The c-ski protooncogene encodes a transcription factor that binds DNA only in association with other proteins. To identify co-binding proteins, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen. The results of ...the screen and subsequent co-immunoprecipitation studies identified Smad2 and Smad3, two transcriptional activators that mediate the type β transforming growth factor (TGF-β ) response, as Ski-interacting proteins. In Ski-transformed cells, all of the Ski protein was found in Smad3-containing complexes that accumulated in the nucleus in the absence of added TGF-β . DNA binding assays showed that Ski, Smad2, Smad3, and Smad4 form a complex with the Smad/Ski binding element GTCTAGAC (SBE). Ski repressed TGF-β -induced expression of 3TP-Lux, the natural plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 promoter and of reporter genes driven by the SBE and the related CAGA element. In addition, Ski repressed a TGF-β -inducible promoter containing AP-1 (TRE) elements activated by a combination of Smads, Fos, and/or Jun proteins. Ski also repressed synergistic activation of promoters by combinations of Smad proteins but failed to repress in the absence of Smad4. Thus, Ski acts in opposition to TGF-β -induced transcriptional activation by functioning as a Smad-dependent co-repressor. The biological relevance of this transcriptional repression was established by showing that overexpression of Ski abolished TGF-β -mediated growth inhibition in a prostate-derived epithelial cell line.
The SWAN platform is an integrated suite of online resources and tools for assessing industrial symbiotic opportunities based on solid industrial waste reuse. It has been developed as a digital solid ...waste reuse platform and is already applied in four countries (Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and Cyprus). The SWAN platform integrates a database with the spatial and technical characteristics of industrial solid waste producers and potential consumers, populated with data from these countries. It also incorporates an inventory of commercially implemented best practices on solid industrial waste reuse. The role of the SWAN platform is to facilitate the development of novel business cases. Towards this end, decision support services, based on a suitable matching algorithm, are provided to the registered users, helping them to identify and assess potential novel business models, based on solid waste reuse, either for an individual industrial unit (source/potential receiver of solid waste) or a specific region.
The association of ozone exposure with respiratory outcomes has been investigated in epidemiologic studies mainly including asthmatic children. The findings reported had methodological gaps and ...inconsistencies.
We aimed to investigate effects of personal ozone exposure on various respiratory outcomes in school-age children generally representative of the population during their normal activities.
We conducted a panel study in a representative sample of school-age children in the two major cities of Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki. We followed 188, 10- to 11-y-old, elementary school students for 5 wk spread throughout the 2013–2014 academic year, during which ozone was measured using personal samplers. At the end of each study week, spirometry was performed by trained physicians, and the fractional concentration of nitric oxide in exhaled air (
) was measured. Students kept a daily time–activity–symptom diary and measured PEF (peak expiratory flow) using peak flow meters. Mixed models accounting for repeated measurements were applied.
An increase of 10 μg/m
in weekly ozone concentration was associated with a decrease in FVC (forced vital capacity) and FEV
(forced expiratory volume in 1 s) of 0.03 L 95% confidence interval (CI): −0.05, −0.01 and 0.01 L (95% CI: −0.03, 0.003) respectively. The same increase in exposure was associated with a 11.10% (95% CI: 4.23, 18.43) increase in
and 19% (95% CI: −0.53, 42.75) increase in days with any symptom. The effect estimates were robust to PM
adjustment. No inverse association was found between ozone exposure and PEF.
The study provides evidence that airway inflammation and the frequency of respiratory symptoms increase, whereas lung function decreases with increased ozone exposure in schoolchildren. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP635.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
CEKLJ, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
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•Arabinoxylans offer a new class of food ingredients through synergy with biorefining.•The opportunity to produce AX arises from integration with bioethanol production.•AX fractions ...extracted from sugarcane bagasse show potential as a bread ingredient.•Co-producing AX fractions can enhance economics through bioethanol pinch analysis.•AX integrated with bioethanol illustrates the required skills of the biorefinery engineer.
Arabinoxylans (AX) are hemicellulose polysaccharides comprising a linear backbone of xylose sugars with arabinose residues attached along the chain. They offer interesting functional properties that could have application as a new class of food ingredients or for non-food applications. The emergence in recent decades of biorefineries gives a context in which commercial production of a portfolio of AX products could be feasible, through integration with bioethanol production, using ethanol to precipitate the AX. Extending the concept, AX fractions of different functionality can be precipitated at different ethanol concentrations, giving further scope for efficiencies through bioethanol pinch analysis, while producing a portfolio of products with different potential markets and end uses. The current work demonstrates the potential of AX fractions extracted from sugarcane bagasse as bread ingredients. Bagasse AX fractions increased the water absorption in dough formulations, by more than double their own weight for fractions larger than 10 kDa, and increased dough development time in a Chopin Mixolab. As well as promising in their own right, AX also illustrate the more general opportunity for synergies between biorefining and the food industry, with the rise of biorefineries giving opportunities to provide the food industry with new ingredients not currently available.
In this study, solid olive mill waste (SOMW) was used to obtain antioxidant compounds using solid–liquid extraction. The effect of different extraction methods, namely microwave-assisted extraction ...(MAE), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), Soxhlet, and conventional solvent extraction, on the yield, total phenolics, and total antioxidant activity of SOMW extracts was investigated. Untreated and dried SOMW were subjected to extraction with water and methanol. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using the DPPH assay, while their total phenolic content was measured using the Folin–Ciocalteu method. For the characterisation of the extracts, HPLC-DAD analysis was performed. The results showed that the extraction yield was significantly influenced (p < 0.05) by the solvent used, the material treatment prior to extraction, the moisture content of SOMW samples, and the extraction time. The optimised parameters were water, as the extraction solvent, and MAE as the extraction technique (extraction temperature of 50 °C and time of 1 h). The evaluation of the antioxidant activity of the extracts indicated that phenolics were the dominant bioactive compounds. The extracts were found to be rich in several hydroxytyrosol derivatives. Therefore, SOMW can be a valuable resource for bioactive compounds using conventional and innovative extraction techniques.
