Context:
Conflicting data exist on mitochondrial function and physical activity in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) development.
Objective:
The aim was to assess mitochondrial function at different ...stages during T2DM development in combination with physical exercise in longstanding T2DM patients.
Design and Methods:
We performed cross-sectional analysis of skeletal muscle from 12 prediabetic 11 longstanding T2DM male subjects and 12 male controls matched by age and body mass index.
Intervention:
One-year intrasubject controlled supervised exercise training intervention was done in longstanding T2DM patients.
Main Outcome Measurements:
Extensive ex vivo analyses of mitochondrial quality, quantity, and function were collected and combined with global gene expression analysis and in vivo ATP production capacity after 1 yr of training.
Results:
Mitochondrial density, complex I activity, and the expression of Krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation system-related genes were lower in longstanding T2DM subjects but not in prediabetic subjects compared with controls. This indicated a reduced capacity to generate ATP in longstanding T2DM patients only. Gene expression analysis in prediabetic subjects suggested a switch from carbohydrate toward lipid as an energy source. One year of exercise training raised in vivo skeletal muscle ATP production capacity by 21 ± 2% with an increased trend in mitochondrial density and complex I activity. In addition, expression levels of β-oxidation, Krebs cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation system-related genes were higher after exercise training.
Conclusions:
Mitochondrial dysfunction is apparent only in inactive longstanding T2DM patients, which suggests that mitochondrial function and insulin resistance do not depend on each other. Prolonged exercise training can, at least partly, reverse the mitochondrial impairments associated with the longstanding diabetic state.
To promote environmental protection and sustainability, the use of plants and recycled wastes in geotechnical construction such as landfill covers is recommended. A landfill cover field test was ...conducted at the Shenzhen Xiaping landfill site, located in a humid climatic region of China. The main objective was to validate the field performance of a novel vegetated three-layer landfill cover system using recycled construction waste without the need of geomembrane. Unsieved completely decomposed granite and coarsely crushed concrete was used for the top and intermediate layers while sieved completely decomposed granite was used as the lowest layer. One section was transplanted with Bermuda grass while the other section was left bare. To assess the landfill cover performance, pore-water pressure, volumetric water content, percolation, and atmospheric parameters were measured for a period of 13 months under natural climatic conditions. The cumulative rainfall depth was about 2950 mm over the entire monitoring period. During rainfall, the presence of grass led to lower pore-water pressure (or higher suction) and volumetric water content in the three-layer landfill cover system. At the end of monitoring, the cumulative percolation was about 27 and 20 mm for the bare and grass-covered landfill covers, respectively. It is evident that the vegetated three-layer landfill cover system using recycled concrete without geomembrane can be effective in minimizing percolation in humid climates.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The instantaneous profile method (IPM) is a transient method for measuring a soil’s hydraulic conductivity function (SHCF), which relates soil hydraulic conductivity with suction. In the existing ...interpretation method of the IPM, boundary flux during testing must be known to integrate instantaneous profiles of water content for obtaining the water flow rate. However, it is usually difficult and expensive to measure a boundary flux and if not known, assumptions that may not be easily justified (especially in the field condition) have to be made. In this study, a new method is proposed so that boundary flux does not need to be measured, controlled or assumed during a test. The new method is evaluated through (i) hypothetical column tests using transient seepage analyses and (ii) five case studies. The new method is capable of determining an SHCF with good accuracy. Normalized root-mean-square deviation (NRMSD) for the old and new methods is less than 5% and 10%, respectively. The accuracy of the new method can be increased substantially (i.e., NRMSD <5%) when the spacing of sensors installed along a soil column is reduced. Closer sensor spacing reduces error propagation due to numerical differentiation of instantaneous profiles of hydraulic head for determining hydraulic gradient.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The focus of this note is to investigate the hydraulic conductivity behavior of clay mixed with nanomaterials. Two different nanomaterials — namely, gamma-aluminum oxide powder (γ-Al
2
O
3
) and ...nano-copper oxide (CuO) — were selected and mixed with clay at different percentages (i.e., 2%, 4%, and 6%). Hydraulic conductivity tests were carried out in a flexible wall permeameter following the ASTM D5084 standard. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests were also carried out to determine the pore-size distribution. At 2% of γ-Al
2
O
3
and nano-CuO, the hydraulic conductivity of clay decreased 30% and 45%, respectively. As the proportion of the nanomaterial increases, the reduction of hydraulic conductivity becomes less prominent as flow paths devoid of nanomaterials are unlikely. Reduction of hydraulic conductivity is due to the pores of clay being clogged by the nanomaterial. Pore-size distribution curves show that the largest pore size reduced by 20% when clay was mixed with 4% nano-CuO.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Explore feasibility of unsaturated clay as a gas barrier in landfill cover.•Gas breakthrough pressure increases with clay thickness and degree of saturation.•Gas emission rate decreases with clay ...thickness and degree of saturation.•A 0.6m-thick clay layer may be sufficient to meet gas emission rate limit.
