Alien Registration- Donatelli, Maria (Portland, Cumberland County)

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IoT Software Infrastructure for Remote Monitoring of Patients with Chronic Metabolic Disorders

Novel Information and Communication Technologies, such as Internet-of-Things (IoT), middleware and cloud computing, are providing innovative solutions ranging in different contexts. Smart health is one of these scenarios. Indeed, there is a rising interest in developing new healthcare services for remote patient assistance and monitoring. Among all, the main promised benefits consist on improving the patients’ quality of life, speeding up therapeutic interventions and reducing hospitalizations’ costs. This is also known as Telemedicine. In this paper, we present a novel distributed software infrastructure for remote monitoring of patients with chronic metabolic disorders: i) it collects and and makes available information coming from IoT devices, ii) it performs analysis to help medical diagnosis and iii) it promotes a bidirectional communication among the end-users (i.e. medical personnel and patients). In this paper, we also present our experimental results performed in a laboratory test environment to validate the proposed solution

Improved Thermal Transmittance Measurement with HFM Technique on Building Envelopes in the Mediterranean Area

Abstract Although the designed theoretical value of U can be derived from the thermal parameters of layers composing an opaque element, according to ISO 6946:2007, measurements are necessary to confirm the expected behaviour. Currently, the measurements of thermal transmittance based on Heat Flow Meter method (HFM) and according to standard ISO 9869-1:2014 are widely accepted. Anyway, some issues related to difficulties in measurements are present: the roughness of wall surfaces, the proper contact between the heat flow plate and the temperature probes with wall surfaces, undesired changes in weather conditions. This work presents the results obtained in thermal transmittance measurements with a modified HFM method, widely described in this paper. Differences between U-values obtained with the modified HFM method and theoretical ones were in the range 0.6 - 6.5 %. Moreover, the modified HFM method provided a result closer to the theoretical one, when compared to that obtained with standard HFM method (discrepancy with theoretical value were 0.6% and 16.4%, respectively)

Metabolically healthy polycystic ovary syndrome (MH-PCOS) and metabolically unhealthy polycystic ovary syndrome (MU-PCOS): a comparative analysis of four simple methods useful for metabolic assessment.

study question:Is it possible to distinguish metabolically healthy polycystic ovary syndrome (MH-PCOS) from metabolically un-healthy PCOS (MU-PCOS) by simple diagnostic tools such as body mass index (BMI), waist/hip ratio (WHR), at-risk category suggestedby Androgen Excess Society (AES) and visceral adiposity index (VAI)?summary answer:VAI could be an easy and useful tool in clinical practice and in population studies for assessment of MU-PCOS.what is known already:VAI is a good indicator of insulin sensitivity and cardiometabolic risk in oligo-ovulatory women withPCOS.study design, size, duration:We conducted a cross-sectional study of 232 women with PCOS in a university hospital setting.participants/materials, setting, methods:Anthropometric, hormonal and metabolic parameters were evaluated. Anoral glucose tolerance test measured areas under the curve (AUC) for insulin (AUC2h insulin) and for glucose (AUC2h glucose). Homeostasismodel assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA2-IR), the Matsuda index of insulin sensitivity (ISI), the oral dispositional index (DIo) and VAIwere determined.main results and the role of chance:The prevalence of MU-PCOS according to the different criteria was: BMI, 56.0%;WHR, 18.1%; at-risk criteria of AES, 72.0% and VAI, 34.5%. The likelihood that a woman would exhibit MU-PCOS (except when diagnosedby the WHR criterion) showed a significant positive association with high HOMA2-IR [BMI criterion: (odds ratio (OR): 1.86; 95% confidenceinterval (CI): 1.43–2.41); risk criteria of AES (OR: 1.86; 95% CI: 1.36–2.56); VAI criterion (OR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.17–1.80)] and a significantnegative association with low ISI Matsuda [BMI criterion: (OR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.72–0.91); risk criteria of AES (OR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.69–0.89);VAI criterion (OR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.71–0.94)]. Only MU-PCOS according to the VAI criterion showed a significant association with low DIo(OR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.75–0.96); these women also showed a significant association with low luteal progesterone levels (OR: 0.97; 95% CI:0.95–0.99).limitations, reasons for caution:The analysis is limited by the lack of a gold standard definition of metabolic health thatwould have allowed the execution of a receiver operator characteristic analysis of the four proposed criteria.wider implications of the findings:The results will facilitate the early recognition of cardiometabolic risk in women withPCOS before they develop overt metabolic syndrome

