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Over the past two decades, mounting evidence has demonstrated that a mechanism known as store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) plays a crucial role in sustaining skeletal muscle contractility by facilitating Ca2+ influx from the extracellular space during sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ depletion. We recently demonstrated that, in exercised fast-twitch muscle from mice, the incidence of Ca2+ entry units (CEUs), newly described intracellular junctions between dead-end longitudinal transverse tubular (T-tubule) extensions and stacks of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) flat cisternae, strictly correlate with both the capability of fibers to maintain contractions during fatigue and enhanced Ca2+ influx via SOCE. Here, we tested the broader relevance of this result across vertebrates by searching for the presence of CEUs in the vocal muscles of a teleost fish adapted for extended, high-frequency activity. Specifically, we examined active vs. inactive superfast sonic muscles of plainfin midshipman (Porichthys notatus). Interestingly, muscles from actively humming territorial males had a much higher incidence of CEU SR stacks relative to territorial males that were not actively vocalizing, strengthening the concept that assembly of these structures is dynamic and use-dependent, as recently described in exercised muscles from mice. Our results support the hypothesis that CEUs represent a conserved mechanism, across vertebrates, for enabling high levels of repetitive muscle activity, and also provide new insights into the adaptive mechanisms underlying the unique properties of superfast midshipman sonic muscles.

Objective To examine sex differences in prevalence, volume and distribution of vascular brain lesions on MRI among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).Methods In this cross-sectional analysis, we included 1743 patients with AF (27% women) from the multicentre Swiss Atrial Fibrillation study (SWISS-AF) with available baseline brain MRI. We compared presence and total volume of large non-cortical or cortical infarcts (LNCCIs), small non-cortical infarcts, microbleeds (MB) and white matter hyperintensities (WMH, Fazekas score ≥2 for moderate or severe degree) between men and women with multivariable logistic regression. We generated voxel-based probability maps to assess the anatomical distribution of lesions.Results We found no strong evidence for an association of female sex with the prevalence of all ischaemic infarcts (LNCCI and SNCI combined; adjusted OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.67 to 1.09, p=0.22), MB (adjusted OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.68 to 1.21, p=0.52) and moderate or severe WMH (adjusted OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.48, p=0.27). However, total WMH volume was 17% larger among women than men (multivariable adjusted multiplicative effect 1.17, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.35; p=0.04). Lesion probability maps showed a right hemispheric preponderance of ischaemic infarcts in both men and women, while WMH were distributed symmetrically.Conclusion Women had higher white matter disease burden than men, while volume and prevalence of other lesions did not differ. Our findings highlight the importance of controlling risk factors for cerebral small vessel disease in patients with AF, especially among women.

Multi-story wooden buildings are hailed as a favorable means toward reducing the embodied energy of the construction sector. However, the sector's path-dependent nature hinders acceptance of using wood in multi-story construction. As a result, research predominantly focuses on examining the perceptions of construction professionals to identify means of breaking the path dependency. We propose using citizens' perceptions about the use of wood to inform professional decision makers. Our research thus aims to answer two questions: What are citizens' perceptions about using wood as a construction material, and are there country-based cultural differences between these perceptions? To elicit this spectrum of citizen views, an online survey was deployed in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze 6633 open-ended responses to the survey. Respondents held multi-faceted opinions about the physical properties, environmental, social, and economic aspects of using wood as a construction material. Citizens from Finland, Norway, and Sweden expressed discernably different perspectives about the acceptability of using wood than did citizens from Austria, Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Overall, respondents from all countries expressed high approval for the use of wood in construction. Key words: citizen, end user, perception, multi-story wooden buildings, wood construction. Les batiments en bois multietages sont consideres comme un moyen favorable pour reduire l'energie grise du secteur de la construction. Cependant, la nature conservatrice du secteur de la construction fait obstacle a l'acceptabilite de l'utilisation du bois dans les constructions multietagees. En consequence, la recherche s'est concentree principalement sur l'analyse des perceptions des professionnels de la construction pour determiner les moyens de rompre cet ancrage dans le passe. Nous proposons d'utiliser les perceptions des citoyens en lien avec l'utilisation du bois pour informer les decideurs professionnels. Cette recherche vise ainsi a repondre a deux questions : quelles sont les perceptions des citoyens par rapport a l'utilisation du bois comme materiau de construction et existe-t-il des differences culturelles propres a chaque pays entre les perceptions? Pour recueillir cet eventail d'opinions citoyennes, un questionnaire en ligne a ete deploye en Autriche, au Danemark, en Finlande, en Allemagne, en Norvege, en Suede et au Royaume-Uni. Une analyse qualitative de contenu a ete utilisee pour analyser les 6633 reponses au sondage basees sur des questions ouvertes. Les repondants ont des opinions diversifiees sur les proprietes physiques, environnementales, sociales et economiques de l'utilisation du bois comme materiau de construction. Les citoyens de la Finlande, de la Norvege et de la Suede evaluent l'acceptabilite de l'utilisation du bois en fonction d'aspects qui different des citoyens autrichiens, danois, allemands et britanniques. Dans l'ensemble, les repondants de tous les pays sont tres favorables a l'utilisation du bois dans la construction. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: citoyen, consommateur, perception, batiments en bois multietages, construction en bois., 1. Introduction Buildings account for 39% of global carbon emissions; 28% are generated during a buildings' operational lifetime (i.e., operational carbon), with the remaining 11% released during manufacturing, transportation, construction, [...]

