Glucose induced ApoB100/ApoAI ratio changes in cultured HepG2 cells in vitro

Backgroundː Numerous in vivo human cohort studies have suggested that the apolipoprotein B100/apolipoprotein AI (ApoB100/ApoAI) ratio might be a risk factor in coronary heart disease. The aim of this study was to measure ApoB100/ApoAI ratio changes in cell secretions by incubating HepG2 cells with various amounts of glucose in vitro. Methods ː HepG2 cells were cultured in low-, normal- or high-glucose Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) (1, 4.5 and 10g/L, respectively). Levels of ApoAI and ApoB100 were measured with commercial sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (cat#: H0123 and H0124) from ShangHai MEIXUAN Biological Science and Technology Ltd (Shanghai, China). Experiments were repeated six times for each assay. Resultsː The results showed that ApoB100/ApoAI ratio have positive correlations with the glucose concentration increase. Conclusionsː A higher concentration of glucose induced an undesirable ApoB100/ApoAI ratio change, which suggests a new regulatory pathway in lipoprotein catabolism and provides a cell model for further mechanism study. This finding may lead to novel therapeutic ways for diagnosis and treatment for coronary artery disease.

Bolus formation from fission of nonlinear internal waves over a mild slope

Breaking nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) of depression on boundary slopes drives mixing in the coastal ocean. Of the different breaker types, fission is most commonly observed on mild slopes of continental margins. However, fission on mild slopes has rarely been investigated in the laboratory owing to limitations on flume length. In the present work, a train of NLIWs of depression is generated in an 18.2 m wave flume and shoaled upon a mild uniform slope. During fission, each NLIW of depression scatters into one or two NLIWs of elevation, which transforms into a bolus at the bolus birth point, where shear instability occurs through the pycnocline. The bolus propagates upslope, decreasing in size until it degenerates by shear and lobe-cleft instability, while losing volume to a return flow along the bed. The location of the bolus birth point, bolus propagation length scale, initial size and the number of boluses from each incident wave are parameterized from the wave half-width and the wave Froude number associated with the incident NLIW. These are compared with the characteristics of boluses generated by other breaking mechanisms on steeper slopes. Some bolus characteristics (height to length ratio, change in size and velocity field) are similar for boluses generated by fission, collapsing sinusoidal waves and internal solitary waves of elevation; however, the number of boluses, their birth point and initial height differ. The boluses formed by fission have more initial energy and no reflection. Further research is required to better quantify bolus-driven mixing on continental margins.

809Sodium/potassium ratio change was associated with blood pressure change: finding from health check-up data

Background The sodium (Na)/potassium (K) ratio was reported to be associated with blood pressure (BP). Recently, the Na/K ratio self-monitoring device using spot urine was established. We assessed whether the urinary Na/K ratio change measured using the Na/K device was positively associated with BP change in a health check-up setting. Methods We targeted 12,890 participants who attended the annually health check-up in Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan between 2017 and 2018. Tome city introduced urinary Na/K ratio measurement during health check-up since 2017. We assessed the relationship between change in urinary Na/K ratio and BP change using multiple regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, and change in body mass index (BMI) and alcohol intake. For each year, we compared the baseline characteristics according to the urinary Na/K ratio and BP level. Results The change in systolic BP and diastolic BP was positively associated with the change in urinary Na/K ratio. The average urinary Na/K ratio was significantly lower in 2018 than in 2017 (5.4±3.0 to 4.9±2.2, p < 0.01). Moreover, their systolic BP in 2018 (130.9±17.4 mmHg) was lower than that in 2017 (132.1±17.9 mmHg) (p < 0.01). Conclusions The positive association of change in urinary Na/K ratio with hypertension and change in systolic and diastolic BP can be explained by a change in alcohol intake, BMI, and urinary Na/K ratio. Key messages Measuring the urinary Na/K ratio in community settings is a potential population approach for counteracting hypertension.

Video Object Detection Using Event-Aware Convolutional Lstm and Object Relation Networks

Common video-based object detectors exploit temporal contextual information to improve the performance of object detection. However, detecting objects under challenging conditions has not been thoroughly studied yet. In this paper, we focus on improving the detection performance for challenging events such as aspect ratio change, occlusion, or large motion. To this end, we propose a video object detection network using event-aware ConvLSTM and object relation networks. Our proposed event-aware ConvLSTM is able to highlight the area where those challenging events take place. Compared with traditional ConvLSTM, with the proposed method it is easier to exploit temporal contextual information to support video-based object detectors under challenging events. To further improve the detection performance, an object relation module using supporting frame selection is applied to enhance the pooled features for target ROI. It effectively selects the features of the same object from one of the reference frames rather than all of them. Experimental results on ImageNet VID dataset show that the proposed method achieves mAP of 81.0% without any post processing and can handle challenging events efficiently in video object detection.

