Search results for "Lung"
showing 10 items of 2389 documents
Political risks: the “red shift” in debt sustainability analysis
2020
Political stability and economic policy uncertainty can be key determinants of sovereign debt dynamics, and we show how they can be incorporated in debt sustainability analysis. We distinguish between short-term ambiguity and long-term uncertainty about political risk factors, and using a combination of narrative scenarios and calibrated probabilistic scenarios we obtain a comprehensive heatmap of high-risk debt dynamics. We use Italy as an interesting case study and demonstrate a “red shift” in the assessment of vulnerabilities when accounting for political risks. Ignoring these risks can lead to excessive optimism and wrong decisions.
Lung CT Image Registration through Landmark-constrained Learning with Convolutional Neural Network
2020
Accurate registration of lung computed tomography (CT) image is a significant task in thorax image analysis. Recently deep learning-based medical image registration methods develop fast and achieve promising performance on accuracy and speed. However, most of them learned the deformation field through intensity similarity but ignored the importance of aligning anatomical landmarks (e.g., the branch points of airway and vessels). Accurate alignment of anatomical landmarks is essential for obtaining anatomically correct registration. In this work, we propose landmark constrained learning with a convolutional neural network (CNN) for lung CT registration. Experimental results of 40 lung 3D CT …
Yttrium and lanthanides in human lung fluids, probing the exposure to atmospheric fallout.
2011
International audience; Inhalation of airborne particles can produce crystallization of phosphatic microcrysts in intraaveolar areas of lungs, sometimes degenerating into pulmonary fibrosis. Results of this study indicate that these pathologies are induced by interactions between lung fluids and inhaled atmospheric dust in people exposed to volcanic dust ejected from Mount Etna in 2001. Here, the lung solid-liquid interaction is evaluated by the distribution of yttrium and lanthanides (YLn) in fluid bronchoalveolar lavages on selected individuals according the classical geochemical approaches. We found that shale-normalised patterns of yttrium and lanthanides have a 'V shaped' feature corre…
On-line implementation and first operation of the Laser Ion Source and Trap at ISOLDE/CERN
2015
13 pags.; 12 figs.; 2 tab.; Open Access funded by CERN
Recycling of 3He from lung magnetic resonance imaging
2011
We have developed the means to recycle 3He exhaled by patients after imaging the lungs using magnetic resonance of hyperpolarized 3He. The exhaled gas is collected in a helium leak proof bag and further compressed into a steel bottle. The collected gas contains about 1–2% of 3He, depending on the amount administered and the number of breaths collected to wash out the 3He gas from the lungs. 3He is separated from the exhaled air using zeolite molecular sieve adsorbent at 77 K followed by a cold head at 8 K. Residual gaseous impurities are finally absorbed by a commercial nonevaporative getter. The recycled 3He gas features high purity, which is required for repolarization by metastability ex…
Apigenin affects leptin/leptin receptor pathway and induces cell apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma cell line
2011
Abstract Background Apigenin, a common edible plant flavonoid, is a well characterised antioxidant. The adipokine leptin exerts proliferative and anti-apoptotic activities in a variety of cell types. In cancer cells, apigenin may induce a pro-apoptotic pathway whereas leptin has an anti-apoptotic role. The purpose of the study is to investigate the role of apigenin and of leptin/leptin receptor pathway on proliferation and on apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma. Methods Immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry and RT-q-RT PCR, were used to investigate the expression and modulation of leptin receptors on the lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 in presence or absence of apigenin and of leptin, alone o…
A stage-specific functional role of the leucine zipper transcription factor c-Maf in lung Th2 cell differentiation.
2004
The transcription factor c-Maf controls IL-4 gene expression in CD4(+) T cells, and its expression is up-regulated in human asthmatic airways after allergen challenge. In the present study, we addressed the role of c-Maf in asthma by studying transgenic (Tg) mice overexpressing c-Maf in CD4(+) T cells under the control of the CD2 promoter. As shown, lung CD4(+) T cells of c-maf-Tg mice produced more IL-5 at the early stage (day 2) of culture in the presence of IL-4 than wild-type control cells. Consistently, c-maf-Tg mice spontaneously showed increased IL-5 expression and eosinophils in the bronchial alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and activated IL-5 signal transduction via Raf-1 and Ras in lu…
Cigarette smoke increases BLT2 receptor functions in bronchial epithelial cells: in vitro and ex vivo evidence
2013
Summary Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is a neutrophil chemotactic molecule with important involvement in the inflammatory responses of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Airway epithelium is emerging as a regulator of innate immune responses to a variety of insults including cigarette smoke, the major risk factor for COPD. In this study we have explored whether cigarette smoke extracts (CSE) or soluble mediators present in distal lung fluid samples (mini-bronchoalveolar lavages) from smokers alter the expression of the LTB4 receptor 2 (BLT2) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α) in bronchial epithelial cells. We also evaluated the effects of CSE on the expression of i…
Targeted fibre-optical intrabronchial lipopolysaccharide administration in pigs – a methodical refinement for improved accuracy in respiratory resear…
2019
To establish and evaluate a standardized method of targeted, intrabronchial drug delivery in pigs.Randomized controlled trial.A total of 16 German Landrace pigs (Sus scrofa), age range 12‒16 weeks, and weighing 28‒35 kg.The animals were anaesthetized, intubated, and instrumented with extended cardiovascular monitoring. Lung injury was induced by administering via a flexible fibre-optic endoscope using 100 mL saline solution containing either 20 mg of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (E. coli LPS) (n = 8) or no additive (sham, n = 8) into the two distal mainstem bronchi. The animals were monitored for 8 hours and arterial oxygenation, inspiratory pressure and arterial blood pressure were …
In Vitro Expression of the Endothelial Phenotype: Comparative Study of Primary Isolated Cells and Cell Lines, Including the Novel Cell Line HPMEC-ST1…
2002
Endothelial cell lines are commonly used in in vitro studies to avoid problems associated with the use of primary endothelial cells such as the presence of contaminating cells, the difficulty in obtaining larger numbers of cells, as well as the progressive loss of cell viability and expression of endothelial markers in the course of in vitro propagation. We have analyzed the characteristics defining distinctive endothelial phenotypes in the cell lines EA.hy926, ECV304, EVLC2, HAEND, HMEC-1, ISO-HAS-1 and a cell line recently generated in our laboratory, HPMEC-ST1.6R, and have compared these phenotypes with those found in primary human endothelial cells isolated from umbilical vein (HUVEC), …