Zinc Binding Properties of Engineered RING Finger Domain of Arkadia E3 Ubiquitin Ligase

Human Arkadia is a nuclear protein consisted of 989 amino acid residues, with a characteristic RING domain in its C-terminus. The RING domain harbours the E3 ubiquitin ligase activity needed by Arkadia to ubiquitinate its substrates such as negative regulators of TGF-β signaling. The RING finger domain of Arkadia is a RING-H2 type and its structure and stability is strongly dependent on the presence of two bound Zn(II) ions attached to the protein frame through a defined Cys3-His2-Cys3 motif. In the present paper we transform the RING-H2 type of Arkadia finger domain to nonnative RING sequence, substituting the zinc-binding residues Cys955 or His960 to Arginine, through site-directed mutagenesis. The recombinant expression, in Escherichia coli, of the mutants C955R and H960R reveal significant lower yield in respect with the native polypeptide of Arkadia RING-H2 finger domain. In particular, only the C955R mutant exhibits expression yield sufficient for recombinant protein isolation and preliminary studies. Atomic absorption measurements and preliminary NMR data analysis reveal that the C955R point mutation in the RING Finger domain of Arkadia diminishes dramatically the zinc binding affinity, leading to the breakdown of the global structural integrity of the RING construct

EMMON - EMbedded MONitoring

Despite the steady increase in experimental deployments, most of research work on WSNs has focused only on communication protocols and algorithms, with a clear lack of effective, feasible and usable system architectures, integrated in a modular platform able to address both functional and non–functional requirements. In this paper, we outline EMMON [1], a full WSN-based system architecture for large–scale, dense and real–time embedded monitoring [3] applications. EMMON provides a hierarchical communication architecture together with integrated middleware and command and control software. Then, EM-Set, the EMMON engineering toolset will be presented. EM-Set includes a network deployment planning, worst–case analysis and dimensioning, protocol simulation and automatic remote programming and hardware testing tools. This toolset was crucial for the development of EMMON which was designed to use standard commercially available technologies, while maintaining as much flexibility as possible to meet specific applications requirements. Finally, the EMMON architecture has been validated through extensive simulation and experimental evaluation, including a 300+ nodes testbed

Short-term effects of manual therapy plus capacitive and resistive electric transfer therapy in individuals with chronic non-specific low back pain : a randomized clinical trial study

Background and Objectives: Chronic non-specific low back pain (CNSLBP) is defined as back pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks. Capacitive and resistive electric transfer (TECAR) therapy utilizes radiant energy to generate endogenous heat and is widely used for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of manual therapy (MT) program combined with TECAR therapy in individuals with CNSLBP. Materials and Methods: Sixty adults with CNSLBP were randomly divided equally into three groups. The first group followed an MT protocol in the lumbar region (MT group), the second group followed the same MT protocol combined with TECAR therapy (MT + TECAR group) using a conventional capacitive electrode as well as a special resistive electrode bracelet, and the third group (control group) received no treatment. Both intervention programs included six treatments over two weeks. Pain in the last 24 h with the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), functional ability with the Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), pressure pain threshold (PPT) in the lumbar region with pressure algometry, and mobility of the lumbo-pelvic region through fingertip-to-floor distance (FFD) test were evaluated before and after the intervention period with a one-month follow-up. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was applied. Results: In the NPRS score, both intervention groups showed statistically significant differences compared to the control group both during the second week and the one-month follow-up (p 0.05). Conclusions: The application of an MT protocol with TECAR therapy appeared more effective than conventional MT as well as compared to the control group in reducing pain and disability and improving PPT in individuals with CNSLBP. No further improvement was noted in the mobility of the lumbo-pelvic region by adding TECAR to the MT intervention

Geometric problems in non - linear functional analysis

Blending probabilistic techniques with geometric and analytical tools, we contribute to a number of problems in Asymptotic Geometric Analysis: a) New methods to establish Dvoretzky type theorems, using a method of "Euclidean regularization" of a convex body in John's position, b) Vector balancing problems, c) Estimates for measures of sections of convex bodies, d) Threshold phenomena for high dimensional random polytopes and e) Estimates for the affine quermassintegrals of convex bodies.Συνδυάζοντας πιθανοθεωρητικές τεχνικές με γεωμετρικά και αναλυτικά εργαλεία, στην παρούσα διατριβή ασχολούμαστε με έναν αριθμό προβλημάτων που εμπίπτουν στον ευρύτερο κλάδο της Ασυμπτωτικής Γεωμετρικής Ανάλυσης. Τα προβλήματα με τα οποία ασχολούμαστε περιλαμβάνουν α) μια μέθοδο Ευκλείδιας κανονικοποίησης ενός κυρτού σώματος σε θέση John, και εφαρμογές στην απόδειξη θεωρημάτων τύπου Dvoretzky, β) Προβλήματα εξισορρόπησης διανυσμάτων, γ) Εκτιμήσεις για μέτρα τομών κυρτών σωμάτων, δ) Φαινόμενα κατωφλίου για τυχαία πολύτοπα σε υψηλές διαστάσεις και ε) Εκτιμήσεις για τα αφφινικά quermassintegrals κυρτών σωμάτων

NMR study of non-structural proteins-part I: H-1, C-13, N-15 backbone and side-chain resonance assignment of macro domain from Mayaro virus (MAYV)

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