Is machine learning prediction of Aβ positivity consistent? An assessment of multiple datasets

Poster abstrac

Perturbation Theory for Metastable States of the Dirac Equation with Quadratic Vector Interaction

The spectral problem of the Dirac equation in an external quadratic vector potential is considered using the methods of the perturbation theory. The problem is singular and the perturbation series is asymptotic, so that the methods for dealing with divergent series must be used. Among these, the Distributional Borel Sum appears to be the most well suited tool to give answers and to describe the spectral properties of the system. A detailed investigation is made in one and in three space dimensions with a central potential. We present numerical results for the Dirac equation in one space dimension: these are obtained by determining the perturbation expansion and using the Pad\'e approximants for calculating the distributional Borel transform. A complete agreement is found with previous non-perturbative results obtained by the numerical solution of the singular boundary value problem and the determination of the density of the states from the continuous spectrum.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Two-parametric PT-symmetric quartic family

We describe a parametrization of the real spectral locus of the two-parametric family of PT-symmetric quartic oscillators. For this family, we find a parameter region where all eigenvalues are real, extending the results of Dorey, Dunning, Tateo and Shin.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figure

Chiral biobased ionic liquids with cations or anions including bile acid building blocks as chiral selectors in voltammetry

Chiral ionic liquids (CILs), or ionic liquids (ILs) with chiral additives, are very attractive chiral media for enantioselective electroanalysis, on account of their high chiral structural order at the electrochemical interphase. A family of molecular salts with CIL properties is now introduced, based on the chiral steroid building block of deoxycholic acid implemented either in the anion or cation. Testing them as chiral additives in a commercial achiral IL, they enable voltammetric discrimination of the enantiomers of a model chiral probe on disposable screen-printed electrodes in terms of peak potential differences, which is the most desirable transduction mode of the enantiorecognition event. The probe enantiomer sequence is the same for all selectors, consistent with their sharing the same chiral building block configuration. This proof-of-concept widens the application fields of bile acid derivatives as chiral selectors, while also enriching the still very few CIL families so far explored for applications in chiral electroanalysis

Clinical outcomes of fully and partially threaded zygomatic implants in a cohort of patients with minimum 7.5-year follow-up

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this retrospective case series report was to evaluate the results of oral rehabilitation with extra-sinus zygomatic implant surgery with a minimum follow-up of 7.5 years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 35 patients with 87 zygomatic implants were included. The mean follow-up period of the patients was 93 months. The zygomatic implant survival and complications were evaluated as criteria for success. RESULTS: There were no implant failures. Overall success rate without complications for zygomatic implant was 88.5%. Complications developed in 4 patients (1 cutaneous fistula and 3 mucositis). According to the results on an implant basis, patients with previously failed conventional implants had greater probability of complications. Patients with quad zygomatic implants had higher incidence of complications than those with two zygomatic implants. Fully threaded implant design was associated with higher incidence of mucositis than partially threaded design. No relation was found between implant success and smoking, prosthesis type, and antagonist dentition. When conducting the analysis using the patient as unit, only the antagonist dentition showed significant difference, the worst outcome being associated with the Toronto resin prosthesis. CONCLUSIONS: Zygomatic implants can be considered as a safe alternative to conventional implant insertions and bone grafting procedures in oral rehabilitation of patients with severely atrophic maxillary bone

Current oscillations in a metallic ring threaded by a time-dependent magnetic flux

We study a mesoscopic metallic ring threaded by a magnetic flux which varies linearly in time PhiM(t)=Phi t with a formalism based in Baym-Kadanoff-Keldysh non-equilibrium Green functions. We propose a method to calculate the Green functions in real space and we consider an experimental setup to investigate the dynamics of the ring by recourse to a transport experiment. This consists in a single lead connecting the ring to a particle reservoir. We show that different dynamical regimes are attained depending on the ratio hbar Phi/Phi0 W, being Phi0=h c/e and W, the bandwidth of the ring. For moderate lengths of the ring, a stationary regime is achieved for hbar Phi/Phi0 >W. In the opposite case with hbar Phi/Phi0 < W, the effect of Bloch oscillations driven by the induced electric field manifests itself in the transport properties of the system. In particular, we show that in this time-dependent regime a tunneling current oscillating in time with a period tau=2piPhi0/Phi can be measured in the lead. We also analyze the resistive effect introduced by inelastic scattering due to the coupling to the external reservoir.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figure

