Time and time-frequency analysis of near-infrared signals for the assessment of ozone autohemotherapy long-term effects in multiple sclerosis

Ozone autohemotherapy is an emerging therapeutic technique that is gaining increasing importance in treating neurological disorders. A validated and standard methodology to assess the effect of such therapy on brain metabolism and circulation is however still lacking. We used a near-infrared spectroscopy system (NIRS) to monitor the cerebral oxygenation of 9 subjects: 4 remitting-relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers and 5 controls. Subjects were tested before, during, and after ozone autohemotherapy. We monitored the concentration changes in the level of oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin, and in the level of the Cytochrome-c-oxidase (CYT-c). From the time and time-frequency analysis of the NIRS signals we extracted 128 variables, which were used to characterize the metabolic brain pattern during the therapy. We showed that by using only 7 NIRS variables out of 128 it is possible to characterize the metabolic brain pattern of the two groups of subjects. The MS subjects showed a marked increase of the CYT-c activity and concentration about 40 minutes after the end of the autohemotherapy, possibly revealing a reduction of the chronic oxidative stress level typical of MS sufferers. From a technical point of view, this preliminary study showed that NIRS could be useful to show the effects of ozone autohemotherapy at cerebral level, in a long term monitoring. The clinical result of this study is the quantitative measurement of the CYT-c level changes in MS induced by ozone autohemotherap

MODELLING STEEP SURFACES BY VARIOUS CONFIGURATIONS OF NADIR AND OBLIQUE PHOTOGRAMMETRY

Among the parts of the territory requiring periodical and careful monitoring, many have steep surfaces: quarries, river basins, land-slides, dangerous mountainsides. Aerial photogrammetry based on lightweight unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) is rapidly becoming the tool of election to survey limited areas of land with a high level of detail. Aerial photogrammetry is traditionally based on vertical images and only recently the use of significantly inclined imagery has been considered. Oblique photogrammetry presents peculiar aspects and offers improved capabilities for steep surface reconstruction. Full comprehension of oblique photogrammetry still requires research efforts and the evaluation of diverse case studies. In the present paper, the focus is on the photogrammetric UAS-based survey of a part of a large sandpit. Various flight configurations are considered: ordinary linear strips, radial strips (as the scarp considered has a semi-circular shape) and curved ones; moreover, nadir looking and oblique image blocks were acquired. Around 300 control points were measured with a topographic total station. The various datasets considered are evaluated in terms of density of the extracted point cloud and in terms of the distance between the reconstructed surface and a number of check points

A Catalogue of Digital Editions

Since the earliest days of hypertext, textual scholars have produced, discussed and theorised upon critical digital editions of manuscripts, in order to investigate how digital technologies can provide another means to present and enable the interpretative study of text. This work has generally been done by looking at particular case studies or examples of critical digital editions, and, as a result, there is no overarching understanding of how digital technologies have been employed across the full range of textual interpretations. This chapter will describe the creation of a catalogue of digital editions that could collect information about extant digital editions and, in so doing, contribute to research in related disciplines. The resulting catalogue will provide a means of answering, in the form of a quantitative survey, the following research questions: What makes a good digital edition? What features do digital editions share? What is the state of the art in the field of digital editions? Why are there so few electronic editions of ancient texts, and so many of texts from other periods? By collecting data regarding existing digital editions, and corresponding directly with the projects in question, we provide a unique record of extant digital critical editions of text across a range of subject areas, and show how this collaboratively edited catalogue can benefit the Digital Humanities community

Cardiac biomarker testing in the clinical laboratory: Where do we stand? General overview of the methodology with special emphasis on natriuretic peptides

Diagnosis of heart failure (HF) is not based on a single test, but on a combination of history, physical examination and appropriate investigations. For these reasons, the accuracy of diagnosis by clinical means alone is often inadequate, especially in the early, asymptomatic stages of the HF. Thus, there is an increasing interest in the development of new cardiovascular biomarkers and, consequently, a great number of laboratory tests have recently been proposed for their assay. The aim of this article is to provide a general overview on the biomarkers, recommended by international guidelines, for the diagnosis, risk stratification, and follow-up of patients with HF. Cardiac natriuretic peptides and in particular the B-type related peptides, which are considered to be the first line biomarker for HF by international guidelines, will be discussed with special emphasis

