Phenotypic Diversity of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Implications for Therapy.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive incurable condition that is characterized by extensive remodeling of the pulmonary circulation, leading to severe right-sided heart failure and death. Similar to other vascular contractile cells, pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells play central roles in physiological and pathologic vascular remodeling because of their remarkable ability to dynamically modulate their phenotype to ensure contractile and synthetic functions. The dysfunction and molecular mechanisms underlying their contribution to the various pulmonary vascular lesions associated with PAH have been a major focus of research. The aim of this review is to describe the medial and nonmedial origins of contractile cells in the pulmonary vascular wall and present evidence of how they contribute to the onset and progression of PAH. We also highlight specific potential target molecules and discuss future directions that are being explored to widen the therapeutic options for the treatment of PAH

A robust morphological classification of high-redshift galaxies using support vector machines on seeing limited images. II. Quantifying morphological k-correction in the COSMOS field at 1<z<2: Ks band vs. I band

We quantify the effects of \emph{morphological k-correction} at $1<z<2$ by comparing morphologies measured in the K and I-bands in the COSMOS area. Ks-band data have indeed the advantage of probing old stellar populations for $z<2$, enabling a determination of galaxy morphological types unaffected by recent star formation. In paper I we presented a new non-parametric method to quantify morphologies of galaxies on seeing limited images based on support vector machines. Here we use this method to classify $\sim$$50 000$ $Ks$ selected galaxies in the COSMOS area observed with WIRCam at CFHT. The obtained classification is used to investigate the redshift distributions and number counts per morphological type up to $z\sim2$ and to compare to the results obtained with HST/ACS in the I-band on the same objects from other works. We associate to every galaxy with $Ks<21.5$ and $z<2$ a probability between 0 and 1 of being late-type or early-type. The classification is found to be reliable up to $z\sim2$. The mean probability is $p\sim0.8$. It decreases with redshift and with size, especially for the early-type population but remains above $p\sim0.7$. The classification is globally in good agreement with the one obtained using HST/ACS for $z<1$. Above $z\sim1$, the I-band classification tends to find less early-type galaxies than the Ks-band one by a factor $\sim$1.5 which might be a consequence of morphological k-correction effects. We argue therefore that studies based on I-band HST/ACS classifications at $z>1$ could be underestimating the elliptical population. [abridged]Comment: accepted for publication in A&A, updated with referee comments, 12 pages, 10 figure

Using the quantum probability ranking principle to rank interdependent documents

A known limitation of the Probability Ranking Principle (PRP) is that it does not cater for dependence between documents. Recently, the Quantum Probability Ranking Principle (QPRP) has been proposed, which implicitly captures dependencies between documents through “quantum interference”. This paper explores whether this new ranking principle leads to improved performance for subtopic retrieval, where novelty and diversity is required. In a thorough empirical investigation, models based on the PRP, as well as other recently proposed ranking strategies for subtopic retrieval (i.e. Maximal Marginal Relevance (MMR) and Portfolio Theory(PT)), are compared against the QPRP. On the given task, it is shown that the QPRP outperforms these other ranking strategies. And unlike MMR and PT, one of the main advantages of the QPRP is that no parameter estimation/tuning is required; making the QPRP both simple and effective. This research demonstrates that the application of quantum theory to problems within information retrieval can lead to significant improvements

Developmental trajectories of infants born at less than 30 weeks' gestation on the Bayley-III Scales

OBJECTIVE: To describe the cognitive, language and motor developmental trajectories of children born very preterm and to identify perinatal factors that predict the trajectories. DESIGN: Data from a cohort of 1142 infants born at <30 weeks' gestation who were prospectively assessed on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, third edition (Bayley-III) at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months corrected age, were analysed using the Super Imposition by Translation and Rotation (SITAR) growth curve analysis model. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Developmental trajectory SITAR models for Bayley-III cognitive, language (receptive and expressive communication subscales) and motor (fine and gross motor subscales) scores. RESULTS: The successfully fitted SITAR models explained 62% of variance in cognitive development, 68% in receptive communication, 53% in fine motor and 68% in the gross motor development. There was too much variation in the expressive communication subscale to fit a SITAR model. The rate of development (gradient of the curve) best explains the variation in trajectories of development in all domains. Lower gestational age, lower birth weight and male sex significantly predicted a slower rate of development. CONCLUSION: The rate of development, rather than single time point developmental assessment, best predicts the very preterm infant's developmental trajectory and should be the focus for monitoring and early intervention

Distributed Denial of Service Cyberbioattack Affecting Bacteria-based Biosensing Systems

