Understanding the importance of light for Vitamin E accumulation in tomato fruits

Due to the high consumption and biochemical composition, tomato fruitis an important source of antioxidant compounds for human diet, such as carotenoids, ascorbic acid and tocopherols (vitamin E, VTE). Besides its nutritional value, tocopherols are essential part of the photosynthetic machinery, affecting plant adaptability to light conditions and tomato fruit productivity. Tocopherols are synthesized in the plastids and light has a strong role in regulating chloroplast maintenance and activity; therefore, this environmental cue is expected to affect the accumulation of plastid-derived nutraceutical compounds, as already demonstrated for carotenoids. To understand the interplay between light and VTE accumulation, we investigated whether light regulates VTE biosynthesis. First, we found that tocopherol levels are altered in fruits from mutants impaired in light perception, as well as in fruits ripened under different light conditions. Moreover, the transcript profile of key genes of VTE biosynthesis, such as GGDR, VTE2, VTE3, VTE5 and VTE6, suggested that the light influence on fruit tocopherol content relies on the transcriptional regulation of these genes. As PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORS (PIFs) and HYPOCOTYL ELONGATED 5 (HY5) are the main transcription factors (TFs) involved in light-mediated signaling, we performed a de novo search for cis-motifs on promoter regions of VTE biosynthetic genes. Motifs recognized by both TFs were found in all the promoters analyzed. Thus, we investigated the TF-promoter interactions by transactivation assays and ChIP-qPCR analysis. Overall, our results suggest that TFs involved in light-signaling transduction regulate VTE biosynthesis by direct interaction with the promoters of VTE biosynthetic enzyme- encoding genes

In vivo

The desire to reduce healthcare costs while improving outcomes drives minimally invasive methods to replacing traditional surgical procedures. Various treatments that would previously have needed open-type surgeries can be carried out using endoscopes, catheters, and needles. These advantages have become especially obvious for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with in vivo gel injectable nanomaterials. In this review, the state of the art in this rapidly developing field is given. This is done by contrasting functional evaluation in vitro with in vivo followed by describing (1) synthetic materials, (2) the body's own polymers, (3) polymers in nature, (4) self-assembled peptides, and (5) new innovations and combinations. With increased understanding of the relationship between material characteristics and the outcome in vivo more rational design criteria are emerging.</p

Significados e sentidos de saúde socializados por artefatos culturais: leituras das imagens de advertência nos maços de cigarro Senses and meanings of health socialized by cultural devices: readings of the warning images on cigarettes packs

Neste artigo, analisamos imagens veiculadas nas embalagens de cigarros, que fazem parte das estratégias do Ministério da Saúde no combate ao tabagismo e disponibilizadas pelo Instituto Nacional de Câncer. Tais imagens trazem o discurso oficial de especialistas e constroem narrativas, entendidas como verdades, alicerçadas no conhecimento científico. Apoiamo-nos no referencial teórico dos estudos culturais, pois suas reflexões ajudam a compreender que as subjetividades são social e culturalmente construídas por vários discursos e artefatos. Não negamos o que está representado, mas estabelecemos diálogos com outras possibilidades de leituras que podem estar presentes nestes artefatos. Entendemos essas imagens como pedagogias culturais - que se comportam como textos a serem lidos, construindo representações, as quais podem ser assumidas como efeitos de verdade - e que atribuem ao sujeito a necessidade de controlar constantemente suas ações. Ao reforçar a biomedicina, as instituições de saúde reproduzem uma visão unidimensional e desconsideram a complexidade desse problema. Entendemos que as pedagogias culturais fazem parte de um território de lutas, onde sentidos e significados podem ser reelaborados, produzindo identidades híbridas, que constroem suas matrizes identitárias nesse emaranhado de relações de poder.<br>This article analyzes the images publicized on cigarettes packs that are part of the strategies from the Ministry of Health to combat the tabagism and available from the Cancer National Institute. These images bring the official speech of specialists and build narratives, understood such as truths, based on scientific knowledge. We have supported our thesis on theoretical referential of Cultural Studies, since its reflections help to understand that the subjectiveness is social and culturally built by different speeches and devices. We do not deny what is represented, but we establish dialogues with other possibilities of readings that can be present at these devices.We understand the propagated images as cultural pedagogies that behave as texts to be read, building up representations that can be assumed as true effect, and attributes to the citizen the necessity of constant control of its action. Reassuring the biomedicine and the health institutions, an onedimensional vision is propagated disregarding the complexity of this problem. We understand that the cultural pedagogies are part of competition territories, where the directions and meanings can be re-prepared producing hybrid identities that build up its own identity origins over this tangle of power relations