Challenges and Requirements for Introducing Impairment-awareness into the Management and Control Planes of ASON/GMPLS WDM Networks

The absence of electrical regenerators in transparent WDM networks significantly contributes to reduce the overall network cost. In transparent WDM networks, a proper resource allocation requires that the presence of physical impairments in Routing and Wavelength Assignment (RWA) and lightpath provisioning be taken into account. In this article a centralized, a hybrid centralized-distributed and two distributed approaches that integrate information about most relevant physical impairments in RWA and lightpath provisioning are presented and assessed. Both centralized and hybrid approaches perform a centralized path computation at the management-plane level, utilizing physical impairment information, while the lightpath provisioning is done by the management plane or the control plane, respectively. The distributed approaches fall entirely within the scope of the ASON/GMPLS control plane. For these two approaches, we provide functional requirements, architectural functional blocks, and protocol extensions for implementing either an impairment-aware real-time RWA, or a lighpath provisioning based on impairment-aware signaling

Probe-based schemes to guarantee lightpath quality of transmission (QoT) in transparent optical networks

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Effects of Dietary Fibers on Short-Chain Fatty Acids and Gut Microbiota Composition in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review

There is an increasing interest in investigating dietary strategies able to modulate the gut microbial ecosystem which, in turn, may play a key role in human health. Dietary fibers (DFs) are widely recognized as molecules with prebiotic effects. The main objective of this systematic review was to: (i) analyze the results available on the impact of DF intervention on short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production; (ii) evaluate the interplay between the type of DF intervention, the gut microbiota composition and its metabolic activities, and any other health associated outcome evaluated in the host. To this aim, initially, a comprehensive database of literature on human intervention studies assessing the effect of confirmed and candidate prebiotics on the microbial ecosystem was developed. Subsequently, studies performed on DFs and analyzing at least the impact on SCFA levels were extracted from the database. A total of 44 studies from 42 manuscripts were selected for the analysis. Among the different types of fiber, inulin was the DF investigated the most (n = 11). Regarding the results obtained on the ability of fiber to modulate total SCFAs, seven studies reported a significant increase, while no significant changes were reported in five studies, depending on the analytical methodology used. A total of 26 studies did not show significant differences in individual SCFAs, while the others reported significant differences for one or more SCFAs. The effect of DF interventions on the SCFA profile seemed to be strictly dependent on the dose and the type and structure of DFs. Overall, these results underline that, although affecting microbiota composition and derived metabolites, DFs do not produce univocal significant increase in SCFA levels in apparently healthy adults. In this regard, several factors (i.e., related to the study protocols and analytical methods) have been identified that could have affected the results obtained in the studies evaluated. Future studies are needed to better elucidate the relationship between DFs and gut microbiota in terms of SCFA production and impact on health-related markers

ONS : an ontology for a standardized description of interventions and observational studies in nutrition

Background: The multidisciplinary nature of nutrition research is one of its main strengths. At the same time, however, it presents a major obstacle to integrate data analysis, especially for the terminological and semantic interpretations that specific research fields or communities are used to. To date, a proper ontology to structure and formalize the concepts used for the description of nutritional studies is still lacking. Results: We have developed the Ontology for Nutritional Studies (ONS) by harmonizing selected pre-existing de facto ontologies with novel health and nutritional terminology classifications. The ONS is the result of a scholarly consensus of 51 research centers in nine European countries. The ontology classes and relations are commonly encountered while conducting, storing, harmonizing, integrating, describing, and searching nutritional studies. The ONS facilitates the description and specification of complex nutritional studies as demonstrated with two application scenarios. Conclusions: The ONS is the first systematic effort to provide a solid and extensible formal ontology framework for nutritional studies. Integration of new information can be easily achieved by the addition of extra modules (i.e., nutrigenomics, metabolomics, nutrikinetics, and quality appraisal). The ONS provides a unified and standardized terminology for nutritional studies as a resource for nutrition researchers who might not necessarily be familiar with ontologies and standardization concepts

Effect of photoperiod on sexual activity of boar

The main objective of this study was to assess the effect of photoperiod on sexual activity of three breeds of boars: Swedish Landrace (n=34), Large White (n=38), and Duroc (n=32). Boar sexual activity was analysed based on the libido index and intensity of ejaculation. The libido index was calculated as the ratio between the duration of ejaculation and time of preparation until ejaculation. The intensity of ejaculation was the volume of ejaculate (mL) secreted in the unit of time (min). The effect of photoperiod was analysed as the effect of duration of daylight ( lt 12 h and >12 h) within photoperiod intervals (increasing and decreasing). Impact assessment was carried out by applying the General Linear Model procedure. Libido and intensity of ejaculation varied under the impact of photoperiod and the breed of boars. With the increase in age, the boar libido weakened, while the volume of ejaculate and intensity of ejaculation increased. Boars manifested better libido when the daylight lasted longer than 12 h in both photoperiod intervals. Different from libido, the volume of ejaculate and intensity of ejaculation were highest when the daylight was shorter than 12 h, but only in the decreasing photoperiod interval. Swedish Landrace boars manifested best libido, while in the production of sperm the Duroc boars were inferior compared with Swedish Landrace and Large White. The phenotypic relationship among libido, ejaculate volume, and ejaculation intensity ranges from very low to high; however, the coefficients were positive, which indicates the possibility of simultaneous improvement of these traits

