Retroactivity attenuation in signaling cascades

It has been shown in an earlier work that impedance-like effects, called retroactivity, are found at the interconnection of biomolecular systems just as they occur in several engineering systems. These effects are particularly relevant in signaling cascades that have several downstream targets. These cascades have been extensively studied to determine how a stimulus at the top of the cascade is transmitted and amplified as it propagates toward the bottom of the cascade. In principle, because of retroactivity, a perturbation at the bottom of the cascade can propagate upstream. In this paper, we study the extent to which this propagation occurs by analytically finding retroactivity gains at each stage of the cascade. These gains determine whether a perturbation at the bottom of the cascade is amplified or attenuated as it propagates upstream.United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-09-1-0211

The conserved immunoglobulin domain controls the subcellular localization of the homophilic adhesion receptor protein-tyrosine phosphatase mu

The receptor protein-tyrosine phosphatase mu (PTPmu) is a homophilic adhesion protein thought to regulate cell-cell adhesion in the vascular endothelium through dephosphorylation of cell junction proteins. In subconfluent cell cultures, PTPmu resides in an intracellular membrane pool; however, as culture density increases and cell contacts form, the phosphatase localizes to sites of cell-cell contact, and its expression level increases. These characteristics of PTPmu, which are consistent with a role in cell-cell adhesion, suggest that control of subcellular localization is an important mechanism to regulate the function of this phosphatase. To gain a better understanding of how PTPmu is regulated, we examined the importance of the conserved immunoglobulin domain, containing the homophilic binding site, in control of the localization of the enzyme. Deletion of the immunoglobulin domain impaired localization of PTPmu to the cell-cell contacts in endothelial and epithelial cells. In addition, deletion of the immunoglobulin domain affected the distribution of PTPmu in subconfluent endothelial cells when homophilic binding to another PTPmu molecule on an apposing cell was not possible, resulting in an accumulation of the mutant phosphatase at the cell surface with a concentration at the cell periphery in the region occupied by focal adhesions. This aberrant localization correlated with reduced survival and alterations in normal focal adhesion and cytoskeleton morphology. This study therefore illustrates the critical role of the immunoglobulin domain in regulation of the localization of PTPmu and the importance of such control for the maintenance of normal cell physiology

Classification of human actions into dynamics based primitives with application to drawing tasks

We develop the study of primitives of human motion, which we refer to as movemes. The idea is to understand human motion by decomposing it into a sequence of elementary building blocks that belong to a known alphabet of dynamical systems. How can we construct an alphabet of movemes from human data? In this paper we address this issue by introducing the notion of well-posednes. Using examples from human drawing data, we show that the well-posedness notion can be applied in practice so to establish if sets of actions, viewed as signals in time, can define movemes

Searching for Hyperspectral Optical Proxies to Aid Chesapeake Bay Resource Managers in the Detection of Poor Water Quality

Shellfish aquaculture is a growing industry in the Chesapeake Bay. As population grows near the coast, extreme weather events cause a greater volume of pollutant runoff from impervious surfaces and agricultural lands. Resource managers who monitor shellfish beds need reliable information on a variety of water quality indicators at higher frequency than is possible through field monitoring programs and at a higher level of detail than current satellite products can provide. Although many factors causing degraded water quality that can impact human health are not currently discernable by traditional multispectral techniques, hyperspectral imagery offers a new opportunity to detect phytoplankton communities associated with harmful algal blooms and biotoxin production. Together with resource managers in their routine monitoring of sites around the bay from small boats, we have been exploring remotely sensed optical proxies for the detection of harmful algal blooms and sewage. Early warning by remote sensing could guide sampling and improve the efficiency of shellfish bed closures, ultimately improving health outcomes for humans and animals. An extensive network of routine sampling by Chesapeake Bay Program managers makes this is an ideal location to develop and test future satellite data products to support management decisions. Next generation hyperspectral measurements from the future Plankton Aerosol Cloud ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission at nearly daily frequency, combined with the potential of higher spatial resolution from the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) observing system recommended in the recent Decadal Survey, along with high frequency observations from the newly selected Geostationary Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer (GLIMR) Earth Venture Instrument make this a critical time for defining the needs of the aquaculture and resource management community to save lives, time, and money

Tratamiento de la artropatía crónica hemofílica mediante inyecciones intraarticulares de cortisona

