Relationship between training status and maximal fat oxidation rate

This study aimed to compare maximal fat oxidation rate parameters between moderate-and low-performance runners. Eighteen runners performed an incremental treadmill test to estimate individual maximal fat oxidation rate (Fat(max)) based on gases measures and a 10,000-m run on a track. The subjects were then divided into a low and moderate performance group using two different criteria: 10,000-m time and VO(2)max values. When groups were divided using 10,000-m time, there was no significant difference in Fat(max) (0.41 +/- 0.16 and 0.27 +/- 0.12 g.min(-1), p = 0.07) or in the exercise intensity that elicited Fat(max) (59.9 +/- 16.5 and 68.7 +/- 10.3 % (V) over dotO(2max), p = 0.23) between the moderate and low performance groups, respectively (p > 0.05). When groups were divided using VO(2max) values, Fat(max) was significantly lower in the low VO(2max) group than in the high VO(2max) group (0.29 +/- 0.10 and 0.47 +/- 0.17 g.min(-1), respectively, p < 0.05) but the intensity that elicited Fat(max) did not differ between groups (64.4 +/- 14.9 and 61.6 +/- 15.4 % VO(2max)). Fat(max) or % VO(2max) that elicited Fat(max) was not associated with 10,000 m time. The only variable associated with 10,000-m running performance was % VO(2max) used during the run (p < 0.01). In conclusion, the criteria used for the division of groups according to training status might influence the identification of differences in Fat(max) or in the intensity that elicits Fat(max).

Orexin receptor antagonism, a new sleep-enabling paradigm: a proof-of-concept clinical trial

The orexin system is a key regulator of sleep and wakefulness. In a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, two-way crossover study, 161 primary insomnia patients received either the dual orexin receptor antagonist almorexant, at 400, 200, 100, or 50 mg in consecutive stages, or placebo on treatment nights at 1-week intervals. The primary end point was sleep efficiency (SE) measured by polysomnography; secondary end points were objective latency to persistent sleep (LPS), wake after sleep onset (WASO), safety, and tolerability. Dose-dependent almorexant effects were observed on SE , LPS , and WASO . SE improved significantly after almorexant 400 mg vs. placebo (mean treatment effect 14.4%; P < 0.001). LPS (–18 min (P = 0.02)) and WASO (–54 min (P < 0.001)) decreased significantly at 400 mg vs. placebo. Adverse-event incidence was dose-related. Almorexant consistently and dose-dependently improved sleep variables. The orexin system may offer a new treatment approach for primary insomnia.

An Integrated Framework To Improve The Concept Of Resource Specialisation.

Resource specialisation, although a fundamental component of ecological theory, is employed in disparate ways. Most definitions derive from simple counts of resource species. We build on recent advances in ecophylogenetics and null model analysis to propose a concept of specialisation that comprises affinities among resources as well as their co-occurrence with consumers. In the distance-based specialisation index (DSI), specialisation is measured as relatedness (phylogenetic or otherwise) of resources, scaled by the null expectation of random use of locally available resources. Thus, specialists use significantly clustered sets of resources, whereas generalists use over-dispersed resources. Intermediate species are classed as indiscriminate consumers. The effectiveness of this approach was assessed with differentially restricted null models, applied to a data set of 168 herbivorous insect species and their hosts. Incorporation of plant relatedness and relative abundance greatly improved specialisation measures compared to taxon counts or simpler null models, which overestimate the fraction of specialists, a problem compounded by insufficient sampling effort. This framework disambiguates the concept of specialisation with an explicit measure applicable to any mode of affinity among resource classes, and is also linked to ecological and evolutionary processes. This will enable a more rigorous deployment of ecological specialisation in empirical and theoretical studies.

Photoelastic Analysis Of All-on-four Concept Using Different Implants Angulations For Maxilla.

Conventional tilted implants are used in oral rehabilitation for heavily absorbed maxilla to avoid bone grafts; however, few research studies evaluate the biomechanical behavior when different angulations of the implants are used. The aim of this study was evaluate, trough photoelastic method, two different angulations and length of the cantilever in fixed implant-supported maxillary complete dentures. Two groups were evaluated: G15 (distal tilted implants 15°) and G35 (distal tilted implants 35°) n = 6. For each model, 2 distal tilted implants (3.5 x 15 mm long cylindrical cone) and 2 parallel tilted implants in the anterior region (3.5 x 10 mm) were installed. Photoelastic models were submitted to three vertical load tests: in the end of cantilever, in the last pillar and in the all pillars at the same time. We obtained the shear stress by Fringes software and found values for total, cervical and apical stress. The quantitative analysis was performed using the Student tests and Mann-Whitney test; p ≥ 0.05. There is no difference between G15 and G35 for total stress regardless of load type. Analyzing the apical region, G35 reduced strain values considering the distal loads (in the cantilever p = 0.03 and in the last pillar p = 0.02), without increasing the stress level in the cervical region. Considering the load in all pillars, G35 showed higher stress concentration in the cervical region (p = 0.04). For distal loads, G15 showed increase of tension in the apical region, while for load in all pillars, G35 inclination increases stress values in the cervical region.