GRCBox: Extending Smartphone Connectivity in Vehicular Networks

The low penetration of connectivity-enabled OBUs is delaying the deployment of Vehicular Networks (VNs), and therefore the development of Vehicular Delay Tolerant Network (VDTN) applications, among others. In this paper we present GRCBox, an architecture based on RaspberryPi that allows integrating smartphones in VNs. GRCBox is based on a low-cost device that combines several pieces of software to provide ad-hoc and multi-interface connectivity to smartphones. Using GRCBox each application can choose the interface for its data flows, which increases flexibility and will allow developers to easily implement applications based on ad-hoc connectivity, such as VDTN applications.This work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain, under Grants TIN2011-27543-C03-01 and BES-2012-052673, and by the European Commission under Svagata.eu, the Erasmus Mundus Programme, Action 2 (EMA2).Martínez Tornell, S.; Patra, S.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM.; Cano Escribá, JC.; Manzoni, P. (2015). GRCBox: Extending Smartphone Connectivity in Vehicular Networks. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks. 2015:1-13. doi:10.1155/2015/478064S1132015Hartenstein, H., & Laberteaux, K. P. (2008). A tutorial survey on vehicular ad hoc networks. IEEE Communications Magazine, 46(6), 164-171. doi:10.1109/mcom.2008.4539481Wu, H., Palekar, M., Fujimoto, R., Guensler, R., Hunter, M., Lee, J., & Ko, J. (2005). An empirical study of short range communications for vehicles. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM international workshop on Vehicular ad hoc networks - VANET ’05. doi:10.1145/1080754.1080769Jerbi, M., Senouci, S.-M., & Haj, M. A. (2007). Extensive Experimental Characterization of Communications in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks within Different Environments. 2007 IEEE 65th Vehicular Technology Conference - VTC2007-Spring. doi:10.1109/vetecs.2007.533Lee, K. C., Lee, S., Cheung, R., Lee, U., & Gerla, M. (2007). First Experience with CarTorrent in a Real Vehicular Ad Hoc Network Testbed. 2007 Mobile Networking for Vehicular Environments. doi:10.1109/move.2007.4300814Giordano, E., Tomatis, A., Ghosh, A., Pau, G., & Gerla, M. (2008). C-VeT An Open Research Platform for VANETs: Evaluation of Peer to Peer Applications in Vehicular Networks. 2008 IEEE 68th Vehicular Technology Conference. doi:10.1109/vetecf.2008.462Cesana, M., Fratta, L., Gerla, M., Giordano, E., & Pau, G. (2010). C-VeT the UCLA campus vehicular testbed: Integration of VANET and Mesh networks. 2010 European Wireless Conference (EW). doi:10.1109/ew.2010.5483535Santa, J., Tsukada, M., Ernst, T., & Gomez-Skarmeta, A. F. (2009). Experimental analysis of multi-hop routing in vehicular ad-hoc networks. 2009 5th International Conference on Testbeds and Research Infrastructures for the Development of Networks & Communities and Workshops. doi:10.1109/tridentcom.2009.4976248Paula, M. C. G., Isento, J. N., Dias, J. A., & Rodrigues, J. J. P. C. (2011). A real-world VDTN testbed for advanced vehicular services and applications. 2011 IEEE 16th International Workshop on Computer Aided Modeling and Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD). doi:10.1109/camad.2011.5941108Campbell, A., & Choudhury, T. (2012). From Smart to Cognitive Phones. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 11(3), 7-11. doi:10.1109/mprv.2012.41Vandenberghe, W., Moerman, I., & Demeester, P. (2011). On the feasibility of utilizing smartphones for vehicular ad hoc networking. 2011 11th International Conference on ITS Telecommunications. doi:10.1109/itst.2011.6060061Sawada, D., Sato, M., Uehara, K., & Murai, J. (2011). iDANS: A platform for disseminating information on a VANET consisting of smartphone nodes. 2011 11th International Conference on ITS Telecommunications. doi:10.1109/itst.2011.6060062Tornell, S. M., Calafate, C. T., Cano, J.-C., Manzoni, P., Fogue, M., & Martinez, F. J. (2013). Evaluating the Feasibility of Using Smartphones for ITS Safety Applications. 2013 IEEE 77th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Spring). doi:10.1109/vtcspring.2013.6692553Mitchell, G. (2012). The Raspberry Pi single-board computer will revolutionise computer science teaching. Engineering & Technology, 7(3), 26-26. doi:10.1049/et.2012.0300Fielding R. T.Architectural styles and the design of network-based software architectures [Ph.D. thesis]2000University of Californi

