Sex differences and correlates of poor glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study in Brazil and Venezuela.

OBJECTIVE: Examine whether glycaemic control varies according to sex and whether the latter plays a role in modifying factors associated with inadequate glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Brazil and Venezuela. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a cross-sectional, nationwide survey conducted in Brazil and Venezuela from February 2006 to June 2007 to obtain information about glycaemic control and its determinants in patients with diabetes mellitus attending outpatient clinics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level was measured by liquid chromatography, and patients with HbA1c ≥7.0% (53 mmol/mol) were considered to have inadequate glycaemic control. The association of selected variables with glycaemic control was analysed by multivariate linear regression, using HbA1c as the dependent variable. RESULTS: A total of 9418 patients with T2D were enrolled in Brazil (n=5692) and in Venezuela (n=3726). They included 6214 (66%) women and 3204 (34%) men. On average, HbA1c levels in women were 0.13 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.24; p=0.015) higher than in men, after adjusting for age, marital status, education, race, country, body mass index, duration of disease, complications, type of healthcare, adherence to diet, adherence to treatment and previous measurement of HbA1c. Sex modified the effect of some factors associated with glycaemic control in patients with T2D in our study, but had no noteworthy effect in others. CONCLUSIONS: Women with T2D had worse glycaemic control than men. Possible causes for poorer glycaemic control in women compared with men include differences in glucose homeostasis, treatment response and psychological factors. In addition, sex modified factors associated with glycaemic control, suggesting the need to develop specific treatment guidelines for men and women

Avaliação da hidratação de pastas cimentícias com elevados teores de adições minerais

O uso de adições minerais é uma prática comum na produção de materiais cimentícios. No entanto, a possibilidade de substituir elevados teores de cimento Portland por adições minerais em betões torna pertinente e necessário o estudo da interacção química dessas adições na hidratação conjunta com o cimento. Este artigo avalia a hidratação de misturas de cimento Portland e adições minerais, recorrendo a técnicas de TG/DTG, difracção de raios X e resistência à compressão. Foram analisadas substituições de 50% a 70% da massa de ligante (entendido como a soma do cimento e das adições minerais usadas) por combinações de cinzas volantes e metacaulino, tendo sido ainda avaliadas duas pastas sem adição mineral e duas pastas com a adição de cal. Os resultados demostram que as técnicas de TG/DTG e DRX são indicadas para avaliação da cinética das reacções de hidratação dos materiais cimentícios, sendo possível quantificar a forte redução nos teores de portlandite nas pastas hidratadas com adições minerais em comparação com aquelas sem a adição

Temporal evolution of temperatures in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden based on in situ observations (1958–2017)

The Red Sea holds one of the most diverse marine ecosystems in the world, although fragile and vulnerable to ocean warming. Several studies have analysed the spatio-temporal evolution of temperature in the Red Sea using satellite data, thus focusing only on the surface layer and covering the last ∼30 years. To better understand the long-term variability and trends of temperature in the whole water column, we produce a 3-D gridded temperature product (TEMPERSEA) for the period 1958–2017, based on a large number of in situ observations, covering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. After a specific quality control, a mapping algorithm based on optimal interpolation have been applied to homogenize the data. Also, an estimate of the uncertainties of the product has been generated. The calibration of the algorithm and the uncertainty computation has been done through sensitivity experiments based on synthetic data from a realistic numerical simulation. TEMPERSEA has been compared to satellite observations of sea surface temperature for the period 1981–2017, showing good agreement especially in those periods when a reasonable number of observations were available. Also, very good agreement has been found between air temperatures and reconstructed sea temperatures in the upper 100 m for the whole period 1958–2017, enhancing confidence in the quality of the product. The product has been used to characterize the spatio-temporal variability of the temperature field in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at different timescales (seasonal, interannual and multidecadal). Clear differences have been found between the two regions suggesting that the Red Sea variability is mainly driven by air–sea interactions, while in the Gulf of Aden the lateral advection of water plays a relevant role. Regarding long-term evolution, our results show only positive trends above 40 m depth, with maximum trends of 0.045 + 0.016 ∘C decade−1 at 15 m, and the largest negative trends at 125 m (−0.072+0.011 ∘C decade−1). Multidecadal variations have a strong impact on the trend computation and restricting them to the last 30–40 years of data can bias high the trend estimates.En prensa2,29

