Normal Life Conditions Research Articles

Short-term atmospheric pollution monitoring in a selection of European capitals

Air pollution is increasing in the context of uncontrolled emissions from human activities, mostly from industry, transportation and agriculture. Urban agglomerations concentrate most environmental pollution sources, given the high population density and their needs of transportation and energy, both of electrical and thermal types, along with huge quantities of wastes, whose improper management leads to heavy pollutant emissions in atmosphere, but also to pollutant leakage in waters and soil. In general, in each country, at least in Europe, the capital is the most populated city, which also concentrates important industrial sites, leading to poor air quality. This affects the population both on short and long term. Studies have shown that air pollution even induces chronic diseases, not only of respiratory-type, but also of the heart, up till reducing life expectancy. When dealing with urban air pollution, one must also consider the physical-geographical conditions, which may accentuate or, on the contrary, may diminish pollution through an intense air circulation, thus dispersing pollutants.A selection of European capitals was chosen for the study presented here, as related to their air quality which was monitored for short term within the peak of the recent pandemic, in order to have a view and even a reference of the expected reduced pollution status as compared to the normal urban life conditions. The chosen capitals were: Paris, Berlin, Bucharest and Skopje, which are well-spread geographically across Europe and also have different economic statuses, along with different landscape conditions and climate influences, making them appropriate for comparison, differences being expected.

Motavkin Scientific School

Remembrance of the outstanding scientist Professor P.A. Motavkin is largely connected with the creation of the famous neuromorphological school in Vladivostok. During a relatively short historical period, scientific discoveries were made under the leadership of P.A. Motavkin. New ideas about the mechanisms of vascular regulation of the brain and spinal cord of humans and animals were presented on the basis of these discoveries. Extensive factual material accumulated over the years of research has allowed not only to identify the basic laws of the functioning of this regulatory system in normal conditions of life, but also to solve a number of problems related to the correction of its disorders in case of vascular diseases.

ESTIMATES OF SOCIAL MINIMUM BASKETS FOR THE SECOND QUARTER OF 2021

The article presents values of social minimum baskets estimated for conditions prevailing in the second quarter of 2021. The presented estimates take into account the needs as foreseen in the model under normal conditions of social life – new circumstances (Covid-19) have not been considered. There is a lack of research on changes in household consumption in 2021. If there will be a need to change assumptions in the model, the values of social minimum can be recalculated in the future. External conditions for households in the second quarter of 2021 were reasonably favourable (including a falling unemployment rate to 5.9% in June). In the period under review, total consumer price growth was 1.9%. The values of the social minimum have increased from 2.3% (a single person of retirement age) to 3.2% (a family with a child aged 13 to 15). The major factor in the increasing values of the social minimum was rising food prices (from 5.8% for parents with a younger child to 6.1% for a family with an older child). This increase was almost three times higher than the price growth rate for food (2.2%). On the other hand, the dynamics of the costs of housing and energy carriers was comparable to the value of the CPI for this group.

ESTIMATES OF SOCIAL MINIMUM BASKETS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2021

The article presents values of social minimum baskets for the first quarter of 2021. The presented estimates take into account the needs as foreseen in the model under normal conditions of social life – the new circumstances of COVID-19 are not taken into account. There is lack of research data on changes in household consumption in 2020. If there will be a need to change assumptions in the model, the values of social minimum can be recalculated in the future. The first quarter of 2021 has brought quite marked increases in basket values. Compared to the previous survey from Q4 2020, the social minimum increased by 2.4% in the household of a single person and by 2.1% in a 4-person household with two children. Inflation rose by a similar amount (2.1%) over the period. Among the groups of needs with the highest share in the social minimum, the value of food items increased from 2.6% to 2.7%, with the price index in this group at a similar level (2.5%). Expenditure on housing maintenance and energy carriers increased significantly: from 2.3% in 5-person households to 2.7% in 1-person households. The dynamics of these expenditures in the social minimum was lower than the value of the CPI index (3.6%) in this group.