Recent years showed a gradual transition from terrestrial to aerial survey thanks to the development of UAV and sensors for it. Many sectors benefited by this change among which geological one; drones are flexible, cost-efficient and can support outcrops surveying in many difficult situations such as inaccessible steep and high rock faces. The experiences acquired in terrestrial survey, with total stations, GNSS or terrestrial laser scanner (TLS), are not yet completely transferred to UAV acquisition. Hence, quality comparisons are still needed. The present paper is framed in this perspective aiming to evaluate the quality of the point clouds generated by an UAV in a geological context; data analysis was conducted comparing the UAV product with the homologous acquired with a TLS system. Exploiting modern semantic classification, based on eigenfeatures and support vector machine (SVM), the two point clouds were compared in terms of density and mutual distance. The UAV survey proves its usefulness in this situation with a uniform density distribution in the whole area and producing a point cloud with a quality comparable with the more traditional TLS systems.

Leica Geosystems recently introduced a multi-constellation GNSS sensor named GS18i. It is capable to perform tilt compensation and has an integrated photogrammetric camera, allowing the users to measure inaccessible features: this is called visual positioning. The Laboratory of Geomatics, at the University of Pavia – Italy, performed a first evaluation of the rover. Five accessible points were measured repeatedly with the pole having different tilt angles; measurements’ total number was 2077. After moderate blunder detection, RMSE values are 12, 10 and 18 mm, for the East, North and height components.Measurement quality is substantially independent from the pole’s tilt angle. Moreover, ten points belonging to a building’s façade were repeatedly measured by photogrammetry, through the integrated camera, from distances in the range between 4 and 12 meters. In total, 1436 measurements were acquired. After blunder detection, RMSE values are 45, 25 and 66 mm, for the x, y and z components of a local cartesian system. Measurement quality mildly depend on the object-camera distance. Despite a good overall accuracy, results show some surprising aspects: the high ratio between the planimetric component x and y, the counterintuitive behaviour of the y dispersion, which decreases when the distance increases. While the present paper aims at simply being a first evaluation of the rover, next activities will deal with rigorous and controlled photogrammetric processing of the images and will also include simulations, in order to ascertain the role played by the various error sources involved.

Abstract Heart failure (HF) is the main cause of mortality worldwide, particularly in the elderly. N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is the gold standard biomarker for HF diagnosis and therapy monitoring. It is determined in blood samples by the immunochemical methods generally adopted by most laboratories. Saliva analysis is a powerful tool for clinical applications, mainly due to its non-invasive and less risky sampling. This study describes a validated analytical procedure for NT-proBNP determination in saliva samples using a commercial Enzyme-Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay. Linearity, matrix effect, sensitivity, recovery and assay-precision were evaluated. The analytical approach showed a linear behaviour of the signal throughout the concentrations tested, with a minimum detectable dose of 1 pg/mL, a satisfactory NT-proBNP recovery (95–110%), and acceptable precision (coefficient of variation ≤ 10%). Short-term (3 weeks) and long-term (5 months) stability of NT-proBNP in saliva samples under the storage conditions most frequently used in clinical laboratories (4, − 20, and − 80 °C) was also investigated and showed that the optimal storage conditions were at − 20 °C for up to 2.5 months. Finally, the method was tested for the determination of NT-proBNP in saliva samples collected from ten hospitalized acute HF patients. Preliminary results indicate a decrease in NT-proBNP in saliva from admission to discharge, thus suggesting that this procedure is an effective saliva-based point-of-care device for HF monitoring.

