Stellar Populations in Barred Galaxies

We developed an iterative technique to better characterize stellar populations and the central activity of barred galaxies using evolutionary synthesis codes and OASIS data. The case of NGC5430 is presented here. Our results are reinforcing the role played by the bar and nuclear structures for the evolution of galaxies.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to be published in the proceedings of IAU Symp. 262 "Stellar Populations - Planing for the Next Decate" (Aug. 2009

Morphometric and Histopathologic Changes in Skeletal Muscle Induced for Injectable PLGA Microparticles

Galdames, IS (Galdames, Ivan Suazo).Univ Talca, Talca, ChileThe administration of microencapsulated drug in a matrix acid poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) by intramuscular (IM) in humans has been approved by the FDA for various applications though it is not clear what effect they have on the morphological parameters of muscle tissue. The aim of this study was to analyze the morphological changes in the skeletal muscle tissue with their use. We used 12 adult female Sprague Dawley rats (Rattus novergicus) that were injected into their right gastrocnemius muscle belly with: sterile vehicle solution (01, n = 4), 0.5 mg PLGA microparticle (02, n = 4) and 0.75 mg PLGA microparticle (03, n = 4), both dissolved in a sterile vehicle solution. At 14 days post injection the number and diameter of muscle fibers, the level of inflammation and histology appearance in terms of organization of muscle fibers, cellular distribution, tissue morphology and the presence of polymer waste were determined and the results between the groups compared. The administration of the compound in a single dose did not alter the morphometric parameters (number and diameter of muscle fibers) despite generating a mild inflammation in the tissue associated with the presence of polymeric residues, suggesting that the PLGA microparticles were well tolerated by the muscle tissue at concentrations tested (0.5 and 0.75 mg). n Number: WOS:00029366100001

Passively Administered Pooled Human Immunoglobulins Exert IL-10 Dependent Anti-Inflammatory Effects that Protect against Fatal HSV Encephalitis

HSV-1 is the leading cause of sporadic encephalitis in humans. HSV infection of susceptible 129S6 mice results in fatal encephalitis (HSE) caused by massive inflammatory brainstem lesions comprising monocytes and neutrophils. During infection with pathogenic microorganisms or autoimmune disease, IgGs induce proinflammatory responses and recruit innate effector cells. In contrast, high dose intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) are an effective treatment for various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases because of potent anti-inflammatory effects stemming in part from sialylated IgGs (sIgG) present at 1–3% in IVIG. We investigated the ability of IVIG to prevent fatal HSE when given 24 h post infection. We discovered a novel anti-inflammatory pathway mediated by low-dose IVIG that protected 129S6 mice from fatal HSE by modulating CNS inflammation independently of HSV specific antibodies or sIgG. IVIG suppressed CNS infiltration by pathogenic CD11b+ Ly6Chigh monocytes and inhibited their spontaneous degranulation in vitro. FcγRIIb expression was required for IVIG mediated suppression of CNS infiltration by CD45+ Ly6Clow monocytes but not for inhibiting development of Ly6Chigh monocytes. IVIG increased accumulation of T cells in the CNS, and the non-sIgG fraction induced a dramatic expansion of FoxP3+ CD4+ T regulatory cells (Tregs) and FoxP3− ICOS+ CD4+ T cells in peripheral lymphoid organs. Tregs purified from HSV infected IVIG treated, but not control, mice protected adoptively transferred mice from fatal HSE. IL-10, produced by the ICOS+ CD4+ T cells that accumulated in the CNS of IVIG treated, but not control mice, was essential for induction of protective anti-inflammatory responses. Our results significantly enhance understanding of IVIG's anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory capabilities by revealing a novel sIgG independent anti-inflammatory pathway responsible for induction of regulatory T cells that secrete the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 and further reveal the therapeutic potential of IVIG for treating viral induced inflammatory diseases

Variation in growth rates of branching corals along Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Coral growth is an important component of reef health and resilience. However, few studies have investigated temporal and/or spatial variation in growth of branching corals, which are important contributors to the structure and function of reef habitats. This study assessed growth (linear extension, density, and calcification) of three branching coral species (Acropora muricata, Pocillopora damicornis and Isopora palifera) at three distinct locations (Lizard Island, Davies/Trunk Reef, and Heron Island) along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Annual growth rates of all species were highest at Lizard Island and declined with increasing latitude, corresponding with differences in temperature. Within locations, however, seasonal variation in growth did not directly correlate with temperature. Between October 2012 and October 2014, the highest growth of A. muricata was in the 2013–14 summer at Lizard Island, which was unusually cool and ~0.5 °C less than the long-term summer average temperature. At locations where temperatures reached or exceeded the long-term summer maxima, coral growth during summer periods was equal to, if not lower than, winter periods. This study shows that temperature has a significant influence on spatiotemporal patterns of branching coral growth, and high summer temperatures in the northern GBR may already be constraining coral growth and reef resilience

Executive functioning predicts reading, mathematics, and theory of mind during the elementary years.

The goal of this study was to specify how executive functioning components predict reading, mathematics, and theory of mind performance during the elementary years. Ninety-three 7- to 10-year-old children completed measures of working memory, inhibition, flexibility, reading, mathematics, and theory of mind. Path analysis revealed that all three executive functioning components (working memory, inhibition, and flexibility) mediated age differences in reading comprehension, whereas age predicted mathematics and theory of mind directly. In addition, reading mediated the influence of executive functioning components on mathematics and theory of mind, except that flexibility also predicted mathematics directly. These findings provide important details about the development of executive functioning, reading, mathematics, and theory of mind during the elementary years

Joint Optical Flow and Temporally Consistent Semantic Segmentation

The importance and demands of visual scene understanding have been steadily increasing along with the active development of autonomous systems. Consequently, there has been a large amount of research dedicated to semantic segmentation and dense motion estimation. In this paper, we propose a method for jointly estimating optical flow and temporally consistent semantic segmentation, which closely connects these two problem domains and leverages each other. Semantic segmentation provides information on plausible physical motion to its associated pixels, and accurate pixel-level temporal correspondences enhance the accuracy of semantic segmentation in the temporal domain. We demonstrate the benefits of our approach on the KITTI benchmark, where we observe performance gains for flow and segmentation. We achieve state-of-the-art optical flow results, and outperform all published algorithms by a large margin on challenging, but crucial dynamic objects.Comment: 14 pages, Accepted for CVRSUAD workshop at ECCV 201

Occupancy Anticipation for Efficient Exploration and Navigation

State-of-the-art navigation methods leverage a spatial memory to generalize to new environments, but their occupancy maps are limited to capturing the geometric structures directly observed by the agent. We propose occupancy anticipation, where the agent uses its egocentric RGB-D observations to infer the occupancy state beyond the visible regions. In doing so, the agent builds its spatial awareness more rapidly, which facilitates efficient exploration and navigation in 3D environments. By exploiting context in both the egocentric views and top-down maps our model successfully anticipates a broader map of the environment, with performance significantly better than strong baselines. Furthermore, when deployed for the sequential decision-making tasks of exploration and navigation, our model outperforms state-of-the-art methods on the Gibson and Matterport3D datasets. Our approach is the winning entry in the 2020 Habitat PointNav Challenge. Project page: http://vision.cs.utexas.edu/projects/occupancy_anticipation/Comment: Accepted in ECCV 2020. 19 pages, 6 figures, appendix at en

Estimulación eléctrica en la reparación ósea de defectos creados en cráneos de conejos

Electrical stimulation has been used in different conditions for tissue regeneration. The aim of this study was to analyze the tissue response of defects created in rabbit skulls to electrical stimulation. Two groups were formed, each with 9 New Zealand rabbits; two 5 mm defects were made, one in each parietal, with one being randomly filled with autogenous bone extracted as particles and the other maintained only with blood clotting. The rabbits were euthanized at 8 weeks and 15 weeks to then study the samples collected histologically. In the 8-week analysis bone formation was observed in the defects in the test and control filled with bone graft, whereas the defects with clotting presented a very early stage of bone formation with abundant connective tissue. At 15 weeks an advanced stage of bone regeneration was identified in the defects with bone graft, whereas no significant differences were found in the electrically stimulated defects. In conclusion, electrical stimulus does not alter the sequence of bone formation; new studies could help establish patterns and influences of the stimulus on bone regeneration.Electrical stimulation has been used in different conditions for tissue regeneration. The aim of this study was to analyze the tissue response of defects created in rabbit skulls to electrical stimulation. Two groups were formed, each with 9 New Zealand r33311461150sem informaçãosem informaçãoLa estimulación eléctrica ha sido empleada en diferentes condiciones para la regeneración de tejidos. El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar la respuesta tisular de defectos creados en cráneo de conejos a la estimulación eléctrica. Se formaron 2 g

A word from the scientific committee: 14th Gordon L. Snider critical issues workshop

Phenotypic similarities between the pulmonary manifestations of the rare conditions cystic fibrosis (CF) and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) on the one hand and common chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on the other have long been recognized

Globally Anisotropic High Porosity Silica Aerogels

We discuss two methods by which high porosity silica aerogels can be engineered to exhibit global anisotropy. First, anisotropy can be introduced with axial strain. In addition, intrinsic anisotropy can result during growth and drying stages and, suitably controlled, it can be correlated with preferential radial shrinkage in cylindrical samples. We have performed small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to characterize these two types of anisotropy. We show that global anisotropy originating from either strain or shrinkage leads to optical birefringence and that optical cross-polarization studies are a useful characterization of the uniformity of the imposed global anisotropy.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Journal of Non-Crystalline Solid