Cysteine-containing peptides are produced by sequential clipping, but not released, from lupin 11S storage globulin during early germination

The digestion of the seed storage proteins is a finely regulated process operated by several proteases whose action is influenced by the exposure of specific regions, which became progressively available upon their action. We focused our study on the initial stages of germination, where more subtle modifications to the storage proteins are expected. Small-size peptides containing cysteine residues and other possible metalbinding regions are de facto produced but are not released from the \u201cparental\u201d protein since they remain bound trough disulphide bridges. The meaning of these findings is discussed

Analysis of conglutin seed storage proteins across lupin species using transcriptomic, protein and comparative genomic approaches

Background - The major proteins in lupin seeds are conglutins that have primary roles in supplying carbon, sulphur and nitrogen and energy for the germinating seedling. They fall into four families; α, β, γ and δ. Interest in these conglutins is growing as family members have been shown to have beneficial nutritional and pharmaceutical properties. Results - An in-depth transcriptome and draft genome from the narrow-leafed lupin (NLL; Lupinus angustifolius) variety, Tanjil, were examined and 16 conglutin genes were identified. Using RNAseq data sets, the structure and expression of these 16 conglutin genes were analysed across eight lupin varieties from five lupin species. Phylogenic analysis suggest that the α and γ conglutins diverged prior to lupin speciation while β and δ members diverged both prior and after speciation. A comparison of the expression of the 16 conglutin genes was performed, and in general the conglutin genes showed similar levels of RNA expression among varieties within species, but quite distinct expression patterns between lupin species. Antibodies were generated against the specific conglutin families and immunoblot analyses were used to compare the levels of conglutin proteins in various tissues and during different stages of seed development in NLL, Tanjil, confirming the expression in the seed. This analysis showed that the conglutins were expressed highly at the mature seed stage, in all lupin species, and a range of polypeptide sizes were observed for each conglutin family. Conclusions - This study has provided substantial information on the complexity of the four conglutin families in a range of lupin species in terms of their gene structure, phylogenetic relationships as well as their relative RNA and protein abundance during seed development. The results demonstrate that the majority of the heterogeneity of conglutin polypeptides is likely to arise from post-translational modification from a limited number of precursor polypeptides rather than a large number of different genes. Overall, the results demonstrate a high degree of plasticity for conglutin expression during seed development in different lupin species

Challenging Social Cognition Models of Adherence:Cycles of Discourse, Historical Bodies, and Interactional Order

Attempts to model individual beliefs as a means of predicting how people follow clinical advice have dominated adherence research, but with limited success. In this article, we challenge assumptions underlying this individualistic philosophy and propose an alternative formulation of context and its relationship with individual actions related to illness. Borrowing from Scollon and Scollon’s three elements of social action – “historical body,” “interaction order,” and “discourses in place” – we construct an alternative set of research methods and demonstrate their application with an example of a person talking about asthma management. We argue that talk- or illness-related behavior, both viewed as forms of social action, manifest themselves as an intersection of cycles of discourse, shifting as individuals move through these cycles across time and space. We finish by discussing how these dynamics of social action can be studied and how clinicians might use this understanding when negotiating treatment with patients

Synthesis and Properties of Sucrose- and Lactose-Based Aromatic Ester Surfactants as Potential Drugs Permeability Enhancers

The delivery of therapeutics across biological membranes (e.g., mucosal barriers) by avoiding invasive routes (e.g., injection) remains a challenge in the pharmaceutical field. As such, there is the need to discover new compounds that act as drug permeability enhancers with a favorable toxicological profile. A valid alternative is represented by the class of sugar-based ester surfactants. In this study, sucrose and lactose alkyl aromatic and aromatic ester derivatives have been synthesized with the aim to characterize them in terms of their physicochemical properties, structure–property relationship, and cytotoxicity, and to test their ability as permeability enhancer agents across Calu-3 cells. All of the tested surfactants showed no remarkable cytotoxic effect on Calu-3 cells when applied both below and above their critical micelle concentration. Among the explored molecules, lactose p-biphenyl benzoate (URB1420) and sucrose p-phenyl benzoate (URB1481) cause a reversible ~30% decrease in transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) with the respect to the basal value. The obtained result matches with the increased in vitro permeability coefficients (Papp) calculated for FTIC-dextran across Calu-3 cells in the presence of 4 mM solutions of these surfactants. Overall, this study proposes sucrose- and lactose-based alkyl aromatic and aromatic ester surfactants as novel potential and safe permeation enhancers for pharmaceutical applications

