The association between glycated haemoglobin and waist circumference in the US population

INTRODUCTION: Glycated haemoglobin (A1C) is now used for the diagnosis of diabetes and pre-diabetes. As these are related to obesity, we studied their relationship with waist circumference. METHODS: We analysed data on 960 men and 1001 women who participated in the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-08. Participants who were older than 20 years, had …published_or_final_versionThe 17th Medical Research Conference, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 14 January 2012. In Hong Kong Medical Journal, 2012, v. 18 suppl. 1, p. 43, abstract no. 6

The interplay of dental pulp stem cells and endothelial cells in an injectable peptide hydrogel on angiogenesis and pulp regeneration in vivo

Securing an adequate blood supply for the survival of cell transplants is critical for a successful outcome in tissue engineering. Interactions between endothelial and progenitor/stem cells are important for vascularization of regenerating tissue. Recently, self-assembling peptide nanofibers were described as a promising environment for pulp regeneration due to their synthetic nature and controlled physicochemical properties. In this study, the peptide hydrogel PuraMatrix™ was used as a scaffold system to investigate the role of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) in triggering angiogenesis and the potential for regenerating vascularized pulp in vivo. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), DPSCs, or cocultures of both cell types were encapsulated in three-dimensional PuraMatrix. The peptide nanofiber microenvironment supported cell survival, cell migration, and capillary network formation in the absence of exogenous growth factors. DPSCs increased early vascular network formation by facilitating the migration of HUVECs and by increasing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. Both the DPSC-monoculture and coculture groups exhibited vascularized pulp-like tissue with patches of osteodentin after transplantation in mice. The cocultured groups exhibited more extracellular matrix, vascularization, and mineralization than the DPSC-monocultures in vivo. The DPSCs play a critical role in initial angiogenesis, whereas coordinated efforts by the HUVECs and DPSCs are required to achieve a balance between extracellular matrix deposition and mineralization. The findings of this study also highlighted the importance of a microenvironment that supports cell-cell interactions and cell migration, which contribute to successful dental pulp regeneration.published_or_final_versio

A Statistical Solution to a Text Decoding Challenge Problem

Given an encoded unknown text message in the form of a three dimensional spatial series generated by the use of four smooth nonlinear functions, we use a method based on simple statistical reasoning to pick up samples for rebuilding the four functions. The estimated functions are then used to decode the sequence. The experimental results show that our method gives a nearly perfect decoding, enabling us to submit a 100% accurate solution to the IJCNN challenge proble

Fungicidal activity of Histain-5 against Candida species

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Identification of differential pharyngeal cytokine profiles during HIV infection

Poster Presentation: no. P90BACKGROUND: Significantly higher pharyngeal shedding of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is observed during HIV infection. Increased EBV shedding in pharynx is not affected even during highly active antiretroviral theyrapy (HAART). EBV positive monocyte populations have been shown to carry EBV to pharyngeal mucosa. Human cytokine profiles are often altered to facilitate herpes virus infection. Thus pharyngeal cytokine profiles may influence EBV reactivation and shedding during HIV infection. Our objective was to compare 37 pharyngeal cytokine profiles of HIV-seropositive patients who were or were not receiving HAART therapy …published_or_final_versio

Right ventricular responses to CPAP therapy in obstructive sleep apnoea: CMR analysis of the MOSAIC randomised trial

Effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on right ventricular (RV) function in patients with untreated mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are unclear. In this exploratory analysis of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-derived indices of RV function in patients with minimally symptomatic OSA from the MOSAIC randomized control trial we found no effect of CPAP on RV CMR parameters. In those with lower RV ejection fraction and higher RV end-diastolic volume (EDV) at baseline, CPAP treatment appeared to improve RV function with a significant reduction in both RV EDV and RV end-systolic volume although between-group effects were not observed. These data suggest potential merit in a larger randomized study of CPAP in patients with mild-to-moderate OSA and a greater breadth of RV dysfunction

The Polonnaruwa meteorite: oxygen isotope, crystalline and biological composition

Results of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, Triple Oxygen Isotope analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) studies are presented for stone fragments recovered from the North Central Province of Sri Lanka following a witnessed fireball event on 29 December 2012. The existence of numerous nitrogen depleted highly carbonaceous fossilized biological structures fused into the rock matrix is inconsistent with recent terrestrial contamination. Oxygen isotope results compare well with those of CI and CI-like chondrites but are inconsistent with the fulgurite hypothesis.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 4 table

Evaluation of Earthworm Species and Bedding Material Collected from Tea Plantations for Vermicomposting in Sri Lanka

Earthworms has the ability to convert organic waste into compost and this process is known as vermicomposting. This study was conducted to evaluate the suitability of three common earthworm species and four waste material collected from tea plantations as bedding material for earthworms in producing vermicompost. Three experiments were conducted and the experimental design was a Complete Randomized Design with three replicates. In the first experiment, four bedding materials that is leaves of Gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) and Mana (Cymbopogon confertiflorus), tea prunings and refuse tea were composted using earthworm species Eudrilus euginea. Each waste material was mixed with cow dung and poultry manure, separately before using them as bedding material. The results showed that these material can be used for producing high quality vermicompost. In the second experiment three earthworm species Eisenia foetida, Periyonix excavator and Eudrilus euginea which were commonly recorded from Sri Lankan soils were evaluated for vermicomposting. Vermicomposting has increased the quality of organic material but the mean differences in nutrient levels in relation to earthworm species were non-significant (P=0.05). This indicates the suitability of all three species for vermicomposting. In the third experiment three soil amendments, vermicompost produced using Eudrilus euginea, garden compost and inorganic fertilizer were compared using tomato as an indicator crop. Vermicompost applied treatment showed significantly higher (