus skill or anchor; (f) involve an altered state/mode of consciousness, mystic experience, enlightenment or suspension of logical thought processes; (g) be embedded in a religious/spiritual/philosophical context; or (h) involve an experience of mental silence. The results of this study provide insight into the challenges faced by researchers who want to demarcate meditative practices from nonmeditative practices, and they describe an approach to this problem that may prove useful for researchers trying to operationalize meditation in the context of comparative research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of inferior parietal and inferior frontal cortex in working memory.

Verbal working memory involves two major components: a phonological store that holds auditory-verbal information very briefly and an articulatory rehearsal process that allows that information to be refreshed and thus held longer in short-term memory (A. Baddeley, 1996, 2000; A. Baddeley & G. Hitch, 1974). In the current study, the authors tested two groups of patients who were chosen on the basis of their relatively focal lesions in the inferior parietal (IP) cortex or inferior frontal (IF) cortex. Patients were tested on a series of tasks that have been previously shown to tap phonological storage (span, auditory rhyming, and repetition) and articulatory rehearsal (visual rhyming and a 2-back task). As predicted, IP patients were disproportionately impaired on the span, rhyming, and repetition tasks and thus demonstrated a phonological storage deficit. IF patients, however, did not show impairment on these storage tasks but did exhibit impairment on the visual rhyming task, which requires articulatory rehearsal. These findings lend further support to the working memory model and provide evidence of the roles of IP and IF cortex in separable working memory processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

对文化的介入在品牌战略中所起作用的探讨

本文通过对品牌战略和文化及其二者关系的分析来说明文化的介入在企业竞争中所起到的重要作用。文化的介入使品牌战略更具包容力,使企业更具凝聚力和竞争力。只有依靠优秀的文化,企业才能像常青藤一样生机盎然、充满活力。     

Business owners' action planning and its relationship to business success in three African countries.

A model of business success was developed with motivational resources (locus of control, self-efficacy, achievement motivation, and self-reported personal initiative) and cognitive resources (cognitive ability and human capital) as independent variables, business owners' elaborate and proactive planning as a mediator, and business size and growth as dependent variables. Three studies with a total of 408 African micro and small-scale business owners were conducted in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Structural equation analyses partially supported the hypotheses on the importance of psychological planning by the business owners. Elaborate and proactive planning was substantially related to business size and to an external evaluation of business success and was a (partial) mediator for the relationship between cognitive resources and business success. The model carries important implications for selection, training, and coaching of business owners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural evolution of La-Cr-O thin film: Part II. Elasto-plastic properties by nanoindentation

The goal of this research is to study the elasto-plastic properties of La-Cr-O thin films deposited by RF-magnetron sputtering on stainless steel interconnect materials after annealing at high temperatures in air. Elastic modulus, hardness and yield pressure derived from nanoindentation data are reported for thin films in different structural states. The amorphous film has an estimated elastic modulus of 174 GPa. The moduli of annealed films are calculated to be 150, 185 and 120 GPa after annealing at 500 °C, 600 °C and 800 °C, respectively. The film annealed at 800 °C has the lowest hardness and is dramatically different from the other structural states due to formation of the nanoporosity. The amorphous film and the films annealed at 500 °C and 600 °C both have hardness of 14 GPa, which is close to the value estimated by modeling.     

Fast Component-Based QR Code Detection in Arbitrarily Acquired Images

Quick Response (QR) codes are a type of 2D barcode that is becoming very popular, with several application possibilities. Since they can encode alphanumeric characters, a rich set of information can be made available through encoded URL addresses. In particular, QR codes could be used to aid visually impaired and blind people to access web based voice information systems and services, and autonomous robots to acquire context-relevant information. However, in order to be decoded, QR codes need to be properly framed, something that robots, visually impaired and blind people will not be able to do easily without guidance. Therefore, any application that aims assisting robots or visually impaired people must have the capability to detect QR codes and guide them to properly frame the code. A fast component-based two-stage approach for detecting QR codes in arbitrarily acquired images is proposed in this work. In the first stage, regular components present at three corners of the code are detected, and in the second stage geometrical restrictions among detected components are verified to confirm the presence of a code. Experimental results show a high detection rate, superior to 90 %, at a fast speed compatible with real-time applications.     

A combined analysis of plant connectivity and alarm logs to reduce the number of alerts in an automation system

A process alarm arises when normal operation limits are exceeded and an alarm management system alerts the operator of a process plant. Due to the material, energy and information flow in a plant, single disturbances can cause multiple consequent alarm messages, and the alarm messages may overload the operator by presenting many redundant alarms. This undesired situation is called an ‘alarm flood’. In such situations, the operator might not be able to fulfil his required tasks to keep the plant within safe operation limits and to find the root cause of the disturbance. The aim of the work presented in this paper is to reduce the number of alerts presented to the operator. If alarms are related to one another, those alarms should be grouped and presented as one alarm problem. For the implementation of the concept, a software prototype has been developed to perform this reduction automatically. The analysis process starts with the alarm history which is a log containing all past alarm messages. This is combined with the plant topology of the controlled system and a set of rules. The rules describe typical interrelations between alarm messages which have a common cause. The combination of these three elements yields an effective alarm management strategy that can help plant owners and operators to comply with standards for alarm management such as ANSI/ISA 18.2 (2009) and EEMUA 191 (2007) which set limits on the number of alarms per unit time for an operator. The effectiveness of the approach is illustrated by two industrial examples where a significant reduction of alarms has been achieved.     

User-oriented evaluation of mechanical single-channel axial pipettes

Hand tools should be designed so that they are comfortable to use, fit the hand and are user-oriented. Six different manual, single-channel axial pipettes were evaluated for such objective outcomes as muscular activity, wrist postures and efficiency, as well as for subjective outcomes concerning self-assessed features of pipette usability and musculoskeletal strain. Ten experienced laboratory employees volunteered for the study. The results showed that light and short pipettes with better tool comfort resulted in reduced muscular activity and perceived musculoskeletal strain when they were compared with a long and heavy pipette. There were no differences in the efficiency between the different pipettes. Combining both the objective and subjective measures enabled a broader evaluation of product usability. The results of this study can be used both in product development and as information on which to base the purchase of new pipettes for laboratory work.