Morphological Evolution of Physical Robots through Model-Free Phenotype Development.

Artificial evolution of physical systems is a stochastic optimization method in which physical machines are iteratively adapted to a target function. The key for a meaningful design optimization is the capability to build variations of physical machines through the course of the evolutionary process. The optimization in turn no longer relies on complex physics models that are prone to the reality gap, a mismatch between simulated and real-world behavior. We report model-free development and evaluation of phenotypes in the artificial evolution of physical systems, in which a mother robot autonomously designs and assembles locomotion agents. The locomotion agents are automatically placed in the testing environment and their locomotion behavior is analyzed in the real world. This feedback is used for the design of the next iteration. Through experiments with a total of 500 autonomously built locomotion agents, this article shows diversification of morphology and behavior of physical robots for the improvement of functionality with limited resources.This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Grant No. PP00P2123387/1 and the ETH Zurich Research Grant ETH-23-10-3. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from [publisher] via http://dx.doi.org/1371/journal.pone.012844

Inhibition of Granulopoiesis in Vivo and in Vitro by β-Lactam Antibiotics

β-Lactam antibiotics can induce severe neutropenia by a hitherto unknown mechanism. Fifty cases of β-lactam antibiotic-induced neutropenia (15% in patients treated for ⩾10 days with large doses of any β-lactam antibiotic but 95% of cases recovery occurred between one to seven days after withdrawal of β-lactam antibiotics. Bone marrow aspirates were characterized by a lack of well-differentiated myeloid elements in the presence of numerous immature granulocyte precursors. Nine penicillins and eight cephalosporins inhibited in vitro granulopoiesis in a dose-dependent manner. There was a good correlation between the inhibitory capacity of β-lactam antibiotics in vitro and the doses inducing neutropenia in vivo. These observations may be relevant for therapy in the granulocytopenic patien

An important role for Myb-MuvB and its target gene KIF23 in a mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma

The conserved Myb-MuvB (MMB) multiprotein complex has an important role in transcriptional activation of mitotic genes. MMB target genes are overexpressed in several different cancer types and their elevated expression is associated with an advanced tumor state and a poor prognosis. This suggests that MMB could contribute to tumorigenesis by mediating overexpression of mitotic genes. However, although MMB has been extensively characterized biochemically, the requirement for MMB in tumorigenesis in vivo has not been investigated. Here we demonstrate that MMB is required for tumor formation in a mouse model of lung cancer driven by oncogenic K-RAS. We also identify a requirement for the mitotic kinesin KIF23, a key target gene of MMB, in tumorigenesis. RNA interference-mediated depletion of KIF23 inhibited lung tumor formation in vivo and induced apoptosis in lung cancer cell lines. Our results suggest that inhibition of KIF23 could be a strategy for treatment of lung cancer

Improvement in fingerprint detection using Tb(III)-dipicolinic acid complex doped nanobeads and time resolved imaging.

This paper deals with the synthesis and application of lanthanide complex doped nanobeads used as a luminescent fingerprint powder. Due to their special optical properties, namely a long emission lifetime, sharp emission profiles and large Stokes shifts, luminescent lanthanide complexes are useful for discriminating against signals from background emissions. This is a big advantage because latent fingerprints placed on multicoloured fluorescent surfaces are difficult to develop with conventional powders. The complex of 2,6-dipicolinic acid (DPA) and terbium ([Tb(DPA)3]3-) is used for this purpose. Using the Stöber process, this complex is incorporated into a silica matrix forming nanosized beads (230-630nm). It is shown that the [Tb(DPA)3]3- is successfully incorporated into the beads and that these beads exhibit the wanted optical properties of the complex. A phenyl functionalisation is applied to increase the lipophilicity of the beads and finally the beads are used to develop latent fingerprints. A device for time resolved imaging was built to improve the contrast between developed fingerprint and different background signals, whilst still detecting the long lasting luminescence of the complex. The developed fingerprint powder is therefore promising to develop fingerprints on multicoloured fluorescent surfaces

Short-term high-intensity interval training improves micro- but not macrovascular function in hypertensive patients

Arterial hypertension is a global health burden that affects vascular structure and function. Assessment of endothelial function can improve cardiovascular (CV) risk stratification. Exercise treatment reduces over all CV risk and improves vascular health. However, it is still not clear which part of the vascular bed is most sensitive to exercise treatment in patients with CV risk. This study aimed to investigate the effects of an 8-week walking based and supervised high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on macro- and microvascular endothelial function as add-on therapy in patients with arterial hypertension.; Forty patients (mean age 58 ± 7 years) treated for arterial hypertension were randomized in the HIIT (3×/week) or control group (CG) receiving standard physical activity recommendations. Arteriolar (aFID) and venular (vFID) flicker light-induced dilatation for retinal microvascular and flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) for macrovascular endothelial function were assessed. In addition, standardized assessments of patients' characteristics were performed before and after 8 weeks.; Both groups reduced weight and body mass index but only the HIIT group reduced body fat, visceral fat, and increased peak oxygen uptake after 8 weeks. The control group reduced diastolic blood pressure. No blood pressure changes were found in the HIIT group. Arteriolar FID increased in the HIIT group independently of confounders (pre: 2.40 ± 0.98%, post: 3.19 ± 1.31%, p < 0.001) but not in the control group (pre: 3.06 ± 1.50%, post: 2.90 ± 1.46%, p = 0.280). No changes were found for FMD in either group.; Arteriolar FID was found to be a sensitive vascular biomarker to assess exercise-induced microvascular improvements even in a short time setting of an 8-week exercise therapy with HIIT. Short-term exercise training affects microvascular endothelial function but not large artery endothelial function. Thus, retinal aFID appears to be a sensitive biomarker to detect short-term exercise efficacy on a vascular level. Dynamic retinal vessel analysis as a diagnostic approach may prove to be an ideal candidate vascular biomarker to monitor treatment effects of exercise in patients with hypertension on top of standard clinical care and may support clinical decision-making in the future

Determining parameters of the Neugebauer family of vacuum spacetimes in terms of data specified on the symmetry axis

We express the complex potential E and the metrical fields omega and gamma of all stationary axisymmetric vacuum spacetimes that result from the application of two successive quadruple-Neugebauer (or two double-Harrison) transformations to Minkowski space in terms of data specified on the symmetry axis, which are in turn easily expressed in terms of multipole moments. Moreover, we suggest how, in future papers, we shall apply our approach to do the same thing for those vacuum solutions that arise from the application of more than two successive transformations, and for those electrovac solutions that have axis data similar to that of the vacuum solutions of the Neugebauer family. (References revised following response from referee.)Comment: 18 pages (REVTEX

Behavioral implications of shortlisting procedures

We consider two-stage “shortlisting procedures” in which the menu of alternatives is first pruned by some process or criterion and then a binary relation is maximized. Given a particular first-stage process, our main result supplies a necessary and sufficient condition for choice data to be consistent with a procedure in the designated class. This result applies to any class of procedures with a certain lattice structure, including the cases of “consideration filters,” “satisficing with salience effects,” and “rational shortlist methods.” The theory avoids background assumptions made for mathematical convenience; in this and other respects following Richter’s classical analysis of preference-maximizing choice in the absence of shortlisting