Nutritional approach for inhibiting bone resorption in institutionalized elderly women with vitamin D insufficiency and high prevalence of fracture

Background: Nutritional approach to the deterioration of bone integrity and increased fracture risk appears to be particularly appropriate in elderly women living in nursing homes. Objective: To investigate the beneficial effect of the consumption of soft plain cheese on bone resorption markers in institutionalized elderly women. Design: Prospective, randomized crossover controlled study. Setting: Six French nursing homes or other institutions for elderly. Participants: Institutionalized women ≥ 65 years old with low vitamin D status and calcium intake below 700 mg/day. Intervention: Consumption of soft plain cheese made of semi-skimmed milk which was fortified by both vitamin D3 (+ 1.25µg/100g) and milk extracted Ca, thus achieving a total Ca content of 151 mg/100g as compared to about 118 mg/100g for standard fresh cheese. Two servings were taken every day during the 6 weeks that preceded or followed a period of 6 weeks without soft plain cheese consumption. Measurements: The primary end point was the change in serum carboxy terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) selected as a marker of bone resorption. Results: 29 women aged 73-94 yr were selected, 21 of them with mean age 87.2±6.1 years remained compliant The intervention increased calcium and protein intakes by 51% (904±228 vs. 599±122 mg/d) and 33 % (74.2±17.1 vs. 55.6±12.7 g/d, mean±SD), respectively. The dietary intervention was associated with a statistically significant increase in serum levels of both 25OHD and IGF-I, while those of PTH, CTX and TRAP5b were significantly reduced. Compliance was 93,4 %. The daily consumption of two servings of soft plain cheese was well accepted in terms of tastiness and appetite suited portion size. Conclusion: This randomized crossover controlled trial demonstrates that in elderly women living in nursing homes, the consumption of soft plain cheese increasing the supply of vitamin D, calcium and proteins, could reduce bone resorption and thereby reduce the risk of incidental fragility fractures in the long ter

Study Protocol: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Patient Navigation-Activation to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities

Abstract Background Cancer health disparities affecting low-income and minority patients are well documented. Root-causes are multifactorial, including diagnostic and treatment delays, social and financial barriers, and poor communication. Patient navigation and communication coaching (activation) are potential interventions to address disparities in cancer treatment. The purpose of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of an intervention combining patient navigation and activation to improve cancer treatment. Methods/Design The Rochester Patient Navigation Research Program (PNRP) is a National Cancer Institute-sponsored, patient-level randomized trial (RCT) of patient navigation and activation, targeting newly-diagnosed breast and colorectal cancer patients in Rochester, NY. The goal of the program is to decrease cancer health disparities by addressing barriers to receipt of cancer care and promoting patient self-efficacy. The intervention uses trained, paraprofessional patient navigators recruited from the target community, and a detailed training and supervisory program. Recruited patients are randomly assigned to receive either usual care (except for baseline and follow-up questionnaires and interviews) or intervention. The intervention patients receive tailored assistance from their patient navigators, including phone calls, in-person meetings, and behind-the-scenes coordination of care. A total of 344 patients have been recruited. Outcomes measured at three month intervals include timeliness of care, patient adherence, patient satisfaction, quality of life, self-efficacy, health literacy, and cancer knowledge. Discussion This unique intervention combining patient navigation and patient activation is designed to address the multifactorial problem of cancer health disparities. If successful, this study will affect the design and implementation of patient navigation programs. Trials Registration clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT00496678http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78254/1/1471-2407-10-551.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78254/2/1471-2407-10-551.pdfPeer Reviewe

Modeling and Experimental Validation of a Transient Direct Expansion Heat Pump

Geothermal heat pump technology is currently one of the most interesting technologies used to heat buildings. There are two designs used in the industry: geothermal heat pump using a secondary ground loop and Direct Expansion (DX) ground source heat pump. The latter is less used, possibly because less research has been carried out for the design of this kind of heat pump. In this paper, a transient model using the Comsol Multiphysic of a DX ground heat pump is presented in heating mode with R22, and a comparison with experimental results is presented with a 24-hour test. It is shown that the model was adequately validated by our experiment with only a maximum difference of 15%. Following this validation, a parametric analysis was realised on the geometry of the borehole. This study concluded that to have the best heat extraction of the ground, the pipes shank spacing need to be important without increasing the borehole diameter.Article History: Received January 16th 2017; Received in revised form May 28th 2017; Accepted June 6th 2017; Available onlineHow to Cite This Article: Rousseau, C., Fannou, J.L.C., Lamarche, L. and Kajl, S. (2017) Modeling and Experimental Validation of a Transient Direct Expansion Heat Pump. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 6(2), 145-155.https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.2.145-15

