Continental comparisons of the interaction between climate and the herbivorous mite, Floracarus perrepae (Acari : Eriophyidae)

The Old World climbing fern, Lygodium microphyllum, is an invasive weed in the Florida Everglades and the leaf roll galling mite, Floracarus perrepae, is a proposed biological control agent. Field studies were conducted for one to two years at sites in its native range in Australia, New Caledonia, and India to evaluate the effect of climate on F perrepae. Monthly counts of the proportion of L. microphyllum subpinnae (leaflets) with leaf roll galls were used to measure the incidence of damage caused by F perrepae. Between sites the most significant weather variable was rainfall 14 to 28 days prior to sampling, with higher levels having a depressive effect on the incidence of leaf rolls. Within sites the mean maximum temperature was the only significant weather variable, showing a decrease in the incidence of leaf rolls above 27 degrees C, and it was predicted that no leaf rolls would form above 35 degrees C. The weather parameters in Homestead, Florida for 2002 were within the range of those evaluated in the eight native range field sites. Thus, we do not predict that climate will prevent the establishment of this biological control agent for L. microphyllum in southern Florida

Animal Cell Diseases: A Scientometric Mapping of Highly Cited papers

The published article receives the number of Citations are measure of its impact in the scientific community. This study identifies the Highly cited articles on Animal Cell Diseases. Publications are identified using the Web of Science by Clarivate Analytics. A search was performed using “Animal Cell Diseases” with topic field. The 526 top-cited articles were selected, analyzed and Visualized. The most cited manuscripts appeared 208 journals, 3340 authors, 729 Institutions from 39 Countries. The citation counts for these articles ranged from 500-6157. 95 % of articles are were published between 1992-2012 and highest number of citations registered between 2000-2008. The most cited articles are: The most cited one is “Apel K, Hirt H Reactive oxygen species: Metabolism, oxidative stress, and signal transduction ANNUAL REVIEW OF PLANT BIOLOGY. 2004; 55: 373-399” with 6157 citations and authors are from Switzerland and Austria followed by “Xu HY, Barnes GT, Yang Q, Tan Q, Yang DS, et al.Chronic inflammation in fat plays a crucial role in the development of obesity-related insulin resistance JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION. 2003 DEC; 112 (12): 1821-1830” with 4398 Citations authors from USA, “Donehower La, Harvey M, Slagle Bl, Mcarthur Mj, Montgomery Ca, Et Al.Mice Deficient For P53 Are Developmentally Normal But Susceptible To Spontaneous Tumors Nature. 1992 Mar 19; 356 (6366): 215-221” with 3926 Citations from USA. The time of publication, field of study, nature of the work, and the journal in which the work appears are possible determinants of the likelihood of citation and impact

Structure, dynamics, and molecular inhibition of the Staphylococcus aureus m1A22-tRNA methyltransferase TrmK

This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust Seed Award in Science [208980/Z/17/Z] to RGdS; a University of St Andrews/Scottish Funding Council St Andrews Restarting Research Fund to RGdS; and a Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund [204821/Z/16/Z] to the University of St Andrews. ES is the recipient of a Cunningham Trust PhD studentship (PhD-CT-18-41).The enzyme m1A22-tRNA methyltransferase (TrmK) catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group to the N1 of adenine 22 in bacterial tRNAs. TrmK is essential for Staphylococcus aureus survival during infection but has no homolog in mammals, making it a promising target for antibiotic development. Here, we characterize the structure and function of S. aureus TrmK (SaTrmK) using X-ray crystallography, binding assays, and molecular dynamics simulations. We report crystal structures for the SaTrmK apoenzyme as well as in complexes with methyl donor SAM and co-product product SAH. Isothermal titration calorimetry showed that SAM binds to the enzyme with favorable but modest enthalpic and entropic contributions, whereas SAH binding leads to an entropic penalty compensated for by a large favorable enthalpic contribution. Molecular dynamics simulations point to specific motions of the C-terminal domain being altered by SAM binding, which might have implications for tRNA recruitment. In addition, activity assays for SaTrmK-catalyzed methylation of A22 mutants of tRNALeu demonstrate that the adenine at position 22 is absolutely essential. In silico screening of compounds suggested the multifunctional organic toxin plumbagin as a potential inhibitor of TrmK, which was confirmed by activity measurements. Furthermore, LC-MS data indicated the protein was covalently modified by one equivalent of the inhibitor, and proteolytic digestion coupled with LC-MS identified Cys92 in the vicinity of the SAM-binding site as the sole residue modified. These results identify a cryptic binding pocket of SaTrmK, laying a foundation for future structure-based drug discovery.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

In Situ Compatibilization of Biopolymer Ternary Blends by Reactive Extrusion with Low-Functionality Epoxy-Based Styrene Acrylic Oligomer

[EN] The present study reports on the use of low-functionality epoxy-based styrene¿acrylic oligomer (ESAO) to compatibilize immiscible ternary blends made of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV), polylactide (PLA), and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT). The addition during melt processing of low-functionality ESAO at two parts per hundred resin (phr) of biopolymer successfully changed the soften inclusion phase in the blend system to a thinner morphology, yielding biopolymer ternary blends with higher mechanical ductility and also improved oxygen barrier performance. The compatibilization achieved was ascribed to the in situ formation of a newly block terpolymer, i.e. PHBVb- PLA-b-PBAT, which was produced at the blend interface by the reaction of the multiple epoxy groups present in ESAO with the functional terminal groups of the biopolymers. This chemical reaction was mainly linear due to the inherently low functionality of ESAO and the more favorable reactivity of the epoxy groups with the carboxyl groups of the biopolymers, which avoided the formation of highly branched and/or cross-linked structures and thus facilitated the films processability. Therefore, the reactive blending of biopolymers at different mixing ratios with low-functionality ESAO represents a straightforward methodology to prepare sustainable plastics at industrial scale with different physical properties that can be of interest in, for instance, food packaging applications.This research was funded by the EU H2020 project YPACK (Reference number 773872) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (MICIU) with project numbers MAT2017-84909-C2-2-R and AGL2015-63855-C2-1-R. L. Quiles-Carrillo wants to thank the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports (MECD) for financial support through his FPU Grant Number FPU15/03812. Torres-Giner also acknowledges the MICIU for his Juan de la Cierva contract (IJCI-2016-29675).Quiles-Carrillo, L.; Montanes, N.; Lagaron, J.; Balart, R.; Torres-Giner, S. (2019). In Situ Compatibilization of Biopolymer Ternary Blends by Reactive Extrusion with Low-Functionality Epoxy-Based Styrene Acrylic Oligomer. 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Implementation of Research Information System at Bharathidasan University

Research Information System is the most important system for higher education institutions and it helps to get faculty profiles such as faculty affiliations, publications, research projects, awards and honors, education details, etc. This helps to increase the department and institution visibility to get the funding and fellowship opportunities. This paper discusses about Implementation of Research Information System at Bharathidasan University. The outcome of the study shows that it has 170 Existing Faculty Profiles and 2554 Publications from Web of Science, 516 Research Projects and 266 Awards and also department publications, citations and research impacts.</jats:p