Research has focused on the study and design of new products containing phytochemicals (polyphenolic acids, flavonoids and anthocyanins, among others) that contribute to a better life quality for ...consumers, as well as techniques to improve the extraction of these compounds. In this regard, extraction with supercritical fluids (usually CO
) is a technology that has better advantages than organic solvents, since lower temperatures that are used do not damage the product, and is more effective at high pressures. Extracts from plant sources contain significant concentrations of flavonols, one of the main compounds being kaempferol. Research has proven the antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, cardioprotective, neuroprotective and antimicrobial properties of kaempferol and its glycosides. This review aims to present the main functional properties and extraction with supercritical fluids of kaempferol and its glycosides, as well as the application of this technology in the food area.
Abstract
The rapid evolution of fertilization proteins has generated remarkable diversity in molecular structure and function. Glycoproteins of vertebrate egg coats contain multiple zona pellucida ...(ZP)-N domains (1–6 copies) that facilitate multiple reproductive functions, including species-specific sperm recognition. In this report, we integrate phylogenetics and machine learning to investigate how ZP-N domains diversify in structure and function. The most C-terminal ZP-N domain of each paralog is associated with another domain type (ZP-C), which together form a “ZP module.” All modular ZP-N domains are phylogenetically distinct from nonmodular or free ZP-N domains. Machine learning–based classification identifies eight residues that form a stabilizing network in modular ZP-N domains that is absent in free domains. Positive selection is identified in some free ZP-N domains. Our findings support that strong purifying selection has conserved an essential structural core in modular ZP-N domains, with the relaxation of this structural constraint allowing free N-terminal domains to functionally diversify.
New Caledonia and Puerto Rico are two non-sovereign island territories of France and the United States respectively. Both territories have historically centered their political debate on the ...definition of their political status and have done so by implementing numerous referendums. Of the two territories, however, only New Caledonia has managed to establish a binding referendum on political status. This raises the following question: How has New Caledonia managed to obtain a binding referendum on its political status while Puerto Rico has failed to do so? One variable present in New Caledonia, but not in Puerto Rico, was the convening of both the metropolitan and territorial political elite with regards to the territory's change in political status as well as the definition of each status option. While elite theory has been used as a theoretical framework to explain democratization, this article discusses the role of elite settlements with regards to changes in political status among non-sovereign island jurisdictions. I focus on two key events in both case studies. In New Caledonia, I focus on the signing of the Matignon and Noumea Accords, 1988 and 1998 respectively, while in Puerto Rico I focus on the Plebiscitary Process of 1989-1991.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
4.
Plant Phenolics and Lectins as Vaccine Adjuvants Reyna-Margarita, Hernández-Ramos; Irais, Castillo-Maldonado; Mario-Alberto, Rivera-Guillén ...
Current pharmaceutical biotechnology,
01/2019, Letnik:
20, Številka:
15
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The immune system is responsible for providing protection to the body against foreign substances. The immune system divides into two types of immune responses to study its mechanisms of protection: ...1) Innate and 2) Adaptive. The innate immune response represents the first protective barrier of the organism that also works as a regulator of the adaptive immune response, if evaded the mechanisms of the innate immune response by the foreign substance the adaptive immune response takes action with the consequent antigen neutralization or elimination. The adaptive immune response objective is developing a specific humoral response that consists in the production of soluble proteins known as antibodies capable of specifically recognizing the foreign agent; such protective mechanism is induced artificially through an immunization or vaccination. Unfortunately, the immunogenicity of the antigens is an intrinsic characteristic of the same antigen dependent on several factors.