Reporting of Methodologic Information on Trial Registries for Quality Assessment: A Study of Trial Records Retrieved from the WHO Search Portal

Background: Although randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are considered the gold standard of evidence, their reporting is often suboptimal. Trial registries have the potential to contribute important methodologic information for critical appraisal of study results. Methods and Findings: The objective of the study was to evaluate the reporting of key methodologic study characteristics in trial registries. We identified a random sample (n = 265) of actively recruiting RCTs using the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) search portal in 2008. We assessed the reporting of relevant domains from the Cochrane Collaboration’s ‘Risk of bias’ tool and other key methodological aspects. Our primary outcomes were the proportion of registry records with adequate reporting of random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding, and trial outcomes. Two reviewers independently assessed each record. Weighted overall proportions in the ICTRP search portal for adequate reporting of sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding (including and excluding open label RCT) and primary outcomes were 5.7% (95% CI 3.0–8.4%), 1.4% (0–2.8%), 41% (35–47%), 8.4% (4.1–13%), and 66% (60–72%), respectively. The proportion of adequately reported RCTs was higher for registries that used specific methodological fields for describing methods of randomization and allocation concealment compared to registries that did not. Concerning other key methodological aspects, weighted overall proportions of RCTs with adequately reported items were as follows: eligibility criteria (81%), secondary outcomes (46%), harm (5%) follow-up duration (62%), description of the interventions (53%) and sample size calculation (1%). Conclusions: Trial registries currently contain limited methodologic information about registered RCTs. In order to permit adequate critical appraisal of trial results reported in journals and registries, trial registries should consider requesting details on key RCT methods to complement journal publications. Full protocols remain the most comprehensive source of methodologic information and should be made publicly available

Morphological evidences indicate that the interference of cimetidine on the peritubular components is responsible for detachment and apoptosis of Sertoli cells

Cimetidine, referred as antiandrogenic agent, has caused alterations in the seminiferous tubules, including alterations in the peritubular tissue and death of myoid cells by apoptosis. Regarding the structural and functional importance of the peritubular tissue for the maintenance of Sertoli cells (SC), we purpose to investigate the SC-basement membrane interface, focusing the morphological features of SC and their interaction with the basement membrane in the affected tubules by cimetidine. Ten animals were distributed into two groups, control (CG) and cimetidine (CmG) which received saline solution and 50 mg of cimetidine per kg of body weight, respectively, for 52 days. The testes were fixed, dehydrated and embedded for analyses under light and transmission electron microscopy. Paraffin sections were submitted to the TUNEL method; sections of testes embedded in glycol methacrylate were submitted to PAS method and stained by H&E for morphological and quantitative analyses of Sertoli Cells. In the CmG, the SC nuclei were positive to the TUNEL method and showed typical morphological alterations of cell death by apoptosis (from early to advanced stages). A significant reduction in the number of Sertoli Cells was probably due to death of these cells by apoptosis. A close relationship between SC nuclear alterations (including a high frequency of dislocated nuclei from the basal portion) and damage in the peritubular tissue was observed. The ultrastructural analysis showed a parallelism between the gradual advancement of apoptotic process in SC and detachment of the anchoring sites (hemidesmosomes) of SC plasma membrane from the lamina densa. The presence of portions of lamina densa underlying the detached hemidesmosomes indicates a continuous deposition of lamina densa, resulting in the thickening of the basal lamina. The results indicate a possible disarrangement of the SC cytoskeleton, including the focal adhesion structure. These alterations are related to SC apoptosis and probably result from disturbs induced by cimetidine on the peritubular tissue

Newborn DNA-methylation, childhood lung function, and the risks of asthma and COPD across the life course

Rationale: We aimed to identify differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in cord blood DNA associated with childhood lung function, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) across the life course. Methods: We meta-analysed epigenome-wide data of 1688 children from five cohorts to identify cord blood DMRs and their annotated genes, in relation to forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio and forced expiratory flow at 75% of FVC at ages 7-13 years. Identified DMRs were explored for associations with childhood asthma, adult lung function and COPD, gene expression and involvement in biological processes. Results: We identified 59 DMRs associated with childhood lung function, of which 18 were associated with childhood asthma and nine with COPD in adulthood. Genes annotated to the top 10 identified DMRs were HOXA5, PAOX, LINC00602, ABCA7, PER3, CLCA1, VENTX, NUDT12, PTPRN2 and TCL1A. Differential gene expression in blood was observed for 32 DMRs in childhood and 18 in adulthood. Genes related with 16 identified DMRs were associated with respiratory developmental or pathogenic pathways. Interpretation: Our findings suggest that the epigenetic status of the newborn affects respiratory health and disease across the life course