78 research outputs found
A century of trends in adult human height
No full textBeing taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3-19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8-144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries
Improvement of saliva production in ENT cancer patients treated by IMRT
No full textIntensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) is a conformal
radiotherapy that produces concave and irregular target
volume dose distributions. IMRT has a potential to reduce
the volume of healthy tissue irradiated to a high dose, but
this often at the price of an increased volume of normal
tissue irradiated to a low dose. Clinical benefits of IMRT are
expected to be most pronounced at the body sites where
sensitive normal tissues surround or are located next to a target
with a complex 3D shape. The irradiation doses needed for
tumor control are often markedly higher than the tolerance
of the radiation sensitive structures such as the spinal cord,
the optic nerves, the eyes, or the salivary glands in the
treatment of head and neck cancer. Parotid gland salivary flow
is markedly reduced following a cumulative dose of 30 50 Gy
given with conventional fractionation and xerostomia may be
prevented in most patients using a conformal parotid-sparing
radiotherapy technique. However, in cohort studies where IMRT
was compared with conventional and conformal radiotherapy
techniques in the treatment of laryngeal or oropharyngeal
carcinoma, the dosimetric advantage of IMRT translated into
a reduction of late salivary toxicity with no apparent adverse
impact on the tumor control. IMRT might reduce the radiation
dose to the major salivary glands and the risk of permanent
xerostomia without compromizing the likelihood for cure.
Alternatively, IMRT might allow the target dose escalation at
a given level of normal tissue damage. We describe here the
clinical results on postirradiation salivary gland function in head
and neck cancer patients treated with IMRT, and the technical
aspects of IMRT applied. The results suggest that the major
salivary gland function can be maintained with IMRT without
a need to compromise the clinical target volume dose, or the
locoregional control
Blood cells transcriptomics as source of potential biomarkers of articular health improvement: effects of oral intake of a rooster combs extract rich in hyaluronic acid
No full textThe aim of the study was to explore peripheral blood gene expression as a source of biomarkers of joint health improvement related to glycosaminoglycan (GAG) intake in humans. Healthy individuals with joint discomfort were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention study in humans. Subjects ate control yoghurt or yoghurt supplemented with a recently authorized novel food in Europe containing hyaluronic acid (65 %) from rooster comb (Mobilee™ as commercial name) for 90 days. Effects on functional quality-of-life parameters related to joint health were assessed. Whole-genome microarray analysis of peripheral blood samples from a subset of 20 subjects (10 placebo and 10 supplemented) collected pre- and post-intervention was performed. Mobilee™ supplementation reduced articular pain intensity and synovial effusion and improved knee muscular strength indicators as compared to placebo. About 157 coding genes were differentially expressed in blood cells between supplemented and placebo groups post-intervention, but not pre-intervention (p <0.05; fold change =1.2). Among them, a reduced gene expression of glucuronidase-beta (GUSB), matrix metallopeptidase 23B (MMP23B), xylosyltransferase II (XYLT2), and heparan sulfate 6-O-sulfotransferase 1 (HS6ST1) was found in the supplemented group. Correlation analysis indicated a direct relationship between blood cell gene expression of MMP23B, involved in the breakdown of the extracellular matrix, and pain intensity, and an inverse relationship between blood cell gene expression of HS6ST1, responsible for 6-O-sulfation of heparan sulfate, and indicators of knee muscular strength. Expression levels of specific genes in blood cells, in particular genes related to GAG metabolism and extracellular matrix dynamics, are potential biomarkers of beneficial effects on articular health
CIRCADIAN INFLUENCE ON THE WAVE FORM OF THE FREQUENCY OF LABELED MITOSES IN MOUSE CORNEAL EPITHELIUM
No full text
Mass distributions for quasifission processes in superheavy compositesystems with Z=108-120
No full textThis paper presents the study of mass-energy distributions of quasifission fragments obtained in the reactions 36S, 48Ca, 64Ni+238U at energies below and above the Coulomb barrier. To describe the quasifission mass distribution the simple model has been proposed. This model is based on the driving potential of the system and time dependent mass drift. This procedure allows to estimate QF time scale from the measured mass distributions
The spectrum of inflammatory skin disease following jejuno-ileal bypass for morbid obesity
No full textInfinite State Model Checking by Abstract Interpretation and Program Specialisation
No full textWe illustrate the use of logic programming techniques for finite model checking of CTL formulae. We present a technique for infinite state model checking of safety properties based upon logic program specialisation and analysis techniques. The power of the approach is illustrated on several examples. For that, the efficient tools logen and ecce are used. We discuss how this approach has to be extended to handle more complicated infinite state systems and to handle arbitrary CTL formulae
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