Un método de bajo costo para el análisis automatizado de escamas

El análisis de escamas mediante inspección ocular y mediciones directas demanda muchas horas de labor, además de resultar profundamente tedioso. En la actualidad existen sofisticadas herramientas para la cuantificación automatizada de los patrones de fijación de calcio en escamas y otolitos que combinan instrumentos ópticos con cámaras de video digitales y con software para análisis de imágenes específicamente diseñado para interpretar las clásicas bandas encontradas en estas estructuras. Sin embargo, el costo de los instrumentos y software ofrecidos comercialmente es muy elevado y está fuera del alcance del típico presupuesto que maneja un grupo de investigación ecológica en nuestro país. En este trabajo se logró desarrollar una herramienta eficiente y económica para el estudio del crecimiento a partir del análisis de escamas. Las técnicas desarrolladas permiten efectuar conteos de annuli y circuli, como así también realizar todas las mediciones que permiten posicionar estas estructuras en las escamas, brindando la posibilidad de desarrollar una amplia gama de análisis referidos al crecimiento. Los elementos utilizados están generalmente disponibles en un laboratorio típico (computadora y planilla de cálculo), pueden construirse a un bajo costo (prensa térmica de escamas), o pueden obtenerse en forma gratuita por medio de Internet como por ejemplo el software Scion ( Scion corporation, USA, adquisición libre en www.scioncorp.com ) para el análisis de imágenes.Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) - Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raul A. Ringuelet" (ILPLA

Un método de bajo costo para el análisis automatizado de escamas

El análisis de escamas mediante inspección ocular y mediciones directas demanda muchas horas de labor, además de resultar profundamente tedioso. En la actualidad existen sofisticadas herramientas para la cuantificación automatizada de los patrones de fijación de calcio en escamas y otolitos que combinan instrumentos ópticos con cámaras de video digitales y con software para análisis de imágenes específicamente diseñado para interpretar las clásicas bandas encontradas en estas estructuras. Sin embargo, el costo de los instrumentos y software ofrecidos comercialmente es muy elevado y está fuera del alcance del típico presupuesto que maneja un grupo de investigación ecológica en nuestro país. En este trabajo se logró desarrollar una herramienta eficiente y económica para el estudio del crecimiento a partir del análisis de escamas. Las técnicas desarrolladas permiten efectuar conteos de annuli y circuli, como así también realizar todas las mediciones que permiten posicionar estas estructuras en las escamas, brindando la posibilidad de desarrollar una amplia gama de análisis referidos al crecimiento. Los elementos utilizados están generalmente disponibles en un laboratorio típico (computadora y planilla de cálculo), pueden construirse a un bajo costo (prensa térmica de escamas), o pueden obtenerse en forma gratuita por medio de Internet como por ejemplo el software Scion ( Scion corporation, USA, adquisición libre en www.scioncorp.com ) para el análisis de imágenes.Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) - Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raul A. Ringuelet" (ILPLA

Un método de bajo costo para el análisis automatizado de escamas

El análisis de escamas mediante inspección ocular y mediciones directas demanda muchas horas de labor, además de resultar profundamente tedioso. En la actualidad existen sofisticadas herramientas para la cuantificación automatizada de los patrones de fijación de calcio en escamas y otolitos que combinan instrumentos ópticos con cámaras de video digitales y con software para análisis de imágenes específicamente diseñado para interpretar las clásicas bandas encontradas en estas estructuras. Sin embargo, el costo de los instrumentos y software ofrecidos comercialmente es muy elevado y está fuera del alcance del típico presupuesto que maneja un grupo de investigación ecológica en nuestro país. En este trabajo se logró desarrollar una herramienta eficiente y económica para el estudio del crecimiento a partir del análisis de escamas. Las técnicas desarrolladas permiten efectuar conteos de annuli y circuli, como así también realizar todas las mediciones que permiten posicionar estas estructuras en las escamas, brindando la posibilidad de desarrollar una amplia gama de análisis referidos al crecimiento. Los elementos utilizados están generalmente disponibles en un laboratorio típico (computadora y planilla de cálculo), pueden construirse a un bajo costo (prensa térmica de escamas), o pueden obtenerse en forma gratuita por medio de Internet como por ejemplo el software Scion ( Scion corporation, USA, adquisición libre en www.scioncorp.com ) para el análisis de imágenes.Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) - Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raul A. Ringuelet" (ILPLA

Translational and transdisciplinary approach to the human papilloma virus – Preliminary evidence from the Italian “HPV board: a future without papilloma virus” project

