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Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor (TRAF) proteins are cytoplasmic regulatory molecules that function as signal transducers for receptors involved in both innate and adaptive humoral immune responses. In this study, we show that TRAF7, the unique noncanonical member of the TRAF family, physically associates with IκB kinase/NF-κB essential modulator (NEMO) and with the RelA/p65 (p65) member of the NF-κB transcription factor family. TRAF7 promotes Lys-29-linked polyubiquitination of NEMO and p65 that results in lysosomal degradation of both proteins and altered activation. TRAF7 also influences p65 nuclear distribution. Microarray expression data are consistent with an inhibitory role for TRAF7 on NF-κB and a positive control of AP-1 transcription factor. Finally, functional data indicate that TRAF7 promotes cell death. Thus, this study identifies TRAF7 as a NEMO- and p65-interacting molecule and brings important information on the ubiquitination events that control NF-κB transcriptional activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Style sketches are an essential tool for the expression and the definition of the shape of industrial products. We present a novel wavelet approach for sketch segmentation and editing expressly addressed to the designer needs. Starting from a 2D curve drawn by a user with a graphics tablet, our algorithm converts it in a B-spline representation, detects the style features, allows interactive smoothing and continuous local and global editing. The novelty compared to the existing literature is the combination of: (i) unified wavelet approach to segmentation, smoothing and editing, (ii) support for endpoint C0 and C1 continuity constraints and (iii) implementation with an interactive pen-tablet interface. Our approach requires low memory footprints with time complexity linear in the number of control points. We validated the algorithm with synthetic and practical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Approximately 50% of the adult global population is projected to suffer from some form of metabolic disease by 2050, including metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus. At the same time, this trend indicates a potential increase in the number of patients who will be in need of implant-supported reconstructions of specific bone regions subjected to inflammatory states. Moreover, physiological conditions associated with dysmetabolic subjects have been suggested to contribute to the severity of bone loss after bone implant insertion. However, there is a perspective evidence strengthening the hypothesis that custom-fabricated bioengineered scaffolds may produce favorable bone healing effects in case of altered endocrine or metabolic conditions. This perspective review aims to share a comprehensive knowledge of the mechanisms implicated in bone resorption and remodelling processes, which have driven researchers to develop metallic implants as the cobalt-chromium (Co-Cr) bioscaffolds, presenting optimized geometries that interact in an effective way with the osteogenetic precursor cells, especially in the cases of perturbed endocrine or metabolic conditions., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Healthcare workers are exposed to many different occupational stressors, some of which are related to their working conditions. While the experience of stress seems to depend on individual perceptions, some characteristics of inpatient units might influence the occurrence of emotional exhaustion among nurses., Objective: The aim of the present study was to identify characteristics of inpatient units which might be associated with high levels of emotional exhaustion among healthcare workers, nurses in this case., Methods: We conducted the present cross-sectional, exploratory and descriptive study with 108 nurses (83.8% female; average age 33 years old) allocated to inpatients units (wards and intensive care) at a university hospital in Portugal. We administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) emotional exhaustion subscale and collected the following data relative to the units to which the participants were allocated: 1) mortality rate; 2) number of deceased patients; 3) shortage of nurses compared to national standards; 4) occupancy rate; 5) proportion of elderly patients (>65 years old)., Results: We found a positive relationship between high levels of emotional exhaustion among nurses and very high number of deceased patients (p=0.012), high fatality rate (p=0.036) and high proportion of elderly patients (p=0.025)., Conclusion: Very high number of deceased patients, high proportion of elderly patients and high fatality rate in inpatients units were associated with high levels of emotional exhaustion among nurses. These findings suggest that characterizing the objective conditions of inpatient units seems to be an important aspect to be considered in psychosocial risk management programs.