Bidirectional battery charger with grid-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home technologies

This paper presents the development of na on-board bidirectional battery charger for Electric Vehicles (EVs) targeting Grid-to-Vehicle (G2V), Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), and Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) technologies. During the G2V operation mode the batteries are charged from the power grid with sinusoidal current and unitary power factor. During the V2G operation mode the energy stored in the batteries can be delivered back to the power grid contributing to the power system stability. In the V2H operation mode the energy stored in the batteries can be used to supply home loads during power outages, or to supply loads in places without connection to the power grid. Along the paper the hardware topology of the bidirectional battery charger is presented and the control algorithms are explained. Some considerations about the sizing of the AC side passive filter are taken into account in order to improve the performance in the three operation modes. The adopted topology and control algorithms are accessed through computer simulations and validated by experimental results achieved with a developed laboratory prototype operating in the different scenarios

Comparative analysis between different approaches for single-phase PLLs

"In press"This paper presents a comparative analysis between two distinct synchronizing circuits, which are usually applied as the core of control algorithms for single-phase power quality applications. One of these synchronizing circuits corresponds to a single-phase Phase-Locked Loop (PLL), implemented in α-β coordinates (αβ-PLL), whereas the other one corresponds to the Enhanced PLL (E-PLL). The major contribution of this paper is to present a single-phase PLL oriented to power quality applications, with a very simple structure, capable to be synchronized with the fundamental component of an input signal (voltage or current), even considering substantial disturbances, such as, frequency deviations, phase shifts, harmonic components and amplitude variations. Simulation and experimental results, involving these two synchronizing circuits submitted to three different test cases, are provided in order to compare their transient and steady-state performance. Moreover, it is also presented a comparison involving the processing speed and memory requirements of these synchronizing circuits in the DSP TMS320F28335

Assessment of Red Sea temperatures in CMIP5 models for present and future climate

The increase of the temperature in the Red Sea basin due to global warming could have a large negative effect on its marine ecosystem. Consequently, there is a growing interest, from the scientific community and public organizations, in obtaining reliable projections of the Red Sea temperatures throughout the 21st century. However, the main tool used to do climate projections, the global climate models (GCM), may not be well suited for that relatively small region. In this work we assess the skills of the CMIP5 ensemble of GCMs in reproducing different aspects of the Red Sea 3D temperature variability. The results suggest that some of the GCMs are able to reproduce the present variability at large spatial scales with accuracy comparable to medium and high-resolution hindcasts. In general, the skills of the GCMs are better inside the Red Sea than outside, in the Gulf of Aden. Based on their performance, 8 of the original ensemble of 43 GCMs have been selected to project the temperature evolution of the basin. Bearing in mind the GCM limitations, this can be an useful benchmark once the high resolution projections are available. Those models project an averaged warming at the end of the century (2080–2100) of 3.3 ±> 0.6°C and 1.6 ±> 0.4°C at the surface under the scenarios RCP8.5 and RCP4.5, respectively. In the deeper layers the warming is projected to be smaller, reaching 2.2 ±> 0.5°C and 1.5 ±> 0.3°C at 300 m. The projected warming will largely overcome the natural multidecadal variability, which could induce temporary and moderate decrease of the temperatures but not enough to fully counteract it. We have also estimated how the rise of the mean temperature could modify the characteristics of the marine heatwaves in the region. The results show that the average length of the heatwaves would increase ~15 times and the intensity of the heatwaves ~4 times with respect to the present conditions under the scenario RCP8.5 (10 time and 3.6 times, respectively, under scenario RCP4.5).En prensa4,41

Big data analyses reveal patterns and drivers of the movements of southern elephant seals

The growing number of large databases of animal tracking provides an opportunity for analyses of movement patterns at the scales of populations and even species. We used analytical approaches, developed to cope with big data, that require no a priori assumptions about the behaviour of the target agents, to analyse a pooled tracking dataset of 272 elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in the Southern Ocean, that was comprised of >500,000 location estimates collected over more than a decade. Our analyses showed that the displacements of these seals were described by a truncated power law distribution across several spatial and temporal scales, with a clear signature of directed movement. This pattern was evident when analysing the aggregated tracks despite a wide diversity of individual trajectories. We also identified marine provinces that described the migratory and foraging habitats of these seals. Our analysis provides evidence for the presence of intrinsic drivers of movement, such as memory, that cannot be detected using common models of movement behaviour. These results highlight the potential for big data techniques to provide new insights into movement behaviour when applied to large datasets of animal tracking.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 6 supplementary figure

