Panel Level Research Articles

Can ingredients and information interventions affect the hedonic level and (emo-sensory) perceptions of the milk chocolate and cocoa drink’s consumers?

Abstract To increase the competitiveness of chocolate and cocoa drink on the market, innovation of the products is substantially required. Incorporation of additional ingredients, i.e., ginger and cinnamon, as well giving information intervention on their health effect may increase the consumer acceptance as well as advance the consumer perception on the products. This study, therefore, aims to determine the effect of additional ingredient and intervention on health-related information on the hedonic level, emo-sensory response and collative perception of panelists on milk chocolate and cocoa drinks, which were enriched with additional ingredients, i.e., ginger, cinnamon and stabilizers. This study used descriptive quantitative method in which the data were obtained from 40 panelists. Correspondence analysis was used to see the emo-sensory profile and panelist perceptions that were emerged from each sample. The results show that the addition of spices to chocolate and cocoa drinks resulted in a statistically significant decrease in the hedonic level. However, the use of stabilizer significantly improved the hedonic level of cocoa drink. The hedonic responses, emotions and collative perceptions of the panelists were influenced by the product information, particularly on the products with the addition of spices.

Effective or predatory funding? Evaluating the hidden costs of grant applications.

Researchers are spending an increasing fraction of their time on applying for funding; however, the current funding system has considerable deficiencies in reliably evaluating the merit of research proposals, despite extensive efforts on the sides of applicants, grant reviewers and decision committees. For some funding schemes, the systemic costs of the application process as a whole can even outweigh the granted resources-a phenomenon that could be considered as predatory funding. We present five recommendations to remedy this unsatisfactory situation.

Association Between Electronic Health Record Time and Quality of Care Metrics in Primary Care

Physicians across the US spend substantial time working in the electronic health record (EHR), with primary care physicians (PCPs) spending the most time. The association between EHR time and ambulatory care quality outcomes is unclear. To characterize measures of EHR use and ambulatory care quality performance among PCPs. A cross-sectional study of PCPs with longitudinal patient panels using a single EHR vendor was conducted at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital during calendar year 2021. Independent variables included PCPs demographic and practice characteristics and EHR time measures (PCP-level mean of daily total EHR time, after-hours time, time from 5:30 pm to 7:00 am and time on weekends, and daily EHR time on notes, sending and receiving patient, staff, results, prescription, or system messages [in-basket], and clinical review). Outcome variables were ambulatory quality measures (year-end, PCP panel-level achievement of targets for hemoglobin A1c level control, lipid management, hypertension control, diabetes screening, and breast cancer screening). The sample included 291 physicians (174 [59.8%] women). Median panel size was 829 (IQR, 476-1157) patients and mean (SD) clinical full-time equivalent was 0.54 (0.27). The PCPs spent a mean (SD) of 145.9 (64.6) daily minutes on the EHR. There were significant associations between EHR time and panel-level achievement of hemoglobin A1c control, hypertension control, and breast cancer screening targets. In adjusted analyses, each additional 15 minutes of total daily EHR time was associated with 0.58 (95% CI, 0.32-0.84) percentage point greater panel-level hemoglobin A1c control, 0.52 (95% CI, 0.33-0.71) percentage point greater hypertension control, and 0.28 (95% CI, 0.05-0.52) higher breast cancer screening rates. Each daily additional 15 minutes of in-basket time was associated with 2.26 (95% CI, 1.05-3.48) greater panel-wide hemoglobin A1c control, 1.65 (95% CI, 0.83-2.47) percentage point greater hypertension control, and 1.26 (95% CI, 0.51-2.02) percentage point higher breast cancer screening rates. Associations were largely concentrated among PCPs with 0.5 clinical full-time equivalent or less. There were no associations between EHR use metrics and diabetes screening or lipid management in patients with cardiovascular disease. This cross-sectional study found an association between EHR time and some measures of ambulatory care quality. Although increased EHR time is associated with burnout, it may represent a level of thoroughness or communication that enhances certain outcomes. It may be useful for future studies to characterize payment models, workflows, and technologies that enable high-quality ambulatory care delivery while minimizing EHR burden.

