Patients with chronic migraine without history of medication overuse are characterized by a peculiar white matter fiber bundle profile

Background: We investigated intracerebral fiber bundles using a tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data to verify microstructural integrity in patients with episodic (MO) and chronic migraine (CM). Methods: We performed DTI in 19 patients with MO within interictal periods, 18 patients with CM without any history of drug abuse, and 18 healthy controls (HCs) using a 3 T magnetic resonance imaging scanner. We calculated diffusion metrics, including fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusion (AD), radial diffusion (RD), and mean diffusion (MD). Results: TBSS revealed no significant differences in the FA, MD, RD, and AD maps between the MO and HC groups. In comparison to the HC group, the CM group exhibited widespread increased RD (bilateral superior [SCR] and posterior corona radiata [PCR], bilateral genu of the corpus callosum [CC], bilateral posterior limb of internal capsule [IC], bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus [LF]) and MD values (tracts of the right SCR and PCR, right superior LF, and right splenium of the CC). In comparison to the MO group, the CM group showed decreased FA (bilateral SCR and PCR, bilateral body of CC, right superior LF, right forceps minor) and increased MD values (bilateral SCR and right PCR, right body of CC, right superior LF, right splenium of CC, and right posterior limb of IC). Conclusion: Our results suggest that chronic migraine can be associated with the widespread disruption of normal white matter integrity in the brain

Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks

In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge, and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control, learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity, localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature, and identify topics that require more research attention in the future

Stereodifferentiation in the intramolecular singlet excited state quenching of hydroxybiphenyl-tryptophan dyads