Phytochemical investigation on the aerial parts of Volutaria lippii (L.) Cass. led to the isolation of previously undescribed sesquiterpene lactone (1), along with other seven known compounds (2–8). ...Their chemical structures were determined on the basis of MS, IR and NMR spectroscopic data spectra and further supported by comparison with the data descripted in literature. All isolates from the studied plant were mentioned for the first time. This finding could be of chemotaxonomic significance for the genus Volutaria.
•Eight compounds (1–8) were first isolated from V. lippii.•The structure of a previously undescribed sesquiterpene lactone (1) was established from spectroscopic data.•It is the first report of isolation of compounds 1, 3–6 and 8 from the genus Volutaria.•These compounds provide evidence for chemotaxonomic studies of V. lippii and the genus Volutaria.
Since the onset of COVID-19, several assays have been deployed for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) published the first set ...of guidelines on SARS-CoV-2 in vitro diagnosis in February 2022. Because the COVID-19 landscape is rapidly evolving, the relevant ESCMID guidelines panel releases an update of the previously published recommendations on diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2. This update aims to delineate the best diagnostic approach for SARS-CoV-2 in different populations based on current evidence.
An ESCMID COVID-19 guidelines task force was established by the ESCMID Executive Committee. A small group was established, half appointed by the chair, and the remaining selected with an open call. The panel met virtually once a week. For all decisions, a simple majority vote was used. A list of clinical questions using the population, intervention, comparison, and outcome (PICO) format was developed at the beginning of the process. For each PICO, 2 panel members performed a literature search focusing on systematic reviews with a third panellist involved in case of inconsistent results. The panel reassessed the PICOs previously defined as priority in the first set of guidelines and decided to address 49 PICO questions, because 6 of them were discarded as outdated/non-clinically relevant. The ‘Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)-adoption, adaptation, and de novo development of recommendations (ADOLOPMENT)’ evidence-to-decision framework was used to produce the guidelines.
After literature search, we updated 16 PICO questions; these PICOs address the use of antigen-based assays among symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with different ages, COVID-19 severity status or risk for severe COVID-19, time since the onset of symptoms/contact with an infectious case, and finally, types of biomaterials used.
Solar cells based on metal halide perovskite and polymer donor:nonfullerene acceptor blend absorbers have recently witnessed a significant rise in their photovoltaic performance. However, they still ...suffer from some instability issues originating from the inferior interface quality and poor nanomorphology of the absorber layer. In this work, a series of functionalized boron‐dipyrromethene, BODIPY, molecules are introduced as ultrathin interlayers at the absorber/electron transport layer interface. This study indicates that BODIPY compounds with a high molecular dipole moment can enhance the device performance mainly due to better interface energy level alignment. They also induce passivation of defect traps and improvement in the charge transport properties of the absorber layer coated on top of them. Among the various compounds used, amino‐functionalized BODIPY, owing to the synergetic effect of the abovementioned factors, enables the highest power conversion efficiency in organic (15.69%) as well as in perovskite solar cells (20.12%). Amino‐functionalized BODIPY also demonstrates an enhanced stability under continuous illumination (in nitrogen) without and with heating (at 65 °C) for 1000 h. These results pave the way for the implementation of molecules with tailor‐made functionalities in high efficiency and stable solution‐based photovoltaic devices of the future.
Functionalized BODIPY molecules, including an amino BODIPY, induce significant performance enhancement when used as electron transport interlayers in organic and perovskite solar cells.
Molecular and antigen point-of-care tests (POCTs) have augmented our ability to rapidly identify and manage SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, their clinical performance varies among individual studies.
...The evaluation of the performance of molecular and antigen-based POCTs in confirmed, suspected, or probable COVID-19 cases compared with that of laboratory-based RT-PCR in real-life settings.
MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Cochrane COVID-19 study register, and COVID-19 Living Evidence Database from the University of Bern.
Peer-reviewed or preprint observational studies or randomized controlled trials that evaluated any type of commercially available antigen and/or molecular POCTs for SARS-CoV-2, including multiplex PCR panels, approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, with Emergency Use Authorization, and/or marked with Conformitè Europëenne from European Commission/European Union.
Close contacts and/or patients with symptomatic and/or asymptomatic confirmed, suspected, or probable COVID-19 infection of any age.
Molecular and/or antigen-based SARS-CoV-2 POCTs.
Laboratory-based SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR.
Eligible studies were subjected to quality-control and risk-of-bias assessment using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 tool.
Summary sensitivities and specificities with their 95% CIs were estimated using a bivariate model. Subgroup analysis was performed when at least three studies informed the outcome.
A total of 123 eligible publications (97 and 26 studies assessing antigen-based and molecular POCTs, respectively) were retrieved from 4674 initial records. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for 13 molecular-based POCTs were 92.8% (95% CI, 88.9–95.4%) and 97.6% (95% CI, 96.6–98.3%), respectively. The sensitivity of antigen-based POCTs pooled from 138 individual evaluations was considerably lower than that of molecular POCTs; the pooled sensitivity and specificity rates were 70.6% (95% CI, 67.2–73.8%) and 98.9% (95% CI, 98.5–99.2%), respectively.
Further studies are needed to evaluate the performance of molecular and antigen-based POCTs in underrepresented patient subgroups and different respiratory samples.
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