Determination of gas transport parameters in compacted clay plays a vital role for evaluating the effectiveness of soil barriers. The gas breakthrough pressure has been widely studied for saturated swelling clay buffer commonly used in high-level radioactive waste disposal facility where the generated gas pressure is very high (in the order of MPa). However, compacted clay in landfill cover is usually unsaturated and the generated landfill gas pressure is normally low (typically less than 10kPa). Furthermore, effects of clay thickness and degree of saturation on gas breakthrough and emission rate in the context of unsaturated landfill cover has not been quantitatively investigated in previous studies. The feasibility of using unsaturated compacted clay as gas barrier in landfill covers is thus worthwhile to be explored over a wide range of landfill gas pressures under various degrees of saturation and clay thicknesses. In this study, to evaluate the effectiveness of unsaturated compacted clay to minimize gas emission, one-dimensional soil column tests were carried out on unsaturated compacted clay to determine gas breakthrough pressures at ultimate limit state (high pressure range) and gas emission rates at serviceability limit state (low pressure range). Various degrees of saturation and thicknesses of unsaturated clay sample were considered. Moreover, numerical simulations were carried out using a coupled gas–water flow finite element program (CODE-BRIGHT) to better understand the experimental results by extending the clay thickness and varying the degree of saturation to a broader range that is typical at different climate conditions. The results of experimental study and numerical simulation reveal that as the degree of saturation and thickness of clay increase, the gas breakthrough pressure increases but the gas emission rate decreases significantly. Under a gas pressure of 10kPa (the upper bound limit of typical landfill gas pressure), a 0.6m or thicker compacted clay is able to prevent gas breakthrough at degree of saturation of 60% or above (in humid regions). Furthermore, to meet the limit of gas emission rate set by the Australian guideline, a 0.6m-thick clay layer may be sufficient even at low degree of saturation (i.e., 10% like in arid regions).
Abstract
Background and Objectives
Increased sensitivity to light and patterns is typically associated with migraine, but has also been anecdotally reported in cluster headache, leading to diagnostic ...confusion. We wanted to assess whether visual sensitivity is increased ictally and interictally in cluster headache.
Methods
We used the validated Leiden Visual Sensitivity Scale (L-VISS) questionnaire (range 0-36 points) to measure visual sensitivity in people with episodic or chronic cluster headache: (i) during attacks; (ii) in-between attacks; and in episodic cluster headache (iii) in-between bouts. The L-VISS scores were compared with the L-VISS scores obtained in a previous study in healthy controls and participants with migraine.
Results
Mean L-VISS scores were higher for: (i) ictal vs interictal cluster headache (episodic cluster headache: 11.9 ± 8.0 vs. 5.2 ± 5.5, chronic cluster headache: 13.7 ± 8.4 vs 5.6 ± 4.8; p < 0.001); (ii) interictal cluster headache vs controls (5.3 ± 5.2 vs 3.6 ± 2.8, p < 0.001); (iii) interictal chronic cluster headache vs interictal ECH in bout (5.9 ± 0.5 vs 3.8 ± 0.5, p = 0.009), and (iv) interictal episodic cluster headache in bout vs episodic cluster headache out-of-bout (5.2 ± 5.5 vs. 3.7 ± 4.3, p < 0.001). Subjective visual hypersensitivity was reported by 110/121 (91%; 9 missing) participants with cluster headache and was mostly unilateral in 70/110 (64%) and ipsilateral to the ictal pain in 69/70 (99%) participants.
