1,098 research outputs found
Preconditioners for state constrained optimal control problems with Moreau-Yosida penalty function
Optimal control problems with partial differential equations as constraints play an important role in many applications. The inclusion of bound constraints for the state variable poses a significant challenge for optimization methods. Our focus here is on the incorporation of the constraints via the Moreau-Yosida regularization technique. This method has been studied recently and has proven to be advantageous compared to other approaches. In this paper we develop robust preconditioners for the efficient solution of the Newton steps associated with solving the Moreau-Yosida regularized problem. Numerical results illustrate the efficiency of our approach
Infection after Acute Ischemic Stroke: Risk Factors, Biomarkers, and Outcome
Background. The activation of inflammatory cascades triggered by ischemic stroke may play a key role in the development of infections. Methods. Patients admitted with ischemic stroke within 24 hours were prospectively enrolled. Biomarkers of infection were measured on days 1, 3, and 5. The patients were continuously monitored for predefined infections.
Results. Patients with infection were older (OR 1.06 per year, 95% CI 1.01–1.11) and had a higher National Institute of Health Stroke Scale Score (NIHSS, OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.10–1.34), localization in the insula, and higher stroke volumes on diffusion-weighted imaging. The maximum temperature on days 1 and 3, leukocytes, interleukin-6, lipopolysaccharide-binding protein on days 1, 3, and 5, C-reactive protein on days 3 and 5, and procalcitonin on day 5 were higher and HLA-DR-expression on monocytes on days 1, 3, and 5 lower in patients with infection. Age and NIHSS predicted the development of infections. Infection was an independent predictor of poor functional outcome.
Conclusions. Severe stroke and increasing age were shown to be early predictors for infections after stroke
Transient lysosomal activation is essential for p75 nerve growth factor receptor expression in myelinated Schwann cells during Wallerian degeneration
Myelinated Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system express the p75 nerve growth factor receptor (p75NGFR) as a consequence of Schwann cell dedifferentiation during Wallerian degeneration. p75NGFR has been implicated in the remyelination of regenerating nerves. Although many studies have shown various mechanisms underlying Schwann cell dedifferentiation, the molecular mechanism contributing to the re-expression of p75NGFR in differentiated Schwann cells is largely unknown. In the present study, we found that lysosomes were transiently activated in Schwann cells after nerve injury and that the inhibition of lysosomal activation by chloroquine or lysosomal acidification inhibitors prevented p75NGFR expression at the mRNA transcriptional level in an ex vivo Wallerian degeneration model. Lysosomal acidification inhibitors suppressed demyelination, but not axonal degeneration, thereby suggesting that demyelination mediated by lysosomes may be an important signal for inducing p75NGFR expression. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) has been suggested to be involved in regulating p75NGFR expression in Schwann cells. In this study, we found that removing TNF-α in vivo did not significantly suppress the induction of both lysosomes and p75NGFR. Thus, these findings suggest that lysosomal activation is tightly correlated with the induction of p75NGFR in demyelinating Schwann cells during Wallerian degeneration
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Background. The activation of inflammatory cascades triggered by ischemic stroke may play a key role in the development of infections. Methods. Patients admitted with ischemic stroke within 24 hours were prospectively enrolled. Biomarkers of infection were measured on days 1, 3, and 5. The patients were continuously monitored for predefined infections. Results. Patients with infection were older (OR 1.06 per year, 95% CI 1.01-1.11) and had a higher National Institute of Health Stroke Scale Score (NIHSS, OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.10-1.34), localization in the insula, and higher stroke volumes on diffusion-weighted imaging. The maximum temperature on days 1 and 3, leukocytes, interleukin-6, lipopolysaccharide-binding protein on days 1, 3, and 5, C-reactive protein on days 3 and 5, and procalcitonin on day 5 were higher and HLA-DR-expression on monocytes on days 1, 3, and 5 lower in patients with infection. Age and NIHSS predicted the development of infections. Infection was an independent predictor of poor functional outcome. Conclusions. Severe stroke and increasing age were shown to be early predictors for infections after stroke
Current-induced highly dissipative domains in high Tc thin films
We have investigated the resistive response of high Tc thin films submitted
to a high density of current. For this purpose, current pulses were applied
into bridges made of Nd(1.15)Ba(1.85)Cu3O7 and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. By recording the
time dependent voltage, we observe that at a certain critical current j*, a
highly dissipative domain develops somewhere along the bridge. The successive
formation of these domains produces stepped I-V characteristics. We present
evidences that these domains are not regions with a temperature above Tc, as
for hot spots. In fact this phenomenon appears to be analog to the nucleation
of phase-slip centers observed in conventional superconductors near Tc, but
here in contrast they appear in a wide temperature range. Under some
conditions, these domains will propagate and destroy the superconductivity
within the whole sample. We have measured the temperature dependence of j* and
found a similar behavior in the two investigated compounds. This temperature
dependence is just the one expected for the depairing current, but the
amplitude is about 100 times smaller.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, Revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev.