[recovery: Systematic Review Of A Concept].

The concept of recovery has been described in papers as a state of psychic, physical and social recuperation of day-to-day functions. The scope of this article is to analyze the concepts of the term in different research methodologies and the paradigmatic evolution of the recovery concept. Systematic bibliographical research was conducted in the Pubmed database using the words recovery + schizophrenia limited to freely available full papers published in the previous two years. Nineteen papers were analyzed. The majority of the papers sought associations between characteristic data and recovery; few papers discussed the concept in a way to distinguish it from other words like cure or rehabilitation. Recovery as a state in which people with severe mental illness can feel like the creators of their own itinerary tend to be found in qualitative studies and in bibliographic reviews in which the meaning of recovery is not related to the lack of symptoms and tends to prioritize how participative the life of an individual can be despite the disease. Some quantitative studies detect this conceptual difference. In qualitative research there is an increase in the concept of recovery and in ways of promoting it.

Masticatory afficiency in denture wearers with bilateral balanced occlusion and canine guidance

The maintenance of masticatory function is especially important for patients wearing complete dentures due to their limitations. Thus, the bilateral balanced occlusal concept is used to achieve greater masticatory efficiency. However, a critical review of the literature reveals that there is not sufficient scientific evidence to support bilateral balanced occlusion as the most appropriate occlusal concept in complete dentures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the masticatory efficiency in complete dentures wearers with bilateral balanced occlusion and canine guidance. A double-blinded controlled crossover clinical trial was conducted. The sample was composed by 24 edentulous patients who wore sets of complete dentures with both occlusal concepts during equal periods of 3 months. Objective data were collected through the masticatory efficiency test performed by the colorimetric method with the beads, in which capsules of a synthetic material enclosing fuchsine-containing granules were used. Subjective data were recorded by patient's ratings of their chewing function. No significant statistical difference was found for masticatory efficiency (p=0.095) between the two occlusal concepts studied. The results suggest that bilateral balanced occlusion does not improve the masticatory efficiency in complete denture wearers.

Double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled clinical trial with clobetasol propionate in desquamative gingivitis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a 0.05% clobetasol propionate ointment administered in trays to 22 patients with desquamative gingivitis in a double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled trial. Patients received container number 1 and were instructed to apply the ointment 3 times a day for 2 weeks, and to reduce the application to once a day in the third week. Next, the patients were then instructed to discontinue the treatment for 2 weeks, and were then given container 2, used in the same way and for the same length of time as container 1. Regarding signs, 17 patients presented some improvement, while 5 experienced worsening with clobetasol propionate. With the placebo, 14 patients presented some improvement, and 8 patients presented worsening. For symptoms, there was complete improvement in 2 patients, partial improvement in 12, no response in 7, and worsening in 1 with clobetasol propionate. With the placebo, there was partial improvement in 8 patients, no response in 12 and worsening in 2. No statistically significant difference was found between clobetasol and placebo (p>0.05). Within the period designed to treat the gingival lesions of the patients, clobetasol propionate did not significantly outperform the placebo.

Dependence of the crossover exponent with the diffusion rate in the generalized contact process model

We study how the crossover exponent, phi, between the directed percolation (DP) and compact directed percolation (CDP) behaves as a function of the diffusion rate in a model that generalizes the contact process. Our conclusions are based in results pointed by perturbative series expansions and numerical simulations, and are consistent with a value phi = 2 for finite diffusion rates and phi = 1 in the limit of infinite diffusion rate.

Anomalous thermodynamic properties in ferropericlase throughout its spin crossover transition

The thermodynamics properties of ferropericlase (Mg(1-x)Fe(x)O where x=0.1875) (Fp) throughout its spin crossover were investigated by first principles. Fp was treated as an ideal solid solution of pure high-spin and low-spin states. The Gibbs free energies of the pure states were addressed using the LDA+U method. A vibrational virtual-crystal model was developed to address the vibrational properties of the pure spin cases and used in conjunction with quasiharmonic theory to compute their vibrational free energies. The thermodynamics properties of Fp display significant anomalies that should be typical of spin crossover systems in general. In Fp, in particular, they are fundamental for understanding the state of earth's interior, where the pressure and temperature conditions of the crossover are realized.

