Approaches in biotechnological applications of natural polymers

Natural polymers, such as gums and mucilage, are biocompatible, cheap, easily available and non-toxic materials of native origin. These polymers are increasingly preferred over synthetic materials for industrial applications due to their intrinsic properties, as well as they are considered alternative sources of raw materials since they present characteristics of sustainability, biodegradability and biosafety. As definition, gums and mucilages are polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates consisting of one or more monosaccharides or their derivatives linked in bewildering variety of linkages and structures. Natural gums are considered polysaccharides naturally occurring in varieties of plant seeds and exudates, tree or shrub exudates, seaweed extracts, fungi, bacteria, and animal sources. Water-soluble gums, also known as hydrocolloids, are considered exudates and are pathological products; therefore, they do not form a part of cell wall. On the other hand, mucilages are part of cell and physiological products. It is important to highlight that gums represent the largest amounts of polymer materials derived from plants. Gums have enormously large and broad applications in both food and non-food industries, being commonly used as thickening, binding, emulsifying, suspending, stabilizing agents and matrices for drug release in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In the food industry, their gelling properties and the ability to mold edible films and coatings are extensively studied. The use of gums depends on the intrinsic properties that they provide, often at costs below those of synthetic polymers. For upgrading the value of gums, they are being processed into various forms, including the most recent nanomaterials, for various biotechnological applications. Thus, the main natural polymers including galactomannans, cellulose, chitin, agar, carrageenan, alginate, cashew gum, pectin and starch, in addition to the current researches about them are reviewed in this article.. }To the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfíico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for fellowships (LCBBC and MGCC) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nvíel Superior (CAPES) (PBSA). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) (JAT)

Coexistence of the spin-density-wave and superconductivity in the (Ba,K)Fe2As2

The relation between the spin-density-wave (SDW) and superconducting order is a central topic in current research on the FeAs-based high Tc superconductors. Conflicting results exist in the LaFeAs(O,F)-class of materials, for which whether the SDW and superconductivity are mutually exclusive or they can coexist has not been settled. Here we show that for the (Ba,K)Fe2As2 system, the SDW and superconductivity can coexist in an extended range of compositions. The availability of single crystalline samples and high value of the energy gaps would make the materials a model system to investigate the high Tc ferropnictide superconductivity.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Is there a role for melatonin in fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia, characterised by persistent pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and cognitive dysfunction, is a central sensitivity syndrome that also involves abnormality in peripheral generators and in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Heterogeneity of clinical expression of fibromyalgia with a multifactorial aetiology has made the development of effective therapeutic strategies challenging. Physiological properties of the neurohormone melatonin appear related to the symptom profile exhibited by patients with fibromyalgia and thus disturbance of it’s production would be compatible with the pathophysiology. Altered levels of melatonin have been observed in patients with fibromyalgia which are associated with lower secretion during dark hours and higher secretion during daytime. However, inconsistencies of available clinical evidence limit conclusion of a relationship between levels of melatonin and symptom profiles in patients with fibromyalgia. Administration of melatonin to patients with fibromyalgia has demonstrated suppression of many symptoms and an improved quality of life consistent with benefit as a therapy for the management of this condition. Further studies with larger samples, however, are required to explore the potential role of melatonin in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia and determine the optimal dosing regimen of melatonin for the management of fibromyalgia

Effects of rapid urbanisation on the urban thermal environment between 1990 and 2011 in Dhaka Megacity, Bangladesh

This study investigates the influence of land-use/land-cover (LULC) change on land surface temperature (LST) in Dhaka Megacity, Bangladesh during a period of rapid urbanisation. LST was derived from Landsat 5 TM scenes captured in 1990, 2000 and 2011 and compared to contemporaneous LULC maps. We compared index-based and linear spectral mixture analysis (LSMA) techniques for modelling LST. LSMA derived biophysical parameters corresponded more strongly to LST than those produced using index-based parameters. Results indicated that vegetation and water surfaces had relatively stable LST but it increased by around 2 °C when these surfaces were converted to built-up areas with extensive impervious surfaces. Knowledge of the expected change in LST when one land-cover is converted to another can inform land planners of the potential impact of future changes and urges the development of better management strategies

DNA damage by lipid peroxidation products: implications in cancer, inflammation and autoimmunity

Oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation (LPO) induced by inflammation, excess metal storage and excess caloric intake cause generalized DNA damage, producing genotoxic and mutagenic effects. The consequent deregulation of cell homeostasis is implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of malignancies and degenerative diseases. Reactive aldehydes produced by LPO, such as malondialdehyde, acrolein, crotonaldehyde and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, react with DNA bases, generating promutagenic exocyclic DNA adducts, which likely contribute to the mutagenic and carcinogenic effects associated with oxidative stress-induced LPO. However, reactive aldehydes, when added to tumor cells, can exert an anticancerous effect. They act, analogously to other chemotherapeutic drugs, by forming DNA adducts and, in this way, they drive the tumor cells toward apoptosis. The aldehyde-DNA adducts, which can be observed during inflammation, play an important role by inducing epigenetic changes which, in turn, can modulate the inflammatory process. The pathogenic role of the adducts formed by the products of LPO with biological macromolecules in the breaking of immunological tolerance to self antigens and in the development of autoimmunity has been supported by a wealth of evidence. The instrumental role of the adducts of reactive LPO products with self protein antigens in the sensitization of autoreactive cells to the respective unmodified proteins and in the intermolecular spreading of the autoimmune responses to aldehyde-modified and native DNA is well documented. In contrast, further investigation is required in order to establish whether the formation of adducts of LPO products with DNA might incite substantial immune responsivity and might be instrumental for the spreading of the immunological responses from aldehyde-modified DNA to native DNA and similarly modified, unmodified and/or structurally analogous self protein antigens, thus leading to autoimmunity

