Surface InP quantum dots grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy on In0.48Ga0.52P buffer layer lattice matched to GaAs substrate shows a broad-band near-infrared photoluminescence ranging from 750 to 865 nm depende...Surface InP quantum dots grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy on In0.48Ga0.52P buffer layer lattice matched to GaAs substrate shows a broad-band near-infrared photoluminescence ranging from 750 to 865 nm dependent on their dimensions. A reversible luminescence intensity enhancement has been observed when the quantum dots were exposed to vapours of different chemical solvents with the highest sensitivity for alcohol (methanol and ethanol) vapours. The luminescent behaviour is dependent on the solvent type and concentration. The peak energy and band shape of the luminescence are not affected by the solvent vapour.展开更多
BACKGROUND Crohn’s disease (CD) is a complex disorder resulting from the interaction of genetic,environmental,and microbial factors.The pathogenic process may potentially affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tr...BACKGROUND Crohn’s disease (CD) is a complex disorder resulting from the interaction of genetic,environmental,and microbial factors.The pathogenic process may potentially affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract,but a selective location in the terminal ileum was reported in 50% of patients.AIM To characterize clinical sub-phenotypes (colonic and/or ileal) within the same disease,in order to identify new therapeutic targets.METHODS 14 consecutive patients undergoing surgery for ileal CD were recruited for this study.Peripheral blood samples from each patient were collected and the main polymorphisms of the gene Card15/Nod2 (R702W,G908R,and 1007fs) were analyzed in each sample.In addition,tissue samples were taken from both the tract affected by CD and from the apparently healthy and disease-free margins (internal controls).We used a multiplex gene assay in specimens obtained from patients with ileal localization of CD to evaluate the simultaneous expression of 24 genes involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.We also processed surgery gut samples with routine light microscopy (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques to evaluate their structural and ultrastructural features.RESULTS We found a significant increase of Th17 (IL17A and IL17F,IL 23R and CCR6) and Th1 (IFN-γ) gene expression in inflamed mucosa compared to non-inflamed sites of 14 CD patients.DEFB4 and HAMP,two genes coding for antimicrobial peptides,were also strongly activated in inflamed ileal mucosa,suggesting the overwhelming stimulation of epithelial cells by commensal microbiota.IFN-γ and CCR6 were more expressed in inflamed mucosa of CD patients with ileal localization compared with patients with colonic localization suggesting a more aggressive inflammation process in this site.Morphological analysis of the epithelial lining of Lieberkün crypts disclosed enhanced release activity from goblet mucocytes,whereas the lamina propria contained numerous cells pertaining to various lines.CONCLUSION We observed that the expression of ileal genes related to Th1 and Th17 activity is strongly activated as well as the expression of genes involved in microbiota regulation.展开更多
more than 20 years ago,and immediately emerged as a master regulator of aging-related processes,which basically operates as an anti-aging factor.It is expressed through the entire human body,representing the choroid p...more than 20 years ago,and immediately emerged as a master regulator of aging-related processes,which basically operates as an anti-aging factor.It is expressed through the entire human body,representing the choroid plexus and the kidney as the most active sources at the central nervous system(CNS)and periphery level respectively.To a lesser extent,also the parathyroid gland,the adipose tissue,and the liver express KL.KL is a transmembrane protein serving as an essential co-receptor for fibroblast growth factor receptors,but,in general,it mediates a number of molecular pathways and biological functions at a multisystem level.In fact,even a soluble form exists,originated by the extracellular domain cleavage,which circulates in human fluids,allowing a sort of systemic signaling.Although all the tissue-specific actions have not been completely clarified,there is solid evidence that KL regulates basic mineral homeostasis and internal metabolism pathways.展开更多
