Sleep Disorders Reduce Health-Related Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis (Nottingham Health Profile Data in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis)

Quality of Life (QoL) is decreased in multiple sclerosis (MS), but studies about the impact of sleep disorders (SD) on health-related quality of Life (HRQoL) are lacking. From our original cohort, a cross-sectional polysomnographic (PSG) study in consecutive MS patients, we retrospectively analysed the previously unpublished data of the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP). Those MS patients suffering from sleep disorders (n = 49) showed significantly lower HRQoL compared to MS patients without sleep disorders (n = 17). Subsequently, we classified the patients into four subgroups: insomnia (n = 17), restless-legs syndrome, periodic limb movement disorder and SD due to leg pain (n = 24), obstructive sleep apnea (n = 8) and patients without sleep disorder (n = 17). OSA and insomnia patients showed significantly higher NHP values and decreased HRQoL not only for the sleep subscale but also for the “energy” and “emotional” area of the NHP. In addition, OSA patients also showed increased NHP values in the “physical abilities” area. Interestingly, we did not find a correlation between the objective PSG parameters and the subjective sleep items of the NHP. However, this study demonstrates that sleep disorders can reduce HRQoL in MS patients and should be considered as an important confounder in all studies investigating HRQoL in MS.     

Behaviour of Surface Defects in Wire Rod Rolling

Defects are often present in rolled products, such as wire rod. The market demand for wire rod without any defects has increased. In the final wire rod products, defects originating from steel making, casting, pre‐rolling of billets and during wire rod rolling can appear. In this work, artificial V‐shaped longitudinal surface cracks have been analysed experimentally and by means of FEM. The results indicate that the experiments and FEM calculations show the same tendency except in two cases, where instability due to fairly “round” false round bars disturbed the experiment. FE studies in combination with practical experiments are necessary in order to understand the behaviour of the material flows in the groove and to explain whether the crack will open up as a V‐shape or if it will be closed as an I‐shape.     

On the effects of the packet size distribution on the packet loss process

Real-time multimedia applications have to use forward error correction (FEC) anderror concealment techniques to cope with losses in today’s best-effort Internet. The efficiency of these solutions is known however to depend on the correlation between losses in the media stream. In this paper we investigate how the packet size distribution affects the packet loss process, that is, the distribution of the number of lost packets in a block, the related FEC performance and the average loss run length. We present mathematical models for the loss process of the MMPP+M/D/1/K and the MMPP+M/M/1/K queues; we validate the models via simulations, and compare the results to simulation results with an MPEG-4 coded video trace. We conclude that the deterministic packet size distribution (PSD) not only results in lower stationary loss probability than the exponential one, but also gives a less correlated loss process, both at a particular average link load and at a particular stationary loss probability as seen by the media stream.Our results show that for applications that can only measure the packet loss probability, the effects of the PSD on FEC performance are higher in access networks, where a single multimedia stream might affect the multiplexing behavior. Our results show that the effects of the PSD on FEC performance are higher in access networks, where a single multimedia stream might affect the multiplexing behavior and thus can improve the queuing performance by decreasing the variance of its PSD.     

Proteolytic cleavage of MHC class I by complement C1-esterases--an overlooked mechanism?

This paper reviews recent changes in morbidity and mortality of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in infants with congenital heart disease. Mortality since the late 1970s has declined substantially, from approximately 37% to 3%. Although the frequency of admission to intensive care units has declined from approximately 60% to 30%, the frequency for mechanical ventilatory support has not changed significantly. Because mortality dropped prior to the widespread use of ribavirin, it is difficult to ascribe the improvement to this therapy. In infants with congenital heart disease (CHD), nosocomial infection remains a significant problem, accounting for approximately 33% of the RSV cases. Some authors report significant reductions in hospital-acquired RSV by use of gloves and gowns for contacts with infectious cases. Efforts at primary prevention have encountered problems with development of an RSV vaccine. Preliminary data from studies of passive immunization using immune globulins with high RSV antibody titers suggest that this therapy may reduce the severity of RSV infection in infants with serious heart disease.     

