802 research outputs found
Central obesity as a precursor to the metabolic syndrome in the AusDiab study and Mauritius
Evidence from epidemiologic studies that central obesity precedes future metabolic change and does not occur concurrently with the appearance of the blood pressure, glucose, and lipid abnormalities that characterize the metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been lacking. Longitudinal surveys were conducted in Mauritius in 1987, 1992, and 1998, and in Australia in 2000 and 2005 (AusDiab). This analysis included men and women (aged 25 years) in three cohorts: AusDiab 2000–2005 (n = 5,039), Mauritius 1987–1992 (n = 2,849), and Mauritius 1987–1998 (n = 1,999). MetS components included waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, fasting and 2-h postload plasma glucose, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin sensitivity (HOMA-S) (representing insulin sensitivity). Linear regression was used to determine which baseline components predicted deterioration in other MetS components over 5 years in AusDiab and 5 and 11 years in Mauritius, adjusted for age, sex, and ethnic group. Baseline waist circumference predicted deterioration (P < 0.01) in four of the other six MetS variables tested in AusDiab, five of six in Mauritius 1987–1992, and four of six in Mauritius 1987–1998. In contrast, an increase in waist circumference between baseline and follow-up was only predicted by insulin sensitivity (HOMA-S) at baseline, and only in one of the three cohorts. These results suggest that central obesity plays a central role in the development of the MetS and appears to precede the appearance of the other MetS components.<br /
Local atomic arrangement and martensitic transformation in NiMnIn: An EXAFS Study
Heusler alloys that undergo martensitic transformation in ferromagnetic state
are of increasing scientific and technological interest. These alloys show
large magnetic field induced strains upon martensitic phase change thus making
it a potential candidate for magneto-mechanical actuation. The crystal
structure of martensite is an important factor that affects both the magnetic
anisotropy and mechanical properties of such materials. Moreover, the local
chemical arrangement of constituent atoms is vital in determining the overall
physical properties. NiMnIn is one such ferromagnetic
shape memory alloy that displays exotic properties like large magnetoresistance
at moderate field values. In this work, we present the extended x-ray
absorption fine-structure measurements (EXAFS) on the bulk
NiMnIn which reveal the local structural change that
occurs upon phase transformation. The change in the bond lengths between
different atomic species helps in understanding the type of hybridization which
is an important factor in driving such Ni-Mn based systems towards martensitic
transformation
Sammenligning af dansk og svensk boligbyggeri:Den svensk-danske parallelbyggesag i Øresundsregionen
On the Segregation Phenomenon in Complex Langevin Simulation
In the numerical simulation of certain field theoretical models, the complex
Langevin simulation has been believed to fail due to the violation of
ergodicity. We give a detailed analysis of this problem based on a toy model
with one degree of freedom (). We find that the failure is
not due to the defect of complex Langevin simulation itself, but rather to the
way how one treats the singularity appearing in the drift force. An effective
algorithm is proposed by which one can simulate the behaviour of
the expectation value in the small limit.Comment: (20 pages + 8 figures on request). Siegen Si-93-8, Tokuyama TKYM-93-
RCMV increases intimal hyperplasia by inducing inflammation, MCP-1 expression and recruitment of adventitial cells to intima
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been associated with accelerated transplant vasculopathy. In this study, we assessed the effects of acute rat CMV (RCMV) infection on vessel remodeling in transplant vasculopathy, focusing on allograft morphology, inflammation and contribution of adventitial cells to intimal hyperplasia.Infrarenal aorta was locally infected with RCMV and transplanted from female F344 rats to male Lewis rats. Graft samples were collected 2 and 8 weeks after transplantation and analyzed for intimal hyperplasia, collagen degradation and inflammation. Transplantation of aorta followed by transplantation of RCMV infected and labeled isogenic adventitia were performed to study migration of adventitial cells towards the intima.Intimal hyperplasia was increased threefold in infected allografts. RCMV induced apoptosis in the media, expression of matrix metalloproteinase 2, and decreased collagen deposits. Macrophage infiltration was increased in the infected allografts and resulted in increased production of MCP-1. RCMV-infected macrophages were observed in the adventitia and intima. Cells derived from infected adventitia migrated towards the intima of the allograft.RCMV enhances infiltration of macrophages to the allografts, and thereby increases MCP-1 production and inflammation, followed by recruitment of adventitial cells to the intima and accelerated intimal hyperplasia
Evolution of scale-free random graphs: Potts model formulation
We study the bond percolation problem in random graphs of weighted
vertices, where each vertex has a prescribed weight and an edge can
connect vertices and with rate . The problem is solved by the
limit of the -state Potts model with inhomogeneous interactions for
all pairs of spins. We apply this approach to the static model having
so that the resulting graph is scale-free with
the degree exponent . The number of loops as well as the giant
cluster size and the mean cluster size are obtained in the thermodynamic limit
as a function of the edge density, and their associated critical exponents are
also obtained. Finite-size scaling behaviors are derived using the largest
cluster size in the critical regime, which is calculated from the cluster size
distribution, and checked against numerical simulation results. We find that
the process of forming the giant cluster is qualitatively different between the
cases of and . While for the former, the giant
cluster forms abruptly at the percolation transition, for the latter, however,
the formation of the giant cluster is gradual and the mean cluster size for
finite shows double peaks.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures, elsart.cls, final version appeared in NP
Complex Langevin Equation and the Many-Fermion Problem
We study the utility of a complex Langevin (CL) equation as an alternative
for the Monte Carlo (MC) procedure in the evaluation of expectation values
occurring in fermionic many-body problems. We find that a CL approach is
natural in cases where non-positive definite probability measures occur, and
remains accurate even when the corresponding MC calculation develops a severe
``sign problem''. While the convergence of CL averages cannot be guaranteed in
principle, we show how convergent results can be obtained in three examples
ranging from simple one-dimensional integrals over quantum mechanical models to
a schematic shell model path integral.Comment: 19 pages, 10 PS figures embedded in tex
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