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Introduction: Non-responders to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-NR) have poor prognosis. Sacubitril/valsartan (SV) treatment improved the outcome of patients with heart failure with reduced left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (HFrEF) in randomized trials with no data on the specific cohort of CRT-NRs. The aim of this study was to compare the echocardiographic and biomarker changes in CRT-NR patients treated with versus without SV, and in patients with HFrEF on SV therapy. Methods: CRT-NR patients initiated on SV (group I), CRT-NR patients on angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ACEi/ARB) (group II), and patients with HFrEF (without CRT) initiated on SV (group III) were identified in our heart failure (HF) registry. CRT-NR was defined as < 10% improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LV EF) 6 months after the implantation. Echocardiographic parameters and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels at baseline and at the end of follow-up were compared. Results: A total of 275 patients (group I, 70; group II, 70; and group III, 135) were included. After a follow-up of 7.54 ± 1.8 months (mean ± standard deviation [SD]), LV EF (%) increased in group I (25.2 ± 5.7 versus 29.4% ± 6.7; p< 0.001) and in group III (26.6 ± 6.4 versus 29.9 ± 6.7; p< 0.001). LV end-systolic diameters (mm) decreased in group I (56.6 ± 9.0 versus 54.3 ± 8.7; p= 0.004) and in group III (55.9 ± 9.9 versus 54.3 ± 11.2; p= 0.021). The levels of NT-proBNP (pg/mL) decreased in group I (2058.86 [1041.07–4502.51] versus 1121.55 [545–2541]; p< 0.001) and in group III (2223.35 [1233.03–4795.96] versus 1123.09 [500.38–2651.27]; p< 0.001). The extent of improvement was similar in groups I and III (p> 0.05). No significant changes were detected in group II. Conclusion: SV therapy induced similar improvements in echocardiographic parameters and in NT-proBNP levels in CRT-NR patients and in patients with HFrEF without resynchronization.

ABSTRACTMacroautophagy/autophagy is a highly-conserved catabolic procss eliminating dysfunctional cellular components and invading pathogens. Autophagy malfunction contributes to disorders such as cancer, neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases. Understanding autophagy regulation in health and disease has been the focus of the last decades. We previously provided an integrated database for autophagy research, the Autophagy Regulatory Network (ARN). For the last eight years, this resource has been used by thousands of users. Here, we present a new and upgraded resource, AutophagyNet. It builds on the previous database but contains major improvements to address user feedback and novel needs due to the advancement in omics data availability. AutophagyNet contains updated interaction curation and integration of over 280,000 experimentally verified interactions between core autophagy proteins and their protein, transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators as well as their potential upstream pathway connections. AutophagyNet provides annotations for each core protein about their role: 1) in different types of autophagy (mitophagy, xenophagy, etc.); 2) in distinct stages of autophagy (initiation, expansion, termination, etc.); 3) with subcellular and tissue-specific localization. These annotations can be used to filter the dataset, providing customizable download options tailored to the user’s needs. The resource is available in various file formats (e.g. CSV, BioPAX and PSI-MI), and data can be analyzed and visualized directly in Cytoscape. The multi-layered regulation of autophagy can be analyzed by combining AutophagyNet with tissue- or cell type-specific (multi-)omics datasets (e.g. transcriptomic or proteomic data). The resource is publicly accessible at http://autophagynet.org.Abbreviations: ARN: Autophagy Regulatory Network; ATG: autophagy related; BCR: B cell receptor pathway; BECN1: beclin 1; GABARAP: GABA type A receptor-associated protein; IIP: innate immune pathway; LIR: LC3-interacting region; lncRNA: long non-coding RNA; MAP1LC3B: microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; miRNA: microRNA; NHR: nuclear hormone receptor; PTM: post-translational modification; RTK: receptor tyrosine kinase; TCR: T cell receptor; TLR: toll like receptor.

