Macro Measures Research Articles

Simultaneous measurement of macro‐ and microvascular blood flow and oxygen saturation for quantification of muscle oxygen consumption

To investigate the relationship between blood flow and oxygen consumption in skeletal muscle, a technique called "Velocity and Perfusion, Intravascular Venous Oxygen saturation and T2*" (vPIVOT) is presented. vPIVOT allows the quantification of feeding artery blood flow velocity, perfusion, draining vein oxygen saturation, and muscle T2*, all at 4-s temporal resolution. Together, the measurement of blood flow and oxygen extraction can yield muscle oxygen consumption ( V˙O2) via the Fick principle. In five subjects, vPIVOT-derived results were compared with those obtained from stand-alone sequences during separate ischemia-reperfusion paradigms to investigate the presence of measurement bias. Subsequently, in 10 subjects, vPIVOT was applied to assess muscle hemodynamics and V˙O2 following a bout of dynamic plantar flexion contractions. From the ischemia-reperfusion paradigm, no significant differences were observed between data from vPIVOT and comparison sequences. After exercise, the macrovascular flow response reached a maximum 8 ± 3 s after relaxation; however, perfusion in the gastrocnemius muscle continued to rise for 101 ± 53 s. Peak V˙O2 calculated based on mass-normalized arterial blood flow or perfusion was 15.2 ± 6.7 mL O2 /min/100 g or 6.0 ± 1.9 mL O2 /min/100 g, respectively. vPIVOT is a new method to measure blood flow and oxygen saturation, and therefore to quantify muscle oxygen consumption. Magn Reson Med 79:846-855, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Micro and macrostructure discourse analysis in persons with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease

ABSTRACTObjectives: Studies analyzing the macrostructure and microstructure in the narrative samples of participants with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are limited in the Indian context. This study investigates the micro and macrostructure discourse analysis by using a picture elicited narrative discourse task in Kannada speaking persons with idiopathic PD.Method: Two groups comprising 12 Kannada-speaking individuals with idiopathic PD in the age range of 60–85 years and 12 neuro-typical individuals matched on age, sex, socioeconomic status, language, dialect, and knowledge of other languages participated in the study. To assess their discourse skills, participants were provided with a series of eight pictures to narrate a story for a minimum of 2–3 min. All the samples were transcribed orthographically and were divided into communication units. The communication units were analyzed in terms of micro and macro structures. The macrostructure analysis included the measures such as initial event (IE), an action aiming at resolving at resolving problem (ARP), and outcome of action (OA). The microstructure analysis included the proportion of content words (PCW), proportion of functional words (PFW), proportion of morphemes (PM), total number of different words (NDW) and type token ratio (TTR).Results: The results revealed that there was a significant difference between the two groups on several of the macro and microstructure measures. Specifically there was a significant difference on ARP, PCW, PFW, NDW and TTR.Conclusion: Based on the results it can be concluded that the micro and certain aspects of macrostructure discourse skills of Kannada speakers with idiopathic PD were affected. Thus, in addition to speech impairment, language structure is also affected in persons with PD.

A randomised, active- and placebo-controlled, three-period crossover trial to investigate short-term effects of the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor linagliptin on macro- and microvascular endothelial function in type 2 diabetes

BackgroundStudies of dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors report heterogeneous effects on endothelial function in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). This study assessed the effects of the DPP-4 inhibitor linagliptin versus the sulphonylurea glimepiride and placebo on measures of macro- and microvascular endothelial function in patients with T2D who represented a primary cardiovascular disease prevention population.MethodsThis crossover study randomised T2D patients (n = 42) with glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) ≤7.5%, no diagnosed macro- or microvascular disease and on stable metformin background to linagliptin 5 mg qd, glimepiride 1–4 mg qd or placebo for 28 days. Fasting and postprandial macrovascular endothelial function, measured using brachial flow-mediated vasodilation, and microvascular function, measured using laser-Doppler on the dorsal thenar site of the right hand, were analysed after 28 days.ResultsBaseline mean (standard deviation) age, body mass index and HbA1c were 60.3 (6.0) years, 30.3 (3.0) kg/m2 and 7.41 (0.61)%, respectively. After 28 days, changes in fasting flow-mediated vasodilation were similar between the three study arms (treatment ratio, gMean [90% confidence interval]: linagliptin vs glimepiride, 0.884 [0.633–1.235]; linagliptin vs placebo, 0.884 [0.632–1.235]; glimepiride vs placebo, 1.000 [0.715–1.397]; P = not significant for all comparisons). Similarly, no differences were seen in postprandial flow-mediated vasodilation. However, under fasting conditions, linagliptin significantly improved microvascular function as shown by a 34% increase in hyperaemia area (P = 0.045 vs glimepiride), a 34% increase in resting blow flow (P = 0.011 vs glimepiride, P = 0.003 vs placebo), and a 25% increase in peak blood flow (P = 0.009 vs glimepiride, P = 0.003 vs placebo). There were no significant differences between treatments in postprandial changes. Linagliptin had no effect on heart rate or blood pressure. Rates of overall adverse events with linagliptin, glimepiride and placebo were 27.5, 61.0 and 35.0%, respectively. Fewer hypoglycaemic events were seen with linagliptin (5.0%) and placebo (2.5%) than with glimepiride (39.0%).ConclusionsLinagliptin had no effect on macrovascular function in T2D, but significantly improved microvascular function in the fasting state.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier—NCT01703286; registered October 1, 2012

Age affects sleep microstructure more than sleep macrostructure.

It is well known that the quantity and quality of physiological sleep changes across age. However, so far the effect of age on sleep microstructure has been mostly addressed in small samples. The current study examines the effect of age on several measures of sleep macro- and microstructure in 211 women (22-71years old) of the 'Sleep and Health in Women' study for whom ambulatory polysomnography was registered. Older age was associated with significantly lower fast spindle (effect size f2 =0.32) and K-complex density (f2 =0.19) during N2 sleep, as well as slow-wave activity (log) in N3 sleep (f2 =0.21). Moreover, total sleep time (f2 =0.10), N3 sleep (min) (f2 =0.10), rapid eye movement sleep (min) (f2 =0.11) and sigma (log) (f2 =0.05) and slow-wave activity (log) during non-rapid eye movement sleep (f2 =0.09) were reduced, and N1 sleep (f2 =0.03) was increased in older age. No significant effects of age were observed on slow spindle density, rapid eye movement density and beta power (log) during non-rapid eye movement sleep. In conclusion, effect sizes indicate that traditional sleep stage scoring may underestimate age-related changes in sleep.

Hydrate plugging mechanisms of oil-dominated, water- dominated and partially dispersed system

