The mammalian high mobility group protein AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) is a chromosomal architectural transcription factor involved in cell transformation and oncogenesis. It consists of three positively ...charged "AT-hooks" and a negatively charged C-terminus. Sequence analyses, circular dichroism experiments, and gel-filtration studies showed that HMGA2, in the native state, does not have a defined secondary or tertiary structure. Surprisingly, using combined approaches of 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) chemical cross-linking, analytical ultracentrifugation, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and mass spectrometry, we discovered that HMGA2 is capable of self-associating into homodimers in aqueous buffer solution. Our results showed that electrostatic interactions between the positively charged "AT-hooks" and the negatively charged C-terminus greatly contribute to the homodimer formation.
Evidence indirectly implicates the amygdala as the primary processor of emotional information used by cortex to drive appropriate behavioral responses to stimuli. Taste provides an ideal system with ...which to test this hypothesis directly, as neurons in both basolateral amygdala (BLA) and gustatory cortex (GC)-anatomically interconnected nodes of the gustatory system-code the emotional valence of taste stimuli (i.e., palatability), in firing rate responses that progress similarly through "epochs." The fact that palatability-related firing appears one epoch earlier in BLA than GC is broadly consistent with the hypothesis that such information may propagate from the former to the latter. Here, we provide evidence supporting this hypothesis, assaying taste responses in small GC single-neuron ensembles before, during, and after temporarily inactivating BLA in awake rats. BLA inactivation (BLAx) changed responses in 98% of taste-responsive GC neurons, altering the entirety of every taste response in many neurons. Most changes involved reductions in firing rate, but regardless of the direction of change, the effect of BLAx was epoch-specific: while firing rates were changed, the taste specificity of responses remained stable; information about taste palatability, however, which normally resides in the "Late" epoch, was reduced in magnitude across the entire GC sample and outright eliminated in most neurons. Only in the specific minority of neurons for which BLAx enhanced responses did palatability specificity survive undiminished. Our data therefore provide direct evidence that BLA is a necessary component of GC gustatory processing, and that cortical palatability processing in particular is, in part, a function of BLA activity.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the main causes of acute viral hepatitis of enteric transmission. HEV has been detected in environmental samples in several countries from Europe and Asia, ...constituting a risk factor for waterborne infection. In Colombia, HEV has been identified in samples obtained from patients as well as from swine, but no environmental studies have been carried out. To determine if HEV is present in environmental waters, samples from the main source of drinking water plant and of wastewater system of eight municipalities and two villages of Antioquia state (North West Colombia), were collected between December 2012 and April 2014. The HEV genome was detected by RT-PCR in 23.3% (7/30) of the samples from the main source of drinking water plants and in 16.7% (5/30) from sewage. Viral concentrates obtained from three positive sewage samples were used to inoculate HepG2 cell cultures that were followed for one month; however, the viral genome was not detected in any cell culture. This study demonstrates the circulation of HEV in both source of drinking water plants and wastewater in Antioquia state, Colombia. The presence of HEV in environmental waters could be a risk for waterborne transmission in this population. The findings of the present study, together with the evidence of HEV circulation in human and swine in Colombia, should be consider by public health authorities for the development of surveillance programs and the inclusion of HEV infection diagnosis in the guidelines of viral hepatitis in the country. This is the first report of HEV in environmental samples in Colombia and the second one in Latin America.
Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are the fastest growing chronic complication of diabetes mellitus, with more than 400 million people diagnosed globally, and the condition is responsible for lower ...extremity amputation in 85% of people affected, leading to high-cost hospital care and increased mortality risk. Neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease trigger deformities or trauma, and aggravating factors such as infection and edema are the etiological factors for the development of DFUs. DFUs require identifying the etiology and assessing the co-morbidities to provide the correct therapeutic approach, essential to reducing lower-extremity amputation risk. This review focuses on the current treatment strategies for DFUs with a special emphasis on tissue engineering techniques and regenerative medicine that collectively target all components of chronic wound pathology.
▶ This is the most comprehensive farm-level analysis of LUCC for southern Chile. ▶ The dominant LUCC process in extent and concentration was forest degradation. ▶ Subsistence farms had the largest ...influence on the extent of LUCC processes. ▶ This typology is a basis to include the diversity of farms in regional LUCC research.
In rural areas, land use and cover change is often the cumulative result of individual farmer decisions. The goal was to construct a spatial typology of farming systems and assess their influence on the extent and spatial distribution of deforestation, forest re-growth, and agriculture expansion in southern Chile between 1999 and 2007. We present a farm typology and its spatial rendering through the combination of farm-cadastral information and land cover and change data. Using multivariate statistical methods, four types were identified. Type I (1565 subsistence farms) and type II farms (1016 multifunctional farms) comprised 94% of the total farms under study. Type III (28 forest farms) and type IV farms (137 specialized dairy farms) represented the remaining 6%, but accounted for 35% of the deforested area. Using Kernel density estimation, it was determined that areas of high deforestation density were related to high concentrations of type I and IV farms, whereas agriculture expansion was related to types I and II. Overall, subsistence farms had the largest influence on the landscape in terms of the spatial extent and concentration of LUCC processes. These results are relevant for planning, especially in countries where rural landscapes are still dominated by farming activities.
