Milk from cows fed a diet with a high forage:concentrate ratio improves inflammatory state,oxidative stress,and mitochondrial function in rats

Excessive energy intake may evoke complex biochemical processes characterized by inflammation, oxidative stress, and impairment of mitochondrial function that represent the main factors underlying noncommunicable diseases. Because cow milk is widely used for human nutrition and in food industry processing, the nutritional quality of milk is of special interest with respect to human health. In our study, we analyzed milk produced by dairy cows fed a diet characterized by a high forage:concentrate ratio (high forage milk, HFM). In view of the low n-6:n-3 ratio and high content of conjugated linoleic acid of HFM, we studied the effects of this milk on lipid metabolism, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress in a rat model. To this end, we supplemented for 4 wk the diet of male Wistar rats with HFM and with an isocaloric amount (82 kJ, 22 mL/d) of milk obtained from cows fed a diet with low forage:concentrate ratio, and analyzed the metabolic parameters of the animals. Our results indicate that HFM may positively affect lipid metabolism, leptin:adiponectin ratio, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress, providing the first evidence of the beneficial effects of HFM on rat metabolism.     

Adrenocorticotropin and cortisol hyperresponsiveness to hexarelin in patients with Cushing's disease bearing a pituitary microadenoma, but not in those with macroadenoma

We previously reported that in Cushing's disease (CD) the ACTH- and cortisol (F)-releasing activity of Hexarelin (HEX), a GH secretagogue, is exaggerated with respect to that in normal subjects and is higher than that of human CRH (hCRH), but it is absent in Cushing's syndrome. Our aim was to extend the study about the effects of HEX (2.0 microg/kg, iv) on ACTH and F secretion in 21 patients with CD (3 men and 18 women, 16-68 yr old). Based on magnetic resonance imaging, 15 CD patients had pituitary microadenoma, and 6 had macroadenoma. The results in CD patients were compared with those in 27 normal age-matched controls (NS; 10 men and 17 women, 24-69 yr old). Basal ACTH and F levels in CD were similar in patients with microadenom (mean+/-SEM, 78.3+/-7.2 pg/mL and 237.1+/-23.6 microg/L, respectively) and macroadenoma (57.4+/-9.0 pg/mL and 196.9+/-20.1 microg/L, respectively) and were higher (P < 0.001) than those in NS (17.7+/-2.0 pg/mL and 115.3+/-6.7 microg/L, respectively). In microadenoma CD patients, HEX induced marked ACTH and F increases (delta peak, mean+/-SEM: 261.2+/-77.6 pg/mL and 226.1+/-87.2 microg/L, respectively), which were higher (P < 0.04) than those induced by hCRH (45.6+/-16.9 pg/mL and 84.6+/-25.7 microg/L, respectively). Moreover, in microadenoma CD patients, the ACTH and F responses to HEX were higher (P < 0.001) than those in NS (18.5+/-4.0 pg/mL and 36.1+/-6.8 microg/L, respectively). In macroadenoma CD patients, HEX induced a slight, but significant increase (P < 0.02) in ACTH and F levels (33.9+/-18.0 pg/mL and 89.6+/-34.3 microg/L, respectively), which was not significantly different from that elicited by hCRH (20.0+/-7.0 pg/mL and 54.8+/-21.3 microg/L, respectively). In macroadenoma CD patients, the ACTH and F responses to HEX and hCRH were, in turn, similar to those in NS. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the ACTH and F hyperresponsiveness to HEX is present in Cushing's disease with micro-, but not macro- ACTH-secreting pituitary adenoma. This finding agrees with other evidence pointing toward differences in the hormonal behavior between micro- and ACTH-secreting pituitary macroadenomas.     

