Mitochondria: role in ischemia, reperfusion and cell death

Recent advances in the knowledge of the biochemical basis of myocardial ischemia have enabled a better understanding of the complex sequence of events occurring in ischemic cardiomyopathy, whatever its manifestations. This has clearly highlighted the important role played by cardiac mitochondria in these events. At first only associated with energy production, mitochondria have been clearly shown to have other important functions, like the maintenance of calcium homeostasis, as well as ischemic and non-ischemic preconditioning, and also modulation of cellular life and death. The aims of this review are twofold: firstly, to review the current knowledge on mitochondrial morphology and structure, and how these can be affected by ischemia and ischemia-reperfusion; and secondly, to summarize the role of cardiac mitochondria in cardioprotection and modulation of cell death mechanisms

ReCooPla: a DSL for coordination-based reconfiguration of software architectures

In production environments where change is the rule rather than the exception, adaptation of software plays an important role. Such adaptations presuppose dynamic reconfiguration of the system architecture, owever, it is in the static setting (design-phase) that such reconfigurations must be designed and analysed, to reclude erroneous evolutions. Modern software systems, which are built from the coordinated composition of loosely-coupled software components, are naturally adaptable; and coordination specification is, usually, the main reference point to inserting changes in these systems. In this paper, a domain-specific language—referred to as ReCooPLa—is proposed to design reconfigurations that change the coordination structures, so that they are analysed before being applied in run time. Moreover, a reconfiguration engine is introduced, that takes conveniently translated ReCooPLa specifications and applies them to coordination structures.(undefined

Towards an engine for coordination-based architectural reconfigurations

Software reconfigurability became increasingly relevant to the architectural process due to the crescent dependency of modern societies on reliable and adaptable systems. Such systems are supposed to adapt themselves to surrounding environmental changes with minimal service disruption, if any. This paper introduces an engine that statically applies reconfigurations to (formal) models of software architectures. Reconfigurations are specified using a domain specific language— ReCooPLa—which targets the manipulation of software coordinationstructures,typicallyusedinservice-orientedarchitectures(soa).Theengine is responsible for the compilation of ReCooPLa instances and their application to the relevant coordination structures. The resulting configurations are amenable to formal analysis of qualitative and quantitative (probabilistic) properties.This work is partly funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028923. The second author is supported by an Individual Doctoral Grant from FCT, with reference SFRH/BD/71475/2010

BiGGEsTS: integrated environment for biclustering analysis of time series gene expression data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The ability to monitor changes in expression patterns over time, and to observe the emergence of coherent temporal responses using expression time series, is critical to advance our understanding of complex biological processes. Biclustering has been recognized as an effective method for discovering local temporal expression patterns and unraveling potential regulatory mechanisms. The general biclustering problem is NP-hard. In the case of time series this problem is tractable, and efficient algorithms can be used. However, there is still a need for specialized applications able to take advantage of the temporal properties inherent to expression time series, both from a computational and a biological perspective.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>BiGGEsTS makes available state-of-the-art biclustering algorithms for analyzing expression time series. Gene Ontology (GO) annotations are used to assess the biological relevance of the biclusters. Methods for preprocessing expression time series and post-processing results are also included. The analysis is additionally supported by a visualization module capable of displaying informative representations of the data, including heatmaps, dendrograms, expression charts and graphs of enriched GO terms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>BiGGEsTS is a free open source graphical software tool for revealing local coexpression of genes in specific intervals of time, while integrating meaningful information on gene annotations. It is freely available at: <url>http://kdbio.inesc-id.pt/software/biggests</url>. We present a case study on the discovery of transcriptional regulatory modules in the response of <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>to heat stress.</p

The orchid bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Euglossina) in a forest fragment from western Paraná state, Brazil

An orchid bee inventory was carried out in Parque Estadual São Camilo, Palotina, Paraná (Brazil); conservation unit with about 400 hectares of Semidecidual Seasonal forest. Three bait traps were installed at the border of the fragment, each one containing the following fragrances: 1,8-cineole, eugenol, and vanilin. Sampling was carried out from 09am to 03pm, October 2011 to June 2012, summing up nine sampling days. A total of 186 specimens distributed among seven species were sampled. Eufriesea violacea with 140 specimens was the most common species, followed by Euglossa fimbriata (31), Euglossa annectans (9), Eulaema nigrita (4), Euglossa cordata (1), Euglossa pleosticta (1), and Exaerete smaragdina (1). According to qualitative and NMDS analysis, the orchid bee fauna of Parque Estadual São Camilo is representative of Semidecidual Seasonal forest, with richness comparable with other assemblages in the southern distribution of Euglossina. The sampled bee richness indicates that forest fragments, even small and isolated, are important in the conservation of this bees.Abelhas das orquídeas (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Euglossina) em um fragmento florestal do oeste do Paraná. Um inventário de abelhas das orquídeas foi conduzido no Parque Estadual São Camilo, Palotina, Paraná, uma unidade de conservação de cerca de 400 hectares de Floresta Estacional Semidecidual. Três garrafas-armadilha foram instaladas na borda do fragmento, cada uma contendo uma das seguintes essências: 1,8-cineol, eugenol e vanilina. A amostragem foi realizada entre 09 e 15 horas, entre outubro de 2011 e junho de 2012, somando nove dias amostrais. Um total de 186 espécimens distribuídos em sete espécies foram amostrados, Eufriesea violacea com 140 indivíduos foi a mais comum, seguida de Euglossa fimbriata com 31, Euglossa annectans com nove, Eulaema nigrita com quatro, Euglossa cordata, Euglossa pleosticta e Exaerete smaragdina com apenas um indivíduo amostrado cada. De acordo com análise qualitativa e de NMDS a fauna de Euglossina de Parque Estadual São Camilo é representativa de Floresta Estacional Semidecidual, com riqueza comparável a outras áreas no sul da distribuição do grupo. A riqueza de espécie amostrada indica que fragmentos florestais, mesmo que pequenos e isolados, são importantes na conservação destas abelhas

The CMC_E Project: an e-Learning environment to develop foreign language competence in companies

The project Communicating in Multilingual Contexts meets the Enterprises aims to find out if there is shortages of foreign languages in companies in the regions where the partners of the project are located and provides a virtual learning environment offering language learning materials in six different languages thus opening up opportunities for better trained, and thus more competitive, future and in-service employees. A needs analysis survey of foreign language competences in companies was carried out in order to identify the key language competences commonly required by different sectors of the labour market and design relevant language materials. These materials are being piloted in order to assess their efficiency and reformulate minor issues. This paper presents the project, relevant data from the survey, the materials designed and the first results of the piloting phase.LifeLong Learning Programme 2007-2013 Transversal Programme - Key Activity 2: Language - Multilateral Project (Ref. 135507- LLP-1-2007-1-IT-KA2-KA2M

Impact of carvedilol on the mitochondrial damage induced by hypoxanthine and xantine oxidase: what role in myocardial ischemia and reperfusion?

OBJECTIVES: The cardioprotective effects of carvedilol (CV) may be explained in part by interactions with heart mitochondria. The objective of this work was to study the protection afforded by CV against oxidative stress induced in isolated heart mitochondria by hypoxanthine and xanthine oxidase (HX/XO), a well-known source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cardiovascular system. METHODS: Mitochondria were isolated from Wistar rat hearts (n = 8) and incubated with HX/XO in the presence and in the absence of calcium. Several methods were used to assess the protection afforded by CV: evaluation of mitochondrial volume changes (by measuring changes in the optical density of the mitochondrial suspension), calcium uptake and release (with a fluorescent probe, Calcium Green 5-N) and mitochondrial respiration (with a Clark-type oxygen electrode). RESULTS: CV decreased mitochondrial damage associated with ROS production by HX and XO, as verified by the reduction of mitochondrial swelling and increase in mitochondrial calcium uptake. In the presence of HX and XO, CV also ameliorated mitochondrial respiration in the active phosphorylation state and prevented decrease in the respiratory control ratio (p < 0.05) and in mitochondrial phosphorylative efficiency (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The data indicate that CV partly protected heart mitochondria from oxidative damage induced by HX and XO, which may be useful during myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. It is also suggested that mitochondria may be a priority target for the protective action of some compounds