Changes in the microsomal proteome of tomato fruit during ripening

The variations in the membrane proteome of tomato fruit pericarp during ripening have been investigated by mass spectrometry-based label-free proteomics. Mature green (MG30) and red ripe (R45) stages were chosen because they are pivotal in the ripening process: MG30 corresponds to the end of cellular expansion, when fruit growth has stopped and fruit starts ripening, whereas R45 corresponds to the mature fruit. Protein patterns were markedly different: among the 1315 proteins identified with at least two unique peptides, 145 significantly varied in abundance in the process of fruit ripening. The subcellular and biochemical fractionation resulted in GO term enrichment for organelle proteins in our dataset, and allowed the detection of low-abundance proteins that were not detected in previous proteomic studies on tomato fruits. Functional annotation showed that the largest proportion of identified proteins were involved in cell wall metabolism, vesicle-mediated transport, hormone biosynthesis, secondary metabolism, lipid metabolism, protein synthesis and degradation, carbohydrate metabolic processes, signalling and response to stress

Ranolazine Attenuates Trastuzumab-Induced Heart Dysfunction by Modulating ROS Production

The ErbB2 blocker trastuzumab improves survival in oncologic patients, but can cause cardiotoxicity. The late Na+ current inhibitor ranolazine has been shown to counter experimental HF, including doxorubicin cardiotoxicity (a condition characterized by derangements in redox balance), by lowering the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Since ErbB2 can modulate ROS signaling, we tested whether trastuzumab cardiotoxicity could be blunted by ranolazine via redox-mediated mechanisms. Trastuzumab decreased fractional shortening and ejection fraction in mice, but ranolazine prevented heart dysfunction when co-administered with trastuzumab. Trastuzumab cardiotoxicity was accompanied by elevations in natriuretic peptides and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) mRNAs, which were not elevated with co-treatment with ranolazine. Trastuzumab also increased cleavage of caspase-3, indicating activation of the proapoptotic machinery. Again, ranolazine prevented this activation. Interestingly, Neonatal Rat Ventricular Myocytes (NRVMs), labeled with MitoTracker Red and treated with trastuzumab, showed only a small increase in ROS compared to baseline conditions. We then stressed trastuzumab-treated cells with the beta-agonist isoproterenol to increase workload, and we observed a significant increase of probe fluorescence, compared with cells treated with isoproterenol alone, reflecting induction of oxidative stress. These effects were blunted by ranolazine, supporting a role for INa inhibition in the regulation of redox balance also in trastuzumab cardiotoxicity

A User-Centric View of a Demand Side Management Program: From Surveys to Simulation and Analysis

Residential Demand Side Management (DSM) strategies increase the efficiency of the smart grid. However, the efficacy of these strategies relies on the participation of customers in DSM programs, an issue usually neglected in the analysis. To encompass all aspects, we tried to identify what are the drivers for the user engagement, focusing on the social and psychological behaviour of the user in order to simulate and analyse a residential DSM program with a centralised approach. In particular, the DSM program minimises costs taking into account different energy sources and performing load shifting considering and learning users’ acceptance of requests. The results show the advantage of a preferences-aware approach, highlighting the importance of user satisfaction on participation

A win-win algorithm for aggregated residential energy management: resource optimisation and user acceptance learning

This paper proposes a solution based on Multi Agent System to study a residential Demand Side Management (DSM) program with a centralised approach. It focuses on minimising the cost considering different energy sources, such as photovoltaic panels and energy storage system, while optimally scheduling the appliances that can be shifted in time. The cost minimisation is formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem. The optimal allocation of the shiftable loads takes into account the modelled users’ preferences that are learnt by means of an algorithm based on an explore-exploit strategy. From the results, it emerges that a win-win situation could be achieved if user preference are considered.These benefits include savings and users’ satisfaction

A hierarchical and modular agent-oriented framework for power systems co-simulations

AbstractDuring the last decades, numerous simulation tools have been proposed to faithfully reproduce the different entities of the grid together with the inclusion of new elements that make the grid "smart". Often, these domain-specific simulators have been then coupled with co-simulation platforms to test new scenarios. In parallel, agent-oriented approaches have been introduced to test distributed control strategies and include social and behavioural aspects typical of the consumer side. Rarely, simulators of the physical systems have been coupled with these innovative techniques, especially when social and psychological aspects have been considered. In order to ease the re-usability of these simulators, avoiding re-coding everything from scratch, we propose a hierarchical and modular agent-oriented framework to test new residential strategies in the energy context. If needed, the presented work enables the user to select the desired level of details of the agent-based framework to match the corresponding physical system without effort to test very different scenarios. Moreover, it allows adding on top of the physical data, behavioural aspects. To this end, the characteristics of the framework are first introduced and then different scenarios are described to demonstrate the flexibility of the proposed work: (i) a first stand-alone scenario with two hierarchy levels, (ii) a second co-simulation scenario with a photovoltaic panel simulator and (iii) a third stand-alone scenario with three hierarchy levels. Results demonstrate the flexibility and ease of use of the framework, allowing us to compare several scenarios and couple new simulators to build a more and more complex environment. The framework is in the early stages of its development. However, thanks to its properties in the future it could be extended to include new actors, such as industries, to get the full picture

Salud infantil, orden de nacimiento y estatus socioeconómico de la madre: el caso de la India

