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The association of high vitamin A intake and low bone mineral density (BMD) is still controversial. To determine the association of dietary vitamin A intake and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration with BMD, a total of 6481 subjects (2907 men and 3574 women) aged ≥50 years from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008–2011) were divided into groups according to dietary vitamin A intake (tertiles) and serum 25(OH)D (<50, 50–75, >75 nmol/L), and evaluated for BMD after adjusting for relevant variables. Mean dietary vitamin A intakes were 737 and 600 μg RE (Retinol Equivalents) in men and women, respectively. Total hip and femoral neck BMD in men and lumbar spine BMD in women were both positively correlated with dietary vitamin A intake in subjects with serum 25(OH)D >75 nmol/L. Among men with serum 25(OH)D <50 nmol/L, both the top (mean 1353 μg RE) and bottom (mean 218 μg RE) tertiles of dietary vitamin A intake had lower BMD than the middle group (mean 577 μg RE). In this population, BMD was the highest among men and women with serum 25(OH)D = 50–75 nmol/L and that there were no differences in BMD by vitamin A intake in these vitamin D adequate groups. This cross-sectional study indicates that vitamin A intake does not affect bone mineral density as long as the serum 25(OH)D concentration is maintained in the moderate level of 50–75 nmol/L.

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Determining the positions of nodes is essential in many applications and geographic routing protocols of Wireless Sensor Networks. Since localization is a fundamental component of sensor networks, the cost for localization itself should be minimized. In this paper, we focus on developing a localization algorithm which provides both low-cost and accuracy. Considering these requirements, we propose a novel range-free localization technique, called HCRL, which uses only the ratios of anchor-to-node hop-counts. HCRL satisfies low-cost with a single flooding from a small number of anchor nodes, and subdivides one-hop into several sub-hops by transmission power control to improve localization accuracy. Unlike previous work, we have conducted real experiments, which were made possible by using an external antenna with an omni-directional radiation pattern. The experimental results show that the performance of HCRL is superior to the conventional DV-Hop scheme with a small transmission overhead.

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Delayed AFP response to ETV may serve as an indicator of high HCC risk.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between serum levels of the glycoxylation product N e -(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and development of chronic diabetic complications and degree of diabetic control in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Methods: The serum levels of CML were measured in 87 patients with uncomplicated type 1 diabetes mellitus (12.7 AE 4.6 years of age) and in seven patients with background retinopathy, microalbuminuria or neuropathy (18.2 AE 5.2 years of age) and compared with those in 64 normal control subjects (12.6 AE 5.2 years of age). The mean durations of diabetes in uncomplicated and complicated patients were 5.0 AE 3.4 years (0.1-14 years), and 8.6 AE 5.0 years (3.1-18 years), respectively. The serum levels of CML were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using a monoclonal anti-CML antibody (6D12).Results: The serum levels of CML were significantly higher in the patient group than those in the control group; 0.85 AE 0.37 (0.37-1.93) U/ml vs. 0.56 AE 0.23 (0.15-1.05) U/ml (p < 0.001) and significantly higher in the patient group with chronic complications than those in patient group without chronic complications; 1.06 AE 0.39 (0.72-1.78) U/ml vs. 0.83 AE 0.36 (0.37-1.93) U/ml (p < 0.05). Weak, but statistically significant relationship between CML levels and haemoglobin A 1c levels at the measurement of CML was observed (r ¼ 0.29, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our data are suggesting that higher serum levels of CML are involved in the development of chronic diabetic complications, and serum levels of CML reflect the degree of diabetic control for a long duration in type 1 diabetic children and adolescents.