Induction and measurement of minute flow rates through nanopipes

A simple technique to simultaneously induce fluid flow through an individual nanopipe and measure the flow rate and the pressure difference across the pipe is described. Two liquid drops of different sizes are positioned at the two ends of the nanopipe. Due to the higher capillary pressure of the smaller drop, flow is driven from the smaller drop to the bigger drop. The instantaneous pressures of the two drops are estimated from the drops\u27 shapes and sizes. The flow rate is estimated by monitoring the sizes of the drops as functions of time with a microscope and a video camera. A theory that correlates the drops\u27 sizes and the flow rate is derived. Measurements are carried out with an ionic salt and glycerin to estimate the effective tube radius of the nanopipes with diameters ranging from 200 to 300 nm. The tubes\u27 diameters are independently measured with a scanning electron microscope. The method is also verified by tracking the motion of fluorescent particles through the nanopipe. The paper provides a simple technique for studying extremely low flow rates in nanofluidic systems. When working with low-evaporation fluids such as ionic salts, the measurements can be carried out with an electron microscope

Urokinase Induces Basophil Chemotaxis through a Urokinase Receptor Epitope That Is an Endogenous Ligand for Formyl Peptide Receptor-Like 1 and -Like 2

AbstractBasophils circulate in the blood and are able to migrate into tissues at sites of inflammation. Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) binds a specific high affinity surface receptor (uPAR). The uPA-uPAR system is crucial for cell adhesion and migration, and tissue repair. We have investigated the presence and function of the uPA-uPAR system in human basophils. The expression of uPAR was found at both mRNA and protein levels. The receptor was expressed on the cell surface of basophils, in the intact and cleaved forms. Basophils did not express uPA at either the protein or mRNA level. uPA (10−12–10−9 M) and its uPAR-binding N-terminal fragment (ATF) were potent chemoattractants for basophils, but did not induce histamine or cytokine release. Inactivation of uPA enzymatic activity by di-isopropyl fluorophosphate did not affect its chemotactic activity. A polyclonal Ab against uPAR inhibited uPA-dependent basophil chemotaxis. The uPAR-derived peptide 84–95 (uPAR84–95) induced basophil chemotaxis. Basophils expressed mRNA for the formyl peptide receptors formyl peptide receptor (FPR), FPR-like 1 (FPRL1), and FPRL2. The FPR antagonist cyclosporin H prevented chemotaxis induced by FMLP, but not that induced by uPA and uPAR84–95. Incubation of basophils with low and high concentrations of FMLP, which desensitize FPR and FPRL1, respectively, but not FPRL2, slightly reduced the chemotactic response to uPA and uPAR84–95. In contrast, desensitization with WKYMVm, which also binds FPRL2, markedly inhibited the response to both molecules. Thus, uPA is a potent chemoattractant for basophils that seems to act through exposure of the chemotactic uPAR epitope uPAR84–95, which is an endogenous ligand for FPRL2 and FPRL1

The Contribution of Case Mix, Skill Mix and Care Processes to the Outcomes of Community Hospitals: A Population-Based Observational Study

Introduction: Community hospitals (CHs) could address the emerging complex care needs of patients. We investigated which characteristics of patients' and CHs affect patient outcomes, in order to identify who could benefit the most from CH care and the best skill mix to deliver this care.Methods: We analysed all elderly patients discharged from the CHs of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. CH skill mix and care processes were collected with an ad hoc survey. The primary outcome was improvement in the Barthel index (BI) on discharge. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to test the associations under study.Results: 53% of the patients had a BI improvement >= 10. After adjusting for the diverse case mix of the patients, no significant association was found between CH characteristics and BI improvement. Patient characteristics explained only a portion of the variability in CH performance.Discussion: Heterogeneity in case mix reflects the nature of CHs, which play context-specific roles as integrators between primary care services and hospitals. Residual variability in BI improvement rates across CHs might be attributed to aspects of care not detected in our survey.Conclusions: More research is needed to study the impact of CH skill mix and care processes on patient outcomes

Structural connectivity associated with the sense of body ownership: a diffusion tensor imaging and disconnection study in patients with bodily awareness disorder

The brain mechanisms underlying the emergence of a normal sense of body ownership can be investigated starting from pathological conditions in which body awareness is selectively impaired. Here, we focused on pathological embodiment, a body ownership disturbance observed in brain-damaged patients who misidentify other people's limbs as their own. We investigated whether such body ownership disturbance can be classified as a disconnection syndrome, using three different approaches based on diffusion tensor imaging: (i) reconstruction of disconnectome maps in a large sample (N = 70) of stroke patients with and without pathological embodiment; (ii) probabilistic tractography, performed on the age-matched healthy controls (N = 16), to trace cortical connections potentially interrupted in patients with pathological embodiment and spared in patients without this pathological condition; (iii) probabilistic 'in vivo' tractography on two patients without and one patient with pathological embodiment. The converging results revealed the arcuate fasciculus and the third branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus as mainly involved fibre tracts in patients showing pathological embodiment, suggesting that this condition could be related to the disconnection between frontal, parietal and temporal areas. This evidence raises the possibility of a ventral self-body recognition route including regions where visual (computed in occipito-temporal areas) and sensorimotor (stored in premotor and parietal areas) body representations are integrated, giving rise to a normal sense of body ownership

One-to-one relationships between Industry 4.0 technologies and Lean Production techniques: a multiple case study

Production research literature and industry practice have started to pay increasing attention to the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) phenomenon. Scholars and practitioners identified a strong link between this paradigm and the well-known Lean Production (LP) paradigm. Most studies consider LP as a prerequisite of I4.0 and I4.0 as a tool to overcome LP limits and boost its practices. However, so far, these effects have been studied only at a high level, without an in-depth and comprehensive pairwise analysis at a practice-technology level. Moreover, few empirical studies have been carried out on this topic. Our paper attempts to fill these gaps by conducting a multiple case studies research to explain the one-to-one relationships between LP techniques and I4.0 technologies, and vice versa. More specifically, the one-to-one analysis examines the enabling effect of LP on I4.0 and the empowering effect of I4.0 on LP. Based on the empirical analyses, we propose a framework on the relationships between the two paradigms structured into six areas drawn from previous research (i.e., manufacturing equipment and processes, shop-floor management, workforce management, new product development, supplier relationships, customer relationships). Such representation clarifies the interdependence of the two paradigms in the whole supply chain

Digital twin-enabled smart industrial systems: a bibliometric review

The aim of this study is to investigate the body of literature on digital twins, exploring, in particular, their role in enabling smart industrial systems. This review adopts a dynamic and quantitative bibliometric method including works citations, keywords co-occurrence networks and keywords burst detection with the aim of clarifying the main contributions to this research area and highlighting prevalent topics and trends over time. The analysis performed on citations traces the backbone of contributions to the topic, visible within the main path. Keywords co-occurrence networks depict the prevalent issues addressed, tools implemented and application areas. The burst detection completes the analysis identifying the trends and most recent research areas characterizing research on the digital twin topic. Decision-making, process design and life cycle as well as the enabling role in the adoption of the latest industrial paradigms emerge as the prevalent issues addressed by the body of literature on digital twins. In particular, the up-to-date issues of real-time systems and industry 4.0 technologies, closely related to the concept of smart industrial systems, characterize the latest research trajectories identified in the literature on digital twins. In this context, the digital twin can find new opportunities for application in manufacturing, control and services