Search results for "Subject"

2018

Despite major progress in Robotics and AI, robots are still basically "zombies" repeatedly achieving actions and tasks without understanding what they are doing. Deep-Learning AI programs classify tremendous amounts of data without grasping the meaning of their inputs or outputs. We still lack a genuine theory of the underlying principles and methods that would enable robots to understand their environment, to be cognizant of what they do, to take appropriate and timely initiatives, to learn from their own experience and to show that they know that they have learned and how. The rationale of this paper is that the understanding of its environment by an agent (the agent itself and its effect…

Preliminary Results of CitraVes™ Effects on Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Waist Circumference in Healthy Subjects after 12 Weeks: A Pilot O…

2021

Appropriate monitoring and control of modifiable risk factors, such as the level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and other types of dyslipidemia, have an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Recently, various nutraceuticals with lipid-lowering effects have gained attention. In addition to the plant-derived bioactive compounds, recent studies suggested that plant cells are able to release small lipoproteic structures named extracellular vesicles (EVs). The interaction between EVs and mammalian cells could lead to beneficial effects through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. The present study aimed to assess the safety of the new patente…

Target Transportation of Auxin on Mesoporous Au/SiO2 Nanoparticles as a Method for Somaclonal Variation Increasing in Flax (L. usitatissimum L.)

2017

Development of methods for direct delivery of different bioactive substances into the cell is a promising and intensively approached area of research. It has become a subject of serious research for multidisciplinary team of scientists working in such areas as physics, biology, and biotechnology. Plant calluses were grown on medium supplemented with different nanoparticles to be used as a model for biotechnological research. Gold nanoparticles with mesoporous silica coating were used as hormone carriers, since they possess many of critical properties required for cellular transportation instrument. Some of those properties are great biocompatibility and controlled release of carried molecul…

Pre-imaginal conditioning alters adult sex pheromone response in Drosophila

2018

https://peerj.com/articles/5585/#supplemental-information; International audience; Pheromones are chemical signals that induce innate responses in individuals of the same species that may vary with physiological and developmental state. In Drosophila melanogaster, the most intensively studied pheromone is 11-cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), which is synthezised in the male ejaculatory bulb and is transferred to the female during copulation. Among other effects, cVA inhibits male courtship of mated females. We found that male courtship inhibition depends on the amount of cVA and this effect is reduced in male flies derived from eggs covered with low to zero levels of cVA. This effect is not obser…

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Prevent Neurological Complications of Radiotherapy

2019

Radiotherapy is a highly effective tool for the treatment of brain cancer. However, radiation also causes detrimental effects in the healthy tissue, leading to neurocognitive sequelae that compromise the quality of life of brain cancer patients. Despite the recognition of this serious complication, no satisfactory solutions exist at present. Here we investigated the effects of intranasal administration of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) as a neuroprotective strategy for cranial radiation in mice. Our results demonstrated that intranasally delivered hMSCs promote radiation-induced brain injury repair, improving neurological function. This intervention confers protection against inflamma…

SNPs in bone-related miRNAs are associated with the osteoporotic phenotype

2017

AbstractBiogenesis and function of microRNAs can be influenced by genetic variants in the pri-miRNA sequences leading to phenotypic variability. This study aims to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) affecting the expression levels of bone-related mature microRNAs and thus, triggering an osteoporotic phenotype. An association analysis of SNPs located in pri-miRNA sequences with bone mineral density (BMD) was performed in the OSTEOMED2 cohort (n = 2183). Functional studies were performed for assessing the role of BMD-associated miRNAs in bone cells. Two SNPs, rs6430498 in the miR-3679 and rs12512664 in the miR-4274, were significantly associated with femoral neck BMD. Further, we…

Pasta experience: Eating with the five senses - a pilot study

2018

Dried pasta is the Italian food “par excellence”. Traditional foods have characteristics that can stimulate or evoke in the consumer sensorial stimuli and experiences, especially when these foods are consumed in a typical-traditional restaurant. Traditional restaurants can use sensory marketing as a promotional advantage, creating a unique and original atmosphere that can represent their main way of differentiation. The aims of this paper are to know consumer liking with regard to two high quality types of Sicilian pasta, common dried pasta, and whole-wheat pasta, consumed in three different venues of a typical-traditional Italian franchised restaurant, and to measure the influence of envir…

In.Line: A Navigation Game for Visually Impaired People

2017

Part 3: Serious Games; International audience; In.line is a novel game based on a navigation system, called ARIANNA (pAth Recognition for Indoor Assisted NavigatioN with Augmented perception, [1]), primarily designed for visually impaired people permitting to navigate and find some points of interests in an indoor and outdoor environment by following a path painted or stuck on the floor. The aim of the game is twofold: (1) let the users learn and familiarize with the system, (2) improve blind people spatial skills to let them learn and acquire an allocentric spatial representation. The impact stands in the possibility of enhancing the social inclusion of a large part of the society that is …

Tolerance of whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) early life stages to manganese sulfate is affected by the parents

2016

European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) embryos and larvae were exposed to 6 different manganese sulfate (MnSO4) concentrations from fertilization to the 3-d-old larvae. The fertilization success, offspring survival, larval growth, yolk consumption, embryonic and larval Mn tissue concentrations and transcript levels of detoxification-related genes were measured in the long-term incubation. Full factorial breeding design (4 females x 2 males) enabled examining the significance of both female and male effects, and female-male interactions in conjunction with the MnSO4 exposure on the observed endpoints. The MnSO4 exposure reduced the survival of the whitefish early life stages. Also the offs…

A contribution to the knowledge of myxomycetes diversity in volcanic islands

2015

A list of myxomycetes collected in Pantelleria, a volcanic island located 110 km southwest of the island of Sicily ( Italy), is presented with data on distribution. Forty-nine taxa were identified, 38 of which are new for Sicily. The myxomycete diversity of Pantelleria was also compared with that of other volcanic islands located in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A list of myxomycetes collected in Pantelleria, a volcanic island located 110km southwest of the island of Sicily (Italy), is presented with data on distribution. Forty-nine taxa were identified, 38 of which are new for Sicily. The myxomycete diversity of Pantelleria was also compared with that of other volcanic islands located i…