Micro-Nano Technologies for Cell Manipulation and Subcellular Monitoring

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Prestrain relaxation in non-covalently modified ethylene-vinyl acetate | PyChol | multiwall carbon nanotube nanocomposites

Effects of aging on chemical structure and molecular dynamic behaviour of strained thermally active ethylene-vinyl acetate | multiwall carbon nanotube (EVA|MWCNT) composites were investigated by spectroscopy and microscopy techniques. Aged composites showed spatial inhomogeneity due to system relaxation. Inhomogeneity is attributed to segregation of non-covalently linked cholestryl 1-pyrenecarboxylate, acting as MWCNT dispersant and polymer compatibilizer. Analysis of molecular interplay between filler and matrix upon in situ temperature variation showed a lack of synchronicity, which had been observed in fresh composites. Reduced synchronous interplay allowed quantification of degraded π-π interactions, promoting PyChol unlatching as a result of both sonication and strained-derived π-π degradation

Two Trebouxia algae with different physiological performances are ever-present in lichen thalli of Ramalina farinacea. Coexistence versus Competition

Ramalina farinacea is an epiphytic fruticose lichen that is relatively abundant in areas with Mediterranean, subtropical or temperate climates. Little is known about photobiont diversity in different lichen populations. The present study examines the phycobiont composition of several geographically distant populations of R. farinacea from the Iberian Peninsula, Canary Islands and California as well as the physiological performance of isolated phycobionts. Based on anatomical observations and molecular analyses, the coexistence of two different taxa of Trebouxia (working names, TR1 and TR9) was determined within each thallus of R. farinacea in all of the analysed populations. Examination of the effects of temperature and light on growth and photosynthesis indicated a superior performance of TR9 under relatively high temperatures and irradiances while TR1 thrived at moderate temperature and irradiance. Ramalina farinacea thalli apparently represent a specific and selective form of symbiotic association involving the same two Trebouxia phycobionts. Strict preservation of this pattern of algal coexistence is likely favoured by the different and probably complementary ecophysiological responses of each phycobiont, thus facilitating the proliferation of this lichen in a wide range of habitats and geographic areas. © 2010 Society for Applied Microbiology and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (CGL2006-12917-C02-01/02), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CGL2009-13429-C02-01/02), the AECID (PCI_A/024755/09) and the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO 174/2008 GVA). We are grateful to Dr J. Gimeno-Romeu (University of California, Davis, USA) and to Dr P. J. G. de Nova (IREC, Ciudad Real, Spain), who were the first to isolate DNA from Ramalina farinacea thalli in our group. Wendy Ran revised the manuscript in English.Casano, L.; Del Campo, E.; García Breijo, FJ.; Reig Armiñana, J.; Gasulla, F.; Del Hoyo, A.; Guéra, A.... (2011). Two Trebouxia algae with different physiological performances are ever-present in lichen thalli of Ramalina farinacea. Coexistence versus Competition. Environmental Microbiology. 13(3):806-818. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02386.xS806818133Angert, A. L., Huxman, T. E., Chesson, P., & Venable, D. L. (2009). Functional tradeoffs determine species coexistence via the storage effect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(28), 11641-11645. doi:10.1073/pnas.0904512106Baker, N. R., & Oxborough, K. (s. f.). Chlorophyll Fluorescence as a Probe of Photosynthetic Productivity. Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, 65-82. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-3218-9_3Barreno , E. Herrera-Campos , M. García-Breijo , F. Gasulla , F. 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Crystal and magnetic structures of Cr1/3NbSe2 from neutron diffraction

Neutron diffraction measurements of the Cr intercalated niobium diselenide Cr1/3NbSe2 together with magnetization measurements have revealed that this compound exhibits ferromagnetic ordering below TC = 96 K unlike a chiral helimagnetic order observed in the sulfide compound Cr1/3NbS2. As derived from neutron diffraction data, the Cr magnetic moments µCr = 2.83 ± 0.03 µB in Cr1/3NbSe2 are aligned within basal plane. The discrepancy in the magnetic states of Cr1/3NbS2 and Cr1/3NbSe2 is ascribed to the difference in the preferential site occupation of Cr ions in crystal lattices. In Cr1/3NbSe2, the Cr ions are predominantly distributed over 2b Wyckoff site, which determines a centrosymmetric character of the crystal structure unlike Cr1/3NbS2, where the Cr ions are mainly located in 2c position and the crystal structure is non-centrosymmetric

