Psychosocial Predictors of Metabolic Syndrome among Latino Groups in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

ObjectiveWe sought to determine the contribution of psychological variables to risk for metabolic syndrome (MetS) among Latinos enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), and to investigate whether social support moderates these associations, and whether inflammatory markers mediate the association between psychological variables and MetS.Research design and methodsCross-sectional analyses at study baseline were conducted with a national Latino cohort (n = 1,388) that included Mexican Americans, Dominican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans and Central/South Americans. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the effects of psychosocial variables (chronic stress, depressive symptoms, and social support) on MetS. In addition, separate subgroup-specific models, controlling for nationality, age, gender, socioeconomic position, language spoken at home, exercise, smoking and drinking status, and testing for the effects of chronic stress, depressive symptoms and inflammation (IL-6, CRP, fibrinogen) in predicting risk for MetS were conducted.ResultsIn the overall sample, high chronic stress independently predicted risk for MetS, however this association was found to be significant only in Mexican Americans and Puerto Rican Americans. Social support did not moderate the associations between chronic stress and MetS for any group. Chronic stress was not associated with inflammatory markers in either the overall sample or in each group.ConclusionsOur results suggest a differential contribution of chronic stress to the prevalence of MetS by national groups

The Construction of Stations and Tunnels by Slurry Trecnch, Method in the Madrid Metro Extension

Recently a new Extension of the Madrid Subway (Spain) is carried out (1995-2003). In 8 years more of 105 Km of tunnels are builded by several procedures: Traditional non-mechanized excavation, precast linings by E.P.B machines, cut and cover system, etc. In this paper the basic criteria adopted for the design of tunnels and stations built with the cut and cover method (reinforced concrete continuous and discontinuous walls) are analysed. Initially, to this purpose the geotechnical properties of the Madrid ground are reached, in order to establish a group of unified desion geotechnical parameters. The hypotheses made for the numerical analysis of in situ walls are shown (calculation model, water pressures, etc), together with the installed instrumentation and the obtained results

Psychometric properties of a brief Spanish version of Stigmatizing Situations Inventory / Propiedades psicométricas de una versión breve en español del Inventario de Situaciones Estigmatizantes

Abstract Overweight and obese people are a frequent target of weight stigma. However, there are no Spanish-Language validated inventories measuring weight stigma situations. Therefore, we sought to validate a brief Spanish version of the Stigmatizing Situations Inventory (SSI) in a sample of Chilean adults. A psychometric study with 377 Chilean adults was designed (Mage = 45.0, SD = 8.7; 62% female). Twenty-four items available from two previous versions of the SSI developed were back-translated from English to Spanish, and semantically adapted to the Chilean sample. We explored the factorial structure with 173 participants, and then confirmed it with 204 subjects. We obtained evidence of concurrent validity with other psychological measures, as well as evidence of reliability. Our results identified a single factor structure grouping 10-items, with factorial loadings greater than .60. The overall fit indices are excellent. There is evidence of concurrent validity with body mass index (r = .43), anger (r = .19), anxiety (r = .29), and daily life discrimination (r = .26); all with p .60 e indicadores de bondad de ajuste excelentes. La consistencia interna de la escala fue alta (a = .91, ). Además se obtuvo evidencia de la validez concurrente del ISE con otras medidas: índice de masa corporal (r = .43), ira (r = .19), ansiedad (r = .29) y discriminación en la vida diaria (r = .26); todos con p < .05. La versión breve en español del ISE mostró ser válida y confiable. Esta escala puede ser utilizada por investigadores y profesionales de la salud que estudian las consecuencias psicológicas de la obesidad

BUCCULATRI X THURBERIELLA BUSK (LEPIDOPTERA: LYONETIIDAE1) EN LA ZONA NORTE DEL PAÍS

Se informa sobre el problema que ejerce Bucculatrix thurberiella Busck 1914, sobre plantaciones de algodonero, en la zona norte del país; especialmente en el departamento de Piura. Se presenta &nbsp;aspectos de relevancia sobre su biología y comportamiento, así como observaciones sobre su variación poblacional en los valles de dicho departamento; tratando puntos sobresalientes como son el área de dispersión y zonas problemáticas, así como la influencia del control cultural y biológico de ésta especie plaga

Synergy Between Quantum Circuits and Tensor Networks: Short-cutting the Race to Practical Quantum Advantage

While recent breakthroughs have proven the ability of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices to achieve quantum advantage in classically-intractable sampling tasks, the use of these devices for solving more practically relevant computational problems remains a challenge. Proposals for attaining practical quantum advantage typically involve parametrized quantum circuits (PQCs), whose parameters can be optimized to find solutions to diverse problems throughout quantum simulation and machine learning. However, training PQCs for real-world problems remains a significant practical challenge, largely due to the phenomenon of barren plateaus in the optimization landscapes of randomly-initialized quantum circuits. In this work, we introduce a scalable procedure for harnessing classical computing resources to provide pre-optimized initializations for PQCs, which we show significantly improves the trainability and performance of PQCs on a variety of problems. Given a specific optimization task, this method first utilizes tensor network (TN) simulations to identify a promising quantum state, which is then converted into gate parameters of a PQC by means of a high-performance decomposition procedure. We show that this learned initialization avoids barren plateaus, and effectively translates increases in classical resources to enhanced performance and speed in training quantum circuits. By demonstrating a means of boosting limited quantum resources using classical computers, our approach illustrates the promise of this synergy between quantum and quantum-inspired models in quantum computing, and opens up new avenues to harness the power of modern quantum hardware for realizing practical quantum advantage.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Generation of High-Resolution Handwritten Digits with an Ion-Trap Quantum Computer