Climate change threatens the role of European forests as a long-term carbon sink. Assisted migration aims to increase the resilience of forest tree populations to climate change, using species-specific climatic limits and local adaptations through transferring seed provenances. We modelled assisted migration scenarios for seven main European tree species and analysed the effects of species and seed provenance selection, accounting for environmental and genetic variations, on the annual above-ground carbon sink of regrowing juvenile forests. To increase forest resilience, coniferous trees need to be replaced by deciduous species over large parts of their distribution. If local seed provenances are used, this would result in a decrease of the current carbon sink (40 TgC yr−1) by 34–41% by 2061–2080. However, if seed provenances adapted to future climates are used, current sinks could be maintained or even increased to 48–60 TgC yr−1.

Several approximations are introduced and tested to reduce the computational expenses of the explicitly correlated coupled-cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] method for both closed and open-shell species. First, the well-established frozen natural orbital (FNO) technique is adapted to explicitly correlated CC approaches. Second, our natural auxiliary function (NAF) scheme is employed to reduce the size of the auxiliary basis required for the density fitting approximation regularly used in explicitly correlated calculations. Third, a new approach, termed the natural auxiliary basis (NAB) approximation, is proposed to decrease the size of the auxiliary basis needed for the expansion of the explicitly correlated geminals. The performance of the above approximations and that of the combined FNO-NAF-NAB approach are tested for atomization and reaction energies. Our results show that overall speedups of 7-, 5-, and 3-times can be achieved with double-, triple-, and quadruple-ζ basis sets, respectively, without any loss in accuracy. The new method can provide, e.g., reaction energies and barrier heights well within chemical accuracy for molecules with more than 40 atoms within a few days using a few dozen processor cores, and calculations with 50+ atoms are still feasible. These routinely affordable computations considerably extend the reach of explicitly correlated CCSD(T).

Dehydrated wheat bran (DWB) prepared from wheat bran, has been used as adsorbent for Tylosin removal from aqueous solution. DWB was characterized by Fourier transform infra-Red (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD) was used to evaluate and optimize the effect of four parameters, including pH, DWB concentration, Tylosin (TYL) initial concentration and time of adsorption as independent variables on the adsorption removal efficiency (R %) as the response function. The optimal interaction parameters and conditions were obtained by using the MODDE 06®software. The optimal values of the operation parameters under the related constraint conditions were found at pH 5.05, DWB concentration of 0.86 g L−1, TYL initial concentration of 14.27 mg L−1, in a period time of 111 min, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the removal efficiency of TYL approached 93.1%. Adsorption isotherm was used to interpret the process of TYL adsorption on DWB, Timken and Langmuir models were the most accurate to fit experimental data. The pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were applied to test the experimental data. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model provided the best fitting to the experimental data. The mechanism of the adsorption process was determined from the intraparticle diffusion model. The thermodynamic parameters as ΔH° and ΔS° were calculated and the adsorption process was found to be spontaneous and exothermic.

The accurate and systematically improvable frozen natural orbital (FNO) and natural auxiliary function (NAF) cost-reducing approaches are combined with our recent coupled-cluster singles, doubles, and perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] implementations. Both of the closed- and open-shell FNO-CCSD(T) codes benefit from OpenMP parallelism, completely or partially integral-direct density-fitting algorithms, checkpointing, and hand-optimized, memory- and operation count effective implementations exploiting all permutational symmetries. The closed-shell CCSD(T) code requires negligible disk I/O and network bandwidth, is MPI/OpenMP parallel, and exhibits outstanding peak performance utilization of 50–70% up to hundreds of cores. Conservative FNO and NAF truncation thresholds benchmarked for challenging reaction, atomization, and ionization energies of both closed- and open-shell species are shown to maintain 1 kJ/mol accuracy against canonical CCSD(T) for systems of 31–43 atoms even with large basis sets. The cost reduction of up to an order of magnitude achieved extends the reach of FNO-CCSD(T) to systems of 50–75 atoms (up to 2124 atomic orbitals) with triple- and quadruple-ζ basis sets, which is unprecedented without local approximations. Consequently, a considerably larger portion of the chemical compound space can now be covered by the practically “gold standard” quality FNO-CCSD(T) method using affordable resources and about a week of wall time. Large-scale applications are presented for organocatalytic and transition-metal reactions as well as noncovalent interactions. Possible applications for benchmarking local CCSD(T) methods, as well as for the accuracy assessment or parametrization of less complete models, for example, density functional approximations or machine learning potentials, are also outlined.

