219 research outputs found
Relationship of stroke volume variation, pulse pressure variation and global end-diastolic volume in patients undergoing brain surgery
Comparison of two thermodilution devices for postoperative care in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage
TIN-X:target importance and novelty explorer
Abstract
Motivation
The increasing amount of peer-reviewed manuscripts requires the development of specific mining tools to facilitate the visual exploration of evidence linking diseases and proteins.
Results
We developed TIN-X, the Target Importance and Novelty eXplorer, to visualize the association between proteins and diseases, based on text mining data processed from scientific literature. In the current implementation, TIN-X supports exploration of data for G-protein coupled receptors, kinases, ion channels, and nuclear receptors. TIN-X supports browsing and navigating across proteins and diseases based on ontology classes, and displays a scatter plot with two proposed new bibliometric statistics: Importance and Novelty.
Availability and Implementation
http://www.newdrugtargets.org
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Rewiring carotenoid biosynthesis in plants using a viral vector
[EN] Plants can be engineered to sustainably produce compounds of nutritional, industrial or pharmaceutical relevance. This is, however, a challenging task as extensive regulation of biosynthetic pathways often hampers major metabolic changes. Here we describe the use of a viral vector derived from Tobacco etch virus to express a whole heterologous metabolic pathway that produces the health-promoting carotenoid lycopene in tobacco tissues. The pathway consisted in three enzymes from the soil bacteria Pantoea ananatis. Lycopene is present at undetectable levels in chloroplasts of non-infected leaves. In tissues infected with the viral vector, however, lycopene comprised approximately 10% of the total carotenoid content. Our research further showed that plant viruses that express P. ananatis phytoene synthase (crtB), one of the three enzymes of the heterologous pathway, trigger an accumulation of endogenous carotenoids, which together with a reduction in chlorophylls eventually result in a bright yellow pigmentation of infected tissues in various host-virus combinations. So, besides illustrating the potential of viral vectors for engineering complex metabolic pathways, we also show a yellow carotenoid-based reporter that can be used to visually track infection dynamics of plant viruses either alone or in combination with other visual markers.We thank Veronica Aragones and M. Rosa Rodriguez-Goberna for excellent technical assistance. This research was supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) grants BIO2014-54269-R to J.-A.D., and BIO2014-59092-P and BIO2015-71703-REDT to M. R.-C. Financial support from the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/021), the Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnologia para el Desarrollo (Ibercarot 112RT0445), and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR-1434) is also acknowledged. E.M. is the recipient of a pre-doctoral fellowship (AP2012-3751) from the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte. B.L. is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship (FPDI-2013-018882) from MINECO.Majer, E.; Llorente, B.; Rodríguez-Concepción, M.; Daros Arnau, JA. (2017). Rewiring carotenoid biosynthesis in plants using a viral vector. Scientific Reports. 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep41645S7O’Connor, S. E. Engineering of secondary metabolism. Annu. Rev. Genet. 49, 71–94 (2015).Sainsbury, F. & Lomonossoff, G. P. Transient expressions of synthetic biology in plants. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 19, 1–7 (2014).Gleba, Y. Y., Tusé, D. & Giritch, A. Plant viral vectors for delivery by Agrobacterium. Curr. Top. Microbiol. 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Aptamers for pharmaceuticals and their application in environmental analytics
Aptamers are single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides, which are able to bind with high affinity and specificity to their target. This property is used for a multitude of applications, for instance as molecular recognition elements in biosensors and other assays. Biosensor application of aptamers offers the possibility for fast and easy detection of environmental relevant substances. Pharmaceutical residues, deriving from human or animal medical treatment, are found in surface, ground, and drinking water. At least the whole range of frequently administered drugs can be detected in noticeable concentrations. Biosensors and assays based on aptamers as specific recognition elements are very convenient for this application because aptamer development is possible for toxic targets. Commonly used biological receptors for biosensors like enzymes or antibodies are mostly unavailable for the detection of pharmaceuticals. This review describes the research activities of aptamer and sensor developments for pharmaceutical detection, with focus on environmental applications
Identification of the remains of King Richard III
In 2012, a skeleton was excavated at the presumed site of the Grey Friars friary in Leicester, the last-known resting place of King Richard III. Archaeological, osteological and radiocarbon dating data were consistent with th
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