Urban agriculture and place-making : Narratives about place and space in Ghent, Brno and Bristol

Despite rising enthusiasm for food growing among city dwellers, local authorities struggle to find space for urban agriculture (UA), both literally and figuratively. Consequently, UA often arises, sometimes temporarily, in marginal areas that are vulnerable to changes in planning designation. In the literature, spatial issues in relation to UA have either addressed structural questions of land use, governance and planning, or have highlighted social and personal benefits of UA. This paper aims to revisit and combine both streams of inquiry, viewing them as two co-constitutive forces that shape places through UA. The paper analyses three case studies in Brno, Ghent and Bristol, using a spatial lens that exposes important tensions as inherent characteristics of UA and conceptualises them as tensions within two space-narratives, namely abstract space and concrete place. It is suggested that UA, as a collective socio-cultural process, can transform functionally replicable spaces into unique places and thus contributes to place-making. This function should be recognised within urban planning circles, which should not only secure physical spaces to develop urban agriculture, but also create possibilities for local autonomous governance

A review of ECG-based diagnosis support systems for obstructive sleep apnea

Humans need sleep. It is important for physical and psychological recreation. During sleep our consciousness is suspended or least altered. Hence, our ability to avoid or react to disturbances is reduced. These disturbances can come from external sources or from disorders within the body. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is such a disorder. It is caused by obstruction of the upper airways which causes periods where the breathing ceases. In many cases, periods of reduced breathing, known as hypopnea, precede OSA events. The medical background of OSA is well understood, but the traditional diagnosis is expensive, as it requires sophisticated measurements and human interpretation of potentially large amounts of physiological data. Electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements have the potential to reduce the cost of OSA diagnosis by simplifying the measurement process. On the down side, detecting OSA events based on ECG data is a complex task which requires highly skilled practitioners. Computer algorithms can help to detect the subtle signal changes which indicate the presence of a disorder. That approach has the following advantages: computers never tire, processing resources are economical and progress, in the form of better algorithms, can be easily disseminated as updates over the internet. Furthermore, Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) reduces intra- and inter-observer variability. In this review, we adopt and support the position that computer based ECG signal interpretation is able to diagnose OSA with a high degree of accuracy

Mutations causing medullary cystic kidney disease type 1 (MCKD1) lie in a large VNTR in MUC1 missed by massively parallel sequencing

While genetic lesions responsible for some Mendelian disorders can be rapidly discovered through massively parallel sequencing (MPS) of whole genomes or exomes, not all diseases readily yield to such efforts. We describe the illustrative case of the simple Mendelian disorder medullary cystic kidney disease type 1 (MCKD1), mapped more than a decade ago to a 2-Mb region on chromosome 1. Ultimately, only by cloning, capillary sequencing, and de novo assembly, we found that each of six MCKD1 families harbors an equivalent, but apparently independently arising, mutation in sequence dramatically underrepresented in MPS data: the insertion of a single C in one copy (but a different copy in each family) of the repeat unit comprising the extremely long (~1.5-5 kb), GC-rich (>80%), coding VNTR in the mucin 1 gene. The results provide a cautionary tale about the challenges in identifying genes responsible for Mendelian, let alone more complex, disorders through MPS

Mutations causing medullary cystic kidney disease type 1 (MCKD1) lie in a large VNTR in MUC1 missed by massively parallel sequencing

While genetic lesions responsible for some Mendelian disorders can be rapidly discovered through massively parallel sequencing (MPS) of whole genomes or exomes, not all diseases readily yield to such efforts. We describe the illustrative case of the simple Mendelian disorder medullary cystic kidney disease type 1 (MCKD1), mapped more than a decade ago to a 2-Mb region on chromosome 1. Ultimately, only by cloning, capillary sequencing, and de novo assembly, we found that each of six MCKD1 families harbors an equivalent, but apparently independently arising, mutation in sequence dramatically underrepresented in MPS data: the insertion of a single C in one copy (but a different copy in each family) of the repeat unit comprising the extremely long (~1.5-5 kb), GC-rich (>80%), coding VNTR in the mucin 1 gene. The results provide a cautionary tale about the challenges in identifying genes responsible for Mendelian, let alone more complex, disorders through MPS

Mutations causing medullary cystic kidney disease type 1 lie in a large VNTR in MUC1 missed by massively parallel sequencing

