333 research outputs found
Effect of environmental constraints on multi-segment coordination patterns during the tennis service in expert performers
The aims of this study were to examine the effect of different environmental constraints on kinematic multi-segment coordination patterns during the service and its coordination with service time variability. Ten expert tennis players (Age: 34.1Β±5.3) volunteered to take part in this study. Participants served 30 times in 3 different conditions: control, target and opposition. The order of conditions was counterbalanced between participants. A wireless 3D motion capture system (STT Co, Spain) was used to measure 7 joint motions, with a 17 degrees of freedom biomechanical model created to capture the entire service action. Results of the principal component analysis showed that 4 synergies were created; however, their roles were changed relative to the perception of the environment. The results of repeated-measures analysis of variance did not show any significant difference on total variance and individual principal components between conditions; however, one synergy pattern significantly predicted the service time variability in both control and opposition conditions. In conclusion, the findings demonstrated that expert performers reduce the joint dimensionality by creating functional synergies in different phases of service and adapt the service action according to the perception of the environment
The Physical and Chemical Structure of Hot Molecular Cores
We have made self-consistent models of the density and temperature profiles
of the gas and dust surrounding embedded luminous objects using a detailed
radiative transfer model together with observations of the spectral energy
distribution of hot molecular cores. Using these profiles we have investigated
the hot core chemistry which results when grain mantles are evaporated, taking
into account the different binding energies of the mantle molecules, as well a
model in which we assume that all molecules are embedded in water ice and have
a common binding energy. We find that most of the resulting column densities
are consistent with those observed toward the hot core G34.3+0.15 at a time
around 10 years after central luminous star formation. We have also
investigated the dependence of the chemical structure on the density profile
which suggests an observational possibility of constraining density profiles
from determination of the source sizes of line emission from desorbed
molecules.Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Chiral Polymerization in Open Systems From Chiral-Selective Reaction Rates
We investigate the possibility that prebiotic homochirality can be achieved
exclusively through chiral-selective reaction rate parameters without any other
explicit mechanism for chiral bias. Specifically, we examine an open network of
polymerization reactions, where the reaction rates can have chiral-selective
values. The reactions are neither autocatalytic nor do they contain explicit
enantiomeric cross-inhibition terms. We are thus investigating how rare a set
of chiral-selective reaction rates needs to be in order to generate a
reasonable amount of chiral bias. We quantify our results adopting a
statistical approach: varying both the mean value and the rms dispersion of the
relevant reaction rates, we show that moderate to high levels of chiral excess
can be achieved with fairly small chiral bias, below 10%. Considering the
various unknowns related to prebiotic chemical networks in early Earth and the
dependence of reaction rates to environmental properties such as temperature
and pressure variations, we argue that homochirality could have been achieved
from moderate amounts of chiral selectivity in the reaction rates.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Origins of Life and
Evolution of Biosphere
Still getting it on online: Thirty years of queer male spaces brokered through digital technologies
Research across the social sciences testifies to an ongoing relationship between queerness and digital technology. This article tracks how different online spaces for queer men have changed as the internet has developed over the past 30Β years. It argues that queer spaces have become increasingly dominated by, and predicated on, internet technology. I review early interpretations of cyberspace as a liberatory space freed from heteronormativity and later more critical assessments of its potential, positioning arguments for and against the internet's status as a protective space. I then evaluate the huge popularity of mobile phone-based dating and hook-up apps such as Grindr and Tinder. These platforms have developed from static desktop offerings including Gaydar and PlanetRomeo, but emphasise a distinctly hybridised socio-technical experience in partner seeking. Finally, I consider the impact of locative media on more traditional queer concepts of cruising and community, concluding that contemporary apps refigure both structures in distinctive ways reflecting larger changes in sexuality and space studies
Phosphate Starvation Triggers Production and Secretion of an Extracellular Lipoprotein in Caulobacter crescentus