Blepharospasm (BSP) is an adult-onset focal dystonia with phenomenologically heterogeneous effects, including, but not limited to, blinks, brief or prolonged spasms, and a narrowing or closure of the eyelids. In spite of the clear and well-known symptomatology, objectively rating the severity of this dystonia is a rather complex task since BSP symptoms are so subtle and hardly perceptible that even expert neurologists can rate the gravity of the pathology differently in the same patients. Software tools have been developed to help clinicians in the rating procedure. Currently, a computerised video-based system is available that is capable of objectively determining the eye closure time, however, it cannot distinguish the typical symptoms of the pathology. In this study, we attempt to take a step forward by proposing a neural network-based software able not only to measure the eye closure, time but also to recognise and count the typical blepharospasm symptoms. The software, after detecting the state of the eyes (open or closed), the movement of specific facial landmarks, and properly implementing artificial neural networks with an optimised topology, can recognise blinking, and brief and prolonged spasms. Comparing the software predictions with the observations of an expert neurologist allowed assessment of the sensitivity and specificity of the proposed software. The levels of sensitivity were high for recognising brief and prolonged spasms but were lower in the case of blinks. The proposed software is an automatic tool capable of making objective 'measurements' of blepharospasm symptoms., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Enhancing the performance of scaffolds for bone regeneration requires a multidisciplinary approach involving competences in the fields of Biology, Medicine and Engineering. A number of studies have been conducted to investigate the influence of scaffolds design parameters on their mechanical and biological response. The possibilities offered by the additive manufacturing techniques to fabricate sophisticated and very complex microgeometries that until few years ago were just a geometrical abstraction, led many researchers to design scaffolds made from different unit cell geometries. The aim of this work is to find, based on mechanobiological criteria and for different load regimes, the optimal geometrical parameters of scaffolds made from beam-based repeating unit cells, namely, truncated cuboctahedron, truncated cube, rhombic dodecahedron and diamond. The performance, -expressed in terms of percentage of the scaffold volume occupied by bone-, of the scaffolds based on these unit cells was compared with that of scaffolds based on other unit cell geometries such as: hexahedron and rhombicuboctahedron. A very intriguing behavior was predicted for the truncated cube unit cell that allows the formation of large amounts of bone for low load values and of very small amounts for the medium-high ones. For high values of load, scaffolds made from hexahedron unit cells were predicted to favor the formation of the largest amounts of bone. In a clinical context where medical solutions become more and more customized, this study offers a support to the surgeon in the choice of the best scaffold to be implanted in a patient-specific anatomic region., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In a context more and more oriented towards customized medical solutions, we propose a mechanobiology-driven algorithm to determine the optimal geometry of scaffolds for bone regeneration that is the most suited to specific boundary and loading conditions. In spite of the huge number of articles investigating different unit cells for porous biomaterials, no studies are reported in the literature that optimize the geometric parameters of such unit cells based on mechanobiological criteria. Parametric finite element models of scaffolds with rhombicuboctahedron unit cell were developed and incorporated into an optimization algorithm that combines them with a computational mechanobiological model. The algorithm perturbs iteratively the geometry of the unit cell until the best scaffold geometry is identified, i.e. the geometry that allows to maximize the formation of bone. Performances of scaffolds with rhombicuboctahedron unit cell were compared with those of other scaffolds with hexahedron unit cells. We found that scaffolds with rhombicuboctahedron unit cell are particularly suited for supporting medium-low loads, while, for higher loads, scaffolds with hexahedron unit cells are preferable. The proposed algorithm can guide the orthopaedic/surgeon in the choice of the best scaffold to be implanted in a patient-specific anatomic region., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The evaluation of the exposure to risk factors in workplaces and their subsequent redesign represent one of the practices to lessen the frequency of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. In this paper we present K2RULA, a semi-automatic RULA evaluation software based on the Microsoft Kinect v2 depth camera, aimed at detecting awkward postures in real time, but also in off-line analysis. We validated our tool with two experiments. In the first one, we