Detection of peptidases in Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes using chromogenic and fluorogenic substrates

Detergent extracts of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes catalysed the hydrolysis of a range of amino-acyl and peptidyl p-nitro-anilides and aminomethylcoumarins. At least three enzymes were detected that cleave Z-Phe-Arg-MCA. Two of these were optimally active at alkaline pH, the other at pH 4·0. Of the two enzymes with alkaline pH optima, one was a cysteine peptidase and was unable to cleave Bz-Arg-MCA readily, whilst the other cleaved Bz-Arg-MCA and was inhibited by diisopropyl fluorophosphate. The acidic enzyme was similar to cathespin L of other eukayrotes with respect to its pH profile, substrate-specificity and inhibitor-sensitivity. Evidence was presented that epimastigotes contain a cysteine-type dipeptidyl aminopeptidase, one or more aminopeptidases, and a serine peptidase that cleaves Boc-Ala-Ala-pNA. Digitonin solubilization of the activities from cells supports the hypothesis that the cathespin L-like enzyme and the dipeptidyl aminopeptidase are lysosomal, whilst the Bz-Arg-MCA hydrolase, the aminopeptidases and the Boc-Ala-Ala-pNA serine peptidase are cytosoli

Ultrathin epitaxial Fe films in vicinal GaAs(001): A study by spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy

Thin epitaxial Fe films have been grown on vicinal GaAs(001) substrates and their remanent magnetic properties and the degree of substrate atom diffusion investigated using synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy. The vicinal Fe films, though exhibiting greater As diffusion than their singular homologues, displayed better film quality both from the structural and the magnetic points of view. The spin-resolved valence spectra of the vicinal films resemble those for crystalline bulk Fe at lower film thicknesses than for singular films

Disruption of endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria tethering proteins in post-mortem Alzheimer's disease brain

Signaling between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria regulates a number of key neuronal functions, many of which are perturbed in Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, damage to ER-mitochondria signaling is seen in cell and transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease. However, as yet there is little evidence that ER-mitochondria signaling is altered in human Alzheimer's disease brains. ER-mitochondria signaling is mediated by interactions between the integral ER protein VAPB and the outer mitochondrial membrane protein PTPIP51 which act to recruit and “tether” regions of ER to the mitochondrial surface. The VAPB-PTPIP51 tethers are now known to regulate a number of ER-mitochondria signaling functions including delivery of Ca2+from ER stores to mitochondria, mitochondrial ATP production, autophagy and synaptic activity. Here we investigate the VAPB-PTPIP51 tethers in post-mortem control and Alzheimer's disease brains. Quantification of ER-mitochondria signaling proteins by immunoblotting revealed loss of VAPB and PTPIP51 in cortex but not cerebellum at end-stage Alzheimer's disease. Proximity ligation assays were used to quantify the VAPB-PTPIP51 interaction in temporal cortex pyramidal neurons and cerebellar Purkinje cell neurons in control, Braak stage III-IV (early/mid-dementia) and Braak stage VI (severe dementia) cases. Pyramidal neurons degenerate in Alzheimer's disease whereas Purkinje cells are less affected. These studies revealed that the VAPB-PTPIP51 tethers are disrupted in Braak stage III-IV pyramidal but not Purkinje cell neurons. Thus, we identify a new pathogenic event in post-mortem Alzheimer's disease brains. The implications of our findings for Alzheimer's disease mechanisms are discussed

Repurposing Immunomodulatory Imide Drugs (IMiDs) in Neuropsychiatric and Neurodegenerative Disorders

Neuroinflammation represents a common trait in the pathology and progression of the major psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Neuropsychiatric disorders have emerged as a global crisis, affecting 1 in 4 people, while neurological disorders are the second leading cause of death in the elderly population worldwide (WHO, 2001; GBD 2016 Neurology Collaborators, 2019). However, there remains an immense deficit in availability of effective drug treatments for most neurological disorders. In fact, for disorders such as depression, placebos and behavioral therapies have equal effectiveness as antidepressants. For neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, drugs that can prevent, slow, or cure the disease have yet to be found. Several non-traditional avenues of drug target identification have emerged with ongoing neurological disease research to meet the need for novel and efficacious treatments. Of these novel avenues is that of neuroinflammation, which has been found to be involved in the progression and pathology of many of the leading neurological disorders. Neuroinflammation is characterized by glial inflammatory factors in certain stages of neurological disorders. Although the meta-analyses have provided evidence of genetic/proteomic upregulation of inflammatory factors in certain stages of neurological disorders. Although the mechanisms underpinning the connections between neuroinflammation and neurological disorders are unclear, and meta-analysis results have shown high sensitivity to factors such as disorder severity and sample type, there is significant evidence of neuroinflammation associations across neurological disorders. In this review, we summarize the role of neuroinflammation in psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and bipolar disorder, as well as in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and introduce current research on the potential of immunomodulatory imide drugs (IMiDs) as a new treatment strategy for these disorders