A comparative study on pretreatment methods and dimensionality reduction techniques for energy data disaggregation in home appliances

Energy meters provide valuable information that can be used to determine important features such as energy consumption of electrical devices and consumption habits in corporate, residential or public institutions. This information is crucial to establish energy saving strategies. With this aim, different approaches have been proposed in the literature, including non-intrusive load monitoring techniques, which enable the energy disaggregation of appliances and devices through a centralized measurement taken at panel level using a metering infrastructure. Generally, the accuracy of these techniques increases as more information is available on the analyzed signals or through subsequent post-computed values. Active power, reactive power, or even current harmonics measurements can be used for this task. However, the use of these and other recently proposed power and current features increases the dimensionality and, therefore, the complexity of the algorithms involved in the disaggregation process. Therefore, it is necessary to apply advanced techniques to reduce the dimensionality of the data, as well as the possible linear dependence between variables. This paper compares the performance of 8 data pretreatment methods and 6 dimensionality reduction techniques to data retrieved by an advanced metering infrastructure in a real environment consisting of 10 different home appliances. Results obtained from the comparative analysis show that the information provided by raw data can be enhanced by using pretreatment techniques and dimensionality reduction methods, especially when a custom combination of active power and current harmonics measures is considered.

Multiscale warpage behaviour in a Fan-Out Panel during thermal cycles

In this work, the warpage of a panel in the context of fan-out packaging is analysed. On a panel size of 300 × 300 mm2 a die layout is molded and debonded from the temporary carrier. The resulting warpage is characterised temperature dependent using the Projection Moiré technique globally across the complete panel and locally on the scale of few dies. Globally, results are analysed with respect to the shape change of the warpage and residual warpage after thermal cycling. Locally the curvature of single dies is compared to the global curvature of the tunnel shaped warpage. This work is part of the investigations with the aim to describe and control the warpage effects in Fan-Out Panel Level Packaging.

Determine the effect of the lipid peroxidation end product (4-Hydroxynonenal) in the context of atherogenic among COVID-19 cases

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) manifests as multiple clinical and pathological organ dysfunctions. It also disrupts metabolic profile due to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines causing a systemic inflammation reaction. As the number of COVID-19 complications continues to rise worldwide, the identification of risk factors for the disease is an urgent issue, and it remains controversial whether atherogenic lipid-related traits including lipid peroxidation product 4-Hydroxynonenal and lipid profile panel levels, are risk factors. The aim of this study was to estimate causal effects of lipid-related factors on COVID-19 risk Methods: This case control study includes (90) subjects, were divided into: (30) critical, (30) sever COVID-19 groups, and (30) control group. Samples of COVID-19 patients were collected from Al-Hayat unit at Imam Hussein Medical City/ Iraq. This study was included all patients that confirmed with positive RT-PCR in the hospital, and only smoked patients were excluded….Results: The results of this study found significant increase in HNE levels in sever and critical groups compared to control group.

Blood Lipid Biomarkers in Early Parkinson’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Lipid biomarkers have potential neuroprotective effects in Parkinson's disease (PD) and there is limited evidence in the field. This study aims to investigate the association between comprehensive blood lipid biomarkers and PD. A total of 205 PD patients and 102 non-PD subjects were included from Early Parkinson's disease Longitudinal Singapore (PALS) cohort. We investigated 6 serum lipid biomarkers including total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), apolipoprotein A1 (Apo A1), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and apolipoprotein B (Apo B). PD patients were further classified into mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and normal cognition (NC) subgroups. We conducted a cross-sectionals study to examine the association between lipids and PD and further explored the relationship between lipids and PD-MCI. PD patients had significantly lower level of lipid panel including TC, TG, HDL-C, Apo A1, LDL-C, and Apo B (all p < 0.05). TC, TG, Apo A1, and Apo B levels were independent protective factors (p < 0.05) for PD in the logistic regression model. PD-MCI group had significantly higher mean TC, TG, and Apo A1 levels compared to PD-NC group. Higher TC, TG, and Apo A1 levels were independent risk factors (p < 0.05) for PD-MCI. We demonstrated that PD patients had significantly lower levels of lipid biomarkers while PD-MCI patients had higher levels of TC, TG, and Apo A1. TC, TG, and Apo A1 may be useful biomarkers for PD-MCI.

