Analysis and Measurements of Vehicle Door Structural Dynamic Response

In order to reduce lead time and cost in the product development of vehicles more development will be made virtually. However, the predictability capability of simulation models is questioned and the simulation models need to be correlated versus hardware measurements and modeling techniques improved. As part of the process of vehicle system model capability improvements the main objective of this project is to improve the structural dynamic response prediction capability of a vehicle door simulation model in a free-free configuration under steady-state conditions. The actions performed can then be rolled down to: simulate eigenmodes and frequency response, perform hardware measurements, make correlations of simulations versus measurements, using modal assurance criterion, frequency response assurance criterion and sum-blocks, and update simulation model. These actions are performed for four successively more complex door structures starting from a door in white and ending at a trimmed door. The correlation status of the original model was only reasonably good for the door in white configuration. All other configurations displayed serious correlation mismatch. By replacing the existing antiflutter models (connecting the side impact rail to outer panel) in the door in white configuration with simple spring elements the correlation for the door in white configuration was improved. With the window and seals attached the correlation problems was solved by introducing stiffness in the plane of the window of the springs acting as seals. The idea was to take friction into account. Also, by adjusting the spring stiffness of the seals, fair correlation could be achieved. The most important issue is to relate these results to component properties known before building simulation models. The following two configurations need more attention for better correlation. By using more detailed models the correlation could be improved, which shows the obvious trade-off between accuracy and computational effort. However, improving the model detail level fall outside the limitations of this project

Desórdenes congénitos de la glicosilación (CDG): búsqueda de variantes génicas y alteraciones glicoproteicas en pacientes argentinos

Desórdenes Congénitos de Glicosilación (CDG) son enfermedades genéticas humanas causadas por defectos en la síntesis de N-, O-glicoproteínas o en la síntesis de glicolípidos. Existen distintos tipos de CDG que abarcan defectos en la biosíntesis de azucarares-nucleótidos, transportadores, glicosiltransferasas, transporte vesicular, como también en la biosíntesis de lípidos y anclajes de glicosilfosfatidilinositol (GPI). Las manifestaciones clínicas son muy variadas, se presentan con fenotipos multisistémicos leves, o incluso graves, afectando la mayoría de los órganos y sistemas. Las formas más severas se asocian a alteraciones neurológicas que van desde el retraso psicomotor grave a moderada discapacidad intelectual. Los eventos trombo-hemorrágicos son muy frecuentes, siendo en gran medida causados por alteraciones de agregación plaquetaria. Este espectro fenotípico tan amplio, hace que el diagnóstico sea dificultoso en la mayoría de los casos. En este trabajo de tesis se ha combinado el uso de diferentes tecnologías no implementadas hasta el momento en nuestro país para el diagnóstico de CDG. De esta manera se agilizó el protocolo diagnóstico con aumento de la tasa de éxito en la caracterización de pacientes. La utilización de secuenciación masiva de genes (NGS) en sus diferentes algoritmos (secuenciación del exoma completo, secuenciación de un panel de genes), en combinación con secuenciación Sanger y estudios bioquímicos convencionales (IEF-Tf) nos ha permitido identificar tres pacientes PMM2-CDG,un paciente COG1-CDGy tres pacientes ALG2-CDG, los primeros con una variante en homocigosis no reportada hasta el momento. También se pudo detectar alteraciones secundarias de la glicosilación de transferrina, no asociadas a CDG, llegando a diagnosticar un paciente con mutaciones en el gen DYRK1A. La combinación de NGS trae aparejada la identificación de nuevos genes o bien de variantes clínicas de significado incierto (VUS) en genes ya descritos para CDG, haciendo imperiosa la necesidad de caracterizar y validar estos nuevos cambios detectados. Las herramientas de análisis glicómico incorporadas nos permitieron caracterizar el perfil glicómico de pacientes ALG2-CDG, tanto en glicoproteínas totales de suero como asociado específicamente a Tf, estudios fundamentales para describir este tipo de CDG y defecto de glicosilación que ocasiona este gen mutado en la vía de formación de N-glicanos. La caracterización del perfil glicómico plaquetario en PMM2-CDG permitió aportar conocimiento respecto a mecanismos fisiopatogénicos asociados a la hipoglicosilación en pacientes CDG. Los resultados de esta tesis, en conjunto, destacan la utilidad de la NGS y la implementación de herramientas glicómicas, para ser aplicada al diagnóstico y caracterización de pacientes CDGs, el diagnóstico genético preciso necesario para proporcionar asesoramiento genético, prescribir tratamientos personalizados y proporcionar conocimientos para orientar la investigación hacia la búsqueda de nuevas terapias en el campo de la Medicina Personalizada o Medicina de Precisión.Fil: Papazoglu, Gabriela Magalí. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicasectura; Argentina

Dystroglycanopathies: Genetic Bases of Muscular Dystrophies Due to Alteration in the O-Glycosylation of α-Dystroglycan

