Unzippers, resolvers and sensors: a structural and functional biochemistry tale of RNA helicases

© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The centrality of RNA within the biological world is an irrefutable fact that currently attracts increasing attention from the scientific community. The panoply of functional RNAs requires the existence of specific biological caretakers, RNA helicases, devoted to maintain the proper folding of those molecules, resolving unstable structures. However, evolution has taken advantage of the specific position and characteristics of RNA helicases to develop new functions for these proteins, which are at the interface of the basic processes for transference of information from DNA to proteins. RNA helicases are involved in many biologically relevant processes, not only as RNA chaperones, but also as signal transducers, scaffolds of molecular complexes, and regulatory elements. Structural biology studies during the last decade, founded in X-ray crystallography, have characterized in detail several RNA-helicases. This comprehensive review summarizes the structural knowledge accumulated in the last two decades within this family of proteins, with special emphasis on the structure-function relationships of the most widely-studied families of RNA helicases: the DEAD-box, RIG-I-like and viral NS3 classes.Marina C. Costa was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal (Ref. SFRH/BPD/65131/2009).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Caracterização genómica na cardiomiopatia dilatada

© 2019 Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a leading cause of heart failure and sudden cardiac death, is characterized by ventricular dilatation and impaired systolic function in the absence of abnormal loading conditions or coronary artery disease. Its prevalence is approximately 1 in 2500 individuals, and 30-50% of cases are familial.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Developing undergraduate projects in multinational teams to enhance employability

Our society is experiencing sudden changes in work organization in part due to the growing ease with which people can collaborate. Many successful cases of peer-to-peer models of organization arise and assume leading positions in world economy replacing, in many cases, the traditional hierarchical organization. People are evolving and interacting within heterogeneous teams composed by members from many different cultural groups and with distinct skills and backgrounds. Modern economy requires engineers to excel in collaborative and communication skills at an international setting. However, these competences are not usually addressed in most engineering curricula. We believe that in such a demanding and culturally diverse environment as the labour market is today, it is essential to promote team work and communication skills at an international and intercultural level. In the Multinational Undergraduate Team Work course, MUTW, students develop their capstone project as members of an international team while working at their home institutions. MUTW projects are to be developed by teams of final-year-undergraduate students from a multinational group of higher education institutions working to solve some engineering problem. Team members are geographically spread to assure heterogeneous teams and to promote international cooperation. This paradigm can be applied in any project/internship course unit. The results from the first edition are very encouraging supporting our initial hypothesis that MUTW significantly promotes students soft skills without requiring any change to prior degree curricula.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Circular RNA-centered regulatory networks in the physiopathology of cardiovascular diseases

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Non-coding regulatory RNAs are generated as a core output of the eukaryotic genomes, being essential players in cell biology. At the organism level, they are key functional actors in those tissues and organs with limited proliferation capabilities such as the heart. The role of regulatory networks mediated by non-coding RNAs in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular conditions is starting to be unveiled. However, a deeper knowledge of the functional interactions among the diverse non-coding RNA families and their phenotypic consequences is required. This review presents the current knowledge about the functional crosstalk between circRNAs and other biomolecules in the framework of the cardiovascular diseases.This work is supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action EU-CardioRNA CA17129 and Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the framework of the research grant PTDC-MED-GEN-29389-2017.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Interspecies communication in holobionts by non-coding RNA exchange

PTDC-MED-GEN-29389-2017Complex organisms are associations of different cells that coexist and collaborate creating a living consortium, the holobiont. The relationships between the holobiont members are essential for proper homeostasis of the organisms, and they are founded on the establishment of complex inter-connections between all the cells. Non-coding RNAs are regulatory molecules that can also act as communication signals between cells, being involved in either homeostasis or dysbiosis of the holobionts. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells can transmit signals via non-coding RNAs while using specific extracellular conveyors that travel to the target cell and can be translated into a regulatory response by dedicated molecular machinery. Within holobionts, non-coding RNA regulatory signaling is involved in symbiotic and pathogenic relationships among the cells. This review analyzes current knowledge regarding the role of non-coding RNAs in cell-to-cell communication, with a special focus on the signaling between cells in multi-organism consortia.publishersversionpublishe

Highly Electrophilic Titania Hole as a Versatile and Efficient Photochemical Free Radical Source

Photogenerated holes in nanometric semiconductors, such as TiO2, constitute remarkable powerful electrophilic centers, capable of capturing an electron from numerous donors such as ethers, or nonactivated substrates like toluene or acetonitrile, and constitute an exceptionally clean and efficient source of free radicals. In contrast with typical free radical precursors, semiconductors generate single radicals (rather than pairs), where the precursors can be readily removed by filtration or centrifugation after use, thus making it a convenient tool in organic chemistry. The process can be described as an example of dystonic proton coupled electron transfer

A genetic algorithm for forest firefighting optimization

In recent years, a large number of fires have ravaged planet Earth. A forest fire is a natural phenomenon that destroys the forest ecosystem in a given area. There are many factors that cause forest fires, for example, weather conditions, the increase of global warming and human action. Currently, there has been a growing focus on determining the ignition sources responsible for forest fires. Optimization has been widely applied in forest firefighting problems, allowing improvements in the effectiveness and speed of firefighters’ actions. The better and faster the firefighting team performs, the less damage is done. In this work, a forest firefighting resource scheduling problem is formulated in order to obtain the best ordered sequence of actions to be taken by a single firefighting resource in combating multiple ignitions. The objective is to maximize the unburned area, i.e., to minimize the burned area caused by the ignitions. A problem with 10 fire ignitions located in the district of Braga, in Portugal, was solved using a genetic algorithm. The results obtained demonstrate the usefulness and validity of this approach.This work has been supported by FCT Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R &D Units Project Scope UIDB/00319/2020 and PCIF/GRF/0141/2019: “O3F - An Optimization Framework to reduce Forest Fire” and the PhD grant reference UI/BD/150936/2021

Implementation of robust multi-objective optimization in the build orientation problem

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging technology to create 3D objects layer-by-layer directly from a 3D CAD model. The build orientation is a critical issue in AM and its optimization will significantly reduce the building costs and improve object accuracy. This paper aims to optimize the build orientation problem of a 3D CAD model using a robust multi-objective approach, taking into account the staircase effect and the support area characteristics. Thus, themain objective is to obtain a robust Pareto optimal front, composed of solutions that are not quite sensitive to perturbations in the variables. In this manner, a set of robust solutions is presented as alternatives and the decision-maker can identify the compromise solutions and choose according to his/her preferences.This work has been developed under the FIBR3D project - Hybrid processes based on additive manufacturing of composites with long or short fibers reinforced thermoplastic matrix (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016414), supported by the Lisbon Regional Operational Programme 2020, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work has been supported by FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020