Hypoglycemia with insulin and sulfonylureas

Clinical Inquiries question: In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), does the combination of insulin and sulfonylurea (SU) increase the risk of hypoglycemia? Evidence-based answer: The incidence of severe hypoglycemia in patients with T2DM taking insulin alone, SU alone, or the combination of insulin and SU is low (strength of recommendation [SOR] A based on a systematic review of randomized controlled trials). The combination of insulin and SU in patients with T2DM does increase the risk of hypoglycemia; however, the clinical significance of this risk is small (SOR B based on 4 large retrospective cohort studies). Of note, patients 65 years and older are at an increased risk of hypoglycemia compared with younger patients, although the clinical significance has not been specified (SOR B based on 2 large retrospective cohort studies).Karyn B. Kolman, MD; Joshua Freeman, MD; Carol L. Howe, MD, MLSDr Kolman is Assistant Professor and Dr Freeman is Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Dr Howe is a librarian in the Health Sciences Library at the University of Arizona.Includes bibliographical reference

Simultaneous Border-Collision and Period-Doubling Bifurcations

We unfold the codimension-two simultaneous occurrence of a border-collision bifurcation and a period-doubling bifurcation for a general piecewise-smooth, continuous map. We find that, with sufficient non-degeneracy conditions, a locus of period-doubling bifurcations emanates non-tangentially from a locus of border-collision bifurcations. The corresponding period-doubled solution undergoes a border-collision bifurcation along a curve emanating from the codimension-two point and tangent to the period-doubling locus here. In the case that the map is one-dimensional local dynamics are completely classified; in particular, we give conditions that ensure chaos.Comment: 22 pages; 5 figure

Designing the unambiguous discriminator from the one -photon interferometer

In this paper, we shall show that the question of quanum state unambiguous discrimination can be solved by reducing it to the known problem of quantum states filtering.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

A taxonomy of multinational ethical and methodological standards for clinical trials of therapeutic interventions

BACKGROUND: If trials of therapeutic interventions are to serve society’s interests, they must be of high methodological quality and must satisfy moral commitments to human subjects. The authors set out to develop a clinical-trials compendium in which standards for the ethical treatment of human subjects are integrated with standards for research methods. METHODS: The authors rank-ordered the world’s nations and chose the 31 with >700 active trials as of 24 July 2008. Governmental and other authoritative entities of the 31 countries were searched, and 1004 English-language documents containing ethical and/or methodological standards for clinical trials were identified. The authors extracted standards from 144 of those: 50 designated as ‘core’, 39 addressing trials of invasive procedures and a 5% sample (N=55) of the remainder. As the integrating framework for the standards we developed a coherent taxonomy encompassing all elements of a trial’s stages. FINDINGS: Review of the 144 documents yielded nearly 15 000 discrete standards. After duplicates were removed, 5903 substantive standards remained, distributed in the taxonomy as follows: initiation, 1401 standards, 8 divisions; design, 1869 standards, 16 divisions; conduct, 1473 standards, 8 divisions; analysing and reporting results, 997 standards, four divisions; and post-trial standards, 168 standards, 5 divisions. CONCLUSIONS: The overwhelming number of source documents and standards uncovered in this study was not anticipated beforehand and confirms the extraordinary complexity of the clinical trials enterprise. This taxonomy of multinational ethical and methodological standards may help trialists and overseers improve the quality of clinical trials, particularly given the globalisation of clinical research