Liver eosinophilic infiltrate is a significant finding in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Eosinophilic infiltrate of liver tissue is described in primary cholestatic diseases, hepatic allograft rejection and drug-induced liver injury, but its significance and its implications in chronic hepatitis C are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of eosinophilic liver infiltrate in patients with chronic hepatitis C. We retrospectively evaluated 147 patients with chronic hepatitis C. The presence of eosinophilic infiltrate was investigated in liver biopsies, and a numeric count of eosinophilic leucocytes in every portal tract was assessed. An eosinophilic infiltrate of liver tissue (≥3 cells evaluated in the portal/periportal spaces) was observed in 46 patients (31%), and patients who consumed drugs had an odds ratio (OR) of 4.02 (95% CI: 1.62-9.96) to have an eosinophilic infiltrate in liver biopsy. By logistic regression analysis, the presence of steatosis was independently associated with eosinophilic infiltrate (OR 5.86; 95% CI: 2.46-13.96) and homeostasis model assessment-score (OR 1.18; 95% CI: 1.00-1.39). Logistic regression analysis also showed that fibrosis staging ≥ 2 by Scheuer score was associated with grading >1 by Scheuer score (OR 6.82; 95% CI 2.46-18.80) and eosinophilic infiltrate (OR 4.00; 95% CI 1.23-12.91). In conclusion, we observed that the eosinophilic infiltrate of liver tissue was significantly more frequent in patients who assumed drugs, and found a significant association between eosinophilic infiltrate, liver steatosis and liver fibrosis. These preliminary data could lead to a constant assumption of drugs as a co-factor of eosinophils-mediated liver injury in chronic hepatitis

Acute effects of coffee on endothelial function in healthy subjects

Background/Objectives: Coffee is the most widely consumed beverage in the world, but its effect on the cardiovascular system has not been fully understood. Coffee contains caffeine and antioxidants, which may influence endothelial function, both of which have not yet been investigated. The objective of this study was to investigate the acute effects of coffee on endothelial function measured by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD). Subjects/Methods: A total of 20 (10 males and 10 females) healthy non-obese subjects underwent a double-blind, crossover study. Subjects ingested one cup of caffeinated (CC) and one cup of decaffeinated (DC) Italian espresso coffee in random order at 5- to 7-day intervals. Results: Following CC ingestion, FMD decreased progressively and significantly (mean±s.e.m.: 0min, 7.7±0.6; 30min, 6.3±0.7; 60 min, 6.0±0.8%; ANOVA (analysis of variance), Po0.05), but it did not significantly increase after DC ingestion (0min, 6.9±0.6; 30min, 8.1±0.9; 60min, 8.5±0.9%; P1⁄40.115). Similarly, CC significantly increased both systolic and diastolic blood pressure; this effect was not observed after DC ingestion. Blood glucose concentrations remained unchanged after ingestion of both CC and DC, but insulin (0min, 15.8±0.9; 60min, 15.0±0.8mU/ml; Po0.05) and C-peptide (0min, 1.25±0.09; 60 min, 1.18±0.09 ng/ml; Po0.01) blood concentrations decreased significantly only after CC ingestion. Conclusions: CC acutely induced unfavorable cardiovascular effects, especially on endothelial function. In the fasting state, insulin secretion is also likely reduced after CC ingestion. Future studies will determine whether CC has detrimental clinically relevant effects, especially in unhealthy subjects

Steam gasification of waste tyre: Influence of process temperature on yield and product composition

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