The phenotype and genotype of adult obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldObstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) is a common condition affecting approximately 2-4% of the middle-aged population. A hereditary component to the condition has long been recognised but its genetic basis has been difficult to elucidate. Progress in determining the genotype of OSAHS is hampered by the lack of a consistent definition of phenotype and the large environmental influences on its expression. "Intermediate phenotypes", such as craniofacial structure, obesity and upper airway control, have been utilised. Multiple gene polymorphisms have been explored in association with the latter, as well as with the sequelae of OSAHS, such as hypertension and increased insulin resistance. To date, two genome-wide scans have identified potential regions that may be of interest in further defining the intermediate phenotypes. The present paper focuses on human studies with an update of the most recent work in the area, including a short discussion on methods of genetic studies

Pengaruh Struktur Good Corporate Governance Terhadap Pengungkapan Corporate Social Responsibility Pada Perusahaan Keuangan Yang Terdaftar Di Bursa Efek Indonesia

This study aims to provide empirical evidence about the effect of managerial ownership, institutional ownership, audit committee, board size, composition of the board of commissioners on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR).This research was conducted at financial companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI). The population of this research is all financial firms in the periods 2007-2008. Sampling was done by using purposive sampling techniques, the company that fulfilled the criteria that is revealed in the annual report and CSR GCG structure during the years of observation in the financial statements. Data collection was done by searching selected company annual report into the sample.The type of data used are secondary data. The data used is the annual report for the years 2007-2008 obtained from the Indonesian Capital Market Directory (ICMD) and the Capital Market Reference Center (PRPM). The data analysis was conducted using the help of software (software) Courses Statistics Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 17.0.The results showed that the independent variables showed individual test managerial ownership negatively affect the disclosure of CSR with a significance level of 0.008. Institutional ownership has no significant effect of CSR disclosure. The audit committee had no significant impact of CSR disclosure. The size of the board of commissioners have a significant effect on the disclosure of CSR with a significance level of 0,000. The composition of the board of commissioners have a significant effect on the disclosure of CSR with a significance level of 0.044. Test results with the same independent variables showed a significant effect partially because not all significant variables, only variables and managerial ownership, the audit committee, board size and composition of the board of commissioners who have a significant effect on the disclosure of CSR, while institutional ownership has no effect on the level of CSR disclosure significance 0.252

Energy balance in irrigated wheat in the Cerrados Region of central Brazil.

To evaluate the water requirements for Irrigated wheat, a mlcrometeorological study was conducted during the dry seasons of 1982 and 1983 at the Cerrados Agricultural Research Center, Brasilia-DF, BraziL The crop was Irrigated when the soU water potential at 5 cm reached-60 to -7OJIkg. Bowen ratio measurements were made on an hourly basls during the entire crop season, Total amount of water evapotranspired during the crop cycle and the energy balance terms varied year to year due to regional advection; ln 1982,a Iess advective year, the total amount of water evapotranspired was 345 mm, with approximately 80% of the net radlation dlsslpated as latent heat, 13% as a sensible heat and 7% as soU heat after the crop obtalned a Leaf Area lndex (LAI) of 1.5. ln 1983, when advection was greater than 1982, total water evapotranspired Increased to 385mm. The partitloning of energy was similar to 1982 during periods of title or no advecnon, However, during periods of Intense advection, latent heat was greater. In net radlation partitioning. Although regional advection Increased the water used by the crop, Irrigation scheduling based on soíl tensiometers was considered adequate and eflicient due to the low values of the Bowen ratio obtalned. Um estudo núcrometeorológico para avaliar a demanda hídrica do trigo Irrigado foi conduzido nasestações secas de 1982 e 1983 no Centro de Pesquisa Agricola dos Cerrados, Brasilia-DF, Brasil A cultura foi Irrigada quando o potencial de água no solo a 5 cm atinriu -60 a -70 JIkg. Durante todo o ciclo da cultura medidas da razão de Bowen foram feitas numa base horária. A quantidade total de água evapotranspirada durante todo ciclo da cultura e o balanço energético variaram entre os anos devido à advecção regional; em 1982, um ano menos advectivo, a quantidade total de água evapotranspirada foi de 345 mm, sendo 80% da radiação líquida dissipada como calor latente, 13% como calor sensível e 7% como calor do solo após a cultura ter atingido um Índice de Área Foliar (IAF) de 1.5. Em 1983, quando a advecção foi maior que em 1982, a quantidade total de água evapotranspirada aumentou para 385 mm. A partição de energia foi similar à 1982 durante periodos de pouca ou nenhuma advecção. Entretanto durante periodos de Intensa advecção, o calor latente representou a maior parte da radiação líquida. Apesar da advecção regional aumentar o consumo de água da cultura, programação da irrigação baseada em tensiometros foi considerada adequada e eficiente devido aos baixos valores da razão de Bowen obtidos.Nº especial

Energy balance in irrigated wheat in the Cerrados Region of central Brazil.

