Online Motion Planning for Safe Human–Robot Cooperation Using B-Splines and Hidden Markov Models

When humans and robots work together, ensuring safe cooperation must be a priority. This research aims to develop a novel real-time planning algorithm that can handle unpredictable human movements by both slowing down task execution and modifying the robot’s path based on the proximity of the human operator. To achieve this, an efficient method for updating the robot’s motion is developed using a two-fold control approach that combines B-splines and hidden Markov models. This allows the algorithm to adapt to a changing environment and avoid collisions. The proposed framework is thus validated using the Franka Emika Panda robot in a simple start–goal task. Our algorithm successfully avoids collision with the moving hand of an operator monitored by a fixed camera

Generating primordial features at large scales in two field models of inflation

We investigate the generation of features at large scales in the primordial power spectrum (PPS) when inflation is driven by two scalar fields. In canonical single field models of inflation, these features are often generated due to deviations from the slow-roll regime. While deviations from slow-roll can be naturally achieved in two field models due to a sharp turn in the trajectory in the field space, features at the largest scales of the types suggested by CMB temperature anisotropies are more difficult to achieve in models involving two canonical scalar fields due to the presence of isocurvature fluctuations. We show instead that a coupling between the kinetic terms of the scalar fields can easily produce such features. We discuss models whose theoretical predictions are consistent with current observations and highlight the implications of our results.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures; v2 matches version accepted by JCA

skeletal muscle expression analysis of fat metabolism genes in pig

Fat content and backfat thickness are important polygenic parameters influencing meat quality and carcass traits in pigs. Up to now, there is a lack of knowledge on the expression level of the genes encoding for enzymes involved in fatty acid metabolism in porcine skeletal muscle. In the present study we analysed, by quantitative real time PCR, the expression of three genes, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACACA), ATP citrate lyase (ACL) and fatty acid synthase (FASN) in skeletal muscle tissue samples of Italian Large White and Italian Duroc pigs with divergent breeding values for backfat thickness or visible intramuscular fat. Significant differences of the expression level for ACACA gene (P=0.04) and for ACL gene (P=0.02) were observed between the two breeds, comparing the samples selected for backfat thickness trait. The expression analysis of FASN gene in the samples with different genotype at the SNP c.265C>T showed that the TT genotype presented the lowest values in both breeds. The differences observed between breeds should be further considered to investigate the putative involvement of these genes on fat deposition traits. - Ricerca e analisi di espressione di geni candidati per la deposizione di grasso nella carne suina in razze con diversa attitudine alla deposizione di grasso intramuscolare

Honeybees exposure to natural feed additives: How is the gut microbiota affected?

The role of a balanced gut microbiota to maintain health and prevent diseases is largely established in humans and livestock. Conversely, in honeybees, studies on gut microbiota perturbations by external factors have started only recently. Natural methods alternative to chemical products to preserve honeybee health have been proposed, but their effect on the gut microbiota has not been examined in detail. This study aims to investigate the effect of the administration of a bacterial mixture of bifidobacteria and Lactobacillaceae and a commercial product HiveAlive™ on honeybee gut microbiota. The study was developed in 18 hives of about 2500 bees, with six replicates for each experimental condition for a total of three experimental groups. The absolute abundance of main microbial taxa was studied using qPCR and NGS. The results showed that the majority of the administered strains were detected in the gut. On the whole, great perturbations upon the administration of the bacterial mixture and the plant-based commercial product were not observed in the gut microbiota. Significant variations with respect to the untreated control were only observed for Snodgrassella sp. for the bacterial mixture, Bartonella sp. in HiveAlive™ and Bombilactobacillus sp. for both. Therefore, the studied approaches are respectful of the honeybee microbiota composition, conceivably without compromising the bee nutritional, social and ecological functions

Deregulated PTEN/PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in prostate cancer: Still a potential druggable target?