The disruption of proteostasis in neurodegenerative diseases

Cells count on surveillance systems to monitor and protect the cellular proteome which, besides being highly heterogeneous, is constantly being challenged by intrinsic and environmental factors. In this context, the proteostasis network (PN) is essential to achieve a stable and functional proteome. Disruption of the PN is associated with aging and can lead to and/or potentiate the occurrence of many neurodegenerative diseases (ND). This not only emphasizes the importance of the PN in health span and aging but also how its modulation can be a potential target for intervention and treatment of human diseases.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CXCR4-expressing Mist1+ progenitors in the gastric antrum contribute to gastric cancer development

Mist1 was recently shown to identify a discrete population of stem cells within the isthmus of the oxyntic gland within the gastric corpus. Chief cells at the base of the gastric corpus also express Mist1. The relevance of Mist1 expression as a marker of specific cell populations within the antral glands of the distal stomach, however, is unknown. Using Mist1-CreERT mice, we revealed that Mist1+ antral cells, distinct from the Mist1+ population in the corpus, comprise long-lived progenitors that reside within the antral isthmus above Lgr5+ or CCK2R+ cells. Mist1+ antral progenitors can serve as an origin of antral tumors induced by loss of Apc or MNU treatment. Mist1+ antral progenitors, as well as other antral stem/progenitor population, express Cxcr4, and are located in close proximity to Cxcl12 (the Cxcr4 ligand)-expressing endothelium. During antral carcinogenesis, there is an expansion of Cxcr4+ epithelial cells as well as the Cxcl12+ perivascular niche. Deletion of Cxcl12 in endothelial cells or pharmacological blockade of Cxcr4 inhibits antral tumor growth. Cxcl12/Cxcr4 signaling may be a potential therapeutic target.Kosuke Sakitani, Yoku Hayakawa, Huan Deng, Hiroshi Ariyama, Hiroto Kinoshita ... Daniel L. Worthley... et al

Chromosome 9p21 SNPs associated with multiple disease phenotypes correlate with ANRIL expression

Author Summary Genetic variants on chromosome 9p21 have been associated with several important diseases including coronary artery disease, diabetes, and multiple cancers. Most of the risk variants in this region do not alter any protein sequence and are therefore likely to act by influencing the expression of nearby genes. We investigated whether chromosome 9p21 variants are correlated with expression of the three nearest genes ( CDKN2A , CDKN2B , and ANRIL ) which might mediate the association with disease. Using two different techniques to study effects on expression in blood from two separate populations of healthy volunteers, we show that variants associated with disease are all correlated with ANRIL expression, but associations with the other two genes are weaker and less consistent. Multiple genetic variants are independently associated with expression of all three genes. Although total expression levels of CDKN2A , CDKN2B , and ANRIL are positively correlated, individual genetic variants influence ANRIL and CDKN2B expression in opposite directions, suggesting a possible role of ANRIL in CDKN2B regulation. Our study suggests that modulation of ANRIL expression mediates susceptibility to several important human diseases

On the Representability of Complete Genomes by Multiple Competing Finite-Context (Markov) Models

A finite-context (Markov) model of order yields the probability distribution of the next symbol in a sequence of symbols, given the recent past up to depth . Markov modeling has long been applied to DNA sequences, for example to find gene-coding regions. With the first studies came the discovery that DNA sequences are non-stationary: distinct regions require distinct model orders. Since then, Markov and hidden Markov models have been extensively used to describe the gene structure of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, to our knowledge, a comprehensive study about the potential of Markov models to describe complete genomes is still lacking. We address this gap in this paper. Our approach relies on (i) multiple competing Markov models of different orders (ii) careful programming techniques that allow orders as large as sixteen (iii) adequate inverted repeat handling (iv) probability estimates suited to the wide range of context depths used. To measure how well a model fits the data at a particular position in the sequence we use the negative logarithm of the probability estimate at that position. The measure yields information profiles of the sequence, which are of independent interest. The average over the entire sequence, which amounts to the average number of bits per base needed to describe the sequence, is used as a global performance measure. Our main conclusion is that, from the probabilistic or information theoretic point of view and according to this performance measure, multiple competing Markov models explain entire genomes almost as well or even better than state-of-the-art DNA compression methods, such as XM, which rely on very different statistical models. This is surprising, because Markov models are local (short-range), contrasting with the statistical models underlying other methods, where the extensive data repetitions in DNA sequences is explored, and therefore have a non-local character