Networking strategies in streptomyces coelicolor

We are interested the soil dwelling bacteria Streptomyces coelicolor because its cells grow end to end in a line. New branches have the potential to extend from any point along this line and the result is a network of branches and connections. This is a novel form of colonisation in the bacterial world and it is advantageous for spreading through an environment resourcefully. Networking protocols for communication technologies have similar pressures to be resourceful in terms of time, computing power, and energy. In this preliminary investigation we design a computer model of the biological system to understand its limitations and strategies for survival. The decentralised capacity for organisation of both the bacterial system and the model reflects well on the now-popular conventions for path finding and ad hoc network building in human technologies. The project will ultimately become a comparison of strategies between nature and the man-made

An overview of carbohydrate-based carbonic anhydrase inhibitors

Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) are metalloenzymes responsible for the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate, a fundamental reaction involved in various physiological and pathological processes. In the last decades, CAs have been considered as important drug targets for different pathologies such as glaucoma, epilepsy and cancer. The design of potent and selective inhibitors has been an outstanding goal leading to the discovery of new drugs. Among the different strategies developed to date, the design of carbohydrate-based CA inhibitors (CAIs) has emerged as a versatile tool in order to selectively target CAs. The insertion of a glycosyl moiety as a hydrophilic tail in sulfonamide, sulfenamide, sulfamate or coumarin scaffolds allowed the discovery of many different series of sugar-based CAIs, with relevant inhibitory results. This review will focus on carbohydrate-based CAIs developed so far, classifying them in glycosidic and glycoconjugated inhibitors based on the conjugation chemistry adopted

Transcorrência diacrônica Cenozóica no sudoeste da Bacia Colombiana

We propose a major Eocene tectonic inversion related to an oblique convergence between Farallon (after Cocos plate) and Caribbean plates in the offshore of Colombian Caribbean. Between EoceneOligocene occurred an extension and another tectonic inversion since Oligocene to Pleistocene. By structural and stratigraphic evidence extracted from seismic, gravity and well data, we identified diverse diachronic Cenozoic deformations related to an important syndepositional wrenching event. Diachronic wrench system corresponds with Riedel structures and subordinated related-structures which have been growing progressively from north to south as result of convergence of Farallon (after Cocos plate) and Caribbean plates. Older basement-involved structures were inverted since Eocene. Tectonic inversions were interpreted from different strata geometries, relations of strata, growth strata and erosive truncations. A regional Eocene unconformity defined by erosional truncations reveals the timing of tectonic inversion and consequently closure of Colombian basin at northern boundary. The Eocene erosional unconformity becomes conformable toward the basin and should be an important correlative stratigraphic surface in the Caribbean offshore.Propõe-se que uma inversão tectónica maior tenha ocorrido durante o Eocénico associada à convergência oblíqua entre as placas Farallon (actual placa de Cocos) e Caribe no offshore do Caribe Colombiano. No período Eocénico-Oligocénico ocorreu extensão e do Oligocénico ao Pleistocénico ocorreu outra inversão tectónica. Foram ainda identificados diferentes eventos de deformação diacrónica no Cenozóico a partir de evidências estruturais e estratigráficas obtidas a partir de dados sísmicos, gravimétricos e de poço. As diferentes deformações estão associadas a um importante evento de transcorrência sin-deposicional. O sistema de transcorrência diacrónica é evidenciado em estruturas riedel e outras subordinadas que se desenvolveram progressivamente de norte para sul no seguimento da convergência das placas Farallon e Caribe. As estruturas antigas que afectaram o substrato foram invertidas a partir do Eocénico. As inversões tectónicas foram interpretadas a partir das diferentes relações geométricas dos estratos. A discordância regional eocénica, identificada a partir de superfícies erosivas, revela o período da inversão tectónica associada ao fecho da Bacia Colombiana no limite norte. A discordância erosiva do Eocénico passa a conformidade à medida que tende para o interior da bacia e deve ser uma importante superfície estratigráfica de correlação no offshore do Caribe.Fil: Alfaro, E.. Universidade Federal Da Bahia; BrasilFil: Barrera, Daniel Florencio. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Brasil. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rossello, Eduardo Antonio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Pomegranate: A Source of Multifunctional Bioactive Compounds Potentially Beneficial in Alzheimer’s Disease

Pomegranate fruit (PF) is a fruit rich in nutraceuticals. Nonedible parts of the fruit, especially peels, contain high amounts of bioactive components that have been largely used in traditional medicine, such as the Chinese, Unani, and Ayurvedic ones, for treating several diseases. Polyphenols such as anthocyanins, tannins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and lignans are the major bioactive molecules present in PF. Therefore, PF is considered a source of natural multifunctional agents that exert simultaneously antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antidiabetic, cardiovascular, and neuroprotective activities. Recently, several studies have reported that the nutraceuticals contained in PF (seed, peel, and juice) have a potential beneficial role in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Research suggests that the neuroprotective effect of PF is mostly due to its potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities which contribute to attenuate the neuroinflammation associated with AD. Despite the numerous works conducted on PF, to date the mechanism by which PF acts in combatting AD is not completely known. Here, we summarize all the recent findings (in vitro and in vivo studies) related to the positive effects that PF and its bioactive components can have in the neurodegeneration processes occurring during AD. Moreover, considering the high biotransformation characteristics of the nutraceuticals present in PF, we propose to consider the chemical structure of its active metabolites as a source of inspiration to design new molecules with the same beneficial effects but less prone to be affected by the metabolic degradation process

