Pacemapping

Pacemapping (PM) is an electrophysiologic technique designed to help locating tachycardia sources by stimulating at different endocardial sites in order to reproduce the clinical tachycardia characteristics. A recorded electrocardiogram (ECG) during the clinical tachycardia has been conventionally used as reference. Yet, endocardial activation pattern during tachycardia may be utilized as well to guide the procedure. In focal tachycardia ablation, PM guide has consistently provided remarkable outcomes1, while outcomes in reentrant tachycardia ablation are less favourabl

From the Concept of Being “the Boss” to the Idea of Being “a Team”: The Adaptive Co-Pilot as the Enabler for a New Cooperative Framework

The “classical” SAE LoA for automated driving can present several drawbacks, and the SAE-L2 and SAE-L3, in particular, can lead to the so-called “irony of automation”, where the driver is substituted by the artificial system, but is still regarded as a “supervisor” or as a “fallback mechanism”. To overcome this problem, while taking advantage of the latest technology, we regard both human and machine as members of a unique team that share the driving task. Depending on the available resources (in terms of driver’s status, system state, and environment conditions) and considering that they are very dynamic, an adaptive assignment of authority for each member of the team is needed. This is achieved by designing a technology enabler, constituted by the intelligent and adaptive co-pilot. It comprises (1) a lateral shared controller based on NMPC, which applies the authority, (2) an arbitration module based on FIS, which calculates the authority, and (3) a visual HMI, as an enabler of trust in automation decisions and actions. The benefits of such a system are shown in this paper through a comparison of the shared control driving mode, with manual driving (as a baseline) and lane-keeping and lane-centering (as two commercial ADAS). Tests are performed in a use case where support for a distracted driver is given. Quantitative and qualitative results confirm the hypothesis that shared control offers the best balance between performance, safety, and comfort during the driving task.This research was supported by the ECSEL Joint-Undertaking,which funded the PRYSTINE project under the Grant 783190

A Mixed Ligand Platinum(II) Complex: Spectral Analysis, Crystal Structure, Steric Demand of the Ligand, and Bioactivity of cis-[Pt(PPh3)2(L1-O,S)]PF6 (L1-O,S = N,N-Morpholine-N′-benzoylthiourea)

A novel mixed platinum(II) complex with general formula [Pt(PPh3)2(L1-O,S)]PF6 has been synthetized and characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductivity, and by IR and NMR (1H, 13C and 31P) spectroscopic methods. The crystal structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The molecule presents an almost ideal square-planar geometry, and the crystal is stabilized by weak C?H···O and C?H···F hydrogen bonds, and C?H···π stacking interactions. The steric congestion of ligands is described by ?exact? cone and solid cone angles, and the percentage of metal surface shielded by the ligands. The results are compared to closely related palladium complexes. The X-ray structure revealed the proximity of the ortho phenyl proton of one PPh3 ligand to platinum(II) showing rare intramolecular C?H···Pt anagostic binding interaction. The title complex was determined to be active against tumor cells, and it also showed a moderate inhibitory action against mycobacterium tuberculosis.Fil: Pérez, Hiram. Universidad de La Habana; CubaFil: Ramos, Raúl. Universidad de La Habana; CubaFil: Plutín, Ana M.. Universidad de La Habana; CubaFil: Mocelo, Raúl. Universidad de La Habana; CubaFil: Erben, Mauricio Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino"; ArgentinaFil: Castellano, Eduardo E.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Batista, Alzir A.. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; Brasi

Serum amyloid A is a positive acute phase protein in Russian sturgeon challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila

The immune system of sturgeons, one of the most ancient and economically valuable fsh worldwide, is poorly understood. The lack of molecular tools and data about infection biomarkers hinders the possibility to monitor sturgeon health during farming and detect infection outbreaks. To tackle this issue, we mined publicly available transcriptomic datasets and identifed putative positive acute-phase proteins (APPs) of Russian sturgeons that could be induced by a bacterial infection and monitored using non-invasive methods. Teleost literature compelled us to focus on fve promising candidates: hepcidin, a warm acclimation associated hemopexin, intelectin, serum amyloid A protein (SAA) and serotransferrin. Among them, SAA was the most upregulated protein at the mRNA level in the liver of sturgeons challenged with heat-inactivated or live Aeromonas hydrophila. To assess whether this upregulation yielded increasing SAA levels in circulation, we developed an in-house ELISA to quantify SAA levels in sturgeon serum. Circulating SAA rose upon bacterial challenge and positively correlated with hepatic saa expression. This is the frst time serum SAA has been quantifed in an Actinopterygii fsh. Since APPs vary across diferent fsh species, our work sheds light on sturgeon acute-phase response, revealing that SAA is a positive APP with potential value as infection biomarker

Fragmentation of extracellular ribosomes and tRNAs shapes the extracellular RNAome