Interpretation of Natural Deconstruction Trough Pandemic Covid-19 Situation Based on “The Garden of Earthly Prosperity in Ground Zero”

“The Garden of Earthly Prosperity in Ground Zero” is a work of art by Isur Suroso. The painting reflects the story of the Sinom song in the text Babad Diponegoro. This fine art tells the story of Prince Diponegoro when he was raised by his great-grandmother in Tegalrejo Village, Yogyakarta. Tegalrejo Village has a simple community pattern. The beautiful natural environments in Tegalrejo Village are silent witnesses to Prince Diponegoro’s life. This research aims to describe the concept of visual deconstruction with the COVID-19 pandemic situation. This research uses the deconstruction theory of Jacques Derrida. There are forms of deconstruction meaning through the pandemic situation in this painting. The fine art of “The Garden of Earthly Prosperity in Ground Zero” is divided into three parts. These parts in this fine art can reflect normal life conditions before the coronavirus pandemic appeared and reflect life after the coronavirus pandemic hit the world. The middle part of “The Garden of Earthly Prosperity in Ground Zero” interprets normal conditions. Meanwhile, two other parts describe a pandemic situation.

1H–NMR fingerprinting and supervised pattern recognition to evaluate the stability of virgin olive oil during storage

Metabolomic fingerprinting of virgin olive oil (VOO) by 1H NMR spectroscopy was used to study its stability during storage simulating normal shelf life conditions during its commercialization. A representative set of VOOs covering the full range of possible chemical compositions were exposed to light (500 lux for 12 h/day) at 25 °C for 12 months or stored in the dark at 25 °C, 30 °C and 35 °C for 24 months. Multivariate data analysis of the 1H NMR spectra of the oil samples provided classification models to evaluate VOO freshness and to verify the light exposure of the VOO during storage, as well as regression models to determine VOO storage time and tentatively the best before date of a fresh VOO. These predictive models disclosed the chemical compounds responsible for the compositional changes in VOO due to hydrolytic and oxidative degradation taking place during its storage, and confirmed that light and increasing temperature enhance these processes. The presence of characteristic resonances of hydroperoxides (primary oxidation products) and the decrease of 1H signals assigned to phenolic compounds, mainly secoiridoid derivatives, and other minor compounds such as fatty acids, squalene and native (E)-2-hexenal present in fresh VOO revealed its oxidative degradation. Further, the emergence of low intensity 1H signals of saturated aldehydes meant that the secondary oxidation process has started at a low rate and yield. Moreover, the decrease of the 1H signals of triacylglycerides and sn-1,2-diacylglycerides, and the increase of sn-1,3-diacylglycerides indicated that hydrolytic degradation of VOO and diacylglyceride isomerisation was occurring. 1H NMR fingerprint of VOO together with pattern recognition techniques afford relevant information to assess the quality of VOOs taking into consideration legal, sensory and health-promoting aspects.

Central role of 70-kDa heat shock protein in adaptation of plants to drought stress

The 70-kDa heat shock proteins (HSP70s) are a conserved class of chaperones that play critical roles during the normal life cycle of plants. HSP70s are particularly involved in the regulation of biotic and abiotic stress responses. In this paper, the potential roles of this protein were investigated. A reverse genetic approach was employed for transient silencing of hsp70 gene in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) to evaluate different growth and physiological parameters under normal conditions and during the response to drought stress. A combined ANOVA (analysis of variance) and HCA (hierarchical clustering analysis) showed that hsp70 silencing led to severe growth retardation and mortality, significant membrane damage and leakage, decline in relative water content, low rate of pigment accumulation, and reduced antioxidant enzyme activity under normal and drought stress conditions. Among the different parameters, proline was the only trait that was unaffected by gene silencing and accumulated by similar amounts to that of nonsilent plants. In conclusion, HSP70 played critical roles in maintaining the cellular homeostasis of plants during adaptation to drought and under normal plant life conditions. It was speculated that proline was, to some extent, involved in improving the loss of protein folding or function resulting from HSP70 deficiency, and played a crucial role in the adaptation of plants on exposure to stress.

