ASPI Audiovisual to Articulatory Speech Inversion

Deliverable D2.2 - Final Report on Speech Inversion MethodsFP6/IST-2005-021324 ASPIinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Polyamine homeostasis in tomato biotic/abiotic stress cross-tolerance

Adverse conditions and biotic strain can lead to significant losses and impose limitations on plant yield. Polyamines (PAs) serve as regulatory molecules for both abiotic/biotic stress responses and cell protection in unfavourable environments. In this work, the transcription pattern of 24 genes orchestrating PA metabolism was investigated in Cucumber Mosaic Virus or Potato Virus Y infected and cold stressed tomato plants. Expression analysis revealed a differential/pleiotropic pattern of gene regulation in PA homeostasis upon biotic, abiotic or combined stress stimuli, thus revealing a discrete response specific to diverse stimuli: (i) biotic stress-influenced genes, (ii) abiotic stress-influenced genes, and (iii) concurrent biotic/abiotic stress-regulated genes. The results support different roles for PAs against abiotic and biotic stress. The expression of several genes, significantly induced under cold stress conditions, is mitigated by a previous viral infection, indicating a possible priming-like mechanism in tomato plants pointing to crosstalk among stress signalling. Several genes and resulting enzymes of PA catabolism were stimulated upon viral infection. Hence, we suggest that PA catabolism resulting in elevated H2O2 levels could mediate defence against viral infection. However, after chilling, the activities of enzymes implicated in PA catabolism remained relatively stable or slightly reduced. This correlates to an increase in free PA content, designating a per se protective role of these compounds against abiotic stress

Pretreatment with atorvastatin attenuates lung injury caused by high-stretch mechanical ventilation in an isolated rabbit lung model

Objective: We hypothesized that pretreatment with atorvastatin improves alveolar capillary permeability and hemodynamics and, thus, confers protection against lung injury caused by high-stretch mechanical ventilation. Methods: Twenty-four isolated sets of normal rabbit lungs were utilized. Treated animals received atorvastatin (20 mg/kg body weight/day by mouth) for 3 days before surgery. Lungs were perfused constantly (300 mL/min) and ventilated for 1 hr with pressure-control ventilation at either 23 (high pressure; resulting in tidal volume approximately 22 mL/kg) or 11 (low pressure; tidal volume approximately 10 mL/kg) cm H2O peak inspiratory pressure and positive end-expiratory pressure of 3 cm H2O. Four groups were examined: high pressure-no statin, high pressure-statin pretreatment, low pressure-no statin, and low pressure-statin pretreatment. Results: The high-pressure-no statin group sustained more damage than the low-pressure groups. In high-pressure groups, lungs of statin-pretreated vs. no statin-pretreated animals sustained a significantly lower increase in ultrafiltration coefficient (an accurate marker of alveolar capillary permeability; high-pressure-statin pretreatment vs. high-pressure-no statin, -0.013 +/- 0.017 g/min/ mm Hg/100g vs. 1.723 +/- 0.495 g/min/mm Hg/100g; p < .001), lower weight gain (i.e., less edema formation; 4.62 +/- 1.50 grams vs. 17.75 +/- 4.71 grams; p = .005), improved hemodynamics (i.e., lower increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure; 0.56 +/- 0.51 mm Hg vs. 5.62 +/- 1.52 mm Hg; p = .04), lower protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (p < .001), and fewer histologic lesions (p = .013). Apoptosis of lung parenchyma cells was not different (p = .97). There was no difference between low-pressure-statin pretreatment and low-pressure-no statin groups regarding these outcomes. Conclusion: In this model, atorvastatin improves alveolar capillary permeability and hemodynamics and, thus, attenuates lung injury caused by high-stretch mechanical ventilation. (Crit Care Med 2010; 38:1321-1328

The role of temperature in mediating postharvest polyamine homeostasis in tomato fruit

