Role and development of GLP-1 receptor agonists in the management of diabetes

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a hormone secreted from enteroendocrine L cells of the intestine in response to food. Exogenous GLP-1 administration at pharmacological doses results in many effects that are beneficial for treating type 2 diabetes, these include: (1) an increase in insulin secretion from β cells; (2) a suppression of glucagon secretion from α cells in the presence of hyperglycemia but not hypoglycemia; (3) a delay in gastric emptying and gut motility which in turns delays absorption of ingested nutrients and dampens post-prandial glucose excursion; and (4) an increase in the duration of postprandial satiety therefore suppressing appetite and decreasing food intake which eventually leads to weight loss. However, GLP-1 is subject to rapid enzymatic degradation, and therefore, not suitable for long-term treatment. A synthetic enzyme-resistant GLP-1 receptor agonist that reproduces the biological effects of GLP-1 is in use and more are under development. This review aims at providing a summary of the properties of GLP-1 and the development of GLP-1-based therapies for treatment of diabetes

Self-Dual Conformal Supergravity and the Hamiltonian Formulation

In terms of Dirac matrices the self-dual and anti-self-dual decomposition of a conformal supergravity is given and a self-dual conformal supergravity theory is developed as a connection dynamic theory in which the basic dynamic variabes include the self-dual spin connection i.e. the Ashtekar connection rather than the triad. The Hamiltonian formulation and the constraints are obtained by using the Dirac-Bergmann algorithm. PACS numbers: 04.20.Cv, 04.20.Fy,04.65.+

Assessment of surface water quality in the Malaysian coastal waters by using multivariate analyses.

Coastal water samples were collected from 20 sampling sites in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia. Seven physico-chemical parameters were measured directly in-situ while water samples were collected and analysed for 6 dissolved trace metal concentrations. The surface water (0-20 cm) physico-chemical parameters including temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), specific conductance (SpC) and turbidity while the dissolved trace metals were Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn. The ranges for the physico-chemical parameters were 28.07-35.6°C for temperature, 0.18-32.42 ppt for salinity, 2.20-12.03 mg/L for DO, 5.50-8.53 for pH, 0.24-31.65 mg/L for TDS, 368-49452 μ/cm for SpC and 0-262 NTU for turbidity while the dissolved metals (mg/L) were 0.013-0.147 for Cd, 0.024-0.143 for Cu, 0.266-2.873 for Fe, 0.027-0.651 for Ni, 0.018-0.377 for Pb and 0.032-0.099 for Zn. Based on multivariate analysis (including correlation, cluster and principal component analyses), the polluted sites were found at Kg. Pasir Puteh and Tg. Kupang while Ni and Pb were identified as two major dissolved metals of high variation in the coastal waters. Therefore, water quality monitoring and control of release of untreated anthropogenic wastes into rivers and coastal waters are strongly needed

Development of an IT Balanced Scorecard

There is a generally acknowledged dearth of metrics for effectively measuring organizational performance. This is particularly true of the IT function, whose contribution to a firm’s “bottom line” has been frequently called to question. This paper describes the development of a performance measurement tool called the Balanced Scorecard, which can be used to assess IT performance within the context of overall corporate strategy and financial performance. Data for the scorecard was obtained via a survey of senior IT executives in various organizations. The paper concludes with a set of guidelines for successfully implementing an IT Balanced Scorecard, as well as potential pitfalls to avoid in the process

Validation of the Malaysian Chinese-version of the EORTC QLQ-CR29 among Colorectal cancer patients in Malaysia

Patient reported outcome research are becoming a very important way of understanding patient’s satisfaction and tolerance with the treatment they receive. This study examined the validity and reliability of the Malaysian Chinese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) colorectal cancer-specific quality of life questionnaire (QLQ-CR29). Patients were recruited at the outpatient clinics of the University of Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan Medical Centre, Malaysia. The QLQ-CR29 and Karnofsky Performance Scales (KPS) were used. Multi-traits scaling analysis such as Cronbach’s alpha, inter-class correlation (ICC) and known-groups comparisons (Wilcoxon-rank sum test) were performed. Significant level was pre-set at ≤ 0.05. Patients mean age (standard deviation, SD) was 64 (10) years, and 60% were male. Colon cancer was 50%. While 60% had advanced stage (Dukes’ C/D) cancers and about 30% of patients had a stoma. The mean KPS was 80% (SD 10). The internal consistency coefficient (ICC) was 0.89, 0.84, 0.46, and 0.73 for body image, urinary frequency, blood & mucus in stool and stool frequency scales respectively. The correlation coefficients for convergent validity were moderate to large (r ranged from 0.72 to 0.93) across all scales. For the discriminant validity measurements, small to moderate correlations were observed across the scales. The psychometric properties of the Malaysian Chinese version of the QLQ-CR29 were comparable to the original English version. This work provides a translated, culturally adapted, reliable and valid measure of HRQOL for use among Malaysian Chinese patients with colorectal cancer

