1,720,968 research outputs found

    Evaluation of insulin release and insulin sensitivity through oral glucose tolerance test: differences between NGT, IFG, IGT, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. A cross-sectional and follow-up study

    No full text
    We evaluated both insulin release (IR) and insulin sensitivity (IS) through a single oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) (blood samples at 0, 60, 120 min, as routinely performed in Europe) in subjects with normal and abnormal glucose tolerance. The value 1/HOMA was used as an index of IS and DeltaI/DeltaG at 60 min was used as an index of IR. In preliminary experiments, 1/HOMA correlated with glucose infusion rate (GIR) at euglycaemic insulin clamp (r=0.495) and with insulin sensitivity index (ISI) at LDIGIT (r=0.714). At OGTT with blood samples at 0, 30, 60 and 120 min, insulin levels at 30 min correlated with insulin levels at 60 min (I30 vs. I60, r=0.584) and DeltaI/DeltaG at 30 and at 60 min correlated (r=0.365). Values of 1/HOMA from 345 subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), 32 with impaired fasting glucose (IFG), 186 with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 72 with type 2 diabetic mellitus were divided into quartiles. For each quartile, mean (+/- SE) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of DeltaI/DeltaG at 60 min were calculated, and subjects were represented by plotting IS vs. IR. Plots of NGT, IGT, and type-2 diabetes mellitus described different curves. Values of subjects with IFG, IGT and type 2 diabetes mellitus fell outside the 95% CI of NGT subjects in all quartiles of IS. To validate this finding, 113 morbidly obese subjects (basal OGTT: 55 NGT, 40 IGT, 18 T2DM) who underwent a major reduction of body weight through bariatric surgery received a second OGTT one year after surgery. Glucose tolerance improved in 40 patients, deteriorated in 8, did not change in 65; the new plots were concordant with the new class of glucose tolerance. OGTT can be used to evaluate both IR and IS in subjects with NGT, IFG, IGT, and type 2 diabetes mellitus in population studies and in follow-up studies. IFG, IGT and type 2 diabetes mellitus are characterized by reduced IR compared to IS

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    Full text link
    The 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

    Variations on the Author

    Full text link
    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Left ventricular hypertrophy and QT interval in obesity and in hypertension : effects of weight loss and of normalisation of blood pressure

    No full text
    BACKGROUND: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and prolonged QT interval at ECG (QTc) are common in both obesity and arterial hypertension (AH), and are risk factors for cardiovascular disease and sudden death. METHODS: We compared the frequencies of LVH (ECG criteria) and QTc in obese-AH (n = 41), in normotensive obese (n = 75), in lean-AH (n = 30), and in lean controls (n = 68) comparable for age and sex; in obese patients, LVH and QTc were evaluated under basal conditions and 1 y later, that is, after a significant weight loss induced by bariatric surgery. RESULTS: LVH was more frequent, and QTc was longer, in obese-AH, in normotensive obese, and in lean-AH than in lean controls; after weight loss, frequency of LVH decreased in obese subjects becoming normotensive (n = 87), not in obese subjects remaining hypertensive (n = 29), while QTc decreased in all obese subjects. CONCLUSION: Weight loss can effectively reduce QTc; when concomitant AH disappears, weight loss can also reduce the prevalence of LVH. In obese patients remaining hypertensive, aggressive pharmacological treatment is therefore indicated to correct LVH
    corecore