Genetic Incompatibility Dampens Hybrid Fertility More Than Hybrid Viability: Yeast as a Case Study

Genetic incompatibility is believed to be the major cause of postzygotic reproductive isolation. Despite huge efforts seeking for speciation-related incompatibilities in the past several decades, a general understanding of how genetic incompatibility evolves in affecting hybrid fitness is not available, primarily due to the fact that the number of known incompatibilities is small. Instead of further mapping specific incompatible genes, in this paper we aimed to know the overall effects of incompatibility on fertility and viability, the two aspects of fitness, by examining 89 gametes produced by yeast S. cerevisiae - S. paradoxus F1 hybrids. Homozygous F2 hybrids formed by autodiploidization of F1 gametes were subject to tests for growth rate and sporulation efficiency. We observed much stronger defects in sporulation than in clonal growth for every single F2 hybrid strain, indicating that genetic incompatibility affects hybrid fertility more than hybrid viability in yeast. We related this finding in part to the fast-evolving nature of meiosis-related genes, and proposed that the generally low expression levels of these genes might be a cause of the observation

Running-Induced Systemic Cathepsin B Secretion Is Associated with Memory Function

Peripheral processes that mediate beneficial effects of exercise on the brain remain sparsely explored. Here, we show that a muscle secretory factor, cathepsin B (CTSB) protein, is important for the cognitive and neurogenic benefits of running. Proteomic analysis revealed elevated levels of CTSB in conditioned medium derived from skeletal muscle cell cultures treated with AMP-kinase agonist AICAR. Consistently, running increased CTSB levels in mouse gastrocnemius muscle and plasma. Furthermore, recombinant CTSB application enhanced expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and doublecortin (DCX) in adult hippocampal progenitor cells through a mechanism dependent on the multifunctional protein P11. In vivo, in CTSB knockout (KO) mice, running did not enhance adult hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial memory function. Interestingly, in Rhesus monkeys and humans, treadmill exercise elevated CTSB in plasma. In humans, changes in CTSB levels correlated with fitness and hippocampus-dependent memory function. Our findings suggest CTSB as a mediator of effects of exercise on cognition

Long-term (trophic) purinergic signalling: purinoceptors control cell proliferation, differentiation and death

The purinergic signalling system, which uses purines and pyrimidines as chemical transmitters, and purinoceptors as effectors, is deeply rooted in evolution and development and is a pivotal factor in cell communication. The ATP and its derivatives function as a 'danger signal' in the most primitive forms of life. Purinoceptors are extraordinarily widely distributed in all cell types and tissues and they are involved in the regulation of an even more extraordinary number of biological processes. In addition to fast purinergic signalling in neurotransmission, neuromodulation and secretion, there is long-term (trophic) purinergic signalling involving cell proliferation, differentiation, motility and death in the development and regeneration of most systems of the body. In this article, we focus on the latter in the immune/defence system, in stratified epithelia in visceral organs and skin, embryological development, bone formation and resorption, as well as in cancer. Cell Death and Disease (2010) 1, e9; doi:10.1038/cddis.2009.11; published online 14 January 201

Compact CMOS camera demonstrator (C3D) for Ukube-1

The Open University, in collaboration with e2v technologies and XCAM Ltd, have been selected to fly an EO (Earth Observation) technology demonstrator and in-orbit radiation damage characterisation instrument on board the UK Space Agency's UKube-1 pilot Cubesat programme. Cubesat payloads offer a unique opportunity to rapidly build and fly space hardware for minimal cost, providing easy access to the space environment. Based around the e2v 1.3 MPixel 0.18 micron process eye-on-Si CMOS devices, the instrument consists of a radiation characterisation imager as well as a narrow field imager (NFI) and a wide field imager (WFI). The narrow and wide field imagers are expected to achieve resolutions of 25 m and 350 m respectively from a 650 km orbit, providing sufficient swathe width to view the southern UK with the WFI and London with the NFI. The radiation characterisation experiment has been designed to verify and reinforce ground based testing that has been conducted on the e2v eye-on-Si family of devices and includes TEC temperature control circuitry as well as RADFET in-orbit dosimetry. Of particular interest are SEU and SEL effects. The novel instrument design allows for a wide range of capabilities within highly constrained mass, power and space budgets providing a model for future use on similarly constrained missions, such as planetary rovers. Scheduled for launch in December 2011, this 1 year low cost programme should not only provide valuable data and outreach opportunities but also help to prove flight heritage for future missions