The drive toward sustainable phosphorus (P) recovery from agricultural and municipal wastewater streams has intensified. However, combining P recovery with energy conservation is perhaps one of the greatest challenges of this century. In this study, we report for the first time the simultaneous electroless production of struvite and dihydrogen from aqueous ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (NH4H2PO4) solutions in contact with either a pure magnesium (Mg) or a Mg alloy as the anode and 316 stainless steel (SS) as the cathode placed in a bench-scale electrochemical reactor. During the electroless process (i.e., in the absence of external electrical power), the open circuit potential (OCP), the formation of struvite on the anode, and the generation of dihydrogen at the cathode were monitored. We found that struvite is formed, and that struvite crystal structure/morphology and precipitate film thickness are affected by the concentration of the HnPO4n–3/NH4+in solution and the composition of the anode. The pure Mg anode produced a porous 0.6–4.1 μm thick film, while the AZ31 Mg alloy produced a more compact 1.7–9.9 μm thick struvite film. Kinetic analyses revealed that Mg dissolution to Mg2+followed mostly a zero-order kinetic rate law for both Mg anode materials, and the rate constants (k) depended upon the struvite layer morphology. Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy indicated that the synthesized struvite was of high quality. The dihydrogen and Mg2+in solution were detected by a gas chromatography–thermal conductivity detector and ion chromatography, respectively. Furthermore, we fully demonstrate that the reactor was able to remove ∼73% of the HnPO4n–3present in a natural poultry wastewater as mainly struvite. This study highlights the feasibility of simultaneously producing struvite and dihydrogen from wastewater effluents with no energy input in a green and sustainable approach.

Single Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) revolutionized time lapse imaging of live cells and organisms due to its high speed and reduced photodamage. Quantitative mapping of molecular (co)mobility by fluorescence (cross-)correlation spectroscopy (F(C)CS) in a SPIM has been introduced to reveal molecular diffusion and binding. A complementary aspect of interactions is proximity, which can be studied by Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Here, we extend SPIM-FCCS by alternating laser excitation, which reduces false positive cross-correlation and facilitates comapping of FRET. Thus, different aspects of interacting systems can be studied simultaneously, and molecular subpopulations can be discriminated by multiparameter analysis. After demonstrating the benefits of the method on the AP-1 transcription factor, the dimerization and DNA binding behavior of retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR) is revealed, and an extension of the molecular switch model of the nuclear receptor action is proposed. Our data imply that RAR agonist enhances RAR–RXR heterodimerization, and chromatin binding/dimerization are positively correlated. We also propose a ligand induced conformational change bringing the N-termini of RAR and RXR closer together. The RXR agonist increased homodimerization of RXR suggesting that RXR may act as an autonomous transcription factor.

A completely integral-direct, disk I/O, and network traffic economic coupled-cluster singles, doubles, and perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] implementation has been developed relying on the density-fitting approximation. By fully exploiting the permutational symmetry, the presented algorithm is highly operation count and memory-efficient. Our measurements demonstrate excellent strong scaling achieved via hybrid MPI/OpenMP parallelization and a highly competitive, 60–70% utilization of the theoretical peak performance on up to hundreds of cores. The terms whose evaluation time becomes significant only for small- to medium-sized examples have also been extensively optimized. Consequently, high performance is also expected for systems appearing in extensive data sets used, e.g., for density functional or machine learning parametrizations, and in calculations required for certain reduced-cost or local approximations of CCSD(T), such as in our local natural orbital scheme [LNO-CCSD(T)]. The efficiency of this implementation allowed us to perform some of the largest CCSD(T) calculations ever presented for systems of 31–43 atoms and 1037–1569 orbitals using only four to eight many-core CPUs and 1–3 days of wall time. The resulting 13 correlation energies and the 12 corresponding reaction energies and barrier heights are added to our previous benchmark set collecting reference CCSD(T) results of molecules at the applicability limit of current implementations.

