Object oriented programming environment for reconfigurable applications implemented in FPGA chips

One of the methods to control and manage multichannel, distributed measurement systems (as the ones used in High Energy Physics experiments) is described in this paper. These systems are based on FPGA chips. The method fulfills requirements for system configurability and efficiency. The method is based on a new way of address space management called the Component Internal Interface (CII). Creation of a stable link between the hardware and software is the purpose of the designed and realized programing environment. Practical implementation and usage example of suggested application in the Muon Trigger RPC detector at CMS experiment is discussed. The work was realized with strong participation of Ph.D. students

Glycerin as a factor for moderating quality changes in table eggs during storage

Glycerol, a by-product of biodiesel production, is non-toxic to humans and the environment. With the current increase in the demand for fuels obtained from biomass, the amount of glycerine waste production is increasing. There are many ways to dispose this substance (in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and in chemical industry), but its utilization is still insufficient. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the possibility of limiting quality changes in table eggs during storage by coating the shells with a glycerol solution. The material used in this research consisted of 270 table chicken eggs collected on the same day. On the first day of the experiment, quality traits of 30 eggs were evaluated (initial control group). The remaining 240 eggs were divided into two equal groups: control (eggs that were not subjected to any treatment) and experimental (eggs that were coated with a 5&thinsp;% aqueous solution of glycerol). The eggs were placed on transport trays and stored at 14&thinsp;°C and 70&thinsp;% humidity. Quality evaluations were carried out after 14 and 28 days of storage. The depth of the air cell, mass and specific gravity of the egg, the shell characteristics (water vapour conductance, strength, mass, thickness, and density), and the content traits (pH of the albumen and yolk, Haugh units, and colour and weight of the yolk) were evaluated. The results obtained suggest that the use of glycerine may contribute to slowing adverse changes in egg quality during storage by limiting CO2 removal from the egg content, which allows the egg to maintain albumen structure. Due to the fact that glycerine is a safe, cheap, and easy-to-apply substance, its large-scale use in poultry raw material storage seems to be a very real possibility.</p

Constant activity of glutamine synthetase after morphine administration versus proteomic results

Glutamine synthetase is a key enzyme which has a regulatory role in the brain glutamate pool. According to previously published proteomic analysis, it was shown that the expression level of this enzyme is affected by morphine administration. In our study, we examined the activity of glutamine synthetase in various structures of rat brain (cortex, striatum, hippocampus and spinal cord) that are biochemically and functionally involved in drug addiction and antinociception caused by morphine. We were not able to observe any significant changes in the enzyme activity between morphine-treated and control samples despite previously reported changes in the expression levels of this enzyme. These findings stressed the fact that changes observed in the expression of particular proteins during proteomic studies may not be correlated with its activity

The role of glucagon-like peptide 1-receptor gene in type 2 diabetes

WSTĘP. Celem badania było poszukiwanie związku między polimorfizmami Gly168Ser i Leu260Phe genu receptora glukagonopodobnego peptydu-1 z cukrzycą typu 2 w populacji polskiej. MATERIAŁ I METODY. Analizowano materiał genetyczny 462 chorych na cukrzycę typu 2 i 428 zdrowych ochotników. Genotypowanie polimorfizmów wykonywano, namnażając odpowiednie fragmenty DNA za pomocą reakcji łańcuchowej polimerazy, tnąc namnożone fragmenty enzymami restrykcyjnymi i uwidaczniając produkty cięcia na żelu agarozowym z dodatkiem bromku etydyny. Analiza statystyczna obejmowała test &#967;2 dla zbadania zależności genotypów z chorobą i regresję logistyczną dla zbadania zależności haplotypów z chorobą. WYNIKI. Częstość homozygot Ser/Ser była znamiennie wyższa w grupie chorych na cukrzycę (15,7%) niż w grupie kontrolnej (9,8%), p = 0,03. Iloraz szans rozwoju cukrzycy u tych pacjentów wskazywał na niemal 2-krotnie wyższe ryzyko niż u pacjentów niebędących homozygotami Ser/Ser. Polimorfizm w popozycji 260 oraz haplotypy utworzone przez dwa badane polimorfizmy nie były związane z występowaniem cukrzycy typu 2. WNIOSKI. Wyniki badania sugerują, że polimorfizm Gly168Ser jest potencjalnym czynnikiem ryzyka cukrzycy typu 2 w populacji polskiej. Obserwacja ta wymaga potwierdzenia w innych grupach etnicznych.INTRODUCTION. The aim of the study was to search for the association between Gly168Ser and Leu260Phe amino acid variants of the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor gene and type 2 diabetes in a Polish population. METHODS. 462 patients with type 2 diabetes and 428 healthy volunteers were genotyped by restriction fragments length polymorphism method after amplification of examined genome fragment by polymerase chain reaction technique. The digestion products were separated and visualized by electrophoresis on agarose gel containing ethidium bromide. Statistical analysis involved chi-square test for genotype-phenotype association and logistic regression for association of phenotype with haplotypes. RESULTS. Ser/Ser homozygotes frequency in diabetic patients group was significantly higher than in control group (15.7% vs. 9.8%, p = 0,03). Odds ratio of having type 2 diabetes in Ser/Ser carriers group versus other genotype carriers showed almost two fold risk increase associated with this genotype. Polymorphism in 260 amino acid position and haplotypes of the analyzed polymorphisms were not associated with type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS. The results of the study suggest that polymorphism Gly168Ser may be potentially a risk factor of the type 2 diabetes in Polish population. This observation should be evaluated in other ethnic groups

