OBJECTIVE To describe the prevalence of hepatic steatosis and to assess the performance of biochemical, anthropometric and body composition indicators for hepatic steatosis in obese teenagers. METHODS Cross-sectional study including 79 adolecents aged from ten to 18 years old. Hepatic steatosis was diagnosed by abdominal ultrasound in case of moderate or intense hepatorenal contrast and/or a ...

We study annihilation radiation of neutralinos in the Galactic centre, assuming the existence of a ’spike’ in the dark matter density profile, due to adiabatic accretion onto the massive black hole lying at the Galactic centre. Under this assumption we find that it is possible to reproduce the observed SgrA* emission at radio and gamma-ray frequencies in a consistent scenario with a magnetic fi...

Serum enzyme assays used on four different analysers (Hitachi 737, Hitachi 705, Cobas-bio and RA-2X) were compared by determining the activity of seven different enzymes (AST, ALT, LD, ALP, GGT, CK and AMS). Performance checks (quality control procedure) and replications (the study of the total analytic imprecision and of its components) were conducted and the methods were compared by linear re...

Publicly available information about radon potential in Northern Ireland is currently based on indoor radon results averaged over 1-km grid squares, an approach that does not take into account the geological origin of the radon. This study describes a spatially more accurate estimate of the radon potential of Northern Ireland using an integrated radon potential mapping method based on indoor ra...

Profile is a relationship between a response variable and one or more independent variables which can describe quality of a process or a product. On the other hand, for an in-control process, capability indices are criteria for the process quality improvement that allows to meet customers’ expectations. Despite a considerable number of applications and monitoring methods already proposed for pr...

The influence of culture temperature and the concentration of sodium nitrate (NaNO3) on the gas-chromatographic profile of the fatty acids of the filamentous cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis was evaluated. We found that temperature was the most important factor and that the greatest amount of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) was obtained at 30 degrees C, the fatty acid profile of the Spirulina cult...

In the financial world, importance of “downside risk” and “higher moments” has been emphasized, predominantly in developing countries such as Pakistan, for a substantial period. Consequently, this study tests four models suitable capital asset pricing model. These are CAPM’s beta, beta replaced by skewness (gamma), with gamma, downside CAPM (DCAPM), gamma. The problems high correlation between ...

A large series of T cell clones (TCC) specific for purified protein derivative (PPD) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (total 60) or Toxocara canis excretory/secretory (TES) antigen (total 69) were established from the peripheral blood of two healthy individuals and analyzed for their profile of cytokine production in response to stimulation with either the specific antigen or the polyclonal activa...

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS Viral infections and local production of IFN-gamma might contribute to beta-cell dysfunction/death in Type 1 Diabetes. Double stranded RNA (dsRNA) accumulates in the cytosol of viral-infected cells, and exposure of purified rat beta cells to dsRNA (tested in the form of polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, PIC) in combination with IFN-gamma results in beta-cell dysfunction and apopt...