The relationship of obesity with mortality rate, and subsequently, the impact of weight loss on mortality, has been questioned by researchers for many years. Although weight loss in an individual with obesity can improve metabolic outcomes, the impacts on mortality are less clear. This has caused some to question the importance of weight loss because most individuals who lose weight through diet and lifestyle interventions gain all or a substantial portion of the weight back within 5 years. Furthermore, individuals who attempt to lose weight again may enter weight cycling (yo-yo dieting), which some have suggested may be detrimental to metabolism, eating behaviors, quality of life, and, ultimately, mortality rate. Beyond weight loss and weight cycling, the relationship between diet composition and dietary patterns has also been investigated for their relationship to longevity and mortality. This narrative review will examine the existing human and animal research evaluating the relationship between weight loss, weight cycling, and dietary composition on mortality and longevity, and identify research gaps that still exist.

The association of obesity with mortality has been the subject of scientific investigation for centuries. Although historical observations, as well as more recent quantitative analyses, demonstrate a relationship of obesity with early death, there remain questions about the degree of the association and how it may vary with age, diet, physical activity, and other life circumstances. The relationship between body mass index (BMI) and mortality is “U-shaped,” with the lowest mortality rate observed at a mildly overweight BMI. Many potential explanations have been postulated for higher mortality at both lower and higher levels of BMI, such as occult disease in those at low BMI; difference across categories in weight variability, smoking, and/or distribution of body fat; and the “fit but fat” phenotype. This review discusses some of the continuing questions and hypotheses surrounding the relationship of BMI with mortality and identifies additional research needed.

Abstract Objectives These 2 parallel studies (K031 and K032) aim to evaluate the safety of KB109 in addition to supportive self-care (SSC) compared with SSC alone in outpatients with mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). KB109 is a novel synthetic glycan that was formulated to modulate the gut microbiome composition and metabolic output in order to increase beneficial short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production in the gut. The K031 study is designed to evaluate the safety of KB109 and characterize its impact on the natural progression of COVID-19 in patients with mild to moderate disease. The K032 study is evaluating the effect of KB109 on the gut microbiota structure and function in this same patient population. Additionally, both studies are evaluating measures of health care utilization, quality of life (QOL), laboratory indices, biomarkers of inflammation, and serological measures of immunity in patients who received SSC alone or with KB109. Noteworthy aspects of these outpatient studies include study design measures aimed at limiting in-person interactions to minimize the risk of infection spread, such as use of online diaries, telemedicine, and at-home sample collection.

There are multiple reasons individuals, health professionals, and nutrition researchers have for tracking dietary intake. Traditional dietary assessment methods are labor intensive and rely on quality-controlled food composition databases with minimal missing data. In today's mobile app environment, there are many options for tracking dietary intake using a diet tracking app. Depending on the purpose of the dietary tracking, there are multiple functions of these programs to consider when deciding whether these apps are ready to replace traditional methods of dietary assessment.

Recent developments in machining systems offer new possibilities for cost-effective manufacturing of highly complex optics used in imaging systems.

Development of compact optical zoom lenses for integration in mobile phones is the goal of many companies. Optical zoom lenses change their focal length by the movement of lens elements or change in surface curvature or refractive index and this complicates the zoom lens design. Extended depth-of- field (EDOF) techniques provides the mean to simplify and miniaturize zoom lens designs with moving lens elements and a new EDOF optimization technique is presented. Finally, the starting point and an example of a compact optical zoom lens design with EDOF is also described.

In the precision glass moulding process, the heat transfer and the resulting transient temperature distributions of the molten glass are of great importance because they significantly affect the productivity as well as the thermally induced residual stresses in the final product. Thermal modelling of the heating system in the glass moulding process considering detailed heating mechanisms therefore plays an important part in optimizing the heating system and the subsequent pressing stage in the lens manufacturing process.The current paper deals with three-dimensional transient thermal modelling of the multi-stage heating system in a wafer based glass moulding process. In order to investigate the importance of the radiation from the interior and surface of the glass, a simple finite volume code is developed to model one dimensional radiation–conduction heat transfer in the glass wafer for an extreme case with very high temperature difference considering temperature dependant thermal conductivity and heat capacity. Afterwards, by using three-dimensional FEM modelling along with a predefined experimental test, the equivalent glass–mould interface contact resistance is determined for two different pressures. Finally, the three-dimensional modelling of the multi-stage heating system in the wafer based glass moulding process is simulated with the FEM software ABAQUS for a particular industrial application for mobile phone camera lenses to obtain the temperature distribution in the glass wafer. In the numerical modelling, the interface boundary conditions for each heating stage are changed according to the determining heat transfer mechanism(s). Numerical results are compared with experimental data to show the validity of the numerical modelling. The obtained results show that the right thermal modelling is highly dependent on the proper choice of thermal boundary conditions in different stages according to the real physical phenomena behind the process.

3rd International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace

We will present recent advances in Kaleido Technology on the ultra-precision diamond-milling process, which is an extremely versatile tool for manufacturing of masters for wafer-based replication technologies. Diamond-milling has the advantage of being able to manufacture lenses with much larger radii of curvatures compared to etching methods. Spherical-, aspherical- and free-form-surfaces have been machined with form accuracies better than 200 nm (PV), arrays up to 50 x 50 mm have been manufactured on wafers, with lens-position accuracies better than 3 μm absolute over the entire wafer.

The authors describe a process with a concurrent control flow as a superprocess. A combined VHDL and data/control flow graph description is proposed so as to create abstract level behavioral specifications containing a concurrent control flow. The functions of the simulation compiler are exposed. >