Cathepsin S Levels and Survival Among Patients With Non-ST-Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndromes

Patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS) are at high residual risk for long-term cardiovascular (CV) mortality. Cathepsin S (CTSS) is a lysosomal cysteine protease with elastolytic and collagenolytic activity that has been involved in atherosclerotic plaque rupture.; The purpose of this study was to determine the following: 1) the prognostic value of circulating CTSS measured at patient admission for long-term mortality in NSTE-ACS; and 2) its additive value over the GRACE (Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events) risk score.; This was a single-center cohort study, consecutively recruiting patients with adjudicated NSTE-ACS (n = 1,112) from the emergency department of an academic hospital. CTSS was measured in serum using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. All-cause mortality at 8 years was the primary endpoint. CV death was the secondary endpoint.; In total, 367 (33.0%) deaths were recorded. CTSS was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR for highest vs lowest quarter of CTSS: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.34-2.66; P < 0.001) and CV death (HR: 2.58; 95% CI: 1.15-5.77; P = 0.021) after adjusting for traditional CV risk factors, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, left ventricular ejection fraction, high-sensitivity troponin-T, revascularization and index diagnosis (unstable angina/ non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction). When CTSS was added to the GRACE score, it conferred significant discrimination and reclassification value for all-cause mortality (Delta Harrell's C: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.012-0.047; P = 0.001; and net reclassification improvement = 0.202; P = 0.003) and CV death (AUC: 0.056; 95% CI: 0.017-0.095; P = 0.005; and net reclassification improvement = 0.390; P = 0.001) even after additionally considering high-sensitivity troponin-T and left ventricular ejection fraction.; Circulating CTSS is a predictor of long-term mortality and improves risk stratification of patients with NSTE-ACS over the GRACE score

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Effect of fatigue on the neuromuscular adaptations of athletes with rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament

Athletes with ACL reconstruction demonstrate increased risk for re-injury. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of accumulation of metabolic fatigue on the neuromuscular response and compare ACL reconstructed athletes with control athletes under moderate and high exercise intensity. Material and Methods: 14 ACL reconstructed soccer players and 14 control soccer players were examined. Data collection was performed with a gas exchange analyzer and a telemetric electromyographic system while subjects run on treadmill at moderate and high exercise intensity. Results: High intensity exercise resulted in accumulation of metabolic fatigue and an increase in EMG activity for the vastus lateralis of the healthy intact and control leg but not for the reconstructed leg. For biceps femoris muscle EMG activity increased as a result of fatigue and this increase was more pronounced for the ACL reconstructed athletes. Conclusions: Accumulation of metabolic fatigue has a negative impact on the neuromuscular response of the vastus lateralis muscle for the ACL reconstructed leg compared to the healthy intact and control leg. On the contrary, metabolic fatigue is associated with a more pronounced increase in EMG activity for the ACL reconstructed athletes.Οι αθλητές μετά από χειρουργική αποκατάσταση ρήξης ΠΧΣ εμφανίζουν αυξημένο κίνδυνο επανατραυματισμού. Σκοπός της παρούσας μελέτης είναι να εξετάσει την επίδραση της συσσώρευσης μεταβολικής κόπωσης στην νευρομυϊκή απάντηση και να συγκρίνει αθλητές με χειρουργική αποκατάσταση ρήξης ΠΧΣ και υγιείς αθλητές κατά την άσκηση μέτριας (απουσία κόπωσης) και υψηλής (παρουσία κόπωσης) έντασης. Υλικό και μεθοδολογία: Εξετάστηκαν 14 ερασιτέχνες ποδοσφαιριστές οι οποίοι είχαν υποβληθεί σε χειρουργική αποκατάσταση ρήξης ΠΧΣ με μόσχευμα επιγονατιδικού τένοντα καθώς και 14 υγιείς ποδοσφαιριστές (ομάδα ελέγχου). Η καταγραφή δεδομένων έγινε με εργοσπιρομετρικό σύστημα ανάλυσης αναπνευστικών αερίων και τηλεμετρικό ηλεκτρομυογραφικό σύστημα καθώς οι συμμετέχοντες εκτέλεσαν (σε διαφορετικές ημέρες) 10 λεπτά τρέξιμο μέτριας και 10 λεπτά τρέξιμο υψηλής έντασης. Αποτελέσματα: Η άσκηση υψηλής έντασης είχε ως αποτέλεσμα συσσώρευση μυϊκής κόπωσης η οποία οδήγησε σε αύξηση της ηλεκτρομυογραφικής δραστηριότητας σε συνάρτηση με το χρόνο για τον έξω πλατύ μυ του υγιούς και του μη χειρουργημένου άκρου αλλά όχι και του χειρουργημένου. Για τον ορθό μηριαίο μυ η κόπωση είχε ως αποτέλεσμα αύξηση της ηλεκτρομυογραφικής δραστηριότητας η οποία ήταν πιο σεσημασμένη για την ομάδα των χειρουργημένων αθλητών. Συμπεράσματα: Η συσσώρευση μεταβολικής κόπωσης κατά το τρέξιμο έχει αρνητική επίδραση στην νευρομυϊκή απάντηση του έξω πλατέως μυός του χειρουργημένου άκρου σε 166 σύγκριση τόσο με το μη χειρουργημένο όσο και με υγιές άκρο αλλά και πιο ενισχυμένη απάντηση του δικέφαλου μηριαίου μυός εμφανίζεται στην ομάδα των χειρουργημένων αθλητών. Η αρνητική επίδραση της μυϊκής κόπωσης είναι πιθανόν να σχετίζεται με μεγαλύτερη πτώση στην λειτουργική απόδοση και αυξημένη πιθανότητα επανατραυματισμο

