An ultra wideband (UWB) system-on-chip radar sensor for respiratory rate monitoring has been realized in 90 nm CMOS technology and characterized experimentally. The radar testchip has been applied to ...the contactless detection of the respiration activity of adult and baby. The field operational tests demonstrate that the UWB radar sensor detects the respiratory rate of person under test (adult and baby) associated with sub-centimeter chest movements, allowing the continuous-time non-invasive monitoring of hospital patients and other people at risk of obstructive apneas such as babies in cot beds, or other respiratory diseases.
Estrogens are known to influence functional properties of mammalian spermatozoa inducing rapid responses through the classical estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ). Recently, the G protein‐coupled ...estrogen receptor (GPER) has been identified as mediator of fast non‐genomic estrogen effects in different cells. This work investigated the expression of GPER in human and pig spermatozoa using immunofluorescence, Western blot analysis and RT‐PCR. GPER was found to be confined to the mid‐piece of human sperm cells, whereas it was detected in the acrosomal region, the equatorial segment and the mid‐piece of pig spermatozoa. Furthermore, in the male gametes of both species, the immunoblots of sperm extracts revealed a band at ~42 kDa, consistent with the GPER molecular weight, and RT‐PCR detected the GPER transcripts. This is the first report demonstrating the expression of GPER in human and pig mature sperm cells and evidencing its species‐specific cellular localization.
Microwave Active Inductors Zito, D.; Fonte, A.; Pepe, D.
IEEE microwave and wireless components letters,
07/2009, Letnik:
19, Številka:
7
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In this letter, the experimental proofs of two microwave active inductors with very high quality factor, namely Differential Boot-Strapped Inductor (D-BSI) and Cross-Coupled Differential ...Boot-Strapped Inductor (CCD-BSI), are presented. These circuits can be effectively implemented in modern RF-CMOS processes for high-Q equivalent integrated inductors at high frequency. The cases of study at 13 GHz have been designed and implemented in a modern standard 90 nm bulk CMOS process. The measurements on the test-chips show an equivalent inductance close to 3.2 nH with an associated quality factor up to 400 and a wide linearity range.
ERα function is crucial for the development of normal mammary gland as well as in the process of progression of breast cancer cells. Signals that target receptor levels contribute to regulate ...estrogens effects in the cells. An intricate cross-regulation has been documented between ERα and TGF-β down-stream molecules: SMAD2, SMAD3, and SMAD4, that can bind ERα and regulate their signaling. Thus, identification of natural anticancer drugs able to influence the latter molecule might provide alternative choices for breast cancer treatment. Taking into account our previous published data we wanted to study the effect of 5-Methoxypsoralen (bergapten) on ERα and on TGF-β pathway. We reported that bergapten, a coumarin containing compound, effectively depletes ERα in MCF-7 breast cancer sensitive cells and in tamoxifen-resistant clone. The decrease of ERα protein after bergapten treatment results from the ubiquitine–proteasome pathway as demonstrated by the use of MG-132. IP experiments with ER antibody, demonstrated that the protein has physical interaction with SMAD4 and poly-ubiquitine and the amount of ubiquitinated receptor, linked to SMAD4, is greater under bergapten. The crucial role played by SMAD4, in this process, emerges from the observation that in breast cancer cells, silencing of SMAD4, resulted in increased expression of endogenous ERα in both control and bergapten-treated cells, compared to wild- type cells. The same results were confirmed in siRNA TGF-β RII cells. The results suggest a novel negative regulation of ERα by TGF-β/SMAD4 in breast cancer cells and indicate that the SMAD4 protein is involved in the degradation of ERα induced by bergapten. We propose that bergapten may efficiently act as a natural antitumoral agent, able to deplete ERα from breast cancer tamoxifen-sensitive and resistant cells, thereby retraining the effect of membrane signals targeting ERα and in such way its mitogenic potentiality.
The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) receptor appears to play a pivotal role in the regulation of cellular proliferation and inflammation. Recent evidence also suggests that ...rosiglitazone, a PPAR-γ agonist, reduces acute and chronic inflammation. We hypothesized that rosiglitazone would attenuate periodontal inflammation. In the present study, we investigated the effects of rosiglitazone in a rat model of ligature-induced periodontitis. At day 8, ligation significantly induced an increase in neutrophil infiltration, as well as of gingivomucosal tissue expression of iNOS, nitrotyrosine formation, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase activation. Ligation significantly increased Evans blue extravasation in gingivomucosal tissue and alveolar bone destruction. Intraperitoneal injection of rosiglitazone (10 mg/kg 10% DMSO daily for 8 days) significantly decreased all of the parameters of inflammation, as described above. Analysis of these data demonstrated that rosiglitazone exerted an anti-inflammatory role during experimental periodontitis, and was able to ameliorate the tissue damage associated with ligature-induced periodontitis.
