Search results for "MAZ"
showing 10 items of 3205 documents
EFFICIENT AND SECURE ALGORITHMS FOR MOBILE CROWDSENSING THROUGH PERSONAL SMART DEVICES.
2021
The success of the modern pervasive sensing strategies, such as the Social Sensing, strongly depends on the diffusion of smart mobile devices. Smartwatches, smart- phones, and tablets are devices capable of capturing and analyzing data about the user’s context, and can be exploited to infer high-level knowledge about the user himself, and/or the surrounding environment. In this sense, one of the most relevant applications of the Social Sensing paradigm concerns distributed Human Activity Recognition (HAR) in scenarios ranging from health care to urban mobility management, ambient intelligence, and assisted living. Even though some simple HAR techniques can be directly implemented on mo- bil…
Editorial: Consciousness in Humanoid Robots
2019
Building a conscious robot is a grand scientific and technological challenge. Debates about the possibility of conscious robots and the related positive outcomes and hazards for human beings are today no longer confined to philosophical circles.
Field and Numerical Tests of the Two-Ponding Depth Procedure for Analysis of Single-Ring Pressure Infiltrometer Data
2013
Abstract The two-ponding depth (TPD) analysis procedure of single-ring infiltrometer data can yield invalid results, i.e., negative values of the field-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity or the matric flux potential, denoting failure of the two-level run. The objective of this study was to test the performance of the TPD procedure in analyzing the single-ring infiltrometer data of different types of soils. A field investigation carried out in western Sicily, Italy, yielded higher failure rates (40%) in two clay loam soils than in a sandy loam soil (25%). A similar result, i.e., fine-textured soils yielding higher failure rates than the coarse-textured one, was obtained using numerically …
Loss of spatial learning in a patient with topographical disorientation in new environments
2003
The case is described of a patient who, following cerebral hypoxia, developed severe difficulty in orienting himself in new environments in the context of a mild global amnesic syndrome. Some episodes he related suggested that his main difficulty was remembering the spatial/directional value of landmarks he recognised. A neuroradiological examination documented severe bilateral atrophy of the hippocampi associated with atrophic changes in the cerebral hemispheres, most marked in the dorsal regions. Neuropsychological and experimental evaluation showed a severe deficit of spatial learning with substantially preserved ability to learn verbal and visual-object information. He was also virtuall…
Memory-enhancing and brain protein expression-stimulating effects of novel calcium antagonist in Alzheimer’s disease transgenic female mice
2016
The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is higher in females than in males, and causes more severe cognitive, memory and behavioral impairments. Previously, in male transgenic (Tg) APPSweDI mice, we reported that the novel lipophilic 1,4-dihydropyridine (DHP) derivative AP-12 crossed the blood-brain barrier, blocked neuronal and vascular calcium channels, changed brain protein expression and improved behavior. In this study, we used female Tg APPSweDI mice to assess the effects of AP-12 on behavior, and brain protein expression, with a particular focus on those of the GABAergic system. The results showed that in female Tg mice, similar to male Tg mice, AP-12 improved spatial learning/mem…
Phencyclidine-induced disruption of oscillatory activity in prefrontal cortex: Effects of antipsychotic drugs and receptor ligands
2016
The non-competitive NMDA receptor (NMDA-R) antagonist phencyclidine (PCP) markedly disrupts thalamocortical activity, increasing excitatory neuron discharge and reducing low frequency oscillations (LFO, <4Hz) that temporarily group neuronal discharge. These actions are mainly driven by PCP interaction with NMDA-R in GABAergic neurons of the thalamic reticular nucleus and likely underlie PCP psychotomimetic activity. Here we report that classical (haloperidol, chlorpromazine, perphenazine) and atypical (clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, ziprasidone, aripripazole) antipsychotic drugs - but not the antidepressant citalopram - countered PCP-evoked fall of LFO in the medial prefron…
Pathology-selective antiepileptic effects in the focal freeze-lesion rat model of malformation of cortical development
2021
Malformations of cortical development (MCD) represent a group of rare diseases with severe clinical presentation as epileptic and pharmacoresistant encephalopathies. Morphological studies in tissue from MCD patients have revealed reduced GABAergic efficacy and increased intracellular chloride concentration in neuronal cells as important pathophysiological mechanisms in MCD. Also, in various animal models, alterations of GABAergic inhibition have been postulated as a predominant factor contributing to perilesional hyperexcitability. Along with this line, the NKCC1 inhibitor bumetanide has been postulated as a potential drug for treatment of epilepsy, mediating its antiepileptic effect by red…
Real-life use of elbasvir/grazoprevir in adults and elderly patients: a prospective evaluation of comedications used in the PITER cohort.
2021
Background In patients treated for HCV infection, potential drug–drug interactions (DDIs) can occur among direct-acting antiviral drugs (DAAs) and comedications used. The real-life effectiveness and safety of elbasvir/grazoprevir (ELB/GZR) among co-medicated HCV patients was evaluated. Methods We prospectively evaluated consecutive patients from 15 clinical centres participating in PITER who were treated with ELB/GZR and had been followed for at least 12 weeks after treatment. Data were prospectively collected on the use of comedications (including discontinuation, dose modification and addition of drugs) and potential DDIs with DAAs. Results Of the 356 patients with at least 12-week post-t…
Effects of acute administration of bupropion on behavior in the elevated plus-maze test by NMRI mice
2004
Bupropion attenuates some symptoms of nicotine abstinence, although its effects on anxiety are unclear. The present study investigates acute effects of bupropion (5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) on anxiety as expressed in the elevated plus-maze test in male NMRI mice. Given the influence of locomotion in this test, effects of bupropion were also evaluated in an actimeter. Spontaneous motor activity remained significantly increased in mice treated with 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg of bupropion during the 60 min recorded. Results from the elevated plus-maze showed that 20 mg/kg increased total arm entries and 40 mg/kg increased total and open arm entries. Although the increase in the number of visits to the o…
Age differences in the role of the cannabinoid type 1 receptor on glutamatergic neurons in habituation and spatial memory acquisition
2015
Abstract Aims Aging is typically linked with a decline in memory performance and alterations in neural integrity. In pathological aging such as Alzheimer's disease, these effects are aggravated. Studies using cannabinoid CB1 receptor-deficient mice have shown a role of the endocannabinoid system in memory processing and neuroprotection. As the CB1 receptor is expressed in various neuronal populations, in this study, we aimed at investigating the consequences of CB1 receptor gene inactivation in cortical glutamatergic neurons in mice (Glu-CB1-KO) in regard to age-related alterations in spatial memory performance. Main methods Juvenile (5.5–7.5 weeks), adult (5.5–7 months), and old (11.5–14 m…