Comparing the clinical profile of non obese children with sleep apnea and snoring

Few studies in the literature have looked into the cardiovascular and metabolic effects of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) in children. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the metabolic profile of non-obese children with OSAS. METHODS: Fifty-two children were enrolled in this study, 21 girls and 31 boys. Patients were divided into two groups: OSAS (28 children) and Snore (22 children) according to polysomnographic evaluation. All children were submitted to ENT examination, measurements of weight, height and blood pressure. Blood samples were tested for hemoglobin, hematocrit, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL, TSH and T4. The gathered data sets were compared between groups and also within the OSAS group according to the severity of the syndrome. RESULTS: The children from both groups had no alterations in blood pressure levels. The results of the blood tests were normal for both groups. Results of hemoglobin, hematocrit, and HDL were all significantly higher in the Snore group when compared to the OSAS group; by their turn, VLDL levels were higher in the OSAS group. There was no statistical difference between the groups based on OSAS severity. CONCLUSION: Non-obese children with OSAS present no significant alterations in metabolic tests or blood pressure levels.Poucos trabalhos na literatura estudam repercussões cardiovasculares e metabólicas da Síndrome da Apneia Obstrutiva do Sono (SAOS) em crianças. OBJETIVO: Avaliar o perfil metabólico de crianças não obesas com SAOS. MÉTODO: Foram incluídas 52 crianças (21 meninas e 31 meninos), divididas em dois grupos: SAOS (28 crianças) e Ronco (22 crianças) de acordo com a polissonografia. As crianças foram submetidas a exame otorrinolaringológico completo, medidas de peso e estatura e aferição da pressão arterial. Foram coletadas amostras de sangue para dosagem de hemoglobina, hematócrito, glicemia de jejum, insulina de jejum, triglicérides, colesterol total e frações, TSH e T4 livre. As variáveis foram comparadas entre os grupos e também dentro do grupo SAOS de acordo com o grau de gravidade da síndrome. RESULTADOS: Todas as crianças apresentaram índices de PA e exames de sangue não alterados. Porém percebemos que existe diferença estatística entres os grupos nos resultados de: Hemoglobina, Hematócrito, HDL e VLDL. Somente o VLDL apresenta valores maiores no grupo SAOS. Não existe diferença estatística entre as variáveis de acordo com a gravidade da SAOS. CONCLUSÃO: Não foram encontradas alterações nos exames metabólicos e nos índices de pressão arterial das crianças não obesas com SAOS.UNIFESPUNIFESPSciEL

Piezoelectric energy harvesting solutions

This paper reviews the state of the art in piezoelectric energy harvesting. It presents the basics of piezoelectricity and discusses materials choice. The work places emphasis on material operating modes and device configurations, from resonant to non-resonant devices and also to rotational solutions. The reviewed literature is compared based on power density and bandwidth. Lastly, the question of power conversion is addressed by reviewing various circuit solutions

Relazione tecnica impatto acustico

La presente relazione tecnica descrive la progettazione di interventi di correzione acustica di alcuni locali del complesso di ricerca INAF OAS situato a Bologna in via Gobetti 101, al fine di verificare se esistono condizioni di rischio lavorativo, e comunque, anche nel caso che non sussistano le condizioni per intervenire con misure di protezione e prevenzione, migliorarne il comfort, favorire la concentrazione e ridurre lo sforzo vocale degli operatori e delle operatrici

Ankle-brachial index as a predictor of coronary disease events in elderly patients submitted to coronary angiography

OBJECTIVES: To correlate the importance of the ankle-brachial index in terms of cardiovascular morbimortalityand the extent of coronary arterial disease amongst elderly patients without clinical manifestations of lowerlimb peripheral arterial disease.METHODS: We analyzed prospective data from 100 patients over 65 years of age with coronary arterial disease,as confirmed by coronary angiography, and with over 70% stenosis of at least one sub-epicardial coronaryartery. We measured the ankle-brachial index immediately after coronary angiography, and a value of ,0.9was used to diagnose peripheral arterial disease.RESULTS: The patients’ average age was 77.4 years. The most prevalent risk factor was hypertension (96%), andthe median late follow-up appointment was 28.9 months. The ankle-brachial index was ,0.9 in 47% of thepatients, and a low index was more prevalent in patients with multiarterial coronary disease compared topatients with uniarterial disease in the same group. Using a bivariate analysis, only an ankle-brachial index of,0.9 was a strong predictive factor for cardiovascular events, thereby increasing all-cause deaths and fatal andnon-fatal acute myocardial infarctions two- to three-fold.CONCLUSION: In elderly patients with documented coronary disease, a low ankle-brachial index (,0.9) wasassociated with the severity and extent of coronary arterial disease, and in late follow-up appointments, a lowindex was correlated with an increase in the occurrence of major cardiovascular events

The Gray Needle: Large Grains in the HD 15115 Debris Disk from LBT/PISCES/Ks and LBTI/LMIRcam/L' Adaptive Optics Imaging

