2,161 research outputs found
Transcriptome of the deep-sea black scabbardfish, Aphanopus carbo (Perciformes: Trichiuridae) : tissue-specific expression patterns and candidate genes associated to depth adaptation
Deep-sea fishes provide a unique opportunity to study the physiology and evolutionary adaptation to extreme environments. We carried out a high throughput sequencing analysis on a 454 GS-FLX titanium plate using unnormalized cDNA libraries from six tissues of A. carbo. Assemblage and annotations were performed by Newbler and InterPro/Pfam analyses, respectively. The assembly of 544,491 high quality reads provided 8,319 contigs, 55.6% of which retrieved blast hits against the NCBI nonredundant database or were annotated with ESTscan. Comparison of functional genes at both the protein sequences and protein stability levels, associated with adaptations to depth, revealed similarities between A. carbo and other bathypelagic fishes. A selection of putative genes was standardized to evaluate the correlation between number of contigs and their normalized expression, as determined by qPCR amplification. The screening of the libraries contributed to the identification of new EST simple-sequence repeats (SSRs) and to the design of primer pairs suitable for population genetic studies as well as for tagging and mapping of genes. The characterization of the deep-sea fish A. carbo first transcriptome is expected to provide abundant resources for genetic, evolutionary, and ecological studies of this species and the basis for further investigation of depth-related adaptation processes in fishes.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Computational approaches to shed light on molecular mechanisms in biological processes
Computational approaches based on Molecular Dynamics simulations, Quantum Mechanical methods and 3D Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships were employed by computational chemistry groups at the University of Milano-Bicocca to study biological processes at the molecular level. The paper reports the methodologies adopted and the results obtained on Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor and homologous PAS proteins mechanisms, the properties of prion protein peptides, the reaction pathway of hydrogenase and peroxidase enzymes and the defibrillogenic activity of tetracyclines. © Springer-Verlag 2007
Investigation of Gasoline Partially Premixed Combustion with External Exhaust Gas Recirculation
The stringent emission regulations for Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) spawned a great amount of research in the field of innovative combustion approaches characterized by high efficiency and low emissions. Previous research demonstrate that such promising techniques, named Low-Temperature Combustion (LTC), combine the benefits of Compression Ignition (CI) engines, such as high compression ratio and unthrottled lean mixture, with low engine-out emissions using a properly premixed air-fuel mixture. Due to longer ignition delay and high volatility compared to diesel, gasoline-like fuels show good potential for the generation of a highly premixed charge, which is needed to reach LTC characteristics. In this scenario, gasoline Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC), characterized by the high-pressure direct injection of gasoline, showed good potential for the simultaneous reduction of pollutants and emissions in CI engines. However, previous research on gasoline CI highlight that a key factor for the optimization of both efficiency and pollutants is the proper management of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR). This work presents the experimental investigation performed running a light-duty CI engine, operated with gasoline PPC, and varying the mass of recirculated gases trapped in the combustion chamber. To guarantee the stability of gasoline autoignition in all the tested conditions, a specific experimental layout has been developed to accurately quantify the amount of trapped residual gases due to the internal and external EGR. The obtained results clearly highlight the impact of EGR on the combustion process and emissions, demonstrating that optimization of charge dilution with EGR is fundamental to guarantee the optimal compromise between efficiency and emissions over the whole operating range
PreferĂŞncia de massa alimentĂcia formulada com farinha de batata-doce de polpa alaranjada e arroz.
Adiabatic orientation of rotating dipole molecules in an external field
The induced polarization of a beam of polar clusters or molecules passing
through an electric or magnetic field region differs from the textbook
Langevin-Debye susceptibility. This distinction, which is important for the
interpretation of deflection and focusing experiments, arises because instead
of acquiring thermal equilibrium in the field region, the beam ensemble
typically enters the field adiabatically, i.e., with a previously fixed
distribution of rotational states. We discuss the orientation of rigid
symmetric-top systems with a body-fixed electric or magnetic dipole moment. The
analytical expression for their "adiabatic-entry" orientation is elucidated and
compared with exact numerical results for a range of parameters. The
differences between the polarization of thermodynamic and "adiabatic-entry"
ensembles, of prolate and oblate tops, and of symmetric-top and linear rotators
are illustrated and identified.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure
Avaliação de diferentes mĂ©todos para extração de RNA total de folhas e raĂzes de braquiária.
A extração de RNA a partir de tecidos especĂficos consiste no primeiro passo para estudos de expressĂŁo gĂŞnica e caracterização de transcritos. Plantas, em geral, contĂŞm grande quantidade de compostos fenĂłlicos e/ou polissacarĂdeos em seus tecidos, o que pode comprometer a extração e purificação de molĂ©culas de RNA. O objetivo principal deste trabalho foi testar diferentes protocolos para extrair RNA total de folhas e raĂzes de braquiária. Sementes de Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk foram germinadas e plântulas com12 dias foram utilizadas. As extrações de RNA foram feitas em duplicatas de 200 mg de amostras de folhas ou raĂzes pulverizadas com nitrogĂŞnio lĂquido. Para as extrações de RNA de folhas foram testados os reagentes Trizol® e Brazol® e para as extrações de RNA de raĂzes foram testados estes reagentes mais dois kits comerciais: SV Wizard Isolation RNA system (Promega®) e Invisorb Spin Plant RNA Mini Kit (Invitek®). ANOVA e teste Tukey (1% de significância) foram utilizados para comparar as mĂ©dias das concentrações e de qualidade das amostras de RNA extraĂdas. Os resultados mostraram diferenças nĂŁo-significativas entre as concentrações e a qualidade do RNA extraĂdo de folhas pelos reagentes Trizol® e Brazol®. Entretanto, para as amostras de raĂzes as concentrações e qualidade do RNA isolado foram significativamente diferentes, sendo o reagente Trizol® mais eficiente. Os dois kits isolaram menores concentrações de RNA com qualidade inferir a obtida com os dois reagentes testados. Para sĂntese de DNA complementar (cDNA) foram testadas duas enzimas: SuperScript RTII (Invitrogen®) e M-MLV-RT (Sigma®), sendo esta Ăşltima mais eficiente, pois foi possĂvel obter maior quantidade e qualidade de cDNA, com relação a presença de contaminantes. Esses resultados podem ser considerados como ponto de partida para a execução de trabalhos sobre expressĂŁo gĂŞnica em espĂ©cies de Brachiaria.bitstream/item/56268/1/BP29.pd
Deposição de material orgânico e nutrientes em plantios de Eucalyptus grandis em diferentes regimes de adubação.
