Elevated PAI-1 is associated with poor clinical outcomes in pediatric patients with acute lung injury.

PurposeDeposition of fibrin in the alveolar space is a hallmark of acute lung injury (ALI). Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is an antifibrinolytic agent that is activated during inflammation. Increased plasma and pulmonary edema fluid levels of PAI-1 are associated with increased mortality in adults with ALI. This relationship has not been examined in children. The objective of this study was to test whether increased plasma PAI-1 levels are associated with worse clinical outcomes in pediatric patients with ALI.Design/methodsWe measured plasma PAI-1 levels on the first day of ALI among 94 pediatric patients enrolled in two separate prospective, multicenter investigations and followed them for clinical outcomes. All patients met American European Consensus Conference criteria for ALI.ResultsA total of 94 patients were included. The median age was 3.2 years (range 16 days-18 years), the PaO(2)/F(i)O(2) was 141 +/- 72 (mean +/- SD), and overall mortality was 14/94 (15%). PAI-1 levels were significantly higher in nonsurvivors compared to survivors (P < 0.01). The adjusted odds of mortality doubled for every log increase in the level of plasma PAI-1 after adjustment for age and severity of illness.ConclusionsHigher PAI-1 levels are associated with increased mortality and fewer ventilator-free days among pediatric patients with ALI. These findings suggest that impaired fibrinolysis may play a role in the pathogenesis of ALI in pediatric patients and suggest that PAI-1 may serve as a useful biomarker of prognosis in patients with ALI

Photoassociative ionization of Na inside a storage ring

Motivated by recent interest in low dimensional arrays of atoms, we experimentally investigated the way cold collisional processes are affected by the geometry of the considered atomic sample. More specifically, we studied the case of photoassociative ionization (PAI) both in a storage ring where collision is more unidirectional in character and in a trap with clear undefinition of collision axis. First, creating a ring shaped trap (atomotron) we investigated two-color PAI dependence with intensity and polarization of a probing laser. The intensity dependence of the PAI rate was also measured in a magneto-optical trap presenting equivalent temperature and density conditions. Indeed, the results show that in the ring trap, the value of the PAI rate constant is much lower and does not show evidences of saturation, unlike in the case of the 3D-MOT. Cold atomic collisions in storage ring may represent new possibilities for study.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures; Accepted by Optics Communicatio

The Eternal Unprovability Filter – Part I

I prove both the mathematical conjectures P ≠ NP and the Continuum Hypothesis are eternally unprovable using the same fundamental idea. Starting with the Saunders Maclane idea that a proof is eternal or it is not a proof, I use the indeterminacy of human biological capabilities in the eternal future to show that since both conjectures are independent of Axioms and have definitions connected with human biological capabilities, it would be impossible to prove them eternally without the creation and widespread acceptance of new axioms. I also show that the same fundamental concepts cannot be used to demonstrate the eternal unprovability of many other mathematical theorems and open conjectures. Finally I investigate the idea’s implications for the foundations of mathematics including its relation to Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem and Tarsky’s Undefinability Theorem

A Comparison of Clustering Techniques for Malware Analysis

In this research, we apply clustering techniques to the malware detection problem. Our goal is to classify malware as part of a fully automated detection strategy. We compute clusters using the well-known �-means and EM clustering algorithms, with scores obtained from Hidden Markov Models (HMM). The previous work in this area consists of using HMM and �-means clustering technique to achieve the same. The current effort aims to extend it to use EM clustering technique for detection and also compare this technique with the �-means clustering

Optimal Source Tracking and Beaming of LISA

We revisit the directionally optimal data streams of LISA first introduced in Nayak etal. It was shown that by using appropriate choice of Time delay interferometric (TDI) combinations, a monochromatic fixed source in the barycentric frame can be optimally tracked in the LISA frame. In this work, we study the beaming properties of these optimal streams. We show that all the three streams V+, Vx and Vo with maximum, minimum and zero directional SNR respectively are highly beamed. We study in detail the frequency dependence of the beaming.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. To appear in the proceedings of Sixth International LISA Symposiu

