Menopause is the time in a womans life when regular menstrual periods cease, due to a natural change in sex hormones, which may be accompanied by unwelcome symptoms. PURPOSE: To determine whether physical activity is associated with a reduction in menopausal symptoms (hot flashes, insomnia, numbness, fatigue, headaches, psychological symptoms, urogenital symptoms and physical symptoms). Providing that symptom differences among activity levels exist, a secondary purpose was to suggest an adequate level of physical activity for relief of menopausal symptoms. METHODS: Women (n=401) who were not taking hormone replacement therapy completed two questionnaires based on a 7-day recall of an average week: the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (Godin & Shephard, 1985) and the Menopausal Index (St. Germain, Peterson, Robinson, & Alekel, 2001). Women were divided into quintiles according to their physical activity scores (1=least active, 5=most active) and compared for menopausal symptoms using first a MANCOVA with covariate percent fat, as this was the only covariate that had significant group mean differences. Secondly a MANOVA with the appropriate post-hoc analysis was conducted. RESULTS: The mean (SD) age of the participants was 58.2 (6.3), the mean years postmenopausal was 6.7 (6.0), the mean percent body fat was 37.4 (5.6) %, and 16.5% had a previous hysterectomy. Univariate tests did not identify significant group differences for hysterectomy (p=0.774) or time since menopause (p=0.440); however, there were significant group differences for percent body fat (p=0). The MANCOVA was not significant between physical activity groups with percent fat as a covariate (Wilks Lamda p = 0.126). The MANOVA indicated a significant group main effect of physical activity on menopausal symptoms (Wilks Lamda p = 0.034). Of the 8 symptoms under review there were significant group differences for fatigue (p=0.05), and physical symptoms (p=0.004). The post-hoc analyses identified that two least active groups reported above average fatigue occurrence whereas the three most active groups reported below average fatigue occurrence. Group 2 had significantly more physical symptom complaints than groups 4 & 5. Of the three symptoms comprising physical symptoms, there were significant differences for weight gain (p=0.004) but not for breast tenderness (p=0.742) or aches and pains (p=0.175). Groups 1 & 2 reported significantly higher frequency of weight gain than groups 4 & 5. CONCLUSION: Any indirect effect of physical activity on menopausal symptoms is most likely through the alteration of body composition. Women with lower percent body fat report less weight gain and fatigue. There was no significant relationship between physical activity levels and reporting of hot flashes/night sweats, insomnia, limb numbness, headache, psychological symptoms or urogenital symptoms. A randomized controlled clinical trial would likely determine the relationship between higher activity levels and symptom reduction. For future research it is recommended that groups be matched based on percent body fat prior to randomization and that a greater amount of physical activity be prescribed.

<p>Olanzapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug exhibiting a low incidence of extrapyramidal side effects. It is not only effective in treating positive symptoms of schizophrenia, but also more efficacious against negative and depressive symptoms than classical antipsychotics. Olanzapine has been recommended as the first-line drug for the treatment of schizophrenia. Unfortunately, a common side effect of olanzapine, namely weight gain, has also been observed. A comprehensive literature analysis revealed that olanzapine induced higher weight gain than most other antipsychotics, only second to clozapine. The incidence of olanzapine-induced weight gain and related diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, is higher than that of the general population. These unwanted side effects have decreased the adherence to treatment. Many clinical observations and preliminary animal studies have attempted to elucidate the possible mechanism involved. To date, the mechanism for olanzapine-induced weight gain remains unclear.</p><p>This research project utilizes an animal model to investigate the possible mechanism of olanzapine-induced weight gain. The specific research objectives include: 1) does olanzapine affect feeding behavior; 2) can olanzapine influence the levels of glucose and triglyceride; 3) are cytokines, such as insulin, leptin, and TNF-Ñ involved in olanzapine-induced weight gain; 4) how does olanzapine affect adipose tissue?</p><p> An olanzapine-induced weight gain animal model has been established in the present investigation. An increase in food and water intake and increase in fat deposition accompanied with weight gain after treatment were observed. No significant increase in levels of glucose and triglyceride was detected. The changes of insulin and leptin levels in blood suggest that olanzapine may affect the endocrine system. A dramatic morphological alteration of adipose tissue by olanzapine was serendipitously observed. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that olanzapine stimulated collagen VI expression and deposition in the extracellular matrix suggesting that adipocyte differentiation may be enhanced. The effect of olanzapine on fat deposition might play a critical role in olanzapine-induced weight gain. The data from adipose tissue have provided a new clue on future research in understanding the mechanism of olanzapine-induced weight gain. Due to limitation of small number of animals and relatively short term of treatment, a large variation in groups diminished the power of analysis regarding the effects of olanzapine related to weigh gain.

<p>Olanzapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug exhibiting a low incidence of extrapyramidal side effects. It is not only effective in treating positive symptoms of schizophrenia, but also more efficacious against negative and depressive symptoms than classical antipsychotics. Olanzapine has been recommended as the first-line drug for the treatment of schizophrenia. Unfortunately, a common side effect of olanzapine, namely weight gain, has also been observed. A comprehensive literature analysis revealed that olanzapine induced higher weight gain than most other antipsychotics, only second to clozapine. The incidence of olanzapine-induced weight gain and related diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, is higher than that of the general population. These unwanted side effects have decreased the adherence to treatment. Many clinical observations and preliminary animal studies have attempted to elucidate the possible mechanism involved. To date, the mechanism for olanzapine-induced weight gain remains unclear.</p><p>This research project utilizes an animal model to investigate the possible mechanism of olanzapine-induced weight gain. The specific research objectives include: 1) does olanzapine affect feeding behavior; 2) can olanzapine influence the levels of glucose and triglyceride; 3) are cytokines, such as insulin, leptin, and TNF-Ñ involved in olanzapine-induced weight gain; 4) how does olanzapine affect adipose tissue?</p><p> An olanzapine-induced weight gain animal model has been established in the present investigation. An increase in food and water intake and increase in fat deposition accompanied with weight gain after treatment were observed. No significant increase in levels of glucose and triglyceride was detected. The changes of insulin and leptin levels in blood suggest that olanzapine may affect the endocrine system. A dramatic morphological alteration of adipose tissue by olanzapine was serendipitously observed. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that olanzapine stimulated collagen VI expression and deposition in the extracellular matrix suggesting that adipocyte differentiation may be enhanced. The effect of olanzapine on fat deposition might play a critical role in olanzapine-induced weight gain. The data from adipose tissue have provided a new clue on future research in understanding the mechanism of olanzapine-induced weight gain. Due to limitation of small number of animals and relatively short term of treatment, a large variation in groups diminished the power of analysis regarding the effects of olanzapine related to weigh gain.

Menopause is the time in a womans life when regular menstrual periods cease, due to a natural change in sex hormones, which may be accompanied by unwelcome symptoms. PURPOSE: To determine whether physical activity is associated with a reduction in menopausal symptoms (hot flashes, insomnia, numbness, fatigue, headaches, psychological symptoms, urogenital symptoms and physical symptoms). Providing that symptom differences among activity levels exist, a secondary purpose was to suggest an adequate level of physical activity for relief of menopausal symptoms. METHODS: Women (n=401) who were not taking hormone replacement therapy completed two questionnaires based on a 7-day recall of an average week: the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (Godin & Shephard, 1985) and the Menopausal Index (St. Germain, Peterson, Robinson, & Alekel, 2001). Women were divided into quintiles according to their physical activity scores (1=least active, 5=most active) and compared for menopausal symptoms using first a MANCOVA with covariate percent fat, as this was the only covariate that had significant group mean differences. Secondly a MANOVA with the appropriate post-hoc analysis was conducted. RESULTS: The mean (SD) age of the participants was 58.2 (6.3), the mean years postmenopausal was 6.7 (6.0), the mean percent body fat was 37.4 (5.6) %, and 16.5% had a previous hysterectomy. Univariate tests did not identify significant group differences for hysterectomy (p=0.774) or time since menopause (p=0.440); however, there were significant group differences for percent body fat (p=0). The MANCOVA was not significant between physical activity groups with percent fat as a covariate (Wilks Lamda p = 0.126). The MANOVA indicated a significant group main effect of physical activity on menopausal symptoms (Wilks Lamda p = 0.034). Of the 8 symptoms under review there were significant group differences for fatigue (p=0.05), and physical symptoms (p=0.004). The post-hoc analyses identified that two least active groups reported above average fatigue occurrence whereas the three most active groups reported below average fatigue occurrence. Group 2 had significantly more physical symptom complaints than groups 4 & 5. Of the three symptoms comprising physical symptoms, there were significant differences for weight gain (p=0.004) but not for breast tenderness (p=0.742) or aches and pains (p=0.175). Groups 1 & 2 reported significantly higher frequency of weight gain than groups 4 & 5. CONCLUSION: Any indirect effect of physical activity on menopausal symptoms is most likely through the alteration of body composition. Women with lower percent body fat report less weight gain and fatigue. There was no significant relationship between physical activity levels and reporting of hot flashes/night sweats, insomnia, limb numbness, headache, psychological symptoms or urogenital symptoms. A randomized controlled clinical trial would likely determine the relationship between higher activity levels and symptom reduction. For future research it is recommended that groups be matched based on percent body fat prior to randomization and that a greater amount of physical activity be prescribed.

