Design and Implementation of Wireless Zigbee Sensor Based On Embedded 32-Bits FPGA Processor

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) has become an emerging area of research in recent years. Today this wireless sensors are used in many industrial and consumer applications, such as industrial process monitoring and control, machine health monitoring, automotive, home appliance, smart grid applications and so on. In this work, an intelligent wireless sensor system for real time functionality has been suggested. The proposed solution is based on the embedded FPGA design using a new Xilinx MicroBlaze Soft Processor to Increases the performance of the system. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the experimental results. The hardware components include Xilinx FPGA board, XBee Series 2 wireless communication module and end device sensors to capture the physical or environmental quantity, such as temperature, sound or pressure..

Fine-structural distribution of MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities in the rat skeletal muscle upon training: a study by high-resolution in situ zymography

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are key regulators of extracellular matrix remodeling, but have also important intracellular targets. The purpose of this study was to examine the activity and subcellular localization of the gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 in skeletal muscle of control and physically trained rats. In control hind limb muscle, the activity of the gelatinases was barely detectable. In contrast, after 5 days of intense exercise, in Soleus (Sol), but not Extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle, significant upregulation of gelatinolytic activity in myofibers was observed mainly in the nuclei, as assessed by high resolution in situ zymography. The nuclei of quiescent satellite cells did not contain the activity. Within the myonuclei, the gelatinolytic activity colocalized with an activated RNA Polymerase II. Also in Sol, but not in EDL, there were few foci of mononuclear cells with strongly positive cytoplasm, associated with apparent necrotic myofibers. These cells were identified as activated satellite cells/myoblasts. No extracellular gelatinase activity was observed. Gel zymography combined with subcellular fractionation revealed training-related upregulation of active MMP-2 in the nuclear fraction, and increase of active MMP-9 in the cytoplasmic fraction of Sol. Using RT-PCR, selective increase in MMP-9 mRNA was observed. We conclude that training activates nuclear MMP-2, and increases expression and activity of cytoplasmic MMP-9 in Sol, but not in EDL. Our results suggest that the gelatinases are involved in muscle adaptation to training, and that MMP-2 may play a novel role in myonuclear functions

Olfactory Stem Cells, a New Cellular Model for Studying Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Familial Dysautonomia

International audienceBackground: Familial dysautonomia (FD) is a hereditary neuropathy caused by mutations in the IKBKAP gene, the most common of which results in variable tissue-specific mRNA splicing with skipping of exon 20. Defective splicing is especially severe in nervous tissue, leading to incomplete development and progressive degeneration of sensory and autonomic neurons. The specificity of neuron loss in FD is poorly understood due to the lack of an appropriate model system. To better understand and modelize the molecular mechanisms of IKBKAP mRNA splicing, we collected human olfactory ecto-mesenchymal stem cells (hOE-MSC) from FD patients. hOE-MSCs have a pluripotent ability to differentiate into various cell lineages, including neurons and glial cells.Methodology/Principal Findings: We confirmed IKBKAP mRNA alternative splicing in FD hOE-MSCs and identified 2 novel spliced isoforms also present in control cells. We observed a significant lower expression of both IKBKAP transcript and IKAP/hELP1 protein in FD cells resulting from the degradation of the transcript isoform skipping exon 20. We localized IKAP/hELP1 in different cell compartments, including the nucleus, which supports multiple roles for that protein. We also investigated cellular pathways altered in FD, at the genome-wide level, and confirmed that cell migration and cytoskeleton reorganization were among the processes altered in FD. Indeed, FD hOE-MSCs exhibit impaired migration compared to control cells. Moreover, we showed that kinetin improved exon 20 inclusion and restores a normal level of IKAP/hELP1 in FD hOE-MSCs. Furthermore, we were able to modify the IKBKAP splicing ratio in FD hOE-MSCs, increasing or reducing the WT (exon 20 inclusion):MU (exon 20 skipping) ratio respectively, either by producing free-floating spheres, or by inducing cells into neural differentiation.Conclusions/Significance: hOE-MSCs isolated from FD patients represent a new approach for modeling FD to better understand genetic expression and possible therapeutic approaches. This model could also be applied to other neurological genetic diseases

The Potential Role of Metalloproteinases in Neurogenesis in the Gerbil Hippocampus Following Global Forebrain Ischemia

BACKGROUND: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have recently been considered to be involved in the neurogenic response of adult neural stem/progenitor cells. However, there is a lack of information showing direct association between the activation of MMPs and the development of neuronal progenitor cells involving proliferation and/or further differentiation in vulnerable (Cornus Ammoni-CA1) and resistant (dentate gyrus-DG) to ischemic injury areas of the brain hippocampus. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We showed that dynamics of MMPs activation in the dentate gyrus correlated closely with the rate of proliferation and differentiation of progenitor cells into mature neurons. In contrast, in the damaged CA1 pyramidal cells layer, despite the fact that some proliferating cells exhibited antigen specific characteristic of newborn neuronal cells, these did not attain maturity. This coincides with the low, near control-level, activity of MMPs. The above results are supported by our in vitro study showing that MMP inhibitors interfered with both the proliferation and differentiation of the human neural stem cell line derived from umbilical cord blood (HUCB-NSCs) toward the neuronal lineage. CONCLUSION: Taken together, the spatial and temporal profiles of MMPs activity suggest that these proteinases could be an important component in neurogenesis-associated processes in post-ischemic brain hippocampus

Joining S100 proteins and migration:for better or for worse, in sickness and in health

The vast diversity of S100 proteins has demonstrated a multitude of biological correlations with cell growth, cell differentiation and cell survival in numerous physiological and pathological conditions in all cells of the body. This review summarises some of the reported regulatory functions of S100 proteins (namely S100A1, S100A2, S100A4, S100A6, S100A7, S100A8/S100A9, S100A10, S100A11, S100A12, S100B and S100P) on cellular migration and invasion, established in both culture and animal model systems and the possible mechanisms that have been proposed to be responsible. These mechanisms involve intracellular events and components of the cytoskeletal organisation (actin/myosin filaments, intermediate filaments and microtubules) as well as extracellular signalling at different cell surface receptors (RAGE and integrins). Finally, we shall attempt to demonstrate how aberrant expression of the S100 proteins may lead to pathological events and human disorders and furthermore provide a rationale to possibly explain why the expression of some of the S100 proteins (mainly S100A4 and S100P) has led to conflicting results on motility, depending on the cells used. © 2013 Springer Basel

Usos sostenibles de la tierra y desarrollo humano

Compilación de los trabajos presentados al simposio nº 2 del Congreso Internacional sobre tierra y Derechos Humanos (Universidad de Sevilla, 12-14 de junio de 2019