Massive MIMO Full-Duplex Relaying with Optimal Power Allocation for Independent Multipairs

With the help of an in-band full-duplex relay station, it is possible to simultaneously transmit and receive signals from multiple users. The performance of such system can be greatly increased when the relay station is equipped with a large number of antennas on both transmitter and receiver sides. In this paper, we exploit the use of massive arrays to effectively suppress the loopback interference (LI) of a decode-and-forward relay (DF) and evaluate the performance of the end-to-end (e2e) transmission. This paper assumes imperfect channel state information is available at the relay and designs a minimum mean-square error (MMSE) filter to mitigate the interference. Subsequently, we adopt zero-forcing (ZF) filters for both detection and beamforming. The performance of such system is evaluated in terms of bit error rate (BER) at both relay and destinations, and an optimal choice for the transmission power at the relay is shown. We then propose a complexity efficient optimal power allocation (OPA) algorithm that, using the channel statistics, computes the minimum power that satisfies the rate constraints of each pair. The results obtained via simulation show that when both MMSE filtering and OPA method are used, better values for the energy efficiency are attained.Comment: Accepted to the 16th IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications - SPAWC, Stockholm, Sweden 201

Clinical Profile and Management of Patient Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease and/or Peripheral Artery Disease in Clinical Practice : The APALUSA Study

Altres ajuts: Bayer Hispania S.L.This study was aimed to ascertain the clinical profile and management of patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and/or peripheral artery disease (PAD). In this observational and cross-sectional study developed in 80 hospitals throughout Spain, consecutive adults with stable IHD and/or PAD were included. A total of 1089 patients were analyzed, of whom 65.3% had only IHD, 17.8% PAD and 16.9% both. A total of 80.6% were taking only one antiplatelet agent, and 18.2% were on dual antiplatelet therapy (mainly aspirin/clopidogrel). Almost all patients were taking 1 lipid lowering drug, mainly moderate-to-high intensity statins. IHD patients took ezetimibe more commonly than PAD (43.9% vs. 12.9%; p < 0.001). There were more patients with IHD that achieved blood pressure targets compared to PAD (<140/90 mmHg: 67.9% vs. 43.0%; p < 0.001; <130/80 mmHg: 34.1% vs. 15.7%; p < 0.001), LDL-cholesterol (<70 mg/dL: 53.1% vs. 41.5%; p = 0.033; <55 mg/dL: 26.5% vs. 16.0%; p = 0.025), and diabetes (HbA1c < 7%, with SGLT2i/GLP1-RA: 21.7% vs. 8.8%; p = 0.032). Modifications of antihypertensive agents and lipid-lowering therapy were performed in 69.0% and 82.3% of patients, respectively, without significant differences between groups. The use of SGLT2i/GLP1-RA was low. In conclusion, cardiovascular risk factors control remains poor among patients with IHD, PAD, or both. A higher use of combined therapy is warranted

GPR37 is processed in the N‐terminal ectodomain by ADAM10 and furin

GPR37 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) implicated in several neurological diseases and important physiological pathways in the brain. We previously reported that its long N-terminal ectodomain undergoes constitutive metalloprotease-mediated cleavage and shedding, which have been rarely described for class A GPCRs. Here, we demonstrate that the protease that cleaves GPR37 at Glu167↓Gln168 is a disintegrin and metalloprotease 10 (ADAM10). This was achieved by employing selective inhibition, RNAi-mediated downregulation, and genetic depletion of ADAM10 in cultured cells as well as in vitro cleavage of the purified receptor with recombinant ADAM10. In addition, the cleavage was restored in ADAM10 knockout cells by overexpression of the wild type but not the inactive mutant ADAM10. Finally, postnatal conditional depletion of ADAM10 in mouse neuronal cells was found to reduce cleavage of the endogenous receptor in the brain cortex and hippocampus, confirming the physiological relevance of ADAM10 as a GPR37 sheddase. Additionally, we discovered that the receptor is subject to another cleavage step in cultured cells. Using site-directed mutagenesis, the site (Arg54↓Asp55) was localized to a highly conserved region at the distal end of the ectodomain that contains a recognition site for the proprotein convertase furin. The cleavage by furin was confirmed by using furin-deficient human colon carcinoma LoVo cells and proprotein convertase inhibitors. GPR37 is thus the first multispanning membrane protein that has been validated as an ADAM10 substrate and the first GPCR that is processed by both furin and ADAM10. The unconventional N-terminal processing may represent an important regulatory element for GPR37

