Mild and moderate pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease is associated with increased coronary artery calcium.

BackgroundIt is increasingly evident that patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are more likely to die from heart disease than kidney failure. This study evaluated whether pre- dialysis CKD is an independent risk factor for coronary artery calcium (CAC).MethodsA total of 544 consecutive patients who underwent CAC scoring were analyzed. Eleven patients requiring hemodialysis were excluded. Patients were divided into three groups: normal glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (GFR > 90 mL/min/1.73 m²), mild CKD (90 ≥ GFR > 60 mL/min/1.73 m²), and moderate CKD (60 ≥ GFR > 30 mL/min/1.73 m²). Continuous and categorical variables were compared using analysis of variance and the χ² statistic. A multiple logistic regression model was used for detecting the association between total CAC score and GFR. An unadjusted model was used, followed by a second model adjusted for covariates known to be related to CAC. Another multivariable binary logistic model predicting the presence of CAC (>10) was performed and odds of incidence of CAC (>10) were calculated among the three GFR subgroups.ResultsAfter adjustment for covariates, patients with mild CKD had mean CAC scores 175 points higher than those with the referent normal GFR (P = 0.048), while those with moderate CKD had mean CAC scores 693 points higher than the referent (P < 0.001). After adjustment for covariates, patients with mild CKD were found to be 2.2 times more likely (95% confidence interval 1.3-3.7, P = 0.004) and patients with moderate CKD were 6.4 times more likely (95% confidence interval 2.9-14.3, P < 0.001) to have incident CAC compared with the group with normal GFR.ConclusionMild and moderate pre-dialysis CKD are independent risk factors for increased mean and incident CAC

Adipose Tissue Distribution and Survival Among Women with Nonmetastatic Breast Cancer.

ObjectivePrevious studies of breast cancer survival have not considered specific depots of adipose tissue such as subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT).MethodsThis study assessed these relationships among 3,235 women with stage II and III breast cancer diagnosed between 2005 and 2013 at Kaiser Permanente Northern California and between 2000 and 2012 at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. SAT and VAT areas (in centimeters squared) were calculated from routine computed tomography scans within 6 (median: 1.2) months of diagnosis, covariates were collected from electronic health records, and vital status was assessed by death records. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs were estimated using Cox regression.ResultsSAT and VAT ranged from 19.0 to 891 cm2 and from 0.484 to 454 cm2 , respectively. SAT was related to increased risk of death (127-cm2 increase; HR [95% CI]: 1.13 [1.02-1.26]), but no relationship was found with VAT (78.18-cm2 increase; HR [95% CI]: 1.02 [0.91-1.14]). An association with VAT was noted among women with stage II cancer (stage II: HR: 1.17 [95% CI: 0.99-1.39]; stage III: HR: 0.90 [95% CI: 0.76-1.07]; P interaction < 0.01). Joint increases in SAT and VAT were associated with mortality above either alone (simultaneous 1-SD increase: HR 1.19 [95% CI: 1.05-1.34]).ConclusionsSAT may be an underappreciated risk factor for breast cancer-related death

Expanding role of gut microbiota in lipid metabolism

This review highlights recent advances in the emerging role that gut microbiota play in modulating metabolic phenotypes, with a particular focus on lipid metabolism

Promoting prosociality in Colombia: Is music more effective than other cultural interventions?

This article reports a two-part study into the prosocial impacts of third sector cultural activities with children and adolescents in impoverished and violence-stricken urban neighbourhoods in Cali, Colombia. First, a year-long field study set out to compare a pre-existing music-training programme with a dance-training programme and a football-training programme with 9–14 year olds, to determine the extent to which each affords the development of empathic attitudes and prosocial behaviours. The music and dance programmes produced few significant changes in participants’ empathy or prosociality, and there were few significant differences between the empathy and prosociality of the participants in the two groups. Participant dropout prevented comparison with the football-training programme. Second, an interview study was used to understand the place of prosociality in the aims and work of policymakers, funders and third-sector practitioners running cultural activities for social impacts in the Cali region. The study revealed that the organisations aimed to achieve individual and social transformation by creating the conditions for transformation, evidenced as positive outcomes. Neither the measures used by the organisations themselves nor the psychosocial constructs of prosociality and empathy used by the researchers adequately evidenced some of the intended outcomes, such as enabling individuals to build a life project, practising and sustaining social inclusion and transforming communities, nor a path from individual to social transformation. Differences between the structure of cultural activities and their associated values meant that different activities were believed to lend themselves to social transformation more or less well. This highlights the need for critically reflective, co-constructed research using a fuller range of constructs that can capture the outcomes of these programmes for both individuals and groups

The role of embodied simulation and visual imagery in emotional contagion with music

