Indoor radon related with the geology in romanian urban agglomerations (cluj-napoca)

Radon is a natural radioactive gas that occurs due to the radioactive decay of radium (226Ra) present in rocks which, in turn, cames from the radioactive decay of uranium (238U), a primordial natural element. Along with factors such as porosity, permeability and humidity of the rocks and soils, pressure and temperature, geology setting plays one of the most important roles in the release of radon into the environment. Depending on the mineralogical compositions and characteristics of the bedrock from a certain area, a higher or lower concentration of radioactive minerals can be found in the rocks, which will directly influence the level of radon in the atmosphere, implicitly the concentration of radon measured in houses. In this study, a six months concentration of radon (222Rn) was assessed in 256houses from Cluj-Napoca area using CR-39 nuclear track detectors. Correlations between the indoor radon levels and the geological setting was further analyzed. The aim is to better understand the influence of geology on the concentration of radon levels in homes, in order to further identify other risk areas in terms of exposure to radon. Further investigation is needed on other factors influencing the accumulation of radon in high concentrations indoor, such as ventilation, occupation patterns or constructive and architectural features for typical houses. Therefore, the results of this work are considered to be important for indoor radon management in Romania

Community recommendations on cryoEM data archiving and validation

In January 2020, a workshop was held at EMBL-EBI (Hinxton, UK) to discuss data requirements for the deposition and validation of cryoEM structures, with a focus on single-particle analysis. The meeting was attended by 47 experts in data processing, model building and refinement, validation, and archiving of such structures. This report describes the workshop’s motivation and history, the topics discussed, and the resulting consensus recommendations. Some challenges for future methods-development efforts in this area are also highlighted, as is the implementation to date of some of the recommendations.The workshop was supported by funding to PDBe and EMDB by the Wellcome Trust (grant No. 104948/Z/14/Z awarded to GJK, SV and AP) and by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Travel was supported by the PDBe, EMDB, RCSB PDB, PDBj, BMRB and EMDR. RCSB PDB is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (grant No. DBI1832184); the US Department of Energy (grant No. DESC0019749); and the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (grant No. R01GM133198). PDBj is funded by JST-NBDC and BMRB by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (grant No. R24GM150793). EMDR was funded by the NIGMS of the NIH (grant No. R01GM079429).Peer reviewe

2′β-Fluoro-Tricyclo Nucleic Acids (2′F-tc-ANA): Thermal Duplex Stability, Structural Studies, and RNase H Activation

We describe the synthesis, thermal stability, structural and RNase H activation properties of 2′β-fluoro-tricyclo nucleic acids (2′F-tc-ANA). Three 2′F-tc-ANA nucleosides (T, 5MeC and A) were synthesized starting from a previously described fluorinated tricyclo sugar intermediate. NMR analysis and quantum mechanical calculations indicate that 2′F-tc-ANA nucleosides prefer sugar conformations in the East and South regions of the pseudorotational cycle. UV-melting experiments revealed that non-consecutive insertions of 2′F-tc-ANA units in DNA reduce the affinity to DNA and RNA complements. However, an oligonucleotide with five contiguous 2′F-tc-ANA-T insertions exhibits increased affinity to complementary RNA. Moreover, a fully modified 10-mer 2′F-tc-ANA oligonucleotide paired to both DNA (+1.6 °C/mod) and RNA (+2.5 °C/mod) with significantly higher affinity compared to corresponding unmodified DNA, and similar affinity compared to corresponding tc-DNA. In addition, CD spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the conformation of the 2′F-tc-ANA/RNA duplex is similar to that of a DNA/RNA duplex. Moreover, in some sequence contexts, 2′F-tc-ANA promotes RNase H-mediated cleavage of a complementary RNA strand. Taken together, 2′F-tc-ANA represents a nucleic acid analogue that offers the advantage of high RNA affinity while maintaining the ability to activate RNase H, and can be considered a prospective candidate for gene silencing applications

6’-Fluoro[4.3.0]bicyclo nucleic acid: synthesis, biophysical properties and molecular dynamics simulations

