Garveribyen Roskilde

Garveribyen Roskild

Causes of albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes without diabetic retinopathy

Causes of albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes without diabetic retinopathy.BackgroundThe causes of albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes are heterogeneous and are scantily investigated, particularly if the patient has a lack of diabetic retinopathy. Therefore, we evaluated the structural background of albuminuria in a large consecutive group of Caucasian patients with type 2 diabetes without retinopathy.MethodsThree hundred forty-seven consecutive patients with type 2 diabetes with persistent albuminuria (>300 mg/24 h) were recorded. Fundus photo (80%) and ophthalmoscopy were performed. Ninety-three (27%) had no retinopathy, and a kidney biopsy was performed in 52 (56%) of these patients. An insufficient tissue sample was obtained in one patient. The biopsies were evaluated by three masked nephropathologists.ResultsThe biopsies revealed diabetic glomerulopathy in 69% of the patients (28 males and 7 females), while the remaining 31% (95% CI, 18 to 44) had either nondiabetic glomerulopathies such as glomerulonephritis (N = 7, 6 males and 1 female, 13%) or normal glomerular structure (N = 9, 7 males and 2 females, 18%). No significant differences in sex, age (56 ± 8 vs. 53 ± 10 years, mean SD), body mass index (30 ± 4 vs. 31 ± 8 kg/m2), known duration of diabetes (6 ± 6 vs. 4 ± 3 years), GFR (95 ± 29 vs. 89 ± 31 mL/min/1.73 m2), albuminuria (1304 ± 169 to 4731 vs. 1050 ± 181 to 5176 mg/24 hours), blood pressure (150/87 ± 16/9 vs. 145/89 ± 16/9 mm Hg), prevalence of hypertension (89 vs. 100%), hemoglobin A1c (8.2 ± 1.6% vs. 9.0 ± 2.5%), and serum total cholesterol (7.1 ± 2.4 vs. 6.3 ± 1.6 mmol/L) were found between patients with and without diabetic glomerulopathy.ConclusionsAlbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes without diabetic retinopathy have a prevalence of biopsies with normal glomerular structure or nondiabetic kidney diseases of approximately 30%. A separation between diabetic and nondiabetic glomerular lesions was not possible based on demographic, clinical, or laboratory data. Consequently, such patients may require further evaluation, including a kidney biopsy

Fast universal control of a flux qubit via exponentially tunable wave-function overlap

Fast, high fidelity control and readout of protected superconducting qubits are fundamentally challenging due to their inherent insensitivity. We propose a flux qubit variation which enjoys a tunable level of protection against relaxation to resolve this outstanding issue. Our qubit design, the double-shunted flux qubit (DSFQ), realizes a generic double-well potential through its three junction ring geometry. One of the junctions is tunable, making it possible to control the barrier height and thus the level of protection. We analyze single- and two-qubit gate operations that rely on lowering the barrier. We show that this is a viable method that results in high fidelity gates as the non-computational states are not occupied during operations. Further, we show how the effective coupling to a readout resonator can be controlled by adjusting the externally applied flux while the DSFQ is protected from decaying into the readout resonator. Finally, we also study a double-loop gradiometric version of the DSFQ which is exponentially insensitive to variations in the global magnetic field, even when the loop areas are non-identical.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Challenges Related to Probabilistic Decision Analysis for Bridge Testing and Reclassification

This paper reviews historical developments and recent challenges in full scale bridge testing and introduces results- and hypotheses related to an ongoing bridge testing research project. This research project encompasses full scale bridge testing in conjunction with bearing capacity analysis as well as related contact- and non-contact monitoring procedures combined with a decision analytical approach. Results from the first steps of the project, focusing on full scale load testing of bridges, are presented. The next part approaches the interfaces between three project areas namely the bearing capacity analysis, the utilization of monitoring procedures and a decision analytical approach. The proposed probabilistic decision analysis approach is described for two scenarios: (1) The decision support for the actual proof load test providing decision rules for a safe and efficient in-situ test and (2) for the identification of efficient strategies for the bridge reclassification accounting for modeling, simulation, and monitoring information. The paper concludes with a summary highlighting deemed challenges in the used approaches