1,833 research outputs found
Influence of lifestyle habits, nutritional status and insulin resistance in NAFLD
Non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance (IR). The aim of our study was to assess the relationship between IR, anthropometry, lifestyle habits, resting energy expenditure (REE) and degree of fatty liver at ultrasound in 48 overweight patients with NAFLD as compared to 24 controls without fatty liver, matched for age. Nutritional status, alcohol intake and physical activity were assessed by skinfold thickness measurements, a 7-day diary, and SenseWear armband (SWA). REE was assessed by both SWA (REE-SWA) and a Vmax metabolic cart (REE-Vmax). Fatty liver was measured by US and the Doppler Power Index was calculated. IR was assessed using the HOMA index. There was significant correlation between waist circumference, HOMA, Doppler power index and fatty liver grade at US. Multivariate analysis showed that alteration of waist circumference, Doppler power index, and HOMA were the major significant predictors of fatty liver. Our data demonstrated a significant association between NAFLD and central adiposity and IR
The Lithium test for multiple populations in Globular Clusters: Lithium in NGC 2808
In the globular cluster NGC2808, a quasi-standard initial lithium abundance
is derived for a red giant belonging to the `extreme' population, characterized
by a large helium overabundance, and by abundances of proton capture elements
typical of nuclear processing in gas at very high temperatures, where the
initial lithium has been fully destroyed. The observations of lithium in such
extreme cluster stars are important to test different models for the formation
of multiple populations in old Globular Clusters. In the asymptotic giant
branch (AGB) scenario, fresh lithium is synthetized during the initial phases
of hot bottom burning which, afterwards, synthetize the other p-capture
elements. We model the abundance of lithium in the ejecta of superAGB models,
finding values consistent or larger than observed in the `extreme' giant; these
same models describe correctly the magnesium depletion and silicon enrichment
of the extreme population of NGC 2808, so the overall agreement provides
further support to the AGB scenario. In the models involving massive or
supermassive stars, the Lithium observed requires a mixture of the lithium-free
ejecta of the polluting population with more than 40% of standard-lithium
pristine gas. The extended chemical anomalies of NGC 2808 stars are then to be
all explained within at most 60% of the possible dilution range, the initial
helium mass fraction in the ejecta should be Y >= 0.5, to account for the Ye
0.38-0.40 of the extreme population, and further observations of p-process
elements are needed to check the model.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter
Validation of Simulated Safety Indicators with Traffic Crash Data
The purpose of this document is to validate a new methodology useful for the estimation of road accidents resulting from possible driver distractions. This was possible through a statistical comparison made between real accident data between 2016 and 2018 in the city of Santander (Spain) and simulated data resulting from the application of the methodology on two areas of study. The methodology allows us to evaluate possible collisions starting from the knowledge of vehicular trajectories extrapolated from microsimulation. Studies show that there are good correlations between the real data and the simulated data. The results obtained show that the proposed methodology can be considered reliable and, therefore, it could be of fundamental importance for designers, since it would simplify the choice between different possible intervention scenarios, determining which is the least risky in terms of road safety
The MUSE-Wide survey: A measurement of the Ly emitting fraction among galaxies
We present a measurement of the fraction of Lyman (Ly)
emitters () amongst HST continuum-selected galaxies at
with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the VLT. Making
use of the first 24 MUSE-Wide pointings in GOODS-South, each having an
integration time of 1 hour, we detect 100 Ly emitters and find
for most of the redshift range covered, with 29
per cent of the Ly sample exhibiting rest equivalent widths (rest-EWs)
15\AA. Adopting a range of rest-EW cuts (0 - 75\AA), we find no evidence
of a dependence of on either redshift or UV luminosity.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures (MNRAS, updated as per version in press
The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey X. Ly Equivalent Widths at
We present rest-frame Ly equivalent widths (EW) of 417 Ly
emitters (LAEs) detected with Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the
Very Large Telescope (VLT) at in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
Based on the deep MUSE spectroscopy and ancillary Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
photometry data, we carefully measured EW values taking into account extended
Ly emission and UV continuum slopes (). Our LAEs reach
unprecedented depths, both in Ly luminosities and UV absolute
magnitudes, from log(/erg s) 41.0 to 43.0 and
from Muv -16 to -21 (0.01-1.0 ). The EW values span the
range of 5 to 240 \AA\ or larger, and their distribution can be well
fitted by an exponential law exp(EW/). Owing to
the high dynamic range in Muv, we find that the scale factor, ,
depends on Muv in the sense that including fainter Muv objects increases
, i.e., the Ando effect. The results indicate that selection
