Influence of the Carotenoid Composition on the Conformational Dynamics of Photosynthetic Light-Harvesting Complexes

Nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) is the major self-regulatory mechanism of green plants, performed on a molecular level to protect them from an overexcitation during the direct sunlight. It is believed that NPQ becomes available due to conformational dynamics of the light-harvesting photosynthetic complexes and involves a direct participation of carotenoids. In this work, we perform a single-molecule microscopy on major light-harvesting complexes (LHCII) from different Arabidopsis thaliana mutants exhibiting various carotenoid composition. We show how the distinct carotenoids affect the dynamics of the conformational switching between multiple coexisting light-emitting states of LHCII and demonstrate that properties of the quenched conformation are not influenced by the particular carotenoids available in LHCII. We also discuss the possible origin of different conformational states and relate them to the fluorescence decay kinetics observed during the bulk measurements

Atviri plonosios žarnos sužalojimai

Edmundas Gaidamonis, Juozas Stanaitis, Sigitas Tamulis, Robertas Saltanavičius, Rytis Tutkus, Kazimieras Brazauskas, Aurelijus Grigaliūnas, Moisejus Racinas, Jonas Stasinas, Tomas Saladis, Raimundas LunevičiusVilniaus universiteto Bendrosios ir kraujagysliųchirurgijos klinikos Bendrosios chirurgijos centras,Vilniaus greitosios pagalbos universitetinė ligoninė,Šiltnamių g. 29, LT-2043, VilniusEl paštas: [email protected] Įvadas / tikslas Teigiama, kad pooperacinių komplikacijų dažnis ir mirštamumas sužalojus plonąją žarną priklauso nuo traumos apimties ir gretutinių pilvo ertmės organų sužalojimų. Darbo tikslas – įvertinti ligonių, kuriems buvo atvirų plonosios žarnos sužalojimų, gydymo rezultatus, nustatyti veiksnius, lemiančius pooperacines komplikacijas ir mirštamumą. Metodai Darbo pobūdis – retrospektyvus. Nagrinėtos 1982–1991 metais VMUL ir 1991–1998 metais VGPUL nuo atviros plonųjų žarnų traumos operuotų 126 ligonių ligos istorijos. Duomenys rinkti pagal specialų traumą patyrusių ligonių duomenų registravimo protokolą. Vertinta: ligonių amžius, lytis, traumos mechanizmas, operacijos rizikos laipsnis, hemodinamikos būklė, instrumentiniai tyrimai, organo sužalojimo laipsnis, pilvo ertmės organų ir kombinuoti kitų sistemų sužalojimai, operacijos dydis, pooperacinės komplikacijos, baigtis. Rezultatai Pooperacinių komplikacijų radosi 32 ligoniams (25,4 %), iš jų 6 ligoniai mirė (mirštamumas 4,8 %). Ligonių, kuriems buvo I–III ir IV–V laipsnio plonosios žarnos sužalojimai, komplikacijų dažnio skirtumas (23,4 % ir 60 %) buvo statistiškai patikimas (p < 0,01). Pooperacinių komplikacijų buvo 11,9 % ligonių, pagal ASA klasifikaciją priklausančių I–III grupei, ir 52,9 % ligonių, priklausančių IV–V grupei (p < 0,01); mirštamumas I–III grupės ligonių buvo 1,8 %, IV–V grupės – 23,5 % (p < 0,005). Mirštamumas nestabilios hemodinamikos atveju buvo daugiau kaip 5 kartus didesnis (15 % ir 2,8 %) (p = 0,05). Įvertinus penetruojančios pilvo traumos indekso (PATI) ir pooperacinių komplikacijų bei mirštamumo priklausomybę paaiškėjo, kad komplikacijų dažnis buvo 3,6 karto didesnis ligonių, kurių PATI didesnis kaip 25 (p < 0,001), o mirštamumas – net 12,8 karto (p < 0,005). Išvados Atviri plonosios žarnos sužalojimai diagnozuoti 11,7 % ligonių, operuotų nuo atvirų pilvo ertmės organų trauminių sužalojimų. Plonosios žarnos sužalojimai sudaro 18 % atvirų pilvo