Adhesion of freshwater sponge cells mediated by carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions requires low environmental calcium

Marine ancestors of freshwater sponges had to undergo a series of physiological adaptations to colonize harsh and heterogeneous limnic environments. Besides reduced salinity, river-lake systems also have calcium concentrations far lower than seawater. Cell adhesion in sponges is mediated by calcium-dependent multivalent self-interactions of sulfated polysaccharides components of membrane-bound proteoglycans named aggregation factors. Cells of marine sponges require seawater average calcium concentration (10\xC2\xA0mM) to sustain adhesion promoted by aggregation factors. We demonstrate here that the freshwater sponge Spongilla alba can thrive in a calcium-poor aquatic environment and that their cells are able to aggregate and form primmorphs with calcium concentrations 40-fold lower than that required by marine sponges cells. We also find that their gemmules need calcium and other micronutrients to hatch and generate new sponges. The sulfated polysaccharide purified from S. alba has sulfate content and molecular size notably lower than those from marine sponges. Nuclear magnetic resonance analyses indicated that it is composed of a central backbone of non- and 2-sulfated \xCE\xB1- and \xCE\xB2-glucose units decorated with branches of \xCE\xB1-glucose. Assessments with atomic force microscopy/single-molecule force spectroscopy show that S. alba glucan requires 10-fold less calcium than sulfated polysaccharides from marine sponges to self-interact efficiently. Such an ability to retain multi-cellular morphology with low environmental calcium must have been a crucial evolutionary step for freshwater sponges to successfully colonize inland waters

Programa de luta contra o estigma: resultados obtidos na forma??o nos profissionais da sa?de mental

Os utentes dos servi?os de sa?de mental sentem-se estigmatizados pelos profissionais. Analisam-se os resultados obtidos numa a??o formativa, dirigida aos profissionais da Casa de Sa?de S?o Jo?o de Deus-Barcelos. Construiu-se um estudo comparativo: 1?/ Efetuou-se um diagn?stico de situa??o; 2?/ avaliaram-se os resultados ap?s interven??o. Utilizado o instrumento AQ-27, vers?o portuguesa. N?o se observam diferen?as significativas, ? exce??o do evitamento. As a??es informativas devem integrar-se em processos interativos, n?o serem ?informa??o sobre? mas sim ?conhecimento de / junto de?, havendo uma maior interatividade (colaboradores-utente).B910-DDDF-6BB2 | Lu?s Carlos Carvalho da Gra?ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Origin and SEM analysis of aerosols in the high mountain of Tenerife (Canary Islands)

Focusing on aerosolized matter of relevance to respiratory health, a major public health issue worldwide, we studied mineral and biological aerosol (bioaerosol) composition (TSP and PM2.5) and geographical origins during dust intrusions in the Canary Islands. Seven days’ back- ward trajectories were assessed daily during March 2004 with the ends of back trajectories being the sampling station of Iza?a (high moun- tain, 2360 m a.s.l. at the Ca?adas del Teide National Park, Tenerife island), a free troposphere site allowing characterization of dust with low influence of other pollutant sources. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to survey major types of airborne particles in the dust plumes. Control, non-intrusion conditions correspond to Atlantic oceanic middle troposphere (OMT) air masses. Of the 14 samples taken, 1 corresponded to a control (clear atmosphere conditions), and the remaining 13 to dust intrusions, with the following sources: African Dust; EAM: mixture of Europe, Africa and Oceanic; MaA: maritime aerosols. Of the air masses, 79% were directly transported to the islands from Africa, and an increase of African dust events was detected when comparing with a 52-year previous data sequence. Quartz microcristals and aggregates of quartz and platy clay were the dominant minerals identified, with marine salt and gypsum also present. Freshwater diatom tests (from two Aulacoseira species) represented the most important biogenic aerosols, although fungi and pollen were also detected. The diverse and complex mixture of respirable particles in large quantities in airborne dust, especially from nearby Sahara and from the Sahelian region, is of maximum interest for air- way pathology in the Canaries, including the highly visited highlands in Tenerife.We acknowledge to the MEC (Ministry of Education and Science, Spain) and F.E.D.E.R. founds (E.U.) for the economical support of the following projects: CGL2005-03428-C04-02, CGL2007-66477-C02-02/CLI, CGL2008- 04740 and PI042005/033

