Background: Although diaphragmatic motion is readily studied by ultrasonography, the procedure remains poorly codified. The aim of this
prospective study was to determine the reference values for ...diaphragmatic motion as recorded by M-mode ultrasonography.
Methods: Two hundred ten healthy adult subjects (150 men, 60 women) were investigated. Both sides of the posterior diaphragm were
identified, and M-mode was used to display the movement of the anatomical structures. Examinations were performed during quiet
breathing, voluntary sniffing, and deep breathing. Diaphragmatic excursions were measured from the M-mode sonographic images.
In addition, the reproducibility (inter- and intra-observer) was assessed.
Results: Right and left diaphragmatic motions were successfully assessed during quiet breathing in all subjects. During voluntary
sniffing, the measurement was always possible on the right side, and in 208 of 210 volunteers, on the left side. During deep
breathing, an obscuration of the diaphragm by the descending lung was noted in subjects with marked diaphragmatic excursion.
Consequently, right diaphragmatic excursion could be measured in 195 of 210 subjects, and left diaphragmatic excursion in
only 45 subjects. Finally, normal values of both diaphragmatic excursions were determined. Since the excursions were larger
in men than in women, the gender should be taken into account. The lower limit values were close to 0.9 cm for women and 1
cm for men during quiet breathing, 1.6 cm for women and 1.8 cm for men during voluntary sniffing, and 3.7 cm for women and
4.7 cm for men during deep breathing.
Conclusions: We demonstrated that M-mode ultrasonography is a reproducible method for assessing hemidiaphragmatic movement.
The integration of massive solar energy supply in the existing grids requires an accurate forecast of the solar resources to manage the energetic balance. In this context, we propose a new approach ...to forecast the Global Horizontal Irradiance at ground level from satellite images and ground based measurements. The training of spatio-temporal multidimensional autoregressive models with HelioClim-3 data along with 15-min averaged GHI times series is tested with respect to a ground based station from the BSRN network. Forecast horizons from 15 min to 1 h provided very promising results validated on a one year ground-based pyranometric data set. The performances have been compared to another similar method from the literature by means of relative metrics. The proposed approach paves the way of the use of satellite-based surface solar irradiance (SSI) estimation as an SSI map nowcasting method that enables to capture spatio-temporal correlation for the improvement of a local SSI forecast.
•HelioClim-3 maps time-series allow the forecast of Global Horizontal Irradiance.•Statistical learning of the main meteorological trends leads to 9% RMSE improvement.•Important irradiance variations (clouds) can be forecasted up to 1 h ahead.
To compare the effects of an 8-week, high-intensity interval training protocol versus continuous training.
Randomized controlled trial.
Cardiac rehabilitation center.
Patients (N=26; mean age ± SD, ...54±12y) with chronic heart failure were enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program for 8 weeks.
Patients were randomly assigned into 2 groups that performed either interval training (IT) or continuous training (CT). IT consisted of 3 sessions of 12 repetitions of 30 seconds of exercise at very high intensity, followed by 60 seconds of complete rest. The CT group performed CT exercises, which consisted of 45 minutes of aerobic exercise.
Parameters of gas exchanges: peak oxygen consumption (Vo(2)peak), first ventilator threshold (VT1), distance at six-minute walk test (6MWT), and level of anxiety and depression were measured.
The IT group increased significantly their Vo(2)peak, the duration of the exercise test, the oxygen pulse, oxygen consumption at the VT1, and the distance walked during the 6MWT. The CT group only increased the time at the VT1 and the distance performed at the 6MWT. The improvement in the time at the VT1 was significantly higher for the IT group than for the CT group.
This study shows that IT at very high intensity for patients with heart failure appears to be more effective than CT in improving indices of submaximal exercise capacity.
Sugared snake fruit juices were fermented for 14 days with the Kombucha consortium containing yeasts and acetic acid bacteria. Five Indonesian cultivars (Salak Doyong, Salak Madu, Salak Pondoh, Salak ...Segaran and Salak Suwaru) of the fruit were studied. The physicochemical and sensory properties of the fermented products revealed the snake fruit Kombucha from the Salak Suwaru cultivar as the most acceptable with color indices L* and b* respectively 30.5 and 13.2; total sugar, 7.54%; total soluble solids, 11.3%; total acidity, 1.65%; pH, 3.15; and sensory scores (out of 5) of 3.90 for color, 3.70 for taste and 3.80 for aroma. The fermentation enhanced antioxidant activity of the snake fruit Kombucha, as assessed by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, and consistent with increases in phenolics, tannins and flavonoids. Acetic acid was the major organic acid of the fermented product that showed an enhanced antibacterial activity by inhibiting Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. Snake fruits can be used to develop functional food beverages and foods through the Kombucha fermentation.
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•Juices from five snake fruit cultivars were fermented with the Kombucha consortium.•The snake fruit Kombucha was liked by sensory panelists in color, taste and aroma attributes.•The fermentation enhanced antioxidant and antibacterial activities, and acetic acid was the major organic acid.•Phenolic compounds in the snake fruit Kombucha were high and enhanced by the fermentation.•A health-promoting beverage can be developed from Kombucha fermentation of snake fruits.