Effects of seagrasses and algae of the Caulerpa family on hydrodynamics and particle-trapping rates

The widespread decline of seagrass beds within the Mediterranean often results in the replacement of seagrasses by opportunistic green algae of the Caulerpa family. Because Caulerpa beds have a different height, stiffness and density compared to seagrasses, these changes in habitat type modify the interaction of the seafloor with hydrodynamics, influencing key processes such as sediment resuspension and particle trapping. Here, we compare the effects on hydrodynamics and particle trapping of Caulerpa taxifolia, C. racemosa, and C. prolifera with the Mediterranean seagrasses Cymodocea nodosa and Posidonia oceanica. All macrophyte canopies reduced near-bed volumetric flow rates compared to bare sediment, vertical profiles of turbulent kinetic energy revealed peak values around the top of the canopies, and maximum values of Reynolds stress increased by a factor of between 1.4 (C. nodosa) and 324.1 (P. oceanica) when vegetation was present. All canopies enhanced particle retention rates compared to bare sediment. The experimental C. prolifera canopy was the most effective at particle retention (m2 habitat); however, C. racemosa had the largest particle retention capacity per structure surface area. Hence, in terms of enhancing particle trapping and reducing hydrodynamic forces at the sediment surface, Caulerpa beds provided a similar or enhanced function compared to P.oceanica and C. nodosa. However, strong seasonality in the leaf area index of C. racemosa and C. taxifolia within the Mediterranean, combined with a weak rhizome structure, suggests that sediments maybe unprotected during winter storms, when most erosion occurs. Hence, replacement of seagrass beds with Caulerpa is likely to have a major influence on annual sediment dynamics at ecosystem scales.This research was funded by the European Network of Excellence ‘‘Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function’’ (MarBEF); FP6, EC contract no. 505446 and a grant from the Fundacio ´n BBVA. EPM was supported by a European Union Marie Curie host fellowship for transfer of knowledge, MTKD-CT-2004-509254, the Spanish national project EVAMARIA (CTM2005-00395/MAR) and the regional government of Andalusia project FUNDIV(P07-RNM-2516)

Comparison of current-source and voltage-source shunt active power filters for harmonic compensation and reactive power control

This paper presents the comparison between two three-phase Shunt Active Power Filters (SAPFs), one with Current-Source Inverter (CSI) and the other with Voltage-Source Inverter (VSI), which are used to compensate current harmonics and to control reactive power. The control algorithm of both SAPFs is based on the Instantaneous Reactive Power Theory (p-q Theory). The comparison here presented focuses on the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and RMS values of the compensated currents, and in the Total Power Factor (TPF) of the installation.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Vanadium distribution, lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress markers upon decavanadate in vivo administration

The contribution of decameric vanadate species to vanadate toxic effects in cardiac muscle was studied following an intravenous administration of a decavanadate solution (1 mM total vanadium) in Sparus aurata. Although decameric vanadate is unstable in the assay medium, it decomposes with a half-life time of 16 allowing studying its effects not only in vitro but also in vivo. After 1, 6 and 12 h upon decavanadate administration the increase of vanadium in blood plasma, red blood cells and in cardiac mitochondria and cytosol is not affected in comparison to the administration of a metavanadate solution containing labile oxovanadates. Cardiac tissue lipid peroxidation increases up to 20%, 1, 6 and 12 h after metavanadate administration, whilst for decavanadate no effects were observed except 1 h after treatment (+20%). Metavanadate administration clearly differs from decavanadate by enhancing, 12 h after exposure, mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (+115%) and not affecting catalase (CAT) activity whereas decavanadate increases SOD activity by 20% and decreases ( 55%) mitochondrial CAT activity. At early times of exposure, 1 and 6 h, the only effect observed upon decavanadate administration was the increase by 20% of SOD activity. In conclusion, decavanadate has a different response pattern of lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress markers, in spite of the same vanadium distribution in cardiac cells observed after decavanadate and metavanadate administration. It is suggested that once formed decameric vanadate species has a different reactivity than vanadate, thus, pointing out that the differential contribution of vanadium oligomers should be taken into account to rationalize in vivo vanadate toxicity