GPCRdb:an information system for G protein-coupled receptors

Recent developments in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) structural biology and pharmacology have greatly enhanced our knowledge of receptor structure-function relations, and have helped improve the scientific foundation for drug design studies. The GPCR database, GPCRdb, serves a dual role in disseminating and enabling new scientific developments by providing reference data, analysis tools and interactive diagrams. This paper highlights new features in the fifth major GPCRdb release: (i) GPCR crystal structure browsing, superposition and display of ligand interactions; (ii) direct deposition by users of point mutations and their effects on ligand binding; (iii) refined snake and helix box residue diagram looks; and (iii) phylogenetic trees with receptor classification colour schemes. Under the hood, the entire GPCRdb front- and back-ends have been re-coded within one infrastructure, ensuring a smooth browsing experience and development. GPCRdb is available at http://www.gpcrdb.org/ and it's open source code at https://bitbucket.org/gpcr/protwis

Simulations in Evolution. III. Randomness as a Generator of Opportunities.

In Neo-Darwinism, variation and natural selection are the two evolutionary mechanisms which propel biological evolution. Our previous reports presented a histogram model to simulate the evolution of populations of individuals classified into bins according to an unspecified, quantifiable phenotypic character, and whose number in each bin changed generation after generation under the influence of fitness, while the total population was maintained constant. The histogram model also allowed Shannon entropy (SE) to be monitored continuously as the information content of the total population decreased or increased. Here, a simple Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting Language) application was developed to carry out these computations, with the critical feature of an added random factor in the percent of individuals whose offspring moved to a vicinal bin. The results of the simulations demonstrate that the random factor mimicking variation increased considerably the range of values covered by Shannon entropy, especially when the percentage of changed offspring was high. This increase in information content is interpreted as facilitated adaptability of the population

Roseroot - the comparison of tillage in conventional and ecological system

Prowadzono porównawcze badania dotyczące możliwości uprawy różeńca górskiego w dwóch systemach: konwencjonalnym i ekologicznym. Oceniano w nich wielkość plonu oraz jego jakość (procentową zawartość substancji biologicznie czynnych). Stwierdzono, że ekologiczny system uprawy pozwala na uzyskiwanie efektów porównywalnych do uzyskiwanych w systemie konwencjonalnym.The comparative investigations were led in two systems regarding roseroot's tillage: ecological and conventional. The size of crop was estimated as well as the proportional content of active substance in raw material. It was affirmed that ecological system compared with conventional system of tillage allowed to obtain similar effects