Proteins are essential molecular actors in every cellular process. From their synthesis to their degradation, they are subject to continuous quality control mechanisms to ensure that they fulfil ...cellular needs in proper and timely fashion.
Proteostasis is a key process allowing cells or organisms to maintain an appropriate but dynamic equilibrium of their proteome (the ensemble of all their proteins). It relies on multiple mechanisms that together control the level, fate and function of individual proteins, and ensure elimination of abnormal ones. The proteostasis network is essential for development and adaptation to environmental changes or challenges. Its dysfunctions can lead to accumulation of deleterious proteins or, conversely, to excessive degradation of beneficial ones, and are implicated in many diseases such as cancers, neurodegeneration, or developmental and aging disorders. Manipulating this network to control abundance of selected target proteins is therefore a strategy with enormous therapeutic or biotechnological potential.
The ProteoCure COST Action gathers more than 350 researchers and their teams (31 countries represented) from the academic, clinical, and industrial sectors, who share the conviction that our understanding of proteostasis is mature enough to develop novel and highly specific therapies based on selective tuning of protein levels. Towards this objective, the Action organizes community-building activities to foster synergies among its participants and reinforce training of the next generation of European researchers. Its ambition is to function as a knowledge-based network and a creative exchange hub on normal and pathologic proteostasis, focusing on developing innovative tools modulating the level of specific protein(s).
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•The ProteoCure COST Action gathers European researchers.•More than 350 academic, clinician, and company laboratories join forces.•The focus is in novel therapies manipulating the proteolytic machinery.•COST funds allow organisation of a wide range of networking activities.•ProteoCure's main target: proteostasis malfunctions contributing to human diseases.
In this Guest Editorial the recently funded COST Action: CA18112 – Mechanochemistry for Sustainable Industry (MechSustInd) is introduced to the scientific community.
Antimicrobial touch surfaces have been introduced in healthcare settings with the aim of supporting existing hygiene procedures, and to help combat the increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance. ...However, concerns have been raised over the potential selection pressure exerted by such surfaces, which may drive the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance. This review highlights studies that indicate risks associated with resistance on antimicrobial surfaces by different processes, including evolution by de-novo mutation and horizontal gene transfer, and species sorting of inherently resistant bacteria dispersed on to antimicrobial surfaces. The review focuses on antimicrobial surfaces made of copper, silver and antimicrobial peptides because of the practical application of copper and silver, and the promising characteristics of antimicrobial peptides. The available data point to a potential for resistance selection and a subsequent increase in resistant strains via cross-resistance and co-resistance conferred by metal and antibiotic resistance traits. However, translational studies describing the development of resistance to antimicrobial touch surfaces in healthcare-related environments are rare, and will be needed to assess whether and how antimicrobial surfaces lead to resistance selection in these settings. Such studies will need to consider numerous variables, including the antimicrobial concentrations present in coatings, the occurrence of biofilms on surfaces, and the humidity relevant to dry-surface environments. On-site tests on the efficacy of antimicrobial coatings should routinely evaluate the risk of selection associated with their use.
This article reviews the European Network for Combining Language Learning with Crowdsourcing Techniques (enetCollect), an extensive network project created to foster research and innovation (R&I) on ...the combination of crowdsourcing and language learning. Accordingly, we explain how it began, introduce its overall logic and organization, and discuss its achievements in terms of both (1) creating a new R&I community through a concluded large network project, and (2) fostering R&I on a high-potential and mostly unexplored subject.
We also discuss the challenges involved and lessons learned, whether in orchestrating and leading a new R&I community or the challenges we faced and generally observed in the efforts of enetCollect members, as they explored the many facets of such a versatile enterprise.
This article reviews the European Network for Combining Language Learning with Crowdsourcing Techniques (enetCollect), an extensive network project created to foster research and innovation (R&I) on ...the combination of crowdsourcing and language learning. Accordingly, we explain how it began, introduce its overall logic and organization, and discuss its achievements in terms of both (1) creating a new R&I community through a concluded large network project, and (2) fostering R&I on a high-potential and mostly unexplored subject. We also discuss the challenges involved and lessons learned, whether in orchestrating and leading a new R&I community or the challenges we faced and generally observed in the efforts of enetCollect members, as they explored the many facets of such a versatile enterprise.
