Rethinking Fragility Fractures in Type 2 Diabetes: The Link between Hyperinsulinaemia and Osteofragilitas

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and/or cardiovascular disease (CVD), conditions of hyperinsulinaemia, have lower levels of osteocalcin and bone remodelling, and increased rates of fragility fractures. Unlike osteoporosis with lower bone mineral density (BMD), T2DM bone fragility “hyperinsulinaemia-osteofragilitas” phenotype presents with normal to increased BMD. Hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance positively associate with increased BMD and fragility fractures. Hyperinsulinaemia enforces glucose fuelling, which decreases NAD+-dependent antioxidant activity. This increases reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial fission, and decreases oxidative phosphorylation high-energy production capacity, required for osteoblasto/cytogenesis. Osteocytes directly mineralise and resorb bone, and inhibit mineralisation of their lacunocanalicular space via pyrophosphate. Hyperinsulinaemia decreases vitamin D availability via adipocyte sequestration, reducing dendrite connectivity, and compromising osteocyte viability. Decreased bone remodelling and micropetrosis ensues. Trapped/entombed magnesium within micropetrosis fossilisation spaces propagates magnesium deficiency (MgD), potentiating hyperinsulinaemia and decreases vitamin D transport. Vitamin D deficiency reduces osteocalcin synthesis and favours osteocyte apoptosis. Carbohydrate restriction/fasting/ketosis increases beta-oxidation, ketolysis, NAD+-dependent antioxidant activity, osteocyte viability and osteocalcin, and decreases excess insulin exposure. Osteocalcin is required for hydroxyapatite alignment, conferring bone structural integrity, decreasing fracture risk and improving metabolic/endocrine homeodynamics. Patients presenting with fracture and normal BMD should be investigated for T2DM and hyperinsulinaemia

Effects of a single aerobic exercise session on body image

Background and Objectives Most research on the effects of exercise on body image has concentrated on the benefits of regular exercise. However, some research has indicated that exercise has an immediate impact on body image. The aims of this study were to investigate the immediate effects of aerobic exercise in a fitness class and the at-home environment on body image, and to examine the impact of nutritional status (i.e., normal weight vs. overweight/obesity) and exercise addiction on these changes. Method 322 Hungarian women participated in the study with two different environmental conditions, fitness class condition (N = 155) and at-home video condition (N = 167). They completed the Body Appreciation Scale and Exercise Addiction Inventory before and after a one-hour aerobic exercise session. Self-report data on weight, height and exercise frequency were also collected. Results There were no significant differences between the fitness class and video groups in terms of age, educational level, BMI, body appreciation, exercise frequency and exercise addiction. We found that 7.5% (N = 24) of the participants were at risk for exercise addiction. Aerobic exercise had a significant positive effect on body appreciation (t(321) = 7.564, p < .001) independently from environment and nutritional status. Exercise addiction moderated the relationship between exercise and body image, the at risk for exercise addiction group showed the greatest improvement (F(1) = 3.252, p = .040). Conclusion The results indicate that even a one-hour aerobic exercise session has a positive effect on body image; this has important practical implications for intervention strategies and weight-loss treatments. | Elméleti háttér és célkitűzés Bár a legtöbb kutatás a rendszeres testedzés testképre gyakorolt pozitív hatására fókuszál, néhány vizsgálat eredménye a testedzés testképre tett azonnali hatására hívja fel a figyelmet. Jelen tanulmány célja az aerobik edzés testképre gyakorolt azonnali hatásának vizsgálata fitnesztermi és otthoni edzési körülmények között, továbbá a tápláltsági állapot (normális testsúly vs. túlsúly/elhízás) és a testedzésfüggőség potenciális moderátor szerepének vizsgálata az edzés és a testkép alakulása közötti kapcsolatban. Módszer A vizsgálatba aerobikedzést folytató nőket vontunk be (n = 322). A résztvevők egyik része edzőteremben folytatta a testgyakorlást (n = 155), másik része otthon végzett aerobik testedzést, video vagy DVD segítségével (n = 167). Mérőeszközök önbeszámolóval nyert testtömeg és testmagasság, a testedzés gyakoriságára vonatkozó kérdés, Testértékelési Skála, Testedzés Addikció Kérdőív. Az adatfelvétel az egyórás testgyakorlást megelőzően és azt követően történt. Eredmények Nem találtunk szignifikáns különbséget az edzőteremben és az otthonukban aerobik edzést folytató nők között az életkor, az iskolai végzettség, a BMI, a testértékelés, a testedzés gyakorisága és a testedzésfüggőség tekintetében. A válaszadók 7,5%-a (n = 24) esetében jelenik meg a testedzésfüggőség kockázata. Az egyórás testedzés szignifikáns, kedvező hatást gyakorolt a testképre (t(321) = 7,564; p < 0,001), amely hatás a testgyakorlás helyszínétől (edzőterem vs. otthon) és a tápláltsági állapottól függetlennek bizonyult. A testedzésfüggőség azonban moderálta a testgyakorlás és a testkép változásának kapcsolatát: a testedzést követően a testedzésfüggőség szempontjából veszélyeztetett csoportban mutatkozott meg a legnagyobb mértékű, pozitív irányú változás a testkép tekintetében (F(1) = 3,252; p = 0,040). Következtetés Eredményeink arra utalnak, hogy akár egy egyórás testgyakorlásnak is pozitív hatása lehet a testképre, amelynek jelentős gyakorlati implikációi vannak a testsúlycsökkentő kezelések szempontjából

