bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Microalbumin Status in Relation to Glycated Haemoglobin and Duration of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Acharya Kumananda , Regmi Sangita , Sapkota Alina Shri , Raut Mithileshwer , Jha Bharat
Published: March 2015

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of  the most common endocrine disorders, characterized by hyperglycemia. Diabetic nephropathy is a consequence of long- standing diabetes and urinary microalbumin (Uma) status predicts progression to diabetic nephropathy. This study was conducted to know the status of Uma in relation to duration of diabetes and HbA1c level in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from July 1, 2014 to January 15, 2015 at TUTH, Kathmandu. Ninety-six known T2DM patients with age 35– 83 years were included in the study. EDTA venous blood and spot urine sample were collected for analysis of HbA1c and Uma respectively. Only those patients having HbA1c concentration ≥ 6.3% and duration of diabetes ≥ 6 months were included under the study. RESULTS: Overall prevalence of microalbuminuria (MAU) was 39.6 %. MAU had a highly significant correlation with duration of diabetes (r =0.471, p<0.05). Present study has shown positive correlation of MAU with HbA1c level, although statistically insignificant (r=0.245, p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Prolonged exposure to hyperglycemia-induced advanced glycosylation end products accumulations contributes for the development of MAU. So, duration of diabetes mellitus is main contributing factor for the development of MAU rather than HbA1c level alone. Screening for MAU to prevent renal impairment and measuring HbA1c level on a regular basis for good glycemic control are important in diabetic patients. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/acclm.v1i1.12310 Ann. Clin. Chem. & Lab. Med. 1(1) 2015: 21-24
Lipid profile in patients with alcohol dependence syndrome
Authors: Raut Mithileshwer , Regmi Prashant , Ojha Saroj Prasad , Jha Bharat
Published: March 2015

BACKGROUND: Alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) has become a global public health challenge because of its high prevalence and the concomitant increase in risk of liver disease, cardiovascular disease and premature death. Influence of alcohol use on lipid metabolism is well recognized. Investigations had been carried out in the earlier period on abnormal lipid profile as a risk factor for Coronary Heart disease (CHD). Patients of alcohol dependence usually have a consumption pattern of more heavy use. Therefore it is useful to study the lipid profile in patients of alcohol dependence, to understand the effects of increasing levels of consumption. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in TU Teaching Hospital. ADS patients were screened by the consultant psychiatrist using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire. A total of 89 patients scored positive on the AUDIT as having alcohol-related problems and were included in the study. 89 ADS patients and 89 healthy controls both male and female were enrolled as participants. Blood Pressure and other anthropometric parameters were measured while fasting blood samples were analyzed for serum lipid profile. SPSS program was used to analyze data, t-test & Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to find correlation. RESULTS: Among the ADS cases 95% were current smokers. Mean age of cases and controls was 35.42±5.6 & 34.53±3.5 years respectively. The mean total cholesterol levels were found to be higher in cases (5.41±0.70) than controls (3.79±0.74) with a strong statistical significance (p<0.001). Also, Mean triglyceride (TG) levels (2.09±0.72), along with the mean HDL-cholesterol (1.66±0.40) and LDL-cholesterol levels (2.79±0.81) were also elevated in cases when compared to the control samples (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: This study has demonstrated definitive lipid profile changes in patients of alcohol dependence, with some correlation to the liver dysfunction. Alcohol causes alteration in various parameters of lipid metabolism including those which predispose to CHD. Low to moderate alcohol use over prolonged periods has been linked to have protective influence for development of coronary heart disease (CHD), through increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/acclm.v1i1.12312 Ann. Clin. Chem. & Lab. Med. 1(1) 2015: 29-32
Types of Dyslipidemia in Type 2 DM Patients of Bhubaneswar region
Authors: Bhatt Rajendra Dev , Lochan Kamal
Published: March 2015

BACKGROUND: A characteristic pattern, termed dyslipidemia, consists of deranged of any single components of lipid profile test. This pattern is most frequently seen in diabetes and may be a preventable risk factor for subsequent cardiovascular disease. This study determined the influence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on lipid profile of diabetic patients reporting in a tertiary hospital in Bhubaneswar, India. METHODS: 50 confirmed T2DM patients and 50 non-diabetic control subjects were selected for the study. Fasting and 2 hours post prandial blood samples were collected from both study and control patients. Fasting blood sample was analyzed for lipid profile test and serum glucose, and post prandial sample was analyzed for serum glucose only. RESULTS: Sixty two (62%) of diabetic patients were males whilst thirty eight (38%) were females in this study. The mean plasma glucose levels, Total cholesterol and Triacylglycerol were significantly raised in the diabetics as compared to those in the control subjects. This is substantiated by the fact that the entire lipid fractions are disturbed in diabetics as compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Thus dyslipidemia was quite common in diabetes and Hypertriglyceridemia was the most common one. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/acclm.v1i1.12313 Ann. Clin. Chem. & Lab. Med. 1(1) 2015: 33-36
A cross-sectional study of lung functions in traffic police personnel at work in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Authors: Shrestha Hari Sunder , Nepal Ojashwi , Khanal Kishor , Kapoor Bhoopinder Kumar
Published: March 2015

