The Effects of Flaxseed SDG on Perimenopausal Women with Mild Hyperlipidemia

In 2001, the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) expanded their guidelines for evaluation and treatment of hyperlipidemia which includes not only a low cholesterol diet and exercise, but also the use of plant stanols such as Flaxseed and Soluble fiber. According to the NCEP III guidelines, women with mild hyperlipidemia and low risk cardiac factors would not qualify for drug therapy to control their cholesterol. However, the use of plant stanols could be used as an alternative. As there are limited studies involving postmenopausal women in regards to treatment of heart disease, there is virtually no information or research on perimenopausal women who may be at increase risk for Coronary Artery Disease. This experimental pilot study evaluated the effects of Flaxseed SDG on perimenopausal women with mild hyperlipidemia to see if this could prevent advancement of hyperlipidemia. 11 perimenopausal women between the ages of 36-48 years with mild hyperlipidemia were involved in a 14 week randomized, double blind, experimental pilot study. Subjects were randomized into control Group 1 of Psyllium 11.7gm/day (n=5) and the experimental Group 2 of Flaxseed SDG (Brevail) 200mg/day (n=6). The study included an eight week period on the study product and this was followed by two washout periods at two weeks and then four weeks. Lipid levels and diet assessment were evaluated at each time point of the study. Results showed the Brevail SDG group had significant findings for the VLDL Cholesterol-direct during all three time points of the study (p=0.047, 0.031, 0.011) and for Triglycerides at time point 1 vs. 2 and 2 vs. 3 (p= 0.043, 0.047). The Psyllium group showed statistical significance for improvement of VLDL Cholesterol-direct levels between time point 1 vs. 3 (p=.021). There was a trend for improvement of lipid values for LDL-C, Lp(a), and hsCRP while on the Brevail SDG and an improvement of Total Cholesterol, HDL-C, and Non-HDL-C at the six week washout period. The Psyllium group showed a trend for improvement of total Cholesterol, LDL-C, Non-HDL-C, and hsCRP while on the product and the HDL-C, Triglycerides, VLDL-C, and Lp(a) showed an improvement in values during the six week washout period. In conclusion, due to the small sample size of the study, there was no statistically significant findings to support that Brevail SDG can improve lipid levels in perimenopausal women with mild hyperlipidemia. However, there was a favorable trend in improvement of LDL-c, Lp(a), and hsCRP values while taking Brevail SDG. Therefore, based on the findings of the study, it would be worthwhile to repeat this study on a larger basis to determine if there is significant data to support that flaxseed can improve cholesterol levels and prevent the risk of progressing to CHD in perimenopausal women with mild hyperlipidemia

Signal-to-pump back-action and self-oscillation in Double-Pump Josephson Parametric Amplifier

We present the theory of a Josephson parametric amplifier employing two pump sources. Our calculations are based on Input-Output Theory, and can easily be generalized to any coupled system involving parametric interactions. We analyze the operation of the device, taking into account the feedback introduced by the reaction of the signal and noise on the pump power, and in this framework, compute the response functions of interest - signal and idler gains, internal gain of the amplifier, and self-oscillation signal amplitude. To account for this back-action between signal and pump, we adopt a mean-field approach and self-consistently explore the boundary between amplification and self-oscillation. The coincidence of bifurcation and self-oscillation thresholds reveals that the origin of coherent emission of the amplifier lies in the multi-wave mixing of the noise components. Incorporation of the back-action leads the system to exhibit hysteresis, dependent on parameters like temperature and detuning from resonance. Our analysis also shows that the resonance condition itself changes in the presence of back-action and this can be understood in terms of the change in plasma frequency of the junction. The potential of the double pump amplifier for quantum-limited measurements and as a squeezer is also discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 20 figures, three appendice

Designing Scalable Biological Interfaces

This thesis presents the analysis and design of biological interfacing technologies in light of a need for radical improvements in scalability. It focuses primarily on structural and functional neural data acquisition, but also extends to other problems including genomic editing and nanoscale spatial control. Its main contributions include analysis of the physical limits of large-scale neural recording, experimental development of a screening platform for ion-dependent molecular recording devices, characterization of the design space for molecularly-annotated neural connectomics, and new designs for high-speed genome engineering and bio-nano-fabrication. Articulating governing principles and roadmaps for these domains has contributed to the initiation of multi-institutional projects that are strategically targeted towards scalability

