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Abstract Background and aims Insulin resistance contributes to the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and is also a cardiovascular risk factor. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential association between insulin resistance measured by estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR) and risk of stroke and mortality thereof in people with T2D. Materials and methods Nationwide population based observational cohort study that included all T2D patients from the Swedish national diabetes registry between 2004 and 2016 with full data on eGDR and categorised as following: 8 were: 0.77 (0.69–0.87), 0.68 (0.58–0.80) and 0.60 (0.48–0.76), compared to the reference

Abstract Objectives To investigate early and long-term outcomes after treatment of carotid artery stenosis in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to patients without T2D. Design/method This observational nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study investigated all T2D patients treated for carotid stenosis registered in the National Swedish Vascular Surgery and the National Diabetes Registries. Data was collected prospectively for all patients after carotid intervention, during 2009–2015. We estimated crude early (within 30-days) hazard ratios (HRs) risk of stroke and death, and long-term HRs risk, adjusted for confounders with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), for stroke and death and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) by using inverse probability of treatment weighting matching. Results A total of 1341 patients with T2D and 4162 patients without T2D were included; 89% treated for symptomatic carotid stenosis, 96% with carotid endarterectomy. There was an increased early risk, HRs (95% CI), for stroke in T2D patients 1.65 (1.17–2.32), whereas risk for early death 1.00 (0.49–2.04) was similar in both groups. During a median follow-up of 4.3 (T2D) and 4.6 (without T2D), with a maximum of 8.0 years; after propensity score matching there was an increased HRs (95% CI) of stroke 1.27 (1.05–1.54) and death 1.27 (1.10–1.47) in T2D patients compared to patients without T2D. Corresponding numbers for MACE were 1.21 (1.08–1.35). Conclusions Patients with T2D run an increased risk for stroke, death, and MACE after carotid intervention. They also have an increased perioperative risk for stroke, but not for death.

Introduction: Shrunken pore syndrome (SPS), originally defined by cystatin C−based estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFRcystatin C) being less than 60% of creatinine-based estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFRcreatinine) in the absence of extrarenal influences on the plasma levels of cystatin C or creatinine, is associated with a high increase in mortality, even in the absence of reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The objective of the present study was to determine whether the proteome of patients with SPS shows differences from that of patients with normal or reduced measured GFR (mGFR) without SPS. Methods: Four patient cohorts were included: 1 cohort with normal mGFR without SPS, 1 with normal mGFR with SPS, 1 with reduced mGFR without SPS, and 1 with reduced mGFR with SPS. The plasma levels of 177 selected proteins were analyzed. Results: Differences in the levels of 30 proteins were specific for SPS; 31 differences were specific for patients with both SPS and reduced mGFR; and 27 were specific for reduced mGFR. Eighteen of the differences specific for SPS concerned proteins described as promoting, or being associated with, atherosclerosis. Twelve of the differences specific for patients with both SPS and reduced mGFR and 10 of the differences specific for reduced mGFR also concerned proteins described as promoting, or being associated with, atherosclerosis. Almost all (82 of 88) of the concentration differences represented increased levels. For SPS, but not for reduced mGFR, a correlation between protein size and increase in level was observed, with smaller proteins being associated with higher levels. Conclusion: The high mortality in shrunken pore syndrome might be caused by the accumulation of atherosclerosis-promoting proteins in this condition. Keywords: atherosclerosis, creatinine, cystatin C, GFR, kidney, mortality

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) is planning to introduce a capital conservation buffer in the Ukrainian banking sector over a four-year period starting in 2020. This new regulation will yield long-term benefits by strengthening the resilience of the banks, which will reduce the likelihood and costs of financial crises. However, higher capital requirements in the form of a capital conservation buffer can also result in short-term costs by temporarily lowering output. In this study, we use a dynamic general equilibrium model calibrated to fit some long-term features of the Ukrainian economy to evaluate how different implementation strategies affect the short-term output loss. We show that the output loss can be reduced by preannouncing and gradually implementing the buffer, along the lines that have already been advanced by the NBU.

The seminal vesicle secretions of guinea pig and rabbit were analyzed for semen coagulum proteins. Using SDS-PAGE we discovered a previously not fully recognized semen coagulum protein, Svp5, in the guinea pig and a single predominant component, SVP200, in the rabbit. Potential genes of these proteins were identified in genome databases by their homology with human and murine genes. The structure of their fullength transcripts was determined using seminal vesicle cDNA and sequencing primers based on genomic sequences. Homology searching indicated that both Svp5 and SVP200 were synthesized from composite genes that were the result of merger between two genes showing homology with human SEMG2 and PI3. For a deeper understanding of the evolution of the genes, we retrieved and analyzed genome sequences from the REST gene loci, encompassing genes of semen coagulum proteins and related rapidly evolving seminal vesicle-transcribed genes, of 14 rodents and 2 lagomorphs. The analysis showed that rodents of the suborders myomorpha, hystricomorpha, and castorimorpha had unique sets of REST genes, whereas sciuromorpha seemed to be lacking such genes. It also indicated a closer relationship between myomorpha and castorimorpha than to rodents of the two other analyzed suborders. In the lagomorph species, the pika appeared to be devoid of REST genes, whereas the rabbit had a single expressed REST gene, SVP200, and two pseudogenes. The structural similarity of semen coagulum proteins in rabbit and hystricomph species suggests that they are closely related. This was also supported by other similarities at their REST gene loci, e.g. the finding of a PI3-like gene in the rabbit that also had features in common with caltrin2 of hystricomorph rodents. The homologies indicate that hystricomorpha may have separated from myomorpha and castorimorpha before the separation of hystricomorpha from lagomorpha.

