Recovery blocks for communicating systems

In many practical applications of real-time computing (avionics, switching systems) a message-passing inter-processes communication approach is adopted for both modularity and reliability aims. In the present paper, the problem of adding fault-tolerance in a message passing multiprocesses environment is examined. Recovery blocks implementation schemes for both asynchronous and synchronous communications are proposed, with the aim of avoiding domino-effects and exploiting the message oriented system structure. When a sender process produces a message, an acceptance test is performed on the message by system procedures, which in sequence: i) transfer the message on the receiving process working memory, ii) save present process status, or in case of error, restore some previous process status, and iii) discard no longer needed status informations

DNA damage by a single intense shot of soft X-rays emitted by a laser-produced plasma

EnA suitable plane transmission line was developed and its behaviour analysed at 900 MHz radiofrequency fields to study the DNA mutability and repair of microorganisms. In this work, utilizing such a device, we investigated the behaviour of the DNA mutability and repair of Escherichia coli strains. The transmission line was very simple and versatile in changing its characteristic resistance and field intensity by varying its sizes. In absence of cell samples inside the transmission line, the relative modulation of the electric and/or magnetic field was ±31% with respect to the mean values, allowing the processing of more samples at different exposure fields in a single run. Slight decrease in spontaneous mutability to rifampicin-resistance of the E. Coli JC411 strain, was demonstrated in mismatch-repair proficient samples exposed to the radio-frequency fields during their growth on solid medium

Study of MicroPattern Gaseous detectors with novel nanodiamond based photocathodes for single photon detection in EIC RICH

Identification of high momentum hadrons at the future EIC is crucial, gaseous RICH detectors are therefore viable option. Compact collider setups impose to construct RICHes with small radiator length, hence significantly limiting the number of detected photons. More photons can be detected in the far UV region, using a windowless RICH approach. QE of CsI degrades under strong irradiation and air contamination. Nanodiamond based photocathodes (PCs) are being developed as an alternative to CsI. Recent development of layers of hydrogenated nanodiamond powders as an alternative photosensitive material and their performance, when coupled to the THick Gaseous Electron Multipliers (THGEM)-based detectors, are the objects of an ongoing R\&D. We report about the initial phase of our studies.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, RICH2018 conference proceedin

Lifestyle Modifications to Help Prevent Headache at a Developmental Age

Headache is the world's seventh most significant cause of disability-adjusted-life in people aged between 10 and 14 years. Therapeutic management is based on pharmacological approaches and lifestyle recommendations. Many studies show associations between each migraine-promoting lifestyle, behavioral triggers, frequency, and intensity of headaches. Nevertheless, the overall aspects of this topic lack any definitive evidence. Educational programs advise that pediatric patients who suffer from migraines follow a correct lifestyle and that this is of the utmost importance in childhood, as it will improve quality of life and assist adult patients in avoiding headache chronicity, increasing general well-being. These data are important due to the scarcity of scientific evidence on drug therapy for prophylaxis during the developmental age. The "lifestyle recommendations" described in the literature include a perfect balance between regular sleep and meal, adequate hydration, limited consumption of caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol, regular physical activity to avoid being overweight as well as any other elements causing stress. The ketogenic diet is a possible new therapeutic strategy for the control of headache in adults, however, the possible role of dietary factors requires more specific studies among children and adolescents. Educational programs advise that the improvement of lifestyle as a central element in the management of pediatric headache will be of particular importance in the future to improve the quality of life of these patients and reduce the severity of cephalalgic episodes and increase their well-being in adulthood. The present review highlights how changes in different aspects of daily life may determine significant improvements in the management of headaches in people of developmental age

Learning Pretopological Spaces for Lexical Taxonomy Acquisition

International audienceIn this paper, we propose a new methodology for semi-supervised acquisition of lexical taxonomies from a list of existing terms. Our approach is based on the theory of pretopology that offers a powerful formalism to model semantic relations and transform a list of terms into a structured term space by combining different discriminant criteria. In order to learn a parameterized pretopological space, we define the Learning Pretopological Spaces strategy based on genetic algorithms. The rare but accurate pieces of knowledge given by an expert (semi-supervision) or automatically extracted with existing linguistic patterns (auto-supervision) are used to parameterize the different features defining the pretopological term space. Then, a structuring algorithm is used to transform the pretopological space into a lexical taxonomy, i.e. a direct acyclic graph. Results over three standard datasets (two from WordNet and one from UMLS) evidence improved performances against existing associative and pattern-based state-of-the-art approaches

