Dual-pump Kerr micro-cavity optical frequency comb with varying FSR spacing

In this paper, we demonstrate a novel dual-pump approach to generate robust optical frequency comb with varying free spectral range (FSR) spacing in a CMOS-compatible high-Q micro-ring resonator (MRR). The frequency spacing of the comb can be tuned by an integer number FSR of the MRR freely in our dual-pump scheme. The dual pumps are self-oscillated in the laser cavity loop and their wavelengths can be tuned flexibly by programming the tunable filter embedded in the cavity. By tuning the pump wavelength, broadband OFC with the bandwidth of >180nm and the frequency-spacing varying from 6 to 46-fold FSRs is realized at a low pump power. This approach could find potential and practical applications in many areas, such as optical metrology, optical communication, and signal processing systems, for its excellent flexibility and robustness

Diabetes, pulse pressure and cardiovascular mortality: the Hoorn Study

Objective: Type 2 diabetic patients have an increased arterial stiffness and a very high risk of cardiovascular death. The present study investigated the relationship between pulse pressure, an indicator of vascular stiffness, and risk of cardiovascular mortality among type 2 diabetic and non-diabetic individuals. Second, we determined the relationship between pulse pressure and its main determinant (i.e. age), and the influence of diabetes and mean arterial pressure on this relationship. Design and methods: We studied a cohort of 2484 individuals including 208 type 2 diabetic patients. Mean age and median follow-up for non-diabetic and diabetic individuals, respectively, were 61 and 66 years, and 8.8 and 8.6 years. One-hundred and sixteen non-diabetic and 34 diabetic individuals died of cardiovascular causes. Relative risks of cardiovascular mortality were estimated by Cox proportional hazards regression adjusted for age, gender and mean arterial pressure. Results: Pulse pressure was associated with cardiovascular mortality among the diabetic, but not among the non-diabetic individuals [adjusted relative risk (95% confidence interval) per 10 mmHg increase, 1.27 (1.00-1.61) and 0.98 (0.85-1.13), P interaction = 0.07]. Further adjustment for other risk factors gave similar results. The association, at baseline, between age and pulse pressure was dependent on the presence of diabetes (P interaction = 0.03) and on the mean arterial pressure (P interaction < 0.001) (i.e. there was a stronger association when diabetes was present and when mean arterial pressure was higher). Conclusions: We conclude that, in type 2 diabetes, pulse pressure is positively associated with cardiovascular mortality. The association between age and pulse pressure is influenced by the presence of type 2 diabetes and by the height of the mean arterial pressure. These findings support the concept of accelerated vascular aging in type 2 diabetes. © 2002 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

The Effect of Physical Activity on Arterial Stiffness, Inflammation and Lipoproteins among 30–65-Year-Old Men

AbstractIntroduction: Obesity and an inactive lifestyle increase risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. We did a cross-sectional study on 120 men with and 80 men without metabolic syndrome to investigate the connection between patient-reported physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors.Methods: The subjects’ daily amount of physical exercise was assessed with a structured questionnaire regarding normal weekly amount, type and mode of physical activity. The subjects were stratified into different groups regarding their physical activity and metabolic syndrome status. We compared lipid levels, resting heart rate, hs-CRP, HbA1c and arterial elasticity of the subjects in different groups.Results: Subjects with metabolic syndrome and high amounts of daily physical activity had higher resting heart rate, hs-CRP, triglycerides and lower HDL cholesterol than their counterparts without metabolic syndrome who reported lower levels of daily physical activity.Conclusions: An increase in daily physical activity was associated with lower HbA1c among men with metabolic syndrome up to the level of subjects without metabolic syndrome. Increasing physical activity solely is an insufficient strategy for improving all the unfavorable cardiovascular risk factors related to metabolic syndrome.Abstract Introduction: Obesity and an inactive lifestyle increase risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. We did a cross-sectional study on 120 men with and 80 men without metabolic syndrome to investigate the connection between patient-reported physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: The subjects’ daily amount of physical exercise was assessed with a structured questionnaire regarding normal weekly amount, type and mode of physical activity. The subjects were stratified into different groups regarding their physical activity and metabolic syndrome status. We compared lipid levels, resting heart rate, hs-CRP, HbA1c and arterial elasticity of the subjects in different groups. Results: Subjects with metabolic syndrome and high amounts of daily physical activity had higher resting heart rate, hs-CRP, triglycerides and lower HDL cholesterol than their counterparts without metabolic syndrome who reported lower levels of daily physical activity. Conclusions: An increase in daily physical activity was associated with lower HbA1c among men with metabolic syndrome up to the level of subjects without metabolic syndrome. Increasing physical activity solely is an insufficient strategy for improving all the unfavorable cardiovascular risk factors related to metabolic syndrome

The Prevalence of Frailty Using Three Different Frailty Measurements in Two Finnish Cohorts Born Before and After the Second World War

AbstractObjectives: To study the prevalence of frailty and its relationship to mortality in cohorts born before and after the Second World War using three different frailty measures.Methods: Cross-sectional data from two cohorts born in 1935 (n=593) and 1945 (n=714) were studied for frailty at the mean age of 70.7 (SD 1.8) years. Frailty was measured using the Frailty Phenotype (FP), the Frail Scale (FS) and the 74-item Frailty Index (FI>0.21 denoted frailty). Information on socioeconomic factors was obtained via a study questionnaire and the data on mortality were obtained from the Population Information System.Results: The prevalence of frailty by FI was more common in the older 1935 cohort than in the 1945 cohort (pConclusions: Improved living conditions and health care may have resulted in the lower prevalence of frailty in the 1945 cohort. The present study further strengthens the association between frailty and mortality & poor economic status and frailty. Frailty definitions are in need of further study.Abstract Objectives: To study the prevalence of frailty and its relationship to mortality in cohorts born before and after the Second World War using three different frailty measures. Methods: Cross-sectional data from two cohorts born in 1935 (n=593) and 1945 (n=714) were studied for frailty at the mean age of 70.7 (SD 1.8) years. Frailty was measured using the Frailty Phenotype (FP), the Frail Scale (FS) and the 74-item Frailty Index (FI>0.21 denoted frailty). Information on socioeconomic factors was obtained via a study questionnaire and the data on mortality were obtained from the Population Information System. Results: The prevalence of frailty by FI was more common in the older 1935 cohort than in the 1945 cohort (p<0.001). The percentage of robust subjects was higher in both sexes in the 1945 cohort using both FI and FS. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, the difference in the prevalence of frailty between the cohorts remained significant in women only (OR 1.9 (95% CI 1.3–2.9), p=0.001). The FI classified people as frail more often (30.2% in the 1935 cohort and 17.5% in the 1945 cohort) than the FS (13.1% and 8.8%) or FP (1.8% and 1.6%). Low financial satisfaction was associated significantly with frailty in both sexes. Low level of education was associated with frailty in women and being unmarried or divorced in men. Frailty was associated to increased mortality using all frailty definitions in the 1935 cohort with a longer follow-up time. Conclusions: Improved living conditions and health care may have resulted in the lower prevalence of frailty in the 1945 cohort. The present study further strengthens the association between frailty and mortality & poor economic status and frailty. Frailty definitions are in need of further study

Residential greenness during pregnancy and early life and development of asthma up to 27 years of age: The Espoo Cohort Study

Abstract Previous studies have suggested that living close to green spaces has protective health effects, but potential effects on asthma are contradictory. We investigated the association between the amount of greenness in the residential area during pregnancy and early life and development of asthma in the first 27 years of life. The study population included all 2568 members of the Espoo Cohort Study, Finland. We calculated individual-level exposure to green space measured as cumulative Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (cumNDVI in unit-months) within 300 m of the participant's residence during pregnancy and the first two years of life in both spring and summer seasons. The onset of asthma was assessed using information from the baseline and follow-up surveys. Exposure to residential greenness in the spring season during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of asthma up to 6 years of age, with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 3.72 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11, 12.47) per 1 unit increase in cumNDVI. Increased greenness in the summer during pregnancy associated with asthma up to 6 years, with an aHR of 1.41 (95% CI: 0.85, 2.32). The effect was found to be related to increased greenness particularly during the third trimester of pregnancy, with an aHR of 2.37 (95% CI: 1.36, 4.14) per 1 unit increase of cumNDVI. These associations were weaker at the ages of 12 and 27 years. No association was found between NDVI in the first two years of life and the development of asthma. Our findings provide novel evidence that exposure to greenness during pregnancy increases the risk of developing asthma. The adverse effects were strongest for the prenatal greenness in the spring season and in the third trimester of pregnancy. Both the season and trimester of exposure to greenness are critical in the development of asthma.Abstract Previous studies have suggested that living close to green spaces has protective health effects, but potential effects on asthma are contradictory. We investigated the association between the amount of greenness in the residential area during pregnancy and early life and development of asthma in the first 27 years of life. The study population included all 2568 members of the Espoo Cohort Study, Finland. We calculated individual-level exposure to green space measured as cumulative Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (cumNDVI in unit-months) within 300 m of the participant's residence during pregnancy and the first two years of life in both spring and summer seasons. The onset of asthma was assessed using information from the baseline and follow-up surveys. Exposure to residential greenness in the spring season during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of asthma up to 6 years of age, with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 3.72 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11, 12.47) per 1 unit increase in cumNDVI. Increased greenness in the summer during pregnancy associated with asthma up to 6 years, with an aHR of 1.41 (95% CI: 0.85, 2.32). The effect was found to be related to increased greenness particularly during the third trimester of pregnancy, with an aHR of 2.37 (95% CI: 1.36, 4.14) per 1 unit increase of cumNDVI. These associations were weaker at the ages of 12 and 27 years. No association was found between NDVI in the first two years of life and the development of asthma. Our findings provide novel evidence that exposure to greenness during pregnancy increases the risk of developing asthma. The adverse effects were strongest for the prenatal greenness in the spring season and in the third trimester of pregnancy. Both the season and trimester of exposure to greenness are critical in the development of asthma

