Metabolism of a Lipid Nanoemulsion Resembling Low-Density Lipoprotein in Patients with Grade III Obesity

INTRODUCTION: Obesity increases triglyceride levels and decreases high-density lipoprotein concentrations in plasma. Artificial emulsions resembling lipidic plasma lipoprotein structures have been used to evaluate low-density lipoprotein metabolism. In grade III obesity, low density lipoprotein metabolism is poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the kinetics with which a cholesterol-rich emulsion (called a low-density emulsion) binds to low-density lipoprotein receptors in a group of patients with grade III obesity by the fractional clearance rate. METHODS: A low-density emulsion was labeled with [14C]-cholesterol ester and [³H]-triglycerides and injected intravenously into ten normolipidemic non-diabetic patients with grade III obesity [body mass index higher than 40 kg/m²] and into ten non-obese healthy controls. Blood samples were collected over 24 hours to determine the plasma decay curve and to calculate the fractional clearance rate. RESULTS: There was no difference regarding plasma levels of total cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol between the two groups. The fractional clearance rate of triglycerides was 0.086 ± 0.044 in the obese group and 0.122 ± 0.026 in the controls (p = 0.040), and the fractional clearance rate of cholesterol ester (h-1) was 0.052 ± 0.021 in the obese subjects and 0.058 ± 0.015 (p = 0.971) in the controls. CONCLUSION: Grade III obese subjects exhibited normal low-density lipoprotein removal from plasma as tested by the nanoemulsion method, but triglyceride removal was slower

Égalisation par prédiction basée sur des réseaux de neurones et des fonctions objectifs obtenues à partir de la divergence de kullback-leibler et du constant modulus

Une structure de filtrage non linéaire pour l'égalisation aveugle est présentée. Cette structure est basée sur un réseau de neurones, ce qui permet l'inclusion de non linéarités dans la structure du filtre. D'autre part, la stratégie d'apprentissage du réseau est séparée en deux parties : une supervisée et l'autre auto-organisée. La divergence de Kullback-Leibler est utilisée comme base pour une fonction de coût d'une règle d'apprentissage auto-organisée, tandis que le critère du « constant modulus » est utilisé dans la partie supervisée. Les résultats des simulations comparent la performance de cette stratégie par rapport aux stratégies classiques d'égalisation adaptative. Les résultats montrent que, pour certains canaux, la stratégie proposée est plus performante que l'égaliseur à retour des décisions (DFE) supervisé

Secure Analysis of Multi-Antenna Cooperative Networks with Residual Transceiver HIs and CEEs

In this paper, we investigate the secure performance of multi-antenna decode-and-forward (DF) relaying networks where the Nakagami-m fading channel is taken into account. In practice, the joint impact of residual transceiver hardware impairments (HIs) and channel estimation errors (CEEs) on the outage probability and intercept probability is taken into account. Considering HIs and CEEs, an optimal transmit antenna selection (OTAS) scheme is proposed to enhance the secure performance and then a collaborative eavesdropping scheme is proposed. Additionally, we present main channel capacity and intercept capacity of the multi-antenna DF relaying networks. More specifically, we derive exact closed-form expressions for the outage and intercept probabilities. To obtain useful insights into implications of parameters on the secure performance, the asymptotic behaviors for the outage probability are examined in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime and the diversity orders are obtained and discussed. Simulation results confirm the analytical derivations and demonstrate that: 1) As the power distribution coefficient increases, OP decreases, while IP increases; 2) There exist error floors for the outage probability at high SNRs, which is determined by CEEs; 3) The secure performance can be improved by increasing the number of source antennas and artificial noise quantization coefficient, while as the number of eavesdropping increases, the security performance of the system is reduced; 4) There is a trade-off between the outage probability and intercept probability

Chronic kidney disease and valvular heart disease: conclusions from a Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Controversies conference

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major risk factor for valvular heart disease (VHD). Mitral annular and aortic valve calcifications are highly prevalent in CKD patients and commonly lead to valvular stenosis and regurgitation, as well as complications including conduction system abnormalities and endocarditis. VHD, especially mitral regurgitation and aortic stenosis, is associated with significantly reduced survival among CKD patients. Knowledge related to VHD in the general population is not always applicable to CKD patients because the pathophysiology may be different, and CKD patients have a high prevalence of comorbid conditions and elevated risk for periprocedural complications and mortality. This Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) review of CKD and VHD seeks to improve understanding of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of VHD in CKD by summarizing knowledge gaps, areas of controversy, and priorities for research