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is considered to be one of the viral infections associated with cancers and other diseases. HPV is detected asymptomatically in the oral mucosa. The presence of human papillomavirus in the oral mucosa appears to be closely associated with a series of benign and malign oral lesions. The aim of this paper is to report the Italian experience in applying translational protocols, using new technologies and multidisciplinary strategies in Human Papilloma virus detection and treatment. The “HPV board: a future without papilloma virus” project was born, promoted by CNEL (Italian Council of Economics and Labor) with the collaboration of numerous scientific societies to commonly approach to public knowledge of HPV-related oral lesions and their clinical management. The preliminary results are related to the assessment of the proof-of-concept of this new project. More in details, “HPV Board” is a project that plans the presence of a working group, made up of otolaryngologists, dentists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, in close contact with gynecologists, oncologists and pediatricians; this working group manages to combine very transversal skills, in order to promote primary prevention projects, early diagnosis and adequate therapies. The “HPV BOARD” project will give the opportunity to increase the attention of patients and doctors on the early diagnosis of oncological diseases dependent on infection by the infectious agent HPV. In this panorama, dentists will have the role of “first sentinel” of public health because oral health is an indicator, too often overlooked, for the prevention of numerous diseases

Identification of a miRNAs signature associated with exposure to stress early in life and enhanced vulnerability for schizophrenia: New insights for the key role of miR-125b-1-3p in neurodevelopmental processes

Epidemiological and clinical studies have provided evidence for a role of both genetic and environmental factors, such as stressful experiences early in life, in the pathogenesis of Schizophrenia (SZ) and microRNAs (miRNAs) have been suggested to play a key role in the interplay between the environment and our genome. In this study, we conducted a miRNOme analysis in different samples (blood of adult subjects exposed to childhood trauma, brain (hippocampus) of rats exposed to prenatal stress and human hippocampal progenitor cells treated with cortisol) and we identified miR-125b-1-3p as a down-regulated miRNA in all the three datasets. Interestingly, a significant down-regulation was observed also in SZ patients exposed to childhood trauma. To investigate the biological systems targeted by miR-125b-1-3p and also involved in the effects of stress, we combined the list of biological pathways modulated by predicted and validated target genes of miR-125b-1-3p, with the biological systems significantly regulated by cortisol in the in vitro model. We found, as common pathways, the CXCR4 signaling, the G-alpha signaling, and the P2Y Purigenic Receptor Signaling Pathway, which are all involved in neurodevelopmental processes. Our data, obtained from the combining of miRNAs datasets across different tissues and species, identified miR-125b-1-3p as a key marker associated with the long-term effects of stress early in life and also with the enhanced vulnerability of developing SZ. The identification of such a miRNA biomarker could allow the early detection of vulnerable subjects for SZ and could provide the basis for the development of preventive therapeutic strategies

Age of HIV Acquisition Affects the Risk of Multi-Morbidity after 25 Years of Infection Exposure

Introduction: Understanding the intersection of HIV, aging and health is crucial due to the increasing number of people aging with HIV. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of, and risk factors for individual comorbidities and multi-morbidity in people living with HIV with similar duration of HIV infection, notwithstanding a 25-year difference at the time of HIV acquisition. Methods: In a cross-sectional multicentre retrospective study, we compared three match-control age groups. The "Young" were selected from Romania and included HIV-positive patients prenatally infected and assessed at the age of 25-30 years. The "Old" and the "Geriatric" were selected from Italy. These respectively included subjects infected with HIV at the age of 25 years and assessed at the age of 50-55 years, and those infected at the age of 50 years and assessed at the age of 75-80 years. Each group was sex and age matched in a 1: 5 ratio with controls selected from the CINECA ARNO database from Italy. We described non-infectious comorbidities (NICM), including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and multi-morbidity (MM >= 3 NICM). Results: MM prevalence in the "Young" group compared to controls was 6.2% vs 0%, while in the "Geriatric" was "68.2% vs 3.6%. Using "Young" as a reference, in multivariate analyses, predictors for MM were as follows: HIV serostatus (OR=47.75, IQR 14.78-154.25, p<0.01) and "Geriatric" vs "Young" (OR=30.32, IQR 5.89-155.98, p<0.01). Conclusion: These data suggest that age at acquisition of HIV should be considered as a risk factor for NICM and MM

Development of a custom on-line ultrasonic vapour analyzer/flowmeter for the ATLAS inner detector, with application to gaseous tracking and Cherenkov detectors

Precision sound velocity measurements can simultaneously determine binary gas composition and flow. We have developed an analyzer with custom electronics, currently in use in the ATLAS inner detector, with numerous potential applications. The instrument has demonstrated ~0.3% mixture precision for C3F8/C2F6 mixtures and < 10-4 resolution for N2/C3F8 mixtures. Moderate and high flow versions of the instrument have demonstrated flow resolutions of +/- 2% F.S. for flows up to 250 l.min-1, and +/- 1.9% F.S. for linear flow velocities up to 15 ms-1; the latter flow approaching that expected in the vapour return of the thermosiphon fluorocarbon coolant recirculator being built for the ATLAS silicon tracker.Comment: Paper submitted to TWEPP2012; Topical Workshop on Electronics for Particle Physics, Oxford, UK, September 17-21, 2012. KEYWORDS: Sonar; Saturated fluorocarbons; Flowmetry; Sound velocity, Gas mixture analysis. 8 pages, 7 figure

Broca&#8217;s Area as a Pre-articulatory Phonetic Encoder : Gating the Motor Program

The exact nature of the role of Broca's area in control of speech and whether it is exerted at the cognitive or at the motor level is still debated. Intraoperative evidence of a lack of motor responses to direct electrical stimulation (DES) of Broca's area and the observation that its stimulation induces a "speech arrest" without an apparent effect on the ongoing activity of phono-articulatory muscles, raises the argument. Essentially, attribution of direct involvement of Broca's area in motor control of speech, requires evidence of a functional connection of this area with the phono-articulatory muscles' motoneurons. With a quantitative approach we investigated, in 20 patients undergoing surgery for brain tumors, whether DES delivered on Broca's area affects the recruitment of the phono-articulatory muscles' motor units. The electromyography (EMG) of the muscles active during two speech tasks (object picture naming and counting) was recorded during and in absence of DES on Broca's area. Offline, the EMG of each muscle was analyzed in frequency (power spectrum, PS) and time domain (root mean square, RMS) and the two conditions compared. Results show that DES on Broca's area induces an intensity-dependent "speech arrest." The intensity of DES needed to induce "speech arrest" when applied on Broca's area was higher when compared to the intensity effective on the neighboring pre-motor/motor cortices. Notably, PS and RMS measured on the EMG recorded during "speech arrest" were superimposable to those recorded at baseline. Partial interruptions of speech were not observed. Speech arrest was an "all-or-none" effect: muscle activation started only by removing DES, as if DES prevented speech onset. The same effect was observed when stimulating directly the subcortical fibers running below Broca's area. Intraoperative data point to Broca's area as a functional gate authorizing the phonetic translation to be executed by the motor areas. Given the absence of a direct effect on motor units recruitment, a direct control of Broca's area on the phono-articulatory apparatus seems unlikely. Moreover, the strict correlation between DES-intensity and speech prevention, might attribute this effect to the inactivation of the subcortical fibers rather than to Broca's cortical neurons

Visual field loss and vision-related quality of life in the Italian Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Study

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between visual field (VF) loss, vision-related quality of life (QoL) and glaucoma-related symptoms in a large cohort of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients. POAG patients with or without VF defects or "glaucoma suspect" patients were considered eligible. QoL was assessed using the validated versions of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) and glaucoma-related symptoms were assessed using the Glaucoma Symptom Scale (GSS). Patients were classified as having VF damage in one eye (VFD-1), both eyes (VFD-2), or neither eye (VFD-0). 3227 patients were enrolled and 2940 were eligible for the analysis. 13.4% of patients were classified in the VFD-0, 23.7% in the VFD-1, and 62.9% in the VFD-2 group. GSS visual symptoms domain (Func-4) and GSS non-visual symptoms domain (Symp-6) scores were similar for the VFD-0 and VFD-1 groups (p = 0.133 and p = 0.834 for Func-4 and Symp-6, respectively). VFD-0 group had higher scores than VFD-2 both in Func-4 (p < 0.001) and Symp-6 domains (p = 0.035). Regarding the NEI-VFQ-25, our data demonstrated that bilateral VF defects are associated with vision-related QoL deterioration, irrespective of visual acuity

Vision-related quality of life and symptom perception change over time in newly-diagnosed primary open angle glaucoma patients.

To evaluate the change over time of vision-related quality of life (QoL) and glaucoma symptoms in a population of newly-diagnosed primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients. Multicenter, prospective study. Consecutive newly-diagnosed POAG patients were enrolled and followed-up for one year. Follow-up visits were scheduled at 6 and 12 months from baseline. At each visit, vision-related QoL and glaucoma-related symptoms were assessed by the means of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) and the Glaucoma Symptom Scale (GSS), respectively. Trends over time for NEI-VFQ-25 and GSS scores were evaluated with longitudinal linear mixed models. One-hundred seventy-eight patients were included in the analysis. At baseline, early to moderate glaucoma stages were associated with higher scores for most GSS and NEI-VFQ-25 items, while lower best-corrected visual acuity was associated with lower scores for 4 of the 12 NEI-VFQ-25 items. During the follow-up, all the GSS scores, the NEI-VFQ-25 total score, and 7 of the 12 NEI-VFQ-25 scores significantly improved (p &lt; 0.05). In multivariate model, higher increases of most GSS and NEI-VFQ-25 scores were modeled in patients with low scores at baseline. Vision-related QoL and glaucoma-related symptom perception significantly improved during the one-year follow-up in this population of newly diagnosed POAG patients