At specific velocities, intense tonal sound can be radiated from the flow around cascaded flat plates. This sound arises from the coupled phenomena of vortex shedding and acoustic resonance. To ...suppress such noise, we actively control the vortex shedding and acoustic radiation by oscillating the edges of every second plate in the cascade. The objective of this investigation was to clarify the effects and mechanism of noise reduction under this control. To understand how the amplitude and frequency of the oscillations influence the controlled flow and acoustic fields around the flat-plate cascade, we conducted direct aeroacoustic simulations using the volume penalization method. The sound pressure level at the resonance frequency was decreased by oscillating the plates at a dimensionless amplitude of 0.15. The pressure reduction failed at oscillation frequencies close to the resonance frequency, because the acoustic resonance occurs at the oscillation frequency. In the audible range of oscillation frequencies (0–20 kHz), the audible overall sound pressure level was not able to be reduced. In contrast, at oscillation frequencies beyond the audible range, both the tonal sound pressure level at the resonance frequency and the audible overall level were decreased. Consequently, the noise radiated from a cascade of plates can be reduced by forced oscillations at a frequency above the audible range. Moreover, we offset the phase of the oscillations between two plates and observed the effect on the acoustic field. At a one-quarter phase offset, the sound pressure level at the oscillation frequency exhibited a vertical asymmetrical directivity.
The long‐range order of spherical block copolymer films is greatly improved if the underlying surface has been etched to form wells and mesas. Epitaxial growth of polystyrene/poly(2‐vinylpyridine) ...block copolymers on SiO2 with structures 1–10 μm wide yields single‐crystal‐like structures on top of the mesas (see Figure), and in the wells, provided the height of the mesas exceeds one layer of copolymer spheres (27 nm). (See also inside front cover.)
Background. Microalbuminuria is widely accepted as the first clinical sign of diabetic nephropathy. However, normoalbuminuric type 2 diabetic patients who have renal insufficiency (RI), i.e. low ...estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, exist. We explored the prevalence of such patients and associated clinical factors. Methods. We investigated the distribution of patients when stratified by albuminuria stages and chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages in a large-scale population of Japanese type 2 diabetic patients (N = 3297), and the common and independent factors for albuminuria and low eGFR. Results. The proportion of subjects with low eGFR was 15.3% (506/3297), which was 11.4% among those with normoalbuminuria (NA) (262/2298), 14.9% among those with microalbuminuria (105/705) and 47.3% among those with macroalbuminuria (139/294). There were 262 patients with NA and low eGFR, and 63.4% of them had neither diabetic retinopathy nor neuropathy. They were older and included a higher proportion of women and patients with hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and fewer smokers compared with those with NA and preserved eGFR. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that factors commonly associated with RI and albuminuria were hypertension, CVD and proliferative retinopathy. Factors independently associated with RI were age, duration of diabetes, A1C (negative), hyperlipidaemia, smoking (negative) and macroalbuminuria, whereas those associated with albuminuria were male sex, BMI, A1C, simple retinopathy and RI. Conclusions. A significant proportion of type 2 diabetic patients have normoalbuminuric RI. Renal disease in type 2 diabetes could be heterogeneous, implying the possibility of involvement of renal atherosclerosis and lipid toxicity.
Summary
Background
Although thiopurines have a proven role in maintenance therapy for Crohn's disease, an alternative therapy is needed for patients intolerant or resistant to thiopurines.
Aim
To ...evaluate the effectiveness of home enteral nutrition as a maintenance therapy regimen in which half of the daily calorie requirement is provided by an elemental diet and the remaining half by a free diet. We refer to this home enteral nutrition therapy as ‘half elemental diet’.
Methods
Between 2002 and 2005, 51 patients in remission from two hospitals were randomly assigned to a half elemental diet group (n = 26) or a free diet group (n = 25). The primary outcome measure of this study was the occurrence of relapse over the 2‐year period.
Results
The relapse rate in the half elemental diet group was significantly lower 34.6% vs. 64.0%; multivariate hazard ratio 0.40 (95% CI: 0.16–0.98) than that in the free diet group after a mean follow‐up of 11.9 months. Compliance was similar in the two groups. No adverse event occurred in any of the patients throughout the study.
Conclusion
This randomized‐controlled trial shows the effectiveness of an half elemental diet, which is a promising maintenance therapy for Crohn's disease patients.
Few studies have evaluated the risk factors for chronic GVHD and organ involvement associated with different graft types, including unrelated cord blood (U-CB). We retrospectively studied 4818 adult ...patients who received their first allogeneic transplantation and survived for at least 100 days. The incidence of chronic GVHD at 2 years was 37%. The following factors were associated with the development of chronic GVHD: female donor/male recipient, CMV-Ab seropositivity, matched related peripheral blood grafts vs matched related BM grafts, no in vivo T-cell depletion and the occurrence of grade II-IV acute GVHD. Among these factors, the association with acute GVHD occurrence was consistently significant across donor subtypes. The use of U-CB was not associated with chronic GVHD, but was associated with a low incidence of extensive chronic GVHD. Chronic GVHD patients who had received U-CB transplants showed less frequent involvement of the oral cavity (28% vs 55%), eye (12% vs 26%), liver (20% vs 44%), lung (11% vs 25%) and joint (0% vs 6%) than those with matched related BM grafts. In conclusion, we found that U-CB transplants were associated with a low incidence of extensive chronic GVHD and less frequent involvement of the oral cavity, eye, liver, lung and joints.
