2,076 research outputs found
Intercellular Calcium Signaling Induced by ATP Potentiates Macrophage Phagocytosis
No full textSummary: Extracellular ATP is a signaling molecule exploited by the immune cells for both autocrine regulation and paracrine communication. By performing live calcium imaging experiments, we show that triggered mouse macrophages are able to propagate calcium signals to resting bystander cells by releasing ATP. ATP-based intercellular communication is mediated by P2X4 and P2X7 receptors and is a feature of pro-inflammatory macrophages. In terms of functional significance, ATP signaling is required for efficient phagocytosis of pathogen-derived molecules and apoptotic cells and may represent a target for macrophage regulation by CD39-expressing cells. These results highlight a cell-to-cell communication mechanism tuning innate immunity. : Exchange of information is critical for an efficient immune response. Here, Zumerle et al. show that macrophages exploit ATP release as a paracrine communication mechanism to propagate calcium signals to neighboring cells. Signal propagation relies on P2X4 and P2X7 receptors and sustains macrophage phagocytosis. Keywords: macrophage, adenosine triphosphate, calcium, phagocytosis, P2X receptor
The bladder epicheck test as a non-invasive tool based on the identification of DNA methylation in bladder cancer cells in the urine: A review of published evidence
No full textRecently, there has been a great effort to develop tests based on non-invasive urinary biomarkers (NMIBCs). These tests are based on the fact that NMIBCs are heterogeneous at the molecular level and can be divided into different molecular groups useful to predict prognosis and response to treatment. The assessment of epigenetic alterations, such as DNA methylation, represents a promising cancer biomarker. DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that affects gene expression without modifying the DNA sequence. Several studies have highlighted the presence of methylated loci in the context of bladder cancer, indicating its potential application as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. One of the novel assays based on a DNA methylation profile, the Bladder EpiCheck, analyzes DNA from spontaneous urine, detecting disease-specific DNA methylation patterns in bladder cancer patients. This test, due to its non-invasive nature and highly promising performance could, in future, become an invaluable tool in the follow-up of bladder cancer patients. Potential new applications could include diagnosis and surveillance of upper-tract disease, for the replacement of invasive testing and ureteroscopy
Reliability Of Functional Connectivity Measures In Resting-State Test-Retest FMRI Data
No full textThe statistical link between spontaneous fluctuations occurring in different pans of the brain can provide insights into its functional organization. Here, we used high-quality resting-state IMRI (rs-fMRI) data acquired with a test-retest paradigm to assess the reliability of several functional connectivity (IC) metrics, some of which rarely used in the current literature. After applying time/frequency methods to generate EC matrices, we restricted our focus on individual edges through different statistical measures, including but not limited to the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). We found that full correlation and magnitude square coherence yielded more reproducible measurements than the other metrics, as revealed by ICC values. These results have important implications when choosing metrics for quantifying FC in rs-fMRI studies, adding novel information to the current panorama of information on the test-retest reliability topic
Procedural music generation for videogames conditioned through video emotion recognition
No full textVideogames have consistently become one of the main forms of entertainment in recent years. Being a type of product that comprises several technological and artistical aspects, such as computer graphics, video and audio design, music composition, etc., a significant amount of research effort from various scientific fields has been devoted towards videogame-related problems. More recently, open-world videogames, characterized by nonlinear storylines and multiple gameplay scenarios and possibilities, have become increasingly popular. In such games, the music has to consider an enormous amount of events and variations, consequently it is extremely hard for human composers to write by themselves the score for every potential situation. Therefore, following the improvements in deep learning techniques, we propose a method for procedural music generation for videogames conditioned on emotions, especially suitable to open-world games. Specifically, we propose a pipeline where emotions, as represented on the valence-arousal plane, are extracted from gameplay videos, following the assumption that these values have a correspondence with the ones felt by the player. We then use the emotion-related information to condition a music transformer architecture in order to generate MIDI tracks, whose emotional content follows that of the game. We perform a perceptual experiment with human players in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique and to further investigate the applicability of this procedure to the videogame music generation research problem
Test-Retest Reliability of Graph Metrics in Functional Brain Network
No full textThe statistical link between spontaneous fluctuations occurring in different parts of the brain can provide insights into its functional organization. Here, we used high-quality resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) data acquired with a test-retest (TRT) paradigm to assess the reliability of graph metrics. After applying time/frequency methods to generate FC matrices, we restricted our focus on global, local and central graph measure through different statistical measures, including but not limited to the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). We found that full correlation and magnitude square coherence yielded more reproducible measurements than the other metrics, as revealed by ICC values. These results have important implications when choosing metrics for quantifying FC in rs-fMRI studies, adding novel information to the current panorama of information on TRT reliability topic
Genomic subtypes of bladder cancer with distinct methylation profiles could be better identified by the Bladder EpiCheck test as compared to cystoscopy/urine cytology
No full textDisentangling the association between genetics and functional connectivity in Mild Cognitive Impairment
No full textDespite the increasing effort being devoted to the investigation of the link between imaging endophenotypes (IDPs) and genetic determinants (GDs) in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), many issues remain open and deserve investigation. Among these, the role of functional connectivity (FC) is still blurred. This paper aims at shading some light on the topic relying on the ADNI repository (177 patients, out of which 82 MCI and 95 controls). The within/between-network connectivities were derived from individual FC matrices and used as IDPs. Conversely, the GDs consisted of two Polygenic Risk Scores (PRS) that have recently been proven to play a role in AD. A Partial Least Squares (PLS) model equipped with LASSO regularization was finally fitted to the data for associating IDPs and GDs. In the first component, all FC coefficients had the same sign, and were correlated with PRS2. Connectivities involving the dorsal attention (DAN) and frontoparietal control (CON) networks reached the highest weights, while within/between-network FC for the limbic (LIM) were less represented. Overall, the within-network FC values were less pronounced compared to the between-network ones. In the second component, most of the FC features had zero weights. Visual (VIS) and somatomotory (SMN) showed a correlated trend, while being anti-correlated with LIM, CON and default mode network as well as with PRS1. Our findings suggest that the two PRSs correlated with a possible pattern of aberrant within/between-network FC changes occurring in RSNs devoted to higher cognitive functions and more vulnerable in this pathology
Cultural heritage investigations using cosmic muons
No full textCosmic rays are a constant, free source of radiation that can be exploited in various ways to probe heavy and extended objects. Analyzed with proper detection systems, they can produce radiographic as well as tomographic images of bulky materials. Several applications have been proposed, in particular in the domain of security checks, and some are presently fielded for routine use. In this paper, cosmic muon technology is presented, and its possible use in the field of cultural heritage is described
Misura dell'elemento Vcb della matrice Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa
No full textDottorato di ricerca in fisica. 8. ciclo. A.a. 1994-95. Tutore F. Zumerle. Correlatori M. Mazzuccato e F. SimonettoConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - P.za Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal
Studies on the novel anti-staphyloccal compound nematophin
No full textA number of analogues of the recently described compound nematophin were prepared and studied for antibacterial activity. The 2-phenyl derivative was found to exhibit exceptional activity against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) whereas the isosteric benzimidazole analogue was much less active
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