| 1. |
- O'Byrne P, M., et al.
(författare)
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Budesonide/Formoterol combination therapy as both maintenance and reliever medication in asthma
- 2005
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Ingår i: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. ; 171:2, s. 129-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Asthma control is improved by combining inhaled corticosteroids with long-acting beta(2)-agonists. However, fluctuating asthma control still occurs. We hypothesized that in patients receiving low maintenance dose budesonide/formoterol (bud/form), replacing short-acting beta(2)-agonist (SABA) reliever with as-needed bud/form would provide rapid symptom relief and simultaneous adjustment in antiinflammatory therapy, thereby reducing exacerbations. In this double-blind, randomized, parallel-group study, 2,760 patients with asthma aged 4-80 years (FEV(1) 60-100% predicted) received either terbutaline 0.4 mg as SABA with bud/form 80/4.5 mug twice a day (bud/form + SABA) or bud 320 mug twice a day (bud + SABA) or bud/form 80/4.5 mug twice a day with 80/4.5 mug as-needed (bud/form maintenance + relief). Children used a once-nocte maintenance dose. Bud/form maintenance + relief prolonged time to first severe exacerbation (p < 0.001; primary endpoint), resulting in a 45-47% lower exacerbation risk versus bud/form + SABA (hazard ratio, 0.55; 95% confidence interval, 0.44, 0.67) or bud + SABA (hazard ratio, 0.53; 95% confidence interval 0.43, 0.65). Bud/form maintenance + relief also prolonged the time to the first, second, and third exacerbation requiring medical intervention (p < 0.001), reduced severe exacerbation rate, and improved symptoms, awakenings, and lung function compared with both fixed dosing regimens.
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| 2. |
- Axelsson, J, et al.
(författare)
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Serum retinol-binding protein concentration and its association with components of the uremic metabolic syndrome in nondiabetic patients with chronic kidney disease stage 5
- 2009
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Ingår i: American journal of nephrology. - : S. Karger AG. - 1421-9670 .- 0250-8095. ; 29:5, s. 447-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- <i>Introduction:</i> Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with insulin resistance also in the absence of overt diabetes mellitus. The liver-derived transport protein retinol-binding protein (RBP) has recently been proposed as a novel adipokine involved in the metabolism of glucose. Although RBP is elevated in type 2 diabetics with mild CKD, its role in advanced CKD is not well studied. We hypothesized that altered RBP levels in CKD could be one factor contributing to the uremic insulin resistance. <i>Patients and Methods:</i> In a cross-sectional study, we evaluated 141 nondiabetic stage 5 CKD patients (GFR 6.8 ± 2.0 ml/min; 62% males, mean age 52 ± 11 years) close to the start of renal replacement therapy. We studied circulating RBP (RIA), retinol and metabolic markers. Body composition was also assessed using DEXA and patients were divided according to truncal fat mass above (obese) or below (lean) the sex-specific median. A fasting plasma glucose ≥6.1 m<i>M</i> was defined as impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). <i>Results:</i> Serum RBP levels were significantly elevated in CKD as compared to previous reports in non-renal patients. Whereas levels of RBP did not differ between lean and obese patients without IGT, they were lower in lean CKD patients with IGT (5.9 ± 2.9 μ<i>M</i>) than in obese CKD patients with IGT (7.0 ± 2.9 μ<i>M</i>; p < 0.05). While RBP did not correlate with truncal or total fat mass or biomarkers of inflammation, in univariate analysis, we found weak correlations with HbA1c% (rho = 0.17; p < 0.05), fasting serum triglycerides (rho = 0.20; p < 0.001) and fasting apolipoprotein (Apo) A1 (rho = 0.29; p < 0.001). RBP also correlated negatively with ApoB (rho = –0.29; p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, RBP was a significant and independent predictor of both HbA1c% and ApoA1 levels. Finally, RBP was strongly correlated with serum retinol, and calculating a retinol/RBP index further strengthened the observed correlations with HOMA-IR and HbA1c%. <i>Conclusions:</i> RBP is elevated in nondiabetic stage 5 CKD and correlates weakly with HbA1c and ApoA1. As RBP is thought to induce insulin resistance and directly affect lipoprotein metabolism in other disease states, these findings may support a role for RBP in contributing to the uremic metabolic syndrome, putatively by altering ApoA1 metabolism, but further studies are needed to test this hypothesis.
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| 3. |
- O'Byrne, Justin P., et al.
(författare)
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Novel catalysts for carbon nanotube and nanofibre synthesis
- 2009
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Carbon nanotubes are of huge interest to the scientific community for their physical and electronic properties[1]. We have synthesized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on novel non-traditonal catalysts. Bamboo-shaped carbon nanotubes (BCNTs) were synthesized on Pd and Cu catalysts doped with either Mo or W. BCNTs were sythesised using the catalytic chemical vapour decomposition (CVD) of methane. Cu is catalytically inactive for the synthesis of CNTs; however this is not the case when Cu is doped with Mo[2] and W. When Cu is doped with these metals bamboo structured CNTs can be produced via a CVD synthesis method. The addition of a dopant alters the electronic structure of catalyst nanoparticle causing the binding strength between the nanoparticle and carbon to approach that of traditional catalysts for CNT growth i.e. Fe; Co; Ni and their alloys which has been shown by computer modeling. We have performed full geometry optimization DFT calculations of Cu/W and Pd/Mo particles of different compositions to determine their ability to stabilize and support the growing end of a CNT. We have computed a (5;0) SWNTs binding energy to a M13 metal cluster (M=Cu; W or Pd; Mo); which in a model system that has been proven to correctly predict the trends in bonding[2; 3]. The resulting binding energies are compared to Fe; Co; Ni and Cu/Mo clusters of these previous reports. All calculations were made using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) exchange and correlation potential by Perdew-Burke-Ernzenhof [PBE]; utilizing the polarized valence triple-ζ (TZVP) basis set[4] and relativistic effective core potentials (ECPs) for Cu; Pd; W and Mo[5; 6]; as implemented in the Turbomole suite of programs[7-10].
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