Cardio metabolic risk factors for atrial fibrillation in type 2 diabetes mellitus: Focus on hypertension, metabolic syndrome and obesity

Objective. Atrial fibrillation (AF) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been little explored so far. However, there are several cardio metabolic risk factors for AF in T2DM patients, such as arterial hypertension, obesity or the metabolic syndrome. Our objective was to evaluate cardio metabolic risk factors for AF in T2DM patients. Methods. We studied the medical records of T2DM patients hospitalized in the Internal Medicine department of an emergency referral hospital in Bucharest, Romania. The study was observational, retrospective and carried out between January-June 2018. Results. The study group included 221 T2DM patients (with a mean age of 68.65 ± 10.64, ranging between 37-93 years): 116 women (52.49%; with a mean age of 70.53 ± 10.69, ranging between 37-93 years) and 105 men (47.51%; with a mean age of 66.57 ± 10.23, ranging between 38-91 years). 92 patients had AF (41.63%): 40 women (34.48%) and 52 men (49.52%). 180 patients (81.45%) were hypertensive: 103 women (88.79%) and 77 men (73.33%). 113 patients (51.13%) had metabolic syndrome: 58 women (50.00%) and 55 men (52.38%). 77 patients (34.84%) were obese: 45 women (38.79%) and 32 men (30.48%). AF patients associated obesity in 26 cases (28.26%), hypertension in 73 cases (79.35%) and metabolic syndrome in 56 cases (60.87%). Conclusions. Out of the study group, 92 T2DM patients (41.63%) had AF, men being more likely to suffer from AF than women (p=0.0288). Hypertension affected 180 patients (81.45%) and in greater proportion women vs. men (p=0.0051). The metabolic syndrome and obesity were discovered in 113 patients (51.13%) and 77 patients (34.84%), respectively, with no significant differences in terms of gender. In our research, the highest cardio metabolic risk factors for AF in T2DM were hypertension (OR = 3.6675) and the metabolic syndrome (OR = 3.3388)

Step instability and island formation during annealing of pseudomorphic InGaAs/GaAs layers

The morphological stability of compressively strained In0.27Ga0.73As/GaAsIn0.27Ga0.73As/GaAs pseudomorphic layers has been investigated during annealing. Large three-dimensional islands form at the beginning of annealing on initially flat surfaces, likely to relieve strain energy. The islands disappear with increasing annealing, being reabsorbed into the terraces. At the same time, the step line destabilizes forming cusps that inject two-dimensional vacancy islands into the terrace. At high temperatures, this process leads to a severe deterioration of the morphology that is not due to decomposition. The island dissolution and the development of the step instability are likely alternative paths towards the reduction of surface energy. © 2003 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71229/2/APPLAB-83-22-4518-1.pd

Einstein’s Equation in Nuclear and Solar Energy

Starting from the equation of Einstein (E = m·c2), the chapter proposes a simple and fundamental presentation of the fission and fusion principles, together with some of their applications: nuclear reactors and nuclear propulsion vessels and submarines. Fission and fusion are chosen between the multiple forms of energy, as being the most important forms of nuclear energy, directly related with the equation of Einstein. Some characteristics of solar energy, produced from the fusion process inside the Sun, are deducted from the same equation of Einstein: thermal power of solar radiation; specific power of solar radiation; surface temperature of the Sun; solar constant on different planets, etc. The yearly variation of the solar radiation on each planet of the solar system is also presented

Encrypted control for networked systems -- An illustrative introduction and current challenges

Cloud computing and distributed computing are becoming ubiquitous in many modern control systems such as smart grids, building automation, robot swarms or intelligent transportation systems. Compared to "isolated" control systems, the advantages of cloud-based and distributed control systems are, in particular, resource pooling and outsourcing, rapid scalability, and high performance. However, these capabilities do not come without risks. In fact, the involved communication and processing of sensitive data via public networks and on third-party platforms promote, among other cyberthreats, eavesdropping and manipulation of data. Encrypted control addresses this security gap and provides confidentiality of the processed data in the entire control loop. This paper presents a tutorial-style introduction to this young but emerging field in the framework of secure control for networked dynamical systems.Comment: The paper is a preprint of an accepted paper in the IEEE Control Systems Magazin