Detection of forest degradation caused by fires in Amazonia from time series of MODIS fraction images

A new method is presented to detect and assess the extent of burned forests in a tropical ecosystem. Our study area is located in Mato Grosso state southern flank of the Brazilian Amazon region. MODIS images are used over the dry season of year 2010. The proposed method is based on (i) linear spectral mixing model applied to MODIS imagery to derive soil and shade fraction images and (ii) image segmentation and classification applied to a multi-temporal dataset of MODIS-derived images. In a first step, deforested areas are identified and mapped from the soil fraction images while burned areas are identified and mapped from the shade fraction images. Then, burned forest areas are mapped by combining a forest/non forest mask with the resulting burned area map. Our results show that 14,220 km2 of forests were degraded by fire in Mato Grosso during year 2010. Our approach can be potentially used operationally for detecting forest degradation due to fires. The proposed method can also be applied to time series of medium and high spatial resolution images for regional and local analysis.JRC.H.3-Forest Resources and Climat

Land cover changes in the Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga biomes from 1990 to 2010 based on a systematic remote sensing sampling approach

Abstract - The main objective of our study was to provide consistent information on land cover changes between the years 1990 and 2010 for the Cerrado and Caatinga Brazilian seasonal biomes. These areas have been overlooked in terms of land cover change assessment if compared with efforts in monitoring the Amazon rain forest. For each of the target years (1990, 2000 and 2010) land cover information was obtained through an object-based classification approach for 243 sample units (10 km × 10 km size), using (E)TM Landsat images systematically located at each full degree confluence of latitude and longitude. The images were automatically pre-processed, segmented and labelled according to the following legend: Tree Cover (TC), Tree Cover Mosaic (TCM), Other Wooded Land (OWL), Other Land Cover (OLC) and Water (W). Our results indicate the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes lost (gross loss) respectively 265,595 km2 and 89,656 km2 of natural vegetation (TC + OWL) between 1990 and 2010. In the same period, these areas also experienced gain of TC and OWL. By 2010, the percentage of natural vegetation cover remaining in the Cerrado was 47% and in the Caatinga 63%. The annual (net) rate of natural vegetation cover loss in the Cerrado slowed down from ?0.79% yr?1 to ?0.44% yr?1 from the 1990s to the 2000s, while in the Caatinga for the same periods the rate increased from ?0.19% yr?1 to ?0.44% yr?1. In summary, these Brazilian biomes experienced both loss and gains of Tree Cover and Other Wooded Land; however a continued net loss of natural vegetation was observed for both biomes between 1990 and 2010. The average annual rate of change in this period was higher in the Cerrado (?0.6% yr?1) than in the Caatinga (?0.3% yr?1)

Improvement of endothelial function by Gunnera tinctoria extract with antioxidant properties

Indexación ScopusBackground: Gunnera tinctoria has been collected by Mapuche-Pewenche people for food and medicinal purposes. The high polyphenol content of methanolic extract from G. tinctoria leaves with chemical constituents such as ellagic acid and quercetin derivatives suggests its application to prevent endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to provide evidence of the protective effect of this extract on endothelial function by reducing oxidative stress induced by high d-glucose and H2O2, as well as by stimulating nitric oxide (NO) levels in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Results: A methanolic extract with a high content of polyphenols (520 ± 30 mg gallic acid equivalents/g dry extract) was obtained from G. tinctoria leaves. Its main constituent was ellagic acid. The results of Ferric reducing antioxidant power and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assays of the extract confirmed its antioxidant activity by inhibition pathway of radical species. The incubation of HUVECs with the extract decreased the apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) synthesis induced by high extracellular concentration of d-glucose or hydrogen peroxide. The extract increased endothelial NO levels and reduced vasoconstriction in human placental vessels. Conclusions: This study provides evidence about the antioxidant and endothelial protective properties of methanolic G. tinctoria leaf extract. The extract improves the availability of NO in HUVECs, inhibiting the production of ROS and vasoconstriction. © 2020, The Author(s).https://biolres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40659-020-00322-