compared the K2RULA grand-scores with those obtained with a reference optical motion capture system and we found a statistical perfect match according to the Landis and Koch scale (proportion agreement index = 0.97, k = 0.87). In the second experiment, we evaluated the agreement of the grand-scores returned by the proposed application with those obtained by a RULA expert rater, finding again a statistical perfect match (proportion agreement index = 0.96, k = 0.84), whereas a commercial software based on Kinect v1 sensor showed a lower agreement (proportion agreement index = 0.82, k = 0.34)., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Characterisation of the mechanical behaviour of cancer cells is an issue of crucial importance as specific cell mechanical properties have been measured and utilized as possible biomarkers of cancer progression. Atomic force microscopy certainly occupies a prominent place in the field of the mechanical characterisation devices. We developed a hybrid approach to characterise different cell lines (SW620 and SW480) of the human colon carcinoma submitted to nanoindentation measurements. An ad hoc algorithm was written that compares the force-indentation curves experimentally retrieved with those predicted by a finite element model that simulates the nanoindentation process and reproduces the cell geometry and the surface roughness. The algorithm perturbs iteratively the values of the cell mechanical properties implemented in the finite element model until the difference between the experimental and numerical force-indentation curves reaches the minimum value. The occurrence of this indicates that the implemented material properties are very close to the real ones. Different hyperelastic constitutive models, such as Arruda-Boyce, Mooney-Rivlin and Neo-Hookean were utilized to describe the structural behaviour of indented cells. The algorithm was capable of separating, for all the cell lines investigated, the mechanical properties of cell cortex and cytoskeleton. Material properties determined via the algorithm were different with respect to those obtained with the Hertzian contact theory. This demonstrates that factors such as: the cell geometry/anatomy and the hyperelastic constitutive behaviour, which are not contemplated in the Hertz's theory hypotheses, do affect the nanoindentation measurements. The proposed approach represents a powerful tool that, only on the basis of nanoindentation measurements, is capable of characterising material at the subcellular level.

Text readability with augmented reality head-worn displays is critical and at present time, there are no standard guidelines to follow. The readability depends mainly on background lighting, display technology (i.e., OST: optical see-through or VST: video see-through), and text style (e.g., plain text, outline or billboard). In this work, we addressed the readability limits for industrial activities. We experimented the effects of two background illuminances levels (1,000 lx for very fine basic industrial tasks and 4,000 lx for fine machining), two commercially available head-worn display technologies, variable outline widths and contrast polarity of text. We analyzed the performance of 12 subjects by collecting about 3,400 measurements using a specific test application and followed by qualitative interviews. With high illuminances, VST performed better than OST, regardless of contrast polarity and outline width. We found that negative contrast polarity is preferable with VST, and that just a minimum outline (1 px) around black text is optimal. On the contrary, positive contrast polarity should be used with OST and outline is not effective. Therefore, we evaluated the usage limits of the OST by sampling its contrast sensitivity function.

Naringenin has been shown to exert antiestrogenic, cholesterol-lowering and antioxidant activities, as well as an indirect modulation on the metabolism of many xenobiotics. It is one of the most abundant polyphenols in tomato. Given the widespread consumption of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) and tomato-based products, this study was designed to determine whether plasma levels of naringenin were detectable in five men after consumption of a test meal containing 150 mg of cooked tomato paste. Naringenin intake with the test meal was 3.8 mg. Blood was drawn from fasting subjects and 2, 4, 6, 8 and 24 h after the meal. To compare the results with a control, the same meal without tomato paste (control meal) was administered to the same subjects 2 wk later. Analyses were performed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a CoulArray electrochemical detector. The peak plasma concentration was 0.12 +/- 0.03 micro mol/L 2 h after the meal. Unconjugated naringenin was not detected. Naringenin was not detected in plasma at any time after consumption of the control meal. In addition to naringenin, we detected rutin and chlorogenic acid in tomato paste, but these polyphenols and their derivatives (quercetin and caffeic acid) were not detected in plasma at any time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating naringenin bioavailability in humans after consumption of a meal containing cooked tomato paste.