5,602 research outputs found
Translational potential of human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells for myocardial repair: Insights from experimental models
Heart diseases have been a major cause of death worldwide, including developed countries. Indeed, loss of non-regenerative, terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes (CMs) due to aging or diseases is irreversible. Current therapeutic regimes are palliative in nature, and in the case of end-stage heart failure, transplantation remains the last resort. However, this option is significantly hampered by a severe shortage of donor cells and organs. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can self-renew while maintaining their pluripotency to differentiate into all cell types. More recently, direct reprogramming of adult somatic cells to become pluripotent hES-like cells (a.k.a. induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs) has been achieved. The availability of hESCs and iPSCs, and their successful differentiation into genuine human heart cells have enabled researchers to gain novel insights into the early development of the human heart as well as to pursue the revolutionary paradigm of heart regeneration. Here we review our current knowledge of hESC-/iPSC-derived CMs in the context of two fundamental operating principles of CMs (i.e. electrophysiology and Ca2+-handling), the resultant limitations and potential solutions in relation to their translation into clinical (bioartificial pacemaker, myocardial repair) and other applications (e.g. as models for human heart disease and cardiotoxicity screening). © Schattauer 2010.published_or_final_versio
Eliminación de DBP en aceite de onagra mediante arcilla activada modificada por chitosán y CTAB
The pollution of phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in edible oils is a serious problem. In the current study, we attempt to remove dibutyl phthalate ester (DBP) from evening primrose oil (EPO) with modified activated clay. The activated clay, commonly used for de-coloration in the oil refining process, was modified by chitosan and hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). The modifications were characterized by SEM, XRD, and FT-IR. We further tested the DBP adsorption capacity of CTAB/chitosan-clay and found that the removal rate was 27.56% which was 3.24 times higher than with pristine activated clay. In addition, the CTAB/chitosan-clay composite treatment had no significant effect on the quality of evening primrose oil. In summary, the CTAB/chitosan-clay composite has a stronger DBP adsorption capacity and can be used as a new adsorbent for removing DBP during the de-coloration process of evening primrose oil.La contaminación por ésteres de ácido ftálico (PAEs) en los aceites comestibles es un problema grave. En el presente estudio, intentamos eliminar el éster de ftalato de dibutilo (DBP) del aceite de onagra (EPO) con arcilla activada modificada. La arcilla activada, comúnmente utilizada en la decoloración en el proceso de refinación de los aceites, fue modificada con chitosán y bromuro de hexadecil trimetil amonio (CTAB). Las modificaciones se caracterizaron mediante SEM, XRD y FT-IR. Además, probamos la capacidad de adsorción de DBP de CTAB / chitosán-arcilla y descubrimos que la tasa de eliminación era del 27,56%, que era 3,24 veces mayor que la arcilla activada pura. Además, el tratamiento compuesto de CTAB/chitosán-arcilla no tuvo un efecto significativo sobre la calidad del aceite de onagra. En resumen, el compuesto CTAB/chitosán-arcilla tiene una capacidad de adsorción de DBP más fuerte y se puede utilizar como un nuevo adsorbente para eliminar DBP durante el proceso de decoloración del aceite de onagra
A possible method for non-Hermitian and non--symmetric Hamiltonian systems
A possible method to investigate non-Hermitian Hamiltonians is suggested
through finding a Hermitian operator and defining the annihilation and
creation operators to be -pseudo-Hermitian adjoint to each other. The
operator represents the -pseudo-Hermiticity of Hamiltonians.
As an example, a non-Hermitian and non--symmetric Hamiltonian with
imaginary linear coordinate and linear momentum terms is constructed and
analyzed in detail. The operator is found, based on which, a real
spectrum and a positive-definite inner product, together with the probability
explanation of wave functions, the orthogonality of eigenstates, and the
unitarity of time evolution, are obtained for the non-Hermitian and
non--symmetric Hamiltonian. Moreover, this Hamiltonian turns out to be
coupled when it is extended to the canonical noncommutative space with
noncommutative spatial coordinate operators and noncommutative momentum
operators as well. Our method is applicable to the coupled Hamiltonian. Then
the first and second order noncommutative corrections of energy levels are
calculated, and in particular the reality of energy spectra, the
positive-definiteness of inner products, and the related properties (the
probability explanation of wave functions, the orthogonality of eigenstates,
and the unitarity of time evolution) are found not to be altered by the
noncommutativity.Comment: 15 pages, no figures; v2: clarifications added; v3: 16 pages, 1
figure, clarifications made clearer; v4: 19 pages, the main context is
completely rewritten; v5: 25 pages, title slightly changed, clarifications
added, the final version to appear in PLOS ON
Dysregulation of glucose metabolism is an early event in sporadic Parkinson's disease
AbstractUnlike most other cell types, neurons preferentially metabolize glucose via the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) to maintain their antioxidant status. Inhibiting the PPP in neuronal cell models causes cell death. In rodents, inhibition of this pathway causes selective dopaminergic cell death leading to motor deficits resembling parkinsonism. Using postmortem human brain tissue, we characterized glucose metabolism via the PPP in sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and controls. AD brains showed increased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) production in areas affected by disease. In PD however, increased NADPH production was only seen in the affected areas of late-stage cases. Quantifying PPP NADPH-producing enzymes glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, showed a reduction in the putamen of early-stage PD and interestingly in the cerebellum of early and late-stage PD. Importantly, there was no decrease in enzyme levels in the cortex, putamen, or cerebellum of AD. Our results suggest that down-regulation of PPP enzymes and a failure to increase antioxidant reserve is an early event in the pathogenesis of sporadic PD