Emotional contagion has been explained as arising from embodied simulation. The two most accepted theories of music-induced emotions presume a mechanism of internal mimicry: the BRECVEMA framework proposes that the melodic aspect of music elicits internal mimicry leading to the induction of basic emotions in the listener, and the Multifactorial Process Model proposes that the observation or imagination of motor expressions of the musicians elicits muscular and neural mimicry, and emotional contagion. Two behavioral studies investigated whether, and to what extent, mimicry is responsible for emotion contagion, and second, to what extent context for affective responses in the form of visual imagery moderates emotional responses. Experiment 1 tested whether emotional contagion is influenced by mimicry by manipulating explicit vocal and motor mimicry. In one condition, participants engaged in mimicry of the melodic aspects of the music by singing along with the music, and in another, participants engaged in mimicry of the musician’s gestures when producing the music, by playing along (“air guitar”-style). The experiment did not find confirmatory evidence for either hypothesized simulation mechanism, but it did provide evidence of spontaneous visual imagery consistent with the induced and perceived emotions. Experiment 2 used imagined rather than performed mimicry, but found no association between imagined motor simulation and emotional intensity. Emotional descriptions read prior to hearing the music influenced the type of perceived and induced emotions and support the prediction that visual imagery and associated semantic knowledge shape listeners’ affective experiences with music. The lack of evidence for the causal role of embodied simulation suggests that current theorization of emotion contagion by music needs refinement to reduce the role of simulation relative to other mechanisms. Evidence for induction of affective states that can be modulated by contextual and semantic associations suggests a model of emotion induction consistent with constructionist accounts

LEAN Production Management Model based on Organizational Culture to Improve Cutting Process Efficiency in a Textile and Clothing SME in Peru

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado.In recent years, homegrown SMEs have had low production levels when compared with Chinese garment imports, losing their competitive advantage in the domestic market. SMEs represent 96% of garment companies in Peru and have a positive impact on the creation of jobs. The search for a technique to improve SME output was conducted in various studies; however, the efforts did not bear fruit over time. Thus, this article seeks to improve the low production efficiency in textile and clothing SMEs. Therefore, we proposed a model and validated it in the production area of a denim clothing manufacturing company in Peru. We conducted business diagnostics and found a production efficiency problem. Later, we adapted the Lean production management model to the prevailing organizational culture. The main result was that the company's production efficiency increased from 68% to 71%. Finally, employee commitment, along with the combination of the Lean model and organizational culture, allowed the improvements to stand the test of time after their implementation

Land Use Planning & Historic Preservation Property Assessment Tool in New Orleans: The Algiers Main Street Demonstration Project

Service-learning is a critical component of the student-centered education model at the University of New Orleans (UNO). For students to apply their knowledge activities within, classes are developed to provide technical service and experiential knowledge for community organizations. In the fall of 2017 students in the MURP 4050/5050 “Urban Land Use Planning & Plan Making” course combined their recently acquired knowledge of how policy affects the use of applying new planning tools in practice. Specifically, the course focused on the application of Federal and State policies for identifying and evaluating the significance of properties under Historic Preservation (HP) guidelines. This training was complemented with the WhoData property survey (PS) methodology & image inventory which evaluated the use, condition, location in combination with public data identification sources. In the fall of 2016 an initial field study in the French Quarter consolidated the HP and PS models but not in a consolidated fashion. The Algiers Historic Preservation Assessment & Land Use Planning Survey demonstration project is the first study which integrates the tools and techniques from two fields of study into a single model that can be replicated nationally. The students in MURP 4050/5050 aided in using, evaluating and improving the tools by applying their knowledge to an active project. Initially the demonstration project was aimed at providing the initial documentation and an implementation plan to expand the existing Algiers Historic District. However, the scope of work had to be changed. The ability to create the resources necessary would not be developed properly without additional training by the course team without further training on historic preservation theory and application. As a result, additional teaching resources were obtained which provided guidance on how to conduct historic property research (The New Orleans Historic Collection), conducting HP & LUP surveys in Algiers (Jennie Garcia, MURP ’17) and State/Federal Historic Preservation guidelines (LA State Historic Preservation Office). The students moved to the role of Planning Analyst in order to complete the research and reporting required to complete the preliminary analysis necessary for community organizations, such as the Algiers Main Street Corporation, to consider the benefits of historic district expansion and the cost of developing the documents to do s

Novel and natural knockout lung cancer cell lines for the LKB1/STK11 tumor suppressor gene

Germline mutations of the LKB1 gene are responsible for Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS), an autosomal dominant inherited disorder bestowing an increased risk of cancer. We have recently demonstrated that LKB1 inactivating mutations are not confined to PJS, but also appear in lung adenocarcinomas of sporadic origin, including primary tumors and lung cancer cell lines. To accurately determine the frequency of inactivating LKB1 gene mutations in lung tumors we have sequenced the complete coding region of LKB1 in 21 additional lung cancer cell lines. Here we describe the mutational status of LKB1 gene in 30 lung cancer cell lines from different histopathological types, including 11 lung adenocarcinomas (LADs) and 11 small cell lung cancers (SCLCs). LKB1 gene alterations were present in six (54%) of the LAD cell lines tested but in none of the other histological types. Similar to our previous observations in primary tumors, all point mutations were of the nonsense or frameshift type, leading to an abnormal, truncated protein. Moreover, 2 cell lines (A427 and H2126) harbored large gene deletions that spanned several exons. Hence, we have identified additional lung cancer cell lines carrying inactivating mutations of the LKB1 tumor suppressor gene, further attesting to the significance of this gene in the development of LADs and providing new natural LKB1 knockouts for studies of the biological function of the LKB1 protein

G-TRACE: rapid Gal4-based cell lineage analysis in Drosophila.

We combined Gal4-UAS and the FLP recombinase-FRT and fluorescent reporters to generate cell clones that provide spatial, temporal and genetic information about the origins of individual cells in Drosophila melanogaster. We named this combination the Gal4 technique for real-time and clonal expression (G-TRACE). The approach should allow for screening and the identification of real-time and lineage-traced expression patterns on a genomic scale