Here we report on the synthesis, biophysical properties and molecular modeling of oligonucleotides containing unsaturated 6’-fluoro[4.3.0]bicyclo nucleotides (6’F-bc4,3-DNA). Two 6’F-bc4,3 phosphoramidite building blocks (T and C) were synthesized starting from a previously described [3.3.0]bicyclic sugar. The conversion of this sugar to a gem-difluorinated tricyclic intermediate via difluorocarbene addition followed either by a NIS-mediated or Vorbrüggen nucleosidation yielded in both cases the β-tricyclic nucleoside as major anomer. Subsequent desilylation and cyclopropane ring opening of these tricyclic intermediates afforded the unsaturated 6’F-bc4,3 nucleosides. The successful incorporation of the corresponding phosphoramidite building blocks into oligonucleotides was achieved with tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidation agent. Thermal melting experiments of the modified duplexes disclosed a destabilizing effect versus DNA and RNA complements, but with a lesser degree of destabilization versus complementary DNA (ΔTm/mod = −1.5 to −3.7 °C). Molecular dynamics simulation on the nucleoside and oligonucleotide level revealed the preference of the C1’-exo/C2’-endo alignment of the furanose ring. Moreover, the simulation of duplexes with complementary RNA disclosed a DNA/RNA-type duplex structure suggesting that this modification might be a substrate for RNase H

Perception Towards Organic vs. Conventional Products in Romania

The aim of this study was to elicit answers referring to the consumer perception with respect to organic products. Factors that determine behavior were also considered: Gender, age, education, income, or social status. Analysis of data collected revealed that perception is the psycho-cognitive element that may determine the expression of behavior in relation to the organic production system. Furthermore, organic farming in Romania is a relatively recently formed market segment. The study was carried out by using a questionnaire developed specifically for this purpose, on a sample of 226 respondents. The data obtained from the survey were analyzed by employing the contingency coefficient and Pearson chi-square tests, using the SPSS software version 20. The perception of organic food is associated with its nutritional quality or sensory attributes (appearance, taste, flavor)

Numerical analysis of the impact of natural ventilation on the Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort in a classroom

Indoor air quality (IAQ) inside educational institutions is an important topic in the field of building and health research. School absenteeism and educational performance have been linked to poor air quality inside classrooms. A numerical simulation software has been used to test 5 different scenarios of natural ventilation during summer and winter. CO2 levels, air relative humidity, operative temperature and PMV were used as indoor air quality and thermal comfort indicators. Results have shown high CO2 and humidity levels when all windows are closed, and a variable improvement when different natural ventilations strategies are employed. A detailed procedure for the numerical simulation has been presented

NMR solution structure of tricyclo-DNA containing duplexes: insight into enhanced thermal stability and nuclease resistance

Tc-DNA is a conformationally constrained oligonucleotide analogue which shows significant increase in thermal stability when hybridized with RNA, DNA or tc-DNA. Remarkably, recent studies revealed that tc-DNA antisense oligonucleotides (AO) hold great promise for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy. To date, no high-resolution structural data is available for fully modified tc-DNA duplexes and little is known about the origins of their enhanced thermal stability. Here, we report the structures of a fully modified tc-DNA oligonucleotide paired with either complementary RNA, DNA or tc-DNA. All three investigated duplexes maintain a right-handed helical structure with Watson-Crick base pairing and overall geometry intermediate between A- and B-type, but closer to A-type structures. All sugars of the tc-DNA and RNA residues adopt a North conformation whereas the DNA deoxyribose are found in a South-East-North conformation equilibrium. The conformation of the tc-DNA strand in the three determined structures is nearly identical and despite the different nature and local geometry of the complementary strand, the overall structures of the examined duplexes are very similar suggesting that the tc-DNA strand dominates the duplex structure

Sound environment analysis for ADL detection from Living Lab to Medical Nursing

International audienceIn this paper we present the application of sound environment analysis algorithms previously developed for ADL recognition on real recordings made in a medical nursing home. Initially the sound algorithms were tested in laboratory, secondly in a living lab in Grenoble and lastly in a nursing home (EHPAD). Several days of audio signal have been recorded, but for the moment only 24h are labelized and used for evaluation. The proposed system is based on a combination of Wavelets Transform, Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) and Suport Vector Machines (SV