Search results for "Signal"
showing 10 items of 6924 documents
Epithelial to mesenchymal transition is increased in patients with COPD and induced by cigarette smoke
2013
Background Cigarette smoking contributes to lung remodelling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). As part of remodelling, peribronchiolar fibrosis is observed in the small airways of patients with COPD and contributes to airway obstruction. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) appears to be involved in the formation of peribronchiolar fibrosis. This study examines the EMT process in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) from non-smokers, smokers and patients with COPD as well as the in vitro effect of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) on EMT. Methods HBECs from non-smokers (n=5), smokers (n=12) and patients with COPD (n=15) were collected to measure the mesenchymal markers …
The host defence peptide LL-37/hCAP-18 is a growth factor for lung cancer cells
2007
Cancer development can be viewed as dysregulated repair. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are effector molecules of the innate immune system with direct antimicrobial activity. Beside this host defence function several AMPs play a role in the regulation of inflammation and tissue repair. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the human cathelicidin AMP LL-37/hCAP-18 is involved in the biology of lung cancer. Human cancer cell lines were found to express the human cathelicidin LL-37/hCAP-18 mRNA and peptide at different levels. Immunohistochemistry of human lung cancers showed that the peptide is expressed mostly in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Application of exo…
Towards the determination of isoprene in human breath using substrate-integrated hollow waveguide mid-infrared sensors
2014
Selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath may be considered biomarkers if they are indicative of distinct diseases or disease states. Given the inherent molecular selectivity of vibrational spectroscopy, infrared sensing technologies appear ideally suitable for the determination of endogenous VOCs in breath. The aim of this study was to determine that mid-infrared (MIR; 3-20 µm) gas phase sensing is capable of determining isoprene in exhaled breath as an exemplary medically relevant VOC by hyphenating novel substrate-integrated hollow waveguides (iHWG) with a likewise miniaturized preconcentration system. A compact preconcentrator column for sampling isoprene from exhaled breath …
Design and Simulation of Measurement-Based Correlation Models for Shadow Fading
2011
This paper deals with the design of measurement-based correlation models for shadow fading. Based on the correlation model, we design a simulation model using the sum-of-sinusoids (SOS) method to enable the simulation of spatial lognormal processes characterizing real-world shadow fading scenarios. The model parameters of the simulation model are computed by applying the Lp-norm method (LPNM). This method facilitates an excellent fitting of the simulation model’s autocorrelation function (ACF) to that of measured channels. Our study includes an evaluation of all important statistical quantities of the proposed measurement-based simulation model, such as the probability density function (PDF…
Low-energy epicardial pacing in children: the benefit of autocapture.
1999
Abstract Background . Permanent cardiac pacing in children results commonly in augmented energy consumption because of the high pacing rates and the ample stimulation safety margin applied in children. Cardiovascular anatomy and limited venous access sometimes preclude the otherwise preferred endocardial approach. In this multicenter patient series, we studied the feasibility, safety, and energy saving obtained by a combination of steroid-eluting epicardial leads with autocapture devices capable of ongoing adjustment of the stimulation output to the prevailing threshold. Methods . Autocapture devices (Pacesetter Microny SR+ and Regency SR+; Pacesetter, Solna, Sweden) and steroid-eluting epi…
Aclidinium inhibits human lung fibroblast to myofibroblast transition
2011
Background Fibroblast to myofibroblast transition is believed to contribute to airway remodelling in lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This study examines the role of aclidinium, a new long-acting muscarinic antagonist, on human fibroblast to myofibroblast transition. Methods Human bronchial fibroblasts were stimulated with carbachol (10 −8 to 10 −5 M) or transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1; 2 ng/ml) in the presence or absence of aclidinium (10 −9 to 10 −7 M) or different drug modulators for 48 h. Characterisation of myofibroblasts was performed by analysis of collagen type I and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) mRNA and protein expression as well as α…
Sleep apnoea and metabolic dysfunction.
2013
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a highly prevalent condition often associated with central obesity. In the past few years, several studies have analysed the potential independent contribution of OSA to the pathogenesis of metabolic abnormalities, including type 2 diabetes, the metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. New perspectives in OSA patient care have been opened by the promotion of lifestyle interventions, such as diet and exercise programmes that could improve both OSA and the metabolic profile. The rich clinical literature on this subject, together with the growing amount of data on pathophysiological mechanisms provided by animal studies using the chronic inter…
Rho protein inactivation induced apoptosis of cultured human endothelial cells.
2002
Small GTP-binding Rho GTPases regulate important signaling pathways in endothelial cells, but little is known about their role in endothelial cell apoptosis. Clostridial cytotoxins specifically inactivate GTPases by glucosylation [ Clostridium difficile toxin B-10463 (TcdB-10463), C. difficile toxin B-1470 (TcdB-1470)] or ADP ribosylation ( C. botulinum C3 toxin). Exposure of human umbilical cord vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to TcdB-10463, which inhibits RhoA/Rac1/Cdc42, or to C3 toxin, which inhibits RhoA, -B, -C, resulted in apoptosis, whereas inactivation of Rac1/Cdc42 with TcdB-1470 was without effect, suggesting that Rho inhibition was responsible for endothelial apoptosis. Disruptio…
Measuring Heart Rate with a Heat Flux Sensor
2021
Different wearable biosignal measurement applications require minimally obtrusive and highly sensitive sensors and methods of transducing the heart pulse into an electric signal. At the same time, the sensors should have minimal power consumption and preferably provide information about more than just the heart rate. In this study, a method employing a heat flux sensor for recording the pulsatile cardiac component of an arterial pulse waveform is presented. The output signals of a conventional photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor and a heat flux sensor were recorded and compared with one another. The results show that a heat flux sensor can be used for measurement of heart pulse, in addition t…
On the Energy of Distributions, with Application to the Quaternionic Hopf Fibrations
2001
The energy of an oriented q-distribution ? in a compact oriented manifold M is defined to be the energy of the section of the Grassmannian manifold of oriented q-planes in M induced by ?. In the Grassmannian, the Sasaki metric is considered. We show here a condition for a distribution to be a critical point of the energy functional. In the spheres, we see that Hopf fibrations \(\) are critical points. Later, we prove the instability for these fibrations.