The effects of preoperative chemotherapy on isolated tumour cells in the blood and bone marrow of gastric cancer patients

Recent studies in breast cancer suggest that monitoring the isolated tumour cells (ITC) may be used as a surrogate marker to evaluate the efficacy of systemic chemotherapy. In the present study, we have investigated the effects of preoperative chemotherapy on ITC in the blood and bone marrow of patients with potentially resectable gastric cancer. After sorting out the CD45-positive cells, the presence of ITC defined as cytokeratin-positive cells was examined before and after preoperative chemotherapy. The patients received two courses of preoperative chemotherapy with cisplatin (100 mg m−2, day 1) and 5-fluorouracil (1000 mg m−2, days 1–5), administered every 28 days. Fourteen of 32 (44%) patients initially diagnosed with ITC in blood and/or bone marrow were found to be negative (responders) after preoperative chemotherapy (P<0.01). The incidence of ITC in bone marrow was also significantly (P<0.01) reduced from 97 (31 of 32) to 53% (17 of 32). The difference between patients positive for ITC in the blood before (n=7, 22%) and after (n=5, 16%) chemotherapy was statistically insignificant. The overall 3-year survival rates were 32 and 49% in the responders and non-responders, respectively (P=0.683). These data indicate that preoperative chemotherapy can reduce the incidence of ITC in patients with gastric cancer

Right Heart Pulmonary Circulation Unit Response to Exercise in Patients with Controlled Systemic Arterial Hypertension: Insights from the RIGHT Heart International NETwork (RIGHT-NET)

Background. Systemic arterial hypertension (HTN) is the main risk factor for the development of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The aim of the study was was to assess the trends in PASP, E/E’ and TAPSE during exercise Doppler echocardiography (EDE) in hypertensive (HTN) patients vs. healthy subjects stratified by age. Methods. EDE was performed in 155 hypertensive patients and in 145 healthy subjects (mean age 62 ± 12.0 vs. 54 ± 14.9 years respectively, p &lt; 0.0001). EDE was undertaken on a semi-recumbent cycle ergometer with load increasing by 25 watts every 2 min. Left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) dimensions, function and hemodynamics were evaluated. Results. Echo-Doppler parameters of LV and RV function were lower, both at rest and at peak exercise in hypertensives, while pulmonary hemodynamics were higher as compared to healthy subjects. The entire cohort was then divided into tertiles of age: at rest, no significant differences were recorded for each age group between hypertensives and normotensives except for E/E’ that was higher in hypertensives. At peak exercise, hypertensives had higher pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) and E/E’ but lower tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) as age increased, compared to normotensives. Differences in E/E’ and TAPSE between the 2 groups at peak exercise were explained by the interaction between HTN and age even after adjustment for baseline values (p &lt; 0.001 for E/E’, p = 0.011 for TAPSE). At peak exercise, the oldest group of hypertensive patients had a mean E/E’ of 13.0, suggesting a significant increase in LV diastolic pressure combined with increased PASP. Conclusion. Age and HTN have a synergic negative effect on E/E’ and TAPSE at peak exercise in hypertensive subjects

Addressing Food Loss and Waste : A Global Problem with Local Solutions

The report focuses on the role that food loss and waste (FLW) could play in reducing the environmental footprint of food systems while attempting to meet the caloric and nutrient needs of a population expected to increase by 3 billion people in the next 30 years. The performance of the global food system over the last century has been extraordinary. From a global population of 1.6 billion people in 1900 to nearly 8 billion in 2020, the agri-food sector has risen to the challenge of providing global caloric sufficiency, mainly by increasing yields of a few principal staple crops. However, this path is no longer sustainable

Evaluation of sub-acute changes in cardiac function after cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy for testicular cancer

Long-term cardiovascular morbidity is increasingly observed in chemotherapy-treated testicular cancer survivors, but little is known of early sub-clinical changes in cardiac function. We prospectively evaluated cardiac function in testicular cancer patients by echocardiography. Systolic (Wall Motion Score Index) and diastolic (E/A-ratio and Tissue Velocity Imaging (TVI)) parameters, and serum levels of N-Terminal pro-Brain Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP) were assessed before the start of chemotherapy and 1 year later. Echocardiography data were compared with an age-matched group of healthy controls. Forty-two patients treated with bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin were evaluated (median age 27 years, range 18–50). Systolic function and E/A-ratio did not change, whereas the median TVI decreased (12.0 vs 10.0 cms−1; P=0.002). Median levels of NT-proBNP increased (5 vs 18 pmoll−1, P=0.034). Compared with controls, TVI before the start of chemotherapy was not significantly different. In conclusion, we found that at a median of 10 months after cisplatin-based treatment for testicular cancer, TVI decreased significantly, indicating a deterioration of diastolic cardiac function. Serum levels of NT-proBNP increased. The prognostic significance of these changes for future cardiovascular morbidity is not clear