New technology to assess sleep apnea: wearables, smartphones, and accessories.

Sleep medicine has been an expanding discipline during the last few decades. The prevalence of sleep disorders is increasing, and sleep centers are expanding in hospitals and in the private care environment to meet the demands. Sleep medicine has evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. However, the number of sleep centers and caregivers in this area is not sufficient. Many new methods for recording sleep and diagnosing sleep disorders have been developed. Many sleep disorders are chronic conditions and require continuous treatment and monitoring of therapy success. Cost-efficient technologies for the initial diagnosis and for follow-up monitoring of treatment are important. It is precisely here that telemedicine technologies can meet the demands of diagnosis and therapy follow-up studies. Wireless recording of sleep and related biosignals allows diagnostic tools and therapy follow-up to be widely and remotely available. Moreover, sleep research requires new technologies to investigate underlying mechanisms in the regulation of sleep in order to better understand the pathophysiology of sleep disorders. Home recording and non-obtrusive recording over extended periods of time with telemedicine methods support this research. Telemedicine allows recording with little subject interference under normal and experimental life conditions.

Comparative morphological characteristic of line WAG fetus and newborn rats’ adrenal cortex

Objective – to compare the morphological status of adrenals of newborns and fetuses of WAG-line rats under normal conditions of life of healthy mothers.Materials and methods. As laboratory animals WAG-line rats were used. Pregnant rats were kept in physiological conditions, wherein part of females was removed from an experiment in the later stages of gestation in order to extract the fetuses for further study and from the rest of females the offspring were obtained, which at the end of the first days after birth was removed from an experiment.Results and discussion. In the adrenal cortex of offspring of WAG-line rats under normal conditions of life of healthy mother during the first days of postnatal life significant morphological changes are generated compared with the adrenal glands of the fetus. After birth the adrenal weight decreases rapidly due to the involution of fetal cortex, despite high levels of corticotropin, which is the regulator of the secretion of the fetal zone steroids.Conclusions. In the early postnatal period in the adrenal cortex of newborn rats occurs frank distensibility of zona fasciculata affected by incarceration of glomerular and reticular zone. In the glomerular zone positive increase in the absolute index of its width, increase of density of cells in 1 mm2, increase of area of endocrine cells and their nuclei were detected (P<0.001). For the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex of rats offspring, that lived one day, compared with fetuses, severe hyperplasia is defini­tive. Herewith the area of spongiocytes and their nuclei was significantly reduced (P<0.01).

Economic evaluation of damage from natural disasters

More frequent disasters are becoming a cause of greater damage to states and regions of the world. Correct economic evaluation of these losses is a topical scientific and practical problem. Its solution allows us to measure and understand, on the one hand, the scale and depth of the consequences of the effect of this factor on the stability and dynamics of socioeconomic development and the security of specific territories and, on the other hand, the volume and structure of the needs for resources necessary to mitigate these consequences and restore (maintain) normal life conditions. This article presents an analytical overview of domestic and international approaches to the economic evaluation of losses and damage from natural disasters; the author’s approach to the evaluation of direct, indirect, and full damage is presented.

