3,542 research outputs found
The carotid bodies influence growth responses to moderate maternal undernutrition in late-gestation fetal sheep
No full textOBJECTIVE: To determine the role of carotid sinus innervation on differential fetal organ growth during maternal nutrient restriction in late pregnancy. DESIGN: Randomised controlled study. SETTING: University research facility. SAMPLE: Thirty-nine Merino ewes. METHODS: At 113 days gestational age (dGA), fetuses were bilaterally carotid sinus denervated or sham denervated. From 118 dGA, the surgery groups were subdivided into two dietary groups, and their ewes were fed 100% of nutrient requirements or 50% until tissue collection at 140 dGA. This provided four groups (sham/control diet, sham/restricted diet, denervated/control diet and denervated/restricted diet). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fetal organ weights and hormone levels and maternal weight change during the dietary restriction. RESULTS: Adrenal glands were larger in sham/restricted diet fetuses than in sham/control diet or denervated/restricted diet fetuses (P < 0.05). Fetal adrenal weight and brain-to-liver weight ratio were positively related to maternal weight change during the nutritional challenge in sham fetuses only (P < 0.05). Fetal liver weight was negatively related to maternal weight change during nutritional challenge in sham fetuses only (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We have shown a reduction in liver growth but sparing of adrenal growth in response to moderate maternal undernutrition, which is dependent on intact carotid body innervation. This suggests a new role for the carotid bodies in the control of differential organ growth during such undernutritio
Pre- and postnatal nutritional histories influence reproductive maturation and ovarian function in the rat
No full textBackgroundWhile prepubertal nutritional influences appear to play a role in sexual maturation, there is a need to clarify the potential contributions of maternal and childhood influences in setting the tempo of reproductive maturation. In the present study we employed an established model of nutritional programming to evaluate the relative influences of prenatal and postnatal nutrition on growth and ovarian function in female offspring.MethodsPregnant Wistar rats were fed either a calorie-restricted diet, a high fat diet, or a control diet during pregnancy and/or lactation. Offspring then were fed either a control or a high fat diet from the time of weaning to adulthood. Pubertal age was monitored and blood samples collected in adulthood for endocrine analyses.ResultsWe report that in the female rat, pubertal timing and subsequent ovarian function is influenced by the animal's nutritional status in utero, with both maternal caloric restriction and maternal high fat nutrition resulting in early pubertal onset. Depending on the offspring's nutritional history during the prenatal and lactational periods, subsequent nutrition and body weight gain did not further influence offspring reproductive tempo, which was dominated by the effect of prenatal nutrition. Whereas maternal calorie restriction leads to early pubertal onset, it also leads to a reduction in adult progesterone levels later in life. In contrast, we found that maternal high fat feeding which also induces early maturation in offspring was associated with elevated progesterone concentrations.ConclusionsThese observations are suggestive of two distinct developmental pathways leading to the acceleration of pubertal timing but with different consequences for ovarian function. We suggest different adaptive explanations for these pathways and for their relationship to altered metabolic homeostasis
Entanglement and quantity in quantum space - About quantum measurement (II)
No full textAs a continuation and extension of "quantity in phase space" "quantity in quantum space" is introduced. With that, the disappearing of quantum interference discussed in a previous paper [S. Durr, et al., Nature 395 (1998) 33] is explained in the same spirit as our recent papers [Ren De-Ming, Commun. Theor. Phys. (Beijing, China) 41 (2004) 685, 833].Physics, MultidisciplinarySCI(E)中国科学引文数据库(CSCD)1ARTICLE133-364
Sneutrino DM in the NMSSM with inverse seesaw mechanism
