The aim of this study was to examine whether increases in severity of subclinical inflammation, measured by high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), increased experimental pain sensitivity, ...measured by cold-pressor tolerance, and to test whether this relationship is independent of chronic pain. A large population-based study from 2007 to 2008, the sixth Tromsø Study, provided data from 12,981 participants. For the present analysis, complete data for 10,274 participants (age: median 58 years) were available. The main outcome measure was cold-pressor tolerance, tested by placing the dominant hand in circulating cold water (3°C) for a maximum of 106 seconds. Cox proportional hazard models, treating hand withdrawal during the cold-pressor test as the event and enduring the full test time as censored data, were used to investigate the relationship between hs-CRP levels (≤3 or >3 mg/L) and cold-pressure tolerance. The fully adjusted model was controlled for age, sex, education, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol consumption, emotional distress, statin usage, and self-reported presence of chronic pain. Additional analysis was performed in participants without chronic pain. Higher levels of hs-CRP were negatively related to cold-pressor tolerance (hazard ratio HR = 1.24, 95% confidence interval CI, 1.12-1.37, P < 0.001), adjusted for age and sex. This relationship remained essentially unaltered after controlling for potential confounders (HR = 1.22, 95% CI, 1.09-1.36, P < 0.001), as well as for the presence of chronic pain (HR = 1.22, 95% CI, 1.09-1.36, P < 0.001). The present data show that subclinical inflammation is related to increased pain sensitivity, suggesting a potential role of inflammation in experimental pain which may be of importance for the development of clinical pain.
As the use of autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) for automated data collection from construction projects increases, construction stakeholders have become aware of a problem with ...inter-disciplinary semantic data sharing and exchanges between construction and robotic. Cross-domain data translation requires detailed specifications especially when it comes to semantic data translation. Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are the two digital building technologies used to capture and store semantic information for indoor structures and outdoor environments respectively. In the absence of a standard format for data exchanges between the construction and robotic domains, the tools of both industries have yet to be integrated into a coherent deployment infrastructure. In other words, the semantics of BIM-GIS cannot be automatically integrated by the robotic platforms currently being used. To enable semantic data transfer across domains, semantic web technology has been widely used in multi-disciplinary areas for interoperability. This paves the way to smarter, quicker and more precise robot navigation on construction sites. This paper develops a semantic web ontology integrating robot navigation and data collection to convey the meanings from BIM-GIS to the robot. The proposed Building Information Robotic System (BIRS) provides construction data that are semantically transferred to the robotic platform and can be used by the robot navigation software stack on construction sites. To meet this objective, first, knowledge representation between construction and robotic domains is bridged. Then, a semantic database integrated with the Robot Operating System (ROS) is developed, which can communicate with the robot and the navigation system to provide the robot with semantic building data at each step of data collection. Finally, the BIRS proposed system is validated through four case studies.
BaMoO4 was obtained via facile mechanochemical synthesis at room temperature and a solid-state reaction. An evaluation of the phase composition and structural and optical properties of BaMoO4 was ...conducted. The influence of different milling speeds on the preparation of BaMoO4 was explored. A shorter reaction time for the phase formation of BaMoO4 was achieved using a milling speed of 850 rpm. A milling speed of 500 rpm led to partial amorphization of the initial reagents and to prolongation of the synthesis time of up to 3 h of milling time. Solid-state synthesis was performed via heat treatment at 900 °C for 15 h. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), infrared (IR) and UV diffuse reflectance (UV-Vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy were carried out to characterize the samples. Independently of the method of preparation, the obtained samples had tetragonal symmetry. The average crystallite sizes of all samples, calculated using Scherrer’s formula, were in the range of 240 to 1540 Å. IR spectroscopy showed that more distorted structural MoO4 units were formed when the compound was synthesized via a solid-state reaction. The optical band gap energy of the obtained materials was found to decrease from 4.50 to 4.30 eV with increasing crystallite sizes. Green- and blue-light emissions were observed for BaMoO4 phases under excitation wavelengths of 330 and 488 nm. It was established that the intensity of the PL peaks depends on two factors: the symmetry of MoO4 units and the crystallite sizes.
A novel association can form between two memories even when the events to which they correspond are not physically present. For example, once an integrated memory has formed that binds the (when, ...where, and what) components of an event together, this memory can be triggered by one of its components, and updated with coincident information in the environment. The neural basis of this form of retrieval-mediated learning is unknown. Here, we show, for the first time, that NMDA receptors in the rat hippocampus are required for retrieval-mediated learning involving episodes, but not for the expression of such learning or for retrieval-mediated learning involving simple associations between the components of episodes. These findings provide a novel insight into learning processes that serve the desirable function of integrating stored information with new information, but whose operation might also provide a substrate for some of the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease.
In this study, we investigated the influence of Bi2O3 and WO3 on both structure and optical properties of 50ZnO:(49 − x)B2O3:1Bi2O3:xWO3; x = 1, 5, 10 glasses doped with 0.5 mol% Eu2O3. IR ...spectroscopy revealed the presence of trigonal BØ3 units connecting superstructural groups, BØ2O− metaborate groups, tetrahedral BØ4− units in superstructural groupings (Ø = bridging oxygen atom), borate triangles with nonbridging oxygen atoms, WO42− tetrahedral, and octahedral WO6 species. Neutron diffraction experimental data were simulated by reverse Monte Carlo modeling. The atomic distances and coordination numbers were established, confirming the short-range order found by IR spectra. The synthesized glasses were characterized by red emission at 612 nm. All findings suggest that Eu3+ doped zinc borate glasses containing both WO3 and Bi2O3 have the potential to serve as a substitute for red phosphor with high color purity.
Prion protein fate governed by metal binding Tsenkova, Roumiana N.; Iordanova, Ilina K.; Toyoda, Kiyohiko ...
