Glibenclamide for the Treatment of Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke

Ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes are associated with severe functional disability and high mortality. Except for recombinant tissue plasminogen activator, therapies targeting the underlying pathophysiology of central nervous system (CNS) ischemia and hemorrhage are strikingly lacking. Sur1-regulated channels play essential roles in necrotic cell death and cerebral edema following ischemic insults, and in neuroinflammation after hemorrhagic injuries. Inhibiting endothelial, neuronal, astrocytic and oligodendroglial sulfonylurea receptor 1–transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (Sur1–Trpm4) channels and, in some cases, microglial K_ATP (Sur1–Kir6.2) channels, with glibenclamide is protective in a variety of contexts. Robust preclinical studies have shown that glibenclamide and other sulfonylurea agents reduce infarct volumes, edema and hemorrhagic conversion, and improve outcomes in rodent models of ischemic stroke. Retrospective studies suggest that diabetic patients on sulfonylurea drugs at stroke presentation fare better if they continue on drug. Additional laboratory investigations have implicated Sur1 in the pathophysiology of hemorrhagic CNS insults. In clinically relevant models of subarachnoid hemorrhage, glibenclamide reduces adverse neuroinflammatory and behavioral outcomes. Here, we provide an overview of the preclinical studies of glibenclamide therapy for CNS ischemia and hemorrhage, discuss the available data from clinical investigations, and conclude with promising preclinical results that suggest glibenclamide may be an effective therapeutic option for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.     

Biparametric Models for Elastic Wedge Foundation

In this paper, some biparametric models for an elastic foundation are proposed. It is assumed that the foundation has the shape of the wedge. The modeling procedure starts from the linear elasticity equations into which we introduce some simplifying assumptions based on the conceptions of decay functions. The simplified models are described by the ordinary differential equations. Stationary and nonstationary Green’s functions for the foundation considered are obtained by applying the Hankel and Laplace transform methods. An example of the interaction between the rigid plate and the elastic wedge foundation is studied.     

<Superscript>137</Superscript>Cs content and vertical migration in littoral soil of two lakes in Bryansk Oblast

The dynamics and present state of the radioactive contamination with ¹³⁷Cs of littoral soil of Lake Kozhanovskoe and Lake Svyatoe on the Besed’ River are presented. The parameters of the vertical migration of ¹³⁷Cs in soil-the rate of directional transfer with soil moisture, the diffusion coefficient, and the average velocity of vertical migration-are estimated by comparing the experimental and model distributions of ¹³⁷Cs content over soil depth. It is shown that at the present time the two 5-cm layer of soil can contain 20–90% ¹³⁷Cs depending on the type of soil and landscape. The average values of the diffusion coefficient, the rate of directional transfer, and the vertical migration velocity for 12-, 13-, and 20-year periods after the Chernobyl accident are 0.1–2.8 cm²/yr, 0.1–0.3 cm/yr, and 0.1–0.8 cm/yr, respectively. __________ Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 102, No. 5, pp. 306–311, May, 2007.     

Teaching Software Evolution in Open Source

Most software engineering courses require students to develop small programs from scratch, but professional engineers typically work on the evolution of large software systems. Using open source software and a software change process model can narrow this gap without imposing excessive demands on students or instructors.     

Model-based testing of software and systems: recent advances and challenges

Model-based testing is focused on testing techniques which rely on the use of models. The diversity of systems and software to be tested implies the need for research on a variety of models and methods for test automation. We briefly review this research area and introduce several papers selected from the 22nd International Conference on Testing Software and Systems (ICTSS).     

Coaxial Alginate Hydrogels: From Self-Assembled 3D Cellular Constructs to Long-Term Storage

Alginate as a versatile naturally occurring biomaterial has found widespread use in the biomedical field due to its unique features such as biocompatibility and biodegradability. The ability of its semipermeable hydrogels to provide a favourable microenvironment for clinically relevant cells made alginate encapsulation a leading technology for immunoisolation, 3D culture, cryopreservation as well as cell and drug delivery. The aim of this work is the evaluation of structural properties and swelling behaviour of the core-shell capsules for the encapsulation of multipotent stromal cells (MSCs), their 3D culture and cryopreservation using slow freezing. The cells were encapsulated in core-shell capsules using coaxial electrospraying, cultured for 35 days and cryopreserved. Cell viability, metabolic activity and cell–cell interactions were analysed. Cryopreservation of MSCs-laden core-shell capsules was performed according to parameters pre-selected on cell-free capsules. The results suggest that core-shell capsules produced from the low viscosity high-G alginate are superior to high-M ones in terms of stability during in vitro culture, as well as to solid beads in terms of promoting formation of viable self-assembled cellular structures and maintenance of MSCs functionality on a long-term basis. The application of 0.3 M sucrose demonstrated a beneficial effect on the integrity of capsules and viability of formed 3D cell assemblies, as compared to 10% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) alone. The proposed workflow from the preparation of core-shell capsules with self-assembled cellular structures to the cryopreservation appears to be a promising strategy for their off-the-shelf availability.     

A color image watermarking framework for copyright protection of stereo images based on binocular just noticeable difference and LU decomposition

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The copyright protection of three-dimensional (3D) content is a matter of interest in artistic and creative works due to the rights of the holder for the...     

Active time scheduling for rechargeable sensor networks

Recent progress in energy harvesting technologies made it possible to build sensor networks with rechargeable nodes which target an indefinitely long operation. In these networks, the goal of energy management is to allocate the available energy such that the important performance metrics, such as the number of detected threats, are maximized. As the harvested energy is not sufficient for continuous operation, the scheduling of the active and inactive time is one of the main components of energy management. The active time scheduling protocols need to maintain the energy equilibrium of the nodes, while considering the uncertainties of the energy income, which is strongly influenced by the weather, and the energy expenditures, which are dependent on the behavior of the targets. In this paper, we describe and experimentally compare three active time scheduling protocols: (a) static active time, (b) dynamic active time based on a multi-parameter heuristic and (c) utility-based uniform sensing. We show that protocols which take into consideration the probabilistic models of the energy income and expenditure and can dynamically adapt to changes in the environment, can provide a significant performance advantage.     

Generating asynchronous test cases from test purposes

Context

Input/output transition system (IOTS) models are commonly used when next input can arrive even before outputs are produced. The interaction between the tester and an implementation under test (IUT) is usually assumed to be synchronous. However, as the IUT can produce outputs at any moment, the tester should be prepared to accept all outputs from the IUT, or else be able to block (refuse) outputs of the implementation. Testing distributed, remote applications under the assumptions that communication is synchronous and actions can be blocked is unrealistic, since synchronous communication for such applications can only be achieved if special protocols are used. In this context, asynchronous tests can be more appropriate, reflecting the underlying test architecture which includes queues.

Objective

In this paper, we investigate the problem of constructing test cases for given test purposes and specification input/output transition systems, when the communication between the tester and the implementation under test is assumed to be asynchronous, performed via multiple queues.

Method

When issuing verdicts, asynchronous tests should take into account a distortion caused by the queues in the observed interactions. First, we investigate how the test purpose can be transformed to account for this distortion when there are a single input queue and a single output queue. Then, we consider a more general problem, when there may be multiple queues.

Results

We propose an algorithm which constructs a sound test case, by transforming the test purpose prior to composing it with the specification without queues.

Conclusion

The proposed algorithm mitigates the state explosion problem which usually occurs when queues are directly involved in the composition. Experimental results confirm the resulting state space reduction.