Effective modelling of percolation at the landscape scale using data-based approaches

Process-based models have been extensively applied to assess the impact of landuse change on water quantity and quality at landscape scales. However, the routine application of those models suffers from large computational efforts, lack of transparency and the requirement of many input parameters. Data-based models such as Feed-Forward Multilayer Perceptrons (MLP) and Classification and Regression Trees (CART) may be used as effective models, i.e. simple approximations of complex process-based models. These data-based approaches can subsequently be applied for scenario analysis and as a transparent management tool provided climatic boundary conditions and the basic model assumptions of the process-based models do not change dramatically. In this study, we apply MLP, CART and Multiple Linear Regression (LR) to model the spatially distributed and spatially aggregated percolation in soils using weather, groundwater and soil data. The percolation data is obtained via numerical experiments with Hydrus1D. Thus, the complex process-based model is approximated using simpler data-based approaches. The MLP model explains most of the percolation variance in time and space without using any soil information. This reflects the effective dimensionality of the process-based model and suggests that percolation in the study area may be modelled much simpler than using Hydrus1D. The CART model shows that soil properties play a negligible role for percolation under wet climatic conditions. However, they become more important if the conditions turn drier. The LR method does not yield satisfactory predictions for the spatially distributed percolation however the spatially aggregated percolation is well approximated. This may indicate that the soils behave simpler (i.e. more linear) when percolation dynamics are upscaled.     

Hormonal regulation of the estrogen receptor in primary cultures of hepatocytes from female rats

Estrogen treatment affects the hepatic synthesis and/or secretion of several proteins involved in clinically important pathological processes such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, and thrombosis. The endocrine regulation of the estrogen receptor (ER) concentration in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes was studied. Human growth hormone (hGH) and dexamethasone (DEX) in combination increased ER concentration 6-fold and ER mRNA levels 2.5-fold. These effects were not significantly different from those observed after treatment with the purely somatogenic bovine growth hormone (GH) in combination with DEX. Treatment with the lactogen ovine prolactin in the presence or absence of DEX did not significantly affect ER or ER mRNA concentrations. Triiodothyronine treatment at the most effective concentration (50 nM) increased ER and ER mRNA levels twofold. Medium supplementation with estradiol (0.1 nM) throughout the experiment did not affect the response to treatment with hGH and DEX. Treatment with high concentrations of ethinylestradiol in combination with hGH and DEX, however, increased the ER level twice as much as hGH and DEX without addition of estradiol or ethinylestradiol, whereas the ER mRNA concentration was the same in both the GH+DEX group and GH+ DEX+ (estradiol or ethinylestradiol) groups. These data indicate the importance of GH in combination with glucocorticoids for the maintenance of ER concentrations in the rat liver. Thyroid hormones may be of some, although minor importance, whereas the data suggest that prolactin is not directly involved in hepatic ER regulation.     

Fibrinolytic variables and cardiovascular prognosis in patients with stable angina pectoris treated with verapamil or metoprolol. Results from the Angina Prognosis study in Stockholm

BACKGROUND: Disturbed fibrinolytic function may influence the progression of coronary atherosclerosis and contribute to thrombotic cardiovascular (CV) events. METHODS AND RESULTS: In the Angina Prognosis Study in Stockholm (APSIS), patients with stable angina pectoris were studied prospectively during double-blind treatment with metoprolol or verapamil. Various measures of fibrinolytic function were studied in 631 (of 809) patients. During a median follow-up time of 3.2 years (2132 patient-years), 32 patients suffered a CV death, 21 had a nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), and 77 underwent revascularization. Plasma levels of tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) activity and antigen (ag), plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) activity at test, and TPA responses to exercise were determined at baseline and after 1 month's treatment and were related to subsequent fatal and nonfatal CV events. Univariate Cox regression analysis revealed that elevated levels of TPA-ag at rest (P < .05), high PAI-1 activity (P < .05), and low TPA-ag responses to exercise (P < .05) were associated with increased risk of subsequent CV death. After adjustment for baseline risk factors, TPA-ag independently predicted CV death or MI. In addition, PAI-1 activity independently predicted CV death or MI in male patients. Verapamil treatment was associated with a 10% decrease of TPA-ag levels and metoprolol treatment with a 2% increase (P < .001 for treatment difference). CONCLUSIONS: Plasma TPA-ag levels at rest, and among male patients PAI-1 activity as well, independently predict subsequent CV death or MI in patients with stable angina pectoris.     

Composite polytetrafluroethylene/vein bypass grafts: conventional distal vein segment or vein cuff?

Faecal samples from asymptomatic dairy cows and calves from a farm on the Island Falster, Denmark, were examined by a sucrose gradient flotation technique. Giardia cysts were found in 7.6% of the 92 samples, and estimated cyst excretion rates ranged from 50-200 cysts per gram faeces. Given that Giardia has the potential to cause clinical disease in cattle and to be transmitted to other animal species and humans, finding the parasite in cattle may be of major epidemiological significance. Future work should focus on elucidating the pathogenicity, transmission patterns and the genetic structure of Giardia populations in cattle in Denmark.     

Gambling in Norway: An obscure activity?

Suggests that it is difficult to get an exact account of gambling behavior in Norway. It appears that gambling behavior in Norway has increased 50% during the observed 5-yr period. Little is known about the prevalence of problematic gambling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)