Peptide-Tetrapyrrole Supramolecular Self-Assemblies: State of the Art

The covalent and noncovalent association of self-assembling peptides and tetrapyrroles was explored as a way to generate systems that mimic Nature’s functional supramolecular structures. Different types of peptides spontaneously assemble with porphyrins, phthalocyanines, or corroles to give long-range ordered architectures, whose structure is determined by the features of both components. The regular morphology and ordered molecular arrangement of these systems enhance the photochemical properties of embedded chromophores, allowing applications as photo-catalysts, antennas for dye-sensitized solar cells, biosensors, and agents for light-triggered therapies. Chemical modifications of peptide and tetrapyrrole structures and control over the assembly process can steer the organization and influence the properties of the resulting system. Here we provide a review of the field, focusing on the assemblies obtained from different classes of self-assembling peptides with tetrapyrroles, their morphologies and their applications as innovative functional materials

"A tetranucleotide repeat polymorphism in the cystic fibrosis gene"

5nonenoneGASPARINI P.; M.DOGNINI; A.BONIZZATO; N.MORRAL; X.ESTIVILLGasparini, Paolo; M., Dognini; A., Bonizzato; N., Morral; X., Estivil

A population-based approach to study the impact of PROP perception on food liking in populations along the Silk Road.

Taste is one of the main factors determining food choices. Differences in PROP bitter taste perception have been implicated in individual differences in food preferences and selection. The present study examined associations between, PROP phenotypes, self-reported food liking and TAS2R38 polymorphisms, the major gene implicated in PROP bitterness, in six different populations of the Caucasus and Central Asia, located along the ancient Silk Road. Differences in the distribution of PROP phenotypes across populations were detected, with a higher frequency of super tasters in Tajikistan (31.3%) and Armenia (39.0%) and a higher frequency of non tasters in Georgia (50.9%). While no relationships were observed between PROP phenotypes and food liking using standard statistical tests, we used an approach based on comparison of distance matrices derived from these data. The first matrix compared the food liking ratings of each population to all others pairwise using the Kruskal-Wallis test (at p<0.00063), and the second one compared the distribution of PROP phenotypes across all populations in a similar manner calculating the chi-square statistic as a distance measure. A strong correlation between the two matrices was found (Mantel test: r = 0.67, p-value = 0.03), suggesting that the pattern of food liking across populations was closely related to the distribution of PROP phenotypes. This same relationship was not observed when TAS2R38 genotypes were substituted for PROP phenotypes in this analysis. Our data suggest that a population-based approach utilizing distance matrices is a useful technique for detecting PROP-related differences in food liking and can be applied to other taste phenotypes

REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF CHEST WALL DISPLACEMENTS IN INFANTS DURING HIGH FREQUENCY VENTILATION (HFV)

BACKGROUND: The distribution of ventilation during HFV is asynchronous, non-homogeneous and frequency dependent. We hypothesized that differences in the regional distribution of ventilation at different oscillatory frequencies may affect gas exchange efficiency. METHODS: We studied 15 newborn infants with a median (IQR) gestational age of 28.9 (26.4-30.3) weeks and body weight of 1.0 (0.8-1.4) kg. Five ventilation frequencies (5, 8, 10, 12, 15 Hz) were tested, keeping carbon dioxide diffusion coefficient constant. The displacements of 24 passive markers placed on the infant's chest wall were measured by optoelectronic plethysmography. We evaluated the amplitude and phase shift of displacements of single markers placed along the midline and the regional displacements of the chest wall surface. RESULTS: Blood gases were unaffected by frequency. Chest wall volume changes decrease from 1.6 (0.4) mL/kg at 5 Hz to 0.7 mL/kg at 15 Hz. At all frequencies the abdomen (AB) oscillated more markedly than the ribcage (RC). The mean (SD) AB/RC ratio was 1. 95 (0.7) at 5 Hz, increased to 2.1 (1.3) at 10 Hz and then decreased to 1.1 (0.5) at 15 Hz (p-value &lt; 0.05 vs 10 Hz). Volume changes in the AB lagged the RC and this phase shift increased with frequency. CONCLUSION: The abdomen oscillated more than the ribcage at all frequencies. Regional oscillations were highly inhomogeneous up to 10 Hz and they became progressively more asynchronous with increasing frequency. When carbon dioxide diffusion coefficient is held constant, such differences in regional chest wall expansion do not affect gas exchange

Distribution of TAS2R38 haplotype by sex and population.

<p>Distribution of TAS2R38 haplotype by sex and population.</p

Distribution of PROP phenotype by sex and population.

<p>NT = non taster, MT = medium taster, ST = super taster.</p