Variants of the human PPARG locus and the susceptibility to chronic periodontitis

Apart from its regulatory function in lipid and glucose metabolism, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ has impact on the regulation of inflammation and bone metabolism. The aim of the study was to investigate the association of five polymorphisms (rs10865710, rs2067819, rs3892175, rs1801282, rs3856806) within the PPARG gene with chronic periodontitis. The study population comprised 402 periodontitis patients and 793 healthy individuals. Genotyping of the PPARG gene polymorphisms was performed by PCR and melting curve analysis. Comparison of frequency distribution of genotypes between individuals with periodontal disease and healthy controls for the polymorphism rs3856806 showed a P-value of 0.04 but failed to reach significance after correction for multiple testing (P  0.90). A 3-site analysis (rs2067819-rs1801282-rs3856860) revealed five haplotypes with a frequency of ≥1% among cases and controls. Following adjustment for age, gender and smoking, none of the haplotypes was significantly different between periodontitis and healthy controls after Bonferroni correction. This study could not show a significant association between PPARG gene variants and chronic periodontitis

The AMC Linear Disability Score in patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the clinimetric properties of the AMC Linear Disability Score (ALDS), a new generic disability measure based on Item Response Theory, in patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease (PD).\ud \ud Methods: A sample of 132 patients with PD was evaluated using the Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y), the Unified PD Rating Scale motor examination, the Schwab and England scale (S&E), the Short Form–36, the PD Quality of Life Questionnaire, and the ALDS.\ud \ud Results: The internal consistency reliability of the ALDS was good ([alpha] = 0.95) with 55 items extending the sufficient item-total correlation criterion (r > 0.20). The ALDS was correlated with other disability measures (r = 0.50 to 0.63) and decreasingly associated with measures reflecting impairments (r = 0.36 to 0.37) and mental health (r = 0.23 to -0.01). With regard to know-group validity, the ALDS indicated that patients with more severe PD (H&Y stage 3) were more disabled than patients with mild (H&Y stage 1) or moderate PD (H&Y stage 2) (p < 0.0001). The ALDS discriminated between more or less severe extrapyramidal symptoms (p = 0.001) and patients with postural instability showed lower ALDS scores compared to patients without postural instability (p = < 0.0001). Compared to the S&E (score 100% = 19%), the ALDS showed less of a ceiling effect (5%).\ud \ud Conclusion: The AMC Linear Disability Score is a flexible, feasible, and clinimetrically promising instrument to assess the level of disability in patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease

Salt transport in soil profiles with application to irrigation return flow: the dissolution and transport of gypsum in soils

Submitted to Office of Water Research and Technology.Bibliography: pages 85-88.January 1976.Experimental information on the dissolution of gypsum and the subsequent transport of the dissolved species in a soil-water system was obtained by measuring the calcium concentration in the solution phase as a function of time at different positions in columns filled with a soil-gypsum mixture that were leached with distilled water. These gypsum leaching experiments were performed with two different soils for a range of flow rates of the solution phase, solution contents and particle sizes of the gypsum material. The measured concentration-time curves were compared with results from two models, the first based on equilibrium chemical principles and the mixing cell concept and a second based on the one-dimensional convection-dispersion equation combined with a first-order kinetic rate equation describing the gypsum dissolution process. The formulation of the rate equation was based on the hypothesis that the rate of dissolution was proportional to the product of the saturation deficit and a function of the mass of gypsum present in the system. The equations in the kinetic model were solved numerically and a graphical and an optimization procedure were used to determine those values of the kinetic parameters for which the best possible agreement was obtained between the measured concentration-time curves and curves calculated from the kinetic model. It was concluded from the comparison between the experimental data, the mixing cell model and the kinetic model that the dissolution reaction of the gypsum was time dependent and was not controlled by the solubility product relationship, as assumed in the mixing cell model. The qualitative agreement between the kinetic model and the experimental results seems to support the hypothesis used in the formulation of the rate equation.OWRT Project no. A-017-COLO; supported (in part) by funds provided by the U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Water Research and Technology, as authorized by the Water Resources Research Act of 1964 and pursuant to Grant Agreement Nos. 14-31-0001-3806, 14-31-0001-4006, and 14-31-0001-5006

