IRON STATUS AND DIETARY AND ANTHROPOMETRIC RISK FACTORS IN US TODDLERS

Iron deficiency (ID) is a common problem among US children but diagnosis requires four tests. An equation using only the logarithmic ratio of circulating transferrin receptor to ferritin has been proposed to quantify body iron in adults, however, its application in children is limited. Our objective was to determine the body iron of middle-class US toddlers using this equation and to compare calculated body iron to dietary and anthropometric covariates previously associated with ID. Eighty-six healthy, 18-to 36-month-old toddlers were recruited. Anthropometric, dietary, and hematological data were collected. Multiple regression analyses revealed dietary calcium intake and body mass index negatively influenced body iron, and birth weight, dietary iron intake, and energy intake positively influenced body iron. These predictive variables are similar to previously reported iron status risk factors. Our findings support the use of the body iron equation as a simple measure of iron status in healthy young children

Conceptual design and realization of a dynamic partial reconfiguration extension of an existing soft-core processor

Viele aktuelle Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) unterstützen die Technik der partiellen Rekonfiguration (PR), durch die dynamisch zur Laufzeit ein Hardware-Design auch nur teilweise ausgetauscht werden kann. Die vorliegende Arbeit integriert PR-Funktionalität in die an der Technischen Universität Ilmenau für harte Echtzeitaufgaben mit hochpräzisen Fließkommaberechnungen entwickelte VHDL Integrated Softcore Architecture for Reconfigurable Devices (ViSARD). Zu diesem Zweck wird die arithmetisch-logische Einheit angepasst, um das Auswechseln von Fließkomma-Ausführungseinheiten zu ermöglichen. Ziele der Entwicklung des PR-Systems sind hohe Geschwindigkeit, niedrige Latenz, niedrige Ressourcenkosten und harte Echtzeitfähigkeit. Erreicht werden diese durch die Umsetzung einer eigenen Steuereinheit (partial reconfiguration controller), die partielle Bitströme aus externem RAM über einen standardmäßigen AXI-Bus lädt sowie die entsprechende Erweiterung der ViSARD. In einem Testdesign, das zwischen drei verschiedenen Konfigurationen mit je zwischen einer und drei Ausführungseinheiten wechselt, hat das entwickelte PR-System den maximal spezifierten Bitstromdurchsatz auf dem Ziel-FPGA erreicht und den Verbrauch an Lookup-Tabellen um etwa 40 % verringert.Many modern field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) support partial reconfiguration, which allows to dynamically replace only a part of a design at run time. In this thesis, partial reconfiguration capability is integrated with the VHDL Integrated Softcore Architecture for Reconfigurable Devices (ViSARD) developed at Technische Universität Ilmenau and conceived for hard real-time tasks requiring floating-point calculations with high precision. Specifically, its arithmetic logic unit is modified to allow exchanging floating-point arithmetic execution units. Design goals of the partial reconfiguration system are high speed, low latency, low resource overhead, and hard real-time capability. They are reached by implementing a custom partial reconfiguration controller loading partial bitstreams from external RAM over a standard AXI bus and extending the ViSARD appropriately. In a test design that switched between 3 different configurations each containing between 1 and 3 execution units, the proposed partial reconfiguration system achieved the maximum specified bitstream throughput on the target FPGA and allowed for roughly 40 % reduced look-up table usage