BACKGROUND: The present study was aimed to assess pulmonary functions in the traffic police personnel (TPP) posted on traffic duty in Kathmandu valley, Nepal. METHODS: The study group consisted of 17 females and 89 males, constituting 16% and 84% of the total police personnel studied, respectively. In the control group of 25 individuals, 16% (n=4) were female and 84% (n=21) were male. Portable desktop spirometer was used for the pulmonary function test (PFT) measurements. RESULTS: It is seen that in females as compared to males, PFT parameters show a significant decrease. One-way ANOVA conducted to compare the effect of duration of air pollution exposure showed that there is a significant variation in PFT parameters among the groups. The exposure duration has significant effect on the PFT parameters. CONCLUSION: Greater the officers are engaged in traffic duty for years, greater is the decrement in their lung functions test. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/acclm.v1i1.12315 Ann. Clin. Chem. & Lab. Med. 1(1) 2015: 42-48
Urban Traffic State Explained by Road Networks and Spatial Variance
Authors: Zou Haixiang , Yue Yang , Li Qing-Quan
Published: March 2015

The urban traffic state is a self-organized behavior constrained by the road network structure. This study proposed an empirical approach to explain the relationship between the urban traffic state and road network structure from a spatial perspective, which was verified by real link travel speeds derived from floating car data in a typical urban road network. The characteristics of the road network structure were investigated with five quantitative indicators: hierarchy, adjacency, accessibility, efficiency, and density. A regression-kriging model was introduced to explain changes in the traffic state by incorporating the road network structure and the spatial variance caused by the significant spatial characteristics of the state of urban traffic. The model was applied to two designed typical scenarios. The results demonstrated that the model sensitively captured the change of traffic state caused by local changes in the road network structure at historical periods of city development. The process can provide robust initial values for model-driven transportation planning and is useful in practical decision making.
Modeling Parking Search on a Network by Using Stochastic Shortest Paths with History Dependence
Authors: Tang Shoupeng , Rambha Tarun , Hatridge Reese , Boyles Stephen D. , Unnikrishnan Avinash
Published: March 2015

A substantial amount of urban traffic is related to drivers searching for parking. This study developed an online stochastic shortest path model to represent the parking search process in which drivers must choose whether to park at an available space or continue searching for a space closer to their destination. Existing online shortest path algorithms had been formulated for the full-reset or no-reset assumptions on revisiting links. As described in this paper, neither assumption was fully suitable for the parking search process. Accordingly, this paper proposes an asymptotic reset model that generalizes the full-reset and no-reset cases and uses the concept of reset rate to characterize the temporal dependence of parking probabilities on earlier observations. In this model, drivers try to minimize their expected travel cost, which includes the driving cost and the cost of walking from a parking spot to the actual destination conditioned on the parking availability on m most recently traversed links. The problem was formulated as a Markov decision process and was demonstrated with a network representing the neighborhood of the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie. The case study successfully shows the extra time used by drivers to cruise for an acceptable parking space and illustrates the impact of m on the computation effort required to compute an optimal policy.
Sample-Based Algorithm to Determine Minimum Robust Cost Path with Correlated Link Travel Times
Authors: Prakash Arun , Srinivasan Karthik K.
Published: March 2015

Travel time reliability is an important and desirable property in route and departure time choice, especially for a risk-averse traveler. Thus, optimizing for reliability has seen growing interest in the recent past in transportation and also in the fields of computer science, stochastic optimization, and so forth. The present study addressed reliability optimization under uncertainty, in which travel time distributions were represented with a sample. The weighted mean–standard deviation measure (robust cost) was adopted as a metric of reliability. The minimum robust cost path problem with link travel times following a general correlation structure was addressed. A sampling-based approach, which had been relatively unused, was adopted from the literature to capture and represent spatial correlations. A novel network transformation and pruning procedure was proposed to determine an exact solution to the problem while circumventing the high dimensionality of the formulations in the literature. Computation experiments demonstrated the efficacy of the algorithm on real-world networks. The impact of the sample approximation on finding the true optimal solution of the population was quantified and found to be acceptable.
Simulation-Based Method for Finding Minimum Travel Time Budget Paths in Stochastic Networks with Correlated Link Times
Authors: Zockaie Ali , Nie Yu M. , Mahmassani Hani S.
Published: March 2015

