Vascular endothelial cells undergo morphogenesis into capillary networks in response to angiogenic factors. We show here that sphingosine-1-phosphate (SPP), a platelet-derived bioactive lipid, ...activates the EDG-1 and -3 subtypes of G protein–coupled receptors on endothelial cells to regulate angiogenesis. SPP induces the G
i/mitogen-activated protein kinase/cell survival pathway and the small GTPase Rho- and Rac-coupled adherens junction assembly. Both EDG-1- and EDG-3-regulated signaling pathways are required for endothelial cell morphogenesis into capillary-like networks. Indeed, SPP synergized with polypeptide angiogenic growth factors in the formation of mature neovessels in vivo. These data define SPP as a novel regulator of angiogenesis.
In this paper a matheuristic using a combined Genetic Algorithm (GA) and exact method approach is proposed for selecting the position of the beams and dose distribution in Intensity Modulated ...Radiotherapy Planning (IMRT). GA selects a set of beams, for which the dose distribution is determined in the process of the GA's evaluation, using an optimisation model that is solved by an Interior Point method. Two instances are used to evaluate the performance of the matheuristic, comparing to the optimum solution, in terms of solution and computation time, found using the exact methodology of Branch and Bound. The results show that the matheuristic is appropriate to this problem in the case study proposed, as it is extremely faster than the exact method and also have reached the optimum solution in several experiments done.
New evidence shows that older adults need more dietary protein than do younger adults to support good health, promote recovery from illness, and maintain functionality. Older people need to make up ...for age-related changes in protein metabolism, such as high splanchnic extraction and declining anabolic responses to ingested protein. They also need more protein to offset inflammatory and catabolic conditions associated with chronic and acute diseases that occur commonly with aging. With the goal of developing updated, evidence-based recommendations for optimal protein intake by older people, the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EUGMS), in cooperation with other scientific organizations, appointed an international study group to review dietary protein needs with aging (PROT-AGE Study Group). To help older people (>65 years) maintain and regain lean body mass and function, the PROT-AGE study group recommends average daily intake at least in the range of 1.0 to 1.2 g protein per kilogram of body weight per day. Both endurance- and resistance-type exercises are recommended at individualized levels that are safe and tolerated, and higher protein intake (ie, ≥1.2 g/kg body weight/d) is advised for those who are exercising and otherwise active. Most older adults who have acute or chronic diseases need even more dietary protein (ie, 1.2–1.5 g/kg body weight/d). Older people with severe kidney disease (ie, estimated GFR <30 mL/min/1.73m2), but who are not on dialysis, are an exception to this rule; these individuals may need to limit protein intake. Protein quality, timing of ingestion, and intake of other nutritional supplements may be relevant, but evidence is not yet sufficient to support specific recommendations. Older people are vulnerable to losses in physical function capacity, and such losses predict loss of independence, falls, and even mortality. Thus, future studies aimed at pinpointing optimal protein intake in specific populations of older people need to include measures of physical function.
The CompactLight Design Study D’Auria, G.; Alesini, D.; Arnsberg, J. ...
The European physical journal. ST, Special topics,
2024/4, Letnik:
233, Številka:
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CompactLight is a Design Study funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation funding programme, with Grant Agreement No. 777431. CompactLight was conducted by an ...International Collaboration of 23 international laboratories and academic institutions, three private companies, and five third parties. The project, which started in January 2018 with a duration of 48 months, aimed to design an innovative, compact, and cost-effective hard X-ray FEL facility complemented by a soft X-ray source to pave the road for future compact accelerator-based facilities. The result is an accelerator that can be operated at up to 1 kHz pulse repetition rate, beyond today’s state of the art, using the latest concepts for high brightness electron photoinjectors, very high gradient accelerating structures in X-band, and novel short-period undulators. In this report, we summarize the main deliverable of the project: the CompactLight Conceptual Design Report, which overviews the current status of the design and addresses the main technological challenges.