Biodisel, uma abordagem ambiental: estratégias didáticas para melhoria do ensino de química.

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The certification of the mass fraction of carbon in cementite grains in a Fe-C matrix: IRMM-471

The report describes the production and certification of IRMM-471, a reference material certified for the carbon mass fraction of its cementite (Fe3C) grains. The Fe3C grains are dispersed within an iron pearlite matrix and present an average grain diameter between 20 µm and 50 μm. IRMM-471 has been produced and certified in order to be used as calibrant in electron probe micro-analyser (EPMA) for carbon determination in iron and steel products.JRC.D.2-Standards for Innovation and sustainable Developmen

Análise populacional de Caesalpinia pyramidalis Tul. (Fabaceae Lindl.) na caatinga da região do Seridó nordestino

This study aimed to contribute to the knowledge of population structure of Caesalpinia pyramidalis Tul. (catingueira) in areas of Caatinga in Northeastern Seridó, to obtain information about the species in the region studied. In two areas, one in Rio Grande do Norte (Area I) and another in Paraíba (Area II) were randomly located 20 plots of 20 m x 10 m, totaling 4,000 square meters of area sampling. All individuals of C. pyramidalis inserted inside the sample units had measured its diameter at the ground level (DGL) and total height. For the evaluation of the structure of the population, were calculated the density and frequency in each ontogenetic stage, the size of the class of natural regeneration for regeneration the basal area for adults, the pattern of spatial distribution and the Pearson correlation coefficient between ontogenetic stages. DGL and height of the subjects were divided into classes of frequency and the DGL x height was assessed by simple linear regression. Area I was sampled 722 individuals of C. pyramidalis, of which 366 were adults and 356 regeneration. Area II 536 specimens were sampled, with 226 belonging to the natural regeneration and 310 adults. The populations studied had a high density, average values for basal area and size class of natural regeneration, aggregated distribution with positive correlation between ontogenetic stages, and variation in height explained by the diameter measured at the ground level.O presente trabalho objetivou contribuir com o conhecimento da estrutura populacional de Caesalpinia pyramidalis Tul. (catingueira) em áreas de Caatinga no Seridó nordestino, com vistas a obter informações sobre a espécie na região estudada. Em duas áreas, uma no Rio Grande do Norte (Área I) e outra na Paraíba (Área II), foram instaladas aleatoriamente 20 parcelas de 20 m x 10 m, totalizando 4.000 m² de área amostral. Todos os indivíduos de C. pyramidalis inseridos no interior das unidades amostrais tiveram medidos seu diâmetro no nível do solo (DNS) e altura total. Para a avaliação da estrutura das populações, foram calculadas a densidade e a freqüência em cada estádio ontogenético, a classe de tamanho da regeneração natural para os regenerantes, a área basal para os adultos, o padrão de distribuição espacial e o coeficiente de correlação de Pearson entre os estádios ontogenéticos. O DNS e a altura dos indivíduos foram distribuídos em classes de freqüência e a relação DNS x altura foi avaliada por meio de regressão linear simples. Na Área I foram amostrados 722 indivíduos de C. pyramidalis, dos quais 366 eram regenerantes e 356 adultos. Na Área II foram amostrados 536 espécimes, sendo 226 pertencentes à regeneração natural e 310 adultos. As populações estudadas apresentaram alta densidade, valores médios para a área basal e a classe de tamanho da regeneração natural, distribuição agregada com correlação positiva entre os estádios ontogenéticos, e variação da altura explicada pelo do diâmetro medido no nível do solo