Az alábbi cikk egy multidiszciplináris projekt eredményeit mutatja be, amely a különböző digitalizációs stratégiák számítógépes szöveganalízisben való használhatóságát járja körül. Pontosabban Jacob és Wilhelm Grimm szerzőségének automatizált megkülönböztetésére tettünk kísérletet, melyet egy HTR (Handwritten Text Recognition – kézzel írott szöveg felismerése) és OCR (Optical Character Recognition – optikai karakterfelismerés) által feldolgozott levelezéskorpuszban hajtottunk végre, korrekció nélkül – felmérve, hogy az így keletkezett zaj milyen hatással van a fivérek különböző írásmódjának azonosítására. Összegezve, úgy tűnik, hogy az OCR megbízható helyettesítője lehet a manuális átírásnak, legalábbis a szerzőazonosítás kérdéskörét illetően. Eredményeink továbbá abba az irányba mutatnak, miszerint még a különböző digitalizációs eljárásokból származó tanító- és tesztkorpuszok (training and test set) is használhatók a szerzőazonosítás során. A HTR-t tekintve a kutatás azt demonstrálja, hogy ez az automatizált átírás ugyan az OCR-hez képest szignifikánsan növeli a szövegek félrecsoportosításának veszélyét, ám körülbelül 20% feletti tisztaság már önmagában elegendő ahhoz, hogy a véletlennél nagyobb esélye legyen a helyes bináris megfeleltetésnek.

The results of the study of several hundred specimens of the genus Charopus, preserved in public and private collections from the Mediterranean region are here presented. For C. rotundatus Erichson, 1840 the neotype is here described. C. nitidus Küster, 1849 stat. rest. and C. multicaudis Kiesenwetter, 1866 stat. rest. are resurrected from synonymy with C. rotundatus and regarded as valid species. For C. nitidus Küster, 1849 stat. rest. a neotype is designated and described. Charopus varipes Baudi di Selve, 1872 stat. rest. is resurrected from synonymy with C. pallipes (A.G. Olivier, 1790) and regarded as a valid species. Elements for identification of the above mentioned species are provided in the form of comparative tables, and distributional data; list of known localities are also supplied. The distributions of Charopus apicalis Kiesenwetter, 1859, C. concolor (Fabricius, 1801) and C. flavipes (Paykull, 1798) are also briefly discussed. The new synonymy Cyrtosus (Oogynes) reitteri Abeille de Perrin, 1890 = Charopus crassicornis Wittmer, 1975 is proposed. A partial key to known males of Western Palaearctic species is also provided.

Transthyretin (TTR) amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is a progressive and increasingly recognized cause of heart failure which is associated with high mortality and morbidity. ATTR-CM is characterized by the misfolding of TTR monomers and their deposition within the myocardium as amyloid fibrils. The standard of care for ATTR-CM consists of TTR-stabilizing ligands, such as tafamidis, which aim at maintaining the native structure of TTR tetramers, thus preventing amyloid aggregation. However, their efficacy in advanced-staged disease and after long-term treatment is still a source of concern, suggesting the existence of other pathogenetic factors. Indeed, pre-formed fibrils present in the tissue can further accelerate amyloid aggregation in a self-propagating process known as “amyloid seeding”. The inhibition of amyloidogenesis through TTR stabilizers combined with anti-seeding peptides may represent a novel strategy with additional benefits over current therapies. Finally, the role of stabilizing ligands needs to be reassessed in view of the promising results derived from trials which have evaluated alternative strategies, such as TTR silencers and immunological amyloid disruptors.

The manufacture of wood panels generates a large amount of waste. This material can be an option for renewable energy generation. However, long-term storage, exposure to moisture and contact of these panels with the soil facilitate colonization by xylophagous organisms. Torrefaction, a heat treatment between 200 and 300 °C in an oxygen-free atmosphere, is a process that decreases hygroscopicity while increasing carbon content, energy efficiency and resistance to fungal attack. This work aimed to evaluate the resistance of MDF panel residues. The MDF panels were produced using eucalyptus wood and bonded with thermosetting synthetic resin, under high temperature and pressure, torrefied at 300 °C for 20, 30 and 40 min and exposed to the xylophagous fungi of the white rot, Irpex lacteus (Fr.) Fr. (1828) and Trametes versicolor, and that of the brown rot, Postia placenta. After the 12-week evaluation period under fungal exposure, the mass loss of the samples attacked by T. versicolor and P. placenta was similar between treatments, except the MDF untreated, which had greater mass losses from the fungus Irpex lacteus. The torrefaction process increased the material resistance to deterioration by fungi, with an inverse correlation between the torrefaction period and the mass losses by fungal attack of the MDF panel residues.