Impaired vascular pathophysiology and increased cardiovascular (CV) mortality are associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To date, no genomic analysis of RA- and RA treatment-related vascular pathophysiology has been published. In this pilot study, we performed gene expression profiling in association with vascular pathophysiology in RA patients. Sixteen and 19 biologic-naïve RA patients were included in study 1 and study 2, respectively. In study 1, genetic signatures determined by microarray were related to flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), pulse-wave velocity (PWV), and common carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) of patients. In study 2, clinical response (cR) vs non-response (cNR) to 1-year etanercept (ETN) or certolizumab pegol (CZP) treatment, as well as “vascular” response (vR) vs non-response (vNR) to biologics, were also associated with genomic profiles. Multiple testing could not be performed due to the relatively small number of patients; therefore, our pilot study may lack power. In study 1, multiple genes were up- or downregulated in patients with abnormal vs normal FMD, IMT, and PWV. In study 2, there were 13 cR and 6 cNR anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-treated patients. In addition, 10, 9, and 8 patients were FMD-20%, IMT-20%, and PWV-20% responders. Again, vascular responder status was associated with changes of the expression of various genes. The highest number of genes showing significant enrichment were involved in positive regulation of immune effector process, regulation of glucose transport, and Golgi vesicle budding. Differential expression of multiple genetic profiles may be associated with vascular pathophysiology associated with RA. Moreover, distinct genetic signatures may also be associated with clinical and vascular responses to 1-year anti-TNF treatment.

Patients with stable coronary artery disease and diabetes with previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), particularly those with previous stenting, are at high risk of ischaemic events. These patients are generally treated with aspirin. In this trial, we aimed to investigate if these patients would benefit from treatment with aspirin plus ticagrelor.

The aim of this paper is to analyse legal and financial dynamics of the self-governance in three countries of the Visegrad Group: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. The paper explores compliance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government, financial independence and operational features of self-governance. The paper provides an overview of the regulatory environment that was set up for the local government in the Visegrad countries, examines the powers by local government, and the degree of its financial independence. The financial aspects of self-government are compared, and compliance with major fiscal rules is examined.

Ability of the DNA double helix to transport electrons is its critical feature, underlying a number of important biological and biotechnological processes. Here, we show that electron transfer (ET) from the gold electrode to the DNA-bound methylene blue (MB) mediated by the DNA base-pair π-stack is less efficient in (dGdC)-rich duplexes compared to pure (dAdT) DNA. The ET rate constant ksextrapolated to the DNA surface coverage ΓDNA→ 0 is 121 ± 8 s–1for (dAdT)25, being almost twofold higher than 67 ± 3 s–1shown for (dGdC)20, consistent with the electric-field-disturbed submolecular structure of the (dGdC)20duplex earlier shown at electrified interfaces. DNA-mediated ET occurs both to MB intercalated and thus perfectly π-stacked into the (dGdC)20duplex and to MB solely groove-bound to (dAdT)25. For both (dGdC)20and (dAdT)25, ET is less efficient than ET in DNA duplexes of a mixed dA, dT, dG, dC composition. The results suggest new interpretations of the biological ET processes that may occur in dsDNA of different compositions at polarized interfaces.

Electrical properties of DNA critically depend on the way DNA molecules are integrated within the electronics, particularly on DNA–electrode immobilization strategies. Here, we show that the rate of electron transport in DNA duplexes spacer-free tethered to gold via the adenosine terminal region (a dA10tag) is enhanced compared to the hitherto reported DNA–metal electrode tethering chemistries. The rate of DNA-mediated electron transfer (ET) between the electrode and methylene blue intercalated into the dA10-tagged DNA duplex approached 361 s–1at a ca. half-monolayer DNA surface coverage ΓDNA(with a linear regression limit of 670 s–1at ΓDNA→ 0), being 2.7-fold enhanced compared to phosphorothioated dA5* tethering (6-fold for the C6-alkanethiol linker representing an additional ET barrier). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy evidenced dA10binding to the Au surface via the purine N, whereas dA5* predominantly coordinated to the surface via sulfur atoms of phosphothioates. The latter apparently induces the DNA strand twist in the point of surface attachment affecting the local DNA conformation and, as a result, decreasing the ET rates through the duplex. Thus, a spacer-free DNA coupling to electrodes via dA10tags thus allows a perspective design of DNA electronic circuits and sensors with advanced electronic properties and no implication from more expensive, synthetic linkers.