A Novel Non-Intrusive Method to Resolve the Thermal-Dome-Effect of Pyranometers: Radiometric Calibration and Implications

Traditionally the calibration equation for pyranometers assumes that the measured solar irradiance is solely proportional to the thermopile's output voltage; therefore only a single calibration factor is derived. This causes additional measurement uncertainties because it does not capture sufficient information to correctly account for a pyranometer's thermal effect. In our updated calibration equation, temperatures from the pyranometer's dome and case are incorporated to describe the instrument's thermal behavior, and a new set of calibration constants are determined, thereby reducing measurement uncertainties. In this paper, we demonstrate why a pyranometer's uncertainty using the traditional calibration equation is always larger than a-few-percent, but with the new approach can become much less than 1% after the thermal issue is resolved. The highlighted calibration results are based on NIST-traceable light sources under controlled laboratory conditions. The significance of the new approach lends itself to not only avoiding the uncertainty caused by a pyranometer's thermal effect but also the opportunity to better isolate and characterize other instrumental artifacts, such as angular response and non-linearity of the thermopile, to further reduce additional uncertainties. We also discuss some of the implications, including an example of how the thermal issue can potentially impact climate studies by evaluating aerosol's direct-radiative effect using field measurements with and without considering the pyranometer's thermal effect. The results of radiative transfer model simulation show that a pyranometer's thermal effect on solar irradiance measurements at the surface can be translated into a significant alteration of the calculated distribution of solar energy inside the column atmosphere

Symmetric Hyperbolic System in the Self-dual Teleparallel Gravity

In order to discuss the well-posed initial value formulation of the teleparallel gravity and apply it to numerical relativity a symmetric hyperbolic system in the self-dual teleparallel gravity which is equivalent to the Ashtekar formulation is posed. This system is different from the ones in other works by that the reality condition of the spatial metric is included in the symmetric hyperbolicity and then is no longer an independent condition. In addition the constraint equations of this system are rather simpler than the ones in other works.Comment: 8 pages, no figure

Host-pathogen wars: new weapons from biotechnology and genomics.

Pathogens are imminent threats to crop production. Among the management tools available to protect crops from diseases, the use of host-plant resistance had been hindered by a lack of tools and resources to identify resistance genes (R-genes). Genomic technologies have empowered acquisition of a new level and quality of information on plant-pathogen interactions. Next generation sequencing, differential transcriptome analysis, gene editing, and use of bioinformatics have greatly expanded the numbers of R-genes identified, enriched understanding of R-avirulence gene interactions, and disease diagnosis. In this review, we highlight the application of genomic technologies to identification of pathogen machinery for future improvement of host plant resistance

Comparison of engagement and emotional responses of older and younger adults interacting with 3D cultural heritage artefacts on personal devices

The availability of advanced software and less expensive hardware allows museums to preserve and share artefacts digitally. As a result, museums are frequently making their collections accessible online as interactive, 3D models. This could lead to the unique situation of viewing the digital artefact before the physical artefact. Experiencing artefacts digitally outside of the museum on personal devices may affect the user's ability to emotionally connect to the artefacts. This study examines how two target populations of young adults (18–21 years) and the elderly (65 years and older) responded to seeing cultural heritage artefacts in three different modalities: augmented reality on a tablet, 3D models on a laptop, and then physical artefacts. Specifically, the time spent, enjoyment, and emotional responses were analysed. Results revealed that regardless of age, the digital modalities were enjoyable and encouraged emotional responses. Seeing the physical artefacts after the digital ones did not lessen their enjoyment or emotions felt. These findings aim to provide an insight into the effectiveness of 3D artefacts viewed on personal devices and artefacts shown outside of the museum for encouraging emotional responses from older and younger people

Highly Stable and Reactive Platinum Single Atoms on Oxygen Plasma-Functionalized CeO₂ Surfaces: Nanostructuring and Peroxo Effects

Atomically dispersed precious metals on oxide supports have recently become increasingly interesting catalytic materials. Nonetheless, their non-trivial preparation and limited thermal and environmental stability constitutes an issue for their potential applications. Here we demonstrate that an oxygen plasma pre-treatment of the ceria (CeO2 ) surface serves to anchor Pt single atoms, making them active and resistant towards sintering in the CO oxidation reaction. Through a combination of experimental results obtained on well-defined CeO2 films and theory, we show that the O2 plasma causes surface nanostructuring and the formation of surface peroxo (O22-) species, favoring the uniform and dense distribution of isolated strongly bonded Pt2+ atoms. The promotional effect of the plasma treatment was further demonstrated on the powder Pt/CeO2 catalysts. We believe that plasma functionalization can be applied to other metal/oxide systems to achieve tunable and stable catalysts with a high density of active sites