596 research outputs found
Insights from the Design Space Exploration of Flow-Guided Nanoscale Localization
Nanodevices with Terahertz (THz)-based wireless communication capabilities
are providing a primer for flow-guided localization within the human
bloodstreams. Such localization is allowing for assigning the locations of
sensed events with the events themselves, providing benefits in precision
medicine along the lines of early and precise diagnostics, and reduced costs
and invasiveness. Flow-guided localization is still in a rudimentary phase,
with only a handful of works targeting the problem. Nonetheless, the
performance assessments of the proposed solutions are already carried out in a
non-standardized way, usually along a single performance metric, and ignoring
various aspects that are relevant at such a scale (e.g., nanodevices' limited
energy) and for such a challenging environment (e.g., extreme attenuation of
in-body THz propagation). As such, these assessments feature low levels of
realism and cannot be compared in an objective way. Toward addressing this
issue, we account for the environmental and scale-related peculiarities of the
scenario and assess the performance of two state-of-the-art flow-guided
localization approaches along a set of heterogeneous performance metrics such
as the accuracy and reliability of localization.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Toward RGB LEDs based on rare earth-doped ZnO
By using ZnO thin films doped with Ce, Tb or Eu, deposited via radiofrequency magnetron sputtering, we have developed monochromatic (blue, green and red, respectively) light emitting devices (LEDs). The rare earth ions introduced with doping rates lower than 2% exhibit narrow and intense emission peaks due to electronic transitions in relaxation processes induced after electrical excitation. This study proves zinc oxide to be a good host for these elements, its high conductivity and optical transparency in the visible range being as well exploited as top transparent electrode. After structural characterization of the different doped layers, a device structure with intense electroluminescence is presented, modeled, and electrically and optically characterized. The different emission spectra obtained are compared in a chromatic diagram, providing a reference for future works with similar devices. The results hereby presented demonstrate three operating monochromatic LEDs, as well as a combination of the three species into another one, with a simply-designed structure compatible with current Si technology and demonstrating an integrated red-green-blue emission
Toward Standardized Performance Evaluation of Flow-guided Nanoscale Localization
Nanoscale devices featuring Terahertz (THz)-based wireless communication
capabilities are envisioned to be deployed within human bloodstreams. Such
devices are envisaged to enable fine-grained sensing-based applications for
detecting events for early indications of various health conditions, as well as
actuation-based ones such as the targeted drug delivery. Intuitively,
associating the locations of such events with the events themselves would
provide an additional utility for precision diagnostics and treatment. This
vision recently yielded a new class of in-body localization coined under the
term "flow-guided nanoscale localization". Such localization can be piggybacked
on THz-based communication for detecting body regions in which events were
observed based on the duration of one circulation of a nanodevice in the
bloodstream. From a decades-long research on objective benchmarking of
"traditional" indoor localization, as well as its eventual standardization
(e.g., ISO/IEC 18305:2016), we know that in early stages the reported
performance results were often incomplete (e.g., targeting a subset of relevant
metrics), carrying out benchmarking experiments in different evaluation
environments and scenarios, and utilizing inconsistent performance indicators.
To avoid such a "lock-in" in flow-guided localization, in this paper we discuss
a workflow for standardized evaluation of such localization. The workflow is
implemented in the form of an open-source framework that is able to jointly
account for the mobility of the nanodevices in the bloodstream, in-body THz
communication between the nanodevices and on-body anchors, and energy-related
and other technological constraints at the nanodevice level. Accounting for
these constraints, the framework is able to generate the raw data that can be
streamlined into different flow-guided solutions for generating standardized
performance benchmarks.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 15 references, available at:
https://bitbucket.org/filip_lemic/flow-guided-localization-in-ns3/src/master
Response of Tuber melanosporum fruiting to canopy opening in a PinusQuercus forest
[EN] The wild production of the highly appreciated fungus Tuber melanosporum is negatively affected by canopy closure in the stand. Habitat improvement has been proposed as a tool to recover the production in close forests, but evaluations based on scientific monitoring are still lacking. This study analyses the short-term effect of a pilot project on improvement of T. melanosporum reproduction habitat. The results support the project hypothesis that the canopy closure was hampering truffle fruiting in the larger brines. The silvicultural treatment alone has not triggered a clear positive response in all the truffieres, suggesting that complementary actions are necessary to ensure their sustainability. Weather conditions provoke a year-to-year variation in the fruiting and determine the responsiveness of the truffieres to the treatment. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Conselleria de Medi Ambient (Generalitat Valenciana) and VAERSA. CEAM is partly supported by Generalitat Valenciana, Fundacion Bancaja and the projects GRACCIE (Consolider-Ingenio 2010) and FEEDBACKS (Prometeo-Generalitat Valenciana).Garcia Barreda, S.; Reyna Domenech, S. (2013). Response of Tuber melanosporum fruiting to canopy opening in a PinusQuercus forest. Ecological Engineering. 53:54-60. doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2012.12.006S54605
