Effect of breakfast fat content on glucose tolerance and risk factors of atherosclerosis and thrombosis

Twenty-four middle-aged healthy men were given a low-fat high-carbohydrate (5.5 g fat; L), or a moderately-fatty, (25.7 g fat; M) breakfast of similar energy contents for 28 d. Other meals were under less control. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was given at 09.00 hours on day 1 before treatment allocation and at 13.30 hours on day 29. There were no significant treatment differences in fasting serum values, either on day 1 or at the termination of treatments on day 29. The following was observed on day 29: (1) the M breakfast led to higher OGTT C-peptide responses and higher areas under the curves (AUC) of OGTT serum glucose and insulin responses compared with the OGTT responses to the L breakfast (P < 0.05); (2) treatment M failed to prevent OGTT glycosuria, eliminated with treatment L; (3) serum non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) AUC was 59% lower with treatment L than with treatment M, between 09.00 and 13.20 hours (P < 0.0001), and lower with treatment L than with treatment M during the OGTT (P = 0.005); (4) serum triacylglycerol (TAG) concentrations were similar for both treatments, especially during the morning, but their origins were different during the afternoon OGTT when the Svedberg flotation unit 20-400 lipid fraction was higher with treatment L than with treatment M (P = 0.016); plasma apolipoprotein B-48 level with treatment M was not significantly greater than that with treatment L (P = 0.086); (5) plasma tissue plasminogen-activator activity increased after breakfast with treatment L (P = 0.0008), but not. with treatment M (P = 0.80). Waist:hip circumference was positively correlated with serum insulin and glucose AUC and with fasting LDL-cholesterol, Waist:hip circumference and serum TAG and insulin AUC were correlated with factors of thrombus formation; and the OGTT NEFA and glucose AUC were correlated. A small difference in fat intake at breakfast has a large influence on circulating diurnal NEFA concentration, which it is concluded influences adversely glucose tolerance up to 6 h later

Separation and recovery of materials from scrap printed circuit boards

Printed circuit boards from waste computers, televisions, and mobile phones were pyrolysed in a fixed bed reactor with the aim of separating and recovering the organic and metallic materials. A selection of printed circuit boards from each of the three waste classes was pyrolysed at 800°C and the pyrolysis products were analysed using GC-FID, GC-TCD, GC-MS, GC-ECD, ICP-MS, and SEM-EDX. The pyrolysis oils contained high concentrations of phenol, 4-(1-methylethyl)phenol, and p-hydroxyphenol, as well as bisphenol A, tetrabromobisphenol A, methyl phenols, and bromophenols. The pyrolysis oils also contained significant concentrations of organo – phosphate compounds and a number of tetrabromobisphenol A pyrolysis products were also identified. The pyrolysis residues were very fragile and the organic, glass fibre, and metallic fractions could easily be separated and the electrical components could easily be removed from the remains of the printed circuit boards. The ash in the residue mainly consisted of copper, calcium, iron, nickel, zinc, and aluminium, as well as lower concentrations of valuable metals such as gallium, bismuth, silver, and gold, silver was present in particularly high concentrations. Many other metals were also identified in the ash by ICP-MS and SEM EDX. The pyrolysis gases mainly consisted of CO2 and CO but all of the C1 – C4 alkanes and alkenes were present, as were some inorganic halogens

Distinct translatome changes in specific neural populations precede electroencephalographic changes in prion-infected mice

Selective vulnerability is an enigmatic feature of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), whereby a widely expressed protein causes lesions in specific cell types and brain regions. Using the RiboTag method in mice, translational responses of five neural subtypes to acquired prion disease (PrD) were measured. Pre-onset and disease onset timepoints were chosen based on longitudinal electroencephalography (EEG) that revealed a gradual increase in theta power between 10- and 18-weeks after prion injection, resembling a clinical feature of human PrD. At disease onset, marked by significantly increased theta power and histopathological lesions, mice had pronounced translatome changes in all five cell types despite appearing normal. Remarkably, at a pre-onset stage, prior to EEG and neuropathological changes, we found that 1) translatomes of astrocytes indicated reduced synthesis of ribosomal and mitochondrial components, 2) glutamatergic neurons showed increased expression of cytoskeletal genes, and 3) GABAergic neurons revealed reduced expression of circadian rhythm genes. These data demonstrate that early translatome responses to neurodegeneration emerge prior to conventional markers of disease and are cell type-specific. Therapeutic strategies may need to target multiple pathways in specific populations of cells, early in disease

