Suchergebnisse

There is little question today that processes of globalization affect national and local economies, governance processes, and conditions for economic competitiveness in the major urban regions of the world.In most liberal-democratic countries, these processes are occurring according to a rationale which attempts to combine strategies of state-supported development with increasing local-regional governmental decentralization and autonomy. Against this background, the issue of metropolitan development is being redefined worldwide, along with its institutional frameworks, modes of governance, policy instruments, and spatial planning strategies. The overarching assumption of this volume is that 'metropolitan space', far from being consolidated as a policy object, is currently being redefined and in some instances 'constructed' and contested as a scale, through a variety of policy practices related to spatial-economic development objectives.Through case studies drawn from across four continents, the authorsreveal a range of interesting cross-national commonalities concerning the power that state actors, situated at various spatial scales, exert as agents in these processes. This volume interrogates key research issues raised by these developments, andis intended as a contribution to the establishment of a globally comparative analysis of the construction of metropolitan spaces and scales under conditions of globalization and neoliberalization.

[EN] Non-invasive bioelectrical recordings are usually carried out by using monopolar or bipolar disc electrodes. The poor spatial resolution is one important disadvantage of this kind of electrodes tending to pick up physiological interferences. Concentric ring electrodes have already been implemented in rigid substrates to increase the spatial resolution in the recording of bioelectrical signals such as the electrocardiography (ECG) or the electroencephalography (EEG). Our goal was to develop and test a new modular active sensor made up of a disposable sensing part with concentric ring electrodes printed on a flexible substrate by thick-film technology connected to a battery powered signal conditioning circuit, and to compare it to rigid conventional concentric ring electrodes implemented on printed circuit board. Simultaneous ECG recordings were carried out using both flexible and rigid electrodes. Results show that flexible concentric ring electrodes present lower skin-electrode contact impedance, higher amplitude and lower baseline wander than the rigid ones. ; Authors ackowledge financial support from the Spanish Government and its MICINN (MAT2009-14564-C04-02), MICINN (TEC2010-16945), the Universitat Politècnia de Valencia trough Nuevas Líneas de Investigación Multidisciplinares (PAID-05-11) for their respective research fellowship ; Prats Boluda, G.; Gil Sánchez, L.; Ye Lin, Y.; Ibáñez Civera, FJ.; Garcia Casado, FJ.; García Breijo, E. (2012). Flexible Concentric Ring Electrode for Non Invasive Bioelectrical Surface Recordings. Procedia Engineering. 47:1223-1226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2012.09.373 ; S ; 1223 ; 1226 ; 47

Abstract

Aims
Alcohol abuse induces multiple neuropathology and causes global burden to human health. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is one of the most susceptible regions to alcohol-induced neuropathology. However, precise mechanisms underlying these effects on PFC remain to be elucidated. Herein, we investigated whether RIP1/RIP3/MLKL-mediated necroptosis was involved in the alcohol-induced PFC injury, and explored the effect that cannabinoid receptors (CBRs) exerted on the neurotoxicity of alcohol.


Methods
In this study, dynamic development of neuronal necroptosis in the PFC region was monitored after 95% (v/v) alcohol vapor administration for 15 and 30 days, respectively. Selective CBRs agonists or inverse agonists were pretreated according to the experimental design. All the PFC tissues were isolated and further examined by biochemical and histopathological analyses.


Results
It was found that chronic alcohol exposure increased the protein level of MLKL and also the phosphorylated levels of RIP1, RIP3 and MLKL in a time-dependent manner, all of which indicated the activation of necroptosis signaling. Particularly, compared to astrocytes, neurons from the PFC showed more prototypical necrotic morphology in response to alcohol insults. In parallel, an increased protein level of CB1R was also found after 15 and 30 days alcohol exposure. Administration of specific inverse agonists of CB1R (AM251 and AM281), but not its agonists or CB2R modulators, significantly alleviated the RIP1/RIP3/MLKL-mediated neuronal necroptosis.


Conclusion
We reported the involvement of RIP1/RIP3/MLKL-mediated necroptosis in alcohol-induced PFC neurotoxicity, and identified CB1R as a critical regulator of neuronal necroptosis that enhanced our understanding of alcohol-induced neuropathology in the PFC.

The purpose of the present study was to do a psychometric evaluation of the somatic and psychological health report (SPHERE) among Chinese adolescents. Our participants were 116 twins (50 females). Psychometric evaluation indicated that the reliability and validity of this scale were good. The internal consistencies and split-half reliabilities of all subscales were above 0.80. Furthermore, the item-total correlations were acceptable for all the subscales (all the values were higher than 0.20). The present findings suggest that the SPHERE can be well used to measure Chinese adolescents' somatic and psychological health.