Increased oxidative stress in asthma - relation to inflammatory blood and lung biomarkers and airway remodeling indices

Airway inflammation in asthma is related to increased reactive oxygen species generation, potentially leading to tissue injury and subsequent airway remodeling. We evaluated oxidative stress in peripheral blood from asthmatic subjects (n = 74) and matched controls (n = 65), using recently developed real-time monitoring of the protein hydroperoxide (HP) formation by the coumarin boronic acid (CBA) assay. We also investigated the relation of the systemic oxidative stress response in asthma to disease severity, lung function, airway remodeling indices (lung computed tomography and histology), and blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) inflammatory biomarkers. We documented enhanced systemic oxidative stress in asthma, reflected by 35% faster and 58% higher cumulative fluorescent product generation in the CBA assay (p < 0.001 for both). The dynamics of HP generation correlated inversely with lung function but not with asthma severity or histological measures of airway remodeling. HP generation was associated positively with inflammatory indices in the blood (e.g., C-reactive protein) and BAL (e.g., interleukin [IL]-6, IL-12p70, and neutrophil count). Bronchial obstruction, thicker airway walls, increased BAL IL-6, and citrullinated histone 3 in systemic circulation independently determined increased HP formation. In conclusion, a real-time CBA assay showed increased systemic HP generation in asthma. In addition, it was associated with inflammatory biomarkers, suggesting that proper disease control can also lead to a decrease in oxidative stress

Detailed Anatomical and Electrophysiological Models of Human Atria and Torso for the Simulation of Atrial Activation

Atrial arrhythmias, and specifically atrial fibrillation (AF), induce rapid and irregular activation patterns that appear on the torso surface as abnormal P-waves in electrocardiograms and body surface potential maps (BSPM). In recent years both P-waves and the BSPM have been used to identify the mechanisms underlying AF, such as localizing ectopic foci or high-frequency rotors. However, the relationship between the activation of the different areas of the atria and the characteristics of the BSPM and P-wave signals are still far from being completely understood. In this work we developed a multi-scale framework, which combines a highly-detailed 3D atrial model and a torso model to study the relationship between atrial activation and surface signals in sinus rhythm. Using this multi scale model, it was revealed that the best places for recording P-waves are the frontal upper right and the frontal and rear left quadrants of the torso. Our results also suggest that only nine regions (of the twenty-one structures in which the atrial surface was divided) make a significant contribution to the BSPM and determine the main P-wave characteristics.This work was partially supported by the "VI Plan Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica, Desarrollo e Innovacion Tecnologica" from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain and the European Commission (European Regional Development Funds - ERDF - FEDER), Award Number: TIN2012-37546-C03-01 (Recipient: Ana Ferrer); the "Programa Estatal de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion Orientado a los Retos de la Sociedad" from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad and the European Commission (European Regional Development Funds - ERDF - FEDER), Award Number: TIN2014-59932-JIN (Recipient: Rafael Sebastion); and the "Programa Prometeo" from the Generalitat Valenciana, Award Number: 2012/030 (Recipient: Laura Martinez).Ferrer Albero, A.; Sebastián Aguilar, R.; Sánchez Quintana, D.; Rodriguez, JF.; Godoy, EJ.; Martinez, L.; Saiz Rodríguez, FJ. (2015). Detailed Anatomical and Electrophysiological Models of Human Atria and Torso for the Simulation of Atrial Activation. PLoS ONE. 10(11):1-29. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141573S129101

Theory of fuzzy sets in edge location of the posterior cruciate ligament region

An approach to location of a region including the posterior and anterior cruciate ligament in the MR knee images has been developed. The proposed method of the PCL location in T1-weighted MR knee images is based on entropy (or energy) measure of fuzziness and fuzzy C-means (FCM) algorithm. Then, edges of a region of interest containing the ligament are found. The procedure has been tested on clinical T1- and T2- weighted MR knee images resulting in a 3D visualisation

Comparative analysis of selected classifiers in posterior cruciate ligaments computer aided diagnosis

A study on computer aided diagnosis of posterior cruciate ligaments is presented in this paper. The diagnosis relies on T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. During the image analysis stage, the ligament region is automatically detected, localized, and extracted using fuzzy segmentation methods. Eight geometric features are defined for the ligament object. With a clinical reference database containing 107 cases of both healthy and pathological cases, a Fisher linear discriminant is used to select 4 most distinctive features. At the classification stage we employ five different soft computing classifiers to evaluate the feature vector suitability for the computerized ligament diagnosis. Among the classifiers we introduce and specify the particle swarm optimization based Sugeno-type fuzzy inference system and compare its performance to other established classification systems. The classification accuracy metrics: sensitivity, specificity, and Dice index all exceed 90% for each classifier under consideration, indicating high level of the proposed feature vector relevance in the computer aided ligaments diagnosis

2,4-Di-tert-butyl-6-({[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl](2-hydroxybenzyl)amino}methyl)phenol

The title compound, C26H40N2O2, has both its N atoms in trigonal-pyramidal geometries. The molecular structure is stabilized by O—H...N and C—H...O hydrogen bonds. In the crystal, C—H...π interactions lead to the formation of a supramolecular helical chain along the b-axis direction

Dipolar excitations at the L3 x-ray absorption edges of the heavy rare earth metals

We report measured dipolar asymmetry ratios at the LIII edges of the heavy rare earth metals. The results are compared with a first principles calculation and excellent agreement is found. A simple model of the scattering is developed, enabling us to re-interpret the resonant x-ray scattering in these materials and to identify the peaks in the asymmetry ratios with features in the spin and orbital moment densities

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We report measured dipolar asymmetry ratios at the LIII edges of the heavy rare-earth metals. The results are compared with a first-principles calculation and excellent agreement is found. A simple model of the scattering is developed, enabling us to reinterpret the resonant x-ray scattering in these materials and to identify the peaks in the asymmetry ratios with features in the spin and orbital moment densities