Metabolic Syndrome, Thyroid Function and Autoimmunity - The PORMETS Study

Background: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity in the Portuguese population has not yet been estimated. However, the national prevalence of the metabolic syndrome remains high. The association of thyroid pathology with cardiovascular risk has been addressed but is still unclear. Our study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity and to assess the associations of thyroid-stimulating hormone and thyroid hormones and antibodies with metabolic syndrome, its components, and other possible determinants in a national sample. Material and Methods: The present study included a subsample of 486 randomly selected participants from a nationwide cross-sectional study sample of 4095 adults. A structured questionnaire was administered on past medical history and socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics. Blood pressure and anthropometric measurements were collected, and the serum lipid profile, glucose, insulin, hs- CRP, TSH, FT4, FT3 and thyroid antibodies were measured. Results: In our sample, the prevalence of hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and undiagnosed dysfunction was 4.9%, 2.5% and 72.2%, respectively. Overall, the prevalence of positivity for the thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin antibodies was 11.9% and 15.0%, respectively. A positive association was found between free triiodothyronine and metabolic syndrome (OR: 2.019; 95% CI: 1.196, 3.410). Additionally, thyroid peroxidase antibodies had a negative association with metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.465; 95% CI: 0.236, 0.917) and its triglyceride component (OR: 0.321; 95% CI: 0.124, 0.836). Conclusion: The prevalence of undiagnosed thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity was high. Thyroid peroxidase antibodies were negatively associated with metabolic syndrome and its triglyceride component, whereas the free triiodothyronine level was positively associated with metabolic syndrome

Observation of Replica Symmetry Breaking in the 1D Anderson Localization Regime in an Erbium-Doped Random Fiber Laser

The analogue of the paramagnetic to spin-glass phase transition in disordered magnetic systems, leading to the phenomenon of replica symmetry breaking, has been recently demonstrated in a two-dimensional random laser consisting of an organic-based amorphous solid-state thin film. We report here the first demonstration of replica symmetry breaking in a one-dimensional photonic system consisting of an erbium-doped random fiber laser operating in the continuous-wave regime based on a unique random fiber grating system, which plays the role of the random scatterers and operates in the Anderson localization regime. The clear transition from a photonic paramagnetic to a photonic spin glass phase, characterized by the probability distribution function of the Parisi overlap, was verified and characterized. In this unique system, the radiation field interacts only with the gain medium, and the fiber grating, which provides the disordered feedback mechanism, does not interfere with the pump

Turbulence Hierarchy in a Random Fibre Laser

Turbulence is a challenging feature common to a wide range of complex phenomena. Random fibre lasers are a special class of lasers in which the feedback arises from multiple scattering in a one-dimensional disordered cavity-less medium. Here, we report on statistical signatures of turbulence in the distribution of intensity fluctuations in a continuous-wave-pumped erbium-based random fibre laser, with random Bragg grating scatterers. The distribution of intensity fluctuations in an extensive data set exhibits three qualitatively distinct behaviours: a Gaussian regime below threshold, a mixture of two distributions with exponentially decaying tails near the threshold, and a mixture of distributions with stretched-exponential tails above threshold. All distributions are well described by a hierarchical stochastic model that incorporates Kolmogorov's theory of turbulence, which includes energy cascade and the intermittence phenomenon. Our findings have implications for explaining the remarkably challenging turbulent behaviour in photonics, using a random fibre laser as the experimental platform.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Desempenho de genótipos de canola (Brassica napus L.) no Nordeste do estado da Paraíba, Nordeste do Brasil.

bitstream/CNPT-2010/40338/1/p-bp65.pd

Keratoacanthoma-like nodules as first manifestation of metastatic epithelioid trophoblastic tumor

Cutaneous metastases are rarely the initial manifestation of a previously undiagnosed malignancy and keratoacanthoma-like lesions are a notoriously unusual presentation pattern of cutaneous dissemination of a primary tumor. Herein, we report a 40-year-old woman presenting to our dermatology department with multiple keratoacanthoma-like scalp nodules. Subsequent investigation determined it to be the first manifestation of a disseminated endometrial epithelioid trophoblastic tumor, eventually causing the patient's death. Epithelioid trophoblastic tumor, a rare form of gestational trophoblastic disease, is a recently described neoplasm whose cutaneous metastasis has not been previously reported in the literature