Effects of block shape and inclination on the stability of melange bimrocks

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - A wide range of heterogeneous geological units composed of strong rock blocks enclosed in a bonded matrix of fine texture exists worldwide....     

The effects of retinol on in vitro immunoglobulin synthesis by cord blood and adult peripheral blood mononuclear cells

In this study we examined the effects of retinol (ROH), a metabolic precursor of retinoic acid (RA), on Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I (SAC)-induced immunoglobulin synthesis of cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC) and adult peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). ROH augmented SAC-induced IgM synthesis of CBMC by 5.9 +/- 1.5-fold (n = 7, mean +/- s.d.), and IgG synthesis of adult PBMC by 16.3 +/- 5.1-fold (n = 3) at optimal concentrations of 10(-6) M and 10(-11) M, respectively. No augmenting effects could be demonstrated for the other immunoglobulin isotypes. Time-course studies showed that the synthesis of IgM by CBMC was accelerated with detectable immunoglobulin in supernatant fluids starting on day 3. ROH augmented immunoglobulin synthesis of CBMC stimulated by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a T cell-independent polyclonal activator, and of EBV-transformed B cell clones (2.5 +/- 0.2 and 4.1 +/- 1.5-fold increase, respectively), which suggests that ROH can act directly on B cells to enhance immunoglobulin synthesis. In contrast, when ROH was preincubated with cord blood T cells, washed and added to the B cell-enriched fraction with SAC, no increase (0.9-1.8-fold) in IgM synthesis was obtained. Thus, the principal mechanism(s) by which ROH augments immunoglobulin synthesis is by acting on B cells. This is in contrast to the immunoglobulin-enhancing effects of RA which is mediated by T cells, or T cell products, e.g. cytokine. Our studies suggest that RA and ROH may have different pathways of immunoglobulin-enhancing effects, perhaps mediated by different retinoid binding proteins resulting in gene activation and immunoglobulin synthesis.     

Evidence for a Negative Correlation between Human Reactive Enamine-Imine Intermediate Deaminase A (RIDA) Activity and Cell Proliferation Rate: Role of Lysine Succinylation of RIDA

Reactive intermediate deaminase (Rid) proteins are enzymes conserved in all domains of life. UK114, a mammalian member of RidA subfamily, has been firstly identified as a component of liver perchloric acid-soluble proteins (L-PSP). Although still poorly defined, several functions have been attributed to the mammalian protein UK114/RIDA, including the reactive intermediate deamination activity. The expression of UK114/RIDA has been observed in some tumors, arousing interest in this protein as an evaluable tumor marker. However, other studies reported a negative correlation between UK114/RIDA expression, tumor differentiation degree and cell proliferation. This work addressed the question of UK114/RIDA expression in human non-tumor HEK293 cell lines and in some human tumor cell lines. Here we reported that human RIDA (hRIDA) was expressed in all the analyzed cell line and subjected to lysine (K-)succinylation. In HEK293, hRIDA K-succinylation was negatively correlated to the cell proliferation rate and was under the control of SIRT5. Moreover, K-succinylation clearly altered hRIDA quantification by immunoblotting, explaining, at least in part, some discrepancies about RIDA expression reported in previous studies. We found that hRIDA was able to deaminate reactive enamine-imine intermediates and that K-succinylation drastically reduced deaminase activity. As predicted by in silico analysis, the observed reduction of deaminase activity has been related to the drastic alterations of hRIDA structure inferred by K-succinylation. The role of hRIDA and the importance of its K-succinylation in cell metabolism, especially in cancer biology, have been discussed.     

Biclustering meets triadic concept analysis

Biclustering numerical data became a popular data-mining task at the beginning of 2000’s, especially for gene expression data analysis and recommender systems. A bicluster reflects a strong association between a subset of objects and a subset of attributes in a numerical object/attribute data-table. So-called biclusters of similar values can be thought as maximal sub-tables with close values. Only few methods address a complete, correct and non-redundant enumeration of such patterns, a well-known intractable problem, while no formal framework exists. We introduce important links between biclustering and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA). Indeed, FCA is known to be, among others, a methodology for biclustering binary data. Handling numerical data is not direct, and we argue that Triadic Concept Analysis (TCA), the extension of FCA to ternary relations, provides a powerful mathematical and algorithmic framework for biclustering numerical data. We discuss hence both theoretical and computational aspects on biclustering numerical data with triadic concept analysis. These results also scale to n-dimensional numerical datasets.     

FPGA-based architecture for real time segmentation and denoising of HD video

The identification of moving objects is a basic step in computer vision. The identification begins with the segmentation and is followed by a denoising phase. This paper proposes the FPGA hardware implementation of segmentation and denoising unit. The segmentation is conducted using the Gaussian mixture model (GMM), a probabilistic method for the segmentation of the background. The denoising is conducted implementing the morphological operators of erosion, dilation, opening and closing. The proposed circuit is optimized to perform real time processing of HD video sequences (1,920 × 1,080 @ 20 fps) when implemented on FPGA devices. The circuit uses an optimized fixed width representation of the data and implements high performance arithmetic circuits. The circuit is implemented on Xilinx and Altera FPGA. Implemented on xc5vlx50 Virtex5 FPGA, it can process 24 fps of an HD video using 1,179 Slice LUTs and 291 Slice Registers; the dynamic power dissipation is 0.46 mW/MHz. Implemented on EP2S15F484C3 StratixII, it provides a maximum working frequency of 44.03 MHz employing 5038 Logic Elements and 7,957 flip flop with a dynamic power dissipation of 4.03 mW/MHz.     

Driving business performance: innovation complementarities and persistence patterns

Complementarities between technological and non-technological innovation are crucial determinants of firm performance. Although innovation complementarity has been extensively tested in the empirical literature, it has not been analysed in conjunction with innovation persistence. This fact is mainly due to the lack of data sets able to provide adequate longitudinal information. The capacities to develop market-oriented behaviour and introduce new organisational innovations, together with technological innovation, are the drivers of a firm’s productivity and profitability. We find that these activities complement technological innovation and that their impact is greater when they persist over time, thus introducing a more general concept of innovation persistence. We present an empirical model based on a large new panel of Italian manufacturing firms covering the period 2000–2012 which enables us to determine the precise impacts of a firm’s innovative attitude, in a broad definition that incorporates non-technological innovation and persistence, on its productivity and profitability.     

Proteins as biomarkers of oxidative/nitrosative stress in diseases: the contribution of redox proteomics

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) contribute to the pathogenesis and/or progression of several human diseases. Proteins are important molecular signposts of oxidative/nitrosative damage. However, it is generally unresolved whether the presence of oxidatively/nitrosatively modified proteins has a causal role or simply reflects secondary epiphenomena. Only direct identification and characterization of the modified protein(s) in a given pathophysiological condition can decipher the potential roles played by ROS/RNS-induced protein modifications. During the last few years, mass spectrometry (MS)-based technologies have contributed in a significant way to foster a better understanding of disease processes. The study of oxidative/nitrosative modifications, investigated by redox proteomics, is contributing to establish a relationship between pathological hallmarks of disease and protein structural and functional abnormalities. MS-based technologies promise a contribution in a new era of molecular medicine, especially in the discovery of diagnostic biomarkers of oxidative/nitrosative stress, enabling early detection of diseases. Indeed, identification and characterization of oxidatively/nitrosatively modified proteins in human diseases has just begun.