It is the hydrate plugging mechanisms of multiphase flow that are the key to implement hydrate risk management, which have always been the focus of flow assurance industry. This paper reviews the experiments and principle analysis conducted by many researchers, and summarizes types of experimental equipment and methods, and then concludes different mechanisms for hydrate plugging in oil-dominated system, water-dominated system and partially dispersed system, while giving out some suggestions for further researches. Because of the lack of field data and the difficulty of conducting field plugging experiments, at present, designing experimental apparatus is the common solution around the world, such as autoclave and flowloop, to undertake simulation study, with the purpose to investigate plugging mechanisms. Stirring and rocking are two main methods for autoclaves to simulate pipe flow, which results in the flow characters of autoclaves is different from the real pipe flow. So flowloops are superior to autoclaves in simulating pipe flow, while some visual autoclaves (sapphire cell and so on) are better than flowloops in direct visual observation. In micro level, FBRM and PVM could provide particle distribution and behavior information. MMF apparatus could measure cohesive force between particles and adhesive force between particles and pipe walls. These micro level apparatus would help to estimate the tensile strength and the size of aggregates, which are meaningful to predict rheological properties of the fluid and the pressure drop of the pipeline. More efforts should be done on the combination of micro measurement and macro measurement, and finding a better way for autoclaves to simulate pipe flow more accurately and a better way for flowloops to improve visual observation. Plugging mechanism will be different when it comes to different multiphase systems. For oil-dominated system, which has been researched for the longest time and has the most mature theoretical system, agglomeration, adhesion to pipe walls and bedding are the governing factors of plugging. When oil-dominated system is treated by AAs, under risk management, agglomeration will be weaken significantly. Then the plugging mechanism of this condition would be controlled by bedding and adhesion to pipe walls. More works should be done on the theoretical modeling of adhesion to pipe walls and bedding for oil dominated system, and confirm the contribution of different mechanism to the pressure drop. For water-dominated system, research of which is prospective, bedding of hydrate particles or hydrate network is the determining reason for plugging. Since the hydrate growth rate of water-dominated system is relatively low, this system has the lowest plugging tendency. The molding of hydrate growth for water-dominated system would be the next step work. Research on partially dispersed system is carried out with the increasing water cut in the offshore oil fields, which is now in the experiment exploration period. Plugging of this system is resulted from film growth of the free water and agglomeration in the bulk phase, which resulting in the most severe plugging tendency. The quantification of the free water for partially dispersed system is fundamental for the continuing study. Moreover, it is significant to take the impact of flow patterns on the plugging mechanisms into consideration.

Development and Validation of a Mediterranean Oriented Culture-Specific Semi-Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire.

The objectives were to develop a Mediterranean oriented semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and evaluate its validity in measuring energy and nutrient intakes. For FFQ development, the main challenge was to merge food items and practices reflecting cultural Mediterranean preferences with other food choices ensuing from diet transition to more westernized dietary patterns. FFQ validity was evaluated by comparing nutrient intakes against the average of two 24-h dietary recalls for 179 pregnant women. Although the mean intake values for most nutrients and energy tended to be higher when determined by the FFQ, the Cohen’s d was below 0.3. Bland-Altman plots confirmed the agreement between the two methods. Positive significant correlations ranged from 0.35 to 0.77. The proportion of women classified correctly was between 73.2% and 92.2%, whereas gross misclassification was low. Weighted kappa values were between 0.31 and 0.78, while intraclass correlation coefficients were between 0.49 and 0.89. Our methodological approach for the development and validation of this FFQ provides reliable measurements of energy, macro- and micronutrient intakes. Overall, our culture-specific FFQ could serve as a useful assessment tool in studies aiming at monitoring dietary intakes, especially in the Mediterranean region, where countries share common cultural dietary habits.

Methods and devices for registration of road microprofiles

The vehicle presents a dynamic system performing vibrations under the influence of certain stimulus. Information driver receives from the environment and the vehicle is: macro and micro texture of the road, vibrations and noise of the vehicle's subsystem and so on. The road is usually evaluated according to its macro and micro texture. Microroughness of the roads is of great importance for the study of vehicle's oscillatory movements, reliable computation of vehicle systems, safety etc. Therefore, a special attention must be given to them during the analysis of dynamics, strength and safety of the vehicle. Microroughness that characterize the microprofile of the road in longitudinal and transverse direction have random character and can be established by experimental study of the road with utilization of devices. Accordingly, a variety of devices have been developed for measurement of macro- and micro profiles of the road as well as numerous mathematical and experimental procedures, which with certain approximation satisfy the given requirements, and with the increasing use of computer technology.

Not all negative: Macro justice principles predict positive attitudes towards asylum seekers in Australia

ObjectivePublic opinion towards asylum seekers within Australia has become increasingly hostile over the past decade. In particular, such negative attitudes are associated with questioning the legitimacy of those who seek asylum and the fairness of granting their refugee status. The major aim of this paper is to test the role of macro and micro principles of social justice in predicting attitudes towards asylum seekers, beyond the established role of social dominance orientation (SDO) and right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA).MethodA sample of 100 students (Mage = 22.83 years, SDage = 8.26 years) responded to measures of macro and micro principles of social justice, SDO, RWA, and a measure of Attitudes Towards Asylum Seekers.ResultsUsing multiple hierarchical regression analyses, we show that macro justice social principles (i.e., the belief in equal distribution of resources across a society) predict positive attitudes towards asylum seekers beyond the variation accounted for by SDO and RWA in predicting negative attitudes.ConclusionsThese results underscore the importance of taking into account individual orientations towards justice; we argue that these findings have important implications for the development of communication designed to reduce prejudice towards asylum seekers.