Universal Role for HLA-C and KIR2Dl Ligand Mismatch in Severe Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease After Unrelated Donor Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (U-HSCT) in Japanese and Caucasian Transplant Recipients: An Analysis on Behalf of International Histocompatibility Working Group in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

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Sorgenti laser per biomateriali

In questo lavoro vengono messe a confronto due diverse tecniche per migliorare le proprietà delle superfici di materiali biomedici; l‟irraggiamento laser e l‟impiantazione ionica. L‟irraggiamento laser è eseguito mediante una sorgente ad eccimeri KrF e l‟impiantazione ionica mediante l‟acceleratore Platone che utilizza la tecnica LIS (Laser Ion Source). Mi-sure di angolo di contatto e rugosità sono state eseguite sui campioni prima e dopo ogni trattamento in modo da avere informazioni sulle modifiche. L‟impiantazione ionica è stata eseguita anche su target di acciaio AISI 420, lega utilizzata per realizzare strumenti medicali. Si è visto che l‟utilizzo di fasci di ioni di Ag aumenta l‟antibattericità degli strumenti

Nanodiamond photocathodes for MPGD-based single photon detectors at future EIC

The design of a Ring Imaging CHerenkov (RICH) detector for the identification of high momentum particles at the future Electron Ion Collider (EIC) is extremely challenging by using current technology. Compact collider setups impose to construct RICH with short radiator length, hence limiting the number of generated photons. The number of detected photons can be increased by selecting the far UV region. As standard fused-silica windows is opaque below 165 nm, a windowless RICH can be a possible approach. CsI is widely used photocathode (PC) for photon detection in the far UV range. Due to its hygroscopic nature it is very delicate to handle. In addition, its Quantum Efficiency (QE) degrades in high intensity ion fluxes. These are the key reasons to quest for novel PC with sensitivity in the far UV region. Recent development of layers of hydrogenated nanodiamond powders as an alternative PC material and their performance, when coupled to the THick Gaseous Electron Multipliers (THGEM)-based detectors, are the objects of an ongoing R\&D. We report here some preliminary results on the initial phase of these studies.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, MPGD-2019 La Rochelle, Proceedin

Noncanonical Fungal Autophagy Inhibits Inflammation in Response to IFN-γ via DAPK1

Defects in a form of noncanonical autophagy, known as LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP), lead to increased inflammatory pathology during fungal infection. Although LAP contributes to fungal degradation, the molecular mechanisms underlying LAP-mediated modulation of inflammation are unknown. We describe a mechanism by which inflammation is regulated during LAP through the death-associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1). The ATF6/C/EBP-β/DAPK1 axis activated by IFN-γ not only mediates LAP to Aspergillus fumigatus but also concomitantly inhibits Nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) activation and restrains pathogenic inflammation. In mouse models and patient samples of chronic granulomatous disease, which exhibit defective autophagy and increased inflammasome activity, IFN-γ restores reduced DAPK1 activity and dampens fungal growth. Additionally, in a cohort of hematopoietic stem cell-transplanted patients, a genetic DAPK1 deficiency is associated with increased inflammation and heightened aspergillosis susceptibility. Thus, DAPK1 is a potential drugable player in regulating the inflammatory response during fungal clearance initiated by IFN-γ

Does age matter? The impact of rodent age on study outcomes

Rodent models produce data which underpin biomedical research and non-clinical drug trials, but translation from rodents into successful clinical outcomes is often lacking. There is a growing body of evidence showing that improving experimental design is key to improving the predictive nature of rodent studies and reducing the number of animals used in research. Age, one important factor in experimental design, is often poorly reported and can be overlooked. The authors conducted a survey to assess the age used for a range of models, and the reasoning for age choice. From 297 respondents providing 611 responses, researchers reported using rodents most often in the 6–20 week age range regardless of the biology being studied. The age referred to as ‘adult’ by respondents varied between six and 20 weeks. Practical reasons for the choice of rodent age were frequently given, with increased cost associated with using older animals and maintenance of historical data comparability being two important limiting factors. These results highlight that choice of age is inconsistent across the research community and often not based on the development or cellular ageing of the system being studied. This could potentially result in decreased scientific validity and increased experimental variability. In some cases the use of older animals may be beneficial. Increased scientific rigour in the choice of the age of rodent may increase the translation of rodent models to humans