VERGE in VBS 2019

This paper presents VERGE, an interactive video retrieval engine that enables browsing and searching into video content. The system implements various retrieval modalities, such as visual or textual search, concept detection and clustering, as well as a multimodal fusion and a reranking capability. All results are displayed in a graphical user interface in an efficient and friendly manner

Additive contribution of microRNA-34a/b/c to human arterial ageing and atherosclerosis

Background and aims Preclinical data suggest that the ageing-induced miR-34a regulates vascular senescence. Herein we sought to assess whether the miR-34 family members miR-34a, miR-34b and miR-34c are involved in human arterial disease. Methods Expression levels of miR-34a/b/c were quantified by TaqMan assay in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from a consecutive cohort of 221 subjects who underwent cardiovascular risk assessment and thorough vascular examination for aortic stiffness and extent of arterial atherosclerosis. Results High miR-34a was independently associated with the presence of CAD [OR (95%C.I.): 3.87 (1.56–9.56); p = 0.003] and high miR-34c with the number of diseased arterial beds [OR (95%C.I.): 1.88 (1.034–3.41); p = 0.038], while concurrent high expression of miR-34-a/c or all three miR-34a/b/c was associated with aortic stiffening (miR-34a/c: p = 0.022; miR-34a/b/c: p = 0.041) and with the extent of atherosclerosis [OR (95%C.I.) for number of coronary arteries [miR-34a/c: 3.29 (1.085–9.95); miR-34a/b/c: 6.06 (1.74–21.2)] and number of diseased arterial beds [miR-34a/c: 3.51 (1.45–8.52); miR-34a/b/c: 2.89 (1.05–7.92)] after controlling for possible confounders (p < 0.05 for all). Mechanistically, the increased levels of miR-34a or miR-34c were inversely associated with expression of SIRT1 or JAG1, NOTCH2, CTNNB1 and ATF1, respectively. The association of miR-34a/c or miR-34a/b/c with CAD was mainly mediated through SIRT1 and to a lesser extent through JAG1 as revealed by generalized structural equation modeling. Leukocyte-specific ablation of miR-34a/b/c ameliorates atherosclerotic plaque development and increases Sirt1 and Jag1 expression in an atherosclerosis mouse model confirming the human findings. Conclusions The present study reveals the clinical significance of the additive role of miR-34a/b/c in vascular ageing and atherosclerotic vascular disease

ITI-CERTH participation in TRECVID 2016

<p>This paper provides an overview of the runs submitted to TRECVID 2016 by ITI-CERTH. ITI-CERTH participated in the Ad-hoc Video Search (AVS), Multimedia Event Detection (MED), Instance Search (INS) and Surveillance Event Detection (SED) tasks. Our AVS task participation is based on a method that combines the linguistic analysis of the query and the concept-based annotation of video fragments. In the MED task, in 000Ex task we exploit the textual description of an event class in order retrieve related videos, without using positive samples. Furthermore, in 010Ex and 1000Ex tasks, a kernel sub class version of our discriminant analysis method (KSDA) combined with a fast linear SVM is employed. The INS task is performed by employing VERGE, which is an interactive retrieval application that integrates retrieval functionalities that consider only visual information. For the surveillance event detection (SED) task, we deployed a novel activity detection algorithm that is based on Motion Boundary Activity Areas (MBAA), dense trajectories, Fisher vectors and an overlapping sliding window.</p

ITI - CERTH in TRECVID 2016 Ad - hoc Video Search (AVS)

<p>This presentation provides an overview of the runs submitted to TRECVID 2016 by ITI-CERTH in the Ad-hoc Video Search (AVS) task. Our AVS task participation is based on a method that combines the linguistic analysis of the query and the concept-based annotation of video fragments.</p

Cathepsin S Levels and Survival Among Patients With Non-ST-Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndromes

BACKGROUND: Patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS) are at high residual risk for long-term cardiovascular (CV) mortality. Cathepsin S (CTSS) is a lysosomal cysteine protease with elastolytic and collagenolytic activity that has been involved in atherosclerotic plaque rupture. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the following: 1) the prognostic value of circulating CTSS measured at patient admission for long-term mortality in NSTE-ACS; and 2) its additive value over the GRACE (Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events) risk score. METHODS: This was a single-center cohort study, consecutively recruiting patients with adjudicated NSTE-ACS (n = 1,112) from the emergency department of an academic hospital. CTSS was measured in serum using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. All-cause mortality at 8 years was the primary endpoint. CV death was the secondary endpoint. RESULTS: In total, 367 (33.0%) deaths were recorded. CTSS was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR for highest vs lowest quarter of CTSS: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.34-2.66; P < 0.001) and CV death (HR: 2.58; 95% CI: 1.15-5.77; P = 0.021) after adjusting for traditional CV risk factors, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, left ventricular ejection fraction, high-sensitivity troponin-T, revascularization and index diagnosis (unstable angina/ non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction). When CTSS was added to the GRACE score, it conferred significant discrimination and reclassification value for all-cause mortality (Delta Harrell's C: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.012-0.047; P = 0.001; and net reclassification improvement = 0.202; P = 0.003) and CV death (AUC: 0.056; 95% CI: 0.017-0.095; P = 0.005; and net reclassification improvement = 0.390; P = 0.001) even after additionally considering high-sensitivity troponin-T and left ventricular ejection fraction. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating CTSS is a predictor of long-term mortality and improves risk stratification of patients with NSTE-ACS over the GRACE score