We present diffraction-limited \ks band and \lprime adaptive optics images of the edge-on debris disk around the nearby F2 star HD 15115, obtained with a single 8.4 m primary mirror at the Large Binocular Telescope. At \ks band the disk is detected at signal-to-noise per resolution element (SNRE) \about 3-8 from \about 1-2\fasec 5 (45-113 AU) on the western side, and from \about 1.2-2\fasec 1 (63-90 AU) on the east. At \lprime the disk is detected at SNRE \about 2.5 from \about 1-1\fasec 45 (45-90 AU) on both sides, implying more symmetric disk structure at 3.8 \microns . At both wavelengths the disk has a bow-like shape and is offset from the star to the north by a few AU. A surface brightness asymmetry exists between the two sides of the disk at \ks band, but not at \lprime . The surface brightness at \ks band declines inside 1\asec (\about 45 AU), which may be indicative of a gap in the disk near 1\asec. The \ks - \lprime disk color, after removal of the stellar color, is mostly grey for both sides of the disk. This suggests that scattered light is coming from large dust grains, with 3-10 \microns -sized grains on the east side and 1-10 \microns dust grains on the west. This may suggest that the west side is composed of smaller dust grains than the east side, which would support the interpretation that the disk is being dynamically affected by interactions with the local interstellar medium.Comment: Apj-accepted March 27 2012; minor correction

Magazzino 101 Gestione e smaltimento

La gestione di un magazzino efficiente passa attraverso una buona organizzazione e il rispetto delle regole. Trattandosi di ambienti in cui le merci sono costantemente movimentate, spesso con l’ausilio di attrezzature specifiche, il magazzino è soggetto a disordine e sporcizia. Questo, inevitabilmente, si può tradurre in incidenti, che possono rallentare o addirittura arrestare il lavoro. Ordine e pulizia dovrebbero essere mandatori

Ankle-brachial index as a predictor of coronary disease events in elderly patients submitted to coronary angiography

OBJECTIVES: To correlate the importance of the ankle-brachial index in terms of cardiovascular morbimortality and the extent of coronary arterial disease amongst elderly patients without clinical manifestations of lower limb peripheral arterial disease.METHODS: We analyzed prospective data from 100 patients over 65 years of age with coronary arterial disease, as confirmed by coronary angiography, and with over 70% stenosis of at least one sub-epicardial coronary artery. We measured the ankle-brachial index immediately after coronary angiography, and a value of <0.9 was used to diagnose peripheral arterial disease.RESULTS: the patients' average age was 77.4 years. the most prevalent risk factor was hypertension (96%), and the median late follow-up appointment was 28.9 months. the ankle-brachial index was <0.9 in 47% of the patients, and a low index was more prevalent in patients with multiarterial coronary disease compared to patients with uniarterial disease in the same group. Using a bivariate analysis, only an ankle-brachial index of,0.9 was a strong predictive factor for cardiovascular events, thereby increasing all-cause deaths and fatal and non-fatal acute myocardial infarctions two-to three-fold.CONCLUSION: in elderly patients with documented coronary disease, a low ankle-brachial index (<0.9) was associated with the severity and extent of coronary arterial disease, and in late follow-up appointments, a low index was correlated with an increase in the occurrence of major cardiovascular events.Univ Fed Estado São Paulo, Dept Cardiol, São Paulo, BrazilHosp Israelita Albert Einstein, Dept Cardiol, São Paulo, BrazilDuke Univ, Sch Med, Dept Med, Durham, NC 27706 USAUniv Fed Estado São Paulo, Dept Cardiol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Nasal polyposis : more than a chronic inflammatory disorder : a disease of mechanical dysfunction : the São Paulo position

Introduction The importance of our study lies in the fact that we have demonstrated the occurrence of mechanical dysfunction within polypoid tissues, which promotes the development of polyps in the nasal cavity. Objective To change the paradigm of nasal polyposis (NP). In this new conception, the chronic nasal inflammatory process that occurs in response to allergies, to pollution, to changes in the epithelial barrier, or to other factors is merely the trigger of the development of the disease in individuals with a genetic predisposition to an abnormal tissue remodeling process, which leads to a derangement of the mechanical properties of the nasal mucosa and, consequently, allows it to grow unchecked. Data Synthesis We propose a fundamentally new approach to intervening in the pathological process of NP, addressing biomechanical properties, fluid dynamics, and the concept of surface tension. Conclusion The incorporation of biomechanical knowledge into our understanding of NP provides a new perspective to help elucidate the physiology and the pathology of nasal polyps, and new avenues for the treatment and cure of NP

DC-ATLAS: a systems biology resource to dissect receptor specific signal transduction in dendritic cells

BACKGROUND: The advent of Systems Biology has been accompanied by the blooming of pathway databases. Currently pathways are defined generically with respect to the organ or cell type where a reaction takes place. The cell type specificity of the reactions is the foundation of immunological research, and capturing this specificity is of paramount importance when using pathway-based analyses to decipher complex immunological datasets. Here, we present DC-ATLAS, a novel and versatile resource for the interpretation of high-throughput data generated perturbing the signaling network of dendritic cells (DCs). RESULTS: Pathways are annotated using a novel data model, the Biological Connection Markup Language (BCML), a SBGN-compliant data format developed to store the large amount of information collected. The application of DC-ATLAS to pathway-based analysis of the transcriptional program of DCs stimulated with agonists of the toll-like receptor family allows an integrated description of the flow of information from the cellular sensors to the functional outcome, capturing the temporal series of activation events by grouping sets of reactions that occur at different time points in well-defined functional modules. CONCLUSIONS: The initiative significantly improves our understanding of DC biology and regulatory networks. Developing a systems biology approach for immune system holds the promise of translating knowledge on the immune system into more successful immunotherapy strategies