NMR analyses on the interactions of the yeast Tim50 C-terminal region with the presequence and Tim50 core domain

AbstractThe mitochondrial targeting signal in the presequence of mitochondrial precursor proteins is recognized by Tom20 and subsequently by Tim50 in mitochondria. Yeast Tim50 contains two presequence binding sites in the conserved core domain and in the fungi-specific C-terminal presequence binding domain (PBD). We report the NMR analyses on interactions of a shorter variant of PBD (sPBD), a shorter variant of PBD, with presequences. The presequence is recognized by sPBD in a similar manner to Tom20. sPBD can also bind to the core domain of Tim50 through the presequence binding region, which could promote transfer of the presequence from sPBD to the core domain in Tim50

Sensitivity Study on Availability of I&C Components Using Bayesian Network

The objective of this study is to find out the impact of instrumentation and control (I&C) components on the availability of I&C systems in terms of sensitivity analysis using Bayesian network. The analysis has been performed on I&C architecture of reactor protection system. The analysis results would be applied to develop I&C architecture which will meet the desire reliability features and save cost. RPS architecture unavailability P(x=0) and availability P(x=1) were estimated to 6.1276E-05 and 9.9994E-01 for failure (0) and perfect (1) states, respectively. The impact of I&C components on overall system risk has been studied in terms of risk achievement worth (RAW) and risk reduction worth (RRW). It is found that circuit breaker failure (TCB), bi-stable processor (BP), sensor transmitter (TR), and pressure transmitter (PT) have high impact on risk. The study concludes and recommends that circuit breaker bi-stable processor should be given more consideration while designing I&C architecture

Walking gait event detection based on electromyography signals using artificial neural network

In many gait applications, the focal events are the stance and swing phases. Although detecting gait events using electromyography signals will help the development of assistive devices such as exoskeleton, orthoses, and prostheses, stance and swing phases have yet to be observed using electromyography signals. The core of this study is to propose a classification system for both stance and swing phases based on electromyography signals. This is to be done by extracting the patterns of electromyography signals from time domain features and feeding them into an artificial neural network classifier. In addition, a different number of input features and two prominent training algorithm of artificial neural network have been employed in this study. Eight subjects that participated in this study were divided into two categories namely, learned (first seven subjects) and unlearned data (the remaining one subject). It was observed that Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm with five time domain features performed better than other features with an average percentage of classification accuracy of 87.4%. This system was further tested with electromyography signals of learned and unlearned data to identify the stance and swing phases in order to detect the timing of heel strike and toe off. The mean absolute different values between artificial neural network and footswitch data for learned data were 16 ± 18 ms and 21 ± 18 ms for heel strike and toe off, respectively. For this case, no significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in mean absolute different for heel strike and toe off detections. Besides, the mean absolute different values of unlearned data were shown to be acceptable, 35 ± 25 ms for heel strike and 49 ± 15 ms for toe off. By the end of this experiment, basing the examination of gait events with electromyography signals using artificial neural network is possible

Reviews of educational toys designs in cultivating social competence of preschool children

There is a need to embed social development attributes in educational toys design to cultivate children acquire higher competency personalities. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the attributes of social development through educational toys design in cultivating social and emotional development among preschool children. This study uses Literature Review to analyse the attributes of social skills development for educational toys designs. Prior investigation is carried out on methods in promoting positive social development towards young children and to understand the influence of educational toys design on children’s play environment. Additionally, this paper also uses Literature Review to document social behavioural aspects of pre-school children in Malaysia. The results are expected to lead towards the theoretical framework or guidelines in designing educational toys for the social development of children. This review will serve as a decree for consumers and product manufacturers to have a deeper understanding towards the social and emotional development of children, which would nurture the growth of their moral compass and improve their attitudes. Lastly, this paper is expected to contribute to the sustainable development in human ecology

Environmental toxicity, redox signaling and lung inflammation:the role of glutathione

