582 research outputs found
Total and acylated ghrelin levels in children and adolescents with idiopathic short stature and poor appetite
Context. Ghrelin is a hormone secreted primarily from stomach that can affect growth by its somatotropic and orexigenic activities. Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of ghrelin and growth in children and adolescents with idiopathic short stature. Subjects and Methods. After thorough clinical examination, 56 subjects including 31 with normal weight and height and 25 with short stature were evaluated for fasting total (TG) and acylated (active) ghrelin (AG) levels. All the parameters of growth including growth hormone and IGF-1 levels, bone age and body mass index were also investigated. Appetite was also assessed and all the studied subjects were also divided into two groups, poor or good appetite. Results. TG and AG levels were not significantly different in the two groups. There was not any significant correlation between ghrelin and parameters of growth. On the other hand, TG concentration was significantly higher in subjects with poor appetite, but AG was not significantly different. Conclusions. The results of this study show that ghrelin is not significantly altered in idiopathic short stature. Although TG is increased in children with poor appetite its acylation is not increased concomitantly. © 2015, Editura Academiei Romane. All rights reserved
Kovalevski exponents and integrability properties in class A homogeneous cosmological models
Qualitative approach to homogeneous anisotropic Bianchi class A models in
terms of dynamical systems reveals a hierarchy of invariant manifolds. By
calculating the Kovalevski Exponents according to Adler - van Moerbecke method
we discuss how algebraic integrability property is distributed in this class of
models. In particular we find that algebraic nonintegrability of vacuum Bianchi
VII_0 model is inherited by more general Bianchi VIII and Bianchi IX vacuum
types. Matter terms (cosmological constant, dust and radiation) in the Einstein
equations typically generate irrational or complex Kovalevski exponents in
class A homogeneous models thus introducing an element of nonintegrability even
though the respective vacuum models are integrable.Comment: arxiv version is already officia
Non-integrability of the mixmaster universe
We comment on an analysis by Contopoulos et al. which demonstrates that the
governing six-dimensional Einstein equations for the mixmaster space-time
metric pass the ARS or reduced Painlev\'{e} test. We note that this is the case
irrespective of the value, , of the generating Hamiltonian which is a
constant of motion. For we find numerous closed orbits with two
unstable eigenvalues strongly indicating that there cannot exist two additional
first integrals apart from the Hamiltonian and thus that the system, at least
for this case, is very likely not integrable. In addition, we present numerical
evidence that the average Lyapunov exponent nevertheless vanishes. The model is
thus a very interesting example of a Hamiltonian dynamical system, which is
likely non-integrable yet passes the reduced Painlev\'{e} test.Comment: 11 pages LaTeX in J.Phys.A style (ioplppt.sty) + 6 PostScript figures
compressed and uuencoded with uufiles. Revised version to appear in J Phys.
Observables and a Hilbert Space for Bianchi IX
We consider a quantization of the Bianchi IX cosmological model based on
taking the constraint to be a self-adjoint operator in an auxiliary Hilbert
space. Using a WKB-style self-consistent approximation, the constraint chosen
is shown to have only continuous spectrum at zero. Nevertheless, the auxiliary
space induces an inner product on the zero-eigenvalue generalized eigenstates
such that the resulting physical Hilbert space has countably infinite
dimension. In addition, a complete set of gauge-invariant operators on the
physical space is constructed by integrating differential forms over the
spacetime. The behavior of these operators indicates that this quantization
preserves Wald's classical result that the Bianchi IX spacetimes expand to a
maximum volume and then recollapse.Comment: 23 pages, ReVTeX, CGPG-94/6-3, UCSBTH-94-3
Changes of Leptin concentration in plasma in patients with spinal cord injury: A Meta-analysis
Objective:The aim of this study was to investigate changes of leptin concentration in plasma in patients with spinal cord injury to come to a single concept by using a Meta-analysis.Setting:Systematic Review.Methods:Searching relevant articles was performed in Ovid data base, Medline (PubMed) EMBASE, Google Scholar, Cochrane and Scopus up to February 2013. Five articles were selected using two independent reviewers. Analysis were performed using SPSS version 18 and Comparative Meta-analysis software version 2.0.Results:The combined analysis with confidence interval of 95 using comprehensive meta-analysis showed significant higher leptin levels in patients with spinal cord injury in comparison with able bodies (P<0.0001). The effect of spinal lesion level on plasma leptin concentration was also statistically significant (P<0.0001). Body mass index was positively related to plasma leptin concentration in both groups (P<0.0001).Conclusion:This Meta analysis approves increased level of leptin in spinal cord injured patients which can be due to fat distribution changes and sympathetic dysfunction in these patients. Our results also showed that patients with higher spinal lesion level have higher plasma leptin concentration. © 2013 International Spinal Cord Society All rights reserved
Homoclinic chaos in the dynamics of a general Bianchi IX model
The dynamics of a general Bianchi IX model with three scale factors is
examined. The matter content of the model is assumed to be comoving dust plus a
positive cosmological constant. The model presents a critical point of
saddle-center-center type in the finite region of phase space. This critical
point engenders in the phase space dynamics the topology of stable and unstable
four dimensional tubes , where is a saddle direction and
is the manifold of unstable periodic orbits in the center-center sector.