Employing culturally responsive pedagogy to foster literacy learning in schools

 In recent years it has become increasingly obvious that, to enable students in schools from an increasingly diverse range of cultural backgrounds to acquire literacy to a standard that will support them to achieve academically, it is important to adopt pedagogy that is responsive to, and respectful of, them as culturally situated. What largely has been omitted from the literature, however, is discussion of a relevant model of learning to underpin this approach. For this reason this paper adopts a socio-cultural lens (Vygotsky, 1978) through which to view such pedagogy and refers to a number of seminal texts to justify of its relevance. Use of this lens is seen as having a particular rationale. It forces a focus on the agency of the teacher as a mediator of learning who needs to acknowledge the learner’s cultural situatedness (Kozulin, 2003) if school literacy learning for all students is to be as successful as it might be. It also focuses attention on the predominant value systems and social practices that characterize the school settings in which students’ literacy learning is acquired. The paper discusses implications for policy and practice at whole-school, classroom and individual student levels of culturally-responsive pedagogy that is based on a socio-cultural model of learning. In doing so it draws on illustrations from the work of a number of researchers, including that of the author

Comparative 1D- and 2D-electrophoretic protein profiles of ancestral and modern buckwheat seeds grown in the italian alpine region

Buckwheat is an old crop whose seeds are under-utilized. The protein composition of these seeds, however, makes them suitable as much needed ingredients for the production of gluten-free products. Several buckwheat species and local cultivars are known worldwide. In this work, 1D and 2D electrophoresis were used to characterize and compare the seed protein profiles of two buckwheat species (Fagopyrum esculentum and Fagopyrum tataricum). The two analyzed cultivars of F. esculentum represent authentic landraces of an Italian Alpine valley, named Valtellina. The protein profiles of F. tataricum and the two F. esculentum cultivars did not show major differences. However, narrow but significant differences were present between these two landraces, allowing their discrimination at protein level. This work represents a molecular-based approach to the designation of origin and authenticity of local buckwheat varieties and their tracing in flours for human food

Internal alignment and position resolution of the silicon tracker of DAMPE determined with orbit data

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a space-borne particle detector designed to probe electrons and gamma-rays in the few GeV to 10 TeV energy range, as well as cosmic-ray proton and nuclei components between 10 GeV and 100 TeV. The silicon-tungsten tracker-converter is a crucial component of DAMPE. It allows the direction of incoming photons converting into electron-positron pairs to be estimated, and the trajectory and charge (Z) of cosmic-ray particles to be identified. It consists of 768 silicon micro-strip sensors assembled in 6 double layers with a total active area of 6.6 m$^2$. Silicon planes are interleaved with three layers of tungsten plates, resulting in about one radiation length of material in the tracker. Internal alignment parameters of the tracker have been determined on orbit, with non-showering protons and helium nuclei. We describe the alignment procedure and present the position resolution and alignment stability measurements

Amending entanglement-breaking channels via intermediate unitary operations

We report a bulk optics experiment demonstrating the possibility of restoring the entanglement distribution through noisy quantum channels by inserting a suitable unitary operation (filter) in the middle of the transmission process. We focus on two relevant classes of single-qubit channels consisting in repeated applications of rotated phase-damping or rotated amplitude-damping maps, both modeling the combined Hamiltonian and dissipative dynamics of the polarization state of single photons. Our results show that interposing a unitary filter between two noisy channels can significantly improve entanglement transmission. This proof-of-principle demonstration could be generalized to many other physical scenarios where entanglement-breaking communication lines may be amended by unitary filters

Can physical activity influence human gut microbiota composition independently of diet? A systematic review

Evidence suggests that physical activity (PA) influences the human gut microbiota composition, but its role is unclear because of dietary interference. The aim of this review is to clarify this issue from this new perspective in healthy individuals. Articles analyzing intestinal microbiota from fecal samples by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing were selected by searching the electronic databases PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science until December 2020. For each study, methodological quality was assessed, and results about microbiota biodiversity indices, phylum and genus composition, and information on PA and diet were considered. From 997 potentially relevant articles, 10 met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Five studies involved athletes, three were performed on active people classified on the basis of habitual PA level, and two among sedentary subjects undergoing exercise interventions. The majority of the studies reported higher variability and prevalence of the phylum Firmicutes (genera Ruminococcaceae or Fecalibacteria) in active compared to inactive individuals, especially in athletes. The assessment of diet as a possible confounder of PA/exercise effects was completed only in four studies. They reported a similar abundance of Lachnospiraceae, Paraprevotellaceae, Ruminococcaceae, and Veillonellaceae, which are involved in metabolic, protective, structural, and histological functions. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer mission

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), one of the four scientific space science missions within the framework of the Strategic Pioneer Program on Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a general purpose high energy cosmic-ray and gamma-ray observatory, which was successfully launched on December 17th, 2015 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The DAMPE scientific objectives include the study of galactic cosmic rays up to $\sim 10$ TeV and hundreds of TeV for electrons/gammas and nuclei respectively, and the search for dark matter signatures in their spectra. In this paper we illustrate the layout of the DAMPE instrument, and discuss the results of beam tests and calibrations performed on ground. Finally we present the expected performance in space and give an overview of the mission key scientific goals.Comment: 45 pages, including 29 figures and 6 tables. Published in Astropart. Phy