Cell bystander effect induced by radiofrequency electromagnetic fields and magnetic nanoparticles

Induced effects by direct exposure to ionizing radiation (IR) are a central issue in many fields like radiation protection, clinic diagnosis and oncological therapies. Direct irradiation at certain doses induce cell death, but similar effects can also occur in cells no directly exposed to IR, a mechanism known as bystander effect. Non-IR (radiofrequency waves) can induce the death of cells loaded with MNPs in a focused oncological therapy known as magnetic hyperthermia. Indirect mechanisms are also able to induce the death of unloaded MNPs cells. Using in vitro cell models, we found that colocalization of the MNPs at the lysosomes and the non-increase of the temperature induces bystander effect under non-IR. Our results provide a landscape in which bystander effects are a more general mechanism, up to now only observed and clinically used in the field of radiotherapy.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, submitted to International Journal of Radiation Biolog

Multipath Adaptive A∗: Factors That Influence Performance in Goal-Directed Navigation in Unknown Terrain

Indexación: Scopus.Incremental heuristic search algorithms are a class of heuristic search algorithms applicable to the problem of goal-directed navigation. D∗ and D∗Lite are among the most well-known algorithms for this problem. Recently, two new algorithms have been shown to outperform D∗Lite in relevant benchmarks: Multi-Path Adaptive A∗ (MPAA∗) and D∗ExtraLite. Existing empirical evaluations, unfortunately, do not allow to obtain meaningful conclusions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of these algorithms. Indeed, in the paper introducing D∗ExtraLite, it is shown that D∗Lite outperforms MPAA∗ in benchmarks in which the authors of MPAA∗ claim superiority over D∗Lite. The existence of published contradictory data unfortunately does not allow practitioners to make decisions over which algorithm to use given a specific application. In this paper, we analyze two factors that significantly influence the performance of MPAA∗, explaining why it is possible to obtain very different results depending on such factors. We identify a configuration of MPAA∗ which, in the majority of the benchmark problems we use, exhibits superior performance when compared to both D∗Lite and D∗ExtraLite. We conclude that MPAA∗ should be the algorithm of choice in goal-directed navigation scenarios in which the heuristic is accurate, whereas D∗ExtraLite should be preferred when the heuristic is inaccurate.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/912000

Investigation and management of residual sleepiness in CPAP-treated patients with obstructive sleep apnoea: the European view

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a major symptom of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), defined as the inability to stay awake during the day. Its clinical descriptors remain elusive, and the pathogenesis is complex, with disorders such as insufficient sleep and depression commonly associated. Subjective EDS can be evaluated using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, in which the patient reports the probability of dozing in certain situations; however, its reliability has been challenged. Objective tests such as the multiple sleep latency test or the maintenance of wakefulness test are not commonly used in patients with OSA, since they require nocturnal polysomnography, daytime testing and are expensive. Drugs for EDS are available in the United States but were discontinued in Europe some time ago. For European respiratory physicians, treatment of EDS with medication is new and they may lack experience in pharmacological treatment of EDS, while novel wake-promoting drugs have been recently developed and approved for clinical use in OSA patients in the USA and Europe. This review will discuss 1) the potential prognostic significance of EDS in OSA patients at diagnosis, 2) the prevalence and predictors of residual EDS in treated OSA patients, and 3) the evolution of therapy for EDS specifically for Europe

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one

Genetic divergence in two tropical maize composites after four cycles of reciprocal recurrent selection

First published: 6 January 2017; Open Access JournalTwo tropical maize composites were subjected to four cycles of reciprocal recurrent selection to develop divergent inbred lines with good combining ability. This study was conducted to examine the extent of genetic diversity, changes in allele composition and genetic structure, of 100 randomly selected S1 lines each from the original (C0) and advanced (C4) selection cycles of TZL COMP3 and TZL COMP4, genotyped using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Results revealed that the proportion of alleles at both low and high frequencies decreased from C0 to C4, whereas those at intermediate frequencies increased at C4 in the two composites. More unique and other alleles were lost at C4 in TZL COMP3 relative to those in TZL COMP4. The changes in different measures of genetic diversity were either small or negligible with selection in the two composites. The proportion of markers departing from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) decreased with selection, whereas the total number of pairs of markers in linkage disequilibrium increased with selection in the two composites. Examination of changes in population structures using a model-based approach as well as cluster and multivariate analyses found a high degree of concordance in stratifying the 400 S1 lines into four non-overlapping groups corresponding to the two selection cycles each within the reciprocal composites. The observed molecular-based divergence between cycles within the same composite and the clear differentiation between the complementary composites highlight the importance of reciprocal recurrent selection for preserving genetic diversity for long-term selection. This increases the potential of the advanced selection cycles to sustain genetic gain in productivity of hybrids adapted to the savannas in West and Central Africa

HIV gp120 Induces, NF-κB Dependent, HIV Replication that Requires Procaspase 8

HIV envelope glycoprotein gp120 causes cellular activation resulting in anergy, apoptosis, proinflammatory cytokine production, and through an unknown mechanism, enhanced HIV replication.We describe that the signals which promote apoptosis are also responsible for the enhanced HIV replication. Specifically, we demonstrate that the caspase 8 cleavage fragment Caspase8p43, activates p50/p65 Nuclear Factor kappaB (NF-kappaB), in a manner which is inhibited by dominant negative IkappaBalpha. This caspase 8 dependent NF-kappaB activation occurs following stimulation with gp120, TNF, or CD3/CD28 crosslinking, but these treatments do not activate NF-kappaB in cells deficient in caspase 8. The Casp8p43 cleavage fragment also transactivates the HIV LTR through NF-kappaB, and the absence of caspase 8 following HIV infection greatly inhibits HIV replication.Gp120 induced caspase 8 dependent NF-kappaB activation is a novel pathway of HIV replication which increases understanding of the biology of T-cell death, as well as having implications for understanding treatment and prevention of HIV infection

Neural network modelling of RC deep beam shear strength

YesA 9 x 18 x 1 feed-forward neural network (NN) model trained using a resilient back-propagation algorithm and early stopping technique is constructed to predict the shear strength of deep reinforced concrete beams. The input layer covering geometrical and material properties of deep beams has nine neurons, and the corresponding output is the shear strength. Training, validation and testing of the developed neural network have been achieved using a comprehensive database compiled from 362 simple and 71 continuous deep beam specimens. The shear strength predictions of deep beams obtained from the developed NN are in better agreement with test results than those determined from strut-and-tie models. The mean and standard deviation of the ratio between predicted capacities using the NN and measured shear capacities are 1.028 and 0.154, respectively, for simple deep beams, and 1.0 and 0.122, respectively, for continuous deep beams. In addition, the trends ascertained from parametric study using the developed NN have a consistent agreement with those observed in other experimental and analytical investigations