Mapeamento Tecnológico de Patentes Acerca de Espidroína: uma visão geral sobre o mercado da seda de aranha

The interest in the development of technologies involving spidroin, the main component of spider silk, has grown exponentially since the 2000s. This growth is based on the exceptional properties of this biomaterial, such as extreme resistance, malleability, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. The present work aimed to investigate the technological development of the spider silk market. For this, we performed searches of patents and scientific articles related to spidroin. The temporal evolution, the main players in this sector and the main applications of spidroin-based products are discussed. The results suggest a significant growth in the use of biosynthetic spidroin in recent decades, especially in the textile and biomedical markets, driven by technological advances that allowed its large-scale production. Japan and China are the main holders of this knowledge. These countries emerged with great predominance on the world stage since 2015 and are currently at the forefront of this technological race.O interesse pelo desenvolvimento de tecnologias envolvendo a espidroína, principal componente da seda de aranha, tem crescido exponencialmente desde 2000. Esse crescimento encontra-se fundamentado nas propriedades excepcionais desse biomaterial, como extrema resistência, maleabilidade, biocompatibilidade e biodegradabilidade. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo investigar o desenvolvimento tecnológico do mercado da seda de aranha. Para isso, foram realizadas buscas de patentes e de artigos científicos relacionados à espidroína. A evolução temporal, os principais atores desse setor e as principais aplicações dos produtos à base de espidroína foram discutidos. Os resultados sugerem um crescimento expressivo na utilização da espidroína biossintética nas últimas décadas, em especial, nos mercados têxtil e biomédico, impulsionado pelos avanços tecnológicos que permitiram sua produção em larga escala. Japão e China são os principais detentores desse conhecimento. Esses países surgiram com grande predominância no cenário mundial a partir de 2015 e, atualmente, encontram-se à frente nesta corrida tecnológica

A new method for the estimation of variance matrix with prescribed zeros in nonlinear mixed effects models

We propose a new method for the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) of nonlinear mixed effects models when the variance matrix of Gaussian random effects has a prescribed pattern of zeros (PPZ). The method consists in coupling the recently developed Iterative Conditional Fitting (ICF) algorithm with the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. It provides positive definite estimates for any sample size, and does not rely on any structural assumption on the PPZ. It can be easily adapted to many versions of EM.Comment: Accepted for publication in Statistics and Computin

Structural signature of the MYPT1-PP1 interaction

Muscle relaxation is triggered by the dephosphorylation of Ser19 in the myosin regulatory light chain. This reaction is catalyzed by the holoenzyme myosin phosphatase (MP), which includes the catalytic subunit protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) and the regulatory targeting subunit (MYPT). MYPT1 (myosin phosphatase targeting subunit 1) is responsible for both targeting the holoenzyme to subcellular compartments in the muscle and directing PP1 specificity towards myosin. In order to understand the molecular events leading to the MYPT1:PP1 holoenzyme formation, we used NMR spectroscopy to determine the structural and dynamic characteristics of unbound MYPT1. This allowed the conformations of MYPT1 in the free, unbound state to be directly compared to the PP1-bound state. Our results show that MYPT1(1-98) behaves like a two-domain protein in solution. The first 40 residues of MYPT1(1-98), the disordered region, are intrinsically disordered and highly dynamic, whereas residues 41–98, the folded ankyrin-repeat region, are well-structured and rigid. Furthermore, the integrated use of NMR and biophysical data enabled us to calculate an ensemble model for MYPT1(1-98). The most prominent structural feature of the MYPT1(1-98) ensemble is a 25% populated transient α-helix in the disordered region of MYPT1(1-98). This α-helix becomes fully populated when bound to PP1 and, as we show, likely plays a central role in the formation of the MYPT1:PP1 holoenzyme complex. Finally, this combined analysis shows that the structural and dynamic behaviors exhibited by MYPT1 for PP1 are distinct from those of any other previously analyzed PP1 regulatory protein. Collectively, these data enable us to present a new model of the molecular events that drive MYPT1:PP1 holoenzyme formation and demonstrate that there are structural differences in unbound PP1 regulators that have not been previously observed. Thus this work adds significant insights to the currently limited data for molecular structures and dynamics of PP1 regulators

