Abstract
The Mathematical High School (MHS) Project is a research project involving 160 high schools and 26 Italian universities in which experimental research paths are deepened to explore ...mathematics as a universal language and as a link between the various areas of both humanistic and scientific knowledge. These activities are developed with the collaboration of internationally recognized research institutions. In particular, in the MHS schools, the research group of the Mathematics Department of the University of Salerno in collaboration with INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics) Naples division, offers laboratory activities of data analysis on cosmic rays. Students, guided by the researchers, use the CRC (Cosmic Rays Cube), a portable muon detector, to carry out an experimental activity, from the data taking to the analysis. They study what cosmic rays are, where they come from and, in particular, the characteristics of comic-ray muons produced in the Earth atmosphere. Mathematics becomes the instrument to interpret data collected by the detector, measure the muon flux and reconstruct their direction. Using dedicated software, students experience the activity of the researchers. Working in team, they deal with high-profile scientific issues usually not developed in the curricular educational paths.
In this work we intend to share an educational path on mathematical games developed in the last classes of the high schools that participate to the research-project Mathematical High School Project, ...a project elaborated by the research group in mathematics education of the Department of Mathematics of the University of Salerno (Italy) and dedicated to scientific high school students. The "Historical path in mathematical games" is a didactic laboratory activity dedicated to students of the last year of scientific high schools. The researchers collaborated with the teachers of the schools and carried out an interdisciplinary path on puzzles and logic games invented or reworked by important mathematicians of the last two centuries. Through these themes that were scientific, historical, artistic, musical, literary ones, connections have been created thank to the presentation of texts, images, paintings, drawings, musical and literary pieces.
In a society that has to reconcile two areas which are conceptually very distant from each other, such as interdisciplinarity and specialization, the education for young people is essential to form a ...thought to understand complexity, thanks also to the stimuli deriving from increasingly powerful and interconnected technological and IT environments. So, it is essential to identify teaching–learning processes and methods that allow students to understand and act adequately with a constantly evolving reality. Transdisciplinary themes can be introduced to enrich the students' curriculum by anchoring them strongly to the wealth of emerging technologies, using their potential and designing educational activities focused on technology and attractive to the various spheres of knowledge. In this paper is presented an experimental activity of designing Smart objects in the Internet of Things conducted with students of the “Mathematical High School” project.
The structures formation of the Universe appears as if it were a classically self-similar random process at all astrophysical scales. An agreement is demonstrated for the present hypotheses of ...segregation with a size of astrophysical structures by using a comparison between quantum quantities and astrophysical ones. We present the observed segregated Universe as the result of a fundamental self-similar law, which generalizes the Compton wavelength relation. It appears that the Universe has a memory of its quantum origin as suggested by R. Penrose with respect to quasi-crystal. A more accurate analysis shows that the present theory can be extended from the astrophysical to the nuclear scale by using generalized (stochastically) self-similar random process. This transition is connected to the relevant presence of the electromagnetic and nuclear interactions inside the matter. In this sense, the presented rule is correct from a subatomic scale to an astrophysical one. We discuss the near full agreement at organic cell scale and human scale too. Consequently the Universe, with its structures at all scales (atomic nucleus, organic cell, human, planet, solar system, galaxy, clusters of galaxy, super clusters of galaxy), could have a fundamental quantum reason. In conclusion, we analyze the spatial dimensions of the objects in the Universe as well as space–time dimensions. The result is that it seems we live in an El Naschie’s
E-infinity Cantorian space–time; so we must seriously start considering fractal geometry as the geometry of nature, a type of arena where the laws of physics appear at each scale in a self-similar way as advocated long ago by the Swedish school of astrophysics.
The aim of this work is the analysis of multifractals in the context of Mohamed El Naschie’s
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Cantorian space–time applied to cosmology. As starting point we consider the results of the first ...author of the present paper describing scaling rules in nature,
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. Then, we use multifractal analysis to show that the result, already developed by the authors as Brownian motion, is a Multifractal process. Indeed, Brownian paths play a crucial role if considered to be a multifractal. Moreover, we summarize some recent results concerning fractal structure and the Brownian paths in order to calculate fractal dimension and characteristic parameters for large scale structures and for the atomic elements that live in an El Naschie’s
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Cantorian space–time.
There are no data to evaluate the relationship between autonomic nerve function modification and recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF) after circumferential pulmonary vein ablation (CPVA). This study ...assesses the incremental benefit of vagal denervation by radiofrequency in preventing recurrent AF in a large series of patients undergoing CPVA for paroxysmal AF.
Data were collected on 297 patients undergoing CPVA for paroxysmal AF. Abolition of all evoked vagal reflexes around all pulmonary vein ostia was defined as complete vagal denervation (CVD) and was obtained in 34.3% of patients. Follow-up ended at 12 months. Heart rate variability attenuation, consistent with vagal withdrawal, was detectable for up to 3 months after CPVA, particularly in patients with reflexes and CVD, who were less likely to have recurrent AF than those without reflexes (P=0.0002, log-rank test). Only the percentage area of left atrial isolation and CVD were predictors of AF recurrence after CPVA (P<0.001 and P=0.025, respectively).
This study suggests that adjunctive CVD during CPVA significantly reduces recurrence of AF at 12 months.