Panel level IC-package technology development

The Fifth and Sixth Generation wireless strong demands driving IC-Package development into a newly formed in higher performance, more heterogeneous integration towards commercialization, Commercialization needs an advanced fabrication platform (e.g. Panel Level Platform, PL). The promising PL IC-Package technology on outsourced semiconductor assembly/testing provides the right solution. We have successfully developed a series unprecedented PL IC-Package platform (e.g. several thousand centimeter scaling square), especially in integration of fine-pitch Re-Distribution Layer (RDL) and multi-size micro-bump. And to reduce impacted PL warpage to micro-bump connection issue, we also have built a newly curvature equation to match selections on glass carrier geometry. The AI deep learning technology proposed on PL IC-Package, our contribution is implementation of AdaGrad scheduler in Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) deep learning and implementation in advanced Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) image judgments. At the present time, we have accomplished a large area of Panel Platform for advanced IC-Packages with high complexity integration.

External Debt and Economic Growth in the Western Balkan Countries, with special focus to Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia in the course of the pandemic COVID-19

The objective of this study is to offer an empirical valuation of the relationship between external debt and economic growth in the Western Balkan (WB) countries, focusing specifically on the countries like Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, combined with other WB countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. The empirical model provides the impact of external debt and other control variables like total investments, population growth, inflation, literacy ratio, trade openness on economic growth in the Western Balkan countries, using a panel level data for 6 Western Balkan countries, covering a yearly time span: 2000-2022. Different estimation methodologies like Fixed Effects with Driscol and Kraay standard errors, robust LSDV and GMM estimates, were employed for the purpose of the research. The findings of the research confirm growth-deteriorating effect of external debt for target group of countries like Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia and growth enhancement effect of external debt for the second group of countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. Other control variables like total investments, trade openness, inflation and population growth are found as crucial factors on explaining growth performance of the WB countries. In addition, COVID-19 interacted with external debt and financial crisis interacted with external debt, appears as crucial factors explaining growth pattern of the WB countries.

Design and Optimization of Solar Panel Based on Sun Detector

Many factors cause people to be reluctant to apply solar panel technology as a source of renewable electrical energy, one of which is the efficiency level of solar panels which is still very low because the position of solar panels is generally facing in one direction. In this study, we designed a tool that can automatically drive the solar panel motor according to the comparison value obtained from the LDR sensor. There are four LDR sensors for comparison that are used as a reference tool to move towards the brightest light intensity. From this solar panel, the power will be stored in the battery which at the same time drives the motor so that the rays obtained are more optimal and faster for charging the battery. From the results of the research conducted, the energy efficiency in a day is 9 percent from normal conditions without using optimization. It is hoped that this tool can help the community to use alternative renewable energy sources that are more effective and efficient.

ARDL PANEL MODEL IN CONTROL OF EXCHANGE RATE SYSTEMS THROUGH POST-COVID-19 OPEN ECONOMY MODEL

Destination from study this that is for test variable Interest Rates, Inflation , Total Money Supply and GDP how much big in take effect to EXCHANGE variable . And for knowing is panel level _ ethnic group interest , inflation , money supply , unemployment , investment , and GDP have an effect positive and significant to exchange rates in America, Australia, China, Canada , Indonesia, Japan , South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia and Thailand. Approach study this is study associative / quantitative with the Simultaneous model and the ARDL Panel where aim see linkages Among independent variables and dependent variables that spread panel in Top Major Exchange Rate countries in 11 APEC Countries. Study this conducted against 11 countries with exchange rate strongest in the APEC countries in the world (America, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan , China, Indonesia, Canada , Russia , and Thailand). The ARDL Panel Analysis results show that the Leading Model Control indicators Exchange Rate System Through the Post -Covid-19 Open Economy Model, the Top Major Exchange Rates in Eleven Apec Countries (Varies) are JUB and GDP. this _ due to the results data processing , the ROE variable is variable that gives stable influence , ie _ effect on the inside period long nor period short in give influence significant to score exchange , which is assessed from level short run and long run stability in the table result .&#x0D;

