Endothelial Glycocalyx as a Regulator of Fibrotic Processes

The endothelial glycocalyx, the gel layer covering the endothelium, is composed of glycosaminoglycans, proteoglycans, and adsorbed plasma proteins. This structure modulates vessels’ mechanotransduction, vascular permeability, and leukocyte adhesion. Thus, it regulates several physiological and pathological events. In the present review, we described the mechanisms that disturb glycocalyx stability such as reactive oxygen species, matrix metalloproteinases, and heparanase. We then focused our attention on the role of glycocalyx degradation in the induction of profibrotic events and on the possible pharmacological strategies to preserve this delicate structure.     

Symptomatic subclavian steal syndrome four decades after operation for dysphagia lusoria

Congenital abnormalities of the aortic arch may lead to signs and symptoms of tracheal and esophageal obstruction secondary to a restrictive vascular ring. There are many case reports and monographs concerning the surgical management of dysphagia lusoria. This case provides the first example of long-term follow-up of surgical intervention for relief of dysphagia lusoria. A 45-year-old laborer presented with a several year history of episodic bilateral blindness and a more recent onset of "drop attacks." Notably this patient had presented at the age of 18 months with difficulty breathing and eating since birth. The patient also had frequent upper respiratory infections and episodes of pneumonia. Workup revealed a right-sided aortic arch with a left ligamentum arteriosum. When he was first seen in our clinic, history and physical examination revealed claudication and diminished pulses in the left upper extremity. Arteriography and duplex studies confirmed reversal of flow in the patient's left vertebral artery. The arteriogram demonstrated the presence of a right-sided aortic arch and descending aorta along with the proximal stump of the previously ligated left subclavian artery. He underwent left carotid to left axillary artery bypass for the treatment of symptomatic subclavian steal syndrome. His symptoms have resolved with return of antegrade vertebral flow and the presence of normal pulses in the left arm. Congenital aortic abnormalities that lead to tracheal and esophageal compromise are numerous and varied. Surgical management requires a thorough understanding of the person's anatomy and preoperative planning. The life expectancy of patients with dysphagia lusoria necessitates consideration of the long-term consequences of surgical intervention.     

Cognitive radio CDMA networking with spectrum sensing

In this paper, the performance of cognitive radio (CR) code division multiple access (CDMA) systems is analyzed. More precisely, CR users belong to a cognitive radio network (CRN), which coexists with a primary radio network (PRN). Both CRN and PRN are CDMA‐based, with colocated base stations. Soft hand off and power control are considered in both the CRN and the PRN. Upon the development of an accurate simulator for a representative three‐cell cellular scenario, we evaluate the performance of the proposed CR system in terms of outage probability, blocking probability and average data rate of secondary users. Three different spectrum sensing techniques are. Two new schemes, based on interference limit, are proposed and compared with an existing adaptive spectrum sensing scheme. Spectrum activity measurements and spectrum sharing decisions have been considered for evaluating the performance of the three schemes. The paper proposes a new CR‐CDMA networking model and a simulation testbed for evaluating performances of secondary users and primary users in terms of outage, blocking, BER and average data rate in the presence of soft hand‐off and power control. For comparison purposes, the analysis in the absence of spectrum sensing is also investigated.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optical and electrical characterization of carbon nanoparticles produced in laminar premixed flames

Optical and electrical properties of carbonaceous particles produced in laboratory scale, premixed ethylene/air flames are obtained. Light absorption and Raman spectroscopy show that the change in particle nanostructure follows a graphitization trajectory as the flame richness increases. The optical band gap decreases and the size of the aromatic network in the particle increases, while the interlayer spacing between parallel layers decreases. The electrical conductivity of the materials increases by increasing flame richness in agreement to the graphitization trajectory. A non-ohmic behavior has been found and explained in terms of electron tunneling in a percolative network. Our results show that the electrical properties of flame formed carbon nanoparticles are strongly dependent on their nanostructure, and hence they have to be used carefully for the determination of particle concentration with conductometric sensors. Moreover, the dependence of the electrical properties of combustion formed particles might be useful for the development of cheap sensors for the selective detection of different classes of combustion aerosols.     

