Deformation analysis of a metropolis from C- to X-band PSI: proof-of-concept with Cosmo-Skymed over Rome, Italy

Stability of monuments and subsidence of residential quarters in Rome (Italy) are depicted based on geospatial analysis of more than 310,000 Persistent Scatterers (PS) obtained from Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) processing of 32 COSMO-SkyMed 3m-resolution HH StripMap ascending mode scenes acquired between 21 March 2011 and 10 June 2013. COSMO-SkyMed PS densities and associated displacement velocities are compared with almost 20 years of historical C-band ERS- 1/2, ENVISAT and RADARSAT-1/2 imagery. Accounting for differences in image processing algorithms and satellite acquisition geometries, we assess the feasibility of ground motion monitoring in big cities and metropolitan areas by coupling newly acquired and legacy SAR in full time series. Limitations and operational benefits of the transition from medium resolution C-band to high resolution X-band PS data are discussed, alongside the potential impact on the management of expanding urban environments

A framework for the first‑person internal sensation of visual perception in mammals and a comparable circuitry for olfactory perception in Drosophila

Perception is a first-person internal sensation induced within the nervous system at the time of arrival of sensory stimuli from objects in the environment. Lack of access to the first-person properties has limited viewing perception as an emergent property and it is currently being studied using third-person observed findings from various levels. One feasible approach to understand its mechanism is to build a hypothesis for the specific conditions and required circuit features of the nodal points where the mechanistic operation of perception take place for one type of sensation in one species and to verify it for the presence of comparable circuit properties for perceiving a different sensation in a different species. The present work explains visual perception in mammalian nervous system from a first-person frame of reference and provides explanations for the homogeneity of perception of visual stimuli above flicker fusion frequency, the perception of objects at locations different from their actual position, the smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements, the perception of object borders, and perception of pressure phosphenes. Using results from temporal resolution studies and the known details of visual cortical circuitry, explanations are provided for (a) the perception of rapidly changing visual stimuli, (b) how the perception of objects occurs in the correct orientation even though, according to the third-person view, activity from the visual stimulus reaches the cortices in an inverted manner and (c) the functional significance of well-conserved columnar organization of the visual cortex. A comparable circuitry detected in a different nervous system in a remote species-the olfactory circuitry of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster-provides an opportunity to explore circuit functions using genetic manipulations, which, along with high-resolution microscopic techniques and lipid membrane interaction studies, will be able to verify the structure-function details of the presented mechanism of perception

Atomic-Resolution Simulations Predict a Transition State for Vesicle Fusion Defined by Contact of a Few Lipid Tails

Membrane fusion is essential to both cellular vesicle trafficking and infection by enveloped viruses. While the fusion protein assemblies that catalyze fusion are readily identifiable, the specific activities of the proteins involved and nature of the membrane changes they induce remain unknown. Here, we use many atomic-resolution simulations of vesicle fusion to examine the molecular mechanisms for fusion in detail. We employ committor analysis for these million-atom vesicle fusion simulations to identify a transition state for fusion stalk formation. In our simulations, this transition state occurs when the bulk properties of each lipid bilayer remain in a lamellar state but a few hydrophobic tails bulge into the hydrophilic interface layer and make contact to nucleate a stalk. Additional simulations of influenza fusion peptides in lipid bilayers show that the peptides promote similar local protrusion of lipid tails. Comparing these two sets of simulations, we obtain a common set of structural changes between the transition state for stalk formation and the local environment of peptides known to catalyze fusion. Our results thus suggest that the specific molecular properties of individual lipids are highly important to vesicle fusion and yield an explicit structural model that could help explain the mechanism of catalysis by fusion proteins

Insulin binding of acute lymphocytic leukemia cells

Because of differences in insulin binding of cultured lymphoic cell lines, T- and B-cell surface receptor and 125I-insulin binding studies were performed on the bone marrow and peripheral blood leukocytes of 13 children with active acute lymphocytec leukemia. Based on surface receptors, nine patients had null-cell disease and four had T-cell disease. The mean per cent insulin binding of the bone marrow cells from the null-cell patients was 10.0% +/- 8.1 and from the T-cell patients was 0.18% +/- 0.13. The mean insulin binding of the cell suspensions of the peripheral blood from the null-cell patients was 7.3% +/- 7.5 and 0.07% +/- 0.06 from the T-cell patients. Displacement studies with nonradioactive insulin indicated that null leukemic cells bore specific binding sites. These results indicated that there may be metabolic as well as surface membrane heterogeneity among the acute lymphocytic leukemias of childhood.</jats:p

Insulin binding of acute lymphocytic leukemia cells

Abstract Because of differences in insulin binding of cultured lymphoic cell lines, T- and B-cell surface receptor and 125I-insulin binding studies were performed on the bone marrow and peripheral blood leukocytes of 13 children with active acute lymphocytec leukemia. Based on surface receptors, nine patients had null-cell disease and four had T-cell disease. The mean per cent insulin binding of the bone marrow cells from the null-cell patients was 10.0% +/- 8.1 and from the T-cell patients was 0.18% +/- 0.13. The mean insulin binding of the cell suspensions of the peripheral blood from the null-cell patients was 7.3% +/- 7.5 and 0.07% +/- 0.06 from the T-cell patients. Displacement studies with nonradioactive insulin indicated that null leukemic cells bore specific binding sites. These results indicated that there may be metabolic as well as surface membrane heterogeneity among the acute lymphocytic leukemias of childhood.</jats:p