Data production and exchange on the Web grows at a frenetic speed. Such uncontrolled and exponential growth pushes for new researches in the area of information extraction as it is of great interest and can be obtaine...Data production and exchange on the Web grows at a frenetic speed. Such uncontrolled and exponential growth pushes for new researches in the area of information extraction as it is of great interest and can be obtained by processing data gathered from several heterogeneous sources. While some extracted facts can be correct at the origin, it is not possible to verify that correlations among the mare always true (e.g., they can relate to different points of time). We need systems smart enough to separate signal from noise and hence extract real value from this abundance of content accessible on the Web. In order to extract information from heterogeneous sources, we are involved into the entire process of identifying specific facts/events of interest. We propose a gluing architecture, driving the whole knowledge acquisition process, from data acquisition from external heterogeneous resources to their exploitation for RDF trip lification to support reasoning tasks. Once the extraction process is completed, a dedicated reasoner can infer new knowledge as a result of the reasoning process defined by the end user by means of specific inference rules over both extracted information and the background knowledge. The end user is supported in this context with an intelligent interface allowing to visualize either specific data/concepts, or all information inferred by applying deductive reasoning over a collection of data.展开更多
Viral hepatitis B and C infections are among the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of knowledge and awareness in the general population as in health care settings may enhance the propagation of these ...Viral hepatitis B and C infections are among the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of knowledge and awareness in the general population as in health care settings may enhance the propagation of these diseases. We aimed at determining the prevalence of HBV and HCV in Ebola survivors and health care workers (HCWs) of the Makeni town in Sierra Leone. We conducted a cross-sectional study during the last 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in Makeni among Ebola survivors (N = 68) and 81 Health care workers from Holy Spirit hospital and Loreto clinic, two health care facilities in Makeni district. Serological markers of HBV (HBs Ag, anti-HBs Ab and anti-HBc Ab) and anti-HCV antibodies detection were done using ELISA techniques. The positive detection rates for HBs Ag, anti-HBs Ab and anti-HBc antibodies in Ebola survivors were 23.53% (16/68), 32.35% (22/68) and 88.89% (16/18) respectively. Survivors with a current HBV infection had a positive rate of 38.89% (7/18) and 16.66% (3/18) of them were considered immune due to past HBV infection. HCV prevalence was 26.47% (18/68) and about 10.29% (7/68) were HBV/HCV co-infected. The positive detection rates of HBsAg, anti-HBs Ab and anti-HBc Ab were 37.07% (30/81), 33.33% (27/81) and 30.86% (25/81) respectively in health care workers. We observed that 4.94% (4/81) of the HCWs were currently infected with HBV. Participants considered as immune due to past infection represented 23.47% (19/81) and those immune due to vaccination represented 2.47% (2/81). The prevalence of HCV infection among health staff was 2.47% (2/81) with 1.23% (1/81) being HBV/HCV co-infection. Our findings showed that viral hepatitis infection is a burden for Sierra Leone government. There is an urgent need to develop and implement strategies that could improve population immunization against HBV and vulgarization of HCV treatment programs.展开更多
Ebola virus disease is a complex zoonosis that is highly virulent in humans. Despite its sorely pathogenic and lethal nature, survivors of this infection and even asymptomatic cases are able to develop both humoral an...Ebola virus disease is a complex zoonosis that is highly virulent in humans. Despite its sorely pathogenic and lethal nature, survivors of this infection and even asymptomatic cases are able to develop both humoral and cellular immunity against several Ebola virus (EBOV) proteins. We aimed at determining immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies level against two Ebola viral antigens, the glycoprotein and the nucleoprotein in Ebola survivors and their relatives. Anti-EBOV glycoprotein (GP) and nucleoprotein (NP) IgG antibodies were quantified using ELISA. We enrolled 199 participants in two different sites as follow: 91 survivors at the Loreto clinic and 70 survivors with 38 relatives of Sierra Leone Association of Ebola Survivors Bombali Branch (SLAESB) tested for anti-EBOV NP and anti-EBOV GP IgG antibodies. Our findings revealed that the median anti-EBOV IgG level among survivors was 5.7128 U/ml [IQR: 2.793 - 7.783] for anti-EBOV GP IgG and 4.431 U/ml [IQR: 2.083 - 7.696] for anti-EBOV NP IgG. Survivors relatives had a median anti-EBOV GP IgG level of ?0.7128 U/ml [IQR: -0.903 to -0.04327] and -2.711 U/ml [IQR: -4.01 to -1.918] for anti-EBOV NP IgG. We observed that IgG levels in survivors were higher than in relatives with a significant difference of about 0.0001. The median value of anti-EBOV IgG level among seropositive relatives was 0.7043 U/ml [IQR: 0.5686 to 3.716] for anti-EBOV GP IgG and 4.05 U/ml [IQR: 0.2765 to 7.759] for anti-EBOV NP IgG respectively. Interestingly, we observed that 3.30% of Loreto clinic survivors did not developed anti-EBOV NP IgG antibodies;also about 10% survivors of the SLAESB were not reactive to anti-EBOV NP IgG and 1.43% of these survivors did not express antibodies against the Ebola viral glycoprotein. Our work is consistent with previous published studies showing heterogeneity in both survivors and asymptomatic cases of Ebola infection developing adaptive immunity against EBOV proteins.展开更多
Cardiac modeling entails the epistemic uncertainty of the input parameters,such as bundles and chambers geometry,electrical conductivities and cell parameters,thus calling for an uncertainty quantification(UQ)analysis...Cardiac modeling entails the epistemic uncertainty of the input parameters,such as bundles and chambers geometry,electrical conductivities and cell parameters,thus calling for an uncertainty quantification(UQ)analysis.Since the cardiac activation and the subsequent muscular contraction is provided by a complex electrophysiology system made of interconnected conductive media,we focus here on the fast conductivity structures of the atria(internodal pathways)with the aim of identifying which of the uncertain inputs mostly influence the propagation of the depolarization front.Firstly,the distributions of the input parameters are calibrated using data available from the literature taking into account gender differences.The output quantities of interest(Qols)of medical relevance are defined and a set of metamodels(one for each Qol)is then trained according to a polynomial chaos expansion(PCE)in order to run a global sensitivity analysis with non-linear variance-based SoboF indices with confidence intervals evaluated through the bootstrap method.The most sensitive parameters on each Qol are then identified for both genders showing the same order of importance of the model inputs on the electrical activation.Lastly,the probability distributions of the Qols are obtained through a forward sensitivity analysis using the same trained metamodels.It results that several input parameters-including the position of the internodal pathways and the electrical impulse applied at the sinoatrial node一have a little influence on the Qols studied.Vice-versa the electrical activation of the atrial fast conduction system is sensitive on the bundles geometry and electrical conductivities that need to be carefully measured or calibrated in order for the electrophysiology model to be accurate and predictive.展开更多
文摘Surface InP quantum dots grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy on In0.48Ga0.52P buffer layer lattice matched to GaAs substrate shows a broad-band near-infrared photoluminescence ranging from 750 to 865 nm dependent on their dimensions. A reversible luminescence intensity enhancement has been observed when the quantum dots were exposed to vapours of different chemical solvents with the highest sensitivity for alcohol (methanol and ethanol) vapours. The luminescent behaviour is dependent on the solvent type and concentration. The peak energy and band shape of the luminescence are not affected by the solvent vapour.
基金Supported by MIUR-Ministry of Education,University and Research,No.2008X8NRH4_003Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze,No.2008.1581,2009.1301
文摘BACKGROUND Crohn’s disease (CD) is a complex disorder resulting from the interaction of genetic,environmental,and microbial factors.The pathogenic process may potentially affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract,but a selective location in the terminal ileum was reported in 50% of patients.AIM To characterize clinical sub-phenotypes (colonic and/or ileal) within the same disease,in order to identify new therapeutic targets.METHODS 14 consecutive patients undergoing surgery for ileal CD were recruited for this study.Peripheral blood samples from each patient were collected and the main polymorphisms of the gene Card15/Nod2 (R702W,G908R,and 1007fs) were analyzed in each sample.In addition,tissue samples were taken from both the tract affected by CD and from the apparently healthy and disease-free margins (internal controls).We used a multiplex gene assay in specimens obtained from patients with ileal localization of CD to evaluate the simultaneous expression of 24 genes involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.We also processed surgery gut samples with routine light microscopy (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques to evaluate their structural and ultrastructural features.RESULTS We found a significant increase of Th17 (IL17A and IL17F,IL 23R and CCR6) and Th1 (IFN-γ) gene expression in inflamed mucosa compared to non-inflamed sites of 14 CD patients.DEFB4 and HAMP,two genes coding for antimicrobial peptides,were also strongly activated in inflamed ileal mucosa,suggesting the overwhelming stimulation of epithelial cells by commensal microbiota.IFN-γ and CCR6 were more expressed in inflamed mucosa of CD patients with ileal localization compared with patients with colonic localization suggesting a more aggressive inflammation process in this site.Morphological analysis of the epithelial lining of Lieberkün crypts disclosed enhanced release activity from goblet mucocytes,whereas the lamina propria contained numerous cells pertaining to various lines.CONCLUSION We observed that the expression of ileal genes related to Th1 and Th17 activity is strongly activated as well as the expression of genes involved in microbiota regulation.
文摘more than 20 years ago,and immediately emerged as a master regulator of aging-related processes,which basically operates as an anti-aging factor.It is expressed through the entire human body,representing the choroid plexus and the kidney as the most active sources at the central nervous system(CNS)and periphery level respectively.To a lesser extent,also the parathyroid gland,the adipose tissue,and the liver express KL.KL is a transmembrane protein serving as an essential co-receptor for fibroblast growth factor receptors,but,in general,it mediates a number of molecular pathways and biological functions at a multisystem level.In fact,even a soluble form exists,originated by the extracellular domain cleavage,which circulates in human fluids,allowing a sort of systemic signaling.Although all the tissue-specific actions have not been completely clarified,there is solid evidence that KL regulates basic mineral homeostasis and internal metabolism pathways.
文摘Data production and exchange on the Web grows at a frenetic speed. Such uncontrolled and exponential growth pushes for new researches in the area of information extraction as it is of great interest and can be obtained by processing data gathered from several heterogeneous sources. While some extracted facts can be correct at the origin, it is not possible to verify that correlations among the mare always true (e.g., they can relate to different points of time). We need systems smart enough to separate signal from noise and hence extract real value from this abundance of content accessible on the Web. In order to extract information from heterogeneous sources, we are involved into the entire process of identifying specific facts/events of interest. We propose a gluing architecture, driving the whole knowledge acquisition process, from data acquisition from external heterogeneous resources to their exploitation for RDF trip lification to support reasoning tasks. Once the extraction process is completed, a dedicated reasoner can infer new knowledge as a result of the reasoning process defined by the end user by means of specific inference rules over both extracted information and the background knowledge. The end user is supported in this context with an intelligent interface allowing to visualize either specific data/concepts, or all information inferred by applying deductive reasoning over a collection of data.
文摘Viral hepatitis B and C infections are among the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of knowledge and awareness in the general population as in health care settings may enhance the propagation of these diseases. We aimed at determining the prevalence of HBV and HCV in Ebola survivors and health care workers (HCWs) of the Makeni town in Sierra Leone. We conducted a cross-sectional study during the last 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in Makeni among Ebola survivors (N = 68) and 81 Health care workers from Holy Spirit hospital and Loreto clinic, two health care facilities in Makeni district. Serological markers of HBV (HBs Ag, anti-HBs Ab and anti-HBc Ab) and anti-HCV antibodies detection were done using ELISA techniques. The positive detection rates for HBs Ag, anti-HBs Ab and anti-HBc antibodies in Ebola survivors were 23.53% (16/68), 32.35% (22/68) and 88.89% (16/18) respectively. Survivors with a current HBV infection had a positive rate of 38.89% (7/18) and 16.66% (3/18) of them were considered immune due to past HBV infection. HCV prevalence was 26.47% (18/68) and about 10.29% (7/68) were HBV/HCV co-infected. The positive detection rates of HBsAg, anti-HBs Ab and anti-HBc Ab were 37.07% (30/81), 33.33% (27/81) and 30.86% (25/81) respectively in health care workers. We observed that 4.94% (4/81) of the HCWs were currently infected with HBV. Participants considered as immune due to past infection represented 23.47% (19/81) and those immune due to vaccination represented 2.47% (2/81). The prevalence of HCV infection among health staff was 2.47% (2/81) with 1.23% (1/81) being HBV/HCV co-infection. Our findings showed that viral hepatitis infection is a burden for Sierra Leone government. There is an urgent need to develop and implement strategies that could improve population immunization against HBV and vulgarization of HCV treatment programs.
文摘Ebola virus disease is a complex zoonosis that is highly virulent in humans. Despite its sorely pathogenic and lethal nature, survivors of this infection and even asymptomatic cases are able to develop both humoral and cellular immunity against several Ebola virus (EBOV) proteins. We aimed at determining immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies level against two Ebola viral antigens, the glycoprotein and the nucleoprotein in Ebola survivors and their relatives. Anti-EBOV glycoprotein (GP) and nucleoprotein (NP) IgG antibodies were quantified using ELISA. We enrolled 199 participants in two different sites as follow: 91 survivors at the Loreto clinic and 70 survivors with 38 relatives of Sierra Leone Association of Ebola Survivors Bombali Branch (SLAESB) tested for anti-EBOV NP and anti-EBOV GP IgG antibodies. Our findings revealed that the median anti-EBOV IgG level among survivors was 5.7128 U/ml [IQR: 2.793 - 7.783] for anti-EBOV GP IgG and 4.431 U/ml [IQR: 2.083 - 7.696] for anti-EBOV NP IgG. Survivors relatives had a median anti-EBOV GP IgG level of ?0.7128 U/ml [IQR: -0.903 to -0.04327] and -2.711 U/ml [IQR: -4.01 to -1.918] for anti-EBOV NP IgG. We observed that IgG levels in survivors were higher than in relatives with a significant difference of about 0.0001. The median value of anti-EBOV IgG level among seropositive relatives was 0.7043 U/ml [IQR: 0.5686 to 3.716] for anti-EBOV GP IgG and 4.05 U/ml [IQR: 0.2765 to 7.759] for anti-EBOV NP IgG respectively. Interestingly, we observed that 3.30% of Loreto clinic survivors did not developed anti-EBOV NP IgG antibodies;also about 10% survivors of the SLAESB were not reactive to anti-EBOV NP IgG and 1.43% of these survivors did not express antibodies against the Ebola viral glycoprotein. Our work is consistent with previous published studies showing heterogeneity in both survivors and asymptomatic cases of Ebola infection developing adaptive immunity against EBOV proteins.
基金This study has been performed with support of the'Fluid dynamics of hearts at risk of failure:towards methods for the prediction of disease progressions’funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and University(Grant 2017A889FP).
文摘Cardiac modeling entails the epistemic uncertainty of the input parameters,such as bundles and chambers geometry,electrical conductivities and cell parameters,thus calling for an uncertainty quantification(UQ)analysis.Since the cardiac activation and the subsequent muscular contraction is provided by a complex electrophysiology system made of interconnected conductive media,we focus here on the fast conductivity structures of the atria(internodal pathways)with the aim of identifying which of the uncertain inputs mostly influence the propagation of the depolarization front.Firstly,the distributions of the input parameters are calibrated using data available from the literature taking into account gender differences.The output quantities of interest(Qols)of medical relevance are defined and a set of metamodels(one for each Qol)is then trained according to a polynomial chaos expansion(PCE)in order to run a global sensitivity analysis with non-linear variance-based SoboF indices with confidence intervals evaluated through the bootstrap method.The most sensitive parameters on each Qol are then identified for both genders showing the same order of importance of the model inputs on the electrical activation.Lastly,the probability distributions of the Qols are obtained through a forward sensitivity analysis using the same trained metamodels.It results that several input parameters-including the position of the internodal pathways and the electrical impulse applied at the sinoatrial node一have a little influence on the Qols studied.Vice-versa the electrical activation of the atrial fast conduction system is sensitive on the bundles geometry and electrical conductivities that need to be carefully measured or calibrated in order for the electrophysiology model to be accurate and predictive.
