MINMOD Millennium: A Computer Program to Calculate Glucose Effectiveness and Insulin Sensitivity From the Frequently Sampled Intravenous Glucose Tolerance Test

The Bergman Minimal Model enables estimation of two key indices of glucose/insulin dynamics: glucose effectiveness and insulin sensitivity. In this paper we describe MINMOD Millennium, the latest Windows-based version of minimal model software. Extensive beta testing of MINMOD Millennium has shown that it is user-friendly, fully automatic, fast, accurate, reproducible, repeatable, and highly concordant with past versions of MINMOD. It has a simple interface, a comprehensive help system, an input file editor, a file converter, an intelligent processing kernel, and a file exporter. It provides publication-quality charts of glucose and insulin and a table of all minimal model parameters and their error estimates. In contrast to earlier versions of MINMOD and some other minimal model programs, Millennium provides identified estimates of insulin sensitivity and glucose effectiveness for almost every subject

Methods for the Detection of Seizure Bursts in Epilepsy

Background: Seizure clusters and “bursts” are of clinical importance. Clusters are reported to be a marker of antiepileptic drug resistance. Additionally, seizure clustering has been found to be associated with increased morbidity and mortality. However, there are no statistical methods described in the literature to delineate bursting phenomenon in epileptic seizures.Methods: We present three automatic burst detection methods referred to as precision constrained grouping (PCG), burst duration constrained grouping (BCG), and interseizure interval constrained grouping (ICG). Concordance correlation coefficients were used to confirm the pairwise agreement between common bursts isolated using these three automatic burst detection procedures. Additionally, three graphical methods were employed to demonstrate seizure bursts: modified scatter plots, staircase plots, and dropline plots. Burst detection procedures are demonstrated on data from continuous intracranial ambulatory EEG monitoring in a patient diagnosed with drug-refractory focal epilepsy.Results: We analyzed 1,569 seizures, from our assigned index patient, captured on ambulatory intracranial EEG monitoring. A total of 31, 32, and 32 seizure bursts were detected by the three quantitative methods (BCG, ICG, and PCG), respectively. The concordance correlation coefficient was ≥0.99 signifying considerably stronger than chance burst detector agreements with one another.Conclusions: Bursting is a quantifiable temporal phenomenon in epilepsy and seizure bursts can be reliably detected using our methodology

Saliva levels of Abeta1-42 as potential biomarker of Alzheimer's disease: a pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Simple, non-invasive tests for early detection of degenerative dementia by use of biomarkers are urgently required. However, up to the present, no validated extracerebral diagnostic markers for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD) are available. The clinical diagnosis of probable AD is made with around 90% accuracy using modern clinical, neuropsychological and imaging methods. A biochemical marker that would support the clinical diagnosis and distinguish AD from other causes of dementia would therefore be of great value as a screening test. A total of 126 samples were obtained from subjects with AD, and age-sex-matched controls. Additionally, 51 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients were used as an example of another neurodegenerative disorder. We analyzed saliva and plasma levels of β amyloid (Aβ) using a highly sensitive ELISA kit.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found a small but statistically significant increase in saliva Aβ₄₂levels in mild AD patients. In addition, there were not differences in saliva concentration of Aβ₄₂between patients with PD and healthy controls. Saliva Aβ₄₀expression was unchanged within all the studied sample. The association between saliva Aβ₄₂levels and AD was independent of established risk factors, including age or Apo E, but was dependent on sex and functional capacity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We suggest that saliva Aβ₄₂levels could be considered a potential peripheral marker of AD and help discrimination from other types of neurodegenerative disorders. We propose a new and promising biomarker for early AD.</p

Modelling bicarbonate kinetics in the sheep

A quantitative understanding of bicarbonate (HCO₃⁻) kinetics in the body is crucial when analysing results of experiments undertaken to estimate oxidation of carbon-labelled components in vivo and energy expenditure. The main aim of this study was to develop a new model of HCO₃⁻ kinetics in ruminants capable of describing previously published data

Sleep-Disordered Breathing and Free Fatty Acid Metabolism

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is independently associated with insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, data on whether SDB alters the metabolism of free fatty acids (FFAs) are lacking. The primary objective of the current study was to characterize alterations in FFA metabolism across the spectrum of SDB severity. The study sample included 118 participants with and without SDB who underwent full-montage polysomnography, the frequently sampled IV glucose tolerance test (FSIGTT), and body composition measurements including determination of percent body fat. Parameters of lipolysis suppression, time to FFA nadir, and FFA rebound after an IV glucose challenge were derived using a mathematical model. Multivariable regression analyses were used to characterize the independent associations between SDB severity and parameters of FFA metabolism. SDB severity, as assessed by the apnea-hypopnea index, was associated with adipocyte insulin resistance, a decrease in the glucose- and insulin-mediated suppression of lipolysis, a longer duration to reach a nadir in FFA levels during the FSIGTT, and a sluggish rebound in FFA levels after suppression. Severity of SDB-related hypoxemia was independently associated with adipocyte insulin resistance and the time to reach the FFA nadir during the FSIGTT. Finally, a higher percentage of stage N3 sleep was positively associated with greater suppression of lipolysis and a faster rebound in the FFA levels during the FSIGTT. Independent of adiposity, SDB is associated with impairments in FFA metabolism, which may contribute to the development of glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes in SDB

Characteristics of epileptiform discharge duration and interdischarge interval in genetic generalized epilepsies

We sought to investigate (1) the characteristics of epileptiform discharge (ED) duration and interdischarge interval (IDI) and (2) the influence of vigilance state on the ED duration and IDI in genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE). In a cohort of patients diagnosed with GGE, 24-h ambulatory EEG recordings were performed prospectively. We then tabulated durations, IDI, and vigilance state in relation to all EDs captured on EEGs. We used K-means cluster analysis and finite mixture modeling to quantify and characterize the groups of ED duration and IDI. To investigate the influence of sleep, we calculated the mean, median, and SEM in each population from all subjects for sleep state and wakefulness separately, followed by the Kruskal-Wallis test to compare the groups. We analyzed 4,679 EDs and corresponding IDI from 23 abnormal 24-h ambulatory EEGs. Our analysis defined two populations of ED durations and IDI: short and long. In all populations, both ED durations and IDI were significantly longer in wakefulness. Our results highlight different characteristics of ED populations in GGE and the influence by the sleep-wake cycle

Pratiques du timbre et de la parodie d’opéra en Europe (XVIe-XIXe siècles)

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