Clustering and meso-level variables in cross-sectional surveys: an example of food aid during the Bosnian crisis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Focus groups, rapid assessment procedures, key informant interviews and institutional reviews of local health services provide valuable insights on health service resources and performance. A long-standing challenge of health planning is to combine this sort of qualitative evidence in a unified analysis with quantitative evidence from household surveys. A particular challenge in this regard is to take account of the neighbourhood or clustering effects, recognising that these can be informative or incidental.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An example of food aid and food sufficiency from the Bosnian emergency (1995-96) illustrates two Lamothe cluster-adjustments of the Mantel Haenszel (MH) procedure, one assuming a fixed odds ratio and the other allowing for informative clustering by not assuming a fixed odds ratio. We compared these with conventional generalised estimating equations and a generalised linear mixed (GLMM) model, using a Laplace adjustment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The MH adjustment assuming incidental clustering generated a final model very similar to GEE. The adjustment that does not assume a fixed odds ratio produced a final multivariate model and effect sizes very similar to GLMM.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>In medium or large data sets with stratified last stage random sampling, the cluster adjusted MH is substantially more conservative than the naïve MH computation. In the example of food aid in the Bosnian crisis, the cluster adjusted MH that does not assume a fixed odds ratio produced similar results to the GLMM, which identified informative clustering.</p

Partitioning of Mg, Sr, Ba and U into a subaqueous calcite speleothem

The trace-element geochemistry of speleothems is becoming increasingly used for reconstructing palaeoclimate, with a particular emphasis on elements whose concentrations vary according to hydrological conditions at the cave site (e.g. Mg, Sr, Ba and U). An important step in interpreting trace-element abundances is understanding the underlying processes of their incorporation. This includes quantifying the fractionation between the solution and speleothem carbonate via partition coefficients (where the partitioning (D) of element X (DX) is the molar ratio [X/Ca] in the calcite divided by the molar ratio [X/Ca] in the parent water) and evaluating the degree of spatial variability across time-constant speleothem layers. Previous studies of how these elements are incorporated into speleothems have focused primarily on stalagmites and their source waters in natural cave settings, or have used synthetic solutions under cave-analogue laboratory conditions to produce similar dripstones. However, dripstones are not the only speleothem types capable of yielding useful palaeoclimate information. In this study, we investigate the incorporation of Mg, Sr, Ba and U into a subaqueous calcite speleothem (CD3) growing in a natural cave pool in Italy. Pool-water measurements extending back 15 years reveal a remarkably stable geochemical environment owing to the deep cave setting, enabling the calculation of precise solution [X/Ca]. We determine the trace element variability of ‘modern’ subaqueous calcite from a drill core taken through CD3 to derive DMg, DSr, DBa and DU then compare these with published cave, cave-analogue and seawater-analogue studies. The DMg for CD3 is anomalously high (0.042 ± 0.002) compared to previous estimates at similar temperatures (∼8 °C). The DSr (0.100 ± 0.007) is similar to previously reported values, but data from this study as well as those from Tremaine and Froelich (2013) and Day and Henderson (2013) suggest that [Na/Sr] might play an important role in Sr incorporation through the potential for Na to outcompete Sr for calcite non-lattice sites. DBa in CD3 (0.086 ± 0.008) is similar to values derived by Day and Henderson (2013) under cave-analogue conditions, whilst DU (0.013 ± 0.002) is almost an order of magnitude lower, possibly due to the unusually slow speleothem growth rates (&lt;1 μm a−1), which could expose the crystal surfaces to leaching of uranyl carbonate. Finally, laser-ablation ICP-MS analysis of the upper 7 μm of CD3, regarded as ‘modern’ for the purposes of this study, reveals considerable heterogeneity, particularly for Sr, Ba and U, which is potentially indicative of compositional zoning. This reinforces the need to conduct 2D mapping and/or multiple laser passes to capture the range of time-equivalent elemental variations prior to palaeoclimate interpretation