Effect of Sibutramine on Weight Management and Metabolic Control in Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE—The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical studies on the effects of sibutramine on weight loss and glycemic control in obese subjects with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Controlled clinical trials assessing the effect sizes of sibutramine on weight loss effects on glycemia in obese subjects with type 2 diabetes were identified and reviewed using the Cochrane Library, Medline, EMBASE, and a manual search. RESULTS—Eight placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trials of sibutramine were included. After sibutramine treatment, the decrease in body weight and waist circumference was significantly greater than in the placebo group. Fasting blood glucose and HbA1c significantly decreased after sibutramine treatment. Treatment benefits were seen in plasma triglycerides and HDL, without significant variations in serum total and LDL cholesterol. No differences in systolic blood pressure between the sibutramine and the placebo groups were seen, while recording of diastolic blood pressure and heart rate showed that sibutramine produced a small increase relative to placebo. CONCLUSIONS—A pharmacological approach in a weight management program for patients with type 2 diabetes may be helpful in glycemic control and in the management of other risk factors. Sibutramine may help improve glucose control because it is conducive to weight loss. The reviewed data on the effect of sibutramine further enforce the recommendations that weight management may be the most important therapeutic task for most obese subjects with type 2 diabetes

Adapting and Optimizing the Systemic Model of Banking Originated Losses (SYMBOL) Tool to the Multi-core Architecture

Currently, multi-core system is a predominant architecture in the computational word. This gives new possibilities to speedup statistical and numerical simulations, but it also introduce many challenges we need to deal with. In order to improve the performance metrics, we need to consider different key points as: core communications, data locality, dependencies, memory size, etc. This paper describes a series of optimization steps done on the SYMBOL model meant to enhance its performance and scalability. SYMBOL is a micro-funded statistical tool which analyses the consequences of bank failures, taking into account the available safety nets, such as deposit guarantee schemes or resolution funds. However, this tool, in its original version, has some computational weakness, because its execution time grows considerably, when we request to run with large input data (e.g. large banking systems) or if we wish to scale up the value of the stopping criterium, i.e. the number of default scenarios to be considered. Our intention is to develop a tool (extendable to other model having similar characteristics) where a set of serial (e.g. deleting redundancies, loop enrolling, etc.) and parallel strategies (e.g. OpenMP, and GPU programming) come together to obtain shorter execution time and scalability. The tool uses automatic configuration to make the best use of available resources on the basis of the characteristics of the input datasets. Experimental results, done varying the size of the input dataset and the stopping criterium, show a considerable improvement one can obtain by using the new tool, with execution time reduction up to 96 % of with respect to the original serial versionJRC.G.1-Financial and Economic Analysi

In VitroReconstitution of the Recombinant Photosystem II Light-harvesting Complex CP24 and Its Spectroscopic Characterization

The light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein CP24, a minor subunit of the photosystem II antenna system, is a major violaxanthin-binding protein involved in the regulation of excited state concentration of chlorophyll a. This subunit is poorly characterized due to the difficulty in isolation and instability during purification procedures. We have used an alternative approach in order to gain information on the properties of this protein; the Lhcb6 cDNA has been overexpressed in bacteria in order to obtain the CP24 apoprotein, which was then reconstituted in vitro with xanthophylls, chlorophyll a, and chlorophyll b, yielding a pigment-protein complex with properties essentially identical to the native protein extracted from maize thylakoids. Although all carotenoids were supplied during refolding, the recombinant holoprotein exhibited high selectivity in xanthophyll binding by coordinating violaxanthin and lutein but not neoxanthin or beta-carotene. Each monomer bound a total of 10 chlorophyll a plus chlorophyll b and two xanthophyll molecules. Moreover, the protein could be refolded in the presence of different chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b ratios for yielding a family of recombinant proteins with different chlorophyll a/b ratios but still binding the same total number of porphyrins. A peculiar feature of CP24 was its refolding capability in the absence of lutein, contrary to the case of other homologous proteins, thus showing higher plasticity in xanthophyll binding. These characteristics of CP24 are discussed with respect to its role in binding zeaxanthin in high light stress conditions. The spectroscopic analysis of a recombinant CP24 complex binding eight chlorophyll b molecules and a single chlorophyll a molecule by Gaussian deconvolution allowed the identification of four subbands peaking at wavelengths of 638, 645, 653, and 659 nm, which have an increased amplitude with respect to the native complex and therefore identify the chlorophyll b absorption in the antenna protein environment. Gaussian subbands at wavelengths 666, 673, 679, and 686 nm are depleted in the high chlorophyll b complex, thus suggesting they derive from chlorophyll a

