A Heuristic to Create Prosumer Community Groups in the Social Internet of Energy.

Contrary to the rapid evolution experienced in the last decade of Information and Communication Technologies and particularly the Internet of Things, electric power distribution systems have remained exceptionally steady for a long time. Energy users are no longer passive actors; the prosumer is expected to be the primary agent in the Future Grid. Demand Side Management refers to the management of energy production and consumption at the demand side, and there seems to be an increasing concern about the scalability of Demand Side Management services.

Ontology-Defined Middleware for Internet of Things Architectures.

The Internet of Things scenario is composed of an amalgamation of physical devices. Those physical devices are heterogeneous in their nature both in terms of communication protocols and in data exchange formats. The Web of Things emerged as a homogenization layer that uses well-established web technologies and semantic web technologies to exchange data.

Dyslipidemia Is a Major Factor in Stem Cell Damage Induced by Uncontrolled Long-Term Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity in the Rat, as Suggested by the Effects on Stem Cell Culture.

Background: Previous work showed that muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) exposed long-term to the milieu of uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (UC-T2D) in male obese Zucker (OZ) rats, were unable to correct the associated erectile dysfunction and the underlying histopathology when implanted into the corpora cavernosa, and were also imprinted with a noxious gene global transcriptional signature (gene-GTS), suggesting that this may interfere with their use as autografts in stem cell therapy.

Aim: To ascertain the respective contributions of dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia to this MDSC damage, clarify its mechanism, and design a bioassay to identify the damaged stem cells.

Methods: Early diabetes MDSCs and late diabetes MDSCs were respectively isolated from nearly normal young OZ rats and moderately hyperglycemic and severely dyslipidemic/obese aged rats with erectile dysfunction.

Prototyping a Web-of-Energy Architecture for Smart Integration of Sensor Networks in Smart Grids Domain.

Sensor networks and the Internet of Things have driven the evolution of traditional electric power distribution networks towards a new paradigm referred to as Smart Grid. However, the different elements that compose the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) layer of a Smart Grid are usually conceived as isolated systems that typically result in rigid hardware architectures which are hard to interoperate, manage, and to adapt to new situations. If the Smart Grid paradigm has to be presented as a solution to the demand for distributed and intelligent energy management system, it is necessary to deploy innovative IT infrastructures to support these smart functions.

Myostatin, a profibrotic factor and the main inhibitor of striated muscle mass, is present in the penile and vascular smooth muscle.

Myostatin is present in striated myofibers but, except for myometrial cells, has not been reported within smooth muscle cells (SMC). We investigated in the rat whether myostatin is present in SMC within the penis and the vascular wall and, if so, whether it is transcriptionally expressed and associated with the loss of corporal SMC occurring in certain forms of erectile dysfunction (ED). Myostatin protein was detected by immunohistochemistry/fluorescence and western blots in the perineal striated muscles, and also in the SMC of the penile corpora, arteries and veins, and aorta.

Long-term exposure of MCF-7 breast cancer cells to ethanol stimulates oncogenic features.

Alcohol consumption is a risk factor for breast cancer. Little is known regarding the mechanism, although it is assumed that acetaldehyde or estrogen mediated pathways play a role. We previously showed that long-term exposure to 2.

Implanted Muscle-Derived Stem Cells Ameliorate Erectile Dysfunction in a Rat Model of Type 2 Diabetes, but Their Repair Capacity Is Impaired by Their Prior Exposure to the Diabetic Milieu.

Introduction: Muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) and other SCs implanted into the penile corpora cavernosa ameliorate erectile dysfunction in type 1 diabetic rat models by replenishing lost corporal smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and decreasing fibrosis. However, there are no conclusive data from models of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity.

Aim: To determine whether MDSCs from obese Zucker (OZ) rats with T2D at an early stage of diabetes (early diabetic SCs isolated and cultured in low-glucose medium [ED-SCs]) counteract corporal veno-occlusive dysfunction and corporal SMC loss or lipo-fibrosis when implanted in OZ rats at a late stage of diabetes and whether MDSCs from these OZ rats with late diabetes (late diabetic SCs isolated and cultured in high-glucose medium [LD-SC]) differ from ED-SCs in gene transcriptional phenotype and repair capacity.