Radiological Evaluation of Lumbar Instability

Lumbar instability of the lumbar spine is thought to be a possible mechanical mechanism underlying low back pain and is often an important factor in determining surgical indication for spinal fusion and decompression. Instability of the lumbar spine, however, remains a poorly understood subject. Clinical presentation is not specific, and the relationship between radiologic imaging of instability and its symptoms is controversial. Because of its simplicity, low expense, and pervasive availability, functional flexion-extension radiography is the most thoroughly studied and the most widely used method in the imaging diagnosis of lumbar intervertebral instability. In this article, we provide an overview of the current concepts of vertebral instability, focusing on degenerative lumbar intervertebral instability, and review the different imaging modalities most indicated in diagnosing vertebral instability. The spine is made up of described as locomotive segments, consisting of two vertebrae and the interconnecting soft tissue. In normal conditions of daily life, the spine is able to meet essential functional requirements: strength, mobility, and stability. Spinal stability is defined as the ability for the vertebrae to maintain their relationship and limit their relative displacements during physiologic postures and loads. The requirement of stability is essential to the spinal column to prevent premature mechanical and biologic deterioration of its components. It is also fundamental to protect the spinal cord and nerve roots and to minimize energy expenditure. One important mechanical function of the lumbar spine is to support the upper body by transmitting compressive and shearing forces to the lower body during the performance of everyday activities. To enable the successful transmission of these forces, mechanical stability of the spinal system must be ensured. Stability of the lumbar spine as a whole is maintained by the cooperation of disks, joints, ligaments, and muscles. Degenerative processes in the disk and facet joints affect the stability of the motion segment. Although segmental instability is often used synonymously with degenerative spondylolisthesis, it is clear there are numerous other conditions that are potentially unstable (spinal acute trauma, surgery, spondylolysis, tumors, or infections).

Réévaluation transanatomique du jacksonisme. Les maladies mentales sont-elles une maladie des synapses ?

John Hughlings Jackson, an English neurologist of the 19th century, proposed that the nervous system was organised as a hierarchical system of three anatomical layers corresponding to a functional hierarchy. The concepts introduced in this description, for the most part in antinomic form, turned out to be fruitful for psychology and psychopathology: psychic evolution/dissolution, simplicity/complexity, organisation/disorganisation, stability/instability, automatism/intentionality, inhibition/disinhibition, brain topology, and Darwinian selection of the most stable states. Henri Ey's adaptation of this architectonic model to the psyche and conscience, which he called organodynamics, required making modifications such as including the intervention of nerve connections between the various brain areas, designated by the term “transanatomical sets”. The most recent synaptic and neuronal models of conscience (J.-P. Changeux, G. Edelman) are presented briefly and include the “selective stabilisation of synapses”. Neurotransmitter anomalies in psychopathy; immunity, inflammatory and synaptic anomalies of certain acute psychoses; and the modifications of synaptic connections after electrical stimulation of the brain are also presented. The convergence of this theoretical and experimental data leads to a discussion of the hypothesis according to which mental diseases might be “synaptic diseases”. Are mental diseases “synaptic diseases” and more specifically, are they “diseases of synaptic connections”? Experimental evidence has shown that synapses are selectively eliminated or stabilized under normal life conditions, in response to stimuli (J.-P. Changeux). The hypothesis that the same is true when the stimuli are pathogenic, seems logical (neurosis, stress), their repetition stabilising dysfunctional circuits. We have just seen that immunity and inflammatory brain anomalies, and anomalies consecutive to electrical stimulation of the brain are also associated with morphological modifications of synapses. In addition, I have proposed elsewhere a “theory of accessory pathways”: Mental pressure, harassment, post-traumatic stress states and ritual actions appear to promote the construction and reorganisation of neuronal networks, which appear to become set under the effect of repetition. Thus, new neuronal networks, and in particular circumventing circuits, could be set up and be stabilised in the form of accessory pathways as with the bundle of Kent in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. It is supposed that when these accessory pathways become dominant, the patient will lose all critical ability, particularly with respect to himself. Dynamic synaptic modifications (destruction, reconstruction and new connections) could be the basis for such a mechanism, particularly under the effect of pathogenic stimuli, of immune and inflammatory reactions or of neuronal excitation, such as the ones studied above. Psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapies are likely to facilitate the regeneration of synaptic connections or the induction of new ones, and their stabilisation. This possibility would support the notion that mental diseases could be “synaptic diseases”, and diseases of synaptic connections in particular. But, this would only the pathophysiological cause, and would leave unexplained the mechanism whereby the mind, as a non material entity, induces biochemical modifications in the neuronal substrate: this could be the case in Janet's “psychasthenia” or with loss of the “life force” (Bergson), which would be “non material causes” of the biochemical, physiological, immunological and inflammatory modifications observed in these mental diseases. Unless we consider, as William James does and as the Changeux and Edelman models suggest, that the mind, and in particular conscience, is only a process resulting from the activity of neuronal circuits, which are damaged in mental disorders. Nicolaï Hartmann's architectonic model, “hierarchical stratification of forms that obey the rule of relative dependence, due to their ontological organisation”, can be presented as follows: the lower layers of psychic structures depend on the upper layers, and the upper layers reciprocally depend on the lower layers. Henri Ey has used this organisation of psychic structures in his concept of “transanatomical sets”. I give these transanatomical entities a dual meaning: they represent on the one hand the organic basis for psychological and psychopathological processes, and on the other hand, the non material psychogenic substance that H. Ey calls “psychic forces” and Henri Bergson “life force”. But, in this article, I wish to develop almost exclusively the notion of transanatomical sets in their relationship to the biological basis for psychopathy, particularly at the cellular and synaptic level.

