Acute Effect of Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Exercise on Arterial Stiffness in Fine Particulate Matter Environment: A Pilot Study

Abstracts PURPOSE This study aimed to examine the effect of one bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on arterial stiffness under ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. METHODS In a randomized crossover design, seven healthy young men performed 30 minutes of treadmill running at 70% of heart rate peak under high PM2.5 and low PM2.5 exposure. Arterial stiffness was assessed by measuring the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and augmentation index, a measure of pulse wave reflection before and after each exercise intervention. RESULTS Regardless of the PM2.5 exposure, brachial systolic blood pressure and heart rate increased in response to one bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (p<.05). However, the augmentation index adjusted at a heart rate of 75 beats/min, central diastolic blood pressure, central mean arterial pressure, and brachial diastolic blood pressure were increased after one bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise under the high PM2.5 condition (p<.05). CONCLUSIONS Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise at the high PM2.5 level may result in acute negative arterial stiffness and blood pressure responses even in healthy young men

Detouring and replication for fast and reliable internet-scale stream processing

iFlow is a replication-based system that can achieve both fast and reliable processing of high volume data streams on the Internet scale. iFlow uses a low degree of replication in conjunction with detouring techniques to overcome network congestion and outages. Computation over iFlow can be expressed as a graph of operators. To cope with varying system conditions these operators continually migrate in a manner that improves performance and availability at the same time. In this paper, we first provide an overview of our iFlow sys-tem. Next, we detail how our detouring technique works in the face of network failures to provide high availability for time critical applications. The paper also includes a de-scription of our implementation and preliminary evaluation results demonstrating that iFlow outperforms previous solu-tions with less overhead. Finally, the paper concludes with our plans for enhancing replication and detouring capabili-ties

Strabismus and Poor Stereoacuity Associated with Kabuki Syndrome

Kabuki syndrome is characterized by long palpebral fissures, large ears, a depressed nasal tip, and skeletal anomalies associated with postnatal dwarfism and mental retardation. There have been few prior detailed descriptions of strabismus or stereopsis in these patients. We report a patient with Kabuki syndrome who showed small-angle strabismus and poor stereopsis. This case illustrates the need for patients with a diagnosis of Kabuki syndrome to have an ophthalmologic evaluation. Strabismus associated with Kabuki syndrome may have a small angle that can be easily overlooked

Polymeric tandem organic light-emitting diodes using a self-organized interfacial layer

The authors have demonstrated efficient polymeric tandem organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a self-organized interfacial layer, which was formed by differences in chemical surface energy. Hydrophilic poly(styrene sulfonate)-doped poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT:PSS) was spin coated onto the hydrophobic poly(9,9-dyoctilfluorene) (PFO) surface and a PEDOT:PSS bubble or dome was built as an interfacial layer. The barrier heights of PEDOT:PSS and PFO in the two-unit tandem OLED induced a charge accumulation at the interface in the heterojunction and thereby created exciton recombination at a much higher level than in the one-unit reference. This effect was confirmed in both the hole only and the electron only devices. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physicsopen8

Renal Artery Embolization of Perirenal Hematoma in Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome: A Case Report

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is an acute viral disease characterized by fever, hemorrhage and renal failure. Among the various hemorrhagic complications of HFRS, spontaneous rupture of the kidney and perirenal hematoma are very rare findings. We report here on a case of HFRS complicated by massive perirenal hematoma, and this was treated with transcatheter arterial embolization

Clinical implementation of whole-genome array CGH as a first-tier test in 5080 pre and postnatal cases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is currently the most powerful method for detecting chromosomal alterations in pre and postnatal clinical cases. In this study, we developed a BAC based array CGH analysis platform for detecting whole genome DNA copy number changes including specific micro deletion and duplication chromosomal disorders. Additionally, we report our experience with the clinical implementation of our array CGH analysis platform. Array CGH was performed on 5080 pre and postnatal clinical samples from patients referred with a variety of clinical phenotypes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 4073 prenatal cases (4033 amniotic fluid and 40 chorionic villi specimens) and 1007 postnatal cases (407 peripheral blood and 600 cord blood) were studied with complete concordance between array CGH, karyotype and fluorescence <it>in situ </it>hybridization results. Among 75 positive prenatal cases with DNA copy number variations, 60 had an aneuploidy, seven had a deletion, and eight had a duplication. Among 39 positive postnatal cases samples, five had an aneuploidy, 23 had a deletion, and 11 had a duplication.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study demonstrates the utility of using our newly developed whole-genome array CGH as first-tier test in 5080 pre and postnatal cases. Array CGH has increased the ability to detect segmental deletion and duplication in patients with variable clinical features and is becoming a more powerful tool in pre and postnatal diagnostics.</p