ABSTRACTCarbon-based nanomaterials of different dimensions (1–3D, tubes, bundles, films, papers and sponges, graphene sheets) have been created and their characteristic properties have been discussed intensively in the literature. Due to their unique advantageous, tunable properties these materials became promising candidates in new generations of applications in many research laboratories and, recently, in industries as well. Protein-based bio-nanocomposites are referred to as materials of the future, which may serve as conceptual revolution in the development of integrated optical devices, e.g. optical switches, microimaging systems, sensors, telecommunication technologies or energy harvesting and biosensor applications. In our experiments, we designed various carbon-based nanomaterials either doped or not doped with nitrogen or sulfur during catalytic chemical vapor deposition synthesis. Radio- and isotope analytical studies have shown that the used starting materials, precursors and carriers have a strong influence on the geometry and physico-/chemical characteristics of the carbon nanotubes produced. After determining the 14C isotope constitution 53 m/m% balance was found in the reaction center protein/carbon nanotubes complex in a sensitive way that was prepared in our laboratory. The result is essential in determining the yield of conversion of light energy to chemical potential in this bio-hybrid system.

Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11thInternational Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.

Because the degree of labeling (DOL) of cell-bound antibodies, often required in quantitative fluorescence measurements, is largely unknown, we investigated the effect of labeling with two different fluorophores (AlexaFluor546, AlexaFluor647) in a systematic way using antibody stock solutions with different DOLs. Here, we show that the mean DOL of the cell-bound antibody fraction is lower than that of the stock using single molecule fluorescence measurements. The effect is so pronounced that the mean DOL levels off at approximately two fluorophores/IgG for some antibodies. We developed a method for comparing the average DOL of antibody stocks to that of the isolated, cell-bound fraction based on fluorescence anisotropy measurements confirming the aforementioned conclusions. We created a model in which individual antibody species with different DOLs, present in an antibody stock solution, were assumed to have distinct affinities and quantum yields. The model calculations confirmed that a calibration curve constructed from the anisotropy of antibody stocks can be used for determining the DOL of the bound fraction. The fluorescence intensity of the cell-bound antibody fractions and of the antibody stocks exhibited distinctly different dependence on the DOL. The behavior of the two dyes was systematically different in this respect. Fitting of the model to these data revealed that labeling with each dye affects quantum yield and antibody affinity differentially. These measurements also implied that fluorophores in multiply labeled antibodies exhibit self-quenching and lead to decreased antibody affinity, conclusions directly confirmed by steady-state intensity measurements and competitive binding assays. Although the fluorescence lifetime of antibodies labeled with multiple fluorophores decreased, the magnitude of this change was not sufficient to account for self-quenching indicating that both dynamic and static quenching processes occur involving H-aggregate formation. Our results reveal multiple effects of fluorophore conjugation, which must not be overlooked in quantitative cell biological measurements.

ABSTRACTParasolarepresents an enigmatic lineage of veil-less, coprinoid fungi in Psathyrellaceae (Agaricales). The species-level taxonomy of the genus has been in a flux recently, resulting in the elimination of some long-established names and the description of new taxa. Here, we reconstruct the phylogeny of Parasolausing two nuc rDNA loci, the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) and 28S and identify several putatively undescribed species, of which three are formally described here (Parasola crataegi, P. ochracea, and P. plicatilis-similis) based on molecular and morphological data. Morphological descriptions for the new species and an identification key to accepted Parasolaspecies are given. We revise and discuss our current understanding of the phylogeny of Parasola.

Hydromorphological and chemical properties of water bodies have pronounced influence on the occurrence and distribution of biological elements in the aquatic ecosystems. Based on a series of abiotic characteristics, seventeen lake types were established in Hungary for management purposes. Benthic diatom assemblages were studied in shallow standing water bodies in Hungary in order to provide a biological validation of these types. Species composition and abundance of the occurring taxa were analysed. By their diatom taxonomic composition five basic lake types could be distinguished; two calcareous lake types, which differ in size and in their trophic characteristics and three types within the group of high salinity lakes. In this latter group the astatic and perennial lakes showed considerable differences. These results have great practical importance, because biological validation of the hydromorphological lake typology is the first step for reliable assessment of the ecological status of water bodies.

The energy and enthalpy differences of alkane conformers in various temperature ranges have been the subject for both experimental and theoretical studies over the last few decades. It was shown previously for the conformers of butane [G. Tasi et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput.2012, 8, 479–486] that quantum chemical results can compete with spectroscopic techniques and results obtained even from the most carefully performed experiments could be biased due to the improper statistical model utilized to evaluate the raw experimental data. In the current study, on one hand, the experimental values and their uncertainties for the enthalpy differences for pentane conformers are re-evaluated using the appropriate statistical model. On the other hand, a coupled-cluster-based focal-point analysis has been performed to calculate energy and enthalpy differences for the conformers of pentane. The model chemistry defined in this study includes contributions up to the perturbative quadruple excitations augmented with further small correction terms beyond the Born–Oppenheimer and nonrelativistic approximations. Benchmark quality energy and enthalpy differences for the pentane conformers are given at temperatures 0 and 298.15 K as well as for the various temperature ranges used in the gas-phase experimental measurements. Furthermore, a slight positive shift for the experimental enthalpy differences is also predicted due to an additional Raman active band belonging to the gauche–gauche conformer.

A new genus Psathylomais described based on collections of agarics from New Zealand. We describe two new species in the genus, Ps. leucocarpumand Ps. catervatim, both of which have been known and tentatively named for a long time awaiting a formal description. Morphological traits and phylogenetic analyses reveal that Psathylomaforms a strongly supported sister clade to Hebeloma, Naucoriaand Hymenogaster. Morphologically Psathylomaresembles Hebelomafrom which it differs mainly by producing smooth basidiospores with a germ pore. The geographical range of the genus has been demonstrated to include several regions in the southern hemisphere. A survey of published environmental sequences reveals that Psathylomaspp. were isolated from ectomycorrhizal root tips from Tasmania and Argentina, indicating an ectomycorrhizal association with southern beech.

Elméleti háttér:A rezíliencia azon jellemzőket foglalja magában, amelyek elősegítik a veszélyeztetett életkörülmények ellenére történő sikeres alkalmazkodást, enyhítik a stressz negatív hatásait és lehetővé teszik a változásokkal szembeni adaptív megküzdést. A Connor-Davidson Rezíliencia Skála (CD-RISC) a lelki ellenálló képesség mérésére kidolgozott eszköz. Cél:A kutatás célja a 25-itemes CD-RISC magyar nyelvre adaptálása és pszichometriai elemzése volt. Módszerek:Keresztmetszeti, kérdőíves vizsgálatunkban 100 fős autoimmun betegcsoport (átlagéletkor = 51,49 év; szórás = 12,87 év) és 164 fős egészséges kontrollcsoport vett részt (átlagéletkor = 43,77 év; szórás = 15,78 év), akik az alábbi kérdőíveket töltötték ki: Connor-Davidson Rezíliencia Skála, Kórházi Szorongás és Depresszió Skála (HADS), Temperamentum és Karakter Kérdőív (TCI). Eredmények:Magyar mintán a konfirmatív faktorelemzés nem igazolta az eredeti rezíliencia-kérdőív 5-faktoros struktúráját, míg a feltáró faktorelemzés 6 faktort eredményezett. A kérdőív Cronbach-alfa értéke magas (0,869) volt. A CD-RISC az elvárásoknak megfelelő irányú és mértékű korrelációt mutatott a validáláshoz alkalmazott mérőeszközökkel. Szignifikáns pozitív korrelációt találtunk a TCI önirányítottságot (r = 0,449; p < 0,001) és együttműködést (r = 0,171; p < 0,05) mérő skáláival; míg szignifikáns negatív együttjárást a TCI ártalomkerülést mérő skálájával (r = –0,558; p < 0,001) és a HADS depressziót (r = –0,477; p < 0,001) és szorongást (r = –0,326; p < 0,001) mérő alskáláival. Egy bináris logisztikus regresszió-analízis eredményei igazolták, hogy a CD-RISC alkalmas az autoimmun beteg és egészséges csoport elkülönítésére a rezíliencia értékek mentén. Következtetések:Összességében elmondhatjuk, hogy a 25-itemes CD-RISC magyar változatának pszichometriai mutatói megfelelőek, a kérdőív megbízható és érvényes mérőeszköznek bizonyult a rezíliencia mérésére.

