Changes in the Growth Hormone-IGF-I Axis in Non-obese Diabetic Mice

We investigated the changes in GH-IGF-I axis in non-obese diabetic (NOD)-mice, a model of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Diabetic female NOD mice and their age- and sex-matched controls were sacrificed at 4, 14, 21 and 30 days (30d DM) after the onset of glycosuria. Serum GH levels increased and serum IGF-I levels decreased in the 30d DM group (182 ± 32% and 45 ± 24% of age-matched controls respectively, p < 0.05). Another group (30d DM + I) was given SC insulin, and its serum IGF-I levels remained decreased. Liver GH receptor (GHR) and GH binding protein (GHBP) mRNA levels, as well as liver membrane GH binding assays were deeply decreased in the 30d DM group in comparison to controls. GHR message and binding capacity remained decreased in the 30d DM + I group. Renal GHR mRNA was decreased at 21d DM but not at 14d DM, whereas GHBP mRNA remained unchanged throughout the experiment. In conclusion, increased serum GH levels are documented in NOD diabetic mice, similarly to the changes described in humans. The decrease in GHR levels and decreased serum IGF-I in spite of increased circulating GH suggest a state of GH resistance

Febrile Proteinuria in Hospitalized Children: Characterization of Urinary Proteins

Background: Transient proteinuria during febrile illness is a common phenomenon. Recent studies have re-examined the pathophysiology of proteinuria and new urinary markers to characterize it, including B7-1 (CD80), which is expressed also in glomerular podocytes and influences the glomerular barrier.Aim: To investigate the pattern of proteinuria in febrile non-renal diseases, including B7-1.Methods: We prospectively analyzed urine samples of 44 febrile children and 28 afebrile controls for different protein components: albumin (glomerular marker), β2-microglobulin (tubular marker), uromodulin (Tamm Horsfall protein-THP, a renal endogenous protein) and B7-1. Febrile illness was characterized as focal bacterial vs. viral. Exclusion criteria were underlying renal disease, steroid treatment or urinary tract infection.Results: Elevated urine albumin (64.5 ± 10.3 vs. 17.8 ± 4 mg/g, mean ± S.E.M., p = 0.0009) and β2-microglobulin (1.44 ± 0.34 vs. 0.182 ± 0.03 mg/g, mean ± S.E.M., p = 0.005] and decreased uromodulin (10.5 ± 1 vs. 26.7 ± 2.2 Arbitrary units, mean ± S.E.M., p = 0.0001) excretion were found during febrile illness vs. controls. Urine B7-1 was also increased in the febrile group (0.27 ± 0.05 vs. 0.07 ± 0.01 ng/ml, mean ± S.E.M., p = 0.001), and was the only marker which was significantly higher in bacterial vs. viral disease.Conclusions: Febrile proteinuria is not generalized: while proteins of both glomerular and tubular origin increase, uromodulin decreases. Urine B7-1 is increased during fever, more significantly in bacterial infections. Thus, urinary B7-1 may be used as an additional marker to differentiate between febrile states of bacterial vs. viral origin

Evaluating Indoor Positioning Systems in a Shopping Mall: The Lessons Learned From the IPIN 2018 Competition

The Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN) conference holds an annual competition in which indoor localization systems from different research groups worldwide are evaluated empirically. The objective of this competition is to establish a systematic evaluation methodology with rigorous metrics both for real-time (on-site) and post-processing (off-site) situations, in a realistic environment unfamiliar to the prototype developers. For the IPIN 2018 conference, this competition was held on September 22nd, 2018, in Atlantis, a large shopping mall in Nantes (France). Four competition tracks (two on-site and two off-site) were designed. They consisted of several 1 km routes traversing several floors of the mall. Along these paths, 180 points were topographically surveyed with a 10 cm accuracy, to serve as ground truth landmarks, combining theodolite measurements, differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and 3D scanner systems. 34 teams effectively competed. The accuracy score corresponds to the third quartile (75 th percentile) of an error metric that combines the horizontal positioning error and the floor detection. The best results for the on-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 11.70 m (Track 1) and 5.50 m (Track 2), while the best results for the off-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 0.90 m (Track 3) and 1.30 m (Track 4). These results showed that it is possible to obtain high accuracy indoor positioning solutions in large, realistic environments using wearable light-weight sensors without deploying any beacon. This paper describes the organization work of the tracks, analyzes the methodology used to quantify the results, reviews the lessons learned from the competition and discusses its future

Evaluating indoor positioning systems in a shopping mall : the lessons learned from the IPIN 2018 competition

The Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN) conference holds an annual competition in which indoor localization systems from different research groups worldwide are evaluated empirically. The objective of this competition is to establish a systematic evaluation methodology with rigorous metrics both for real-time (on-site) and post-processing (off-site) situations, in a realistic environment unfamiliar to the prototype developers. For the IPIN 2018 conference, this competition was held on September 22nd, 2018, in Atlantis, a large shopping mall in Nantes (France). Four competition tracks (two on-site and two off-site) were designed. They consisted of several 1 km routes traversing several floors of the mall. Along these paths, 180 points were topographically surveyed with a 10 cm accuracy, to serve as ground truth landmarks, combining theodolite measurements, differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and 3D scanner systems. 34 teams effectively competed. The accuracy score corresponds to the third quartile (75th percentile) of an error metric that combines the horizontal positioning error and the floor detection. The best results for the on-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 11.70 m (Track 1) and 5.50 m (Track 2), while the best results for the off-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 0.90 m (Track 3) and 1.30 m (Track 4). These results showed that it is possible to obtain high accuracy indoor positioning solutions in large, realistic environments using wearable light-weight sensors without deploying any beacon. This paper describes the organization work of the tracks, analyzes the methodology used to quantify the results, reviews the lessons learned from the competition and discusses its future

Rubisco mutagenesis provides new insight into limitations on photosynthesis and growth in Synechocystis PCC6803

Orthophosphate (Pi) stimulates the activation of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) while paradoxically inhibiting its catalysis. Of three Pi-binding sites, the roles of the 5P- and latch sites have been documented, whereas that of the 1P-site remained unclear. Conserved residues at the 1P-site of Rubisco from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803 were substituted and the kinetic properties of the enzyme derivatives and effects on cell photosynthesis and growth were examined. While Pi-stimulated Rubisco activation diminished for enzyme mutants T65A/S and G404A, inhibition of catalysis by Pi remained unchanged. Together with previous studies, the results suggest that all three Pi-binding sites are involved in stimulation of Rubisco activation, whereas only the 5P-site is involved in inhibition of catalysis. While all the mutations reduced the catalytic turnover of Rubisco (Kcat) between 6- and 20-fold, the photosynthesis and growth rates under saturating irradiance and inorganic carbon (Ci) concentrations were only reduced 40–50% (in the T65A/S mutants) or not at all (G404A mutant). Analysis of the mutant cells revealed a 3-fold increase in Rubisco content that partially compensated for the reduced Kcat so that the carboxylation rate per chlorophyll was one-third of that in the wild type. Correlation between the kinetic properties of Rubisco and the photosynthetic rate (Pmax) under saturating irradiance and Ci concentrations indicate that a >60% reduction in Kcat can be tolerated before Pmax in Synechocystsis PCC6803 is affected. These results indicate that the limitation of Rubisco activity on the rate of photosynthesis in Synechocystis is low. Determination of Calvin cycle metabolites revealed that unlike in higher plants, cyanobacterial photosynthesis is constrained by phosphoglycerate reduction probably due to limitation of ATP or NADPH

STEPS: An Indoor Navigation Framework for Mobile Devices

This paper presents a vision-based navigation system designed for indoor localization. The suggested framework works as a standalone 3 D positioning system by fusing a sophisticated optical-flow pedometry with map constrains using an advanced particle filter. The presented method requires no personal calibration and works on standard smartphones with relatively low energy consumption. Field experiments on Android smartphones show that the expected 3 D error is about 1&ndash;2 m in most real-life scenarios

Growth Hormone and IGF1 Actions in Kidney Development and Function

Growth hormone (GH) exerts multiple effects on different organs including the kidneys, either directly or via its main mediator, insulin-like-growth factor-1 (IGF-1). The GH/IGF1 system plays a key role in normal kidney development, glomerular hemodynamic regulation, as well as tubular water, sodium, phosphate, and calcium handling. Transgenic animal models demonstrated that GH excess (and not IGF1) may lead to hyperfiltration, albuminuria, and glomerulosclerosis. GH and IGF-1 play a significant role in the early development of diabetic nephropathy, as well as in compensatory kidney hypertrophy after unilateral nephrectomy. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its complications in children are associated with alterations in the GH/IGF1 axis, including growth retardation, related to a GH-resistant state, attributed to impaired kidney postreceptor GH-signaling and chronic inflammation. This may explain the safety of prolonged rhGH-treatment of short stature in CKD

Rhythmic modulation of visual discrimination is linked to individuals' spontaneous motor tempo

The impact of external rhythmic structure on perception has been demonstrated across different modalities and experimental paradigms. However, recent findings emphasize substantial individual differences in rhythm-based perceptual modulation. Here, we examine the link between spontaneous rhythmic preferences, as measured through the motor system, and individual differences in rhythmic modulation of visual discrimination. As a first step, we measure individual rhythmic preferences using the spontaneous tapping task. Then we assess perceptual rhythmic modulation using a visual discrimination task in which targets can appear either in-phase or out-of-phase with a preceding rhythmic stream of visual stimuli. The tempo of the preceding stream was manipulated over different experimental blocks (0.77 Hz, 1.4 Hz, 2 Hz). We find that visual rhythmic stimulation modulates discrimination performance. The modulation is dependent on the tempo of stimulation, with maximal perceptual benefits for the slowest tempo of stimulation (0.77 Hz). Most importantly, the strength of modulation is also linked to individuals' spontaneous motor tempo. Individuals with slower spontaneous tempi show greater rhythmic modulation compared to individuals with faster spontaneous tempi. This finding suggests that different tempi affect the cognitive system with varying levels of efficiency and that self-generated rhythms impact our ability to utilize rhythmic structure in the environment for guiding perception and performance