Although genetic lesions responsible for some mendelian disorders can be rapidly discovered through massively parallel sequencing of whole genomes or exomes, not all diseases readily yield to such efforts. We describe the illustrative case of the simple mendelian disorder medullary cystic kidney disease type 1 (MCKD1), mapped more than a decade ago to a 2-Mb region on chromosome 1. Ultimately, only by cloning, capillary sequencing and de novo assembly did we find that each of six families with MCKD1 harbors an equivalent but apparently independently arising mutation in sequence markedly under-represented in massively parallel sequencing data: the insertion of a single cytosine in one copy (but a different copy in each family) of the repeat unit comprising the extremely long (~1.5–5 kb), GC-rich (>80%) coding variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) sequence in the MUC1 gene encoding mucin 1. These results provide a cautionary tale about the challenges in identifying the genes responsible for mendelian, let alone more complex, disorders through massively parallel sequencing.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Intramural Research Program)National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.)Charles University (program UNCE 204011)Charles University (program PRVOUK-P24/LF1/3)Czech Republic. Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (grant NT13116-4/2012)Czech Republic. Ministry of Health (grant NT13116-4/2012)Czech Republic. Ministry of Health (grant LH12015)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Harvard Digestive Diseases Center, grant DK34854

Urban agriculture and place-making :narratives about place and space in Ghent, Brno and Bristol

Despite rising enthusiasm for food growing among city dwellers, local authorities struggle to find space for urban agriculture (UA), both literally and figuratively. Consequently, UA often arises, sometimes temporarily, in marginal areas that are vulnerable to changes in planning designation. In the literature, spatial issues in relation to UA have either addressed structural questions of land use, governance and planning, or have highlighted social and personal benefits of UA. This paper aims to revisit and combine both streams of inquiry, viewing them as two co-constitutive forces that shape places through UA. The paper analyses three case studies in Brno, Ghent and Bristol, using a spatial lens that exposes important tensions as inherent characteristics of UA and conceptualises them as tensions within two space-narratives, namely abstract space and concrete place. It is suggested that UA, as a collective socio-cultural process, can transform functionally replicable spaces into unique places and thus contributes to place-making. This function should be recognised within urban planning circles, which should not only secure physical spaces to develop urban agriculture, but also create possibilities for local autonomous governance.15416

Impact of posttranslational modifications on atomistic structure of fibrinogen.

Oxidative stress in humans is related to various pathophysiological processes, which can manifest in numerous diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and Alzheimer's disease. On the atomistic level, oxidative stress causes posttranslational modifications, thus inducing structural and functional changes into the proteins structure. This study focuses on fibrinogen, a blood plasma protein that is frequently targeted by reagents causing posttranslational modifications in proteins. Fibrinogen was in vitro modified by three reagents, namely sodium hypochlorite, malondialdehyde, and 3-morpholinosydnonimine that mimic the oxidative stress in diseases. Newly induced posttranslational modifications were detected via mass spectrometry. Electron microscopy was used to visualize changes in the fibrin networks, which highlight the extent of disturbances in fibrinogen behavior after exposure to reagents. We used molecular dynamics simulations to observe the impact of selected posttranslational modifications on the fibrinogen structure at the atomistic level. In total, 154 posttranslational modifications were identified, 84 of them were in fibrinogen treated with hypochlorite, 51 resulted from a reaction of fibrinogen with malondialdehyde, and 19 were caused by 3-morpholinosydnonimine. Our data reveal that the stronger reagents induce more posttranslational modifications in the fibrinogen structure than the weaker ones, and they extensively alter the architecture of the fibrin network. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the effect of posttranslational modifications on fibrinogen secondary structure varies from negligible alternations to serious disruptions. Among the serious disruptions is the oxidation of γR375 resulting in the release of Ca2+ ion that is necessary for appropriate fibrin fiber formation. Folding of amino acids γE72-γN77 into a short α-helix is a result of oxidation of γP76 to glutamic acid. The study describes behaviour of fibrinogen coiled-coil connecter in the vicinity of plasmin and hementin cleavage sites

Supercritical CO2 extraction of essential oils from Thymus vulgaris

Supercritical CO2 extraction of essential oil from Thymus vulgaris leaves was studied using experimental data recently obtained in the Florys S.p.A. laboratory. Mass transfer coefficients in the supercritical and solid phases from extraction curves at 40°C and 20 MPa were evaluated using a mathematical model based on the local adsorption equilibrium of essential oil on lipid in leaves. The adsorption equilibrium constant was fitted to these experimental data, and internal and external mass transfer resistances were calculated, allowing identification of the mechanism controlling the extraction process