Gender effect on neurodegeneration and myelin markers in an animal model for multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) varies considerably in its incidence and progression in females and males. In spite of clinical evidence, relatively few studies have explored molecular mechanisms possibly involved in gender-related differences. The present study describes possible cellular- and molecular-involved markers which are differentially regulated in male and female rats and result in gender-dependent EAE evolution and progression. Attention was focused on markers of myelination (MBP and PDGF\u3b1R) and neuronal distress and/or damage (GABA synthesis enzymes, GAD65 and GAD67, NGF, BDNF and related receptors), in two CNS areas, i.e. spinal cord and cerebellum, which are respectively severely and mildly affected by inflammation and demyelination. Tissues were sampled during acute, relapse/remission and chronic phases and results were analysed by two-way ANOVA

Castel di Sangro-Scontrone field camp – structural and applied geomorphology

The Geomorphological Field Camp 2014 in the Castel di Sangro-Scontrone area is the result of geological and geomorphological teaching field work activities carried out in Central Italy by a group of 23 students attending the Structural Geomorphology and Applied Geomorphology courses (Master's Degree in Geological Science and Technology of the Università degli Studi ‘G. d'Annunzio’ Chieti-Pescara, Italy, Department of Engineering and Geology). The Field Camp 2014 was organized in May 2014, following regular classes held during the fall term. General activities for the field camp were developed over four main stages: (1) preliminary analysis of the regional geological and geomorphological setting of the area; (2) preliminary activities for the analysis of the local area (orography, hydrography and photogeology investigations, and geographical information system processing); (3) field work, focused on the analysis of a specific issue concerning structural geomorphology or applied geomorphology (e.g. landscape evolution, river channel change, landslide distribution, and flood hazard); and (4) post-field work production of the map. Finally, the fundamental role of field work in the analysis of landscape and in land management was outlined: indeed, the overall field camp enhanced the crucial role of field-based learning for young geomorphologists in order to acquire a strong sensitivity to geomorphological processes and landscape evolution

A 2-DoF Helicopter Haptic Support System based on Pilot Intent Estimation with Neural Networks

Control of a helicopter is a highly demanding task for the human operator, due to its unstable and coupled dynamics. Indeed, the pilot is required to constantly give inputs on the control device that are necessary to both move the vehicle towards a specific direction and, at the same time, to stabilize the system dynamics. Haptic support systems may be used as an alternative solution to help pilots in such demanding task. Design of an effective haptic system requires knowledge of the target trajectory. However, in many realistic scenarios, the target trajectory is not known in advance. For instance, in a helicopter free-flight task the pilot is free to choose any possible maneuver at any time, and the pilot intended trajectory cannot be known a priori. To provide the pilot with a haptic feedback that helps him/her to accomplish the intended maneuver, estimation of pilot intended trajectory is crucial. In this paper, a neural network approach is proposed to infer pilot intent based on data collected from maneuvers performed by an expert helicopter pilot, in a 2-DoF lateral/longitudinal scenario. Successively, a haptic feedback is designed to help the pilots to accomplish the intended trajectories. The proposed shared control system is evaluated in a human-in-the-loop experiment with minimally-trained participants in a fixed-base simulator. The participants performed a flight control task which included diagonal, lateral and longitudinal motions. Each participant performed the maneuver in two different conditions: with and without haptic feedback. Results showed effectiveness of the haptic feedback on participants performance compared to manual control

A 2-DoF Haptic Support System for Helicopter Control Tasks based on Pilot Intent Estimation

Haptic support systems have been widely used for supporting human operators when performing a control task. These systems are commonly designed to track known target trajectories. However, knowledge of the desired trajectory can not be assumed in many realistic cases. This paper proposes a possible approach to design a haptic shared control system for helicopter control tasks, when the target trajectory is not known a priori. First, a Pilot Intent Estimator (PIE) is developed to infer pilot intent. Then, the corresponding intended trajectory is generated. Eventually, a haptic feedback is designed to track the estimated intended trajectory. The designed PIE was evaluated in a preliminary test with an experienced helicopter pilot. Then, a human-in-the-loop experiment with minimal-trained participants was conducted to assess the proposed shared control system. Results showed the effectiveness of the PIE to correctly estimate pilot intent and to generate a good estimate of the intended trajectory. Moreover, the haptic feedback helped participants to accomplish the control task with lower tracking error (i.e, better performance) compared to manual control

Haptic Assistance for Helicopter Control Based on Pilot Intent Estimation

Haptic support systems have been widely used for supporting human operators when performing a manual control task. These systems are commonly designed to track known target trajectories. However, the trajectory to track is not known in many realistic cases. For instance, the pilot-intended trajectory is not known beforehand when considering a helicopter pilot flying in free-flight. This paper proposes a possible approach to design a haptic shared control system when the target trajectory is not known a priori. Especially, the aim of the proposed design is to help minimally trained pilots during a 2-degree-of-freedom lateral/longitudinal helicopter free-flight task. To accomplish this goal, first, a Pilot Intent Estimator (PIE) is developed to infer pilot intent. Then, the corresponding intended trajectory is generated. Finally, a haptic feedback is designed to track the estimated intended trajectory. The designed PIE was evaluated in a preliminary test with an experienced helicopter pilot. Then, a human-in-the-loop experiment with minimally trained participants was conducted to assess the proposed shared control system. Results showed the effectiveness of the PIE to estimate the correct direction of motion chosen by the pilot. Furthermore, the haptic feedback helped participants to accomplish the control task with better task performance (i.e., lower tracking errors and lower amount of control activity) compared with manual control

The System Charactreistics and Performance of a Shaking Table

This work proposes an Adaptive Haptic Aid system that adapts the amount of provided aid based on actual pilot performance. This is achieved by parameterizing the haptic system and adjusting the parameters on-line to match a desired closed loop performance. The parameters of the haptic aid are adjusted using a technique known as Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC), which has been widely studied in past years and applied to automatic control of plants with unknown dynamics. Simulations and experimental tests with naive and expert pilots show that the proposed Adaptive Haptic Aid system represents a promising solution for haptic aid design

p75(NTR)-immunoreactivity in the subventricular zone of adult male rats: expression by cycling cells.

While the study of in vitro regulation of neural stem cell lineage from both embryonic and adult neurospheres is greatly advanced, much less is known about factors acting in situ for neural stem cell lineage in adult brain. We reported that neurotrophin low affinity receptor p75(NTR) is present in the subventricular zone (SVZ) in adult male rats. We then characterized co-distribution of markers associated with precursor cells (nestin and PSA-NCAM) with growth factor receptors (p75(NTR), trkA, EGFr) and proliferation-associated antigens (Ki67 and BrDU-uptake) in adult male rat by immunocytochemistry and confocal laser scan microscopy. Distribution of p75(NTR)-immunoreactivity (IR) was investigated using different mono- and polyclonal antisera. p75(NTR-) is not co-distributed with glial fibrillary acid protein. It was found to be co-distributed with a small number of nestin-IR cells, whereas no coexistence with PSA-NCAM-IR was observed. Conversely, p75(NTR)-IR was present in numerous dividing cells (Ki-67-positive) and co-distributed with EGFr. In order to verify the possible association between p75(NTR) and cell death, we investigated co-distribution of p75(NTR)-IR with nuclear condensation images as visualized by Hoechst 33258 staining. While few images indicating nuclear condensation were observed in the SVZ, no coexistence with p75(NTR) was found. TrkA- and trkB-IR was not found in the SVZ. We also investigated p75(NTR) immunostaining on post-natal day 1 and day 16, because of the dramatic reduction of proliferating cells in SVZ over this time-interval. p75(NTR)-IR was not increased in the early post-natal phase. Thus, p75(NTR) seems to be associated with cell cycle regulation in SVZ in adult rat brain

Experimental Evaluation of a 2-DoF Haptic Shared Control System Based on Pilot Intent Estimation

This paper presents the experimental evaluation of a novel haptic shared control system. The proposed system was designed to help human operators to perform a maneuver that is not known in advance. A Pilot Intent Estimator (PIE) was implemented to estimate the unknown trajectory that a human pilot intends to follow. Then, a haptic feedback was designed to mimic the behavior of a skilled pilot that tracks the estimated trajectory. A human-in-the-loop experiment was performed to evaluate the developed shared control system in a 2 Degrees-of- Freedom (DoF) control task. Results showed the effectiveness of the PIE to estimate the correct pilot intended path. Furthermore, the developed haptic system helped participants to achieve better performance to follow the estimated trajectory, compared to manual control