Single cell analysis reveals the involvement of the long non-coding RNA Pvt1 in the modulation of muscle atrophy and mitochondrial network

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as important players in the regulation of several aspects of cellular biology. For a better comprehension of their function, it is fundamental to determine their tissue or cell specificity and to identify their subcellular localization. In fact, the activity of lncRNAs may vary according to cell and tissue specificity and subcellular compartmentalization. Myofibers are the smallest complete contractile system of skeletal muscle influencing its contraction velocity and metabolism. How lncRNAs are expressed in different myofibers, participate in metabolism regulation and muscle atrophy or how they are compartmentalized within a single myofiber is still unknown. We compiled a comprehensive catalog of lncRNAs expressed in skeletal muscle, associating the fiber-type specificity and subcellular location to each of them, and demonstrating that many lncRNAs can be involved in the biological processes de-regulated during muscle atrophy. We demonstrated that the lncRNA Pvt1, activated early during muscle atrophy, impacts mitochondrial respiration and morphology and affects mito/autophagy, apoptosis and myofiber size in vivo. This work corroborates the importance of lncRNAs in the regulation of metabolism and neuromuscular pathologies and offers a valuable resource to study the metabolism in single cells characterized by pronounced plasticity

Energy Recovery from Low Temperature Heat Produced During Aerobic Biological Treatment

Abstract The possibility of recovering the heat ejected with the exhaust air arising from the aerobic conversion of organic waste for feeding a micro organic Rankine cycle (ORC) was investigated. This heat was upgraded by the combustion of a given amount of solid recovered fuel (SRF). The exhaust air rate ejected by the aerobic process ranged from 40 to 95 kg/day per each tonne/day of waste processed and the temperature ranged, respectively, from 340 K to 330 K. Calculations refer to a typical aerobic treatment facility able to process 20,000 tonnes of organic waste per year. Maximum efficiency in the utilization of the heat produced by the combustion of SRF, ranging from 14% to 22%, was achieved for ORC operating at a compression ratio from 1.5 to 2.5 and exhaust air temperatures from about 340 to 350 K. Operating the ORC with compression ratios higher than 3.5 and exhaust air temperatures of about 510 K, the power output ranged from about 9 to 12 kW. In these conditions, for the size of the facility investigated, the efficiency of the utilization of the heat generated by the combustion of SRF was from 4% to 7% higher than the ORC thermodynamic efficiency

Growth Effects of Remittance: A Case of Turkey Diaspora

In the age of globalization, remittances are an essential part of human life. This analysis's key objective is to examine the effect of remittances in developing economies like Turkey on economic development. The 1980 to 2020 time-series data used in this analysis which use numerous time series estimating techniques. Sending data is given by the Banks of Turkey and in a million dollars. Simultaneously, economic development or GDP data are provided by world economic indicator, the World Bank, and the new US dollar. The findings indicated that there are both short-term and long-term ties between transactions and economic development in Turkey. Therefore, results indicate that Turkey's transition flows positively affect Turkey's person and Turkey's macroeconomic scenario. The government should implement policies that allow Turkey in overseas countries to submit transmissions through official channels

A pre/post analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychosocial work environment and recovery among healthcare workers in a large university hospital in Sweden

Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workload, mental health, and well-being of healthcare workers, and particularly those on the front-line, has received considerable attention. Design and methods: We surveyed hospital employees about their working environment during the pandemic and identified departments which were negatively affected in comparison to the pre-pandemic situation, as well as factors contributing to this. Setting and participants We surveyed all hospital employees at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden in September 2020 and compared results across departments and to the results of a large employee survey from October 2019. Results: The overall impact of the pandemic on perceived working conditions and possibility for recovery differed among departments. During the pandemic, healthcare workers working with COVID-19 patients reported poorer working environments than other employees. Factors significantly related to perception of work environment and recovery during the pandemic included worries of being infected, departmental transfer, and having insufficient access to personal protective equipment. Men reported better working conditions than women in all, but one item and higher age was related to better perceived working environment. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the pandemic differentially affects hospital departments and underscores the multifactorial nature of this topic. Contributing factors to poor perceived working environment could be addressed at times of high workload, such as during the pandemic, including providing appropriate support to managers, ensuring possibility for recovery during working hours, and acknowledging worries about infection. Young healthcare workers and staff who are relocated due to the pandemic warrant special attention

Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of a pale-green durum wheat mutant shows variations in photosystem components and metabolic deficiencies under drought stress