GEOMATICS FOR SMART CITIES: OBTAINING THE URBAN PLANNING BAF INDEX FROM EXISTING DIGITAL MAPS

The urban analytics expression is spreading out. To our understanding, it deals with the capability of measuring cities and their communities, as a support to their effective planning and management. In other words, being an analytically well-known city is a precondition for pursuing smartness. Urban planning is a very important item for city management and is interrelated with many layers, including urban environmental quality, air quality and well-being. Effective urban planning is based on the knowledge of quantitative parameters such as the biotope area factor (BAF), which was originally proposed for the city of Berlin and is currently used in other cities. The BAF index is used to evaluate the degree of soil permeability and measures, to a certain extent and from a specific point of view, how a city is eco-friendly. The usual way of evaluating the BAF is based on the manual construction of dedicated maps, using existing orthophotos and oblique imagery as a support. But this method is expensive, time-consuming and non-objective, as it is prone to different interpretations. The paper presents a newly-developed methodology for calculating the BAF. It is based on the use of existing digital cartography and on the application of geoprocessing techniques from GIS science: it is therefore fully automated and objective. The Pavia city (Northern Italy) is used as a testsite and a careful validation of the developed methodology is carried out, by comparison to 12 manually surveyed test areas, corresponding to 5% of the built-up areas of the municipality

Beam diagnostics for charge and position measurements in ELI-NP GBS

The advanced source of Gamma-ray photons to be built in Bucharest (Romania), as part of the ELI-NP European Research Infrastructure, will generate photons by Compton back-scattering in the collision between a multi-bunch electron beam and a high intensity recirculated laser pulse. An S-Band photoinjector and the following C-band Linac at a maximum energy of 720MeV, under construction by an European consortium (EurogammaS) led by INFN, will operate at 100Hz repetition rate with trains of 32 electron bunches, separated by 16ns and a 250pC nominal charge. The different BPMs and current transformers used to measure transverse beam position and charge along the LINAC are described. Design criteria, production status and bench test results of the charge and position pickups are reported in the paper, together with the related data acquisition systems

Novel Details of Calsequestrin Gel Conformation in Situ

Calsequestrin (CASQ) is the major component of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) lumen in skeletal and cardiac muscles. This calcium-binding protein localizes to the junctional SR (jSR) cisternae, where it is responsible for the storage of large amounts of Ca2+, whereas it is usually absent, at least in its polymerized form, in the free SR. The retention of CASQ inside the jSR is due partly to its association with other jSR proteins, such as junctin and triadin, and partly to its ability to polymerize, in a high Ca2+ environment, into an intricate gel that holds the protein in place. In this work, we shed some light on the still poorly described in situ structure of polymerized CASQ using detailed EM images from thin sections, with and without tilting, and from deep-etched rotary-shadowed replicas. The latter directly illustrate the fundamental network nature of polymerized CASQ, revealing repeated nodal points connecting short segments of the linear polymer. © 2013 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Published in the U.S.A

Isonitrile-responsive and bioorthogonally removable tetrazine protecting groups.

In vivo compatible reactions have a broad range of possible applications in chemical biology and the pharmaceutical sciences. Here we report tetrazines that can be removed by exposure to isonitriles under very mild conditions. Tetrazylmethyl derivatives are easily accessible protecting groups for amines and phenols. The isonitrile-induced removal is rapid and near-quantitative. Intriguingly, the deprotection is especially effective with (trimethylsilyl)methyl isocyanide, and serum albumin can catalyze the elimination under physiological conditions. NMR and computational studies revealed that an imine-tautomerization step is often rate limiting, and the unexpected cleavage of the Si-C bond accelerates this step in the case with (trimethylsilyl)methyl isocyanide. Tetrazylmethyl-removal is compatible with use on biomacromolecules, in cellular environments, and in living organisms as demonstrated by cytotoxicity experiments and fluorophore-release studies on proteins and in zebrafish embryos. By combining tetrazylmethyl derivatives with previously reported tetrazine-responsive 3-isocyanopropyl groups, it was possible to liberate two fluorophores in vertebrates from a single bioorthogonal reaction. This chemistry will open new opportunities towards applications involving multiplexed release schemes and is a valuable asset to the growing toolbox of bioorthogonal dissociative reactions