Advances in speech transcription at IBM under the DARPA EARS program

This paper describes the technical and system building advances made in IBM's speech recognition technology over the course of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Effective Affordable Reusable Speech-to-Text (EARS) program. At a technical level, these advances include the development of a new form of feature-based minimum phone error training (fMPE), the use of large-scale discriminatively trained full-covariance Gaussian models, the use of septaphone acoustic context in static decoding graphs, and improvements in basic decoding algorithms. At a system building level, the advances include a system architecture based on cross-adaptation and the incorporation of 2100 h of training data in every system component. We present results on English conversational telephony test data from the 2003 and 2004 NIST evaluations. The combination of technical advances and an order of magnitude more training data in 2004 reduced the error rate on the 2003 test set by approximately 21% relative-from 20.4% to 16.1%-over the most accurate system in the 2003 evaluation and produced the most accurate results on the 2004 test sets in every speed category.     

Modeling Crosstalk Effects in CNT Bus Architectures

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been widely proposed as interconnect fabric for nano and very deep submicron (silicon-based) technologies due to their robustness to electromigration. In this paper, issues associated with crosstalk among bus lines implemented by CNTs are investigated in detail. CNT-based interconnects are modeled and the effects of crosstalk on performance and correct operation are evaluated by simulation. Existing models are modified to account for geometries in bus architectures made of parallel single-walled nanotubes and a single multiwalled nanotube. New RLC equivalent circuits are proposed for these bus architectures. A novel bus architecture with low crosstalk features is also proposed. This bus architecture is made of dual-walled nanotubes arranged in parallel. In this architecture, the crosstalk-induced delay and corresponding uncertainty (as well as crosstalk-induced peak voltage) are significantly reduced; a modest area penalty is incurred. Reductions up to 59% for the crosstalk-induced delay and up to 81% for the crosstalk-induced peak voltage are reported. These results confirm that the proposed bus arrangement noticeably improves performance and provides reliable operation     

An evolutionary approach to visual sensing for vehicle navigation

This paper presents an evolutionary approach able to process a digital image and detect tracks left by preceding vehicles on ice and snow in Antarctica. Biologically inspired by a colony of ants able to interact and cooperate to determine the shortest path to the food, this approach is based on autonomous agents moving along the image pixels and iteratively improving an initial coarse solution. The unfriendly Antarctic environment makes this image analysis problem extremely challenging, since light reflections, abruptly varying brightness conditions, and different terrain slopes must be considered as well. The ant-based approach is compared to a more traditional Hough-based solution and the results are discussed.     

Estimation of the angle between ultrasound beam and blood velocitythrough correlation functions

Correlation functions, calculated on the ultrasonic echoes scattered by blood, provide a rich harvest of information concerning the local speed, which has often been underestimated; in particular, blood flow measurement usually yields only the longitudinal component of the velocity, even if significant information about the speed direction can be extracted. In this paper it is shown how correlation functions, calculated on the dependency of both time and space displacements, allow us to evaluate the angle Θ between ultrasound beam and blood flow; when straight vessels are considered, this single parameter, combined with the longitudinal velocity profile, permits the complete hemodynamic characterization. The underlying theory is developed and preliminary experimental results are presented     

The Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm revisited

We propose a slight modification of the Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm for obtaining the minimal polynomial of a given linearly recurrent sequence. Such a modification enables to explain it in a simpler way and to adapt it to lazy evaluation. partially supported by the Galois Theory and Explicit Methods in Arithmetic Project HPRN-CT-2000-00114 partially supported by the European Union funded project RAAG CT-2001-00271     

Surface geometry of slide bearings after percussive burnishing

A review of literature about the effect of oil pockets on improvement of sliding elements tribological performance as well as about the changes of surface topography during “zero-wear” process is shown. The paper presents also the results of experimental investigations done in the Department of Manufacturing Processes and Production Organisation of Rzeszow University of Technology, connected with the creation of oil pockets on sliding surfaces. In order to simulate a deterministic surface a program for the visualisation of pits was written. The procedures for assessment of the oil pocket size of specific shape and oil pockets coverage are presented. The tendencies of changes of surface topography and oil pockets dimensions during “zero-wear” process are also described.