Obesity paradox versus frailty syndrome in first-ever ischemic stroke survivors

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Computing Distances between Probabilistic Automata

We present relaxed notions of simulation and bisimulation on Probabilistic Automata (PA), that allow some error epsilon. When epsilon is zero we retrieve the usual notions of bisimulation and simulation on PAs. We give logical characterisations of these notions by choosing suitable logics which differ from the elementary ones, L with negation and L without negation, by the modal operator. Using flow networks, we show how to compute the relations in PTIME. This allows the definition of an efficiently computable non-discounted distance between the states of a PA. A natural modification of this distance is introduced, to obtain a discounted distance, which weakens the influence of long term transitions. We compare our notions of distance to others previously defined and illustrate our approach on various examples. We also show that our distance is not expansive with respect to process algebra operators. Although L without negation is a suitable logic to characterise epsilon-(bi)simulation on deterministic PAs, it is not for general PAs; interestingly, we prove that it does characterise weaker notions, called a priori epsilon-(bi)simulation, which we prove to be NP-difficult to decide.Comment: In Proceedings QAPL 2011, arXiv:1107.074

The effects of curcumin on weight loss among patients with metabolic syndrome and related disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background and objective: The current systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was carried out to assess the influence of curcumin intake on weight among patients with metabolic syndrome and related disorders. Methods: We searched the following databases up until January 2018: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. The relevant data were extracted and evaluated for quality of the studies in accordance with the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Data were pooled using the inverse variance method and expressed as standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95 confidence intervals (95 CI). Results: Eighteen articles (21 studies) that comprised a total of 1,604 individuals were finally included in the meta-analysis. Curcumin intake significantly reduced body mass index (BMI) (SMD �0.37; 95 CI, �0.61, �0.13; P < 0.01), weight (SMD �0.23; 95 CI, �0.39, �0.06; P < 0.01), waist-circumference (WC) (SMD �0.25; 95 CI, �0.44, �0.05; P = 0.01), leptin levels (SMD �0.97; 95 CI, �1.18, �0.75; P < 0.001) and increased adiponectin levels (SMD 1.05; 95 CI, 0.23, 1.87; P = 0.01). We found no significant effect of curcumin intake on hip ratio (HR) (SMD �0.17; 95 CI, �0.42, 0.08; P = 0.18). Conclusions: Overall, we have found that curcumin intake among patients with metabolic syndrome and related disorders was correlated with a significant reduction in BMI, weight, WC, and leptin, and a significant increase in adiponectin levels, but did not affect HR. Copyright © 2019 Akbari, Lankarani, Tabrizi, Ghayour-Mobarhan, Peymani, Ferns, Ghaderi and Asemi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms

Study of biochemical changes after plateletpheresis in healthy male donors

BACKGROUND: There is relatively little information about endogenous biochemical changes in a response to plateletpheresis in healthy donors. We aimed to investigate the changes in different biochemical parameters including glycemic status, insulin resistance, iron status, lipid profile and inflammatory markers after plateletpheresis in healthy male donors with normal glycemic status. METHODS: In this study we enrolled 10 male subjects. The glycemic status in all subjects was assessed using an oral glucose tolerance test pre- and post-plateletpheresis at different time intervals (1, 8 and 22 days). Different biochemical parameters including glucose, HbA1c, insulin, lipids, uric acid, transferrin, ferritin, C-reactive protein and insulin resistance were measured. Repeated ANOVA was utilized for the purpose of statistical comparison of means between different days. RESULTS: Fasting glucose, transferrin, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-C, and LDL-C were significantly altered (-3.9%, p<0.05; -2.7%, p<0.05; -3.9%, p<0.05; 23.9%, p<0.05; -5.5%, p<0.01; and -9.2%, p<0.05 respectively) at day 1 following plateletpheresis. There was a gradual reduction in HbA1c and ferritin levels during the time-course of the study, and by day 22, both were significantly lower (-2.0%, p<0.01; -18.1%, p<0.05 respectively) when compared to the pre-plateletpheresis levels. CONCLUSIONS: Post-plateletpheresis, several biochemical parameters may change significantly in healthy donors. The changes were particularly evident one and 22 days after donation. The potential effects of plateletpheresis need to be considered when interpreting biochemical tests

Investigation of Combustion and Emission Performance of Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) Diesel

Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) diesel fuels have the potential to provide a reduced carbon footprint for diesel engines and reduce exhaust emissions. Therefore, it is a strong candidate for transport and diesel powered machines including electricity generators and other off-road machines. In this research, a waste cooking oil derived HVO diesel was investigated for its combustion and emission performance including ignition delays, size segregated particulate number emissions and gaseous emissions. The results were compared to the standard petroleum diesel. A EURO5 emission compliant three litre, direct injection, intercooled IVECO diesel engine equipped with EGR was used which has a maximum power output of 96kW. The engine was equipped with an integrated DOC and DPF aftertreatment system. Both the upstream and downstream of the aftertreatment emissions were measured. The tests were conducted at different RPM and loads at steady state conditions. A DMS500 particle size measurement instrument was used for measuring particles between 5 nm and 1000nm. The engine was instrumented with a number of thermocouples so that the engine conditions were closely monitored. Gaseous emissions were measured using a HORIBA 7100 series gas analyzer. The results showed that HVO reduced particulate numbers significantly at the upstream of the aftertreatment system. The particle number emissions were not much different between HVO and standard diesel at the downstream of the aftertreatment system due to the low particle number concentrations

Instability of 8E5 calibration standard revealed by digital PCR risks inaccurate quantification of HIV DNA in clinical samples by qPCR

Establishing a cure for HIV is hindered by the persistence of latently infected cells which constitute the viral reservoir. Real-time qPCR, used for quantification of this reservoir by measuring HIV DNA, requires external calibration; a common choice of calibrator is the 8E5 cell line, which is assumed to be stable and to contain one HIV provirus per cell. In contrast, digital PCR requires no external calibration and potentially provides ‘absolute’ quantification. We compared the performance of qPCR and dPCR in quantifying HIV DNA in 18 patient samples. HIV DNA was detected in 18 by qPCR and in 15 by dPCR, the difference being due to the smaller sample volume analysed by dPCR. There was good quantitative correlation (R2 = 0.86) between the techniques but on average dPCR values were only 60% of qPCR values. Surprisingly, investigation revealed that this discrepancy was due to loss of HIV DNA from the 8E5 cell calibrant. 8E5 extracts from two other sources were also shown to have significantly less than one HIV DNA copy per cell and progressive loss of HIV from 8E5 cells during culture was demonstrated. We therefore suggest that the copy number of HIV in 8E5 extracts be established by dPCR prior to use as calibrator

The effects of vitamin D supplementation on expanded disability status scale in people with multiple sclerosis: A critical, systematic review and metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials

In this meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the effects of vitamin D supplementation on the scores for the expanded disability status scale (EDSS) in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) are assessed. The following databases were search up to January 2018: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. The quality of the relevant extracted data was assessed according to the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Data were pooled by the use of the inverse variance method and expressed as mean difference with 95 Confidence Intervals (95 CI). Six studies were included in this meta-analysis. The findings demonstrated that supplementation with vitamin D alone and vitamin D plus calcium did not affect the EDSS score (WMD -0.11 (-0.33, 0.11); P = 0.32). In addition, subgroup analysis showed that vitamin D supplementation alone, when compared to the use of a placebo, and vitamin D plus calcium supplementation compared with the control did not affect EDSS (WMD -0.13 (-0.30, 0.11); P = 0.29) and (WMD -0.08 (-0.57, 0.41); P = 0.29), respectively. Overall, this meta-analysis indicated that taking vitamin D in people with MS had no significant effect on EDSS. © 2019 Elsevier B.V

Hypoxia in atherogenesis

The anoxemia theory proposes that an imbalance between the demand for and supply of oxygen in the arterial wall is a key factor in the development of atherosclerosis. There is now substantial evidence that there are regions within the atherosclerotic plaque in which profound hypoxia exists; this may fundamentally change the function, metabolism, and responses of many of the cell types found within the developing plaque and whether the plaque will evolve into a stable or unstable phenotype. Hypoxia is characterized in molecular terms by the stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) 1a, a subunit of the heterodimeric nuclear transcriptional factor HIF-1 and a master regulator of oxygen homeostasis. The expression of HIF-1 is localized to perivascular tissues, inflammatory macrophages, and smooth muscle cells adjacent to the necrotic core of atherosclerotic lesions and regulates several genes that are important to vascular function including vascular endothelial growth factor, nitric oxide synthase, endothelin-1, and erythropoietin. This review summarizes the effects of hypoxia on the functions of cells involved in atherogenesis and the evidence for its potential importance from experimental models and clinical studies

Distribution-based bisimulation for labelled Markov processes

In this paper we propose a (sub)distribution-based bisimulation for labelled Markov processes and compare it with earlier definitions of state and event bisimulation, which both only compare states. In contrast to those state-based bisimulations, our distribution bisimulation is weaker, but corresponds more closely to linear properties. We construct a logic and a metric to describe our distribution bisimulation and discuss linearity, continuity and compositional properties.Comment: Accepted by FORMATS 201