Study of the Ghrelin/LEAP-2 Ratio in Humans and Rats during Different Phases of Pregnancy

The Liver-Expressed Antimicrobial Peptide 2 (LEAP-2) has emerged as an endogenous GHS-R antagonist and blunts the orexigenic action of ghrelin. This study aimed to determine the Ghrelin/LEAP-2 ratio in humans and rats during pregnancy. In humans, we conducted a nested case-control study within an observational prospective cohort. Healthy and mild preeclamptic pregnant women were studied at each trimester of gestation and three months postpartum. In addition, a group of non-pregnant women was studied into the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Furthermore, Ghrelin/LEAP-2 ratio was investigated in non-pregnant rats and at different periods of rat pregnancy. Human and rat serum ghrelin and LEAP-2 levels were determined using the commercially available ELISA kits. The Ghrelin/LEAP-2 ratio peak around the second trimester of gestation in healthy pregnant women (p < 0.05). Additionally, there were no statistically significant differences in Ghrelin/LEAP-2 ratio between healthy and preeclamptic pregnant women at each trimester of gestation (p > 0.05). The Ghrelin/LEAP-2 ratio in pregnant rat reached the peak around mid-gestation with a similar pattern to the human pregnancy. LEAP-2 was visualized by immunohistochemistry in human term placenta and rat placentas on days 12, 16 and 21 of pregnancy. In conclusion, this study provides the first evidence of a Ghrelin/LEAP-2 ratio peak around the half-way point of pregnancy onwards during human and rat pregnancy, and it might be associated with increased rates of weight gain during pregnancy. Thus, this study suggests that LEAP-2 and Ghrelin/LEAP-2 ratio might play an important role in maternal physiology adaptation of weight gain during pregnancy.     

Advanced and Intelligent Control Techniques Applied to the Drive Control and Path Tracking Systems on a Robotic Wheelchair

This paper presents the theoretical support and experimental results of the application of advanced and intelligent control techniques to the drive control and trajectory tracking systems on a robotic wheelchair. The adaptive optimal control of the differential drive helps to improve the automatic guidance system's safety and comfort taking into consideration operating conditions such as load and distribution changes or motion actuator limitations. Furthermore, the incorporation of an optimal controller to minimize location errors and a fuzzy controller to adapt the linear velocity to the characteristics of the trajectory, provide the vehicle with a high degree of intelligence and autonomy, even when faced with obstacles. The global control solution implemented increases the features of the wheelchair for handicapped people, especially for those with a high degree of disability.     

Mucopolysaccharidoses: Cellular Consequences of Glycosaminoglycans Accumulation and Potential Targets

Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPSs) constitute a heterogeneous group of lysosomal storage disorders characterized by the lysosomal accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Although lysosomal dysfunction is mainly affected, several cellular organelles such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, and their related process are also impaired, leading to the activation of pathophysiological cascades. While supplying missing enzymes is the mainstream for the treatment of MPS, including enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), or gene therapy (GT), the use of modulators available to restore affected organelles for recovering cell homeostasis may be a simultaneous approach. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the cellular consequences of the lysosomal GAGs accumulation and discusses the use of potential modulators that can reestablish normal cell function beyond ERT-, HSCT-, or GT-based alternatives.     

Loxin Reduced the Inflammatory Response in the Liver and the Aortic Fatty Streak Formation in Mice Fed with a High-Fat Diet

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is the most harmful form of cholesterol associated with vascular atherosclerosis and hepatic injury, mainly due to inflammatory cell infiltration and subsequent severe tissue injury. Lox-1 is the central ox-LDL receptor expressed in endothelial and immune cells, its activation regulating inflammatory cytokines and chemotactic factor secretion. Recently, a Lox-1 truncated protein isoform lacking the ox-LDL binding domain named LOXIN has been described. We have previously shown that LOXIN overexpression blocked Lox-1-mediated ox-LDL internalization in human endothelial progenitor cells in vitro. However, the functional role of LOXIN in targeting inflammation or tissue injury in vivo remains unknown. In this study, we investigate whether LOXIN modulated the expression of Lox-1 and reduced the inflammatory response in a high-fat-diet mice model. Results indicate that human LOXIN blocks Lox-1 mediated uptake of ox-LDL in H4-II-E-C3 cells. Furthermore, in vivo experiments showed that overexpression of LOXIN reduced both fatty streak lesions in the aorta and inflammation and fibrosis in the liver. These findings were associated with the down-regulation of Lox-1 in endothelial cells. Then, LOXIN prevents hepatic and aortic tissue damage in vivo associated with reduced Lox-1 expression in endothelial cells. We encourage future research to understand better the underlying molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic use of LOXIN.     

