Fat Distribution and Lipid Profile of Young Adults with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Due to 21-Hydroxylase Enzyme Deficiency

We aimed to compare detailed fat distribution and lipid profile between young adults with congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase enzyme deficiency and a control group. We also verified independent associations of treatment duration and daily hydrocortisone dose equivalent (HDE) with lipid profile within patients. This case–control study included 23 patients (7 male and 16 female) matched by an age range of young adults (18–31 years) with 20 control subjects (8 male and 12 female). Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure the fat distribution. Male patients demonstrated elevated indices of fat mass for total (7.7 ± 2.1 vs. 4.5 ± 1.3 kg/m², p = 0.003), trunk (4.0 ± 1.2 vs. 2.2 ± 0.8 kg/m², p = 0.005), android (0.63 ± 0.24 vs. 0.32 ± 0.15 kg/m², p = 0.008), gynoid (1.34 ± 0.43 vs. 0.74 ± 0.24 kg/m², p = 0.005), arm (0.65 ± 0.16 vs. 0.39 ± 0.10 kg/m², p = 0.009), and leg regions (2.7 ± 0.8 vs. 1.6 ± 0.4 kg/m², p = 0.005) than the control group, but not in females. However, female patients demonstrated elevated ratio of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.90 ± 0.46 vs. 1.39 ± 0.47, p = 0.009) than the control group, but not in males. Total fat mass was inversely correlated with total testosterone (r = −0.64, p = 0.014) and positively correlated with leptin in males (r = 0.75, p = 0.002). An elevated daily HDE (β = 0.43, p = 0.038 and β = 0.47, p = 0.033) and trunk to total fat mass ratio (β = 0.46, p = 0.025, and β = 0.45, p = 0.037) were independently correlated with impaired lipid profile markers. Although there is no altered lipid profile, male patients demonstrated an increased fat distribution. However, female patients presented with an impaired lipid profile marker but demonstrated close values of normal fat distribution. Interestingly, the dose of glucocorticoid therapy can have some role in the lipid mechanisms.     

Unsupervised Segmentation of Stereoscopic Video Objects: Constrained Segmentation Fusion Versus Greedy Active Contours

In this paper, we present a novel memory access reduction scheme (MARS) for two-dimension fast cosine transform (2-D FCT). It targets programmable DSPs with high memory-access latency. It reduces the number of memory accesses by: 1) reducing the number of weighting factors and 2) combining butterflies in vector-radix 2-D FCT pruning diagram from two stages to one stage with an efficient structure. Hardware platform based on general purpose processor is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method for vector-radix 2-D FCT pruning implementation. Experimental results validate the benefits of the proposed method with reduced memory access, less clock cycle and fewer memory space compared with the conventional implementation.     

Suitability,efficiency and microbiological safety of novel physical technologies for the processing of ready‐to‐eat meals,meats and pumpable products

Consumer studies and market reports show an increase in consumption of ready‐to‐eat (RTE) foods. Although conventional processing technologies can in most cases produce safe products, they can also lead to the degradation of nutritional compounds and negatively affect quality characteristics. Consumers strongly prefer food that is minimally processed with the maximum amount of health‐promoting substances. Novel processing technologies as pre‐ or post‐treatment decontamination methods or as substitutes of conventional technologies have the potential to produce foods that are safe, rich in nutrient content and with superior organoleptic properties. Combining novel with conventional processes can eliminate potential drawbacks of novel technologies. This review examines available scientific information and critically evaluates the suitability and efficiency of various novel thermal and nonthermal technologies in terms of microbial safety, quality as well as nutrient content on the production of RTE meals, meats and pumpable products.     

Surface triangulation for 3-D scene model construction from stereo

The construction of an accurate 3-D scene model is a fundamental aspect of any model-based image coding scheme. This article describes the generation of a triangular facet surface representation from the data acquired by a calibrated binocular (stereo) camera system     

Microstructural changes accompanying repair welding in 5xxx aluminium alloys and their effect on the mechanical properties

At the shipyards, the aluminium alloy 5083 is welded with a multi-pass sequence using the metal inert gas technique. If, while checking the weld integrity either after welding or during service, defects are detected in the vicinity of the weldment, repairs are usually employed to extend the service life.

