586 research outputs found
The effects of a revised Be e-capture rate on solar neutrino fluxes
The electron-capture rate on Be is the main production channel for Li
in several astrophysical environments. Theoretical evaluations have to account
for not only the nuclear interaction, but also the processes in the plasma
where Be ions and electrons interact. In the past decades several estimates
were presented, pointing out that the theoretical uncertainty in the rate is in
general of few percents. In the framework of fundamental solar physics, we
consider here a recent evaluation for the Be+e rate, not used up to now
in the estimate of neutrino fluxes. We analysed the effects of the new
assumptions on Standard Solar Models (SSMs) and compared the results obtained
by adopting the revised Be+e rate to those obtained by the one reported
in a widely used compilation of reaction rates (ADE11). We found that new SSMs
yield a maximum difference in the efficiency of the Be channel of about
-4\% with respect to what is obtained with the previously adopted rate. This
fact affects the production of neutrinos from B, increasing the relative
flux up to a maximum of 2.7\%. Negligible variations are found for the physical
and chemical properties of the computed solar models. The agreement with the
SNO measurements of the neutral current component of the B neutrino flux is
improved.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for the publication on A&
Methylglyoxal-dependent glycative stress and deregulation of SIRT1 functional network in the ovary of PCOS mice
Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are involved in the pathogenesis and consequences of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a complex metabolic disorder associated with female infertility. The most powerful AGE precursor is methylglyoxal (MG), a byproduct of glycolysis, that is detoxified by the glyoxalase system. By using a PCOS mouse model induced by administration of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), we investigated whether MG-dependent glycative stress contributes to ovarian PCOS phenotype and explored changes in the Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) functional network regulating mitochondrial functions and cell survival. In addition to anovulation and reduced oocyte quality, DHEA ovaries revealed altered collagen deposition, increased vascularization, lipid droplets accumulation and altered steroidogenesis. Here we observed increased intraovarian MG-AGE levels in association with enhanced expression of receptor for AGEs (RAGEs) and deregulation of the glyoxalase system, hallmarks of glycative stress. Moreover, DHEA mice exhibited enhanced ovarian expression of SIRT1 along with increased protein levels of SIRT3 and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), and decreased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1 alpha (PGC1 alpha), mitochondrial transcriptional factor A (mtTFA) and translocase of outer mitochondrial membrane 20 (TOMM20). Finally, the presence of autophagy protein markers and increased AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) suggested the involvement of SIRT1/AMPK axis in autophagy activation. Overall, present findings demonstrate that MG-dependent glycative stress is involved in ovarian dysfunctions associated to PCOS and support the hypothesis of a SIRT1-dependent adaptive response
Facility for validating technologies for the autonomous space rendezvous and docking to uncooperative targets
We present the latest advancements in the air-bearing facility installed at La Sapienza’s GN Lab in the School of Aerospace Engineering. This facility has been utilized in recent times to validate robust control laws for simultaneous attitude control and vibration active damping. The instrumentation and testbed have been restructured and enhanced to enable simulations of close proximity operations. Relative pose determination, accomplished through visual navigation as either an auxiliary or standalone system, is the first building block. Leveraging the acquired knowledge, optimal guidance and control algorithms can be tested for contactless operations (e.g. on-orbit inspection), as well as berthing and docking tasks
Early invasive strategy (< 24 hours) in patients with acute coronary syndromes: Weighing the evidence
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Physical Activity Classification for Elderly People in Free-Living Conditions
Physical activity is strongly linked with mental and physical health in the elderly population and accurate monitoring of activities of daily living (ADLs) can help improve quality of life and well-being. This study presents and validates an inertial sensors-based physical activity classification system developed with older adults as the target population. The dataset was collected in free-living conditions without placing constraints on the way and order of performing ADLs. Four sensor locations (chest, lower back, wrist, and thigh) were explored to obtain the optimal number and combination of sensors by finding the best tradeoff between the system's performance and wearability. Several feature selection techniques were implemented on the feature set obtained from acceleration and angular velocity signals to classify four major ADLs (sitting, standing, walking, and lying). A support vector machine was used for the classification of the ADLs. The findings show the potential of different solutions (single sensor or multisensor) to correctly classify the ADLs of older people in free-living conditions. Considering a minimal set-up of a single sensor, the sensor worn at the L5 achieved the best performance. A two-sensor solution (L5 + thigh) achieved a better performance with respect to a single-sensor solution. By contrast, considering more than two sensors did not provide further improvements. Finally, we evaluated the computational cost of different solutions and it was shown that a feature selection step can reduce the computational cost of the system and increase the system performance in most cases. This can be helpful for real-time applications.<br/
FRAT-up, a Web-based fall-risk assessment tool for elderly people living in the community.
