Off-chain trading for micro grid systems

As micro grids and blockchain gained the interest and attention of both academia and the industry, the interaction between the two technologies seems inevitable. However, there are challenges to overcome in order to actually realize the integration between micro grids and blockchains. In this article, we review the solutions proposed to enhance micro grids with blockchains. We discuss the scalability challenges and the opportunities derived from the off-chaining computing techniques. In this context, we draft a design to implement a micro grid-based peer-to-peer local energy market, powered by an off-chain computing protocol called DIVERSITY. DIVERSITY aims to shift the computational burden from a main blockchain to an intermediate layer of nodes, aggregating data and executing smart contracts off-chain. We simulate different data logging approaches, and it is found that DIVERSITY allows an actual saving on fees and power consumption derived from using a public blockchain platform, such as Ethereum, in order to assure a truly decentralized renewable energy distribution at a lower cost

Spontaneous activity in peripheral diaphragmatic lymphatic loops.

The spontaneous contractility of FITC-dextran-filled lymphatics at the periphery of the pleural diaphragm was documented for the first time “in vivo” in anesthetized Wistar rats. We found that lymphatic segments could be divided into four phenotypes: 1) active, displaying rhythmic spontaneous contractions (51.8% of 197 analyzed sites); 2) stretch-activated, whose contraction was triggered by passive distension of the vessel lumen (4.1%); 3) passive, which displayed a completely passive distension (4.5%); and 4) inert, whose diameter never changed over time (39.6%). Smooth muscle actin was detected by immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy in the vessel walls of active but also of inert sites, albeit with a very different structure within the vessel wall. Indeed, while in active segments, actin was arranged in a dense mesh completely surrounding the lumen, in inert segments actin decorated the vessels wall in sparse longitudinal strips. When located nearby along the same lymphatic loop, active, stretch-activated, and passive sites were always recruited in temporal sequence starting from the active contraction. The time delay was ∼0.35 s between active and stretch-activated and 0.54 s between stretch-activated and passive segments, promoting a uniform lymph flux of ∼150/200 pl/min. We conclude that, unlike more central diaphragmatic lymphatic vessels, loops located at the extreme diaphragmatic periphery do require an intrinsic pumping mechanism to propel lymph centripetally, and that such an active lymph propulsion is attained by means of a complex interplay among sites whose properties differ but are indeed able to organize lymph flux in an ordered fashion. </jats:p

Interplay between gut lymphatic vessels and microbiota

Lymphatic vessels play a distinctive role in draining fluid, molecules and even cells from interstitial and serosal spaces back to the blood circulation. Lymph vessels of the gut, and especially those located in the villi (called lacteals), not only serve this primary function, but are also responsible for the transport of lipid moieties absorbed by the intestinal mucosa and serve as a second line of defence against possible bacterial infections. Here, we briefly review the current knowledge of the general mechanisms allowing lymph drainage and propulsion and will focus on the most recent findings on the mutual relationship between lacteals and intestinal microbiota

Crowd and environmental management during mass gatherings.

Crowds are a feature of large cities, occurring not only at mass gatherings but also at routine events such as the journey to work. To address extreme crowding, various computer models for crowd movement have been developed in the past decade, and we review these and show how they can be used to identify health and safety issues. State-of-the-art models that simulate the spread of epidemics operate on a population level, but the collection of fine-scale data might enable the development of models for epidemics that operate on a microscopic scale, similar to models for crowd movement. We provide an example of such simulations, showing how an individual-based crowd model can mirror aggregate susceptible-infected-recovered models that have been the main models for epidemics so far

VST: the telescope progress toward stars

The VST telescope is in an advanced stage of integration in Chile, after a period of work spent mainly on the active optics system, started in mid-2007. We present the results of the recent work on the primary and secondary mirror support systems and on the mirror cell auxiliary units

Comprehensive longitudinal non-invasive quantification of healthspan and frailty in a large cohort (n = 546) of geriatric C57BL/6 J mice

Frailty is an age-related condition characterized by a multisystem functional decline, increased vulnerability to stressors, and adverse health outcomes. Quantifying the degree of frailty in humans and animals is a health measure useful for translational geroscience research. Two frailty measurements, namely the frailty phenotype (FP) and the clinical frailty index (CFI), have been validated in mice and are frequently applied in preclinical research. However, these two tools are based on different concepts and do not necessarily identify the same mice as frail. In particular, the FP is based on a dichotomous classification that suffers from high sample size requirements and misclassification problems. Based on the monthly longitudinal non-invasive assessment of frailty in a large cohort of mice, here we develop an alternative scoring method, which we called physical function score (PFS), proposed as a continuous variable that resumes into a unique function, the five criteria included in the FP. This score would not only reduce misclassification of frailty but it also makes the two tools, PFS and CFI, integrable to provide an overall measurement of health, named vitality score (VS) in aging mice. VS displays a higher association with mortality than PFS or CFI and correlates with biomarkers related to the accumulation of senescent cells and the epigenetic clock. This longitudinal non-invasive assessment strategy and the VS may help to overcome the different sensitivity in frailty identification, reduce the sample size in longitudinal experiments, and establish the effectiveness of therapeutic/preventive interventions for frailty or other age-related diseases in geriatric animals

