Reported food intake and distribution of body fat: a repeated cross-sectional study

The number of individuals with age-related cognitive impairment is rising dramatically in the UK and globally. There is considerable interest in the general hypothesis that improving the diet of older people may slow the progression of cognitive decline. To date, there has been little attention given to the possible protective role of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPs) most commonly found in oily fish, in age-related loss of cognitive function. The main research hypothesis of this study is that an increased dietary intake of n-3 LCPs will have a positive effect on cognitive performance in older people in the UK. To test this hypothesis, a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial will be carried out among adults aged 70–79 years in which the intervention arm will receive daily capsules containing n-3 LCP (0.5 g/day docosahexaenoic acid and 0.2 g/day eicosapentaenoic acid) while the placebo arm will receive daily capsules containing olive oil. The main outcome variable assessed at 24 months will be cognitive performance and a second major outcome variable will be retinal function. Retinal function tests are included as the retina is a specifically differentiated neural tissue and therefore represents an accessible window into the functioning of the brain. The overall purpose of this public-health research is to help define a simple and effective dietary intervention aimed at maintaining cognitive and retinal function in later life. This will be the first trial of its kind aiming to slow the decline of cognitive and retinal function in older people by increasing daily dietary intake of n-3 LCPs. The link between cognitive ability, visual function and quality of life among older people suggests that this novel line of research may have considerable public health importance.     

Continuous-time interval model identification of blood glucose dynamics for type 1 diabetes

While good physiological models of the glucose metabolism in type 1 diabetic patients are well known, their parameterisation is difficult. The high intra-patient variability observed is a further major obstacle. This holds for data-based models too, so that no good patient-specific models are available. Against this background, this paper proposes the use of interval models to cover the different metabolic conditions. The control-oriented models contain a carbohydrate and insulin sensitivity factor to be used for insulin bolus calculators directly. Available clinical measurements were sampled on an irregular schedule which prompts the use of continuous-time identification, also for the direct estimation of the clinically interpretable factors mentioned above. An identification method is derived and applied to real data from 28 diabetic patients. Model estimation was done on a clinical data-set, whereas validation results shown were done on an out-of-clinic, everyday life data-set. The results show that the interval model approach allows a much more regular estimation of the parameters and avoids physiologically incompatible parameter estimates.     

Fabrication of aerogels from cellulose nanofibril grafted with β-cyclodextrin for capture of water pollutants

Journal of Porous Materials - Interactions at the molecular and surface chemistry are some of the key factors that determine the adsorption capacity of pollutants and emerging contaminants in...     

The development of bone marrow transplantation as a treatment for patients with lymphoma--twentieth Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award Lecture

The exact immunologic mechanisms that lead to the emergence and progression of painless ("silent") thyroiditis remain unclear. We report two cases of painless postpartum thyroiditis followed by Graves' disease, where extensive immunologic evaluation supported a possible pathogenetic association. The time course of changes in thyroid function tests, 123I thyroidal uptake values, and thyrotropin receptor antibodies (TSHRAbs) were documented. The existence of stimulating TSHRAbs (TSAbs) activating the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) signal cascades and their functional epitopes, as well as two different thyrotropin-binding inhibitory immunoglobulins (TBII) were documented in both patients at the time of diagnosis of Graves' disease. We suggest that susceptible persons may develop an immunologic response that can trigger the appearance of a mixture of species of TSHRAbs, which in turn may lead to the sequential occurrence of painless thyroiditis and Graves' disease. Additionally, the multiple phases of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism that can occur in these patients may reflect the existence and changing spectrum of TSHRAbs in their sera.     

