An Unusual Ring-Contraction/Rearrangement Sequence for Making Functionalized Di- and Triquinanes

A novel ring contraction/rearrangement sequence leading to functionalized 2,8-oxymethano-bridged di- and triquinane compounds is observed in the reaction of various substituted 1-methyl-4-isopropenyl-6-oxabicylo3.2.1]octan-8-ones with Lewis acids. The reaction is novel and is unprecedented for the synthesis of di- and triquinane frameworks.

An Unusual Ring-Contraction/Rearrangement Sequence for Making Functionalized Di- and Triquinanes

A novel ring contraction/rearrangement sequence leading to functionalized 2,8-oxymethano-bridged di- and triquinane compounds is observed in the reaction of various substituted 1-methyl-4-isopropenyl-6-oxabicylo3.2.1]octan-8-ones with Lewis acids. The reaction is novel and is unprecedented for the synthesis of di- and triquinane frameworks.

STOPPING THE CCR FLOW AND ITS ISOMETRIC COCYCLES

It is shown how to use non-commutative stopping times in order to stop the CCR flow of arbitrary index and also its isometric cocycles, i.e. left operator Markovian cocycles on Boson Fock space. Stopping the CCR flow yields a homomorphism from the semigroup of stopping times, equipped with the convolution product, into the semigroup of unital endomorphisms of the von Neumann algebra of bounded operators on the ambient Fock space. The operators produced by stopping cocycles themselves satisfy a cocycle relation.

The Tetrablock as a Spectral Set

The tetrablock, roughly speaking, is the set of all linear fractional maps that map the open unit disc to itself. A formal definition of this inhomogeneous domain is given below. This paper considers triples of commuting bounded operators (A,B,P) that have the tetrablock as a spectral set. Such a triple is named a tetrablock contraction. The motivation comes from the success of model theory in another inhomogeneous domain, namely, the symmetrized bidisc F. A pair of commuting bounded operators (S,P) with Gamma as a spectral set is called a Gamma-contraction, and always has a dilation. The two domains are related intricately as the Lemma 3.2 below shows. Given a triple (A, B, P) as above, we associate with it a pair (F-1, F-2), called its fundamental operators. We show that (A,B,P) dilates if the fundamental operators F-1 and F-2 satisfy certain commutativity conditions. Moreover, the dilation space is no bigger than the minimal isometric dilation space of the contraction P. Whether these commutativity conditions are necessary, too, is not known. what we have shown is that if there is a tetrablock isometric dilation on the minimal isometric dilation space of P. then those commutativity conditions necessarily get imposed on the fundamental operators. En route, we decipher the structure of a tetrablock unitary (this is the candidate as the dilation triple) and a tertrablock isometry (the restriction of a tetrablock unitary to a joint invariant sub-space). We derive new results about r-contractions and apply them to tetrablock contractions. The methods applied are motivated by 11]. Although the calculations are lengthy and more complicated, they beautifully reveal that the dilation depends on the mutual relationship of the two fundamental operators, so that certain conditions need to be satisfied. The question of whether all tetrablock contractions dilate or not is unresolved.

Anisotropic isometric fluctuation relations in experiment and theory on a self-propelled rod

The isometric fluctuation relation (IFR) P. I. Hurtado et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108, 7704 (2011)] relates the relative probability of current fluctuations of fixed magnitude in different spatial directions. We test its validity in an experiment on a tapered rod, rendered motile by vertical vibration and immersed in a sea of spherical beads. We analyze the statistics of the velocity vector of the rod and show that they depart significantly from the IFR of Hurtado et al. Aided by a Langevin-equation model we show that our measurements are largely described by an anisotropic generalization of the IFR R. Villavicencio et al., Europhys. Lett. 105, 30009 (2014)], with no fitting parameters, but with a discrepancy in the prefactor whose origin may lie in the detailed statistics of the microscopic noise. The experimentally determined large-deviation function of the velocity vector has a kink on a curve in the plane.

Multiple Spectral Peak Tracking for Heart Rate Monitoring from Photoplethysmography Signal During Intensive Physical Exercise

We propose a multiple initialization based spectral peak tracking (MISPT) technique for heart rate monitoring from photoplethysmography (PPG) signal. MISPT is applied on the PPG signal after removing the motion artifact using an adaptive noise cancellation filter. MISPT yields several estimates of the heart rate trajectory from the spectrogram of the denoised PPG signal which are finally combined using a novel measure called trajectory strength. Multiple initializations help in correcting erroneous heart rate trajectories unlike the typical SPT which uses only single initialization. Experiments on the PPG data from 12 subjects recorded during intensive physical exercise show that the MISPT based heart rate monitoring indeed yields a better heart rate estimate compared to the SPT with single initialization. On the 12 datasets MISPT results in an average absolute error of 1.11 BPM which is lower than 1.28 BPM obtained by the state-of-the-art online heart rate monitoring algorithm.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: Un paradigma de transferencia cultural y literaria

Santamaría, José Miguel; Pajares, Eterio; Olsen, Vickie; Merino, Raquel; Eguíluz, Federico (eds.)

