Nonsupersymmetric multibrane solutions

Gravity coupled to an arbitrary number of antisymmetric tensors and scalar fields in arbitrary space-time dimensions is studied in a context of general, static, spherically symmetric solutions with many orthogonally intersecting branes. Neither supersymmetry nor harmonic gauge is assumed. It is shown that the system reduces to a Toda-like system after an adequate redefinition of transverse radial coordinate $r$. Duality $r \to 1/r$ in the set of solutions is observed

Serious Games Application for Memory Training Using Egocentric Images

Mild cognitive impairment is the early stage of several neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's. In this work, we address the use of lifelogging as a tool to obtain pictures from a patient's daily life from an egocentric point of view. We propose to use them in combination with serious games as a way to provide a non-pharmacological treatment to improve their quality of life. To do so, we introduce a novel computer vision technique that classifies rich and non rich egocentric images and uses them in serious games. We present results over a dataset composed by 10,997 images, recorded by 7 different users, achieving 79% of F1-score. Our model presents the first method used for automatic egocentric images selection applicable to serious games.Comment: 11 page

A Leptin-regulated Circuit Controls Glucose Mobilization During Noxious Stimuli

Adipocytes secrete the hormone leptin to signal the sufficiency of energy stores. Reductions in circulating leptin concentrations reflect a negative energy balance, which augments sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation in response to metabolically demanding emergencies. This process ensures adequate glucose mobilization despite low energy stores. We report that leptin receptor–expressing neurons (LepRb neurons) in the periaqueductal gray (PAG), the largest population of LepRb neurons in the brain stem, mediate this process. Application of noxious stimuli, which often signal the need to mobilize glucose to support an appropriate response, activated PAG LepRb neurons, which project to and activate parabrachial nucleus (PBN) neurons that control SNS activation and glucose mobilization. Furthermore, activating PAG LepRb neurons increased SNS activity and blood glucose concentrations, while ablating LepRb in PAG neurons augmented glucose mobilization in response to noxious stimuli. Thus, decreased leptin action on PAG LepRb neurons augments the autonomic response to noxious stimuli, ensuring sufficient glucose mobilization during periods of acute demand in the face of diminished energy stores

p21 promotes oncolytic adenoviral activity in ovarian cancer and is a potential biomarker

The oncolytic adenovirus dl922-947 replicates selectively within and lyses cells with a dysregulated Rb pathway, a finding seen in > 90% human cancers. dl922-947 is more potent than wild type adenovirus and the E1B-deletion mutant dl1520 (Onyx-015). We wished to determine which host cell factors influence cytotoxicity. SV40 large T-transformed MRC5-VA cells are 3-logs more sensitive to dl922-947 than isogenic parental MRC5 cells, confirming that an abnormal G1/S checkpoint increases viral efficacy. The sensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to dl922-947 varied widely: IC50 values ranged from 51 (SKOV3ip1) to 0.03 pfu/cell (TOV21G). Cells sensitive to dl922-947 had higher S phase populations and supported earlier E1A expression. Cytotoxicity correlated poorly with both infectivity and replication, but well with expression of p21 by microarray and western blot analyses. Matched p21+/+ and -/- Hct116 cells confirmed that p21 influences dl922-947 activity in vitro and in vivo. siRNA-mediated p21 knockdown in sensitive TOV21G cells decreases E1A expression and viral cytotoxicity, whilst expression of p21 in resistant A2780CP cells increases virus activity in vitro and in intraperitoneal xenografts. These results highlight that host cell factors beyond simple infectivity can influence the efficacy of oncolytic adenoviruses. p21 expression may be an important biomarker of response in clinical trials

Prohypertensive Effect of Gestational Personal Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter. Prospective Cohort Study in Non-smoking and Non-obese Pregnant Women

