11 research outputs found
International Diabetes Federation guideline for management of postmeal glucose : a review of recommendations
No full textDiabetes is a significant and growing concern, with over 246 million people around the world living with the disease and another 308 million with impaired glucose tolerance. Depending on the resources of different nations, intervention has generally focused on optimizing overall glycaemic control as assessed by glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) values. Nevertheless, increasing evidence supports the importance of controlling all three members of the glucose triad, namely HbA1c, FPG and postmeal glucose (PMG) in order to improve outcome in diabetes. As part of its global mission to promote diabetes care and prevention and to find a cure, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) recently developed a guideline that reviews evidence to date on PMG and the development of diabetic complications. Based on an extensive database search of the literature, and guided by a Steering and Development Committee including experts from around the world, the IDF Guideline for Management of Postmeal Glucose offers recommendations for appropriate clinical management of PMG. These recommendations are intended to help clinicians and organizations in developing strategies for effective management of PMG in individuals with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The following review highlights the recommendations of the guideline, the supporting evidence provided and the major conclusions drawn. The full guideline is available for download at www.idf.org
Permutation-based Recombination Operator to Node-depth Encoding
No full textAbstractThe node-depth encoding is a representation for evolutionary algorithms applied to tree problems. Its represents trees by storing the nodes and their depth in a proper ordered list. The original formulation of the node-depth encoding has only mutation operators as the search mechanism. Although the representation has this restriction, it has obtained good results with low convergence. Then, this work proposes a specific recombination operator to improve the convergence of the node-depth encoding representation. These operators are based on recombination for permutation representations. An investigation into the bias and heritability of the proposed recombination operator shows that it has a bias towards stars and low heritability. The performance of node-depth encoding with the proposed operator is investigated for the optimal communication spanning tree problem. The results are presented for benchmark instances in the literature. The use of the recombination operator results in a faster convergence than with only mutation operators
A Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm with Efficient Data Structure and Heuristic Initialization for Fault Service Restoration
No full textAbstractService restoration in energy distribution systems is a complex optimization problem with many restrictions. After a fault occurrence, the challenge is obtain a service restoration plan reconnecting all the healthy out-of-service areas satisfying all the operational and technical constraints. Recent works have study the use of meta-heuristics in order to find a sub-optimal solution with low computational complexity. One of these works include the use of a multi-objective algorithm with a new data structure called node depth encoding. This paper proposes and analyses the use of a new heuristic initialization procedure to be used with node depth encoding which guarantees the analysis of all possible solutions considering only a restricted number of switches incident to the out-of-service areas. The proposed methodology is evaluated by applying it to the real and large-scale distribution system of Londrina city (Brazil). The results showed that the new heuristic improves the overall performance reducing the number of switches operations to reconfigure the distribution system
Could languages of the same language families reflect a similar culture?
No full textWhen learning two languages of the same language family, one will realize quickly that there are similarities. But how deep are language and culture related? For long time the hypothesis that languages are responsible for cultural development was held to be true, later the opposite was assumed, and today it is maybe somewhere in between. With the help of Geert Hofstede's dimensions, comparing cultures on a continuum of nonverbal aspects, a connection between linguistic and intercultural communication can be drawn, giving another view on the relation between languages and cultures --Culture,Language families,Intercultural Communication
Public venture capital in Germany: task force or forced task?
No full textThis paper deals with the question of whether public venture capital (VC) is performing its task properly, taking a look at how public VC companies' selection process, investment behavior, and consulting services reflect goals that differ from those of private VC firms. The results present evidence that public VC firms deliver a different market segment than their private counterparts; for example, their selection process and syndication behavior reveal their predominant goal of promoting the local economy. Although the results indicate that public VC firms are doing what is expected of them, the analyses provide evidence that public intervention should be reconsidered. --Venture Capital,start-up financing,public intervention
Universities and innovation in space
No full textWe investigate the role of universities as a knowledge source for regional innovation processes. The contribution of universities is tested on the level of German NUTS-3 regions (Kreise) by using a variety of indicators. We find that the intensity and quality of the research conducted by the universities have a significant effect on regional innovative output while pure size is unimportant. Therefore, a policy that wants to promote regional innovation processes by building up universities should place substantial emphasis on the intensity and quality of the research conducted there. --Universities,innovation,knowledge,spillovers,patents,regional Analysis
Is information and communication technology (ICT) the right strategy for growth in Mexico?
No full textAlthough empirical evidence available suggests that information and communication technologies (ICT) have positively contributed to important sectors of the Mexican economy, it is still unknown to which extent ICT have truly contributed to productivity among these sectors. The increasing implementation and imports of ICT technologies, the growing demand for ICT-skilled human capital and training, the rising level of wages and the large demand and adoption of these technologies seem to indicate a positive correlation between ICT implementation and economic growth in Mexico. To answer whether ICT may be a key strategy for economic growth in the Mexican economy is the main purpose of this work. --Information technology,total factor productivity,growth,knowledge,human capital,technology diffusion
Silica nanoparticles and their interaction with cells : a multidisciplinary approach
No full textSilica nanoparticles are increasingly used as drug delivery systems and for biomedical imaging.
Therapeutic and diagnostic agents can be incorporated into the silica matrix to improve the stability
and solubility of hydrophobic drugs in biological systems. However, the safety of silica
nanoparticles as drug carriers remains controversial. To date, no validated and accepted nanospecific
tests exist to predict the potentially harmful impact of these materials on the human body.
The mechanism proposed for hemolysis of unmodified silica nanoparticles is based on the electrostatic
interaction between the silanol surface groups and the quaternary ammonium in the choline
head group of the phospholipids. However, a detailed understanding of this process is missing.
In this thesis, different silica nanoparticles where synthesized, characterized, and tested in two cell
lines regarding viability and oxidative stress. Hemolysis was assessed using red blood cells. Furthermore,
the hemolytic mechanism of a chosen silica nanoparticle type was investigated in depth
using a biophysical chemistry approach. We used the dye-leakage assay, isothermal titration
calorimetry, solid state nuclear magnetic resonance, and flow cytometry to elucidate this mechanism.
Our results revealed that silica nanoparticles with a porous surface and negative surface charge
had the strongest impact on viability in a concentration dependent manner. This is in contrast to
non-porous silica nanoparticles. None of the studied particles caused oxidative stress in either cell
lines. Particles with a negative surface charge induced hemolysis. The mechanism responsible for
the hemolysis for silica nanoparticles had no electrostatic component. The nuclear magnetic resonance
data revealed no interaction with the choline group. However, nuclear magnetic resonance
data suggested the presence of faster tumbling species.
Our toxicological and mechanistic studies showed potential hazards of spherical amorphous silica
nanoparticles. Physico-chemical properties mediating toxicity in living cells were identified.
We propose that our standardized silica nanoparticles may serve as a readily available reference
material for nanotoxicological investigations. Mechanistic data did not support an electrostatic
interaction as postulated in the literature, but rather a strong adsorption process that may lead
to hemolysis. Furthermore, the presence of faster tumbling species suggested the formation of
smaller lipid bilayer structures upon silica nanoparticles exposure. Flow cytometry data revealed
that their size is about 100 nm. It remains to be proven if the bilayer wraps around the hemolytic
silica nanoparticles, if an exclusive formation of smaller species without wrapping is present, or
both of the aforementioned
