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2. Cortisol, DHEA, and Sexual Steroid Concentrations in Fattening Pigs’ HairCristina Bergamin, Antonella Comin, Mirco Corazzin, Massimo Faustini, Tanja Peric, Annalisa Scollo, Flaviana Gottardo, M. Montillo, Alberto Prandi, 2019, original scientific article Abstract: The aim of this study was to analyze the feasibility and reliability of using hair as a matrix
to determine the dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and sexual steroid concentrations and the
cortisol/DHEA ratio in fattening pigs. The results could be also used to plan future research to
identify threshold values in order to set up strategies to control the allostatic load and increase the
resilience of fattening pigs before slaughter. The study was conducted on 107 commercial crossbred
rearing pigs. The hair samples were taken by shaving at the age of 36 weeks, and concentrations of
the hormones were measured using a solid-phase microtiter radioimmunoassay. Females had
significantly higher cortisol levels (p < 0.01), significantly lower DHEA concentrations (p < 0.05) and
significantly higher cortisol/DHEA ratios (p < 0.01) than barrows. Progesterone was significantly
higher in gilts than in barrows (p < 0.01). Testosterone and 17β-estradiol were significantly higher
in barrows than in gilts (p < 0.05). If future research can produce threshold values for the different
markers examined, the evaluation of animals under subclinical stress conditions will be possible.
Keywords: fattening pigs, hair, steroid hormones, allostatic load
Published: 12.06.2019; Views: 71; Downloads: 0
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4. A map-matching algorithm dealing with sparse cellular fingerprint observationsAndrea Viel, Federico Pittino, Angelo Montanari, Chris Marshall, Donatella Gubiani, Paolo Gallo, Andrea Dalla Torre, 2019, original scientific article Abstract: The widespread availability of mobile communication makes mobile devices a resource for the collection of data about mobile infrastructures and user mobility. In these contexts, the problem of reconstructing the most likely trajectory of a device on the road network on the basis of the sequence of observed locations (map-matching problem) turns out to be particularly relevant. Different contributions have demonstrated that the reconstruction of the trajectory of a device with good accuracy is technically feasible even when only a sparse set of GNSS positions is available. In this paper, we face the problem of coping with sparse sequences of cellular fingerprints. Compared to GNSS positions, cellular fingerprints provide coarser spatial information, but they work even when a device is missing GNSS positions or is operating in an energy saving mode. We devise a new map-matching algorithm, that exploits the well-known Hidden Markov Model and Random Forests to successfully deal with noisy and sparse cellular observations. The performance of the proposed solution has been tested over a medium-sized Italian city urban environment by varying both the sampling of the observations and the density of the fingerprint map as well as by including some GPS positions into the sequence of fingerprint observations.
Keywords: Map-matching algorithm, trajectory, cellular fingerprint, Hidden Markov Model
Published: 11.06.2019; Views: 88; Downloads: 0
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9. Phosphorylation of HPV-16 L2 Contributes To Efficient Virus Infectious EntryRobert L. Garcea, Michael P. Myers, Martina Bergant Marušič, David Pim, Paola Massimi, Justyna Broniarczyk, Lawrence Banks, 2019, original scientific article Abstract: The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) capsid comprises two viral proteins, L1 and L2, with the L2 component being essential to ensure efficient endocytic transport of incoming viral genomes. Several studies have previously reported that L1 and L2 are post-translationally modified, but it is uncertain whether these modifications affect HPV infectious entry. Using a proteomic screen, we identified a highly conserved phospho-acceptor site on the HPV-16 and BPV-1 L2 proteins. The phospho-modification of L2, and its presence in HPV pseudovirions (PsVs), was confirmed using anti-phospho L2-specific antibodies. Mutation of the phospho-acceptor sites of both HPV-16 and BPV-1 L2 resulted in the production of infectious virus particles, with no differences in efficiency of packaging the reporter DNA. However, these mutated PsVs showed marked defects in infectious entry. Further analysis revealed a defect in uncoating, characterized by a delay in the exposure of a conformational epitope on L1 that indicates capsid uncoating. This uncoating defect was accompanied by a delay in the proteolysis of both L1 and L2 in mutated HPV-16 PsVs. Taken together, these studies indicate that phosphorylation of L2 during virus assembly plays an important role in optimal uncoating of virions during infection, suggesting that phosphorylation of the viral capsid proteins contributes to infectious entry.
Keywords: HPV, L2, infection, protein phosphorylation
Published: 05.06.2019; Views: 123; Downloads: 0
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10. Influence of composition and size of the soft and the hard magnetic phase on magnetic properties of ferrite based hybrid magnetsPetra Jenuš, Kocjan Andraž, C. Sangregorio, M. Petrecca, Blaž Belec, Cesar de Julian Fernandez, 2019, published scientific conference contribution abstract (invited lecture) Keywords: ferrites, magnets, hybrids
Published: 05.06.2019; Views: 94; Downloads: 0
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