Who Is Caring for the Caregiver? The Role of Cybercoping for Dementia Caregivers

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between dementia caregivers’ communication behaviors (information seeking and forwarding) and their outcomes (coping outcomes: e.g., dealing better with negative feelings or improved medical outcomes). A survey data set of dementia patients’ caregivers substantiates the effects of communication behaviors about dementia illness on coping outcomes, as well as the mediating role of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping processes. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), this study found positive effects of communication behaviors on outcomes through coping processes. Further, the results indicate that communication behaviors in cyberspace are crucial for caregivers to cope with dementia, both affectively (improvement of caregivers’ emotional control) and physically (health improvement of patients). The implications for the improvement of public health through online health communication behaviors are discussed

Improvement of retinoids production in recombinant E. coli using glyoxylic acid

Isoprenoids are the most chemically diverse compounds found in nature. They are present in all organisms and have essential roles in membrane structure, redox chemistry, reproductive cycles, growth regulation, signal transduction and defense mechanisms. In spite of their diversity of functions and structures, all isoprenoids are derived from the common building blocks of isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and its isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP). Optimization of IPP synthesis pathway is of benefit to mass production of various isoprenoids. There are two pathways of 2-C-Methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) and mevalonate (MVA) for IPP synthesis. Prokaryotes including E. coli generally use MEP pathway whereas MVA pathway is used in eukaryotes. To improve isoprenoid production, it was performed the deletion of genes in E. coli, which are involved in both formation of fermentation by-products such as organic acids and alcohols, and consumption of precursors of MEP and MVA pathways, pyruvate and acetyl-CoA. As a result, we were able to develop a strain with improved fermentation productivity and carbon source utilization efficiency, the mutant strain was called AceCo. Higher lycopene production was achieved in the AceCo strain compared to the wild type MG1655 strain due to no formation of the inhibitory by-products. However, retinoids production of AceCo strain decreased to a half of that of MG1655 strain. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Assessment of satellite rainfall nowcasting based on extrapolation technique

Póster presentado en: 3rd European Nowcasting Conference, celebrada en la sede central de AEMET en Madrid del 24 al 26 de abril de 2019

Biomimetic Thermal-sensitive Multi-transform Actuator

Controllable and miniaturised mechanical actuation is one of the main challenges facing various emerging technologies, such as soft robotics, drug delivery systems, and microfluidics. Here we introduce a simple method for constructing actuating devices with programmable complex motions. Thermally responsive hydrogels based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and its functionalized derivatives (f-PNIPAM) were used to control the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) or the temperature at which the gel volume changes. Techniques for ultra-violet crosslinking the monomer solutions were developed to generate gel sheets with controllable crosslink density gradients that allowed bending actuation to specified curvatures by heating through the LCST. Simple molding processes were then used to construct multi-transform devices with complex shape changes, including a bioinspired artificial flower that shows blossoming and reverse blossoming with a change in temperature

Control of mammalian G protein signaling by N-terminal acetylation and the N-end rule pathway

Rgs2, a regulator of G proteins, lowers blood pressure by decreasing signaling through Gαq. Human patients expressing Met-Leu-Rgs2 (ML-Rgs2) or Met-Arg-Rgs2 (MR-Rgs2) are hypertensive relative to people expressing wild-type Met-Gln-Rgs2 (MQ-Rgs2). We found that wild-type MQ-Rgs2 and its mutant, MR-Rgs2, were destroyed by the Ac/N-end rule pathway, which recognizes Nα-terminally acetylated (Nt-acetylated) proteins. The shortest-lived mutant, ML-Rgs2, was targeted by both the Ac/N-end rule and Arg/N-end rule pathways. The latter pathway recognizes unacetylated N-terminal residues. Thus, the Nt-acetylated Ac-MX-Rgs2 (X = Arg, Gln, Leu) proteins are specific substrates of the mammalian Ac/N-end rule pathway. Furthermore, the Ac/N-degron of Ac-MQ-Rgs2 was conditional, and Teb4, an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane-embedded ubiquitin ligase, was able to regulate G protein signaling by targeting Ac-MX-Rgs2 proteins for degradation through their N^α-terminal acetyl group