Long-term exposure of MCF-12A normal human breast epithelial cells to ethanol induces epithelial mesenchymal transition and oncogenic features.

Alcoholism is associated with breast cancer incidence and progression, and moderate chronic consumption of ethanol is a risk factor. The mechanisms involved in alcohol's oncogenic effects are unknown, but it has been speculated that they may be mediated by acetaldehyde. We used the immortalized normal human epithelial breast cell line MCF-12A to determine whether short- or long-term exposure to ethanol or to acetaldehyde, using in vivo compatible ethanol concentrations, induces their oncogenic transformation and/or the acquisition of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT).

The transcriptional signatures of cells from the human Peyronie's disease plaque and the ability of these cells to generate a plaque in a rat model suggest potential therapeutic targets.

Introduction: The success of medical therapies for Peyronie's disease (PD) has not been optimal, possibly because many of them went directly to clinical application without sufficient preclinical scientific research. Previous studies revealed cellular and molecular pathways involved in the formation of the PD plaque and in particular the role of the myofibroblast.

Aims: The current work aimed to determine under normal and fibrotic conditions what differentiates PD cells from tunica albuginea (TA) and corpora cavernosa (CC) cells by defining their global transcriptional signatures and testing in vivo whether PD cells can generate a PD-like plaque.

Oral Bisphenol A (BPA) given to rats at moderate doses is associated with erectile dysfunction, cavernosal lipofibrosis and alterations of global gene transcription.

Bisphenol A (BPA), a suspected reproductive biohazard and endocrine disruptor, released from plastics is associated with ED in occupationally exposed workers. However, in rats, despite the induction of hypogonadism, apoptosis of the penile corporal smooth muscle (SM), fat infiltration into the cavernosal tissue and changes in global gene expression with the intraperitoneal administration of high dose BPA, ED was not observed. We investigated whether BPA administered orally rather than intraperitoneally to rats for longer periods and lower doses will lead to ED.

Chronic high dose intraperitoneal bisphenol A (BPA) induces substantial histological and gene expression alterations in rat penile tissue without impairing erectile function.

Introduction: Bisphenol A (BPA), released from plastics and dental sealants, is a suspected endocrine disruptor and reproductive toxicant. In occupationally exposed workers, BPA has been associated with erectile dysfunction (ED).

Aims: To determine whether long-term exposure to high doses of BPA in the rat affects serum levels of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2), and induces corporal histopathology and resultant ED.

Myostatin genetic inactivation inhibits myogenesis by muscle-derived stem cells in vitro but not when implanted in the mdx mouse muscle.

Introduction: Stimulating the commitment of implanted dystrophin+ muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) into myogenic, as opposed to lipofibrogenic lineages, is a promising therapeutic strategy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Methods: To examine whether counteracting myostatin, a negative regulator of muscle mass and a pro-lipofibrotic factor, would help this process, we compared the in vitro myogenic and fibrogenic capacity of MDSCs from wild-type (WT) and myostatin knockout (Mst KO) mice under various modulators, the expression of key stem cell and myogenic genes, and the capacity of these MDSCs to repair the injured gastrocnemius in aged dystrophic mdx mice with exacerbated lipofibrosis.

Results: Surprisingly, the potent in vitro myotube formation by WT MDSCs was refractory to modulators of myostatin expression or activity, and the Mst KO MDSCs failed to form myotubes under various conditions, despite both MDSC expressing Oct 4 and various stem cell genes and differentiating into nonmyogenic lineages.

Separate or combined treatments with daily sildenafil, molsidomine, or muscle-derived stem cells prevent erectile dysfunction in a rat model of cavernosal nerve damage.

Introduction: Long-term daily administration of phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors in the rat prevents or reverses corporal veno-occlusive dysfunction (CVOD) and smooth muscle cell (CSMC) loss and fibrosis, in both aging and bilateral cavernosal nerve resection (BCNR) models for erectile dysfunction. In the aging rat model, corporal implantation of skeletal muscle-derived stem cells (MDSC) reverses CVOD. Nitric oxide (NO) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate can modulate stem cell lineage.

