Некоторые результаты исследования концентрации легких ионов в приземном слое воздуха города Тбилиси в 2010-2011 гг.

წარმოდგენილია მონაცემები თბილისის ჰაერის მიწისპირა ფენაში 2010-2011 წწ. მსუბუქი იონების ჯამური კონცენტრაციის შესახებ.შესწავლილია ატმოსფეროში მსუბუქი იონების კონცენტრაციის თვიური და დღიური სვლა. აგებულია მსუბუქი იონების კონცენტრაციის განაწილების ფუნქცია წლის სხვადასხვა სეზონისათვის.

Hora da admissão na unidade de emergência e mortalidade hospitalar na síndrome coronária aguda

FUNDAMENTO: Há controvérsias sobre a hora da admissão e os desfechos hospitalares da síndrome coronária aguda (SCA). A admissão em horários não regulares seria associada ao pior prognóstico dos pacientes. OBJETIVO: Analisar a influência da hora da admissão na internação prolongada e na mortalidade de pacientes com SCA, segundo os períodos diurno (das 7h às 19h) e noturno (das 19h às 7h). MÉTODOS: Foram avaliados, prospectivamente, 1.104 pacientes consecutivos com SCA. O óbito intra-hospitalar e a internação igual ou superior a cinco dias foram os desfechos analisados. RESULTADOS: A admissão no período diurno foi maior em comparação ao noturno (63% vs. 37%; p < 0,001). A angina instável foi mais prevalente no período diurno (43% vs. 32%; p < 0,001) e o infarto sem supradesnivelamento do segmento ST (IAMssST) no noturno (33% vs. 43%; p = 0,001). Não se observaram diferenças na mortalidade e no tempo de internação nos períodos estudados. Os fatores de predição de internação igual ou superior a cinco dias foram: idade [OR 1,042 (IC 95% 1,025 - 1,058), p < 0,001]; fração de ejeção (FE) [OR 0,977 (IC 95% 0,966 - 0,988), p < 0,001]; IAMssST [OR 1,699 (IC 95% 1,221 - 2,366), p = 0,001]; e tabagismo [OR 1,723 (IC 95% 1,113 - 2,668), p = 0,014]. Para o óbito intra-hospitalar, foram: idade [OR 1,090 (IC 95% 1,047 - 1,134), p < 0,001]; FE [OR 0,936 (IC 95% 0,909 - 0,964), p < 0,001]; e tratamento cirúrgico [OR 3,781 (IC 95% 1,374 - 10,409), p = 0,01]. CONCLUSÃO: A internação prolongada e óbito intra-hospitalar em pacientes com SCA independem do horário de admissão.

Prevalência de hipertensão arterial em Adventistas do Sétimo Dia da capital e do interior paulista

FUNDAMENTO: Sabe-se que hábitos de vida inadequados favorecem a hipertensão, e os adventistas preconizam hábitos saudáveis. OBJETIVO: Avaliar a prevalência da hipertensão nos adventistas do sétimo dia na capital e no interior paulistas. MÉTODOS: Foram estudados 264 adventistas (41,17 ± 15,27 anos, 59,8% mulheres, com alto nível de religiosidade avaliada pela escala Duke-DUREL). A medida da pressão arterial foi realizada com aparelho automático validado. Nível de significância adotado foi p < 0,05. Resultados: A prevalência total de hipertensão foi 22,7%, (27,4% no interior e 15% na capital). Os adventistas da capital diferiram dos do interior (p < 0,05), respectivamente, quanto: escolaridade superior (62% vs 36,6%); ter vínculo empregatício (44%) vs autônomos (40,9%); renda familiar (8,39 ± 6,20 vs 4,59 ± 4,75 salários mínimos) e renda individual (4,54 ± 5,34 vs 6,35 ± 48 salários mínimos); casal responsável pela renda familiar (35% vs 39,6%); vegetarianismo (11% vs 3%); pressão arterial (115,38 ± 16,52/68,74 ± 8,94 vs 123,66 ± 19,62/74,88 ± 11,85 mmHg); etnia branca (65% vs 81,1%); casados (53% vs 68,9%); menor apoio social no domínio material (15,7 ± 5,41 vs 16,9 ± 4,32) e lembrar da última vez que mediu a pressão arterial (65% vs 48,8%). A análise multivariada associou hipertensão com: 1) vegetarianismo (OR 0,051, IC95% 0,004-0,681), 2) escolaridade (OR 5,317, IC95% 1,674-16,893), 3) lembrar quando mediu a pressão (OR 2,725, IC95% 1,275-5,821), 4) aposentado (OR 8,846, IC95% 1,406-55,668), 5) responsável pela renda familiar (OR 0,422, IC95% 0,189-0,942). CONCLUSÃO: A prevalência de hipertensão dos adventistas foi menor se comparada com estudos nacionais, sendo menor na capital em relação ao interior possivelmente por melhores condições socioeconômicas e hábitos de vida.