Estimation of Future Glucose Concentrations with Subject-Specific Recursive Linear Models

Estimation of future glucose concentrations is a crucial task for diabetes management. Predicted glucose values can be used for early hypoglycemic/hyperglycemic alarms or for adjustment of insulin injections or insulin infusion rates of manual or automated pumps. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technologies provide glucose readings at a high frequency and consequently detailed insight into the subject's glucose variations. The objective of this research is to develop reliable subject-specific glucose prediction models using CGM data. Two separate patient databases collected under hospitalized (disturbance-free) and normal daily life conditions are used for validation of the proposed glucose prediction algorithm. Both databases consist of glucose concentration data collected at 5-min intervals using a CGM device. Using time-series analysis, low-order linear models are developed from patients' own CGM data. The time-series models are integrated with recursive identification and change detection methods, which enables dynamic adaptation of the model to inter-/intra-subject variability and glycemic disturbances. Prediction performance is evaluated in terms of glucose prediction error and Clarke Error Grid analysis (CG-EGA). Prediction errors are significantly reduced with recursive identification of the models, and predictions are further improved with inclusion of a parameter change detection method. CG-EGA analysis results in accurate readings of 90% or more. Subject-specific glucose prediction strategy has been developed. Including a change detection method to the recursive algorithm improves the prediction accuracy. The proposed modeling algorithm with small number of parameters is a good candidate for installation in portable devices for early hypoglycemic/hyperglycemic alarms and for closing the glucose regulation loop with an insulin pump.

Physical Activity into the Meal Glucose—Insulin Model of Type 1 Diabetes: In Silico Studies

A simulation model of a glucose-insulin system accounting for physical activity is needed to reliably simulate normal life conditions, thus accelerating the development of an artificial pancreas. In fact, exercise causes a transient increase of insulin action and may lead to hypoglycemia. However, physical activity is difficult to model. In the past, it was described indirectly as a rise in insulin. Recently, a new parsimonious model of exercise effect on glucose homeostasis has been proposed that links the change in insulin action and glucose effectiveness to heart rate (HR). The aim of this study was to plug this exercise model into our recently proposed large-scale simulation model of glucose metabolism in type 1 diabetes to better describe normal life conditions. The exercise model describes changes in glucose-insulin dynamics in two phases: a rapid on-and-off change in insulin-independent glucose clearance and a rapid-on/slow-off change in insulin sensitivity. Three candidate models of glucose effectiveness and insulin sensitivity as a function of HR have been considered, both during exercise and recovery after exercise. By incorporating these three models into the type 1 diabetes model, we simulated different levels (from mild to moderate) and duration of exercise (15 and 30 minutes), both in steady-state (e.g., during euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp) and in nonsteady state (e.g., after a meal) conditions. One candidate exercise model was selected as the most reliable. A type 1 diabetes model also describing physical activity is proposed. The model represents a step forward to accurately describe glucose homeostasis in normal life conditions; however, further studies are needed to validate it against data.