Study of Domain Structure and Dielectric Properties of Layered TGS − TGS + Cr Crystals

The complex study of TGS – TGS+Cr crystals with a profile distribution of chromium ions Cr3+ on macro (measurement of dielectric properties) and micro level (domain structure by AFM data) was carried out. These crystals differ from conventional crystals (with uniform impurity distribution throughout the volume) by a higher value of bias fields and a high value of spontaneous polarization. Crystals are more unipolar and are characterized by a high stability of properties. The domain configuration on the boundary of growth layers with different impurity composition is studied by Piezoresponce Force Microscopy (PFM). It is established that periodical impurity layers are not formed throughout all crystal volume, but occur only in individual growth pyramids, at the parts where the polarization vector has a nonzero component on the direction of normal to the growth faces. The processing of PFM-images indicated that the static unipolarity of layers with chromium incorporation and without impurity is roughly identical, whereas the density of domain boundaries in the layers with chromium impurity is by a factor of 2.3 higher than that in the layers without impurity. The presence of layers with different density of domain walls explains the observed differences of the properties of these crystals from conventional ones.

Potential Modulation of Vascular Function Relating to Baseline Hydration Status in Healthy Human Participants in a Randomised Controlled Trial

Endothelium plays a pivotal role in vascular homeostasis. Vascular and endothelial function can be measured objectively in human volunteers using macro and micro vascular measures and other classical cardiovascular risk markers. Evidence is scarce regarding the possible effect that water (hydration) or its lack (dehydration) may have on relatively well validated surrogate measures of vascular structure and function. This study aimed to quantify the associations between hydration status measured using several hydration markers on key vascular function markers in males and females. Forty overweight and obese but otherwise healthy participants were recruited for this analysis between July 2013 and June 2014. Participants were fasted for 12 hours prior to their visit. Participants attended the MRC Human Nutrition Research unit for a baseline visit where hydration status was estimated both on the day and using 24 hour urine volume. Vascular function was also measured on the day. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses revealed that 24 hour urine volume was statistically associated with augmentation index (AIx) calculated using PWA in women (P<0.05). Similarly, volume of water consumed per minute, USG and 24hrs urine osmolality were significantly associated with LDI in women (P<0.05). Age and urine osmolality were found to be statistically associated with LDI in men (P<0.01). No other significant differences were observed. These data suggest that future nutrition and vascular function research studies may have to adjust for hydration status especially where PWA and LDI are key measures in order to increase accuracy of results.

Managing conflict with emotional intelligence: abilities that make a difference

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) abilities and conflict management styles in the workplace.Design/methodology/approach– Totally, 126 participants completed a measure of EI and an assessment of conflict management styles. Regression analyses were then performed.Findings– Results of regression analyses indicate several significant relationships between EI abilities and participants’ conflict management styles. The EI abilities of problem solving, social responsibility, and impulse control were the most directly related to how participants managed conflict at the workplace.Research limitations/implications– Future research should attempt to replicate these findings in other samples. In addition, researchers should investigate other significant variables that explain people’s choices in conflict management styles.Practical implications– Implications of these findings suggest that for management development purposes, people should attempt to improve on the EI abilities of problem solving, social responsibility, and impulse control in order to manage workplace conflict effectively.Originality/value– This investigation contributes to the literature by identifying specific EI abilities, rather than a macro measure of EI, that are associated with different styles of conflict management.

