Genomic approaches to unveil the physiological pathways activated in Arabidopsis treated with plant-derived raw extracts

DNA microarrays can be used to obtain a fingerprint of the transcriptional status of the plant or cell under a given condition and may be useful for characterising which genes respond, either by induction or repression, to novel stimuli or specific treatments. An in-depth bioinformatical analysis of all the data produced by microarrays can further highlight the metabolic or functional pathways most affected by the treatment. This approach has been used to investigate the effects induced by the treatment of different plant-derived raw materials, provided by Valagro SpA, on Arabidopsis seedlings. A clear example is represented by treatment with a raw plant-derived protein extract (VAL-P01). In this case the treatment induced genes related to ABA and osmotic stress treatment. We therefore demonstrated that VAL-P01 was able to mimic in planta the same pattern of responses linked to ABA treatment or osmotic stress, making the plant stronger against possible further stresses. Another plant extract, VAL-P02, was shown to be significantly altering the transcription of senescence genes, making it an ideal candidate adjuvant for the prolonged shelf-life of vegetal products

Modeling of Mid-IR Amplifier Based on an Erbium-Doped Chalcogenide Microsphere

An optical amplifier based on a tapered fiber and an Er3+-doped chalcogenide microsphere is designed and optimized. A dedicated 3D numerical model, which exploits the coupled mode theory and the rate equations, is used. The main transitions among the erbium energy levels, the amplified spontaneous emission, and the most important secondary transitions pertaining to the ion-ion interactions have been considered. Both the pump and signal beams are efficiently injected and obtained by a suitable design of the taper angle and the fiber-microsphere gap. Moreover, a good overlapping between the optical signals and the rare-earth-doped region is also obtained. In order to evaluate the amplifier performance in reduced computational time, the doped area is partitioned in sectors. The obtained simulation results highlight that a high-efficiency midinfrared amplification can be obtained by using a quite small microsphere

Stochastic Turing patterns in the Brusselator model

A stochastic version of the Brusselator model is proposed and studied via the system size expansion. The mean-field equations are derived and shown to yield to organized Turing patterns within a specific parameters region. When determining the Turing condition for instability, we pay particular attention to the role of cross diffusive terms, often neglected in the heuristic derivation of reaction diffusion schemes. Stochastic fluctuations are shown to give rise to spatially ordered solutions, sharing the same quantitative characteristic of the mean-field based Turing scenario, in term of excited wavelengths. Interestingly, the region of parameter yielding to the stochastic self-organization is wider than that determined via the conventional Turing approach, suggesting that the condition for spatial order to appear can be less stringent than customarily believed.Comment: modified version submitted to Phys Rev. E. 5. 3 Figures (5 panels) adde

Type-1 (CB1) cannabinoid receptor promotes neuronal differentiation and maturation of neural stem cells .

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are self-renewing cells that can differentiate into multiple neural lineages and repopulate regions of the brain after injury. We have investigated the role of endocannabinoids (eCBs), endogenous cues that modulate neuronal functions including neurogenesis, and their receptors CB1 and CB2 in mouse NSCs. Real-time PCR and Western blot analyses indicated that CB1 is present at higher levels than CB2 in NSCs. The eCB anandamide (AEA) or the CB1-specific agonist ACEA enhanced NSC differentiation into neurons, but not astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, whereas the CB2-specific agonist JWH133 was ineffective. Conversely, the effect of AEA was inhibited by CB1, but not CB2, antagonist, corroborating the specificity of the response. CB1 activation also enhanced maturation of neurons, as indicated by morphometric analysis of neurites. CB1 stimulation caused long-term inhibition of the ERK1/2 pathway. Consistently, pharmacological inhibition of the ERK1/2 pathway recapitulated the effects exerted by CB1 activation on neuronal differentiation and maturation. Lastly, gene array profiling showed that CB1 activation augmented the expression of genes involved in neuronal differentiation while decreasing that of stemness genes. These results highlight the role of CB1 in the regulation of NSC fate and suggest that its activation may represent a pro-neuronal differentiation signal

CORONARY PERFUSION:IMPACT OF FLOW DYNAMICS AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN OF TWO DIFFERENT AORTIC PROSTHESES OF SIMILAR SIZE