Affective Man-Machine Interface: Unveiling human emotions through biosignals

As is known for centuries, humans exhibit an electrical profile. This profile is altered through various psychological and physiological processes, which can be measured through biosignals; e.g., electromyography (EMG) and electrodermal activity (EDA). These biosignals can reveal our emotions and, as such, can serve as an advanced man-machine interface (MMI) for empathic consumer products. However, such a MMI requires the correct classification of biosignals to emotion classes. This chapter starts with an introduction on biosignals for emotion detection. Next, a state-of-the-art review is presented on automatic emotion classification. Moreover, guidelines are presented for affective MMI. Subsequently, a research is presented that explores the use of EDA and three facial EMG signals to determine neutral, positive, negative, and mixed emotions, using recordings of 21 people. A range of techniques is tested, which resulted in a generic framework for automated emotion classification with up to 61.31% correct classification of the four emotion classes, without the need of personal profiles. Among various other directives for future research, the results emphasize the need for parallel processing of multiple biosignals

Collective flow and two-pion correlations from a relativistic hydrodynamic model with early chemical freeze out

We investigate the effect of early chemical freeze-out on radial flow, elliptic flow and HBT radii by using a fully three dimensional hydrodynamic model. When we take account of the early chemical freeze-out, the space-time evolution of temperature in the hadron phase is considerably different from the conventional model in which chemical equilibrium is always assumed. As a result, we find that radial and elliptic flows are suppressed and that the lifetime and the spatial size of the fluid are reduced. We analyze the p_t spectrum, the differential elliptic flow, and the HBT radii at the RHIC energy by using hydrodynamics with chemically non-equilibrium equation of state.Comment: One subsection and two figures adde

Junior staffing changes and the temporal ecology of adverse incidents in acute psychiatric wards

Aim.  This paper reports an examination of the relationship between adverse incident rates, the arrival of new junior staff on wards, and days of the week on acute psychiatric wards. Background.  Incidents of violence, absconding and self-harm in acute inpatient services pose risks to patients and staff. Previous research suggests that the arrival of inexperienced new staff may trigger more adverse incidents. Findings on the relationship between incidents and the weekly routine are inconsistent. Method.  A retrospective analysis was conducted of formally reported incident rates, records of nursing student allocations and junior doctor rotation patterns, using Poisson Regression. Variance between days of the week was explored using contingency table analysis. The data covered 30 months on 17 psychiatric wards, and were collected in 2002–2004. Findings.  The arrival of new and inexperienced staff on the wards was not associated with increases in adverse incident rates. Most types of incidents were less frequent at weekends and midweek. Incident rates were unchanged on ward-round days, but increased rates were found on the days before and after ward rounds. Conclusion.  Increased patient tension is associated with raised incident rates. It may be possible to reduce incident rates by moderating stimulation in the environment and by mobilizing support for patients during critical periods

Hydrodynamics and Flow

In this lecture note, we present several topics on relativistic hydrodynamics and its application to relativistic heavy ion collisions. In the first part we give a brief introduction to relativistic hydrodynamics in the context of heavy ion collisions. In the second part we present the formalism and some fundamental aspects of relativistic ideal and viscous hydrodynamics. In the third part, we start with some basic checks of the fundamental observables followed by discussion of collective flow, in particular elliptic flow, which is one of the most exciting phenomenon in heavy ion collisions at relativistic energies. Next we discuss how to formulate the hydrodynamic model to describe dynamics of heavy ion collisions. Finally, we conclude the third part of the lecture note by showing some results from ideal hydrodynamic calculations and by comparing them with the experimental data.Comment: 40 pages, 35 figures; lecture given at the QGP Winter School, Jaipur, India, Feb.1-3, 2008; to appear in Springer Lecture Notes in Physic

Parton coalescence at RHIC

Using a covariant coalescence model, we study hadron production in relativistic heavy ion collisions from both soft partons in the quark-gluon plasma and hard partons in minijets. Including transverse flow of soft partons and independent fragmentation of minijet partons, the model is able to describe available experimental data on pion, kaon, and antiproton spectra. The resulting antiproton to pion ratio is seen to increase at low transverse momenta and reaches a value of about one at intermediate transverse momenta, as observed in experimental data at RHIC. A similar dependence of the antikaon to pion ratio on transverse momentum is obtained, but it reaches a smaller value at intermediate transverse momenta. At high transverse momenta, the model predicts that both the antiproton to pion and the antikaon to pion ratio decrease and approach those given by the perturbative QCD. Both collective flow effect and coalescence of minijet partons with partons in the quark-gluon plasma affect significantly the spectra of hadrons with intermediate transverse momenta. Elliptic flows of protons, Lambdas, and Omegas have also been evaluated from partons with elliptic flows extracted from fitting measured pion and kaon elliptic flows, and they are found to be consistent with available experimental data.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure

The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic

Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the `ankle' in the cosmic-ray spectrum

We report a first measurement for ultra-high energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around the `ankle' at $\lg(E/{\rm eV})=18.5-19.0$ differs significantly from expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass $A > 4$. Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are thus disfavoured as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux at Earth.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Numbe