Laser Assisted Dirac Electron in a Magnetized Annulus

2021

We study the behaviour of a charge bound on a graphene annulus under the assumption that the particle can be treated as a massless Dirac electron. The eigenstates and relative energy are found in closed analytical form. Subsequently, we consider a large annulus with radius ρ∈[5000,10,000]a0 in the presence of a static magnetic field orthogonal to its plane and again the eigenstates and eigenenergies of the Dirac electron are found in both analytical and numerical form. The possibility of designing filiform currents by controlling the orbital angular momentum and the magnetic field is shown. The currents can be of interest in optoelectronic devices that are controlled by electromagnetic radi…

LEMON-DERIVED EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES EXERT ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECTS BY INHIBITING THE ERK/NF-KB PATHWAY

2021

nflammation can be the leading cause of several diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and ulcerative colitis; however, the existing anti-inflammatory drugs cause side effects. For these reasons, it is necessary to find new supportive therapeutic agents. In recent years, plant-derived extracellular vesicles (PDEVs) are gaining increasing interest in the scientific community as they have been found to possess a variety of biological properties; among those, the anti-inflammatory effects have been described by different groups that evaluated the effects of PDEVs in in vitro and in vivo models. We successfully isolated and characterized extracellular vesicles from Citrus limon juice (LEVs) and …

Comparison of two delayed strategies for renal replacement therapy initiation for severe acute kidney injury (AKIKI 2): a multicentre, open-label, ra…

2021

International audience; BACKGROUND: Delaying renal replacement therapy (RRT) for some time in critically ill patients with severe acute kidney injury and no severe complication is safe and allows optimisation of the use of medical devices. Major uncertainty remains concerning the duration for which RRT can be postponed without risk. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that a more-delayed initiation strategy would result in more RRT-free days, compared with a delayed strategy. METHODS: This was an unmasked, multicentre, prospective, open-label, randomised, controlled trial done in 39 intensive care units in France. We monitored critically ill patients with severe acute kidney injury (defined …

Minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting via a lower ministernotomy for left anterior descending artery myocardial bridging: mid-term resul…

2021

Abstract OBJECTIVES Coronary artery bypass grafting or supra-arterial myotomy is now suggested as a better therapeutic option in myocardial bridging (MB) when medical treatment fails to control symptoms. For left anterior descending (LAD) MB, minimally invasive coronary artery bypass via a lower ministernotomy can be offered. METHODS Forty-four consecutive patients who underwent elective minimally invasive coronary artery bypass surgery from 2005 to 2014 via an inferior sternotomy using the left internal mammary artery as a bypass graft for LAD MB were evaluated retrospectively. RESULTS The mean age was 59.1 ± 13.1 years with 26 (59%) men and 18 (41%) women. The mean body mass index was 27.…

Social Cognition in Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Epilepsy

2021

Introduction: The purpose of our study was to perform a comparative analysis of social cognition in children and adolescents with epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), specific learning disorder (SLD) and in typical development (TD) controls. The secondary aim was to relate social cognition to some clinical and demographic characteristics.Methods: Our work is a transversal observational study. The recruits were 179 children and adolescents aged between 6 and 18 years diagnosed with epilepsy, ASD, or SLD and 32 subjects with TD. All the participants underwent neuropsychological assessment of Emotion Recognition (ER) and Theory of Mind (ToM) skills.Results: All three clinical groups perfo…

Blue-yellow deficiencies in young moderate smokers.