A combination of imaging techniques for dental medicine: from X-rays radiography and 3D CBCT to OCT

The assessment of dental issues is done nowadays both clinically and radiologically. The latter includes radiographs that are based on X-ray radiation, i.e. intraoral radiography, panoramic radiography, and three-dimensional (3D) cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). In several cases, radiographs have limitations, as they do not reveal dental issues such as small cavities, enamel cracks, or tooth erosion. These aspects can be visible with another medical imaging technique, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). The aim of this study is to present a few results obtained with an in-house developed swept-source OCT (SS-OCT) system on several dental issues that cannot be visible on radiographs. These results prove that OCT can be utilized in dentistry, with advantages such as radiation free technique and superior resolution. This study presents both radiography and OCT images for different dental issues which include small cavities, metal crowns cracks, or crowns manufactured with different materials (i.e., zirconia, ceramics, or composite). Firstly, samples have been analyzed radiologically and some abnormalities could be detected, but they could be correctly assessed. Secondly, these abnormalities have been analyzed with the SS-OCT system and finally all images and collected data from both medical imaging techniques have been compared. One of the conclusions is that OCT is more appropriate than radiography for several dental issues such as those presented in this study. These two medical imaging techniques can therefore be complementary in dental medicine

A finite temperature investigation of dual superconductivity in the modified SO(3) lattice gauge theory

We study the SO(3) lattice gauge theory in 3+1 dimensions with the adjoint Wilson action modified by a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ monopole suppression term and by means of the Pisa disorder operator. We find evidence for a finite temperature deconfinement transition driven by the condensation of U(1) magnetic charges. A finite-size scaling test shows consistency with the critical exponents of the 3D Ising model.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. Layout changed, figures, text and references added. To appear on Physics Letters

Global Jacquet-Langlands correspondence, multiplicity one and classification of automorphic representations

In this paper we show a local Jacquet-Langlands correspondence for all unitary irreducible representations. We prove the global Jacquet-Langlands correspondence in characteristic zero. As consequences we obtain the multiplicity one and strong multiplicity one theorems for inner forms of GL(n) as well as a classification of the residual spectrum and automorphic representations in analogy with results proved by Moeglin-Waldspurger and Jacquet-Shalika for GL(n).Comment: 49 pages; Appendix by N. Grba

Degenerate distributions in complex Langevin dynamics: one-dimensional QCD at finite chemical potential

We demonstrate analytically that complex Langevin dynamics can solve the sign problem in one-dimensional QCD in the thermodynamic limit. In particular, it is shown that the contributions from the complex and highly oscillating spectral density of the Dirac operator to the chiral condensate are taken into account correctly. We find an infinite number of classical fixed points of the Langevin flow in the thermodynamic limit. The correct solution originates from a continuum of degenerate distributions in the complexified space.Comment: 20 pages, several eps figures, minor comments added, to appear in JHE

Hybrid Monte Carlo with Fat Link Fermion Actions

The use of APE smearing or other blocking techniques in lattice fermion actions can provide many advantages. There are many variants of these fat link actions in lattice QCD currently, such as FLIC fermions. The FLIC fermion formalism makes use of the APE blocking technique in combination with a projection of the blocked links back into the special unitary group. This reunitarisation is often performed using an iterative maximisation of a gauge invariant measure. This technique is not differentiable with respect to the gauge field and thus prevents the use of standard Hybrid Monte Carlo simulation algorithms. The use of an alternative projection technique circumvents this difficulty and allows the simulation of dynamical fat link fermions with standard HMC and its variants. The necessary equations of motion for FLIC fermions are derived, and some initial simulation results are presented. The technique is more general however, and is straightforwardly applicable to other smearing techniques or fat link actions