Varespladib and cardiovascular events in patients with an acute coronary syndrome: the VISTA-16 randomized clinical trial

IMPORTANCE: Secretory phospholipase A2(sPLA2) generates bioactive phospholipid products implicated in atherosclerosis. The sPLA2inhibitor varespladib has favorable effects on lipid and inflammatory markers; however, its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of sPLA2inhibition with varespladib on cardiovascular outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A double-blind, randomized, multicenter trial at 362 academic and community hospitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, and North America of 5145 patients randomized within 96 hours of presentation of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to either varespladib (n = 2572) or placebo (n = 2573) with enrollment between June 1, 2010, and March 7, 2012 (study termination on March 9, 2012). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to receive varespladib (500 mg) or placebo daily for 16 weeks, in addition to atorvastatin and other established therapies. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary efficacy measurewas a composite of cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, or unstable angina with evidence of ischemia requiring hospitalization at 16 weeks. Six-month survival status was also evaluated. RESULTS: At a prespecified interim analysis, including 212 primary end point events, the independent data and safety monitoring board recommended termination of the trial for futility and possible harm. The primary end point occurred in 136 patients (6.1%) treated with varespladib compared with 109 patients (5.1%) treated with placebo (hazard ratio [HR], 1.25; 95%CI, 0.97-1.61; log-rank P = .08). Varespladib was associated with a greater risk of MI (78 [3.4%] vs 47 [2.2%]; HR, 1.66; 95%CI, 1.16-2.39; log-rank P = .005). The composite secondary end point of cardiovascular mortality, MI, and stroke was observed in 107 patients (4.6%) in the varespladib group and 79 patients (3.8%) in the placebo group (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.82; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In patients with recent ACS, varespladib did not reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and significantly increased the risk of MI. The sPLA2inhibition with varespladib may be harmful and is not a useful strategy to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes after ACS. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01130246. Copyright 2014 American Medical Association. All rights reserved

Artificial Intelligence for the Electron Ion Collider (AI4EIC)

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a state-of-the-art facility for studying the strong force, is expected to begin commissioning its first experiments in 2028. This is an opportune time for artificial intelligence (AI) to be included from the start at this facility and in all phases that lead up to the experiments. The second annual workshop organized by the AI4EIC working group, which recently took place, centered on exploring all current and prospective application areas of AI for the EIC. This workshop is not only beneficial for the EIC, but also provides valuable insights for the newly established ePIC collaboration at EIC. This paper summarizes the different activities and R&D projects covered across the sessions of the workshop and provides an overview of the goals, approaches and strategies regarding AI/ML in the EIC community, as well as cutting-edge techniques currently studied in other experiments.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures, AI4EIC workshop, tutorials and hackatho

Design and Simulated Performance of Calorimetry Systems for the ECCE Detector at the Electron Ion Collider

We describe the design and performance the calorimeter systems used in the ECCE detector design to achieve the overall performance specifications cost-effectively with careful consideration of appropriate technical and schedule risks. The calorimeter systems consist of three electromagnetic calorimeters, covering the combined pseudorapdity range from -3.7 to 3.8 and two hadronic calorimeters. Key calorimeter performances which include energy and position resolutions, reconstruction efficiency, and particle identification will be presented.Comment: 19 pages, 22 figures, 5 table

ECCE Sensitivity Studies for Single Hadron Transverse Single Spin Asymmetry Measurements