Erratum to: Breast Cancer Res Treat (2012), 134:569–581, DOI 10.1007/s10549-012-2090-9. Uunfortunately, authors could not find the original film from which the figure was drawn. Therefore, as ...suggested by the Editor, they have repeated the relative experiment, and ask to publish this new figure as a correction. The authors apologize for any inconvenience that it may cause.
INTESA is an innovative vertical envelope for residential, industrial and service tertiary buildings. It is a drywall façade system with high thermal and acoustic properties, embedding electrical and ...plumbing systems. The system was developed over two years by a multidisciplinary team, which involved researchers, manufacturers and consultants. An integrated approach has been the key element to design and prototype an innovative double cavity drywall façade, composed by plasterboard layers and blown-in cellulose flakes, with and without a thin layer of Phase Change Material. Thermal and acoustical properties have been optimized through laboratory measurements and simulations and later tested in a prototype building.
In this letter a novel design solution in 90 nm CMOS technology is proposed for the IF amplifier, low-pass filter and square-law power detector of a system-on-chip (SoC) microwave radiometer. To ...minimize the number of off-chip components (just a single capacitor) the IF filter is based on an active g m C configuration, whereas the power detector exploits the MOS transistor non-linearity, i.e., avoiding the need for Schottky diodes. The fabricated IF chip features a sensitivity of 3 mV/nW, a linearity range of about 25 dB around the -60 dBm level, a noise equivalent bandwidth of 58 MHz and a current consumption of only 1.8 mA at 1.2 V supply. The core area is within a rectangle of 220 mum times 540 mum. The proposed design solution is also compatible with SiGe BiCMOS processes and can be regarded as a further step toward the realization of microwave radiometric sensors fully integrated on silicon.
The two isoforms of estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and beta play opposite roles in regulating proliferation and differentiation of breast cancers, with ER-alpha mediating mitogenic effects and ER-beta ...acting as a tumor suppressor. Emerging data have reported that androgen receptor (AR) activation inhibits ER-positive breast cancer progression mainly by antagonizing ER-alpha signaling. However, to date no studies have specifically evaluated a potential involvement of ER-beta in the inhibitory effects of androgens.
ER-beta expression was examined in human breast cancer cell lines using real-time PCR, Western blotting and small interfering RNA (siRNA) assays. Mutagenesis studies, electromobility shift assay (EMSA) and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis were performed to assess the effects of mibolerone/AR on ER-beta promoter activity and binding.
In this study, we demonstrate that mibolerone, a synthetic androgen ligand, up-regulates ER-beta mRNA and protein levels in ER-positive breast cancer cells. Transient transfection experiments, using a vector containing the human ER-beta promoter region, show that mibolerone increases basal ER-beta promoter activity. Site-directed mutagenesis and deletion analysis reveal that an androgen response element (ARE), TGTTCT motif located at positions -383 and -377, is critical for mibolerone-induced ER-beta up-regulation in breast cancer cells. This occurs through an increased recruitment of AR to the ARE site within the ER-beta promoter region, along with an enhanced occupancy of RNA polymerase II. Finally, silencing of ER-beta gene expression by RNA interference is able to partially reverse the effects of mibolerone on cell proliferation, p21 and cyclin D1 expression.
Collectively, these data provide evidence for a novel mechanism by which activated AR, through an up-regulation of ER-beta gene expression, inhibits breast cancer cell growth.
The KM3NeT research infrastructure is under construction in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of two water Cherenkov neutrino detectors, ARCA and ORCA, aimed at neutrino astrophysics and oscillation ...research, respectively. Instrumenting a large volume of sea water with
∼
6200
optical modules comprising a total of
∼
200
,
000
photomultiplier tubes, KM3NeT will achieve sensitivity to
∼
10
MeV
neutrinos from Galactic and near-Galactic core-collapse supernovae through the observation of coincident hits in photomultipliers above the background. In this paper, the sensitivity of KM3NeT to a supernova explosion is estimated from detailed analyses of background data from the first KM3NeT detection units and simulations of the neutrino signal. The KM3NeT observational horizon (for a
5
σ
discovery) covers essentially the Milky-Way and for the most optimistic model, extends to the Small Magellanic Cloud (
∼
60
kpc
). Detailed studies of the time profile of the neutrino signal allow assessment of the KM3NeT capability to determine the arrival time of the neutrino burst with a few milliseconds precision for sources up to 5–8 kpc away, and detecting the peculiar signature of the
standing accretion shock instability
if the core-collapse supernova explosion happens closer than 3–5 kpc, depending on the progenitor mass. KM3NeT’s capability to measure the neutrino flux spectral parameters is also presented.
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