Background: About 30% of people over 65 are subject to at least one unintentional fall a year. Fall prevention protocols and
interventions can decrease the number of falls. To be effective, a prevention strategy requires a prior step to evaluate the fall risk
of the subjects. Despite extensive research, existing assessment tools for fall risk have been insufficient for predicting falls.
Objective: The goal of this study is to present a novel web-based fall-risk assessment tool (FRAT-up) and to evaluate its accuracy
in predicting falls, within a context of community-dwelling persons aged 65 and up.
Methods: FRAT-up is based on the assumption that a subject\u2019s fall risk is given by the contribution of their exposure to each
of the known fall-risk factors. Many scientific studies have investigated the relationship between falls and risk factors. The
majority of these studies adopted statistical approaches, usually providing quantitative information such as odds ratios. FRAT-up
exploits these numerical results to compute how each single factor contributes to the overall fall risk. FRAT-up is based on a
formal ontology that enlists a number of known risk factors, together with quantitative findings in terms of odds ratios. From
such information, an automatic algorithm generates a rule-based probabilistic logic program, that is, a set of rules for each risk
factor. The rule-based program takes the health profile of the subject (in terms of exposure to the risk factors) and computes the
fall risk. A Web-based interface allows users to input health profiles and to visualize the risk assessment for the given subject.
FRAT-up has been evaluated on the InCHIANTI Study dataset, a representative population-based study of older persons living
in the Chianti area (Tuscany, Italy). We compared reported falls with predicted ones and computed performance indicators.
Results: The obtained area under curve of the receiver operating characteristic was 0.642 (95% CI 0.614-0.669), while the Brier
score was 0.174. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test indicated statistical significance of miscalibration.
Conclusions: FRAT-up is a web-based tool for evaluating the fall risk of people aged 65 or up living in the community. Validation
results of fall risks computed by FRAT-up show that its performance is comparable to externally validated state-of-the-art tools.
A prototype is freely available through a web-based interface.
Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01331512 (The InChianti Follow-Up Study);
http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01331512 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6UDrrRuaR)
Revision of the 15N(p,{\gamma})16O reaction rate and oxygen abundance in H-burning zones
The NO cycle takes place in the deepest layer of a H-burning core or shell,
when the temperature exceeds T {\simeq} 30 {\cdot} 106 K. The O depletion
observed in some globular cluster giant stars, always associated with a Na
enhancement, may be due to either a deep mixing during the RGB (red giant
branch) phase of the star or to the pollution of the primordial gas by an early
population of massive AGB (asymptotic giant branch) stars, whose chemical
composition was modified by the hot bottom burning. In both cases, the NO cycle
is responsible for the O depletion. The activation of this cycle depends on the
rate of the 15N(p,{\gamma})16O reaction. A precise evaluation of this reaction
rate at temperatures as low as experienced in H-burning zones in stellar
interiors is mandatory to understand the observed O abundances. We present a
new measurement of the 15N(p,{\gamma})16O reaction performed at LUNA covering
for the first time the center of mass energy range 70-370 keV, which
corresponds to stellar temperatures between 65 {\cdot} 106 K and 780 {\cdot}106
K. This range includes the 15N(p,{\gamma})16O Gamow-peak energy of explosive
H-burning taking place in the external layer of a nova and the one of the hot
bottom burning (HBB) nucleosynthesis occurring in massive AGB stars. With the
present data, we are also able to confirm the result of the previous R-matrix
extrapolation. In particular, in the temperature range of astrophysical
interest, the new rate is about a factor of 2 smaller than reported in the
widely adopted compilation of reaction rates (NACRE or CF88) and the
uncertainty is now reduced down to the 10% level.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Synchronization and directed percolation in coupled map lattices
We study a synchronization mechanism, based on one-way coupling of
all-or-nothing type, applied to coupled map lattices with several different
local rules. By analyzing the metric and the topological distance between the
two systems, we found two different regimes: a strong chaos phase in which the
transition has a directed percolation character and a weak chaos phase in which
the synchronization transition occurs abruptly. We are able to derive some
analytical approximations for the location of the transition point and the
critical properties of the system.
We propose to use the characteristics of this transition as indicators of the
spatial propagation of chaoticity.Comment: 12 pages + 12 figure
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