Polyamines are actively involved in diverse processes, including fruit ripening and stress responses. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of storage temperature on polyamine metabolism of tomato fruit, which were either harvested at the turning stage or left to mature on-plant. The applied temperatures (5, 10 and 25 °C) and storage duration (7 d) are regularly employed in real-world scenarios. The metabolic profile of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine), gene transcription of the enzymes mediating polyamine biosynthesis and catabolism, protein accumulation of the putrescine synthesis enzyme and the putrescine-produced H2O2 were evaluated. Putrescine was the major polyamine in all cases, and its content generally increased during ripening, as well as in chilled fruit (stored at 5 °C). Increases in arginine decarboxylase protein content and in arginine decarboxylase transcription of both attached fruit and detached ones stored at either 10 or 25 °C showed that putrescine accumulation was mainly driven via the arginine decarboxylase biosynthetic pathway. Interestingly, putrescine catabolism by copper-containing amine oxidase was favored in parallel with increases in arginine decarboxylase and ornithine decarboxylase transcripts in fruit stored at 5 °C. However, the arginine decarboxylase protein accumulation suggests that ornithine decarboxylase is mainly responsible for putrescine accumulation at 5 °C. This study indicates that storage temperature modifies the homeostasis of polyamines in tomato fruit, which in turn orchestrates ripening-associated physiological processes

Metformin attenuates ventilator-induced lung injury

Introduction: Diabetic patients may develop acute lung injury less often than non-diabetics; a fact that could be partially ascribed to the usage of antidiabetic drugs, including metformin. Metformin exhibits pleiotropic properties which make it potentially beneficial against lung injury. We hypothesized that pretreatment with metformin preserves alveolar capillary permeability and, thus, prevents ventilator-induced lung injury. Methods: Twenty-four rabbits were randomly assigned to pretreatment with metformin (250 mg/Kg body weight/day per os) or no medication for two days. Explanted lungs were perfused at constant flow rate (300 mL/min) and ventilated with injurious (peak airway pressure 23 cmH(2)O, tidal volume approximate to 17 mL/Kg) or protective (peak airway pressure 11 cmH(2)O, tidal volume approximate to 7 mL/Kg) settings for 1 hour. Alveolar capillary permeability was assessed by ultrafiltration coefficient, total protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity in BALF. Results: High-pressure ventilation of the ex-vivo lung preparation resulted in increased microvascular permeability, edema formation and microhemorrhage compared to protective ventilation. Compared to no medication, pretreatment with metformin was associated with a 2.9-fold reduction in ultrafiltration coefficient, a 2.5-fold reduction in pulmonary edema formation, lower protein concentration in BALF, lower ACE activity in BALF, and fewer histological lesions upon challenge of the lung preparation with injurious ventilation. In contrast, no differences regarding pulmonary artery pressure and BALF total cell number were noted. Administration of metformin did not impact on outcomes of lungs subjected to protective ventilation. Conclusions: Pretreatment with metformin preserves alveolar capillary permeability and, thus, decreases the severity of ventilator-induced lung injury in this model

Multilocus phylogeny and coalescent species delimitation in Kotschy's gecko, Mediodactylus kotschyi: Hidden diversity and cryptic species

Kotschy's Gecko, Mediodactylus kotschyi, is a small gecko native to southeastern Europe and the Levant. It displays great morphological variation with a large number of morphologically recognized subspecies. However, it has been suggested that it constitutes a species complex of several yet unrecognized species. In this study, we used multilocus sequence data (three mitochondrial and three nuclear gene fragments) to estimate the phylogenetic relationships of 174 specimens from 129 sampling localities, covering a substantial part of the distribution range of the species. Our results revealed high genetic diversity of M. kotschyi populations and contributed to our knowledge about the phylogenetic relationships and the estimation of the divergence times between them. Diversification within M. kotschyi began approximately 15 million years ago (Mya) in the Middle Miocene, whereas the diversification within most of the major clades have been occurred in the last 5 Mya. Species delimitation analysis suggests there exists five species within the complex, and we propose to tentatively recognize the following taxa as full species: M. kotschyi (mainland Balkans, most of Aegean islands, and Italy), M. orientalis (Levant, Cyprus, southern Anatolia, and south-eastern Aegean islands), M. danilewskii (Black Sea region and south-western Anatolia), M. bartoni (Crete), and M. oertzeni (southern Dodecanese Islands). This newly recognized diversity underlines the complex biogeographical history of the Eastern Mediterranean region