New emerging technologies have proven their efficacy in aiding people in their rehabilitation. The tests that are usually used to evaluate usability (in general) or user satisfaction (in particular) ...of this technology are not specifically focused on virtual rehabilitation and patients. The objective of this contribution is to present and evaluate the USEQ (User Satisfaction Evaluation Questionnaire). The USEQ is a questionnaire that is designed to properly evaluate the satisfaction of the user (which constitutes part of usability) in virtual rehabilitation systems. Forty patients with balance disorders completed the USEQ after their first session with ABAR (Active Balance Rehabilitation), which is a virtual rehabilitation system that is designed for the rehabilitation of balance disorders. Internal consistency analysis and exploratory factor analysis were carried out to identify the factor structure of the USEQ. The six items of USEQ were significantly associated with each other, and the Cronbach alpha coefficient for the questionnaire was 0.716. In an analysis of the principal components, a one-factor solution was considered to be appropriate. The findings of the study suggest that the USEQ is a reliable questionnaire with adequate internal consistency. With regard to patient perception, the patients found the USEQ to be an easy-to-understand questionnaire with a convenient number of questions.
We present 3 mm ALMA continuum and line observations at resolutions of 6.5 au and 13 au, respectively, toward the Class 0 system IRAS 16293-2422 A. The continuum observations reveal two compact ...sources toward IRAS 16293-2422 A, coinciding with compact ionized gas emission previously observed at radio wavelengths (A1 and A2), confirming the long-known radio sources as protostellar. The emission toward A2 is resolved and traces a dust disk with an FWHM size of ∼12 au, while the emission toward A1 sets a limit to the FWHM size of the dust disk of ∼4 au. We also detect spatially resolved molecular kinematic tracers near the protostellar disks. Several lines of the J = 5−4 rotational transition of HNCO, NH2CHO, and t-HCOOH are detected, with which we derived individual line-of-sight velocities. Using these together with the CS (J = 2−1), we fit Keplerian profiles toward the individual compact sources and derive masses of the central protostars. The kinematic analysis indicates that A1 and A2 are a bound binary system. Using this new context for the previous 30 yr of Very Large Array observations, we fit orbital parameters to the relative motion between A1 and A2 and find that the combined protostellar mass derived from the orbit is consistent with the masses derived from the gas kinematics. Both estimations indicate masses consistently higher (0.5 M1 M2 2 ) than previous estimations using lower-resolution observations of the gas kinematics. The ALMA high-resolution data provides a unique insight into the gas kinematics and masses of a young deeply embedded bound binary system.
Background and Aims
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a potential source of circulating biomarkers in liver disease. We evaluated circulating AV+ EpCAM+ CD133+ EVs as a potential biomarker ...of the transition from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis.
Methods
EpCAM and CD133 liver proteins and EpCAM+ CD133+ EVs levels were analysed in 31 C57BL/6J mice fed with a chow or high fat, high cholesterol and carbohydrates diet (HFHCC) for 52 weeks. The hepatic origin of MVs was addressed using AlbCrexmT/mG mice fed a Western (WD) or Dual diet for 23 weeks. Besides, we assessed plasma MVs in 130 biopsy‐proven NAFLD patients.
Results
Hepatic expression of EpCAM and CD133 and EpCAM+ CD133+ EVs increased during disease progression in HFHCC mice. GFP+ MVs were higher in AlbCrexmT/mG mice fed a WD (5.2% vs 12.1%) or a Dual diet (0.5% vs 7.3%). Most GFP+ MVs were also positive for EpCAM and CD133 (98.3% and 92.9% respectively), suggesting their hepatic origin. In 71 biopsy‐proven NAFLD patients, EpCAM+ CD133+ EVs were significantly higher in those with steatohepatitis compare to those with simple steatosis (286.4 ± 61.9 vs 758.4 ± 82.3; p < 0.001). Patients with ballooning 367 ± 40.6 vs 532.0 ± 45.1; p = 0.01 and lobular inflammation (321.1 ± 74.1 vs 721.4 ± 80.1; p = 0.001), showed higher levels of these EVs. These findings were replicated in an independent cohort.
Conclusions
Circulating levels of EpCAM+ CD133+ MVs in clinical and experimental NAFLD were increased in the presence of steatohepatitis, showing high potential as a non‐invasive biomarker for the evaluation and management of these patients.
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•miRNA-34a, miRNA-122 and miRNA-192 helped to distinguish NAFLD and NASH severity.•The correlation of miRNA expression between serum and liver tissue was inconsistent.•miRNA-122 ...showed moderate accuracy to distinguish NAFLD from healthy controls.•miRNA-34a showed moderate accuracy to distinguish NASH from NAFL.
microRNAs (miRNAs) are deregulated in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and have been proposed as useful markers for the diagnosis and stratification of disease severity. We conducted a meta-analysis to identify the potential usefulness of miRNA biomarkers in the diagnosis and stratification of NAFLD severity.