Data-driven AI is rapidly gaining importance. In the context of AI planning, a constraint programming formulation for learning action models in a data-driven fashion is proposed. Data comprises plan ...observations, which are automatically transformed into a set of planning constraints which need to be satisfied. The formulation captures the essence of the action model and unifies functionalities that are individually supported by other learning approaches, such as costs, noise/uncertainty on actions, information on intermediate state observations and mutex reasoning.
Reliability is a key concern in data-driven learning, but existing approaches usually learn action models that can be imprecise, where imprecision here is an error indicator of learning something incorrect. On the contrary, the proposed approach guarantees reliability in terms of perfect precision by using constraint propagation. This means that what is learned is 100% correct (i.e., error-free), not only for the initial observations, but also for future observations. To our knowledge, this is a novelty in action model learning literature. Although perfect precision might potentially limit the amount of learned information, the exhaustive experiments over 20 planning domains show that such amount is comparable, and even better, to ARMS and FAMA, two state-of-the-art benchmarks in action model learning.
•Contribute with empirical data revealing the profile of inter- and transdisciplinary researchers in the scientific community.•Explain how thinking outside the disciplinary box can challenge identity ...and contribute to the future of scientific inquiry.•Question inter- and transdisciplinary academic training.•Expose the challenges associated with the academic progression based on Inter- and transdisciplinary research.
We witness a persistent tension between established ways of knowledge production through disciplines, and the urgent need to widen and change, both the production of knowledge and its organization, not least, in order to be able to understand and address the future and its challenges. Witnessing a growing call for inter- and transdisciplinarity (ITD), we set our goal to learn more about scholars who engage in this kind of research by asking these questions: What characterizes inter- and transdisciplinary researchers (ITDRs)? To what extent do these characteristics help ITDRs deal with the challenges of an academic career path? We address both questions by comparing the findings from the relevant literature and semi-structured interviews with ITDRs at different stages in their careers. Our results bring the ITDR personality a step further in taking a form. ITDR personalities can be characterized by a particular mix of motivations, attitudes, skills, and behaviors. However, the academic environment and its career paths do not seem prepared and adapted for such ITDR personalities. Furthermore and in contrast to the literature, the T-shaped training (first, disciplinary depth and then, ITDR) is considered one possible career path, with the other one being a specialization in facilitating knowledge integration and in developing theories, methods, and tools for ITD. Our analysis concludes by exploring the future of ITD if formal training and learning would be available and if the contextual conditions would be more conducive to undertaking this type of research.
Unexpected releases of hazardous airborne materials may happen in various circumstances, more frequently in accidental situations, less usually due to malicious activities. In all cases, the risk for ...the population and the rescue team is real and must be evaluated in order to take appropriate protection measures. Numerical models are more and more used in emergency response tools for predicting the atmospheric dispersion of pollutants and estimating impacted areas. Still, flow and dispersion modelling in a built-up environment may be very challenging given the complex geometry and meteorological conditions. Here, we present and evaluate a modelling approach that is a compromise between accuracy and timeliness of the computations. It is based on a 3D Lagrangian Particle Dispersion model driven by 3D flow and turbulence input provided by either a diagnostic mass-consistent model or a model solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. This modelling system has been validated on a panel of experimental test cases from the Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ES1006 in both idealized and realistic urban mock-ups, wind tunnel and field trials, continuous and puffs releases. The sensitivity of the model to the meteorological input data is assessed. The results are discussed comparing predicted concentrations to measurements. The performances of the modelling system are evaluated through a statistical analysis. They were found to depend on the type of test case, type of release and location of the source in the built-up domain. Results show that the model is compliant with the validation criteria, established in literature for the reference metrics, in the large majority of the test cases. The modelling system proved to be robust enough to be used in the context of emergency response, when fast but still reliable results are needed.