Effects of sildenafil and/or muscle derived stem cells on myocardial infarction.

Background: Previous studies have shown that long-term oral daily PDE 5 inhibitors (PDE5i) counteract fibrosis, cell loss, and the resulting dysfunction in tissues of various rat organs and that implantation of skeletal muscle-derived stem cells (MDSC) exerts some of these effects. PDE5i and stem cells in combination were found to be more effective in non-MI cardiac repair than each treatment separately. We have now investigated whether sildenafil at lower doses and MDSC, alone or in combination are effective to attenuate LV remodeling after MI in rats.

The genetic inactivation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) intensifies fibrosis and oxidative stress in the penile corpora cavernosa in type 1 diabetes.

Introduction: Endogenously elicited inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) induction counteracts fibrosis and oxidative stress in penile tissues in rat models of Peyronie's disease and erectile dysfunction.

Aim: The current study aimed to determine whether the genetic blockade of iNOS expression in the iNOS knock out (iNOS KO) mouse intensifies fibrosis and oxidative stress in the penile corpora cavernosa, and this is exacerbated by streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes and counteracted by insulin.

Main Outcomes Measures: Quantitative assessment of histological and biochemical markers in mouse corporal tissue.

Stimulating vaginal repair in rats through skeletal muscle-derived stem cells seeded on small intestinal submucosal scaffolds.

Objectives: Grafts are used for vaginal repair after prolapse, but their use to carry stem cells to regenerate vaginal tissue has not been reported. In this study, we investigated whether 1) muscle-derived stem cells (MDSC) grown on small intestinal submucosa (SIS) generate smooth-muscle cells (SMC) in vitro and upon implantation in a rat model of vaginal defects; 2) express markers applicable to the in-vivo detection of vaginal endogenous stem cells; and 3) stimulate the repair of the vagina.

Methods: Mouse MDSC grown on monolayer, SIS, or polymeric mesh, were tested for cell differentiation by immunocytochemistry, Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Antifibrotic effects of pioglitazone on the kidney in a rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that treatment of type 2 diabetes with thiazolidinediones [peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) agonists], ameliorates glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial fibrosis in the rat kidney. In the current work, we have investigated whether these drugs, and specifically pioglitazone (PGT), act by preventing fibrosis and kidney dysfunction mainly through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, independently of glycaemic control.

Methods: Male 2- to 3-month-old obese Zucker fa/fa (OZR) and ZDF fa/fa rats (ZDFR), and their control the lean Zucker rat (LZR), were used.

Early onset of fibrosis within the arterial media in a rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus with erectile dysfunction.

Objectives: To determine, in the obese Zucker fa/fa rat (OZR), whether the loss in smooth muscle cells (SMCs) as well as the increase in fibrosis that occurs within the corpora cavernosa accompanying corporal veno-occlusive dysfunction (CVOD), also occurs within the media of the arterial tree.

Materials And Methods: The penis and aorta from both 7-month-old male diabetic OZR (5 months of diabetes) and aged-matched nondiabetic lean Zucker rats (LZR) rats were harvested (eight per group). The penis and aorta were subjected to histo- or immnohistochemistry, followed by quantitative image analysis (QIA) to determine the contents of SMC, collagen and the pro-fibrotic transforming growth factor (TGF)beta1.

Profibrotic role of myostatin in Peyronie's disease.

Introduction: The primary histologic finding in many urologic disorders, including Peyronie's disease (PD), is fibrosis, mainly mediated by the transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1).

Aim: To determine whether another member of the TGFbeta family, myostatin, (i) is expressed in the human PD plaque and normal tunica albuginea (TA), their cell cultures, and the TGFbeta1-induced PD lesion in the rat model; (ii) is responsible for myofibroblast generation, collagen deposition, and plaque formation; and (iii) mediates the profibrotic effects of TGFbeta1 in PD.

Methods: Human TA and PD tissue sections, and cell cultures from both tissues incubated with myostatin and TGFbeta1 were subjected to immunocytochemistry for myostatin and alpha-smooth muscle actin (ASMA).

Effect of muscle-derived stem cells on the restoration of corpora cavernosa smooth muscle and erectile function in the aged rat.

Objective: To determine whether skeletal muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) convert into smooth muscle cells (SMCs) both in vitro and in vivo, and in so doing ameliorate the erectile dysfunction (ED) of aged rats, and whether endogenous stem cells are present in the rat corpora cavernosa.

Materials And Methods: MDSCs were obtained from mouse muscle, and shown by immunocytochemistry for alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha SMA) to originate in vitro in myofibroblasts and SMCs, discriminating SMCs by calponin 1 expression. In vivo these MDSCs, labelled with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole, were implanted into the corpora cavernosa of young adult (5-month old) and aged (20-month old) rats for 2 and 4 weeks.

Chronic daily tadalafil prevents the corporal fibrosis and veno-occlusive dysfunction that occurs after cavernosal nerve resection.

Objectives: To determine whether a long-term single daily oral dose of a longer half-life phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitor, tadalafil, has a similar effect to that of the shorter half-life PDE5 inhibitors sildenafil and vardenafil, and can prevent the fibrosis and resultant corporal veno-occlusive dysfunction (CVOD) occurring after cavernosal nerve (CN) injury.

Materials And Methods: Male rats (10 per group) had either a sham operation, unilateral CN resection (CNR) or bilateral CNR, and were left untreated or given retrolingually 5 mg/kg per day of tadalafil. After 45 days, CVOD was assessed via cavernosometry, and the underlying corporal tissue changes were examined by immunohistochemistry and histochemistry (followed by quantitative image analysis), Western blots, and ad hoc methods.

Long-term continuous sildenafil treatment ameliorates corporal veno-occlusive dysfunction (CVOD) induced by cavernosal nerve resection in rats.

It was recently reported in the rat that vardenafil given in a continuous long-term manner was successful in preventing smooth muscle fibrosis in the penile corpora cavernosa and corporal veno-occlusive dysfunction (CVOD) that occur following bilateral cavernosal nerve resection (BCNR), a model for human erectile dysfunction after radical prostatectomy. To expand on this finding and to determine whether this effect was common to other PDE5 inhibitors, and occurred in part by stimulation of the spontaneous induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS, also known as NOS2), male Fischer 344 rats (N=10/group) were subjected to either BCNR or unilateral cavernosal nerve resection (UCNR) and treated with sildenafil (20 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) in the drinking water daily for 45 days. Additional BCNR groups received L-NIL (6.

Ageing-related corpora veno-occlusive dysfunction in the rat is ameliorated by pioglitazone.

Objective: To determine whether ageing-related changes in the penile corpora cavernosa, namely corporal veno-occlusive dysfunction (CVOD), loss of smooth muscle cells (SMCs), and excessive collagen deposition, can be ameliorated by the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonist pioglitazone, in a rat model of ageing as we have shown in a rat model of type 2 diabetes.

Materials And Methods: Male Fischer 344 rats (16-18 months old) were fed chow containing 0%, 0.001% or 0.

Antisense and short hairpin RNA (shRNA) constructs targeting PIN (Protein Inhibitor of NOS) ameliorate aging-related erectile dysfunction in the rat.

Introduction: Over-expression of penile neuronal nitric oxide synthase (PnNOS) from a plasmid ameliorates aging-related erectile dysfunction (ED), whereas over-expression of the protein inhibitor of NOS (PIN), that binds to nNOS, increases ED.

Aim: To improve this form of gene therapy for ED by comparing the electrical field response of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) for PIN with that of antisense PIN RNA.

Main Outcome Measure: Both shRNA and antisense RNA gene therapy vectors increased intracavernosal pressure in aged rats.

Long-term continuous treatment with sildenafil ameliorates aging-related erectile dysfunction and the underlying corporal fibrosis in the rat.

Aging-related erectile dysfunction is characterized by a loss of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and fibrosis in the corpora cavernosa, and functionally by corporal veno-occlusive dysfunction (CVOD). Phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5A) inhibitors, in part via upregulating inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS2A), have antifibrotic properties in penile tissues. We aimed to determine whether in the aged rat the chronic long-term treatment with sildenafil ameliorates corporal SMC loss and fibrosis, stimulates NOS2A induction, and corrects the associated CVOD.