The Southern Ocean is a critical component of Earth's climate system, but its remoteness makes it challenging to develop a holistic understanding of its processes from the small scale to the large ...scale. As a result, our knowledge of this vast region remains largely incomplete. The Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE, austral summer 2016/2017) surveyed a large number of variables describing the state of the ocean and the atmosphere, the freshwater cycle, atmospheric chemistry, and ocean biogeochemistry and microbiology. This circumpolar cruise included visits to 12 remote islands, the marginal ice zone, and the Antarctic coast. Here, we use 111 of the observed variables to study the latitudinal gradients, seasonality, shorter-term variations, geographic setting of environmental processes, and interactions between them over the duration of 90 d. To reduce the dimensionality and complexity of the dataset and make the relations between variables interpretable we applied an unsupervised machine learning method, the sparse principal component analysis (sPCA), which describes environmental processes through 14 latent variables. To derive a robust statistical perspective on these processes and to estimate the uncertainty in the sPCA decomposition, we have developed a bootstrap approach. Our results provide a proof of concept that sPCA with uncertainty analysis is able to identify temporal patterns from diurnal to seasonal cycles, as well as geographical gradients and “hotspots” of interaction between environmental compartments. While confirming many well known processes, our analysis provides novel insights into the Southern Ocean water cycle (freshwater fluxes), trace gases (interplay between seasonality, sources, and sinks), and microbial communities (nutrient limitation and island mass effects at the largest scale ever reported). More specifically, we identify the important role of the oceanic circulations, frontal zones, and islands in shaping the nutrient availability that controls biological community composition and productivity; the fact that sea ice controls sea water salinity, dampens the wave field, and is associated with increased phytoplankton growth and net community productivity possibly due to iron fertilisation and reduced light limitation; and the clear regional patterns of aerosol characteristics that have emerged, stressing the role of the sea state, atmospheric chemical processing, and source processes near hotspots for the availability of cloud condensation nuclei and hence cloud formation. A set of key variables and their combinations, such as the difference between the air and sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, sea surface height, geostrophic currents, upper-ocean layer light intensity, surface wind speed and relative humidity played an important role in our analysis, highlighting the necessity for Earth system models to represent them adequately. In conclusion, our study highlights the use of sPCA to identify key ocean–atmosphere interactions across physical, chemical, and biological processes and their associated spatio-temporal scales. It thereby fills an important gap between simple correlation analyses and complex Earth system models. The sPCA processing code is available as open-access from the following link: https://renkulab.io/gitlab/ACE-ASAID/spca-decomposition (last access: 29 March 2021). As we show here, it can be used for an exploration of environmental data that is less prone to cognitive biases (and confirmation biases in particular) compared to traditional regression analysis that might be affected by the underlying research question.
A PMT-Block test bench Adragna, P.; Antonaki, A.; Boudagov, I. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
08/2006, Letnik:
564, Številka:
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The front-end electronics of the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter (Tile Cal) is housed in a unit, called
PMT-Block. The PMT-Block is a compact instrument comprising a light mixer, a PMT together with its ...divider and a
3-in-1 card, which provides shaping, amplification and integration for the signals. This instrument needs to be qualified before being assembled on the detector. A PMT-Block test bench has been developed for this purpose. This test bench is a system which allows fast, albeit accurate enough, measurements of the main properties of a complete PMT-Block. The system, both hardware and software, and the protocol used for the PMT-Blocks characterization are described in detail in this report. The results obtained in the test of about 10
000 PMT-Blocks needed for the instrumentation of the ATLAS (LHC-CERN) hadronic Tile Calorimeter are also reported.
•We present a methodology for expansion planning problem in distribution systems.•The methodology consists of two stages involving the MILP model and reliability.•An application with a friendly ...interface was developed.•The application allowing the communication between the GIS system and model.•Good solutions in acceptable computational time was found for large real network.
This paper present a way to insert the reliability in models of expansion planning of electrical network from real data coming from georeferenced database of Geographic Information System (GIS) of the company. For this an software with a friendly interface was developed, a real network is used as an example and computational results are presented.
Background Although widely adopted, the use of a uterine manipulator during laparoscopic treatment of endometrial cancer represents a debated issue, and some authors hypothesize that it potentially ...may cause an increased risk of relapse, particularly at specific sites. Objective Our aim was to evaluate the risk and site of disease recurrence, overall survival, and disease-specific survival in women who had laparoscopic surgery with and without the use of a uterine manipulator. Study Design Data were reviewed from consecutive patients who had laparoscopic surgery for endometrial cancer staging in 7 Italian centers. Subjects were stratified according to whether a uterine manipulator was used during surgery; if so, the type of manipulator was identified. Multivariable analysis to correct for possible confounders and propensity score that matched the minimize selection bias were utilized. The primary outcome was the risk of disease recurrence. Secondary outcomes were disease-specific and overall survival and the site of recurrence, according to the use or no use of the uterine manipulator and to the different types of manipulators used. Results We included 951 patients: 579 patients in the manipulator group and 372 patients in the no manipulator group. After a median follow-up period of 46 months (range,12–163 months), the rate of recurrence was 13.5% and 11.6% in the manipulator and no manipulator groups, respectively ( P =.37). Positive lymph nodes and myometrial invasion of >50% were associated independently with the risk of recurrence after adjustment for possible confounders. The use of a uterine manipulator did not affect the risk of recurrence, both at univariate (odds ratio, 1.18; 95% confidence interval, 0.80–1.77) and multivariable analysis (odds ratio, 1.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.60–1.70). Disease-free, disease-specific, and overall survivals were similar between groups. Propensity-matched analysis confirmed these findings. The site of recurrence was comparable between groups. In addition, the type of uterine manipulator and the presence or not of a balloon at the tip of the device were not associated significantly with the risk of recurrence. Conclusion The use of a uterine manipulator during laparoscopic surgery does not affect the risk of recurrence and has no impact on disease-specific or overall survival and on the site of recurrence in women affected by endometrial cancer.
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