Background: Leaf pigment content is an important trait involved in environmental interactions. In order to determine its impact on drought tolerance in wheat, we characterized a pale-green durum wheat mutant (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum) under contrasting water availability conditions. Results: The pale-green mutant was investigated by comparing pigment content and gene/protein expression profiles to wild-type plants at anthesis. Under well-watered (control) conditions the mutant had lower levels of chlorophylls and carotenoids, but higher levels of xanthophyll de-epoxidation compared to wild-type. Transcriptomic analysis under control conditions showed that defense genes (encoding e.g. pathogenesis-related proteins, peroxidases and chitinases) were upregulated in the mutant, suggesting the presence of mild oxidative stress that was compensated without altering the net rate of photosynthesis. Transcriptomic analysis under terminal water stress conditions, revealed the modulation of antioxidant enzymes, photosystem components, and enzymes representing carbohydrate metabolism and the tricarboxylic acid cycle, indicating that the mutant was exposed to greater oxidative stress than the wild-type plants, but had a limited capacity to respond. We also compared the two genotypes under irrigated and rain-fed field conditions over three years, finding that the greater oxidative stress and corresponding molecular changes in the pale-green mutant were associated to a yield reduction. Conclusions: This study provides insight on the effect of pigment content in the molecular response to drought. Identified genes differentially expressed under terminal water stress may be valuable for further studies addressing drought resistance in wheat.A. Peremarti is supported by the AGROTECNIO Foundation. The support of the Efficient Use of Water Program of IRTA is acknowledged. This study was partially funded by MICINN (Spain) under projects AGL2009- 11187, AGL2012-37217 and RTA2009-00085-00, and by MIUR (Italy) under the project ISCOCEM. AP, DV, CR authors are part of the Centre CONSOLIDER INGENIO 2010 on Agrigenomics funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science

Independent mechanisms for ventriloquism and multisensory integration as revealed by theta-burst stimulation

Abstract The visual and auditory systems often concur to create a unified perceptual experience and to determine the localization of objects in the external world. Co-occurring auditory and visual stimuli in spatial coincidence are known to enhance performance of auditory localization due to the integration of stimuli from different sensory channels (i.e. multisensory integration). However, auditory localization of audiovisual stimuli presented at spatial disparity might also induce a mislocalization of the sound towards the visual stimulus (i.e. ventriloquism effect). Using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation we tested the role of right temporoparietal (rTPC), right occipital (rOC) and right posterior parietal (rPPC) cortex in an auditory localization task in which indices of ventriloquism and multisensory integration were computed. We found that suppression of rTPC excitability by means of continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) reduced multisensory integration. No similar effect was found for cTBS over rOC. Moreover, inhibition of rOC, but not of rTPC, suppressed the visual bias in the contralateral hemifield. In contrast, cTBS over rPPC did not produce any modulation of ventriloquism or integrative effects. The double dissociation found in the present study suggests that ventriloquism and audiovisual multisensory integration are functionally independent phenomena and may be underpinned by partially different neural circuits

Weisfeiler--Lehman goes Dynamic: An Analysis of the Expressive Power of Graph Neural Networks for Attributed and Dynamic Graphs

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are a large class of relational models for graph processing. Recent theoretical studies on the expressive power of GNNs have focused on two issues. On the one hand, it has been proven that GNNs are as powerful as the Weisfeiler-Lehman test (1-WL) in their ability to distinguish graphs. Moreover, it has been shown that the equivalence enforced by 1-WL equals unfolding equivalence. On the other hand, GNNs turned out to be universal approximators on graphs modulo the constraints enforced by 1-WL/unfolding equivalence. However, these results only apply to Static Undirected Homogeneous Graphs with node attributes. In contrast, real-life applications often involve a variety of graph properties, such as, e.g., dynamics or node and edge attributes. In this paper, we conduct a theoretical analysis of the expressive power of GNNs for these two graph types that are particularly of interest. Dynamic graphs are widely used in modern applications, and its theoretical analysis requires new approaches. The attributed type acts as a standard form for all graph types since it has been shown that all graph types can be transformed without loss to Static Undirected Homogeneous Graphs with attributes on nodes and edges (SAUHG). The study considers generic GNN models and proposes appropriate 1-WL tests for those domains. Then, the results on the expressive power of GNNs are extended by proving that GNNs have the same capability as the 1-WL test in distinguishing dynamic and attributed graphs, the 1-WL equivalence equals unfolding equivalence and that GNNs are universal approximators modulo 1-WL/unfolding equivalence. Moreover, the proof of the approximation capability holds for SAUHGs, which include most of those used in practical applications, and it is constructive in nature allowing to deduce hints on the architecture of GNNs that can achieve the desired accuracy

Orbetello, a fortress on the water. A research for the valorization of the city and its bastioned front

[EN] Orbetello is located in the Southern Tuscany, at the centre of a lagoon. Founded by the Etruscans, its strategic position it has been disputed for centuries by the major European powers until 1559 when it became the capital of the small Spanish State of Presidios. From that moment, the urban fortifications were continuously subjected to modifications and updates, until the final layout in the 17th century. The current state of general neglect and the recent urban expansion of the city have greatly compromised the integrity of these fortifications. This paper intends to report the results of a research that, starting from an in-deep historical analysis, aims to define some guidelines for the recovery of the city walls and their historical value in a wider project of urban regeneration.Cartei, A.; Bevilacqua, MG.; Calvani, C.; Pierini, R.; Taddei, D. (2015). Orbetello, a fortress on the water. A research for the valorization of the city and its bastioned front. En Defensive architecture of the mediterranean: XV to XVIII centuries. Vol. I. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 49-56. https://doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2015.2015.1722OCS495