The Australian National University Alzheimer's Disease Risk Index (ANU-ADRI) score as a predictor for cognitive decline and potential surrogate outcome in the FINGER lifestyle randomized controlled trial

Background and purpose: The complex aetiology of Alzheimer's disease suggests prevention potential. Risk scores have potential as risk stratification tools and surrogate outcomes in multimodal interventions targeting specific at-risk populations. The Australian National University Alzheimer's Disease Risk Index (ANU-ADRI) was tested in relation to cognition and its suitability as a surrogate outcome in a multidomain lifestyle randomized controlled trial, in older adults at risk of dementia. Methods: In this post hoc analysis of the Finnish Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER), ANU-ADRI was calculated at baseline, 12, and 24 months (n = 1174). The association between ANU-ADRI and cognition (at baseline and over time), the intervention effect on changes in ANU-ADRI, and the potential impact of baseline ANU-ADRI on the intervention effect on changes in cognition were assessed using linear mixed models with maximum likelihood estimation. Results: A higher ANU-ADRI was significantly related to worse cognition, at baseline (e.g., estimate for global cognition [95% confidence interval] was −0.028 [−0.032 to −0.025]) and over the 2-year study (e.g., estimate for 2-year changes in ANU-ADRI and per-year changes in global cognition [95% confidence interval] was −0.068 [−0.026 to −0.108]). No significant beneficial intervention effect was reported for ANU-ADRI, and baseline ANU-ADRI did not significantly affect the response to the intervention on changes in cognition. Conclusions: The ANU-ADRI was effective for the risk prediction of cognitive decline. Risk scores may be crucial for the success of novel dementia prevention strategies, but their algorithm, the target population, and the intervention design should be carefully considered when choosing the appropriate tool for each context

Embracing open innovation to acquire external ideas and technologies and to transfer internal ideas and technologies outside

The objective of this dissertation is to increase understanding of how organizations can embrace open innovation in order to acquire external ideas and technologies from outside the organization, and to transfer internal ideas and technologies to outside the organization. The objective encompasses six sub-objectives, each addressed in one or more substudies. Altogether, the dissertation consists of nine substudies and a compendium summarizing the substudies. An extensive literature review was conducted on open innovation and crowdsourcing literature (substudies 1–4). In the subsequent empirical substudies, both qualitative research methods (substudies 5–7) and quantitative research methods (substudies 8–9) were applied. The four literature review substudies provided insights on the body of knowledge on open innovation and crowdsourcing. These substudies unveiled most of the influential articles, authors, and journals of open innovation and crowdsourcing disciplines. Moreover, they identified research gaps in the current literature. The empirical substudies offer several insightful findings. Substudy 5 shows how non-core ideas and technologies of a large firm can become valuable, especially for small firms. Intermediary platforms can find solutions to many pressing problems of large organizations by engaging renowned scientists from all over world (substudy 6). Intermediary platforms can also bring breakthrough innovations with novel mechanisms (substudy 7). Large firms are not only able to garner ideas by engaging their customers through crowdsourcing but they can also build long-lasting relations with their customers (substudies 8 and 9). Embracing open innovation brings challenges for firms too. Firms need to change their organizational structures in order to be able to fully benefit from open innovation. When crowdsourcing is successful, it produces a very large number of new ideas. This has the consequence that firms need to allocate a significant amount of resources in order to identify the most promising ideas. In an idea contest, customarily, only one or a few best ideas are rewarded (substudy 7). Sometimes, no reward is provided for the selected idea (substudies 8 and 9). Most of the ideas that are received are not implemented in practice

Integrating dispersal proxies in ecological and environmental research in the freshwater realm

Dispersal is one of the key mechanisms affecting the distribution of individuals, populations, and communities in nature. Despite advances in the study of single species, it has been notoriously difficult to account for dispersal in multispecies metacommunities, where it potentially has strong effects on community structure beyond those of local environmental conditions. Dispersal should thus be directly integrated in both basic and applied research by using proxies. Here, we review the use of proxies in the current metacommunity research, suggest new proxies, and discuss how proxies could be used in community modelling, particularly in freshwater systems. We suggest that while traditional proxies may still be useful, proxies formerly utilized in transport geography may provide useful novel insights into the structuring of biological communities in freshwater systems. We also suggest that understanding the utility of such proxies for dispersal in metacommunities is highly important for many applied fields such as freshwater bioassessment, conservation planning, and recolonization research in the context of restoration ecology. These research fields have often ignored spatial dynamics and focused mostly on local environmental conditions and changes therein. Yet, the conclusions of these applied studies may change considerably if dispersal is taken into account