Extremal self-dual codes

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Mathematik, Diss., 2012

Generalized property R and the Schoenflies Conjecture

There is a relation between the generalized Property R Conjecture and the Schoenflies Conjecture that suggests a new line of attack on the latter. The new approach gives a quick proof of the genus 2 Schoenflies Conjecture and suffices to prove the genus 3 case, even in the absence of new progress on the generalized Property R Conjecture.

Weighted approval voting

To allow society to treat unequal alternatives distinctly we propose a natural extension of Approval Voting by relaxing the assumption of neutrality. According to this extension, every alternative receives ex-ante a non-negative and finite weight. These weights may differ across alternatives. Given the voting decisions of every individual (individuals are allowed to vote for, or approve of, as many alternatives as they wish to), society elects all alternatives for which the product of total number of votes times exogenous weight is maximal. Our main result is an axiomatic characterization of this voting procedure.

Monetary policy strategies, financial institutions and financial markets in the Middle East and North Africa: an overview

Three polar types of monetary architecture are identified together with the institutional and market infrastructure required for each type and the kinds of monetary policy feasible in each case: a ‘basic’ architecture where there is little or no financial system as such but an elementary central bank which is able to fix the exchange rate, as a substitute for a proper monetary policy; a ‘modern’ monetary architecture with developed banks, financial markets and central bank where policy choices include types of inflation targeting; and an ‘intermediate’ monetary architecture where less market-based monetary policies involving less discretion are feasible. A range of data is used to locate the various MENA countries with respect to these polar types. Five countries (Iran, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) are identified as those with the least developed monetary architecture, while Bahrain and Jordan are identified as the group at the other end of the spectrum, reaching beyond the intermediate polar type in some dimensions but not others. The countries in between vary on different dimensions but all lie between basic and intermediate architectures. The key general findings are that the MENA countries are both less differentiated and less ‘developed’ than might have been expected. The paper ends by calling for research on the costs and benefits of different types of monetary architecture.

Iconographie de la Mère de Dieu

Après des décennies dʼoubli, un document a été retrouvé, qui avait suscité pendant des années la curiosité dʼétudiants byzantinistes et de bien dʼautres qui étaient à sa recherche. Ilsʼagit de la dernière oeuvre de Nikodim Pavlovic Kondakov, le manuscrit « légendaire » cédé au Vatican dans les années 20 et considéré comme disparu. Après la parution de nombreux textes importants, Kondakov avait commencé à publier ses oeuvres de maturité : la grande monographie sur lʼiconographiedu Christ et les trois volumes de sa célèbre Ikonografija Bogomateri (Iconographie de la Mère de Dieu). Alors que les deux premiers volumes de lʼIconographie de la Mère de Dieu furent publiés à Saint Pétersbourg en 1914-1915, la Révolution Russe de 1917 ne permit pas la publication du troisième volume. Kondakov étant en exil, le troisième volume fut acquis par le Vatican. Le manuscrit fut envoyé à lʼInstitutPontifical Oriental de Rome (PIO) en novembre 1926 où il fut traduit en vue dʼune publication qui nʼeut jamais lieu. Dans les archives du PIO, récemment, la traduction a été retrouvée. Même si nous nʼavons plus la trace de son original en russe, cette traduction complète en français nous permet de retrouver un texte fondamental égaré pendant plus de 80 ans. Ce troisième volume a pour objet lʼiconographie de la Vierge Marie dans lʼart italien, de la fin du Moyen-Âge au début de la Renaissance, un sujet que Kondakov avait en partie affronté dans son premier écrit sur lʼiconographie mariale en 1911, et où il exposait déjà sa proposition de lire la peinture de la Renaissance italienne en lien avec la peinture des icônes russes et grecques. La publication de cette oeuvre nous aidera à connaître une importante page de lʼhistoire concernant le rapport complexe et débattu entre Renaissance italienne et intellectuels russes de lʼ « Âge dʼargent ».

