Serum anticholinergic activity and postoperative cognitive dysfunction in elderly parients

BACKGROUND: Cerebral cholinergic transmission plays a key role in cognitive function, and anticholinergic drugs administered during the perioperative phase are a hypothetical cause of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). We hypothesized that a perioperative increase in serum anticholinergic activity (SAA) is associated with POCD in elderly patients. METHODS: Seventy-nine patients aged >65 years undergoing elective major surgery under stan- dardized general anesthesia (thiopental, sevoflurane, fentanyl, and atracurium) were investi- gated. Cognitive functions were assessed preoperatively and 7 days postoperatively using the extended version of the CERAD-Neuropsychological Assessment Battery. POCD was defined as a postoperative decline >1 z-score in at least 2 test variables. SAA was measured preop- eratively and 7 days postoperatively at the time of cognitive testing. Hodges-Lehmann median differences and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated for between-group comparisons. RESULTS: Of the patients who completed the study, 46% developed POCD. Patients with POCD were slightly older and less educated than patients without POCD. There were no relevant differences between patients with and without POCD regarding gender, demographically cor- rected baseline cognitive functions, and duration of anesthesia. There were no large differences between patients with and without POCD regarding SAA preoperatively (pmol/mL, median [inter- quartile range]/median difference [95% CI], P; 1.14 [0.72, 2.37] vs 1.13 [0.68, 1.68]/0.12 [−0.31, 0.57], P = 0.56), SAA 7 days postoperatively (1.32 [0.68, 2.59] vs 0.97 [0.65, 1.83]/0.25 [−0.26, 0.81], P = 0.37), or changes in SAA (0.08 [−0.50, 0.70] vs −0.02 [−0.53, 0.41]/0.1 [−0.31, 0.52], P = 0.62). There was no significant relationship between changes in SAA and changes in cognitive function (Spearman rank correlation coefficient preoperatively of 0.03 [95% CI, −0.21, 0.26] and postoperatively of −0.002 [95% CI, −0.24, 0.23]). CONCLUSIONS: In this panel of patients with low baseline SAA and clinically insignificant periopera- tive anticholinergic burden, although a relationship cannot be excluded in some patients, our analysis suggests that POCD is probably not a substantial consequence of anticholinergic medications admin- istered perioperatively but rather due to other mechanisms.

Self-Organising Maps and Correlation Analysis as a Tool to Explore Patterns in Excitation-Emission Matrix Data Sets and to Discriminate Dissolved Organic Matter Fluorescence Components

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a complex mixture of organic compounds, ubiquitous in marine and freshwater systems. Fluorescence spectroscopy, by means of Excitation-Emission Matrices (EEM), has become an indispensable tool to study DOM sources, transport and fate in aquatic ecosystems. However the statistical treatment of large and heterogeneous EEM data sets still represents an important challenge for biogeochemists. Recently, Self-Organising Maps (SOM) has been proposed as a tool to explore patterns in large EEM data sets. SOM is a pattern recognition method which clusterizes and reduces the dimensionality of input EEMs without relying on any assumption about the data structure. In this paper, we show how SOM, coupled with a correlation analysis of the component planes, can be used both to explore patterns among samples, as well as to identify individual fluorescence components. We analysed a large and heterogeneous EEM data set, including samples from a river catchment collected under a range of hydrological conditions, along a 60-km downstream gradient, and under the influence of different degrees of anthropogenic impact. According to our results, chemical industry effluents appeared to have unique and distinctive spectral characteristics. On the other hand, river samples collected under flash flood conditions showed homogeneous EEM shapes. The correlation analysis of the component planes suggested the presence of four fluorescence components, consistent with DOM components previously described in the literature. A remarkable strength of this methodology was that outlier samples appeared naturally integrated in the analysis. We conclude that SOM coupled with a correlation analysis procedure is a promising tool for studying large and heterogeneous EEM data sets.