The aim of this study was to solve the minimum path travel time budget (MPTTB) problem, in which the travel time budget was the reliability index. This index was defined as the sum of the mean path travel time and the scaled standard deviation, which included the covariance matrix to consider correlation. Two existing solution methods in the literature, the outer approximation algorithm and Monte Carlo simulation method, were applied to solve the MPTTB problem. The former method approximated the hard nonlinear constraint of the MPTTB problem by a series of linear cuts generated iteratively and repeatedly solved a mixed integer program. The latter method, which was a simulation-based method, included two stages. The first stage founded a set of candidate paths, and the second stage generated the distribution of travel times for the existing paths in the candidate set. The numerical results for these two solution methods were conducted on the Chicago sketch network, and results showed that the methods found comparable solutions though they have respective advantages and drawbacks. Although the outer approximation algorithm demonstrated promising performance, it still relied on repeatedly solving a mixed integer program (subproblem) with a commercial solver, which could be a challenging task in its own right. The simulation-based method offers a good Plan B in the case in which other algorithms encounter difficulties.
Reducing Carbon Emissions with Multitrip Vehicle Mode
Authors: Yu Yang , Tang Jiafu , Zhang Yu , Yang Peiying , Li Jia
Published: March 2015

This study was based on the global demand for low-carbon development. The multitrip vehicle mode is a promising approach to reduce carbon emissions in the vehicle routing problem (VRP). It was hypothesized that emission reductions might be achieved by replacing the single-trip vehicle mode with a multitrip mode. To evaluate the carbon emissions reduction potential of the multitrip mode accurately over the single-trip mode, the set-partitioning formulation was used to obtain the optimal single-trip solution VRP with the minimal carbon emissions and to construct a trip-chain-oriented set-partitioning formulation to obtain the optimal multitrip solution VRP with minimal carbon emissions. The two set-partitioning formulations could be exactly solved by CPLEX. Through a comparison of the single-trip and multitrip carbon emissions for picking up and delivering customers to an airport service, which was a special case of the VRP, it can be concluded that the multitrip mode could reduce carbon emissions by approximately 16%. To identify the situations under which carbon emissions could be efficiently reduced by replacing the single-trip mode with the multitrip mode, the influence factors were analyzed. On the basis of experimental results, a summary is provided of several managerial insights that can be used to reduce carbon emissions successfully by implementing the multitrip mode.
Residential Permit Parking
Authors: Moylan Emily , Schabas Matthew , Deakin Elizabeth
Published: March 2015

Residential permit parking (RPP) programs are an often-used yet imperfect solution to parking spillover concerns in residential neighborhoods. A common form of RPP allows residents to purchase stickers that permit unlimited on-street parking but imposes short time limits on nonresident parkers. These programs succeed in general to protect on-street spaces for residents but raise concerns about costs, enforcement difficulties, and inefficiencies if parking goes unused. The concept also raises issues about the equity of favoring resident parkers over others. New technologies (e.g., license plate readers, variable pricing, pay-by-phone systems) may provide new forms of residential parking management to upgrade or replace the older programs. The study presented in this paper developed a set of metrics to evaluate the success of RPP programs. The metrics were applied to a case study of parking in three residential neighborhoods on the south side of Berkeley, California, adjacent to several activity centers, which included three shopping corridors and the University of California's Berkeley campus. At the time of the study, the parking system in Berkeley's residential neighborhoods allowed nonresidents to park for up to 2 h, free of charge, while residents with a city-issued sticker displayed on their vehicles could park for unlimited amounts of time. This design was one commonly used in residential parking policy. The study found that this system worked well for residents but limited availability for nonresidents who had justifiable reasons to park on the neighborhood streets. Many blocks within the study area were underused, and, in this context, the introduction of longer-term pay parking for nonresidents in the residential neighborhood was found to be a better alternative to RPP.
Impact of Parking Prices and Transit Fares on Mode Choice at the University of California, Berkeley
Authors: Proulx Frank Roland , Cavagnolo Brian , Torres-Montoya Mariana
Published: March 2015

The University of California, Berkeley, and the City of Berkeley sought to reduce single-occupancy-vehicle commute trips to the campus as a means to reduce negative transportation externalities and to fulfill their environmental emissions reduction goals. This paper reports on the evaluation of policy scenarios to assess the potential impact of parking pricing and transit fare subsidies on the overall mode share of the University of California, Berkeley, community. A mode and parking choice model was developed on the basis of a biennial campuswide transportation and housing survey; policy alternatives were tested with a sample enumeration. The discrete choice model selected for policy analysis was a nested logit model calibrated on a randomly selected subsample of n 5 3,371 individuals and validated against the remaining 814 campus commuters. Factors found to influence mode choice significantly in this model included travel times and costs, gender, student status, age older than 70, and home location topography. Campus affiliates also appeared to have a predisposition to walk, which likely reflected the large student population that lived close to campus. A drive-alone value of time of approximately $30 per hour was calculated. Policy scenario tests suggested that, to spur a significant mode shift away from that of driving alone, parking pricing reforms would need to be used in tandem with incentives to use alternative modes. Such an approach might garner additional political support, especially if commuters who drove alone received the indirect benefits of transit subsidies, such as reduced congestion and a less competitive parking market. Policies designed to mitigate the regressive impacts of parking fees were tested also.
Parking in Urban Centers
Authors: McCahill Christopher , Haerter-Ratchford Jessica , Garrick Norman , Atkinson-Palombo Carol
Published: March 2015

