Discovery of selective monosaccharide receptors via dynamic combinatorial chemistry†

The molecular recognition of saccharides by synthetic hosts has become an appealing but elusive task in the last decades. Herein, we combine Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry (DCC) for the rapid self-assembly and screening of virtual libraries of receptors, with the use of ITC and NMR to validate the hits and molecular modelling to understand the binding mechanisms. We discovered a minimalistic receptor, 1F (N-benzyl-l-phenylalanine), with considerable affinity for fructose (Ka = 1762 M−1) and remarkable selectivity (>50-fold) over other common monosaccharides. The approach accelerates the discovery process of receptors for saccharides

Relationship between Leg Strength and Balance and Lean Body Mass. Benefits for Active Aging

Physical activity (PA) can bring incalculable benefits to people throughout the aging process. The objective of this study was to determine the relationships between the leg and arm strength, body composition and balance of elderly people. Twenty-one people (9 men and 12 women) over 60 years of age voluntarily participated in this study. Bioimpedance tests were carried out to obtain body mass data, manual dynamometer tests and the lower limbs test were conducted to obtain strength values, and the stork balance stand test was conducted to assess static balance. As a result, medium-high correlation coefficients were obtained between the aforementioned dependent variables. The highest value corresponded to the relationship between the results of the dominant hand strength test (right hand in all participants) and the lean body mass (LBM) of the participant (R2 = 75%, p < 0.001). The results indicated that strength capacity, recorded by dynamometry, and balance ability have a direct relationship with the body composition of the subject, especially with their lean body mass. These data suggest that a greater lean body mass can provide greater strength and balance in the elderly, so it would improve or have greater duration the functionality and independence of the person, thereby justifying direct benefits in people and indirect benefits in public administrations that finance these social issues

Landscape and the energy transition: Comparing the emergence of wind energy

Debido al reconocimiento generalizado de la realidad del calentamiento global, cada vez hay más países inmersos en el proceso de introducir energías alternativas, como la energía eólica. En este artículo nos centramos en la transformación del espacio que se ha producido como consecuencia de estas nuevas políticas energéticas. Los paisajes constituyen la plasmación (o no) de las visiones y las decisiones políticas. Analizamos el desarrollo de la energía eólica en tres países europeos, Francia, Alemania y Portugal, desde la perspectiva de un estudio etnográfico del paisaje. Proponemos que la implementación efectiva de un futuro bajo en carbono depende en gran medida de las respectivas culturas administrativas nacionales, de las prácticas e iniciativas locales, y de la percepción del espacio a nivel local. En los tres países estudiados, identificaremos las posibles fuentes de tensión y exploraremos cómo se superan (o no) a nivel local, para así dar paso a la aparición de (nuevos) paisajes de energía eólica. Comparamos el papel de las culturas paisajísticas, las instituciones y las prácticas en el desarrollo y la resolución de conflictos sobre el despliegue de la energía eólica. Due to the global acceptance of the reality of global warming, ever more countries are in the process of implementing alternative energies such as wind power. In this article, we focus on the transformation of space as a consequence of these newly established alternative energy policies. Landscapes are the level at which political visions and policy decisions endorse (or not) their very materiality. We analyze the deployment of wind power in three European countries, France, Germany and Portugal through the lens of ethnographic landscape studies. We argue that the successful implementation of low carbon futures is highly dependent on the respective national cultures of administration as well as on local practices, initiatives and perceptions of space at the local level. In each of the countries under scrutiny, we analyze the way in which wind power and landscape issues are framed, we point at potential tensions and explore how these are overcome (or not) at the local level so as to give way for the emergence of (new) wind power landscapes. We compare the role played by landscape cultures, institutions or practices in the development and resolution of tensions over the deployment of wind energy

Decreased endostatin in db/db retinas is associated with optic disc intravitreal vascularization

