Hyperuricaemia and gout

Gout is a painful, inflammatory disease that affects more men than women. The incidence of gout has increased substantially over the past few decades, as evidenced by information from the Rochester project. Some of the risk factors for the development of gout include: increased ethanol intake, high dietary purine consumption, obesity and the use of certain drugs, such as diuretics. Another important risk factor for the development of gout is hyperuricaemia. Hyperuricaemia results from an imbalance between the rate of production and excretion of uric acid in the body. An excess of uric acid thus builds up in the body, supersaturating body fluids and leading to the formation of monosodium urate crystals. These crystals accumulate in tissue and around joints, leading to an acute gout attack. Gout can be divided into four phases, namely asymptomatic hyperuricaemia, acute gout attacks or recurrent gout, intercritical gout and chronic tophaceous gout. Various treatment options are available for gout, and the treatment for each gout patient is determined by the stage of the disease. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, corticotropin and colchicine are used for the treatment of acute gout attacks. Allopurinol and probenecid are used for long-term hypouricaemic therapy, while NSAIDs and colchicine are prescribed for the prophylaxis of future gout attacks. All of these treatments have side effects, ranging from mild to life-threatening in nature. There is a need for novel gout therapies that have fewer side effects but are still as effective.Keywords: hyperuricaemia; gout; gout treatmen

Cost-effective reduction of eutrophication in the Gulf of Kalloni (Island of Lesvos, Greece)

This study presents a cost-effective analysis by comparing the costs of measures (options) to improve the quality of bathing waters in the Gulf of Kalloni (island of Lesvos, Greece) in order to reduce the anthropogenic eutrophication in the coastal water of the Kalloni Gulf.The Gulf of Kalloni is a semi-enclosed gulf (115 km2) which receives municipal wastewater, agricultural activity drainage, and at times sewage from olive oil plants processing the local olives harvest. The area of study consists of the coastal waters and the river basin of which water run-off drains into the gulf. Four options are comparable in their environmental effectiveness to reduce eurtophication damages which are: municipal wastewater treatment plant, construction of dams, organic farming plus training and olive oil wastewater treatment plant

Snapshots of the EYES project

The EYES project (IST-2001-34734) is a three years European research project on self-organizing and collaborative energy-efficient sensor networks. It addresses the convergence of distributed information processing, wireless communications, and mobile computing. The goal of the project is to develop the architecture and the technology which enables the creation of a new generation of sensors that can effectively network together so as to provide a flexible platform for the support of a large variety of mobile sensor network applications. This paper provides a broad overview of the EYES project and highlights some approaches and results of the architecture

Variability of Symmetric Dimethylarginine in apparently healthy dogs

Background: Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a screening tool for early kidney dysfunction and monitoring treatment in cases of chronic kidney disease (CKD). There are no current studies describing the suitability of this test for use with published populationbased reference intervals. Hypothesis/Objectives: To determine the components of biological variability, the index of individuality (IOI), the critical difference between sequential measurements (CD) and the number of measurements required to assess the homeostatic set point (HSP), for both SDMA and serum creatinine (sCr), in apparently healthy dogs. Animals: Twenty apparently healthy adult dogs owned by clients or staff at a veterinary teaching hospital. Methods: Prospective, observational study. Blood was collected from each dog on 9 occasions, and SDMA and sCr were measured in duplicate using commercially available assays. Results: SDMA and sCr had intermediate and low IOI values of 0.87 and 0.28, respectively. The CD of SDMA and sCr, was 1.34 mg/dL and 0.89 mmol/L, respectively. The sample numbers required for estimation of an individual’s HSP (with 90 and 95% CI) for SDMA and sCr were 8 and 45, and 2 and 12 sequential measurements, respectively. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Based on our findings, in comparison to sCr, SDMA is better suited for use with population based reference intervals. False-negative test results could occur when comparing a single test result from an individual to such intervals. Ideally CD should be used with sequential measurements

The Common Core Writing Standards: A Descriptive Study of Content and Alignment with A Sample of Former State Standards

Many students do not meet expected standards of writing performance, despite the need for writing competence in and out of school. As policy instruments, writing content standards have an impact on what is taught and how students perform. This study reports findings from an evaluation of the content of a sample of seven diverse states’ current writing standards compared to content of the Common Core State Standards for writing and language (CCSS-WL). Standards were evaluated for breadth of content coverage (range), how often content was referenced (frequency), the degree of emphasis placed on varied content elements (balance), and the degree of overlap between one set of standards and another (alignment). The study addressed two research questions: (1) What is the nature of the CCSS-WL and the sample states’ standards for writing with respect to content breadth, frequency, and balance? (2) To what degree do the states\u27 writing standards align with the CCSS-WL? Results indicated that CCSS-WL are succinct and balanced, with breadth of coverage in some aspects of writing but not others. The seven states’ standards represented varying degrees of breadth, frequency, and balance with few patterns across states. None of the states’ standards had strong alignment with CCSS-WL, indicating a potential mismatch between prior curricular materials and instructional methods developed with former standards as guides to help students meet grade-level writing expectations in the new CCSS