2021

Purpose To evaluate whether tobacco affects color vision in young moderate smokers. Methods Chromatic mechanisms of 13 moderate smokers (10–20 cigarettes/day and at least 5 years smoking) and 17 non-smokers in the 18–35 age range were assessed with the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue (FM100h) test and short wavelength automated perimetry (SWAP). Results FM100h Total Error Scores (TES) were higher for smokers, and although differences were not significant (p = 0.14), a linear model with principal component analysis was able to explain 95% of the variance in TES and red-green partial error scores, though not in blue-yellow partial error scores (p = 0.07), using the number of years as smokers and t…

Effects of fasting on skeletal muscles and body fat of adult and old C57BL/6J mice

2021

Fasting improves metabolic health, but is also associated with loss of lean body mass. We investigated if old mice are less resistant to fasting-induce muscle wasting than adult mice. We compared changes in skeletal muscles and fat distribution in C57BL/6J mice subjected to 48-hour fasting at adult (6-month old) or old (24-month old) age. Old mice lost less weight (11.9 ± 1.5 vs 16.9 ± 2.8%, p  0.001) and showed less (p  0.01) pronounced muscle wasting than adult mice. Extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle force decreased only in adult mice after fasting. Serum IGF-1 levels were higher (p  0.01) and showed greater (p  0.01) decline in adult mice compared to old mice. Phosphorylation of 4EB…

A Metal-Based Receptor for Selective Coordination and Fluorescent Sensing of Chloride

2021

A scorpionate Zn2+ complex, constituted by a macrocyclic pyridinophane core attached to a pendant arm containing a fluorescent pyridyl-oxadiazole-phenyl unit (PyPD), has been shown to selectively recognize chloride anions, giving rise to changes in fluorescence emission that are clearly visible under a 365 nm UV lamp. This recognition event has been studied by means of absorption, fluorescence, and NMR spectroscopy, and it involves the intramolecular displacement of the PyPD unit by chloride anions. Moreover, since the chromophore is not removed from the system after the recognition event, the fluorescence can readily be restored by elimination of the bound chloride anion.

Modeling Networks of Probabilistic Memristors in SPICE

2021

Efficient simulation of stochastic memristors and their networks requires novel modeling approaches. Utilizing a master equation to find occupation probabilities of network states is a recent major departure from typical memristor modeling [Chaos, solitons fractals 142, 110385 (2021)]. In the present article we show how to implement such master equations in SPICE – a general purpose circuit simulation program. In the case studies we simulate the dynamics of acdriven probabilistic binary and multi-state memristors, and dc-driven networks of probabilistic binary and multi-state memristors. Our SPICE results are in perfect agreement with known analytical solutions. Examples of LTspice code are…

Supporting parents of children with chronic conditions: A randomized controlled trial of web-based and self-help ACT interventions

2021

Objective Many parents of children with chronic conditions and developmental disabilities experience high rates of burnout and psychological distress. The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of two differently delivered interventions based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on symptoms of burnout, depression, quality of life, psychological flexibility, and mindfulness skills. Method A total of 110 parents of children aged 0.8 to 17 years with chronic conditions and developmental disabilities participated in a randomized controlled trial lasting 13 weeks with two intervention groups: (1) an iACT intervention, including three psychologist-led video conferencing session…

Active biopackaging produced from by‐products and waste from food and marine industries

2021

The agro‐food industry cannot today do without packaging to preserve and above all market its products. Plastic materials coming mainly from petrochemicals have taken a predominant place in the food packaging sector. They have become indispensable in many sectors, from fresh to frozen products, from meat and dairy products to fruit and vegetables or almost‐ready meals. Plastics are cheap, their lightness reduces transport costs, and their convenience is fundamental for out‐of‐home catering. However, plastics pose serious end‐of‐life issues. The development of materials that are more respectful of the consumer and the environment has become a major issue. In addition, the agro‐food industrie…

Effects of plant type and calcium cyanamide dosage on yield, nutritional and nutraceutical traits of strawberry in Sicily

2021

In the Mediterranean area, strawberry is usually set up by using bare-rooted plants, fresh plug plants or cold-stored plants, achieving different fruit ripening earliness and crop performance. Strawberry plants can be combined with various cultivation practices to improve strawberry fruit production and quality. Calcium cyanamide (CaCN2) is well-acknowledged as a fertilizer used in the horticulture sector. Its use can enhance the soil fertility, prevent soil acidification, and improve crop production and fruit quality. This work evaluated the effects of different pre-transplant CaCN2 dosages on bare-rooted plants, fresh plug plants or cold-stored plants. Coldstored plants with 400 kg ha(-1)…