No full textIn supersymmetric theories like the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), the lightest neutralino with bino or singlino as its dominant component is customarily taken as dark matter (DM) candidate. Since light Higgsinos favored by naturalness can strength the couplings of the DM and thus enhance the DM-nucleon scattering rate, the tension between naturalness and DM direct detection results becomes more and more acute with the improved experimental sensitivity. In this work, we extend the NMSSM by inverse seesaw mechanism to generate neutrino mass, and show that in certain parameter space the lightest sneutrino may act as a viable DM candidate, i.e. it can annihilate by multi-channels to get correct relic density and meanwhile satisfy all experimental constraints. The most striking feature of the extension is that the DM-nucleon scattering rate can be naturally below its current experimental bounds regardless of the higgsino mass, and hence it alleviates the tension between naturalness and DM experiments. Other interesting features include that the Higgs phenomenology becomes much richer than that of the original NMSSM due to the relaxed constraints from DM physics and also due to the presence of extra neutrinos, and that the signatures of sparticles at colliders are quite different from those with neutralino as DM candidate.National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC) [11575053]SCI(E)ARTICLE1
Classical mechanics and quantum mechanics
No full textThe Newton equation of motion is derived from quantum mechanics.Physics, MultidisciplinarySCI(E)中国科学引文数据库(CSCD)2ARTICLE5685-6884
Policy-driven Data Sharing over Attribute-Based Encryption supporting Dual Membership
No full textAttribute-Based Encryption (ABE) plays an important role in current secure data sharing through fine-grained customizable policies. However, the existing ABE schemes only support simple predicates, = and ≠, but cannot express a more general membership predicates, ∈ and ∉, in policies. The low expressivity of ABE will enlarge the ciphertext storage and reduce the communication efficiency. To overcome this problem, we propose an ABE supporting Dual Membership (DM-ABE). The core problem for implementing this scheme is how to use cryptographic methods to decide the membership between the verified element and the given set. In order to solve this problem, we design a cryptographic algorithm, called Secure Decision of Membership (SDM), based on aggregation functions. In this algorithm, any set can be aggregated into one cryptographic element, and the verified element and the given set can be converted into another cryptographic element in decision process. The membership between them can be decided by the above two cryptographic elements. Furthermore, we construct the DM-ABE by using SDM. Because of the good expressivity of our DM-ABE, we further propose a novel cryptographic data sharing framework by integrating DM-ABE and attribute-based access control to provide fine-grained access control and security protection for private data. In the security proof of DM-ABE, we prove that the DM-ABE satisfies the semantic security against chosen-plaintext attacks under the DBDHE assumption in the standard model through a unified way, considering both two encryption methods for ∈ and ∉ at the same time. Finally, we analyze our scheme in terms of time and space complexity, and compare it with some existing schemes. The results show that our DM-ABE has a better expressive ability on the boolean logic of general membership predicates, ∈ and ∉.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.Cyber Securit
Constraining the Inner Galactic DM Density Profile with H.E.S.S.
No full text© 2024 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).In this short review, corresponding to a talk given at the conference “Cosmology 2023 in Miramare”, we combine an analysis of five regions observed by H.E.S.S. in the Galactic Center, intending to constrain the Dark Matter (DM) density profile in a WIMP annihilation scenario. For the analysis, we include the state-of-the-art Galactic diffuse emission Gamma-optimized model computed with DRAGON and a wide range of DM density profiles from cored to cuspy profiles, including different kinds of DM spikes. Our results are able to constrain generalized NFW profiles with an inner slope ≳1.3 . When considering DM spikes, the adiabatic spike is completely ruled out. However, smoother spikes given by the interactions with the bulge stars are compatible if ≲0.8 , with an internal slope of sp-stars=1.5.This work has been supported by the grants PID2021-125331NB-I00, PID2022-139841NB-I00, and CEX2020-001007-S, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and the MULTIDARK Project RED2022-134411-T. The author’s contribution to this work has been supported by the FPI Severo Ochoa PRE2021-099137 grant.With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2020-001007-S).Peer reviewe
Diabetes mellitus (DM) related lower extremity amputations (LEA) rate and risk factors.
