3,408 research outputs found
Characterization of hepatic low density lipoprotein binding and cholesterol metabolism in normal and homozygous familial hypercholesterolemic subjects
Patients with familial hypercholesterolemia have elevated levels of plasma low density lipoproteins (LDL), increased hepatic synthesis of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins, defective binding of low density lipoproteins to fibroblasts, and premature atherosclerosis. The role of a hepatic low density lipoprotein receptor in normal man and its importance in the pathogenesis of familial hypercholesterolemia have not been previously determined. In the present study, direct comparison was made of the binding of LDL to hepatic membranes from normal and receptor-negative homozygous familial hypercholesterolemic subjects. The effects of calcium, EDTA, and temperature on the binding of lipoproteins to the hepatic membranes were also evaluated. At 4°C, no significant difference in specific binding of LDL to hepatic membranes from normal and familial hypercholesterolemic subjects was observed. At 37°C, both total and specific binding of LDL were significantly reduced in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. Hepatic membrane binding of LDL from the two patients homozygous for receptor-negative familial hypercholesterolemia was 53 and 59% of normal. The activity of the rate-limiting enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase was normal; however, the total hepatic cholesterol and cholesteryl ester content was significantly increased from 53 to 129%. These results indicate that patients with familial hypercholesterolemia have a defect in the interaction of hepatic membranes with low density lipoproteins. This defect may lead to accelerated atherosclerosis by decreasing the cellular catabolism of LDL and enhancing the production of LDL, which is characteristic of patients homozygous for familial hypercholesterolemia
Monitoring of lung edema by microwave reflectometry during lung ischemia-reperfusion injury in vivo
It is still unclear whether lung edema can be monitored by microwave reflectometry and whether the measured changes in lung dry matter content (DMC) are accompanied by changes in PaO(2) and in pro-to anti-inflammatory cytokine expression (IFN-gamma and IL-10). Right rat lung hili were cross-clamped at 37 degrees C for 0, 60, 90 or 120 min ischemia followed by 120 min reperfusion. After 90 min (DMC: 15.9 +/- 1.4%; PaO(2): 76.7 +/- 18 mm Hg) and 120 min ischemia (DMC: 12.8 +/- 0.6%; PaO(2): 43 +/- 7 mm Hg), a significant decrease in DMC and PaO(2) throughout reperfusion compared to 0 min ischemia (DMC: 19.5 +/- 1.11%; PaO(2): 247 +/- 33 mm Hg; p < 0.05) was observed. DMC and PaO(2) decreased after 60 min ischemia but recovered during reperfusion (DMC: 18.5 +/- 2.4%; PaO(2) : 173 +/- 30 mm Hg). DMC values reflected changes on the physiological and molecular level. In conclusion, lung edema monitoring by microwave reflectometry might become a tool for the thoracic surgeon. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel
The effect of portacaval shunt on hepatic lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in familial hypercholesterolemia
Lean Principles in Vertical Farming: A Case Study
Vertical farming (VF) has been recognised as an important tool for managing future food security, yet economic viability poses a significant
hurdle with the vast majority of farms closing within three years. The application of lean principles poses an opportunity to address inefficiencies,
such as significant labour expenditure, but existing literature is yet to consider process improvement methodologies in VF. In this paper, an
established framework for lean implementation is applied to an industry case study providing techniques for process improvement. This work is
novel and crucial for workflow standardisation and higher profit margins in this emerging sector
Introduction to the functional RG and applications to gauge theories
These lectures contain an introduction to modern renormalization group (RG)
methods as well as functional RG approaches to gauge theories. In the first
lecture, the functional renormalization group is introduced with a focus on the
flow equation for the effective average action. The second lecture is devoted
to a discussion of flow equations and symmetries in general, and flow equations
and gauge symmetries in particular. The third lecture deals with the flow
equation in the background formalism which is particularly convenient for
analytical computations of truncated flows. The fourth lecture concentrates on
the transition from microscopic to macroscopic degrees of freedom; even though
this is discussed here in the language and the context of QCD, the developed
formalism is much more general and will be useful also for other systems.Comment: 60 pages, 14 figures, Lectures held at the 2006 ECT* School
"Renormalization Group and Effective Field Theory Approaches to Many-Body
Systems", Trento, Ital
Intersection Graphs of Rays and Grounded Segments
We consider several classes of intersection graphs of line segments in the
plane and prove new equality and separation results between those classes. In
particular, we show that: (1) intersection graphs of grounded segments and
intersection graphs of downward rays form the same graph class, (2) not every
intersection graph of rays is an intersection graph of downward rays, and (3)
not every intersection graph of rays is an outer segment graph. The first
result answers an open problem posed by Cabello and Jej\v{c}i\v{c}. The third
result confirms a conjecture by Cabello. We thereby completely elucidate the
remaining open questions on the containment relations between these classes of
segment graphs. We further characterize the complexity of the recognition
problems for the classes of outer segment, grounded segment, and ray
intersection graphs. We prove that these recognition problems are complete for
the existential theory of the reals. This holds even if a 1-string realization
is given as additional input.Comment: 16 pages 12 Figure
Scaling laws near the conformal window of many-flavor QCD
We derive universal scaling laws for physical observables such as the
critical temperature, the chiral condensate, and the pion decay constant as a
function of the flavor number near the conformal window of many-flavor QCD in
the chiral limit. We argue on general grounds that the associated critical
exponents are all interrelated and can be determined from the critical exponent
of the running gauge coupling at the Caswell-Banks-Zaks infrared fixed point.
