Role of intestinal microbiota in cardio-metabolic diseases

The global obesity pandemic is one of the most significant long-term challenges for healthcare in the current era. Obesity is strongly associated with disrupted glucose and lipid metabolism, a pro-inflammatory state of the immune system, and has a causal role in the development of cardiometabolic diseases. The medical science is challenged to find new targets in the fight against this worldwide silent pandemic.We investigated how the gut microbiota influences local and systemic lipid metabolism and immune system of the host and the relationship to pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. The central question was "Does the gut microbiota have a anti-atherogenic potential?" Our studies have shown that oral administration of the bacterium A. muciniphila positively influences the host's lipid metabolism. In addition, oral administration of this bacterium triggers an anti-inflammatory immune response. These findings suggest that A. muciniphila has anti-atherogenic potential. Furthermore, we provided critical insights into two commonly accepted and widely used research methods in cardiometabolic and microbiome research, namely Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) and 16S rRNA sequencing. These insights should be taken into account in the research design and interpretation of the research data when applied. In another study, we demonstrated that the gut microbiota increases the cytokine reactions of immune cells after BMT. This phenotype can be transferred to immune cells of healthy controls through Fecal Microbiota Transplantation, implying that this phenotype is independent of BMT-induced gut damage, leaky gut syndrome, and microbiota-mediated. In summary, our studies show that the gut microbiota has anti-atherogenic potential by playing a causal role in the modulation of lipid metabolism and the host's immune system.LUMC / Geneeskund

Power management of hybrid micro-grid system by a generic centralized supervisory control scheme

This paper presents a generic centralized supervisory control scheme for the power management of multiple power converters based hybrid micro-grid system. The system consists of wind generators, photovoltaic system, multiple parallel connected power converters, utility grid, ac and dc loads. Power management of the micro-grid is performed under two cases: grid mode and local mode. Central supervisory unit (CSU) generates command signal to ensure the power management during the two modes. In local mode, the dc loads in the ac-dc hybrid system can be controlled. In the case of grid mode operation, power flow between the utility grid and micro-grid is controlled. A novel feature of this paper is the incorporation of the multiple power converters. The generated command signal from the CSU can also control the operation of the multiple power converters in both grid and local modes. An additional feature is the incorporation of sodium sulfur battery energy storage system (NAS BESS) which is used to smooth the output power fluctuation of the wind farm. The effectiveness of the control scheme is also verified using real time load pattern. The simulation is performed in PSCAD/EMTDC

The Impact of Teaching Lexical Bundles on Improving Iranian EFL Students’ Writing Skill

AbstractThe present study aims to examine how significant the use of lexical bundles prevalent in the field of applied linguistics can be in students’ writing materials. Forty lexical bundles which were judged to be the most frequent, most relevant and functionally important to the discipline of applied linguistics were chosen and taught to twenty MA students of TEFL. They were asked to write a piece of writing on a given topic prior to and after the instruction. The bundles were intended to help them develop their ideas into organized paragraphs. The data included students’ writings, as well as their elicited views, collected through a questionnaire, regarding the helpfulness of the bundles in writing skill. The findings indicated that the bundles were of significant help to the students’ writing ability and that students attribute great importance to lexical bundles. The findings indicate that every course in writing should give significance to the teaching of lexical bundles

Formal specification of a self-sustainable holonic system for smart electrical micro-grids

Stand-alone micro-grids have emerged within the smart grids field, facing important challenges related to their proper and efficient operation. An example is the self-sustainability when the micro-grid is disconnected from the main utility, e.g., due to a failure in the main utility or due to geographical situations, which requires the efficient control of energy demand and production. This paper describes the formal specification of a holonic system architecture that is able to perform the automation control functions in electrical stand-alone micro-grids, particularly aiming to improve their self-sustainability. The system aims at optimizing the power flow among the different electrical players, both producers and consumers, to keep the micro-grid operating even under adverse situations. The behaviour of each individual holon and their coordination patterns were modelled, analysed and validated using the Petri net formalism, allowing the complete verification of the system correctness during the design phase.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Feeding habits of striped piggy, Pomadasys stridens (Forsskal, 1775) (Haemulidae) in northern part of the Persian Gulf