Numerical simulations are carried out on the flow over a realistic generic car geometry, the DrivAer-fastback car model. Pure large eddy simulations (LES) and wall-modeled large eddy simulations ...(WMLES) are used and compared to numerical and experimental results to assess the validity of these approaches when solving the flow field around complex automotive geometries. Results show a 70% CPU time reduction when using the wall model. Drag coefficient results show the influence of the wall model on coarser meshes is positive, reducing the difference on those obtained using finer meshes. Pressure profiles exhibit mixed results. The wall model used works well in adverse pressure gradients and smooth geometry changes. Results worsen in sections where the flow detaches and experiences large pressure drops. Flow structures and unsteady effects around the car are also analyzed, obtaining several characteristic frequencies for the different flow structures encountered. It should be noted that the present investigation shows how WMLES helps to reduce the computing cost and response vs pure LES, while providing high-quality unsteady data, although computational cost remains high. Results show potential in the introduction of this tool as a competitive simulation strategy for complex geometries.
•Large eddy simulations (LES) and wall modelled large eddy simulations (WMLES) were performed on the DrivAer realistic car model.•Important reduction on CPU requirements was observed when using the WMLES strategy.•Very unsteady behaviour is found to exist in the flow around the car model.•Most important flow structures include vortices forming around the mirrors, jetting vortices from the wheels and other small scale structures in the windshield and rear window area.
Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are very important diabetes-related lesions that can lead to serious physical consequences like amputations of limbs and equally severe social, psychological, and economic ...outcomes. It is reported that up to 25% of patients with diabetes develop a DFU in their lifetime, and more than half of them become infected. Therefore, it is essential to manage infection and ulcer recovery to prevent negatives outcomes. The available information plays a significant role in keeping both physicians and patients aware of the emerging therapies against DFUs. The purpose of this review is to compile the currently available approaches in the managing and treatment of DFUs, including molecular and regenerative medicine, antimicrobial and energy-based therapies, and the use of plant extracts, antimicrobial peptides, growth factors, ozone, devices, and nano-medicine, to offer an overview of the assessment of this condition.
Psychological stress can impact on visceral function with pathological consequences, although the mechanisms underlying this are poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that social stress produces ...marked changes in bladder structure and function. Male rats were subjected to repeated (7 days) social defeat stress using the resident-intruder model. Measurement of the voiding pattern indicated that social stress produced urinary retention. Consistent with this, bladder size was increased in rats exposed to social stress. Moreover, this was negatively correlated to the latency to assume a subordinate posture, implying an association between passive behavior and bladder dysfunction. In vivo cystometry revealed distinct changes in urodynamic function in rats exposed to social stress, including increased bladder capacity, micturition volume, intermicturition interval, and the presence of non-micturition-related contractions, resembling overactive bladder. In contrast to social stress, repeated restraint (7 days) did not affect voiding, bladder weight, or urodynamics. The stress-related neuropeptide corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is present in spinal projections of Barrington's nucleus that regulate the micturition reflex and has an inhibitory influence in this pathway. Social stress, but not restraint, increased the number of CRF-immunoreactive neurons in Barrington's nucleus. Additionally, social stress increased CRF mRNA in Barrington's nucleus. Together, the results imply that social stress-induced CRF upregulation in Barrington's nucleus neurons results in urinary retention and, eventually, bladder dysfunction, perhaps as a visceral component of a behavioral coping response. This mechanism may underlie dysfunctional voiding in children and/or contribute to the development of stress-induced bladder disorders in adulthood.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the development of bibliographic tools increased: journals, catalogs, and classifications, which helped shape a world scientific order and the global ...colonialism that legitimized the canon of European science. Under this idea, the scientific production of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) registered in the
Catalog of Scientific Papers of the Royal Society of London
(CSP-RSL), during the nineteenth century, is reviewed. It seeks to document, through bibliographical sources, the historical process used to expand the European imperial science in America. A geohistoriometric proposal was used to develop geographic indicators of origin, trajectories, and training of the authors who wrote the LAC science. We also cross the information of these indicators of spatialization of human resources with historical scientometric measures of the scientific output of authors, languages, and journals. There is a proportion of just over two-thirds of authors, institutions, languages, and journals that are external to the countries of the LAC region. These geographic and scientometric indicators serve to document that both human and non-human actors have functioned as mechanisms of scientific communication to reproduce the ways of expanding imperial science to America. As a suggestion, we propose to continue the development of historical atlas of science in LAC.
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