A major proportion of extracellular RNAs (exRNAs) do not copurify with extracellular vesicles (EVs) and remain in ultracentrifugation supernatants of cell-conditioned medium or mammalian blood serum. However, little is known about exRNAs beyond EVs. We have previously shown that the composition of the nonvesicular exRNA fraction is highly biased toward specific tRNA-derived fragments capable of forming RNase-protecting dimers. To solve the problem of stability in exRNA analysis, we developed a method based on sequencing the size exclusion chromatography (SEC) fractions of nonvesicular extracellular samples treated with RNase inhibitors (RI). This method revealed dramatic compositional changes in exRNA population when enzymatic RNA degradation was inhibited. We demonstrated the presence of ribosomes and full-length tRNAs in cell-conditioned medium of a variety of mammalian cell lines. Their fragmentation generates some small RNAs that are highly resistant to degradation. The extracellular biogenesis of some of the most abundant exRNAs demonstrates that extracellular abundance is not a reliable input to estimate RNA secretion rates. Finally, we showed that chromatographic fractions containing extracellular ribosomes are probably not silent from an immunological perspective and could possibly be decoded as damage-associated molecular patterns

Regionalización de curvas IDF para el uso de modelos hidrometeorológicos en la Sabana Occidental del departamento de Cundinamarca

The regionalization of intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves is presented in this work through the use of different hydrometeorological models. This regionalization is built in the area of Western Sabana of Cundinamarca department in Colombia. For this, the calculation of IDF curves are made from the analysis of the intensities recorded in seven pluviographs of meteorological stations in the region; the Gumbell method and the respective goodness fit test is used. Different techniques are applied such as linear regression and determining correlation coefficients for intensities interpolation, and the alpha and U parameters. To the intensities regionalization in the area is applied statistical method based on linear correlation of the intensities, depending on the topography of the region variables (altitude, latitude and longitude). In this case the differences are analyzed using the registered elements of intensities and the parameters Alfa and U.En este trabajo se presenta la regionalización de las curvas de intensidad-duración y frecuencia a partir del uso de diferentes modelos hidrometereológicos, tomando como área de estudio la Sabana Occidental del departamento de Cundinamarca-Colombia. Para esto, se realiza el respectivo cálculo de las curvas IDF a partir del análisis de las intensidades registradas en los pluviógrafos de siete estaciones meteorológicas ubicadas en la región, se utiliza el método de Gumbell y las respectivas pruebas de bondad de ajuste. Se aplican diferentes técnicas como la regresión lineal y la determinación de los coeficientes de correlación para la interpolación de las intensidades y los parámetros alfa y U. En la regionalización de las intensidades para la zona de estudio, se aplica un método estadístico basado en la correlación lineal de las intensidades en función de las variables topográficas de la región (altitud, latitud y longitud). En este caso se analizan las diferencias encontradas usando como elementos de interpolación las intensidades registradas y los parámetros Alfa y u

Understanding the conformational changes and molecular structure of furoyl thioureas upon substitution

1-Acyl thioureas [R1C(O)NHC(S)NR2R3] are shown to display conformational flexibility depending on the degree of substitution at the nitrogen atom. The conformational landscape and structural features for two closely related thioureas having R1 = 2-furoyl have been studied. The un-substituted 2-furoyl thiourea (I) and its dimethyl analogue, i.e. 1-(2-furoyl)-3,3-dimethyl thiourea (II), have been synthesized and fully characterized by spectroscopic (FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR) and elemental analysis. According to single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, compounds I and II crystallize in the monoclinic space group P21/c. In the compound I, the trans–cis geometry of the almost planar thiourea unit is stabilized by intramolecular Nsingle bondH ⋯ Odouble bondC hydrogen bond between the H atom of the cis thioamide and the carbonyl O atom. In compound II, however, the acyl thiourea group is non-planar, in good agreement with the potential energy curve computed at the B3LYP/6-31 + G(d,p) level of approximation. Centrosymmetric dimers generated by intermolecular N — H ⋯ O = C hydrogen bond forming R22(8) motif are present in the crystals. Intermolecular interactions have been rationalized in terms of topological partitions of the electron distributions and Hirshfeld surface analysis, which showed the occurrence of S ⋯ H, O ⋯ H and H ⋯ H contacts that display an important role to crystal packing stabilization of both thiourea derivatives.Instituto de Física La PlataCentro de Química Inorgánic

Markov dynamics as a zooming lens for multiscale community detection: non clique-like communities and the field-of-view limit

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in community detection algorithms for complex networks. A variety of computational heuristics, some with a long history, have been proposed for the identification of communities or, alternatively, of good graph partitions. In most cases, the algorithms maximize a particular objective function, thereby finding the `right' split into communities. Although a thorough comparison of algorithms is still lacking, there has been an effort to design benchmarks, i.e., random graph models with known community structure against which algorithms can be evaluated. However, popular community detection methods and benchmarks normally assume an implicit notion of community based on clique-like subgraphs, a form of community structure that is not always characteristic of real networks. Specifically, networks that emerge from geometric constraints can have natural non clique-like substructures with large effective diameters, which can be interpreted as long-range communities. In this work, we show that long-range communities escape detection by popular methods, which are blinded by a restricted `field-of-view' limit, an intrinsic upper scale on the communities they can detect. The field-of-view limit means that long-range communities tend to be overpartitioned. We show how by adopting a dynamical perspective towards community detection (Delvenne et al. (2010) PNAS:107: 12755-12760; Lambiotte et al. (2008) arXiv:0812.1770), in which the evolution of a Markov process on the graph is used as a zooming lens over the structure of the network at all scales, one can detect both clique- or non clique-like communities without imposing an upper scale to the detection. Consequently, the performance of algorithms on inherently low-diameter, clique-like benchmarks may not always be indicative of equally good results in real networks with local, sparser connectivity.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure