Search results for "Potential"
showing 10 items of 3348 documents
Experimental study of electrical FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons with modified excitability
2006
International audience; We present an electronical circuit modelling a FitzHugh-Nagumo neuron with a modified excitability. To characterize this basic cell, the bifurcation curves between stability with excitation threshold, bistability and oscillations are investigated. An electrical circuit is then proposed to realize a unidirectional coupling between two cells, mimicking an inter-neuron synaptic coupling. In such a master-slave configuration, we show experimentally how the coupling strength controls the dynamics of the slave neuron, leading to frequency locking, chaotic behavior and synchronization. These phenomena are then studied by phase map analysis. The architecture of a possible ne…
Ventricular remodelling in rabbits with sustained high-fat diet.
2013
Aim Excess weight gain and obesity are one of the most serious health problems in the western societies. These conditions enhance risk of cardiac disease and have been linked with increased prevalence for cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death. Our goal was to study the ventricular remodelling occurring in rabbits fed with high-fat diet (HFD) and its potential arrhythmogenic mechanisms. Methods We used 15 NZW rabbits that were randomly assigned to a control (n = 7) or HFD group (n = 8) for 18 weeks. In vivo studies included blood glucose, electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic measurements. Optical mapping was performed in Langendorff-perfused isolated hearts. Results Body weight (3.69 ±…
Advances in pharmacological treatment of type 1 diabetes during pregnancy.
2019
Introduction: In women with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), pregnancy is associated with a potential risk of maternal, foetal and neonatal outcomes. Stringent metabolic control is required to improve these outcomes. Areas covered: In this review, the authors summarise the current evidence from studies on the pharmacological therapy and on monitoring of T1DM during pregnancy. The authors also discuss the use of new technologies to improve therapeutic management and patient compliance. Expert opinion: Pre-conception counselling is essential in T1DM to minimise pregnancy risks. Pregnancy in T1DM is always considered a high-risk pregnancy. During pregnancy, the target haemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) i…
Dual role of the p38 MAPK/cPLA2 pathway in the regulation of platelet apoptosis induced by ABT-737 and strong platelet agonists.
2013
p38 Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase is involved in the apoptosis of nucleated cells. Although platelets are anucleated cells, apoptotic proteins have been shown to regulate platelet lifespan. However, the involvement of p38 MAP kinase in platelet apoptosis is not yet clearly defined. Therefore, we investigated the role of p38 MAP kinase in apoptosis induced by a mimetic of BH3-only proteins, ABT-737, and in apoptosis-like events induced by such strong platelet agonists as thrombin in combination with convulxin (Thr/Cvx), both of which result in p38 MAP kinase phosphorylation and activation. A p38 inhibitor (SB202190) inhibited the apoptotic events induced by ABT-737 but did not influ…
Variational Aspects of the Physically-Based Approach to 3D Non-Local Continuum Mechanics
2010
This paper deals with the generalization to three-dimensional elasticity of the physically-based approach to non-local mechanics, recently proposed by the authors in one-dimensional case. The proposed model assumes that the equilibrium of a volume element is attained by contact forces between adjacent elements and by long-range central forces exerted by non-adjacent elements. Specifically, the long-range forces are modeled as central body forces depending on the relative displacements between the centroids of the volume elements, measured along the line connecting the centroids. Furthermore, the long-range forces are assumed to be proportional to a proper, material-dependent, distance-decay…
Mechanically-based approach to non-local elasticity: Variational principles
2010
Abstract The mechanically-based approach to non-local elastic continuum, will be captured through variational calculus, based on the assumptions that non-adjacent elements of the solid may exchange central body forces, monotonically decreasing with their interdistance, depending on the relative displacement, and on the volume products. Such a mechanical model is investigated introducing primarily the dual state variables by means of the virtual work principle. The constitutive relations between dual variables are introduced defining a proper, convex, potential energy. It is proved that the solution of the elastic problem corresponds to a global minimum of the potential energy functional. Mo…
Improvement of boehmite nanoparticles' aqueous dispersability by controlling their size, shape and crystallinity
2014
In this work, results on the control of size, shape, crystallinity and aqueous dispersability of boehmite prepared by a hydrothermal process are reported. The two step synthetic procedure entailed the precipitation of a xerogel by adding NaOH until pH 10 to a solution of aluminum nitrate at 100 °C without or with additives such as tartaric acid and maltitol, and a subsequent hydrothermal treatment at 150 and 200 °C for different periods of time. The final materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and elemental analysis. The stability and other characteristics of the boehmite nanoparticle aqueous dispersions were determined by measuring t…
Tuning the size and shape of nano-boehmites by a free-additive hydrothermal method
2015
A synthetic procedure allowing the control of boehmite micro and nanoparticles is presented. The proposed hydrothermal synthetic procedure is based on the control of three reaction parameters, the pH and temperature of precipitation of xerogels and the water/xerogel ratio for the hydrothermal process, carried out at 200 °C for 48 h. Results obtained by measurements on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images indicate that at pH 5 micro or nanorods of controlled length between ca. 300 and 50 nm were obtained depending on the temperature of precipitation of the xerogel (25 or 100 °C) and the water/xerogel ratio used (1/1, 6/1, 15/1). On the contrary, at pH 10, nanoplatelets with major ba…
Ecotourism in Bolivia : an ethnographical study of ecotourism impacts in Madidi National Park
2016
Master thesis development management - University of Agder 2016 The concepts of ecotourism are widely defined but it is often used as a marketing instrument in order to promote tourism businesses related to nature. Ecotourism experience a fast growth in world tourism industry and many developing countries are trying to use ecotourism as a tool to achieve sustainable development. Ecotourism provides many beneficiaries to local environments, economies and socio-cultural lives. However, ecotourism may as well have harmful effects on those involved. Still, ecotourism conserves and protects local areas and its people. Madidi National Park in Bolivia has been estimated to be one of the world’s mo…
A comparison of excited state properties for iterative approximate triples linear response coupled cluster methods
2001
Abstract A computational study of the potential energy curves of the 1 Π state of BH, 1 Π state of CH + , 1 Σ u and 1 Π u states of C 2 , 1 Π state of CO, and 1 Π g and 1 Σ − u states of N 2 is carried out with the CC3 and CCSDT-3 corrections to EOMEE-CCSD. Good agreement in structure, vibrational frequencies, and excitation energies of these iterative triples-corrected methods with respect to experiment is found for most of these examples. However, deficiencies in the approximate treatment of triples is evident for BH and CH + .