Trabecular Bone Score Helps Classifying Women At Riskof Fracture Prospectively In The Ofely Study

Objectives: Trabecular Bone Score (TBS, Med-Imaps, France) is an index of bone microarchitecture calculated from antero-posterior spine DXA scan and reported to be associated with fracture in prior case-control studies and in a large prospective study with the Prodigy DXA device. Our aim was to assess the ability of TBS to predict incident fracture and improve the classification of fracture prospectively in the OFELY study.Materials/Methods: TBS was assessed in 564 postmenopausal women (66±8 years old) from the OFELY cohort, who had a spine DXA scan (QDR 4500A, Hologic, USA) between year 2000 and 2001. During a mean follow up of 7.8±1.3 years, 94 women sustained a fragility fracture.Results: At the time of baseline DXA scan, women with incident fracture were significantly older (70±9 vs. 65± 8 years), had a lower spine BMD (T-score: −1.9±1.2 vs. −1.3±1.3, p<0.001) and spine TBS (−3.1%, p<0.001) than women without incident fracture. After adjustment for age, BMI and the presence of prevalent fracture, the magnitude of fracture prediction was similar for spine BMD (OR=1.42 [1.11;1.82] per SD decrease [95% CI]) and TBS (OR=1.34 [1.04;1.74]) but the combination of TBS and spine BMD did not improve fracture prediction. Spine BMD and TBS were both correlated with age (respectively r=−0.17 and −0.49, p<0.001) and correlated together with 39% of TBS explained by spine BMD (r=0.63, p<0.001). When using the WHO classification, 38% of the fractures occurred in osteoporotic (fracture rate=29%), 47% in osteopenic (fracture rate=16%) and 15% in women with T-score >−1 (fracture rate=9%). By classifying our population in tertiles of TBS, we found that 47% of the fractures occurred in the lowest tertile of TBS (fracture rate=23%) and 39% of the fracture that occurred in osteopenic women were in the lowest tertile of TBS.Conclusions: Spine BMD and TBS predicted fractures equally well. The addition of TBS to spine BMD added only limited information on fracture risk prediction in our cohort when considering the all range of BMD. Nevertheless combining the osteopenic T-score and the lowest TBS helped defining a subset of osteopenic women at higher risk of fracture.Disclosure of Interest: None declared.

A 600 kb deletion syndrome at 16p11.2 leads to energy imbalance and neuropsychiatric disorders.

BACKGROUND: The recurrent ~600 kb 16p11.2 BP4-BP5 deletion is among the most frequent known genetic aetiologies of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related neurodevelopmental disorders. OBJECTIVE: To define the medical, neuropsychological, and behavioural phenotypes in carriers of this deletion. METHODS: We collected clinical data on 285 deletion carriers and performed detailed evaluations on 72 carriers and 68 intrafamilial non-carrier controls. RESULTS: When compared to intrafamilial controls, full scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) is two standard deviations lower in carriers, and there is no difference between carriers referred for neurodevelopmental disorders and carriers identified through cascade family testing. Verbal IQ (mean 74) is lower than non-verbal IQ (mean 83) and a majority of carriers require speech therapy. Over 80% of individuals exhibit psychiatric disorders including ASD, which is present in 15% of the paediatric carriers. Increase in head circumference (HC) during infancy is similar to the HC and brain growth patterns observed in idiopathic ASD. Obesity, a major comorbidity present in 50% of the carriers by the age of 7 years, does not correlate with FSIQ or any behavioural trait. Seizures are present in 24% of carriers and occur independently of other symptoms. Malformations are infrequently found, confirming only a few of the previously reported associations. CONCLUSIONS: The 16p11.2 deletion impacts in a quantitative and independent manner FSIQ, behaviour and body mass index, possibly through direct influences on neural circuitry. Although non-specific, these features are clinically significant and reproducible. Lastly, this study demonstrates the necessity of studying large patient cohorts ascertained through multiple methods to characterise the clinical consequences of rare variants involved in common diseases.

Prevalence of thinness in children and adolescents in the Seychelles: comparison of two international growth references.

