Efficient abstraction of clock synchronization at the operating system level

Distributed embedded systems are emerging and gaining importance in various domains, including industrial control applications where time determinism – hence network clock synchronization – is fundamental. In modern applications, moreover, this core functionality is required by many different software components, from OS kernel and radio stack up to applications. An abstraction layer devoted to handling time needs therefore introducing, and to encapsulate time corrections at the lowest possible level, the said layer should take the form of a timer device driver offering a Virtual Clock to the entire system. In this paper we show that doing so introduces a nonlinearity in the dynamics of the clock, and we design a controller based on feedback linearization to handle the issue. To put the idea to work, we extend the Miosix RTOS with a generic interface allowing to implement virtual clocks, including the newly designed controller that we call FLOPSYNC-3 after its ancestor. Also, we introduce the resulting virtual clock in the TDMH [20] real-time wireless mesh protocol

Complex phenotype in an Italian family with a novel mutation in SPG3A.

Mutations in the SPG3A gene represent a significant cause of autosomal dominant hereditary spastic paraplegia with early onset and pure phenotype. We describe an Italian family manifesting a complex phenotype, characterized by cerebellar involvement in the proband and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like syndrome in her father, in association with a new mutation in SPG3A. Our findings further widen the notion of clinical heterogeneity in SPG3A mutations

Red blood cells membrane micropolarity as a novel diagnostic indicator of type 1 and type 2 diabetes

Classification of the category of diabetes is extremely important for clinicians to diagnose and select the correct treatment plan. Glycosylation, oxidation and other post-translational modifications of membrane and transmembrane proteins, as well as impairment in cholesterol homeostasis, can alter lipid density, packing, and interactions of Red blood cells (RBC) plasma membranes in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, thus varying their membrane micropolarity. This can be estimated, at a submicrometric scale, by determining the membrane relative permittivity, which is the factor by which the electric field between the charges is decreased relative to vacuum. Here, we employed a membrane micropolarity sensitive probe to monitor variations in red blood cells of healthy subjects (n=16) and patients affected by type 1 (T1DM, n=10) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM, n=24) to provide a cost-effective and supplementary indicator for diabetes classification. We find a less polar membrane microenvironment in T2DM patients, and a more polar membrane microenvironment in T1DM patients compared to control healthy patients. The differences in micropolarity are statistically significant among the three groups (p<0.01). The role of serum cholesterol pool in determining these differences was investigated, and other factors potentially altering the response of the probe were considered in view of developing a clinical assay based on RBC membrane micropolarity. These preliminary data pave the way for the development of an innovative assay which could become a tool for diagnosis and progression monitoring of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Membrane micropolarity, Red blood cells, Fluorescence lifetime microscopy, Metabolic imaging, Personalized medicin

Stable Photocatalytic Paints Prepared from Hybrid Core-Shell Fluorinated/Acrylic/TiO2 Waterborne Dispersions

The contamination of air and water is one of the major concerns towards the development of a sustainable world in the 21st century. In this context many efforts are devoted to the design of photocatalytic paints able to degrade chemical and biological impurities present in air and water. In this work, the photocatalytic activity of hybrid films formed from the blends of pure acrylic or core/ shell fluorinated/ acrylic waterborne dispersions and photocatalytic titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle dispersions was first assessed. The films show photocatalytic activity (inactivation of the Escherichia coli bacteria under UV irradiation) at the substrate-film interface, but very reduced activity in the air-film interface due to the substantially lower amount of the TiO2 nanoparticles in the vicinity of this interface. In a second step, the fluorinated/(meth) acrylic core-shell hybrid dispersions were used as binders in the formulation of waterborne photocatalytic paints and the stability of the paints, in terms of gloss retain and color change, was assessed during 5000 hours of accelerated weathering tests (QUV-B). Although a decrease in gloss retention and increased color change occurs during the first 1000 hours of exposure, no further change of these properties takes place, which is an excellent indication of stable photocatalytic paints.Financial support from the European Union (Limpid project FP7NMP-2012-2.2-6-310177), Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MEC, Ref. CTQ2014-59016-P), the Basque Government (GV IT-303-10) and Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia (EXP 55/14) is gratefully acknowledged. The SGIKER UPV/EHU for the electron microscopy facilities of the Gipuzkoa unit is also acknowledged. G.P. Leal is acknowledged for the SEM analysis. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) Project No 200021-143283/1 is also gratefully aknowledged

Nationwide epidemiological study for estimating the effect of extreme outdoor temperature on occupational injuries in Italy.

BACKGROUND: Despite the relevance for occupational safety policies, the health effects of temperature on occupational injuries have been scarcely investigated. A nationwide epidemiological study was carried out to estimate the risk of injuries for workers exposed to extreme temperature and identify economic sectors and jobs most at risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The daily time series of work-related injuries in the industrial and services sector from the Italian national workers' compensation authority (INAIL) were collected for each of the 8090 Italian municipalities in the period 2006-2010. Daily air temperatures with a 1?×?1?km resolution derived from satellite land surface temperature data using mixed regression models were included. Distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM) were used to estimate the association between daily mean air temperature and injuries at municipal level. A meta-analysis was then carried out to retrieve national estimates. The relative risk (RR) and attributable cases of work-related injuries for an increase in mean temperature above the 75th percentile (heat) and for a decrease below the 25th percentile (cold) were estimated. Effect modification by gender, age, firm size, economic sector and job type were also assessed. RESULTS: The study considered 2,277,432 occupational injuries occurred in Italy in the period 2006-2010. There were significant effects for both heat and cold temperatures. The overall relative risks (RR) of occupational injury for heat and cold were 1.17 (95% CI: 1.14-1.21) and 1.23 (95% CI: 1.17-1.30), respectively. The number of occupational injuries attributable to temperatures above and below the thresholds was estimated to be 5211 per year. A higher risk of injury on hot days was found among males and young (age 15-34) workers occupied in small-medium size firms, while the opposite was observed on cold days. Construction workers showed the highest risk of injuries on hot days while fishing, transport, electricity, gas and water distribution workers did it on cold days. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention of the occupational exposure to extreme temperatures is a concern for occupational health and safety policies, and will become a critical issue in future years considering climate change. Epidemiological studies may help identify vulnerable jobs, activities and workers in order to define prevention plans and training to reduce occupational exposure to extreme temperature and the risk of work-related injuries

Microstructure and wear behaviour of powder and suspension hybrid Al2O3–YSZ coatings

Suspension based plasma sprayed coatings can yield superior microstructural and tribological properties compared to conventional powder based plasma sprayed coatings. This study investigates a new hybrid method, using simultaneous spraying from powder and suspension, to produce composite coatings using alumina and yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ), with potentially excellent wear and thermal properties. Dry sliding wear showed the alumina suspension-YSZ suspension coating yielded half the specific wear rate of the alumina powder-YSZ suspension, explained by preferential gamma alumina formation and increased porosity in the latter. Both YSZ-containing samples showed superior toughness and wear rate than simple alumina powder and suspension coatings

Global analysis of estrogen receptor beta binding to breast cancer cell genome reveals an extensive interplay with estrogen receptor alpha for target gene regulation

Background: Estrogen receptors alpha (ERa) and beta (ERb) are transcription factors (TFs) that mediate estrogen signaling and define the hormone-responsive phenotype of breast cancer (BC). The two receptors can be found co-expressed and play specific, often opposite, roles, with ERb being able to modulate the effects of ERa on gene transcription and cell proliferation. ERb is frequently lost in BC, where its presence generally correlates with a better prognosis of the disease. The identification of the genomic targets of ERb in hormone-responsive BC cells is thus a critical step to elucidate the roles of this receptor in estrogen signaling and tumor cell biology. Results: Expression of full-length ERb in hormone-responsive, ERa-positive MCF-7 cells resulted in a marked reduction in cell proliferation in response to estrogen and marked effects on the cell transcriptome. By ChIP-Seq we identified 9702 ERb and 6024 ERa binding sites in estrogen-stimulated cells, comprising sites occupied by either ERb, ERa or both ER subtypes. A search for TF binding matrices revealed that the majority of the binding sites identified comprise one or more Estrogen Response Element and the remaining show binding matrixes for other TFs known to mediate ER interaction with chromatin by tethering, including AP2, E2F and SP1. Of 921 genes differentially regulated by estrogen in ERb+ vs ERb- cells, 424 showed one or more ERb site within 10 kb. These putative primary ERb target genes control cell proliferation, death, differentiation, motility and adhesion, signal transduction and transcription, key cellular processes that might explain the biological and clinical phenotype of tumors expressing this ER subtype. ERb binding in close proximity of several miRNA genes and in the mitochondrial genome, suggests the possible involvement of this receptor in small non-coding RNA biogenesis and mitochondrial genome functions. Conclusions: Results indicate that the vast majority of the genomic targets of ERb can bind also ERa, suggesting that the overall action of ERb on the genome of hormone-responsive BC cells depends mainly on the relative concentration of both ERs in the cell

COVID-19 Severity in Multiple Sclerosis: Putting Data Into Context

Background and objectives: It is unclear how multiple sclerosis (MS) affects the severity of COVID-19. The aim of this study is to compare COVID-19-related outcomes collected in an Italian cohort of patients with MS with the outcomes expected in the age- and sex-matched Italian population. Methods: Hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and death after COVID-19 diagnosis of 1,362 patients with MS were compared with the age- and sex-matched Italian population in a retrospective observational case-cohort study with population-based control. The observed vs the expected events were compared in the whole MS cohort and in different subgroups (higher risk: Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] score &gt; 3 or at least 1 comorbidity, lower risk: EDSS score ≤ 3 and no comorbidities) by the χ2 test, and the risk excess was quantified by risk ratios (RRs). Results: The risk of severe events was about twice the risk in the age- and sex-matched Italian population: RR = 2.12 for hospitalization (p &lt; 0.001), RR = 2.19 for ICU admission (p &lt; 0.001), and RR = 2.43 for death (p &lt; 0.001). The excess of risk was confined to the higher-risk group (n = 553). In lower-risk patients (n = 809), the rate of events was close to that of the Italian age- and sex-matched population (RR = 1.12 for hospitalization, RR = 1.52 for ICU admission, and RR = 1.19 for death). In the lower-risk group, an increased hospitalization risk was detected in patients on anti-CD20 (RR = 3.03, p = 0.005), whereas a decrease was detected in patients on interferon (0 observed vs 4 expected events, p = 0.04). Discussion: Overall, the MS cohort had a risk of severe events that is twice the risk than the age- and sex-matched Italian population. This excess of risk is mainly explained by the EDSS score and comorbidities, whereas a residual increase of hospitalization risk was observed in patients on anti-CD20 therapies and a decrease in people on interferon