Developments in carbohydrate-based metzincin inhibitors

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and A disintegrin and Metalloproteinase (ADAMs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases belonging to the metzincin superfamily. Upregulation of metzincin activity is a major feature in many serious pathologies such as cancer, inflammations, and infections. In the last decades, many classes of small molecules have been developed directed to inhibit these enzymes. The principal shortcomings that have hindered clinical development of metzincin inhibitors are low selectivity for the target enzyme, poor water solubility, and long-term toxicity. Over the last 15 years, a novel approach to improve solubility and bioavailability of metzincin inhibitors has been the synthesis of carbohydrate-based compounds. This strategy consists of linking a hydrophilic sugar moiety to an aromatic lipophilic scaffold. This review aims to describe the development of sugar-based and azasugar-based derivatives as metzincin inhibitors and their activity in several pathological models

Closure of the Clymene Ocean and formation of West Gondwana in the Cambrian: Evidence from the Sierras Australes of the southernmost Rio de la Plata craton, Argentina

The formation of Gondwana took place across a series of Brasiliano?Pan African suture zones that record late Neoproterozoic to earliest Paleozoic collisions between Precambrian cratons. In South America, an internal suture zone marks the disappearance of the Clymene Ocean that separated the Amazon craton from the São Francisco and Rio de la Plata cratons. New geochronological data from the southern end of this massive collision zone in the Sierras Australes of central-eastern Argentina document Paleoproterozoic crust and suggest an Ediacaran age for the oldest sedimentary rocks. These two observations extend the known limit of the Rio de la Plata craton at least 200 km SW of previous estimates. New data also confirm the occurrence oflate Ediacaran to late Cambrian magmatism in the Sierras Australes. The age of these hypabyssal to volcanic rocks corresponds to igneous events in the Pampean belt along the western margin of the Rio de la Plata craton, although the shallow levelmagma emplacement in the Sierra da Ventana study area contrasts with the deeply exhumed rocks of the Pampean orogeny type locality. These new age data are compared with a broad compilation of geochronological age Clymene collision belts to the north, the Paraguai and Araguaia belts. The close overlap of the timing of orogenesis indicates the age of Clymene ocean closure in its northern reaches. In the south, the Pampean belt was unconfined, allowing continued tectonic activity and crustal accretion throughout the Paleozoic.Fil: Tohver, E.. University of Western Australia; AustraliaFil: Cawood, P. P.. University of Western Australia; Australia. University of St. Andrews; Reino UnidoFil: Rossello, Eduardo Antonio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria; ArgentinaFil: Jourdan, J.. Curtin University; Australi

P/A Forum Symposia Animal Labour A New Frontier of Interspecies Justice?

On April 15, 2021, a roundtable occurred at the annual conference of the Midwestern Political Science Association to discuss Animal Labour: A New Frontier of Interspecies Justice?, edited by Charlotte Blattner, Kendra Coulter, and Will Kymlicka, and published by Oxford University Press in February 2020. The following symposium contains expanded versions of the papers presented at the MPSA conference. Jishnu Guha-Majumdar introduces the edited volume and the contributions of the respondents in the symposium. Diego Rossello then discusses the book’s framing as “interspecies justice” and its definition of labor. Angie Pepper reflects on whether it is possible for animals to justly consent to labor occupations. Guha-Majumdar examines how the afterlives of transatlantic slavery shape the terms of debates over animal labour. Peter Niesen considers questions about the sequencing and types of labor rights for animals used in agriculture. Finally, Blattner and Kymlicka offer a reply

Activation of carbonic anhydrases from human brain by amino alcohol oxime ethers: towards human carbonic anhydrase VII selective activators

The synthesis and carbonic anhydrase (CA; EC 4.2.1.1) activating effects of a series of oxime ether-based amino alcohols towards four human (h) CA isoforms expressed in human brain, hCA I, II, IV and VII, are described. Most investigated amino alcohol derivatives induced a consistent activation of the tested CAs, with KAs spanning from a low micromolar to a medium nanomolar range. Specifically, hCA II and VII, putative main CA targets when central nervous system (CNS) diseases are concerned, were most efficiently activated by these oxime ether derivatives. Furthermore, a multitude of selective hCA VII activators were identified. As hCA VII is one of the key isoforms involved in brain metabolism and other brain functions, the identified potent and selective hCA VII activators may be considered of interest for investigations of various therapeutic applications or as lead compounds in search of even more potent and selective CA activators