[Pilot study to evaluate blood glucose control by a model predictive control algorithm with variable sampling rate vs. routine glucose management protocol in peri- and postoperative period in cardiac surgery patients].

Background: Increased blood glucose levels are frequently observed in critically ill patients. Recent studies have shown that the normalization of glycemia by intensive insulin therapy decreases mortality, length of the hospitalization and number of complications.

Methods And Results: The aim of this pilot study was to compare blood glucose control by an automated model predictive control algorithm with variable sampling rate (eMPC) with routine glucose management protocol (RP) in peri- and postoperative period in cardiac surgery patients.

Who cares for older people with mental illness? A survey of residential aged care facilities in the Australian Capital Territory: implications for mental health nursing.

Residential aged care facilities are increasingly becoming locations wherein the most frail and older people with mental illness live out the remainder of their lives, yet it has become apparent in recent years that these institutions are fraught with a variety of social and clinical problems. One issue of concern has been the exodus of registered nurses (both general and psychiatric), who have been increasingly replaced by carers with little or no expertise in psychiatric illness or disorders of cognitive decline. This 'de-professionalizing' of aged care has important implications for the well-being of clients, particularity those with complex mental health problems.

Interactions of components of habitats alter composition and variability of assemblages.

1. The nature and resources supplied by different components of habitats influence species, creating variability from place to place within a habitat. 2.

Blood glucose control by a model predictive control algorithm with variable sampling rate versus a routine glucose management protocol in cardiac surgery patients: a randomized controlled trial.

Context: Elevated blood glucose levels occur frequently in the critically ill. Tight glucose control by intensive insulin treatment markedly improves clinical outcome.

Objective And Design: This is a randomized controlled trial comparing blood glucose control by a laptop-based model predictive control algorithm with a variable sampling rate [enhanced model predictive control (eMPC); version 1.

Spectrum of genetic diversity and networks of clonal organisms.

Clonal reproduction characterizes a wide range of species including clonal plants in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and clonal microbes such as bacteria and parasitic protozoa, with a key role in human health and ecosystem processes. Clonal organisms present a particular challenge in population genetics because, in addition to the possible existence of replicates of the same genotype in a given sample, some of the hypotheses and concepts underlying classical population genetics models are irreconcilable with clonality. The genetic structure and diversity of clonal populations were examined using a combination of new tools to analyse microsatellite data in the marine angiosperm Posidonia oceanica.

Phase-space structure of two-dimensional excitable localized structures.

In this work we characterize in detail the bifurcation leading to an excitable regime mediated by localized structures in a dissipative nonlinear Kerr cavity with a homogeneous pump. Here we show how the route can be understood through a planar dynamical system in which a limit cycle becomes the homoclinic orbit of a saddle point (saddle-loop bifurcation). The whole picture is unveiled, and the mechanism by which this reduction occurs from the full infinite-dimensional dynamical system is studied.

[Monitoring of glucose concentration in critical patients, comparing arterial blood glucose concentrations and interstitial glucose concentration measured by microdialysis technique].

Introduction: Recent studies have shown that normalization of blood glucose in critically ill patients by intensive insulin therapy significantly decreases their mortality and morbidity. The aim of our study was to compare interstitial glucose concentrations in subcutaneous adipose tissue (measured by microdialysis technique) and arterial blood glucose concentrations to test the suitability of subcutaneous adipose tissue for long-term placement of biosensors for glucose measurement in critically ill patients.

Patients And Methods: 20 patients (16 men and 4 women) after cardiac surgery hospitalized at postoperative intensive care unit were included into the study.

Experimental study of the transitions between synchronous chaos and a periodic rotating wave.

In this work we characterize experimentally the transition between periodic rotating waves and synchronized chaos in a ring of unidirectionally coupled Lorenz oscillators by means of electronic circuits. The study is complemented by numerical and theoretical analysis, and the intermediate states and their transitions are identified. The route linking periodic behavior with synchronous chaos involves quasiperiodic behavior and a type of high-dimensional chaos known as chaotic rotating wave.

Comment on "Periodic phase synchronization in coupled chaotic oscillators".

Kye [Phys. Rev. E 68, 025201 (2003)] have recently claimed that, before the onset of chaotic phase synchronization in coupled phase coherent oscillators, there exists a temporally coherent state called periodic phase synchronization (PPS).

Excitability mediated by localized structures in a dissipative nonlinear optical cavity.

