Serum methylarginines and spirometry-measured lung function in older adults

Rationale: Methylarginines are endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitors that have been implicated in animal models of lung disease but have not previously been examined for their association with spirometric measures of lung function in humans. Objectives: This study measured serum concentrations of asymmetric and symmetric dimethylarginine in a representative sample of older community-dwelling adults and determined their association with spirometric lung function measures. Methods: Data on clinical, lifestyle, and demographic characteristics, methylated arginines, and L-arginine (measured using LC-MS/MS) were collected from a population-based sample of older Australian adults from the Hunter Community Study. The five key lung function measures included as outcomes were Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second, Forced Vital Capacity, Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second to Forced Vital Capacity ratio, Percent Predicted Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second, and Percent Predicted Forced Vital Capacity. Measurements and Main Results: In adjusted analyses there were statistically significant independent associations between a) higher asymmetric dimethylarginine, lower Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second and lower Forced Vital Capacity; and b) lower L-arginine/asymmetric dimethylarginine ratio, lower Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second, lower Percent Predicted Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second and lower Percent Predicted Forced Vital Capacity. By contrast, no significant associations were observed between symmetric dimethylarginine and lung function. Conclusions: After adjusting for clinical, demographic, biochemical, and pharmacological confounders, higher serum asymmetric dimethylarginine was independently associated with a reduction in key measures of lung function. Further research is needed to determine if methylarginines predict the decline in lung function

A distributed simulation model for inventory management in a supply chain

One of the challenging issues faced by each enterprise of a supply chain is to determine the right production and/or stock levels in order to minimize costs while ensuring a given customer service. In a supply chain, each enterprise pursues its own goal and takes its own decisions in all independent way. However, the decisions are usually influenced by the actions or decisions of the others. One of the main factors influencing the decision process is the customer demand originated at the downstream layer of the supply chain and traveling tip the supply chain in terms of orders placed oil to upstream layers and becoming more and more altered. In order to achieve high efficiency in the whole system, an effective coordination between enterprises is needed. In this paper, all analysis of how supply chain actors interact with each other and how the communication and coordination improve the efficiency of the supply chain is presented; we propose a distributed simulation model for analyzing the effect of inventory policies and information sharing on changing customer demands. The proposed model is tested oil all Italian extended enterprise in which the actors cooperate to produce compressors for refrigerators

Incidence of All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality Predicted by Symmetric Dimethylarginine in the Population-Based Study of Health in Pomerania

L-Arginine and its dimethylated derivatives asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) have been associated with cardiovascular (CV) and all-cause mortality in populations at risk. The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of L-arginine and its derivatives in the general population.We evaluated 3,952 individuals (1,936 men and 2,016 women) aged 20-81 (median (IQR) 51 (37; 64) years) from the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Associations of continuous [per standard deviation (SD) increase] and categorized (age- and sex-specific tertiles) serum L-arginine, ADMA, and SDMA concentrations with all-cause and cause-specific mortality were analysed. During a median (IQR) follow-up period of 10.1 (9.3; 10.8) years (38,476 person-years), 426 deaths (10.8%) were observed, including 139 CV deaths (3.5%), and 150 cancer deaths (3.8%). After multivariable adjustment, we revealed a positive association of SDMA with all-cause [hazard ratio (HR) per SD increase: 1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07-1.25] and CV mortality [HR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.05-1.35]. In contrast, we did not observe any association of SDMA with cancer mortality. Neither L-arginine nor ADMA were associated with all-cause or CV mortality.SDMA, but not ADMA, is an independent predictor of all-cause and CV mortality in a large population-based cohort of European ancestry

Diffuse mucosal inflammation in nasal polyps and adjacent middle turbinate

10.1016/j.otohns.2005.09.026Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery1342267-27