Exponential quantum enhancement for distributed addition with local nonlinearity

We consider classical and entanglement-assisted versions of a distributed computation scheme that computes nonlinear Boolean functions of a set of input bits supplied by separated parties. Communication between the parties is restricted to take place through a specific apparatus which enforces the constraints that all nonlinear, nonlocal classical logic is performed by a single receiver, and that all communication occurs through a limited number of one-bit channels. In the entanglement-assisted version, the number of channels required to compute a Boolean function of fixed nonlinearity can become exponentially smaller than in the classical version. We demonstrate this exponential enhancement for the problem of distributed integer addition.Comment: To appear in Quantum Information Processin

Rosetta Brains: A Strategy for Molecularly-Annotated Connectomics

We propose a neural connectomics strategy called Fluorescent In-Situ Sequencing of Barcoded Individual Neuronal Connections (FISSEQ-BOINC), leveraging fluorescent in situ nucleic acid sequencing in fixed tissue (FISSEQ). FISSEQ-BOINC exhibits different properties from BOINC, which relies on bulk nucleic acid sequencing. FISSEQ-BOINC could become a scalable approach for mapping whole-mammalian-brain connectomes with rich molecular annotations

Malthusian Reinforcement Learning

Here we explore a new algorithmic framework for multi-agent reinforcement learning, called Malthusian reinforcement learning, which extends self-play to include fitness-linked population size dynamics that drive ongoing innovation. In Malthusian RL, increases in a subpopulation's average return drive subsequent increases in its size, just as Thomas Malthus argued in 1798 was the relationship between preindustrial income levels and population growth. Malthusian reinforcement learning harnesses the competitive pressures arising from growing and shrinking population size to drive agents to explore regions of state and policy spaces that they could not otherwise reach. Furthermore, in environments where there are potential gains from specialization and division of labor, we show that Malthusian reinforcement learning is better positioned to take advantage of such synergies than algorithms based on self-play.Comment: 9 pages, 2 tables, 4 figure

Measuring Cation Dependent DNA Polymerase Fidelity Landscapes by Deep Sequencing

High-throughput recording of signals embedded within inaccessible micro-environments is a technological challenge. The ideal recording device would be a nanoscale machine capable of quantitatively transducing a wide range of variables into a molecular recording medium suitable for long-term storage and facile readout in the form of digital data. We have recently proposed such a device, in which cation concentrations modulate the misincorporation rate of a DNA polymerase (DNAP) on a known template, allowing DNA sequences to encode information about the local cation concentration. In this work we quantify the cation sensitivity of DNAP misincorporation rates, making possible the indirect readout of cation concentration by DNA sequencing. Using multiplexed deep sequencing, we quantify the misincorporation properties of two DNA polymerases – Dpo4 and Klenow exo[subscript −] – obtaining the probability and base selectivity of misincorporation at all positions within the template. We find that Dpo4 acts as a DNA recording device for Mn[superscript 2+] with a misincorporation rate gain of ~2%/mM. This modulation of misincorporation rate is selective to the template base: the probability of misincorporation on template T by Dpo4 increases >50-fold over the range tested, while the other template bases are affected less strongly. Furthermore, cation concentrations act as scaling factors for misincorporation: on a given template base, Mn[superscript 2+] and Mg[superscript 2+] change the overall misincorporation rate but do not alter the relative frequencies of incoming misincorporated nucleotides. Characterization of the ion dependence of DNAP misincorporation serves as the first step towards repurposing it as a molecular recording device.Damon Runyon Cancer Research FoundationNational Institutes of Health (U.S.)National Science Foundation (U.S.)McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Media LaboratoryNew York Stem Cell Foundation (Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Award)Paul G. Allen Family Foundation (Distinguished Investigator in Neuroscience Award