Adolescent Cardiovascular Fitness Changes One Year Post Gastric-Band Surgery

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Controlled Lactonization of o-Coumaric Esters Mediated by Supramolecular Gels

Fragrances are volatile organic compounds widely used in our daily life. Unfortunately, the high volatility required to reach human receptors reduces their persistency in the air. To contrast this effect, several strategies may be used. Among them, we present here the combination of two techniques: the microencapsulation in supramolecular gels and the use of profragrances. We report a study on the controlled lactonization of four esters derived from o-coumaric acid. The ester lactonization spontaneously occurs after exposure to solar light, releasing coumarin and the corresponding alcohol. To determine the rate of fragrance release, we compared the reaction in solution and in a supramolecular gel and we demonstrated that the lactonization reaction always occurs slower in the gel. We also studied the more suitable gel for this aim, by comparing the properties of two supramolecular gels obtained with the gelator Boc-L-DOPA(Bn)(2)-OH in a 1:1 ethanol/water mixture in different gelator concentration (0.2% and 1% w/v). The gel prepared with 1% w/v gelator concentration is stronger and less transparent than the other and was used for the profragrances encapsulation. In any case, we obtained a significative reduction of lactonization reaction in gel, compared with the same reaction in solution

Adolescent Strength and Body Composition Changes One Year Post Gastric-Band Surgery

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Splines Parameterization of Planar Domains by Physics-Informed Neural Networks

The generation of structured grids on bounded domains is a crucial issue in the development of numerical models for solving differential problems. In particular, the representation of the given computational domain through a regular parameterization allows us to define a univalent mapping, which can be computed as the solution of an elliptic problem, equipped with suitable Dirichlet boundary conditions. In recent years, Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) have been proved to be a powerful tool to compute the solution of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) replacing standard numerical models, based on Finite Element Methods and Finite Differences, with deep neural networks; PINNs can be used for predicting the values on simulation grids of different resolutions without the need to be retrained. In this work, we exploit the PINN model in order to solve the PDE associated to the differential problem of the parameterization on both convex and non-convex planar domains, for which the describing PDE is known. The final continuous model is then provided by applying a Hermite type quasi-interpolation operator, which can guarantee the desired smoothness of the sought parameterization. Finally, some numerical examples are presented, which show that the PINNs-based approach is robust. Indeed, the produced mapping does not exhibit folding or self-intersection at the interior of the domain and, also, for highly non convex shapes, despite few faulty points near the boundaries, has better shape-measures, e.g., lower values of the Winslow functional

Reproduction of the azooxanthellate coral Caryophyllia inornata is not affected by temperature along an 850 km gradient on the Western Italian coast

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that ocean surface temperature will rise of 0.6–2.0◦C by 2100. Ocean warming is expected to produce strong impacts on marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, affecting their physiological events including reproductive processes. To date, relatively few studies have examined the effects of climate change on the reproductive success of temperate corals and even less in the azooxanthellate ones. This study examined the reproductive output of the azooxanthellate Mediterranean coral Caryophyllia inornata along a wide latitudinal gradient of seawater temperature and solar radiation. A total of 260 samples, collected from five populations along the Western Italian coast, have been analyzed through histological techniques. The intriguing aspects characterizing all populations of C. inornata along the latitudinal gradient are a strong male-biased sex ratio and the presence of embryos in all stages of development throughout the year in females, males, and sexually inactive individuals. This peculiarity could suggest a mixed strategy of sexual and asexual reproduction in this species as has been observed for some anemones of the genus Actinia. Fecundity and spermary abundance (i.e., the number of reproductive elements per body volume unit), gonadal index (i.e., the percentage of body volume occupied by the germ cells) and fertility (i.e., the number of embryos per body volume unit) in females, males and sexually inactive individuals were unrelated to solar radiation and temperature along the latitudinal gradient. These results suggest that the reproduction in C. inornata is not affected by increasing solar radiation and temperature. The lack of zooxanthellae could make this species less dependent on these environmental parameters, as previously hypothesized for another azooxanthellate species, Leptopsammia pruvoti, investigated along the same gradient

Sexual reproduction and biometry of the nonzooxanthellate papillose cup coral Paracyathus pulchellus

Basic information on the reproductive biology of many scleractinian corals species is limited or entirely lacking, particularly from temperate zones, though it is essential for a better understanding of their ecology. This study describes the morphological aspects and the annual cycle of gametogenesis and biometric parameters of the papillose cup coral Paracyathus pulchellus collected at Palinuro (Italy, Southern Tyrrhenian Sea), filling a knowledge gap about the reproductive biology of a widespread Mediterranean and Northern Atlantic coral. Samples of P. pulchellus were collected by SCUBA diving between 5- and 10-meters depth during 18 monthly collections from June 2010 to December 2011. Sexually active polyps displayed either oocytes or spermaries, indicating that P. pulchellus was gonochoric. The sex ratio of sexually active polyps was 1:1. Gametogenesis began with undifferentiated germ cells arose in the gastrodermis that migrated towards the mesoglea of the mesentery where they completed the development. During spermatogenesis, spermary diameter increased from 25 to 83 µm. Oocyte diameter ranged from 9 to 146 µm and during oogenesis the nucleus/cytoplasm ratio decreased due to the accumulation of yolk. The nucleus migrated to the periphery of the oocyte adhering closely to the cell membrane. No embryo was observed in the coelenteric cavity of the polyps, suggesting an external development of planktotrophic larvae due to the small-sized mature oocytes and a possible broadcast spawning reproductive mode. Gonadal index of both females and males increased significantly from August until November and fertilization took place from November to January. Only sexually inactive individuals were observed from February to April, suggesting a quiescence period in both males and females. Seasonal variations in water temperature and photoperiod may have a key role in regulating gametogenesis. The analysis of the main biometric parameters (polyp width, height, dry skeletal mass, volume, surface/volume ratio and bulk skeletal density) showed a negative correlation between size and skeletal density, and no sexual dimorphism

