Association between one-hour post-load plasma glucose levels and vascular stiffness in essential hypertension

Objectives: Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a surrogate end-point for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A plasma glucose value $155 mg/dl for the 1-hour post-load plasma glucose during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is able to identify subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) at high-risk for type-2 diabetes (T2D) and for subclinical organ damage. Thus, we addressed the question if 1-hour post-load plasma glucose levels, affects PWV and its central hemodynamic correlates, as augmentation pressure (AP) and augmentation index (AI). Methods: We enrolled 584 newly diagnosed hypertensives. All patients underwent OGTT and measurements of PWV, AP and AI. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by Matsuda-index. Results: Among participants, 424 were NGT and 160 had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Of 424 NGT, 278 had 1-h postload plasma glucose ,155 mg/dl (NGT,155) and 146 had 1-h post-load plasma glucose$155 mg/dl (NGT$155). NGT$155 had a worse insulin sensitivity and higher hs-CRP than NGT,155, similar to IGT subjects. In addition, NGT $155 in comparison with NGT,155 had higher central systolic blood pressure (134612 vs 131610 mmHg), as well as PWV (8.463.7 vs 6.761.7 m/s), AP (12.567.1 vs 9.865.7 mmHg) and AI (29.4611.9 vs 25.1612.4 regression analysis, 1-h post-load plasma glucose resulted the major determinant of all indices of vascular stiffness. Conclusion: Hypertensive NGT$155 subjects, compared with NGT,155, have higher PWV and its hemodynamic correlates that increase their cardiovascular risk profile

Highs and Lows in English Attachment

Grillo and Costa (2014) claim that Relative-Clause attachment ambiguity resolution is largely dependent on whether or not a Pseudo-Relative interpretation is available. Data from Italian, and other languages allowing Pseudo-Relatives, support this hypothesis. Pseudo-Relative availability, however, covaries with the semantics of the main predicate (e.g., perceptual vs. stative). Experiment 1 assesses whether this predicate distinction alone can account for prior attachment results by testing it with a language that disallows Pseudo-Relatives (i.e. English). Low Attachment was found independent of Predicate-Type. Predicate-Type did however have a minor modulatory role. Experiment 2 shows that English, traditionally classified as a Low Attachment language, can demonstrate High Attachment with sentences globally ambiguous between a Small-Clause and a reduced Relative-Clause interpretation. These results support a grammatical account of previous effects and provide novel evidence for the parser’s preference of a Small-Clause over a Restrictive interpretation, crosslinguistically

A Neutron Scattering Study of the Structure of Poly(dimethylsiloxane)-Stabilized Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PDMS–PMMA) Latexes in Dodecane

Hard-sphere particles in nonpolar solvents are an essential tool for colloid scientists. Sterically stabilized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) particles have long been used as the exemplary hard-sphere system. However, neither the particles themselves nor the poly(12-hydroxystearic acid) (PHSA) stabilizer necessary to prevent aggregation in nonpolar solvents are commercially available. To counter this, several alternatives have been proposed. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stabilizers as a commercially available alternative to PHSA, yet the structure of particles made in this way is not as well understood as those produced using PHSA. In this work, we employ small-angle neutron scattering to determine the internal structure of PDMS-stabilized PMMA particles, synthesized with and without an additional crosslinking agent. We report data consistent with a homogeneous PMMA core with a linearly decaying PDMS shell. The thickness of the shell was in excess of 50 nm, thicker than the PHSA layer typically used to stabilize PMMA but consistent with reports of the layer thickness for similar molecular weight PDMS at planar surfaces. We also show that the amount of the hydrogenous material in the particle core of the crosslinked particles notably exceeds the amount of added ethylene glycol dimethacrylate crosslinker, suggesting some entrapment of the PDMS stabilizer in the PMMA matrix

Integrable mixing of A_{n-1} type vertex models

Given a family of monodromy matrices {T_u; u=0,1,...,K-1} corresponding to integrable anisotropic vertex models of A_{(n_u)-1}-type, we build up a related mixed vertex model by means of glueing the lattices on which they are defined, in such a way that integrability property is preserved. Algebraically, the glueing process is implemented through one dimensional representations of rectangular matrix algebras A(R_p,R_q), namely, the `glueing matrices' zeta_u. Here R_n indicates the Yang-Baxter operator associated to the standard Hopf algebra deformation of the simple Lie algebra A_{n-1}. We show there exists a pseudovacuum subspace with respect to which algebraic Bethe ansatz can be applied. For each pseudovacuum vector we have a set of nested Bethe ansatz equations identical to the ones corresponding to an A_{m-1} quasi-periodic model, with m equal to the minimal range of involved glueing matrices.Comment: REVTeX 28 pages. Here we complete the proof of integrability for mixed vertex models as defined in the first versio

El negro argentino: nación, raza y clase en épocas de la globalización.

El problema de las relaciones que mantiene la nación con la clase y la raza como diferencias sociales y culturales que exhibe en su interior es amplio y complejo. Tradicionalmente fueron estudiadas por autores que siendo antropólogos y sociólogos trabajaban en las interfaces de ambas disciplinas. La raza fue el gran tema de la antropología en tanto que la clase lo ha sido primordialmente de la sociología. A partir de la década del sesenta del siglo pasado las luchas de las feministas por el reconocimiento igualitario de la mujer en la sociedad y, luego, lo que se ha llamado el giro cultural en las ciencias sociales ampliaron la gama de las diferencias a reivindicar

Influence of Smartphones and Software on Acoustic Voice Measures.

This study assessed the within-subject variability of voice measures captured using different recording devices (i.e., smartphones and head mounted microphone) and software programs (i.e., Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice (ADSV), Multi-dimensional Voice Program (MDVP), and Praat).  Correlations between the software programs that calculated the voice measures were also analyzed.  Results demonstrated no significant within-subject variability across devices and software and that some of the measures were highly correlated across software programs.  The study suggests that certain smartphones may be appropriate to record daily voice measures representing the effects of vocal loading within individuals.  In addition, even though different algorithms are used to compute voice measures across software programs, some of the programs and measures share a similar relationship.

The influence of the Lande gg-factor in the classical general relativistic description of atomic and subatomic systems

We study the electromagnetic and gravitational fields of the proton and electron in terms of the Einstenian gravity via the introduction of an arbitrary Lande $g$-factor in the Kerr-Newman solution. We show that at length scales of the order of the reduced Compton wavelength, corrections from different values of the $g$-factor are not negligible and discuss the presence of general relativistic effects in highly ionized heavy atoms. On the other hand, since at the Compton-wavelength scale the gravitational field becomes spin dominated rather than mass dominated, we also point out the necessity of including angular momentum as a source of corrections to Newtonian gravity in the quantum description of gravity at this scale.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure