Search results for "Actor"

Pre-Frailty and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly Men and Women The Pro.V.A. Study

2015

Background Frailty is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the impact of early, potentially reversible stages of frailty on CVD risk is unknown. Objectives This study sought to ascertain whether pre-frailty can predict the onset of CVD in a cohort of community-dwelling, not disabled, elderly people. Methods A sample of 1,567 participants age 65 to 96 years without frailty or disability at baseline was followed for 4.4 years. Pre-frailty was defined as the presence of 1 or 2 modified Fried criteria (unintentional weight loss, low physical activity level, weakness, exhaustion, and slow gait speed), and incident CVD as onset of coronary artery diseases, heart failure,…

Differential response of neuronal cells to a fusion protein of ciliary neurotrophic factor/soluble CNTF-receptor and leukemia inhibitory factor

2002

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) displays neurotrophic activities on motor neurons and neural cell populations both in vivo and in vitro. On target cells lacking intrinsic expression of specific receptor alpha subunits cytokines of the IL-6 family only act in the presence of their specific agonistic soluble receptors. Here, we report the construction and expression of a CNTF/soluble CNTF-receptor (sCNTF-R) fusion protein (Hyper-CNTF) with enhanced biological activity on cells expressing gp130 and leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIF-R), but not membrane-bound CNTF-R. At the cDNA level, the C-terminus of the extracellular domain of human CNTF-R (amino acids 1-346) was linked via a sing…

2016

Cytoglobin (Cygb) is a vertebrate globin with so far poorly defined function. It is expressed in the fibroblast cell-lineage but has also been found in neurons. Here we provide, using immunohistochemistry, a detailed study on the distribution of Cygb in the mouse brain. While Cygb is a cytoplasmic protein in active cells of the supportive tissue, in neurons it is located in the cytoplasm and the nucleus. We found the expression of Cygb in all brain regions, although only a fraction of the neurons was Cygb-positive. Signals were of different intensity ranging from faint to very intense. Telencephalic neurons in all laminae of the cerebral cortex, in the olfactory bulb (in particular periglom…

Power quality effects on the measurement of reactive power in three-phase power systems in the light of the IEEE Standard 1459–2000.

2007

Reactive power is a very important quantity in electric power systems since it affects the efficiency of these systems. Also, capacitive loads can produce over-voltages in electric transformers by Ferranti effect, which produces bad power quality, so it is necessary to measure the reactive power correctly. In this paper reactive phenomena in three-phase power systems with unbalanced voltages are expressed and measured in the light of the IEEE Std 1459-2000. For analyzing the reactive phenomena the positive-sequence fundamental frequency instantaneous reactive power is used. By comparing the expressions of this instantaneous power in three-phase systems with unbalanced voltages with those co…

WWOX, a Chromosomal Fragile Site Gene and its Role in Cancer

2006

Allelic imbalances affecting the long arm of chromosome 16 have been extensively reported in the literature as common abnormalities observed in various carcinoma types, As a result of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) studies in breast cancer, we delimited a genomic area within chromosome 16 that demonstrated the highest frequency of abnormalities. This led us to the identification and cloning of WWOX, a candidate tumor suppressor gene (TSG) that spans a fragile region of DNA located at 16q23.3-24.1 (FRA16D: the second most active common chromosomal fragile site in the human genome). This gene encodes a protein that contains two WW domains responsible of protein-protein interactions and a short-…

Haemorheological components in the pre-geriatric and geriatric age range in a randomly selected Western Sicily population sample (Casteldaccia study)

1993

{Received 24.8.1992; accepted 7.12.1992} On a randomly selected western Sicily population sample (Casteldac­ cia Study: 600 subjects; 300 males and 300 females) of an age range from 40 to 79 years, were determined: Haematocrit (Htc) , blood vi­ scosity, plasma viscosity, filterability of whole blood and fibrinogen. Par­ ticipation was 97%, being 582 subjects (M = 287, F = 295). All the parameters measured showed a progressive increase with age and si­ gnificant differences were found between male and female subjects: Htc and blood viscosity were higher in male subjects (p < 0.01), while plasma viscosity, whole blood filterability and fibrinogen were higher in female subjects (p < 0.05). In …

On the Multifractal Character of the Lorenz Attractor

1992

A detailed analysis of the Lorenz attractor in connection with generalized dimensions is presented in this work. Different methods have been employed to estimate these dimensions. Two of them are of standard type. A new method, based on the minimal spanning tree of the point distribution, is extensively tested in this work. It turns out that the Lorenz attractor is very appropriate for being analyzed through this technique, which produces a very clean estimate of the extrema scaling indices α min and α max . The different methods give qualitatively the same result: The Lorenz attractor has a multifractal character

Simultaneous application of vacuum and sweep gas in a polypropylene membrane contactor for the recovery of dissolved methane from water

2021

Abstract Vacuum and nitrogen as sweep gas were used simultaneously (combination mode) to generate the driving force in a microporous polypropylene membrane contactor for the recovery of dissolved methane from water. Experiments were carried out under different liquid flow-rates (5.0–28.0 L h−1), N2 flow-rates (0.5–1.5 L h−1) and vacuum pressures (0–480 mbar). The maximum removal efficiency of methane was >90% at moderate values of gas-to-liquid ratios (G/L) and vacuum of 0.2 and ≤ 200 mbar, respectively. Removal efficiencies obtained in combination mode were usually higher than when using vacuum or sweep gas, separately. To achieve a methane content >35% in the recovered gas, G/L values low…

Relapsed and/or Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma: What Role for Temsirolimus?

2012

Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) is associated with a dismal prognosis. Recently, along with the improved understanding of the pathophysiology of this disease, new first line regimens have been established and in addition novel treatment options have entered the clinical arena. In consequence, prognosis of the disease has fortunately improved. We here focus on the rationale, current clinical knowledge and future concepts of Temsirolimus, an inhibitor of mTOR, in the treatment of MCL. At this time this drug has been shown to be effective as single agent for relapsed disease and early combination data show promising results. In addition, with a brief outline of other treatment options, we aim to g…

Nitric oxide enhances Th9 cell differentiation and airway inflammation

2014

International audience; Th9 cells protect hosts against helminthic infection but also mediate allergic disease. Here we show that nitric oxide (NO) promotes Th9 cell polarization of murine and human CD4(+) T cells. NO de-represses the tumour suppressor gene p53 via nitrosylation of Mdm2. NO also increases p53-mediated IL-2 production, STAT5 phosphorylation and IRF4 expression, all essential for Th9 polarization. NO also increases the expression of TGFβR and IL-4R, pivotal to Th9 polarization. OVA-sensitized mice treated with an NO donor developed more severe airway inflammation. Transferred Th9 cells induced airway inflammation, which was exacerbated by NO and blocked by anti-IL-9 antibody.…