The neurological phenotype of ataxia-telangiectasia: Solving a persistent puzzle

Human genomic instability syndromes affect the nervous system to different degrees of severity, attesting to the vulnerability of the CNS to perturbations of genomic integrity and the DNA damage response (DDR). Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a typical genomic instability syndrome whose major characteristic is progressive neuronal degeneration but is also associated with immunodeficiency, cancer predisposition and acute sensitivity to ionizing radiation and radiomimetic chemicals. A-T is caused by loss or inactivation of the ATM protein kinase, which mobilizes the complex, multi-branched cellular response to double strand breaks in the DNA by phosphorylating numerous DDR players. The link between ATM's function in the DDR and the neuronal demise in A-T has been questioned in the past. However, recent studies of the ATM-mediated DDR in neurons suggest that the neurological phenotype in A-T is indeed caused by deficiency in this function, similar to other features of the disease. Still, major issues concerning this phenotype remain open, including the presumed differences between the DDR in post-mitotic neurons and proliferating cells, the nature of the damage that accumulates in the DNA of ATM-deficient neurons under normal life conditions, the mode of death of ATM-deficient neurons, and the lack of a major neuronal phenotype in the mouse model of A-T. A-T remains a prototype disease for the study of the DDR's role in CNS development and maintenance.

Reconstruction of Glucose in Plasma from Interstitial Fluid Continuous Glucose Monitoring Data: Role of Sensor Calibration

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensors measure glucose concentration in the interstitial fluid (ISF). Equilibration between plasma and ISF glucose is not instantaneous. Therefore, ISF and plasma glucose concentrations exhibit different dynamic patterns, particularly during rapid changes. The purpose of this work was to investigate how well plasma glucose can be reconstructed from ISF CGM data. Six diabetic volunteers were monitored for 2 days using the TheraSense FreeStyle Navigator (Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, CA), a minimally invasive device that, on the basis of an initial calibration procedure (hereafter referred to as standard calibration), returns ISF glucose concentration. Simultaneously, plasma glucose concentration was also measured every 15 minutes. First we identified, in each subject, the linear time-invariant (LTI) two-compartment model of plasma-interstitium kinetics. Then, a nonparametric regularization deconvolution method was used to reconstruct plasma from ISF glucose. Deconvoluted profiles were always closer to plasma glucose than ISF ones. However, the quality of the reconstruction is unsatisfactory. Some visible discrepancies between average plasma and ISF time series suggest problems either in the applicability of the LTI model of plasma-interstitium kinetics to normal life conditions or in the standard calibration with which ISF glucose is determined from the sensor internal readings. Assuming that the LTI model of plasma-interstitium kinetics is correct, we focused on the influence of calibration and we employed a recently proposed method to recalibrate ISF data. After the recalibration step, the relative error in reconstructing plasma glucose was reduced significantly. Results also demonstrate that further margins of improvement of plasma glucose reconstruction are possible by developing more sophisticated recalibration procedures.

GIM, Simulation Software of Meal Glucose—Insulin Model

A simulation model of the glucose-insulin system in normal life conditions can be very useful in diabetes research, e.g., testing insulin infusion algorithms and decision support systems and assessing glucose sensor performance and patient and student training. A new meal simulation model has been proposed that incorporates state-of-the-art quantitative knowledge on glucose metabolism and its control by insulin at both organ/tissue and whole-body levels. This article presents the interactive simulation software GIM (glucose insulin model), which implements this model. The model is implemented in MATLAB, version 7.0.1, and is designed with a windows interface that allows the user to easily simulate a 24-hour daily life of a normal, type 2, or type 1 diabetic subject. A Simulink version is also available. Three meals a day are considered. Both open- and closed-loop controls are available for simulating a type 1 diabetic subject. Software options are described in detail. Case studies are presented to illustrate the potential of the software, e.g., compare a normal subject vs an insulin-resistant subject or open-loop vs closed-loop insulin infusion in type 1 diabetes treatment. User-friendly software that implements a state-of-the-art physiological model of the glucose-insulin system during a meal has been presented. The GIM graphical interface makes its use extremely easy for investigators without specific expertise in modeling.