Laser based synchrotron radiation

Beams of x rays in the kiloelectronvolt energy range have been produced from laser-matter interaction. Here, energetic electrons are accelerated by a laser wakefield, and experience betatron oscillations in an ion channel formed in the wake of the intense femtosecond laser pulse. Experiments using a 50 TW laser (30 fs duration) are described, as well as comparisons with numerical simulations. These results pave the way of a new generation of radiation in the x-ray spectral range, with a high collimation and an ultrafast pulse duration, produced by the use of compact laser system.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87767/2/023101_1.pd

Structural Characterization of Magnetic Nano-particles Suspensions, Using Magnetic Measurements

P curves, Magnetic fluids, Ferrofluids, Nanostructural characterization, Magnetic powders, Hysteresis curve, Magnetic nanocomposite materialsThe paper describes some characteristics of the “P” curves for structural characterization of magnetic nano-particles suspensions (complex fluids, complex powders, complex composite materials, or living biological materials having magnetic properties). In the case of these materials, the magnetic properties are conferred to various carrier liquids by artificially integrating in their structure ferromagnetic particles of different sizes. The magnetic properties are usually shown by the hysteresis curve. The structure can be seen on (electronic) micrography. The P curves offer another possibility to determine the structure of the magnetic component of a complex fluid by numerical analysis of the magnetization curve experimentally obtained. The paper presents a detailed approach of the P curves and some limitations in their use

On directed interacting animals and directed percolation

We study the phase diagram of fully directed lattice animals with nearest-neighbour interactions on the square lattice. This model comprises several interesting ensembles (directed site and bond trees, bond animals, strongly embeddable animals) as special cases and its collapse transition is equivalent to a directed bond percolation threshold. Precise estimates for the animal size exponents in the different phases and for the critical fugacities of these special ensembles are obtained from a phenomenological renormalization group analysis of the correlation lengths for strips of width up to n=17. The crossover region in the vicinity of the collapse transition is analyzed in detail and the crossover exponent $\phi$ is determined directly from the singular part of the free energy. We show using scaling arguments and an exact relation due to Dhar that $\phi$ is equal to the Fisher exponent $\sigma$ governing the size distribution of large directed percolation clusters.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures; J. Phys. A 35 (2002) 272

Soil Bacterial Community Associated With High Potato Production and Minimal Water Use

In agriculture, water consumption for crop production represents 69% of all water use. Precision irrigation systems based on available soil water have been developed to improve crop production, reducing water use. Besides the improvements in irrigation management, a better resolution of the optimal water level is required, and revealing the impact of soil matric potential on the soil microbial community may help. Here, the effect of four soil matric potential treatments (−15 kPa, −25 kPa, −30 kPa, and −45 kPa) was evaluated on the soil microbial community across three potato cultivars and two soil types (silt and sand). The results confirmed the soil matric potential with −25 kPa as the optimal irrigation level, which promoted high potato production using the minimal water use. The irrigation levels affected the composition, predicted functionality, and the ecological network of soil bacterial community. Water excess (−15 kPa) and deficit (−30 and −45 kPa) promoted an increase in microbial interaction and alpha-diversity. The results suggested higher Positive/Negative ratio for phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria in optimal irrigation level (−25 kPa) than other irrigation levels. Also, correlation analyses revealed an interesting association between the irrigation levels, potato production, and bacterial functionality, especially in the carbon cycle (fixation and emission). Therefore, this study proposed important associations between the soil bacterial community and water management, focusing on high potato production and minimal water use. The advancement of this knowledge may lead to a more comprehensive assessment of the optimal irrigation levels of others crop production systems. Furthermore, the inclusion of biological mechanisms, especially microbial interactions, in agriculture studies has the potential to contribute to the development of water management practices conducive to both increasing crop yield and maintaining a sustainable soil environment