Mexitl: Multimedia in Executable Interval Temporal Logic

This paper explores a formalism for describing a wide class of multimedia document constraints, based on an interval temporal logic. We describe the requirements that arise from the multimedia documents application area, and we illustrate these requirements using several examples. Then we present the temporal logic formalism that we use. This logic extends existing interval temporal logic with a number of new features: actions, framing of actions, past operators, a projection-like operator called filter and a new handling of interval length. The notation is applied to the specification of the examples, and in particular a set of logical manipulations, providing feedback to an author, is presented. A model theory, logic and satisfaction relation are defined for the notation.     

Study of the dead layer in germanium for the CDMS detectors

We present new measurements on a Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) detector with electron, neutron, and gamma sources. The measurements have been performed to investigate the dead layer of one of the CDMS Z-dependent Ionization Phonon germanium detectors. The dead layer has been studied at both charge electrodes and at different electric field intensities. We also present a method to remove the dependence of athermal phonon measurements on event position.     

Contextual Fear Conditioning Is Associated With Lateralized Expression of the Immediate Early Gene c-fos in the Central and Basolateral Amygdalar Nuclei.

Fos, the protein product of the immediate early gene c-fos, was used to map functional circuitry underlying contextual conditioned fear. Male rats were given footshocks in a distinctive context and later tested using freezing as the behavioral measure and compared with no-shock and no-retention-test control groups. An increased number of Fos-immunoreactive neurons was found in the lateral part of the central nucleus and in the anterior basolateral and lateral amygdalar nuclei in the brains of the conditioned-fear group compared with controls. Further, a greater number of Fos-immunoreactive neurons was observed in the right central and anterior basolateral nuclei compared with the number of labeled neurons in these structures on the left. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decoding Speech Prosody: Do Music Lessons Help?

Three experiments revealed that music lessons promote sensitivity to emotions conveyed by speech prosody. After hearing semantically neutral utterances spoken with emotional (i.e., happy, sad, fearful, or angry) prosody, or tone sequences that mimicked the utterances' prosody, participants identified the emotion conveyed. In Experiment 1 (n=20), musically trained adults performed better than untrained adults. In Experiment 2 (n=56), musically trained adults outperformed untrained adults at identifying sadness, fear, or neutral emotion. In Experiment 3 (n=43), 6-year-olds were tested after being randomly assigned to 1 year of keyboard, vocal, drama, or no lessons. The keyboard group performed equivalently to the drama group and better than the no-lessons group at identifying anger or fear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scanning tunnelling microscopy of tobacco mosaic virus on evaporated and sputter-coated palladium/gold substrates

We present scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) images of untreated tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) deposited on thermally evaporated and on sputter-coated palladium/gold 40:60 (Pd/Au) substrates, and imaged under ordinary atmospheric conditions. The TMV imaged on both evaporated and sputter-coated substrates was consistently several times wider than the known diameter of the virus. TMV on evaporated Pd/Au became overcoated with Pd/Au material during sample preparation and appeared elevated in STM images, whereas TMV on sputter-coated Pd/Au appeared as depressions. When naked TMV were intentionally overcoated with Pd/Au, the STM images were found to be similar to those for TMV on evaporated Pd/Au.     

Nanotechnology Meets Oncology: A Perspective on the Role of the Personalized Nanoparticle-Protein Corona in the Development of Technologies for Pancreatic Cancer Detection

In recent years nanotechnology has opened exciting opportunities in the struggle against cancer. In 2007 Dawson and coworkers demonstrated that nanomaterials exposed to biological fluids are coated with plasma proteins that form the so-called “protein corona”. A few years later our joint research team made of physicists, chemists, biotechnologists, surgeons, oncologists, and bioinformaticians introduced the concept of “personalized protein corona” and demonstrated that it is unique for each human condition. This concept paved the way for the development of nano-enabled blood (NEB) tests for the diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). These studies gave an impetus to serious work in the field that came to maturity in the late 2010s. In this special issue, we provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the most significant discoveries of our research team in the field of PDAC detection. We focus on the main achievements with an emphasis on the fundamental aspects of this arena and how they shaped the integration of different scientific backgrounds towards the development of advanced diagnostic technologies. We conclude the review by outlining future perspectives and opportunities to transform the NEB tests into a reliable clinical diagnostic technology for early diagnosis, follow-up, and management of PDAC patients.     

Adipose Tissue Dysfunction and Obesity-Related Male Hypogonadism

Obesity is a chronic illness associated with several metabolic derangements and comorbidities (i.e., insulin resistance, leptin resistance, diabetes, etc.) and often leads to impaired testicular function and male subfertility. Several mechanisms may indeed negatively affect the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal health, such as higher testosterone conversion to estradiol by aromatase activity in the adipose tissue, increased ROS production, and the release of several endocrine molecules affecting the hypothalamus–pituitary–testis axis by both direct and indirect mechanisms. In addition, androgen deficiency could further accelerate adipose tissue expansion and therefore exacerbate obesity, which in turn enhances hypogonadism, thus inducing a vicious cycle. Based on these considerations, we propose an overview on the relationship of adipose tissue dysfunction and male hypogonadism, highlighting the main biological pathways involved and the current therapeutic options to counteract this condition.     

Nonstarter lactobacilli isolated from soft and semihard Argentinean cheeses: genetic characterization and resistance to biological barriers

Nonstarter lactic acid bacteria isolated from Argentinean cheeses were identified and characterized by focusing on their resistance to biological barriers, along with other physiological features of potential interest, in the search for future probiotic organisms. Lactobacilli were enumerated and isolated from semihard and soft cheeses made with multistrain Streptococcus thermophilus starters. Lactobacilli counts in 1-week-old cheeses were between 10(5) and 10(7) CFU/g and then reached 10(7) CFU/ g in all 1-month samples, while streptococci were always above 10(9) CFU/g. A total number of 22 lactobacilli isolates were retained, identified, and characterized by in vitro tests. Species identity was determined by carbohydrate metabolism and species-specific PCR assays. Genetic diversity was explored by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR analysis. The Lactobacillus strains were assigned to the species L. casei, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus, L. curvatus, L. fermentum, and L. perolens. All the strains studied tolerated 25 ppm of lysozyme, and most of them showed resistance to 0.3% bile. After incubation in gastric solution (pH 2.0), counts decreased by several log units, ranging from 3.2 to 7.0. The strains were able to grow in the presence of bile salts, but only three isolates were capable of deconjugation. The nonstarter lactobacilli that were assayed fermented the prebiotic substrates (especially lactulose and inulin). Some strains showed high cell hydrophobicity and beta-galactosidase activity, as well as inhibitory activity against pathogenic bacteria. It was concluded that most of the lactobacilli isolated in this study demonstrated resistance to biological barriers and physiological characteristics compatible with probiotic properties, which make them suitable for further research in in vivo studies aimed at identifying new probiotic organisms.