Design of a Digital Twin of the Heart for the Management of Heart Failure Patients.

Heart failure poses a significant global health burden with high prevalence and mortality rates. A promising possibility in this context is the constant monitoring of the patients through telemedicine. The aim of this work is to present a digital twin of a patient at risk of heart failure.

Feature Selection Based on a Genetic Algorithm for Optimizing Weaning Success.

Finding the right time for weaning from ventilator is a difficult clinical decision. Several systems based on machine or deep learning are reported in literature. However, the results of these applications are not completely satisfactory and may be improved.

A High-Throughput Metabolic Microarray Assay Reveals Antibacterial Effects of Black and Red Raspberries and Blackberries against Infection.

infection is commonly treated with a combination of antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors. However, since is becoming increasingly resistant to standard antibiotic regimens, novel treatment strategies are needed. Previous studies have demonstrated that black and red berries may have antibacterial properties.

Non-invasive assessment of muscle fiber conduction velocity during an incremental maximal cycling test.

Muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) gives critical information on neuromuscular control and can be considered a size principle parameter, being suggestive of motor unit recruitment strategies. MFCV has been recently measured during constant-load sub-maximal cycling exercise and was found to correlate positively with percentage of type I myosin heavy chain. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that MFCV measured during an incremental cycling test using surface electromyography (sEMG), can be sensitive to the different metabolic requests elicited by the exercise.

Biofilm penetration, triggered release and in vivo activity of inhaled liposomal amikacin in chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections.

Objectives: Chronic infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients are intractable antibiotic targets because of their biofilm mode of growth. We have investigated the biofilm penetration, mechanism of drug release and in vivo antimicrobial activity of a unique nanoscale liposomal formulation of amikacin designed specifically for nebulization and inhaled delivery.

Methods: Penetration of fluorescently labelled liposomes into sputum or P.

Metabolic fate of a large amount of 13C-glycerol ingested during prolonged exercise.

We have shown that the oxidation rate of exogenous glycerol and glucose during prolonged exercise were similar when ingested in small amounts (0.36 g/kg) (J Appl Physiol 90:1685,2001). The oxidation rate of exogenous carbohydrate increases with the amount ingested.

[Ultrasound-guided vacuum-assisted biopsy: review of 382 cases].

Purpose: To evaluate the use of US-guided vacuum biopsy for diagnosis and treatment of probably benign breast masses.

Materials And Method: Retrospective review of 382 US guided vacuum biopsies over a 44 months period (september 2001 to may 2005) with the 11-g handheld mammotome. A total of 308 benign tumors, 59 borderline lesions and 15 carcinomas were diagnosed.

[Underestimation of breast carcinoma with 11-gauge stereotactically guided directional vacuum-assisted biopsy].

Purpose: To assess the reliability of vacuum-assisted biopsy in diagnosing and managing atypical ductal hyperplasia and ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast.

Materials And Method: Retrospective review of 2130 stereotactic large-core biopsies in 1638 patients over a 40 month period (January 2000 to May 2003) using the mammotome 11-gauge and a dedicated Fischer table. A total of 135 cases of atypical ductal hyperplasia and 322 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ were diagnosed.

Binding of anionic phospholipids to retinal pigment epithelium may be mediated by the scavenger receptor CD36.

The specific recognition of negatively charged phospholipids in cell membranes has been suggested to play an important role in a variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes. Recent work (Rigotti, A., Acton, S.

Interactions of retinol with lipid bilayers: studies with vesicles of different radii.

The interactions of retinol with vesicles of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine of varying radii were studied. The rate constants of dissociation of retinol from bilayers (k(off)) and the equilibrium partition constants (Keq) of retinol into bilayers of different sized vesicles were measured. The rate constants for association of retinol with vesicles were calculated from the expression Keq = k(on)/k(off).

Spontaneous incorporation of bacteriorhodopsin into large preformed vesicles.

Bacteriorhodopsin, either as purple membrane sheets or as detergent-solubilized protein, was found to incorporate spontaneously into both large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) and sized multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) under either gel-phase or liquid-phase conditions. These results were obtained with LUVs of various lipid compositions, including dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC), DMPC and cholesterol, dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC), and DOPC and cholesterol. The lipid to protein (L/P) ratio of all proteoliposomes arising from these preformed vesicles continually increased in the presence of protein-free vesicles.

Effect of proteins on fluorophore lifetime heterogeneity in lipid bilayers.

The effect of three different membrane proteins on the fluorescence lifetime heterogeneity of 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) in phospholipid vesicle systems was investigated. For large unilamellar vesicles of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) at 37 degrees C, the fluorescence decay was essentially monoexponential (8.6 and 8.

Reconstitution of membrane proteins. Spontaneous incorporation of integral membrane proteins into preformed bilayers of pure phospholipid.

The spontaneous reconstitution of lipid-protein complexes was examined by mixing bacteriorhodopsin or UDP-glucuronosyltransferase with preformed, unilamellar bilayers of pure dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine. Spontaneous insertion of these proteins into vesicles of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine was facilitated by resonicating the vesicles at 4 degrees C. The property of resonicated vesicles that led to spontaneous reconstitution could be annealed by melting the bilayers, which slowed down reconstitution.

Effects of nootropic drugs in a scopolamine-induced amnesia model in mice.

Scopolamine (3 mg/kg IP) given before an acquisition trial, reduced the retention of a one-trial passive avoidance "step through" response in mice. A single administration of cholinergic agonists such as oxotremorine, BM-5, or arecoline, antagonized this amnesic effect of scopolamine. A significant anti-amnesic effect was also found with nootropic drugs such as piracetam and ucb L059, whereas ucb L060 (the enantiomer of ucb L059), oxiracetam and rolziracetam were shown to be ineffective.

Reconstitution of membrane proteins: sequential incorporation of integral membrane proteins into preformed lipid bilayers.

Several integral membrane proteins can be inserted sequentially into preformed unilamellar vesicles (ULV's) composed of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and cholesterol in a gel phase. Thus, proteoliposomes of DMPC, cholesterol, and bacteriorhodopsin from Halobacterium halobium rapidly incorporate UDPglucuronosyltransferase (EC 2.4.

Reconstitution of membrane proteins: catalysis by cholesterol of insertion of integral membrane proteins into preformed lipid bilayers.

The presence of cholesterol in small unilamellar vesicles (ULV) of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) catalyzes fusion of the vesicles at temperatures below the upper limit for the gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition of the DMPC. The extent to which ULV grow depends on the concentration of cholesterol in the vesicles and on temperature. Maximum growth occurs at 21 degrees C.

Reconstitution of membrane proteins. Spontaneous association of integral membrane proteins with preformed unilamellar lipid bilayers.

We have developed a simple method for reconstituting pure, integral membrane proteins into phospholipid-protein vesicles. The method does not depend on use of detergents or sonication. It has been used successfully with three different types of integral membrane proteins: UDPglucuronosyltransferase (EC 2.

Pyridoxal phosphate protects against an irreversible temperature-dependent inactivation of hepatic delta-aminolevulinic acid synthase.

The stability of hepatic delta-aminolevulinic acid synthase (ALAS), the first and rate-limiting enzyme of the heme biosynthetic pathway, was investigated. Incubation of the mitochondrial matrix fraction obtained from either control or allylisopropylacetamide-induced rats at 37 degrees C in Tris-Cl, pH 7.4, EDTA, and dithiothreitol resulted in a rapid decrease in ALAS activity such that 50-70% of the activity was lost after 30 min.

Aging-related decreases in hepatic mitochondrial and cytosolic delta-aminolevulinic acid synthase during experimental porphyria.

The basal- and allylisopropylacetamide-induced activities of the first enzyme of heme biosynthesis, delta-aminolevulinic acid synthase (ALAS) were measured in hepatic mitochondria and cytosol of young, adult, and aged Fisher 344 rats. The total cellular ALAS activity induced by allylisopropylacetamide decreased 67% with age. The specific activity of mitochondrial ALAS in normal and induced animals decreased with aging when assayed in whole or broken mitochondria.

Topography of brain electrical activity: a bioengineering approach.

The aim of this work is to describe a system for the mono- and bi-dimensional analysis of brain electrical activity. The analysis was carried on either by visual inspection of mono- and bi-dimensional data, or by automatic feature extraction from the bidimensional data. Because of the importance of visual inspection for the analysis of experimental data, particular care was devoted to optimize the displayed data perceptually.

[Is it possible to predict experimentally the anti-inhibitory action of some neuroleptics?].

Shortening of behavioural despair in mice, test that Porsolt and coll. have proposed for the screening of anti-depressive drugs, is able to reveal thymoanaleptic and/or desinhibitory properties of several neuroleptic-desinhibiting substances such as thioproperazine, carpipramine and sulpiride.