A RANDOMIZED, ACTIVE- AND PLACEBO-CONTROLLED, THREE-PERIOD CROSSOVER TRIAL TO INVESTIGATE SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF THE DIPEPTIDYL PEPTIDASE-4 INHIBITOR LINAGLIPTIN ON ENDOTHELIAL FUNCTION IN TYPE 2 DIABETES

Studies of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) report heterogeneous effects on endothelial function in patients with type 2 diabetes. This study assessed the effects of the DPP-4i linagliptin (LINA) vs the sulfonylurea glimepiride (GLIM) and placebo (PBO) on measures of macro- and

What is Consumer Well-Being to Asians?

This article explores the underlying dimensions of consumer well-being from 2013 adults representing the major cities in two emerging countries, China and India; and three developed countries, Japan Korea, and Singapore. The analyses reveal that well-being dimension importance varies across respondents. For example, Market Mavens valued acquisition, image, and consumption dimensions while Social Shoppers value the personal interactions associated with consumer well-being. These groups exist in all five countries, suggesting that macro measures of consumer well-being may mask meaningful differences. Our results suggest that consumer well-being measures need to be modified to account for individual differences.

Comparison and prioritisation of measurement methods of intellectual capital; IC-dVal, VAIC and NICI

The purpose of this paper is to compare between three methods of intellectual capital (IC) measurement; intellectual capital dynamic valuation (IC-dVal), value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC), and national intellectual capital index (NICI). The three methods are the most used in practice; we used 24 criteria covering important aspects of IC to do general comparison. According to ten criteria, we compared and prioritised them using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results of this comparison show that the methods are close for some criteria and distant for other criteria. The prioritisation with AHP found that NICI method is the most method responding to the criteria, namely: macro measure, guidelines of the method, dynamic valuation, involved levels of business, usability by stakeholders, covered aspects of IC, quantifiability, frequency of use and applicability. IC-dVal is the second one and VAIC is the third method responding to the criteria. The analysis could give more significant results using larger set of criteria. This is the first research prioritising methods of measurement of IC using AHP analysis.

Tendencias familiares en América Latina: diferencias y entrelazamientos

This article looks at changing family dynamics in Latin America in recent decades, combining a sociohistorical approach with a sociodemographic one. The first part of the article, based on the theory of intertwined modernities as well as postcolonial thought, outlines some of the cultural contacts between family types that took place after colonization of the subcontinent. The second part describes Latin American family(ies) based on statistical information available from censuses and large surveys. There follows a critique of the nuclear family concept based on stratified statistical data, considering the variables of sex, income and education level and revealing certain shortcomings in macro measurements. The conclusions in the closing section pose the question of whether it is possible to standardize changes in family dynamics throughout Latin America and how close the region might be to a second demographic transition.

A Microfluidic Sensor Dedicated to Microwave Dielectric Spectroscopy of Liquids Medium and Flowing Colloidal Suspension

This paper presents a RF biosensor able to perform analysis on nano volumes of liquids or on flowing colloidal solutions. Once properly calibrated this sensor allows measuring the intrinsic dielectric properties of unknown liquid medium and even individual characteristics of flowing particles. In the aim to guide the liquid and precisely locate the dielectric particles to analyze, a microfluidic network has been developed and implemented on the RF sensor. First characterizations done on small volumes of liquids with our sensor have showed a good agreement with macro measurements done using a coaxial probe. To demonstrate its sensing capabilities, a 3D electromagnetic simulation of the developed sensor in the presence of polystyrene beads located in the sensing area has been performed and results in potential high detection sensitivity. This opens attractive prospects in the frame of microwave dielectric spectroscopy on living cells.