Recently, with the escalating demands for optical communications, the need for bandwidth in optical communication network has increased. The technology fiber fabrication opens the possibility for fiber bandwidth form 1.3 to 1.6£gm. Cr4+:YAG double-clad crystal fiber (DCF) grown by the co-drawing laser-heated pedestal growth method has a strong spontaneous emission spectrum from 1.3 to 1.6£gm. Such fiber is therefore, eminently suitable for optical coherence tomography (OCT), broadband optical amplifier, amplifier spontaneous emission (ASE) light source, and tunable solid-state laser applications. In this thesis, multilayer dielectric thin films were directly deposited by E-gun coating onto the end faces of the Cr4+:YAG DCF. To improve thin-film quality, we can increase transmittance of laser output, and to design for the high power laser. For broadband optical amplifier in dual-pump and double-pass scheme, a 2.8-dB gross gain, a 1.6-dB insertion loss, and a 1.2-dB net gain at 1.4-£gm signal wavelength have been successfully developed with HR coating onto one of the Cr4+:YAG DCF end faces.

This thesis is concerned with the designing of an nth order adaptive integral variable structure derivative estimator (AIVSDE). The proposed estimator's scheme is in fact a modified and extended version of the existing AIVSDE. The new proposed AIVSDE can be used as a direct nth differentiator for a smooth signal which has n continuous and bounded derivatives. The adaptive algorithm is utilized for the switching gain to remove the requirement for a priori knowledge about the upper bound of the derivative of the input signal. The stability of the redesigned first order, the second order, and the nth order derivative's estimation is guaranteed by the proposed scheme. An example is demonstrated for showing the applicability of the proposed AIVSDE.

ABSTRACT In this thesis, we investigate the amplification characteristics of gain-flattened L-band (1570-1600 nm) erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) by employing the 1480 nm bi-directional pumping configuration. L-Band EDFAs are attractive because the use of L-band and C-band (1530-1560 nm) EDFAs in parallel greatly expands the amplification wavelength region. We adjusted the length of erbium-doped fiber (EDF) to achieve the flat amplification characteristics in the 1573-1600 nm wavelength region without using gain equalizers. The L-band EDFA exhibited a signal gain of 23 dB with good uniformity (less than 1 dB) and a noise figure of 6.9 dB for a 1580 nm signal of 16-channel WDM system. We also used the simulation tools to investigate the characteristics of L-band EDFA with the same configuration. The simulation results quite agree with the experimental data.

This thesis presents a 2.4GHz image-reject downconverter fabricated in TSMC 0.25 1P5M CMOS process. The integrated active filter can not only filter out the image signal, but also reduce noise figure degraded by parasitic capacitance in the circuit. The differential LC oscillator fabricated in TSMC 0.35 1P4M CMOS process has properties of low phase noise and wide frequency turning range. Finally, a variable gain amplifier implemented in GCS GaAs HBT process was designed using signal summing architecture. The architecture is advantageous to reducing noise, distortion and increasing operating frequency. This thesis has studied what cause the difference between measurement and simulation for better performance in the future design.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 223-231). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.70-79).