Significant benefits of AIP testing and clinical screening in familial isolated and young-onset pituitary tumors

Context Germline mutations in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein (AIP) gene are responsible for a subset of familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA) cases and sporadic pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs). Objective To compare prospectively diagnosed AIP mutation-positive (AIPmut) PitNET patients with clinically presenting patients and to compare the clinical characteristics of AIPmut and AIPneg PitNET patients. Design 12-year prospective, observational study. Participants & Setting We studied probands and family members of FIPA kindreds and sporadic patients with disease onset ≤18 years or macroadenomas with onset ≤30 years (n = 1477). This was a collaborative study conducted at referral centers for pituitary diseases. Interventions & Outcome AIP testing and clinical screening for pituitary disease. Comparison of characteristics of prospectively diagnosed (n = 22) vs clinically presenting AIPmut PitNET patients (n = 145), and AIPmut (n = 167) vs AIPneg PitNET patients (n = 1310). Results Prospectively diagnosed AIPmut PitNET patients had smaller lesions with less suprasellar extension or cavernous sinus invasion and required fewer treatments with fewer operations and no radiotherapy compared with clinically presenting cases; there were fewer cases with active disease and hypopituitarism at last follow-up. When comparing AIPmut and AIPneg cases, AIPmut patients were more often males, younger, more often had GH excess, pituitary apoplexy, suprasellar extension, and more patients required multimodal therapy, including radiotherapy. AIPmut patients (n = 136) with GH excess were taller than AIPneg counterparts (n = 650). Conclusions Prospectively diagnosed AIPmut patients show better outcomes than clinically presenting cases, demonstrating the benefits of genetic and clinical screening. AIP-related pituitary disease has a wide spectrum ranging from aggressively growing lesions to stable or indolent disease course

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Power-Aware Multi-Layer Translucent Network Design: an Integrated OPEX/CAPEX Analysis

We propose a three-phase network design model minimizing CAPEX and OPEX in IP-over-WDM architectures. By forbidding reconfiguration (accounting for 58\% of the OPEX) we achieve only 4.2\% increase in power consumption at no CAPEX expenses. We propose a three-phase network design model minimizing CAPEX and OPEX in IP-over-WDM architectures. By forbidding reconfiguration (accounting for 58% of the OPEX) we achieve only 4.2% increase in power consumption at no CAPEX expenses

Corrosion Resistant FBG-Based Quasi-Distributed Sensor for Crude Oil Tank Dynamic Temperature Profile Monitoring

This article presents a corrosion resistant, maneuverable, and intrinsically safe fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based temperature optical sensor. Temperature monitoring is a critical activity for the oil and gas industry. It typically involves acquiring the desired parameters in a hazardous and corrosive environment. The use of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was proposed as a means of simultaneously isolating the optical fiber from the corrosive environment and avoiding undesirable mechanical tensions on the FBGs. The presented sensor head is based on multiple FBGs inscribed in a lengthy single mode fiber. The sensor presents an average thermal sensitivity of 8.82 ± 0.09 pm/°C, resulting in a typical temperature resolution of ~0.1 °C and an average time constant value of 6.25 ± 0.08 s. Corrosion and degradation resistance were verified by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy during 90 days exposure to high salinity crude oil samples. The developed sensor was tested in a field pilot test, mimicking the operation of an inland crude tank, demonstrating its abilities to dynamically monitor temperature profile

Perrogator: A Portable Energy-Efficient Interrogator for Dynamic Monitoring of Wavelength-Based Sensors in Wearable Applications

In this paper, we report the development of a portable energy-efficient interrogator (Perrogator) for wavelength-based optical sensors. The interrogator is based on a compact solution encompassing a white light source and the spectral convolution between the sensor and a tunable filter, which is acquired by a photodetector, where a microcontroller has two functions: (i) To control the filter tuning and to (ii) acquire the photodetector signal. Then, the data is sent to a single-board computer for further signal processing. Furthermore, the employed single-board computer has a Wi-Fi module, which can be used to send the sensors data to the cloud. The proposed approach resulted in an interrogator with a resolution as high as 3.82 pm (for 15.64 nm sweeping range) and maximum acquisition frequency of about 210 Hz (with lower resolution ~15.30 pm). Perrogator was compared with a commercial fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogator for strain measurements and good agreement between both devices was found (1.226 pm/µε for the commercial interrogator and 1.201 pm/µε for the proposed approach with root mean square error of 0.0144 and 0.0153, respectively), where the Perrogator has the additional advantages of lower cost, higher portability and lower energy consumption. In order to demonstrate such advantages in conjunction with the high acquisition frequency allowed us to demonstrate two wearable applications using the proposed interrogation device over FBG and Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) sensors. In the first application, an FBG-embedded smart textile for knee angle assessment was used to analyze the gait of a healthy person. Due to the capability of reconstructing the FBG spectra, it was possible to employ a technique based on the FBG wavelength shift and reflectivity to decouple the effects of the bending angle and axial strain on the FBG response. The measurement of the knee angle as well as the estimation of the angular and axial displacements on the grating that can be correlated to the variations of the knee center of rotation were performed. In the second application, a FPI was embedded in a chest band for simultaneous measurement of breath and heart rates, where good agreement (error below 5%) was found with the reference sensors in all analyzed cases