Decentralized approach for translational motion estimation with multistatic inverse synthetic aperture radar systems

This paper addresses the estimation of the target translational motion by using a multistatic Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) system composed of an active radar sensor and multiple receiving-only devices. Particularly, a two-step decentralized technique is derived: the first step estimates specific signal parameters (i.e., Doppler frequency and Doppler rate) at the single-sensor level, while the second step exploits these estimated parameters to derive the target velocity and acceleration components. Specifically, the second step is organized in two stages: the former is for velocity estimation, while the latter is devoted to velocity estimation refinement if a constant velocity model motion can be regarded as acceptable, or to acceleration estimation if a constant velocity assumption does not apply. A proper decision criterion to select between the two motion models is also provided. A closed-form theoretical performance analysis is provided for the overall technique, which is then used to assess the achievable performance under different distributions of the radar sensors. Additionally, a comparison with a state-of-the-art centralized approach has been carried out considering computational burden and robustness. Finally, results obtained against experimental multisensory data are shown confirming the effectiveness of the proposed technique and supporting its practical application

Musculoskeletal disorders among robotic surgeons: A questionnaire analysis

Objective: Robotic surgical systems offer better workplace in order to relieve surgeons from prolonged physical efforts and improve their surgical outcomes. However, robotic surgery could produce musculoskeletal disorders due to the prolonged sitting position of the operator, the fixed position of the console viewer and the movements of the limbs. Until today, no one study has been reported concerning the association between robotics and musculoskeletal pain. The aim of this work was verify the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among Italian robotic surgeons. Material and methods: Between July 2011 and April 2012 a modified Standardized Nordic Questionnaire was delivered to thirty-nine Italian robotic centres. Twentytwo surgeons (56%) returned the questionnaires but only seventeen questionnaires (43.5%) were evaluable. Results: Seven surgeons (41.2%) reported musculoskeletal disorders, by since their first use of the robot which significantly persisted during the daily surgical activity (P < 0.001). Regarding the body parts affected, musculoskeletal disorders were mainly reported in the cervical spine (29.4%) and in the upper limbs (23.5%). Six surgeons (35.3%) defined the robotic console as less comfortable or neither comfortable/uncomfortable with a negative influence on their surgical procedures. Conclusions: In spite of some important limitations, our data showed musculoskeletal disorders due to posture discomfort with negative impact on daily surgical activity among robotic surgeons. These aspects could be due to the lack of ergonomic seat and to the fixed position of the console viewer which could have produced an inadequate spinal posture. The evaluation of these postural factors, in particular the development of an integrated and more ergonomic chair, could further improve the comfort feeling of the surgeon at the console and probably his surgical outcomes

Superoxide reductase from Giardia intestinalis: structural characterization of the first sor from a eukaryotic organism shows an iron centre that is highly sensitive to photoreduction

Superoxide reductase (SOR), which is commonly found in prokaryotic organisms, affords protection from oxidative stress by reducing the superoxide anion to hydrogen peroxide. The reaction is catalyzed at the iron centre, which is highly conserved among the prokaryotic SORs structurally characterized to date. Reported here is the first structure of an SOR from a eukaryotic organism, the protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis (GiSOR), which was solved at 2.0 Å resolution. By collecting several diffraction data sets at 100 K from the same flash-cooled protein crystal using synchrotron X-ray radiation, photoreduction of the iron centre was observed. Reduction was monitored using an online UV-visible microspectrophotometer, following the decay of the 647 nm absorption band characteristic of the iron site in the glutamate-bound, oxidized state. Similarly to other 1Fe-SORs structurally characterized to date, the enzyme displays a tetrameric quaternary-structure arrangement. As a distinctive feature, the N-terminal loop of the protein, containing the characteristic EKHxP motif, revealed an unusually high flexibility regardless of the iron redox state. At variance with previous evidence collected by X-ray crystallography and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of prokaryotic SORs, iron reduction did not lead to dissociation of glutamate from the catalytic metal or other structural changes; however, the glutamate ligand underwent X-ray-induced chemical changes, revealing high sensitivity of the GiSOR active site to X-ray radiation damage

Increased levels of interleukin-6 exacerbate the dystrophic phenotype in mdx mice