Conclusion
Cluster headache is associated with increased ictal and interictal visual sensitivity. In contrast to migraine, this is mostly unilateral and ipsilateral on the side of the ictal pain.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I consists of 44 different subunits and contains 3 functional modules: the Q‐, the N‐ and the P‐module. NDUFA9 is a Q‐module subunit required for complex I ...assembly or stability. However, its role in complex I biogenesis has not been studied in patient fibroblasts. So far, a single patient carrying an NDUFA9 variant with a severe neonatally fatal phenotype has been reported. Via exome sequencing, we identified a novel homozygous NDUFA9 missense variant in another patient with a milder phenotype including childhood‐onset progressive generalized dystonia and axonal peripheral neuropathy. We performed complex I assembly analysis using primary skin fibroblasts of both patients. Reduced complex I abundance and an accumulation of Q‐module subassemblies were present in both patients but more pronounced in the severe clinical phenotype patient. The latter displayed additional accumulation of P‐module subassemblies, which was not present in the milder‐phenotype patient. Lentiviral complementation of both patient fibroblast cell lines with wild‐type NDUFA9 rescued complex I deficiency and the assembly defects. Our report further characterizes the phenotypic spectrum of NDUFA9 deficiency and demonstrates that the severity of the clinical phenotype correlates with the severity of the effects of the different NDUFA9 variants on complex I assembly.
Primary and secondary conditions leading to thiamine deficiency have overlapping features in children, presenting with acute episodes of encephalopathy, bilateral symmetric brain lesions, and high ...excretion of organic acids that are specific of thiamine‐dependent mitochondrial enzymes, mainly lactate, alpha‐ketoglutarate, and branched chain keto‐acids. Undiagnosed and untreated thiamine deficiencies are often fatal or lead to severe sequelae. Herein, we describe the clinical and genetic characterization of 79 patients with inherited thiamine defects causing encephalopathy in childhood, identifying outcome predictors in patients with pathogenic SLC19A3 variants, the most common genetic etiology. We propose diagnostic criteria that will aid clinicians to establish a faster and accurate diagnosis so that early vitamin supplementation is considered. Ann Neurol 2017;82:317–330
Reducing soil permeability by natural biopolymers, which absorb water to form viscous hydrated colloids, may sustainably improve earthen structures such as landfill covers. Previous studies mainly ...investigated biopolymer effects on water permeability of saturated soils. However, performance of biopolymers in unsaturated soil is unclear, especially for gas permeability. This study examined effects of two biopolymers on gas permeability of compacted clay at various soil densities and compaction water contents using a flexible wall permeameter. The density is represented by degree of compaction (DOC). Statistical analysis was also performed for the three replicates of 95% DOC. Soil microstructure was analyzed by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). Results showed that gas permeability of clay with biopolymers was always lower than that of pure clay with reduction of up to two orders of magnitude. No significant difference was found in the performance between the two biopolymers for most conditions. This is consistent with the statistical results. Reducing gas permeability by biopolymers is due to the reduction in soil macro pores and pore clogging as evidenced by MIP and SEM results. For 75% and 85% DOC, the clay with and without biopolymers showed an increase in gas permeability as compaction water content increased. Until DOC reached 95%, only gas permeability of the clay with biopolymers decreased with an increasing water content since viscous biopolymers stick soil particles and reduce macro pores. Moreover, the permeability reduction by biopolymers was enhanced with an increasing water content as more water is available to hydrate biopolymers and thus facilitate pore clogging. Statistical analysis also supports that the influence of biopolymers becomes more significant with an increasing water content.
•Clay with biopolymers at various soil densities and water content was studied•Using biopolymers reduced gas permeability of clay by up to 2 orders of magnitude.•Pore-clogging and reduction of large pores by biopolymers reduced the permeability.•Use of biopolymers further improves performance of landfill covers.
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