Se evaluaron las historias clínicas de 34 pacientes hemofílicos con artropatía crónica severa (25 grado III y 9 grado IV), todos ellos con deformidades axiales, atrofia muscular y limitación del movimiento articular (31 rodillas, 2 tobillos y 2 hombros), a quienes se les inyectó intraarticularmcnte entre 1 y 9 dosis de cortisona de liberación prolongada con intervalos de 3 semanas. Se les realizó una evaluación subjetiva y objetiva en base a los siguientes parámetros: bueno: no dolor, incremento en los rangos de movimiento y total integración a las actividades de la vida diaria; regular: disminución del dolor, igual rango de movilidad y actividades de la vida diaria limitadas, y malo: persistencia del dolor, disminución de los rangos articulares y gran limitación para las actividades de la vida diaria. En la evaluación subjetiva obtuvimos 19 pacientes con buenos resultados, 12 regulares y 4 malos; en la evaluación objetiva obtuvimos 22 pacientes con buenos resultados, 9 regulares y 4 malos. Según los resultados obtenidos, la cortisona intraarticular parece ser un excelente tratamiento paliativo en la artropatía crónica hemofílica.Thirty four patients with chronic haemophilic arthropathy (25 grade III and 9 grade IV), having all axial deformities, muscular atrophy, and limitation of range of motion in the joint (31 knees, 2 ankles and 2 shoulders) were injected intrarticulary at 3 weeks interval with a long standing cortisone from 1 to 9 injections. Subjective and objective evaluation parameters were assessed considering as good no pain, increase range of motion and normal activity of daily life; fair with less pain, same range of motion and slight diminution of activity of daily life; and bad with persistence of pain, less range of motion and greater diminution of activity. We obtained in subjective evaluation 19 good results, 12 fair, and 4 bad; in objective evaluation we obtained 22 good results, 9 fair, and 4 bad. In conclusion, intrarticular cortisone seems to be a reliable treatment of chronic haemophilic arthropathy

Infinite index extensions of local nets and defects

Subfactor theory provides a tool to analyze and construct extensions of Quantum Field Theories, once the latter are formulated as local nets of von Neumann algebras. We generalize some of the results of [LR95] to the case of extensions with infinite Jones index. This case naturally arises in physics, the canonical examples are given by global gauge theories with respect to a compact (non-finite) group of internal symmetries. Building on the works of Izumi, Longo, Popa [ILP98] and Fidaleo, Isola [FI99], we consider generalized Q-systems (of intertwiners) for a semidiscrete inclusion of properly infinite von Neumann algebras, which generalize ordinary Q-systems introduced by Longo [Lon94] to the infinite index case. We characterize inclusions which admit generalized Q-systems of intertwiners and define a braided product among the latter, hence we construct examples of QFTs with defects (phase boundaries) of infinite index, extending the family of boundaries in the grasp of [BKLR16].Comment: 50 page

Cooperative Collision Avoidance at Intersections: Algorithms and Experiments

In this paper, we leverage vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology to implement computationally efficient decentralized algorithms for two-vehicle cooperative collision avoidance at intersections. Our algorithms employ formal control theoretic methods to guarantee a collision-free (safe) system, whereas overrides are only applied when necessary to prevent a crash. Model uncertainty and communication delays are explicitly accounted for by the model and by the state estimation algorithm. The main contribution of this work is to provide an experimental validation of our method on two instrumented vehicles engaged in an intersection collision avoidance scenario in a test track

Media use during adolescence: the recommendations of the Italian Pediatric Society.

BACKGROUND: The use of media device, such as smartphone and tablet, is currently increasing, especially among the youngest. Adolescents spend more and more time with their smartphones consulting social media, mainly Facebook, Instagram and Twitter because. Adolescents often feel the necessity to use a media device as a means to construct a social identity and express themselves. For some children, smartphone ownership starts even sooner as young as 7 yrs, according to internet safety experts. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We analyzed the evidence on media use and its consequences in adolescence. RESULTS: In literature, smartphones and tablets use may negatively influences the psychophysical development of the adolescent, such as learning, sleep and sigh. Moreover, obesity, distraction, addiction, cyberbullism and Hikikomori phenomena are described in adolescents who use media device too frequently. The Italian Pediatric Society provide action-oriented recommendations for families and clinicians to avoid negative outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Both parents and clinicians should be aware of the widespread phenomenon of media device use among adolescents and try to avoid psychophysical consequences on the youngest

Biological and Immunological Luteinizing Hormone Activity and Blood Metabolites in Postpartum Brahman Cows

Last updated: 6/1/200

The Onset of Puberty in the Bovine: Uterine and Ovarian Hormonal Interrelationships

Last updated: 6/1/200