Education, Financial Development, and Primary Energy Consumption: An Empirical Analysis for BRICS Economies

Energy is life blood of all economies and an indispensable prerequisite for all economic activities and consequently factors influencing the energy consumption are of vital importance. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of education together with financial development on energy consumption in sample of BRICS economies over the 1990–2019 period by means of second-generation cointegration and causality analyses thanks to the small number of empirical studies. The causality analysis unveils a one-way causal effect from education to primary energy consumption, but an insignificant causality between financial development and primary energy consumption. The cointegration analysis uncovers a strong positive effect of education at panel level and in all BRICS economies in the long-term, but financial sector development has a significant positive influence on primary energy use only in South Africa in the long-term. The findings of the study reveal that education considerably increases the primary energy use in the BRICS economies through economic growth channel, but financial sector development has not been a significant determinant of primary energy use yet. However, the BRICS economies should attach more importance to green technology and energy focused growth for sustainable growth and development.

Abstract 3489: Luminex-based analysis of serum CXC chemokines showing their usefulness as prognostic and/or predictive biomarkers in metastatic colorectal cancer patients

Abstract Introduction: CXC chemokines are a family of small, secreted, chemotactic molecules acting through the binding to their corresponding CXC receptors (CXCRs) and stimulating the migration of cells, most notably those of the immune system. They have been associated with both pro-tumor and anti-tumor activity. Previously, we reported increased expression and secretion levels of CXCL1, 2 and 8 in oxaliplatin (OXA)-resistant colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines. The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of measuring the serum levels of a CXC chemokine panel in CRC patients as prognostic and/or predictive biomarkers of first-line treatment. Material and Methods: In this multicenter study sera from advanced CRC patients to be treated with OXA-based schedules were collected at three different time points between November 2016 and June 2021: before treatment (PRET), at first response evaluation (EVAR) and at the time of progression/end of study (PROG). Levels of CXCL1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16 chemokines were analyzed using a custom Bio-plex Pro Human assay (Bio-Rad, USA) in a Luminex® 200 equipment. Comparisons of chemokines’ levels between Responders (R) and Non-Responders (NR) at different time-points were carried out using the Mann Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests. Log Rank and Cox regression were used to study differences in progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS); Chi-square or Fisher’s tests were used to study associations between categorical variables. All differences were considered statistically significant when p values ≤ 0.05. Results: A total of 107 patients were enrolled in this study: 72% male; median age 66 years old; metastasis: 78% liver, 41% lung; mutations: 44% KRAS, 4% BRAF; treatments: FOLFOX/XELOX = 30%/4% plus Bevacizumab/anti-EGFR = 36%/24%; 64% responders (complete response + partial response); 13% stable disease; 11% progressors. All chemokines could be detected in the samples. Levels below median (LBM) of CXCL1, 8, 11 and 13 correlated with better OS (HR=0.55 p=0.02; HR=0.47 p=0.005; HR=0.6 p=0.05; HR=0.54 p=0.02, respectively). LBM of CXCL16 correlated with better OS and PFS (HR=0.6 p=0.04; HR=0.6 p=0.005) and of CXCL5 with better PFS (HR 0.6 p 0.011); mean CXCL9 levels were lower in responders’ PRET samples (p=0.03) and LBM correlated with better OS (HR=0.5 p=0.019). In responders, all chemokines except CXCL10, 13 and 16 presented decreased levels at EVAR vs. PRET. Moreover, CXCL1, 2, 5, 8, 11 and 16 levels increased at PROG vs. EVAR. In non-responders, non-conclusive results were found. Conclusion: our results show that serum levels of specific CXC chemokines may be used as prognostic/predictive markers in metastatic CRC. Further analysis will be performed, and an update of this study will be presented in the AACR meeting. Citation Format: Sara Cabrero-de las Heras, Ferran Losa, Xavier Hernández-Yagüe, Gemma Soler, Cristina Bugés, Iosune Baraibar, Andrea Plaja, Eduard Teixidor, Eva Martínez-Balibrea. Luminex-based analysis of serum CXC chemokines showing their usefulness as prognostic and/or predictive biomarkers in metastatic colorectal cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 3489.

