Injection of Microporous Annealing Particle (MAP) Hydrogels in the Stroke Cavity Reduces Gliosis and Inflammation and Promotes NPC Migration to the Lesion

With the number of deaths due to stroke decreasing, more individuals are forced to live with crippling disability resulting from the stroke. To date, no therapeutics exist after the first 4.5 h after the stroke onset, aside from rest and physical therapy. Following stroke, a large influx of astrocytes and microglia releasing proinflammatory cytokines leads to dramatic inflammation and glial scar formation, affecting brain tissue's ability to repair itself. Pathological conditions, such as a stroke, trigger neural progenitor cells (NPCs) proliferation and migration toward the damaged site. However, these progenitors are often found far from the cavity or the peri‐infarct tissue. Poststroke tissue remodeling results in a compartmentalized cavity that can directly accept a therapeutic material injection. Here, this paper shows that the injection of a porous hyaluronic acid hydrogel into the stroke cavity significantly reduces the inflammatory response following stroke while increasing peri‐infarct vascularization compared to nonporous hydrogel controls and stroke only controls. In addition, it is shown that the injection of this material impacts NPCs proliferation and migration at the subventricular zone niche and results, for the first time, in NPC migration into the stroke site.     

Nanoparticle self-assembly on a DNA-scaffold written by single-molecule cut-and-paste

Self-assembly guided by molecular recognition has in the past been employed to assemble nanoparticle superstructures like hypercrystals or nanoparticle molecules. An alternative approach, the direct molecule-by-molecule assembly of nanoscale superstructures, was demonstrated recently. Here we present a hybrid approach where we first assemble a pattern of binding sites one-by-one at a surface and then allow different nanoparticles to attach by self-assembly. For this approach, biotin bearing DNA oligomers were picked up from a depot using a cDNA strand bound to an AFM tip. These units were deposited in the target area by hybridization, forming a recognition pattern on this surface. Fluorescent semiconductor nanoparticles conjugated with streptavidin were allowed to assemble on this scaffold and to form the final nanoparticle superstructures.     

Distributed uplink scheduling and rate control in cdma2000 using adaptive antenna arrays

Distributed uplink scheduling and rate control in CDMA networks are considered in the case of adaptive antenna arrays present at the base station. The system model with omnidirectional antennas is generalized to the case where adaptive antenna arrays are deployed. Rate control in a probabilistic manner is investigated. Long-term control by the base station through token bucket constraints is incorporated in the system. Monte Carlo simulation results show considerable improvement when adaptive antenna arrays are used. Optimization of the rate transition probabilities is treated in the special case of on–off scheduling.     

An alpha-tectorin gene defect causes a newly identified autosomal recessive form of sensorineural pre-lingual non-syndromic deafness, DFNB21

In our efforts to identify new loci responsible for non-syndromic autosomal recessive forms of deafness, DFNB loci, we have pursued the analysis of large consanguineous affected families living in geographically isolated areas. Here, we report on the study of a Lebanese family comprising nine members presenting with a pre-lingual severe to profound sensorineural isolated form of deafness. Linkage analysis led to the characterization of a new locus, DFNB21, which was assigned to chromosome 11q23-25. Already mapped to this chromosomal region was TECTA. This gene encodes alpha-tectorin, a 2155 amino acid protein which is a component of the tectorial membrane. This gene recently has been shown to be responsible for a dominant form of deafness, DFNA8/12. Sequence analysis of the TECTA gene in the DFNB21-affected family revealed a G to A transition in the donor splice site (GT) of intron 9, predicted to lead to a truncated protein of 971 amino acids. This establishes that alpha-tectorin mutations can be responsible for both dominant and recessive forms of deafness. Comparison of the phenotype of the DFNB21 heterozygous carriers with that of DFNA8/12-affected individuals supports the hypothesis that the TECTA mutations which cause the dominant form of deafness have a dominant-negative effect. The present results provide genetic evidence for alpha-tectorin forming homo- or heteromeric structures.     

