Mobile crowdsensing for road sustainability: exploitability of publicly-sourced data

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the opportunities and the economic benefits of exploiting publicly-sourced datasets of road surface quality. Crowdsourcing and crowdsensing initiatives channel the parti..

Lung parenchyma modifications after mechanical ventilation and fluid load

Mechanical ventilation with or without positive pressure in the airways (PEEP) and with or without mild fluid load can cause some modification on the morphology of the lung matrix in the ventral and dorsal lung regions of supine healthy rats. To evaluate the differences between dorsal and ventral areas of the lungs after different strategies of ventilation we subdivided rats in two sets of animals, one without any intravenous infusion, the other one with intravenous infusion of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) maintained during all the mechanical ventilation. Each set was further subdivided in groups which underwent different ventilation strategies, vary- ing the end-expiratory pressure (0 or 5 mmH2O) and the spontaneous/mechanical breathing. At the morphological analysis no signs of parenchyma injury were collected in all the groups of either sets, although were evident differences in alveolar septa thick- ness: in all the not-infused groups submitted to mechanical ventilation was observed a thinning of the alveolar septa combined with a enlargement of the perivascular fluid cuffs both in ventral and dorsal regions. The infused specimens demonstrate a more congested parenchyma with irregular development of perivascular fluid cuffs around lung microvessels. In all groups, the maintaining of the PEEP during the mechanical ventilation induced significative corner and alveolar septa thinning respect to the controls, more accentuate in the ventral regions. In infused groups, we observed general alveolar septa and corner thickening, with reduction of the differ- ences between dorsal and ventral regions. Mechanical ventilation and fluid load may cause injuries to the lung parenchyma, mainly in the ventral region, injuries that seems to be reduced using a positive pres- sure on the airways, as the PEEP, which seemed to be protective for the extracellular matrix of the lung during the mechanical ventilation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the “Centro Grandi Attrezzature per la Ricer- ca Biomedica” of Insubria University for instruments availability

Crowdsensing for road sustainability: validation of publicly sourced data for exploitation

Crowdsourcing and crowdsensing are social innovation paradigms that, through the participation of active citizens, allow communities to contribute to a shared goal and provide people with tools with the capacity to positively impacting society. Mobile crowdsensing in particular takes advantage of pervasive mobile devices with on-board sen- sors to enable efficient and inexpensive large-scale data collection. In this paper we present results from several public pilots of a crowdsensing system deployed with the purpose of collecting road quality data thanks to accelerometer data from mobile smartphones. We il- lustrate several approaches that aim at evaluating the quality of collected information and correlating it with real “ground truth” data from a variety of sources. Proposed approaches are evaluated in terms of effectiveness and applicability in exploitation processes by public administrations or other road maintenance entities

Paracrine effect of human Adipose-derived Stem Cells on Lymphatic Endothelial Cells

Aim The proposal of this study was to evaluate, in vitro, the potential paracrine effect of human Adipose Stem Cells (hASCs) to promote lymphangiogenesis on lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) isolated from rat diaphragmatic lymphatic vessels. Materials & Methods ELISA assay on VEGFA, VEGFC and IL6 in the hASC-Conditioned Medium (hASC-CM), LYVE1 immunostaining, and gene expression of Prox1, VegfR3, VegfC, VegfA and Il6, were the methods used. Results In 2-D culture, hASC-CM was able to promote LEC survival, maintenance of their endothelial cobblestone-morphology and induction to form vessel-like structure. Conclusions Our results represent an in vitro evidence of the paracrine effect of hASCs on LECs, suggesting the possible role of hASC-CM in developing new therapeutic approaches for lymphatic system-related dysfunctions such as secondary lymphedema

Mobile crowdsensing for road sustainability: exploitability of publicly-sourced data

This paper examines the opportunities and the economic benefits of exploiting publicly-sourced datasets of road surface quality. Crowdsourcing and crowdsensing initiatives channel the participation of engaged citizens into communities that contribute towards a shared goal. In providing people with the tools needed to positively impact society, crowd-based initiatives can be seen as purposeful drivers of social innovation from the bottom. Mobile crowdsensing (MCS), in particular, takes advantage of the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices with on-board sensors to allow large-scale inexpensive data collection campaigns. This paper illustrates MCS in the context of road surface quality monitoring, presenting results from several pilots adopting a public crowdsensing mobile application for systematic data collection. Evaluation of collected information, its quality, and its relevance to road sustainability and maintenance are discussed, in comparison to authoritative data from a variety of other sources

Regional lung tissue changes with mechanical ventilation and fluid load

Purpose: To investigate the regional gravity-dependent impact of mechanical ventilation and fluid overload on lung extracellular matrix (ECM) in healthy lungs. Materials and Methods: The glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) composition of the ventral and dorsal lung parenchyma was determined in anesthetized supine healthy rats mechanically ventilated for 4 hours in air: (a) at low ( 3c7.5 mL/kg) or high ( 3c 23 mL /kg) tidal volume (VT) and 0 cmH2O positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP); (b) at low or high VT at 5 cmH2O PEEP and (c) with or without 7 mL /(kg\ub7h) intravenous saline infusion. Results: Mechanical ventilation degraded lung ECM, with alveolar septa thinning and structural GAGs disorganization. Low VT ventilation was associated with significant tissue structure changes in both ventral and dorsal lung regions, while high VT mainly affected the dependent ones. PEEP decreased ECM injury mainly in the ventral lung regions, although it did not prevent matrix fragmentation and washout at high VT. Intravascular fluid load increased lung damage prevalently in the ventral lung regions. Conclusion: Mechanical ventilation and fluid load may cause additive injuries in healthy lungs, mainly in ventral regions

New Insight into the Binding Mode of Peptide Ligands at Urotensin-II Receptor: Structure−Activity Relationships Study on P5U and Urantide

Urotensin II (U-II) is a disulfide bridged peptide hormone identified as the ligand of a G protein-coupled receptor. Human U-II (H-Glu-Thr-Pro-Asp-c[Cys-Phe-Trp-Lys-Tyr-Cys]-Val-OH) has been described as the most potent vasoconstrictor compound identified to date. We have recently identified both a superagonist of hU-II termed P5U (H-Asp-c [Pen-Phe-Trp-Lys-Tyr-Cys]-Val-OH) and the compound termed urantide (H-Asp-c[Pen-Phe-DTrp-Orn-Tyr-Cys]-Val-OH), which is the most potent UT receptor peptide antagonist described to date. In the present study, we have synthesized several analogues of P5U and urantide in which the Asp(4) residue in N-terminus position was replaced with coded and noncoded amino acids. The replacement of the Asp(4) residue by Tic led to an analogue, compound 14, more potent as antagonist (pK(B) = 8.94) compared to urantide. Furthermore, a different SAR was observed for the P5U compared to the urantide analogues. NMR and docking studies revealed a different binding mode for the agonist and antagonist ligands which could explain the observed SAR