Perturbation analysis for periodic heat transfer in radiating fins

A perturbation analysis is presented for periodic heat transfer in radiating fins of uniform thickness. The base temperature is assumed to oscillate around a mean value. The perturbation expansion is carried out in terms of dimensionless amplitude ɛ of the base temperature oscillation. The zero-order problem which is nonlinear, and corresponds to the steady state fin behaviour, is solved by quasilinearization. A method of complex combination is used to reduce both the first and the second order problems to two, coupled linear boundary value problems which are subsequently solved by a noniterative numerical scheme. The second-order term is composed of an oscillatory component with twice the frequency of base temperature oscillation and a time-independent term which causes a net change in the steady state values of temperature and heat transfer rate. Within the range of parameters used, the net effect is to decrease the mean temperature and increase the mean heat transfer rate. This is in constrast to the linear case of convecting fins where the mean values are unaffected by base temperature oscillations. Detailed numerical results are presented illustrating the effects of fin parameter N and dimensionless frequency B on temperature distribution, heat transfer rate, and time-average fin efficiency. The time-average fin efficiency is found to reduce significantly at low N and high B. Eine Störungsanalyse wird für periodische Wärmeübertragung in Strahlungsrippen gleicher Dicke vorgelegt. Die Fußtemperatur wird als um einen Mittelwert schwingend angenommen. Die Störungsentwicklung wird in Termen einer dimensionslosen Amplitude e dieser Schwingung angesetzt. Das Problem nullter Ordnung, das nichtlinear ist und dem stationären Verhalten der Rippe entspricht, wird durch Quasilinearisierung gelöst. Eine Methode der komplexen Kombination wird angewandt, um die Probleme erster und zweiter Ordnung auf zwei gekoppelte Grenzwertprobleme zu reduzieren, die nacheinander nach einem nichtiterativen Schema gelöst werden. Der Term zweiter Ordnung besteht aus einer Schwingungskomponente mit der doppelten Frequenz der Schwingung der Fußtemperatur und einem zeitunabhängigen Term, der eine Nettoänderung der stationären Werte der Temperatur und der Wärmeübertragung verursacht. Im verwendeten Bereich der Parameter tritt eine Abnahme der mittleren Temperatur und eine Zunahme der mittleren Wärmeübertragung auf. Das steht im Gegensatz zum linearen Fall der Konvektionsrippe, bei dem die Mittelwerte durch Schwingungen der Fußtemperatur nicht beeinflußt werden. Detaillierte numerische Ergebnisse zeigen die Einflüsse des Rippenparameters N und der dimensionslosen Frequenz B auf Temperatur Verteilung, Wärmeübertragung und zeitliches Mittel des Rippengütegrades. Dieses zeitliche Mittel nimmt merklich ab bei kleinem N und hohem B.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46652/1/231_2005_Article_BF01003645.pd

Discovery of novel CSF biomarkers to predict progression in dementia using machine learning

Providing an accurate prognosis for individual dementia patients remains a challenge since they greatly differ in rates of cognitive decline. In this study, we used machine learning techniques with the aim to identify cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers that predict the rate of cognitive decline within dementia patients. First, longitudinal mini-mental state examination scores (MMSE) of 210 dementia patients were used to create fast and slow progression groups. Second, we trained random forest classifiers on CSF proteomic profiles and obtained a well-performing prediction model for the progression group (ROC-AUC = 0.82). As a third step, Shapley values and Gini feature importance measures were used to interpret the model performance and identify top biomarker candidates for predicting the rate of cognitive decline. Finally, we explored the potential for each of the 20 top candidates in internal sensitivity analyses. TNFRSF4 and TGF [Formula: see text]-1 emerged as the top markers, being lower in fast-progressing patients compared to slow-progressing patients. Proteins of which a low concentration was associated with fast progression were enriched for cell signalling and immune response pathways. None of our top markers stood out as strong individual predictors of subsequent cognitive decline. This could be explained by small effect sizes per protein and biological heterogeneity among dementia patients. Taken together, this study presents a novel progression biomarker identification framework and protein leads for personalised prediction of cognitive decline in dementia

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types