Ambulatory system for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of gait and posture in chronic pain patients treated with spinal cord stimulation.

The physical activity in normal daily life is determined to a large extent by the functional ability of a subject. As a result, the measurement of the physical activity that a subject performs spontaneously could be a useful and objective measurement of disability, particularly in patients with disease-related functional impairment. The aim of this study is to provide an accurate method for the measurement and analysis of the physical activity under normal life conditions. Using three kinematical sensors strapped to the body, both the posture and the gait parameters can be assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. A detailed description of the algorithms used to analyse both the posture and the gait are presented in this paper. Two methods, based on different sensor configurations and signal processing, are proposed for the detection of sitting and standing postures (Methods P1 and P2). Two other methods are used for the quantitative assessment of walking (Methods W1 and W2). The performance of the algorithms (expressed in terms of sensitivity, specificity and error) is based on the comparison of data recorded simultaneously by a non-interfering observer (reference data) with the data provided by the recording system (21 patients, 61 h). Sensitivity and specificity are respectively 98.2% and 98.8% (P1), 97.8% and 98.1% (P2) for sitting; 98.0% and 98.5% (P1), 97.4% and 97.8% (P2) for standing; 97.1% and 97.9% (W1), 92.4% and 94.9% (W2) for walking; and finally, 99.2% and 98.6% for lying. Overall detection errors (as a percent of range) are as follows: 1.15% (P1) and 1.20% (P2) for sitting, 1.36% (P1) and 1.40% (P2) for standing, 1.20% (W1) and 1.60% (W2) for walking and 0.40% for lying. The error for the estimated walking distance and the speed is 6.8% and 9.6%, respectively. We conclude that both methods can be used for the accurate measurement of the basic physical activity in normal daily life. Measurements performed before and after the delivery of a treatment can therefore provide information of unprecedented accuracy and objectivity on the ability of a procedure, in this case spinal cord stimulation, to restore functional capabilities.

Insulin Release in Impaired Glucose Tolerance

The availability of quantitative indexes describing beta-cell function in normal life conditions is important for the characterization of impaired mechanisms of insulin secretion in pathophysiological states. Recently, an oral C-peptide minimal model has been proposed and applied to subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) during graded up-and-down glucose infusion protocols (40-min periods at 4, 8, 16, 8, 4, and 0 mg.kg(-1).min(-1)) and oral glucose tolerance tests. These tests are characterized by slow glucose and C-peptide dynamics, which reproduce prandial conditions. In view of the importance of beta-cell dysfunction in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, our aim was to test and use the oral minimal model in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) to identify deranged mechanisms of beta-cell function. Plasma C-peptide and glucose data from graded up-and-down glucose infusions were analyzed in nine NGT and four IGT subjects using the classic deconvolution approach and the oral minimal model, and indexes of beta-cell function were derived. An index of insulin sensitivity was also obtained for each subject from minimal model analysis of glucose and insulin levels achieved during the test. Both deconvolution and minimal model analyses revealed that individuals with IGT have a relative defect in the ability to secrete enough insulin to adequately compensate for insulin resistance. Additionally, minimal model analysis suggests that insulin secretory defect in IGT arises from delays in the timing of the beta-cell response to glucose.

The dimensions, characteristics and functions of the crystalline style of molluscs

Recent findings concerning the crystalline style dimensions in different species of bivalves under normal or unfavorable life conditions, which lead to the partial or total dissolution of the crystalline style, were analyzed. The rate of the crystalline style total dissolution in media with different pH values and under different conditions was assessed. A variety of functions and the main physical and chemical characteristics of the crystalline styles, as well as the role and contents of digestive enzymes in them, are discussed.