Cholesterol derivatives make large part of the lipids from epidermal molts of the desert-adapted Gila monster lizard (Heloderma suspectum)

In order to understand the cutaneous water loss in the desert-adapted and venomous lizard Heloderma suspectum, the microscopic structure and lipid composition of epidermal molts have been examined using microscopic, spectroscopic and chemical analysis techniques. The molt is formed by a variably thick, superficial beta-layer, an extensive mesos-region and few alpha-cells in its lowermost layers. The beta-layer contains most corneous beta proteins while the mesos-region is much richer in lipids. The proteins in the mesos-region are more unstructured than those located in the beta-layer. Most interestingly, among other lipids, high contents of cholesteryl-β-glucoside and cholesteryl sulfate were detected, molecules absent or present in traces in other species of squamates. These cholesterol derivatives may be involved in the stabilization and compaction of the mesos-region, but present a limited permeability to water movements. The modest resistance to cutaneous water-loss of this species is compensated by adopting other physiological strategies to limit thermal damage and water transpiration as previous eco-physiological studies have indicated. The increase of steroid derivatives may also be implicated in the heat shock response, influencing the relative behavior in this desert-adapted lizard

Functional MR Imaging Correlates of Neuropsychological Impairment in Primary-Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cognitive deficits affect ≤30% of patients with PPMS. We investigated the functional correlates of cognitive network dysfunction in patients with PPMS and their correlation with the extent of structural MR imaging damage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 16 right-handed patients with PPMS and 17 matched controls, structural and fMRIs (during the performance of the 2-back task) were acquired. Neuropsychological tests exploring memory, attention, and frontal lobe cognitive domains were administered. T2 LL, NBV, and CC areas were measured. RESULTS: Six patients with PPMS were CI. Structural MR imaging measures did not differ between patients who were CI and those who were CP. Compared with patients who were CI, patients who were CP had increased activations of the left caudate nucleus, PFC, and inferior parietal lobule. Compared with controls and patients who were CP, patients who were CI had increased activations of the SII, cerebellum, and insula. Compared with controls, they also had increased activations of the right precentral gyrus and a reduced recruitment of the left PFC. In patients with PPMS, a decreased composite cognitive score correlated with increased activity of the cerebellum, insula, and SII, as well as decreased PFC activity. T2 LL correlated with decreased PFC recruitment and increased SII recruitment. CONCLUSIONS: In PPMS, an increased recruitment of cognitive-related networks might represent a functional reserve with the potential to limit the severity of cognitive impairment. The accumulation of T2 lesions and the consequent exhaustion of frontal lobe plasticity might contribute to cognitive impairment in PPMS

Novel Reconstruction Errors for Saliency Detection in Hyperspectral Images

When hyperspectral images are analyzed, a big amount of data, representing the reflectance at hundreds of wavelengths, needs to be processed. Hence, dimensionality reduction techniques are used to discard unnecessary information. In order to detect the so called “saliency”, i.e., the relevant pixels, we propose a bottom-up approach based on three main ingredients: sparse non negative matrix factorization (SNMF), spatial and spectral functions to measure the reconstruction error between the input image and the reconstructed one and a final clustering technique. We introduce novel error functions and show some useful mathematical properties. The method is validated on hyperspectral images and compared with state-of-the-art different approaches

Fluorine Effect in the Gelation Ability of Low Molecular Weight Gelators

The three gelators presented in this work (Boc-D-Phe-L-Oxd-OH F0, Boc-D-F1Phe-L-Oxd-OH F1 and Boc-D-F2Phe-L-Oxd-OH F2) share the same scaffold and differ in the number of fluorine atoms linked to the aromatic ring of phenylalanine. They have been applied to the preparation of gels in 0.5% or 1.0% w/v concentration, using three methodologies: solvent switch, pH change and calcium ions addition. The general trend is an increased tendency to form structured materials from F0 to F1 and F2. This property ends up in the formation of stronger materials when fluorine atoms are present. Some samples, generally formed by F1 or F2 in 0.5% w/v concentration, show high transparency but low mechanical properties. Two gels, both containing fluorine atoms, show increased stiffness coupled with high transparency. The biocompatibility of the gelators was assessed exposing them to fibroblast cells and demonstrated that F1 and F2 are not toxic to cells even in high concentration, while F0 is not toxic to cells only in a low concentration. In conclusion, the presence of even only one fluorine atom improves all the gelators properties: the gelation ability of the compound, the rheological properties and the transparency of the final materials and the gelator biocompatibility