Generating high-quality data (e.g. images or video) is one of the most exciting and challenging frontiers in unsupervised machine learning. Utilizing quantum computers in such tasks to potentially enhance conventional machine learning algorithms has emerged as a promising application, but poses big challenges due to the limited number of qubits and the level of gate noise in available devices. In this work, we provide the first practical and experimental implementation of a quantum-classical generative algorithm capable of generating high-resolution images of handwritten digits with state-of-the-art gate-based quantum computers. In our quantum-assisted machine learning framework, we implement a quantum-circuit based generative model to learn and sample the prior distribution of a Generative Adversarial Network. We introduce a multi-basis technique that leverages the unique possibility of measuring quantum states in different bases, hence enhancing the expressivity of the prior distribution. We train this hybrid algorithm on an ion-trap device based on $^{171}$Yb$^{+}$ ion qubits to generate high-quality images and quantitatively outperform comparable classical Generative Adversarial Networks trained on the popular MNIST data set for handwritten digits.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures (more details and discussion in main text for clarity

Stability of vortex lines in liquid 3He-4He mixtures at zero temperature

At low temperatures and 3He concentrations below 6.6 %, there is experimental evidence about the existence in liquid helium mixtures, of stable vortices with 3He-rich cores. When the system is either supersaturated or submitted to a tensile strength, vortices lose stability becoming metastable and eventually completely unstable, so that their cores freely expand. Within a density functional approach, we have determined the pressure-3He concentration curve along which this instability appears at zero temperature.Comment: Typeset using Revtex, 9 pages and 5 Postscript figure

Hematological parameters, lipid profile and cardiovascular risk analysis among genotype-controlled indigenous Kichwa men and women living at low and high altitudes

Introduction: Human adaptation to high-altitude is due to characteristic adjustments at every physiological level. Differences in lipid profile and cardiovascular risk factors in altitude dwellers have been previously explored, nevertheless there are no reports available on genotype-controlled matches among different altitude adapted indigenous populations. Objective: To explore the possible differences in plasma lipid profile and cardiovascular risk among autochthonous Kiwcha people inhabitants of low and high-altitude locations. Methodology: A cross-sectional analysis of plasmatic lipid profiles and cardiovascular risk factors in lowland Kiwchas from Limoncocha (230 m) and high-altitude Kiwchas from Oyacachi (3,800 m). Results: In the low altitude group, 66% were women (n=78) and 34% (n=40) were men, while at high altitude, 59% (n=56) were women and 41% (n=41%) were men. We found the proportion of overweight and obese individuals to be higher among low altitude dwellers (p<0.05). Red blood cells (RBC), Hemoglobin concentration and SpO2% were higher among high altitude dwellers and erythrocyte's size was found to be smaller at high altitude .The group located at low altitude showed also lower levels of plasma cholesterol, LDL and HDL but most of these differences are not influenced by gender or elevation. Conclusions: Living at altitude elicits well-known adaptive physiological changes such as erythrocyte count, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, and serum glucose. We report also clinical differences in the plasma lipid profile, with higher levels of cholesterol and high density and low-density lipoproteins in Andes Mountain inhabitants versus their Amazonian basin peers. Despite we found altered underlying physiological pathways between the populations, this does not allow in a different cardiovascular risk

Volleyball spanish child. Study level of participation in the game

El objetivo del estudio fue determinar qué factores inciden sobre el nivel de participación de los jugadores de equipos infantiles de voleibol masculino. Se analizaron número de transiciones hacia el campo contrario, la continuidad, forma de culminación del punto y resultado de éste. El estudió se centró en el Campeonato de España Escolar masculino del año 2002, en torno a las edades de 12- 14 años, mediante un diseño de investigación sincrónico simétrico y multidimensional. El número de transiciones hacia el campo contrario y la continuidad mostraron relación directa con el criterio focal del estudio no produciéndose, sin embargo, significación estadística entre un incremento de la participación con una mayor probabilidad de culminar los puntos en remate ni con una consecución de mayor cantidad de puntos. Podemos concluir que en esta categoría predomina un estilo de juego especializado y jerarquizado donde los mejores jugadores tienen mayor participación en el juego.The aim of this study was to establish the factors which affect the level of participation among players of different youth male volleyball teams. Number of transitions, continuity, point finalization and its result, were analyzed. The study was focused on the 2002 Male under 14 Scholar Spanish Championship, through a synchronic, symmetric and multidimensional investigation design. The Number of transitions to the other court and continuity had a straight relation with the focus of the research; however, there is no statistical signification between the increased participation with more likely of completing finish points and achieving a most points. We concluded that it can be considered that this volleyball category is characterized by the existence of a specialized and hierarchical game style, in which the best players show a highest level of involvement during the game