Evaluating the Influence of Urban Blocks on Air Pollution Concentration Levels: The Case Study of Golden Lane Estate in London

Numerous studies have examined the impact of urban form on microclimate and thermal comfort at street level. However, the relationship between air pollution concentration and urban form, particularly vegetation and building arrangement, is less considered among planners and designers, and not many case study examples are available in the literature. To address this gap, this paper provides additional evidence and a case study example, illustrating the impact of the built environment on air pollution in urban areas. The Golden Lane Estate, a residential development that has valuable and repeatable urban design and architectural features and is located near a highly congested and polluted area in central London, was selected as the study site. The analysis involved a combination of fieldwork spot measurements and computational modelling (ENVI-met), considering physical features of urban blocks, levels of air pollution, and meteorological parameters (using data from local meteorological stations). The site modelling simulated current conditions and a condition without vegetation to better understand the impact of vegetation on pollutant concentration. The results indicate that urban form and vegetation arrangements significantly affect wind speed and direction, exacerbating air pollution within street canyons of varying aspect ratios. Such findings contribute to the expanding field of hyperlocal scale measurement and underscore the need for guidelines regarding the optimal placement, scale, type, and distribution of vegetation within street canyons

Comparative analysis of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 post-translational modifications of Tax proteins in relation to their intracellular localization and activation of gene expression

Poster presentatio

Core stability in young female dancers

Core has been described as a corset stabilizing the trunk area, bordered by the diaphragm upwardly, the abdominal muscular complex anterior-laterally, the spinal and gluteal muscles posteriorly and by the pelvic floor and the muscles of the pelvic girdle inferiorly (1). Core Stability (CS) is intended as a neuromuscular skill of trunk control, assisted by passive (ligaments) and active (muscles) elements. The effects of CS training on the strength, endurance and balance of young female dancers were measured. Thirty three young women participated (22 amateur dancers; 11 sedentary people; age 21±5.4yr) were asked to perform endurance (2), strength, and balance (3) tests (Session I) that were repeated after 10 weeks (Session II). During this period, 11 dancers (experimental group, EG) were randomly selected to attend specific training for CS in addition to traditional dancing exercises; 11 dancers only performed regular dance training (dance group, DG); the sedentary people did not carry out any exercise (control group, CG). Within each group and session, descriptive statistics of test performances were computed. Differences between groups and sessions were assessed, setting the level of statistical significance at 5% (p≤0.05) for all comparisons. In both sessions, EG and DG were stronger and more resistant than CG and demonstrated better balance in two balance tests (

The MHC-II transactivator CIITA, a viral restriction factor inhibiting the replication of Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1

publishedVersio

Cytoplasmic and nuclear events controlling Tax-mediated activation of the NF-κB pathway: involvement of TAB2, IKKgamma/NEMO and calreticulin

The Tax oncoprotein of HTLV-1 initiates T-cell transformationby dysregulating cell cycle progression andinhibiting DNA damage responses. The subsequentgenomic instability might result in constitutive activationof the NF-B pathway observed in HTLV-1-transformedT lymphocytes. Our previous results indicatedthat differential modifications of Tax by ubiquitinationor sumoylation controlled its retention either in thecytoplasm or in the nucleus, respectively. Here we showthat Tax is targeted to pre-existing punctate cytoplasmicstructures which contain the TNF-receptor associatedprotein 2 (TAB2)

IKKepsilon involvement in Tax-mediated activation of INF pathway

HTLV-1 Tax de-regulates several cellular signaling pathways leading to cell transformation by altering gene expression, intracellular protein distribution and cell proliferation. Tax-1 induces persistent activation of several transcriptional factors and signal transduction pathways, including NF-\u3baB and CREB/ATF. It is known that Tax-1 constitutively activates TAK1 (transforming growth factor-\u3b2-activated kinase 1) and modifies the interferon (INF) regulatory signals by controlling the expression of INF transcription factors 3 (INF3) and INF4. We have recently reported that HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 Tax proteins interact with TAK1-binding protein 2 (TAB2) of the NF-\u3baB pathway and that both Tax proteins transactivate NF-\u3baB promoters [1]. TAB2 functions as an adaptor protein to recruit TAK1 to TRAF2 (TNF-\u3b1 receptor-associated factor) in TNF-\u3b1 signaling pathways. In the present study we have investigated Tax-1 and Tax-2 role in modifying INF and NF-\u3baB activation through the recruitment of IKKepsilon, an I\u3baB kinase homologue involved in NF-\u3baB and INF3 signaling pathways. By co-immunoprecipitation experiments, we have found that both IKKepsilon and Tax-1, but not Tax-2, are present in protein complexes in transfected cells. IKKepsilon and Tax-1 or Tax-2 role in the activation of INF responsive elements or NF-\u3baB containing promoters have been analyzed after transfecting the protein genes in 293T cells and measuring the effect by luciferase assay. Co-expression of Tax-1 and IKKepsilon resulted in an increased IRF activation mediated by IKKepsilon. Interaction of IKKepsilon with Tax-1 and Tax-2 and their possible effects in the de-regulation of the IRF3 pathways will be discussed

Comparison of Tax-1 and Tax-2B post-translational modifications using specific lysine mutants in relation to activation of NF-κB and intracellular localization

ost-translational modifications of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 Tax-1 and Tax-2 proteins have been shown to play a critical role in their cellular localization, transactivation and protein interactions. Five of ten lysine residues were found to be major targets for Tax-1 modifications: Lys189(K4); Lys197(K5), Lys263(K6), Lys280(K7) and Lys284(K8), are essential for ubiquitination, while sumoylation takes place on Lys280 (K7) and Lys284(K8). Tax-2 contains four additional lysine residues, namely at position Lys100(K2i), Lys149(K3i), Lys185(K3ii), and Lys356(K10i).Very few studies have been so far performed on Tax-2 lysine mutants. We have previously demonstrated that Tax-2B is ubiquitinated and sumoylated similarly to Tax-1. To identify the Tax-2 lysine residues which are directly involved in post-translational modifications, we have constructed a series of Tax-2B mutants with substitutions of lysine (K) residues by arginines (R) and analyzed them for NF-kB and CREB/ATF transactivation, intracellular distribution and extent of ubiquitination and sumoylation. We have found that Tax-2 K7-8R mutant, contrary to its Tax-1 homologue, is only partially affected in its capacity to transactivate NF-\u3baB pathway, is regularly sumoylated and presents formation of nuclear bodies by confocal analysis. However, Tax-2 mutants with extended (K3ii-8R) and/or total (K1-10iR) mutation rate were severely affected for NF-kB transactivation and sumoylation. By comparing Tax-2 WT with mutants K7-8R and K3ii-8R, we observed that the reduction of NF-\u3baB activity is correlated to a parallel decrease in sumoylation. These results suggest that the target for Tax-2 ubiquitination and sumoylation differs from that described for Tax-1