Um estudo micrometeorológico para avaliar a demanda hídrica do trigo irrigado foi conduzido nas estacões secas de 1982 e 1983 no Centro de Pesquisa Agrícola dos Cerrados, Brasilia-DF, Brasil. A cultura foi irrigada quando o potencial de água no solo a 5 cm atingiu -60 a -70 J/kg.Durante todo o ciclo da cultura medidas da razão de Bowen foram feitas numa base horaria. A quantidade total de água evapotranspirada durante todo ciclo da cultura e o balanco energético variaram entre os anos devido a advecção regional; em 1982, um ano menos advectivo, a quantidade total de água evapotranspirada foi de 345 mm, sendo 80% da radiação liquida dissipada como calor latente, 13% como calor sensível e 7% como calor do solo apos a cultura ter atingido um Índice de Área Foliar (IAF) de 1.5. Em 1983, quando a advecção foi maior que em 1982, a quantidade total de água evapotranspirada aumentou para 385mm. A partição de energia foi similar a 1982 durante períodos de pouca ou nenhuma advecção. Entretanto durante períodos de intensa advecção, o calor latente representou a maior parte da radiação liquida. Apesar da advecção regional aumentar o consumo de água da cultura, programação da irrigação baseada em tensiômetro foi considerada adequada e eficiente devido aos baixos valores da razão de Bowen obtidos

Trauma Immediately Preceding REM-Behavior Disorder:A Valuable Prognostic Marker?

Background: The definition of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) has varied over the years. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder can be considered isolated or idiopathic or can occur in the context of other disorders, including trauma-associated sleep disorder (TSD) and overlap parasomnia. However, whether trauma in RBD carries any prognostic specificity is currently unknown. Study Objectives: To test the hypothesis that RBD secondary to trauma is less likely to result in the development of neurodegeneration compared to idiopathic RBD (iRBD) without trauma in the general population. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 122 consecutive RBD patients (103 males) at two tertiary sleep clinics in Europe between 2005 and 2020 was studied. Patients were diagnosed as having iRBD by video polysomnography (vPSG) and had a semi-structured interview at presentation, including specifically eliciting any history of trauma. Patients with secondary RBD to recognized causes were excluded from the study. Patients with iRBD were categorized into three groups according to reported trauma history: (1) No history of trauma, (2) traumatic experience at least 12 months prior to RBD symptom onset, and (3) traumatic experience within 12 months of RBD symptom onset. Idiopathic RBD duration was defined as the interval between estimated onset of RBD symptoms and last hospital visit or death. Follow-up duration was defined as the interval between iRBD diagnosis and last hospital visit or death. Results: In a follow-up period of up to 18 years, no patient who experienced trauma within 12 months preceding their iRBD diagnosis received a diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disorder (n = 35), whereas 38% of patients without trauma within the 12 months of symptom onset developed a neurodegenerative illness. These patients were also significantly more likely to have a family history of α-synucleinopathy or tauopathy. Conclusions: The development of RBD within 12 months of experiencing a traumatic life event, indistinguishable clinically from iRBD, did not lead to phenoconversion to a neurodegenerative disorder even after 18 years (mean follow up 6 years). We suggest that a sub-type of RBD be established and classified as secondary RBD due to trauma. Additionally, we advocate that a thorough psychological and trauma history be undertaken in all patients presenting with dream enactment behaviors (DEB)

Sex differences in obstructive sleep apnoea

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) have long been considered predominantly male-related conditions. The clinical presentation of sleep disordered breathing in females differs from males and can vary with age and physiological status, e.g. menopause and pregnancy. Overall, females appear to be more symptomatic, with lower apnoea–hypopnoea index scores compared to males. Furthermore, they appear to have more prolonged partial upper airway obstruction, and may report insomnia as a symptom of OSAHS more frequently. As a consequence of these differences in clinical presentation, females with sleep disordered breathing are often underdiagnosed and undertreated compared to males. This review is aimed at discussing the epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathophysiology and hormonal and metabolic differences in females who present with OSA/OSAHS in comparison to males