The research compared antidiabetic activity of snake fruit Kombucha, black tea Kombucha and metformin in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Snake fruit Kombucha, black tea Kombucha and metformin ...were orally administered to the diabetic rats daily during a 28-day experiment. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and lipid profiles (total triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol) of the blood plasma were investigated. Pancreas immunohistochemical study and β-cells quantification were also conducted. The products significantly (p < 0.05) reduced fasting plasma glucose levels (67–76%) and improved oxidative stress indices and lipid profiles. From immunohistochemical staining of pancreatic tissues, pancreatic β-cells were also improved in the diabetic rats by the products. The snake fruit Kombucha compared with the metformin but better than the black tea Kombucha as a diabetes therapy agent.
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•Black tea and snake fruit Kombucha were evaluated as effective antidiabetic agents.•The Kombucha and metformin reduced fasting plasma glucose of diabetes-induced rats.•The treatments satisfactorily improved other indices of diabetes in the rats.•The snake fruit Kombucha was comparable to the metformin as antidiabetic agents.•But the snake fruit Kombucha was more effective than the black tea Kombucha.
This review deals with beneficial bacteria, with a focus on lactobacilli, propionibacteria, and bifidobacteria. As being recognized as beneficial bacteria, they are consumed as probiotics in various ...food products. Some may also be used as starters in food fermentation. In either case, these bacteria may be exposed to various environmental stresses during industrial production steps, including drying and storage, and during the digestion process. In accordance with their adaptation to harsh environmental conditions, they possess adaptation mechanisms, which can be induced by pretreatments. Adaptive mechanisms include accumulation of compatible solutes and of energy storage compounds, which can be largely modulated by the culture conditions. They also include the regulation of energy production pathways, as well as the modulation of the cell envelop, i.e., membrane, cell wall, surface layers, and exopolysaccharides. They finally lead to the overexpression of molecular chaperones and of stress-responsive proteases. Triggering these adaptive mechanisms can improve the resistance of beneficial bacteria toward technological and digestive stresses. This opens new perspectives for the improvement of industrial processes efficiency with regard to the survival of beneficial bacteria. However, this bibliographical survey evidenced that adaptive responses are strain-dependent, so that growth and adaptation should be optimized case-by-case.
•The present work aims at proposing a compilation of kinetic parameters.•The selection of minerals is currently limited to clay rich rocks and cements.•Selected rate parameters have been used to ...simulate independent experiments.•Database is available in different formats (PhreeqC, CrunchFlow, ToughReact).
Many geoscientific fields use reactive transport codes to set up and interpret experiments as well as to understand natural processes. Reactive transport codes are also useful to give insights in the long term evolution of systems such as radioactive waste repositories or CO2 storage sites, for which experiments cannot reach the targeted time scale nor the dimension of those systems. The consideration of kinetic reaction rates is often required to reproduce correctly the geochemical and transport processes of interest. However, kinetic data are scattered in the literature, making data and selection a tedious task. Kinetic parameters on a single system are also highly variable depending on data choice, interpretation and chosen kinetic modelling approaches, thus making inter-comparison of modelling studies difficult. The present work aims at proposing a compilation of kinetic parameters to overcome part of above cited problems. The proposed selection was done (i) to ensure consistency of data selection criteria and data treatment and (ii) to ease the use of common kinetic parameters that are independent of the chosen geochemical modelling code. For those two reasons, the kinetic formalism of the transition state theory (TST) was chosen. The selection of minerals is currently limited to those present in clay rich rocks and cements, reflecting the effort made at predicting the evolution of radioactive waste underground storage systems. Still, the proposed compilation should also be useful for other applications such as CO2 sequestration.
Crohn's disease is linked to a decreased diversity in gut microbiota composition as a potential consequence of an impaired anti-microbial response and an altered polarization of T helper cells. Here, ...we evaluated the immunomodulatory properties of two potential probiotic strains, namely a Bifidobacterium animalis spp. lactis Bl 5764 and a Lactobacillus reuteri Lr 5454 strains. Both strains improved colitis triggered by either 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) or Citrobacter rodentium infection in mice. Training of dendritic cells (DC) with Lr 5454 efficiently triggered IL-22 secretion and regulatory T cells induction in vitro, while IL-17A production by CD4
T lymphocytes was stronger when cultured with DCs that were primed with Bl 5764. This strain was sufficient for significantly inducing expression of antimicrobial peptides in vivo through the Crohn's disease predisposing gene encoding for the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, containing protein 2 (NOD2). In contrast, NOD2 was dispensable for the impact on antimicrobial peptide expression in mice that were monocolonized with Lr 5454. In conclusion, our work highlights a differential mode of action of two potential probiotic strains that protect mice against colitis, providing the rational for a personalized supportive preventive therapy by probiotics for individuals that are genetically predisposed to Crohn's disease.
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