Sonidegib en el tratamiento del carcinoma basocelular localmente avanzado

2021

Resumen: Sonidegib es un inhibidor del receptor transmembrana Smoothened (SMO), de la vía de señalización de Hedgehog, indicado para el tratamiento del carcinoma basocelular localmente avanzado (CBCla), no susceptible a cirugía curativa ni a radioterapia. Sonidegib ha demostrado su eficacia y seguridad en pacientes con CBCla en el ensayo de fase II (BOLT), donde el 61% (IC 95%: 48; 72) de los pacientes tratados con 200 mg de sonidegib tuvo una respuesta objetiva al tratamiento, con un tiempo medio hasta la respuesta de cuatro meses. La mediana de duración de respuesta fue de 26,1 meses y la mediana de supervivencia libre de progresión fue de 22,1 meses. Los eventos adversos más frecuentes f…

Multi-Antenna Covert Communication With Jamming in the Presence of a Mobile Warden

2021

Covert communication can hide the information transmission process from the warden to prevent adversarial eavesdropping. However, it becomes challenging when the warden can move. In this paper, we propose a covert communication scheme against a mobile warden, which maximizes the connectivity throughput between a multi-antenna transmitter and a full-duplex jamming receiver with the covert outage probability (COP) limit. First, we analyze the monotonicity of the COP to obtain the optimal location the warden can move. Then, under this worst situation, we optimize the transmission rate, the transmit power and the jamming power of covert communication to maximize the connection throughput. This …

Role of D-Mannose in the Prevention of Recurrent Uncomplicated Cystitis: State of the Art and Future Perspectives

2021

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTI) are highly frequent in women, with a significant impact on healthcare resources. Although antibiotics still represent the standard treatment to manage recurrent UTI (rUTI), D-mannose, an inert monosaccharide that is metabolized and excreted in urine and acts by inhibiting bacterial adhesion to the urothelium, represents a promising nonantibiotic prevention strategy. The aim of this narrative review is to critically analyze clinical studies reporting data concerning the efficacy and safety of D-mannose in the management of rUTIs. Methods: A non-systematic literature search, using the Pubmed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of science, Cochrane Central Register …

Discrete and Conservative Factorizations in Fib(B)

2021

AbstractWe focus on the transfer of some known orthogonal factorization systems from$$\mathsf {Cat}$$Catto the 2-category$${\mathsf {Fib}}(B)$$Fib(B)of fibrations over a fixed base categoryB: the internal version of thecomprehensive factorization, and the factorization systems given by (sequence of coidentifiers, discrete morphism) and (sequence of coinverters, conservative morphism) respectively. For the class of fibrewise opfibrations in$${\mathsf {Fib}}(B)$$Fib(B), the construction of the latter two simplify to a single coidentifier (respectively coinverter) followed by an internal discrete opfibration (resp. fibrewise opfibration in groupoids). We show how these results follow from thei…

Advanced teleoperation and control system for industrial robots based on augmented virtuality and haptic feedback

2021

[EN] There are some industrial tasks that are still mainly performed manually by human workers due to their complexity, which is the case of surface treatment operations (such as sanding, deburring, finishing, grinding, polishing, etc.) used to repair defects. This work develops an advanced teleoperation and control system for industrial robots in order to assist the human operator to perform the mentioned tasks. On the one hand, the controlled robotic system provides strength and accuracy, holding the tool, keeping the right tool orientation and guaranteeing a smooth approach to the workpiece. On the other hand, the advanced teleoperation provides security and comfort to the user when perf…

Green Design of Novel Starch-Based Packaging Materials Sustaining Human and Environmental Health