Autophagy is a complex cellular process having multiple roles, depending on tissue, physiological, or pathological conditions. Major post-translational regulators of autophagy are well known, however, they have not yet been collected comprehensively. The precise and context-dependent regulation of autophagy necessitates additional regulators, including transcriptional and post-transcriptional components that are listed in various datasets. Prompted by the lack of systems-level autophagy-related information, we manually collected the literature and integrated external resources to gain a high coverage autophagy database. We developed an online resource, Autophagy Regulatory Network (ARN; http://autophagy-regulation.org), to provide an integrated and systems-level database for autophagy research. ARN contains manually curated, imported, and predicted interactions of autophagy components (1,485 proteins with 4,013 interactions) in humans. We listed 413 transcription factors and 386 miRNAs that could regulate autophagy components or their protein regulators. We also connected the above-mentioned autophagy components and regulators with signaling pathways from the SignaLink 2 resource. The user-friendly website of ARN allows researchers without computational background to search, browse, and download the database. The database can be downloaded in SQL, CSV, BioPAX, SBML, PSI-MI, and in a Cytoscape CYS file formats. ARN has the potential to facilitate the experimental validation of novel autophagy components and regulators. In addition, ARN helps the investigation of transcription factors, miRNAs and signaling pathways implicated in the control of the autophagic pathway. The list of such known and predicted regulators could be important in pharmacological attempts against cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Acute heart failure (AHF) emerges as a major and growing epidemiological concern with high morbidity and mortality rates. Current therapies in patients with acute heart failure rely on different strategies. Patients with hypotension, hypoperfusion, or shock require inotropic support, whereas diuretics and vasodilators are recommended in patients with systemic or pulmonary congestion. Traditionally inotropic agents, referred to as Ca2mobilizers load the cardiomyocyte with Ca2and thereby increase oxygen consumption and risk for arrhythmias. These limitations of traditional inotropes may be avoided by sarcomere targeted agents. Direct activation of the cardiac sarcomere may be achieved by either sensitizing the cardiac myofilaments to Ca2or activating directly the cardiac myosin. In this review, we focus on sarcomere targeted inotropic agents, emphasizing their mechanisms of action and overview the most relevant clinical considerations.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) is frequently associated with multiple disorders complicating both the clinical management and the understanding of the underlying mechanisms. This review focuses on the causes and pathophysiology of HFPEF and overviews how cellular and molecular changes related to various comorbidities may influence the age-dependent and gender-dependent hemodynamic alterations of diastolic ventricular function.

n this paper, we present a signal processing interface for previously developed inductive displacement sensor, whose inductance is proportional to displacement of sensor elements. This measurement interface is based on measuring of root mean square (RMS) value of voltage on the sensor. This measurement method ensures good accuracy and high measurement rates of very small inductances, order of nH. A hardware realization of signal processing interface is described in details. Measurement results are presented and compared with values measured by impedance analyzer.

This paper investigates the force-dependent contact area excitation of the standardForce Sensing Resistor (Interlink FSR) with modified conductive contacts. The force dependentarea excitation was accomplished by the deformation of a dome shaped rubber element. Thecharacteristic of the FSR - the pressure dependency of its specific conductance (per length)was experimentally obtained from the fixed contact area excitation. The power law function,chosen to represent the characteristic, is then fitted to experimental results. Verification ofthe characteristic was done by comparing the measured and predicted values of the sensorconductance when the force-dependent excitation is applied.