Keratinocyte differentiation is stimulated by activators of the nuclear hormone receptor PPARalpha

BACKGROUND: A patient's likelihood of dying from breast cancer or another cause can be assessed with competing risks analyses. METHODS: Data for a cohort of 678 patients with primary invasive breast cancer accrued from 1971 to 1990, updated to 1995, included cause of death (e.g., breast cancer vs. other cause). We investigated the effects of age, tumor size, nodal status, ER, PgR, and adjuvant therapy (hormones, chemotherapy, radiotherapy) on type of death and time to death for patients of all ages and for those over the age of 65 years. RESULTS: Although there were no significant univariate differences in breast cancer death rates by age group (P=0.94), more patients over the age of 65 years died from other causes (41/207 [20%] of those older than 65 years vs. 16/471 [3%] of those younger than 65 years; P <.001). In competing risks analyses, older age was associated with non-breast cancer death, whereas larger tumor size was associated with breast cancer death. PgR was positively, and nodal status negatively, associated with survival, regardless of type. In the older patient group, the competing risks analyses identified similar effects for age and tumor size; in addition, higher ER assay values were less likely to be associated with breast cancer death. CONCLUSIONS: With increased lifespan, there will be more breast cancer cases in women older than 65 years; we have shown that women in this group have more non-breast cancer deaths. It becomes important, then, to delineate differential effects of prognostic factors on competing causes of death.     

A two-level distributed multiple hypothesis decision system

A two-level distributed decision system consisting of a number of local decision makers (LDMs) connected to a global decision maker (GDM) is considered. The LDMs share a common M-hypothesis testing problem, have their own observations independent of each other, and employ likelihood ratios for their decision making. Each LDM transmits its inference to the GDM where the final decision is derived. The local inferences consist of the ranking of the candidate hypotheses and a degree of confidence based on likelihood ratios. Using a maximum distance criterion, the optimum confidence-based subpartitioning of local decision space is studied. It is shown that the presented system can greatly outperform one in which LDM provides a single-hypothesis hard decision and can perform nearly as well as the optimum centralized system     

Wireless Sensor Networks in IPv4/IPv6 Transition Scenarios

The wireless sensor networks (WSNs) concept was appeared in the middle of 90s and have been a subject under intensive research in the past few years. Several factors have contributed to this, but the potential for application of WSNs in almost every aspect of day-to-day life is the predominant one. This type of networks has been developed using proprietary solutions instead of standard solutions. More recently, the importance of standards motivated the use of IETF standards in WSNs, making the Internet integration easier. However, more efforts are necessary in order to provide a full integration. The WSNs use mainly IPv6 protocol, but the IPv4 is the predominant one in the Internet. As a consequence, IPv4 to IPv6 transition mechanisms must be provided to allow the interaction between all Internet connected devices independently of the supported IP version. It is also critical to provide a standard application interface to make easier the application development and independently of the hardware platform used. The RESTfull Web services can provide this standard interface. So, combine RESTfull Web services with IPv4 to IPv6 transition mechanisms can increase the WSN services dissemination. The transition mechanisms and the REST Web services are supported in the gateway in order to save the wireless sensor device resources’. The smartphone with Internet connectivity can also be the drive to the WSNs growth, because user-friendly applications can be used to retrieve and collect sensed data. This paper proposes a solution based on REST web services to permit the interaction between a mobile application and the IPv6 compliant WSN.     

Reprocessing high‐flux polysulfone dialyzers does not negatively impact solute removal in short‐daily online hemodiafiltration

There are no studies evaluating the impact of dialyzer reprocessing on solute removal in short‐daily online hemodiafiltration (OL‐HDF). Our aim was to evaluate the impact of dialyzer reuse on solute removal in daily OL‐HDF and compare with that in high‐flux short‐daily hemodialysis (SDH). Fourteen patients undergoing a SDH program were included. Pre‐dialysis and post‐dialysis blood samples and effluent dialysate were collected in the 1st, 7th, and 13th dialyzer uses in SDH sessions and in daily OL‐HDF sessions. Directly quantified small solute (urea, phosphorus, creatinine, and uric acid) total mass removal (TM_DQ) and clearance (K_DQ) were similar when the 1st, 7th, and 13th dialyzer SDH uses were compared with the 1st, 7th, and 13th daily OL‐HDF uses. TM_DQ and K_DQ of small solutes were similar among analyzed dialyzer uses in SDH sessions and in daily OL‐HDF sessions. β₂‐Microglobulin TM_DQ and K_DQ were statistically higher in daily OL‐HDF dialyzer uses than in the respective SDH uses. There was no difference in β₂‐microglobulin TM_DQ and K_DQ among dialyzer uses in daily OL‐HDF sessions or in SDH sessions. In daily OL‐HDF, albumin loss was significantly different among dialyzer uses (P < 0.001), being lower in the 7th and 13th dialyzer uses than in the first use. Dialyzer reprocessing did not impair solute extraction in daily OL‐HDF. β₂‐Microglobulin removal was greater in daily OL‐HDF than in SDH sessions, without significant differences in other solutes extraction. There was a significant reduction in intradialytic albumin loss with dialyzer reprocessing in daily OL‐HDF sessions.