Ca2+‐sensor proteins are generally implicated in insulin release through SNARE interactions. Here, secretagogin, whose expression in human pancreatic islets correlates with their insulin content and ...the incidence of type 2 diabetes, is shown to orchestrate an unexpectedly distinct mechanism. Single‐cell RNA‐seq reveals retained expression of the TRP family members in β‐cells from diabetic donors. Amongst these, pharmacological probing identifies Ca2+‐permeable transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 channels (TRPV1) as potent inducers of secretagogin expression through recruitment of Sp1 transcription factors. Accordingly, agonist stimulation of TRPV1s fails to rescue insulin release from pancreatic islets of glucose intolerant secretagogin knock‐out(−/−) mice. However, instead of merely impinging on the SNARE machinery, reduced insulin availability in secretagogin−/− mice is due to β‐cell loss, which is underpinned by the collapse of protein folding and deregulation of secretagogin‐dependent USP9X deubiquitinase activity. Therefore, and considering the desensitization of TRPV1s in diabetic pancreata, a TRPV1‐to‐secretagogin regulatory axis seems critical to maintain the structural integrity and signal competence of β‐cells.
Synopsis
TRPV1 activates Sp1‐mediated secretagogin transcription in pancreatic β‐cells to regulate β‐cell survival, ER stress and glucose tolerance.
Single‐cell RNA‐seq maps the expression of TRP family members to pancreatic β‐cells.
Ca2+ entry through TRP family channels regulates secretagogin transcription in β‐cells via the Ca2+‐dependent transcription factor Sp1.
Secretagogin knock‐out mice are insensitive to the pharmacological activation of TRPV1 receptors.
Secretagogin knock‐out mice are glucose intolerant and suffer from endoplasmic reticulum stress due to the breakdown of protein chaperone availability. In healthy and type 2 diabetic human β‐cells secretagogin mRNA expression correlates with those of insulin, ATF4 and CHOP.
Ca2+‐bound secretagogin interacts with USP9X and USP7 to regulate β‐cell turnover. Pharmacological modulation of protein degradation rescues β‐cell viability.
Calcium channel‐dependent induction of the calcium sensor secretagogin regulates insulin secretion not merely via the SNARE machinery, but also through the interacting deubiquitinase USP9X preventing ER stress and β‐cell loss.
This study was designed to investigate the potential of circumferential pulmonary vein (PV) ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) to maintain sinus rhythm (SR) over time, thus reducing mortality and ...morbidity while enhancing quality of life (QoL).
Circumferential PV ablation is safe and effective, but the long-term outcomes and its impact on QoL have not been assessed or compared with those for medical therapy.
We examined the clinical course of 1,171 consecutive patients with symptomatic AF who were referred to us between January 1998 and March 2001. The 589 ablated patients were compared with the 582 who received antiarrhythmic medications for SR control. The QoL of 109 ablated and 102 medically treated patients was measured with the SF-36 survey.
Median follow-up was 900 days (range 161 to 1,508 days). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed observed survival for ablated patients was longer than among patients treated medically (p < 0.001), and not different from that expected for healthy persons of the same gender and calendar year of birth (p = 0.55). Cox proportional-hazards model revealed in the ablation group hazard ratios of 0.46 (95% confidence interval CI, 0.31 to 0.68; p < 0.001) for all-cause mortality, of 0.45 (95% CI, 0.31 to 0.64; p < 0.001) for morbidities mainly due to heart failure and ischemic cerebrovascular events, and of 0.30 (95% CI, 0.24 to 0.37; p < 0.001) for AF recurrence. Ablated patients' QoL, different from patients treated medically, reached normative levels at six months and remained unchanged at one year.
Pulmonary vein ablation improves mortality, morbidity, and QoL as compared with medical therapy. Our findings pave the way for randomized trials to prospect a wider application of ablation therapy for AF.
The Ca²⁺-binding proteins (CBPs) parvalbumin, calbindin, and calretinin are phenotypic markers of terminally differentiated neurons in the adult brain. Although subtle phylogenetic variations in the ...neuronal distribution of these CBPs may occur, morphologically and functionally diverse subclasses of interneurons harbor these proteins in olfactory and corticolimbic areas. Secretagogin (scgn) is a recently cloned CBP from pancreatic β and neuroendocrine cells. We hypothesized that scgn is expressed in the mammalian brain. We find that scgn is a marker of neuroblasts commuting in the rostral migratory stream. Terminally differentiated neurons in the olfactory bulb retain scgn expression, with scgn being present in periglomerular cells and granular layer interneurons. In the corticolimbic system, scgn identifies granule cells distributed along the dentate gyrus, indusium griseum, and anterior hippocampal continuation emphasizing the shared developmental origins, and cytoarchitectural and functional similarities of these neurons. We also uncover unexpected phylogenetic differences in scgn expression, since this CBP is restricted to primate cholinergic basal forebrain neurons. Overall, we characterize scgn as a neuron-specific CBP whose distribution identifies neuronal subtypes and hierarchical organizing principles in the mammalian brain.
Local environmental cues are indispensable for axonal growth and guidance during brain circuit formation. Here, we combine genetic and pharmacological tools, as well as systems neuroanatomy in human ...fetuses and mouse models, to study the role of endocannabinoid and Slit/Robo signalling in axonal growth. We show that excess 2-arachidonoylglycerol, an endocannabinoid affecting directional axonal growth, triggers corpus callosum enlargement due to the errant CB1 cannabinoid receptor-containing corticofugal axon spreading. This phenotype mechanistically relies on the premature differentiation and end-feet proliferation of CB2R-expressing oligodendrocytes. We further show the dependence of both axonal Robo1 positioning and oligodendroglial Slit2 production on cell-type-specific cannabinoid receptor activation. Accordingly, Robo1 and/or Slit2 manipulation limits endocannabinoid modulation of axon guidance. We conclude that endocannabinoids can configure focal Slit2/Robo1 signalling to modulate directional axonal growth, which may provide a basis for understanding impaired brain wiring associated with metabolic deficits and prenatal drug exposure.
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