IRON STATUS AND DIETARY AND ANTHROPOMETRIC RISK FACTORS IN US TODDLERS

Iron deficiency (ID) is a common problem among US children but diagnosis requires four tests. An equation using only the logarithmic ratio of circulating transferrin receptor to ferritin has been proposed to quantify body iron in adults, however, its application in children is limited. Our objective was to determine the body iron of middle-class US toddlers using this equation and to compare calculated body iron to dietary and anthropometric covariates previously associated with ID. Eighty-six healthy, 18-to 36-month-old toddlers were recruited. Anthropometric, dietary, and hematological data were collected. Multiple regression analyses revealed dietary calcium intake and body mass index negatively influenced body iron, and birth weight, dietary iron intake, and energy intake positively influenced body iron. These predictive variables are similar to previously reported iron status risk factors. Our findings support the use of the body iron equation as a simple measure of iron status in healthy young children

Dietary patterns of early childhood and maternal socioeconomic status in a unique prospective sample from a randomized controlled trial of Prenatal DHA Supplementation

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Background Dietary habits established in early childhood and maternal socioeconomic status (SES) are important, complex, interrelated factors that influence a child’s growth and development. The aim of this study was to define the major dietary patterns in a cohort of young US children, construct a maternal SES index, and evaluate their associations. Methods The diets of 190 children from a randomized, controlled trial of prenatal supplementation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were recorded at 6-mo intervals from 2-4.5 years by 24-h dietary recall. Hierarchical cluster analysis of age-adjusted, average daily intake of 24 food and beverage groups was used to categorize diet. Unrotated factor analysis generated an SES score from maternal race, ethnicity, age, education, and neighborhood income. Results We identified two major dietary patterns: “Prudent” and “Western.” The 85 (45%) children with a Prudent diet consumed more whole grains, fruit, yogurt and low-fat milk, green and non-starchy vegetables, and nuts and seeds. Conversely, those with a Western diet had greater intake of red meat, discretionary fat and condiments, sweet beverages, refined grains, French fries and potato chips, eggs, starchy vegetables, processed meats, chicken and seafood, and whole-fat milk. Compared to a Western diet, a Prudent diet was associated with one standard deviation higher maternal SES (95% CI: 0.80 to 1.30). Conclusions We found two major dietary patterns of young US children and defined a single, continuous axis of maternal SES that differed strongly between groups. This is an important first step to investigate how child diet, SES, and prenatal DHA supplementation interact to influence health outcomes. Trial registration NCT00266825. Prospectively registered on December 15, 2005 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12887-016-0729-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Conceptual design and realization of a dynamic partial reconfiguration extension of an existing soft-core processor

Viele aktuelle Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) unterstützen die Technik der partiellen Rekonfiguration (PR), durch die dynamisch zur Laufzeit ein Hardware-Design auch nur teilweise ausgetauscht werden kann. Die vorliegende Arbeit integriert PR-Funktionalität in die an der Technischen Universität Ilmenau für harte Echtzeitaufgaben mit hochpräzisen Fließkommaberechnungen entwickelte VHDL Integrated Softcore Architecture for Reconfigurable Devices (ViSARD). Zu diesem Zweck wird die arithmetisch-logische Einheit angepasst, um das Auswechseln von Fließkomma-Ausführungseinheiten zu ermöglichen. Ziele der Entwicklung des PR-Systems sind hohe Geschwindigkeit, niedrige Latenz, niedrige Ressourcenkosten und harte Echtzeitfähigkeit. Erreicht werden diese durch die Umsetzung einer eigenen Steuereinheit (partial reconfiguration controller), die partielle Bitströme aus externem RAM über einen standardmäßigen AXI-Bus lädt sowie die entsprechende Erweiterung der ViSARD. In einem Testdesign, das zwischen drei verschiedenen Konfigurationen mit je zwischen einer und drei Ausführungseinheiten wechselt, hat das entwickelte PR-System den maximal spezifierten Bitstromdurchsatz auf dem Ziel-FPGA erreicht und den Verbrauch an Lookup-Tabellen um etwa 40 % verringert.Many modern field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) support partial reconfiguration, which allows to dynamically replace only a part of a design at run time. In this thesis, partial reconfiguration capability is integrated with the VHDL Integrated Softcore Architecture for Reconfigurable Devices (ViSARD) developed at Technische Universität Ilmenau and conceived for hard real-time tasks requiring floating-point calculations with high precision. Specifically, its arithmetic logic unit is modified to allow exchanging floating-point arithmetic execution units. Design goals of the partial reconfiguration system are high speed, low latency, low resource overhead, and hard real-time capability. They are reached by implementing a custom partial reconfiguration controller loading partial bitstreams from external RAM over a standard AXI bus and extending the ViSARD appropriately. In a test design that switched between 3 different configurations each containing between 1 and 3 execution units, the proposed partial reconfiguration system achieved the maximum specified bitstream throughput on the target FPGA and allowed for roughly 40 % reduced look-up table usage