Most U.S. cities specify minimum parking requirements in local zoning codes, even in areas served by a variety of travel options. Little work has been done to understand how aggregate parking supplies compare with requirements in urban areas or to evaluate the potential impacts of parking requirements met in such places. The research reported here tracked changes in parking supplies and the built environment in six urban business districts between 1960 and 2000. The work also summarized parking requirements in each city and compared those requirements with actual supplies. This research demonstrated that parking requirements could be met only through a combination of costly parking infrastructure and considerable commitments of land. In half of the cities studied (i.e., those with the more stringent parking requirements) off-street parking supply ratios increased by 150% to 300%; the increase required comparable amounts of land but still fell short of areawide parking requirements. Through quantification of existing parking supplies in urban areas and evaluation of the potential impacts of increases in those supplies, this work offers guidance and justification for the establishment of parking standards that conform to long-term transportation and development goals.
Modeling of Multifamily Residential Parking Use in King County, Washington
Authors: Rowe Daniel , Morse Stephanie , Ratchford Craig , Haas Peter , Becker Sofia
Published: March 2015

Multifamily residential buildings often provide too much parking, which can be an impediment to a wide range of community goals. An over-supply of parking can have deleterious effects on economic development, consumers, the community at large, and the environment. Despite a recent surge in research, a lack of consensus still exists on the factors that drive demand for parking in multifamily buildings across a variety of urban and suburban contexts. Although sociodemographic, housing, and built environment variables have all been shown to have an impact on residential parking and vehicle availability, their relative influence is a source of debate. This research identified independent variables to be tested in a regression analysis of 208 multifamily parking use studies conducted in King County, Washington, in 2012. Parking use was correlated to building characteristics as well as to the neighborhood in which the building resided. The final model derived from this regression analysis contained a goodness of fit with an R2 value of 81.0% and incorporated seven variables: five pertained to the property or development characteristics and two to the built environment, specifically to access. The results of this study were intended for use by practitioners on an interactive website tool, the King County Multi-Family Residential Parking Calculator ( www.rightsizeparking.org ), which condensed the research findings into a simple, map-based format, accessible to a wide variety of stakeholders.
Transportation Deficiencies for Older Adults in Seoul, South Korea
Authors: Kim Joon-Ki , Ulfarsson Gudmundur F. , Sohn Keemin
Published: March 2015

South Korea expects a nearly tenfold increase between 2000 and 2018 in its share of adults older than 65 years of age. This population is likely to experience deficiencies in its transportation options as its physical abilities deteriorate, which will necessitate new policies to provide mobility for older adults. This study investigated deficiencies in transportation for a representative sample of 812 individuals, 65 years or older, surveyed in 2011 in Seoul, South Korea. The survey contained 160 questions about individual, household, transportation, and built environment characteristics. The respondents that occasionally or frequently could not engage in desired out-of-home activities because of a lack of transportation options were defined as transportation deficient, compared with those that indicated that they never or rarely lacked transportation. The probability of transportation deficiency decreased for older adults who knew how reach destinations on public transportation, lived within walking distance of the subway, lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, and lived within walking distance of places where they could meet other older adults. The probability of transportation deficiency increased for people who were 75 or older, had a physical disability, were male and had given up driving, had a low income, lived with children, and lived in areas with difficult conditions for pedestrians. The policy recommendations highlighted an improved pedestrian environment to facilitate walking, public transit improvements, and information systems that would make bus transit in particular a more viable option for older adults. Policies were needed to take into account the varied health and physical abilities of older adults.
Model-Based Estimation of Congestion-Related Travel Time Losses on Freeways
Authors: Geistefeldt Justin , Hohmann Sandra
Published: March 2015

For economic assessment of road infrastructure investments and evaluation of operational strategies, estimation of travel times is of particular importance. This paper introduces a two-component model to estimate total or average travel times on freeways. The model differentiates between travel times in fluid traffic conditions, which depend on the length of the segment, and congestion-related travel time losses, which depend only on the volume-to-capacity ratio of the bottleneck. On the basis of traffic data from 50 freeway sections in Germany, the total travel time losses from congestion occurring in 1 year are estimated by macroscopic simulation. With the simulation model, the travel time losses can be related to the volume-to-capacity ratio of the hour in which the congestion was caused. A model function was developed to represent the congestion-related travel time losses in relation to the volume-to-capacity ratio. The application of the model for the assessment of operational strategies is demonstrated for the example of hard-shoulder running on freeways.
Use of Data from Point Detectors and Automatic Vehicle Identification to Compare Instantaneous and Experienced Travel Times
Authors: Xiao Yan , Qom Somaye Fakharian , Hadi Mohammed , Al-Deek Haitham
Published: March 2015

