Cellular mechanisms of myocardial infarct expansion.

Infarct expansion is acute regional dilatation and thinning of the infarct zone. There are several possibilities for the mechanism of this alteration in cardiac shape: thinning could be caused by 1) cell rupture, 2) a reduction in the intercellular space, or 3) stretching of myocytes or 4) slippage of groups of myocytes so that less cells are distributed across the wall. To determine the relative contributions of these cellular mechanisms of wall thinning and dilatation, detailed study of transverse histological sections of rat hearts with infarct expansion was performed 1, 2, and 3 days after coronary ligation. The number of cells across the wall was determined in six regions within, adjacent to, and remote from the infarct. Cell counting was performed so that the total number of cells across the wall and the number of cells per unit length (cell density) across the wall were determined. The transmural cell count and the cell density were correlated with the wall thickness in each region. Myocyte cross-sectional areas and sarcomere lengths were also measured. The results from the infarct expansion hearts were compared with those of sham-operated control hearts that had been similarly analyzed. To ensure that mechanisms identified in the rat were applicable to human infarct expansion, five hearts from patients who died within 3 days of infarction and two hearts from patients without coronary disease wer

Multimodal validation of facial expression detection software for real-­time monitoring of affect in patients with suicidal intent

We sought to test the hypothesis that previously validated biomarkers of high risk for suicide, namely EEG event related potentials (ERP), Galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate variability (HRV) can be employed in combination with facial affect and pupil dilation measures, in a novel diagnostic battery that will ultimately increase reliability of clinical evaluations of suicidal persons

Associations of sitting accumulation patterns with cardio-metabolic risk biomarkers in Australian adults

Backgroun

Remote real-time monitoring of subsurface landfill gas migration

The cost of monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from landfill sites is of major concern for regulatory authorities. The current monitoring procedure is recognised as labour intensive, requiring agency inspectors to physically travel to perimeter borehole wells in rough terrain and manually measure gas concentration levels with expensive hand-held instrumentation. In this article we present a cost-effective and efficient system for remotely monitoring landfill subsurface migration of methane and carbon dioxide concentration levels. Based purely on an autonomous sensing architecture, the proposed sensing platform was capable of performing complex analytical measurements in situ and successfully communicating the data remotely to a cloud database. A web tool was developed to present the sensed data to relevant stakeholders. We report our experiences in deploying such an approach in the field over a period of approximately 16 months

Learning and animal movement

Authors acknowledge the following grants for supporting this research: NSERC Discovery (ML and MA-M), NSF DMS-1853465 (WF and EG), and Canada Research Chairs Program (ML and MA-M).Integrating diverse concepts from animal behavior, movement ecology, and machine learning, we develop an overview of the ecology of learning and animal movement. Learning-based movement is clearly relevant to ecological problems, but the subject is rooted firmly in psychology, including a distinct terminology. We contrast this psychological origin of learning with the task-oriented perspective on learning that has emerged from the field of machine learning. We review conceptual frameworks that characterize the role of learning in movement, discuss emerging trends, and summarize recent developments in the analysis of movement data. We also discuss the relative advantages of different modeling approaches for exploring the learning-movement interface. We explore in depth how individual and social modalities of learning can matter to the ecology of animal movement, and highlight how diverse kinds of field studies, ranging from translocation efforts to manipulative experiments, can provide critical insight into the learning process in animal movement.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

High-fat diet alters stress behavior, inflammatory parameters and gut microbiota in Tg APP mice in a sex-specific manner

Long-term high-fat diet (HFD) consumption commonly leads to obesity, a major health concern of western societies and a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Both conditions present glial activation and inflammation and show sex differences in their incidence, clinical manifestation, and disease course. HFD intake has an important impact on gut microbiota, the bacteria present in the gut, and microbiota dysbiosis is associated with inflammation and certain mental disorders such as anxiety. In this study, we have analyzed the effects of a prolonged (18 weeks, starting at 7 months of age) HFD on male and female mice, both wild type (WT) and TgAPP mice, a model for AD, investigating the behavioral profile, gut microbiota composition and inflammatory/phagocytosis-related gene expression in hippocampus. In the open-field test, no overt differences in motor activity were observed between male and female or WT and TgAPP mice on a low-fat diet (LFD). However, HFD induced anxiety, as judged by decreased motor activity and increased time in the margins in the open-field, and a trend towards increased immobility time in the tail suspension test, with increased defecation. Intriguingly, female TgAPP mice on HFD showed less immobility and defecation compared to female WT mice on HFD. HFD induced dysbiosis of gut microbiota, resulting in reduced microbiota diversity and abundance compared with LFD fed mice, with some significant differences due to sex and little effect of genotype. Gene expression of pro-inflammatory/phagocytic markers in the hippocampus were not different between male and female WT mice, and in TgAPP mice of both sexes, some cytokines (IL-6 and IFN¿) were higher than in WT mice on LFD, more so in female TgAPP (IL-6). HFD induced few alterations in mRNA expression of inflammatory/phagocytosis-related genes in male mice, whether WT (IL-1ß, MHCII), or TgAPP (IL-6). However, in female TgAPP, altered gene expression returned towards control levels following prolonged HFD (IL-6, IL-12ß, TNF¿, CD36, IRAK4, PYRY6). In summary, we demonstrate that HFD induces anxiogenic symptoms, marked alterations in gut microbiota, and increased expression of inflammatory genes, except for female TgAPP that appear to be resistant to the diet effects. Lifestyle interventions should be introduced to prevent AD onset or exacerbation by reducing inflammation and its associated symptoms; however, our results suggest that the eventual goal of developing prevention and treatment strategies should take sex into consideration.This work was supported by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO), Grant Numbers BFU2014-51836-C2-1-R to LMGS and MAA, BFU2014-51836-C2-2-R and BFU2017-82565-C21-R2 to JAC; Madrid Council S2010/BMD-2349 to MLC; Centre for Biomedical Network Research for Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) to JAC, Centre for Biomedical Network Research for Frailty and Healthy Ageing (CIBERFES) to LMGS and MAA, and Centre for Biomedical Network Research for Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED) to MLC. AC-C was granted with a FPI fellowship by the MINECO (BES-2015-072980)