The photochemical processes occurring in diastereomeric dyads (S, S)-1 and (S, R)-1, prepared by conjugation of (S)-2-(2-hydroxy-1,1'-biphenyl-4-yl) propanoic acid ((S)-BPOH) with (S)- and (R)-Trp, have been investigated. In acetonitrile, the fluorescence spectra of (S, S)-1 and (S, R)-1 were coincident in shape and position with that of (S)-BPOH, although they revealed a markedly stereoselective quenching. Since singlet energy transfer from BPOH to Trp is forbidden (5 kcal mol(-1) uphill), the quenching was attributed to thermodynamically favoured (according to Rehm-Weller) electron transfer or exciplex formation. Upon addition of 20% water, the fluorescence quantum yield of (S)-BPOH decreased, while only minor changes were observed for the dyads. This can be explained by an enhancement of the excited state acidity of (S)-BPOH, associated with bridging of the carboxy and hydroxy groups by water, in agreement with the presence of water molecules in the X-ray structure of (S)-BPOH. When the carboxy group was not available for coordination with water, as in the methyl ester (S)-BPOHMe or in the dyads, this effect was prevented; accordingly, the fluorescence quantum yields did not depend on the presence or absence of water. The fluorescence lifetimes in dry acetonitrile were 1.67, 0.95 and 0.46 ns for (S)-BPOH, (S, S)-1 and (S, R)-1, respectively, indicating that the observed quenching is indeed dynamic. In line with the steady-state and time-resolved observations, molecular modelling pointed to a more favourable geometric arrangement of the two interacting chromophores in (S, R)-1. Interestingly, this dyad exhibited a folded conformation in the solid state.Financial support from the Spanish Government (CTQ2010-14882, BES-2008-003314, JCI-2011-09926, PR2011-0581), from the Generalitat Valenciana (Prometeo 2008/090) and from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (PAID 05-11, 2766) is gratefully acknowledged.Bonancía Roca, P.; Vayá Pérez, I.; Markovitsi, D.; Gustavsson, T.; Jiménez Molero, MC.; Miranda Alonso, MÁ. (2013). Stereodifferentiation in the intramolecular singlet excited state quenching of hydroxybiphenyl-tryptophan dyads. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry. 11(12):1958-1963. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ob27278hS195819631112Jiménez, M. C., Pischel, U., & Miranda, M. A. (2007). Photoinduced processes in naproxen-based chiral dyads. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews, 8(3), 128-142. doi:10.1016/j.jphotochemrev.2007.10.001Abad, S., Pischel, U., & Miranda, M. A. (2005). Wavelength-Dependent Stereodifferentiation in the Fluorescence Quenching of Asymmetric Naphthalene-Based Dyads by Amines. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 109(12), 2711-2717. doi:10.1021/jp047996aAbad, S., Vayá, I., Jiménez, M. C., Pischel, U., & Miranda, M. A. (2006). Diastereodifferentiation of Novel Naphthalene Dyads by Fluorescence Quenching and Excimer Formation. ChemPhysChem, 7(10), 2175-2183. doi:10.1002/cphc.200600337Bonancía, P., Vayá, I., Climent, M. J., Gustavsson, T., Markovitsi, D., Jiménez, M. C., & Miranda, M. A. (2012). Excited-State Interactions in Diastereomeric Flurbiprofen–Thymine Dyads. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 116(35), 8807-8814. doi:10.1021/jp3063838Paris, C., Encinas, S., Belmadoui, N., Climent, M. J., & Miranda, M. A. (2008). Photogeneration of 2-Deoxyribonolactone in Benzophenone−Purine Dyads. Formation of Ketyl−C1′ Biradicals. Organic Letters, 10(20), 4409-4412. doi:10.1021/ol801514vBelmadoui, N., Encinas, S., Climent, M. J., Gil, S., & Miranda, M. A. (2006). Intramolecular Interactions in the Triplet Excited States of Benzophenone–Thymine Dyads. Chemistry - A European Journal, 12(2), 553-561. doi:10.1002/chem.200500345Lhiaubet-Vallet, V., Boscá, F., & Miranda, M. A. (2007). Stereodifferentiating Drug−Biomolecule Interactions in the Triplet Excited State:  Studies on Supramolecular Carprofen/Protein Systems and on Carprofen−Tryptophan Model Dyads. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 111(2), 423-431. doi:10.1021/jp066968kVayá, I., Pérez-Ruiz, R., Lhiaubet-Vallet, V., Jiménez, M. C., & Miranda, M. A. (2010). Drug–protein interactions assessed by fluorescence measurements in the real complexes and in model dyads. Chemical Physics Letters, 486(4-6), 147-153. doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2009.12.091Seedher, N., & Bhatia, S. (2005). Mechanism of interaction of the non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs meloxicam and nimesulide with serum albumin. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, 39(1-2), 257-262. doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2005.02.031SEEDHER, N., & BHATIA, S. (2006). Reversible binding of celecoxib and valdecoxib with human serum albumin using fluorescence spectroscopic technique. Pharmacological Research, 54(2), 77-84. doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2006.02.008Nanda, R. K., Sarkar, N., & Banerjee, R. (2007). Probing the interaction of ellagic acid with human serum albumin: A fluorescence spectroscopic study. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, 192(2-3), 152-158. doi:10.1016/j.jphotochem.2007.05.018Zhou, B., Li, R., Zhang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2008). Kinetic analysis of the interaction between amphotericin B and human serum albumin using surface plasmon resonance and fluorescence spectroscopy. Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences, 7(4), 453. doi:10.1039/b717897bVahedian-Movahed, H., Saberi, M. R., & Chamani, J. (2011). Comparison of Binding Interactions of Lomefloxacin to Serum Albumin and Serum Transferrin by Resonance Light Scattering and Fluorescence Quenching Methods. Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, 28(4), 483-502. doi:10.1080/07391102.2011.10508590Katrahalli, U., Kalalbandi, V. K. A., & Jaldappagari, S. (2012). The effect of anti-tubercular drug, ethionamide on the secondary structure of serum albumins: A biophysical study. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, 59, 102-108. doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2011.09.013El-Kemary, M., Gil, M., & Douhal, A. (2007). Relaxation Dynamics of Piroxicam Structures within Human Serum Albumin Protein. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 50(12), 2896-2902. doi:10.1021/jm061421fTormo, L., Organero, J. A., Cohen, B., Martin, C., Santos, L., & Douhal, A. (2008). Dynamical and Structural Changes of an Anesthetic Analogue in Chemical and Biological Nanocavities. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 112(43), 13641-13647. doi:10.1021/jp803083yTardioli, S., Lammers, I., Hooijschuur, J.-H., Ariese, F., van der Zwan, G., & Gooijer, C. (2012). Complementary Fluorescence and Phosphorescence Study of the Interaction of Brompheniramine with Human Serum Albumin. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 116(24), 7033-7039. doi:10.1021/jp300055cVayá, I., Jiménez, M. C., & Miranda, M. A. (2007). Excited-State Interactions in Flurbiprofen−Tryptophan Dyads. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 111(31), 9363-9371. doi:10.1021/jp071301zCallis, P. R., & Burgess, B. K. (1997). Tryptophan Fluorescence Shifts in Proteins from Hybrid Simulations:  An Electrostatic Approach. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 101(46), 9429-9432. doi:10.1021/jp972436fLakowicz, J. R. (2000). On Spectral Relaxation in Proteins†¶‖. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 72(4), 421. doi:10.1562/0031-8655(2000)0722.0.co;2Schuler, B., & Eaton, W. A. (2008). Protein folding studied by single-molecule FRET. Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 18(1), 16-26. doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2007.12.003Shen, X., & Knutson, J. R. (2001). Subpicosecond Fluorescence Spectra of Tryptophan in Water. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 105(26), 6260-6265. doi:10.1021/jp010384vBeechem, J. M., & Brand, L. (1985). Time-Resolved Fluorescence of Proteins. Annual Review of Biochemistry, 54(1), 43-71. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.54.070185.000355Callis, P. R. (1997). [7] 1La and 1Lb transitions of tryptophan: Applications of theory and experimental observations to fluorescence of proteins. Flourescence Spectroscopy, 113-150. doi:10.1016/s0076-6879(97)78009-1Basarić, N., & Wan, P. (2006). Competing Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer Pathways from Phenol to Anthracene Moieties. The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 71(7), 2677-2686. doi:10.1021/jo0524728Lukeman, M., & Wan, P. (2003). Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer ino-Hydroxybiaryls:  A New Route to Dihydroaromatic Compounds. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 125(5), 1164-1165. doi:10.1021/ja029376yKeck, J., Kramer, H. E. A., Port, H., Hirsch, T., Fischer, P., & Rytz, G. (1996). Investigations on Polymeric and Monomeric Intramolecularly Hydrogen-Bridged UV Absorbers of the Benzotriazole and Triazine Class. The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 100(34), 14468-14475. doi:10.1021/jp961081hVollmer, F., & Rettig, W. (1996). Fluorescence loss mechanism due to large-amplitude motions in derivatives of 2,2′-bipyridyl exhibiting excited-state intramolecular proton transfer and perspectives of luminescence solar concentrators. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, 95(2), 143-155. doi:10.1016/1010-6030(95)04252-0Lukeman, M., & Wan, P. (2002). 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Space debris collision avoidance using a three-filter sequence

