Future telecommunication systems in beyond 5G/6G networks, will include a massive amount of devices and a high variation of applications, many of which with steep processing requirements and strict ...latency limitations. To satisfy such demands, Multi-access Edge Computing will play a key role in the future of cloud systems. Users can offload their applications to edge cloud servers, capable of processing their tasks and responding with an output quickly. However, for this to become a reality, it is important to carefully choose a server for each user. This decision is complicated by user mobility and how users could alternatively connect to the remote cloud or execute applications locally. In this article, we propose a heuristic algorithm for determining the best server for each user in a multiple mobile users, multiple servers, multi-tiered scenario. Our proposal considers the time needed for transmitting and processing tasks when minimizing the total service delay as well as the time needed for service setup and migration of data between servers. Moreover, our method attempts to mimic as faithfully as possible real-life scenarios. Finally, analysis shows that our proposal is vastly superior to benchmark methods and even improves upon a solution commonly used in the literature.
Energy harvesting systems for low-power devices are increasingly being a requirement within the context of the Internet of Things and, in particular, for self-powered sensors in remote or ...inaccessible locations. Triboelectric nanogenerators are a suitable approach for harvesting environmental mechanical energy otherwise wasted in nature. This work reports on the evaluation of the output power of different polymer and polymer composites, by using the triboelectric contact-separation systems (10 N of force followed by 5 cm of separation per cycle). Different materials were used as positive (Mica, polyamide (PA66) and styrene/ethylene-butadiene/styrene (SEBS)) and negative (polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyurethane (PU), polypropylene (PP) and Kapton) charge materials. The obtained output power ranges from 0.2 to 5.9 mW, depending on the pair of materials, for an active area of 46.4 cm2. The highest response was obtained for Mica with PVDF composites with 30 wt.% of barium titanate (BT) and PA66 with PU pairs. A simple application has been developed based on vertical contact-separation mode, able to power up light emission diodes (LEDs) with around 30 cycles to charge a capacitor. Further, the capacitor can be charged in one triboelectric cycle if an area of 0.14 m2 is used.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the independent and joint associations among muscle strength (MS) and obesity with blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and laboratory markers. This was a ...cross-sectional study comprising a representative sample of 642 adults (men: 44.9%, 39.9 ± 11.2 years; women: 55.1%, 39.3 ± 11.1 years) from Florianópolis, Brazil. MS was assessed by handgrip strength. Obesity was defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥30.0 kg/m² and a waist circumference ≥80.0 cm in women and ≥90.0 cm in men. Clinical variables included systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), C-reactive protein (CRP), lipids, glucose metabolism markers and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). Linear regression models stratified by sex and adjusted for confounders were used. Higher MS levels were related to lower CRP (up to 0.59 times lower), triglycerides (up to 0.33 times lower), HOMA-IR (up to 0.35 times lower), and higher HDL cholesterol (up to 5.2 mg/dL) levels among men. Among women, higher MS levels were related to lower SBP and DBP (up to −10.2 mmHg), CRP (up to 0.56 times lower), HOMA-IR (up to 0.27 times lower) and IMT (up to −4.8 × 10
−2
mm). In addition, MS was inversely related to triglycerides and HOMA-IR among obese men, inversely related to CRP among obese men and women, and inversely associated to DBP only among obese women. This population-based study corroborates findings from clinical studies suggesting that even among individuals with obesity, higher MS might help adults to reduce cardiometabolic risk.
Highlights
Muscle strength levels were directly associated with better prognosis in relation to cardiometabolic variables in individuals with or without abdominal obesity.
Among men with abdominal obesity, to have higher values of muscle strength were associated with lower values of diastolic blood pressure, C-reactive protein, triglycerides, cholesterol and HOMA-IR.
Higher muscle strength levels were inversely associated with C-reactive protein among women with abdominal obesity; Higher muscle strength might help adults to reduce cardiometabolic risk.
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•Defect-free functionally graded material of HSLA steel to Cu-based alloy was successfully produced.•By synchrotron X-ray diffraction the interface revealed a mixture of Cu (FCC), Fe ...(BCC), and Fe(FCC) in the interface region.•Microhardness ranged from 260 HV1 to 120 HV1.
In this work, a functionally graded material (FGM) part was fabricated by depositing a Cu-based alloy on top of a high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel by twin-wire and arc additive manufacturing (T-WAAM). Copper and steel parts are of interest in many industries since they can combine high thermal/electrical conductivity, wear resistance with excellent mechanical properties. However, mixing copper with steel is difficult due to mismatches in the coefficient of thermal expansion, in the melting temperature, and crystal structure. Moreover, the existence of a miscibility gap during solidification, when the melt is undercooled, causes serious phase separation and segregation during solidification which greatly affects the mechanical properties. Copper and steel control samples and the functionally graded material specimen were fabricated and investigated using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and high energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Retained δ-ferrite was found in a Cu matrix at the interface region due to regions with mixed composition. A smooth gradient of hardness and electric conductivity along the FGM sample height was obtained. An ultimate tensile strength of 690 MPa and an elongation at fracture of 16.6% were measured in the FGM part.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays important functions in cell survival and differentiation, neuronal outgrowth and plasticity. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), BDNF signaling is known to be ...impaired, partially because amyloid β (Aβ) induces truncation of BDNF main receptor, TrkB-full length (TrkB-FL). We have previously shown that such truncation is mediated by calpains, results in the formation of an intracellular domain (ICD) fragment and causes BDNF loss of function. Since calpains are Ca
-dependent proteases, we hypothesized that excessive intracellular Ca
build-up could be due to dysfunctional N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) activation. To experimentally address this hypothesis, we investigated whether TrkB-FL truncation by calpains and consequent BDNF loss of function could be prevented by NMDAR blockade. We herein demonstrate that a NMDAR antagonist, memantine, prevented excessive calpain activation and TrkB-FL truncation induced by Aβ
. When calpains were inhibited by calpastatin, BDNF was able to increase the dendritic spine density of neurons exposed to Aβ
. Moreover, NMDAR inhibition by memantine also prevented Aβ-driven deleterious impact of BDNF loss of function on structural (spine density) and functional outcomes (synaptic potentiation). Collectively, these findings support NMDAR/Ca
/calpains mechanistic involvement in Aβ-triggered BDNF signaling disruption.