Although the prognosis of patients with localized prostate cancer is good after surgery, with a favorable response to androgen deprivation therapy, about one third of them invariably relapse, and progress to castration-resistant prostate cancer. Overall, prostate cancer therapies remain scarcely effective, thus it is mandatory to devise alternative treatments enhancing the efficacy of surgical castration and hormone administration. Dysregulation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway has attracted growing attention in prostate cancer due to the highly frequent association of epigenetic and post-translational modifications as well as to genetic alterations of both phosphoinositide 3-kinase and PTEN to onset and/or progression of this malignancy, and to resistance to canonical androgen-deprivation therapy. Here we provide a summary of the biological functions of the major players of this cascade and their deregulation in prostate cancer, summarizing the results of preclinical and clinical studies with PI3K signaling inhibitors and the reasons of failure independent from genomic changes

Investigation of SNPs in the ATP1A2, CA3 and DECR1 genes mapped to porcine chromosome 4: analysis in groups of pigs divergent for meat production and quality traits

STUDIO DI TRE GENI (ATP1A2, CA3E DECR1) LOCALIZZATI SUL CROMOSOMA SUINO 4: ANALISIDELLE FREQUENZE ALLELICHE DI SNP IN SUINI ESTREMI PER ALCUNI CARATTERI PRODUTTIVITre geni (ATPase, Na+/K+transporting, \u3b12(+) polypeptide, ATP1A2; carbonic anhydrase III, CA3; 2,4-die-noyl CoA reductase 1, mitochondrial, DECR1), isolati da una libreria a cDNA ottenuta da muscolo scheletri-co di suino, sono stati scelti per questo studio sulla base del ruolo fisiologico della proteina codificata in pro-cessi cellulari e metabolici collegabili in modo diretto o indiretto con alcuni caratteri produttivi. La scelta dei tre geni \ue8 stata anche basata sulla loro localizzazione sul cromosoma 4 dove diversi QTL per caratteri pro-duttivi sono gi\ue0 stati identificati.Nella regione 3\u2019 non tradotta del gene CA3\ue8 stato identificato, mediante analisi SSCP, un polimorfismo bial-lelico. Il sequenziamento dei due alleli ha permesso di identificare una nuova mutazione puntiforme, che \ue8stata successivamente analizzata mediante PCR-RFLP. Per questo gene \ue8 stato effettuato il mappaggiogenetico sul cromosoma 4 mediante l\u2019analisi della mutazione nei campioni delle famiglie di riferimento delprogetto europeo di mappaggio del genoma suino (PiGMaP). Utilizzando il polimorfismo PCR-RFLP del geneATP1A2, gi\ue0 decritto in un precedente lavoro come SSCP, sono state tipizzate diverse famiglie di riferimen-to PiGMaP ed \ue8 stato confermato il mappaggio genetico di ATP1A2. Utilizzando queste informazioni e quel-le gi\ue0 disponibili per DECR1, per la prima volta, \ue8 stata ottenuta una mappa di linkage del cromosoma 4che comprende tutti e tre i geni analizzati. Il mappaggio genetico dei tre geni \ue8 stato anche confermatomediante tipizzazione di un pannello di ibridi di cellule irradiate (IMpRH 7000 rad).Le frequenze alleliche delle mutazioni identificate nei tre loci sono state studiate in 11 razze suine (LargeWhite Italiana, Landrace Italiana, Duroc Italiana, Landrace Belga, Hampshire, Pi\ue9train, Meishan, CintaSenese, Casertana, Calabrese and Nero Siciliano) per un totale di 272 animali. Inoltre, come approccio ini-ziale per poi scegliere i geni da analizzare in futuri studi di associazione, abbiamo confrontato le frequenzealleliche di mutazioni puntiformi per questi tre loci in gruppi di suini di razza Large White Italiana e DurocItaliana, analizzando animali con valori degli indici genetici estremi e divergenti per alcuni caratteri produt-tivi (accrescimento, spessore lardo dorsale, tagli magri e grasso intermuscolare visibile). Per il gene CA3 \ue8stata osservata una differenza nella distribuzione delle frequenze alleliche (P< 0,05) per i due caratteri taglimagri (nella razza Large White Italiana) e grasso intermusculare visibile (nella razza Duroc Italiana). Per ilgene DECR1, differenze significative sono state osservate per il carattere grasso intermuscolare visibile. Ilgene ATP1A2, che mappa vicino al locus FAT1, non ha presentato differenze statisticamente significativenelle frequenze tra i gruppi estremi per i caratteri oggetto di studio. Analizzando il livello di linkage disequi-librium(LD) tra i tre loci, \ue8 stato evidenziato un elevato livello di LD (D\u2019= 0,967; P< 0,0001) tra i geni CA3e DECR1, solo nella popolazione Duroc Italiana. Questi primi risultati pongono le basi per ulteriori studi perverificare se i geni CA3e DECR1sono associati con i caratteri oggetto di selezione nel suino pesante.Three genes (ATPase, Na+/K+ transporting, \u3b1 2(+) polypeptide, ATP1A2; carbonic anhydrase III, CA3; 2,4-dienoyl CoA reductase 1, mitochondrial, DECR1), isolated from a porcine skeletal muscle cDNA library and mapped on porcine chromosome 4 (SSC4), were investigated. A new single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was identified in the 3\u2019-untranslated region of the CA3 gene and used to genetically map this locus on SSC4 together with the ATP1A2 and DECR1 loci for which SNPs were already reported. Allele frequencies of the three loci were reported for 11 pig breeds (Italian Large White, Italian Landrace, Italian Duroc, Belgian Landrace, Hampshire, Pi\uf9train, Meishan, Cinta Senese, Casertana, Calabrese and Nero Siciliano). Radiation hybrid mapping of these genes confirmed the linkage mapping results as well as mapping information reported by other authors. Then, the SNPs identified in the ATP1A2, CA3 and DECR1 genes were genotyped in Italian Large White and Italian Duroc animal groups with extreme and divergent estimated breeding value for several production traits. For CA3 significant differences in allele frequencies (P< 0.05) were observed between the extreme groups of pigs for the lean cuts (Italian Large White) and visible intermuscular fat (Italian Duroc) traits. For DECR1, a significant difference in allele frequencies was observed only for the visible intermuscular fat trait. ATP1A2, which maps close to the FAT1 locus, did not show any significant difference. A very high linkage disequilibrium (D\u2019= 0.967; P< 0.0001) was identified between CA3 and DECR1 in the Italian Duroc population. Further investigations are needed to evaluate the effect of CA3 and DECR1 on the considered trait