Most traffic management centers use detector data to estimate instantaneous travel times. Interest is increasing in using automatic vehicle identification (AVI) readers to provide travel time measurements as well as in using predictive modeling of travel times. This study aimed to examine the differences between travel time estimation that was based on detector data versus those based on AVI data. In addition, the study compared instantaneous travel time estimates with experienced travel time estimates to determine the adequacy of disseminated instantaneous travel time information and, thus, the potential benefits of using predictive travel time modeling. The results showed that, for uncongested conditions, the difference between point detector- and AVI-based estimates and between instantaneous and experienced travel times was insignificant. During congested traffic conditions, the difference between estimates based on detector data and those based on AVI data (Bluetooth and electronic toll tag reader data) was about 6% to 17%. In addition, a difference of 10% to 20% existed between instantaneous and experienced travel times estimated from both the detector data and AVI data; this difference depended on the tested scenarios. The values of the differences between instantaneous and experienced travel times from both types of data sources are expected to be affected by the queue-forming and -dissipating speeds, route length, and the location of the congestion.
Grease ice in basin-scale sea-ice ocean models
Authors: Smedsrud Lars H. , Martin Torge
Published: March 2015

The first stage of sea-ice formation is often grease ice, a mixture of sea water and frazil ice crystals. Over time, grease ice typically congeals first to pancake ice floes and then to a solid sea-ice cover. Grease ice is commonly not explicitly simulated in basin-scale sea-ice ocean models, though it affects oceanic heat loss and ice growth and is expected to play a greater role in a more seasonally ice-covered Arctic Ocean. We present an approach to simulate the grease-ice layer with, as basic properties, the surface being at the freezing point, a frazil ice volume fraction of 25%, and a negligible change in the surface heat flux compared to open water. The latter governs grease-ice production, and a gradual transition to solid sea ice follows, with ∼50% of the grease ice solidifying within 24 hours. The new parameterization delays lead closing by solid ice formation, enhances oceanic heat loss in fall and winter, and produces a grease-ice layer that is variable in space and time. Results indicate a 10-30% increase in mean winter Arctic Ocean heat loss compared to a standard simulation, with instant lead closing leading to significantly enhanced ice growth.
Anatomy Educational Tools
Authors: Begum Shahanaz
Published: March 2015

Abstract not available DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bja.v12i1.22608 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy, January 2014, Vol. 12 No. 1 pp 01-02
Observational Study of Variations in Termination of the Common Bile Duct in Human Cadaver
Authors: Khan Laila Farzana , Naushaba Humaira , Ara Jubaida Gulshan
Published: March 2015

Context: The union of the distal portion of the common bile duct and the main pancreatic duct varies. They together may form short common channel or long common channel or may open separately into the second part of the duodenum. So detailed anatomical knowledge is essential for any surgical or endoscopic treatment of this region. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional descriptive type of study was carried out in the department of Anatomy, Sir Salimullah Medical College on sixty two (62) human cadaveric extra hepatic biliary apparatus with pancreatic duct. The samples were collected from unclaimed dead bodies that were under examination in the department of Forensic Medicine of Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka and Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka. The present study was conducted to observe the variations in termination of common bile duct with main pancreatic duct in human cadavers. Results: The common bile duct was found to unite with main pancreatic duct within the duodenal wall in 61.3% cases and outside the duodenal wall in 38.7% cases. Conclusion: The findings of the present study revealed that the termination of the common bile duct varies from individual to individual. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bja.v12i1.22611 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy, January 2014, Vol. 12 No. 1 pp 11-13
Listeners perceive prefixes differently: Evidence from a noise-rating task
Authors: Pycha Anne
Published: March 2015

When compared to suffixes, prefixes possess several distinctive but largely unexplained properties. This paper explores the idea that these properties might arise from a common source, namely discontinuous recognition of spoken prefixed words, in which listeners ‘skip’ to that portion of the speech stream which contains the root. If this occurs, listeners could potentially perceive prefixes very differently than roots and suffixes. We investigated this idea with a noise-rating task, which measures the extent to which noise subjectively interferes with speech. Using newly-coined derived English words as a stimuli, participants rated the loudness of white noise overlaid on portions of spoken words corresponding to prefixes, word-initial roots, or suffixes. Results indicate that participants gave overall higher loudness ratings to noise on prefixes compared to noise on suffixes. Furthermore, as signal-to-noise ratios decreased, participants increased their loudness ratings at greater rates for noise on roots compared to noise on prefixes. These results support the discontinuous hypothesis, and suggest that prefixed words introduce a perceptual bias which could explain the development of certain distinctive prefix characteristics over time.
Stat5 Exerts Distinct, Vital Functions in the Cytoplasm and Nucleus of Bcr-Abl+ K562 and Jak2(V617F)+ HEL Leukemia Cells
Authors: Weber Axel , Borghouts Corina , Brendel Christian , Moriggl Richard , Delis Natalia , Brill Boris , Vafaizadeh Vida , Groner Bernd
Published: March 2015