Autonomous vehicles need accurate and dependable positioning, and these systems need to be tested extensively. We have evaluated positioning based on ultrawideband (UWB) ranging with our self-driving model car using a highly automated approach. Random drivable trajectories were generated, while the UWB position was compared against the Real-Time Kinematic Satellite Navigation (RTK-SN) positioning system which our model car also is equipped with. Fault injection was used to study the fault tolerance of the UWB positioning system. Addressed challenges are automatically generating test cases for real-time hardware, restoring the state between tests, and maintaining safety by preventing collisions. We were able to automatically generate and carry out hundreds of experiments on the model car in real time and rerun them consistently with and without fault injection enabled. Thereby, we demonstrate one novel approach to perform automated testing on complex real-time hardware.

The smart grid is widely considered as an efficient and intelligent power system. With the aid of communication technologies, the smart grid can enhance the efficiency and reliability of the grid system through intelligent energy management. However, with the development of new energy sources, storage and transmission technologies together with the heterogeneous architecture of the grid network, several new features have been incorporated into the smart grid. These features make the energy trading more complex and pose a significant challenge on designing efficient trading schemes. Based on this motivation, in this paper, we present a comprehensive review of several typical economic incentive approaches adopted in the energy-trading control mechanisms. We focus on the technologies that address the challenges specific to the new features of the smart grid. Furthermore, we investigate the energy trading in a new cloud-based vehicle-to-vehicle energy exchange scenario. We propose an optimal contract-based electricity trading scheme, which efficiently increases the generated profit.

The energy crisis and global warming call for a new industrial revolution in production and distribution of renewable energy. Distributed power generation will be well developed in the new smart electricity distribution grid, in which robust power distribution will be the key technology. In this paper, we present a new vehicle-to-grid (V2G) network for energy transfer, in which distributed renewable energy helps the power grid balance demand and supply. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will act as transporters of electricity for distributed renewable energy dispatching. We formulate and analyze the V2G network within the theoretical framework of complex network. We also employ the generalized synchronization method to study the dynamic behavior of V2G networks. Furthermore, we develop a new price-based energy control method to stimulate the PHEV's behavior of charging and discharging. Simulation results indicate that the V2G network can achieve synchronization and each region is able to balance energy supply and demand through price-based control.

Accurate positioning is a requirement for many applications, including safety-critical autonomous vehicles. To reduce cost and at the same time improving accuracy for positioning of autonomous vehicles, new methods, tools, and research platforms are needed. We have created a low-cost testbed consisting of electronics and software that can be fitted on model vehicles allowing them to follow trajectories autonomously with a position accuracy of around 3 cm outdoors. The position of the vehicles is derived from sensor fusion between Real-Time Kinematic Satellite Navigation (RTK-SN), odometry, and inertial measurement and performs well within a 10 km radius from a base station. Trajectories to be followed can be edited with a custom GUI, where also several model vehicles can be controlled and visualized in real time. All software and Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) for our testbed are available as open source to make customization and development possible. Our testbed can be used for research within autonomous driving, for carrying test equipment, and other applications where low cost and accurate positioning and navigation are required.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA or kallikrein-related peptidase-3, KLK3) exerts chymotrypsin-like proteolytic activity. The main biological function of PSA is the liquefaction of the clot formed after ejaculation by cleavage of semenogelins I and II in seminal fluid. PSA also cleaves several other substrates, which may explain its putative functions in prostate cancer and its antiangiogenic activity. We compared the proteolytic efficiency of PSA towards several protein and peptide substrates and studied the effect of peptides stimulating the activity of PSA with these substrates. An endothelial cell tube formation model was used to analyze the effect of PSA-degraded protein fragments on angiogenesis. We showed that PSA degrades semenogelins I and II much more efficiently than other previously identified protein substrates, e.g., fibronectin, galectin-3 and IGFBP-3. We identified nidogen-1 as a new substrate for PSA. Peptides B2 and C4 that stimulate the activity of PSA towards small peptide substrates also enhanced the proteolytic activity of PSA towards protein substrates. Nidogen-1, galectin-3 or their fragments produced by PSA did not have any effect on endothelial cell tube formation. Although PSA cleaves several other protein substrates, in addition to semenogelins, the physiological importance of this activity remains speculative. The PSA levels in prostate are very high, but several other highly active proteases, such as hK2 and trypsin, are also expressed in the prostate and may cleave protein substrates that are weakly cleaved by PSA.