The effect of cold exposure on circulating transcript levels of immune genes in Dutch South Asian and Dutch Europid men

ObjectivesAlthough cold exposure is commonly believed to be causally related to acute viral respiratory infections, its effect on the immune system is largely unexplored. In this study, we determined transcript levels of a large panel of immune genes in blood before and after cold exposure. We included both Dutch Europid and Dutch South Asian men to address whether the immune system is differently regulated in the metabolically vulnerable South Asian population. MethodsFasted blood samples were obtained from nonobese Dutch Europid (n = 11; mean age 26 ± 3 y) and Dutch South Asian (n = 12; mean age 28 ± 3 y) men before and directly after short-term (∼2.5 h) mild cold exposure. Transcript levels of 144 immune genes were measured using a dual-color reverse transcriptase multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (dcRT-MLPA) assay. ResultsCold exposure acutely upregulated mRNA levels of GNLY (+35%, P < 0.001) and PRF1 (+45%, P < 0.001), which encode cytotoxic proteins, and CCL4 (+8%, P < 0.01) and CCL5 (+5%, P < 0.05), both pro-inflammatory chemokines. At thermoneutrality, mRNA levels of four markers of the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor (NLR)-family, involved in inflammasomes, were lower in Dutch South Asians compared to Dutch Europids, namely NLRP2 (−57%, P < 0.05), NLRP7 (−17%, P < 0.05), NLRP10 (−21%, P < 0.05), and NLRC4 (−23%, P < 0.05). ConclusionsMild cold exposure acutely increases mRNA levels of genes involved in cytotoxicity of immune cells in blood. In addition, Dutch South Asians display lower circulating mRNA levels of inflammasome genes compared to Dutch Europids.

MP59-02 APPLICATION OF A MULTIPLEX URINALYSIS TEST FOR THE PREDICTION OF INTRAVESICAL BCG TREATMENT RESPONSE: A PILOT STUDY

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 May 2022MP59-02 APPLICATION OF A MULTIPLEX URINALYSIS TEST FOR THE PREDICTION OF INTRAVESICAL BCG TREATMENT RESPONSE: A PILOT STUDY Kaoru Murakami, Ashish M. Kamat, Yunfeng Dai, Ian Pagano, Runpu Chen, Yijun Sun, Amit Gupta, Nari Kim, Steve Goodison, Charles J. Rosser, and Hideki Furuya Kaoru MurakamiKaoru Murakami More articles by this author , Ashish M. KamatAshish M. Kamat More articles by this author , Yunfeng DaiYunfeng Dai More articles by this author , Ian PaganoIan Pagano More articles by this author , Runpu ChenRunpu Chen More articles by this author , Yijun SunYijun Sun More articles by this author , Amit GuptaAmit Gupta More articles by this author , Nari KimNari Kim More articles by this author , Steve GoodisonSteve Goodison More articles by this author , Charles J. RosserCharles J. Rosser More articles by this author , and Hideki FuruyaHideki Furuya More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000002642.02AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), a live attenuated tuberculosis vaccine that acts as a non-specific immune system stimulant, is the most effective adjuvant treatment for patients with intermediate or high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). However, to date, there are no reliable tests that are predictive of BCG treatment response. In this study, we evaluated the performance of OncuriaTM, a bladder cancer detection test, to predict response to intravesical BCG. METHODS: OncuriaTM data was evaluated in voided urine samples obtained from a prospectively collected cohort of 64 subjects with intermediate or high risk NMIBC prior to treatment with intravesical BCG. The OncuriaTM test, which measures 10 cancer-associated biomarkers was performed in an independent clinical laboratory. The ability of the test to identify those patients in whom BCG is ineffective against tumor recurrence was tested. Predictive models were derived using supervised learning and cross-validation analyses. Model performance was assessed using ROC curves. RESULTS: Pre-treatment urinary concentrations of MMP9, VEGFA, CA9, SDC1, PAI1, APOE, A1AT, ANG and MMP10 were increased in patients who developed disease recurrence. A combinatorial predictive model of treatment outcome achieved an AUROC 0.89 [95% CI: 0.80–0.99], outperforming any single biomarker, with a test sensitivity of 81.8% and a specificity of 84.9%. Hazard ratio analysis revealed that patients with higher urinary levels of ANG, CA9 and MMP10 had a significantly higher risk of disease recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Monitoring the urinary levels of a cancer-associated biomarker panel enabled the discrimination of patients who did not respond to intravesical BCG therapy. With further study, the multiplex OncuriaTM test may be applicable for the clinical evaluation of bladder cancer patients considering intravesical BCG treatment. We are currently performing a validation study with a larger retrospective cohort of ∼120 subjects with intermediate or high risk NMIBC prior to treatment with intravesical BCG. The results will be presented in the AUA 2022. Source of Funding: NIH/NCI R01CA198887 (CJR) © 2022 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 207Issue Supplement 5May 2022Page: e1001 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2022 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Kaoru Murakami More articles by this author Ashish M. Kamat More articles by this author Yunfeng Dai More articles by this author Ian Pagano More articles by this author Runpu Chen More articles by this author Yijun Sun More articles by this author Amit Gupta More articles by this author Nari Kim More articles by this author Steve Goodison More articles by this author Charles J. Rosser More articles by this author Hideki Furuya More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF DownloadLoading ...