Este trabajo analiza el impacto del orden de nacimiento sobre la salud de los niños (gradiente de nacimiento) en la India. La educación de la madre y la riqueza familiar afectan a la salud de los niños, directa e indirectamente (a través del gradiente). La edad de la madre y el número de hijos son factores relevantes. Utilizamos los datos de las Encuestas Demográficas y de Salud de la India de 2015-2016. La medida de salud es la estatura-para-la-edad de los niños. La educación de la madre tiene un fuerte efecto directo positivo, pero el indirecto tan solo es el esperado (reduce el gradiente) para las madres con educación hasta primaria. La edad de la madre ejerce un efecto notable sobre el gradiente. Entender la interrelación entre la educación de la madre, su edad, y los cambios en el estatus laboral en la India es un reto de investigación futuro.This paper studies the impact of birth order on children's health (birth-order gradient) in India. The educational attainment of the mother and the family’s wealth might affect health outcomes both directly and indirectly (through the gradient). The mother’s age and number of children could have an effect too. We analysed data from Demographic and Health Surveys of India covering the period between 2015 and 2016. The health’s measure is the z-score height-for-age of children under five years of age. The mother’s educational attainment was found to have the expected direct effect, but the indirect effect which had been predicted (it reduces the gradient) only occurs for mothers with primary education. The mother’s age has a remarkable effect on the gradient. The understanding of the interactions between the mother's education, her age, and changes in the employment status of women in India is an area for further research in the future derived from the results of this work

Cellular response to rare earth mixtures (La and Gd) as components of degradable Mg alloys for medical applications

Rare earth (RE) elements have been proposed to improve the corrosion resistance of degradable Mg alloys for medical applications. However, good biocompatibility of the elements released by Mg alloys during degradation is essential for their use in implants. Most studies are focused on material science and engineering aspects, but the effects of ions released at the biological interface are not frequently addressed. The aim of this study was to contribute to the knowledge of in vitro toxicological effects of two RE Mg-alloying elements, La and Gd, as individual ions and in mixtures with and without Mg ions. Different combinations (Mg + Gd, Mg + La, and Mg + Gd + La) were used to evaluate their possible synergistic effects on CHO-K1 cells. Two sets of experiments were designed to assess (1) the cyto-genotoxic effect of La and Gd ions by neutral red (NR) technique, Reduction of tetrazolium salt (MTT), Viability with Acridine Orange staining, Clonogenic test, and Comet assay; and, (2) the possible synergistic toxicological effect of La and Gd ions in mixtures, and the influence of osmolarity increase on cellular response. Cytotoxic effects of RE were found at concentrations ≥200 μM RE while DNA damage was detected for doses ≥1500 μM and ≥1600 μM for La and Gd, respectively. When mixtures of ions were evaluated, neither synergistic cytotoxic effects nor biological damage related to osmolarity increase were detected.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicada

Warm-season turfgrass species generate sports surfaces with different playability

Synthetic sports surfaces are increasingly subject to standardization of athlete-surface and ball-surface interactions (playability parameters). Such standardizations have led to an increase in the level of the engineering and predictability of these surfaces, and as such may be beneficial also for natural turf. In warm and temperate climates, many natural turf sports surfaces are established with warm-season (C4) turfgrass species due to their suitability to the environment in such areas. This study was aimed at evaluating the Féderation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)-standard playing characteristics of different sports turf surfaces obtained from three commonly used C4 turfgrass species: 1) ‘Tifway 419’ hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon var. dactylon × C. transvaalensis), 2) ‘Zeon’ manilagrass (Zoysia matrella), and 3) ‘Salam’ seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) for factors concerning leaf tissue (silica, lignin, water content) and canopy structure (shoot density, leaf architecture, stolon density, etc.). Results showed that surfaces of different C4 turfgrass species generate different playability parameters, with seashore paspalum being a harder faster surface, manilagrass being a softer slower surface, and hybrid bermudagrass showing intermediate characteristics. These playing quality results were associated with certain specific canopy biometrical/morphological parameters such as shoot density, horizontal stem density (HSD), leaf section, and, to a lesser extent, to certain plant tissue compounds (lignin, silica)

Biological properties of a human compact anti-ErbB2 antibody.

ErbB2 is a prognostic factor and target of therapy for many carcinomas. In contrast with the other ErbB receptors, ErbB2 lacks a soluble direct ligand, but it is the preferred co-receptor for the ErbB family members, forming heterodimers with more potent and prolonged signalling activity than that of homodimers. We recently produced a new anti-ErbB2 antibody, Erb-hcAb, by fusion of Erbicin, a human, anti-ErbB2 scFv, selectively cytotoxic to ErbB2-positive cells, and a human Fc domain. This fully human antitumour antibody represents a compact version of an IgG1, with the cytotoxicity of the scFv moiety on target cells, combined with the ability of the Fc moiety to induce both antibody- and complement-dependent cytotoxicity. Here, we describe the main properties of Erb-hcAb, using as a reference Herceptin, an anti-ErbB2 humanized monoclonal currently employed in clinical immunotherapy. We found that both bivalent Erb-hcAb and Herceptin increase receptor phosphorylation and downregulation, whereas monovalent Erbicin does not. These results correlate with the finding that Erb-hcAb is capable of inducing apoptosis and inhibiting cell cycle progression in ErbB2-positive cells. Its powerful in vitro antitumour action matched that observed in vivo in experiments with human ErbB2-positive tumour xenografts established in athymic mice. Finally, Erb-hcAb displays a glycosylation profile virtually superimposable to that of a human IgG. These findings suggest that Erb-hcAb is a very promising new agent for the immunotherapy of carcinomas that overexpress the ErbB2 receptor