An Imprecise Probability Approach for Abstract Argumentation based on Credal Sets
Some abstract argumentation approaches consider that arguments have a degree
of uncertainty, which impacts on the degree of uncertainty of the extensions
obtained from a abstract argumentation framework (AAF) under a semantics. In
these approaches, both the uncertainty of the arguments and of the extensions
are modeled by means of precise probability values. However, in many real life
situations the exact probabilities values are unknown and sometimes there is a
need for aggregating the probability values of different sources. In this
paper, we tackle the problem of calculating the degree of uncertainty of the
extensions considering that the probability values of the arguments are
imprecise. We use credal sets to model the uncertainty values of arguments and
from these credal sets, we calculate the lower and upper bounds of the
extensions. We study some properties of the suggested approach and illustrate
it with an scenario of decision making.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Accepted in The 15th European Conference on
Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty (ECSQARU
2019
Low Resistance Polycrystalline Diamond Thin Films Deposited by Hot Filament Chemical Vapour Deposition
Polycrystalline diamond thin films with outgrowing diamond (OGD) grains were deposited onto silicon wafers using a hydrocarbon gas (CH4) highly diluted with H2 at low pressure in a hot filament chemical vapour deposition (HFCVD) reactor with a range of gas flow rates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM showed polycrystalline diamond structure with a random orientation. Polycrystalline diamond films with various textures were grown and (111) facets were dominant with sharp grain boundaries. Outgrowth was observed in flowerish character at high gas flow rates. Isolated single crystals with little openings appeared at various stages at low gas flow rates. Thus, changing gas flow rates had a beneficial influence on the grain size, growth rate and electrical resistivity. CVD diamond films gave an excellent performance for medium film thickness with relatively low electrical resistivity and making them potentially useful in many industrial applications
Quantification of the performance of chaotic micromixers on the basis of finite time Lyapunov exponents
Chaotic micromixers such as the staggered herringbone mixer developed by
Stroock et al. allow efficient mixing of fluids even at low Reynolds number by
repeated stretching and folding of the fluid interfaces. The ability of the
fluid to mix well depends on the rate at which "chaotic advection" occurs in
the mixer. An optimization of mixer geometries is a non trivial task which is
often performed by time consuming and expensive trial and error experiments. In
this paper an algorithm is presented that applies the concept of finite-time
Lyapunov exponents to obtain a quantitative measure of the chaotic advection of
the flow and hence the performance of micromixers. By performing lattice
Boltzmann simulations of the flow inside a mixer geometry, introducing massless
and non-interacting tracer particles and following their trajectories the
finite time Lyapunov exponents can be calculated. The applicability of the
method is demonstrated by a comparison of the improved geometrical structure of
the staggered herringbone mixer with available literature data.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Safety and efficacy of fluticasone propionate in the topical treatment of skin diseases
Fluticasone propionate - the first carbothioate corticosteroid - has been classified as a potent anti-inflammatory drug for dermatological use. It is available as 0.05% cream and 0.005% ointment formulations for the acute and maintenance treatment of patients with dermatological disorders such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and vitiligo. This glucocorticoid is characterized by high lipophilicity, high glucocorticoid receptor binding and activation, and a rapid metabolic turnover in skin. Although skin blanching following fluticasone propionate exceeds that of corticosteroids of medium strength, several clinical trials demonstrate a low potential for cutaneous and systemic side-effects, even in difficult-to-treat areas like the face, the eyelids and intertriginous areas. Even among paediatric patients with atopic dermatitis, fluticasone propionate proved to be safe and effective. These pharmacological and clinical properties are reflected by the high therapeutic index of this glucocorticoid
Foot Bone in Vivo: Its Center of Mass and Centroid of Shape
This paper studies foot bone geometrical shape and its mass distribution and
establishes an assessment method of bone strength. Using spiral CT scanning,
with an accuracy of sub-millimeter, we analyze the data of 384 pieces of foot
bones in vivo and investigate the relationship between the bone's external
shape and internal structure. This analysis is explored on the bases of the
bone's center of mass and its centroid of shape. We observe the phenomenon of
superposition of center of mass and centroid of shape fairly precisely,
indicating a possible appearance of biomechanical organism. We investigate two
aspects of the geometrical shape, (i) distance between compact bone's centroid
of shape and that of the bone and (ii) the mean radius of the same density bone
issue relative to the bone's centroid of shape. These quantities are used to
interpret the influence of different physical exercises imposed on bone
strength, thereby contributing to an alternate assessment technique to bone
strength.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
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