A Variational Method in Out of Equilibrium Physical Systems

A variational principle is further developed for out of equilibrium dynamical systems by using the concept of maximum entropy. With this new formulation it is obtained a set of two first-order differential equations, revealing the same formal symplectic structure shared by classical mechanics, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. In particular, it is obtained an extended equation of motion for a rotating dynamical system, from where it emerges a kind of topological torsion current of the form $\epsilon_{ijk} A_j \omega_k$, with $A_j$ and $\omega_k$ denoting components of the vector potential (gravitational or/and electromagnetic) and $\omega$ is the angular velocity of the accelerated frame. In addition, it is derived a special form of Umov-Poynting's theorem for rotating gravito-electromagnetic systems, and obtained a general condition of equilibrium for a rotating plasma. The variational method is then applied to clarify the working mechanism of some particular devices, such as the Bennett pinch and vacuum arcs, to calculate the power extraction from an hurricane, and to discuss the effect of transport angular momentum on the radiactive heating of planetary atmospheres. This development is seen to be advantageous and opens options for systematic improvements.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure, submitted to review, added one referenc

Fast stable direct fitting and smoothness selection for Generalized Additive Models

Existing computationally efficient methods for penalized likelihood GAM fitting employ iterative smoothness selection on working linear models (or working mixed models). Such schemes fail to converge for a non-negligible proportion of models, with failure being particularly frequent in the presence of concurvity. If smoothness selection is performed by optimizing `whole model' criteria these problems disappear, but until now attempts to do this have employed finite difference based optimization schemes which are computationally inefficient, and can suffer from false convergence. This paper develops the first computationally efficient method for direct GAM smoothness selection. It is highly stable, but by careful structuring achieves a computational efficiency that leads, in simulations, to lower mean computation times than the schemes based on working-model smoothness selection. The method also offers a reliable way of fitting generalized additive mixed models

A paradox of syntactic priming: why response tendencies show priming for passives, and response latencies show priming for actives

Speakers tend to repeat syntactic structures across sentences, a phenomenon called syntactic priming. Although it has been suggested that repeating syntactic structures should result in speeded responses, previous research has focused on effects in response tendencies. We investigated syntactic priming effects simultaneously in response tendencies and response latencies for active and passive transitive sentences in a picture description task. In Experiment 1, there were priming effects in response tendencies for passives and in response latencies for actives. However, when participants' pre-existing preference for actives was altered in Experiment 2, syntactic priming occurred for both actives and passives in response tendencies as well as in response latencies. This is the first investigation of the effects of structure frequency on both response tendencies and latencies in syntactic priming. We discuss the implications of these data for current theories of syntactic processing

The source ambiguity problem: Distinguishing the effects of grammar and processing on acceptability judgments

Judgments of linguistic unacceptability may theoretically arise from either grammatical deviance or significant processing difficulty. Acceptability data are thus naturally ambiguous in theories that explicitly distinguish formal and functional constraints. Here, we consider this source ambiguity problem in the context of Superiority effects: the dispreference for ordering a wh-phrase in front of a syntactically “superior” wh-phrase in multiple wh-questions, e.g., What did who buy? More specifically, we consider the acceptability contrast between such examples and so-called D-linked examples, e.g., Which toys did which parents buy? Evidence from acceptability and self-paced reading experiments demonstrates that (i) judgments and processing times for Superiority violations vary in parallel, as determined by the kind of wh-phrases they contain, (ii) judgments increase with exposure, while processing times decrease, (iii) reading times are highly predictive of acceptability judgments for the same items, and (iv) the effects of the complexity of the wh-phrases combine in both acceptability judgments and reading times. This evidence supports the conclusion that D-linking effects are likely reducible to independently motivated cognitive mechanisms whose effects emerge in a wide range of sentence contexts. This in turn suggests that Superiority effects, in general, may owe their character to differential processing difficulty

Comparative study of human exposure to mercury in riverside communities in the Amazon region

Four populations in the Amazon area were selected for a comparative study of mercury-exposed and non-exposed populations: São Luiz do Tapajós, Barreiras, Panacauera, and Pindobal Grande. The highest mercury levels in human hair samples were found in São Luiz do Tapajós and Barreiras, greatly exceeding the limits established by the World Health Organization. Panacauera showed an intermediate level below 9 µg/g. This was the first comparative and simultaneous evaluation of mercury exposure in the Amazon area. Also, thanks to this type of monitoring, we were able to eliminate the uncertainties about the reference dose. On the basis of these data, we can conclude that the mercury levels detected in exposed populations of the Tapajós River basin may be dangerous not only because they are above the World Health Organization limits, but also because the simultaneous mercury detection in non-exposed populations with similar characteristics provided a valid control and revealed lower mercury levels. Our results support the importance of continuous monitoring in both exposed and non-exposed populations