Glutathione (γ-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine, GSH) is the most abundant intracellular antioxidant thiol and is central to redox defense during oxidative stress. GSH metabolism is tightly regulated and has been implicated in redox signaling and also in protection against environmental oxidant-mediated injury. Changes in the ratio of the reduced and disulfide form (GSH/GSSG) can affect signaling pathways that participate in a broad array of physiological responses from cell proliferation, autophagy and apoptosis to gene expression that involve H(2)O(2) as a second messenger. Oxidative stress due to oxidant/antioxidant imbalance and also due to environmental oxidants is an important component during inflammation and respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and asthma. It is known to activate multiple stress kinase pathways and redox sensitive transcription factors such as Nrf2, NF-κB and AP-1, which differentially regulate the genes for pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as the protective antioxidant genes. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms for the induction of antioxidants, such as GSH, versus pro-inflammatory mediators at sites of oxidant-directed injuries may allow for the development of novel therapies which will allow pharmacological manipulation GSH synthesis during inflammation and oxidative injury. This article features the current knowledge about the role of GSH in redox signaling, GSH biosynthesis and particularly the regulation of transcription factor Nrf2 by GSH and downstream signaling during oxidative stress and inflammation in various pulmonary diseases. We also discussed the current therapeutic clinical trials using GSH and other thiol compounds, such as N-acetyl-L-cysteine, fudosteine, carbocysteine, erdosteine in environment-induced airways disease

Curcumin induces apoptosis of upper aerodigestive tract cancer cells by targeting multiple pathways

Curcumin, a natural compound isolated from the Indian spice Haldi or curry powder , has been used for centuries as a traditional remedy for many ailments. Recently, the potential use of curcumin in cancer prevention and therapy urges studies to uncover the molecular mechanisms associated with its anti-tumor effects. In the current manuscript, we investigated the mechanism of curcumin-induced apoptosis in upper aerodigestive tract cancer cell lines and showed that curcumin-induced apoptosis is mediated by the modulation of multiple pathways such as induction of p73, and inhibition of p-AKT and Bcl-2. Treatment of cells with curcumin induced both p53 and the related protein p73 in head and neck and lung cancer cell lines. Inactivation of p73 by dominant negative p73 significantly protected cells from curcumin-induced apoptosis, whereas ablation of p53 by shRNA had no effect. Curcumin treatment also strongly inhibited p-AKT and Bcl-2 and overexpression of constitutively active AKT or Bcl-2 significantly inhibited curcumin-induced apoptosis. Taken together, our findings suggest that curcumin-induced apoptosis is mediated via activating tumor suppressor p73 and inhibiting p-AKT and Bcl-2

Impact Force Identification using the Modal Transformation Method in Collocated and Non-Collocated Cases

Previous impact force identification has focused on collocated cases because noncollocated cases tend to be ill-posed. Considering the impact location is inaccessible, impact force identification using remote responses away from the impact location must be developed. This study initiates an effort to examine impact force identification for non-collocated case. A methodology utilizing operating deflection shape analysis, modal analysis and the modal transformation method (MTM) is presented to identify the unknown dynamic force. The performance of this approach is examined via experimental verification. The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of impact force identification by using MTM for both collocated and non-collocated cases. By measuring the response and frequency response function of the test rig, the time history of the unknown force is recovered by the force identification method where the impact location is known. The proposed method is examined at Points 1 and 15, which have satisfactory and poor curve fitting results respectively. It is found that force accuracy improves when the curve fitting result is enhanced. Experimental results show that impact force identification via MTM is applicable in both collocated and noncollocated cases, only if the curve fitting results satisfactory

The Feasibility of Coexistence Between 5G and Existing Services in the IMT-2020 Candidate Bands in Malaysia

In 2015, the international telecommunication union (ITU) proposed 11 candidate millimeter-wave bands between 24 and 86 GHz for the deployment of future fifth mobile generation (5G) broadband systems. Furthermore, the ITU called for spectrum-sharing studies in these bands. Since 5G specifications are not yet defined, the utilization of radio spectrum by 5G mobile systems will assist in identifying these specifications. This paper introduces Malaysia as a case study for the deployment of 5G systems. This includes a discussion of the current status of the Malaysian telecommunication market. Then, we investigate the current services that are already deployed in the proposed bands. Our investigation shows that the fixed (F) service is the most deployed as a primary service in the candidate bands. For this reason, a preliminary spectrum-sharing study is conducted on the basis of a modified 5G spectrum-sharing model to evaluate the feasibility of coexistence between 5G and F services in the 28-GHz band. Our modified methodology can be used for spectrum-sharing studies between 5G and any other services for an initial spectrum-sharing investigation. The results show that the F service will be severely affected by the 5G system transition in the 28-GHz band, especially in the base station (BS)-to-BS sharing scenario. The best band from the perspective of current spectrum allocation for 5G systems is the 45-GHz (i.e., 45.5-47 GHz) band, since it is already reserved for mobile service for primary allocation and not utilized. This paper is carried out concurrently with current worldwide efforts investigating spectrum sharing, as requested by the ITU in agenda item 1.13 for the next world radio conference 2019

Emergency medical services key performance measurement in Asian cities

10.1186/s12245-015-0062-7International Journal of Emergency Medicine8