Power-to-Gas integration in the Transition towards Future Urban Energy Systems

Temperature levels play a key role in the thermal energy demand of urban contexts affecting their associated primary energy consumption and Renewable Energy Fraction. A Smart Heating strategy accounts for those supply features requiring new solutions to be effectively renewable and to solve the RES capacity firming. Power-to-Gas (P2G) is the way to decarbonize the energy supply chain as fraction of Hybrid fuels, combination of fossil ones and Renewable Hydrogen, as immediate responsive storage solution. While, Power-To-Heat is conceived as the strategy to modernize the high and medium temperature heating systems by electricity-driven machines to switch from Fuel-to-Heat to Electricity-to-Heat solutions. The authors investigated on different urban energy scenarios at RES share increase from 25% up to 50% in the energy mix to highlight strengths and weaknesses of the P2G applications. Primary Energy Consumption was chosen as the objective function. Three Reference Cities were chosen as reference scenarios. Moreover, the analytical models of P2G was designed and implemented in the reference energy system. The results of the twelve scenarios, four for each Reference City were evaluated in terms of amount of Renewable Heat delivered. Finally, the interaction between P2G and renewable heat production was evaluated.     

Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) methacrylate from flat silicon wafer

A polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) methacrylate monomer, i.e. 3-(3,5,7,9,11,13,15-heptacyclopentyl-pentacyclo [9.5.1.1.^3,91.^5,151^7,13]-octasiloxane-1-yl) propyl methacrylate (POSS-MA), was directly grafted from flat silicon wafers using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Two methods were used to improve the system livingness and control of polymer molecular weights. By ‘adding free initiator’ method, a linear relationship between the grafted poly(POSS-MA) layer thickness and monomer conversion was observed. By ‘adding deactivator’ method, the poly(POSS-MA) thickness increased linearly with reaction time. Poly(POSS-MA) layers up to 40 nm were obtained. The chemical compositions measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) agreed well with their theoretical values. Water contact angle measurements revealed that the grafted poly(POSS-MA) was extremely hydrophobic. The surface morphologies of the grafted polymer layers were studied by an atom force microscopy (AFM).     

An adaptive flocking algorithm for performing approximate clustering

This paper presents an approach based on an adaptive bio-inspired method to make state of the art clustering algorithms scalable and to provide them with an any-time behavior. The method is based on the biology-inspired paradigm of a flock of birds, i.e. a population of simple agents interacting locally with each other and with the environment. The flocking algorithm provides a model of decentralized adaptive organization useful to solve complex optimization, classification and distributed control problems. This approach avoids the sequential search of canonical clustering algorithms and permits a scalable implementation.The method is applied to design two novel clustering algorithms based on the main principles of two popular clustering algorithms: DBSCAN and SNN. This apporach can identify clusters of widely varying shapes and densities and is able to extract an approximate view of the clusters whenever it is required. Both the algorithms have been evaluated on synthetic and real world data sets and the impact of the flocking strategy on performance has been evaluated.     

Fast algorithms for nonparametric population modeling of large data sets

Population models are widely applied in biomedical data analysis since they characterize both the average and individual responses of a population of subjects. In the absence of a reliable mechanistic model, one can resort to the Bayesian nonparametric approach that models the individual curves as Gaussian processes. This paper develops an efficient computational scheme for estimating the average and individual curves from large data sets collected in standardized experiments, i.e. with a fixed sampling schedule. It is shown that the overall scheme exhibits a “client-server” architecture. The server is in charge of handling and processing the collective data base of past experiments. The clients ask the server for the information needed to reconstruct the individual curve in a single new experiment. This architecture allows the clients to take advantage of the overall data set without violating possible privacy and confidentiality constraints and with negligible computational effort.