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Neurotrophins are a well-known family of neurotrophic factors that play an important role both in the central and peripheral nervous systems, where they modulate neuronal survival, ...development, function and plasticity. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) possesses diverse biological functions which are mediated by the activation of two main classes of receptors, the tropomyosin-related kinase (Trk) B and the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR). The therapeutic potential of BDNF has drawn attention since dysregulation of its signalling cascades has been suggested to underlie the pathogenesis of both common and rare diseases. Multiple strategies targeting this neurotrophin have been tested; most have found obstacles that ultimately hampered their effectiveness.
This review focuses on the involvement of BDNF and its receptors in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Rett Syndrome (RTT). We describe the known mechanisms leading to the impairment of BDNF/TrkB signalling in these disorders. Such mechanistic insight highlights how BDNF signalling compromise can take various shapes, nearly disease-specific. Therefore, BDNF-based therapeutic strategies must be specifically tailored and are more likely to succeed if a combination of resources is employed.
Natural products have long been a source of useful biological activity for the development of new drugs. Their macromolecular targets are, however, largely unknown, which hampers rational drug design ...and optimization. Here we present the development and experimental validation of a computational method for the discovery of such targets. The technique does not require three-dimensional target models and may be applied to structurally complex natural products. The algorithm dissects the natural products into fragments and infers potential pharmacological targets by comparing the fragments to synthetic reference drugs with known targets. We demonstrate that this approach results in confident predictions. In a prospective validation, we show that fragments of the potent antitumour agent archazolid A, a macrolide from the myxobacterium Archangium gephyra, contain relevant information regarding its polypharmacology. Biochemical and biophysical evaluation confirmed the predictions. The results obtained corroborate the practical applicability of the computational approach to natural product 'de-orphaning'.
Purpose
Validate a visual scale to assess LUTS, especially in developing countries, as an alternative to IPSS. VASUS consist of five questions, where Q1 and Q2 assess urinary stream quality, Q3 ...nocturia, Q4 incomplete emptying and Q5 QoL.
Methods
Between 2014 and 2017, we carried out a study in the male population over 30 years from São Tomé and Príncipe, a Portuguese speaking African Country. A stratified sample (age and district) of subjects completed IPSS, VASUS and a free flowmetry.
Results
We obtained 812 valid responses (average age: 50.72, range: 30–95 years old). In the comparison between IPSS and VASUS, we found positive correlations, with
p
value < 0.0001, for all variables analyzed and negative correlation for all urodynamic variables. Upon verifying the association of VASUS with IPSS, namely when comparing questions with similar objectives such as nocturia (VASUS—Q3 and IPSS—Q7), the stream quality (VASUS—Q1 and Q2 and IPSS—Q5) or the quality of life (VASUS—Q5 and IPSS—Q8), strong positive correlations were found.
Conclusion
VASUS is a visual alternative to IPSS allowing evaluation of LUTS and having correlation with IPSS and flowmetry. Its use in developing countries with low levels of literacy will be an asset. The authors believe that widespread use of a scale such as VASUS in urology consultations is warranted, to increase daily practice objectification of LUTS.
With the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, the load caused by network demands has been increasing. This has direct consequences in terms of increased network requests and thus ...significantly higher energy consumption. To this end, this paper focuses on network power saving. In a cloud-radio access network with fiber-wireless, we propose a power saving method based on the optical line terminals (OLTs) and optical network units (ONUs), the equipment responsible for data transmission to and from the devices. Our proposed method is based on the novel idea of dividing the sleep phase of the ONUs into time slots, which facilitates synchronization and coordination in the whole system, thus increasing resource efficiency and bringing power economy not only to the ONUs, but also to the OLTs and the network as a whole. This is in contrast to the existing literature, which considers only ONUs or OLTs separately, without focusing on the cooperation within the system. Additionally, our proposed method was created with IoT traffic in mind. and it was designed to guarantee a maximum delay in order to make it applicable to mobile and real-time IoT. Finally, our proposed method allows the network to operate without external power sources for the ONUs by using power over fiber in conjunction with the OLT. Mathematical analyses show that our proposed method can successfully decrease the system's energy consumption.
As current 5G communication systems cannot fulfill the stringent requirements brought by emerging applications, 6G will innovatively employ deep learning (DL) techniques to fundamentally rethink the ...communication systems design problem from the bottom to top layers. Although recent evidence has shown the power of DL techniques in the communication domain, the exploration and utilization of DL techniques in communication systems is still in its infancy and should come in a progressive manner. To effectively and efficiently implement DL techniques in future 6G communications in the physical layer, we give some potential deployment strategies and key enabling technologies that relate to 6G in terms of joint design of block-structured and end-to-end DL, integration of model-driven and data-driven DL, combination of online and offline training, ubiquitous learning and explainable DL techniques.
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