Robust determination of relaxation times spectra of long-time multirelaxation processes.

Long-time relaxation processes occur in numerous physical systems. They are often regarded as multirelaxation processes, which are a superposition of exponential decays with a certain distribution of relaxation times. The relaxation times spectra often convey information about the underlying physics.

Testosterone-loaded GM1 micelles targeted to the intracellular androgen receptor for the specific induction of genomic androgen signaling.

Androgens play a central role in homeostatic and pathological processes of the prostate gland. At the cellular level, testosterone activates both the genomic signaling pathway, through the intracellular androgen receptor (AR), and membrane-initiated androgen signaling (MIAS), by plasma membrane receptors. We have previously shown that the activation of MIAS induces uncontrolled proliferation and fails to stimulate the beneficial immunomodulatory effects of testosterone in prostatic cells, becoming necessary to investigate if genomic signaling mediates homeostatic effects of testosterone.

Proof of concept of a frequency-preserving and time-invariant metamaterial-based nonlinear acoustic diode.

Acoustic filters and metamaterials have become essential components for elastic wave control in applications ranging from ultrasonics to noise abatement. Other devices have been designed in this field, emulating their electromagnetic counterparts. One such case is an acoustic diode or rectifier, which enables one-way wave transmission by breaking the wave equation-related reciprocity.

Inefficient N2-Like Neutrophils Are Promoted by Androgens During Infection.

Neutrophils are major effectors of acute inflammation against infection and tissue damage, with ability to adapt their phenotype according to the microenvironment. Although sex hormones regulate adaptive immune cells, which explains sex differences in immunity and infection, little information is available about the effects of androgens on neutrophils. We therefore aimed to examine neutrophil recruitment and plasticity in androgen-dependent and -independent sites under androgen manipulation.

The Response of Prostate Smooth Muscle Cells to Testosterone Is Determined by the Subcellular Distribution of the Androgen Receptor.

Androgen signaling in prostate smooth muscle cells (pSMCs) is critical for the maintenance of prostate homeostasis, the alterations of which are a central aspect in the development of pathological conditions. Testosterone can act through the classic androgen receptor (AR) in the cytoplasm, eliciting genomic signaling, or through different types of receptors located at the plasma membrane for nongenomic signaling. We aimed to find evidence of nongenomic testosterone-signaling mechanisms in pSMCs and their participation in cell proliferation, differentiation, and the modulation of the response to lipopolysaccharide.

Ultrasonic Monitoring of the Interaction between Cement Matrix and Alkaline Silicate Solution in Self-Healing Systems.

Alkaline solutions, such as sodium, potassium or lithium silicates, appear to be very promising as healing agents for the development of encapsulated self-healing concretes. However, the evolution of their mechanical and acoustic properties in time has not yet been completely clarified, especially regarding their behavior and related kinetics when they are used in the form of a thin layer in contact with a hardened cement matrix. This study aims to monitor, using linear and nonlinear ultrasonic methods, the evolution of a sodium silicate solution interacting with a cement matrix in the presence of localized cracks.

Proof of Concept for an Ultrasensitive Technique to Detect and Localize Sources of Elastic Nonlinearity Using Phononic Crystals.

The appearance of nonlinear effects in elastic wave propagation is one of the most reliable and sensitive indicators of the onset of material damage. However, these effects are usually very small and can be detected only using cumbersome digital signal processing techniques. Here, we propose and experimentally validate an alternative approach, using the filtering and focusing properties of phononic crystals to naturally select and reflect the higher harmonics generated by nonlinear effects, enabling the realization of time-reversal procedures for nonlinear elastic source detection.

Testosterone Rescues the De-Differentiation of Smooth Muscle Cells Through Serum Response Factor/Myocardin.

Prostatic smooth muscle cells (pSMCs) differentiation is a key factor for prostatic homeostasis, with androgens exerting multiple effects on these cells. Here, we demonstrated that the myodifferentiator complex Srf/Myocd is up-regulated by testosterone in a dose-dependent manner in primary cultures of rat pSMCs, which was associated to the increase in Acta2, Cnn1, and Lmod1 expressions. Blocking Srf or Myocd by siRNAs inhibited the myodifferentiator effect of testosterone.

The effects of trans-fatty acids on TAG regulation in mice depend on dietary unsaturated fatty acids.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of trans-fatty acids (TFA) on liver and serum TAG regulation in mice fed diets containing different proportions of n-3, n-6 and n-9 unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) from olive (O), maize (C) or rapeseed (R) oils partially substituted or not with TFA (Ot, Ct and Rt, respectively). Male CF1 mice were fed (30 d) one of these diets. The effects of the partial substitution (1 %, w/w) of different UFA with TFA on the activity and expression of hepatic enzymes involved in lipogenesis and fatty acids oxidation were evaluated, as well as their transcription factor expressions.

Modeling dynamic acousto-elastic testing experiments: validation and perspectives.

Materials possessing micro-inhomogeneities often display a nonlinear response to mechanical solicitations, which is sensitive to the confining pressure acting on the sample. Dynamic acoustoelastic testing allows measurement of the instantaneous variations in the elastic modulus due to the change of the dynamic pressure induced by a low-frequency wave. This paper shows that a Preisach-Mayergoyz space based hysteretic multi-state elastic model provides an explanation for experimental observations in consolidated granular media and predicts memory and nonlinear effects comparable to those measured in rocks.

Effect of conjugated linoleic acid mixtures and different edible oils in body composition and lipid regulation in mice.

Introduction: Evidences suggest that commercial and natural conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) differentially affect nutritional status and lipid metabolism.

Objective: To investigate the differential effect of two types of CLA preparations supplemented to dietary fats containing different proportions of n-9, n-6 and n-3 fatty acids (FA) on body composition, triacylglycerol (TG) levels and lipid metabolism in mice.

Methods: Growing mice were fed diets containing olive, maize and rapeseed oils supplemented with an equimolecular mixture of CLA (mix-CLA) or a rumenic acid (RA)-rich oil for 30 days.

Effects of experimental configuration on the detection threshold of hysteretic elastic nonlinearity.

Nonlinear elastic signature of granular consolidated or damaged media is often very small and might easily fall within the noise level. Therefore, it is important to determine an excitation amplitude threshold above which nonlinear measurements start to be meaningful. In this paper, we analyze the way this threshold is influenced by some parameters of the experimental configuration, such as the receiver position, and of the data analysis, such as the considered reference amplitude.

Effects of trans-fatty acids on liver lipid metabolism in mice fed on diets showing different fatty acid composition.

Aim: Our aim was to investigate the effects of trans-fatty acids (TFA) on liver lipid metabolism in mice fed on experimental diets rich in either oleic or linoleic acid.

Methods: Twenty-two male CF1 mice (22.0 ± 0.

Effects of transducer size on impedance spectroscopy measurements.

The response to an electric field of electrolytic solutions, gels, liquid crystals, and other soft materials is described by the drift-diffusion and Poisson equations. Existing models, used for the interpretation of experimental data, usually consider the system as one dimensional (1D), which is valid only for an infinite electrode size. Here we solve numerically the model equations in 2D, considering a circular electrode with a finite radius, and discuss the limit of validity of the 1D approximation.

Nonequilibrium phenomena in damaged media and their effects on the elastic properties.

Concrete, particularly if damaged, exhibits a peculiar nonlinear elastic behavior, which is mainly due to the coupling between nonequilibrium and nonlinear features, the two of which are intrinsically connected. More specifically, the formulation of a constitutive equation able to properly predict the dynamic behavior of damaged concrete is made difficult by the concomitant presence of two mechanisms: The modification of the microstructure of the medium and the transition to a new elastic state caused by a finite amplitude excitation (conditioning). Memory of that new state is kept when the excitation is removed, before relaxation back to the original elastic state takes place.

Break of reciprocity principle due to localized nonlinearities in concrete.

The effects of localized nonlinearities on the reciprocity principle in the context of ultrasounds and nonlinear elasticity are discussed in this paper. Experiments will be presented to prove that a localized crack in a concrete beam causes a break of reciprocity in the ultrasonic response to a mechanical excitation. The link between non-reciprocity and asymmetry in the nonlinear response will be demonstrated and discussed as a tool for NonDestructive Evaluation.

Similarities and differences among the models proposed for real electrodes in the Poisson-Nernst-Planck theory.

The ionic distribution induced by an external field is investigated by means of the Poisson-Nernst-Planck model, by taking into account the non-blocking properties of the limiting electrodes. Three types of models proposed for the description of real electrodes are considered. The first two assume an ionic current on the electrodes proportional to the variation of the bulk density of ions and to the surface electric field, respectively.

Detection and location of cracks using loss of reciprocity in ultrasonic waves propagation.

The reciprocity theorem is a general statement valid for elastic media, and it has been applied to the solution of elastic wave equations, transducers calibration, time reversal acoustics, etc. However, localized nonlinear scatterers are expected to break reciprocity even though the effect is, in several cases, negligible. Here the dependence of the reciprocity break on the presence of a localized damage and the influence of its relative position has been experimentally investigated.

Behavior of an electrolytic cell containing two groups of ions submitted to a step-like external voltage.

The transient and equilibrium behaviors of an electrolytic cell containing two groups of ions submitted to an external voltage is considered. The analysis is performed analytically and numerically, considering the electrolytic solution as a dispersion of ions in an insulating liquid. According to our results, the dynamic of the system corresponds to a multirelaxation problem and the relaxation time related to a new type of free diffusion is able to capture the essential characteristics of the evolution of the variables of the system.

Generalization of Berreman's model to the case of large amplitude of the grooves.

We generalize Berreman's model to the case qA > or = 1 , where q is the wave vector of the surface structure and A its amplitude, to describe the alignment induced by a solid surface on a nematic liquid crystal. We show that, by taking into account correctly the elastic contribution to the surface energy connected with the surface topography, the effective surface energy is smaller than the one determined by Berreman, where the limiting surface is assumed flat and qA << 1 . The analysis is performed by assuming that the anchoring energy on the surface is strong, i.

Anomalous dependence on the diffusion coefficients of the ionic relaxation time in electrolytes.

We show, by using a numerical analysis, that the dynamic toward equilibrium for an electrolytic cell subject to a step-like external electric field is a multirelaxation process when the diffusion coefficients of positive and negative ions are different. By assuming that the diffusion coefficient of positive ions is constant, we observe that the number of involved relaxation processes increases when the diffusion coefficient of the negative ions diminishes. Furthermore, two of the relaxation times depend nonmonotonically on the ratio of the diffusion coefficients.

Effects of isomeric fatty acids on reproductive parameters in mice.

Problem: The aim of this study was to determine if dietary fatty acids (FA) level or isomeric FA type may affect reproductive parameters in mice.

Method: of study Mice were fed for 1 month diets differing in cisFA (cFA) content or type of isomeric FA. Resorption, number of fetuses and placental cytokine expression were determined and sperm acrosome reaction was evaluated after induction by calcium ionophore.

Relaxation times of an electrolytic cell subject to an external electric field: role of ambipolar and free diffusion phenomena.

We evaluate the relaxation times for an electrolytic cell subject to a step-like external voltage, in the case in which the mobility of negative ions is different from that of positive ions. The electrodes of the cell, in the shape of a slab, are supposed to be perfectly blocking. The theoretical analysis is performed by assuming that the applied voltage is so small that the fundamental equations of the problem can be linearized.

Effects of CLA at different dietary fat levels on the nutritional status of rats during protein repletion.

Objective: Protein depletion is associated with decreased body weight gain, low nitrogen balance, intrahepatic lipid accumulation, and hypoalbuminemia. Because conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) can increase lean body mass, enhance feed efficiency, and modulate lipid metabolism, this study investigated the effects of CLA at two levels of dietary fat on energy efficiency, nitrogen retention, and plasmatic and hepatic lipid levels in rats during dietary protein repletion.

Methods: The animals were subjected to a moderate protein restriction for 14 d.

Role of the adsorption phenomenon on the ionic equilibrium distribution and on the transient effects in electrolytic cells.

We analyze the influence of the adsorption of ions at the interfaces on the transient phenomena occurring in an electrolytic cell submitted to a steplike external voltage. In the limit of small amplitude of the applied voltage, where the equation of the problem can be linearized, we obtain an analytical solution for the bulk and surface densities of ions and for the electrical potential. We also obtain, in this limit, the relaxation time for the transient phenomena.