Regular football training down-regulates miR-1303 muscle expression in veterans

Purpose: Regular exercise affects the expression of several genes, proteins and microRNAs (miRNAs) in time- and intensity-dependent manner promoting longevity. We previously identified from GeneChip Array analysis several differentially expressed genes and miRNAs in muscle from veteran football players (VPG) compared to active untrained elderly subjects (CG); here we focussed on miRNA-1303 (miR-1303). The aims of the present research were: to analyse the effects of football training on the expression of miR-1303 and to identify its putative target involved in the longevity pathways in skeletal muscle from VPG compared to CG. Methods: RNA samples from 12 VPG and 12 CG muscle biopsies were used to validate miR-1303 expression. Crossing four different bioinformatic algorithms, we identified 16 putative targets of miR-1303; from these, BAG-2, KLHL7 and KBTBD6 were chosen for further validation by Western blot analysis in LHCN-M2 human myoblasts transiently transfected with miR-1303. Results: Football training down-regulates miR-1303 expression in muscle from VPG compared to CG and the expression of BAG-2, a chaperon protein involved in the autophagy pathway, inversely correlated to overexpression of miR-1303 in a time-dependent manner, indicating that it is a miR-1303 potential target. Conclusions: This is the first report, to our knowledge, describing miR-1303 regulation in skeletal muscle by football training and the identification of a target protein, BAG-2, involved in the autophagy pathway. This result contributes to the enlargement of knowledge on the molecular mechanisms linking football training, autophagy and longevity

Probing the Interplay between Quantum Charge Fluctuations and Magnetic Ordering in LuFe2O4

Ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials possess spontaneous electric and magnetic order, respectively, which can be switched by the corresponding applied electric and magnetic fields. Multiferroics combine these properties in a single material, providing an avenue for controlling electric polarization with a magnetic field and magnetism with an electric field. These materials have been intensively studied in recent years, both for their fundamental scientific interest as well as their potential applications in a broad range of magnetoelectric devices [1, 2, 3, 4]. However, the microscopic origins of magnetism and ferroelectricity are quite different, and the mechanisms producing strong coupling between them are not always well understood. Hence, gaining a deeper understanding of magnetoelectric coupling in these materials is the key to their rational design. Here, we use ultrafast optical spectroscopy to show that quantum charge fluctuations can govern the interplay between electric polarization and magnetic ordering in the charge-ordered multiferroic LuFe2O4

Low frequency mechanical spectroscopy study of three pyrrolidinium based ionic liquids

In this work we present our recent results on three ionic liquids (ILs), which share bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (TFSI) as anion and have different pyrrolidinium based cations. By means of a combination of mechanical spectroscopy and thermal analysis, many of the physical processes occurring during cooling down from the liquid phase, can be studied. Depending both on the diverse cation and the different thermal history, crystallization from the melt or glass transition, cold-crystallization, solid-solid phase transitions and thermally activated processes are observed. In one of the ILs, which could be easily undercooled, a prominent thermally activated peak could be observed above the glass transition. The temperature dependence of the relaxation time is approximated by a Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman equation, as usual for fragile glass forming liquids, and the apparent activation energy of W = 0.36 eV with a pre-exponential factor of the relaxation time tau(0) = 1.7.10(-13)s were derived supposing jumps between asymmetrical potential wells. The kinetics of the crystallization processes have been studied in the framework of the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov theory and the Avrami parameters have been derived for both the crystallization from the melt and for the cold crystallization observed on heating