"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter": De lo literario a lo cinematográfico, de 1938 a 1968, del pesimismo de la Gran Depresión a la vanalización sentimentalista del movimiento hippy

Eterio Pajares, Raquel Merino y José Miguel Santamaría (eds.)

Tissue engineering active biological machines : bio-inspired design, directed self-assembly, and characterization of muscular pumps simulating the embryonic heart

Biological machines are active devices that are comprised of cells and other biological components. These functional devices are best suited for physiological environments that support cellular function and survival. Biological machines have the potential to revolutionize the engineering of biomedical devices intended for implantation, where the human body can provide the required physiological environment. For engineering such cell-based machines, bio-inspired design can serve as a guiding platform as it provides functionally proven designs that are attainable by living cells. In the present work, a systematic approach was used to tissue engineer one such machine by exclusively using biological building blocks and by employing a bio-inspired design. Valveless impedance pumps were constructed based on the working principles of the embryonic vertebrate heart and by using cells and tissue derived from rats. The function of these tissue-engineered muscular pumps was characterized by exploring their spatiotemporal and flow behavior in order to better understand the capabilities and limitations of cells when used as the engines of biological machines.

I. The 3.7 Å crystal structure of horse heart ferricytochrome C. II. The application of the Karle-Hauptman tangent formula to protein phasing

I. The 3.7 Å Crystal Structure of Horse Heart Ferricytochrome C.

The crystal structure of horse heart ferricytochrome c has been determined to a resolution of 3.7 Å using the multiple isomorphous replacement technique. Two isomorphous derivatives were used in the analysis, leading to a map with a mean figure of merit of 0.458. The quality of the resulting map was extremely high, even though the derivative data did not appear to be of high quality.

Although it was impossible to fit the known amino acid sequence to the calculated structure in an unambiguous way, many important features of the molecule could still be determined from the 3.7 Å electron density map. Among these was the fact that cytochrome c contains little or no α-helix. The polypeptide chain appears to be wound about the heme group in such a way as to form a loosely packed hydrophobic core in the molecule.

The heme group is located in a cleft on the molecule with one edge exposed to the solvent. The fifth coordinating ligand is His 18 and the sixth coordinating ligand is probably neither His 26 nor His 33.

The high resolution analysis of cytochrome c is now in progress and should be completed within the next year.

II. The Application of the Karle-Hauptman Tangent Formula to Protein Phasing.

The Karle-Hauptman tangent formula has been shown to be applicable to the refinement of previously determined protein phases. Tests were made with both the cytochrome c data from Part I and a theoretical structure based on the myoglobin molecule. The refinement process was found to be highly dependent upon the manner in which the tangent formula was applied. Iterative procedures did not work well, at least at low resolution.

The tangent formula worked very well in selecting the true phase from the two possible phase choices resulting from a single isomorphous replacement phase analysis. The only restriction on this application is that the heavy atoms form a non-centric cluster in the unit cell.

Pages 156 through 284 in this Thesis consist of previously published papers relating to the above two sections. References to these papers can be found on page 155.

Fatores associados a óbito e hospitalizações em uma clínica de insuficiência cardíaca

Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, retrospectivo, com abordagem quantitativa cujo objetivo geral foi descrever e analisar o perfil epidemiológico dos pacientes com Insuficiência Cardíaca atendidos pela Clinica de IC de um Hospital Universitário. Os objetivos específicos orientam-se para:(a)Caracterizar os casos de Insuficiência Cardíaca segundo variáveis demográficas, variáveis clínicas, de diagnóstico e co morbidades;(b)Comparar as características clínicas e demográficas dos pacientes conforme grupos etiológicos identificados e fração de ejeção;(c)Determinar a taxa de mortalidade e hospitalização dos pacientes acompanhados pela clínica. Os dados analisados neste estudo são oriundos de um banco de dados onde são alocadas informações dos pacientes em atendimento ambulatorial da referida clinica.Para a análise dos dados foi utilizada a estatística descritiva, freqüências e porcentagens assim como tabelas e gráficos para a demonstração dos dados levantados.Os mesmos foram analisados através do software SPSS v.18.0, no qual se utilizou a estatística multivariada e curvas de sobrevida de Kaplan-Meyer.Os resultados apontam para uma predominância masculina de 60,1%, com idade de 63,5 anos. Na caracterização quanto à classe funcional observa-se que a predominante é a classe funcional I e II com 73,6% do total. Os pacientes assistidos apresentam uma média de 42% da fração de ejeção do ventrículo esquerdo e 61,7% possuem etiologia não isquêmica. Em nosso estudo, descrevemos 71,8% de portadores de disfunção sistólica. Os pacientes com etiologia isquêmica tinham predomínio do sexo masculino(70,7%), e a etiologia não isquêmica com uma prevalência maior do sexo feminino(45,5%vs 29,3%;p<0,001). Além disso, os pacientes isquêmicos eram mais idosos (p<0,001), com historia familiar de DAC(p<0,041), presença de diabetes (p<0,001). A disfunção sistólica(FE<50%) era predominante no grupo de pacientes isquêmicos(77%vs 69%; p=0,048).As classes funcionais mais avançadas(III e IV) foram menos predominantes nos indivíduos isquêmicos(32,5%) em relação aos não isquêmicos(41,3%;p=0,041).O paciente de etiologia isquêmica recebeu tratamento farmacológico semelhante ao não isquêmico com exceção do uso de AAS(p<0,001).Esses indivíduos cursaram com maior numero de internações por outras causas exceto IC(p<0,001) e maior numero de óbitos(p=0,007).Em relação à fração de ejeção, observou-se que indivíduos com FE>50% tinham predomínio do sexo feminino(p=0,006),mais idosos(p<0,001),de etiologia não isquêmica(p=0,048) e classes funcionais I e II(p=0,025).Indivíduos com FE<50% eram mais graves, apresentando maior número de internações por IC(37,8%vs20%;p<0,001), e internações por outras causas(27,2%vs17,5%;p=0,018) e maior número de óbitos (18%vs8,4%;p=0,005) do que os com fração de ejeção preservada. O resultado desse estudo teve como finalidade o conhecimento do perfil de uma população própria, com o objetivo de aprimorar a assistência prestada a ela. Os enfermeiros de Clínicas de IC, juntos com os profissionais da equipe multidisciplinar, desempenham papel fundamental no acompanhamento, orientação e educação desses pacientes.

Fenofibrato (agonista do receptor ativador da proliferação peroxissomal) modula o sistema renina-angiotensina no coração de camundongos alimentados com dieta hiperlipídica

O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a ação do fenofibrato, um agonista do receptor ativador da proliferação peroxissomal alfa, no remodelamento cardíaco e na expressão de componentes do sistema renina-angiotensina (SRA) em um modelo de obesidade induzida por dieta. Camundongos machos C57Bl/6 com três meses de idade foram alimentados durante 11 semanas com dieta controle (grupo C, 3,57 kcal/g de dieta) ou dieta hiperlipídica (grupo HL, 5,40 kcal/g de dieta), em seguida foram separados em quatro grupos e estudados durante cinco semanas: C; HL; C-L (C mais fenofibrato) e HL-F (HL mais fenofibrato). Os animais HL foram mais pesados e apresentaram maior pressão arterial (PA) comparados aos animais C, mas HL-F foram mais leves e tiveram PA menor que HL. A resistência insulínica vista nos camundongos HL foi melhorada com fenofibrato nos camundongos HL-F. Fenofibrato reduziu colesterol total, triglicerídeos e aumentou HDL-c. Os animais HL apresentou um ventrículo esquerdo (VE) mais pesado e com espessura da parede maior, como também cardiomiócitos maiores e uma menor razão cardiomiócito/capilares que os animais C. Fenofibrato foi eficiente em melhorar estas alterações. As expressões cardíacas de Angiotensina II (ANG II) e de seu receptor tipo 1 (AT1R) foram maiores, enquanto que a expressão de seu receptor tipo 2 (AT2R) foi menor nos animais HL que nos animais C, e fenofibrato foi eficiente em atenuar estas diferenças. Como conclusão, a dieta HL lidera para a obesidade, elevação da PA, hipertrofia cardíaca, alterações metabólicas e expressão proteica alterada do SRA em camundongos, sugerindo a participação do SRA nestas alterações. Fenofibrato é eficiente em diminuir a PA e controlar a expressão proteica do SRA, assim como no tratamento da resistência insulínica e do remodelamento cardíaco adverso, diminuindo a hipertrofia dos cardiomiócitos e melhorando a vascularização do miocárdio, desta maneira, diminuindo importantes fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares