Design and validation of a virtual player for studying interpersonal coordination in the mirror game

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The mirror game has been recently proposed as a simple, yet powerful paradigm for studying interpersonal interactions. It has been suggested that a virtual partner able to play the game with human subjects can be an effective tool to affect the underlying neural processes needed to establish the necessary connections between the players, and also to provide new clinical interventions for rehabilitation of patients suffering from social disorders. Inspired by the motor processes of the central nervous system (CNS) and the musculoskeletal system in the human body, in this paper we develop a novel interactive cognitive architecture based on nonlinear control theory to drive a virtual player (VP) to play the mirror game with a human player (HP) in different configurations. Specifically, we consider two cases: the former where the VP acts as leader and the latter where it acts as follower. The crucial problem is to design a feedback control architecture capable of imitating and following or leading a human player in a joint action task. Movement of the end-effector of the VP is modeled by means of a feedback controlled Haken-Kelso-Bunz (HKB) oscillator, which is coupled with the observed motion of the HP measured in real time. To this aim, two types of control algorithms (adaptive control and optimal control) are used and implemented on the HKB model so that the VP can generate a human-like motion while satisfying certain kinematic constraints. A proof of convergence of the control algorithms is presented in the paper together with an extensive numerical and experimental validation of their effectiveness. A comparison with other existing designs is also discussed, showing the flexibility and the advantages of our control-based approach.This work was funded by the European Project AlterEgo FP7 ICT 2.9 - Cognitive Sciences and Robotics, Grant Number 600610

Clinical significance of altered nm23-H1, EGFR, RB and p53 expression in bilharzial bladder cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clinical characterization of bladder carcinomas is still inadequate using the standard clinico-pathological prognostic markers. We assessed the correlation between <it>nm23-H1</it>, <it>Rb, EGFR </it>and <it>p53 </it>in relation to the clinical outcome of patients with muscle invasive bilharzial bladder cancer (MI-BBC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p><it>nm23-H1</it>, <it>Rb, EGFR and p53 </it>expression was assessed in 59 MI-BBC patients using immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription (RT-PCR) and was correlated to the standard clinico-pathological prognostic factors, patient's outcome and the overall survival (OS) rate.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overexpression of <it>EGFR </it>and <it>p53 </it>proteins was detected in 66.1% and 35.6%; respectively. Loss of <it>nm23-H1</it>and <it>Rb </it>proteins was detected in 42.4% and 57.6%; respectively. Increased <it>EGFR and </it>loss of <it>nm23-H1 </it>RNA were detected in 61.5% and 36.5%; respectively. There was a statistically significant correlation between <it>p53 </it>and <it>EGFR </it>overexpression (<it>p </it>< 0.0001), <it>nm23 </it>loss (protein and RNA), lymph node status (<it>p </it>< 0.0001); between the incidence of local recurrence and <it>EGFR </it>RNA overexpression (p= 0.003) as well as between the incidence of metastasis and altered <it>Rb </it>expression (<it>p </it>= 0.026), <it>p53 </it>overexpression (<it>p </it>< 0.0001) and mutation (<it>p </it>= 0.04). Advanced disease stage correlated significantly with increased <it>EGFR </it>(protein and RNA) (<it>p </it>= 0.003 & 0.01), reduced <it>nm23-H1 </it>RNA (<it>p </it>= 0.02), altered <it>Rb </it>(<it>p </it>= 0.023), and <it>p53 </it>overexpression (<it>p </it>= 0.004). OS rates correlated significantly, in univariate analysis, with <it>p53 </it>overexpression (<it>p </it>= 0.011), increased <it>EGFR </it>(protein and RNA, <it>p </it>= 0.034&0.031), <it>nm23-H1 RNA </it>loss (<it>p </it>= 0.021) and aberrations of ≥ 2 genes. However, multivariate analysis showed that only high <it>EGFR </it>overexpression, metastatic recurrence, high tumor grade and the combination of ≥ 2 affected markers were independent prognostic factors.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>nm23-H1, EGFR </it>and <it>p53 </it>could be used as prognostic biomarkers in MI-BBC patients. In addition to the standard pathological prognostic factors, a combination of these markers (≥ 2) has synergistic effects in stratifying patients into variable risk groups. The higher is the number of altered biomarkers, the higher will be the risk of disease progression and death.</p

Morphology of localised attacks on 304 austenitic stainless steel stressed by constant tensile load

Differents forms of localised etch appear on solution heat-treated austenitic stainless steel exposed to solutions of H2SO4 + NaCl according to the SO4/Cl ratio, under well-defined experimental conditions: presence of pre-formed cavities, application of constant load, polarization to a potential in the region of imperfect passivity.The forms of etch and the effect of the various parameters are discussed.

pRb2/p130, p107 and p53 expression in precancerous lesions and squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix

The aim of this study was to investigate pRb2/p130, p107 and p53 expressions in precancerous lesions and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the uterine cervix. We evaluated Human Papillomavirus (HPV) testing and typing and pRb2/p130, p107 and p53 expressions (antibody D07) of 48 patients showing low-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (LCIN, 18 cases), high-grade CIN (HCIN, 13 cases) and SCC (17 cases). Paraffin-embedded tissue sections were analyzed for the study. High-risk HPV types were present in 67%, 89% and in 100% of HPV-positive LCIN, HCIN and SCC, respectively (Spearman's correlation coefficient: 0.393, p=0.035). Positive pRb2/p130 expression was detected in 89% of LCIN, 77% of HCIN and in 35% of SCC (p=0.001), whereas diffuse p107 expression was 72%, 62% and 100%, respectively (p=0.024). The results of p53 expression in CINs and SCCs showed values (not statistically significant) comparable with the literature data concerning the antibody D07. For the first time, we tested pRb2/p130]30 and p107 expressions in CINs and SCCs. We found a progressive decrease in pRb2 expression from CINs to SCCs that suggests an important role of pRb2 in cervical carcinogenesis. Indeed, p107 expression does not seem to be a useful factor. In our opinion, confirmed by the literature data, p53 immunostaining helps to biologically characterize CIN (in particular LCIN) when each case is evaluated separately considering HPV testing/typing