22,292 research outputs found
El ácido úrico se asocia con características de un síndrome de resistencia insulínica en los niños obesos en etapas perdurables
Elevated plasma uric acid levels are associated with obesity
and could be an expression of insulin-resistant state.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate plasma uric
acid in obese and normal-weight children exclusively at prepubertal
stage and its relationship with anthropometric
measurements, intake, and features of the insulin resistance
syndrome. A study was performed in 34 obese and 20 normal-
weight prepubertal children. Nutrient intake was
determined using a 72 h recall questionnaire and a consumption
food frequency questionnaire. Anthropometric
parameters and fasting plasma lipids, glucose, insulin, leptin,
adiponectin, tumour necrosis factor (TNF-α) and uric
acid were measured. Multiple regression analysis was used
to identify association of anthropometric parameters, nutrient
intake and insulin resistance syndrome variables (arterial
blood pressure, plasma glucose, insulin, homeostasis
model assessment of insulin resistance index- HOMA- triacylglycerols
and, HDL-cholesterol) with uric acid. Plasma
uric concentration was significantly higher in the obese
group than in the control group and when adjusted by sex,
age and BMI was positively associated with tricipital skinfold
and insulin resistance, and negatively with adiponectin.
In multiple regression analysis, BMI, HDL-cholesterol and
adiponectin were independent predictors of plasma uric
acid. In conclusion, elevated levels of uric acid in obese children,
compared with lean subjects, at the prepubertal
period, seems to be an early metabolic alteration that is associated
with other features of insulin resistance syndrome.Los niveles elevados de ácido úrico plasmáticos se asocian
a la obesidad y pueden ser la expresión de un estado de
resistencia insulínica. El objetivo de este estudio ha sido
evaluar la concentración plasmática de ácido úrico en niños
obesos y normales, exclusivamente en edad prepuberal, y
determinar su relación con las medidas antropométricas, la
ingesta dietética y los parámetros asociados al síndrome de
resistencia insulínica. El estudio se llevó a cabo en 34 niños
obesos y 20 controles en edad prepuberal a los cuales se les
estimó su ingesta dietética mediante el registro de un cuestionario
de ingesta de alimentos de 72 h y un cuestionario de
frecuencia de consumo de alimentos y se determinaron,
además de los parámetros antropométricos, la glucosa, la
insulina, la leptina, la adiponectina y el factor de necrosis
tumoral alfa (TNF-α) plasmáticos. Se realizó un análisis de
regresión múltiple para identificar la asociación entre los
niveles de ácido úrico y los parámetros antropométricos, la
ingesta de nutrientes y las variables clásicas relacionadas
con el síndrome de resistencia insulínica (hipertensión, glucosa,
insulina, índice de resistencia insulínica HOMA, triglicéridos
y HDL-colesterol plasmáticos), así como con leptina,
adiponectina y TNF-α. La concentración plasmática
de ácido úrico fue significativamente más elevada en los
niños obesos que en los controles y, cuando se ajustó por
sexo, edad e índice de masa corporal, los niveles de ácido
úrico se asociaron con el pliegue tricipital y la resistencia
inulínica, y negativamente con la adiponectina. En el análisis
de regresión múltiple, el índice de masa corporal, el
HDL-colesterol y la adiponectina fueron predictores independientes
del ácido úrico plasmático. En conclusión, los
niveles elevados de ácido úrico en niños obesos en edad prepuberal,
comparado con los de los niños normales, representan
una alteración metabólica temprana asociada con la
resistencia insulínica.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of
Health and Consumer Affairs, the Spanish National Program
for Scientific Research, Development, and Technological
Innovation (I+D+I), and the Instituto de Salud
Carlos III (Spanish National Health Research Institute),
FEDER co-financed Project No. PI 051968. Mercedes
Gil-Campos was a research scientist appointed on a
training contract funded by the Carlos III Health
Research Institute
Constituting women’s subjectivity in Cyberspace
This study looks critically at how Foucault’s notion of subject formation unfolds within the matrix of power: a dynamic complex of force relations permeating society. Moreover, it elucidates how a singular subject is constituted in its interaction with the Internet. Foucault analyses our contemporary system of power as a pastoral regime where the responsibilities of government extend from institutions to the self. How one governs one’s self is shaped by various technologies; most significant for this study are technologies of the self: how an individual constitutes herself as an embodied subject. Subjection and subjectivation distinguish technologies of the self that are imposed from society from those that come from within the individual to influence society. We considered various Web sites articulating issues around women’s concerns, deconstructing the discourses they disseminate and identifying their role in women’s subjection and subjectivation. Our reading of cyberspace underscores opportunities the Internet offers in bringing about social change, provided it is integrated within a real social context that subverts the isolating and disembodied character of the virtual. This reading also warns of the increasing difficulty of taking this opportunity as Cyberspace becomes structured by commercialism’s tight constraints
The kinematics of the quadrupolar nebula M1-75 and the identification of its central star
The link between the shaping of bipolar planetary nebulae and their central
stars is still poorly understood. The kinematics and shaping of the multipolar
nebula M 1-75 are hereby investigated, and the location and nature of its
central star are briefly discussed. Fabry-Perot data from GHaFAS on the WHT
sampling the Doppler shift of the [N II] 658.3 nm line are used to study the
dynamics of the nebula, by means of a detailed 3-D spatio-kinematical model.
