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Abstract: Adipocyte-specific fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP) is a cytoplasmic protein that is expressed in adipocytes and is closely associated with insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and Type 2 diabetes. We investigated the relationship between A-FABP as a surrogate marker of metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in apparently healthy subjects. We assessed clinical and biochemical metabolic parameters and measured serum levels of A-FABP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in 494 subjects who were divided into two groups according to the presence of NAFLD by abdominal ultrasonography. All parameters associated with metabolic syndrome were significantly higher in patients with NAFLD (P<.001). A-FABP showed positive correlation with TNF-α, homeostasis model assessment index of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and metabolic syndrome (P<.001) when adjusted for age and sex. The odds ratio for the risk of NAFLD in the highest tertile of A-FABP compared with the lowest tertile was 7.36 (CI 3.80–14.27, P<.001) after adjustment for age and sex; 4.52 (CI 2.22–9.20, P<.001) after adjustment for age, sex, HOMA-IR and metabolic syndrome and 2.86 (CI 1.11–7.35, P<.05) after further adjustment for all metabolic parameters including TNF-α. The serum level of A-FABP was independently associated with NAFLD and showed significant correlation with TNF-α, HOMA-IR, and metabolic syndrome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The increment for the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance warrants lowering the cutoffs of normoglycemia to help predict the future development of diabetes. The aim of this study was to find out whether insulin resistance and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a nontraditional cardiovascular risk factor, were related to the fasting glucose level, even in normoglycemic range that was categorized by the newly recommended criteria by the American Diabetes Association. Among the participants undergoing medical checkup program at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, 10059 subjects (5535 men and 4524 women; mean age, 45 years) with normal fasting glucose levels, as defined by the newly recommended criteria (<5.6 mmol/L), were enrolled in this study. The blood pressures, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, lipid batteries, and hsCRP levels were checked. The homeostatic model assessment–insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and the quantitative insulin sensitivity check indexes (QUICKI) were calculated. All subjects were subdivided into 4 groups according to the fasting glucose level. The HOMA-IR, QUICKI, and log-transformed (log) hsCRP, or log(hsCRP), level significantly increased according to the increment in fasting glucose, and these associations were consistent after adjustment for age and BMI, except for the log(hsCRP) (P = .124 after adjustment). Log(hsCRP) increased as the HOMA-IR increased and as the QUICKI decreased, and when multiple regression analysis was done with log(hsCRP) as the dependent variable, age, high BMI, male sex, high HOMA-IR, hypertriglyceridemia, and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were the significant predictor for log(hsCRP). In conclusion, the insulin resistance indexes and hsCRP increased gradually even in the normal fasting glucose range, as categorized by the newly recommended criteria for abnormal fasting glucose levels, supporting the rationale for expanding the range of fasting hyperglycemia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a new small target detection method using cross product of temporal pixels based on temporal profiles in infrared (IR) image sequences. Temporal characteristics of small targets and various backgrounds are different. A new algorithm classifies target pixels and background pixels through hypothesis testing using the cross product of pixels on temporal profile and predicts the temporal backgrounds based on the results. Small target pixels are detected by subtracting the predicted temporal background profile from the original temporal profile. For performance comparison between the proposed method and the conventional methods, the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were computed experimentally. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has better discrimination of target and clutter pixels and lower false alarm rates than conventional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]