Vibrational analysis of functionalized polyolefins/poly(vinylchloride) blends

Polyolefins functionalized with diethylmaleate were mixed with poly(vinylchloride) (PVC) in different compositions. Intermolecular interactions involving the carbonyl groups of the side chains of the functionalized polyolefins and methine hydrogens of PVC were investigated by means of infrared spectroscopy. The major flexibility of the ester groups attached to the backbone chains, with respect to polyesters, seems to increase the capability of such groups to interact with groups of more polar polymers, thus allowing prediction of easier miscibility, which however also depends on the starting polyolefin structure and function-alization degree.     

Effects of four maintenance programs on the long-term management of obesity.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of four posttreatment programs designed to enhance the long-term maintenance of weight loss. Mildly and moderately obese adults (N?=?123) were randomly assigned to one of the following five conditions: (a) behavior therapy only; (b) behavior therapy plus a posttreatment therapist-contact maintenance program; (c) behavior therapy plus posttreatment therapist contact plus a social influence maintenance program; (d) behavior therapy plus posttreatment therapist contact plus an aerobic exercise maintenance program; or (e) behavior therapy plus posttreatment therapist contact plus both the aerobic exercise and social influence maintenance programs. All posttreatment programs were conducted in 26 biweekly sessions during the year following behavioral treatment for obesity. At an 18-month follow-up evaluation, all four conditions that combined behavior therapy with a posttreatment maintenance program yielded significantly greater long-term weight losses than behavior therapy alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adaptive Census Transform: A novel hardware-oriented stereovision algorithm

This paper presents a new hardware-oriented approach for the extraction of disparity maps from stereo images. The proposed method is based on the herein named Adaptive Census Transform that exploits adaptive support weights during the image transformation; the adaptively weighted sum of SADs is then used as the dissimilarity metric. Quality tests show that the proposed method reaches significantly better accuracy than alternative hardware-oriented approaches. To demonstrate the practical hardware feasibility, a specific architecture has been designed and its implementation has been carried out using a single FPGA chip. Such a VLSI implementation allows a frame rate up to 68 fps to be reached for 640 × 480 stereo images, using just 80,000 slices and 32 RAM blocks of a Virtex6 chip.     

Exploiting probability density function of deep convolutional autoencoders’ latent space for reliable COVID-19 detection on CT scans

The Journal of Supercomputing - We present a probabilistic method for classifying chest computed tomography (CT) scans into COVID-19 and non-COVID-19. To this end, we design and train, in an...     

Numerical Analysis of Coaxial Double Gate Schottky Barrier Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors

Carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs) have been studied in recent years as a potential alternative to CMOS devices, because of the capability of ballistic transport. The ambipolar behavior of Schottky barrier CNTFETs limits the performance of these devices. A double gate design is proposed to suppress this behavior. In this structure the first gate located near the source contact controls carrier injection and the second gate located near the drain contact suppresses parasitic carrier injection. To avoid the ambipolar behavior it is necessary that the voltage of the second gate is higher or at least equal to the drain voltage. The behavior of these devices has been studied by solving the coupled Schrödinger-Poisson equation system. We investigated the effect of the second gate voltage on the performance of the device and finally the advantages and disadvantages of these options are discussed.     

Downexpression of miR-200c-3p Contributes to Achalasia Disease by Targeting the PRKG1 Gene

Achalasia is an esophageal smooth muscle motility disorder with unknown pathogenesis. Taking into account our previous results on the downexpression of miR-200c-3p in tissues of patients with achalasia correlated with an increased expression of PRKG1, SULF1, and SYDE1 genes, our aim was to explore the unknown biological interaction between these genes and human miR-200c-3p and if this relation could unravel their functional role in the etiology of achalasia. To search for putative miR-200c-3p binding sites in the 3′-UTR of PRKG1, SULF1 and SYDE1, a bioinformatics tool was used. To test whether PRKG1, SULF1, and SYDE1 are targeted by miR-200c-3p, a dual-luciferase reporter assay and quantitative PCR on HEK293 and fibroblast cell lines were performed. To explore the biological correlation between PRKG1 and miR-200c-3p, an immunoblot analysis was carried out. The overexpression of miR-200c-3p reduced the luciferase activity in cells transfected with a luciferase reporter containing a fragment of the 3′-UTR regions of PRKG1, SULF1, and SYDE1 which included the miR-200c-3p seed sequence. The deletion of the miR-200c-3p seed sequence from the 3′-UTR fragments abrogated this reduction. A negative correlation between miR-200c-3p and PRKG1, SULF1, and SYDE1 expression levels was observed. Finally, a reduction of the endogenous level of PRKG1 in cells overexpressing miR-200c-3p was detected. Our study provides, for the first time, functional evidence about the PRKG1 gene as a direct target and SULF1 and SYDE1 as potential indirect substrates of miR-200c-3p and suggests the involvement of NO/cGMP/PKG signaling in the pathogenesis of achalasia.     

Detection of DNA in virgin olive oils extracted from destoned fruits

Characterization of genetic identity using DNA extracted from olive oil has the potential to facilitate assessment of origin and varietal conformity. Such a prospect is particularly interesting in light of the increased regional spread of olive cultivars and their various contributions to olive oil mixtures for certification of denomination of origin. Towards this goal, we have devised a reliable method for extracting DNA from virgin olive oil that was utilized on monovariety oils from the single, self-sterile cultivar ‘Ogliarola salentina’. We show that DNA purified from oil can be used for microsatellite analysis and that the profile of DNA purified from a monovariety oil corresponds to the profile of DNA purified from the leaves of the same cultivar. While DNA from the pollinators present in the genome of the seed embryo, could potentially contain alleles not present in the genome fruit pulp, invalidating the molecular traceability of olive oil, we show for the first time that there is no contamination of seed embryo DNA in a monovariety oil. Thus, this molecular assay is applicable for monovariety olive oils.     

Long-term aging of copper added to soils

Aging refers to the processes by which the mobility and bioavailability/toxicity of metals added to soil decline with time. Although long-term aging is a key process that needs to be considered in the risk assessment of metals in field soils, the long-term aging of Cu added to soils has not been studied in detail. In this study, the effects of aging on Cu isotopic exchangeability, total Cu in soil pore water, pore water free Cu2+ activity, and "available" Cu measured by the technique of diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT-Cu) were investigated in 19 European soils at two total Cu concentrations shown to inhibit plant (tomato) growth by 10 and 90%. After addition of Cu, the soils were leached, incubated outdoors, and sampled regularly over a 2-year period. The results showed that when water soluble Cu was added to soils, concentrations of Cu determined by each of the techniques tended to decrease rapidly initially, followed by further decreases at slow rates. Soil pH was a vital factor affecting the aging rate of Cu added to soils. The relatively low solubility products and low isotopic exchangeabilities of Cu in calcareous soils immediately after addition of soluble Cu2+ suggested Cu2+ probably precipitated in these soils as Cu2(OH)2CO3 (malachite) and Cu(OH)2. Isotopic dilution was found to be a robust technique for measuring rates of long-term aging reactions. A semi-mechanistic model was developed to describe the rate and extent of Cu aging across soils as affected by soil pH and other physicochemical parameters. Although not measured directly, it is inferred from soil physicochemical controls on Cu aging that processes of precipitation/nucleation of Cu in soils and hydrolysis of Cu2+ followed by a diffusion process controlled the decrease in Cu availability with time. The model was validated by testing it against field soils with different contamination histories and was found to successfully predict the isotopic exchangeability of Cu added to soils based on two parameters: soil pH and time.     

Cellular proliferation rate and insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)-2 and IGFBP-3 and estradiol receptor alpha expression in the mammary gland of dairy heifers naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes during development

Mammary ductal morphogenesis during prepuberty occurs mainly in response to insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and estradiol stimulation. Dairy heifers infected with gastrointestinal nematodes have reduced IGF-1 levels, accompanied by reduced growth rate, delayed puberty onset, and lower parenchyma-stroma relationship in their mammary glands. Immunohistochemical studies were undertaken to determine variations in cell division rate, IGF-1 system components, and estradiol receptors (ESR) during peripubertal development in the mammary glands of antiparasitic-treated and untreated Holstein heifers naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes. Mammary biopsies were taken at 20, 30, 40, and 70 wk of age. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunolabeling, evident in nuclei, tended to be higher in the parenchyma of the glands from treated heifers than in those from untreated. Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBP) type 2 and type 3 immunolabeling was cytoplasmic and was evident in stroma and parenchyma. The IGFBP2-labeled area was lower in treated than in untreated heifers. In the treated group, a maximal expression of this protein was seen at 40 wk of age, whereas in the untreated group the labeling remained constant. No differences were observed for IGFBP3 between treatment groups or during development. Immunolabeling for α ESR (ESR1) was evident in parenchymal nuclei and was higher in treated than in untreated heifers. In the treated group, ESR1 peaked at 30 wk of age and then decreased. These results demonstrate that the parasite burden in young heifers negatively influence mammary gland development, affecting cell division rate and parameters related to estradiol and IGF-1 signaling in the gland.     

Assessing the aggregation behaviour of iron oxide nanoparticles under relevant environmental conditions using a multi-method approach

Iron nanoparticles are becoming increasingly popular for the treatment of contaminated soil and groundwater; however, their mobility and reactivity in subsurface environments are significantly affected by their tendency to aggregate. Assessing their stability under environmental conditions is crucial for determining their environmental fate. A multi-method approach (including different size-measurement techniques and the DLVO theory) was used to thoroughly characterise the behaviour of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe₂O₃NPs) under environmentally relevant conditions. Although recent studies have demonstrated the importance of using a multi-method approach when characterising nanoparticles, the majority of current studies continue to use a single-method approach.Under some soil conditions (i.e. pH 7, 10 mM NaCl and 2 mM CaCl₂) and increasing particle concentration, Fe₂O₃NPs underwent extensive aggregation to form large aggregates (>1 μm). Coating the nanoparticles with dissolved organic matter (DOM) was investigated as an alternative “green” solution to overcoming the aggregation issue instead of using the more commonly proposed polyelectrolytes. At high concentrations, DOM effectively covered the surface of the Fe₂O₃NPs, thereby conferring negative surface charge on the particles across a wide range of pH values. This provided electrostatic stabilisation and considerably reduced the particle aggregation effect. DOM-coated Fe₂O₃NPs also proved to be more stable under high ionic strength conditions. The presence of CaCl₂, however, even at low concentrations, induced the aggregation of DOM-coated Fe₂O₃NPs, mainly via charge neutralisation and bridging. This has significant implications in regards to the reactivity and fate of these materials in the environment.