Exploiting the Potential in Water Cleanup from Metals and Nutrients of Desmodesmus sp. and Ampelodesmos mauritanicus

Increasing levels of freshwater contaminants, mainly due to anthropogenic activities, have resulted in a great deal of interest in finding new eco-friendly, cost-effective and efficient methods for remediating polluted waters. The aim of this work was to assess the feasibility of using a green microalga Desmodesmus sp., a cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. and a hemicryptophyte Ampelodesmos mauritanicus to bioremediate a water polluted with an excess of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and heavy metals (copper and nickel). We immediately determined that Nostoc sp. was sensitive to metal toxicity, and thus Desmodesmus sp. was chosen for sequential tests with A. mauritanicus. First, A. mauritanicus plants were grown in the ‘polluted’ culture medium for seven days and were, then, substituted by Desmodesmus sp. for a further seven days (14 days in total). Heavy metals were shown to negatively affect both the growth rates and nutrient removal capacity. The sequential approach resulted in high metal removal rates in the single metal solutions up to 74% for Cu and 85% for Ni, while, in the bi-metal solutions, the removal rates were lower and showed a bias for Cu uptake. Single species controls showed better outcomes; however, further studies are necessary to investigate the behavior of new specie

Assessing molecular diversity among 87 species of the Quercus L. genus by RAPD markers

Oaks (Quercus sp.) are among the most ecologically and economically important woody Angiosperms of the northern hemisphere. Nowadays, the reduction of Quercus biodiversity is becoming a matter of global concern, and several oak species have been included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Consequently, characterization and preservation strategies for the oak germplasm are largely promoted. Thus, in this work, the genetic diversity existing among 87 different Quercus species was assessed using the RAPD markers, in order to better typify these specimens, to show the amazing DNA variability of this plant genus, and to confirm or infer new putative molecular correlations. Our data were discussed taking into consideration the phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships previously proposed by the literature. In general, the obtained results corroborated that the evolutionary pattern of Quercus genus has been extremely intricate and continues to change rapidly, making it difficult to be fully resolved. The evidence collected in the present investigation would confirm the complex evolution of the oaks, due to their high migration capacity, divergence rate, and hybridization propensity. This research, performed on a so large series of species, represents a positive contribution for highlighting the genetic diversity within collections of Quercus germplasm and favouring ex-situ conservation programmes