Soluble Transferrin Receptor as Iron Deficiency Biomarker: Impact on Exercise Capacity in Heart Failure Patients
The soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) is a marker of tissue iron status, which could indicate an increased iron demand at the tissue level. The impact of sTfR levels on functional capacity and quality of life (QoL) in non-anemic heart failure (HF) patients with otherwise normal systemic iron status has not been evaluated. We conducted an observational, prospective, cohort study of 1236 patients with chronic HF. We selected patients with normal hemoglobin levels and normal systemic iron status. Tissue iron deficiency (ID) was defined as levels of sTfR > 75th percentile (1.63 mg per L). The primary endpoints were the distance walked in the 6 min walking test (6MWT) and the overall summary score (OSS) of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ). The final study cohort consisted of 215 patients. Overall QoL was significantly worse (51 +/- 27 vs. 39 +/- 20, p-value = 0.006, respectively), and the 6 MWT distance was significantly worse in patients with tissue ID when compared to patients without tissue ID (206 +/- 179 m vs. 314 +/- 155, p-value < 0.0001, respectively). Higher sTfR levels, indicating increased iron demand, were associated with a shorter distance in the 6 MWT (standardized beta = -0.249, p < 0.001) and a higher MLHFQ OSS (standardized fi = 0.183, p-value = 0.008). In this study, we show that in patients with normal systemic iron parameters, higher levels of sTfR are strongly associated with an impaired submaximal exercise capacity and with worse QoL
ATPase-Dependent Control of the Mms21 SUMO Ligase during DNA Repair
Modification of proteins by SUMO is essential for the maintenance of genome integrity. During DNA replication, the Mms21-branch of the SUMO pathway counteracts recombination intermediates at damaged replication forks, thus facilitating sister chromatid disjunction. The Mms21 SUMO ligase docks to the arm region of the Smc5 protein in the Smc5/6 complex; together, they cooperate during recombinational DNA repair. Yet how the activity of the SUMO ligase is controlled remains unknown. Here we show that the SUMO ligase and the chromosome disjunction functions of Mms21 depend on its docking to an intact and active Smc5/6 complex, indicating that the Smc5/6-Mms21 complex operates as a large SUMO ligase in vivo. In spite of the physical distance separating the E3 and the nucleotide-binding domains in Smc5/6, Mms21-dependent sumoylation requires binding of ATP to Smc5, a step that is part of the ligase mechanism that assists Ubc9 function. The communication is enabled by the presence of a conserved disruption in the coiled coil domain of Smc5, pointing to potential conformational changes for SUMO ligase activation. In accordance, scanning force microscopy of the Smc5-Mms21 heterodimer shows that the molecule is physically remodeled in an ATP-dependent manner. Our results demonstrate that the ATP-binding activity of the Smc5/6 complex is coordinated with its SUMO ligase, through the coiled coil domain of Smc5 and the physical remodeling of the molecule, to promote sumoylation and chromosome disjunction during DNA repair
Epigenetic clocks in relapse after a first episode of schizophrenia
The main objective of the present study was to investigate the association between several epigenetic clocks, covering different aspects of aging, with schizophrenia relapse evaluated over a 3-year follow-up period in a cohort of ninety-one first-episode schizophrenia patients. Genome-wide DNA methylation was profiled and four epigenetic clocks, including epigenetic clocks of chronological age, mortality and telomere length were calculated. Patients that relapsed during the follow-up showed epigenetic acceleration of the telomere length clock (p = 0.030). Shorter telomere length was associated with cognitive performance (working memory, r = 0.31 p = 0.015; verbal fluency, r = 0.28 p = 0.028), but no direct effect of cognitive function or symptom severity on relapse was detected. The results of the present study suggest that epigenetic age acceleration could be involved in the clinical course of schizophrenia and could be a useful marker of relapse when measured in remission stages
Famílies botàniques de plantes medicinals
Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia, Assignatura: Botànica Farmacèutica, Curs: 2013-2014, Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i
Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són els recull de 175 treballs d’una família botànica d’interès medicinal realitzats de manera individual. Els treballs han estat realitzat
per la totalitat dels estudiants dels grups M-2 i M-3 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica
durant els mesos d’abril i maig del curs 2013-14. Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pel professor de l’assignatura i revisats i finalment co-avaluats entre els propis estudiants. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica
Study of the decay
The decay is studied
in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of TeV
using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5
collected by the LHCb experiment. In the system, the
state observed at the BaBar and Belle experiments is
resolved into two narrower states, and ,
whose masses and widths are measured to be where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second
systematic. The results are consistent with a previous LHCb measurement using a
prompt sample. Evidence of a new
state is found with a local significance of , whose mass and width
are measured to be and , respectively. In addition, evidence of a new decay mode
is found with a significance of
. The relative branching fraction of with respect to the
decay is measured to be , where the first
uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third originates from
the branching fractions of charm hadron decays.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and
additional information, are available at
https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-028.html (LHCb
public pages
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