Life in oligotrophic environments necessitates quick adaptive responses to a sudden lack of nutrients. Secretion of specific degradative enzymes into the extracellular medium is a means to mobilize the required nutrient from nearby sources. The aquatic bacterium Caulobacter crescentus must often face changes in its environment such as phosphate limitation. Evidence reported in this paper indicates that under phosphate starvation, C. crescentus produces a membrane surface-anchored lipoprotein named ElpS subsequently released into the extracellular medium. A complete set of 12 genes encoding a type II secretion system (T2SS) is located adjacent to the elpS locus in the C. crescentus genome. Deletion of this T2SS impairs release of ElpS in the environment, which surprisingly remains present at the cell surface, indicating that the T2SS is not involved in the translocation of ElpS to the outer membrane but rather in its release. Accordingly, treatment with protease inhibitors prevents release of ElpS in the extracellular medium suggesting that ElpS secretion relies on a T2SS-secreted protease. Finally, secretion of ElpS is associated with an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity in culture supernatants, suggesting a role of the secreted protein in inorganic phosphate mobilization. In conlusion, we have shown that upon phosphate starvation, C. crescentus produces an outer membrane bound lipoprotein, ElpS, which is further cleaved and released in the extracellular medium in a T2SS-dependent manner. Our data suggest that ElpS is associated with an alkaline phosphatase activity, thereby allowing the bacterium to gather inorganic phosphates from a poor environment
Adipose extracellular matrix remodelling in obesity and insulin resistance
The extracellular matrix (ECM) of adipose tissues undergoes constant remodelling to allow adipocytes and their precursor cells to change cell shape and function in adaptation to nutritional cues. Abnormal accumulation of ECM components and their modifiers in adipose tissues has been recently demonstrated to cause obesity-associated insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Integrins and other ECM receptors (e.g. CD44) that are expressed in adipose tissues have been shown to regulate insulin sensitivity. It is well understood that a hypoxic response is observed in adipose tissue expansion during obesity progression and that hypoxic response accelerates fibrosis and inflammation in white adipose tissues. The expansion of adipose tissues should require angiogenesis; however, the excess deposition of ECM limits the angiogenic response of white adipose tissues in obesity. While recent studies have focused on the metabolic consequences and the mechanisms of adipose tissue expansion and remodelling, little attention has been paid to the role played by the interaction between peri-adipocyte ECM and their cognate cell surface receptors. This review will address what is currently known about the roles played by adipose ECM, their modifiers, and ECM receptors in obesity and insulin resistance. Understanding how excess ECM deposition in the adipose tissue deteriorates insulin sensitivity would provide us hints to develop a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes
Large Isoforms of UNC-89 (Obscurin) Are Required for Muscle Cell Architecture and Optimal Calcium Release in Caenorhabditis elegans
Calcium, a ubiquitous intracellular signaling molecule, controls a diverse array of cellular processes. Consequently, cells have developed strategies to modulate the shape of calcium signals in space and time. The force generating machinery in muscle is regulated by the influx and efflux of calcium ions into the muscle cytoplasm. In order for efficient and effective muscle contraction to occur, calcium needs to be rapidly, accurately and reliably regulated. The mechanisms underlying this highly regulated process are not fully understood. Here, we show that the Caenorhabditis elegans homolog of the giant muscle protein obscurin, UNC-89, is required for normal muscle cell architecture. The large immunoglobulin domain-rich isoforms of UNC-89 are critical for sarcomere and sarcoplasmic reticulum organization. Furthermore, we have found evidence that this structural organization is crucial for excitation-contraction coupling in the body wall muscle, through the coordination of calcium signaling. Thus, our data implicates UNC-89 in maintaining muscle cell architecture and that this precise organization is essential for optimal calcium mobilization and efficient and effective muscle contraction
Protein Structural Modularity and Robustness Are Associated with Evolvability
Theory suggests that biological modularity and robustness allow for maintenance of fitness under mutational change, and when this change is adaptive, for evolvability. Empirical demonstrations that these traits promote evolvability in nature remain scant however. This is in part because modularity, robustness, and evolvability are difficult to define and measure in real biological systems. Here, we address whether structural modularity and/or robustness confer evolvability at the level of proteins by looking for associations between indices of protein structural modularity, structural robustness, and evolvability. We propose a novel index for protein structural modularity: the number of regular secondary structure elements (helices and strands) divided by the number of residues in the structure. We index protein evolvability as the proportion of sites with evidence of being under positive selection multiplied by the average rate of adaptive evolution at these sites, and we measure this as an average over a phylogeny of 25 mammalian species. We use contact density as an index of protein designability, and thus, structural robustness. We find that protein evolvability is positively associated with structural modularity as well as structural robustness and that the effect of structural modularity on evolvability is independent of the structural robustness index. We interpret these associations to be the result of reduced constraints on amino acid substitutions in highly modular and robust protein structures, which results in faster adaptation through natural selection
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