Neste trabalho sĂŁo apresentados os resultados obtidos para a deposição de serapilheira em plantios de Eucalyptus grandis, que receberam apenas adubos quĂmicos, e plantios adubados e tratados com resĂduos e cinza, localizados em áreas de “cerrados” do Estado de SĂŁo Paulo. As implicações para a nutrição e o manejo e a manutenção da produtividade destes plantios sĂŁo discutidas. NĂŁo foi possĂvel estabelecer-se um padrĂŁo de deposição de serapilheira em função das diferentes Ă©pocas do ano. Entretanto, as coletas efetuadas em outubro, no quarto ano de idade do experimento apresentaram os valores mais elevados, correspondendo Ă deposição acumulada em julho, agosto e setembro, ou seja final da estação seca. As folhas predominaram na serapilheira e representam, em peso, 91% do material depositado no terceiro ano e 66% no quarto ano. Os valores observados sĂŁo prĂłximos dos valores teĂłricos esperados e de estimativas obtidas em diversas tipologias florestais do sudeste do Brasil. Comparativamente a relatos de deposição de serapilheira em outras formações florestais e para plantações de diversas espĂ©cies, os maiores valores de deposição obtidos para os tratamentos com cinza e resĂduos, a partir do quarto ano de idade, podem ser considerados elevados. A maior deposição de serapilheira, nos tratamentos com cinza e resĂduos, permite concluir que a quantidade de serapilheira depositada depende do estado nutricional dos povoamentos florestais. Os tratamentos com cinza e resĂduos depositaram aproximadamente 15% a mais de serapilheira, em peso, que o tratamento que recebeu apenas adubação quĂmica. O total de serapilheira depositada, no quarto ano de idade, correspondeu a 24,6% da produção primária liquida de biomassa aĂ©rea, produzida em igual perĂodo. A maior deposição de nutrientes está relacionada com a maior deposição de serapilheira produzida, entretanto os acrĂ©scimos nas quantidades de nutrientes, com exceção do N, foram proporcionalmente mais elevados que o acrĂ©scimo observado para a biomassa. A deposição de P, K, Ca e Mg foi 46,5; 45,2; 80,8 e 33,9%, respectivamente mais elevadas que a deposição obtida para o tratamento com adubo quĂmico apenas. Os valores obtidos para deposição anual de biomassa de serapilheira, em peso, sua relação com a produção primária liquida da parte aĂ©rea e a contribuição percentual das folhas na composição da serapilheira sĂŁo bastante prĂłximos das previsões teĂłricas, e dados estimados relatados na literatura
Pyrazolo-triazolo-pyrimidines as adenosine receptor antagonists: Effect of the N-5 bond type on the affinity and selectivity at the four adenosine receptor subtypes
In the last few years, many efforts have been made to search for potent and selective human A3 adenosine antagonists. In particular, one of the most promising human A3 adenosine receptor antagonists is represented by the pyrazolo-triazolo-pyrimidine family. This class of compounds has been strongly investigated from the point of view of structure-activity relationships. In particular, it has been observed that fundamental requisites for having both potency and selectivity at the human A3 adenosine receptors are the presence of a small substituent at the N8 position and an unsubstitued phenyl carbamoyl moiety at the N5 position. In this study, we report the role of the N5-bond type on the affinity and selectivity at the four adenosine receptor subtypes. The observed structure-activity relationships of this class of antagonists are also exhaustively rationalized using the recently published ligand-based homology modeling approach
A catalogue of observed geo-effective CME/ICME characteristics
One of the goals of Space Weather studies is to achieve a better
understanding of impulsive phenomena, such as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), in
order to improve our ability to forecast them and mitigate the risk to our
technologically driven society. The essential part of achieving this goal is to
assess the performance of forecasting models. To this end, the quality and
availability of suitable data are of paramount importance. In this work, we
have merged already publicly available data of CMEs from both in-situ and
remote instrumentation in order to build a database of CME properties. To
evaluate the accuracy of such a database and confirm the relationship between
in-situ and remote observations, we have employed the drag-based model (DBM)
due to its simplicity and inexpensive cost of computational resources. In this
study, we have also explored the parameter space for the drag parameter and
solar wind speed using a Monte Carlo approach to evaluate how well the DBM
determines the propagation of CMEs for the events in the dataset. The dataset
of geoeffective CMEs constructed as a result of this work provides validation
of the initial hypothesis about DBM, and solar wind speed and also yields
further insight into CME features like arrival time, arrival speed, lift-off
time, etc. Using a data-driven approach, this procedure allows us to present a
homogeneous, reliable, and robust dataset for the investigation of CME
propagation. On the other hand, possible CME events are identified where DBM
approximation is not valid due to model limitations and higher uncertainties in
the input parameters, those events require more thorough investigation
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