In the last few decades, the amount of space debris has dramatically increased, and this trend is expected to continue in the near future. Thus, there is a real risk that two objects in space orbiting about the Earth might collide. Consequently, an effective method for the detection of collisions is required in order to systematically prevent the creation of new space debris, or to study the evolution of the population of space debris after a collision occurs. This research is focused on objects orbiting in the exosphere - in low Earth orbits (LEOs) - because in the past decades these have produced the most serious damage. The methodology proposed in this paper consists of reducing the number of possible pairs of pieces of space debris into a shortlist of possible pairs at real risk of collision, using a filter sequence. This method is achieved by the following two procedures. First, an interpolation ephemerides table is built to compute the state of all the objects at several instants of time. Secondly, using the interpolation ephemerides table, the number of pairs at risk of collision is reduced by three filters. The first two filters are based on the geometry of the orbits and try to exclude pairs not undergoing orbit crossings, while the third filter searches for a time of coincidence. As a result, we have designed a powerful tool that can be used to avoid collisions between pieces of space debris

Calibrazione aggregata di modelli per la simulazione della domanda merci a scala nazionale

In this work, the Multi Regional Input-Output (MRIO) model was calibrated using aggregate datasets and applied to assess ex ante the economic impacts due to the implementation of new transportation infrastructures. The models were calibrated using all data available from national and regional statistical sources. The paper also reports an application to the appraisal of new infrastructures in Italy. Two scenarios were assessed: short and long-medium periods

Immediate and short-term effects of exercise on tendon structure: biochemical, biomechanical and imaging responses.

Introduction Tendons are metabolically active structures, and their biochemical, biomechanical and structural properties adapt to chronic exercise. However, abnormal adaptations may lead to the development of tendinopathy and pain. Acute and subacute adaptations might contribute to tendon pathology. Sources of data A systematic search of peer-reviewed articles was performed using a wide range of electronic databases. A total of 61 publications were selected. Areas of agreement Exercise induces acute responses in collagen turnover, blood flow, glucose, lactate and other inflammatory products (e.g. prostaglandins and interleukins). Mechanical properties are influenced by activity duration and intensity. Acute bouts of exercise affect tendon structure, with some of the changes resembling those reported in pathological tendons. Areas of controversy Given the variation in study designs, measured parameters and outcomes, it remains debatable how acute exercise influences overall tendon properties. There is discrepancy regarding which investigation modality and settings provide optimal assessment of each parameter. Growing points There is a need for greater homogeneity between study designs, including subject consortium and age, exercise protocols and time frames for parameter assessing. Areas timely for developing research Innovative methods, measuring each parameter simultaneously, would allow a greater understanding of how and when changes occur. This methodology is key to revealing pathological processes and pathways that alter tendon properties according to various activities. Optimal tendon properties differ between activities: more compliant tendons are beneficial for slow stretch shortening cycle (SSC) activities such as countermovement jumps, whereas stiffer tendons are considered beneficial for fast SSC movements such as sprinting