Predicting cetane number,kinematic viscosity,density and higher heating value of biodiesel from its fatty acid methyl ester composition

Biodiesel is a renewable bio-fuel derived from natural fats or vegetable oils, and it is considered as a promising alternative to substitute diesel fuels. Cetane number, viscosity, density, and higher heating value are important properties to affect the utilization of biodiesel fuels, because they are involved in the definition of fuel quality and are required as input data for predictive engine combustion models. This work presents the characterization of two biodiesel samples made from beef tallow and soybean oil through their fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) profile. Empirical equations were developed to estimate four physical properties of methyl esters; and an average absolute deviation (AAD) of 5.95%, 2.57%, 0.11% and 0.21% for the cetane number, kinematic viscosity, density, and higher heating value were founded. Cetane number, viscosity, and higher heating value increases because of the increase of molecular weight and these physical properties decrease as the number of double bonds increases. Unlike that of above properties, density decreases as molecular weight increases and density increases as the degree of unsaturation increases. Two general mixing rules and five biodiesel samples were used to study the influence of FAMEs over the physical properties of biodiesel. The prediction of the cetane number, kinematic viscosity, density and higher heating value of biodiesel is very close to the experimental values.     

An efficient algorithm for optimal routing applied to convoy merging manoeuvres in urban environments

This paper describes an innovative routing strategy for intelligent transportation units willing to perform merging manoeuvres with a moving convoy. In particular, we consider a transportation unit located inside a city (pursuer unit), and which wishes to join a convoy that is constantly moving around the city. We first describe a solution that considers idealistic conditions, i.e., the traveling time along each street is constant. We then go on to improve our first approach to deal with the realistic random nature of the traveling times experienced by the pursuer and by the convoy leader. Our search strategy applies Dynamic Programming to achieve a meeting point that is optimal in two ways: on one hand, the optimal destination is the one closest to the current pursuer??s position; on the other hand, the optimal meeting point must minimize the time that elapses until the pursuer meets the convoy (considering that the pursuer must always arrive first). Calculating the optimal path to every possible destination is highly inefficient, error prone and time consuming. On the contrary, we propose an efficient search strategy that will achieve the meeting point and the path to it, both optimally and in a very short time. This enables the real-time application of our approach either for finding new solutions or for re-planning old ones owing to unexpected real-conditions.     

Varietal discrimination of Chilean wines by direct injection mass spectrometry analysis combined with multivariate statistics

A simple, direct injection, electrospray ionization Fourier transform mass spectrometry (ESI FT-MS) method, in combination with multivariate statistics, was used for the characterization and sorting of Chilean wines. 47 commercial red wines labelled as Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Syrah, and Pinot noir, and 25 white wines of the varieties Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc were diluted, directly infused into the mass spectrometer, and analyzed in negative ion mode. The signature ions used for statistical analyses were manually filtered out from the signals with m/z ratios over 10%. The results of principal component analysis allowed a good sorting of white wines, but not so in the case of reds. The main three principal components explained 96.82% and 85.65% of the variance for white and red wines, respectively. Instead, linear discriminant analysis, allowed the correct discrimination of 100.00% of white and 95.74% of red samples. The validation of these results using the leave-one-out cross-validation method gave lower percentages of correct classification (76.00% and 61.70% of white and red samples respectively), suggesting that some of the wine samples analyzed might have been blends of more than one variety. Consequently, ESI FT-MS direct injection analysis of wines can be used for sample discrimination, but requires a stronger mathematical model built with spectral information of pure and blended samples before improving the percentages of classification.