BACKGROUND: : Thinness in children and adolescents is largely under studied, a contrast with abundant literature on under-nutrition in infants and on overweight in children and adolescents. The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of thinness using two recently developed growth references, among children and adolescents living in the Seychelles, an economically rapidly developing country in the African region. METHOD: S: Weight and height were measured every year in all children of 4 grades (age range: 5 to 16 years) of all schools in the Seychelles as part of a routine school-based surveillance program. In this study we used data collected in 16,672 boys and 16,668 girls examined from 1998 to 2004. Thinness was estimated according to two growth references: i) an international survey (IS), defining three grades of thinness corresponding to a BMI of 18.5, 17.0 and 16.0 kg/m2 at age 18 and ii) the WHO reference, defined here as three categories of thinness (-1, -2 and -3 SD of BMI for age) with the second and third named "thinness" and "severe thinness", respectively. RESULTS: : The prevalence of thinness was 21.4%, 6.4% and 2.0% based on the three IS cut-offs and 27.7%, 6.7% and 1.2% based on the WHO cut-offs. The prevalence of thinness categories tended to decrease according to age for both sexes for the IS reference and among girls for the WHO reference. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of the first category of thinness was larger with the WHO cut-offs than with the IS cut-offs while the prevalence of thinness of "grade 2" and thinness of "grade 3" (IS cut-offs) was similar to the prevalence of "thinness" and "severe thinness" (WHO cut-offs), respectively.

Reduced physical activity level and cardiorespiratory fitness in children with chronic diseases.

We aimed to compare physical activity level and cardiorespiratory fitness in children with different chronic diseases, such as type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), obesity (OB) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), with healthy controls (HC). We performed a cross-sectional study including 209 children: OB: n = 45, T1DM: n = 48, JIA: n = 31, and HC: n = 85. Physical activity level was assessed by accelerometer and cardiorespiratory fitness by a treadmill test. ANOVA, linear regressions and Pearson correlations were used. Children with chronic diseases had reduced total daily physical activity counts (T1DM 497 +/- 54 cpm, p = 0.003; JIA 518 +/- 28, p < 0.001, OB 590 +/- 25, p = 0.003) and cardiorespiratory fitness (JIA 39.3 +/- 1.7, p = 0.001, OB 41.7 +/- 1.2, p = 0.020) compared to HC (668 +/- 35 cpm; 45.3 +/- 0.9 ml kg(-1) min(-1), respectively). Only 60.4% of HC, 51.6% of OB, 38.1% of JIA and 38.5% of T1DM children met the recommended daily 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Low cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with female gender and low daily PA. Children with chronic diseases had reduced physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness. As the benefits of PA on health have been well demonstrated during growth, it should be encouraged in those children to prevent a reduction of cardiorespiratory fitness and the development of comorbidities.

Ampakine CX546 bolsters energetic response of astrocytes: a novel target for cognitive-enhancing drugs acting as alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor modulators.

Glutamate was previously shown to enhance aerobic glycolysis i.e. increase glucose utilization and lactate production with no change in oxygen levels, in mouse cortical astrocytes by a mechanism involving glutamate uptake. It is reported here that a similar response is produced in both hippocampal and cerebellar astrocytes. Application of the cognitive-enhancing drug CX546 promoted further enhancement of glucose utilization by astrocytes from each brain area following glutamate exposure. alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors represent the purported molecular target of cognitive-enhancing drugs such as CX546, and the presence of AMPA receptor subunits GluR1-4 was evidenced in astrocytes from all three regions by immunocytochemistry. AMPA itself did not stimulate aerobic glycolysis, but in the presence of CX546, a strong enhancement of glucose utilization and lactate production was obtained in cortical, hippocampal and cerebellar astrocytes. The effect of CX546 was concentration-dependent, with an EC(50) of 93.2 microm in cortical astrocytes. AMPA-induced glucose utilization in the presence of CX546 was prevented by the AMPA receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX) and the negative modulator GYKI 52466. In addition, the metabolic effect of CX546 in the presence of AMPA was mimicked by the AMPA receptor modulator cyclothiazide. Our data suggest that astrocyte energetics represents a novel target for cognitive-enhancing drugs acting as AMPA receptor modulators.

Detection of parasite eggs from archaeological excavations in the Republic of Korea

Excavations at two sites dating from 2000 BC-1900 AD in southeastern areas of the Republic of Korea, revealed the remains of several structures. Examination of the contents suspected privies revealed the presence of eggs from 5 kinds of parasite: Ascaris, Trichuris, Clonorchis, and two species of unknown trematodes. Clonorchis sinensis eggs were found in a soil dating from around AD 668-935. This is the first record of C. sinensis eggs in archaeological materials in the Republic of Korea.

Anàlisi i Disseny d'una aplicación pel Vot Digital

El treball consisteix en un sistema de votació basat en l'anàlisi i disseny basat en les noves tecnologies. L'aplicació es digués VotoDigital, l'esmentat sistema dugués a terme i gestionés el procés de votació.