Analisis Keseragaman Pori Berdasarkan Uji Hedonik Pada Roti Sourdough Pisang dan Mocaf

Sourdough bread is a type of bread that is naturally made using natural yeast or so-called sourdough. Banana flour and mocaf are types of flour that are processed from local raw materials which are quite abundantly available in Indonesia. Banana flour and mocaf can be used as substitutes in making bread, because these two types of flour have good nutritional content. This study aims to determine the effect of the percentage of flour used on the uniformity of the pores of sourdough breadbased on hedonic test. This study was designed with a non-factorial completely randomized design (CRD) with 1 factor, namely the concentration of banana flour and mocaf consisting of 3 (three) levels, namely 17%, 20% and 23%. Each type of flour was repeated 6 times to obtain 18 experimental units. The data were analyzed by analysis of variance and if the treatment had an effect on the variables, it was continued with Duncan's test. The results showed that the percentage of banana flour and mocaf used had a significant effect on the hedonic uniformity of the resulting sourdough bread. The less use of banana flour and mocaf, the higher the level of panelists' assessment of the sourdough bread produced.Kata kunci : Tepung Pisang, Tepung Mocaf, Roti Sourdough, Keseragaman pori

Plasma Concentrations of Cytokines in Patients with Combined Hyperlipidemia and Atherosclerotic Plaque before Treatment Initiation-A Pilot Study.

Background and Objectives: The formation and destabilization of atherosclerotic plaques is a complex process involving several proteins and cytokines. Interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 18 (IL-18), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) are examples of such cytokines. The goal of our research is to compare the concentrations of the above-mentioned indicators in the plasma of patients with verified high-risk atherosclerotic plaque to the plasma levels of healthy people before lipid lowering therapy. Materials and Methods: Patients with dyslipidemia who had the presence of unstable atherosclerotic plaque verified by ultrasonography were included in the study. The concentrations of IL-6, IL-18 and TNF-α in the plasma of these people were determined and compared with the concentrations of these cytokines in the plasma of the control group. Results: Levels of lipid panel, IL-6 and IL-18 were significantly lower in the group of healthy people than in the study group. Conclusions: The concentrations of IL-6 and IL-18 in the plasma of patients with ruptured plaque are higher than in the plasma of healthy people, suggesting that these cytokines as a panel might be used as new indicators of the presence of unstable atherosclerotic plaque.