Mitochondrial echoes of first settlement and genetic continuity in El Salvador

Background: From Paleo-Indian times to recent historical episodes, the Mesoamerican isthmus played an important role in the distribution and patterns of variability all around the double American continent. However, the amount of genetic information currently available on Central American continental populations is very scarce. In order to shed light on the role of Mesoamerica in the peopling of the New World, the present study focuses on the analysis of the mtDNA variation in a population sample from El Salvador. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have carried out DNA sequencing of the entire control region of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome in 90 individuals from El Salvador. We have also compiled more than 3,985 control region profiles from the public domain and the literature in order to carry out inter-population comparisons. The results reveal a predominant Native American component in this region: by far, the most prevalent mtDNA haplogroup in this country (at ~90%) is A2, in contrast with other North, Meso- and South American populations. Haplogroup A2 shows a star-like phylogeny and is very diverse with a substantial proportion of mtDNAs (45%; sequence range 16090–16365) still unobserved in other American populations. Two different Bayesian approaches used to estimate admixture proportions in El Salvador shows that the majority of the mtDNAs observed come from North America. A preliminary founder analysis indicates that the settlement of El Salvador occurred about 13,400±5,200 Y.B.P.. The founder age of A2 in El Salvador is close to the overall age of A2 in America, which suggests that the colonization of this region occurred within a few thousand years of the initial expansion into the Americas. Conclusions/Significance: As a whole, the results are compatible with the hypothesis that today's A2 variability in El Salvador represents to a large extent the indigenous component of the region. Concordant with this hypothesis is also the observation of a very limited contribution from European and African women (~5%). This implies that the Atlantic slave trade had a very small demographic impact in El Salvador in contrast to its transformation of the gene pool in neighbouring populations from the Caribbean facade

Nanomaterials to aid wound healing and infection control

The management and treatment of infectious bacterial diseases in wound healing have both become significant research areas in the biomedical field. While current treatments show limitations related to toxicity and exposure time, nanotechnology has become a potential alternative to overcome such challenges. The application of different nanomaterials, with a wide range of elemental compositions, morphologies, and features, has become an essential tool in managing wound healing infections. This book chapter shows an updated view of the newest trends in the control and treatment of bacterial proliferation in the wound bed by utilizing various metal- and nonmetal-based nanostructures

Computation of Invariants of Lie Algebras by Means of Moving Frames

A new purely algebraic algorithm is presented for computation of invariants (generalized Casimir operators) of Lie algebras. It uses the Cartan's method of moving frames and the knowledge of the group of inner automorphisms of each Lie algebra. The algorithm is applied, in particular, to computation of invariants of real low-dimensional Lie algebras. A number of examples are calculated to illustrate its effectiveness and to make a comparison with the same cases in the literature. Bases of invariants of the real solvable Lie algebras up to dimension five, the real six-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebras and the real six-dimensional solvable Lie algebras with four-dimensional nilradicals are newly calculated and listed in tables.Comment: 17 pages, extended versio

Attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU and the European Economic Area in 2015: a population-level modelling analysis

Background: Infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria are threatening modern health care. However, estimating their incidence, complications, and attributable mortality is challenging. We aimed to estimate the burden of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria of public health concern in countries of the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) in 2015, measured in number of cases, attributable deaths, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). Methods: We estimated the incidence of infections with 16 antibiotic resistance–bacterium combinations from European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) 2015 data that was country-corrected for population coverage. We multiplied the number of bloodstream infections (BSIs) by a conversion factor derived from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control point prevalence survey of health-care-associated infections in European acute care hospitals in 2011–12 to estimate the number of non-BSIs. We developed disease outcome models for five types of infection on the basis of systematic reviews of the literature. Findings: From EARS-Net data collected between Jan 1, 2015, and Dec 31, 2015, we estimated 671 689 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 583 148–763 966) infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, of which 63·5% (426 277 of 671 689) were associated with health care. These infections accounted for an estimated 33 110 (28 480–38 430) attributable deaths and 874 541 (768 837–989 068) DALYs. The burden for the EU and EEA was highest in infants (aged <1 year) and people aged 65 years or older, had increased since 2007, and was highest in Italy and Greece. Interpretation: Our results present the health burden of five types of infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria expressed, for the first time, in DALYs. The estimated burden of infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU and EEA is substantial compared with that of other infectious diseases, and has increased since 2007. Our burden estimates provide useful information for public health decision-makers prioritising interventions for infectious diseases