Vaccine adjuvants are chemical substances of very varied structure that seek to improve the immunogenicity of antigens. The main four types of adjuvants under investigation are the following: 1) Oil emulsions with an antigen in solution, 2) Pattern recognition receptors activating molecules, 3) Inflammatory stimulatory molecules or activators of the inflammasome complex, and 4) Cytokines. However, this paper addresses the biological plausibility of two phytochemical compounds as vaccine adjuvants: 5) Lectins, and 6) Plant phenolics whose characteristics, mechanisms of action and disadvantages are addressed. Finally, the immunological usefulness of these molecules is discussed through immunological data to estimate effects of plant phenolics and lectins as vaccine adjuvants, and current studies that have implanted these molecules as vaccine adjuvants, demonstrating the results of this immunization.
Generation, manipulation, and sensing of magnetic domain walls are cornerstones in the design of efficient spintronic devices. Half‐metals are amenable for this purpose as large low field ...magnetoresistance signals can be expected from spin accumulation at spin textures. Among half metals, La1−xSrxMnO3 (LSMO) manganites are considered as promising candidates for their robust half‐metallic ground state, Curie temperature above room temperature (Tc = 360 K, for x = 1/3), and chemical stability. Yet domain wall magnetoresistance is poorly understood, with large discrepancies in the reported values and conflicting interpretation of experimental data due to the entanglement of various source of magnetoresistance, namely, spin accumulation, anisotropic magnetoresistance, and colossal magnetoresistance. In this work, the domain wall magnetoresistance is measured in LSMO cross‐shape nanowires with single‐domain walls nucleated across the current path. Magnetoresistance values above 10% are found to be originating at the spin accumulation caused by the mistracking effect of the spin texture of the domain wall by the conduction electrons. Fundamentally, this result shows the importance on non‐adiabatic processes at spin textures despite the strong Hund coupling to the localized t2g electrons of the manganite. These large magnetoresistance values are high enough for encoding and reading magnetic bits in future oxide spintronic sensors.
Generation, manipulation, and sensing of magnetic domain walls are cornerstones in the design of more efficient spintronic devices. In this work, it is shown that the domain wall magnetoresistance in manganite perovskite nanowires can reach values in excess of 10% caused by the mistracking effect of the spin texture of the domain wall by the conduction electrons.
The use of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) for the treatment of proximal humeral fractures (PHFs) is steadily increasing. Better clinical outcomes of RSA have been correlated with ...tuberosity reattachment and healing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate both the clinical and radiological results of reverse shoulder arthroplasty in the management of a proximal humerus fracture in the elderly.
Retrospective study including 400 consecutive 3-4 part proximal humerus fractures treated with reverse shoulder arthroplasty with a minimum of 12-month follow-up. In all the cases, the greater tuberosity was reattached with a standardized suture technique and a local bone graft. All the patients were assessed at the 12-month follow-up with Constant-Murley Score (CMS). Radiographic healing of the greater tuberosity was noted. Complications and revision rates were reported.
Mean final CMS for this cohort was 82 points. The greater tuberosity healed in anatomic position in 85% of the cases (N = 340), obtaining an average CMS of 85 in these patients. Healing of the greater tuberosity did not occur in 13% of the cases (N = 52) and displacement more than 5 mm occurred in 2% (N = 8) of the patients for an average CMS of 60. All patients scored above 120° in forward elevation with a mean of 150°. Mean active external rotation was 35°. The lateralization shoulder angle had a mean of 91° and the distalization shoulder angle had a mean of 54°. Low-grade scapular notching was reported in <1% of the cases. A total of 60 patients presented failure of healing or displacement of the greater tuberosity. Major complications were reported in nine patients. Of these nine patients, two acquired superficial wound infections, while two had deep shoulder prosthetic infection. Two other patients developed hematomas, one sustained an acromial stress fracture, and two had a stem loosening. There were 4 reoperations.
Reverse shoulder arthroplasty, with the use of a fracture-specific stem, allows an improved rate of greater tuberosity healing and short-term clinical outcomes in the elderly population.
