351 research outputs found
Ghrelin and its Association with Nutritional and Inflammatory Status of Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis in a South Indian Tertiary Care Hospital
Background: Malnutrition and inflammation are associated with morbidity and mortality in patients on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). Ghrelin, an orexigenic peptide hormone, is speculated to be associated with nutritional and inflammatory status in MHD. Aim: To assess the serum total ghrelin levels and its possible relationship with inflammation and nutritional status in patients on MHD. Subjects and Methods: The study was conducted on 90 patients on MHD for 6 months and above (56 males, 34 females, mean age 52.6 [11.7] years; mean dialysis vintage 20.9 [12.1] months) and 70 healthy volunteers as control (5 males, 25 females, mean age 50.6 [9.7] years). Demographics were obtained for the study population, and dialysis‑related data were collected for cases. Anthropometry, biochemical parameters, serum total ghrelin and inflammatory markers tumor necrosis factor‑alpha (TNF‑α), and high‑sensitivity C‑reactive protein (hsCRP) were assessed for cases and control. Self‑reported appetite (five questions of appetite and diet assessment tool) and nutritional status (subjective global assessment‑dialysis malnutrition score) were assessed for cases. Results: Ghrelin (242.5 [62.3] pg/mL vs. 80.2 [19.6] pg/mL; P < 0.001), TNF‑α (39.8 [15.2] pg/mL vs. 6.5 [1.2] pg/mL; P < 0.001), hsCRP (10.2 [2.8] mg/L vs. 2.7 [0.54] mg/L; P < 0.001) were significantly elevated in cases versus control, anthropometry, and biochemical parameters were significantly decreased in hemodialysis patient. Of 90 cases, (13/90 [14.4%]) were well‑nourished, (28/90 [31%]) mild to moderately malnourished, and (49/90 [54.4%]) were moderate to severely malnourished. Appetite was very good for 14.4%, good and fair for 47.8%, poor and very poor for 37.8% patients. There was a significant difference in appetite with respect to nutritional status (P < 0.001). Ghrelin had positive correlation with inflammatory markers and negative correlation with nutritional status (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The study identified the association of ghrelin with appetite, nutritional, and inflammatory status of the patients on MHD.Keywords: Appetite, Ghrelin, Hemodialysis, Inflammation, Nutritional statu
Mixed Linear Layouts of Planar Graphs
A -stack (respectively, -queue) layout of a graph consists of a total
order of the vertices, and a partition of the edges into sets of
non-crossing (non-nested) edges with respect to the vertex ordering. In 1992,
Heath and Rosenberg conjectured that every planar graph admits a mixed
-stack -queue layout in which every edge is assigned to a stack or to a
queue that use a common vertex ordering.
We disprove this conjecture by providing a planar graph that does not have
such a mixed layout. In addition, we study mixed layouts of graph subdivisions,
and show that every planar graph has a mixed subdivision with one division
vertex per edge.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on
Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017
Graph Treewidth and Geometric Thickness Parameters
Consider a drawing of a graph in the plane such that crossing edges are
coloured differently. The minimum number of colours, taken over all drawings of
, is the classical graph parameter "thickness". By restricting the edges to
be straight, we obtain the "geometric thickness". By further restricting the
vertices to be in convex position, we obtain the "book thickness". This paper
studies the relationship between these parameters and treewidth.
Our first main result states that for graphs of treewidth , the maximum
thickness and the maximum geometric thickness both equal .
This says that the lower bound for thickness can be matched by an upper bound,
even in the more restrictive geometric setting. Our second main result states
that for graphs of treewidth , the maximum book thickness equals if and equals if . This refutes a conjecture of Ganley and
Heath [Discrete Appl. Math. 109(3):215-221, 2001]. Analogous results are proved
for outerthickness, arboricity, and star-arboricity.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the "Proceedings of
the 13th International Symposium on Graph Drawing" (GD '05), Lecture Notes in
Computer Science 3843:129-140, Springer, 2006. The full version was published
in Discrete & Computational Geometry 37(4):641-670, 2007. That version
contained a false conjecture, which is corrected on page 26 of this versio
The Chandra Deep Field-North Survey. XIV. X-ray detected Obscured AGNs and Starburst Galaxies in the Bright Submm Source Population
We provide X-ray constraints and perform the first X-ray spectral analyses
for bright (f_850>=5mJy; S/N>=4) SCUBA sources in an 8.4'x8.4' area of the 2 Ms
Chandra Deep Field-North survey containing the Hubble Deep Field-North. X-ray
emission is detected from 7 of the 10 bright submm sources in this region,
corresponding to an X-ray detected submm source density of ~360 deg^-2 (>~36%
of the bright submm source population). Two of the X-ray detected sources have
nearby (within 3") X-ray companions, suggesting merging/interacting sources or
gravitational lensing effects, and 3 lie within the approximate extent of a
proto-cluster candidate. Five of the X-ray detected sources have flat X-ray
spectral slopes, suggesting obscured AGN activity. X-ray spectral analyses
suggest that one of these AGNs may be a Compton-thick source; of the other 4
AGNs, 3 appear to be Compton-thin sources and one has poor constraints. The
rest-frame unabsorbed X-ray luminosities of these AGNs are more consistent with
those of Seyfert galaxies than QSOs. Thus, the low X-ray detection rate of
bright submm sources by moderately deep X-ray surveys appears to be due to the
relatively low luminosities of the AGNs rather than Compton-thick absorption. A
comparison of these sources to the well-studied heavily obscured AGN NGC6240
shows that the average AGN contribution is negligible at submm wavelengths. The
X-ray properties of the other 2 X-ray detected sources are consistent with
those expected from luminous star formation; however, we cannot rule out the
possibility that low-luminosity AGNs are present. The 3 X-ray undetected
sources appear to lie at high redshift (z>4) and could be either AGNs or
starbust galaxies.Comment: AJ in press (February 2003), 16 pages, includes emulateapj5.st
The circumstellar disk, envelope, and bi-polar outflow of the Massive Young Stellar Object W33A
The Young Stellar Object (YSO) W33A is one of the best known examples of a
massive star still in the process of forming. Here we present Gemini North
ALTAIR/NIFS laser-guide star adaptive-optics assisted K-band integral-field
spectroscopy of W33A and its inner reflection nebula. In our data we make the
first detections of a rotationally-flattened outer envelope and fast bi-polar
jet of a massive YSO at near-infrared wavelengths. The predominant spectral
features observed are Br-gamma, H_2, and a combination of emission and
absorption from CO gas. We perform a 3-D spectro-astrometric analysis of the
line emission, the first study of its kind. We find that the object's Br-gamma
emission reveals evidence for a fast bi-polar jet on sub-milliarcsecond scales,
which is aligned with the larger-scale outflow. The hybrid CO features can be
explained as a combination of hot CO emission arising in a disk close to the
central star, while cold CO absorption originates in the cooler outer envelope.
Kinematic analysis of these features reveals that both structures are rotating,
and consistent with being aligned perpendicularly to both the ionised jet and
the large-scale outflow. Assuming Keplerian rotation, we find that the
circumstellar disk orbits a central mass of >10Msun, while the outer envelope
encloses a mass of ~15Msun. Our results suggest a scenario of a central star
accreting material from a circumstellar disk at the centre of a cool extended
rotating torus, while driving a fast bi-polar wind. These results therefore
provide strong supporting evidence for the hypothesis that the formation
mechanism for high-mass stars is qualitatively similar to that of low-mass
stars.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figs. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Sampling device for the quantitative assessment of prawn and fish seed resources in the estuarine areas
The need for a suitable and efficient sampler for the quantitative assessment of prawn and fish seed resources of the estuarine areas was very much felt during the field surveys. Dragging or pushing a net was baset with several difficulties in the estuaries and backwaters. To overcome these, several devices such as drag nets, trolley type pushing nets, scoops, traps, etc were tried and finally a simple and at the same time efficient sampler was adopted
Effective surface albedo due to snow cover of the surrounding area
Albedo inversion techniques are investigated in this work. Several methods are applied to spectral irradiance data from a measurement campaign held in the German Alps during the spring of 1999. One first method is based on the comparison of measurements of absolute levels of UV irradiance with model calculations. The second method takes advantage of changes in the spectral slope of spectral UV irradiance, which is a function of the surface albedo. In the third method, the surrounding area is partitioned into snow-covered and snow-free regions, and the effective albedo estimated by applying a higher or lower reflectivity to each facet before integrating over the surroundings. We present sensitivity analysis, the differences and the correlations between the various methods as well as the results for the different locations
Early growth response gene-2 (Egr-2) regulates the development of B and T cells
The study was supported by Arthritis Research UK.
Copyright @ 2011 Li et al.BACKGROUND: Understanding of how transcription factors are involved in lymphocyte development still remains a challenge. It has been shown that Egr-2 deficiency results in impaired NKT cell development and defective positive selection of T cells. Here we investigated the development of T, B and NKT cells in Egr-2 transgenic mice and the roles in the regulation of distinct stages of B and T cell development. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The expression of Egr1, 2 and 3 were analysed at different stages of T and B cell development by RT-PCT and results showed that the expression was strictly regulated at different stages. Forced expression of Egr-2 in CD2+ lymphocytes resulted in a severe reduction of CD4+CD8+ (DP) cells in thymus and pro-B cells in bone marrow, which was associated with reduced expression of Notch1 in ISP thymocytes and Pax5 in pro-B cells, suggesting that retraction of Egr-2 at the ISP and pro-B cell stages is important for the activation of lineage differentiation programs. In contrast to reduction of DP and pro-B cells, Egr-2 enhanced the maturation of DP cells into single positive (SP) T and NKT cells in thymus, and immature B cells into mature B cells in bone marrow. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that Egr-2 expressed in restricted stages of lymphocyte development plays a dynamic, but similar role for the development of T, NKT and B cells.This article is provided by the Brunel Open Access publishing fund
Far infrared mapping of three Galactic star forming regions : W3(OH), S 209 & S 187
Three Galactic star forming regions associated with W3(OH), S209 and S187
have been simultaneously mapped in two trans-IRAS far infrared (FIR) bands
centered at ~ 140 and 200 micron using the TIFR 100 cm balloon borne FIR
telescope. These maps show extended FIR emission with structures. The HIRES
processed IRAS maps of these regions at 12, 25, 60 & 100 micron have also been
presented for comparison. Point-like sources have been extracted from the
longest waveband TIFR maps and searched for associations in the other five
bands. The diffuse emission from these regions have been quantified, which
turns out to be a significant fraction of the total emission. The spatial
distribution of cold dust (T < 30 K) for two of these sources (W3(OH) & S209),
has been determined reliably from the maps in TIFR bands. The dust temperature
and optical depth maps show complex morphology. In general the dust around S209
has been found to be warmer than that in W3(OH) region.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (20
pages including 8 figures & 3 tables
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