A general characteristic of the dynamical flow is an oscillatory mode about
orbits of an invariant plane of the dynamics which contains the critical point
and a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) singularity. We show that a pair of
tubes (one stable, one unstable) emerging from the neighborhood of the critical
point towards the FRW singularity have homoclinic transversal crossings. The
homoclinic intersection manifold has topology and is constituted
of homoclinic orbits which are bi-asymptotic to the center-center
manifold. This is an invariant signature of chaos in the model, and produces
chaotic sets in phase space. The model also presents an asymptotic DeSitter
attractor at infinity and initial conditions sets are shown to have fractal
basin boundaries connected to the escape into the DeSitter configuration
(escape into inflation), characterizing the critical point as a chaotic
scatterer.Comment: 11 pages, 6 ps figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
The mixmaster universe: A chaotic Farey tale
When gravitational fields are at their strongest, the evolution of spacetime
is thought to be highly erratic. Over the past decade debate has raged over
whether this evolution can be classified as chaotic. The debate has centered on
the homogeneous but anisotropic mixmaster universe. A definite resolution has
been lacking as the techniques used to study the mixmaster dynamics yield
observer dependent answers. Here we resolve the conflict by using observer
independent, fractal methods. We prove the mixmaster universe is chaotic by
exposing the fractal strange repellor that characterizes the dynamics. The
repellor is laid bare in both the 6-dimensional minisuperspace of the full
Einstein equations, and in a 2-dimensional discretisation of the dynamics. The
chaos is encoded in a special set of numbers that form the irrational Farey
tree. We quantify the chaos by calculating the strange repellor's Lyapunov
dimension, topological entropy and multifractal dimensions. As all of these
quantities are coordinate, or gauge independent, there is no longer any
ambiguity--the mixmaster universe is indeed chaotic.Comment: 45 pages, RevTeX, 19 Figures included, submitted to PR
Dermanyssus gallinae in layer farms in Kosovo: a high risk for salmonella prevalence
Background
The poultry red mite (PRM), Dermanyssus gallinae (D.g.) is a serious ectoparasitic pest of poultry and potential pathogen vector. The prevalence of D. g. and the prevalence of Salmonella spp. within mites on infested laying poultry farms were investigated in Kosovo.
Findings
In total, 14 populated layer farms located in the Southern Kosovo were assessed for D. g. presence. Another two farms in this region were investigated 6 months after depopulation. Investigated flocks were all maintained in cages, a common housing system in Kosovo. A total of eight farms were found to be infested with D. g. (50%) at varying levels, including the two depopulated farms. The detection of Salmonella spp. from D. g. was carried out using PCR. Out of the eight layer farms infested with D. g., Salmonella spp. was present in mites on three farms (37.5%).
Conclusions
This study confirms the high prevalence of D. g. in layer flocks in Kosovo and demonstrates the link between this mite and the presence of Salmonella spp. on infested farms
Antimicrobials: A Global Alliance for Optimizing Their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal Infections (AGORA)
Intra-abdominal infections (IAI) are an important cause of morbidity and are frequently associated with poor prognosis, particularly in high-risk patients. The cornerstones in the management of complicated IAIs are timely effective source control with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Empiric antimicrobial therapy is important in the management of intra-abdominal infections and must be broad enough to cover all likely organisms because inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy is associated with poor patient outcomes and the development of bacterial resistance. The overuse of antimicrobials is widely accepted as a major driver of some emerging infections (such as C. difficile), the selection of resistant pathogens in individual patients, and for the continued development of antimicrobial resistance globally. The growing emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms and the limited development of new agents available to counteract them have caused an impending crisis with alarming implications, especially with regards to Gram-negative bacteria. An international task force from 79 different countries has joined this project by sharing a document on the rational use of antimicrobials for patients with IAIs. The project has been termed AGORA (Antimicrobials: A Global Alliance for Optimizing their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal Infections). The authors hope that AGORA, involving many of the world\u27s leading experts, can actively raise awareness in health workers and can improve prescribing behavior in treating IAIs
The Role of Perioperative Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography and Biliary Drainage in Large Liver Hydatid Cysts
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