169,749 research outputs found
Advanced glycation end-products in microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes: Are they “major actors” in metabolic memory?
No full textAn excess of advanced glycation end-products (AGE) is one of the most important mechanisms in the pathophysiology of chronic diabetic complications. This review summarizes the role of these compounds in microvascular pathogenesis, particularly in the light of recently proposed biochemical mechanisms for diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy. Then we focus on the relationship between AGE and “metabolic memory”, to clarify AGE’s role in the link between micro- and macrovascular complications. Recent studies indicate AGE not so much as “actors”, and more as “directors” of processes leading to these complications. They have several intra- and extracellular targets, so they can be seen as a “bridge” between intra- and extracellular damage. This may partly explain the clinical link between micro- and macrovascular disease in diabetes, and help clarify the mechanisms behind metabolic memory. The pathophysiological cascades triggered by AGE have a dominant, hyperglycemia-independent role in the microvascular complications of diabetes so prevention and treatment must focus not only on early glycemic control, but also on reducing the factors related to glycooxidative stress
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Future Cardiovascular Risk: An Update
No full textThe prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus is increasing in parallel with the rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes and obesity around the world. Current evidence strongly suggests that women who have had gestational diabetes mellitus are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. Given the growing prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus, it is important to identify appropriate reliable markers of cardiovascular disease and specific treatment strategies capable of containing obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in order to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in the women affected
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Mitomycin C in highly myopic eyes - Author reply
No full textOphthalmology. 2005 Feb;112(2):208-18; discussion 219.
Mitomycin C modulation of corneal wound healing after photorefractive keratectomy in highly myopic eyes.
Gambato C, Ghirlando A, Moretto E, Busato F, Midena E.
SourceRefractive Surgery Service and Antimetabolite Therapy Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of topical mitomycin C in corneal wound healing (CWH) after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in highly myopic eyes.
DESIGN: Prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial.
PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients affected by high (>7 diopters) myopia.
METHODS: In each patient, one eye was randomly assigned to PRK with intraoperative topical 0.02% mitomycin C application, and the fellow eye was treated with a placebo. Postoperatively, mitomycin C-treated eyes received artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months), whereas the fellow eye was treated with fluorometholone sodium 2% and artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity, manifest refraction, and biomicroscopy. Contrast sensitivity was determined using the Pelli-Robson chart. Corneal confocal microscopy documented CWH.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 18 months (range, 12-36). No side effects or toxic effects were documented. At 12-month follow-up examination, UCVAs (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were 0.4+/-0.48 and 0.5+/-0.53 (P = .03) in mitomycin C-treated eyes and corticosteroid-treated eyes, respectively. At 1 year, corneal haze developed in 20% of corticosteroid-treated eyes, versus 0% of mitomycin C-treated eyes. At 12, 24, and 36 months, corneal confocal microscopy showed activated keratocytes and extracellular matrix significantly more evident in untreated eyes (Ps = 0.004, 0.024, and 0.046, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Topical intraoperative application of 0.02% mitomycin C can reduce haze formation in highly myopic eyes undergoing PRK.
Comment in
Ophthalmology. 2006 Feb;113(2):357; author reply 357-8
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Long-term effect of pioglitazone vs glimepiride on lipoprotein oxidation in patients with type 2 diabetes: a prospective randomized study
No full textAims: Type 2 diabetes (DM2) is associated to oxidative modifications of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), which can interfere with their function. Pioglitazone has proved effective in raising HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) and lowering small dense low-density lipoprotein (LDL), but no clinical studies have examined its effect on lipoprotein oxidation in patients with DM2. Methods: We assessed the effect of pioglitazone vs glimepiride after 1 year on HDL oxidation, expressed as relative abundance of peptides containing Met 112 O in ApoA-I (oxApoA-I) estimated by mass spectrometry (MALDI/TOF/TOF), in 95 patients with DM2. The oxLDL and AGE were quantified by ELISA. Results: Patients receiving pioglitazone showed a significant increase in the concentration of ApoA-I (Δ = 7.2 ± 14.8 mg/dL, p < 0.02) and a reduction in oxApoA-I (Δ = − 1.0 ± 2.6%, p < 0.02); this reduction was not significantly different from glimepiride. oxLDL showed a slight, but not significant increase in both treatment groups. Regression analysis showed a correlation between ΔoxApoA-I and ΔAGE (r = 0.30; p = 0.007) in all patients, while both of these parameters were unrelated to changes in HbA1c, HDL-C, duration of illness, or use of statins. Conclusions: Long-term treatment with pioglitazone was effective in reducing the oxidation of HDL, but not LDL in patients with DM2, while glimepiride didn’t. This finding seems to be associated to the change of glyco-oxidation status, not to any improvement in glycemic control or lipid profile. Trial registration: NCT00700856, ClinicalTrials.gov Registered June 18, 2008
A Multi-Language Comparison of Influences on Author Verification using Character N-Grams
No full textWe create a new multi-language corpus for author verification based on Wikipedia talkpages, and evaluate the influence that differences in topic and time have on character n-gram author profiles. Topic alignment between two texts is found to increase author verification precision, and an authors writing style is found to change over time, but not more significantly after 3 years than after 1 year.Information ArchitectureWISElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
A 0.12mm<sup>2</sup> Wien-Bridge Temperature Sensor with 0.1°C (3σ) Inaccuracy from -40°C to 180°C
No full text Resistor-based temperature sensors can achieve much higher resolution and energy efficiency than conventional BJT-based sensors [1], but they typically occupy more area (> 0.25 mm 2 ) and have lower operating temperatures (le 125 {circ} {C}) [2]-[4]. This work describes a 0.12mm 2 resistor-based sensor that uses a Wien-bridge (WB) filter to achieve 0.1 {circ} {C} (3 sigma) inaccuracy from - 40 {circ} {C} to 180 {circ} {C}. Compared to a state-of-the-art WB sensor [4], it occupies 6 × less area and achieves comparable relative accuracy over a 76% wider operating range. Session 10.3 Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Electronic InstrumentationMicroelectronic
A ±25A Versatile Shunt-Based Current Sensor with 10kHz Bandwidth and ±0.25% Gain Error from -40°C to 85°C Using 2-Current Calibration
No full textAccurate current sensing is critical in many industrial applications, such as battery management and motor control. Precise shunt-based current sensors have been reported with gain errors of less than 1% over the industrial temperature range (-40°C to 85°C) [1]–[4]. However, since they are intended for coulomb counting, their bandwidth is limited to a few tens of Hz, making them unsuitable for battery impedance or motor-current sensing. This paper presents a current sensor with a wide (10kHz) bandwidth and a tunable temperature compensation scheme (TCS), which allows it to be flexibly used with different types of shunts while maintaining high accuracy. A low-cost room-temperature calibration scheme is proposed to optimize gain flatness over temperature by exploiting the shunt's self-heating at large currents. Over the industrial temperature range and a ±25A current range, it achieves state-of-the-art gain error (±0.25%) with both low-cost PCB and stable metal-alloy shunts.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Electronic InstrumentationMicroelectronic
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