Modulation of expression and cellular distribution of p21 by macrophage migration inhibitory factor

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The pleiotropic protein MIF, (macrophage migration inhibitory factor), has been demonstrated to modulate several key proteins governing cell cycle control and is considered to contribute to cell growth and differentiation. In this study we investigated the effect of MIF on the expression and cellular distribution of the CDK inhibitor p21.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The effect of endogenous MIF on p21 expression and distribution was examined by comparing murine dermal fibroblasts derived from <it>wt </it>and MIF -/- mice. The effect of MIF on cell growth and apoptotic rates was compared using ³H-Thymidine incorporation assays and annexin V/PI assays respectively. Total p21 protein levels were compared using flow cytometry and western blotting. p21 mRNA was assessed by RT-PCR. Intracellular p21 staining was performed to assess cellular distribution of total protein. To further confirm observations siRNA was used to knockdown MIF protein in <it>wt </it>cells. Cell cycle analysis was performed using PI incorporation assays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>MIF-/- murine dermal fibroblasts exhibited reduced proliferative responses and were more susceptible to apoptosis. This was associated with reduced p21 expression and nuclear distribution. Treatment with recombinant MIF protein was demonstrated to reduce both basal and induced apoptosis and increase nuclear p21 expression. Reduced nuclear p21 expression was also observed in MIF siRNA treated <it>wt </it>cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results demonstrate that in the absence of MIF p21 expression and nuclear distribution is reduced which is associated with a reduction in cell growth and increased apoptosis. MIF may therefore play a role in maintaining homeostatic control of p21.</p

First evidence of wulfenite in Calabria Region (Southern Italy)

This data article contains mineralogical and chemical data of the wulfenite (PbMoO4) sampled from mine of Fiumarella in Calabria region (Southern Italy). Wulfenite is a rare mineral belonging to the class of minerals called molybdates and if found in large amounts it can be used for the extraction of molybdenum. In the mine of Fiumarella, in addition to primary minerals such as barite, galena, cerussite, anglesite, fluorite and chalcopyrite, wulfenite was also detected. Wulfenite crystals are bipyramidal, few microns in size and grow as single crystals that can reach 1 mm. Methods for obtaining the data sets include optical microscopy, micro X-Ray Fluorescence and micro-Raman spectroscopy

Teaching mathematics at distance: A challenge for universities

The focus of this research is how Sicilian state university mathematics professors faced the challenge of teaching via distance education during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic entered our lives suddenly, the professors found themselves having to lecture using an e-learning platform that they had never used before, and for which they could not receive training due to the health emergency. In addition to the emotional aspects related to the particular situation of the pandemic, there are two aspects to consider when teaching mathematics at a distance. The first is related to the fact that at university level, lecturers generally teach mathematics in a formal way, using many symbols and formulas that they are used to writing. The second aspect is that the way mathematics is taught is also related to the students to whom the teaching is addressed. In fact, not only online, but also in face-to-face modality, the teaching of mathematics to students on the mathematics degree course involves a different approach to lessons (as well as to the choice of topics to explain) than teaching mathematics in another degree course. In order to investigate how the Sicilian State university mathematics professors taught mathematics at distance, a questionnaire was prepared and administered one month after the beginning of the lockdown in Italy. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were made, which allowed us to observe the way that university professors have adapted to the new teaching modality: they started to appropriate new artifacts (writing tablets, mathematical software, e-learning platform) to replicate their face-to-face teaching modality, mostly maintaining their blackboard teacher status. Their answers also reveal their beliefs related to teaching mathematics at university level, noting what has been an advantageous or disadvantageous for them in distance teaching

Coccidioidomycosis Transmission Through Organ Transplantation: A Report of the OPTN Ad Hoc Disease Transmission Advisory Committee

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134822/1/ajt13950.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134822/2/ajt13950_am.pd

Almond diversity and homozygosity define structure, kinship, inbreeding, and linkage disequilibrium in cultivated germplasm, and reveal genomic associations with nut and seed weight

Almond [Prunus dulcis Miller (D.A. Webb)] is the main tree nut species worldwide. Here, genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) was applied to 149 almond cultivars from the ex situ collections of the Italian Council for Agricultural Research (CREA) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), leading to the detection of 93,119 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The study of population structure outlined four distinct genetic groups and highlighted diversification between the Mediterranean and Californian gene pools. Data on SNP diversity and runs of homozygosity (ROHs) allowed the definition of kinship, inbreeding, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) decay in almond cultivated germplasm. Four-year phenotypic observations, gathered on 98 cultivars of the CREA collection, were used to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and, for the first time in a crop species, homozygosity mapping (HM), resulting in the identification of genomic associations with nut, shell, and seed weight. Both GWAS and HM suggested that loci controlling nut and seed weight are mostly independent. Overall, this study provides insights on the almond cultivation history and delivers information of major interest for almond genetics and breeding. In a broader perspective, our results encourage the use of ROHs in crop science to estimate inbreeding, choose parental combinations minimizing the risk of inbreeding depression, and identify genomic footprints of selection for specific traits