Abstract Congenital muscular dystrophies (CMDs) are inherited, progressive and heterogeneous muscle disorders. A group of CMDs are dystroglycanopathies, also called α-dystroglycanopathies, where there is an abnormal glycosylation of protein α-dystroglycan. Hypoglycosylation of α-DG results in different severities of congenital muscular dystrophies and they present with progressive muscle weakness and loss of motor functions. This article first focuses on the CMDs, their classification according to the observed symptoms or the protein involved in the resulting phenotype. We then focus on dystroglycanopathies, the importance of its correct O-glycosylation of the α-dystroglycan given its important structural function, considering the enzymes involved in said glycosylation and the phenotypes that can result, to finally address current therapeutics for these diseases with the aim of increasing current knowledge

Platelet Membrane Glycoprofiling in a PMM2-CDG Patient

Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are metabolic hereditary diseases caused by defects in the synthesis of glycoconjugates. CDG have been described in sugar-nucleotide biosynthesis and transporter, glycosyltransferases, vesicular transport, as well as in lipid biosynthesis and glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchors. PMM2-CDG is caused by mutations in the phosphomannomutase-2 (PMM2) gene and shows autosomal recessive inheritance. It affects all organs and tissues, ranging from severe psychomotor retardation to moderate intellectual disability. Alterations in the primary haemostatic system have been reported in these patients and they can lead to severe bleeding or excessive thrombosis with subsequent vascular insufficiency. Despite of being the most common CDG, platelet glycosylation and sialylation defects in PMM2-CDG patients remain incompletely characterized. In this study, we applied a lectin-based flow cytometry approach to report the first characterization of the highly glycosylated platelet membrane glycan profile in a PMM2-CDG patient. In the PMM2-CDG patient’s platelet samples, a decreased binding of SNA lectin, indicative of reduced terminal α-2-6 sialic acid content, and an increased binding of PNA lectin, suggesting desialylation of β-1-Nacetylgalactosamine residues, were observed. Reduced expression of terminal sialic acids in platelet membrane glycoproteins may contribute to the increased risk of hemorrhage reported in these patients by promoting platelet clearance and thrombocytopenia.Fil: Papazoglu, Gabriela Magali. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudio de las Metabolopatías Congénitas. Cátedra de Clínica Pediátrica; ArgentinaFil: Silvera Ruiz, Silene Maite. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudio de las Metabolopatías Congénitas. Cátedra de Clínica Pediátrica; ArgentinaFil: Salinas, R.. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos; MéxicoFil: Pereira, Beatriz María Inés. Gobierno de la Provincia de Córdoba. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital de Niños de la Santísima Trinidad; ArgentinaFil: Cubilla, Marisa Angelica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudio de las Metabolopatías Congénitas. Cátedra de Clínica Pediátrica; ArgentinaFil: Pesaola, Favio Nicolas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudio de las Metabolopatías Congénitas. Cátedra de Clínica Pediátrica; ArgentinaFil: Ghione, S.. Argenlab San Francisco; ArgentinaFil: Ramadán, N.. Fundación para el Progreso de la Medicina; ArgentinaFil: Martinez Duncker, I.. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos; MéxicoFil: Asteggiano, Carla Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudio de las Metabolopatías Congénitas. Cátedra de Clínica Pediátrica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentin

Predominant and novel de novo variants in 29 individuals with ALG13 deficiency: Clinical description, biomarker status, biochemical analysis, and treatment suggestions

Asparagine-linked glycosylation 13 homolog (ALG13) encodes a nonredundant, highly conserved, X-linked uridine diphosphate (UDP)-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase required for the synthesis of lipid linked oligosaccharide precursor and proper N-linked glycosylation. De novo variants in ALG13 underlie a form of early infantile epileptic encephalopathy known as EIEE36, but given its essential role in glycosylation, it is also considered a congenital disorder of glycosylation (CDG), ALG13-CDG. Twenty-four previously reported ALG13-CDG cases had de novo variants, but surprisingly, unlike most forms of CDG, ALG13-CDG did not show the anticipated glycosylation defects, typically detected by altered transferrin glycosylation. Structural homology modeling of two recurrent de novo variants, p.A81T and p.N107S, suggests both are likely to impact the function of ALG13. Using a corresponding ALG13-deficient yeast strain, we show that expressing yeast ALG13 with either of the highly conserved hotspot variants rescues the observed growth defect, but not its glycosylation abnormality. We present molecular and clinical data on 29 previously unreported individuals with de novo variants in ALG13. This more than doubles the number of known cases. A key finding is that a vast majority of the individuals presents with West syndrome, a feature shared with other CDG types. Among these, the initial epileptic spasms best responded to adrenocorticotropic hormone or prednisolone, while clobazam and felbamate showed promise for continued epilepsy treatment. A ketogenic diet seems to play an important role in the treatment of these individuals.Fil: Ng, Bobby G.. Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Eklund, Erik A.. Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute; Estados Unidos. Lund University; SueciaFil: Shiryaev, Sergey A.. Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Dong, Yin Y.. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Abbott, Mary Alice. University of Massachusetts Medical School; Estados UnidosFil: Asteggiano, Carla Gabriela. Universidad Católica de Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios de las Metabolopatías Congénitas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Bamshad, Michael J.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Barr, Eileen. University of Emory; Estados UnidosFil: Bernstein, Jonathan A.. University of Stanford; Estados UnidosFil: Chelakkadan, Shabeed. Monash Children's Hospital; AustraliaFil: Christodoulou, John. Sydney Medical School; Australia. University of Melbourne; AustraliaFil: Chung, Wendy K.. Columbia University; Estados UnidosFil: Ciliberto, Michael A.. University of Iowa; Estados UnidosFil: Cousin, Janice. National Human Genome Research Institute ; Estados UnidosFil: Gardiner, Fiona. University of Melbourne; AustraliaFil: Ghosh, Suman. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: Graf, William D.. University of Connecticut; Estados UnidosFil: Grunewald, Stephanie. University College London; Estados UnidosFil: Hammond, Katherine. University of Alabama at Birmingahm; Estados UnidosFil: Hauser, Natalie S.. Inova, Fairfax Hospital Falls Church; Estados UnidosFil: Hoganson, George E.. University Of Illinois At Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Houck, Kimberly M.. Baylor College of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Kohler, Jennefer N.. University of Stanford; Estados UnidosFil: Morava, Eva. Mayo Clinic; Estados UnidosFil: Larson, Austin A.. University Of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.; Estados UnidosFil: Liu, Pengfei. Baylor Genetics; Estados Unidos. Baylor College Of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Madathil, Sujana. University of Iowa; Estados UnidosFil: McCormack, Colleen. University of Stanford; Estados UnidosFil: Meeks, Naomi J.L.. University Of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.; Estados UnidosFil: Papazoglu, Gabriela Magali. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios de las Metabolopatías Congénitas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentin

Towards a pathway definition of Parkinson’s disease: a complex disorder with links to cancer, diabetes and inflammation

We have previously established a first whole genome transcriptomic profile of sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD). After extensive brain tissue-based validation combined with cycles of iterative data analysis and by focusing on the most comparable cases of the cohort, we have refined our analysis and established a list of 892 highly dysregulated priority genes that are considered to form the core of the diseased Parkinsonian metabolic network. The substantia nigra pathways, now under scrutiny, contain more than 100 genes whose association with PD is known from the literature. Of those, more than 40 genes belong to the highly significantly dysregulated group identified in our dataset. Apart from the complete list of 892 priority genes, we present pathways revealing PD ‘hub’ as well as ‘peripheral’ network genes. The latter include Lewy body components or interact with known PD genes. Biological associations of PD with cancer, diabetes and inflammation are discussed and interactions of the priority genes with several drugs are provided. Our study illustrates the value of rigorous clinico-pathological correlation when analysing high-throughput data to make optimal use of the histopathological phenome, or morphonome which currently serves as the key diagnostic reference for most human diseases. The need for systematic human tissue banking, following the highest possible professional and ethical standard to enable sustainability, becomes evident

Explaining oscillations and variability in the p53-Mdm2 system

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In individual living cells p53 has been found to be expressed in a series of discrete pulses after DNA damage. Its negative regulator Mdm2 also demonstrates oscillatory behaviour. Attempts have been made recently to explain this behaviour by mathematical models but these have not addressed explicit molecular mechanisms. We describe two stochastic mechanistic models of the p53/Mdm2 circuit and show that sustained oscillations result directly from the key biological features, without assuming complicated mathematical functions or requiring more than one feedback loop. Each model examines a different mechanism for providing a negative feedback loop which results in p53 activation after DNA damage. The first model (ARF model) looks at the mechanism of p14^ARFwhich sequesters Mdm2 and leads to stabilisation of p53. The second model (ATM model) examines the mechanism of ATM activation which leads to phosphorylation of both p53 and Mdm2 and increased degradation of Mdm2, which again results in p53 stabilisation. The models can readily be modified as further information becomes available, and linked to other models of cellular ageing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The ARF model is robust to changes in its parameters and predicts undamped oscillations after DNA damage so long as the signal persists. It also predicts that if there is a gradual accumulation of DNA damage, such as may occur in ageing, oscillations break out once a threshold level of damage is acquired. The ATM model requires an additional step for p53 synthesis for sustained oscillations to develop. The ATM model shows much more variability in the oscillatory behaviour and this variability is observed over a wide range of parameter values. This may account for the large variability seen in the experimental data which so far has examined ARF negative cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The models predict more regular oscillations if ARF is present and suggest the need for further experiments in ARF positive cells to test these predictions. Our work illustrates the importance of systems biology approaches to understanding the complex role of p53 in both ageing and cancer.</p

Esclavage et D??pendance, "Demi-Libert??," "Halfway-Statuses"

published or submitted for publicatio

Pontiji u Stobima

U članku su prikazana i prokomentarisana četiri spomenika iz Stoba, dva od ranije poznata i dva nova, vezana za ličnost Aula Pontija Kvijeta, čoveka senatorskog ranga ko j i je u Stobe došao po svoj priliei u vreme gradjanskog rata 68. g. n.e. kao vojni tribun III. Galske legije. Postavlja se pitanje njegovih veza sa ostalim uglednim pripadnicima istog roda posvedočenih u Makedoniji u II i III veku