Determination of the local concentrations of Mn interstitials and antisite defects in GaMnAs

We present a method for the determination of the local concentrations of interstitial and substitutional Mn atoms and As antisite defects in GaMnAs. The method relies on the sensitivity of the structure factors of weak reflections to the concentrations and locations of these minority constituents. High spatial resolution is obtained by combining structure factor measurement and X-ray analysis in a transmission electron microscope. We demonstrate the prevalence of interstitials with As nearest neighbors in as-grown layers.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Buried dislocation networks designed to organize the growth of III-V semiconductor nanostructures

We first report a detailed transmission electron microscopy study of dislocation networks (DNs) formed at shallowly buried interfaces obtained by bonding two GaAs crystals between which we establish in a controlled manner a twist and a tilt around a k110l direction. For large enough twists, the DN consists of a twodimensional network of screw dislocations accommodating mainly the twist and of a one-dimensional network of mixed dislocations accommodating mainly the tilt. We show that in addition the mixed dislocations accommodate part of the twist and we observe and explain slight unexpected disorientations of the screw dislocations with respect to the k110l directions. By performing a quantitative analysis of the whole DN, we propose a coherent interpretation of these observations which also provides data inaccessible by direct experiments. When the twist is small enough, one screw subnetwork vanishes. The surface strain field induced by such DNs has been used to pilot the lateral ordering of GaAs and InGaAs nanostructures during metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. We prove that the dimensions and orientations of the nanostructures are correlated with those of the cells of the underlying DN and explain how the interface dislocation structure governs the formation of the nanostructures

Advances in the theory of III-V Nanowire Growth Dynamics

Nanowire (NW) crystal growth via the vapour_liquid_solid mechanism is a complex dynamic process involving interactions between many atoms of various thermodynamic states. With increasing speed over the last few decades many works have reported on various aspects of the growth mechanisms, both experimentally and theoretically. We will here propose a general continuum formalism for growth kinetics based on thermodynamic parameters and transition state kinetics. We use the formalism together with key elements of recent research to present a more overall treatment of III_V NW growth, which can serve as a basis to model and understand the dynamical mechanisms in terms of the basic control parameters, temperature and pressures/beam fluxes. Self-catalysed GaAs NW growth on Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy is used as a model system.Comment: 63 pages, 25 figures and 4 tables. Some details are explained more carefully in this version aswell as a new figure is added illustrating various facets of a WZ crysta

Structural lightweight aggregates concrete

This paper addresses the development of a structural lightweight aggregates concrete (SLWAC), aiming at a good balance between a low specific density and thermal conductivity, and high mechanical properties. The mix design is performed by applying the modified Andreasen and Andersen model to secure a densely packed matrix, composed of a binder and lightweight aggregates. The water absorption of the applied lightweight aggregates, expanded clay, is studied and an effective water dosage is determined from the obtained results. The fresh behaviour test of the designed concrete shows an acceptable workability, under a water-cement dosage of 0.35. The developed SLWAC shows excellent thermal properties, with a low thermal conductivity of about 0.20 W/(m¿K); and moderate mechanical properties, with a 28-day compressive strength of about 34 MPa (class of LC30-33 according to EN 206-1), with an apparent density of about 1250 kg/m3. The significantly low thermal conductivity of the developed concrete under this strength class can find a wide application potential, both for structural and thermal insulating purposes

Prime Field ECDSA Signature Processing for Reconfigurable Embedded Systems

Growing ubiquity and safety relevance of embedded systems strengthen the need to protect their functionality against malicious attacks. Communication and system authentication by digital signature schemes is a major issue in securing such systems. This contribution presents a complete ECDSA signature processing system over prime fields for bit lengths of up to 256 on reconfigurable hardware. By using dedicated hardware implementation, the performance can be improved by up to two orders of magnitude compared to microcontroller implementations. The flexible system is tailored to serve as an autonomous subsystem providing authentication transparent for any application. Integration into a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system is shown as an application example