Neural regulation of cardiovascular response to exercise: role of central command and peripheral afferents

During dynamic exercise, mechanisms controlling the cardiovascular apparatus operate to provide adequate oxygen to fulfill metabolic demand of exercising muscles and to guarantee metabolic end-products washout. Moreover, arterial blood pressure is regulated to maintain adequate perfusion of the vital organs without excessive pressure variations. The autonomic nervous system adjustments are characterized by a parasympathetic withdrawal and a sympathetic activation. In this review, we briefly summarize neural reflexes operating during dynamic exercise. The main focus of the present review will be on the central command, the arterial baroreflex and chemoreflex, and the exercise pressure reflex. The regulation and integration of these reflexes operating during dynamic exercise and their possible role in the pathophysiology of some cardiovascular diseases are also discusse

Sulfonium Salts as Leaving Groups for Aromatic Labelling of Drug-like Small Molecules with Fluorine-18.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is unique in that it allows quantification of biochemical processes in vivo, but difficulties with preparing suitably labelled radiotracers limit its scientific and diagnostic applications. Aromatic [(18)F]fluorination of drug-like small molecules is particularly challenging as their functional group compositions often impair the labelling efficiency. Herein, we report a new strategy for incorporation of (18)F into highly functionalized aromatic compounds using sulfonium salts as leaving groups. The method is compatible with pharmacologically relevant functional groups, including aliphatic amines and basic heterocycles. Activated substrates react with [(18)F]fluoride at room temperature, and with heating the reaction proceeds in the presence of hydrogen bond donors. Furthermore, the use of electron rich spectator ligands allows efficient and regioselective [(18)F]fluorination of non-activated aromatic moieties. The method provides a broadly applicable route for (18)F labelling of biologically active small molecules, and offers immediate practical benefits for drug discovery and imaging with PET

Qualitative analysis of meat and meat products by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique

Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (M-PCR) assay was applied to processed and raw meats for the identification of the most used species in foodstuffs such as, ruminant, poultry, fish and pork materials. Specific-species primers, designed according to the conservative regions of 16S rRNA, were used after alignment of the available sequences in the GenBank database. The primers generated specific DNA fragments of 183, 224, 290 and 374 bp length for poultry, fish, pork and ruminant, respectively. The optimized M-PCR assay was applied to 93 commercial meat products and it showed the presence of poultry meat in red meat analyzed, although, it was not indicated on the label.Key words: Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (M-PCR), meat products, food, salami, sausage

Primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma shows a distinct miRNA expression profile and reveals differences from tumor-stage mycosis fungoides

Copyright @ 2012 John Wiley & SonsThe miRNA expression profiles of skin biopsies from 14 primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma (C-ALCL) patients were analysed with miRNA microarrays using the same control group of 12 benign inflammatory dermatoses (BID) as previously used to study the miRNA expression profile of tumor-stage mycosis fungoides (MF). We identified 13 differentially expressed miRNAs between C-ALCL and BID. The up-regulation of miR-155, miR-27b, miR-30c and miR-29b in C-ALCL was validated by miRNA-Q-PCR on independent study groups. Additionally, the miRNA expression profiles of C-ALCL were compared with those of tumor-stage MF. Although miRNA microarray analysis did not identify statistically significant differentially expressed miRNAs, miRNA-Q-PCR demonstrated statistically significantly differential expression of miR-155, miR-27b, miR-93, miR-29b and miR-92a between tumor-stage MF and C-ALCL. This study, the first describing the miRNA expression profile of C-ALCL, reveals differences with tumor-stage MF, suggesting a different contribution to the pathogenesis of these lymphomas.This work was funded by grants from Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) (MHV) and the Fondation Rene´ Touraine (MvK), and grants from the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research (EB) and the Julian Starmer-Smith Memorial Fund (CHL)

Radiocarbon dating of methane and carbon dioxide evaded from a temperate peatland stream

Streams draining peatlands export large quantities of carbon in different chemical forms and are an important part of the carbon cycle. Radiocarbon (14C) analysis/dating provides unique information on the source and rate that carbon is cycled through ecosystems, as has recently been demonstrated at the air-water interface through analysis of carbon dioxide (CO2) lost from peatland streams by evasion (degassing). Peatland streams also have the potential to release large amounts of methane (CH4) and, though 14C analysis of CH4 emitted by ebullition (bubbling) has been previously reported, diffusive emissions have not. We describe methods that enable the 14C analysis of CH4 evaded from peatland streams. Using these methods, we investigated the 14C age and stable carbon isotope composition of both CH4 and CO2 evaded from a small peatland stream draining a temperate raised mire. Methane was aged between 1617-1987 years BP, and was much older than CO2 which had an age range of 303-521 years BP. Isotope mass balance modelling of the results indicated that the CO2 and CH4 evaded from the stream were derived from different source areas, with most evaded CO2 originating from younger layers located nearer the peat surface compared to CH4. The study demonstrates the insight that can be gained into peatland carbon cycling from a methodological development which enables dual isotope (14C and 13C) analysis of both CH4 and CO2 collected at the same time and in the same way

Generating Diffusion MRI scalar maps from T1 weighted images using generative adversarial networks

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (diffusion MRI) is a non-invasive microstructure assessment technique. Scalar measures, such as FA (fractional anisotropy) and MD (mean diffusivity), quantifying micro-structural tissue properties can be obtained using diffusion models and data processing pipelines. However, it is costly and time consuming to collect high quality diffusion data. Here, we therefore demonstrate how Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) can be used to generate synthetic diffusion scalar measures from structural T1-weighted images in a single optimized step. Specifically, we train the popular CycleGAN model to learn to map a T1 image to FA or MD, and vice versa. As an application, we show that synthetic FA images can be used as a target for non-linear registration, to correct for geometric distortions common in diffusion MRI

GraCT: A Grammar based Compressed representation of Trajectories

We present a compressed data structure to store free trajectories of moving objects (ships over the sea, for example) allowing spatio-temporal queries. Our method, GraCT, uses a $k^2$-tree to store the absolute positions of all objects at regular time intervals (snapshots), whereas the positions between snapshots are represented as logs of relative movements compressed with Re-Pair. Our experimental evaluation shows important savings in space and time with respect to a fair baseline.Comment: This research has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie Actions H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 BIRDS GA No. 69094

Immobilization of urease on copper chelated EC-Tri beads and reversible adsorption

In the present study, Eupergit C® macroporous beads were functionalized with amino triazole and characterized by FTIR-ATR and SEM. Cu2+ ions were chelated on the triazole modified Eupergit C® (EC®), and then the metal chelated beads were used in the adsorption of urease. Maximum reaction rate (Vmax) and Michaelis-Menten constant (km) were determined for the free and immobilized enzymes. Various characteristics of immobilized urease such as the temperature activity curve, thermal stability, operational stability and storage stability were evaluated. The results demonstrated that triazole functionalized Eupergit C® beads can be applied to metal sorption and enzyme immobilization.Key words: Urease, immobilization, Eupergit C®, triazole, chelating beads

Operations on integral lifts of K(n)

This very rough sketch is a sequel to arXiv:1808.08587; it presents evidence that operations on lifts of the functors K(n) to cohomology theories with values in modules over valuation rings of local number fields, indexed by Lubin-Tate groups of such fields, are extensions of the groups of automorphisms of the indexing group laws, by the exterior algebras on the normal bundle to the orbits of the group laws in the space of lifts.Comment: \S 2.0 hopefully less cryptic. To appear in the proceedings of the 2015 Nagoya conference honoring T Ohkawa. Comments very welcome

Influence des bois rameaux fragmentés (BRF) de Guiera senegalensis J.F. Gmel et de Piliostigma reticulatum (Dc) Hochst sur la productivité du mil, Pennisetum glaucum (L.)

La mise à profit d’espèces ligneuses buissonnantes présentes dans les systèmes agroforestiers comme sources d’engrais verts, peut contribuer à rehausser le statut organique des sols agricoles, augmenter leur productivité et assurer leur exploitation durable. L’objectif de la présente étude est d’évaluer l’influence des bois raméaux fragmentés (BRF) de G. senegalensis et de P. reticulatum sur la productivité du mil, Pennisetumglaucum (L.) en station. Un dispositif expérimental a été mis en place avec dix traitements composés de deux doses de chaque type de BRF (4 et 6 Tha-1) combinées ou non à 75 kgha-1 d’urée, d’urée à 75 kgha-1 et dutémoin. Le diamètre au collet, la hauteur, le nombre de feuilles et d’épis des plants de mil n’ont pas montré de différence significative par rapport au témoin contrairement au nombre de talles et aux biomasses aérienne et racinaire. Utilisés seuls et à dose croissante, les BRF de G. senegalensis ont eu un effet stimulant sur la productivité du mil contrairement à ceux de P. reticulatum qui ont eu un effet dépressif. L’étude a ainsi démontré que l’utilisation des BRF de ces espèces ligneuses constitue une bonne  stratégie pour la restauration durable des terres dégradées et  l’amélioration des rendements des cultures.Mots clés : BRF, Guiera senegalensis, Piliostigma reticulatum, Pennisetum glaucum, productivité, mil