255 research outputs found
Visualizing the Interactions Shaping the Imaging of the Microenvironment in Human Cancers
No full textThe Visium Spatial Gene Expression Solution (Visium 10) allows for the mRNA analysis using high
throughput sequencing and maps a transcriptional expression pattern in tissue sections using highresolution
microscope imaging in ex-vivo human and mice samples. The workflow surveys spatial global
gene expression in tissue sections, exploiting the whole transcriptome profiling and defining the set of
transcripts via targeted gene panels. An automated cell type annotation allows a comparison with control
tissue samples. This technique delineates cancerous or diseased tissue boundaries and details gene expression
gradients in the tissue surrounding the tumor or pathologic nests. Remarkably, the Visium 10 allows
for whole transcriptome and targeted analysis without the loss of spatial information. This approach
provides gene expression data within the context of tissue architecture, tissue microenvironments, and
cell groups. It can be used in association with therapy, anti-angiogenic therapy, and immunotherapy to
improve treatment response
A poiesis da nação em Mia Couto: fragmentos de um olhar
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, Florianópolis, 2008.Este trabalho busca ler as formas de representação da nação moçambicana em gesta na literatura de Mia Couto, a partir da análise de três dos seus romances: Terra sonâmbula, A varanda do frangipani e O último voo do flamingo. Dialoga teórica e criticamente com fragmentos do pensamento benjaminiano, a grande moldura para essa reflexão, atualizados em alguns tropos das teorias pós-coloniais de Edward Said, Stuart Hall e Homi Bhabha. Interessa-me, neste trabalho, sobretudo a teoria da narração benjaminiana, sua especulação sobre o que é contar a História, as histórias, e as estórias de Couto, em que tempo e memória são seus eixos fundamentais. Em um tempo-espaço que resiste à perda da experiência (Erfahrung), ao declínio da capacidade de narrar em um mundo de vivências (Erlebnisse) fragmentadas, a palavra salvadora de Couto vai criando Moçambique, a contrapelo de qualquer modelo homogeneizador de nação, reafirmando a ambivalência dos seus interstícios. Suas metáforas e alegorias marcadas pelo movimento da errância, do exílio e de todo tipo de des-locamento revelam um universo social, político, cultural e religioso que se coloca em um lugar intervalar de tradução cultural, um terceiro espaço, entre uma tradição que ainda insiste em revisitar o passado, que não e´ mais concebido como fixo ou imutável, e um presente pós-colonial que configura um tempo de emergência, um tempo do agora, o Jetztzeit benjaminiano. Em um mundo cindido entre Erfahrung e Erlebnis, em constante territorialização/desterritorialização /reterritorialização, a literatura de Couto escreve e falam.The intention of this work is to analyze the representation forms of the Mozambican nation featured in Mia Coutos literature through the analysis of three of his novels: Terra sonâmbula (Sleepwalking land), A varanda do frangipani (Under the frangipani) and O ultimo voo do flamingo (Last flight of the flamingo). The work dialogues theoretically and critically with fragments of the Benjaminian thought which can be considered the great framework for this reflection actualized in some tropes of the post-colonial theories of Edward Said, Stuart Hall and Homi Bhabha. It is of my main interest in this work the Benjaminian narration theory, his speculation concerning the telling of History, histories, and Coutos tales, in which time and memory are fundamental axes. In a space-time that resists to the loss of experience (Erfahrung), to the decline of the capacity to narrate in a world of fragmented experiences (Erlebnisse), the savior word of Couto creates Mozambique, against all homogenizing models of nation, reaffirming the ambivalence of its interstices. His metaphors and allegories are marked by movements of wandering, exile and all sort of dis-locations, which reveal a social, political, cultural and religious universe that puts itself in an interspatial position of cultural translation, a third space between a tradition that still insists in revisiting the past, not conceived as fixed or immutable anymore, and a post-colonial present that configures a time of emergency, a nowtime, the Benjaminian Jetztzeit. In a world divided between Erfahrung and Erlebnis in constant eerritorialization/deterritorializaion/reterritorialization, Coutos literature writes and speaks this world, engendering new perspectives for the traditional mythos/logos, world of the living/world of the dead, colonialism/post-colonialism, tradition/modernity, reality/dream, orality/writing and rural/urban dichotomies. Coutodefeated, invisibilized by the History of the hegemonic narrative of colonialism
Visualizing the Interactions Shaping the Imaging of the Microenvironment in Human Cancers
No full textThe Visium Spatial Gene Expression Solution (Visium 10×) allows for the mRNA analysis using high throughput sequencing and maps a transcriptional expression pattern in tissue sections using high-resolution microscope imaging in ex-vivo human and mice samples. The workflow surveys spatial global gene expression in tissue sections, exploiting the whole transcriptome profiling and defining the set of transcripts via targeted gene panels. An automated cell type annotation allows a comparison with control tissue samples. This technique delineates cancerous or diseased tissue boundaries and details gene expression gradients in the tissue surrounding the tumor or pathologic nests. Remarkably, the Visium 10× allows for whole transcriptome and targeted analysis without the loss of spatial information. This approach provides gene expression data within the context of tissue architecture, tissue microenvironments, and cell groups. It can be used in association with therapy, anti-angiogenic therapy, and immunotherapy to improve treatment response
The Route of the Malignant Plasma Cell in Its Survival Niche: Exploring “Multiple Myelomas”
No full textSIMPLE SUMMARY: Multiple Myeloma is a hematological neoplasia originating from malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow. Despite improved therapies, this cancer is still considered incurable due to the occurrence of relapse and the development of drug resistance over time. Apart from cell-intrinsic oncogenic features such as genetic alterations and clonal evolution that promote tumor growth and survival, increasing evidence demonstrates that the bone marrow microenvironment plays a pivotal role in disease relapse and immune evasion by providing protected bone marrow niches in which dormant myeloma cells are able to reside and survive. This review summarizes the ways of the bone marrow micromilieu to nurture and interact with the malignant plasma cells, and provides insights into the vicious cycles arising from the interplay between myeloma cells and their surrounding tumoral stroma. Knowledge about these mechanisms and how to disrupt them may provide novel approaches to targeting and tackling multiple myeloma. ABSTRACT: Growing evidence points to multiple myeloma (MM) and its stromal microenvironment using several mechanisms to subvert effective immune and anti-tumor responses. Recent advances have uncovered the tumor-stromal cell influence in regulating the immune-microenvironment and have envisioned targeting these suppressive pathways to improve therapeutic outcomes. Nevertheless, some subgroups of patients include those with particularly unfavorable prognoses. Biological stratification can be used to categorize patient-, disease- or therapy-related factors, or alternatively, these biological determinants can be included in a dynamic model that customizes a given treatment to a specific patient. Genetic heterogeneity and current knowledge enforce a systematic and comprehensive bench-to-bedside approach. Given the increasing role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in better characterizing the pathogenesis of solid and hematological malignancies, disease relapse, and drug resistance, identifying and describing CSCs is of paramount importance in the management of MM. Even though the function of CSCs is well-known in other cancer types, their role in MM remains elusive. With this review, we aim to provide an update on MM homing and resilience in the bone marrow micro milieu. These data are particularly interesting for clinicians facing unmet medical needs while designing novel treatment approaches for MM
A return to cinema d'impegno? Cinematic engagements with organized crime in Italy, 1950-2010
No full textThis thesis seeks to interrogate the mutual relationship between representations of
organized crime and commitment in Italian film (cinema d’impegno). Since the
Second World War, images of bandits, mafiosi and criminal rackets have been
central to some of the most important political films released, including In nome
della legge (Pietro Germi, 1949), Salvatore Giuliano (Francesco Rosi, 1961) and
A ciascuno il suo (Elio Petri, 1967). The ‘mafia film’ in Italy thus has a rich
heritage of powerfully engaged cinema that remains a far cry from its glamourized
international counterpart. Yet this ‘filone’, like cinema d’impegno widely, has
suffered from the endemic political apathy that accompanied advance of
postmodernity.
Drawing on recent scholarship on postmodern impegno, as well as on some of the
most important contemporary mafia films that have led critics to announce a
‘return’ to this heritage of engaged cinema, this thesis will interrogate the image
of organized crime today and its problematic mimicry of this past. It will employ
a historically comparative approach, beginning with an analysis of the important
waves of committed cinema in the post-War years. It then turns to the social role
of the cinema since the 1990s, when, despite the disintegration of political ‘grand
narratives’, the constant renewal of the trauma of organized crime has continued
to produce boldly political cinematic denunciations.
A secondary aim of the thesis is to bring into question the very notion of impegno.
As the discourses that are analysed in the first half show, the Marxist core of
many of the political mafia films has led to a narrow understanding of the
organized crime imagery. Building on Marxist theorists, from Lukács to Jameson,
and extending a better critical appreciation of the spectator, this discussion seeks
to bring into focus the importance of genre cinema in the dialectical creation of a
political mafia image
Investigation of pressure drop in 3D replicated open-cell foams: Coupling CFD with experimental data on additively manufactured foams
No full textOpen-cell foams as structured catalyst supports are promising candidates for the design of high throughput catalytic processes. In this contribution, we employ a coupled numerical and experimental approach to assess the pressure losses in foams. Large discrepancies between experimental results and predictions by empirical/analytical correlations are present in the literature, mainly due to the structural differences between adopted models and real foams. To exclude such structural differences, we explore virtually-generated foam models and their 3D printed replicas for a combined CFD and experimental study of fluid dynamics in foams. In particular, we focus our analysis on the low Reynolds number regime (Re < 50), where deviations between the existing correlation and experimental data are more pronounced. We find a very good agreement between CFD simulations and experimental measurements in evaluating the pressure drop of gas flows across foams. The effect of porosity, cell sizes and strut shape are studied, leading to the derivation of an engineering correlation for the pressure drop in open-cell foams. Subsequently, the derived correlation is used to evaluate the trade-off between the external transport rate and the pressure drop, which is a pivotal aspect in most environmental catalytic processes: results show that open-cell foams can outperform honeycomb monoliths in the range of low Reynolds numbers
Flora vascolare spontanea della città di Modena: analisi del centro storico
No full textSi presentano i risultati del primo studio sistematico sulla flora urbica di Modena. Il censimento qui illustrato è stato svolto fra il 2014 e il 2018, considerando ogni via e piazza del centro storico cittadino, quest’ultimo inteso come area delimitata dai grandi viali che ricalcano il percorso dei bastioni cinquecenteschi. Sono state rinvenute 344 specie, delle quali 1 nuova per la flora d’Italia, 10 per l’Emilia-Romagna e altre 19 per la provincia di Modena; il 63% di queste nuove segnalazioni è esotico. Le specie non più ritrovate, segnalate almeno 20 anni fa o testimoniate solo da campioni d’erbario del tardo Ottocento, sono 17. Lo spettro biologico è dominato dalle
terofite (45%), seguite da emicriptofite (28%) e fanerofite (15%). Lo spettro corologico è dominato da eurasiatiche (28%), mediterranee (24%) e cosmopolite (24%). Le neofite sono il 18% del totale, valore piuttosto basso se rapportato a quanto riferito per altre città della Pianura Padana e dell’Europa centrale: ciò è probabilmente dovuto
alle ridotte dimensioni del centro storico cittadino, la cui compatta struttura urbanistica d’impronta medievale pare opporre una certa resistenza all’ingresso delle specie alloctone. Le specie invasive sono l’11% del totale. Interessante la presenza di 15 specie igrofile, talora indicatrici d’irrigazione o iper-irrigazione di aiuole e tappeti erbosi. Le specie protette (solo a livello regionale) sono soltanto 4, di cui 2 presenti in quanto sfuggite a coltivazione. Considerando l’affinità delle specie censite all’ecologia urbana, la lista è dominata dalle urbano-neutrali (45%) e dalle urbanofile (42%), il che può indicare sia una discreta varietà di ambienti di crescita, parecchi dei quali in una fase di evoluzione ecologica abbastanza avanzata per la città, sia una discreta qualità ambientale verosimilmente dovuta, almeno in parte, all’abbondanza e ampiezza delle aree verdi. La ricchezza specifica in ogni via o piazza è fortemente correlata all’eterogeneità ambientale (ρ = 0,794) e moderatamente correlata alla presenza limitrofa di aree verdi (ρ = 0,544) e alla lunghezza della via o ampiezza della piazza (ρ = 0,665 e 0,673, rispettivamente); esiste inoltre una debole correlazione fra presenza di specie orticole o alimentari e presenza,
nella stessa via o piazza, di locali di ristorazione (ρ = 0,212). La città si conferma dunque come un ecosistema assai dinamico e di grande ricchezza biologica, utile per capire le strategie ecologiche messe in atto dalle piante per adattarsi a condizioni anche proibitive. Le aree urbane, inoltre, spesso fungono da «snodo» per la diffusione delle specie lungo le infrastrutture viarie, durante il processo di colonizzazione del territorio. La comprensione e il rispetto dei ruoli ecologici delle specie spontanee sono concetti fondamentali per una moderna pianificazione urbanistica volta a migliorare la qualità della vita nel suo complesso
Um modelo baseado em casos e ontologia para apoio à tarefa intensiva em conhecimento de classificação com foco na análise de sentimentos
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia e Gestão do Conhecimento, Florianópolis, 2015O uso de informações externas às organizações, presentes nas redes sociais, pode auxiliar no processo de compra de um produto por parte de um cliente a partir da leitura de revisões ou de blogs especializados. A classificação de texto, mais precisamente, a análise de sentimento, auxilia na definição da imagem de um produto ou na identificação do sentimento de uma sentença como positiva ou negativa. Neste trabalho propõe-se um modelo que combina ontologia de domínio com técnicas de processamento de linguagem natural para a identificação do sentimento agregado a uma determinada sentença, buscando apresentar uma explicação para tal polarização. Utiliza-se ainda o raciocínio baseado em casos para que seja possível aprender com os raciocínios (polarizações) passados, visando reutilizá-los em novas classificações. Também foram elaboradas etapas para o tratamento de negação, para a adequação do léxico de sentimento para um domínio e para a adaptação da classificação de termos ambíguos baseados em classificações passadas. Foram desenvolvidos testes em dois domínios distintos, câmeras digitais e filmes, para justificar a evolução do modelo até se chegar à proposta final. Pôde-se observar que a acurácia obtida pelo modelo é superior à obtida por abordagens estatísticas tradicionais. Esses resultados demonstram que o modelo da tese contribui para a área de análise de sentimento, tanto no nível da acurácia quanto pela possibilidade de apresentar o caminho percorrido para chegar a determinada classificação.Abstract : The use of information outside organizations available in social networks such as reviews or specialized blogs can assist customers in their decisions. The text classification, more precisely sentiment analysis, assists in defining the image of a product or identifying the sense of a sentence as positive or negative. This work intends to combine domain ontology with natural language processing techniques to identify the sentiment behind judgments aiming to provide an explanation for such polarization. Also, it intends to use the Case-Based Reasoning strategy in order to learn from past reasonings (polarizations) so they can be used in new polarizations. Some steps have been developed for treatment of negation, adequacy of sentiment lexicon for a domain and adaptation of ambiguous terms classification based on past ratings. Tests were developed in two distinct areas, digital cameras and movies, to justify the model evolution until its final proposal. It was observed that the accuracy obtained by the proposed model overcomes standard statisticals approaches. These results demonstrate that the thesis model contributes to the sentiment analysis area, both as a solution that provides high levels of accuracy, as well as the possibility to present the track to achieve a particular classification
Junctional adhesion molecule-C expression specifies a CD138low/neg multiple myeloma cell population in mice and humans
No full textDeregulation such as overexpression of adhesion molecules influences cancer progression and survival. Metastasis of malignant cells from their primary tumor site to distant organs is the most common reason for cancer-related deaths. Junctional adhesion molecule (JAM)-C, a member of the Ig-like JAM family, can homodimerize and aid cancer cell migration and metastasis. Here we show that this molecule is dynamically expressed on multiple myeloma (MM) cells in the marrow and co-localizes with blood vessels within the bone marrow of mice and humans. Additionally, JAM-C upregulation inversely correlates with the downregulation of the canonical plasma cell marker CD138 (syndecan-1), whose surface expression has recently been found to dynamically regulate a switch between MM growth in situ and MM dissemination. Moreover, targeting JAM-C in a syngeneic in vivo MM model ameliorates MM progression and improves outcome. Overall, our data demonstrate that JAM-C might serve not only as an additional novel diagnostic biomarker but also as a therapeutic target in MM disease
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