Predictive urinary RNA biomarkers of kidney injury after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy

BackgroundExtracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is considered one of the best choices for the treatment of various kinds of urinary tract calculi, although it might cause acute kidney injury.ObjectiveTo measure the urinary long non-coding RNA-messenger RNA (LncRNA-mRNA) panel before and after ESWL to evaluate post-ESWL renal injury in a reliable and non-invasive method.Patients and methodsThe study included 60 patients with renal stones treated with ESWL and 30 healthy volunteers. Voided urine samples were obtained before, 2 h, and 1 day after ESWL. We measured the urinary level of LncRNA (SBF2-AS1, FENDRR-19) and mRNA (GBP1, NLRP3) by real-time qPCR and compared the results with serum creatinine and eGFR.ResultsLncRNA (SBF2-AS1, FENDRR-19) and mRNA (GBP1, NLRP3) levels were higher in patients with renal stones when compared with healthy volunteers. They showed a statistically significant increase in the level of LncRNA-mRNA panel in baseline and after ESWL treatment.ConclusionLncRNA (SBF2-AS1, FENDRR-19) and mRNA (GBP1, NLRP3) levels were significantly elevated following ESWL treatment, highlighting the usefulness of urinary biomarkers in identifying patients at higher risk of developing renal injury after ESWL treatment.

Time domain hydrodynamics at panel level: an application to the structural analysis of Telwind

Abstract The current modelling approaches for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) present some limitations in the representation of the fluid-solid interaction. Mainly, they do not consider full flexibility of the floating body, so internal forces on the platform cannot be resolved. ESTEYCO has developed a novel methodology to couple all the actions (hydrodynamics, structural, aerodynamics, control, etc.) that are applied over a FOWT concept. The main novelty of this approach resides in selecting Abaqus (well stablished Finite Element –FE– tool) as the central solver of the motion equations, naturally enabling inclusion of full platform flexibility (and not only rigid bodies linked by flexible members). The inclusion of the coupled hydrodynamic actions (highly dependent on platform movement) is performed through a novel tool: EST-PANEL which provides the time domain hydrodynamic pressure at panel level. This approach is thoroughly validated against other well established modelling techniques showing outstanding agreement both in platform movement and internal tension of cables. This methodology has been developed to support the design and development of ESTEYCO’s own technology: Telwind. The current approach thus provides a unique fully coupled FE tool to perform a detailed structural assessment of the floating platform even from the earliest conceptual stages of the design. In addition, the current approach can be easily extended to simulation of some loading scenarios (cable breaking, transient deployment, non-linearities) that are not easy to model with other simulation tools.

Genotoxic hazard assessment of cerium oxide and magnesium oxide nanoparticles in Drosophila

The use of metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) is steadily spreading, leading to increased environmental exposures to many organisms, including humans. To improve our knowledge of this potential hazard, we have evaluated the genotoxic risk of cerium oxide (CeO2NPs) and magnesium oxide (MgONPs) nanoparticle exposures using Drosophila as an in vivo assay model. In this study, two well-known assays, such as the wing somatic mutation and recombination test (wing-spot assay) and the single-cell gel electrophoresis test (comet assay) were used. As a novelty, and for the first time, changes in the expression levels of a wide panel of DNA repair genes were also evaluated. Our results indicate that none of the concentrations of CeO2NPs increased the total spot frequency in the wing-spot assay, while induction was observed at the highest dose of MgONPs. Regarding the comet assay, both tested NPs were unable to induce single DNA strand breaks or oxidative damage in DNA bases. Nevertheless, exposure to CeO2NPs induced significant increases in the expression levels of the Mlh1 and Brca2 genes, which are involved in the double-strand break repair pathway, together with a decrease in the expression levels of the MCPH1 and Rad51D genes. Regarding the effects of MgONPs exposure, the expression levels of the Ercc1, Brca2, Rad1, mu2, and stg genes were significantly increased, while Mlh1 and MCPH1 genes were decreased. Our results show the usefulness of our approach in detecting mild genotoxic effects by evaluating changes in the expression of a panel of genes involved in DNA repair pathways.