Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) has been used as a dietary supplement at different doses in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM) due to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and hypoglycemic effects. However, the reports on the effects of ALA are controversial. For this reason, the purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of 600 mg/day of ALA on the markers of oxidative stress (OxS) and inflammation and RAGE in older adults with T2DM. A quasiexperimental study was carried out with a sample of 135 sedentary subjects (98 women and 37 men) with a mean age of 64±1 years, who all had T2DM. The sample was divided into three groups: (i) experimental group (EG) with 50 subjects, (ii) placebo group (PG) with 50 subjects, and control group (CG) with 35 subjects. We obtained the following measurements in all subjects (pre- and posttreatment): glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), 8-isoprostane, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), total antioxidant status (TAS), and inflammatory (CRP, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10) markers. Regarding the effect of ALA on HbA1c, a decrease was observed in the EG (baseline 8.9±0.2 vs. posttreatment 8.6±0.3) and the PG (baseline 8.8±0.2 vs. posttreatment 8.4±0.3) compared to the CG (baseline 8.8±0.3 vs. six months 9.1±0.3) although the difference was not statistically significant (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant decrease (p<0.05) in the blood concentration of 8-isoprostane in the EG and PG with respect to the CG (EG: baseline 100±3 vs. posttreatment 57±3, PG: baseline 106±7 vs. posttreatment 77±5, and CG: baseline 94±10 vs. six months 107±11 pg/mL). Likewise, a statistically significant decrease (p<0.05) in the concentration of the RAGE was found in the EG (baseline 1636±88 vs. posttreatment 1144±68) and the PG (baseline 1506±97 vs. posttreatment 1016±82) compared to CG (baseline 1407±112 vs. six months 1506±128). A statistically significant decrease was also observed in all markers of inflammation and in the activity of SOD and GPx in the CG with respect to the EG and PG. Our findings suggest that the administration of ALA at a dose of 600 mg/day for six months has a similar effect to that of placebo on oxidative stress, inflammation, and RAGE in older adults with T2DM. Therefore, higher doses of ALA should be tried to have this effect. This trial is registered with trial registration number ISRCTN13159380.
Natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites can be an alternative to mineral fiber-based composites, especially when economic and environment concerns are included under the material selection criteria. In recent years, the literature has shown how lignocellulosic fiber-reinforced composites can be used for a variety of applications. Nonetheless, the impact strength and the water uptake behavior of such materials have been seen as drawbacks. In this work, the impact strength and the water uptake of composites made of polypropylene reinforced with fibers from recycled newspaper have been researched. The results show how the impact strength decreases with the percentage of reinforcement in a similar manner to that of glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene composites as a result of adding a fragile phase to the material. It was found that the water uptake increased with the increasing percentages of lignocellulosic fibers due to the hydrophilic nature of such reinforcements. The diffusion behavior was found to be Fickian. A maleic anhydride was added as a coupling agent in order to increase the strength of the interface between the matrix and the reinforcements. It was found that the presence of such a coupling agent increased the impact strength of the composites and decreased the water uptake. Impact strengths of 21.3 kJ/m 3 were obtained for a coupled composite with 30 wt % reinforcement contents, which is a value higher than that obtained for glass fiber-based materials. The obtained composites reinforced with recycled fibers showed competitive impact strength and water uptake behaviors in comparison with materials reinforced with raw lignocellulosic fibers. The article increases the knowledge on newspaper fiber-reinforced polyolefin composite properties, showing the competitiveness of waste-based materials.In the case of the ONPF composites, the mixer was operated at 80 rpm and 180 °C . The mixing lasted 178 10 min. The coupled GF-reinforced composites were mixed at 20 rpm due to the fragility of such 179 reinforcements. All the resulting melts were pelletized in a knife mill. Prior to its mold injection, the 180 pellets were dried during 1 h in a stove at 80 °C . 181Standard rectangular specimens measuring 62 × 13 mm, with a thickness of 3.2 mm, in 182 agreement with ASTM D638 [44] were mold injected. The injection molding machine was a Meteor 183 40 by Mateu&Solé (Barcelona, Spain). The machine has three heating areas, which were operated at 184 175, 175, and 190 °C , of which the last was the injection nozzle. The first and second pressures were 185 120 and 37.5 kgf/cm 2 , respectively. At least seven valid specimens for any of the composite 186 formulations were mold injected. Five were devoted to the impact test and two were devoted to water 187 uptake analysis. 188 2.4. Specimens Testing 189 Impact strength was carried out in agreement with the ISO 179-1:2010 standard [45]. Un-notched 190 specimens were placed in a Charpy test equipment Instron Ceast 5.5 Resil by Ceast S.p.a. (Pianezza,
This article presents evidence of the convenience of implementing the geometric places of the plane into commercial computer-aided design (CAD) software as auxiliary tools in the computer-aided sketching process. Additionally, the research considers the possibility of adding several intuitive spatial geometric places to improve the efficiency of the three-dimensional geometric design. For demonstrative purposes, four examples are presented. A two-dimensional figure positioned on the flat face of an object shows the significant improvement over tools currently available in commercial CAD software, both vector and parametric: it is more intuitive and does not require the designer to execute as many operations. Two more complex three-dimensional examples are presented to show how the use of spatial geometric places, implemented as CAD software functions, would be an effective and highly intuitive tool. Using these functions produces auxiliary curved surfaces with points whose notable features are a significant innovation. A final example provided solves a geometric place problem using own software designed for this purpose. The proposal to incorporate geometric places into CAD software would lead to a significant improvement in the field of computational geometry. Consequently, the incorporation of geometric places into CAD software could increase technical-design productivity by eliminating some intermediate operations, such as symmetry, among others, and improving the geometry training of less skilled users.
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