functions affect the EW scale factor. Taking these effects into account, we
find that our values are consistent with those in the literature
within uncertainties at at a given threshold of Muv
and . Interestingly, we find 12 objects with EW \AA\
above uncertainties. Two of these 12 LAEs show signatures of merger
or AGN activity: the weak CIV emission line. For the remaining
10 very large EW LAEs, we find that the EW values can be reproduced by young
stellar ages ( Myr) and low metallicities ( ). Otherwise, at least part of the Ly emission in these LAEs
needs to arise from anisotropic radiative transfer effects, fluorescence by
hidden AGN or quasi-stellar object activity, or gravitational cooling.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in A&A (MUSE
UDF Series Paper X
Ubiquitous giant Ly nebulae around the brightest quasars at revealed with MUSE
Direct Ly imaging of intergalactic gas at has recently
revealed giant cosmological structures around quasars, e.g. the Slug Nebula
(Cantalupo et al. 2014). Despite their high luminosity, the detection rate of
such systems in narrow-band and spectroscopic surveys is less than 10%,
possibly encoding crucial information on the distribution of gas around quasars
and the quasar emission properties. In this study, we use the MUSE
integral-field instrument to perform a blind survey for giant Ly
nebulae around 17 bright radio-quiet quasars at that does not suffer
from most of the limitations of previous surveys. After data reduction and
analysis performed with specifically developed tools, we found that each quasar
is surrounded by giant Ly nebulae with projected sizes larger than 100
physical kpc and, in some cases, extending up to 320 kpc. The circularly
averaged surface brightness profiles of the nebulae appear very similar to each
other despite their different morphologies and are consistent with power laws
with slopes . The similarity between the properties of all these
nebulae and the Slug Nebula suggests a similar origin for all systems and that
a large fraction of gas around bright quasars could be in a relatively "cold"
(T10K) and dense phase. In addition, our results imply that such gas
is ubiquitous within at least 50 kpc from bright quasars at
independently of the quasar emission opening angle, or extending up to 200 kpc
for quasar isotropic emission.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, 3 Tables, accepted to Ap
Ultrastructural localization of tyrosine hydroxylase in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells: effect of stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin
Using immunocytochemistry coupled to fluorescence and electron microscopy, we investigated the expression and ultrastructural localization of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, EC 1.14.16.2), the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of catecholamines, in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), with PC12 cells as positive controls. In unstimulated PBMCs, TH-specific immunoreactivity was localized to the plasma membrane. However, after stimulation with the polyclonal mitogen phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), TH immunoreactivity was almost completely localized to electron-dense cytoplasmic granules, which resembled those found in PC12. TH-positive granules, however, were larger (300-500 nm) than in PC12 cells (100-200 nm). Flow cytometry analysis of TH expression showed about 46-50% positive cells in unstimulated PBMCs and in PHA-stimulated PBMCs in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, but more than 80% positive cells in PHA-stimulated PBMCs in the S+G2/M phase. In agreement with previous observations, PHA stimulation also induced de novo expression of TH mRNA as well as increased intracellular catecholamine content, suggesting the occurrence of TH upregulation at the level of both gene expression and enzyme activity. The ultrastructural localization of TH in human PBMCs seems therefore regulated by cell stimulation and related to the functional activity of the enzyme
Short-term multidisciplinary non-pharmacological intervention is effective in reducing liver fat content assessed non-invasively in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
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Chronic pain and spinal cord stimulation.
Chronic pain can have a devastating impact and lead to patient isolation. Many people with chronic pain are predisposed to anxiety-depressant symptoms, due to a lower quality life. The aim of the study is to demonstrate how neuromodulation methods, can encourage the reduction of chronic pain and an improvement in the quality of life, therefore advancing the restoration of psychological well-being.We involved 50 patients with a diagnosis of pain that not respond to traditional pharmacological therapies. Interventions: All subject had depression and anxiety symptoms and a low-quality life. We used the spinal cord stimulation treatment and a psychological evaluation for assessment of depression-anxiety symptomatology and the level of quality life.We observed a significant difference in physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health, general health perceptions, vitality, social functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems and mental health.Our study affirms that the perception of chronic pain has a great impact on the perception of psychological well-being, quality of life, and the performance of normal daily social and professional activities
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