Biochemical and biophysical research communications,
12/2004, Letnik:
325, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The conversion of the normal cellular prion protein to an abnormal isoform is considered to be causal to the prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. The prion protein is a copper ...binding protein but under some conditions may bind other metals. In particular, the binding of manganese has been suggested to convert the prion protein (PrP) to a protease resistant isoform. Therefore, the differences in the way the protein binds copper and manganese might be revealing in terms of the mechanism of conversion of the protein or its normal cellular activity. We report the use of near-infrared spectroscopy for studies on aqueous solutions of prion protein binding Cu or Mn. These alloforms of the protein were analyzed by spectral data acquisition and multivariate analysis. Our results indicate that PrP binds both Mn and Cu differently. Analyses of Cu binding suggest that the PrP–Cu complex protected Cu from the water increasing protein stability. PrP–Mn does not protect Mn from water interactions. A real-time study of the protein alloforms showed that PrP–Cu remains stable in solution, but that PrP–Mn underwent highly different changes that led to fibril formation.
Rationale and objective
Learning to inhibit acquired fear responses is fundamental to adaptive behavior. Two procedures that support such learning are extinction and overexpectation. In extinction, ...an expected outcome is omitted, whereas in overexpectation two individually trained cues are presented in compound to induce an expectation of a greater outcome than that delivered. Previously, we showed that inactivation of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) in experimentally naïve male rats causes a mild impairment in extinction learning but a profound one in overexpectation. The mild extinction impairment was also transient; that is, it was absent in a cohort of rats that had prior history of inhibitory training (overexpectation, extinction) and their associated controls. This raised the question whether lOFC involvement in overexpectation could likewise be attenuated by prior experience.
Methods
Using a muscimol/baclofen cocktail, we inactivated the lOFC during overexpectation training in rats with prior associative learning history (extinction, overexpectation, control) and examined its contribution to reducing learned fear.
Results
Inactivating the lOFC during compound training in overexpectation persistently disrupted fear reduction on test in naïve rats and regardless of prior experience. Additionally, we confirm that silencing the lOFC only resulted in a mild impairment in extinction learning in naïve rats.
Conclusion
We show that prior associative learning experience did not mitigate the deficit in overexpectation caused by lOFC inactivation. Our findings emphasize the importance of this region for this particular form of fear reduction and broaden our understanding of the conditions in which the lOFC modulates behavioral inhibition.
An optical emission spectroscopy method for determination of electron temperature, electron density and gas temperature is developed and applied for diagnostics of inductively-driven argon discharges ...in a cylindrical geometry. The discharges are maintained at frequency 27 MHz, applied power varied in the limits
P
=
(90 – 160)
W and gas pressure in the range
p
=
(1.1 – 117.3) Pa. The method combines measurements of emission spectral line intensities and profile broadenings with a collisional-radiative model of argon plasma at low pressure. The model is employed for investigation of the plasma kinetics governing the population densities of 3
p
54
s and 3
p
54
p argon configuration levels, treated separately. In the numerical calculations the electron density and electron temperature are varied whereas the values of the third plasma parameter — the gas temperature — are involved as obtained data from the experiments. Comparison of the experimental results of the line-intensity ratios with those calculated by the model yields the values of the electron density and temperature. The dependence of the electron temperature, electron density and gas temperature on the discharge conditions is obtained and discussed in the study.
As represented in Balkan cinema – and here we mainly look at cinematic texts created in the context of former Yugoslavia’s constituent republics -- the artist is suspect. The presence of the artist ...is awkwardly tolerated – because the artist is alien, cosmopolitan, and extraneous. He may react in unpredictable ways or have eccentric wishes. The artist may seek fame but no fame can come. The artist is insufficiently Balkan. He is better off being abroad. Even where films put the artist in the centre of attention, there is indolent insufficiency in representing the artist. In this playful exploration, we look at various cinematic texts that have provided commentary on the status of the artist in a Balkan context. The concept of ‘Balkan’ used here is not a geographical category but rather complies with the definition given in my book Cinema of Flames (2001) as well as, occasionally, is used in the sense implied by Marina Abramovic in her short Balkan Erotic Epic (2011).
Aby zrozumieć zasadę, na jakiej działają festiwale filmowe, należy przede wszystkim odwrócić swą uwagę od samych filmów, zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o festiwale, których siłą napędową jest glamour, a ...które skupiają się na czerwonych dywanach i mnożą okazje do sesji zdjęciowych. Oczywiście filmy także się na nich liczą, ale trzeba przeanalizować całe spektrum innych czynników, by móc zrozumieć, na czym polega odrębność festiwali filmowych. Należy zatem wziąć pod uwagę wyjątkową konfigurację różnych grup interesów, by w pełni odkryć strukturę i narrację festiwali, ich poszczególne komponenty, a także to, co stoi za rozgrywkami pomiędzy ich uczestnikami (sponsorami, partnerami, członkami zarządów, zaproszonymi gośćmi, publicznością, miejscami pokazów, dziennikarzami itd.). To właśnie ich konfiguracja, relacja między wszystkimi graczami realizującymi różne cele, decyduje o tym, jak będzie wyglądać selekcja filmów, jakie będzie ich znaczenie w kontekście całego przedsięwzięcia, którzy filmowcy zostaną zaproszeni, jakie będą wydarzenia towarzyszące i imprezy towarzyskie, jak będzie funkcjonował marketing, które z mediów będą najlepiej widziane. Wszystkie te elementy razem nadają festiwalowi szczególny profil i kreują jego „narrację”. Iordanova posługuje się przykładami festiwalu w Cannes i paru wielkich festiwali azjatyckich, by pokazać, jak działają te festiwalowe mechanizmy.
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