SEQUESTRATION AND TREATMENT OF VADOSE ZONE SOLVENTS USING EDIBLE OILS

Edible oils have emerged as an effective treatment amendment for a variety of contaminants. When applied to chlorinated volatile organic compounds (cVOCs) in the saturated zone, edible oils have been shown to enhance anaerobic bioremediation and sequester the contaminants. However, edible oils have not been applied to the vadose zone for contaminant treatment. Soybean oil was injected into the vadose zone in M-Area at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) as a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of edible oils for solvent sequestration and the ability to change a vadose system from aerobic to anaerobic to initiate reductive dechlorination. The proposed use of this technique would be an enhanced attenuation/transition step after active remediation. The goals of the research were to evaluate oil emplacement methods and monitoring techniques to measure oil placement, partitioning and degradation. Gas sampling was the cornerstone for this evaluation. Analyses for cVOCs and biotransformation products were performed. Overall, the cVOC concentration/flux reduction was 75-85% in this vadose zone setting. Destruction of the cVOCs by biotic or abiotic process has not yet been verified at this site. No reductive dechlorination products have been measured. The deployment has resulted in a substantial generation of light hydrocarbon gases and geochemical conditions that would support cometabolism

FRACTURE ENHANCED SOIL VAPOR EXTRACTION TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION AT THE A-014 OUTFALL

Data collected during this study show that the performance of hydraulically fractured wells (with respect to mass removal rates) may tend to decrease with time following precipitation events. These effects are due to temporary increases in water saturation in the formation within the vicinity of the fractures, therefore, the wells should tend to rebound during subsequent dry periods. The data available for fractured well versus conventional well performance (with respect to flow rate versus vacuum pressure) are limited in this study. However, the data that we have to draw from suggest that, with the possible exception of a few extreme examples, hydraulically fractured wells tend to perform better than conventional wells during soil vapor extraction (SVE) operation at the A-14 Outfall. The pancake like geometry associated with hydraulic fractures also leads to a significant increase in zone of influence (ZOI), as compared to conventional wells. The increase in ZOI is due to the radially extending, horizontal, high-permeability conduit nature of the hydraulic fracture, however, air-flow into the fracture is predominately vertical (occurring at right angles to the fracture plane). Flow rates from above and below the fracture will tend to be equivalent when the formation is homogeneous, however, in the case of directionally fining depositional sequences flow rates will be greater from the direction of increasing permeability. The Upland Unit is a fining upward sequence, therefore flow rates (and contaminant mass flow rates) will tend to be higher below the fracture. This suggests that emplacing the fractures slightly above the source zone is an important strategy for accelerating contaminant removal at the A-014 Outfall site and in the Upland Unit at the SRS. However, due to the multitude of previous borings at the A-014 Outfall site, the shallower fractures failed. More than 2500 lbs of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (cVOCs) were removed during approximately 6 months of fractured well SVE operation at the A-014 field site. Plotting total mass removed over this time period shows a roughly linear relationship Figure 7. This occurs because the mass removal rate remains fairly constant with time. When mass removal comes predominately from cVOCs stored in the vapor phase there is a marked decline in mass removal rate over a short period of time due to the limiting nature of diffusion. Constant mass removal rates suggest that a source zone has been directly targeted and, therefore, is providing a constant supply of cVOC that partitions into the vapor phase and is removed through the well. Directly targeting and removing source zones is the most efficient approach to remediating contaminated sites. Results of this study show that utilization of hydraulic fractures during SVE is an effective approach for increasing remediation efficiency at the A-014 Outfall field site and in the Upland Unit at the SRS. Hydraulically fractured wells tend to produce greater flow rates and create larger ZOI's than do conventional wells. These attributes allow fractured wells to effectively treat larger volumes of formation. The unique sand-emplacement geometry associated with hydraulically fractured wells also allows direct targeting of multiple zones located at similar elevations within a fairly large radius of the well. The ability to directly target source zones significantly decreases diffusion pathways, therefore, significantly decreasing the time required to reach remediation goals

The application of large amplitude oscillatory stress in a study of fully formed fibrin clots