We present and evaluate a modelling approach that is a compromise between accuracy and timeliness of the computations for simulating unexpected releases in built environments. (P)MSS, a 3D Lagrangian Particle Dispersion model driven by 3D flow and turbulence input, is applied. The modelling system is validated on a panel of experimental test-cases from the Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ES1006 in both idealized and realistic urban mock-ups, wind tunnel and field trials, continuous and puffs releases. Results show that the model is compliant with the validation criteria in the large majority of the test-cases. The modelling system provides reliable results and it is prone to quickly inform about the distribution of possibly noxious materials in built-up populated areas. Display omitted
•Unexpected releases of hazardous materials in the atmosphere need to be simulated.•Releases of hazardous materials may have complex patterns in built-up areas.•A timely response is fundamental to handle the protection measures.•Lagrangian Particle Models provide good accuracy and timeliness of computation.•Model validation on observed data is essential to assess the simulation performance.
High blood pressure is a clearly established modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular and renal disease. Although most of its adverse effects develop in adulthood, it has become clear that high BP ...is a lifelong problem that can manifest early in life. While few would dispute the importance of taking effective steps to identify and manage this condition in middle-aged and elderly individuals, relatively little attention has been paid to the problem of high BP in children and adolescents.Therefore, the development of actions focused on early childhood, childhood and adolescence and the investigation of the underlying causes of this epidemic are of utmost importance. There is a pressing need for comprehensive pan-European action to increase the knowledge on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure in children and adolescents, the current scarcity of which impedes the development of consensus across different research fields and hinders efforts to introduce changes in clinical practice. There are some aspects that demand urgent action: the definition of hypertension, the prevalence of high BP in Europe, accurate measurement for early identification, the assessment of hypertension-mediated organ damage and the development and implementation of prevention strategies. In order to provide answers to all of these unanswered questions and challenges, a multidisciplinary network was established, maintained and funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Association. COST is a funding organization for the creation of research networks known as COST Actions. In this case, the network will promote coordinated and collaborative activities on personalized preventive measures for children and adolescents across Europe. Resumen: La hipertensión arterial es un factor de riesgo cardiovascular y renal modificable. Aunque la mayoría de los resultados adversos ocurren en la edad adulta, la hipertensión arterial puede estar presente en etapas tempranas de la vida. Mientras pocos cuestionan la importancia de implementar medidas para identificar y manejar esta afección en personas adultas, se ha prestado relativamente poca atención al problema de la hipertensión arterial en niños y adolescentes.Conocer los orígenes de la hipertensión arterial es un tema que cada vez está más presente en los foros de debate. En este sentido, es absoluta la necesidad de una acción paneuropea con el fin de profundizar en los conocimientos sobre la prevención, el diagnóstico y el tratamiento de la hipertensión arterial en niños y adolescentes. En particular, existen algunas áreas urgentes de intervención tales como la definición de hipertensión, su prevalencia en Europa, la medición precisa para la identificación temprana de valores anormales, la evaluación del daño orgánico mediado por la hipertensión y cómo llevar a cabo estrategias de prevención. Con el fin de proporcionar respuestas a todas estas preguntas, la Comisión Europea ha aprobado y financiado una Asociación de Cooperación Europea en Ciencia y Tecnología (COST). La COST financia la creación de redes de investigación, que en nuestro caso promoverán actividades coordinadas y colaborativas sobre los problemas que presenta la hipertensión arterial en niños y adolescentes.
The assessment of the thermal environment is one of the main issues in bioclimatic research, and more than 100 simple bioclimaticindices have thus far been developed to facilitate it. However, most ...of these indices have proved to be of limited applicability,and do not portray the actual impacts of thermal conditions on human beings. Indices derived from human heatbalancemodels (one- or two-node) have been found to offer a better representation of the environmental impact in questionthan do simple ones. Indeed, the new generation of multi-node models for human heat balance do allow full account to betaken of heat transfer and exchange, both within the human body and between the body surface and the surrounding airlayer. In this paper, it is essential background information regarding the newly-developed Universal Thermal Climate IndexUTCI that is presented, this in fact deriving from the Fiala multi-node model of human heatbalance. The UTCI is definedas the air temperature (Ta) of the reference condition causing the same model response as actual conditions. UTCI wasdeveloped in 2009 by virtue of international co-operation between leading experts in the areas of human thermophysiology,physiological modelling, meteorology and climatology. The necessary research for this had been conducted within theframework of a special commission of the International Society of Biometeorology (ISB) and European COST Action 730.
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