sužalojimų. Lengvesnių sužalojimų (I–III laipsnio) komplikacijų dažnis 3 kartus mažesnis nei sunkesnių (IV–V laipsnio). Pooperacinių komplikacijų dažnį ir mirštamumą taip pat lemia gretutinių organų sužalojimai ir nestabili hemodinamika. Penetruojančios pilvo traumos indeksas (PATI) – statistiškai patikimas pooperacinių komplikacijų ir mirštamumo vertinimo rodiklis. Didesnis už 25 PATI rodo didelę pooperacinių komplikacijų ir mirštamumo riziką. Prasminiai žodžiai: atviros pilvo traumos, plonosios žarnos sužalojimai, pooperacinės komplikacijos, mirštamumas, pilvo traumos indeksas. Penetrating small bowel injury Edmundas Gaidamonis, Juozas Stanaitis, Sigitas Tamulis, Robertas Saltanavičius, Rytis Tutkus, Kazimieras Brazauskas, Aurelijus Grigaliūnas, Moisejus Racinas, Jonas Stasinas, Tomas Saladis, Raimundas Lunevičius Background / objective To evaluate the results of treatment of patients with penetrating small bowel injuries and to determine the main factors affecting postoperative morbidity and mortality. Methods Medical records for 126 patients admitted with penetrating small bowel injuries between 1982 and 1998 were reviewed. The patients' age, ASA grade, presence of shock, method of diagnosis, injury grade according to OIS, penetrating abdominal trauma index, operative management, morbidity and mortality were taken into consideration. Results Isolated injuries were found in 47 cases (37.3%). Twenty patients (15.9%) had associated injuries of the organs of the other systems. Postoperative complications developed in 32 patients (25.4%), 6 patients died (mortality rate 4.8%). Postoperative complications were more frequent in patients with grade IV–V versus grade I–III of injury (60% versus 23.4%, p < 0.01). The complications were less in cases of a proximal part of small bowel injury (21.4%), versus a 36.5% complication rate in patients with injuries of the middle and distal parts of the small bowel (p = 0.05). The rate of postoperative complications was 3.6 times higher in patients with PATI over 25 than in patients with PATI from 2 to 25 (p < 0.001); the mortality rate was almost 12.8 times higher (p < 0.005). According to ASA, the rate of postoperative complications and mortality was 11.9% versus 52.9% (p < 0.01) and 1.8% versus 23.5% (p < 0.005) respectively in patients with ASA grade I–III and grades IV–V. Haemodynamical stability had no statistically reliable influence on the postoperative complication rate (40% in stable and 22.6% in unstable haemodynamic patients), but it had a statistically significant influence on mortality rate (15% with unstable and 2.8% with stable haemodynamics, p = 0.05). Conclusions Penetrating small bowel injuries were detected in 11.7% of patients operated on for abdominal trauma and in 18% of patients due to penetrating abdominal injuries. Isolated injuries were found in 37.3% of cases. Most of the patients were haemodynamically stable (84.2%), with grades I–III of injury (88.1%). The operation option was associated to the grade of the injury: primary repair was performed in 86% and resection in 13.5% of cases. The higher risk of complications and mortality rate was associated with a poor general condition (ASA grade IV–V), unstable haemodynamical status, grade of injury more than III, PATI more than 25, and injuries of the distal part of the small bowel. Tube enterodecompression had no influence on the suture insuffitiency rate. Keywords: penetrating abdominal trauma, small bowel injury, postoperative morbidity, mortality, abdominal trauma index