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) is a recognized risk factor for elevated blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular disease in adults, and this prospective cohort study was undertaken to evaluate whether gestational exposure to $PM_{2.5}$ has a prohypertensive effect. We measured personal exposure to fine particulate matter ($PM_{2.5}$) by personal air monitoring in the second trimester of pregnancy among 431 women, and BP values in the third trimester were obtained from medical records of prenatal care clinics. In the general estimating equation model, the effect of $PM_{2.5}$ on BP was adjusted for relevant covariates such as maternal age, education, parity, gestational weight gain (GWG), prepregnancy BMI, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and blood lead level. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) increased in a linear fashion across a dosage of $PM_{2.5}$ and on average augmented by 6.1 mm Hg (95% CI, 0.6–11.6) with log unit of $PM_{2.5}$ concentration. Effects of age, maternal education, prepregnancy BMI, blood lead level, and ETS were insignificant. Women with excessive gestational weight gain (>18 kg) had higher mean SBP parameters by 5.5 mmHg (95% CI, 2.7–8.3). In contrast, multiparous women had significantly lower SBP values (coeff. = −4.2 mm Hg; 95% CI, −6.8 to −1.6). Similar analysis performed for diastolic blood pressure (DBP) has demonstrated that PM2.5 also affected DBP parameters (coeff. = 4.1; 95% CI, −0.02 to 8.2), but at the border significance level. DBP values were positively associated with the excessive GWG (coeff. = 2.3; 95% CI, 0.3–4.4) but were inversely related to parity (coeff. = −2.7; 95% CI, −4.6 to −0.73). In the observed cohort, the exposure to fine particulate matter during pregnancy was associated with increased maternal blood pressure

Susceptibility or resilience? Prenatal stress predisposes male rats to social subordination, but facilitates adaptation to subordinate status

Mood disorders such as major depressive disorder (MDD) affect a significant proportion of the population. Although progress has been made in the development of therapeutics, a large number of individuals do not attain full remission of symptoms and adverse side effects affect treatment compliance for some. In order to develop new therapies, there is a push for new models that better reflect the multiple risk factors that likely contribute to the development of depressive illness. We hypothesized that early life stress would exacerbate the depressive-like phenotype that we have previously observed in socially subordinate (SUB) adult male rats in the visible burrow system (VBS), a semi-natural, ethologically relevant environment in which males in a colony form a dominance hierarchy. Dams were exposed to chronic variable stress (CVS) during the last week of gestation, resulting in a robust and non-habituating glucocorticoid response that did not alter maternal food intake, body weight or litter size and weight. As adults, one prenatal CVS (PCVS) and one non-stressed (NS) male were housed in the VBS with adult females. Although there were no overt differences between PCVS and NS male offspring prior to VBS housing, a greater percentage of PCVS males became SUB. However, the depressive-like phenotype of SUB males was not exacerbated in PCVS males; rather, they appeared to better cope with SUB status than NS SUB males. They had lower basal plasma corticosterone than NS SUB males at the end of VBS housing. In situ hybridization for CRH in the PVN and CeA did not reveal any prenatal treatment or status effects, while NPY expression was higher within the MeA of dominant and subordinate males exposed to the VBS in comparison with controls, but with no effect of prenatal treatment. These data suggest that prenatal chronic variable stress may confer resilience to offspring when exposed to social stress in adulthood

Evaluation of Single-Chip, Real-Time Tomographic Data Processing on FPGA - SoC Devices

A novel approach to tomographic data processing has been developed and evaluated using the Jagiellonian PET (J-PET) scanner as an example. We propose a system in which there is no need for powerful, local to the scanner processing facility, capable to reconstruct images on the fly. Instead we introduce a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) System-on-Chip (SoC) platform connected directly to data streams coming from the scanner, which can perform event building, filtering, coincidence search and Region-Of-Response (ROR) reconstruction by the programmable logic and visualization by the integrated processors. The platform significantly reduces data volume converting raw data to a list-mode representation, while generating visualization on the fly.Comment: IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 17 May 201