No full textAuthor: Ieva Vasiliūtė Title: Diabetes mellitus (DM) related lower extremity amputations (LEA) rate and risk factors. Aim: To investigate LEA rate and risk factors in patients with DM. Objectives: To evaluate DM related LEA rate. To determine DM related LEAs levels and patients demographic factors relation. To determine DM related LEAs levels and type of DM relation. To determine DM related LEAs levels and DM duration, body mass index (BMI), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) meanings relation. To evaluate expected mathematically based risk factors. Methods: Retrospective medical records study of 153 patients with DM, who underwent LEAs at the Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas clinics was performed during the 2012 01 01 – 2014 12 31 period. Statistical analysis was performed using the standard SPSS 20.0 program. Results: 33,33% of legs amputations occured among people with DM and 66,67% of them were male (p<0,001). Major LEAs were performed mostly in patients with type 2 DM (86,96%) than those with type 1 DM (p<0,001). Male patients LEAs were performed in patients suffering for shorter duration of DM than in women (19,18 m. (±95% PI 16,71-21,65) vs. 23,36 m. (±95% PI 20,07-26,65), p=0,053). Patients with type 2 DM underwent LEAs had DM for shorter durations (16,19 m. (±95% PI 14,32-18,06)) than those with type 1 DM patients (31,43 m. (±95% PI 28,40-34,45)) ( p<0,001). Major LEAs remove patients had BMI (32,86±5,55 kg/m2) than minor LEAs remove patients (29,13±5,91 kg/m2) (p=0,027). No significant relation was found with amputation level and HbA1c average (p=0,246). DM related eye damage increases the risk of minor LEAs 3,10 times (p=0,001). Obesity/overweight the risk of major LEAs increases 5,65 times (p=0,036) and 2,56 times with obliterate atherosclerosis (p=0,006). Patients with type 2 DM have a 3,2 times (p=0,002) higher risk of undergoing major LEA. Conclusions: A third of patients who had undergone LEAs had DM. Amputations were carried out more frequently in men. DKA arose more often in patients with type 2 DM. LEAs were performed a shorter duration male DM patients. Type 2 DM patients suffered LEAs nearly 2 times shorter duration. Major LEAs experienced patients had a higher BMI. The average of HbA1c is not significantly related with amputation levels. DM related eye damage increases the minor LEAs risk by 3,10 times. Obesity/being overweight increases the risk of major LEAs 5,65 times, obliterate atherosclerosis - 2,56 times. Patients with type 2 DM have a 3,2 times higher risk of major LEA
Addressing embodied inequities in health: how do we enable improvement in women's diet in pregnancy?
No full textObjective:To disrupt cycles of health inequity, traceable to dietary inequities in the earliest stages of life, public health interventions should target improving nutritional wellbeing in preconception/pregnancy environments. This requires a deep engagement with pregnant/postpartum people (PPP) and their communities (including their health and social care providers, HSCP). We sought to understand the factors that influence diet during pregnancy from the perspectives of PPP and HSCP, and to outline intervention priorities.Design:We carried out thematic network analyses of transcripts from ten focus group discussions (FGD) and one stakeholder engagement meeting with PPP and HSCP in a Canadian city. Identified themes were developed into conceptual maps, highlighting local priorities for pregnancy nutrition and intervention development.Setting:FGD and the stakeholder meeting were run in predominantly lower socioeconomic position (SEP) neighbourhoods in the sociodemographically diverse city of Hamilton, Canada.Participants:All local, comprising twenty-two lower SEP PPP and forty-three HSCP.Results:Salient themes were resilience, resources, relationships and the embodied experience of pregnancy. Both PPP and HSCP underscored that socioeconomic-political forces operating at multiple levels largely determined the availability of individual and relational resources constraining diet during pregnancy. Intervention proposals focused on cultivating individual and community resilience to improve early-life nutritional environments. Participants called for better-integrated services, greater income supports and strengthened support programmes.Conclusions:Hamilton stakeholders foregrounded social determinants of inequity as main factors influencing pregnancy diet. They further indicated a need to develop interventions that build resilience and redistribute resources at multiple levels, from the household to the state
Approaches for Dialog Management in Conversational Agents
No full textDialog agents, like digital assistants and automated chat interfaces (e.g., chatbots), are becoming more and more popular as users adapt to conversing with their devices as they do with humans. In this paper, we present approaches and available tools for dialog management (DM), a component of dialog agents that handles dialog context and decides the next action for the agent to take. In this paper, we establish an overview of the field of DM, compare approaches and state-of-the-art tools in industry and research work on a set of dimensions, and identify directions for further research work.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.Web Information SystemsHuman-Centred Artificial Intelligenc
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