The process of gene duplication followed by gene loss or evolution of new functions has been studied extensively, yet the role gene duplication plays in the function and evolution of fertilization ...proteins is underappreciated. Gene duplication is observed in many fertilization protein families including Izumo, DCST, ZP, and the TFP superfamily. Molecules mediating fertilization are part of larger gene families expressed in a variety of tissues, but gene duplication followed by structural modifications has often facilitated their cooption into a fertilization function. Repeat expansions of functional domains within a gene also provide opportunities for the evolution of novel fertilization protein. ZP proteins with domain repeat expansions are linked to species-specificity in fertilization and TFP proteins that experienced domain duplications were coopted into a novel sperm function. This review outlines the importance of gene duplications and repeat domain expansions in the evolution of fertilization proteins.
Numerous historical descriptions of the Lesser Egyptian jerboa,
, a small bipedal mammal with elongate hindlimbs, make special note of their extraordinary leaping ability. We observed jerboa ...locomotion in a laboratory setting and performed inverse dynamics analysis to understand how this small rodent generates such impressive leaps. We combined kinematic data from video, kinetic data from a force platform, and morphometric data from dissections to calculate the relative contributions of each hindlimb muscle and tendon to the total movement.
Jerboas leapt in excess of 10 times their hip height. At the maximum recorded leap height (not the maximum observed leap height), peak moments for metatarso-phalangeal, ankle, knee, and hip joints were 13.1, 58.4, 65.1, and 66.9 Nmm, respectively. Muscles acting at the ankle joint contributed the most work (mean 231.6 mJ / kg Body Mass) to produce the energy of vertical leaping, while muscles acting at the metatarso-phalangeal joint produced the most stress (peak 317.1 kPa). The plantaris, digital flexors, and gastrocnemius tendons encountered peak stresses of 25.6, 19.1, and 6.0 MPa, respectively, transmitting the forces of their corresponding muscles (peak force 3.3, 2.0, and 3.8 N, respectively). Notably, we found that the mean elastic energy recovered in the primary tendons of both hindlimbs comprised on average only 4.4% of the energy of the associated leap.
The limited use of tendon elastic energy storage in the jerboa parallels the morphologically similar heteromyid kangaroo rat,
. When compared to larger saltatory kangaroos and wallabies that sustain hopping over longer periods of time, these small saltatory rodents store and recover less elastic strain energy in their tendons. The large contribution of muscle work, rather than elastic strain energy, to the vertical leap suggests that the fitness benefit of rapid acceleration for predator avoidance dominated over the need to enhance locomotor economy in the evolutionary history of jerboas.
Disruption of the circadian rhythms is a frequent preclinical and clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, it has been suggested that shift work is a risk factor for Alzheimer's ...disease. Previously, we have reported association of intolerance to shift work (job-related exhaustion in shift workers) with a variant rs12506228A, which is situated close to melatonin receptor type 1A gene (MTNR1A) and linked to MTNR1A brain expression levels. Here, we studied association of that variant with clinical and neuropathological Alzheimer's disease in a Finnish whole-population cohort Vantaa 85+ (n = 512, participants over 85 years) and two follow-up cohorts. Rs12506228A was associated with clinical Alzheimer's disease (p = 0.000073). Analysis of post-mortem brain tissues showed association with higher amount of neurofibrillary tangles (p = 0.0039) and amyloid beta plaques (p = 0.0041). We then followed up the associations in two independent replication samples. Replication for the association with clinical Alzheimer's disease was detected in Kuopio 75+ (p = 0.012, n = 574), but not in the younger case-control sample (n = 651 + 669). While melatonin has been established in regulation of circadian rhythms, an independent role has been also shown for neuroprotection and specifically for anti-amyloidogenic effects. Indeed, in vitro, RNAi mediated silencing of MTNR1A increased the amyloidogenic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in neurons, whereas overexpression decreased it. Our findings suggest variation close to MTNR1A as a shared genetic risk factor for intolerance to shift work and Alzheimer's disease in old age. The genetic associations are likely to be mediated by differences in MTNR1A expression, which, in turn, modulate APP metabolism.
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