2021

A critical overview of current approaches to the development of starch-containing packaging, integrating the principles of green chemistry (GC), green technology (GT) and green nanotechnology (GN) with those of green packaging (GP) to produce materials important for both us and the planet is given. First, as a relationship between GP and GC, the benefits of natural bioactive compounds are analyzed and the state-of-the-art is updated in terms of the starch packaging incorporating green chemicals that normally help us to maintain health, are environmentally friendly and are obtained via GC. Newer approaches are identified, such as the incorporation of vitamins or minerals into films and coati…

COVID-19—Importance for Patients on the Waiting List and after Kidney Transplantation—A Single Center Evaluation in 2020–2021

2021

(1) Background: Dialysis patients and recipients of a kidney allograft are at high risk for infection with SARS-CoV-2. It has been shown that the development of potent neutralizing humoral immunity against SARS CoV-2 leads to an increased probability of survival. However, the question of whether immunocompromised patients develop antibodies has not yet been sufficiently investigated; (2) Methods: SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were examined in hemodialysis patients on the waiting list for kidney transplantation as well as patients after kidney transplantation. Patients were interviewed about symptoms and comorbidities, BMI, and smoking history; (3) Results: SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were found in 16 out…

Minimal intervention in dentistry: Which is the best approach for silorane composite restoration repairs?

2021

Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T10:28:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-04-01 Background: This study aimed to evaluate surface treatments, adhesives and composites for repairing silorane based restorations. Material and Methods: One hundred and twenty truncated cones (2 mm smaller diameter and 4 mm larger diameter) made of silorane composite were divided in 12 groups according with the surface treatment (diamond bur and oxide aluminum abrasion), the adhesive (Adper Scothbond Multipurpose (3M ESPE), Ecusit (Voco) and Filtek P90 Adhesive (3M ESPE)). Each group was subdivided in two according with the composite used for repair (methacrylate and silorane). The rep…

Graphene and graphene oxide on Ir(111) are transparent to wetting but not to icing

2021

Anti-icing coatings reduce the freezing onset temperature for water by changing the chemical and physical environment at the water-substrate interface to prevent ice nucleation and growth. Graphene oxide has several attributes that make it attractive as an anti-icing coating and it has been theoretically predicted that graphene oxide has a lower freezing onset temperature than pristine graphene. Here, we test this hypothesis using carefully prepared, well-characterized graphene oxide substrates. We compare the water contact angle for graphene and graphene oxide coatings, both prepared on iridium(111) surfaces. The results show both materials to be transparent to wetting, but indicate a lowe…

Identifying Past and Current Trends in Technology Education in Finland

2021

Technology education makes a unique contribution to the development of all young people by providing them a wide range of knowledge and skills. It has a role in shaping future debates and discourses by developing students’ technological literacy and by raising awareness of various dimensions of technology. In order to understand technology education in Finnish basic education, it is necessary to consider it within the subject of craft, particularly the domain of technical craft activities. However, the role of technology education has been and still is undefined in Finland. Thus, we need strategic planning and research in order to develop the necessary procedures and operations to achieve i…

Metric equivalences of Heintze groups and applications to classifications in low dimension

2021

We approach the quasi-isometric classification questions on Lie groups by considering low dimensional cases and isometries alongside quasi-isometries. First, we present some new results related to quasi-isometries between Heintze groups. Then we will see how these results together with the existing tools related to isometries can be applied to groups of dimension 4 and 5 in particular. Thus we take steps towards determining all the equivalence classes of groups up to isometry and quasi-isometry. We completely solve the classification up to isometry for simply connected solvable groups in dimension 4, and for the subclass of groups of polynomial growth in dimension 5.

Credit and financial markets in the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the Middle Ages. Historiographic production and recent developments

2021

El artículo examina la trayectoria de los estudios sobre el crédito y los mercados financieros en la Península Ibérica a finales de la Edad Media, desde los primeros trabajos sobre la usura y el préstamo a interés, fundamentalmente judío, en la primera mitad del siglo XX, hasta las líneas de investigación más recientes, que se ramifican en diversas direcciones, desde el marco teórico, doctrinal y legal del mercado del crédito y el estudio de los diferentes instrumentos financieros –préstamo a interés, crédito comercial y bancario, crédito a largo plazo en forma de censales y censos consignativos– a la deuda pública y el crédito privado, especialmente el crédito rural. Todos estos estudios m…

Anticancer potential of novel α,β-unsaturated γ-lactam derivatives targeting the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

2021

Abstract Six recently synthesized alkyl (Z)-2-(2-oxopyrrolidin-3-ylidene)acetates were evaluated for their potential as cytotoxic and anticancer agents. All compounds were tested in the ERα positive MCF-7, triple negative MDA-MB-231, and Her2+ SKBR-3 breast cancer cell lines. The most lipophilic derivatives, bearing the 4-isopropylphenyl (2) or 4-tert-butylphenyl (3) group at the γ-lactam nitrogen, proved to be cytotoxic against all the cancer cell lines tested (IC50 values ranging from 18 to 63 μM), exerting their greatest activity in SKBR-3 cells, with IC50 values of 33 and 18 μM, respectively. Biological studies showed that the cytotoxic effects of 2 and 3 are accompanied by apoptotic de…

Predicting the risk of drug–drug interactions in psychiatric hospitals: a retrospective longitudinal pharmacovigilance study

2021

ObjectivesThe aim was to use routine data available at a patient’s admission to the hospital to predict polypharmacy and drug–drug interactions (DDI) and to evaluate the prediction performance with regard to its usefulness to support the efficient management of benefits and risks of drug prescriptions.DesignRetrospective, longitudinal study.SettingWe used data from a large multicentred pharmacovigilance project carried out in eight psychiatric hospitals in Hesse, Germany.ParticipantsInpatient episodes consecutively discharged between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018 (year 1) or 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019 (year 2).Outcome measuresThe proportion of rightly classified hospital epi…

Prospects and challenges for computer simulations of monolayer-protected metal clusters

2021

Precise knowledge of chemical composition and atomic structure of functional nanosized systems, such as metal clusters stabilized by an organic molecular layer, allows for detailed computational work to investigate structure-property relations. Here, we discuss selected recent examples of computational work that has advanced understanding of how these clusters work in catalysis, how they interact with biological systems, and how they can make self-assembled, macroscopic materials. A growing challenge is to develop effective new simulation methods that take into account the cluster-environment interactions. These new hybrid methods are likely to contain components from electronic structure t…

Vacuum-Assisted Abdominal Closure in Surgical Emergency: A Single Institution Experience Treating a Cohort with a Prevalence of Faecal Peritonitis

2021

Abstract Vacuum-assisted abdominal closure (VAAC) has evolved as a promising method for treatment of emergent surgical patients. The aim of the study was an assessment of the complication rate and outcomes following routine application of VAAC in a cohort of patients suffering predominantly with peritonitis of the lower gastrointestinal tract (GIT) origin. The prospectively collected data was analysed retrospectively, including demographic data, aetiological factors, comorbid conditions and severity of the disease. The indications for VAAC included complicated intra-abdominal infection, purulent peritonitis with sepsis and/or risk of increased intra-abdominal pressure. In total, 130 patient…

The regulation of emotions: Gender differences

2021

IntroductionEmotional regulation, understood as the emotional ability to repair emotional states, is a skill closely linked to adaptation during aging. People who are capable to manage their emotions have greater control over moods, applying adaptive regulation strategies that allow them to maintain positive moods and modify or regulate negative ones. It has been observed that gender can be a relevant variable related to emotional regulation. In this sense, it is considered that women may be more skillful than men to emotional regulation strategies, benefiting from more successful emotional management strategies.ObjectivesVerify if there are differences in the ability of emotional regulatio…

Management of Early Glottic Cancer Treated by CO2 Laser According to Surgical-Margin Status: A Systematic Review of the Literature

