Obesity is associated with the impairment of endothelial function leading to the initiation of the atherosclerotic process. As obesity is a multiple grade disease, we have hypothesized that an increasing impairment of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cell functions occurs from lean subjects to severe obese ones, creating a window of opportunities for preventive measures. Thus, the present...

This paper describes an algorithm for classifying human motion patterns (trajectories) observed in video sequences. We address this task in a hierarchical way: high-level activities are described as sequences of low-level motion patterns (dynamic models). These low-level dynamic models are simply independent increment processes, each describing a specific motion regime (e.g., ‘‘moving left’’). ...

It is well known that any process with right continuous paths has at most a finite number of jumps greater than ε (> 0). Based on this fact, it is proved that any non negative independent increment processes without gaussian component (Lévy Process) can be almost everywhere approximated by a sequence of compound Poisson process, aside from fixed points of discontinuity. An algorithm to generate...

PURPOSE To obtain and analyze scotopic increment threshold functions to test the hypothesis that rod photoreceptor immaturity accounts for the elevation of infants' over controls' dark-adapted thresholds and elevation of parafoveal over peripheral thresholds in infants. METHODS Using a preferential looking method, thresholds for detection of 2(o), 50 msec, blue stimuli presented 10(o) (parafo...

In view of the problem that research potato friction damage is not sufficiently systematic and characteristics energy loss are clear, this paper investigates initial height, mass, varieties, materials temperature as experimental factors epidermal proportion evaluation index, filtering for significant by a factorial test. On basis, ratio consumption were used indicators to conduct single factor ...

Amine-modified mesoporous SBA-15 adsorbent has been prepared by impregnation method using tetraethylenepentamine. The samples of this modified SBA-15 have been characterized by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm and FT-IR. The adsorption capacity of CO2 on unmodified and modified samples were measured at high pressure...

Artificial excision of the distal part of acorns in order to promote germination is well researched in oak seedling cultivation studies. However, studies of combined effects of cotyledon excision and nursery fertilization on container seedlings are lacking, especially for seedling root growth and outplanting performance. This study aimed to explore the main effects of cotyledon excision on Quer...

AIMS/INTRODUCTION To evaluate the glycometabolism and outcomes of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) patients according to the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group (IADPSG) criteria in China. MATERIALS AND METHODS According to the results of a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test, 1,683 pregnant women were divided into three groups: (i) an increment GDM group (patients...

PURPOSE To assess scotopic background adaptation in subjects with a history of preterm birth and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Retinopathy of prematurity is known to have long-term effects on rod photoreceptor and rod mediated postreceptor retinal function. METHODS Rod-mediated thresholds for detection of 3° diameter, 50 ms stimuli presented 20° from fixation were measured using a spatial...