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (Stats) play central roles in the conversion of extracellular signals, e.g., cytokines, hormones and growth factors, into tissue and cell type specific gene expression patterns. In normal cells, their signaling potential is strictly limited in extent and duration. The persistent activation of Stat3 or Stat5 is found in many human tumor cells and contributes to their growth and survival. Stat5 activation plays a pivotal role in nearly all hematological malignancies and occurs downstream of oncogenic kinases, e.g., Bcr-Abl in chronic myeloid leukemias (CML) and Jak2(V617F) in other myeloproliferative diseases (MPD). We defined the mechanisms through which Stat5 affects growth and survival of K562 cells, representative of Bcr-Abl positive CML, and HEL cells, representative for Jak2(V617F) positive acute erythroid leukemia. In our experiments we suppressed the protein expression levels of Stat5a and Stat5b through shRNA mediated downregulation and demonstrated the dependence of cell survival on the presence of Stat5. Alternatively, we interfered with the functional capacities of the Stat5 protein through the interaction with a Stat5 specific peptide ligand. This ligand is a Stat5 specific peptide aptamer construct which comprises a 12mer peptide integrated into a modified thioredoxin scaffold, S5-DBD-PA. The peptide sequence specifically recognizes the DNA binding domain (DBD) of Stat5. Complex formation of S5-DBD-PA with Stat5 causes a strong reduction of P-Stat5 in the nuclear fraction of Bcr-Abl-transformed K562 cells and a suppression of Stat5 target genes. Distinct Stat5 mediated survival mechanisms were detected in K562 and Jak2(V617F)-transformed HEL cells. Stat5 is activated in the nuclear and cytosolic compartments of K562 cells and the S5-DBD-PA inhibitor most likely affects the viability of Bcr-Abl+ K562 cells through the inhibition of canonical Stat5 induced target gene transcription. In HEL cells, Stat5 is predominantly present in the cytoplasm and the survival of the Jak2(V617F)+ HEL cells is impeded through the inhibition of the cytoplasmic functions of Stat5.
A Comparison of Nonlinear Measures for the Detection of Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy from Heart Rate Variability
Authors: Cornforth David , Jelinek Herbert , Tarvainen Mika
Published: March 2015

In this work we compare three multiscale measures for their ability to discriminate between participants having cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) and aged controls. CAN is a disease that involves nerve damage leading to an abnormal control of heart rate, so one would expect disease progression to manifest in changes to heart rate variability (HRV). We applied multiscale entropy (MSE), multi fractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA), and Renyi entropy (RE) to recorded datasets of RR intervals. The latter measure provided the best separation (lowest p-value in Mann–Whitney tests) between classes of participants having CAN, early CAN or no CAN (controls). This comparison suggests the efficacy of RE as a measure for diagnosis of CAN and its progression, when compared to the other multiscale measures.
The Impact of a Mild Sub-Critical Hydrothermal Carbonization Pretreatment on Umbila Wood. A Mass and Energy Balance Perspective
Authors: Cuvilas Carlos , Kantarelis Efthymios , Yang Weihong
Published: March 2015

Over the last years, the pretreatment of biomass as a source of energy has become one of the most important steps of biomass conversion. In this work the effect of a mild subcritical hydrothermal carbonization of a tropical woody biomass was studied. Results indicate considerable change in carbon content from 52.78% to 65.1%, reduction of oxygen content from 41.14% to 28.72% and ash slagging and fouling potential. Even though decarboxylation, decarbonylation and dehydration reactions take place, dehydration is the one that prevails. The mass and energy balance was affected by the treatment conditions than the severity of the treatment.
Estimation of CO2 Transport Costs in South Korea Using a Techno-Economic Model
Authors: Kang Kwangu , Seo Youngkyun , Chang Daejun , Kang Seong-Gil , Huh Cheol
Published: March 2015