Bacteria are microorganisms found in the human body, and almost in everywhere, that recently they have been investigated as human gut’s health indicator. After colonizing a surface, bacterial populations form biofilms, which is their natural protection mechanism against physical attacks, harmful chemical compounds and environmental changes. Recent studies have shown that bacteria can be engineered to act as biosensors and bioactuators, externally controlled by electric signals. Despite the benefits provided by biosensors in terms of metabolic diseases diagnosis and treatment, they also open the door to novel cyberbioattacks due to the impossibility of implementing security mechanisms in resource-constrained engineered bacteria. In this context, we have reproduced a distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyberbioattack performed by engineered bacteria that diffuse jamming signals affecting the production of the biofilm structure. A pool of experiments has shown that higher amplitudes and periods in the signal controlling the engineered bacteria have a greater impact on the biofilm disruption

Spin Relaxation in Single Layer Graphene with Tunable Mobility

Graphene is an attractive material for spintronics due to theoretical predictions of long spin lifetimes arising from low spin-orbit and hyperfine couplings. In experiments, however, spin lifetimes in single layer graphene (SLG) measured via Hanle effects are much shorter than expected theoretically. Thus, the origin of spin relaxation in SLG is a major issue for graphene spintronics. Despite extensive theoretical and experimental work addressing this question, there is still little clarity on the microscopic origin of spin relaxation. By using organic ligand-bound nanoparticles as charge reservoirs to tune mobility between 2700 and 12000 cm2/Vs, we successfully isolate the effect of charged impurity scattering on spin relaxation in SLG. Our results demonstrate that while charged impurities can greatly affect mobility, the spin lifetimes are not affected by charged impurity scattering.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Catalogue of Wave Energy Test Centres

The objective of this catalogue is to provide an overview of the development of wave energy projects across Europe. This is framed within the context of the need to address climate change and concerns over security of oil and gas supplies. Both of these have driven European policy-makers to develop and implement a European energy policy. The European Commission has set ambitious targets for all Member States through a Directive promoting the use of energy from renewable sources (2009/28/EC), taken forward at Member State level through a National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP). Many coastal European States have recognised that marine renewable energy developments will play a key role in meeting their targets. This document presents the targets set by each State in their NREAP and specifically identifies the level of ocean energy (tidal or wave) that would be required to meet those targets. Offshore wind is included for comparative purposes. The NREAP targets are supplemented by ocean energy objectives garnered from various other strategies and roadmaps. This report also addressed the future potential spatial footprint of wave energy developments. The targets set in the NREAPs and other documented scenarios are used to calculate the potential number and spatial extent of wave energy farms required, based on the current state of the technology and operational experience. These predictions will provide an essential contribution to future Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) systems in EU Member States. The final data section gives an overview of the wave energy development situation in Europe as of early 2011, summarising the wave energy projects that have been tested in the sea to date, those that are currently operational and those that are in the planning stage. These projects range from demonstration type projects to examples of where full-scale devices have been deployed or are planned for deployment in the near future. Information presented relates primarily to the physical characteristics of the site and the technology type in place. The catalogue concludes with a summary of the main findings from the above work. The document is accompanied by an Annex, with information on devices that have been tested in the sea since 1999, those that are currently operational and those that are in the planning stage. The data contained in the catalogue will act as the foundation for many of the SOWFIA Project‟s deliverables. Most imminently, an inventory of all available environmental impact data collected, or in the process of collection, at each of the wave energy test centres listed here will be developed. This catalogue therefore provides a snapshot of the state of the wave energy industry in Europe and its predicted development in the coming decade. It forms a baseline for understanding the developments needed in technology, policy, funding and monitoring. This is essential if the required European-wide device development and testing programmes, technical support infrastructure, and streamlined consenting and permitting regimes are to be developed to facilitate the growth of this industry. Throughout these processes, social, environmental and economic impacts must be considered. The report has four aims: to document the various targets set by coastal Member States for ocean energy; to determine the spatial requirements for these; to provide a methodology for progressing the technology; and to outline the devices that have been tested in the sea since 1999 and those that are in the planning stage.Inteligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Unio

Graphene for spintronics: giant Rashba splitting due to hybridization with Au

Graphene in spintronics has so far primarily meant spin current leads of high performance because the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling of its pi-electrons is very weak. If a large spin-orbit coupling could be created by a proximity effect, the material could also form active elements of a spintronic device such as the Das-Datta spin field-effect transistor, however, metal interfaces often compromise the band dispersion of massless Dirac fermions. Our measurements show that Au intercalation at the graphene-Ni interface creates a giant spin-orbit splitting (~100 meV) in the graphene Dirac cone up to the Fermi energy. Photoelectron spectroscopy reveals hybridization with Au-5d states as the source for the giant spin-orbit splitting. An ab initio model of the system shows a Rashba-split dispersion with the analytically predicted gapless band topology around the Dirac point of graphene and indicates that a sharp graphene-Au interface at equilibrium distance will account for only ~10 meV spin-orbit splitting. The ab initio calculations suggest an enhancement due to Au atoms that get closer to the graphene and do not violate the sublattice symmetry.Comment: 16 pages (3 figures) + supplementary information 16 pages (14 figures