Effects of Bypass Ratio Change Trend on Performance in a Military Aircraft Turbofan Engine with Comparative Assessment

In this study, it is aimed to observe the bypass effects on energetic and exergetic performance in a JT3D-3B Military Aircraft Turbofan Engine and its components. For this aim, the comprehensive energy and exergy analyses are performed separately at the various bypass ratios: BPR: 1.30 (Case A), BPR: 1.34 (Case B), BPR: 1.38 (Case C), BPR: 1.40 (Case D), BPR: 1.42 (Case E), BPR: 1.45 (Case F), and BPR: 1.36 (original design). As per the performance results, while the energetic efficiency of the engine is found to be 27.93% for Case F, 27.85% for Case E, 27.72% for Case D, 27.60% for Case C, 27.17% for Case B, 26.97% for Case A, the exergetic efficiency of the engine is found to be 26.23% for Case F, 26.23% for Case E, 26.11% for Case D, 26.00% for Case C, 25.59% for Case B, 25.39% for Case A, Furthermore, with the increase of bypass ratio step-by-step from 1.30 to 1.45; while the energetic efficiency, the exergetic efficiency, the relative exergy consumption value tends to increase, the fuel exergy waste ratio value, the productivity lack ratio, and exergetic improvement potential value of the overall engine tends to decrease. This study can be helpful for turbofan engine users, owners, and designers.

A Digital Health Fall Prevention Program for Older Adults: Feasibility Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND About 1 in 3 adults aged 65 and older falls annually. Exercise interventions are effective in reducing the fall risk and fall rate among older adults. In 2020, startup company Age Bold Inc. disseminated the Bold Fall Prevention Program, aiming to reduce falls among older adults through a remotely delivered, digital exercise program. OBJECTIVE We conducted a feasibility study to assess the delivery of the Bold Fall Prevention Program remotely and evaluate the program's impact on 2 primary outcomes—annualized fall rate and weekly minutes of physical activity (PA)—over 6 months of follow-up. METHODS Older adults at high risk of falling were screened and recruited for the feasibility study via nationwide digital advertising strategies. Self-reported outcomes were collected via surveys administered at the time of enrollment and after 3 and 6 months. Responses were used to calculate changes in the annualized fall rate and minutes of PA per week. RESULTS The remote delivery of a progressive digital fall prevention program and associated research study, including remote recruitment, enrollment, and data collection, was deemed feasible. Participants successfully engaged at home with on-demand video exercise classes, self-assessments, and online surveys. We enrolled 65 participants, of whom 48 (74%) were women, and the average participant age was 72.6 years. Of the 65 participants, 54 (83%) took at least 1 exercise class, 40 (62%) responded to at least 1 follow-up survey at either 3 or 6 months, 20 (31%) responded to both follow-up surveys, and 25 (39%) were lost to follow-up. Among all participants who completed at least 1 follow-up survey, weekly minutes of PA increased by 182% (ratio change=2.82, 95% CI 1.26-6.37, n=35) from baseline and annualized falls per year decreased by 46% (incidence rate ratio [IRR]=0.54, 95% CI 0.32-0.90, n=40). Among only 6-month survey responders (n=31, 48%), weekly minutes of PA increased by 206% (ratio change=3.06, 95% CI 1.43-6.55) from baseline to 6 months (n=30, 46%) and the annualized fall rate decreased by 28% (IRR=0.72, 95% CI 0.42-1.23) from baseline to 6 months. CONCLUSIONS The Bold Fall Prevention Program provides a feasible strategy to increase PA and reduce the burden of falls among older adults.

A New Methodology for Multistage Multispeed Planetary Transmission Design Based on Geometry

In the planetary automatic transmission design, efficiency is one of the primary performance indicators determining the final selection from multiple candidates. However, efficiency evaluation is the last step of conceptual design, thereby causing the trial result is often known at the end of the design. A new methodology based on geometry is presented for multistage planetary automatic transmission design, ranging from clutching sequence synthesis to efficiency evaluation. The emphasis is placed on a unified model for design steps with different analysis principles to predict power transfer characteristics earlier. Some new results and improvements are also presented, such as general speed ratio change law, simultaneous traversal of different shift types, and the efficiency formula. An example is provided to illustrate the applicability to a 3-DOF planetary automatic transmission and shows that early identification of power transfer characteristics can lock in necessary subsequent calculations, thereby eliminating unnecessary analysis and speeding up the design process.