Repeatability, correlation and path analysis of physical and chemical characteristics of peach fruits

This study aimed to determine the number of measurements necessary to evaluate physical and chemical characteristics of peach fruits, study the relationships between them and their direct and indirect effects on the content of ascorbic acid and total carotenoids. The characteristics skin and pulp color, fruit weight, suture, equatorial and polar diameters, firmness, soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA ratio, ascorbic acid and total carotenoids were evaluated in 39 cultivars of peach and 3 cultivars of nectarine from the orchard of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa. The repeatability coefficient was estimated by ANOVA and CPCOR. Phenotypic correlation coefficients (rf) were estimated and, after the multicollinearity diagnostics, they were unfolded to direct and indirect effects of the explanatory variables on the response variable using path analysis. There was agreement on the magnitude of repeatability coefficients obtained by the two methods; however, they varied among the 14 characteristics. The highest correlations were found between FW, SD, ED and PD. Seven fruits are sufficient to evaluate the physical and chemical characteristics of peach with a correlation coefficient of 90%. The characteristics considered in the path diagrams (b* skin, hº skin, b* pulp, hº pulp, ED, PD, FIR, SS, SS/AT and TC) are not the main determinants of the ascorbic acid. The yellow hue of the pulp (hº pulp) has the potential to be used in indirect selection for total carotenoids.

The Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cell-Derived Osteocyte Capacity to Modulate Dendritic Cell Functions Is Strictly Dependent on the Culture System.

In vitro differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) into osteocytes (human differentiated osteogenic cells, hDOC) before implantation has been proposed to optimize bone regeneration. However, a deep characterization of the immunological properties of DOC, including their effect on dendritic cell (DC) function, is not available. DOC can be used either as cellular suspension (detached, Det-DOC) or as adherent cells implanted on scaffolds (adherent, Adh-DOC). By mimicking in vitro these two different routes of administration, we show that both Det-DOC and Adh-DOC can modulate DC functions. Specifically, the weak downregulation of CD80 and CD86 caused by Det-DOC on DC surface results in a weak modulation of DC functions, which indeed retain a high capacity to induce T-cell proliferation and to generate CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) T cells. Moreover, Det-DOC enhance the DC capacity to differentiate CD4(+)CD161(+)CD196(+) Th17-cells by upregulating IL-6 secretion. Conversely, Adh-DOC strongly suppress DC functions by a profound downregulation of CD80 and CD86 on DC as well as by the inhibition of TGF-β production. In conclusion, we demonstrate that different types of DOC cell preparation may have a different impact on the modulation of the host immune system. This finding may have relevant implications for the design of cell-based tissue-engineering strategies.

A Gradient based algorithm for blind inversion of Wiener System using multi-variate score functions

A Wiener system is a linear time-invariant filter, followed by an invertible nonlinear distortion. Assuming that the input signal is an independent and identically distributed (iid) sequence, we propose an algorithm for estimating the input signal only by observing the output of the Wiener system. The algorithm is based on minimizing the mutual information of the output samples, by means of a steepest descent gradient approach.

Correlation between charge transport and electroluminescence properties of Si-rich oxide/nitride/oxide-based light emitting capacitors.

The electrical and electroluminescence (EL) properties at room and high temperatures of oxide/ nitride/oxide (ONO)-based light emitting capacitors are studied. The ONO multidielectric layer is enriched with silicon by means of ion implantation. The exceeding silicon distribution follows a Gaussian profile with a maximum of 19%, centered close to the lower oxide/nitride interface. The electrical measurements performed at room and high temperatures allowed to unambiguously identify variable range hopping (VRH) as the dominant electrical conduction mechanism at low voltages, whereas at moderate and high voltages, a hybrid conduction formed by means of variable range hopping and space charge-limited current enhanced by Poole-Frenkel effect predominates. The EL spectra at different temperatures are also recorded, and the correlation between charge transport mechanisms and EL properties is discussed.

