Does an Analysis of the Pulsatile Secretion Pattern of Adrenocorticotropin and Cortisol Predict the Result of Transsphenoidal Surgery in Cushing’s Disease.

The endocrinological, surgical, and histological findings of patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing's disease were correlated with the pulsatile secretion pattern of ACTH and cortisol and the outcome after transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. A total of 28 patients were studied. The preoperative pulsatile secretion of ACTH and cortisol was assessed by sampling blood at 20-min intervals over 24 h. The pulsatile pattern of secretion was analyzed by the Cluster program. In 21 patients, an ACTH-secreting pituitary adenoma was identified and resected. Of these patients, 18 underwent clinical remission, and their cortisol secretion was suppressed to a normal level by low dose dexamethasone. Histological examinations in the patients with persistent disease revealed normal pituitary in 6 cases, nodular hyperplasia in 1, and ACTH-secreting pituitary adenoma in 3 cases. Analysis of the pulsatile pattern of ACTH and cortisol secretion did not reveal significant differences in timing, frequency, and/or amplitude of ACTH and cortisol pulses in normalized patients and those with persistent disease after surgery. It is concluded that analysis of the secretory pattern is not a suitable method for predicting the outcome of ranssphenoidal surgery in patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing's disease

Virtual Machine Support for Many-Core Architectures: Decoupling Abstract from Concrete Concurrency Models

The upcoming many-core architectures require software developers to exploit concurrency to utilize available computational power. Today's high-level language virtual machines (VMs), which are a cornerstone of software development, do not provide sufficient abstraction for concurrency concepts. We analyze concrete and abstract concurrency models and identify the challenges they impose for VMs. To provide sufficient concurrency support in VMs, we propose to integrate concurrency operations into VM instruction sets. Since there will always be VMs optimized for special purposes, our goal is to develop a methodology to design instruction sets with concurrency support. Therefore, we also propose a list of trade-offs that have to be investigated to advise the design of such instruction sets. As a first experiment, we implemented one instruction set extension for shared memory and one for non-shared memory concurrency. From our experimental results, we derived a list of requirements for a full-grown experimental environment for further research

Does green tea affect postprandial glucose, insulin and satiety in healthy subjects: a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Results of epidemiological studies have suggested that consumption of green tea could lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. Intervention studies show that green tea may decrease blood glucose levels, and also increase satiety. This study was conducted to examine the postprandial effects of green tea on glucose levels, glycemic index, insulin levels and satiety in healthy individuals after the consumption of a meal including green tea.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was conducted on 14 healthy volunteers, with a crossover design. Participants were randomized to either 300 ml of green tea or water. This was consumed together with a breakfast consisting of white bread and sliced turkey. Blood samples were drawn at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. Participants completed several different satiety score scales at the same times.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Plasma glucose levels were higher 120 min after ingestion of the meal with green tea than after the ingestion of the meal with water. No significant differences were found in serum insulin levels, or the area under the curve for glucose or insulin. Subjects reported significantly higher satiety, having a less strong desire to eat their favorite food and finding it less pleasant to eat another mouthful of the same food after drinking green tea compared to water.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Green tea showed no glucose or insulin-lowering effect. However, increased satiety and fullness were reported by the participants after the consumption of green tea.</p> <p>Trial registration number</p> <p>NCT01086189</p

An economic case for providing free access to antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive people in South Australia

BACKGROUND: As financial constraints can be a barrier to accessing HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART), we argue for the removal of copayment requirements from HIV medications in South Australia. METHODS: Using a simple mathematical model informed by available behavioural and biological data and reflecting the HIV epidemiology in South Australia, we calculated the expected number of new HIV transmissions caused by persons who are not currently on ART compared with transmissions for people on ART. The extra financial investment required to cover the copayments to prevent an HIV infection was compared with the treatment costs saved due to averting HIV infections. RESULTS: It was estimated that one HIV infection is prevented per year for every 31.4 persons (median, 24.0-42.7 interquartile range (IQR)) who receive treatment. By considering the incremental change in costs and outcomes of a change in program from the current status quo, it would cost the health sector $17860 per infection averted (median,$13651-24287 IQR) if ART is provided as a three-dose, three-drug combination without requirements for user-pay copayments. CONCLUSIONS: The costs of removing copayment fees for ART are less than the costs of treating extra HIV infections that would result under current conditions. Removing the copayment requirement for HIV medication would be cost-effective from a governmental perspective.Kelly-Jean Heymer, Matthias Wentzlaff-Eggebert, Elissa Mortimer and David P. Wilso

BYOC: A "bring your own core" framework for heterogeneous-ISA research

Heterogeneous architectures and heterogeneous-ISA designs are growing areas of computer architecture and system software research. Unfortunately, this line of research is significantly hindered by the lack of experimental systems and modifiable hardware frameworks. This work proposes BYOC, a "Bring Your Own Core" framework that is specifically designed to enable heterogeneous-ISA and heterogeneous system research. BYOC is an open-source hardware framework that provides a scalable cache coherence system, that includes out-of-the-box support for four different ISAs (RISC-V 32-bit, RISC-V 64-bit, x86, and SPARCv9) and has been connected to ten different cores. The framework also supports multiple loosely coupled accelerators and is a fully working system supporting SMP Linux. The Transaction-Response Interface (TRI) introduced with BYOC has been specifically designed to make it easy to add in new cores with new ISAs and memory interfaces. This work demonstrates multiple multi-ISA designs running on FPGA and characterises the communication costs. This work describes many of the architectural design trade-offs for building such a flexible system. BYOC is well suited to be the premiere platform for heterogeneous-ISA architecture, system software, and compiler research