Health Risk Factors Among the Older European Populations: Personal and Country Effects

It is now common to use the individual's self-assessed-health-status (SAHS) as a measure of health. The use of SAHS is supported by numerous studies that show that SAHS is a better predictor of mortality and morbidity than medical records. The 2011 wave of the rich Survey of Health Aging and Retirement Europe (SHARE) is used for the exploration of the full spectrum of factors behind the health-status in 16 European countries, focusing on behavioral risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity) – both at the individual and country levels. The main findings are: (i) SAHS regressions provide clear evidence of the significant effects of the three behavioral risk factors on the individual's SAHS, beyond and above effects of health conditions and of socio-economic personal variables; (ii) the second, more innovative, finding is related to the effects of country-specific risk factors (country-level measures of smoking, obesity, and alcohol consumption) on the subjective-health of the residents, controlling for personal characteristics. Adapting the technique presented in Oswald and Wu (2010), country effects derived from the SAHS regression are examined for correlations with a set of objective country macro measures. They include: share of smokers on a daily/regular basis; alcohol consumption (per-capita liters per year); share of obese individuals in the country. It appears that country-level smoking and obesity affect negatively aggregate country SAHS, while alcohol consumption has no effect. It is therefore not only 'who you are' that affects the subjective rating of health, but also 'in which country you live': both individual and country-level risk factors affect subjective-health and the two levels of behavioral risks accumulate and reinforce the subjective-health assessment. This suggests the economic cost-effectiveness of preventive obesity and smoking treatment and seems to be at odds with the 'Easterlin Paradox' that emphasizes within country individual effects and denies cross-country effects.

Study on Online Detecting System for CNC Grinding Machine

A online automatic indexable inserts detecting system,which is based on the five-axis CNC grinding system,is introduced in this paper. The probe of the system can complete the online detecting of indexable inserts by calling the macro measurement program. The measruements of the inserts can be calculated and input into the process module.

Story retelling by bilingual children with language impairments and typically developing controls

To date there is limited information documenting growth patterns in the narratives of bilingual children with and without primary language impairment (PLI). This study was designed to determine whether bilingual children with and without PLI present similar gains from kindergarten to first grade in the macro- and microstructure of stories told in Spanish and English. In this longitudinal study, 21 bilingual children identified with PLI were each matched to a bilingual typically developing (TD) peer on age, sex, non-verbal IQ and language exposure. During their kindergarten and first-grade years, children retold stories from wordless picture books in Spanish (L1) and English (L2). Overall, TD children outperformed those with PLI on measures of macro- and microstructure at both time points. For the macrostructure measure, the TD group made significantly larger improvements in both languages from kindergarten to first grade than the PLI group. For microstructure, the TD children made more gains on their Spanish retells than their English retells. However, the PLI children's microstructure scores did not differ from kindergarten to first grade in either language. We found that macrostructure scores in Spanish at kindergarten predicted macrostructure scores in English at first grade when English experience was held constant. However, this same relationship across languages was not evident in microstructure. TD and PLI children differed in the development of narrative macro- and microstructure between kindergarten and first grade. The TD bilinguals transferred conceptually dependent narrative skills easily, but then had to learn independently the nuances of each language to be successful using literate language. Because most children with PLI need more exposure to establish strong connections between their L1 and L2, they had more difficulty transferring their knowledge of literate language forms from one language to another.

Two-Phase Internal Flow: Toward a Theory of Everything

Two-phase flow and heat transfer is still an area of intense research and great uncertainty. Even severely restricting ourselves to just annular, internal two-phase flow does not significantly improve our chances of accurately predicting either pressure gradients or heat transfer coefficients for an arbitrary tube geometry or fluid. This article summarizes a series of investigations that aim to identify the fundamental governing physics of internal two-phase flow: a Theory of Everything. The techniques developed to do so have been varied, and novel approaches are presented here. At the macro scale, simultaneous visualization and measurement of pressure gradient have led to interesting observations about the relationship between flow regimes and these fundamental macroscale behaviors. Since the macroscale behaviors are governed, for the most part, by behaviors at the micro scale, a number of techniques have been developed to study this near-wall behavior in quantitative detail. In particular, dye-assisted planar laser induced fluorescence has provided the first accurate portrayals of the gas–liquid interface annular flow, and microscale multiphase particle image velocimetry has been used to obtain the velocity within the liquid film of annular flow from within micrometers of the wall to velocities within the waves 500 μm or more from the wall. Statistical analyses of these data point toward a general approach for modeling wall shear in two-phase concurrent internal flow.