In this study, a techno–economic model was used to calculate the costs of CO2 transport and specify the major equipment required for transport in order to demonstrate and implement CO2 sequestration in the offshore sediments of South Korea. First, three different carbon capture and storage demonstration scenarios were set up involving the use of three CO2 capture plants and one offshore storage site. Each transport scenario considered both the pipeline transport and ship transport options. The temperature and pressure conditions of CO2 in each transport stage were determined from engineering and economic viewpoints, and the corresponding specifications and equipment costs were calculated. The transport costs for a 1 MtCO2/year transport rate were estimated to be US$33/tCO2 and US$28/tCO2 for a pipeline transport of ~530 km and ship transport of ~724 km, respectively. Through the economies of scale effect, the pipeline and ship transport costs for a transport rate of 3 MtCO2/year were reduced to approximately US$21/tCO2 and US$23/tCO2, respectively. A CO2 hub terminal did not significantly reduce the cost because of the short distance from the hub to the storage site and the small number of captured sources.
Novel Hybrid Flax Reinforced Supersap Composites in Automotive Applications
Authors: Zhu Jinchun , Immonen Kirsi , Avril Christophe , Brighton James , Zhu Huijun , Abhyankar Hrushikesh
Published: March 2015

Flax fibre bio-epoxy composites have not found many commercial uses in structural applications on account of their lack of cost efficiency and high susceptibility to environmental changes. Non-woven flax mats were subjected to alkali, acetylation, silane and enzymatic treatment, and then combined with untreated unidirectional (UD) flax fabrics to make hybrid flax bio-epoxy composites. Mechanical and environmental resistance (aging) tests were performed on the treated flax fibres. The glass transition temperature was detected at about 75 °C with little effect of treatments. Untreated composites were found to have a tensile strength of 180 MPa while no significant improvement was observed for any of the treatments, which are also not environmentally friendly. The amiopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) composites after Xenon aging, retained the tensile strength of 175 MPa and a modulus of 11.5 GPa, while untreated composites showed 35% reduction in elastic modulus.
Manifestation of an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Model on Fire Potential Zonation Mapping in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Nepal
Authors: Chhetri Sachin , Kayastha Prabin
Published: March 2015

Even though fewer people die as a result of fire than other natural disasters, such as earthquake, flood, landslide, etc., the average loss of property due to fire is high. Kathmandu Metropolitan City is becoming more vulnerable to fire due to haphazard urbanization and increase in population. To control problems due to fire, systematic studies are necessary, including fire potential mapping and risk assessment. This study applies an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Nepal for generation of fire potential zonation map. The fire potential zonation map is prepared on the basis of available data of land use, fuel stations, and population density. This map shows that 58.04% of the study area falls under low fire potential zone, 32.92% falls under moderate fire potential zone and 9.04% falls under high fire potential zone. The map is also validated through major past fire incidents. The results show that the predicted fire potential zones are found to be in good agreement with past fire incidents, and, hence, the map can be used for future land-use planning.
Genotyping Test with Clinical Factors: Better Management of Acute Postoperative Pain?
Authors: Hajj Aline , Peoc'h Katell , Laplanche Jean-Louis , Jabbour Hicham , Naccache Nicole , Zeid Hicham , Yazbeck Patricia , Khabbaz Lydia
Published: March 2015

Individualization of acute postoperative pain treatment on an evidence-based decision process is a major health concern. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of genetic and non-genetic factors on the variability of response to morphine in acute postoperative pain. A group of nighty-five patients undergoing major surgery were included prospectively. At 24 h, a logistic regression model was carried out to determine the factors associated with morphine doses given by a Patient Controlled Analgesia device. The dose of morphine was associated with age (p = 0.011), patient weight (p = 0.025) and the duration of operation (p = 0.030). This dose decreased with patient’s age and duration of operation and increased with patient’s weight. OPRM1 and ABCB1 polymorphisms were significantly associated with administered dose of morphine (p = 0.038 and 0.012 respectively). Patients with at least one G allele for c.118A>G OPRM1 polymorphism (AG/GG) needed 4 times the dose of morphine of AA patients. Additionally, patients with ABCB1 CT and CC genotypes for c.3435C>T polymorphism were 5.6 to 7.1 times more prone to receive higher dose of morphine than TT patients. Our preliminary results support the evidence that OPRM1/ABCB1 genotypes along with age, weight and duration of operation have an impact on morphine consumption for acute postoperative pain treatment.
Comparative Study of Structure-Property Relationships in Polymer Networks Based on Bis-GMA, TEGDMA and Various Urethane-Dimethacrylates
Authors: Barszczewska-Rybarek Izabela , Jurczyk Sebastian
Published: March 2015