The repair method involves removal of the upper passes, depending on the thickness and re-welding under the same conditions.

Purpose of this paper is to examine the microstructural changes accompanying repair welding, define their effect on properties of primary importance and set, if possible, an upper limit as far as the number of repairs is concerned.     

Oxidation of oleuropein studied by EPR and spectrophotometry

The autoxidation at alkaline pH and enzymatic oxidation by mushroom tyrosinase of oleuropein, the dominant biophenol present in the fruits and leaves of Olea europea, was followed by both electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and absorption spectroscopy. For comparison, the same oxidation processes were applied to 4‐methylcatechol, a simple polyphenol present in olive mill wastewaters. EPR spectra of stable o‐semiquinone radicals produced during autoxidation at pH 12 and short‐lived o‐semiquinone free radicals produced during autoxidation at pH 9.0 or tyrosinase action and stabilized by chelation with a diamagnetic metal ion (Mg²⁺) were recorded for both polyphenols, and the corresponding hyperfine splitting constants were determined. The UV‐Vis spectral characteristics of the oxidation of polyphenols were highly dependent on the type of polyphenol, oxidant type and the pH of the reaction. The kinetic behavior of tyrosinase in the presence of oleuropein and 4‐methylcatechol was followed by recording spectral changes at 400 nm (absorption maximum) over time. The tysosinase activity with oleuropein showed a pronounced pH optimum at pH 6.5 and a minor one around pH 8. From the data analysis of the initial rate at pH 6.5, the kinetic parameters K_m = 0.34 ± 0.03 mM and V_max = 0.029 ± 0.002 ΔA₄₀₀ min^–1 were determined for oleuropein.     

High prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in liver cirrhosis: relationship with clinical and endoscopic features and the risk of peptic ulcer

In 153 consecutive patients with cirrhosis we assessed: (1) the prevalence of IgG to Helicobacter pylori and compared it with that found in 1010 blood donors resident in the same area; and (2) the relationships of IgG to Helicobacter pylori with clinical and endoscopic features and with the risk of peptic ulcer. The IgG to Helicobacter pylori prevalence of cirrhotics was significantly higher than in blood donors (76.5% vs 41.8%; P < 0.0005) and was not associated with sex, cirrhosis etiology, Child class, gammaglobulins and hypertensive gastropathy. In both groups, the prevalence of IgG to Helicobacter pylori was significantly higher in subjects over 40. Among patients with cirrhosis a significantly higher prevalence of Helicobacter pylori was found in patients with previous hospital admission (P = 0.02) and/or upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (P = 0.01) and patients with peptic ulcer (P = 0.0004). Multivariate analysis identified increasing age and male sex as risk factors for a positive Helicobacter pylori serology and no independent risk factors for peptic ulcer. The high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori-positive serology found in the present series is related to age and sex and might also be explained by previous hospital admissions and/or upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Our results do not confirm the role of Helicobacter pylori as risk factor for peptic ulcer in patients with liver cirrhosis.     

A continuous adjoint method with objective function derivatives based on boundary integrals, for inviscid and viscous flows

A continuous adjoint formulation for inverse design problems in external aerodynamics and turbomachinery is presented. The advantage of the proposed formulation is that the objective function gradient does not depend upon the variation of field geometrical quantities, such as metrics variations in the case of structured grids. The final expression for the objective function gradient includes only boundary integrals which can readily be calculated in both structured and unstructured grids; this is feasible in design problems where the objective function is either a boundary integral (pressure deviation along the solid walls) or a field integral (the entropy generation over the flow domain). The formulation governs inviscid and viscous flows; it takes into account the streamtube thickness variation terms in quasi-3D cascade designs or rotational terms in rotating blade design problems. The application of the method is illustrated through a number of design problems concerning isolated airfoils, a 3D duct, 2D, quasi-3D and 3D, stationary and rotating turbomachinery blades.