Adaptive channel selection for DOA estimation in MIMO radar

We present adaptive strategies for antenna selection for Direction of Arrival (DoA) estimation of a far-field source using TDM MIMO radar with linear arrays. Our treatment is formulated within a general adaptive sensing framework that uses one-step ahead predictions of the Bayesian MSE using a parametric family of Weiss-Weinstein bounds that depend on previous measurements. We compare in simulations our strategy with adaptive policies that optimize the Bobrovsky- Zaka{\i} bound and the Expected Cram\'er-Rao bound, and show the performance for different levels of measurement noise.Comment: Submitted to the 25th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), 201

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De cada obra s'ha digitalitzat un programa sencer. De la resta s'han digitalitzat les parts que són diferents.Empresa Juan A. PamiasÒpera de Giacomo Puccini i llibret de Giuseppe Adami i Renato Simon

Predictors of Local Control for Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SAbR) in Pulmonary Oligometastases from Gastrointestinal Malignancies

Background/aim: To assess predictors of local control (LC) for stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SAbR) in pulmonary oligometastatic disease (OMD) from gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies. Patients and methods: Patients with pulmonary OMD treated with SAbR from January 2016 to December 2018 were included in this observational analysis. Primary endpoint was LC. Uni- and multivariate analyses to assess variable correlations were conducted. Results: Thirty-seven patients and 59 lung metastases were evaluated. The delivered dose was 30-60 Gy in 3-8 fractions. After a median follow-up of 23.0 months (range=6.3-50.4 months), LC rate at 1/2 years was 89.7%/85.0%, and increased to 96.0%/91.0% for lesions treated with a biologically effective dose (BED10) ≥100 Gy (p=0.03). RECIST response at 6 months was predictive for LC (p=0.002). Conclusion: SAbR is an effective option for pulmonary OMD from GI malignancies. A BED10 ≥100 Gy and radiological response at 6 months can affect LC

Investigation on solubilization protocols in the refolding of the thioredoxin TsnC from Xylella fastidiosa by high hydrostatic pressure approach

The lack of efficient refolding methodologies must be overcome to take full advantage of the fact that bacteria express high levels of aggregated recombinant proteins. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) impairs intermolecular hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions, dissociating aggregates, which makes HHP a useful tool to solubilize proteins for subsequent refolding. A process of refolding was set up by using as a model TsnC, a thioredoxin that catalyzes the disulfide reduction to a dithiol, a useful indication of biological activity. The inclusion bodies (IB) were dissociated at 2.4 kbar. The effect of incubation of IB suspensions at 1–800 bar, the guanidine hydrochloride concentration, the oxidized/reduced glutathione (GSH/GSSG) ratios, and the additives in the refolding buffer were analyzed. To assess the yields of fully biologically active protein obtained for each tested condition, it was crucial to analyze both the TsnC solubilization yield and its enzymatic activity. Application of 2.4 kbar to the IB suspension in the presence of 9 mM GSH, 1 mM GSSG, 0.75 M guanidine hydrochloride, and 0.5 M arginine with subsequent incubation at 1 bar furnished high refolding yield (81%). The experience gained in this study shall help to establish efficient HHP-based protein refolding processes for other proteins.This work was supported by grants from the State of São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP (Process 10/13353-0) and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq (Process 479816/2007-7) and fellowship 134597/2010-9 from National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq

How Contemporary Human Reproductive Behaviors Influence the Role of Fertility-Related Genes: The Example of the P53 Gene

Studies on human fertility genes have identified numerous risk/protective alleles involved in the occurrence of reproductive system diseases causing infertility or subfertility. Investigations we carried out in populations at natural fertility seem to suggest that the clinical relevance that some fertility genes are now acquiring depends on their interaction with contemporary reproductive behaviors (birth control, delayed childbearing, and spacing birth order, among others). In recent years, a new physiological role in human fertility regulation has emerged for the tumor- suppressor p53 gene (P53), and the P53 Arg72Pro polymorphism has been associated with recurrent implantation failure in humans. To lend support to our previous observations, we examined the impact of Arg72Pro polymorphism on fertility in two samples of Italian women not selected for impaired fertility but collected from populations with different (premodern and modern) reproductive behaviors. Among the women at near-natural fertility (n = 98), the P53 genotypes were not associated with different reproductive efficiency, whereas among those with modern reproductive behaviors (n = 68), the P53 genotypes were associated with different mean numbers of children [Pro/Pro = 0.75<Pro/Arg = 1.7<Arg/Arg = 2, (p = 0.056)] and a significant negative relationship between the number of children and P53 Pro allele frequencies (p = 0.028) was observed. These results are consistent with those of clinical studies reporting an association between the P53 Pro allele and recurrent implantation failure. By combining these findings with previous ones, we suggest here that some common variants of fertility genes may have become “detrimental” following exposure to modern reproductive patterns and might therefore be associated with reduced reproductive success. Set within an evolutionary framework, this change could lead to the selection of a set of gene variants fitter to current reproductive behaviors as the shift to later child-bearing age in developed countries

The amniotic fluid-derived cells: the biomedical challenge for the third millennium

Human amniotic fluid cells (H-AFC) have been used as a diagnostic tool for the prenatal diagnosis of fetal genetic anomalies for more than 50 years