ESID: A Visual Analytics Tool to Epidemiological Emergencies
Visual analysis tools can help illustrate the spread of infectious diseases
and enable informed decisions on epidemiology and public health issues. To
create visualisation tools that are intuitive, easy to use, and effective in
communicating information, continued research and development focusing on
user-centric and methodological design models is extremely important. As a
contribution to this topic, this paper presents the design and development of
the visual analytics application ESID (Epidemiological Scenarios for Infectious
Diseases). The goal of ESID is to provide a platform for rapid assessment of
the most effective interventions for infectious disease control. ESID provides
spatial-temporal analysis, forecasting, comparison of simulations, interactive
filters, and accessibility options. In its current form, it shows the
simulations of a hybrid graph-equation-based model as introduced in for
infection control. The model can be stratified for different age groups and
takes into account the properties of the infectious disease as well as human
mobility and contact behaviour.Comment: 6 pages, 5 images and 1 table, Eurovis workshop on visual analytics
(EuroVA) 202
Thermodynamic Models for Vapor-Liquid Equilibria of Nitrogen+Oxygen+Carbon Dioxide at Low Temperatures
For the design and optimization of CO2 recovery from alcoholic fermentation
processes by distillation, models for vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) are needed.
Two such thermodynamic models, the Peng-Robinson equation of state (EOS) and a
model based on Henry's law constants, are proposed for the ternary mixture
N2+O2+CO2. Pure substance parameters of the Peng-Robinson EOS are taken from
the literature, whereas the binary parameters of the Van der Waals one-fluid
mixing rule are adjusted to experimental binary VLE data. The Peng-Robinson EOS
describes both binary and ternary experimental data well, except at high
pressures approaching the critical region. A molecular model is validated by
simulation using binary and ternary experimental VLE data. On the basis of this
model, the Henry's law constants of N2 and O2 in CO2 are predicted by molecular
simulation. An easy-to-use thermodynamic model, based on those Henry's law
constants, is developed to reliably describe the VLE in the CO2-rich region
CENTORI: a global toroidal electromagnetic two-fluid plasma turbulence code
A new global two-fluid electromagnetic turbulence code, CENTORI, has been
developed for the purpose of studying magnetically-confined fusion plasmas on
energy confinement timescales. This code is used to evolve the combined system
of electron and ion fluid equations and Maxwell equations in toroidal
configurations with axisymmetric equilibria. Uniquely, the equilibrium is
co-evolved with the turbulence, and is thus modified by it. CENTORI is
applicable to tokamaks of arbitrary aspect ratio and high plasma beta. A
predictor-corrector, semi-implicit finite difference scheme is used to compute
the time evolution of fluid quantities and fields. Vector operations and the
evaluation of flux surface averages are speeded up by choosing the Jacobian of
the transformation from laboratory to plasma coordinates to be a function of
the equilibrium poloidal magnetic flux. A subroutine, GRASS, is used to
co-evolve the plasma equilibrium by computing the steady-state solutions of a
diffusion equation with a pseudo-time derivative. The code is written in
Fortran 95 and is efficiently parallelized using Message Passing Interface
(MPI). Illustrative examples of output from simulations of a tearing mode in a
large aspect ratio tokamak plasma and of turbulence in an elongated
conventional aspect ratio tokamak plasma are provided.Comment: 9 figure
Isolation and characterization of a new [FeFe]-hydrogenase from Clostridium perfringens
© 2015 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. This paper reports the first characterization of an [FeFe]-hydrogenase from a Clostridium perfringens strain previously isolated in our laboratory from a pilot-scale bio-hydrogen plant that efficiently produces H2 from waste biomasses. On the basis of sequence analysis, the enzyme is a monomer formed by four domains hosting various iron–sulfur centres involved in electron transfer and the catalytic center H-cluster. After recombinant expression in Escherichia coli, the purified protein catalyzes H2 evolution at high rate of 1645±16s−1. The optimal conditions for catalysis are in the pH range 6.5–8.0 and at the temperature of 50°C. EPR spectroscopy showed that the H-cluster of the oxidized enzyme displays a spectrum coherent with the Hox state, whereas the CO-inhibited enzyme has a spectrum coherent with the Hox-CO state. FTIR spectroscopy showed that the purified enzyme is composed of a mixture of redox states, with a prevalence of the Hox; upon reduction with H2, vibrational modes assigned to the Hred state were more abundant, whereas binding of exogenous CO resulted in a spectrum assigned to the Hox-CO state. The spectroscopic features observed are similar to those of the [FeFe]-hydrogenases class, but relevant differences were observed given the different protein environment hosting the H-cluster
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