Multi-wavelength images and spectra from the WFC and IDS on the INT, and from
ACAM on the WHT, allowed us to constrain the parameters of the central star.
The two pairs of lobes, angularly separated by ~22 degrees, were ejected
simultaneously approx. ~3500-5000 years ago, at the adopted distance range from
3.5 to 5.0 kpc. The larger lobes show evidence of a slight degree of point
symmetry. The shaping of the nebula could be explained by wind interaction in a
system consisting of a post-AGB star surrounded by a disc warped by radiative
instabilities. This requires the system to be a close binary or a single star
which engulfed a planet as it died. On the other hand, we present broad- and
narrow-band images and a low S/N optical spectrum of the highly-reddened,
previously unnoticed star which is likely the nebular progenitor. Its estimated
V-I colour allows us to derive a rough estimate of the parameters and nature of
the central star.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
On the Design of Cryptographic Primitives
The main objective of this work is twofold. On the one hand, it gives a brief
overview of the area of two-party cryptographic protocols. On the other hand,
it proposes new schemes and guidelines for improving the practice of robust
protocol design. In order to achieve such a double goal, a tour through the
descriptions of the two main cryptographic primitives is carried out. Within
this survey, some of the most representative algorithms based on the Theory of
Finite Fields are provided and new general schemes and specific algorithms
based on Graph Theory are proposed
Trans-Planckian Dark Energy?
It has recently been proposed by Mersini et al. 01, Bastero-Gil and Mersini
02 that the dark energy could be attributed to the cosmological properties of a
scalar field with a non-standard dispersion relation that decreases
exponentially at wave-numbers larger than Planck scale (k_phys > M_Planck). In
this scenario, the energy density stored in the modes of trans-Planckian
wave-numbers but sub-Hubble frequencies produced by amplification of the vacuum
quantum fluctuations would account naturally for the dark energy. The present
article examines this model in detail and shows step by step that it does not
work. In particular, we show that this model cannot make definite predictions
since there is no well-defined vacuum state in the region of wave-numbers
considered, hence the initial data cannot be specified unambiguously. We also
show that for most choices of initial data this scenario implies the production
of a large amount of energy density (of order M_Planck^4) for modes with
momenta of order M_Planck, far in excess of the background energy density. We
evaluate the amount of fine-tuning in the initial data necessary to avoid this
back-reaction problem and find it is of order H/M_Planck. We also argue that
the equation of state of the trans-Planckian modes is not vacuum-like.
Therefore this model does not provide a suitable explanation for the dark
energy.Comment: RevTeX - 15 pages, 7 figures: final version to appear in PRD, minor
changes, 1 figure adde
Nonlinear Induction Detection of Electron Spin Resonance
We present a new approach to the induction detection of electron spin
resonance (ESR) signals exploiting the nonlinear properties of a
superconducting resonator. Our experiments employ a yttrium barium copper oxide
(YBCO) superconducting stripline microwave (MW) resonator integrated with a
microbridge. A strong nonlinear response of the resonator is thermally
activated in the microbridge when exceeding a threshold in the injected MW
power. The responsivity factor characterizing the ESR-induced change in the
system's output signal is about 100 times larger when operating the resonator
near the instability threshold, compared to the value obtained in the linear
regime of operation. Preliminary experimental results, together with a
theoretical model of this phenomenon are presented. Under appropriate
conditions nonlinear induction detection of ESR can potentially improve upon
the current capabilities of conventional linear induction detection ESR
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