Enantioselective voltammetry in chiral ionic liquid media

Enantioselective voltammetry in chiral ionic liquid media P. R. Mussini1*, S. Arnaboldi1, M. Longhi1, I.F. Buzzi1, S. Grecchi1, F. Sannicol\uf21, Simona Rizzo2, Voichita Michali1, E. Licandro1, S. Cauteruccio1, T. Bellini3, G. Zanchetta3, A. Gennaro,4 A.A. Isse4, C. Chiappe5, L. Guazzelli5 1 Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Milano, Dip. di Chimica, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy 2 Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari, CNR, via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy 3 Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Milano, Dip. di Biotecnologie Mediche e Medicina Traslazionale, Via Fratelli Cervi 93, 20090 Segrate (MI), Italy 4 Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Padova, Dip.di Scienze Chimiche, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy 5 Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Pisa, Dip. di Farmacia, via Bonanno 33, 56126 Pisa, Italy. *[email protected] Chiral media enabling enantiorecognition of chiral probes on achiral electrodes (in terms of significantly different peak potentials for the two probe enantiomers) represent an attractive target in voltammetry. Concerning possible ad hoc strategies, (a) on one hand, transmission of the chiral information should be more and more efficient with increasing structural order at the chiral medium| charged electrode interphase, and it has been recently shown that ionic liquid|electrode interphases are extremely well organized for many layers [1]; (b) on the other hand, outstanding enantioselection performances have been recently observed on electrode surfaces consisting in "inherently chiral" oligomer films, in which chirality originates from the whole main molecular backbone (also determining the material electroactivity), on account of a tailored torsion with high racemization barrier [2-6]. Combining both approaches, we recently developed two "inherently chiral" ionic liquids, consisting of dialkylated bicollidinium salts, with an atropisomeric bipyridinium cation featuring at least one octyl chain and bistrifilimidate counteranions.[7] They show high enantioselectivity in terms of wide potential differences for the enantiomers of a chiral probe when tested even as low concentration additives in commercial achiral ionic liquids. Importantly, similar ability (increasing with additive concentration) was also shown by other selectors of the same family, having shorter alkyl chains and/or different counteranions, and thus solid at room temperature but easier to synthesize [7]. Using such chiral selectors as additives in an achiral ionic liquid rather than as bulk media is even more attractive, since only a small quantity of the enantiopure selector is needed and a low melting point is no more required, but only sufficient solubility in the achiral ionic liquid. For instance, this allowed us to successfully exploit as additives for chiral voltammetry in ionic liquids other inherently chiral selectors based on different stereogenic elements, i.e., a bibenzimidazole atropisomeric scaffold [8,9] and a helicene one. The study provides further evidence of the general validity of the "inherent chirality" strategy, since large potential differences are observed on achiral electrodes for the enantiomers of chiral probes even of very different structure and electroactivity (like in our parallel research on inherently chiral electrodes), and possibly even in experiments with more than one chiral probe. Work is also in progress to better elucidate the process, including evaluation of the twisting power of our selectors as well as comparison with a family of ionic liquids and additives having cations derived from the natural pool, in which chirality originates from one or more stereocentres. References [1] Langmuir 2016, 32, 9507-9512. [2] Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 2623 [3] Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 15298. [4] Chem. Sci. 2015, 6,1706. [5] Chem. Eur. J. 2016 , 22,10839. [6] Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2016, 408, 7243. [7] Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 2079. [8] Electrochim. Acta 2015, 179, 250-262. [9] Electrochem. Comm. 2018, accepted. Acknowledgment. The support of Fondazione Cariplo/Regione Lombardia "Avviso congiunto per l\u2019incremento dell\u2019attrattivit\ue0 del sistema di ricerca lombardo e della competitivit\ue0 dei ricercatori candidati su strumenti ERC - edizione 2016\u201d (Project 2016-0923) to our chiral electrochemistry and electroanalysis research is gratefully acknowledged