A highly expressed miR-101 isomiR is a functional silencing small RNA

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding regulatory RNAs that control gene expression usually producing translational repression and gene silencing. High-throughput sequencing technologies have revealed heterogeneity at length and sequence level for the majority of mature miRNAs (IsomiRs). Most isomiRs can be explained by variability in either Dicer1 or Drosha cleavage during miRNA biogenesis at 5" or 3" of the miRNA (trimming variants). Although isomiRs have been described in different tissues and organisms, their functional validation as modulators of gene expression remains elusive. Here we have characterized the expression and function of a highly abundant miR-101 5"-trimming variant (5"-isomiR-101). Results The analysis of small RNA sequencing data in several human tissues and cell lines indicates that 5"-isomiR-101 is ubiquitously detected and a highly abundant, especially in the brain. 5"- isomiR-101 was found in Ago-2 immunocomplexes and complementary approaches showed that 5"-isomiR-101 interacted with different members of the silencing (RISC) complex. In addition, 5"-isomiR-101 decreased the expression of five validated miR-101 targets, suggesting that it is a functional variant. Both the binding to RISC members and the degree of silencing were less efficient for 5"-isomiR-101 compared with miR-101. For some targets, both miR-101 and 5"-isomiR-101 significantly decreased protein expression with no changes in the respective mRNA levels. Although a high number of overlapping predicted targets suggest similar targeted biological pathways, a correlation analysis of the expression profiles of miR-101 variants and predicted mRNA targets in human brains at different ages, suggest specific functions for miR-101- and 5"-isomiR-101. Conclusions These results suggest that isomiRs are functional variants and further indicate that for a given miRNA, the different isomiRs may contribute to the overall effect as quantitative and qualitative fine-tuners of gene expression.

Malaria real-time PCR: correlation with clinical presentation.

Among 112 patients infected only by Plasmodium falciparum, WHO criteria of severity were compared with parasite load assessed by microscopy and quantitative PCR. Clinical severity was significantly correlated with higher parasite load as determined by microscopy (p < 0.001) and by PCR (p < 0.001). Hence, quantitative PCR might be useful to predict outcome.

Approach to the Lower Pliocene marine-continental correlation from southern Spain. The micrommamal site of Alhaurín el Grande-1 (Málaga Basin, Betic Cordillera, Spain)

A new micromammal site at Alhaurín el Grande (Málaga, southern Spain) located above early Pliocene marine deposits allows an approach to the marine-continental correlation for this age. The early Pliocene marine filling throughout the Málaga Basin is developed in three transgressive-regressive sequences (Pl-1, Pl-2, and Pl-3 units) bounded by discontinuities. At the top of the intermediate sequence Pl-2, peaty sediments have yielded fossils of Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Insectivora, and Crocodylia. The presence of Cricetus barrieri Mein & Michaux, 1970 in combination with murids, both of primitive morphology, such as Apodemus gudrunae Van de Weerd, 1976, and more advanced forms (i.e. Occitanomys brailloni Michaux, 1969 and Stephanomys donnezani cordii Ruiz Bustos, 1986), points to an early Ruscinian age (MN 14 biozone). Based on the planktonic foraminifers, the biostratigraphic data indicate that marine sediments just below the micromammal beds belong to the MPl-2 biozone of the early Zanclean. Available paleomagnetic data from the marine sediments show that the micromammal bed must be located between the normal geomagnetic subchron C3n3n (4.89-4.80 Ma) and the subchron C3n2n (4.63-4.49 Ma), limiting the age of this site to the late part of the early Zanclean.

Beurling-Landau densities of weighted Fekete sets and correlation kernel estimates

Let $Q$ be a suitable real function on $C$. An $n$-Fekete set corresponding to $Q$ is a subset ${Z_{n1}},\dotsb, Z_{nn}}$ of $C$ which maximizes the expression $\Pi^n_i_{