Magnetic characterization of superparamagnetic nanoparticles pulled through model membranes

BACKGROUND: To quantitatively compare in-vitro and in vivo membrane transport studies of targeted delivery, one needs characterization of the magnetically-induced mobility of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION). Flux densities, gradients, and nanoparticle properties were measured in order to quantify the magnetic force on the SPION in both an artificial cochlear round window membrane (RWM) model and the guinea pig RWM. METHODS: Three-dimensional maps were created for flux density and magnetic gradient produced by a 24-well casing of 4.1 kilo-Gauss neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) disc magnets. The casing was used to pull SPION through a three-layer cell culture RWM model. Similar maps were created for a 4 inch (10.16 cm) cube 48 MGOe NdFeB magnet used to pull polymeric-nanoparticles through the RWM of anesthetized guinea pigs. Other parameters needed to compute magnetic force were nanoparticle and polymer properties, including average radius, density, magnetic susceptibility, and volume fraction of magnetite. RESULTS: A minimum force of 5.04 × 10(-16 )N was determined to adequately pull nanoparticles through the in-vitro model. For the guinea pig RWM, the magnetic force on the polymeric nanoparticles was 9.69 × 10(-20 )N. Electron microscopy confirmed the movement of the particles through both RWM models. CONCLUSION: As prospective carriers of therapeutic substances, polymers containing superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were succesfully pulled through the live RWM. The force required to achieve in vivo transport was significantly lower than that required to pull nanoparticles through the in-vitro RWM model. Indeed very little force was required to accomplish measurable delivery of polymeric-SPION composite nanoparticles across the RWM, suggesting that therapeutic delivery to the inner ear by SPION is feasible

Escher: Arte e Matemática desenhadas por alunos portugueses

Parte substancial da obra de Escher é dedicada ao estudo do Plano Euclidiano, nomeadamente numa perspetiva de o pavimentar. É sobre este tópico da obra de Escher que incide o presente trabalho o qual pode ser encardao como um ‘tributo’ a Escher e à sua arte. À semelhança de muitos outros já existentes na literatura, este trabalho retrata a harmonia e afinidade existente entre a Arte e a Matemática nas criações do artista. Porém, face a algumas particularidades, julgamos que o nosso estudo prima por alguma singularidade, sendo exemplo elucidativo da expressão gráfica nas Artes Visuais e na Matemática, associado ao relato de uma experiência vivida em contexo escolar. Sustentando-se numa análise e apresentação cuidada dos procedimentos seguidos por Escher para pavimentar o plano, um grupo de alunos em risco de abandono escolar (com idades compreendidas entre os 16 e os 19 anos que não tinham concluído o ensino básico), (re)criou a obra de Escher em painéis de azulejo, mediante produções artísticas originais

Da Arte à Matemática… da Matemática à Arte: uma experiência no Ensino Português

The struggling on identifying strategies and factors that could help to improve the teaching/learning process, regarding the existence of multiple realities, is a subject much discussed in literature. Finding new ways of answer challenges which we came across, is the main reason why this study has been made. The primary goal is centred in applying a Geometry curriculum including many different learning situations based in vocational training. The students were between 16 and 19 years old. Making use of Art is analysed as a potential method to improve Mathematics teaching. Being Escher’s work an element of undiscussable richness with highlights to “Exploration Tessellations”, an investigation has been made to show how some Escher’s works could be a starting point to the introduction of mathematical concepts/contents. It was noticed in a further case that using Art could lead not just to the student’s effective cooperation in the teaching/learning process, as could be a very strong acquisition and way to apply new solid mathematical concepts

Study of the reaction pbar p -> phi phi from 1.1 to 2.0 GeV/c

A study has been performed of the reaction pbar p -> 4K using in-flight antiprotons from 1.1 to 2.0 GeV/c incident momentum interacting with a hydrogen jet target. The reaction is dominated by the production of a pair of phi mesons. The pbar p -> phi phi cross section rises sharply above threshold and then falls continuously as a function of increasing antiproton momentum. The overall magnitude of the cross section exceeds expectations from a simple application of the OZI rule by two orders of magnitude. In a fine scan around the xi/f_J(2230) resonance, no structure is observed. A limit is set for the double branching ratio B(xi -> pbar p) * B(xi -> phi phi) < 6e-5 for a spin 2 resonance of M = 2.235 GeV and Width = 15 MeV.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, Latex. To be published in Phys. Rev.

Study of the f2(1270)f_2(1270), f2′(1525)f_2'(1525), f0(1370)f_0(1370) and f0(1710)f_0(1710) in the J/ψJ/\psi radiative decays

In this paper we present an approach to study the radiative decay modes of the $J/\psi$ into a photon and one of the tensor mesons $f_2(1270)$, $f'_2(1525)$, as well as the scalar ones $f_0(1370)$ and $f_0(1710)$. Especially we compare predictions that emerge from a scheme where the states appear dynamically in the solution of vector meson--vector meson scattering amplitudes to those from a (admittedly naive) quark model. We provide evidence that it might be possible to distinguish amongst the two scenarios, once improved data are available.Comment: The large Nc argument improved; version published in EPJA