BackgroundAortic valve replacement leads to improvement of coronary flow but not to complete normalization. Coronary hypoperfusion contributes to higher left ventricular mass persistence, arrhythmias, congestive heart failure and sudden death. This prospective study compares 2 similarly sized aortic prostheses (mechanical and porcine) regarding coronary flow and hemodynamic performances in patients who underwent surgery for pure aortic stenosis.MethodsSixty patients having undergone aortic valve replacement for pure aortic stenosis with Medtronic Mosaic Ultra bioprosthesis 21 mm (n = 30) or St Jude Regent mechanical valve 19 mm (n = 30) were evaluated preoperatively and 12 months postoperatively comparing the coronary flow and the hemodynamic behavior. Echocardiography and cardiac positron emission tomography were performed at rest and during exercise or adenosine maximal stimulation, respectively.ResultsThe St Jude Regent mechanical valve, compared with the Medtronic Mosaic Ultra bioprosthesis, had reduced coronary flow reserve (2.1 ± 0.3 vs 2.3 ± 0.2; P = .003), less favorable systolic/diastolic time ratio (0.87 ± 0.02 vs 0.78 ± 0.03; P < .001), and higher mean transprosthetic gradient (46 ± 11 vs 38 ± 9; P = .003) during exercise. Multivariate analysis of impaired coronary reserve related indexed effective orifice area less than 0.65 cm/m2 (risk ratio [RR], 1.9; 95% confidence intervals [CI], 1.5-2.8; P < .001), mechanical valve (RR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.7-3.3; P < .001), and systolic/diastolic time ratio greater than 0.75 (RR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.8-3.8; P < .001), as well as high transprosthetic gradient (RR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.3-2.4; P < .001) ) during exercise with coronary reserve less than 2.2.ConclusionsImprovement of coronary flow and reserve was more evident for bioprostheses than for mechanical valves. The bioprostheses demonstrated superior hemodynamics during exercise, which may have some impact on exercise capability during normal daily life

An IPMSM torque/weight and torque/moment of inertia ratio optimization

In this paper, a torque/weight and torque/moment of inertia ratio optimization procedure for interior permanent magnet syncronous motors (IPMSMs) is presented. More in detail, a performance comparison between several IPMSM rotor structures has been carried out in order to determine the optimum geometry that can maximize the torque/weight and torque/moment of inertia ratios. A commercial motor, with known electrical and mechanical characteristics, has been taken as reference. Its rotor structure has been modified several times, obtaining different rotor geometries and, therefore, many IPMSM models with different electrical and mechanical characteristics. The finite element method (FEM) analysis of each IPMSMs has been performed using the software FEMM, allowing to determine the related torque/load-angle characteristics. From the comparison between the torque/load-angle characteristics of the different IPMSM structures, it can be stated that significant performance improvements can be obtained in dependence not only of the type of permanent magnets and their direction of magnetization, but also of the PM displacement within the rotor

Aortomesenteric fat thickness with ultrasound predicts metabolic diseases in obese patients

BACKGROUND:: The relation between visceral fat accumulation and development of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders has been demonstrated. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between a new ultrasound visceral fat thickness (VFT) measurement and clinical and anthropometric data in a consecutive series of obese patients. METHODS:: Fifty-five consecutive male obese patients underwent ultrasound evaluation and metabolic and anthropometric parameters determination at baseline and after 3 weeks of a very low-calorie diet (VLCD) therapy. The new ultrasound measurement, the thickness of the fat between the aorta and the superior mesenteric artery (AMFT), was determined along with the maximum thickness of preperitoneal fat and the global VFT. RESULTS:: AMFT showed a better correlation than VFT and preperitoneal fat with all anthropometric and metabolic parameters, both at baseline and after VLCD regimen. At baseline, patients in the middle and high AMFT and VFT tertiles had a significantly higher prevalence of metabolic diseases with respect to AMFT and VFT low tertile patients, whereas after VLCD period, AMFT only showed significant difference within tertiles. The odds ratios for the various metabolic diseases were higher in the middle and high AMFT tertiles than those in the middle and high VFT tertiles, remaining significant after adjustment for age, body mass index and VLCD regimen only in the middle and high AMFT tertiles. CONCLUSIONS:: The ultrasonographic AMFT evaluation is strongly correlated to the presence of metabolic syndrome and could be a valuable tool to predict metabolic diseases and associated cardiovascular risks in men. © 2013 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins

Detection of serum allergen-specific IgE in atopic dogs tested in northern Italy: Preliminary study

Canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) is a pruritic allergic skin disease associated with IgE-mediated hypersensitivity. IgE is detected using Serum Allergen-Specific IgE test (SAT) in order to identify allergens. The present study aims to identify the environmental allergens in atopic dogs living in Northern Italy using SAT. The screening SAT (sSAT), using a monoclonal antibody cocktail-based ELISA to identify indoor and outdoor allergens, was performed. In all positive samples, an anti-IgE monoclonal antibody ELISA test was performed to extend panel of allergens. Out of 117 selected dogs, 69 were included in the study; 71% were positive and 29% were negative to sSAT. Among the 49 positive sSAT, 53% were positive for both indoor and outdoor, 38.8% only for indoor, and 8.2% only for outdoor allergens. This is the first study on the frequency of allergens involved in CAD in Italy using SAT. IgE hypersensitivity in atopic dogs of Northern Italy is usually associated with indoor allergens, primarily house dust mites. Among the outdoor allergens, an important role was played by Rumex acetosa. Polysensitization also commonly occurs. Therefore, since the numerous factors affect the IgE positivity in CAD, specific panels for geographical areas should be considered and re-evaluated at time intervals