Applications of Engineering 4.0 to Improve the Safety of Metalworking Operators: The Ansaldo Energia Case

The paper describes how, on behalf of Ansaldo Energia Spa, a multidisciplinary team developed a methodology based on Industry 4.0 technologies, an approach that allows rescue teams to quickly intervene in the event of a mandown in isolated areas of the plant, where the unfortunate person would risk being found with significant delay and onsequent problems for his physical well-being. Under the supervision of the team, a highly specialized supplier created a suitable hardware and software device to achieve this outcome. Such a device can immediately warn rescue crews in real time as soon as an incident occurs, as well as geo-locate the man on the ground with exceptional precision. Once developed, the approach was standardized in a set of sequential and generic procedures in order to make it adaptable to any sort of firm, construction site, or workshop where a man-down event may happen. The methodology is set up as a real toolkit to protect operators from severe damage that can result from long waits for rescue teams, whenever operators experience negative events for their safety being them exogenous (fainting illnesses, heart attacks, epileptic attacks, strokes, etc.) or endogenous (accidents in the workplace)

APOLIPOPROTEIN H : A TWO-STEP ISOLATION METHOD

A new method for the purification of apolipoprotein H by affinity chromatography followed by continuous-elution electrophoresis is described. It is both simpler and less complicated than the chromatographic and electrophoretic methods usually used. In addition, apolipoprotein H is isolated in a pure, structurally uncleaved form. This is of importance, as impairment has been detected in commercial preparations. The separation and purification of apolipoprotein H is a necessary prelude to its quantitative determination and phenotyping, and hence the clarification of its physiopathological mechanisms in lipid metabolism

Effects of Smoking on Oxidative Stress and Vascular Function

Tobacco smoking is the single most preventable risk factor related to the development of cardiovascular disease. It was demonstrated that tobacco smoke contains a thousand compounds potentially harmful to human health. As tobacco use declined over time, electronic cigarettes were introduced as an alternative. E-cigarettes are a modern and technological surrogate of traditional cigarettes and use heat to convert a nicotine solution or a flavored nicotine-free solution into vapor. Even though all the ingredients contained in the liquid of E-cigarettes are approved as food additives, the harmlessness of these electronic devices is still not fully proven in humans. The general mechanisms by which smoking results in cardiovascular events include the development of atherosclerotic changes with a hypercoagulable state and an increased risk of thrombosis. Endothelial dysfunction has been recognized as a hallmark of preclinical systemic atherosclerosis and as a useful marker to stratify the risk of cardiovascular disease. Based on these considerations, in this chapter, we (1) discussed the role of endothelial dysfunction and its contributing factors, such as oxidative stress and inflammation, in the development of cardiovascular diseases and (2) reported the studies which investigated the effect of tobacco and electronic smoking on the biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and inflammation

Aportes sobre Atajacaminos (Caprimulgidae) en la provincia de Salta, Argentina

La publicación de numerosos artículos y trabajos relacionados a caprimúlgidos que mencionan novedades acerca de su nidifcación (Krauczuk 2000, 2013, Pautasso & Cazenave 2002, Bodrati & Baigorria 2013, Salvador & Bodrati 2013, Salvador et al. 2014, Schaaf et al. 2015), alimentación (Bodrati & Cockle 2012, Bodrati & Salvador 2015), depredación (Fariña et al. 2014), hábitos (Mazar Barnett et al. 1998, Bodrati & Cockle 2012, Salvador & Bodrati 2013), nuevas localidades (Jaramillo 2000, Imberti 2001, Bodrati 2004, Bodrati & Klavins 2004, Marateo et al. 2009, Bodrati & Cockle 2012, Krauczuk 2013) e incluso especies nuevas para el país (Krauczuk 2000, Bodrati & Areta 2010), demuestra que aun falta mucho por conocer sobre este grupo en la Argentina. Aportamos información obtenida durante noviembre de 2011 sobre nuevas localidades, nidificación y dieta de tres especies de caprimúlgidos en la provincia de Salta, Argentina.Fil: Pagano, Luis G.. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico Zoología Vertebrados; ArgentinaFil: Barneche, Jorge Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - la Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitologicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitologicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Jensen, Roberto Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología; Argentin

Current Trends towards PON systems at 50+ Gbps

Next generation PON targeting 50 Gbit/s/lambda (50G-PON) based on intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) will likely be under strong bandwidth limitations. We present a PAM-2 and Electrical DuoBinary performance analysis of 50 Gbps PON system by using 25G and 50G transceivers technology with several optical receiver architectures and study of the adaptive equalization impact