We find and characterize an excitability regime mediated by localized structures in a dissipative nonlinear optical cavity. The scenario is that stable localized structures exhibit a Hopf bifurcation to self-pulsating behavior, that is followed by the destruction of the oscillation in a saddle-loop bifurcation. Beyond this point there is a regime of excitable localized structures under the application of suitable perturbations.

Rare events and scale-invariant dynamics of perturbations in delayed chaotic systems.

We study the dynamics of perturbations in time-delay dynamical systems. Using a suitable space-time coordinate transformation, we find that the time evolution of the linearized perturbations (Lyapunov vector) can be described by the linear Zhang surface growth model [J. Phys.

Immunohistochemical localisation of extracellular matrix proteins in the periodontium during cementogenesis in the rat molar.

Objective: The development of the periodontium involves the coordinated expression of numerous extracellular matrix (ECM) macromolecules and their receptors (integrins). The aim of this study was to determine the expression of selected hard and soft tissue matrix molecules and the integrin alpha5beta1 in the periodontal tissues, during cementogenesis in the rat molar.

Methods: Using immunohistochemical methods, the distribution of the extracellular matrix proteins, fibronectin, tenascin, and bone sialoprotein (BSP), as well as the integrin subunits alpha5 and beta1 were studied in rats aged 3, 5 and 8 weeks.

Immunohistochemical localization of fibromodulin in the periodontium during cementogenesis and root formation in the rat molar.

Background: Cementum is essential for periodontal regeneration, as it provides anchorage between the root surface and the periodontal ligament. A variety of macromolecules present in the extracellular matrix of the periodontium, including proteoglycans, are likely to play a regulatory role in cementogenesis. Recently, the small leucine-rich proteoglycan, fibromodulin, has been isolated from bovine periodontal ligament and localized in bovine cementum, as well as in human periodontal ligament.

Universal scaling of Lyapunov exponents in coupled chaotic oscillators.

We have uncovered a phenomenon in coupled chaotic oscillators where a subset of Lyapunov exponents, which are originally zero in the absence of coupling, can become positive as the coupling is increased. This occurs for chaotic attractors having multiple scrolls, such as the Lorenz attractor. We argue that the phenomenon is due to the disturbance to the relative frequencies with which a trajectory visits different scrolls of the attractor.

C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation among patients undergoing HELP LDL apheresis.

Studies reveal important prognostic relationships between C-reactive protein (CRP) and atherosclerotic complications. A prospective trial of familial hypercholesterolemic patients treated with Heparin-induced Extra-corporeal Low-Density Lipoprotein Precipitation (HELP, B. Braun Melsungen) therapy was undertaken to evaluate the short- and long-term effects on CRP.

Hysteroscopic evaluation of the endometrium of post-menopausal patients with breast cancer before and after tamoxifen use.

Objective: To evaluate by hysteroscopy and histopathology the influence of tamoxifen in the endometrium of post-menopausal women with previous breast cancer.

Method: Out of 46 patients studied, 20 of them had been using tamoxifen for an average length of 12 months, and are still being followed-up. Hysteroscopy with endometrial biopsy was performed before and after the use of the drug.

Homocysteine and risk of cardiovascular disease among postmenopausal women.

Context: Individuals with elevated levels of homocysteine tend to have higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease. However, prospective studies of homocysteine are inconsistent and data among women are limited.

Objective: To determine whether elevated homocysteine levels in healthy postmenopausal women predict risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

[A hysteroscopic and anatomicopathological study in women with breast cancer].

Objective: To study the uterine mucosa of women with breast cancer in order to evaluate the frequency of endometrial diseases.

Experimental Design: Prospective, controlled study carried out from January to December 1996. SURROUNDINGS: Patients with breast cancer and normal controls from 4 out-patient university services in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Prospective study of C-reactive protein and the risk of future cardiovascular events among apparently healthy women.

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) predicts risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke among apparently healthy men, but in women, virtually no data are available.

Methods And Results: CRP was measured in baseline blood samples from 122 apparently healthy participants in the Women's Health Study who subsequently suffered a first cardiovascular event and from 244 age- and smoking-matched control subjects who remained free of cardiovascular disease during a 3-year follow-up period. Women who developed cardiovascular events had higher baseline CRP levels than control subjects (P=0.

[Unusual association of Kallmann syndrome and arachnoid cyst of the middle fossa. Report of a case].

Hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism can result from different abnormalities in the central nervous system. The clinical picture depends upon the time of onset the deficiency, the magnitude of the gonadotropins deficiency and whether there are other pituitary hormone deficiencies as well. We report on a 18-year-old boy, who was investigated because of pubertal and growth delay.