The design, evaluation, and reporting on non- pharmacological, cognition- oriented treatments for older adults: Results of a survey of experts

IntroductionCognitive decline and dementia significantly affect independence and quality of life in older adults; therefore, it is critical to identify effective cognition- oriented treatments (COTs; eg, cognitive training, rehabilitation) that can help maintain or enhance cognitive functioning in older adults, as well as reduce dementia risk or alleviate symptoms associated with pathological processes.MethodsThe Cognitive Intervention Design Evaluation and Reporting (CIDER), a working group from the Non- Pharmacological Interventions Professional Interest Area (NPI- PIA) of the Alzheimer’s Association conducted as survey in 2017 with experts in COTs worldwide. The survey’s aims were three- fold: (1) determine the common attitudes, beliefs, and practices of experts involved in the COTs research targeting older people; (2) identify areas of relative agreement and disagreement among experts in the field; and (3) offer a critical review of the literature, including recommendations for future research.ResultsThe survey identified several areas of agreements among experts on critical features of COTs, and on study design and outcome measures. Nevertheless, there were some areas with relative disagreement. Critically, expert opinions were not always supported by scientific evidence, suggesting that methodologic improvements are needed regarding design, implementation, and reporting of COTs. There was a clear consensus that COTs provide benefits and should be offered to cognitively unimpaired older adults, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and mild dementia, but opinions differed for moderate and severe dementia. In addition, there is no consensus on the potential role of COTs in dementia prevention, indicating that future research should prioritize this aspect.DiscussionEvidence of COTs in older adults is encouraging, but additional evidence is needed to enhance dementia prevention. Consensus building and guidelines in the field are critical to improve and accelerate the development of high- quality evidence for COTs in cognitively unimpaired older adults, and those with MCI and dementia.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155935/1/trc212024_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155935/2/trc212024.pd

ER stress transcription factor Xbp1 suppresses intestinal tumorigenesis and directs intestinal stem cells

Unresolved endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the epithelium can provoke intestinal inflammation. Hypomorphic variants of ER stress response mediators, such as X-box–binding protein 1 (XBP1), confer genetic risk for inflammatory bowel disease. We report here that hypomorphic Xbp1 function instructs a multilayered regenerative response in the intestinal epithelium. This is characterized by intestinal stem cell (ISC) expansion as shown by an inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (Ire1α)–mediated increase in Lgr5+ and Olfm4+ ISCs and a Stat3-dependent increase in the proliferative output of transit-amplifying cells. These consequences of hypomorphic Xbp1 function are associated with an increased propensity to develop colitis-associated and spontaneous adenomatous polyposis coli (APC)–related tumors of the intestinal epithelium, which in the latter case is shown to be dependent on Ire1α. This study reveals an unexpected role for Xbp1 in suppressing tumor formation through restraint of a pathway that involves an Ire1α- and Stat3-mediated regenerative response of the epithelium as a consequence of ER stress. As such, Xbp1 in the intestinal epithelium not only regulates local inflammation but at the same time also determines the propensity of the epithelium to develop tumors

Osseous erosion by herniated nucleus pulposus mimicking intraspinal tumor: a case report

Erosion of spinal osseous structure, so-called scalloping, has been rarely reported associated with herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP). We report a rare case of HNP causing erosion of the spinal osseous structure (including lamina). The patient was an 81-year-old woman with 3-year history of low-back pain and left leg radiating pain. Muscle weakness of the left leg was also apparent. Computed tomography following myelography showed severe compression of the dural sac at the level of L3–L4; furthermore, erosion of the lamina, pedicle, and vertebral body was noted, indicating that the space-occupying mass was most probably a tumorous lesion. The mass also showed calcification inside. During the surgery, the mass was confirmed to be an HNP with calcification. Following resection, the pain disappeared. Surgeons should be aware of the possibility of scalloping of the vertebrae caused by HNP mimicking a tumorous lesion