2021

Abstract Introduction Transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) is the treatment of choice for Tis-T2 squamous cell glottic carcinomas due to its advantages compared with open surgery and radiotherapy. However, the CO2 laser beam causes changes and damage on the specimens, making the histological assessment of resection margins, the gold standard for confirming radical tumor resection, sometimes difficult. Objective To assess the different ways to manage patients depending on the status of the histopathological margin according to recent studies to detect the most commonly shared therapeutic strategy. Data Synthesis We analyzed the literature available on the PubMed and Web of Science databases, i…

Parental phone use during mealtime with toddlers and the associations with feeding practices and shared family meals: a cross-sectional study

2021

Abstract Background Positive parental feeding practices and a higher frequency of family meals are related to healthier child dietary habits. Parents play an essential role when it comes to the development of their child’s eating habits. However, parents are increasingly distracted by their mobile phone during mealtimes. The aim of this study was to describe the feeding practices and daily shared family meals among parents who use and do not use a mobile phone during mealtimes, and further to explore the associations between the use of a mobile phone during mealtimes and feeding practices and daily shared family meals, respectively. Methods Cross-sectional data from the Food4toddler study w…

Sex Differences and Patterns of Muscle Stiffness in the Knee Flexor and Extensor Musculature Through Analysis of Isolated Bellies

2021

ABSTRACT Martin-San Agustin, R, Benitez-Martinez, JC, Medina-Mirapeix, F, and Casana-Granell, J. Sex differences and patterns of muscle stiffness in the knee flexor and extensor musculature through analysis of isolated bellies. J Strength Cond Res 35(4): 1044-1049, 2021-Muscle stiffness (MS) is one of the key factors in joint control. The purpose of this study was to determine sex differences in the MS of 5 isolated muscle bellies (biceps femoris [BF], semitendinosus [ST], rectus femoris [RF], vastus medialis [VM], and vastus lateralis [VL]) and in the pattern of differences among their respective MS. Twenty female and 20 male recreational athletes participated. Muscle stiffness was measure…

Quelles sont les indications et les modalités de la reperfusion vasculaire au cours de l’embolie pulmonaire à la phase aiguë ?

2021

Potential Non-Invasive Biomarkers for Early Diagnosis of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

2021

This study aimed to investigate the role of a panel of salivary cytokines as biomarkers for early detection oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), comparing their levels among healthy individuals, patients with oral leukoplakia (OL), and malignant lesions. Cytokine profiling analysis performed in a minimally invasive sample was correlated with clinicopathological variables in our patient cohorts. Unstimulated saliva was obtained from subjects with OSCC at early (n = 33) and advanced (n = 33) disease, OL with homogeneous (n = 33) and proliferative verrucous (n = 33) clinical presentations, and healthy controls (n = 25). Salivary IL-1α, IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, TNF-α, HCC-1, and PF-4 levels we…

Disease-Modifying Therapies and Coronavirus Disease 2019 Severity in Multiple Sclerosis

2021

Objective: This study was undertaken to assess the impact of immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory therapies on the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Methods: We retrospectively collected data of PwMS with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. All the patients had complete follow-up to death or recovery. Severe COVID-19 was defined by a 3-level variable: mild disease not requiring hospitalization versus pneumonia or hospitalization versus intensive care unit (ICU) admission or death. We evaluated baseline characteristics and MS therapies associated with severe COVID-19 by multivariate and propensity score (PS)-weighted ordinal logistic mod…

Re-definition and supporting evidence toward Fanconi Anemia as a mitochondrial disease: Prospects for new design in clinical management

2021

Fanconi anemia (FA) has been investigated since early studies based on two definitions, namely defective DNA repair and proinflammatory condition. The former definition has built up the grounds for FA diagnosis as excess sensitivity of patients' cells to xenobiotics as diepoxybutane and mitomycin C, resulting in typical chromosomal abnormalities. Another line of studies has related FA phenotype to a prooxidant state, as detected by both in vitro and ex vivo studies. The discovery that the FA group G (FANCG) protein is found in mitochondria (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2006) has been followed by an extensive line of studies providing evidence for multiple links between other FA gene products and mi…