Menopausal Status Modifies Breast Cancer Risk Associated with the Myeloperoxidase (MPO) G463A Polymorphism in Caucasian Women: A Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer susceptibility may be modulated partly through polymorphisms in oxidative enzymes, one of which is myeloperoxidase (MPO). Association of the low transcription activity variant allele A in the G463A polymorphism has been investigated for its association with breast cancer risk, considering the modifying effects of menopausal status and antioxidant intake levels of cases and controls. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To obtain a more precise estimate of association using the odds ratio (OR), we performed a meta-analysis of 2,975 cases and 3,427 controls from three published articles of Caucasian populations living in the United States. Heterogeneity among studies was tested and sensitivity analysis was applied. The lower transcriptional activity AA genotype of MPO in the pre-menopausal population showed significantly reduced risk (OR 0.56-0.57, p = 0.03) in contrast to their post-menopausal counterparts which showed non-significant increased risk (OR 1.14; p = 0.34-0.36). High intake of antioxidants (OR 0.67-0.86, p = 0.04-0.05) and carotenoids (OR 0.68-0.86, p = 0.03-0.05) conferred significant protection in the women. Stratified by menopausal status, this effect was observed in pre-menopausal women especially those whose antioxidant intake was high (OR 0.42-0.69, p = 0.04). In post-menopausal women, effect of low intake elicited susceptibility (OR 1.19-1.67, p = 0.07-0.17) to breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Based on a homogeneous Caucasian population, the MPO G463A polymorphism places post-menopausal women at risk for breast cancer, where this effect is modified by diet

Perrault Aux Prises Avec la Fontaine: Imitation, Compétition et Correction Dans Les Fables de Faërne (1699)

Known especially for his fairy tales, Charles Perrault is also the author of the Fables de Faërne (1699). In this French translation of the Neo-Latin volume Fabulae Centum (1564), written by the Italian humanist Gabriel Faerno, Perrault had to position himself against his renowned predecessor Jean de La Fontaine, who had been dominating fable literature for decades. Perrault could either imitate his famous example, or evade it, due to anxiety of influence. To illustrate this inner struggle, we systematically compare both authors’ fables, concentrating our analysis on versification (metre and rhyme), vocabulary and apostrophe. In our comparison, we constantly verify whether any of the resemblances could be attributable to other French, versified fable books read by both Perrault and La Fontaine. Occasionally, this seems to be the case for the anonymous collection L’Esbatement moral des animaux (1578).Vakpublicati

Desmoglein 2 is a substrate of kallikrein 7 in pancreatic cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In a previous report we have demonstrated that the chymotryptic-like serine protease kallikrein 7 (<it>KLK7</it>/hK7) is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. In normal skin, hK7 is thought to participate in skin desquamation by contributing in the degradation of desmosomal components, such as desmogleins. Thus, the ability of hK7 to degrade desmogleins was assessed and the effect of hK7 expression on desmoglein 2 was examined in cultured pancreatic cancer cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The expression of Dsg1, Dsg2, and Dsg3 in pancreatic tissues was examined by immunohistochemistry and their expression in two pancreatic cancer cell lines, BxPC-3 and Panc-1, was determined by western blot analysis. The ability of hK7 to degrade Dsg1 and Dsg2 was investigated using <it>in vitro </it>degradation assays. BxPC-3 cells stably transfected to overexpress hK7 were used to examine the effect of hK7 on cell-surface resident Dsg2.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The levels of immunoreactive Dsg1 and Dsg2 were reduced in pancreatic adenocarcinomas compared with both normal pancreatic and chronic pancreatitis tissues. Among the desmosomal proteins examined, Dsg2 exhibited robust expression on the surface of BxPC-3 cells. When hK7 was overexpressed in this cell line, there was a significant increase in the amount of soluble Dsg2 released into the culture medium compared with vector-transfected control cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A reduction in the amount of the cell adhesion components Dsg1 and Dsg2 in pancreatic tumors suggests that loss of these desmosomal proteins may play a role in pancreatic cancer invasion. Using <it>in vitro </it>degradation assays, both Dsg1 and Dsg2 could be readily proteolyzed by hK7, which is overexpressed in pancreatic adenocarcinomas. The enforced expression of hK7 in BxPC-3 cells that express significant amounts of Dsg2 resulted in a marked increase in the shedding of soluble Dsg2, which is consistent with the notion that aberrant expression of hK7 in pancreatic tumors may result in diminished cell-cell adhesion and facilitate tumor cell invasion.</p

Restoration of plakoglobin expression in bladder carcinoma cell lines suppresses cell migration and tumorigenic potential

The reduction or loss of plakoglobin expression in late-stage bladder cancer has been correlated with poor survival where upregulation of this catenin member by histone deacetylase inhibitors has been shown to accompany tumour suppression in an in vivo model. In this study, we directly addressed the question of the role of plakoglobin in bladder tumorigenesis following restoration, or knockdown of expression in bladder carcinoma cell lines. Restoration of plakoglobin expression resulted in a reduction in migration and suppression of tumorigenic potential in vivo. Immunocytochemistry revealed cytoplasmic and membranous localisation of plakoglobin in transfectants with <1% of cells displaying detectable nuclear localisation of plakoglobin. siRNA knockdown experiments targeting plakoglobin, revealed enhanced migration in all cell lines in the presence and absence of E-cadherin expression. In bladder cell lines expressing low levels of plakoglobin and desmoglein-2, elevated levels of desmoglein-2 were detected following restoration of plakoglobin expression in transfected cell lines. Analysis of wnt signalling revealed no activation event associated with plakoglobin expression in the bladder model. These results show that plakoglobin acts as a tumour suppressor gene in bladder carcinoma cells and the silencing of plakoglobin gene expression in late-stage bladder cancer is a primary event in tumour progression