Generation of Multiple Circular Walls on a Thin Film of Nematic Liquid Crystal by Laser Scanning

We found that multiple circular walls (MCW) can be generated on a thin film of a nematic liquid crystal through a spiral scanning of a focused IR laser. The ratios between radii of adjacent rings of MCW were almost constant. These constant ratios can be explained theoretically by minimization of the Frank elastic free energy of nematic medium. The director field on a MCW exhibits chiral symmetry-breaking although the elastic free energies of both chiral MCWs are degenerated, i.e., the director on a MCW can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise along the radial direction.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Chemical Physics Letters 2nd Editio

Hippo pathway effectors control cardiac progenitor cell fate by acting as dynamic sensors of substrate mechanics and nanostructure

Stem cell responsiveness to extracellular matrix (ECM) composition and mechanical cues has been the subject of a number of investigations so far, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell mechano-biology still need full clarification. Here we demonstrate that the paralog proteins YAP and TAZ exert a crucial role in adult cardiac progenitor cell mechano-sensing and fate decision. Cardiac progenitors respond to dynamic modifications in substrate rigidity and nanopattern by promptly changing YAP/TAZ intracellular localization. We identify a novel activity of YAP and TAZ in the regulation of tubulogenesis in 3D environments and highlight a role for YAP/TAZ in cardiac progenitor proliferation and differentiation. Furthermore, we show that YAP/TAZ expression is triggered in the heart cells located at the infarct border zone. Our results suggest a fundamental role for the YAP/TAZ axis in the response of resident progenitor cells to the modifications in microenvironment nanostructure and mechanics, thereby contributing to the maintenance of myocardial homeostasis in the adult heart. These proteins are indicated as potential targets to control cardiac progenitor cell fate by materials design

Survey of Period Variations of Superhumps in SU UMa-Type Dwarf Novae. VIII: The Eighth Year (2015-2016)

Continuing the project described by Kato et al. (2009, arXiv:0905.1757), we collected times of superhump maxima for 128 SU UMa-type dwarf novae observed mainly during the 2015-2016 season and characterized these objects. The data have improved the distribution of orbital periods, the relation between the orbital period and the variation of superhumps, the relation between period variations and the rebrightening type in WZ Sge-type objects. Coupled with new measurements of mass ratios using growing stages of superhumps, we now have a clearer and statistically greatly improved evolutionary path near the terminal stage of evolution of cataclysmic variables. Three objects (V452 Cas, KK Tel, ASASSN-15cl) appear to have slowly growing superhumps, which is proposed to reflect the slow growth of the 3:1 resonance near the stability border. ASASSN-15sl, ASASSN-15ux, SDSS J074859.55+312512.6 and CRTS J200331.3-284941 are newly identified eclipsing SU UMa-type (or WZ Sge-type) dwarf novae. ASASSN-15cy has a short (~0.050 d) superhump period and appears to belong to EI Psc-type objects with compact secondaries having an evolved core. ASASSN-15gn, ASASSN-15hn, ASASSN-15kh and ASASSN-16bu are candidate period bouncers with superhump periods longer than 0.06 d. We have newly obtained superhump periods for 79 objects and 13 orbital periods, including periods from early superhumps. In order that the future observations will be more astrophysically beneficial and rewarding to observers, we propose guidelines how to organize observations of various superoutbursts.Comment: 123 pages, 162 figures, 119 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ (including supplementary information

MRI of the lung (2/3). Why … when … how?

Background Among the modalities for lung imaging, proton magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been the latest to be introduced into clinical practice. Its value to replace X-ray and computed tomography (CT) when radiation exposure or iodinated contrast material is contra-indicated is well acknowledged: i.e. for paediatric patients and pregnant women or for scientific use. One of the reasons why MRI of the lung is still rarely used, except in a few centres, is the lack of consistent protocols customised to clinical needs. Methods This article makes non-vendor-specific protocol suggestions for general use with state-of-the-art MRI scanners, based on the available literature and a consensus discussion within a panel of experts experienced in lung MRI. Results Various sequences have been successfully tested within scientific or clinical environments. MRI of the lung with appropriate combinations of these sequences comprises morphological and functional imaging aspects in a single examination. It serves in difficult clinical problems encountered in daily routine, such as assessment of the mediastinum and chest wall, and even might challenge molecular imaging techniques in the near future. Conclusion This article helps new users to implement appropriate protocols on their own MRI platforms. Main Messages • MRI of the lung can be readily performed on state-of-the-art 1.5-T MRI scanners. • Protocol suggestions based on the available literature facilitate its use for routine • MRI offers solutions for complicated thoracic masses with atelectasis and chest wall invasion. • MRI is an option for paediatrics and science when CT is contra-indicate

The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix

Current coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) epidemiological, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches

Coronaviruses are a group of enveloped viruses with non-segmented, single-stranded, and positive-sense RNA genomes. In December 2019, an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), in Wuhan City, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic in March 2020. Fever, dry cough and fatigue are found in the vast majority of all COVID-19 cases. Early diagnosis, treatment and future prevention are keys to COVID-19 management. Currently, the unmet need to develop cost-effective point-of-contact test kits and efficient laboratory techniques for confirmation of COVID-19 infection has powered a new frontier of diagnostic innovation. No proven effective therapies or vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 currently exist. The rapidly increasing research regarding COVID-19 virology provides a significant number of potential drug targets. Remdesivir may be the most promising therapy up till now. On May 1, 2020, Gilead Sciences, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for the investigational Remdesivir as a potential antiviral for COVID-19 treatment. On May 7, 2020, Gilead Sciences, announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has granted regulatory approval of Veklury® (Remdesivir) as a treatment for SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19 acute respiratory syndrome, under an exceptional approval pathway. Also, Corticosteroids are recommended for severe cases only to suppress the immune response and reduce symptoms, but not for mild and moderate patients where they are associated with a high-risk side effect. Based on the currently published evidence, we tried to highlight different diagnostic approaches, side effects and therapeutic agents that could help physicians in the frontlines

3D Map Reconstruction of an Orchard using an Angle-Aware Covering Control Strategy

In the last years, unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming a reality in the context of precision agriculture, mainly for monitoring, patrolling and remote sensing tasks, but also for 3D map reconstruction. In this paper, we present an innovative approach where a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles is exploited to perform remote sensing tasks over an apple orchard for reconstructing a 3D map of the field, formulating the covering control problem to combine the position of a monitoring target and the viewing angle. Moreover, the objective function of the controller is defined by an importance index, which has been computed from a multi-spectral map of the field, obtained by a preliminary flight, using a semantic interpretation scheme based on a convolutional neural network. This objective function is then updated according to the history of the past coverage states, thus allowing the drones to take situation-adaptive actions. The effectiveness of the proposed covering control strategy has been validated through simulations on a Robot Operating System. Copyright (C) 2022 The Authors

A transfer learning approach to drug resistance classification in mixed HIV dataset

Funding: This research is funded by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Nigeria.As we advance towards individualized therapy, the ‘one-size-fits-all’ regimen is gradually paving the way for adaptive techniques that address the complexities of failed treatments. Treatment failure is associated with factors such as poor drug adherence, adverse side effect/reaction, co-infection, lack of follow-up, drug-drug interaction and more. This paper implements a transfer learning approach that classifies patients' response to failed treatments due to adverse drug reactions. The research is motivated by the need for early detection of patients' response to treatments and the generation of domain-specific datasets to balance under-represented classification data, typical of low-income countries located in Sub-Saharan Africa. A soft computing model was pre-trained to cluster CD4+ counts and viral loads of treatment change episodes (TCEs) processed from two disparate sources: the Stanford HIV drug resistant database (https://hivdb.stanford.edu), or control dataset, and locally sourced patients' records from selected health centers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, or mixed dataset. Both datasets were experimented on a traditional 2-layer neural network (NN) and a 5-layer deep neural network (DNN), with odd dropout neurons distribution resulting in the following configurations: NN (Parienti et al., 2004) [32], NN (Deniz et al., 2018) [53] and DNN [9 7 5 3 1]. To discern knowledge of failed treatment, DNN1 [9 7 5 3 1] and DNN2 [9 7 5 3 1] were introduced to model both datasets and only TCEs of patients at risk of drug resistance, respectively. Classification results revealed fewer misclassifications, with the DNN architecture yielding best performance measures. However, the transfer learning approach with DNN2 [9 7 3 1] configuration produced superior classification results when compared to other variants/configurations, with classification accuracy of 99.40%, and RMSE values of 0.0056, 0.0510, and 0.0362, for test, train, and overall datasets, respectively. The proposed system therefore indicates good generalization and is vital as decision-making support to clinicians/physicians for predicting patients at risk of adverse drug reactions. Although imbalanced features classification is typical of disease problems and diminishes dependence on classification accuracy, the proposed system still compared favorably with the literature and can be hybridized to improve its precision and recall rates.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Lipopolysaccharide from Gut-Associated Lymphoid-Tissue-Resident Alcaligenes faecalis: Complete Structure Determination and Chemical Synthesis of Its Lipid A

Alcaligenes faecalis is the predominant Gram-negative bacterium inhabiting gut-associated lymphoid tissues, Peyer's patches. We previously reported that an A. faecalis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) acted as a weak agonist for Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid differentiation factor-2 (MD-2) receptor as well as a potent inducer of IgA without excessive inflammation, thus suggesting that A. faecalis LPS might be used as a safe adjuvant. In this study, we characterized the structure of both the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) and LPS from A. faecalis. We synthesized three lipid A molecules with different degrees of acylation by an efficient route involving the simultaneous introduction of 1- and 4′-phosphates. Hexaacylated A. faecalis lipid A showed moderate agonistic activity towards TLR4-mediated signaling and the ability to elicit a discrete interleukin-6 release in human cell lines and mice. It was thus found to be the active principle of the LOS/LPS and a promising vaccine adjuvant candidate