Adiponectin and Cardiac Hypertrophy in Acromegaly

Background. Adiponectin is an adipocytes-derived hormone which has been shown to possess insulin-sensitizing, antiatherogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties. In acromegaly, the data on adiponectin is contradictory. The relationship between adiponectin levels and cardiac parameters has not been studied.Objectives. The aim of this study was to find out how adiponectin levels were affected in acromegalic patients and the relationship between adiponectin levels and cardiac parameters.Material and Methods. We included 30 subjects (15 male, 15 female), diagnosed with acromegaly and 30 healthy (10 male, 20 female) subjects. Serum glucose, insulin, GH, IGF-1 and adiponectin levels were obtained and the insulin resistance of the subjects was calculated. Echocardiographic studies of the subjects were performed.Results. We determined that adiponectin levels were significantly higher in the acromegalic group than the control group. In the acromegalic group, there was no statistically significant relation between serum adiponectin and growth hormone (GH), or insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels (p = 0.3, p = 0.1). We demonstrated that cardiac function and structure are affected by acromegaly. IVST, PWT, LVMI, E/A ratio, DT, ET, IVRT, VPR, and LVESV values were increased and the results were statistically significant. In the acromegalic group, adiponectin levels were positively related with left ventricle mass index (LVMI) but this correlation was found to be statistically weak (p = 0.03). In our study, there was a positive correlation between VAI and LVM. We also could not find any correlation between VAI and adiponectin levels.Conclusions. Although insulin resistance and high insulin levels occur in active acromegaly patients, adiponectin levels were higher in our study as a consequence of GH lowering therapies. Our study showed that adiponectin levels may be an indicator of the cardiac involvement acromegaly. However, the usage of serum adiponectin levels in acromegalic patients as an indicator of cardiac involvement should be supported with other, wide, multi-centered studies

Physico-chemical properties of some polymer blended task specific novel S-(+)-2-3-dihydroxy-N, N, N-tributyl-propanaminiumtriflate and 1-(2-propoxy)- 3-methylimdazolium-borohydride room temperature ionic liquids

Two novel chiral ionic liquids S-(+)-2-3-dihydroxy-N, N, N-tributyl-propanaminiumtriflate and 1-(2-propoxy)-3-methylimdazolium-borohydride have been prepared using conventional metathesis reaction. These ionic liquids have been subjected to solution cast method followed by ultrasonication to obtain the corresponding ionic liquid gel polymer electrolytes with poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene) (PVDF-HFP), free-standing, rubbery, dimensionally stable films with a high degree of transparency have been obtained. Thermo-gravimetric analysis confirms that the intermediate solvent, acetone used for mixing PVDF-HFP polymer with ionic liquid is completely evaporated after gelation and drying process. Further thermal properties have been analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs show the different surface morphology of the gel electrolytes according to nature of the ionic liquid. The structural information has been extracted by X-ray diffraction. The ionic conductivities of both polymer-ionic liquid blends are in the order of 10-3 to 10-5 S cm-1. Electrochemical stability window of these polymer electrolytes ranges from 4.0 to 5.0 V. Various physicochemical properties and fast ion conduction in the gel polymer membranes show their promising characteristics as electrolytes in different ionic devices

Facial mimicry and metacognitive judgments in emotion recognition are distinctly modulated by social anxiety and autistic traits

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Does the unification of health financing affect the distribution pattern of out‐of‐pocket health expenses in Turkey?

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149529/1/ijsw12389_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149529/2/ijsw12389.pd

Clinical Use and Therapeutic Potential of IVIG/SCIG, Plasma-Derived IgA or IgM, and Other Alternative Immunoglobulin Preparations

Intravenous and subcutaneous immunoglobulin preparations, consisting of IgG class antibodies, are increasingly used to treat a broad range of pathological conditions, including humoral immune deficiencies, as well as acute and chronic inflammatory or autoimmune disorders. A plethora of Fab- or Fc-mediated immune regulatory mechanisms has been described that might act separately or in concert, depending on pathogenesis or stage of clinical condition. Attempts have been undertaken to improve the efficacy of polyclonal IgG preparations, including the identification of relevant subfractions, mild chemical modification of molecules, or modification of carbohydrate side chains. Furthermore, plasma-derived IgA or IgM preparations may exhibit characteristics that might be exploited therapeutically. The need for improved treatment strategies without increase in plasma demand is a goal and might be achieved by more optimal use of plasma-derived proteins, including the IgA and the IgM fractions. This article provides an overview on the current knowledge and future strategies to improve the efficacy of regular IgG preparations and discusses the potential of human plasma-derived IgA, IgM, and preparations composed of mixtures of IgG, IgA, and IgM

Artificial neural network (ANN) approach for modelling of pile settlement of open-ended steel piles subjected to compression load

This study was devoted to examine pile bearing capacity and to provide a reliable model to simulate pile load-settlement behaviour using a new artificial neural network (ANN) method. To achieve the planned aim, experimental pile load test were carried out on model open-ended steel piles, with pile aspect ratios of 12, 17, and 25. An optimised second-order Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) training algorithm has been used in this process. The piles were driven in three sand densities; dense, medium, and loose. A statistical analysis test was conducted to explore the relative importance and the statistical contribution (Beta and Sig) values of the independent variables on the model output. Pile effective length, pile flexural rigidity, applied load, sand-pile friction angle and pile aspect ratio have been identified to be the most effective parameters on model output. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, a graphical comparison was performed between the implemented algorithm and the most conventional pile capacity design approaches. The proficiency metric indicators demonstrated an outstanding agreement between the measured and predicted pile-load settlement, thus yielding a correlation coefficient (R) and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.99, 0.043 respectively, with a relatively insignificant mean square error level (MSE) of 0.0019. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group