Feeding habits of Pomadasys stridens were studied in northern part of the Persian Gulf. A total of 591 specimens were collected from the coastal water of Bushehr Province using trawl boats from May 2012 to April 2013 and diet composition, feeding intensity and season changes in diet composition were investigated. Vacuity Index was 81% during the study. RGL was 0.98±0.03 classifying this species as carnivorous to omnivorous fish. Pomadasys stridens had consumed 48 different food categories in 7 taxonomic classes. Crustacean, Mollusca, foraminifera, nematodes, Echinodermata, Annelida and miscellaneous were the main observed food items. There was no significant difference between males and females regarding diet composition in different months

Age estimation based on pulp–tooth volume ratio of anterior teeth in cone-beam computed tomographic images in a selected population: A cross-sectional study

The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between chronological age and pulp– tooth volume ratio in anterior teeth using cone beam computed tomographic (CBCT) images and provide equations for age estimation based on pulp–tooth volume ratio. In this cross-sectional study, CBCT images of 312 anterior teeth of the maxilla and mandible were examineαd. The chronological age and the sex of the patients were recorded. Tooth volume and pulp volume of the anterior teeth were measured using Mimics software, and then tooth–pulp volume ratio was calculated. Statistical analysis of data was performed using chi-square test, independent T-test, Pearson’s correlation, and linear regression (α = 0.05). Finally, equations were made based on the results of the regression analysis for age estimation in general and for males and females. The age of the subjects ranged between 16 and 69 years (mean 40.6 ± 12.74). The pulp–tooth volume ratio of the maxillary teeth was generally higher than the mandibular teeth. A significant inverse relationship between age and pulp–tooth volume ratio was observed for all anterior teeth. (p < 0.05). The strongest correlation between age and pulp–tooth volume ratio was reported for mandibular central incisor (r = −0.58, p < 0.001) and the weakest was for mandibular lateral incisor (r = −0.36, p = 0.012). Age estimation was most accurate among females using the maxillary central incisors (p < 0.001) and among males using the mandibular central incisors and maxillary canines (p = 0.003). Pulp–tooth volume ratio of mandibular central incisors, maxillary lateral incisors, and maxillary canines in males and maxillary and mandibular central incisors, maxillary lateral incisors, and maxillary and mandibular canines in females can be used for age estimation

Geospatial Modeling of Urban Sewage Network Operations Based on DRASTIC Model (A Case Study of Isfahan)

In recent years, old urban sewage networks have encountered numerous flaws, leading to several important problems in the environment, such as groundwater pollution, excessive growth of tree roots inside sewer pipes, etc. To tackle such problems, innovative approaches must be practiced in urban sewage networks operations. To this aim, a spatial model based on "predictive analysis" and smart technology in the sewage network operation management is needed. Our proposed model was firstly applied for the city of Isfahan to evaluate and predict possible accidents in the urban sewage network. Our model is based on DRASTIC model and Geographic information system. The sewage accidents were assessed by combining the results of DRASTIC model and Getis-Ord Gi* index. This model could assess the previous sewage accidents and predict the probability of future accidents in cities, as well as their environmental risks. In this study, the intention was to identify the hot spots of accidents in the sewage network using GIS; then by studying the factors affecting the accidents, and geological and environmental parameters, a spatial model was designed. Combination of the Getis-Ord Gi* index and DRASTIC model is the main innovation of this research. In the study area, the following items were determined as the most important factors in the sewage accidents: 1- soil type, 2-inappropriate infrastructure, 3-inappropriate pipes with older age, 4-lower diameter. Finally, this model showed that there was a significant relationship between spatial and environmental indices in the study area. Also, the significance value obtained from the statistical analysis of the relationship between pipe diameters and sewer network accidents was equal to 0.004 and the significance value obtained from the statistical analysis of the relationship between pipe life and such events based on Kendall and Spearman tests were calculated as 0.05 and 0.37, respectively