Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) accumulate in the Reproductive Tract of Men with Diabetes.

Light microscopic studies comparing sperm parameters show little association between diabetes and male fertility. However, with the introduction of new analytical techniques, evidence is now emerging of previously undetectable affects of diabetes on sperm function. Specifically, a recent study has found significantly higher sperm nuclear DNA (nDNA) fragmentation in diabetic men. As advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are important instigators of oxidative stress and cell dysfunction in numerous diabetic complications, we hypothesized that these compounds could also be present in the male reproductive tract. The presence and localization of the most prominent AGE, carboxymethyl-lysine (CML), in the human testis, epididymis and sperm was determined by immunohistochemistry. Parallel ELISA and Western blot analyses were performed to ascertain the amount of CML in seminal plasma and sperm from 13 diabetic and 9 non-diabetic subjects. CML immunoreactivity was found through out the seminiferous epithelium, the nuclei of spermatogonia and spermatocytes, in the basal and principle cells (cytoplasm and nuclei) of the caput epididymis and on most sperm tails, mid pieces and all cytoplasmic droplets. The acrosomal cap, especially the equatorial band, was prominently stained in diabetic samples only. The amount of CML was significantly higher (p = 0.004) in sperm from non diabetic men. Considering the known detrimental actions of AGEs in other organs, the presence, location and quantity of CML, particularly the increased expression found in diabetic men, suggests that these compounds may play a hitherto unrecognized role in male infertility.

Spatially Correlated Multiple-Ananna Channel Capacity Distributions

In this paper, we investigate the capacity of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems over spatially correlated Rayleigh distributed flat fading channels with complex Gaussian additive noise. Specifically, we derive the probability density function of the mutual information between transmitted and received complex signals of MIMO systems. Using this density we derive the closed-form ergodic capacity (mean), delay-limited capacity, capacity variance and outage capacity formulas for spatially correlated channels and then evaluate these formulas numerically. Numerical results show how the channel correlation degrades the capacity of MIMO communication systems. We also show that the density of mutual information of correlated/uncorrelated MIMO systems can be approximated by a Gaussian density with derived mean and variance, even for a finite number of inputs and outputs.

Purification capacity of a highly loaded laboratory scale tidal flow reed bed system with effluent recirculation

The purification capacity of a laboratory scale tidal flow reed bed system with final effluent recirculation at a ratio of 1:1 was investigated in this study. In particular, this four-stage reed bed system was highly loaded with strong agricultural wastewater. Under the hydraulic and organic loading rates as high as 0.43 m3/m2d and 1055 gCOD/m2d, respectively, the average removal efficiencies of COD, BOD5, SS, NH4-N and P were 77%, 78%, 66%, 62% and 38%. Even with the high loading rates, approximately 30% of NH4-N was converted into NO2-N and NO3-N from the mid-stage of the system where nitrification took place. The results suggest that the multi-stage reed bed system could be employed to treat strong wastewater under high loading, especially for the substantive mass removal of solids, organic matter and ammoniacal-nitrogen. Tidal flow combined with effluent recirculation is a favourable operation strategy to achieve this objective.

HDL composition and HDL antioxidant capacity in patients on regular haemodialysis

Recent evidence suggests that HDL can directly inhibit LDL oxidation, a key early stage in atherogenesis. Patients with chronic renal failure are at increased cardiovascular risk, have reduced HDL levels and altered HDL composition. We have therefore investigated whether compositional changes in HDL lead to decreased HDL antioxidant capacity in these patients. In comparison to control subject HDL, patient HDL contained less total cholesterol, cholesterol esters, phospholipids and alpha-tocopherol. LDL, HDL and LDL + HDL were standardised for protein and oxidised in the presence of Cu2+. The rate of propagation during HDL oxidation was reduced in the patient group (3.28 +/- 0.65 x 10(-5) vs. 4.60 +/- 0.97 x 10(-5) abs. U/min, P

Advanced glycation end products accumulate in the reproductive tract of men with diabetes

Light microscopic studies comparing sperm parameters show little association between diabetes and male fertility. However, with the introduction of new analytical techniques, evidence is now emerging of previously undetectable effects of diabetes on sperm function. Specifically, a recent study has found a significantly higher sperm nuclear DNA fragmentation in diabetic men. As advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are important instigators of oxidative stress and cell dysfunction in numerous diabetic complications, we hypothesized that these compounds could also be present in the male reproductive tract. The presence and localization of the most prominent AGE, carboxymethyl-lysine (CML), in the human testis, epididymis and sperm was determined by immunohistochemistry. Parallel ELISA and Western blot analyses were performed to ascertain the amount of CML in seminal plasma and sperm from 13 diabetic and nine non-diabetic subjects. CML immunoreactivity was found throughout the seminiferous epithelium, the nuclei of spermatogonia and spermatocytes, in the basal and principle cells cytoplasm and nuclei of the caput epididymis and on most sperm tails, mid pieces and all cytoplasmic droplets. The acrosomal cap, especially the equatorial band, was prominently stained in diabetic samples only. The amount of CML was significantly higher (p = 0.004) in sperm from non-diabetic men. Considering the known detrimental actions of AGEs in other organs, the presence, location and quantity of CML, particularly the increased expression found in diabetic men, suggest that these compounds may play a hitherto unrecognized role in male infertility.