Effect of hemodiafiltration with endogenous reinfusion on overt idiopathic chronic inflammation in maintenance hemodialysis patients: A multicenter longitudinal study

Chronic inflammation is widely diffuse in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients and is associated with poor survival. Hemodiafiltration with endogenous reinfusion (HFR) is a dialysis technique, highly biocompatible, able to adsorb proinflammatory cytokines and to decrease amino acids and antioxidants loss. These features could be helpful in MHD patients affected by idiopathic chronic inflammation, but this issue remains to be elucidated. We performed a multicenter longitudinal study to assess the effect of the switching from bicarbonate HD to HFR in patients with serum C‐reactive Protein (CRP) > 5 mg/L coupled with albumin <4.0 g/dL in the last 6 months. We enrolled 24/176 (14%) patients, of which 20 patients were assessed at 4 months and 18 completed the study. We excluded 11 patients with evident causes of inflammation. At baseline, serum levels of CRP (18.7[7.0–39.4] mg/L) and albumin (3.5[3.3–3.7] g/dL) were significantly correlated (r = ?0.49; P = 0.028). The effect on CRP and albumin was almost evident in the first 4 months and remained stable until to eighth month. A strict correlation (R = ?0.49; 0.040) between percentage change of CRP (?35%) and albumin (+14%) after 8 months of HFR. These effects were associated with the reduction of IL‐6, IL‐1β, and TNF‐α and the increment of pre‐albumin and leptin, whereas the serum levels of Branched Chain Amino Acid (BCAA) remained unchanged. In MHD patients affected by idiopathic chronic inflammation the switching from BHD to HFR is associated with improvement of inflammation. Whether these favorable effects may modify the outcomes of these high‐risk patients needs to be confirmed by studies ad hoc.     

Bunsen reaction and hydriodic phase purification in the sulfur-iodine process: An experimental investigation

This paper reports an investigation on the Bunsen reaction. An experimental campaign was conducted by means of a stirred reactor. Runs were carried out at a constant temperature in the 30-120 °C range, following a semi-batch procedure by feeding gaseous sulfur dioxide in an iodine/hydriodic acid/water solution. A specific analytical procedure to measure the hydriodic phase composition was implemented. It was observed that both the amount of absorbed SO₂ and its conversion lowered as the temperature increased. Secondary reactions were beyond the detection limit in the reactor, even at low temperature and low iodine content. The purification of the produced hydriodic phase was also investigated. It was possible to satisfactorily reduce the impurities content without the occurrence of secondary reactions only when high temperature and high iodine content were applied.     

Charge transfer and partial pinning at the contacts as the origin of a double dip in the transfer characteristics of graphene-based field-effect transistors

We discuss the origin of an additional dip other than the charge neutrality point observed in the transfer characteristics of graphene-based field-effect transistors with a Si/SiO2 substrate used as the back-gate. The double dip is proved to arise from charge transfer between the graphene and the metal electrodes, while charge storage at the graphene/SiO2 interface can make it more evident. Considering a different Fermi energy from the neutrality point along the channel and partial charge pinning at the contacts, we propose a model which explains all the features observed in the gate voltage loops. We finally show that the double dip enhanced hysteresis in the transfer characteristics can be exploited to realize graphene-based memory devices.     

Three-dimensional modeling using x-ray shape-from-silhouette

We present the application of the shape-from-silhouette technique to reconstruct the three-dimensional profile of ancient handworks from their x-ray absorption images. The acquisition technique is similar to tomography, since the images are taken all around the object while it is rotated. Some reference points are placed on a small and light structure corotating with the object, and are acquired on the images for calibration and registration. The reconstruction algorithm gives finally the three-dimensional appearance of the handwork. We present the analysis of a bronze pendant of VI-VII century B.C. (Venetic area, Italy) completely hidden by corrosion products. The three-dimensional reconstruction shows that the pendant is a very elaborated piece, with two embraced figures that were completely invisible at the excavation.     

Norepinephrine Protects against Methamphetamine Toxicity through β2-Adrenergic Receptors Promoting LC3 Compartmentalization

Norepinephrine (NE) neurons and extracellular NE exert some protective effects against a variety of insults, including methamphetamine (Meth)-induced cell damage. The intimate mechanism of protection remains difficult to be analyzed in vivo. In fact, this may occur directly on target neurons or as the indirect consequence of NE-induced alterations in the activity of trans-synaptic loops. Therefore, to elude neuronal networks, which may contribute to these effects in vivo, the present study investigates whether NE still protects when directly applied to Meth-treated PC12 cells. Meth was selected based on its detrimental effects along various specific brain areas. The study shows that NE directly protects in vitro against Meth-induced cell damage. The present study indicates that such an effect fully depends on the activation of plasma membrane β2-adrenergic receptors (ARs). Evidence indicates that β2-ARs activation restores autophagy, which is impaired by Meth administration. This occurs via restoration of the autophagy flux and, as assessed by ultrastructural morphometry, by preventing the dissipation of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) from autophagy vacuoles to the cytosol, which is produced instead during Meth toxicity. These findings may have an impact in a variety of degenerative conditions characterized by NE deficiency along with autophagy impairment.     

Rocket salad (Diplotaxis and Eruca spp.) sensory analysis and relation with glucosinolate and phenolic content

BACKGROUND: Salad crops of the Brassicaceae family, such as Diplotaxis tenuifolia and Eruca vesicaria, commonly referred to as ‘rocket salads’, have attracted considerable interest as culinary vegetables because of their strong flavour and their content of putative health‐promoting compounds. Among such compounds, glucosinolates and phenolics are well‐known phytochemicals with an important role also in determining the characteristic flavour of these species. In this study, to identify potentially high‐value rocket salads, 37 cultivated types were examined for sensory characters and their relations with glucosinolate and phenolic contents, which ranged from 0.76 to 3.03 g kg^?1 dry weight (DW) and from 4.68 to 31.39 g kg^?1 DW, respectively. RESULTS: The perception of bitter taste was significantly affected by specific glucosinolates, namely progoitrin/epiprogoitrin and dimeric glucosativin. Aroma intensity was negatively related to glucoalyssin content, whereas pungency was significantly related to total glucosinolate content. Kaempferol‐3‐(2‐sinapoyl‐glucoside)‐4′‐glucoside was positively and significantly related to all flavour trait perceptions. Aroma intensity, pungency, crunchiness and juiciness were positively related to typical rocket salad flavour perception through a prominent direct effect. CONCLUSION: Aroma intensity, pungency, crunchiness and juiciness were strong determinants of overall rocket salad flavour perception. Visual traits also characterised sensory components. Bitterness, usually considered a negative flavour trait, was moderately perceived in the examined material, without negatively affecting typical flavour perception. In the range of the examined material, glucosinolate content did not contrast with typical flavour, demonstrating that good taste and putative health‐promoting properties may coexist. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Adaptation of courses for trans-European tele-learning

Abstract This paper addresses the problems of adapting instructional courses for trans-European tele-learning and for enlarging the range of students and learning modalities in distance learning. Building on previous work on the portability of educational software , the paper examines various dimensions of adaptation of existing courses: (a) content, (b) instructional materials, (c) language issues, (d) instructional delivery, (e) the instructional setting of the course, and (f) the situation of the course in a programme of study, and considers how those dimensions will particularly affect course adaptation. From this analysis, a set of six guidelines is presented for course adaptation. The Commission of the European Community recently supported a trans-European project, TeleScopia, which aimed at investigating these dimensions as research issues.     

Empirical Evaluation of Software Maintenance Technologies

Technology evaluation is part of the decision-making process of any software organization. Unlike conventional wisdom, empirical evaluation strives to avoid biased conclusions by relying on observation and looking for pitfalls in the evaluation process. In this paper, we provide a summary of the maintenance studies presented in the session ‘Study and assessment of (new) technologies’ of the International Workshop on Empirical Studies of Software Maintenance (WESS '96), and also report on the working group discussion which focused on common problems and open issues in the field of technology evaluation. These empirical studies are then classified according to a multi-dimensional framework to synthesize the state of the research in technology evaluation and ultimately discover interesting patterns. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Multistrategy Learning and Theory Revision

This article presents the system WHY, which learns and updates a diagnostic knowledge base using domain knowledge and a set of examples. The a priori knowledge consists of a causal model of the domain that states the relationships among basic phenomena, and a body of phenomenological theory that describes the links between abstract concepts and their possible manifestations in the world. The phenomenological knowledge is used deductively, the causal model is used abductively, and the examples are used inductively. The problems of imperfection and intractability of the theory are handled by allowing the system to make assumptions during its reasoning. In this way, robust knowledge can be learned with limited complexity and a small number of examples. The system works in a first-order logic environment and has been applied in a real domain.