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is characterized by progressive lethal muscle degeneration and chronic inflammatory response. The mdx mouse strain has served as the animal model for human DMD. However, while DMD patients undergo extensive necrosis, the affected muscles of adult mdx mice rapidly regenerates and regains structural and functional integrity. The basis for the mild effects observed in mice compared with the lethal consequences in humans remains unknown. In this study, we provide evidence that interleukin-6 (IL-6) is causally linked to the pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy. We report that forced expression of IL-6, in the adult mdx mice, recapitulates the severe phenotypic characteristics of DMD in humans. Increased levels of IL-6 exacerbate the dystrophic muscle phenotype, sustaining inflammatory response and repeated cycles of muscle degeneration and regeneration, leading to exhaustion of satellite cells. The mdx/IL6 mouse closely approximates the human disease and more faithfully recapitulates the disease progression in humans. This study promises to significantly advance our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms that lead to DMD

The O2-scavenging Flavodiiron Protein in the Human Parasite Giardia intestinalis

The flavodiiron proteins (FDP) are widespread among strict or facultative anaerobic prokaryotes, where they are involved in the response to nitrosative and/or oxidative stress. Unexpectedly, FDPs were fairly recently identified in a restricted group of microaerobic protozoa, including Giardia intestinalis, the causative agent of the human infectious disease giardiasis. The FDP from Giardia was expressed, purified, and extensively characterized by x-ray crystallography, stopped-flow spectroscopy, respirometry, and NO amperometry. Contrary to flavorubredoxin, the FDP from Escherichia coli, the enzyme from Giardia has high O(2)-reductase activity (>40 s(-1)), but very low NO-reductase activity (approximately 0.2 s(-1)); O(2) reacts with the reduced protein quite rapidly (milliseconds) and with high affinity (K(m) < or = 2 microM), producing H(2)O. The three-dimensional structure of the oxidized protein determined at 1.9A resolution shows remarkable similarities with prokaryotic FDPs. Consistent with HPLC analysis, the enzyme is a dimer of dimers with FMN and the non-heme di-iron site topologically close at the monomer-monomer interface. Unlike the FDP from Desulfovibrio gigas, the residue His-90 is a ligand of the di-iron site, in contrast with the proposal that ligation of this histidine is crucial for a preferential specificity for NO. We propose that in G. intestinalis the primary function of FDP is to efficiently scavenge O(2), allowing this microaerobic parasite to survive in the human small intestine, thus promoting its pathogenicity

A bag of tricks: Using proper motions of Galactic stars to identify the Hercules ultra-faint dwarf galaxy members

Hercules is the prototype of the ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies. To date, there are still no firm constraints on its total luminosity, due to the difficulty of disentangling Hercules bona-fide stars from the severe Galactic field contamination. In order to better constrain Hercules properties we aim at removing foreground and background contaminants in the galaxy field using the proper motions of the Milky Way stars and the colour-colour diagram. We have obtained images of Hercules in the rSloan, BBessel and Uspec bands with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and LBC-BIN mode capabilities. The rSloan new data-set combined with data from the LBT archive span a time baseline of about 5 yr, allowing us to measure for the first time proper motions of stars in the Hercules direction. The Uspec data along with existing LBT photometry allowed us to use colour-colour diagram to further remove the field contamination. Thanks to a highly-accurate procedure to derive the rSloan-filter geometric distortion solution for the LBC-red, we were able to measure stellar relative proper motions to a precision of better than 5 mas yr^-1 down to rSloan=22 mag and disentangle a significant fraction (\>90\%) of Milky Way contaminants. We ended up with a sample of 528 sources distributed over a large portion of the galaxy body (0.12 deg^2). Of these sources, 171 turned out to be background galaxies and additional foreground stars, from the analysis of the Uspec - BBessel vs. BBessel - rSloan colour-colour diagram. This leaves us with a sample of 357 likely members of the Hercules UFD. We compared the cleaned colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) with evolutionary models and synthetic CMDs, confirming the presence in Hercules of an old population (t=12\pm 2 Gyr), with a wide spread in metallicity (-3.3\<[Fe/H]\<-1.8).Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in A&

the rem observing software

The Rapid Eye Mount (REM) is a 60 cm robotic telescope located at La Silla, Chile. Its Observing Software (REMOS) is constituted by a set of distributed intercommunicating processes organized around a central manager. Together they grant the system safety, automatically schedule and perform observations with two simultaneous cameras of user-defined targets, and drive fast reaction to satellite alerts. Subsequent data reduction is left to pipelines managed by each camera

REM: Automatic for the People

We present the result of a year-long effort to think, design, build, realize, and manage the robotic, autonomous REM observatory, placed since June 2003 on the cerro La Silla, ESO Chile. The various aspects of the management and control are here surveyed, with the nice ideas and the wrong dead ends we encountered under way. Now REM is offered to the international astronomical community, a real, schedulable telescope, automatic for the People