Aims/hypothesis
In type 2 diabetic patients at low risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), the relationship between the clinical course of nephropathy by stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and ...onset of CVD remains unclear. Clarification of this relationship is important for clinical decision-making for both low- and high-risk diabetic patients.
Methods
This 4 year prospective study enrolled 2,954 type 2 diabetic patients with no prevalent CVD, and serum creatinine <176.8 μmol/l. The risk for CVD onset (non-fatal and fatal CVD and stroke, and peripheral arterial disease) was assessed according to CKD stage categorised by urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR; mg/mmol) and estimated GFR (eGFR; ml min
−1
1.73 m
−2
). Association of progression from ‘no CKD’ stage (ACR <3.5 mg/mmol and eGFR ≥90 ml min
−1
1.73 m
−2
) with risk for CVD onset was also evaluated.
Results
During follow-up (median 3.8 years), 89 CVD events occurred. Compared with patients with ‘no CKD’ as reference, those with ACR ≥ 35.0 mg/mmol with co-existing eGFR 60–89 ml min
−1
1.73 m
−2
or <60 ml min
−1
1.73 m
−2
showed increased risk for CVD onset, whereas those with eGFR ≥90 ml min
−1
1.73 m
−2
did not. Those with ACR <3.5 mg/mmol and eGFR <60 ml min
−1
1.73 m
−2
did not show any increased risk. Among patients with ‘no CKD’ stage at baseline, those who progressed to ACR ≥3.5 mg/mmol during follow-up showed an increased risk compared with those who did not, whereas those who progressed to eGFR <90 ml min
−1
1.73 m
−2
did not have increased risk.
Conclusions/interpretation
The risk for CVD was associated with progression of albuminuria stage rather than eGFR stage in type 2 diabetic patients at relatively low risk for CVD.
To compare the effects of miglitol an alpha‐glucosidase inhibitor (AGI) absorbed in the intestine and voglibose (an AGI not absorbed) on plasma glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) and gastric inhibitory ...polypeptide (GIP) levels, 26 and 24 Japanese type 2 diabetic patients were randomly assigned to receive miglitol or voglibose, respectively. After 12‐week administration of both drugs, during 2‐h meal tolerance test, plasma glucose, serum insulin and total GIP were significantly decreased and active GLP‐1 was significantly increased. Miglitol group showed a significantly lower total GIP level than voglibose group. Miglitol, but not voglibose, significantly reduced body weight (BW). In all participants, the relative change in BW was positively correlated with that of insulin significantly and of GIP with a weak tendency, but not of GLP‐1. In conclusion, both drugs can enhance postprandial GLP‐1 responses and reduce GIP responses. The significant BW reduction by miglitol might be attributable to its strong GIP‐reducing efficacy.
•The coexistence of antiferromagnetic and superconducting orders is limited to having small diagonal hopping parameter on Hubbard model.•Band renormalization effect is not negligible especially for ...antiferromagnetic order.•The location of antiferromagnetic gap depends on the value of diagonal hopping parameter.
In view of cuprate superconductors, we apply a variational Monte Carlo method to a strongly correlated square-lattice Hubbard (t-t′-U) model. As a one-body part in a trial wave function, we use a coexistent state of antiferromagnetic (AF) and d-wave superconducting (SC) orders for each of which band-renormalization effect (BRE) is considered independently. We focus on t′/t and doping-rate (δ) dependence of properties of this state. It is found that the BRE for the AF order causes expansion of the AF area up to δ ∼ 0.2 for a large |t′/t|. For t′/t=0 (−0.3), the AF and SC orders are coexistent (mutually exclusive), and the state is unstable toward (stable against) phase separation. This feature of coexistence or exclusion depends on the position of the Fermi surface in the underlying pure AF state, and indicates that antinodal Fermi surfaces are crucial for forming d-wave SC.
Oligopeptide permease A (OppA) plays an important role in cell nutrition, uptake of cell wall peptides, and various signaling processes. In
Thermococcales
, OppA is a major protein present in ...membrane vesicles, suggesting that archaeal OppAs may be involved in processes other than peptide scavenging. No structural studies of archaeal OppAs have been reported to date. In this study, OppA of the thermophilic archaeon
Thermococcus kodakaraensis
was expressed in
Escherichia coli
and purified after a series of purification steps. According to mass spectrometry and N-terminal amino acid sequencing, the initial methionine of the purified protein was mainly processed. OppA mixed with the peptide bradykinin was crystallized by sitting-drop vapor-diffusion method. The crystal belonged to
P
2
1
2
1
2
1
space group with the unit-cell parameters
a
= 84.06 Å,
b
= 109.62 Å,
c
= 75.07 Å.
PDF
