On the human taste perception: Molecular-level understanding empowered by computational methods

Background: The perception of taste is a prime example of complex signal transduction at the subcellular level, involving an intricate network of molecular machinery, which can be investigated to great extent by the tools provided by Computational Molecular Modelling. The present review summarises the current knowledge on the molecular mechanisms at the root of taste transduction, in particular involving taste receptors, highly specialised proteins driving the activation/deactivation of specific cell signalling pathways and ultimately leading to the perception of the five principal tastes: sweet, umami, bitter, salty and sour. The former three are detected by similar G protein-coupled receptors, while the latter two are transduced by ion channels. Scope and approach: The main objective of the present review is to provide a general overview of the molecular structures investigated to date of all taste receptors and the techniques employed for their molecular modelling. In addition, we provide an analysis of the various ligands known to date for the above-listed receptors, including how they are activated in the presence of their target molecule. Key findings and conclusions: In the last years, numerous advances have been made in molecular research and computational investigation of ligand-receptor interaction related to taste receptors. This work aims to outline the progress in scientific knowledge about taste perception and understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the transfer of taste information

Fatal pediatric lead poisoning New Hampshire, 2000.

Fatal pediatric lead poisoning is rare in the United States because of multiple public health measures that have reduced blood lead levels (BLLs) in the population. However, the risk for elevated BLLs among children remains high in some neighborhoods and populations, including children living in older housing with deteriorated leaded paint. This report describes the investigation of the first reported death of a child from lead poisoning since 1990 (1). The investigation implicated leaded paint and dust in a home environment as the most likely source of the poisoning. Lead poisoning can be prevented by correcting lead hazards, especially in older housing, and by screening children at risk according to established guidelines (2)

Data Analytics supporting decision making in the Tourism Sector

Tourism represents an important industry for many areas in the world contributing significantly to Gross Domestic Product. Yet, it is also quite volatile having to cope with changes in demand and tourist behavior, new emerging markets and socio-economic crises. Improving the innovation capability of the tourist sector is a path towards empowering the industry and making it less susceptible to change. This paper presents a Tourism Innovation Decision Support System that is based on the utilization of tourism destination datasets in order to perform their benchmarking and offer recommendations and guidelines towards enhancing their innovation capacity. This system has been pilot tested in a number of tourist destinations in the Adriatic Ionian area

Dynamic Cloud Resources Allocation on Multidomain/Multiphysics Problems

The solution of multidomain/multiphysics problems is a computationally and memory demanding process, especially for large-scale differential equations. In this paper, we propose a cloud application that provides users a solution environment for multiphysics/multidomain problems utilizing cloud technologies that manage pre-existing hardware, network, operating system and applications. Particularly, according to the problem and its computational demands, the user can have the results from any place and any device without any other concern. The user sets the problem's parameters, chooses the solution method that fits better to the specific problem and finally gets the problem solution. The application dynamically allocates the minimum possible resources automatically in the background without the user's interference. © 2015 IEEE

Unattended surveillance network for after-disaster support in public transportations sector

Unattended surveillance of public transportation infrastructures that may generate alarms in the case of a destructive event, and provide information on the current status of the infrastructure as well as on the short interval before the event, can empower the Search and Rescue teams with useful information that may save lives increasing their overall effectiveness. This paper presents a novel system that aims at providing a scalable, unattended surveillance system with networked embedded systems, cameras and sensors for public transportations sector. © 2011 IEEE