Elevated dietary magnesium during pregnancy and postnatal life prevents ectopic mineralization in Enpp1asj mice, a model for generalized arterial calcification of infancy.

Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the ENPP1 gene. It is characterized by mineralization of the arterial blood vessels, often diagnosed prenatally, and associated with death in early childhood. There is no effective treatment for this devastating disorder. We previously characterized the Enpp1asjmutant mouse as a model of GACI, and we have now explored the effect of elevated dietary magnesium (five-fold) in pregnant mothers and continuing for the first 14 weeks of postnatal life. The mothers were kept on either control diet or experimental diet supplemented with magnesium. Upon weaning at 4 weeks of age the pups were placed either on control diet or high magnesium diet. The degree of mineralization was assessed at 14 weeks of age by histopathology and a chemical calcium assay in muzzle skin, kidney and aorta. Mice placed on high magnesium diet showed little, if any, evidence of mineralization when their corresponding mothers were also placed on diet enriched with magnesium during pregnancy and nursing. The reduced ectopic mineralization in these mice was accompanied by increased calcium and magnesium content in the urine, suggesting that magnesium competes calcium-phosphate binding thereby preventing the mineral deposition. These results have implications for dietary management of pregnancies in which the fetus is suspected of having GACI. Moreover, augmenting a diet with high magnesium may be beneficial for other ectopic mineralization diseases, including nephrocalcinosis

Exploring an Infinite Space with Finite Memory Scouts

Consider a small number of scouts exploring the infinite $d$-dimensional grid with the aim of hitting a hidden target point. Each scout is controlled by a probabilistic finite automaton that determines its movement (to a neighboring grid point) based on its current state. The scouts, that operate under a fully synchronous schedule, communicate with each other (in a way that affects their respective states) when they share the same grid point and operate independently otherwise. Our main research question is: How many scouts are required to guarantee that the target admits a finite mean hitting time? Recently, it was shown that $d + 1$ is an upper bound on the answer to this question for any dimension $d \geq 1$ and the main contribution of this paper comes in the form of proving that this bound is tight for $d \in \{ 1, 2 \}$.Comment: Added (forgotten) acknowledgement

Robottisolun käyttöönotto

Opinnäytetyössä tehtiin robottisorvaussolu Koulutuskeskus Sedun Törnävän toimipisteen koneistushalliin Seinäjoelle, jossa tulevaisuudessa metallipuolen opiskelijat pystyisivät näkemään ja opettelemaan automatisoidun robottisorvaussolun toimintaa. Automatisoidut sorvaussolut ovat kilpaileva valtti yritysmaailmassa. Automatisointi tulee yleensä esille pitkien ja toistuvien sarjojen valmistuksen yhteydessä. Yhä enemmän yritykset pyrkivät automatisoimaan tuotantoa, joten mahdollisuus oppia robotin toimintaa sorvaussolussa on opiskelijoille jo ammattikouluvaiheessa hyvin tärkeää tulevaisuutta ajatellen. Opiskelijoiden saama tieto ja käytännön oppi robottisolusta auttavat tulevia työharjoittelujaksoja sekä työpaikkoja silmällä pitäen. Työn pääasiat olivat robottisorvaussolut layoutsuunnittelu, asiaan kuuluvat turvallisuusstandardit ja automatisointi robotin ja sorvin välille. Layout suunniteltiin niin, että robotilla on mahdollista latausaseman kautta jatkuvaan työstöön. Koneturvallisuuden standardi SFS-EN ISO13857 oli työssä tärkeä solun turva-aluetta määrittämisessä. Robotin ja työstökoneen välinen kommunikaatio, joka voi olla haastavaa ja sen takia jouduttiin muuttamaan alkuperäistä suunnitelmaa

IL-6 Signaling Pathway in Keloids: A Target for Pharmacologic Intervention?

Keloids are cosmetically devastating lesions with considerable morbidity. Ghazizadeh et al. document enhanced expression of IL-6 and its receptors in keloid fibroblasts, with a concomitant increase in collagen biosynthesis. Anti-IL-6 antibodies or blocking the IL-6 receptors elicits reduced collagen synthesis, suggesting a role for IL-6 in the regulation of collagen gene expression. These observations imply the feasibility of a pharmacologic platform, based on the targeting of the IL-6 signaling pathway, in keloids