Fluorescence Microscopy of Single Liposomes with Incorporated Pigment-Proteins

Reconstitution of transmembrane proteins into liposomes is a widely used method to study their behavior under conditions closely resembling the natural ones. However, this approach does not allow precise control of the liposome size, reconstitution efficiency, and the actual protein-to-lipid ratio in the formed proteoliposomes, which might be critical for some applications and/or interpretation of data acquired during the spectroscopic measurements. Here, we present a novel strategy employing methods of proteoliposome preparation, fluorescent labeling, purification, and surface immobilization that allow us to quantify these properties using fluorescence microscopy at the singleliposome level and for the first time apply it to study photosynthetic pigment protein complexes LHCII. We show that LHCII proteoliposome samples, even after purification with a density gradient, always contain a fraction of nonreconstituted protein and are extremely heterogeneous in both protein density and liposome sizes. This strategy enables quantitative analysis of the reconstitution efficiency of different protocols and precise fluorescence spectroscopic study of various transmembrane proteins in a controlled nativelike environment

Gigantinė infekuota kaklo lipoma

Aurelijus Grigaliūnas, Raimundas Lunevičius, Kazimieras Brazauskas, Sigitas Tamulis, Rytis Tutkus, Rolanas Rinkūnas, Moisejus Racinas, Robertas Saltanavičius, Edmundas Gaidamonis, Juozas StanaitisVilniaus greitosios pagalbos universitetinė ligoninėVilniaus universiteto Bendrosios chirurgijos centras2-as skubiosios pilvo chirurgijos skyriusŠiltnamių g. 29, LT-2043 VilniusEl paštas: [email protected] Pateikti keturi gigantinės kaklo infekuotos lipomos vaizdai. Darinys kaklo užpakaliniame paviršiuje atsirado prieš 12 metų. Gigantic infected lipoma of the neck Aurelijus Grigaliūnas, Raimundas Lunevičius, Kazimieras Brazauskas, Sigitas Tamulis, Rytis Tutkus, Rolanas Rinkūnas, Moisejus Racinas, Robertas Saltanavičius, Edmundas Gaidamonis, Juozas Stanaitis An infected gigantic lipoma of the neck was suspected preoperatively after physical examination and CT-scan. It was removed and confirmed histologically. The patient had no intention to be operated on in the period of 12 years, i. e. since a soft round tumor had been noticed by him

Pavienių molekulių fluorescencinė mikroskopija baltymų dinamikos tyrimams

Conformational dynamics of proteins are essential for their functioning objectives, which are possible due to the inherent flexibility of protein structure. Every protein, regardless of whether it is located in lipid membranes or found in the cytosol undergoes conformational dynamics. The mentioned classes of proteins are different regarding their native environment and involved in different aspects of cellular life. In this work we chose to investigate the following representatives from two different classes – transmembrane pigment-protein complexes from photosystem II of plants and water-soluble proteins interacting with nucleic acids – DNA Restriction endonucleases. Since conformational dynamics of protein are typically hidden in an ensemble type of measurements we revealed them with the aid of the single-molecule methods. Our results on single-molecule conformational dynamics studies of protein-pigment complexes and DNA-interacting proteins provided essential insights into each field of research. Also, both of our developed methods were successfully applied and will be useful for future studies of various DNA-interacting proteins and other pigment-protein complexes or their assemblies

Analysis of milking parameters with robotic milking

The work was performed at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Veterinary Academy, Faculty of Animal Husbandry Technology, Institute of Animal Rearing and the x farm during 2017 study years. Analysed data: milk content (kg), milk flow rate (kg / min), average milk flow (kg/ in), milk flow for the first 15 milking seconds (kg/min), milk flow in the milking interval 15 - 30 sec. (kg/min), milk flow in the milking interval 30 - 60 sec. (kg/min), milk flow in the milking interval 60 - 120 sec. (kg/min), milk flow peak (kg/min), milking time (min.), somatic cell count (thousand/ml), milk yield in the first two minutes (kg). First lactation cows gave 2.08 kg (p<0.001) less milk than third and older lactating cows. Milking time of 3 and older lactating cows was 0:36 min. longer than first lactation cows. Cows producing more than 20.1 kg of milk milking time was 3.35 min. longer than cows giving up to 10 kg of milk (p<0.05). The second lactation cow milk flow was 0.21 kg / min (p<0.05) higher than first lactation cows, and the third lactation cow's milk release was 0.33 kg / min (p<0.05) faster than first lactation cows. Highest milk yield in first two minutes of milking was of cows lacating 3d and older times and is 0.43 kg (p<0.05) higher than for first lactation cows. Cows up to 100 lactation days gave 0.29 kg more milk than cows from 101 to 200 lactation days, and those gave 0.53 kg (p<0.01) milk more than cows of 201 to 300 lactation days. Cows releasing from 10.1 to 15 kg of milk in group of third and older lactation somatic cell count was 19.61 thousand/ml lower compared to the second lactation cows

Raudonosios armijos Kauno puolamoji operacija 1944 m.

1944 m. liepos 16 d. 5-osios armijos vadovybė gavo 3-iojo Baltarusijos fronto vado įsakymą paruošti naują puolamąją operaciją, kurios metu būtų išvaduotas Kauno miestas. Puolimą Kauno kryptimi liepos 25 d. pradėjo 72-asis šaulių korpusas , forsavęs Nerį tarp Karmėlavos ir Jonavos. Jis pradėjo supti priešo Kauno grupuotę iš šiaurės. Tuo pačiu metu perėjo į puolimą ir 65-ojo šaulių korpuso 144-oji šaulių divizija, forsavusi Nemuną Rumšiškių rajone [...]

Computational analysis of dna replication processivity factors

Computational Analysis of DNA Replication Processivity Factor