Evaluational adjectives

This paper demarcates a theoretically interesting class of "evaluational adjectives." This class includes predicates expressing various kinds of normative and epistemic evaluation, such as predicates of personal taste, aesthetic adjectives, moral adjectives, and epistemic adjectives, among others. Evaluational adjectives are distinguished, empirically, in exhibiting phenomena such as discourse-oriented use, felicitous embedding under the attitude verb `find', and sorites-susceptibility in the comparative form. A unified degree-based semantics is developed: What distinguishes evaluational adjectives, semantically, is that they denote context-dependent measure functions ("evaluational perspectives")—context-dependent mappings to degrees of taste, beauty, probability, etc., depending on the adjective. This perspective-sensitivity characterizing the class of evaluational adjectives cannot be assimilated to vagueness, sensitivity to an experiencer argument, or multidimensionality; and it cannot be demarcated in terms of pretheoretic notions of subjectivity, common in the literature. I propose that certain diagnostics for "subjective" expressions be analyzed instead in terms of a precisely specified kind of discourse-oriented use of context-sensitive language. I close by applying the account to `find x PRED' ascriptions

Improvement of pea protein isolate powder properties by agglomeration in a fluidized bed: comparison between binder solutions

[EN] This study aimed to compare the agglomeration process of pea protein isolate (PPI) using water and aqueous gum Arabic solution as binder liquids. Drying air temperature and binder flow rate were set at 75 °C and 3.1 mL/min, respectively. Moisture content, mean particle size, wetting time and flowability were analyzed. Using water as binder liquid, the responses were (4.0 ± 0.4)%, 316.13 ± 16.73 μm, 10 s and free flow, respectively. Aqueous gum Arabic solution provided (2.9 ± 0.5)%, 462.67 ± 51.23 μm, 3 s and free flow as responses. Gum Arabic solution showed to be a more promising binder.Nascimento, RF.; Andreola, K.; Rosa, JG.; Taranto, O. (2018). Improvement of pea protein isolate powder properties by agglomeration in a fluidized bed: comparison between binder solutions. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1431-1438. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7344OCS1431143

Influence of drying conditions on the acacia gum particle growth in fluidized bed agglomeration: in-line monitoring of particle size

[EN] Acacia gum is an important food emulsifier that presents poor instant properties which can be improved by fluidized bed agglomeration. This study investigated the influence of drying conditions on particle growth kinetics using an in-line particle size monitoring by spatial filter velocimetry. The drying conditions varied according to the binder flow rate and the fluidizing air temperature. The particle growth kinectis showed drying conditions dependence. At mild drying conditions the growth rate and the process yield were higher. The in-line particle size monitoring was useful to observe the influence of the drying conditions on the growth kinetics.Rosa, J.; Nascimento, RF.; Andreola, K.; Taranto, OP. (2018). Influence of drying conditions on the acacia gum particle growth in fluidized bed agglomeration: in-line monitoring of particle size. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1439-1446. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7345OCS1439144

An improved method on stimulated T-lymphocytes to functionally characterize novel and known LDLR mutations.

The main causes of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) are mutations in LDL receptor (LDLR) gene. Functional studies are necessary to demonstrate the LDLR function impairment caused by mutations and would be useful as a diagnostic tool if they allow discrimination between FH patients and controls. In order to identify the best method to detect LDLR activity, we compared continuous Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed B-lymphocytes and mitogen stimulated T-lymphocytes. In addition, we characterized both novel and known mutations in the LDLR gene. T-lymphocytes and EBV-transformed B-lymphocytes were obtained from peripheral blood of 24 FH patients and 24 control subjects. Functional assays were performed by incubation with fluorescent LDL followed by flow cytometry analysis. Residual LDLR activity was calculated normalizing fluorescence for the mean fluorescence of controls. With stimulated T-lymphocytes we obtained a better discrimination capacity between controls and FH patients compared with EBV-transformed B-lymphocytes as demonstrated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis (the areas under the curve are 1.000 and 0.984 respectively; P < 0.0001 both). The characterization of LDLR activity through T-lymphocytes is more simple and faster than the use of EBV-transformed B-lymphocytes and allows a complete discrimination between controls and FH patients. Therefore the evaluation of residual LDLR activity could be helpful not only for mutation characterization but also for diagnostic purposes