We illustrate our findings with the aid of nonperturbative functional
Renormalization Group (RG) calculations and low-energy QCD models.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, references added and discussion expanded
(matches JHEP version
Very Cold Gas and Dark Matter
We have recently proposed a new candidate for baryonic dark matter: very cold
molecular gas, in near-isothermal equilibrium with the cosmic background
radiation at 2.73 K. The cold gas, of quasi-primordial abundances, is condensed
in a fractal structure, resembling the hierarchical structure of the detected
interstellar medium.
We present some perspectives of detecting this very cold gas, either directly
or indirectly. The H molecule has an "ultrafine" structure, due to the
interaction between the rotation-induced magnetic moment and the nuclear spins.
But the lines fall in the km domain, and are very weak. The best opportunity
might be the UV absorption of H in front of quasars. The unexpected cold
dust component, revealed by the COBE/FIRAS submillimetric results, could also
be due to this very cold H gas, through collision-induced radiation, or
solid H grains or snowflakes. The -ray distribution, much more
radially extended than the supernovae at the origin of cosmic rays
acceleration, also points towards and extended gas distribution.Comment: 16 pages, Latex pages, crckapb macro, 3 postscript figures, uuencoded
compressed tar file. To be published in the proceeedings of the
"Dust-Morphology" conference, Johannesburg, 22-26 January, 1996, D. Block
(ed.), (Kluwer Dordrecht
Experimental Reconstruction of Lomonosov's Discovery of Venus's Atmosphere with Antique Refractors During the 2012 Transit of Venus
In 1761, the Russian polymath Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov (1711-1765)
discovered the atmosphere of Venus during its transit over the Sun's disc. In
this paper we report on experimental reenactments of Lomonosov's discovery with
antique refractors during the transit of Venus June 5-6, 2012. We conclude that
Lomonosov's telescope was fully adequate to the task of detecting the arc of
light around Venus off the Sun's disc during ingress or egress if proper
experimental techniques as described by Lomonosov in his 1761 report are
employed.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
The consequences of a new software package for the quantification of gated-SPECT myocardial perfusion studies
Semiquantitative analysis of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) has reduced inter- and intraobserver variability, and enables researchers to compare parameters in the same patient over time, or between groups of patients. There are several software packages available that are designed to process MPS data and quantify parameters. In this study the performances of two systems, quantitative gated SPECT (QGS) and 4D-MSPECT, in the processing of clinical patient data and phantom data were compared. The clinical MPS data of 148 consecutive patients were analysed using QGS and 4D-MSPECT to determine the end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume and left ventricular ejection fraction. Patients were divided into groups based on gender, body mass index, heart size, stressor type and defect type. The AGATE dynamic heart phantom was used to provide reference values for the left ventricular ejection fraction. Although the correlations were excellent (correlation coefficients 0.886 to 0.980) for all parameters, significant differences (p < 0.001) were found between the systems. Bland-Altman plots indicated that 4D-MSPECT provided overall higher values of all parameters than QGS. These differences between the systems were not significant in patients with a small heart (end-diastolic volume < 70 ml). Other clinical factors had no direct influence on the relationship. Additionally, the phantom data indicated good linear responses of both systems. The discrepancies between these software packages were clinically relevant, and influenced by heart size. The possibility of such discrepancies should be taken into account when a new quantitative software system is introduced, or when multiple software systems are used in the same institution.Vascular Biology and Interventio
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