We performed feasibility studies for various single transverse spin measurements that are related to the Sivers effect, transversity and the tensor charge, and the Collins fragmentation function. The processes studied include semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) where single hadrons (pions and kaons) were detected in addition to the scattered DIS lepton. The data were obtained in {\sc pythia}6 and {\sc geant}4 simulated e+p collisions at 18 GeV on 275 GeV, 18 on 100, 10 on 100, and 5 on 41 that use the ECCE detector configuration. Typical DIS kinematics were selected, most notably $Q^2 > 1$ GeV$^2$, and cover the $x$ range from $10^{-4}$ to $1$. The single spin asymmetries were extracted as a function of $x$ and $Q^2$, as well as the semi-inclusive variables $z$, and $P_T$. They are obtained in azimuthal moments in combinations of the azimuthal angles of the hadron transverse momentum and transverse spin of the nucleon relative to the lepton scattering plane. The initially unpolarized MonteCarlo was re-weighted in the true kinematic variables, hadron types and parton flavors based on global fits of fixed target SIDIS experiments and $e^+e^-$ annihilation data. The expected statistical precision of such measurements is extrapolated to 10 fb$^{-1}$ and potential systematic uncertainties are approximated given the deviations between true and reconstructed yields. The impact on the knowledge of the Sivers functions, transversity and tensor charges, and the Collins function has then been evaluated in the same phenomenological extractions as in the Yellow Report. The impact is found to be comparable to that obtained with the parameterized Yellow Report detector and shows that the ECCE detector configuration can fulfill the physics goals on these quantities.Comment: 22 pages, 22 figures, to be submitted to joint ECCE proposal NIM-A volum

Open Heavy Flavor Studies for the ECCE Detector at the Electron Ion Collider

The ECCE detector has been recommended as the selected reference detector for the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). A series of simulation studies have been carried out to validate the physics feasibility of the ECCE detector. In this paper, detailed studies of heavy flavor hadron and jet reconstruction and physics projections with the ECCE detector performance and different magnet options will be presented. The ECCE detector has enabled precise EIC heavy flavor hadron and jet measurements with a broad kinematic coverage. These proposed heavy flavor measurements will help systematically study the hadronization process in vacuum and nuclear medium especially in the underexplored kinematic region.Comment: Open heavy flavor studies with the EIC reference detector design by the ECCE consortium. 11 pages, 11 figures, to be submitted to the Nuclear Instruments and Methods

ECCE unpolarized TMD measurements

We performed feasibility studies for various measurements that are related to unpolarized TMD distribution and fragmentation functions. The processes studied include semi-inclusive Deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) where single hadrons (pions and kaons) were detected in addition to the scattered DIS lepton. The single hadron cross sections and multiplicities were extracted as a function of the DIS variables $x$ and $Q^2$, as well as the semi-inclusive variables $z$, which corresponds to the momentum fraction the detected hadron carries relative to the struck parton and $P_T$, which corresponds to the transverse momentum of the detected hadron relative to the virtual photon. The expected statistical precision of such measurements is extrapolated to accumulated luminosities of 10 fb$^{-1}$ and potential systematic uncertainties are approximated given the deviations between true and reconstructed yields.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, to be submitted in joint ECCE proposal NIM-A volum

AI-assisted Optimization of the ECCE Tracking System at the Electron Ion Collider

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is a cutting-edge accelerator facility that will study the nature of the "glue" that binds the building blocks of the visible matter in the universe. The proposed experiment will be realized at Brookhaven National Laboratory in approximately 10 years from now, with detector design and R&D currently ongoing. Notably, EIC is one of the first large-scale facilities to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) already starting from the design and R&D phases. The EIC Comprehensive Chromodynamics Experiment (ECCE) is a consortium that proposed a detector design based on a 1.5T solenoid. The EIC detector proposal review concluded that the ECCE design will serve as the reference design for an EIC detector. Herein we describe a comprehensive optimization of the ECCE tracker using AI. The work required a complex parametrization of the simulated detector system. Our approach dealt with an optimization problem in a multidimensional design space driven by multiple objectives that encode the detector performance, while satisfying several mechanical constraints. We describe our strategy and show results obtained for the ECCE tracking system. The AI-assisted design is agnostic to the simulation framework and can be extended to other sub-detectors or to a system of sub-detectors to further optimize the performance of the EIC detector.Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures, 2 appendices, 3 table