Design, implementation, and test of a tri-mode Ethernet MAC on an FPGA

Ethernet ist eine ausgereifte Kommunikationstechnologie mit vielen Vorteilen für Sensornetzwerke und einer Vielzahl anderer Einsatzbereiche. Anwendungen interagieren mit einer sogenannten Media-Access-Control-(MAC)-Unterschicht, um Pakete vom Netzwerk zu empfangen und zu versenden. Diese Arbeit stellt den Entwurf, die Implementierung und den Test einer in VHDL umgesetzten MAC-Schicht für Ethernet auf FPGAs vor. Die Kommunikation mit einem integrierten Schaltkreis, der die Bitübertragungsschicht von Ethernet umsetzt, erfolgt über das standardisierte Media-Independent Interface (MII) in den Varianten MII und GMII. Dabei werden Verbindungsgeschwindigkeiten von 10, 100 und 1000 Mb/s im Vollduplex-Modus unterstützt. Im Gegensatz zu bisherigen Lösungen liegt der Schwerpunkt des Entwurfs auf Einfachheit sowohl in der externen Benutzung als auch den internen Abläufen. Benutzern kommt die unkomplizierte FIFO-Schnittstelle zugute, mit der sie gleichzeitig bei nahezu voller Gigabit-Ethernet-Geschwindigkeit senden und empfangen können. Die MAC-Schicht wurde für ein GigaBee-Mikromodul der Trenz Electronic GmbH mit einem FPGA der Spartan-6-Familie von Xilinx entworfen und ebenfalls damit geprüft.Ethernet is a mature communication technology with a sizable number of advantages for sensor networks and many other use cases. Applications interact with a media access control (MAC) sublayer to get packets from and to the network. This thesis presents the design, implementation, and test of an Ethernet MAC targeted at FPGAs in VHDL. It supports full-duplex interfacing with an Ethernet physical layer integrated circuit via the standard media-independent interface (MII) variants MII and GMII at link speeds of 10, 100, and 1000 Mb/s. In contrast to prior solutions, it is devised primarily with simplicity in mind, both in external usage and in internal operation. Users benefit from the straightforward FIFO interface offered while nevertheless being able to send and receive at almost full Gigabit Ethernet speed. The solution is designed for and verified on a Trenz Electronic GmbH GigaBee micromodule with a Xilinx Spartan-6 family FPGA

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) balance in developmental outcomes

The DHA Intake and Measurement of Neural Development (DIAMOND) trial represents one of only a few studies of the long-term dose-response effects of LCPUFA-supplemented formula feeding during infancy. The trial contrasted the effects of four formulations: 0.00% docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)/0.00% arachidonic acid (ARA), 0.32% DHA/0.64% ARA, 0.64% DHA/0.64% ARA, and 0.96% DHA/0.64% ARA against a control condition (0.00% DHA/0.00% ARA). The results of this trial have been published elsewhere, and show improved cognitive outcomes for infants fed supplemented formulas, but a common finding among many of the outcomes show a reduction of benefit for the highest DHA dose (i.e., 0.96% DHA/0.64% ARA, that is, a DHA: ARA ratio 1.5:1.0). The current paper gathers and summarizes the evidence for the reduction of benefit at this dose, and in an attempt to account for this reduced benefit, presents for the first time data from infants' red blood cell (RBC) assays taken at 4 and 12 months of age. Those assays indicate that blood DHA levels generally rose with increased DHA supplementation, although those levels tended to plateau as the DHA-supplemented level exceeded 0.64%. Perhaps more importantly, ARA levels showed a strong inverted-U function in response to increased DHA supplementation; indeed, infants assigned to the formula with the highest dose of DHA (and highest DHA/ARA ratio) showed a reduction in blood ARA relative to more intermediate DHA doses. This finding raises the possibility that reduced ARA may be responsible for the reduction in benefit on cognitive outcomes seen at this dose. The findings implicate the DHA/ARA balance as an important variable in the contribution of LCPUFAs to cognitive and behavioral development in infancy

Effect of maternal cigarette smoking on newborn iron stores

Background: Maternal smoking has been known to have a negative impact on the well being of the developing fetus. Prenatal smoking has been associated with premature births, low birth weight and with certain birth defects. Small research studies have also found a negative correlation between maternal smoking and neonatal body iron. Objectives: To study and compare the relationship between maternal and infants’ body iron in smokers and non-smokers in a large matched-pair cohort. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study involving 144 mothers – 72 smokers and 72 non-smokers and their respective infants. Samples were obtained from maternal and infants’ cord blood at delivery for Serum transferrin receptor (sTfR) and ferritin levels. Serum TfR and ferritin were measured by RAMCO ELISA and RIA assays. Total Body Iron (TBI) was calculated using the sTfR/ferritin ratio in a previously described formula by Cook et al. Results: Women who smoked had lower sTfR, higher ferritin and higher body iron compared to nonsmoking women. In contrast to their respective mothers, we found a small, but statistically significant negative correlation between smoking and infants’ total body iron. The number of packs per day smoked was also negatively correlated with infants’ ferritin and total body iron. Lower birth weight was noted in babies of smokers compared to nonsmokers (mean /- SD=3270 +/-475 vs. 3393 g +/- 475 g, p=0.03). Conclusion: Women who smoked during pregnancy had higher iron stores but their newborn infants had lower iron stores than those of non-smoking mothers. The more packs per day (PPD) and more days smoked during pregnancy led to lower total body iron of the babies. There may be a negative dose-dependent response between fetal smoke exposure and infant iron stores