Fifth European Dirofilaria and Angiostrongylus Days (FiEDAD) 2016

Peer reviewe

Obesity and Vitamin D Deficiency: Trends to Promote a More Proatherogenic Cardiometabolic Risk Profile

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with cardiometabolic risk factors (eg, hypertension, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and dyslipidemia). We studied 50 obese patients (body mass index [BMI]: 43.5 +/- 9.2 kg/m(2)) and 36 normal weight participants (BMI: 22.6 +/- 1.9 kg/m(2)). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D, 25(OH)D LT 50 nmol/L) was 88% among obese patients and 31% among nonobese individuals; 25(OH)D levels were lower in the obese group (27.3 +/- 13.7 vs 64.6 +/- 21.3 nmol/L; P LT .001). There was a negative correlation between vitamin D level and anthropometric indicators of obesity: BMI (r = -0.64; P LT .001), waist circumference (r = -0.59; P LT .001), and body fat percentage (r = -0.64; P LT .001) as well as with fasting plasma insulin (r = -0.35; P LT .001) and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (r = -0.35; P LT .001). In conclusion, we observed a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among obese participants and this was associated with a proatherogenic cardiometabolic risk profile

Synchrophasor-based Applications to Enhance Electrical System Performance in the Netherlands

This paper deals with the essentials of synchrophasor applications for future power systems aimed at increasing system reliability and resilience. In this work, several applications are presented, covering real-time disturbance detection and blackout prevention. Firstly, an advanced big-data management platform built in real-time digital simulation (RTDS) environment to support measurement data collection, processing and sharing among stakeholders is described. With this platform, a network splitting methodology to avoid cascading failures is presented and demonstrated, which upon the occurrence of a disturbance successfully isolates the affected part to avoid catastrophic cascade system outage. Online generator coherency identification is another synchrophasor application implemented on the platform, whose use is demonstrated in the context of controlled network splitting. By using synchrophasors, data-analytics techniques can also be used for identifying and classifying different disturbances in real-time with the least human intervention. Therefore, a novel centralized artificial intelligence (AI) based expert system to detect and classify critical events is outlined. Finally, the paper elaborates on the development of advanced system resilience metrics for real-time vulnerability assessment, with a focus on increasingly relevant dynamic interactions between distribution and transmission systems.Intelligent Electrical Power Grid