Polymorphisms of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, angiotensin converting enzyme and coagulation factor XIII genes in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion

We investigated polymorphisms of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE ) and coagulation factor XIII (FXIII) genes and their association with recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) in Iranian patients and normal healthy controls. Ten (18.5%) patients were homozygote (4G/4G) for PAI-1 polymorphism, in contrast with two (2%) controls (p = 0.001). Patients with homozygote 4G mutation were significantly more prone to RSA in contrast to others (odds ratio: 11.0, 95% CI: 2.3-52.4). Nineteen (30.2%) patients and 25 (26.6%) controls were homozygote (DD) for ACE polymorphism. We observed only two patients and one control with homozygosity (34leu) for FXIII polymorphism. 4G/4G polymorphism for PAI-1 gene could be a thrombophilic mutation leading to abortion in Iranian population

Effect of dsRNA on Mesangial Cell Synthesis of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Type 1 and Tissue Plasminogen Activator

Background/Aims: Viral infections are a major problem worldwide and many of them are complicated by virally induced glomerulonephritides. Progression of kidney disease to renal failure is mainly attributed to the development of renal fibrosis characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix components in the mesangial cell compartment and the glomerular basement membrane. Plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) are major regulators of plasmin generation and play an important role in generation and degradation of glomerular extracellular matrix components. Viral receptors expressed by mesangial cells (MC) are known to be key mediators in immune-mediated glomerulonephritis. We investigated the effect of stimulation of the viral receptors toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) and retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) on the expression of PAI-1 and t-PA. Methods: Expression of PAI-1 and t-PA in immortalized human MC stimulated with polyriboinosinic: polyribocytidylic acid {[}poly(I:C)] RNA and cytokines were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR and ELISA. Results: Incubation of MC with poly(I:C) RNA to activate the viral receptors TLR3 and RIG-I upregulates the expression of PAI-1 and t-PA. Knockdown of viral receptors with specific siRNA abolishes the induction of PAI-1 and t-PA. Conclusion: For the first time a link between the activation of viral receptors on MC and potentially causative agents in the development of glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial fibrosis is shown. The progression of inflammatory processes to glomerulosclerosis can be postulated to be directly enhanced by viral infection. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Base

Changes in Fitness, physical activity, fatness, and screen time: A longitudinal study in children and adolescents

*_Objective:_* To analyze whether changes in Physical Activity Index (PAI), sedentary time (ST; TV and PC use), and Body Mass Index (BMI) made a significant contribution to longitudinal changes in Physical Fitness (PF) of children and adolescents. Additionally, we analyzed interaction between baseline fitness level and changes in fitness. 

*_Methods:_* This is a three years longitudinal study of 345 high school students aged 11-19 years. Students were invited to perform tests from Fitnessgram battery for strength (curl-ups, push-up), and Cardiorespiratory fitness (20m-shuttle run). PAI and ST were evaluated using a standard questionnaire. Standardized scores of physical fitness tests were summed (ZPF). Changes over time, were calculated Δ1 (TP1 minus TP0), Δ2 (TP2 minus TP1), and Δ~total~ (TP2 minus TP0). 

*_Results:_* Changes in PAI were positively and independently associated with changes in ZPF in Δ1, Δ2, and Δ~total~. No significant associations of ΔST and ΔZPF were found. ΔBMI was negative associated with ΔZPF in Δtotal. Participants with higher fitness levels at baseline were those who showed positive changes in PAI over Δ~total~, decreased screen time and had the lowest increase in BMI over three years compared with those who were low-fit at baseline. Conclusions: Changes in PAI were the best predictor for changes in Fitness in children and adolescents in each year and over the three years of evaluation. BMI changes were associated with longitudinal changes in PF