Role of non-lipid risk factors like hs-CRP, uric acid and thyroid stimulating hormone in metabolic syndrome

Background: Metabolic syndrome is the cluster of diseases which arises due to excess of plasma glucose, cholesterol, fatty acids, blood pressure and obesity. The role of lipids in the development of MetS had been extensively studied. Though some non-lipid factors like hsCRP, uric acid and TSH level also remain elevated in the serum of the MetS patients, the role of these non-lipid risk factors remain incompletely understood. The objective of this study was to investigate which of these factors better predicts Mets, in order to help prevention and early detection of MetS and its associated type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Aim and objectives was to study the significance of serum highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), serum uric acid (SUA) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels in metabolic syndrome.Methods: A total of four hundred and fifty subjects (211 men and 239 women) aged ≥35 years attending the hospital were divided into three groups based on the components level of MetS as control (CS), normal (MS) and severe (SMS) MetS groups. Their fasting blood sample were taken and analyzed for the serum hs-CRP, uric acid and TSH levels. The result showed that the mean hs-CRP and uric acid levels were significantly higher in Metabolic Syndrome group (MS) and in Severe Metabolic Syndrome group (SMS) when compared to control group. But the mean TSH levels were more in MS group and in SMS group than the control which was statistically not significant. The analysis of relative significance of these risk factors showed that serum hs-CRP level had a positive linear correlation with the severity of MetS whereas, the TSH level was significantly high only in SMS and the uric acid level was not correlated with the MetS.Results: Our study revealed that type II (absence of sutural bones) was commoner than type I (presence of type I) asterion. The asterion was 4.82±0.58 cm from tip of the mastoid process on the right side and 4.70±0.70 cm on the left. It was greater in males than in females, p value being statistically significant (P = 0.00 and P = 0.02 for right and left sides respectively). The distance of asterion from supramastoid crest was 4.22±0.73 cm on the right and 4.23±0.58 cm on the left. The distance in males was more than in females. The P value 0.00 was statistically significant on the right side. Regarding the position of the asterion in relation to transverse sinus, it was on the transverse sinus in 62% cases, below it in 32% and above in 6%.Conclusions: In the present study, there was higher mean serum hs-CRP level in patients with metabolic syndrome which showed a linear increase with increasing number of components of the metabolic syndrome. Though available literature indicated that hyperuricemia adult subjects tend to develop MetS more frequently our findings showed this increase was not dependent on the severity of MetS. Also, significantly high TSH levels were found only in severe MetS suggest that as per this study the serum hs-CRP values may be consider as the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome and helps to improve future prediction of development of type 2 DM and cardiovascular diseases

Constraining Proton Lifetime in SO(10) with Stabilized Doublet-Triplet Splitting

We present a class of realistic unified models based on supersymmetric SO(10) wherein issues related to natural doublet-triplet (DT) splitting are fully resolved. Using a minimal set of low dimensional Higgs fields which includes a single adjoint, we show that the Dimopoulos--Wilzcek mechanism for DT splitting can be made stable in the presence of all higher order operators without having pseudo-Goldstone bosons and flat directions. The \mu term of order TeV is found to be naturally induced. A Z_2-assisted anomalous U(1)_A gauge symmetry plays a crucial role in achieving these results. The threshold corrections to alpha_3(M_Z), somewhat surprisingly, are found to be controlled by only a few effective parameters. This leads to a very predictive scenario for proton decay. As a novel feature, we find an interesting correlation between the d=6 (p\to e^+\pi^0) and d=5 (p\to \nu-bar K+) decay amplitudes which allows us to derive a constrained upper limit on the inverse rate of the e^+\pi^0 mode. Our results show that both modes should be observed with an improvement in the current sensitivity by about a factor of five to ten.Comment: 21 pages LaTeX, 2 figures, Few explanatory sentences and three new references added, minor typos corrected

Eliminating the d=5 proton decay operators from SUSY GUTs

A general analysis is made of the question whether the d=5 proton decay operators coming from exchange of colored Higgsinos can be completely eliminated in a natural way in supersymmetric grand unified models. It is shown that they can indeed be in SO(10) while at the same time naturally solving the doublet-triplet splitting problem, having only two light Higgs doublets, and using no more than a single adjoint Higgs field. Accomplishing all of this requires that the vacuum expectation value of the adjoint Higgs field be proportional to the generator I_{3R} rather than to B-L, as is usually assumed. It is shown that such models can give realistic quark and lepton masses. We also point out a new mechanism for solving the \mu problem in the context of SO(10) SUSY GUTs.Comment: 24 pages in LaTeX, with 3 figure

Low Energy Neutrino Physics after SNO and KamLAND

In the recent years important discoveries in the field of low energy neutrino physics (E$_\nu$ in the $\approx$ MeV range) have been achieved. Results of the solar neutrino experiment SNO show clearly flavor transitions from $\nu_e$ to $\nu_{\mu,\tau}$. In addition, the long standing solar neutrino problem is basically solved. With KamLAND, an experiment measuring neutrinos emitted from nuclear reactors at large distances, evidence for neutrino oscillations has been found. The values for the oscillation parameters, amplitude and phase, have been restricted. In this paper the potential of future projects in low energy neutrino physics is discussed. This encompasses future solar and reactor experiments as well as the direct search for neutrino masses. Finally the potential of a large liquid scintillator detector in an underground laboratory for supernova neutrino detection, solar neutrino detection, and the search for proton decay $p \to K^+ \nu$ is discussed.Comment: Invited brief review, World Scientific Publishing Compan

Enhanced self-field critical current density of nano-composite YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7) thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ EPLA, 2008.Enhanced self-field critical current density Jc of novel, high-temperature superconducting thin films is reported. Layers are deposited on (001) MgO substrates by laser ablation of YBa2Cu3O7−δ(Y-123) ceramics containing Y2Ba4CuMOx (M-2411, M=Ag, Nb, Ru, Zr) nano-particles. The Jc of films depends on the secondary-phase content of the ceramic targets, which was varied between 0 and 15 mol%. Composite layers (2 mol% of Ag-2411 and Nb-2411) exhibit Jc values at 77 K of up to 5.1 MA/cm2, which is 3 to 4 times higher than those observed in films deposited from phase pure Y-123 ceramics. Nb-2411 grows epitaxially in the composite layers and the estimated crystallite size is ~10 nm.The Austrian Science Fund, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour, the European Science Foundation and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan

Influence of gas flow rate on liquid distribution in trickle-beds using perforated plates as liquid distributors

Two wire mesh tomography devices and a liquid collector were used to study the influence of the gas flow rate on liquid distribution when fluids distribution on top of the reactor is ensured by a perforated plate. In opposition to most of the studies realized by other authors, conditions in which the gas has a negative impact in liquid distribution were evidenced. Indeed, the obtained results show that the influence of gas flow rate depends on the quality of the initial distribution, as the gas forces the liquid to "respect" the distribution imposed at the top of the reactor. Finally, a comparison between the two measuring techniques shows the limitations of the liquid collector and the improper conclusions to which its use could lead