Design, implementation, and test of a tri-mode Ethernet MAC on an FPGA

Ethernet ist eine ausgereifte Kommunikationstechnologie mit vielen Vorteilen für Sensornetzwerke und einer Vielzahl anderer Einsatzbereiche. Anwendungen interagieren mit einer sogenannten Media-Access-Control-(MAC)-Unterschicht, um Pakete vom Netzwerk zu empfangen und zu versenden. Diese Arbeit stellt den Entwurf, die Implementierung und den Test einer in VHDL umgesetzten MAC-Schicht für Ethernet auf FPGAs vor. Die Kommunikation mit einem integrierten Schaltkreis, der die Bitübertragungsschicht von Ethernet umsetzt, erfolgt über das standardisierte Media-Independent Interface (MII) in den Varianten MII und GMII. Dabei werden Verbindungsgeschwindigkeiten von 10, 100 und 1000 Mb/s im Vollduplex-Modus unterstützt. Im Gegensatz zu bisherigen Lösungen liegt der Schwerpunkt des Entwurfs auf Einfachheit sowohl in der externen Benutzung als auch den internen Abläufen. Benutzern kommt die unkomplizierte FIFO-Schnittstelle zugute, mit der sie gleichzeitig bei nahezu voller Gigabit-Ethernet-Geschwindigkeit senden und empfangen können. Die MAC-Schicht wurde für ein GigaBee-Mikromodul der Trenz Electronic GmbH mit einem FPGA der Spartan-6-Familie von Xilinx entworfen und ebenfalls damit geprüft.Ethernet is a mature communication technology with a sizable number of advantages for sensor networks and many other use cases. Applications interact with a media access control (MAC) sublayer to get packets from and to the network. This thesis presents the design, implementation, and test of an Ethernet MAC targeted at FPGAs in VHDL. It supports full-duplex interfacing with an Ethernet physical layer integrated circuit via the standard media-independent interface (MII) variants MII and GMII at link speeds of 10, 100, and 1000 Mb/s. In contrast to prior solutions, it is devised primarily with simplicity in mind, both in external usage and in internal operation. Users benefit from the straightforward FIFO interface offered while nevertheless being able to send and receive at almost full Gigabit Ethernet speed. The solution is designed for and verified on a Trenz Electronic GmbH GigaBee micromodule with a Xilinx Spartan-6 family FPGA

Erste Erfahrungen mit Tolvaptan in der Behandlung von Neugeborenen und Säuglingen mit „Capillary-Leak-Syndrom“ nach kardiochirurgischen Eingriffen

Postoperative fluid management in critically ill neonates and infants with capillary leak syndrome (CLS) and extensive volume overload after cardiac surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass is challenging. CLS is often resistant to conventional diuretic therapy, aggravating the course of weaning from invasive ventilation, increasing length of stay on ICU and morbidity and mortality. Tolvaptan (TLV, vasopressin type 2 receptor antagonist) was used as an additive diuretic in neonates and infants with CLS after cardiac surgery. Retrospective analysis of 25 patients with CLS including preoperative and postoperative parameters was performed. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify predictors for TLV response. Multivariate analysis identified urinary output during 24 h after TLV administration and mean blood pressure (BP) on day 2 of TLV treatment as predictors for TLV response (AUC = 0.956). Responder showed greater weight reduction (p < 0.0001), earlier weaning from ventilator during TLV (p = 0.0421) and shorter time in the ICU after TLV treatment (p = 0.0155). Serum sodium and serum osmolality increased significantly over time in all patients treated with TLV. In neonates and infants with diuretic-refractory CLS after cardiac surgery, additional aquaretic therapy with TLV showed an increase in urinary output and reduction in bodyweight in patients classified as TLV responder. Increase in urinary output and mean BP on day 2 of treatment were strong predictors for TLV response.Die Behandlung von kritisch kranken Neugeborenen und Säuglingen nach kardiochirurgischen Eingriffen ist herausfordernd. Ein postoperatives Problem stellt das Capillary-Leak-Syndrom dar, das mit generalisierten Ödemen, intravasaler Hypovolämie und einer Erhöhung der Mortalität und Morbidität einhergeht. Dieses Capillary-Leak-Syndrom spricht regelhaft nur unzureichend auf konventionelle Diuretika an.In dieser Arbeit werden erste Erfahrungen mit Tolvaptan (Vasopressin-2-Rezeptor-Antagonist)als alternativem Therapieversuch bei Neugeborenen und Säuglingen mit genannter Problematik beschrieben