Crossover between the extended and localized regimes in stochastic partially self-avoiding walks in one-dimensional disordered systems

Consider N sites randomly and uniformly distributed in a d-dimensional hypercube. A walker explores this disordered medium going to the nearest site, which has not been visited in the last mu (memory) steps. The walker trajectory is composed of a transient part and a periodic part (cycle). For one-dimensional systems, travelers can or cannot explore all available space, giving rise to a crossover between localized and extended regimes at the critical memory mu(1) = log(2) N. The deterministic rule can be softened to consider more realistic situations with the inclusion of a stochastic parameter T (temperature). In this case, the walker movement is driven by a probability density function parameterized by T and a cost function. The cost function increases as the distance between two sites and favors hops to closer sites. As the temperature increases, the walker can escape from cycles that are reminiscent of the deterministic nature and extend the exploration. Here, we report an analytical model and numerical studies of the influence of the temperature and the critical memory in the exploration of one-dimensional disordered systems.

Crossover between distinct mechanisms of microwave photoresistance in bilayer systems

We report on temperature-dependent magnetoresistance measurements in balanced double quantum wells exposed to microwave irradiation for various frequencies. We have found that the resistance oscillations are described by the microwave-induced modification of electron distribution function limited by inelastic scattering (inelastic mechanism), up to a temperature of T*similar or equal to 4 K. With increasing temperature, a strong deviation of the oscillation amplitudes from the behavior predicted by this mechanism is observed, presumably indicating a crossover to another mechanism of microwave photoresistance, with similar frequency dependence. Our analysis shows that this deviation cannot be fully understood in terms of contribution from the mechanisms discussed in theory.

Polaron liquid-gas crossover at the orthorhombic-rhombohedral transition of manganites

High-resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction in La(0.7)Ca(0.3)MnO(3) shows in detail a first-order structural phase transition from orthorhombic (space-group Pnma) to rhombohedral (space-group R (3) over barc) crystal structures near T(S)=710 K. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show that the rhombohedral phase strictly obeys the Curie-Weiss law as opposed to the orthorhombic phase. A concomitant change in the electrical resistivity behavior, consistent with an alteration from nonadiabatic to adiabatic small polaron hopping regimes, was also observed at T(S). The simultaneous change in transport and magnetic properties are identified as a transition from a correlated polaron liquid for TT(S), driven by the change in the crystal symmetry.

Universal resistance capacitance crossover in current-voltage characteristics for unshunted array of overdamped Nb-AlOx-Nb Josephson junctions

We report on some unusual behavior of the measured current-voltage characteristics (CVC) in artificially prepared two-dimensional unshunted array of overdamped Nb-AlO(x)-Nb Josephson junctions. The obtained nonlinear CVC are found to exhibit a pronounced (and practically temperature independent) crossover at some current I(cr) = (1/2 beta(C)-1)I(C) from a resistance R dominated state with V(R)=R root I(2)-I(C)(2) below I(cr) to a capacitance C dominated state with V(C) = root(h) over bar /4eC root I-I(C) above I(cr). The origin of the observed behavior is discussed within a single-plaquette approximation assuming the conventional resistively shunted junction model with a finite capacitance and the Ambegaokar-Baratoff relation for the critical current of the single junction. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3407566]

Effective coordination concept applied for phase change (GeTe)(m)(Sb(2)Te(3))(n) compounds

In this work, we employed the effective coordination concept to study the local environments of the Ge, Sb, and Te atoms in the Ge(m)Sb(2n)Te(m+3n) compounds. From our calculations and analysis, we found an average effective coordination number (ECN) reduction of 1.59, 1.42, and 1.37, for the Ge, Sb, Te atoms in the phase transition from crystalline, ECN=5.55 (Ge), 5.73 (Sb), 4.37 (Te), to the amorphous phase, ECN=3.96 (Ge), 4.31 (Sb), 3.09 (Te), for the Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) composition. Similar changes are observed for other compositions. Thus, our results indicate that the coordination changes from the crystalline to amorphous phase are not large as previously assumed in the literature, i.e., from sixfold to fourfold for Ge, which can contribute to obtain a better understanding of the crystalline to amorphous phase transition. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3533422]

Dignified death: Concept development involving nurses and doctors in Pediatric Intensive Care Units

The aim of this study was to develop the concept of the dignified death of children in Brazilian pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). The Hybrid Model for Concept Development was used to develop a conceptual structure of dignified death in PICUs in an attempt to define the concept. The fieldwork study was carried out by means of in-depth interviews with nine nurses and seven physicians working in PICUs. Not unexpectedly, the concept of dignified death was found to be a complex phenomenon involving aspects related to decisions made by the multidisciplinary team as well as those related to care of the child and the family. Knowledge of the concept`s dimensions can promote reflection on the part of healthcare professionals regarding the values and beliefs underlying their conduct in end-of-life situations. Our hope is that this study may contribute to theoretic and methodological development in the area of end-of-life care.