Association of Alcohol Consumption with the Risk of Ocular Trauma

This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of alcohol consumption on the risk of ocular trauma. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 1,024 patients who visited emergency department and received ophthalmologic examination from January 1 to December 31, 2009. The patients were divided into 2 groups: those with ocular trauma (n = 494) and those without (n = 530); the influence of alcohol consumption was compared between these 2 groups. In the ocular trauma group, the association of the causes and types of ocular trauma with alcohol consumption was evaluated. One of 530 patients of no trauma group and 117 (23.7%) of 494 patients of trauma group were related with alcohol intake, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Concerning the causes, physical assault was significantly more common in alcohol-associated injury (P < 0.001). Regarding the types of injury, orbital wall fracture and hyphema showed a significant association with alcohol consumption (P < 0.001). Older age and nighttime injury were significantly related to the increased risk of alcohol-associated ocular trauma (P = 0.018 and < 0.001, respectively). In conclusion, alcohol consumption significantly increases the risk of ocular trauma

Influence of Physical Activity Level on Cardiovascular and Autonomic Nerve Function

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to demonstrate differences in cardiovascular and autonomic nerve function among physical activity levels and associations between physical activity level and cardiovascular and autonomic nerve function. METHODS Sixty-six healthy young adults voluntarily participated in this cross-sectional study. Physical activity levels were assessed using triaxial accelerometers for 7 consecutive days. Central hemodynamics and arterial stiffness were measured using the Sphygomo-Cor Xcel system. Autonomic nerve function was assessed by heart rate variability. RESULTS The highest tertile group of the total quantity of physical activity had higher lnRMSSD than did the lowest tertile group (p=0.047). The augmentation index adjusted for heart rate at 75 beats per min (AIx@75) was lower in the highest tertile group of vig-orous-intensity physical activity than in the lowest tertile group (p=0.012). Moreover, AIx@75 was negatively associated with vigorous-intensity physical activity (r=-0.27, p=0.028). CONCLUSIONS High levels of physical activity contribute to the dominance of parasympathetic nerve activity at rest. Increased engagement in vigorous-intensity physical activity can help reduce arterial pulse wave reflection, an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, even in healthy young adults

Factors Associated with Elevated ALT in an International HIV/HBV Co-Infected Cohort on Long-Term HAART

Previous studies have demonstrated that hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection increases the risk for ALT elevations in HIV-HBV co-infected patients during the first year of HAART; however, there is limited data on the prevalence of ALT elevations with prolonged HAART in this patient group.To identify factors associated with ALT elevations in an HIV-HBV co-infected cohort receiving prolonged HAART, data from 143 co-infected patients on HAART enrolled in an international HIV-HBV co-infected cohort where ALT measurements were obtained every 6 months was analysed. A person-visit analysis was used to determine frequency of ALT elevation (≥ 2.5×ULN) at each visit. Factors associated with ALT elevation were determined using multivariate logistic regression with generalized estimating equations to account for correlated data. The median time on HAART at the end of follow-up was 5.6 years (range 0.4-13.3) years. During follow-up, median ALT was 36 U/L with 10.6% of person-visits classified as having ALT elevation. Most ALT elevations were grade 2 (86.5%), with only 13.5% of all ALT elevations grade 3 or higher. Univariate associations with ALT elevation (p<0.05) included history of AIDS, HBV DNA ≥ 2,000 IU/ml, HBeAg positive, study visit CD4 <200 cells/ml and nadir CD4 <200 cells/ml. In the multivariate analysis, only study visit CD4 <200 cells/ml (OR 2.07, 95%CI 1.04-4.11, p = 0.04) and HBeAg positive status (OR 2.22, 95%CI 1.03-4.79, p = 0.04) were independently associated with ALT elevation.In this HIV-HBV co-infected cohort, elevated ALT after >1 year of HAART was uncommon, and severe ALT elevations were rare. HIV-HBV co-infected patients on long-term HAART who are either HBeAg positive or have a CD4 count of <200 cells/ml are at increased risk for ALT elevations