The suitability of controlled stress large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOStress) for the characterisation of the nonlinear viscoelastic properties of fully formed fibrin clots is investigated. Capturing the rich nonlinear viscoelastic behaviour of the fibrin network is important for understanding the structural behaviour of clots formed in blood vessels which are exposed to a wide range of shear stresses. We report, for the first time, that artefacts due to ringing exist in both the sample stress and strain waveforms of a LAOStress measurement which will lead to errors in the calculation of nonlinear viscoelastic properties. The process of smoothing the waveforms eliminates these artefacts whilst retaining essential rheological information. Furthermore, we demonstrate the potential of LAOStress for characterising the nonlinear viscoelastic properties of fibrin clots in response to incremental increases of applied stress up to the point of fracture. Alternating LAOStress and small amplitude oscillatory shear measurements provide detailed information of reversible and irreversible structural changes of the fibrin clot as a consequence of elevated levels of stress. We relate these findings to previous studies involving large scale deformations of fibrin clots. The LAOStress technique may provide useful information to help understand why some blood clots formed in vessels are stable (such as in deep vein thrombosis) and others break off (leading to a life threatening pulmonary embolism)

TREATABILITY STUDY FOR EDIBLE OIL DEPLOYMENT FOR ENHANCED CVOC ATTENUATION FOR T-AREA, SAVANNAH RIVER SITE

Groundwater beneath T-Area, a former laboratory and semiworks operation at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS), is contaminated by chlorinated solvents (cVOCs). Since the contamination was detected in the 1980s, the cVOCs at T-Area have been treated by a combination of soil vapor extraction and groundwater pump and treat. The site received approval to temporarily discontinue the active groundwater treatment and implement a treatability study of enhanced attenuation - an engineering and regulatory strategy that has recently been developed by DOE and the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC 2007). Enhanced attenuation uses active engineering solutions to alter the target site in such a way that the contaminant plume will passively stabilize and shrink and to document that the action will be effective, timely, and sustainable. The paradigm recognizes that attenuation remedies are fundamentally based on a mass balance. Thus, long-term plume dynamics can be altered either by reducing the contaminant loading from the source or by increasing the rate of natural attenuation processes within all, or part of, the plume volume. The combination of technologies that emerged for T-Area included: (1) neat (pure) vegetable oil deployment in the deep vadose zone in the former source area, (2) emulsified vegetable oil deployment within the footprint of the groundwater plume, and (3) identification of attenuation mechanisms and rates for the distal portion of the plume. In the first part, neat oil spreads laterally forming a thin layer on the water table to intercept and reduce future cVOC loading (via partitioning) and reduce oxygen inputs (via biostimulation). In the second and third parts, emulsified oil forms active bioremediation reactor zones within the plume footprint to degrade existing groundwater contamination (via reductive dechlorination and/or cometabolism) and stimulates long-term attenuation capacity in the distal plume (via cometabolism). For TArea, the enhanced attenuation development process proved to be a powerful tool in developing a strategy that provides a high degree of performance while minimizing adverse collateral impacts of the remediation (e.g., energy use and wetland damage) and minimizing life-cycle costs. As depicted in Figure 1, Edible oil deployment results in the development of structured geochemical zones and serves to decrease chlorinated compound concentrations in two ways: (1) physical sequestration, which reduces effective aqueous concentration and mobility; and (2) stimulation of anaerobic, abiotic and cometabolic degradation processes. In the central deployment area, contaminant initially partitions into the added oil phase. Biodegradation of the added organic substrate depletes the aquifer of oxygen and other terminal electron acceptors and creates conditions conducive to anaerobic degradation processes. The organic substrate is fermented to produce hydrogen, which is used as an electron donor for anaerobic dechlorination by organisms such as Dehalococcoides. Daughter products leaving the central treatment zone are amenable to aerobic oxidation. Further, the organic compounds leaving the central deployment zone (e.g., methane and propane) stimulate and enhance down gradient aerobic cometabolism which degrades both daughter compounds and several parent cVOCs. Figure 1 depicts TCE concentration reduction processes (labeled in green) along with their corresponding breakdown products in a structured geochemical zone scenario. A consortium of bacteria with the same net effect of Dehalococcoides may be present in the structured geochemical zones leading to the degradation of TCE and daughter products. Figure 2 shows a schematic of the documented cVOC degradation processes in both the anaerobic and aerobic structured geochemical zones. Specific aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and their degradation pathways are also listed in the diagram and have either been confirmed in the field or the laboratory. See references in the bibliography in Section 11