Should severe monolateral asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis be treated at the time of coronary artery bypass operation?

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Composite Y internal thoracic artery–saphenous vein grafts: short-term angiographic results and vasoreactive profile

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Activations in gray and white matter are modulated by uni-manual responses during within and inter-hemispheric transfer: effects of response hand and right-handedness

Because the visual cortices are contra-laterally organized, inter-hemispheric transfer tasks have been used to behaviorally probe how information briefly presented to one hemisphere of the visual cortex is integrated with responses resulting from the ipsi- or contra-lateral motor cortex. By forcing rapid information exchange across diverse regions, these tasks robustly activate not only gray matter regions, but also white matter tracts. It is likely that the response hand itself (dominant or non-dominant) modulates gray and white matter activations during within and inter-hemispheric transfer. Yet the role of uni-manual responses and/or right hand dominance in modulating brain activations during such basic tasks is unclear. Here we investigated how uni-manual responses with either hand modulated activations during a basic visuo-motor task (the established Poffenberger paradigm) alternating between inter- and within-hemispheric transfer conditions. In a large sample of strongly right-handed adults (n = 49), we used a factorial combination of transfer condition [Inter vs. Within] and response hand [Dominant(Right) vs. Non-Dominant (Left)] to discover fMRI-based activations in gray matter, and in narrowly defined white matter tracts. These tracts were identified using a priori probabilistic white matter atlases. Uni-manual responses with the right hand strongly modulated activations in gray matter, and notably in white matter. Furthermore, when responding with the left hand, activations during inter-hemispheric transfer were strongly predicted by the degree of right-hand dominance, with increased right-handedness predicting decreased fMRI activation. Finally, increasing age within the middle-aged sample was associated with a decrease in activations. These results provide novel evidence of complex relationships between uni-manual responses in right-handed subjects, and activations during within- and inter-hemispheric transfer suggest that the organization of the motor system exerts sophisticated functional effects. Moreover, our evidence of activation in white matter tracts is consistent with prior studies, confirming fMRI-detectable white matter activations which are systematically modulated by experimental condition

An Integrated Approach to Design Fluoro Substituted “Smart” Polymers for Protection of Monumental Buildings

Introduction of fluorinated groups in the structure of either fully acrylic or acrylic - vinyl ether copolymers, is achieved through the use of commercially available or specifically synthesized fluorinated acrylic comonomers. If suitably selected, these fluoroacrylates can allow both control on the macromolecular structure and tailoring of material properties that are relevant for coating applications, such as film-forming behavior, adhesion, water repellency and intrinsic photostability. Several copolymers of fluorinated acrylates and methacrylates with not-fluorinated methacrylates and vinyl ethers have been evaluated in terms of chemical stability under accelerated photoaging conditions, and their behavior as protective coating materials has been studied after application to various stone substrates that are commonly found in ancient buildings and objects of cultural significance

Inefficient white matter activity in Schizophrenia evoked during intra and inter-hemispheric communication

Intensive cognitive tasks induce inefficient regional and network responses in schizophrenia (SCZ). fMRI-based studies have naturally focused on gray matter, but appropriately titrated visuo-motor integration tasks reliably activate inter- and intra-hemispheric white matter pathways. Such tasks can assess network inefficiency without demanding intensive cognitive effort. Here, we provide the first application of this framework to the study of white matter functional responses in SCZ. Event-related fMRI data were acquired from 28 patients (nine females, mean age 43.3, ±11.7) and 28 age- and gender-comparable controls (nine females, mean age 42.1 ± 10.1), using the Poffenberger paradigm, a rapid visual detection task used to induce intra- (ipsi-lateral visual and motor cortex) or inter-hemispheric (contra-lateral visual and motor cortex) transfer. fMRI data were pre- and post-processed to reliably isolate activations in white matter, using probabilistic tractography-based white matter tracts. For intra- and inter-hemispheric transfer conditions, SCZ evinced hyper-activations in longitudinal and transverse white matter tracts, with hyper-activation in sub-regions of the corpus callosum primarily observed during inter-hemispheric transfer. Evidence for the functional inefficiency of white matter was observed in conjunction with small (~50 ms) but significant increases in response times. Functional inefficiencies in SCZ are (1) observable in white matter, with the degree of inefficiency contextually related to task-conditions, and (2) are evoked by simple detection tasks without intense cognitive processing. These cumulative results while expanding our understanding of this dys-connection syndrome, also extend the search of biomarkers beyond the traditional realm of fMRI studies of gray matter

Cytochalasin B Modulates Nanomechanical Patterning and Fate in Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

Cytoskeletal proteins provide architectural and signaling cues within cells. They are able to reorganize themselves in response to mechanical forces, converting the stimuli received into specific cellular responses. Thus, the cytoskeleton influences cell shape, proliferation, and even differentiation. In particular, the cytoskeleton affects the fate of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are highly attractive candidates for cell therapy approaches due to their capacity for self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation. Cytochalasin B (CB), a cyto-permeable mycotoxin, is able to inhibit the formation of actin microfilaments, resulting in direct effects on cell biological properties. Here, we investigated for the first time the effects of different concentrations of CB (0.1–10 μM) on human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) both after 24 h (h) of CB treatment and 24 h after CB wash-out. CB influenced the metabolism, proliferation, and morphology of hASCs in a dose-dependent manner, in association with progressive disorganization of actin microfilaments. Furthermore, the removal of CB highlighted the ability of cells to restore their cytoskeletal organization. Finally, atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that cytoskeletal changes induced by CB modulated the viscoelastic properties of hASCs, influencing their stiffness and viscosity, thereby affecting adipogenic fat

Red Listing plants under full national responsibility: Extinction risk and threats in the vascular flora endemic to Italy

Taxa endemic to a country are key elements for setting national conservation priorities and for driving conservation strategies, since their persistence is entirely dependent on national policy. We applied the IUCN Red List categories to all Italian endemic vascular plants (1340 taxa) to assess their current risk of extinction and to highlight their major threats. Our results revealed that six taxa are already extinct and that 22.4% (300 taxa) are threatened with extinction, while 18.4% (247; especially belonging to apomictic groups) have been categorized as Data Deficient. Italian endemic vascular plants are primarily threatened by natural habitat modification due to agriculture, residential and tourism development. Taxa occurring in coastal areas and lowlands, where anthropogenic impacts and habitat destruction are concentrated, display the greatest population decline and extinction. The national network of protected areas could be considered effective in protecting endemic-rich areas (ERAs) and endemic taxa, but ineffective in protecting narrow endemic-rich areas (NERAs), accordingly changes to the existing network may increase the effectiveness of protection. For the first time in the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot, we present a comprehensive extinction assessment for endemic plants under the full responsibility of a single country. This would provide an important step towards the prioritization and conservation of threatened endemic flora at Italian, European, and Mediterranean level. A successful conservation strategy of the Italian endemic vascular flora should implement the protected area system, solve some taxonomical criticism in poorly known genera, and should rely on monitoring threatened species, and on developing species-specific action plans

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services