After a systematic review, circulating miRNA expression consistency and mean fold-changes were analysed using a vote-counting strategy. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios, diagnostic odds ratio and area under the curve (AUC) for the diagnosis of NAFLD or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) were pooled using a bivariate meta-analysis. Deeks’ funnel plot was used to assess the publication bias.
Thirty-seven studies of miRNA expression profiles and six studies of diagnostic accuracy were ultimately included in the quantitative analysis. miRNA-122 and miRNA-192 showed consistent upregulation. miRNA-122 was upregulated in every scenario used to distinguish NAFLD severity. The miRNA expression correlation between the serum and liver tissue was inconsistent across studies. miRNA-122 distinguished NAFLD from healthy controls with an AUC of 0.82 (95% CI 0.75–0.89), and miRNA-34a distinguished non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) from non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) with an AUC of 0.78 (95% CI 0.67–0.88).
miRNA-34a, miRNA-122 and miRNA-192 were identified as potential diagnostic markers to segregate NAFL from NASH. Both miRNA-122, in distinguishing NAFLD from healthy controls, and miRNA-34a, in distinguishing NASH from NAFL, showed moderate diagnostic accuracy. miRNA-122 was upregulated in every scenario of NAFL, NASH and fibrosis.
microRNAs are deregulated in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The microRNAs, miRNA-34a, miRNA-122 and miRNA-192, were identified as potential biomarkers of non-alcoholic fatty liver and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, at different stages of disease severity. The correlation between miRNA expression in the serum and in liver tissue was inconsistent, or even inverse.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-derived vesicles released by a variety of cell types, including hepatocytes, hepatic stellate cells, and immune cells in normal and pathological conditions. ...Depending on their biogenesis, there is a complex repertoire of EVs that differ in size and origin. EVs can carry lipids, proteins, coding and non-coding RNAs, and mitochondrial DNA causing alterations to the recipient cells, functioning as intercellular mediators of cell-cell communication (auto-, para-, juxta-, or even endocrine). Nevertheless, many questions remain unanswered in relation to the function of EVs under physiological and pathological conditions. The development and optimization of methods for EV isolation are crucial for characterizing their biological functions, as well as their potential as a treatment option in the clinic. In this manuscript, we will comprehensively review the results from different studies that investigated the role of hepatic EVs during liver diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. In general, the identification of patients with early-stage liver disease leads to better therapeutic interventions and optimal management. Although more light needs to be shed on the mechanisms of EVs, their use for early diagnosis, follow-up, and prognosis has come into the focus of research as a high-potential source of 'liquid biopsies', since they can be found in almost all biological fluids. The use of EVs as new targets or nanovectors in drug delivery systems for liver disease therapy is also summarized.
In recent years, the increasing development of wireless communication technologies and IPv6 is enabling a seamless integration of smart objects into the Internet infrastructure. This extension of ...technology to common environments demands greater security restrictions, since any unexpected information leakage or illegitimate access to data could present a high impact in our lives. Additionally, the application of standard security and access control mechanisms to these emerging ecosystems has to face new challenges due to the inherent nature and constraints of devices and networks which make up this novel landscape. While these challenges have been usually addressed by centralized approaches, in this work we present a set of Elliptic Curve Cryptography optimizations for point and field arithmetic which are used in the design and implementation of a security and capability-based access control mechanism (DCapBAC) on smart objects. Our integral solution is based on a lightweight and flexible design that allows this functionality is embedded on resource-constrained devices, providing the advantages of a distributed security approach for Internet of Things (IoT) in terms of scalability, interoperability and end-to-end security. Additionally, our scheme has been successfully validated by using AVISPA tool and implemented on a real scenario over the Jennic/NXP JN5148 chipset based on a 32-bit RISC CPU. The results demonstrate the feasibility of our work and show DCapBAC as a promising approach to be considered as security solution for IoT scenarios.
Ceratozamia morettii, C. brevifrons, and C. tenuis are cycads considered endangered in montane forests in the center of Veracruz state. However, the amount of theoretical and empirical information ...available on the historical distribution of these species and how they could be affected in the future by the effects of climate change still needs to be increased. Our objective was to generate information on the spatial distribution of the species since the last glacial maximum, present, and future. To map the spatial distribution of species, we created a potential distribution model for each species. The spatial data used for the models included 19 bioclimatic data variables in the present, at the last glacial maximum using two models (CCSM4 and MIROC), and in the future (2080) using two models of the RCP 8.5 scenario of climate change (HadGEM2-CC and MIROC5). We found that each species occupies a unique ecoregion and climatic niche. Ceratozamia morettii and C. tenuis have a similar pattern with an expansion of their distribution area since the last glacial maximum with a larger distribution area in the present and a projected reduction in their distribution under future climatic conditions. For C. brevifrons, we also showed an increase in their distributional area since the last glacial maximum. We also showed that this expansion will continue under future climatic conditions when the species reaches its maximum distributional area. Projections about the future of these endemic cycad species show changes in their habitat, highlighting that temperate zone species (C. morettii and C. tenuis) will face imminent extinction if no effort is made to protect them. On the other hand, the tropical climate species (C. brevifrons) will be favored.