Paraneoplastic syndromes affecting the nervous system

Paraneoplastic syndromes can affect virtually any portion of the nervous system. Most paraneoplastic syndromes are believed to be caused by an autoimmune reaction to an "onconeural" antigen shared by the cancer and the nervous system. The immune reaction may retard growth of the cancer, but it also damages the nervous system. Specific autoantibodies found in some individual paraneoplastic syndromes are usually associated with specific tumors. Neurological disorders, clinically and pathologically identical to paraneoplastic syndromes, may occur in some patients without cancer, but paraneoplastic antibodies are not found in these patients. The diagnosis of a paraneoplastic syndrome is based on its increased incidence in patients with cancer, the occasional response of the neurological syndrome to treatment of the underlying cancer, or the presence of specific autoantibodies. Some paraneoplastic syndromes respond to treatment of the underlying cancer or to immunosuppression but, for most syndromes, no effective treatment exists.     

Regulation of renal Na-K-Cl cotransporter NKCC2 by humoral natriuretic factors: relevance in hypertension

A furosemide-sensitive Na-K-Cl cotransporter (NKCC2 isoform) accounts for almost all luminal NaCl reabsorption in the thick ascending limb of Henle's loop (TALH). The activity of this transport protein is regulated by humoral factors (CIF: cotransport inhibitory factors). One family of CIF compounds is represented by the urinary phytoestrogens equol and genistein, which inhibit cotransport fluxes at similar concentrations as furosemide. Moreover, they possess similar salidiuretic potency as furosemide in the isolated perfused rat kidney, but are less potent than furosemide in vivo. Thus, dietary phytoestrogens can be responsible, at least in part, for the low blood pressure of vegetarians. A second type of CIF is represented by a circulating and urinary factor which is evoked by salt-loading. This, which is not a "ouabain-like" factor, appears to be a new retropituitary natriuretic compound. Endogenous CIF is increased in hypertensive Dahl salt-sensitive rats, probably as a compensatory mechanism against the enhanced NaCl reabsorption in the TALH, which characterizes this model of hypertension. Finally, chronic excess of circulating CIF inhibits and induces up-regulation of erythrocyte Na-K-Cl cotransporter NKCC1.     

Growth of Tl-2201 Superconducting Thin Films on Single Crystal LaAlO3

The growth of Tl-2201 films on LaAlO₃ single crystal substrates has been investigated. The synthesis involved precursor films made by laser ablation that were treated with Tl₂O(g) in near-equilibrium conditions. By optimising the method of preparation, we obtained films that were highly smooth, c-axis oriented and epitaxial. The rocking curve of the (0010) reflection had a FWHM of 0.27°. A T_c of 92K was achieved without post-annealing.     

Fluorescence lidar multicolor imaging of vegetation

Multicolor imaging of vegetation fluorescence following laser excitation is reported for distances of 50 m. A mobile laser-radar system equipped with a Nd:YAG laser transmitter and a 40-cm-diameter telescope was utilized. The laser light was Raman shifted to 397 nm with pulse energies of ? 30 mJ. An image-intensified CCD camera with a specially designed split-mirror Cassegrainian telescope was utilized for the simultaneous recording of fluorescence images of leaves and branches in four different spectral bands. Additionally, fluorescence spectra at selected points within the detection area were measured with an image-intensified diode array system. Image processing permits extraction of information related to the physiological status of the vegetation and might prove useful in forest decline research.     

Sensor-network-based robust distributed control and estimation

This paper proposes a novel distributed estimation and control method for uncertain plants. It is of application in the case of large-scale systems, where each control unit is assumed to have access only to a subset of the plant outputs, and possibly controls a restricted subset of input channels. A constrained communication topology between nodes is considered so the units can benefit from estimates of neighboring nodes to build their own estimates. The paper proposes a methodology to design a distributed control structure so that the system is asymptotically driven to equilibrium with L₂-gain disturbance rejection capabilities. A difficulty that arises is that the separation principle does not hold, as every single unit ignores the control action that other units might be applying. To overcome this, a two-stage design is proposed: firstly, the distributed controllers are obtained to robustly stabilize the plant despite the observation errors in the controlled output. At the second stage, the distributed observers are designed aiming to minimize the effects of the communication noise in the observation error. Both stages are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities. The performance is shown on a level-control real plant.