The effect of various dimethacrylates on the structure and properties of homo- and copolymer networks was studied. The 2,2-bis-[4-(2-hydroxy-3- methacryloyloxypropoxy)phenyl]-propane) (Bis-GMA), triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) and 1,6-bis-(methacryloyloxy-2-ethoxycarbonylamino)-2,4,4-trimethylhexane (HEMA/TMDI), all popular in dentistry, as well as five urethane-dimethacrylate (UDMA) alternatives of HEMA/TMDI were used as monomers. UDMAs were obtained from mono-, di- and tri(ethylene glycol) monomethacrylates and various commercial diisocyanates. The chemical structure, degree of conversion (DC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) fracture morphology were related to the mechanical properties of the polymers: flexural strength and modulus, hardness, as well as impact strength. Impact resistance was widely discussed, being lower than expected in the case of poly(UDMA)s. It was caused by the heterogeneous morphology of these polymers and only moderate strength of hydrogen bonds between urethane groups, which was not high enough to withstand high impact energy. Bis-GMA, despite having the highest polymer morphological heterogeneity, ensured fair impact resistance, due to having the strongest hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups. The TEGDMA homopolymer, despite being heterogeneous, produced the smoothest morphology, which resulted in the lowest brittleness. The UDMA monomer, having diethylene glycol monomethacrylate wings and the isophorone core, could be the most suitable HEMA/TMDI alternative. Its copolymer with Bis-GMA and TEGDMA had improved DC as well as all the mechanical properties.
Functional Characterization of Individual- and Mixed-Burgundian Saccharomyces cerevisiae Isolates for Fermentation of Pinot Noir
Authors: Terrell Emily , Cliff Margaret , Van Vuuren Hennie
Published: March 2015

Pinot noir has traditionally been fermented by native flora of multiple yeasts producing a complex combination of aromas and flavors. With the use of industrial dry yeasts, winemakers gained enological reliability and consistency in their wines, but lost diversity and complexity. This research evaluated the use of co-culturing yeasts to fulfill this dual role. Fermentations of Burgundian Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolates and their mixtures were evaluated for their enological characteristics and production of volatile compounds, at 22 °C and 27 °C. The novel isolates were genetically unique and enologically equivalent to the industrial strains. Analysis of variance and principal component analysis of 25 headspace volatiles revealed differences among the yeasts and between the fermentation temperatures. Wines from the mixed-Burgundian isolates were most similar to one another and could be differentiated from the industrial strains at both 22 °C and 27 °C. Mixed-Burgundian wines at both temperatures had higher concentrations of ethyl esters and acetate esters, compared to the industrial strains which had higher concentrations of higher alcohols at 27 °C and higher concentration of other ethyl esters at 22 °C. Given the unique profiles of the co-cultured wines, this research offers winemakers a strategy for producing wines with unique and more complex characters without the risk of spontaneous fermentations.
Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in Symmetric Planar Metamaterial at THz Wavelengths
Authors: Ourir Abdelwaheb , Gallas Bruno , Becerra Loic , De Rosny Julien , Dahoo Pierre
Published: March 2015

We report the experimental observation and the evidence of the analogue of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) in a symmetric planar metamaterial. This effect has been obtained in the THz range thanks to a destructive Fano-interference between the two first modes of an array of multi-gap split ring resonators deposited on a silicon substrate. This structure is a planar thin film material with four-fold symmetry. Thanks to this property, a polarization-independent transmission has been achieved. The proposed metamaterial is well adapted to variety of slow-light applications in the infrared and optical range.
Toward Estimating Wetland Water Level Changes Based on Hydrological Sensitivity Analysis of PALSAR Backscattering Coefficients over Different Vegetation Fields
Authors: Yuan Ting , Lee Hyongki , Jung Hahn
Published: March 2015

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been successfully used to map wetland’s inundation extents and types of vegetation based on the fact that the SAR backscatter signal from the wetland is mainly controlled by the wetland vegetation type and water level changes. This study describes the relation between L-band PALSAR and seasonal water level changes obtained from Envisat altimetry over the island of Île Mbamou in the Congo Basin where two distinctly different vegetation types are found. We found positive correlations between and water level changes over the forested southern Île Mbamou whereas both positive and negative correlations were observed over the non-forested northern Île Mbamou depending on the amount of water level increase. Based on the analysis of sensitivity, we found that denser vegetation canopy leads to less sensitive variation with respect to the water level changes regardless of forested or non-forested canopy. Furthermore, we attempted to estimate water level changes which were then compared with the Envisat altimetry and InSAR results. Our results demonstrated a potential to generate two-dimensional maps of water level changes over the wetlands, and thus may have substantial synergy with the planned Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.
Development of a Capacitive Ice Sensor to Measure Ice Growth in Real Time
Authors: Zhi Xiang , Cho Hyo , Wang Bo , Ahn Cheol , Moon Hyeong , Go Jeung
Published: March 2015

This paper presents the development of the capacitive sensor to measure the growth of ice on a fuel pipe surface in real time. The ice sensor consists of pairs of electrodes to detect the change in capacitance and a thermocouple temperature sensor to examine the ice formation situation. In addition, an environmental chamber was specially designed to control the humidity and temperature to simulate the ice formation conditions. From the humidity, a water film is formed on the ice sensor, which results in an increase in capacitance. Ice nucleation occurs, followed by the rapid formation of frost ice that decreases the capacitance suddenly. The capacitance is saturated. The developed ice sensor explains the ice growth providing information about the icing temperature in real time.