Context.
Studying the physical and chemical processes leading to the formation of low-mass stars is crucial for understanding the origin of our Sun and the Solar System. In particular, analyzing the ...emission and absorption lines from molecules to derive their spatial distribution in the envelopes of young stellar objects is a fundamental tool to obtain information on the kinematics and chemistry at the very early stages of star formation.
Aims.
In this work we aim to examine in detail the spatial structures and molecular abundances of material surrounding the very well-known low-mass binary protostar IRAS 16293-2422 and the prestellar core 16293E, which are embedded in the Lynds 1689 N dark cloud. This analysis is performed to obtain information on the physical and chemical properties of these young objects and their interaction with the molecular outflows present across the region.
Methods.
We have used the LAsMA heterodyne array installed on the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) 12 meter submillimeter telescope to image a region of about 0.12 × 0.12 pc
2
around IRAS 16293-2422 and 16293E and to study their molecular environment covering 45.6 GHz in a frequency range from 277 GHz to 375 GHz. We have also used the APEX FLASH+ receiver to observe and search for molecular lines in a frequency range between 476 GHz to 493 GHz.
Results.
We have identified 144 transitions from 36 molecular species, including isotopologues. This is the first time that such a large number of species have been mapped at large scales simultaneously in this region. The maps reveal the envelope to have a complex morphology around the cloud cores and the emission peaks known as E1, E2, W1, W2, and HE2, including the outflow structure arising from IRAS 16293-2422. Using several transitions of para-H
2
CO, we have derived new lower limits for the kinetic temperatures toward IRAS 16293-2422 and the surrounding emission peaks. Based on these temperatures, new column densities for all detected species were derived around the cloud cores and all emission peaks using the radiative transfer codes CLASS-Weeds, CASSIS, and RADEX. We derived H
2
volume densities in Lynds 1689 N based on ortho-H
2
CO transitions with different upper level energies, varying between 5 × 10
6
cm
−3
and 63 K at IRAS 16293-2422 to values on the order of 1 × 10
6
cm
−3
and 35 K at the other emission peaks.
Conclusions.
Our new observations further confirm the scenario of an outflow arising from IRAS 16293-2422 interacting with the prestellar core 16293E. This is inferred from the velocity and linewidth gradient shown by several deuterated species closer to the outflow-core interaction region in 16293E. We observe a large-scale velocity gradient across the molecular cloud which coincides with the rotation of the envelope around IRAS 16293-2422 reported previously in the literature. A comparison with JCMT SCUBA-2 450 μm dust continuum maps and our data suggests that emission peak W2 may be related to a colder dust source rather than a shocked region. The newly derived column densities and temperatures for different species, combined with the molecular spatial distribution in all sources, indicate clear chemical differences between the protostellar source, the prestellar core and the shocked positions as a result of the diverse physical conditions at different locations in this region.
Our society is nowadays evolving towards a digital era, due to the extensive use of computer technologies and their interconnection mechanisms, i.e., social networks, Internet resources, IoT ...services, etc. This way, new threats and vulnerabilities appear. Therefore, there is an urgent necessity of training students in the topic of cybersecurity, in which practical skills have to be acquired. In distance education, the inclusion of on-line resources for hands-on activities in its curricula is a key step in meeting that need. This work presents several contributions. First, the fundamentals of a virtual remote laboratory hosted in the cloud are detailed. This laboratory is a step forward since the laboratory combines both virtualization and cloud paradigms to dynamically create emulated environments. Second, this laboratory has also been integrated into the practical curricula of a cybersecurity subject, as an additional on-line resource. Third, the students' traceability, in terms of their interactions with the laboratory, is also analyzed. Psychological TAM/UTAUT factors (perceived usefulness, estimated effort, social influence, attitude, ease of access) that may affect the intention of using the laboratory are analyzed. Fourth, the degree of satisfaction is analyzed with a great impact, since the mean values of these factors are most of them higher than 4 points out of 5. In addition to this, the students' acceptance of the presented technology is exhaustively studied. Two structural equation models have been hypothesized and validated. Finally, the acceptance of the technology can be concluded as very good in order to be used in @? other Engineering contexts. In this sense, the calculated statistical values for the improved proposed model are within the expected ranges of reliability (X2 = 0.6, X2/DF = 0.3, GFI = 0.985, CIF = 0.985, RMSEA = 0) by considering the literature.
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