Diabetic retinopathy; Endostatin; Intravitreal vesselsRetinopatia diabètica; Endostatina; Vasos intravítresRetinopatía diabética; Endostatina; Vasos intravítreosEndostatin, a naturally cleaved fragment of type XVIII collagen with antiangiogenic activity, has been involved in the regulation of neovascularization during diabetic retinopathy. Here, the intracellular distribution of endostatin in healthy mouse and human neuroretinas has been analyzed. In addition, to study the effect of experimental hyperglycemia on retinal endostatin, the db/db mouse model has been used. Endostatin protein expression in mouse and human retinas was studied by immunofluorescence and Western blot, and compared with db/db mice. Eye fundus angiography, histology, and immunofluorescence were used to visualize mouse retinal and intravitreal vessels. For the first time, our results revealed the presence of endostatin in neurons of mouse and human retinas. Endostatin was mainly expressed in bipolar cells and photoreceptors, in contrast to the optic disc, where endostatin expression was undetectable. Diabetic mice showed a reduction of endostatin in their retinas associated with the appearance of intravitreal vessels at the optic disc in 50% of db/db mice. Intravitreal vessels showed GFAP positive neuroglia sheath, basement membrane thickening by collagen IV deposition, and presence of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the vascular wall. All together, these results point that decreased retinal endostatin during experimental diabetes is associated with optic disc intravitreal vascularization. Based on their phenotype, these intravitreal vessels could be neovessels. However, it cannot be ruled out the possibility that they may also represent persistent hyaloid vessels.This work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (grant number PI16/00719); the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Ministerio da Educação e Ciência, Portugal (grant numbers SFRH/BD/95330/2013 and SFRH/BPD/102573/2014); and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)

Decreased endostatin in db/db retinas is associated with optic disc intravitreal vascularization

Research Areas: OphthalmologyABSTRACT - Endostatin, a naturally cleaved fragment of type XVIII collagen with antiangiogenic activity, has been involved in the regulation of neovascularization during diabetic retinopathy. Here, the intracellular distribution of endostatin in healthy mouse and human neuroretinas has been analyzed. In addition, to study the effect of experimental hyperglycemia on retinal endostatin, the db/db mouse model has been used. Endostatin protein expression in mouse and human retinas was studied by immunofluorescence and Western blot, and compared with db/db mice. Eye fundus angiography, histology, and immunofluorescence were used to visualize mouse retinal and intravitreal vessels. For the first time, our results revealed the presence of endostatin in neurons of mouse and human retinas. Endostatin was mainly expressed in bipolar cells and photoreceptors, in contrast to the optic disc, where endostatin expression was undetectable. Diabetic mice showed a reduction of endostatin in their retinas associated with the appearance of intravitreal vessels at the optic disc in 50% of db/db mice. Intravitreal vessels showed GFAP positive neuroglia sheath, basement membrane thickening by collagen IV deposition, and presence of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the vascular wall. All together, these results point that decreased retinal endostatin during experimental diabetes is associated with optic disc intravitreal vascularization. Based on their phenotype, these intravitreal vessels could be neovessels. However, it cannot be ruled out the possibility that they may also represent persistent hyaloid vessels.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Jointly Extracting and Compressing Documents with Summary State Representations

We present a new neural model for text summarization that first extracts sentences from a document and then compresses them. The proposed model offers a balance that sidesteps the difficulties in abstractive methods while generating more concise summaries than extractive methods. In addition, our model dynamically determines the length of the output summary based on the gold summaries it observes during training and does not require length constraints typical to extractive summarization. The model achieves state-of-the-art results on the CNN/DailyMail and Newsroom datasets, improving over current extractive and abstractive methods. Human evaluations demonstrate that our model generates concise and informative summaries. We also make available a new dataset of oracle compressive summaries derived automatically from the CNN/DailyMail reference summaries

L-Ferritin Binding to Scara5 : A New Iron Traffic Pathway Potentially Implicated in Retinopathy

Iron is essential in the retina because the heme-containing enzyme guanylate cyclase modulates phototransduction in rods and cones. Transferrin endocytosis is the classical pathway for obtaining iron from the blood circulation in the retina. However, the iron storage protein ferritin has been also recently proposed as an iron carrier. In this study, the presence of Scara5 and its binding to L-ferritin was investigated in the retina. Our results showed that Scara5, the specific receptor for L-ferritin, was expressed in mouse and human retinas in many cell types, including endothelial cells. Furthermore, we showed that intravenously injected ferritin crossed the blood retinal barrier through L-ferritin binding to Scara5 in endothelial cells. Thus, suggesting the existence of a new pathway for iron delivery and trafficking in the retina. In a murine model of photoreceptor degeneration, Scara5 was downregulated, pointing out this receptor as a potential player implicated in retinopathy and also as a possible therapeutic target